"...the forest for the trees" (closed)

[ManInTheLoft]

"...the forest for the trees"

Closed for MarieDavisRPs​

Robert Phillips sat at the edge of the clearing, hidden by thick foliage and the dark of night, waiting. It was Drop Night, and all across the thickly forested island, others were hiding and waiting as well.

To his left and right were those who'd sworn their fealty to him, members of the band of people Robert called The Reborn. They, like he, were convicted criminals, the worst of the worst, murderers and rapists and more. They'd been sent to this island to live out their remaining days, whether many or few, without the need or cost of jails and the men and women who ran them.

Although he didn't know where it was exactly, Robert knew that the island was somewhere amongst the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the extreme north of Canada. There was no other land in sight and no light pollution over the watery horizon at night to indicate any sense of humans in the vicinity.

There were only two signs that life continued to exist out in the world beyond this island: the occasional passing of international and military aircraft high overhead, and the bimonthly passing of a lower flying craft that delivered supplies to the island.

Drop Night was the only indication to Robert, The Reborn, and the other island inhabitants that anyone beyond their home cared a rat's ass about them. The convicts hadn't been sent here to die, per se; they'd only been sent here to forgotten by the rest of the world.

Robert had been on the island since shortly after his 34th birthday. He'd been in the Army for 8 years, most of it as a sniper. After his service, he'd become a very successful and well paid assassin. He'd killed men and women all over the world, more often than not yet not exclusively while looking at them through a scope from a very long distance.

The irony of Robert's being here now was that his most frequent and best paying client had been the very government that had sent him here. He considered himself lucky to be here, though: most people in his line of work were liquidated when their services were no longer desired.

Robert had been amongst the third group of convicts transferred en masse to the island from prisons across North America. After the fourth transfer, convicts had generally been dropped here one at a time, sometimes several a month, until finally new arrivals were very rare, maybe three or four a year.

Robert had been here now for 15 years.

"It's coming."

Robert looked to his left to the much younger man who everyone called the Gnome. Patrick O'Callaghan was a short, stocky man with a full beard, all of which together had resulted in his nickname. The Gnome, originally from England, had been part of a Canadian bank robbery gang that had during their long career been responsible for the killing of 9 innocent civilians and 3 police officers. He'd been sent to the island after killing an inmate and a guard during a failed escape attempt from his previous location of confinement.

The Gnome pointed to the southeastern sky, adding, "There. Maybe ... six, seven minutes. The wind makes it hard to tell. Maybe less."

Looking left and right, Robert told others from The Reborn, "You know what to do. Same shit, different day."

Six Reborn headed out slowly and cautiously into the scattered cover and gentle rolling ground of the clearing before them. Another six were already to the east and west, also hiding inside the tree line, and they headed forward as well. They moved silently and crouched down, to hide their presence under the light of an unfortunately bright full moon.

Robert wasn't expecting any trouble from the other organized bands or lone individuals living in this vicinity of the island, but you could never be too careful. All of his people were armed with bows, crossbows, and blades made of a variety of materials. The last two Drop Nights had gone without serious incident, but the one before that had included a fierce battle with a neighboring band. Two of the Reborn had died of their injuries, while the other band had lost three during the fight and, Robert had learned later, two more from injuries their bodies simply couldn't sustain.

Robert listened for the plane, then caught sight of it as it cleared the tree line to the south. The Gnome had been right on with his direction and distance, and less than 30 seconds later, the dark colored fabric of the parachutes of three replenishment pallet could be seen opening up.

Although only three were coming down within his sight, Robert knew that another three to eight had already been released farther south over the island. Each pallet held the same treasures: medicines, associated medical supplies, nutritional supplements, packaged foods, water purification treatment pills, clothing, blankets, and other supplies that sometimes varied between drops.

Typically, at least two pallets were released within sight of Robert's position, falling into the area controlled by The Reborn. The plane's crew wasn't intentionally aiming for the open clearing, of course, so often, Robert's people had to cut one or even both of the pallets out of the canopy of the thick forest either north or south of them.

But tonight, Robert was tickled pink to see that the furthest pallet visible to the south was going to fall inside the clearing, while the second would come down smack dab in the middle. He felt confident that his people would get to them first: his three scouts, who had been hiding out in the clearing since the night before, had given no sign that others from outside the Reborn had ventured to this particular clearing in the past 24 hours.

The plane passed almost directly overhead, the sound of its two propeller engines disappearing beyond the forest in which Robert's people lived and died. The Reborn's territory was at the extreme north of the island, and he expected to hear the crashing of yet a third pallet in the woods behind them, safely within their collection area.

And yet, the sound he heard behind him was far too subtle to be that of a four foot by four pallet of 200 to 600 pounds of supplies crashing through the forest canopy. He rose from his hiding position, listened a bit more, then hurried back into the forest as he called over his shoulder, "Gnome! Let's go!"

Robert ran back into the woods, following the well known and meandering trail for more than a hundred yards before suddenly coming to a stop. Gnome asked him in whisper, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Robert shushed him, then whispered, "Small drop."

Gnome knew what that meant, and even in the near darkness Robert could see the man's eyes widen in surprise. There was a sound off to their right that might have been a branch breaking. Robert gestured a direction with an extended finger and told Gnome, "Silently."

They two men headed off in paths that spread and then paralleled each other for another 60 yards or more. Robert searched the ground and canopy both, finding nothing for what seemed an eternity.

Then, he found branches that had been newly severed from a tree, and looking up into the canopy found the camouflage colored load. It wasn't a pallet but was a cylinder with a rounded bottom. It was a bit more than 12 feet in length and 5 feet in diameter: just large enough to house a human being and his or her initial supplies for life on the island.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Marie Davis regained consciousness already packed inside her delivery pod with her supplies. She'd been given a six hour orientation on what to expect after being transferred from the black site at which she'd been held for the past two years. Needless to say, this city girl from Southern California hadn't been too excited to learn that she was being dropped by parachute onto a forested island prison in Canada's wintery north. But, like Robert Phillips -- who she was about to meet -- she was happy to still be breathing.

Marie had never been good with small enclosed spaces. As a field reporter with the Associated Press and later a freelance investigative reporter, she'd been happy not to have ever worked in the confines of a tiny office cubicle. Regaining consciousness inside the pod with its opaque walls and low illumination from a pair of tiny LED bulbs had led instantly to claustrophobic panic, though, and she began screaming to be let out. She pounded on the curved walls and searched for some sort of handle or lock that would open the pod but found nothing.

She knew she was in an aircraft from both her previous orientation and the current sound and vibration. She couldn't know how long they'd been in the air, though, or how much farther they had to go before she was thrown out into the night sky like a whiskey bottle being disposed of by some drunk husband who thought his wife wouldn't be wise to his drinking with its discard.

"Miss Davis," a voice sounded over a little speaker somewhere in the pod, "we are three minutes from drop."

"No, no!" she screamed. "Tell them I'll talk! Tell them I'll name names! I changed my mind! Don't do this, please! Don't do this!"

For two years, Marie had stood her ground in regards to naming the sources behind her expose. Her six part article -- released while she was sitting behind bars for the theft and publication of classified materials -- had resulted in the resignation of more than 3 dozen military officers, 2 dozen high ranking members of the government, and the arrest of both many of these men as well as 28 civilians who'd had a hand in one of the largest corruption schemes in the country's history.

Marie had refused to cooperate with the authorities through her initial detention, her secret trial and sentencing, and her subsequent confinement at a black site in God knows where. She'd always believed that some do-gooder politician would come to her rescue eventually. And yet, here she was now, about to be dropped into the one of the most secretive detention programs in the world, from which she'd been told in no uncertain terms there was no release or escape.

