Chapter 15

Dusty and James had to perform an unpleasant task.

Sean had helped them alter a cube before he left. They had stripped the lower level of one that had rooms in it and set it up to be storage and a workshop area. They had put in enough stores and equipment for building several homes if the prisoners wished.

They would have spare materials to make most things, tools to make them, chop wood, do gardening and fishing gear. Sean had provided a couple of power crystals and solar cells for the homes if they built them. Dusty had provided a couple of computers with help files, so they could design and plan their buildings.

The men would have grains and vegetables that they could plant and they added a cage of eight Earth chickens with a rooster and a male and four pregnant female camlas and the same again in woollies from Lee. If the idiots didn’t kill and eat the parents, the off-spring would provide enough meat in the years to come.

The island that Dusty had picked was close to one hundred and fifty square klicks in area, as seen on a map. The avocado-shaped island was roughly fifteen klicks at its longest and eleven at its widest. It sat in a huge bay that ran inland from the island, where a massive river several klicks wide fed into the bay.

It was on the east side and near the tip of the long arm of the boomerang-shaped continent at around the twenty-degree latitude south of the equator. The climate was more sub-tropical and it had a long growing season and didn’t get cold enough for snow in the winters.

The sea between the island and mainland stretched for no less than thirty klicks on the northern side and as far as forty on the southern side. The arms of the bay cut back towards the island, so it was semi-enclosed. An outer reef and another larger island protected the open sea side of the island from the worst of the storms.

If the men built a boat, it wouldn’t do them much good as far as leaving the island because the land around it was shielded. They could go deep sea fishing but not much else. The fifteen men she was leaving here would have to work it out themselves.

They hadn’t left them a huge amount in medical supplies because the men were all immunised. As long as they treated any wounds they received, they should heal up with no infection unless they come across something the immunisation didn’t cover.

The couple decided to place the cube near a well-protected inlet on the island that was on the south-west side. The island was just short of being classed as mountainous. It had a wide ridge of big hills that ran along its length from north-west to south-east and an old volcano cone towards the middle of the bulbous southern end was the home of a large lake. A modest-sized river ran down to the bay from the lake and it would provide plenty of fresh water.

The beach that was chosen was long and wide enough that the Striker could land on it. While the planet had seasons, the seas didn’t move as much as they did on Earth, so they only got big waves during storms.

Their AIs hadn’t detected any large animals on the island just like the rest of the planet. Cycad and palm trees were dominant on the foreshores with taller, flowering trees which produced fruits and nuts that were edible dominated the inland areas.

So far, the people who had explored areas of the continent had mostly found small birds, bugs and slugs to deal with. The birds ate the bugs or plants and the bugs tended to eat the plants or each other. The bugs hadn’t really bothered the humans unless they were invading their space. With no big animals, the planet didn’t have any blood-sucking insects.

Dusty and James cleared a fifty square meter area, so the prisoners had a place to build fires and even put up tents if they didn’t wish to live in the cube or simply wanted to spread out a bit. They placed the cube towards the back of the small cut-out they had made and so it faced the sea to the west. They spelled it so it couldn’t be moved or washed away in a freak storm.

They used some of the trees they cleared to build a shelter that was three meters high and fifteen meters square, so it overlapped the front of the cube, so the prisoners had a rain-free area to use. They even cut and stacked the other trees they removed so they could use them for building with or firewood.

They then checked the shield over the island and made sure the men couldn’t leave the twenty kilometres diameter shielded area that covered the island. They then went to escort the men out of their cells.

When they entered the detention block, Rupert said, “So this is it, you’re just going to abandon us on an island in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, we could put you to sleep permanently or space you but that isn’t the Wizard’s way. We will come and check on you a couple of times a year but you, most likely won’t see us unless we want you too. Unless of course, we are dropping more of your cronies off,” Dusty told him.

She looked around at the sullen men, “Please put your hands together, so your fingers are interlaced.” She waited until they all obeyed before casting a spell. “I will release the spell once you are in the cube.”

“What sort of cube?” Rupert asked confused.

“Oh, I think you will like the cube. We’re not leaving you with just a length of fishing line and a Bowie knife to fend for yourself,” Dusty replied. She opened the cells and using her baton, extended into a stave, she pointed the way.

One of the men tried to run when they passed an open doorway in the ship only to smash into a shield. He bounced back and landed on his arse on the floor with a mighty, “Oomph”.

James prodded the man with his stave, “We are Mages, idiot. Do you honestly think we didn’t remember to cover the exits?”

The other prisoners also started to remember that these were not ordinary MPs. The little show of power did a lot to subdue them into behaving. They also remembered why they couldn’t unlace their fingers. 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 the sea wasn’t quite as saline as Earth’s was.

“Yep, it’s a nice island. You have one and 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 and with 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 then into it. They didn’t go far into the cube because they were too astounded to do so. One of the men even walked back out to walk around the cube and then he came back in. “Fucking amazing,” he grinned.

“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 at home at night.”

“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 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, 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 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 aright 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 thirty centimetres shorter than the one-ninety centimetres tall, well-built African but he had never backed down to the man as it wasn’t in his fiery Scottish natured to do so.

“Well, we will leave you to it. Settle in, decided 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. She then waved her stave and turned to the door.

All of the prisoners found their feet glued to the floor and they couldn’t move. They watched as the two MPs left. Rupert looked at Joey once they felt the spell leave them and said, “What the fuck was that about?”

Joey shrugged and grinned, “Search me, but she did kiss me back. She used her tongue and all.” He flicked his tongue lewdly in a licking motion.

“Fuck, you’re a lucky bastard, Joey. I bet you’re going to jack-off for weeks thinking about that kiss,” Franky said.

Joe just grinned and thought about what Dusty said, it did have him a little worried, as he did get the oddest sensation that seemed to invade his body.

“So what was that about?” James asked Dusty as they walked back into the bridge of the ship.

The two of them had found they could fly the ship by themselves with little trouble. Having the vambraces linked to the ship didn’t hurt either. Dusty released the spells on the men and then found her seat beside James who liked to fly the ship.

Dusty chuckled, “You did feel that Joe had magical abilities didn’t you?”

“Yes and so did several of the other men, even Rupert had latent abilities,” James replied.

“Do you think Joey is going to like being a shape-shifter?” Dusty asked.

James started to chuckle and then let out a big laugh. “Dusty that was just plain mean.”

“Well it solves their need for women,” Dusty replied. “And Joey kissed me; I didn’t force him to do it.”

James shook his head and took them back to the compound.

The next six days were a hive of activity in the new community.