Our People (the Third Book of the Her Weakness series)

Chapter 111

Clarke's POV

We talk while Raven's mysterious device cools. She still doesn't tell us what it is and it just makes me even more curious. Knowing her, it could be pretty much anything. And that's not exactly a comforting thought.

I glance at the device again to try to figure out what it is. I look quickly because I'm trying to be subtle and notice that there's two different things next to each other. She built two things? They both seem to be flipped over. I don't have the vaguest idea what they are.

I snuggle up further against Lexa and her arm automatically tightens around my shoulders. The wind picks up for just long enough to whip Raven's hair into her face again and she scowls while we laugh.

"Do you think they're cool yet?" Octavia asks, trying to sound casual but there's excitement and curiosity in her voice. She's just as intrigued as I am.

"Only one way to find out." Raven responds.

She pulls the blanket closer to her and slowly brings her index finger closer and closer to the metal. It seems like we're all holding our breaths. Is she drawing this out so she can feel if the air around it is hot or is she trying to make us even more curious? Because if it's the second one, she's succeeding spectacularly.

Raven touches the metal (finally) and yelps, drawing her finger back. She immediately puts it in her mouth, frowning. We all move closer to her, worried. She pulls it out again and grins at us.

"Just kidding! Yeah, it's cool now." Octavia punches her in the arm before I get the chance to. "Ow!" She whines, rubbing her arm.

Octavia definitely didn't hold back her strength on that punch. Much. If she just punched her as hard as she could, Raven might have a broken arm instead of a bruised one.

"You deserved that, babe." Octavia says sternly, poking Raven in the side and making her giggle. Raven's ticklish? "You made us worry!"

"Sorry, O. I won't do that again, I promise." Raven says, kissing her cheek. "Do you want to see what I made?"

"Yes."

She picks up one device, flipping it over. It looks similar to a video game controller that we had in the game room of the Ark.

"This is the controller. And this is the... Hang on."

Raven grabs her bag and goes through it. She pulls out an old marker victoriously. She scribbles on the other device, her tongue sticking out as she focuses. It still works? That's insane.

Raven sets it on the deck and I get my first good look at it. It's a robot. A tiny robot. Because of course it is. It has a square metal head with a drawn on smiley face. It's eyes aren't drawn on and are some sort of light contraptions. They look kind of like the glass end of a flashlight. It's cute. It has a rectangular body and no neck, wire arms sticking out of the sides of it. The legs are grey and metal and the feet are slightly curved upwards.

"You built a little robot?" Lexa asks. "This is your big surprise?"

"You haven't seen anything yet." Raven's words and her confidence make me nervous.

She pulls a block of wood and sets it on its side. The larger side is facing us and the robot on the fireproof blanket. Raven sets the robot on the other end of the blanket and picks up her controller.

"Power on," she murmurs. "And safety... off."

What? Safety? Why would a tiny robot need a safety switch?

She presses a button on the controller and at first, the robot does nothing. Then, I can hear the faint hum of a motor. It's left leg moves up and it balances on it's right one, then it does the same with it's other leg. For a robot, it has really good balance.

Raven laughs happily. "It works! It's alive!" She says dramatically.

"It's not really alive, is it?" Octavia asks hesitantly like she's not sure she wants to know the answer.

"No worries, it's not an AI. Just a robot. Her name is Boomy."

"Did you make an explosive robot?" I ask incredulously.

"What? No! Though that's a good idea..." Raven trails off until Octavia elbows her. "Ouch. Violent much?" She kisses Octavia quickly to show she's not actually mad. "I named her after that one crazy king guy with a giant rabbit for a pet."

"From Avatar: the Last Airbender?" I chuckle.

"Don't forget Aang named his own crazy kid Boomy." Octavia chimes in.

"Right." Raven says. "But you'll see why I named her that."

She presses a lever forward and the robot... Boomy walks forward a few steps. I'm impressed, she made this all on a boat. And it works.

"Cute," I remark.

Raven's grin widens. Her thumb hovers over the large red button in the middle and I brace myself. Big red buttons are NEVER good. Especially when it's been built by Raven.

The robot is still stopped where it is. She presses the button and for a second, nothing happens. Then, a bright red stream of light shoots out of its eyes. I flinch immediately and wrinkle my nose at the smell of burning wood. Wait. Burning wood? Has she set the boat on fire? My eyes adjust to the brightness and my jaw drops. Boomy is carving something into the side of the block of wood. It's too bright for me to tell what it is.

Raven's fiddling with a lever thing in the shape of a plus sign to move around the light. When she's done, she presses the red button again. The red light fades out of existence and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. On the wooden block is sloppy but legible writing. She wrote with a laser. If that's not impressive I don't know what is. The letter are burned into place and crude, but it clearly spells out "Raven is awesome."

Cool, right? Raven is awesome! Next chapter, we learn of pirates! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!