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Raven proved herself quickly as everyone around camp hurried to execute her brilliant plan. She wanted to launch flares into the sky as a signal to the people on the Ark that we were still alive. It would take us hours to get everything ready, and time was working against us as I leaned down beside Raven's pod. I glanced over the exposed circuit board, careful not to touch the intricate maze of wires that were ablaze with electricity. Mechanics and engineering weren't my strengths, but I was smart and could always catch onto things quickly.
I backed away from the circuit board with my arms crossed over my chest as more people arrived at the pod. Clarke, Miller, and Archie being two of them.
"We need to get the battery out," I said as I walked up to them. "Miller, can I get a hand?"
"Sure thing, Harles."
We worked with hurried movements, cutting out the control panel and other useful components from the pod as more people joined us to help out. Miller and I finally got the battery out as Raven circled around the people working.
"We're taking this back to camp," I told Raven as I picked up one end of the battery.
Raven nodded as she turned to the group, "We need to launch those flares ASAP if we have any hope of saving those people!" She hadn't been with us long, but she was already calling out orders and people were listening without hesitation. I knew she would be a good person to have around from now on. "Finn, get that control panel back to camp," she turned to a boy who was working near some of the circuits. "You, pull out those firing circuits in one piece or they won't work."
Miller and I drifted farther away from the pod as we headed back to camp, "You really think this can work?"
"The flares will have enough power to shoot up high enough to be noticed," I said, walking carefully; aware of every step as I carried the battery. "The question is, will anyone be looking."
"If not, all those people are dead."
Once most of the parts we needed were back at camp, the real work started as we assembled the flares. The sun hung low in the sky, inching closer to the edge of the horizon with every minute that passed. We set the flares up to be launched as everyone was anxious to know if this really was going to work.
I wondered what my dad would have thought about the Council's decision if he was still with them. Would he have fought it? Would he have come up with a better option? I knew he would have. My dad would never agree to killing three hundred people. I wished he was still up there on the Ark; up there as part of the Council to be another voice of good reason.
I had lost so many people. My mom, my dad... Wells. I was determined to not let any of those three hundred people die when Earth was survivable. Those people were someone's parents, someone's child, someone's best friend. No one deserved to suffer those losses when they could all survive down on Earth.
