Brave New World (part 4)

Posted on Fri Aug 23rd, 2013 @ 2:40pm by Commodore Samantha York & Master Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum & Colonel Damon Raine & Commander Alexandra Vance & Warrant Officer Sterling Kamala IV & Gaia

1,559 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Tabula Rasa
Location: Planetside

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

She took the lead, uncaring if the other two followed her. Well, uncaring if Alexandra followed her. She hoped Damon would. She still liked him, temper and all.

[NEW] [

The path led around some trees and a rock outcropping and skirted what had to have once been a field of grain of some sorts. Now it was mostly weeds but there were still a few stalks of some thing that resembled corn growing here and there. When she found a stalk not too far from the path she pushed her way through the weeds and picked several ears, bringing them back to Damon and Alexandra. "This looks good."

Alexandra walked forward and studied the corn. "It looks edible to me. Who wants to do the taste test?" She said jokingly holding the corn out.

Damon allowed a smile. "Well, let's find a pot and boil the crap out of it. I'd be willing to take one for the team."

Alexandra giggled. "Such a gentleman." She said winking at Sam.

Sam pealed one of the ears of corn and took a tentative bite. "Yeah, I think it will taste better cooked." She looked around for something to carry the ears in but found nothing.

====

Sterling awoke alone and wondering why. Then he realized that not only did he not know why he should be alone, he had no idea who he was He was in some kind of shack and could smell the scent of pinetrees in the background. He saw he was wearing a name tag of some sort but that did not tell him much.

He stepped outside but didn't see any other people. Just a hawk soaring on the wind and greenish-gray clouds drifting in a slight breeze.

====

Apu was alone in a medium-sized room. It appeared to have once been a storeroom as there were several rotting wooden tables scattered throughout the room and a stone counter along one wall. Piles of rotting cloth and leather lined the counter. "What a waste," Apu muttered. Shaking his head, he began to clean up, taking the rotting wood and cloth outside into a large compound littered with people and dumping it into what must have been a large fire pit. "Step one," he told himself, "clean up. Step two, rebuild."

Eventually Gaia took her small bundle of grain, her mushrooms, carrots and potatoes and headed back towards the building she had found the big kettle in. It had to be cleaned still but that would not take long. She spied someone who appeared to be dumping wood in the middle of the camp and a fire pit. "Hello, have you found any containers that could be used to move water or smaller items that could be used to prepare food during your um... whatever it is your doing." He reminded Gaia of a man who knew what he was doing, a man who was determined to succeed. She smiled at him. She admired that, his self-determination. Why she was not sure but she would think about it some more and then maybe the answer would present itself.

"No. All I've found so far is rotting wood and clothing," Apu said. He turned and made his way back to the supply building.

A extremely dark skinned man rolled over and looked at the woman arms length away beside him she had long brown hair, in a think braid her skin was lightly tan and she had a bit of a smattering of freckles over her cheeks and nose. She was so familiar to him as if they were together for long hours out of the day. He moved and crouched next to her and he moved a hair out of her face and touched her nose with a fingertip. "Hey there. Should you not wake up, mon." He paused as he saw a bundle of a hemp at his wrist he swirled it around over her face as he looked at it. He tilted his head "Mojo... ya that sounds like a good name, no?" He looked at the woman in the face. Her lashes fluttered on her cheek as she opened her eyes and she looked up at the bracelet over her face. "That sounds like a fine name." She grinned mischievously and sat up and pushed him back away from her. Mojo fell back on his bum. She looked at her own wrist. "Mine is Jenna, Mojo." Mojo stood up and held a hand out to her. He smiled a wide grin. His white teeth were a extreme contrast to his dark skin. "Well, I think we should be doing something, anything other then laying around."

The two of them stood close for a long moment, not sure what to think and then moved away from one another and started out the door. The saw someone who seemed familiar to them speaking with a man and Jenna elbowed Mojo and nodded and grinned. She wasn't sure exactly why she did that but she did. "Sorry, Mojo, I didn't mean to do that. At least I don't think I did."

"Its all right Jenna. Lets go help her." Mojo said

Mojo walked next to Jenna, the two approached "Can we help?" Jenna asked as she motioned to the items in Gaia's arms. "I'm Jenna, this is Mojo and you are?"

"Gaia" Gaia replied as she handed the items to the pair. "This is..." Gaia paused to look at Apu

"I am Apu, if the name on my armband is anything to go by." He glanced up at the sun. "And if that is any indication, I must make haste if I'm to get all the detritus out of the room by dark. That will allow me to start rebuilding my supplies." He was polite, but clearly his attention was on his task and not on conversation.

"Well, you certainly will need to eat now and again, no? When you have finished cleaning please come by the kitchen I will have something for you. Then maybe we can discuss what types of supplies I will need." Gaia turned and pointed at the building adjacent to his but at the other end.

Apu looked at the building and nodded. Then, without saying anything further, he headed back inside.

Gaia then picked up a piece of a cloth that she would use to clean with. Determination set in and Gaia moved to get to work, idle hands were never good and she had much to do to prepare so they could eat.

====

Samantha continued following the path through more fields of corn before she found a large wooden structure that had long since collapsed. "This looks interesting," she said, making her way carefully to the structure.

"It doesn't look very safe to go inside of." Alexandra cautioned Sam.

"No, but I can walk around it and maybe find a small entrance I can go in to look around. I have no intentions of exploring too far. It's likely to all come crashing down with only a little provocation."

Alexandra nodded. "I agree, ill stick right behind you and we can take it slow."

Sam nodded and slowly walked around the perimeter, looking at the old building, noting its construction -- or what was left of it. It seemed to have a large double door in the front with a smaller door on the side. There had been a small door above the front double doors, indicating there were at least two levels.

A block of rotting grass of some sort indicated that the building may have housed animals, or their food. Sam took a few tentative steps onto the rotting wood and then decided it wasnt' safe. "I don't think we'll be looking any further. There's too much decay. Maybe we'll find another one of these that's in better shape."

A piece of wood fell down in front of Alexandra. "You're right, this thing could go any minute. Give me your hand, let's get out of here quick." She replied reaching out to Sam.

Sam let Alexandra help her back to the dirt. Then she brushed herself off and checked the sun. "We still have a bit of time. Let's see what else we can find before it starts to get dark."

Alexandra moved aside letting Sam walk by. "We need to find a large structure, I saw a lot of people who seemed like they were unsure of what to do and how to gather basic needs."

"There are a number of buildings back where we came from. But there are also a lot of people there, too. That's why I wanted to see what's out here," Sam said.

"We are going to have to get people to start working together if we want to survive. Groups are forming and I have a bad feelings things could get unsettled soon, especially with the fear and memory loss." Alexandra stated worriedly.

"Then we need to do something about that," Sam said cheerfully. "Tomorrow. Right now, we need to get settled for the night."

OFF

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Commander Alexandra Vance
Executive Officer

Colonel Damon Wolfe
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Warrant Officer Sterling Kamala IV
Security Investigations

Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum
Quartermaster

Gaia
Lounge Manager/Bazinga's Owner

Mojo
Lounge Worker

Jenna
Lounge Worker

 

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