Now, realizing that there would be no last second rescue, Marie called out her willingness to talk. But the voice ignored her, even talking over her. The man explained that the opening of the pod's chute would disengage the locking mechanisms to allow her to get out. "As you were told in your orientation, do not unlock the pod until you are on the ground, or the parachute will detach and you will fall to the ground and, in all likelihood, to your death."

"Please! Tell them I'll name names!" she continued pleading to no avail.

"After you are sure that you are on the ground," the man continued, "reach up above your head to the red handle and pull. The pod will disconnect from the chute, and you will be able to get out. Gather your supplies and hurry to find a safe place to begin your new life."

"My new life? My new life? Are you fucking--"

Marie had far more she wanted to say to the unseen man. But suddenly, there was a lurch and she felt herself moving. A moment later, the pod tipped over to its side, did a little twist, and rolled as she realized she had left the plane and was falling toward the earth. There was a hard jerk that swung the pod back and forth several times, forcing Marie into the restraints over her shoulders and around her waist and thighs. Marie realized that the parachute had opened, and all she could do now was just wait to hit the ground.

She didn't, though, instead crashing through what she would soon realize was the tree tops of the island's forest. Marie was buckled quite safely in her seat and stayed put, but the pain she felt now and would feel in other ways later would leave her thinking that the orientation needed a bit of an update. When she finally came to a rest, Marie knew from the gentle swaying and slow twisting left and right that she was dangling above the ground in a tree.

She panicked, wondering what would happen when she disconnected from the parachute. Was she two feet above the ground or ten? A hundred? She murmured to herself, "They couldn't have given me a fuckin' window? They gave the Mercury astronauts a window when they asked for it. But nooooo, not me."

Marie contemplated her options for several minutes. She considered just remaining in the pod until she froze to death or died of old age or some other form of exposure. I could just sit here and eat my supplies and shit my pants until I die of the stench, she thought. But the panic of claustrophobia was returning. Marie would rather fall to her death from the top of the world's tallest tree than remain in this coffin for another second.

Drawing several deep, calming breaths while convincing herself that this was necessary, Marie reached up, grasped the handle, tightened her grip, and jerked. The pod immediately began falling, with her screaming in panic. But after just six feet, it hit the end of a cable attached to a heavy duty spring which itself was attached to the parachute mounting, lessening the jolt of her fall. Marie found herself still dangling above the ground yet no longer trapped in a death tube.

She felt a rush of cold air surrounding her, but that was more than acceptable to no longer be confined in the pod. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but once they did, Marie realized that she was looking out upon the mid-sections of very tall trees: she was neither high in the canopy nor close enough to the ground to see it from her sitting position. She was no longer in a hurry to leave the pod, now that it was opened and giving her fresh air and relief from her claustrophobia.

But eventually, she unbuckled from her seat, grasped the pod's rim before her chest, and stood slowly to look around. The pod teetered a bit, scaring her, but Maria was able to look out and downward...

...where she saw in a beam of moonlight, two men looking up at her from some fifteen feet below. Marie realized suddenly that her heart was pounding a million miles an hour, but was it because of the drop, the stop, or the two men who -- like her -- had surely been sent here for their crimes. Marie was little more than a political prisoner who people in high places wanted disappeared. But she'd heard about the others on the island, and the stories of them had been more frightening to Marie than even the idea of being cooped up in a five foot across tube and dropped from the sky.

Not entirely sure what to do or say now that she was finally here, Marie thought of her current situation and how it might look to an average person back home with no knowledge of this unique prison and the ways people reached it. She looked at the men again, and said in an attempt at humor, "People of Earth, take me to your leader."

 

[ManInTheLoft]

"Is that what I think it is?" Gnome asked, whispering. He glanced around the forest for dangers. It wasn't likely that any one from outside the Reborn would be this far north, but people had lost their lives or had been taken captive by not paying attention to what they believed were safe surroundings. "I mean, it's gotta be, right?"

Robert responded by lifting a finger to his lips to signal the man's silence. He studied the pod for signs that there was in fact a person inside, getting confirmation when it wiggled about for no natural reason.

A moment later, a metallic sound was followed by the pod's sudden drop earthward. Gnome had never seen a pod open first hand before, and he was startled, taking a couple of steps back that resulted in him tripping over an old rotten log and falling to his ass.

Robert glanced to his friend to ensure he wasn't injured, then smiling, looked back to the pod. Another full minute of more followed before the fingers of a pair of hands appeared over the edge of the pod, followed by what Robert hadn't expected: a woman's face.

It had been more than a decade since a female had been dropped onto the island. This particular prison was for the worst humanity had to offer, and the vast majority of those were and always would be male.

This was a nice surprise to Robert. It was also going to be a problem, too. The current ratio of males to females on the island stood at about 10 to 1. The ratio was much lower in the Reborn, though: Robert's group, the second largest stable band on the island, included 33 males and 12 females, just a bit better than 3 to 1.

Still, the introduction of a new female was likely to have consequences for which he would have to maintain vigilance.

The woman studied Robert and, as he stood again, Gnome, then said, "People of Earth, take me to your leader."

Robert couldn't help but chuckle softly, before raising his finger to his lips again, then saying softly, "Cute, but ... you need to keep your voice down."

He looked above her to where the parachute clung amongst the branches, then to the trunk and lower reach of the tree in which she dangled. He looked to Gnome with a meaningful expression. The man's face filled with a surprised expression as he asked, "Me? You want me to climb up there?"

Robert knew the short, stumpy man's history with climbing, or rather falling out of trees and told him, "That's alright, I'll do it."

He looked up to the woman in the pod again. With a soft voice he said, "My name is Robert, and as far as the people of this part of the forest go, I am the leader to whom you wish to be taken."

He hesitated to see if she had anything to ask or say, then continued, "I'm going to help you get down, but ... I'll need you to toss down the pistol mounted on the pod's wall, right in front of you."

One of the ironies of the island prison was that newly arriving convicts were not sent here totally defenseless. The small pistol was a unique weapon in a couple of ways:

The construction of the weapon prevented its five .38 Caliber rounds from being removed for the potential use in another similar weapon...

Once the five rounds were discharged, the weapon was then essentially worthless because it couldn't be opened to be reloaded, presuming replacement rounds were available...

And the gunpowder in those five rounds had a chemical in them that caused them to degrade quickly, rendering them useless after just four or five days.

Essentially, the weapon was given to the newly arriving convict for one purpose and one purpose only: to give them a presumed security advantage over anyone who might approach them upon arrival and have less than friendly intentions.

Robert added, "We're not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure that you don't hurt us. So, toss the gun down, and we'll get you safely out of the tree. Or, if you want, you can just stay up there for a week or so, after which the bullets in said gun won't work, and I'll send Gnome here up the tree to cut you lose, and you can fall to the ground. Might hurt a bit, but ... you choose."

If she tossed the weapon down, Robert himself would climb up to meet the woman and help her to the tree's trunk. If she didn't, he'd find a fallen log on which to wait out the night and figure out what to do after the rest of the Reborn had gathered and returned with the new supplies.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

The older man responded to Marie's alien arrival statement, "Cute, but ... you need to keep your voice down."

She had for the moment forgotten about the barbaric nature of the island that had been included in her orientation. The man's warning to keep her voice down brought that back quickly. It also reminded her of the pistol in a holder on the inner curved wall of the pod. Without taking her eyes off the man, she felt for and removed it from the mounting that, like the pod's roof, had been unlocked by the jerk of the opening of the parachute.

Marie had never liked guns. In fact, she'd never even fired one before taking the five practice shots with a training weapon during her orientation. Now, as she felt the gun in her hands here and now, she doubted very much that she could use it to defend herself. She just wasn't that person, the kind who could take another's life to save her own.

