Beyond the Stars

Mayhem in the Camp

With a snap of his fingers,  Luce cloaked himself in shadows. Double checking to see if no humans were around, He then dashed up to the canopy of the tree beside him, practically soaring over the branches. He perched on the highest branch, and once getting comfortable - carved an X onto the bark. He reached into his enchanted pouch, retrieved his telescope and unfurled it. He cast his sight on the bonfire, noting who was around it.

The orders were to simply keep an eye on the mysterious group and report anything noteworthy. If they proved to be dangerous - annihilate them. As he observed them, it became clear that they would destroy themselves first. They were always fighting amongst themselves, never having enough supplies, and dropping like flies. There were some pushing back against this. There was a black haired, olive skinned woman who was always trying to come up with mechanical solutions. A man with deep brown was always improving upon weapons, and even helping to make some defense systems. There was a sunburned man trying to preserve as much food as possible. Even so, they were a handful compared to the myriad of paranoid humans who would destroy everything in a mob.
~*~
 
  "...Well then, why in The Lord's good graces are we still here then!?"

  Mariah took a step back, her hands in front of her chest, palms facing outwards. I shouldn't have picked a fight with one of these conspiracy nuts. I should've minded my own business. She couldn't help herself, whenever she heard some outlandish statement she had to challenge it with her arsenal of logic. Almost invariably, people would get hostile. Even if she was asking questions gently. "I don't know, there has to be a logical, scientific explanation..."

  "That's just it! Maybe the answer defies science itself!"

  "How can something defy science? Almost everything that has been observed within our universe has a scientific explanation. If something is outside of our reasoning, we can discover more about it in the future. After all, new knowledge is built upon previous findings."

  "No, no! What I'm trying to say is that maybe what's going on is supernatural!"

  "That doesn't seem right. Every supernatural phenomenon has been demonstrated to have earthly mechanisms behind it."

  Samuel huffed. There's no getting through to this girl! Her mind was clouded by skepticism and corrupted by the ungodly forces of the world. "This conversation isn't going anywhere and I'm done wasting my time. Only God and Jesus can save you now."

  Mariah stared at the would-be pastor. Her eyes flaring. His words struck a very sensitive chord within her. She was so tempted to lash out and scream at him. How dare he try to lecture her on faith and science, only to dismiss her outright when she wouldn't submit to his reasoning! Her blood was boiling and her sight was going red with anger. How easy would it be to walk up to this evangelizer and slap him in front of his flock? She wanted to. Instead she took a deep breath and kept her temper under wraps as best as she could. As easy and as satisfying as it would be, it would only be a temporary reprieve. Not only that, it could make things worse. She hotly responded, "Fine. If you want to have a reasonable debate, you know where to find me." As he stormed off, she let out a frustrated groan. There's no getting through to any of these fanatics; it's like they shut their mind of to reason, or at least a differing perspective. Bunch of friggin' idiots!

  Conspiracies were spreading like a virus, to which no one was immune. Whenever someone died, they were used as fuel for theories. The pilots and the rest of the staff were losing control of the situation, which made everyone tense. And when they felt frightened, they were less likely to listen to the pilots. They began making up their own answers to satiate their fears. Which made the pilots lose their grip.

  Fights even broke out. Not just verbal, but also fist fights. It happened between members of different groups and on an intergroup level. They always began with an argument, be it about some duty or a hypothesis on why they were there. Tensions inevitably rose and it became a matter of time when punches were thrown. It unnerved her, most of the passengers were educated adults and here they were brawling like children. Once she had witnessed someone coldcock someone else in the face for not doing the laundry properly.