The Phoenix Colony

Allen nodded and gave a winning smile.

"I can be charming when the occasion calls. Your desires are my wishes and my commands Madam President."

His smile was real...well, mostly. It was time to see if he still had it. This planet might have changed a lot of things, but he was still Allen Kiro.

Juliano spoke up. "I'm pretty good in a fight too, and I can see at night."

 

((ok, let's get this show on the road before more people have to sleep. I'll do my best to keep up while multitasking))

A Hell Deer had been roasting over the bonfire for a good part of the day and Derek's fish had long since been eaten down to the last morsel when Frank and his group came to Reva's tribe's fire.

Fox and Chrys were in hiding with the rifle on higher ground where they could keep an eye on each other and the happenings below. Two of the tribe members stayed hidden inside the cave, ready to defend it, and the rest kept company with Reva, apparently at ease around the fire.

 

Derek blinked. Not a normal blink, but instead one of the long blinks that can often turn into sleep at a moment's notice. He shook himself awake and looked up to see Frank approaching with his crew. Derek stood and said "Woah there buddy. What do you want?"

 

"What? You weren't expecting us?" said Frank sarcastically as he took a seat on his end of the bonfire, folding his legs, his men following suit. "Now how about we cut the crap and get down to some business," he began, tapping his knee to the beat of 'Don't Stop Me Now'. "We came here to discuss a few things, namely that big monster who ate Mr. Freeman, and to a lesser extent, how we're going to coexist peacefully." All the while, that little earworm fought it's way into Frank's thoughts.
I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go go go
There's no stopping me

 

Raylene focused directly on the leader. He took his seat and began speaking. She pushed past the spoken words and all she could hear was the crappy rock band her husband obsessed over. She looked over at Reva and shrugged. The signals they decided on were running a hand through her hair if things were kosher, slapping her thigh if there was any immediate threat, and touching her nose if he was lying. How do you signal that he's singing Queen?

 

"Issues that we are interested in as well, Mr. Sellyon."

Reva replied pleasantly from her place across from Frank. Derek and Chad flanked her and Raylene was to her right where Reva could see the prearranged signals.

"Would you and your men care for something to eat?"

The meat was browned, crisp in spots with the sizzle of fat falling into the fire. There were rudely fashioned containers of leaves and twigs for beans, berries, fruits, and nuts. Some sweet-potato like tubers had been roasting as well.

Reva caught the shrug from Raylene and tried not to grin. She would be interested to find out what that was about later.

 

"Honestly, that sounds heavenly," said Frank, noting the feast before him. He turned and nodded to his men, who immediately sprung on the food, while he himself took his time. Slowly eating a bit of meat, resisting the urge to stuff his mouth, Frank said, "You haven't got the slightest idea how hungry we are, none of us know how to hunt or gather, and we really do appreciate your hospitality." As he sucked up, his men ripped and tore at the deer and emptied entire bowls of the little bits of food. Sighing a bit in embarrassment, Frank continued, "Perhaps you could teach a few of these fine . . . men to find such a glorious feast."

In his head Frank screamed, AND SOME CIVILITY! He shook his head as he ate a bit more. Calm down, how does it go?
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man of you!

 

Allen leaned forward looking at Frank earnestly.

"I hope you don't mind me asking this before the buisness at hand. I couldn't help but wondering how it is that you came to be in charge of this group." He motioned at the man's uniform. "Wouldn't that put them off?"

 

Raylene ran her hands through her hair and grabbed a bit of the meat for herself before the savages ate it all. All of this mind work made her extremely hungry. She looked at Reva again and just sighed.

 

Dear God, they're savages! Reva had a hard time keeping the thought to herself but she managed.

"There is plenty for all of us," Reva's voice was silky steel and a few of Frank's men looked a little abashed, "to enjoy a meal together."