So when the man who identified himself as Robert told her she needed to toss the weapon down, Marie only took a few seconds to make a decision on what to do with it. The gun had a feature in the base of the grip that, when pressed, activated the release of a chemical that very quickly -- and mysteriously to Marie -- dissolved some of the gun's internal features. By the time she lifted it over the lip of the pod and let it fall away toward the ground, the firearm was little more than a chunk of worthless metal.

"I don't want any trouble," she said to the man. She wasn't sure whether or not he was going to be trouble for her. But regardless of that, once he'd said he wasn't going to hurt her, Marie said, "And yes, I would love some help getting out of this fuckin' tree ... please."

She saw them retrieve and inspect the gun, and the squat guy who Marie thought had been on the ground for some reason when she first saw him put it inside the pack on his back. A moment later, Robert was climbing the tree with an obvious level of skill. When he was high enough to look level into her eyes, she brandished the hunting style knife that had also been part of the survival pack on the wall before her.

"I don't want any trouble," Marie repeated again. "I'm not like you people. I'm not a violent criminal. I shouldn't even be here. I don't know why--" Before she could get any farther, the words got stuck in her throat and her eyes began to glaze over with threatening tears. She clutched the knife tightly, feeling as uncomfortable with it as she had the gun during training. Fighting the emotions building inside of her, Marie continued, "I'm just a reporter, an investigative journalist. I didn't do anything wrong."

She had, of course, but in her mind Marie honestly didn't believe she should be here in this horrific place. The black site had been bad enough, with its 23 hours a day in a windowless cell, horrible food, total lack of alcoholic beverages, and never ending interrogations that, thankfully, had only been emotionally draining and not physically harming. But this was a forest wilderness with no rooved houses, no beds, no toilets, no bottled water, and no walls and secured doors to protect Marie from the violent criminals she was certain would rape her to death and then likely rape her again after that.

Marie wasn't going to use the knife against Robert, of course, and if he asked her to hand it over or drop it to the ground, too, she would. She was at his mercy, and all she wanted was to get the hell out of this pod and down to the firm ground below her.

 

[ManInTheLoft]

"I don't want any trouble," the woman who hadn't yet identified herself called down to Robert.

He couldn't help but wonder just how much she'd been told about the island, because this wasn't a place where trouble was far away.

She asked for help getting out of the tree, and Robert set about giving it. He was always prepared for having to climb a tree on Drop Night, of course, so he pulled a rope from his pack that had a heavy weight on one end and skillfully tossed it up and over a limb that was close to the woman's current height.

Gnome wrapped both ends of the rope around his heavy torso and sat on his haunches, telling Robert, "Ready."

And up the rope the man went, his feet against the tree as he gripped both lines and leaned his body back. In no time, Robert was grasping the tree limb instead and swinging up to sit up it. It would support his weight as long he stayed close to the trunk.

A flash of moonlight revealed the big knife, spreading Robert's lips as he'd expected to see it, too.

"I don't want any trouble," the woman repeated, speaking about how she wasn't like you people."I didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, someone thinks you did, or you wouldn't be here," Robert said in a soft voice. He waggled a finger at the knife, saying, "If you drop that to the ground, I'll get you out of this tree. By the way, I'm Robert as I said. And you are...?"

She hesitated before dropping the knife. Then, because he refused to help her unless he knew what to call her, she responded to the what's your name inquiry. He told her with a sincere tone, "It's very nice to meet you, Marie. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances, but hey, life's strange sometimes."

With skill gained from having done this to sometimes get supplies out of the canopy, Robert and Gnome rearranged the rope such that Marie was able to tie it around her body in a safe harness fashion. The big man on the ground had the counter weight to lower her to the ground, with Robert making sure that the rope over the limb stayed close to the trunk.

"You could run as soon as Gnome there gets you out of the harness, Marie," Robert said from almost 20 feet above her, "but I feel I should warn you that the dangers out there in the forest are far greater than those you're going to face here with Gnome and me."

Once Marie was to the ground, if she didn't resist or put up a fight, Gnome would help her out of her harness. And if, after that, she didn't run into the dark forest, Gnome and Robert would use the rope to lower the supplies which were accessible through doors in the side of the pod. It would take them just 10 minutes of so to collect not just the supplies but the pod as well; they would come back for the parachute the next day, when they would be in less danger of falling from the tree and breaking their necks.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"Well, someone thinks you did," Robert said about Marie's claim of having done nothing wrong, "or you wouldn't be here."

She contemplated arguing her point. But really, was anything to be gained by doing so. She'd often heard stories of how when you became incarcerated, you needed to establish that you were the biggest, meanest, baddest bad ass in the joint if you didn't want to end up someone's bitch. Marie had so often during her own jail time imagined all the ways she could possibly establish herself as just such a person, only to realize that she could never pull it off. It had taken everything she was just to hold out regarding her sources. She was never going to be the Queen of the Cell Block

"If you drop that to the ground," he continued, gesturing to the knife Marie held in her trembling hand, "I'll get you out of this tree."

"Are you going to rape me?" she asked bluntly. She hesitated, and not immediately getting an answer, she added, "'Cause if you're going to rape me, now or some day, I think I'd rather you just slit my throat first and get this over with."

Robert assured Marie that she wasn't going to get raped, not by him or the guy down below or anyone else. She studied him for sincerity and believing that the odds of his honesty was at least 50-50, she looked below for the other man's position, then tossed the knife so that it would land several feet from him.

As he worked the ropes around for whatever reason, the man said, "By the way, I'm Robert as I said. And you are...?"

Again, she hesitated, but then answered, "Marie. Marie Davis. You can call me Marie. Duh. I don't know why I said that."

"It's very nice to meet you, Marie." he said, his tone still just as sincere. "I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances, but hey, life's strange sometimes."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, a bit too loudly by his reaction. She put a finger over her lips as he had earlier and whispered, "Yeah, life if fucking strange sometimes."

Robert explained to Marie how to tie the rope around her waist and through her legs to work as a harness, and doing her best not to cry out in terror, he lowered her to the ground in what she saw was a feat of engineering. He explained about running, which honestly Marie had indeed considered. But she believed him regarding his warnings about far greater dangers out there. And besides, if she was going to run, she knew she should wait until she was able to get some supplies to sustain herself.

The two of them went to work emptying and then lowering the pod, again with skills Marie marveled at. Not soon after than, others began approaching, initially frightening her until Robert explained that they were with him. Each man and woman arrived heavily laden with packs on their shoulders and bags thrown over them. Two pairs of men carried between them the emptied pallets made of Fiberglas or plastic or some other non-wood material. Apparently, Marie realized, nothing went to waste here.

As the number of people arriving increased, Marie began to understand that Robert was the man in charge. As individuals and pairs of people continued off into the deeper woods, she asked, "Are you their leader?"

 

[ManInTheLoft]

"Are you going to rape me?" the woman asked, telling Robert that if that was the plan, she'd rather he just killed her first.

"No," he responded simply before explaining with an honest tone, "You will not be harmed in anyway by me or by any of my people, so long as you yourself do them no harm. Even though there are people on the island who are like that, you will not find any of them amongst my people. I can promise you that."

She told him her name, and the three of them set about getting Marie, her pod, and it's contents out of the tree.

The others began arriving, each of them showing their obvious surprise at the new face amongst them. With each new arrival, Robert introduced Marie. After an exchange of greetings, each of the Reborn headed into the dark of the woods in the same direction as they'd come earlier in this day or the previous one.

"Are you their leader?" she asked after enough of the men and women had passed to give a clear indication of just that.

"Yes, I am," Robert told her. "We call ourselves the Reborn. It sounds religious, but it's not. It is spiritual in a sense, I guess. Each of us has acknowledged out pasts, our criminal pasts, in some cases our violent pasts. And each of us has become a new person, a better person, a person in whom each of the others can rely on and trust and not fear.

