Chapter 33

The men stepped out into the sunshine and fanned out a little to look at their new home.

“Damn, this is way better than that bloody swamp,” one man said and breathed in the fresh, lightly-salted air since this planet’s seas weren’t quite as saline as Earth’s were.

“Yep, it’s a nice island. You have fifty square klicks to roam plus the extra, courtesy of the range and the big hills. That probably gives you about half that again.”

“We made sure it had plenty of the native, fruit-bearing trees on it and other edible plants. Sorry, but the birds and bugs come with the territory,” James told him.

“Nice,” one man said, looking around the bay and over the island. “It’s a shame the damn freighter didn’t crash here.”

“Yes, but the mainland near here would have been even better,” Dusty added. “Just be aware that you can’t get to the mainland. The entire island is under a shield. You can go out in a boat to fish, but the shield will turn you back if you go too far. Come and see your new home.”

She pointed up the beach, and the men started heading in the direction indicated. They stopped when they saw the cube with the wide shelter in front.

“What the fuck! We can’t all fit into that,” Rupert exploded.

James chuckled and walked past him. He opened the door and waved Rupert in. The rest dubiously followed when Dusty waved them into it. They didn’t go far into the cube because they were too astounded to do so.

One of the men even left to walk around the cube. When he came back in, he grinned, “Fucking amazing.”

“Okay, Cook’s Tour,” James said. “One of the first jobs you should do is release the animals. You may wish to build a yard to put them in.”

“The observant may have noticed the pile of timber outside. I’d definitely recommend a pen for the chooks. We supplied wire for it to keep them close to home at night. Not that there are any predators on this island other than you lot.”

“Down here are the storerooms. We have supplied grain, seeds and the tools to plant gardens. The food storerooms have preservation spells on them, so the food and grain won’t go off. However, you will want to keep the doors closed on them because the bugs can also live in them just fine.”

“You should have enough tools to last you for a while and materials so you can build the basics. We even included self-help files and a library in the computers upstairs. Also, upstairs are ten bedrooms. Half of them have two single beds; you guys work it out,” he said as he led them upstairs to show them.

“There are two ablution blocks, a lounge room, a dining area and a big kitchen up here. I’ve locked off access to the systems rooms, so you may not wish to shove things down the loo, as no guards will be coming to unblock them. The place is also fireproof.”

“With the amount of land that you have here and the availability of building equipment, some of you may wish to build your own homes. You will be here for the rest of your lives, so make the best of it. I also seriously suggest you don’t cull the animals until you have replacements.”

He gave them all a hard look, “The female animals are all pregnant, and this time next year, their offspring will be ready to eat. They can have multiple births. You have plenty of meat in storage, plus growing the chickens and fishing should see you through to next year.”

“All I need is a wife, and I’m set,” a short, stocky man covered in tattoos and called Franky said, with a big lopsided grin to follow his words.

“Sorry, bad-arse women seem to be in short supply. You may need to settle for Sayyad,” Dusty replied.

Although she had a feeling that Sayyad didn’t like being the bitch in the relationship.

“It’s alright, Franky; you can pick one of the sheep-looking things. Just mark it so we know not to eat your wife,” Nuru sneered.

“I just might do that,” Franky answered to spite the man, and quite a few of the men chuckled.

He might have been a good 30cm shorter than the 190cm tall, well-built African, but he had never backed down to the man as it wasn’t in his fiery Scottish nature to do so.

“Well, we will leave you to it. Settle in, decide how you are going to live and make the best of it. We could have a few friends for you in a few weeks or so, as we believe there is another group of pirates to disband,” Dusty told them.

She noticed several of the men were not surprised by this news. As she turned to leave, Joey, who had moved quietly behind her, dropped his arms over her head and pulled her head down for a kiss.

To his surprise, Dusty let him kiss her and didn’t struggle. He then felt his arms being forcibly removed from her head, and she stepped back away from him, but no one was touching him.

“You may live to regret that kiss, or you may find you enjoy the consequences; only time will tell,” she told him cryptically.