Isolation

Chapter 17

"Okay," Vera said. "I'm going to check over it one more time and make sure it's all hooked up into place. Could take a couple of hours."

"That's great. I'll just sit here and be useless."

"You're not useless," she said. "Just get some minions like Aiden to do stuff for you."

"That's not how leadership works," he said.

"It's not? Last I checked, that's the definition of being a leader. Telling people to do shit."

"That's only half the job."

"Fifty is still a failing grade," she said.

She went inside the ship. Mark looked at a couple of guys struggling to push branches up into a teepee style. He got up and walked over.

"I know how to make that easier," he said.

"How? They're so tall and heavy," one of them said.

"You're tying them with vine, right? But they keep shifting on you when you put it up. Lodge smaller limbs at the top while you're tying it so it doesn't shift. The weight will be easier to handle, and it'll give you more space inside."

"Where did you learn all this crap?"

"I read about it, actually."

Mark touched his comm.

"And I still have it!"

He opened his comm. Fortunately, it had a solar charging setting, so it wouldn't die during the day. He opened the book he had been reading.

"Yes, yes!"

It had different sections of different types of settlements. Each settlement had diagrams of their housing. Some were cabins, but there were Native American campsites that were documented.

"I can't believe I forgot about this," he said. "There's plans for farming and everything in here."

"Farming?" Aiden echoed. "Sounds a bit lame, don't you think?"

He was carrying branches full of leaves.

"We'll run out of food eventually," Mark said.

"I don't see any seeds," he said. "Or equipment."

"The TransArks always come with prepackaged seeds for farming. I'll ask James to grab some."

Aiden just rolled his eyes. He went back to work. Mark called James from his comm. They still worked on shortwave radio frequencies.

"Hey, have you made it to the river, yet?"

"Almost there. Why? Something wrong?"

"No. Remember that encyclopedia I had on my comm? It has plans for housing and irrigation farming. Can you grab some seeds for us while you're over there?"

"Sure thing. Have the foraging parties found any food?"

"Not yet. They haven't come back."

"I hope it doesn't take them much longer," James said. "We'll be starving pretty soon. At least there's still fresh water."

"In the ship? Yeah, there's plenty for a while. We might have to move the camp by the river when we run out, but that's okay."

"There might be a natural spring somewhere nearby," James said. "We should keep on the lookout for that, too."

"Good idea. Check in when you find the supplies."

"Will do."

James watched the call end. Austin coughed.