"It's not easy as I make it sound," he said with a more solemn tone. "We have had failures, people who couldn't or wouldn't abide by the rules of our rebirth. Those people were dealt with appropriately..."

Robert hadn't been looking at Marie when he said that last bit, but now he did. He could see that she needed an explanation for what he'd said, and he gave it to her. "Some of those who couldn't fit into our new society were given supplies and sent away to live as they felt was more appropriate for them, in a way they could manage, could survive and hopefully thrive with who and what they were."

He hesitated a moment before her very bluntly said, "Others were killed."

Robert looked to see if Marie had a reaction to that, then gestured to one of the packs on the ground. "Let's get back to the village."

He sent Gnome ahead of them, then Marie, and he followed behind her. He explained as they walked, "When we get to back, we will find you a place to make yourself comfortable. We have a couple of small huts for visitors from other villages and newcomers to the island, not that we've seen many of the latter in quite sometime.

"I don't know how much you know about what just happened, on the plane, I mean. We you conscious when you were put into the pod and loaded up?"

She answered, and Robert continued, "The supplies that we just gathered are communal property, with the exception of a small amount which will be given to those who participated in gathering them, as payment for the labor they offered and for risking the potential of harm should we have encountered unfriendlies, which thankfully did not happen tonight.

"Your supplies will be disbursed differently, as is our custom for newcomers to the community," he continued. He looked both ahead and behind them at the two people additional to himself, Gnome, and Marie who were packing the pod's goods.

"You will be permitted to a significant portion of the pod's contents for yourself, while the rest of them will go to the community. If you do not agree with this, you are welcome to go out on your own and take all you can carry, short a small surcharge for us getting you safely down from the tree, of course."

They spoke some more as they walked, but for the most part there was silence, not just between Robert and Marie but between all of the Reborn. Tonight, out here in the woods in the dark, was not the time to be taking part in idle conversation.

After a mile of walking on a trail that increasingly got wider and more obviously groomed for easy transport, the forest ahead of them became illuminated by the yellows and reds of burning fires and torches. The undergrowth suddenly cleared out, opening the view of a community of dozens of small structures.

The village was surrounded first by a moat, ten feet wide over much of its length. It was filled with varying depths of water, between two and six feet, and featured deadly punji sticks as had been used during the mid to late 20th century in Southeast Asia, as well as in other places and times throughout history. The punji's weren't hidden from view but were visible above the water level as a deterrent.

Behind the moat was a raised mound -- the dirt from the moat, obviously -- that also ran entirely around the village, and atop it was a fence that included sharpened poles intended to deter the unwanted from trespassing. There were two gates in the fence, one each to the north and south, and each was guarded with men armed with bows, crossbows, and spears.

More for show than for actual use, there were also two Ballistas on each side of the village. These Medieval style gigantic crossbows could fire a ten foot long, inch and half diameter bolt much farther than the 100 yards or so of open ground between their placement in the village and the tree line, piercing not just the target but as many as two or three men or women behind them.

The only use of the weapons, though, had been against non-human animals. Once, they'd killed a polar bear that had been threatening the village. The big animal had been fearless, unafraid of the previously unexperienced danger; it had continued closer to the village after the first wayward shot and even worst second shot and was killed by the third shot only after it had raised tall upon its back feet to display its ferocity to the puny humans.

The second time had been a simple exercise of training, when a small herd of reindeer emerged from the forest to eat the lichen on a section of rocky terrain to the north of the village. There had initially been awe and amazement at the sight as reindeer were not native to the island and, mostly due to global warming, previous winters had not frozen the ice pack enough to see the animals cross from other islands, the mainland, or both.

But reality could be harsh in this part of the world, particularly in the dead of one of the coldest and longest winters in decades, and after Robert had given his okay, the ballista was quietly armed, aimed, and loosed. The first shot went clean through one beast and entered a second one, with half of the bolt sticking out the opposite side of it as well.

Over the next three days, the Reborn killed another six reindeer, before they ventured south into the areas of those with whom the community was not on such friendly terms. The animals were harvested, their meat smoked, their hides treated and turned into blankets, carpets, clothing, and shelters, and their bones and racks manufactured into a variety of tools, from needles to knives.

After passing over the moat bridge and through the gate of the pole fence, Marie would see two dozen or so homes and work buildings that were constructed of timber, lumber, and other natural products taken from the forest, mixed with those materials that had come to the island from other, distant locations, such as the air drop pallets, parachutes, and various containers like crates and bags.

"Welcome to Reborn," Robert told Marie with a friendly smile. He gestured one of the few women over, saying, "Paula, this is Marie. Please take her to Helen's hut and help her get settled in."

Robert ordered those carrying the goods from the pod to take them to that same hut, then told Marie with a firm tone, "All of this is to remain inside your hut until I give you instructions on what will be done with them."

Then, pulling out the knife that she had dropped to the ground near Gnome, he offered it out to her. "You will not find trouble here, Marie, not from my people. But you should keep this with you at all times anyway."

He gave her another delighted smile, and before he wandered off to deal with the new supplies, he said again, "Welcome. It's good to have you here with us."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Marie was shocked at how many people wandered up to them. Each of them was loaded down with backpacks, bags, and cases of supplies. Marie had been sedated long before she'd been put in her pod and delivered to the plane, so she hadn't seen the loading of it. Her orientation, though, had included an explanation of the aircraft's delivery purpose so that she, too, would have known to do her own scavenging.

When she asked if he was the group's leader, Robert told Marie that he was and spoke of Reborn. It sounded idyllic to her. At the same time, it sounded a bit cultish. She couldn't help but wonder how many of the women she'd seen were Messiah Robert's wives, in lieu of being wives and lovers to the other males or even to one another. She thought, How ironic that in a place with so few women anyway, one man gets all of them.

Marie was only playfully toying with the thought, though. By the time they reached the village, she'd seen more interactions between the members of the Reborn -- some of them of an intimate nature -- and she had dismissed that fantasy. He was just their normal, everyday leader.

Marie found herself relieved at what she saw and heard during her walk and at its conclusion. In fact, she was absolutely impressed! She'd expected to find individuals and small groups of people living in caves and thatch huts, not in well built structures with efficient heating, insulation, and protection against the North's rain and snow storms. She'd expected to find people desperate to feed themselves as opposed to finding them growing plants in a greenhouse and raising wild fowl and mammals they'd caught and domesticated.

And she certainly hadn't expected to find it all protected by moats, dirt berms, and killer pole barricades. Marie was conflicted about the security, though. She felt much safer than she'd expected, obviously. But at the same time, the level of security made her wonder just how dangerous this new world of hers was.

"All of this is to remain inside your hut," Robert told Marie about the supplies that had come from her pod, "until I give you instructions on what will be done with them."

"I'd like to keep the tampons and Oxy if that's okay," she joked, continuing, "Are there any tampons and Oxy? Please tell me there is."

Marie hesitated before taking the knife back. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted it. She knew she was more likely to hurt herself with it or have used against her than to actually use it to defend herself. But she took it finally, being told by Robert, "But you should keep this with you at all times anyway."

"I will," Marie said. Then she smiled and said, "If you will teach me to use it."

She didn't know whether he would train her himself, assign the task to someone else, or deny her. It didn't matter right this moment. They separated, and a woman named Paula escorted Marie to a small hut. It wasn't much, but again, Marie had expected to be sleeping under a rock ledge or fir bows.

She dropped her things along one wall and gave the place a once over inspection. It was made with a combination of local and air dropped materials that made it seemingly comfortable. The Gnome and other men delivered what they'd carried from Marie's pod, and before they left, she dug out an energy bar for each.

"Think of it as a tip," she told the Gnome when he waved off the offer. But he was insistent that that wasn't how things worked in Reborn, and after Paula confirmed it, Marie just said to the men, "Thank you. I owe you."

