The Arks: Over Heaven

Chapter 21: Familiar Faces

Original Post Date: Feb 8, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Griffin, next chapter in Giant Bee.

~

Neddy and Ruby were wandering the lone camp of the Book Club, trying to find some new people to meet and make new friends. After fighting for their lives the past 24 hours, they were eager to meet someone who wasn’t out to kill them.

“Hey Ruby, do you think we’re going to meet anyone we know here?” Neddy asked Ruby. Ruby shrugged.

“No idea. I didn’t even know we had a book club at Terran High. You know there was so much beef and drama going on, I would think people wouldn’t be occupied with… reading.”

Ruby paused as she stared at a boy who was sitting by the campfire and reading without a care in the world. The book was old and torn, but there was a clear title on the book, “A World of Dinosaurs”. The boy had thin, blonde hair that was brushed back and a fresh set of cloth clothes. He too had an implant like the others.

“Can you believe this guy? Reading at a time like this?” Ruby asked with disbelief in her eyes.

“I can’t believe it at all… And I thought I was the biggest nerd on this island.”

The boy’s head suddenly tilted up, and he stared at the two dead in the eye. Then he got up, put his book away, and walked up to the two.

“Hey there, I don’t recognize you… You two looking to settle down here with the rest of us humble bookworms?” the boy asked with a smile.

“Oh, he seems nice,” Ruby thought, “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that…”

“Yeah, yeah we are,” Neddy said, reaching his hand out to shake the boy’s. They both shook hands and introduced themselves.

“My name’s Neddy, and this is my friend Ruby,” Neddy told the reader, “The one named Ben was able to bring us here safely, so I gotta thank him for that. He’s a pretty cool dude, and this seems like a pretty nice place. You all did some good work here.”

“Oh thank you so much,” the reader replied with a smile, “I don’t do much around here though… I mostly help feed the animals and I try my best to help people out. My name is Rick, if you’re wondering. I consider myself a hardcore reader if I do say so myself.”

“Well, how many books have you read?” Ruby asked curiously.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one, I’d say at least a few thousand?”

“WOW, that’s a lot…” Ruby spoke with shock.

“Yes, it seems crazy, I know, but books are just like my bread and butter. I love reading a lot, it’s why I joined the Book Club all the way back in freshman year. I was one of the first members,” Rick said, “I’ve been around so long people have literally called me the ‘One Who Reads’. I appreciate the title, but I’ve always wanted to write too.”

“Oh writing? That’s pretty nice, have you got any book ideas or started writing yet?”

“Yeah, it’s right here, actually,” Rick said while pointing at the book he was carrying, “I always carry it around with me to remind myself that I can become a better writer if I put my mind to it. And I know I can.”

“That’s very admirable, Rick,” Neddy said, “Well you have any other cool individuals you want us to meet?”

“Hmm, you can go meet the builder of the settlement. He touched that beacon and then he was able to make a bunch of huts for us to live in. I love the guy for it. Right now he’s probably at work building some more things, so I’m sure if you walk around and look for him you’ll find him.”

“Oh, okay, well thanks! And nice meeting you!” Ruby said. The two walked off, leaving Rick to read his book in solitude once more.

~

Meanwhile, Samuel and Aurora were patrolling the western side of the camp. Samuel wanted to take this opportunity to get as much information and details about Ben as he possibly could.

“I need to know what his implant attribute is. And more importantly, what his deal with this camp is. I need to know what his story is like,” Samuel thought as his eyes wandered meekly.

Eventually, the two ran into a small little pen that was filled with giant snails. The snails were purple and had orange shells, and as they crawled around the dirt they left a sticky sediment, which two people were collecting. A tall looking boy with a deep tan and brown hair, and a goth girl with a black lipstick and thick boots made of dinosaur hide.

“Hey, you two,” Samuel called out the two. The two looked up, and the boy waved while the goth girl just raised her eyebrow.

“What do you want?” the goth girl asked sternly.

“Relax, Paige, they are probably new people here, I think Ben brought them here, as Tiffany had requested,” the boy beamed with joy. Paige squinted her eyes at Samuel, then walked up to the two.

“Well this is just freakin’ great. We got the sassy little valedictorian here with some rude chump who thinks he owns the place. Who do you think you are?” Paige sneered. Aurora stared at Paige with discontent.

“Paige!” the boy warned, “Don’t be mean.”

“I do whatever I want, Chris,” Paige snarled back. Just like Ben, they also had stone tools on their belts, but Paige had a club strung to her back that looked like it could knock someone out with one fell swoop. She also had a black shirt with the words “Goth Power” plastered on it. Samuel didn’t even know you could make a shirt like that here on this island.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Samuel reassured her.

