Chapter 103: Familiar Faces
Lily was looking at the helicopter’s on-board computer. She found it could track the Capital Region’s enforcer flying vehicles. She was not surprised. All of these vehicles used technology built by the Carvaress Company. She noticed the enforcer fleet in the Carrington Region had many vehicles destroyed. She found out that a vehicle from their own fleet had destroyed them. The attacking vehicle joined the group late.
Lily traced this vehicle back to the Central Agriculture Zone, near where Demarcus was located, based on the tracker in his chip. Lily smiled.
‘Did you do this, Demarcus?’ she asked herself. ‘Maybe it was someone in your company who is very familiar with Carvaress technology. Orcilla, finding you was much easier than I expected.’
Lily linked the computer in her helicopter to Jennifer. ‘This is all you need to take over all the fleets,’ said Lily to Jennifer.
Meanwhile, under a tree, Orcille was eating pineapple chunks with Hamlet and Darius. Denise approached Orcille.
‘I opened this up,’ said Denise as she waved the controller in front of Orcille.
‘Well done, you have mastered the screwdriver,’ replied Orcille.
‘This controller is useless,’ said Denise. ‘It wasn’t even wired properly. You couldn’t have controlled their flying vehicle.’
‘I didn’t need to,’ said Orcille. ‘It was enough to put them in autopilot. They did the rest themselves.’
‘You gave them a choice,’ said Denise. ‘You’re not a murderer.’
‘Onk, onk, onk,’ said Hamlet. Orcille put three chunks of pineapple in Hamlet’s mouth.
‘I’m so relieved I have your approval,’ said Orcille.
‘I’m still disappointed with your attitude,’ said Denise.
‘Attytutudde,’ said Darius as he clapped his hands.
‘Oh my gosh, you spoke,’ said Denise. ‘That’s amazing!’
‘You’re amazing!’ exclaimed Denise as she kissed Orcille’s cheek.
Denise ran off with Darius to get Demarcus.
Orcille turned to Hamlet. ‘She went from pleased to disappointed to excited in less than a minute.’
‘Onk, onk,’ replied Hamlet.
Orcille put two more chunks of pineapple in Hamlet’s mouth.
A few minutes later, Demarcus ran over to Orcille.
‘He spoke. He said, “my brother”,’ said Demarcus.
‘Possibly,’ said Orcille.
‘He definitely said attitude,’ said Denise as she glared annoyingly at Orcille.
Orcille shook his head as he chuckled.
‘bwother,’ said Darius, as he looked at Demarcus.
‘He speaks. When he looked at me, he said, “brother”,’ said Demarcus as tears formed in his eyes.
Darius picked up two bananas and shoved them in Hamlet’s nostrils.
‘MWWAAHHH,’ screamed Hamlet.
She blew them both out and then ate them with their skins on. The two began wrestling.
‘Let’s be happy with some progress,’ said Demarcus with a slight grin.
Orcille shook his head and smiled.
Later that day, Orcille walked down to the stream to collect more water. Denise followed him.
‘Why didn’t you like me when we first met?’ asked Denise.
‘I recall it was you who didn’t like me,’ replied Orcille.
‘You acted sneaky, you stole Victor’s spotlight, and you betrayed us all by reporting us to the enforcers,’ said Denise as she put her hands on her hips.
‘You had good reasons,’ said Orcille as he began to fill the first container.
‘So, why didn’t you like me?’ asked Denise.
‘I did like you. I responded negatively because I was jealous,’ replied Orcille as he put the full container down and picked up the second container to fill.
‘Jealous. I didn’t think of that, but it makes sense,’ said Denise.
‘I’m glad it makes sense even without context,’ said Orcille.
‘I understand the context. It’s obvious,’ said Denise.
‘Great,’ replied Orcille as he began filling up the third container.
‘My opinion of you has changed so much,’ said Denise. ‘If I didn’t have Darius, I think we could have worked.’
‘Denise,’ said Orcille.
‘Yes,’ replied Denise.
‘I really need to ask you something. I need you to be honest,’ said Orcille.
‘I will, I will, I absolutely will,’ said Denise as she placed her hand on Orcille’s shoulder.
Orcille gently held Denise’s hand. ‘My arms hurt. Would you mind helping me carry these back to our vehicle?’ asked Orcille as he pointed at the three full containers.
Orcille carried a container in each hand, and Denise dragged her container along behind her.
Demarcus was sitting at the back of the orange vehicle, trying to encourage Darius to talk. Orcille, while still carrying the water containers, approached Demarcus.
‘He said three words. “Brother”, “hello”, and “hammy”,’ said Demarcus. ‘I think we will be moving onto full sentences soon.’
‘That’s really good,’ said Orcille as he placed the two containers down.
‘I want to apologise for how I treated you,’ said Demarcus. ‘You have helped us a lot. We would be dead if it wasn’t for you.’
‘Pain messes with our minds,’ said Orcille as he placed his hand on Demarcus’ shoulder.
‘You’re bringing my brother back. That means so much to me,’ said Demarcus as he briefly rubbed Orcille’s hand.
Hamlet came over with a large basket of fruit.
‘I have never had this much good food,’ said Orcille as he patted Hamlet on the head.
‘She’s just making up for all the food she ate on the way here,’ said Demarcus.
‘Onk Ooooonnkkk,’ replied Hamlet.
‘We are grateful, Hammy,’ said Orcille.
A group of Sapiods appeared from behind some bushes. They started making grunting noises and waving their arms.
‘They might be angry because we are taking the fruit and eating it,’ said Demarcus.
‘Should be fine. They are supposed to be placid,’ said Orcille.
They appeared very agitated. Darius got up and walked over to them. He began making loud grunts and waving his arms back at them.
‘I think they are communicating,’ said Demarcus.
‘I hope so, but he might just be mimicking their actions,’ said Orcille.
Orcille looked at the third Sapiod. He thought he looked a lot like Morgan.
Denise had finally caught up. She placed her water container next to the two Orcille had carried. ‘I did it. Girl power rules,’ she said while she puffed and panted.
The Sapiods were still making noises. Orcille got up to take a closer look at the third Sapiod.
‘What’s he doing now?’ asked Demarcus.
‘Making friends,’ said Denise.
The third Sapiod had now caught her attention. She stared for a moment. She then sprang to her feet and ran over to him.
‘Daddy, is that you?’ Denise asked, sounding slightly shocked.
The Sapiod screamed at her. Orcille grabbed Denise’s arm.
‘Please don’t startle them. They are agitated as it is,’ he told her.
‘I’m getting my father back,’ said Denise. ‘Don’t get in my way.’
‘Let me calm things down first,’ said Orcille.
Denise yanked her arm free. ‘Daddy,’ she said as she got close to him.
The Sapiod swung his arms wildly, hitting Denise in the face and knocking her down.
Hamlet charged at the Sapiods. This caused them to panic, and the whole group sprinted away.
Orcille picked up Denise. He carried her to the vehicle and placed her in the back.
‘We need to track them down,’ said Denise as she struggled to catch her breath.
‘I can track them for you,’ said Demarcus. ‘I’m very stealthy these days.’
‘I suggest we wait,’ said Orcille. ‘They are in a state of panic. They will come back this way on their own, as this is their area for picking fruit.’
Denise sighed. Darius walked over to Denise. ‘Ew west,’ he blurted out to her.
‘Does that count as a sentence?’ asked Demarcus.
‘I believe so,’ said Denise.
Orcille shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
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