Paula explained such things as where to find an outhouse, where to take a shower, when and where the community meals took place, and more. "Go through your things now, separating and prioritizing what you would like to keep for yourself. I'll tell you something that will help you make friends among the women of the camp: give up as much girly stuff as you can, be it clothing of feminine hygiene products or -- if they let you pack any -- cosmetics. Did they let you bring any skin creams or moisturizers or -- please God, let it be true -- foundation or lip stick? I would kill for a nice red from L'oreal or something to help my poor cracking hands."

Marie laughed, answering, "Honestly, I don't know what there might be. They packed my shit for me, so if you want to come back tomorrow and help me, we'll learn together."

Marie doubted that they'd find much of what Paula yearned for amongst her things. During her 2 years of detention, she hadn't been allowed any of what the other woman had termed girly stuff, so she doubted there was any of it here now. Still, if there was, Marie was more than happy to trade it for some goodwill.

"Listen, Paula, I'm beat. Can we do this tomorrow?"

"Of course, get some sleep," the Reborn veteran said. She laughed, saying, "Let's find your sleeping bag first and make you a bed, then I'll git."

Ten minutes later, Marie was stripped down to her heat retaining undergarments, in bed upon a fresh layer of dried leaves yet another woman delivered, and was soundly asleep.

 

[ManInTheLoft]

Marie was obviously surprised by and impressed by what the Reborn had accomplished here. And she should be, Robert believed: the village was nothing short of incredible in his mind and, while he wouldn't say it in so many words, much of the credit went to him.

He certainly hadn't been the first convict on the island to attempt to build a peaceful, thriving community, but he had certainly been the most successful. Marie would learn more about the Reborn over the days, weeks, and months to come, and she'd realized that was she'd seen in her first hour or so here was only a fraction of the success.

Robert had been able to gather together likeminded people who wanted to shed their past and build a new future, a secure future, a thriving future. They'd had their failures, as individuals and as a whole, but the current village was a testament to what could be achieved if one only believed and put in the hard work.



The next morning, Paula returned to Marie's hut, knocking, then entering upon invitation. "Breakfast will be ready in an hour. Then Robert wants to come go through your things. Have you picked through them?"

The whole of the community's population, save for the 8 people on watch in the forest or at the village's perimeter, were in the Community House when Paula led Marie in. Robert greeted her with a smile. "How are you this morning? Well and rested I hope."

He gestured her invitingly to follow him to the other end of the structure. The Community House was the largest of the buildings and the most extravagant. It wasn't unlike a Viking longhouse, made of pole supports and split logs, with a thatched roof and a packed dirt floor covered in rugs made of strips of fabric from parachutes or weaved fibers from plants taken from the forest.

A long fire hearth down the middle was roasting meat, boiling food in pots, and heating an oven in which bread was baking. Along the walls were many beds for some of those who slept here rather than in smaller huts. Most of the bedding arrangements appeared small and, thus, for individuals. Some, though, looked large enough for more than one person.

Marie would learn eventually that only about one third of the population lived in the separate housing structures. Most of those who had paired off over the years, be them male-female or male-male couples, lived in their own huts. There were also some plutonic friendship pairings or one threesome of good friends who had built their own homes.

Most of those who were not attached to another lived here in the Community House. There were even two pairings who lived here simply because they preferred to be close to the others.

Marie would also learn that while Paula had a hut of her own, she didn't spend many cold nights without company. Paula, another woman named Daria, and a male resident named Ingram were the Community's providers of sexual satisfaction and release, or whores as they would have been called out in the world.

Here in Reborn, though, what they did was a highly honored act. They were treated with great respect by both those who partook of their services and those who didn't. Oh, there had been those amongst the residents who had initially shown disrespect or who had thought that the three were lesser human beings who could be abused emotionally, mentally, or physically. Those people hadn't remained in Reborn long, though, if their attitudes didn't change.

"Sit," Robert told Marie when they reached the end of one of the tables made of long planks of fir and covered with a beautiful table cloth made from chute and hand decorated with embroidery. "Today, you take a position of importance and are to be treated as a guest. Tomorrow, well, tomorrow we'll put your ass to work with the rest of us, won't we, my friends?"

Almost together as one, most of the others chanted, "Earn your keep, or leave and weep."

There was laughter from some and smiles from others; there were also a few who showed little or no joy, but whether it was regarding her or life in general was not something Marie would know at this point, of course.

Robert introduced her to the community as a whole, and again all together the people of Reborn said, "Welcome, friend."

Leaning in nearer to her, Robert said with humor, "See, they like you already."

A dozen or so people involved themselves with finishing setting the tables for the group; another dozen or so began delivering platters, bowls, and pitchers to the tables from a separate room, obviously the official kitchen; another dozen or so were at the fire pit, carving up the carcasses of small animals and a hind quarter of a much larger one; and the remainder of the population was already seated or taking their seats.

That last portion of Reborn were the people whose primary duties in the community allowed them to avoid kitchen, cooking, and prep duties, though some of them still participated out of the goodness of their hearts.

"Don't start eating," Paula whispered to Marie as she herself was dishing up food to her plate, which was hand carved from a tree burl and had her name scratched into the upper edge. When Marie looked to her questioningly, Paula only said, "You'll see."

Once every one was sat and most had filled their plates partially or fully, they all reached their hands to the people sitting on either side of them, locking them together and lowering their heads. Paula reached out and took Marie's left hand while nodding her head to the man sitting on Marie's right who also had lifted his hand to her.

All about the room, silence reigned for a good half a minute: there were no verbal prayers or other indications of a specific religious action at work, and when the group finished with their own personal prayers or thoughts or nothing more than respect for the others' moment of silence, the breakfast tables came alive with activity and talk.

Robert sat at the opposite end of the table at which Marie did, and he looked to her with a smile as he wondered what she was thinking about Reborn. It was only now, at this very moment, that he really studied her physical appearance for the first time and thought to himself that she was a stunningly beautiful woman.

Previously, she'd been hidden in cold weather gear with her hair a mess and emotion tangling up her face. Here and now, she was obviously more relaxed and feeling safe and secure, and it showed in the beauty she exuded. He couldn't help but smile again as he remembered his first thought upon seeing a female face up high in the pod: You're gonna be trouble.

Almost before anyone had put anything in their mouth, the questions began flying Marie's direction: what did you do to get sent here...? how long have you been incarcerated...? are you married out in the world...? do you WANT to be married HERE...? and more.

"Let her eat some of this delicious breakfast first," Robert chastised the curious. He looked to Marie, gestured a finger tip toward her plate, and said, "You'll think you're at a five star restaurant when you taste this."

It wasn't quite true, of course, but the food was in fact pretty good, considering the circumstances. They didn't have much of the traditional spices one might find out in the world, but the air drops typically included salt at least, and those who did the foraging had found some flowers, leaves, nuts, barks, and roots that livened up the meals.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Robert introduced Marie to the community, and the people of Reborn called out, "Welcome, friend."

Marie felt her face fill with a blush at the attention. The surprises simply wouldn't stop. Robert said with humor, "See, they like you already."

"And I think I'm going to like them," she responded.

She watched with great interest and awe as the former convicts worked together like family and friends at Thanksgiving dinner. Marie recalled her first prison meal in General Population. She had just sat down with her tray of food that looked barely edible. As if of one mind, six women sat around her -- two across from her, two behind her, and one to each side. One of them, the boss, essentially told Marie that she belonged to her now and was going to be her bitch. The boss knew Marie's work as a reporter and said, "It's time to see what else you can do with that tongue of yours, other than tell the world lies." And before she'd been able to reply, assuming that she'd had anything to say, Marie found herself being beat to a pulp.