“Don’t care. What’s your business here?”

“Nothing, we just wanted to say hello,” Aurora scoffed, “Jeez. What’s your damn problem?”

“Whatever. Sorry, I guess,” Paige replied while rolling her eyes, “I’m Paige.”

“I’m Samuel,” Samuel introduced himself, “This here’s my ally Aurora.”

Then Samuel picked up Star, showing her to the two proudly.

“And this here is my buddy Star.”

“A dodo bird? Really?” Paige said with unamusement.

“Yes.”

Chris’ face brightened as he saw the dodo bird.

“Hey, I have one too!” Chris said cheerily. Star looked like she was about to gag, “Although, he’s not very bright.”

Chris looked over at a dodo bird that had an abnormally big beak. It seemed to struggle to walk, and it constantly bumped into the fencing.

“Maybe they could be friends,” Chris suggested wholeheartedly.

“No,” Samuel replied swiftly as Star shook her head, “But, we do mean to ask: Do you guys really know Ben?”

“Oh, Ben?” Paige laughed, then she began to recall, “No. Not really. He’s only been around Terran High since senior year. I heard he moved schools, that’s why. Something about his old school being filled to the brim with bad people.”

“So Ben’s only been around since senior year. No wonder why I haven’t heard of him. He sounds like the type of guy who would get himself involved with the school,” Samuel pondered. Then he turned to Chris. “What about you?”

“Oh Ben’s a fun guy to talk to. Sometimes I feel a little bummed cause it feels like I don’t fit in with the others,” Chris shared, “I’m not a writer like most of them are, and usually I can’t make it to meetings because I’m too busy. But he always plays card games with me, which is nice of him.”

“Wait, wait, you’re saying the people here are also writers?”

“Yeah. Most of them are. Some of us aren’t, like Paige here, and… Skyler.”

“Skyler’s not a writer,” Samuel realized, “Hmm. So she’s just a reader, and she really seems to believe in this Obelisk story of hers being the true story of this place. But Ben and Tiffany think it’s something else. Who do I trust? How will I escape this island if nobody knows which is the correct scripture?”

“Oh and, Ben is not a writer.”

“What?”

“He is not a writer,” Chris revealed, “Actually, he WAS. He was a writer. Yes. I remember it now. He said he had this story that meant a lot to him. But he said he never had the heart to finish it. I don’t know why.”

“This information is getting me nowhere,” Samuel thought grimly, “I was just trying to figure out who Ben was and now I’m getting this sappy crap. I’m done digging. Ben’s off my radar for now.”

“Well thanks for that, you two,” Samuel thanked the two, when suddenly Skyler’s voice cut through the air.

“TIME FOR OUR MEETING!”

“Oh, it’s the nightly meeting. Well all of us should go then, it’s usually very important,” Chris explained. Paige nodded in agreement, and the two walked off while Samuel and Aurora followed.

~

Neddy and Ruby, before being interrupted by the bell, were chatting away with the builders of the settlement, who introduced themselves as Bobby the Survivor and Simon.

Bobby the Survivor was a very bulky, very strong, young boy who was responsible for building the houses and other structures of the camp, their sole defense against dinosaur threats.

“My gem allows me to build things super fast,” Bobby explained as he pointed at his gem, “It’s like instant! I’m amazed I can do something like this. Well it makes sense, I’ve always wanted to be a construction worker.”

“Heh heh, that’s cool, that’s kinda like my ability,” Ruby responded, “I can craft things super duper fast.”

“Oh seriously? Then I think we can make a great team!”

The four of them all laughed, and then Simon told them what he could do.

“I am Simon, the strongest boy here in the Book Club,” Simon said while flexing his muscles. He was indeed pretty ripped. He had sandy hair and his clothes were fit to burst. Unlike the other Book Club members he had metal tools instead of stone ones. He also carried a thick looking backpack on his shoulders.

“If you’re wondering, I can carry an infinite amount of things,” Simon revealed, “I guess all those years of carrying sandbags to and from school… They don’t call me the Sand Master for a reason.”

“You can carry an INFINITE amount of things?!” Neddy gasped.

“Yeah, pretty much, except sometimes I don’t even have room to put them anywhere, so that’s the only problem with my ability…” Simon murmured, “Well, I’m responsible for going out and gathering materials for Bobby here to build. It’s a good arrangement, I’m glad things turned out this way. At least I didn’t end up like Gary and have to hunt stuff, that sounds really scary.”

“Gary? As in Gary the Ghost Gamer?!” Neddy gasped in shock. Bobby grinned and gave a thumbs-up.

