TOTU: The Territory of Tribe Two

They Didn't Kill Us

                  

Day 1

Carter wasn't on guard duty that night.

Instead, a tall woman with disconcerting yellow cat eyes opened their door and shoved a bundle of leather and fur blankets into Lochie's arms expressionlessly. She gave them their first drink— a water-filled bucket that looked like it was a metal sheet that had been hammered in the middle to resemble a bowl-like shape, with a few crude cups.

Milo was a bit disbelieving about a need for blankets, since it was so hot that he would swim in a puddle if he could, but he quickly changed his mind as the sun set, and the temperature dropped so fast it was like jumping up in the Sahara and touching back down in Antarctica. The hot-to-cold cycle was another thing that Milo had learned about but hadn't expected to be so... real?

Milo huddled in a tight circle with the Tom, Lochie, Arrakis and Ari, pulling a fur blanket tighter about himself, leaning against the back wall that had the window in it. The sun had completely set not long ago, leaving the camp swathed in darkness except for a silvery film of moonlight. Throwing his head back, Milo could see the Southern Cross, right over them. Looking back down, he supressed a shiver at the sight of their guard's glowing yellow eyes glaring towards them, her pupils dilated.

"As you may have guessed, this was not part of my plan," said Lochie conversationally, the first time he'd spoken in a while.

"Not your fault, Loch." Tom slunk lower against the wall, stretching his legs out. "We always thought this kind of thing could happen anyway."

"They didn't kill us," Ari added optimistically. Arrakis gave him a withering look.

"So," Lochie continued. "I'm fairly sure they took all our communications? Yeah?"

The others nodded.

"So that's all mobile phones, radios, pocket microphones." Lochie picked up a dry leaf and started tearing it into strips.

"They're not taking any chances after the last human group," Arrakis noted.

"Well, we were meant to contact the travel team and Base three days after reaching the tribe, with the chief's permission. We didn't want the tribe to take badly to electronics by pulling them out the first night. Base will track us and know that we've reached the camp, and if the signal is working then they should be able to monitor heart rates—"

"So they'll know we're alive," Milo cut in bluntly, squinting out the window at a flickering flame around a corner that someone must have just lit.

"So they know we're alive," Lochie accepted. "And so, they won't panic too much if we don't contact them on the third day. They'll probably assume that the signal is bad, but they will try to get through to us, but they won't be all-out until about a week after that. The travel team is heading out to Gibson Station to wait to pick us up when we're ready to go back. The Station is what... five days away?"

"Six," Arrakis corrected him. "Remember Base sent out bad weather warnings? Nothing too serious, but enough to slow them down."

"Sooooo..." Tom blew out air between his teeth. "We wait?"

"For now," agreed Lochie. "And so, we'll—"

"Lochie," interrupted Milo. "Look." The others followed his finger as he pointed up. They didn't spot it at first, but then saw the single light, floating higher and higher into the sky. A second later, more and more lights appeared, rising up from the camp.

"What are those?" Tom asked.

"They're lanterns. Nirigi," Ari said, sounding fascinated. "Some tribes do it as a celebration— the formal part of, say, a birthday. Then they hold a party the next night. I didn't know Tribe 2 made nirigi."

Milo lay down, folding his arms behind his head, and looked up at the lanterns. There were about a hundred now. He let out a breath and pulled a couple of blankets over him, then closed his eyes.