Though she felt like they were breaking bread with wild dogs, Reva took the sliver of metal she had borrowed from Fox and handed it to Chad to slice strips of meat with. Taking some of the containers that had not been grabbed by the men she began to pass them among her tribe.

She ate neatly as possible in the barbaric circumstances, interested to hear Frank's answer to Allen's question. There was some problem with the mind reading. Well, even with the 'all ok' signal she would just have to assume it wasn't working.

 

"I hope you don't mind me asking this before the buisness at hand. I couldn't help but wondering how it is that you came to be in charge of this group." He motioned at the man's uniform. "Wouldn't that put them off?" asked a man with a bad arm.

"Not at all," said Frank. "When you've worked the streets as long as me, you learn how to tame savages," his voice crescendoed on the word savages. "You learn who they are, what they do, how to deal with them. As my partner, God bless his soul, once told me it's all a matter of perspective." Frank felt a jerk in him, a tinge of anger as he remembered Dan, but he blocked it out.
Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't want to stop at all!

"There is plenty for all of us," Reva's voice was silky steel and a few of Frank's men looked a little abashed, "to enjoy a meal together."

"Indeed it is," he replied, smiling a bit as his men's hunger was sleight a bit, as was their barbaric mannerisms.

 

Raylene decided she was confused at this point. She knew he was blocking. She rubbed her nose and ran her fingers through her hair. "Chad, quit blocking the heat. I'm still cold." She said, emphasizing the word she needed Reva to hear while she reached for more meat.

 

Reva caught the mixed signals and the significant word.

Damn, that makes no sense. How can he be blocking her when he has no idea there is a mind reader here?


As the meal progressed the atmosphere became slightly more cordial thought Reva found it impossible to relax as much as she probably needed to. She wondered if the others were having the same difficulty.

She also felt for those four people she had sent into hiding. They had eaten first but it still had to be difficult to watch a feast. Though Reva had to admit that Frank's men did kill the appetite a bit with their desperate gobbling.

"You mentioned learning to gather and hunt food," Reva said to Frank with a smile, "These foods are there for the picking just be careful with the first taste." She displayed a blue peach, "For instance we found out that for some people these are hallucinogenic. We can give you samples of the unharmful things we've found if it would help your own efforts."

 

Smith caught on quickly enough and gave a quick smile. "Ya, my bad." He said and scooted so that she had more room. He knew it wasn't nessisary but it'd at least lend to the realisim of the situation. He looked not at Frank but at one of his men. "So hunting not so good on your side of the forest?" He asked kindly, hoping to strike up a conversation, they bothered him staying quiet.

 

Raylene piped in, "We've killed these deer, a wild boar, more rabbits than we can count. Derek caught a fish today too. There are these horrible monkey things though that aren't very nice. We were almost hunted by 4 of them on our second day here, but we taught them who was boss. I'm sure there's more predators out there too, like that invisible thing. It's killed 2 of our friends."

 

Allen wondered how the man would take the news that it was invisible. He talked tough, and walked tough. That was apparent from his answer to the question. He also liked to brag a bit. That was usually the sign of a leader who needed his followers more than they needed him. Would he be able to keep them in line if things went bad?

 

As the man with the strange rash tried to strike up a conversation with Dwayne Frank was caught of guard. He had told them to keep their mouths shut, but he hadn't really expected them to have to actually speak. He waited, waited to here Dwayne to say something, and he didn't. Turning to him, he nodded.

Dwayne said in a deep voice, "No, not so good. We aren't hunters, I'm not at least. We're from the streets." He then turned away and continued to eat a bit more tamely.

Relieved at hopping that milestone, Frank looked back to Reva and said, "Anything you could offer us would be of great help, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, as we speak there might be something out there smelling the food." Grimace began to touch his words as he was reminded of the bloody outline of the shotgun in the snow, the image clear in his mind, then in a flash the blood brought him back to that night, that and the girls mention of loss. Dan dead, and him overwhelmed with grief, tears, and anger. The rush of emotion was almost to much, but he fell back to Freddy.
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite I'm out of control
I am a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to
Oh oh oh oh oh explode!