“Yep that’s right, the famous MrGhostGamer himself, didn’t think a pro gamer would be in the book club reading and writing along with the rest of us?” Bobby snickered.

“Dude… I’m like his biggest fan! I’ve always wanted to talk to him! But I would think he wouldn’t want to talk to some stinky guy like me in computer engineering.”

Ruby slugged Neddy on the shoulder and laughed.

“Oh come on Neddy, you don’t stink! And if you really think you do you can go to the river and wash off. It’s right in front of camp.”

“I guess you’re right… Maybe I should go take a swim in the river some time soon, it’d be relaxing.”

Simon cleared his throat, and the two redirected their attention to him.

“Yeah well, he’s actually pretty nice. I’m sure you two can be buddies in no time,” Simon said. Suddenly, Skyler shouted out that a meeting would take place. Bobby and Simon explained the routine to Neddy and Ruby, and thus everyone headed to the campfire.

~

Ben, who had just awoken from his memory, remembered that he needed to check on the plants that he had helped grow with his…

“With my power,” Ben continued. As he continued to stroll to camp, he looked at the hibiscus flower he still had on him. The flower he had kept with him since his birthday all that time ago. The only thing that was left of-

“I need to stop thinking about that,” Ben muttered to himself, “Or else I will see another memory.”

After walking around to the back of the camp, he saw that all of his crops were growing well. Some were already developing fruits, much to his delight. By digging through the bushes of the island the Book Club had been able to discover some seeds that they wished to grow for crops. Ben looked at the many crop plots and saw carrots, potatoes, lemons, and corn growing from the soil. Amazing.

“And… Where is Sunny?” Ben asked aloud.

Right upon saying those words, Ben was ambushed by a girl with bright, orange hair that was white on the end, almost as if she looked like a fox. Frightened by the incursion, Ben jumped in fear and let out a shrill scream. Somehow.

The girl laughed and pointed at Ben, “Ha ha! Looks like I scared you! Don’t worry, I was just grabbing fertilizer for the crops to grow!”

“Oh, sup Sunny,” Ben said with a sigh of relief, “I’m back from the expedition. I managed to find four recruits.”

“And are they good people? They aren’t like bullies, are they?” Sunny wondered.

“No. They are not,” Ben answered, “We even got the valedictorian, Aurora. They’re actually quite the fun bunch, I must say. But, two of them give me bad vibes. No, scratch that, THREE of them give me bad vibes.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Samuel, Aurora herself, and… this weird dodo bird that Samuel keeps around, Star,” Ben explained, “Aurora seems awfully quiet, especially around Samuel, but apparently she turned to leave and abandon the other two, Neddy and Ruby, so I don’t trust her.”

“WOW. The valedictorian decided to just abandon them?”

“Yeah, but I think they’ve made up, I think. But I wouldn’t say to put it past her to just leave us and take our resources. I am going to keep a close eye on her,” Ben decided, “And that Samuel guy, I think he was the leader of their little group. I know they claimed Aurora was, but, maybe it’s a hoax to throw me off. His eyes are very creepy, it’s like there’s nothing in them.”

“Hmm, so you don’t think they should be trusted?” Sunny asked.

“I think we can trust them, they don’t seem evil, but we should just be careful around them. We don’t know what they’re planning.”

“And what about the dodo bird? How does it even relate to all of this? It’s just a stupid little bird, right?”

“No. It is not,” Ben reasoned, “It’s very smart, actually. It almost acts human, I can even see into its eyes. It's like an explosion of orange and red, even though they’re so small and beady.”

“That is weird.”

“Not only that, but Samuel does not refer to Star as an ‘it’, but as a ‘she’, almost as if she was one of them, and not just a steed of war,” Ben said, “It might sound a little crazy, but what if, what if this dodo is a human? We don’t know their implant attributes, and what if that dodo is a shapeshifter who can turn into dodos and unsuspecting animals and then wreak havoc when the moment strikes-”

“Okay relax, relax,” Sunny reassured him, “There’s no way they could do that. There’s more of us, less of them, and we have the scriptures to help guide us. We have an advantage they don’t, okay? For now, just leave it alone,” Sunny said.

Ben sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“You put your faith in people too much, what if they’re dangerous and hurt us?”

“They won’t. You said it yourself that they didn’t seem evil from their eyes,” Sunny said, “And besides, what good is living if we don’t have faith in the people around us?”

“TIME FOR OUR MEETING!” Skyler suddenly screamed out into the air.

“Oh, well I guess it’s time for the meeting,” Sunny said. She patted Ben on the shoulder, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Ben nodded, and the two walked off.