Two years later, after 23 hour a day confinement and twice daily interrogations about her sources, she'd received her orientation for coming to the island. And by the time she'd been sedated for loading into the pod, Marie had begun to yearn for GenPop again. Now, of course, she felt silly for what she'd thought about this place and the people living in it. Marie had pictured them as Mad Max types, violent maniacal people running about killing and raping and stealing even the most insignificant of resources from others.

"What did you do to get sent here?" one of the men sitting near asked Marie. A couple of others asked similar questions before the original man added, "How long have you been incarcerated...?"

Marie looked to the other end of the table, looking for guidance from Robert. He only continued to eat, looking back as if interested in her answer, too. She sipped at a hot tea-like drink made from a plant she was unfamiliar with, then answered, "I was ... I am an investigative journalist. I was doing a story on corruption in our government and military, and I received some information that was classified. I used it ... and I was jailed for treason and other similar crimes."

"Are you a traitor?" another of the Reborn asked.

Paula quickly chimed in, "We don't ask those kinds of questions. You know better than that."

The man who'd asked the question looked duly chastised and said to Marie, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay, seriously, I understand," she said. "I do want to answer the question, though, if its okay."

She again looked toward Robert, but beside her Paula responded, "You may say anything about yourself and your past if you wish. We treasure honesty and openness..."

And looking toward the inquiring man again, she said pointedly, "...but negativity is harmful to our way of life and should be avoided when possible."

The man again said he was sorry, and Marie continued, "No, I don't consider myself a traitor. The men and women about whom I reported were corrupt, and they were all servants to the State ... to the people who trusted them, who followed them, who relied on them ... and who paid them to do their jobs properly and ethically."

The words came out quickly and with confidence. They should have, because Marie had used them -- often word for word -- hundreds of times prior to and during her trial, sentencing, and incarceration. She continued, "What I did was for the good of the people. My reporting got no one hurt ... no soldiers overseas ... no contract workers or intelligence agents or operatives in hostile lands. Each time, before I submitted my articles for publication, I sent copies to our government, our military, and our intelligence services so that they could determine whether they needed to pull someone from the field."

"So, it was like Snowden and what the CIA and contractors and people like that were doing in the Middle East?" someone inquired.

"Sometimes," Marie said. "But no, most of what I was reporting on was corruption amongst our governmental officials and military leaders and the corporate leaders who were paying them bribes to secure valuable contracts for services and goods."

One of the women suddenly changed the subject with, "Are you married out in the world...?"

Marie was caught off guard by the question and blushed yet again before saying simply, "No."

One of the guys almost immediately asked, "Do you want to be married ... here?"

Marie laughed, looking to Robert again for reasons she didn't understand. She eventually answered, "Well, I haven't really thought about it, but, for now, let's just say not yet, okay?"

A dozen of so of the Reborn -- mostly but not exclusively men -- broke into a playful conversation about the benefits of Marie marrying them. And each time one of them volunteered themselves, the others just as playfully ripped off reasons why that person wasn't nearly appropriate to be Marie's life mate.

She found herself laughing and adding comments, but she often found herself looking down the table at Robert. Just as he'd only just this morning noticed her beauty, Marie had begun to notice that Robert himself was a good looking man, too. She suddenly found herself wishing she'd asked Paula this morning what the man's relationship status was.

The breakfast went on, as did the conversation. More questions were asked about Marie's career and private life, and she answered most of them without a great deal of detail. But then the inquiries shifted to what was happening out and about in the world. Again, she looked to Robert for guidance, unsure of whether or not she was allowed to speak of what was happening beyond the island...

 

[ManInTheLoft]

Robert had been expecting a barrage of questions from his people as it was human nature to be curious, about new people and about the world from which they'd come. When Marie looked to him for some sort of guidance regarding the reasons she was now on the island, he only stared her way without expression, as if to say, Your call, friend. Tell them if you want. Don't if you prefer.

He wasn't anymore happy with the Are you a traitor? question than was Paula, but Robert remained silent, again letting Marie decide how to respond.

But she said, "I do want to answer the question, though, if its okay."

Again, Marie looked toward Robert, and again he remained silent, letting Paula stand up for the principles by which the Reborn survived and thrived. "We treasure honesty and openness ... but negativity is harmful to our way of life and should be avoided when possible."

Marie explained her feelings on the subject, adding, "What I did was for the good of the people."

Robert sensed true sincerity in her answer, and he knew that if Marie was being truthful, she would fit in perfectly here in the village. Reborn was a community of hard working, peace loving people that relied on newcomers just like what Robert thought he saw in Marie.

Hearing her say she wasn't married was a bit of a relief for Robert, not because it meant that she was available to him or to any of the others but because it meant she hadn't left a significant other behind. This life and the world in which this life was lived was hard enough on the convicts; it didn't need to be hard on those left behind, too.

Robert laughed at Marie's answer as to whether or not she wanted to marry here at Reborn. Just to spur on the conversation, he offered with a smile, "I do officiate marriages, Marie. In case you meet the right person." That led to even more jokes and laughter, and he laughed as well when he saw her explode in a fiery blush.

Then came the questions about what was happening out in the world beyond the island. Marie looked quickly to Robert for guidance, and he knew that she was unsure of whether or not she should share that information. He responded by giving her a slight nod.

She started off with a recap of the issues that had landed her in prison. The government and military were in turmoil over one of the greatest corruption cases in the country's history. With the resignations, expulsions, and in some cases jailing of dozens of top and middle level politicians and government appointees, the country's political direction had shifted as well.

The lower and middle classes were being granted more benefits, and pay had risen across the board for those same two groups of people while the rich had been slammed with higher taxes.

To the south, just the opposite was happening in both the United States and Mexico where more conservative governments were benefiting the already rich and already powerful. This had led to marches, picketing, rioting, and near insurrection in dozens of cities across the US, and in Mexico a coup d'état had led to a military government and the shooting deaths of thousands of not just Mexican civilians but of other Latin American refugees who'd been traveling north to America and had gotten caught up in the mayhem.

To the west, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un had died of mysterious causes, and when his half sister, Kim Yo-jong, tried to establish herself as his successor, she was assassinated. Months of turmoil and fear of a nuclear war between North Korea and, well, everyone else had instead lead to a softening of the stance between the two Koreas and now appeared to be heading toward a reconciliation of the two nations.

This peaceful merging wasn't the story to the south, though, where mainland China had finally forced Taiwan to capitulate and agree to a reconciliation there as well. The Republic of China had dissolved it government and permitted the People's Republic of China to send thousands of troops to the island to maintain peace and calm during the transition. Of course, it was mostly wishful thinking, and just as was still the situation in Hong Kong, the people took to the streets in what was continuing to be ever more violent demonstrations.

Marie talked about a few more national and international situations, but Robert finally cut in, saying, "We have work to do, my friends, and our new friend is yet to explain to us what she has to offer us in exchange for a place in Reborn."

Nearly everyone had already finished eating, with some of the residents already having left to begin their day. Robert asked Paula if she would escort Marie back to her hut, saying, "I will follow in a moment to speak about the disbursing of the wonderful things Marie brought with her."

Twenty minutes later, Robert did indeed arrive, finding six different piles of resources, obviously the guidance of the very informed Paula. Robert gestured to the medically related items, saying "Those will go to the Infirmary. I'm sure you understand that."

Paula had separated the food into two piles, one large and one small. The larger would go to the community pantry, but Marie would be allowed to keep some food so that when she was home and hungry, she had something to eat. Robert told her, "We will get you some dried meat and goat cheese, and Paula will explain to you later the rules about collecting food from the pantry for private meals."

Most of the tools and equipment would go to the community as well, but when it came to the more female related stuff, Robert said, "You keep that."

He already knew that Paula had spoken to Marie about sharing things with the other women to build goodwill, so he figured he'd likely be seeing some of the clothing on the bodies of others in the very near future ... or not?