 

Wow, he had needed to get permision to speak, it was like a pack of wolves, the alpha was ruling with an iron fist. Smith wasn't disuaded so easily. "Not hunters Hu? Me neaither, but I think a man can learn to do anything he needs to in order to live." He said to the man, and took a bite of meat. He would get this man talking before the end of this meeting. "So how'd you meet Frank?" He asked hoping for an interesting and possibly telling story.

 

"Anything you could offer us would be of great help, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, as we speak there might be something out there smelling the food."

Reva was surprised to hear anxiety in Frank's voice and kept Raylene in her peripheral vision.

"I think we already know that something either smells the food or considers us food. Let's face it, Frank, any of us could be a tasty snack so let's compare notes about this thing, this invisible Beast.

"Have you and your men actually seen it?" Reva asked.

 

Dwayne looked up at Chad and said, "When the ship crashed he pulled me from the wreckage, me and Issac." His reluctance to talk continued as he ate. Over their offhand conversation, the two leaders continued:

"I think we already know that something either smells the food or considers us food. Let's face it, Frank, any of us could be a tasty snack so let's compare notes about this thing, this invisible Beast.

"Have you and your men actually seen it?" Reva asked.

"No," began Frank. "We haven't seen it, because it is, of course, invisible. We have sensed it, hell we were even tracked by it, one of the first days out here when the planet tried to murder us with that storm." Frank recalled the night with a sigh, but the morning after was much much worse. "Suffice to say, the thing is dangerous, all that blood from the storm's casualties must have sparked it, but we got lucky when we survived. Ever since we've been on the move, people who sit with that thing around die."

 

"We've had our own run-ins with it, obviously," Reva replied, "Two of our people were killed by it at night when they were away from shelter. "We had a run-in with it," Reva indicated Derek, not offering his name, "during the day. I think that might be unusual. And it practically bumped into me the night of the storm," a deep teeth-clenching shiver ran through Reva as she thought about the growl in the dark, "Human scent must have been new to it, then."

 

"It's definately developed a taste for human flesh. Considering the number that died in the crash, it probably ate it's fill on them, but when the flesh started to rot, it wanted fresh meat. I dreamed about it last night. We have to find it's weakness."

 

"Sweety," said Frank, "I think it's weakness will be it's hunger. This thing is a mindless ****ing animal, it will eat and eat and eat like some sort of Asian professional, you know, that guy who won the hot dog contest a few years back? Anyway, physically we're helpless, but mentally we have an edge. We need to bait it somewhere, with something, some food or maybe an egg, **** I don't know how it reproduces, all I know is if we can bait it we can kill it in a rock slide, or trap it, something that would give us the unfair advantage, because without one we're ****ed worse than a prostitute." Frank sat back and waited to see what the two thought of his plan.

 

Reva thought of it, "Eating and eating and eating" like they were a bunch of hot dogs and the vision of Ben rose in her mind, trudging through the snow with his shotgun. The whippy shapes of nothingness grew up quickly all around him, writhing, closing in tighter until...

She startled and blinked at Frank who lolled back now where he sat, looking at them expectantly.

"Bait...right," Reva replied, picking up scattered thoughts, "that could be a good plan." She struggled for composure, "Bait would be a problem. People aren't going to want to be bait. I think we need to know more."

 

Frank stood up and said, "Well this has been a blast, but I am getting tired. Besides, information just doesn't pop out of no where. You know the old saying, '1,000 hands at prayer are worth one in the field', well I figure we're going to catch a nap and get to the field." As he began to walk away his men followed quickly behind as he hummed, walking back towards the cave.
Don't stop me don't stop me don't stop me
Hey hey hey!
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh ooh (I like it)
Don't stop me have a good time good time
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh Alright
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you!