Robert nodded Marie's attention to a cloth bag that he'd brought with him. "Things from last night's Drop, things you might need. It's not much, as most of it goes directly to the Pantry, the Infirmary, etcetera. If you don't need any of what I selected, you are welcome to trade it with the others."

He watched her poke through the bag, then said, "Now, since we are done with that, next business: what do you have to offer Reborn in exchange for all we have and will give you?"

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"We have work to do, my friends," Robert said, finally bringing an end to a conversation that Marie had sometimes enjoyed and other times wished had ended sooner. He continued, "and our new friend is yet to explain to us what she has to offer us in exchange for a place in Reborn."

Back at her hut, after they'd dealt with the things that had been dropped by the plane with her, Robert asked Marie, "...what do you have to offer Reborn in exchange for all we have and will give you?"

"I don't suppose you have a news outlet with a need for an investigative reporter, do you?" she asked. "Yeah, I guess not. Well, I don't really know. I haven't thought about it ... hadn't thought about it until you brought it up at breakfast."

Marie asked if they could go outside to talk, and the three of them stepped out to look upon the village. She informed Robert and Paula that she had two Bachelor Degrees, including the one in International Journalism upon which she'd built her career. "But my first degree was in Early Childhood Education."

Knowing that the typical prison population was grossly undereducated, Marie had been about to suggest that she could teach the adult convict and their children, too. But then, she suddenly realized that she was yet to see any children. She looked around and saw only adults. The vast majority of them were between 30 and 50, with a few older and maybe ten of them in their late 20s. She asked a question that hadn't dawned on her until now, "How long has this island been used as a prison. I mean, how come there are no children?"

Marie understood human behavior, and she would have thought that an open prison such as a cell-free island that had been in place for even 9 months would have at least one child. She knew this island had been here for years, though. Robert had told her so, and even Paula had spoken of her duties and experiences here over the years. The only reason Marie hadn't thought to ask about children thus far was simply that she'd been so overwhelmed with everything around her until now. She looked to Robert, then to Paula, and she saw what looked like confusion in their faces at her question. She asked tentatively, "What...? What am I missing?"

Paula looked to Robert for the same guidance Maria had sought back at the breakfast table, then looked to the newcomer and informed her, "The women here are all sterile."

Now it was Marie who looked confused. "Sterile. Whaddaya mean, sterile?"

Paula looked to Robert, her expression easily conveying to him that this was not something she felt she wanted to explain. She took a step back and, as she felt her eyes beginning to glisten with impending tears, she turned and walked away, saying over her shoulder, "I ... I have to get back to my work."

Marie watched the woman walk away, then looked into Robert's eyes and demanded, "Tell me what she's talking about. What does she mean? Am I ... did they ... oh my god ... what did they do to me?"

 

[ManInTheLoft]

Marie asked about whether or not the community had a news outlet, making Robert chuckle. He apologized, "Not much need for that around here I'm afraid. And as far as investigating goes, Paula here is -- and I say this with love -- the biggest snoop in Reborn, so, if there's something to be uncovered, she'll get it done and then tell everyone about it during the next meal. Right Paula?"

The other woman scratched her nose with her middle finger as she smiled, then looked to Marie and said, "Don't listen to him. However, for the record, if you ever do have a question about something or someone..."

She tapped a fingertip to her chest to indicate that, yes, she was the place to learn the learnable.

Marie talked about her degrees, mentioning that she had one in Early Childhood Education. It hadn't even occurred to Robert to speak to her about the lack of children in the village because he'd assumed she knew all about the pre-Orientation sterilization of the female convicts.

"What...?" she asked, oblivious to what the women of the prison island had gone through. "What am I missing?"

Paula revealed the ugly truth, then made her escape, leaving the community's leader to explain. "I'm sorry, Marie. I thought you knew."

He half turned and gestured to her, saying, "Let's walk, shall we?"

Once they began slowly toward the village's edge, Robert explained that to prevent the introduction of a next generation on the island, the Authorities had sterilized ever female convict during a pre-Orientation medical exam.

"We believe that in the weeks prior to transport to the island, the females are covertly anesthetized while they are sleeping, then taken to the Infirmary of what ever detention center they are in to be sterilized."

They were near the bridge over which Marie had crossed to enter Reborn, and Robert turned her toward one of the root crop gardens, the only edible food garden outside the green house.

"It is a chemical procedure, we think," he continued, "meaning you wouldn't have known it was done to you unless you'd suffered complications. That's how we figured this out: one of our early on female residents had had a bad reaction, and in the process of treating her, she had learned the truth."

They stopped at the garden's edge, where Robert waved to a woman who was down on her knees working a row of carrots. He pointed down, asking, "May we?"

"Of course, Robert," she said, adding, "You know which ones, right?"

He waved acknowledgment, knelt down, pulled a big knife from his hip, and stabbed it into the dirt. Working it all about, he loosened the dirt and pulled two smallish carrots, making room for the others in the group. He led Marie toward a pump fed by a deep well they'd dug years ago as he continued his explanation.

"So, bad news, of course: you likely cannot become pregnant. I've only ever once heard of a female on the island becoming pregnant, and that was years ago and, unfortunately, not here in Reborn. Even more unfortunate, whether she'd been here or there, she and the baby died during a child birth. The baby had come weeks early for unknown reasons and had been breech as well. It was quite a loss for all concerned."

Robert could have explained that upon hearing of this miracle, he'd attempted to negotiate a deal for her but had been rebuffed. He could have also explained that after the rejection of what he'd thought was a very good offer, he'd led a raiding squad south in an attempt to collect the woman from the band which in the past had proved to be violent and unpredictable.

Explaining the last part would likely have required confessing that he'd lost three men that night: one to death by crossbow bolt, another to torture, and the third to outright execution. Robert preferred to not get into that at this time.

"Good news, obviously, is that you don't have to worry about birth control," Robert continued, trying to inject a bit of levity. "And no sexually transmitted diseases either, as we were all tested and, if necessary, treated before transport. So ... I guess you could say the free love generation is alive and well on this island."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"I'm sorry, Marie. I thought you knew," Robert said with a sincere tone, asking, "Let's walk, shall we?"

Marie listened in shock to his explanation of how she would never be able to birth a child. Oh, it wasn't like she'd been planning on having one here, of course. But she still believed deep in her soul that she was going to one day be returned to civilization. Someone, somehow, would come to the island to take her away to return to her pre-incarceration life and career. Then, then, she would likely want to finally find the right man and have a child. Or hell, maybe have one without a man. All she needed from a man, of course, was his sperm. Marie had had three wonderful relationships with other women, after all. She'd never considered marrying one, but who knew? One day, she would have liked to have met the right woman or right man, given up her globe trotting career, and settled down to raise a child.

Robert must have seen the horror in her face. He tried his best at humor, joking about about birth control and fucking around. She just wasn't in the right frame of mind, though. She told him, "I need to be alone a while, if you don't mind. Can we take up this what do I have to offer conversation later?"

He was understanding and told Marie he'd see her at dinner, if not sooner. She headed back to her hut where she found herself laying in her bed and sobbing about her inability to do something she hadn't had any plans to do for years to come. It made no sense to her, but Marie chalked it up to her evolutionary need to reproduce as opposed to any immediate life plan.



Marie had drifted off and awoke sometime after midday to Paula's knock on the hut's door frame. The woman was invited in, and they talked about the whole sterility issue for some time before Marie said, "I'd like to meet the other women. Can we do that?"

They gathered the girly things in an over-the-shoulder bag some Reborn resident had hand crafted. Paula led the newcomer around the village, introducing her to each of the other 11 women, some of whom Marie had chatted with just briefly over breakfast. And at each stop, Marie offered the women some item that had been part of her pod's survival and comfort supplies. Paula's guidance -- from her knowledge of the other women -- helped Marie impress most of the women. Some took their gift with only the slightest acknowledgment, though. Others politely passed on the offer, telling Marie that there were likely other women who could make better use of whatever she was handing out. Two even invited the newcomer into their own abode where they offered her gifts in return.

The whole operation seemed to have been a success. Some of the women asked Marie to pop around their own huts in the very near future for meals, desserts, or simple conversation. Those who Paula pointed out lived in the long house were invited to come to Marie's instead.

"Go home, clean up, and change," Paula told Marie when they were finished with their rounds. "It'll be dinner in two hours. I'll see you there."

Marie spend the rest of the late afternoon thinking about Robert's question as to what she had to offer. She didn't cook, unless there was a microwave involved. She could clean she guessed, though, the only communal place to do that would be the long house, which had a live in population that likely already took care of that. She could forage for food in the forest, she guessed. But she had no knowledge in that area and might end up picking some poisonous plant and kill everyone over dinner time. She didn't like the sight of blood nor the sound of pain, so working the infirmary was out.

You could be a whore, like Paula, Daria, and ... oh, what was his name ... Ingram! she thought to herself. That only caused Marie to laugh aloud. She liked sex well enough, and she didn't care what gender her partner was. But randomly servicing other former convicts as a matter of employment...? Marie just didn't see herself doing that for a living.

 

[ManInTheLoft]

"I need to be alone a while," Marie said after learning that she'd been sterilized without her knowledge, "if you don't mind."

"Of course," Robert said, understanding how she was feeling. Despite the life he'd lived as a soldier, a sniper, and an assassin, he had thought that he, too, would one day be lucky enough to bring a child or two or ten into this world.

"Can we take up this what do I have to offer conversation later?" Marie asked.

"Yes, of course, take your time," he told her with a sincere tone. "I have some things to deal with, as I always do. Let's talk after dinner or maybe even tomorrow. If there is anything you need, Paula knows to be available to you. She can be a good friend, something you may have already realized."

He watched her walk away, then returned to his myriad of responsibilities. Later that day, he caught sight of Marie with Paula as the latter escorted the former around Reborn for meet and greets with the other women.

Robert made himself inconspicuous as he watched not just the two of them but the males of the community as well. It was human nature for the men to take an interest in the new and very beautiful female amongst them.

Often over the afternoon, men fabricated reasons to approach Paula and then introduce themselves to Marie. Robert only rarely caught the conversations, and those he did eavesdrop on were only slightly on the verge of being flirty or suggestive. The males of Reborn were, for the most part, gentlemanly with the females on the outside, even if on the inside they were burning up with lust.

Paula eventually sent Marie home, telling her, "It'll be dinner in two hours. I'll see you there."

After the two went their separate ways, Robert approached Paula, asking about Marie, "How is she?"

"She'll be fine, I think," Paula began her assessment. "The news was tragic for her, but ... I think socializing with the other women and, eventually, the men ... I think she'll fit in just fine."

"And the men?" Robert began, his lips spreading in a bit of a knowing smile.

Paula laughed. "Oh, yeah, that. Yes, Robert, they all wanna fuck her."

He chuckled softly, telling her, "Yeah, we're gonna have to keep an eye on that situation. I trust the men not to do anything rash, yet..."

"We'll keep her safe, Robert," Paula said reassuringly. "Just as we always do with every newcomer."

He once again returned to his duties, and at dinner he took his place at the table again. When Marie arrived, Paula led her not to the other end of that same table but to the end of a different table altogether.

She explained that Marie would shift where she sat each day until she'd sat between each and every member of Reborn, to get to know every one of them and let them get to know her as well.

"And you horny bastards," Paula said as she stood over the new group of dinner mates, "you'll all keep your hands above the table or I'll stick a skewer through the back of it, right?"

As one, all of the men and even some of the women at the table slapped their hands palms down on the table, leading to a round of laughter.

Robert looked Marie's direction often during the meal, checking on her. She seemed nervous at first, but conversation amongst the others seemed to enliven her by the time dessert had arrived.

As the meal broke up, with half of the population remaining to clean up and the other half returning to end of day tasks, Robert pulled Marie aside to tell her, "We are expecting visitors tomorrow, from one of the communities to the south of us. I'd like you to meet our neighbors, if you would like that, too."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Marie headed for her previous seat at one of the dining tables, only to be dragged off to the end of the adjacent table. Paula gestured to the two people flanking the end seat, saying, "This is Mark, and this is Alexey. You'll be sitting between them for dinner."

"I will?" Marie asked, ignorant of the reason behind the change.

"You will," Paula said before giving the men of the table her warning about keeping their hands to themselves. She explained the reason behind the seating switch, resulting in the comical reaction that startled Marie, then caused her to giggle as well. Paula said before heading for her own seat, "Enjoy the meal. In honor of your arrival, the cooking staff pulled out all the stops tonight."

Marie had no idea of what to expect from a Reborn dinner, obviously. She had no way of comparing what came out -- a Thanksgiving equivalent meal of roasted fowl and a wide array of vegetables, nuts, fruits, and more -- to what Paula might call a normal dinner. It was spectacular, yet another island prison surprise. Afterward, pies and cakes were accompanied by an alcoholic beverage that reminded Marie of brandy but without the deep color.

"Can I help clean up?" Marie asked Paula after dinner and dessert was done. But before the woman assigned to be her shadow could answer, Robert approached and spoke of visitors they would be welcoming the following day. "Yes, yes indeed, I'd love to meet the neighbors."

She did indeed help with clean up, and came away with a plate of dessert and snack leftovers, as did all those who volunteered to cap off the nightly meals. Back at her hut, a knock on the door frame led to Paula entering, flashing a flask of that light colored brandy as she asked, "Nightcap?"

The two women sat staring at the flames dancing about beyond the opened door of Marie's wood stove. They chatted about this, that, and the other thing -- topics about the island and about the world beyond it -- for almost two hours.

"Robert told you what I do for the community, I'm told," Paula said, speaking about her sexual service to the people of Reborn. When Marie only nodded confirmation, Paula told her with a sincere tone, "I do this voluntarily, you know. First, I enjoy sex. Always have, always will. And I've been told I'm very good at it, too. But more than that, I'm happy to do what I do. With the high ratio of men to women, it only made sense for someone -- me, in this case -- to help tend to the most instinctual need humans have after survival itself: procreation. Yeah, sure, we aren't procreating because we, the females, are all sterile. But that urge to engage in sexual activity remains."

"How many..." Marie started to ask, wanting to know just how many of her fellow Reborn Paula was serving.

"It varies," the other woman answered, having anticipated the question. "How many and how often isn't really important. What's important is that I am happy with my part in Reborn. You will be, too. Robert will see to it that. He wants you to find your place here, amongst us."

They sat in silence a while, sipping at the brandy, each of them thinking what they were thinking. Finally, Paula said, "There's a reason I brought up what I do, Marie."

Paula didn't continue her thought, but after contemplating her words, Marie realized where the other woman had been taking the conversation. She blushed, diverting her eyes to her cup of brandy. Marie had actually had thoughts -- sexual thoughts -- about Paula, even before she'd learned the woman was one of Reborn's three whores. But she wasn't in the mood at the moment.

"I would like that and, I'm sure, enjoy it, too," Marie told the other beauty, "but not tonight. I ... I think I just need some sleep."

"Have it your way," Paula teased, standing to leave. Before she left, though, she leaned down to Marie and kissed her softly on her lips. "Call on me when you need me."

Paula departed, and Marie settled in for the night. She dressed for bed, and laying there thinking about her first full day on the island and the surprisingly amazing people on it, she suddenly felt ... content. She reached her hands to her waist, pushed her thermal underwear down to her thighs, and found her long ignored folds and sensitive nub. Tonight she would fall asleep sated.