.

Precarious Balance

"Get Cassie, hurry! Procene, too!"

Larisa sped off without hesitation, back to the barrack. Chef had woken up early and decided to get some fresh air, and a good thing he had. The two figures moving between the bushes a hundred metres off didn't look they were particularly well-meaning. Larisa had been sitting by the embers of the fire when he'd gotten up, and she too had noticed the two people. They carried bows and spears.

If they were of the tribe that had traded with them the day before yesterday, they certainly weren't doing a good job of looking like it.

Procene was the first to reach him, and she immediately expressed the same feeling he had. "Oh dear. They don't look friendly."

As if to confirm her appraisal of the situation, one of the figures pulled back the string of his bow and released. Chef, Larisa and Procene flinched instinctively, even as the arrow went wide by several metres and embedded itself in the ground behind them.

"Take cover," Procene ordered, and kneeled behind a tree stump as the others sought protection behind the stone barrack walls.

Another arrow came, this one aimed at the barrack, where Cassie just emerged, clacking the bolt on her rifle. Chef felt his eyes go wide when he saw the arrow embedding itself into Cass' thigh with a wet thud. Cass screamed and stumbled, but somehow retained her footing and made it to cover, aiming her rifle from behind the stack of stones Chef had cut the day before.

Noah barked nervously, but the next arrow buried itself harmlessly in the grass.

Procene returned fire, a quick cadence of three shots with her one hand. Two of the bullets missed their mark, the bow-wielding tribal moving deftly between the bushes, but the other hit the attacker in the side of the pelvis, and the body flopped down to the ground, writhing and kicking.

The tribal with the spear had closed the distance, and Chef watched in dread as she reared herself up, dressed in no more than a loincloth, and hurled the spear at Procene. The tip struck the tree stump, but the spear spun end over end, the butt smacking hard into the side of Procene's head as she tried to duck out of the way. The girl stumbled and fell back on her backside, the revolver falling into the grass. From the corner of his eye, Chef saw Squires emerging from the barrack, running straight for Larisa and wrapping his arms around her. Odile simply peeked out the doorway.

It was Cassie's turn to fire, and she didn't mess about, even though the pain in her leg must be immense. The first shot struck the half-naked woman in the chest, tearing up her left breast in a spray of blood and yellow fatty tissue. Another shot got her in the throat and she went down, blood spurting from the wound. A few more kicks and she was still.

Procene fumbled for her weapon and recovered it, taking aim at the remaining attacker, who was trying desperately to redraw his bow from a prone position. Her shot struck the man right between the eyes in an incredibly lucky shot, blowing his brain out the back of his head.

The enemies were dead.

Still dizzy, Procene stumbled towards the grimacing Cassie, who was holding her injured leg. "You're bleeding bad," she said, "keep pressure on it. Larisa! Get the medicinal herb, go!

Cassie grunted, "the rest, keep your eyes open, there may be more."

Again, Larisa did as she was told, running for the herbs they'd bought from the – presumably other – tribe. Procene bound the wound and treated it with the herbs while the others looked out over the grasslands, but nothing came.

"I think… I think you'll be fine."

"What… what just happened?" Odile asked.

No one answered at first, but then Procene said, "I think… we just got raided? I don't know. They just… didn't even try to communicate, just started shooting."

"Are you two alright?" Squires asked. "I mean, you just… killed people."

"I'm fine," Procene said quietly. "I mean… we had to."

"Yeah," Cassie grunted from between clenched teeth. "Us or them."

"They didn't even make demands," Chef muttered. "Didn't even tell us what they wanted." He couldn't believe it. Why would people just attack outright? For no reason?

"Pretty sure," Cass responded to that, "that they wanted to kill everyone and take our stuff."

"Crazy fuckers," was all Squires had to say to that.

Meanwhile, Odile trudged off towards the bodies, saying they might have been carrying something valuable. Chef supposed he was right, but this wasn't really the first thing on his mind. They thought they'd been safe, for the most part, but it seemed this wasn't the case. What if he and Larisa hadn't been awake? These two tribal who-ever-they-weres would have sneaked into the camp and slaughtered everybody. Most would've woken up dead, and the rest dying. Noah might've barked them awake, but if these tribals were even the least bit clever, they'd silence the animals first. They'd need a night guard, or some kind of alarm system. Maybe Procene could think of something later. Right now she was busy bandaging Cassie's wound.

"Femoral artery's not hit. Mostly muscle, I think," she muttered. "I mean, I'm not a doctor, I just know first aid, but… doesn't look dangerous." She looked up at Cassie. "You should rest though."

"Yeah," she grunted. "I know. Hate it, but I know."

"We won't starve, don't worry." She laid her hand on Cass' shoulder. "Go on. Rest up." But she immediately checked and said, "Sorry. I shouldn't be telling you what to do."

With a chuckle, Cass told her, "don't worry, you're part of the group now, and you get just as much say as everyone else. And you're right, I need to let this heal, at least for now."

Procene smiled at her and said, "Yes. That would be best."

Odile came back, holding a long object in his hand. "Only thing worth bringing was the bow. Few arrows left too. Anyone mind if I hang on to this? I'm not a terrible shot, and I'd like to have something to defend myself with."

Nobody objected. Chef looked back at Squires and Larisa, who stood a ways further, their arms around each other's shoulders, and assured himself they were alright, then went to find some way to keep himself busy. No point going back to sleep now, might as well start the day. Larisa pointed at the bucket of muffalo milk she'd extracted earlier in the morning and then to the rice fields.

"Sorry, what?" Chef asked.

The girl rolled her eyes and wrote,

milk

rice ready

wait a few

make rice porridge

Oh, yeah, that was a nice idea. "You got it. It'll be a bit bland without sugar, but it'll make for a nice change." She just nodded and walked away. Sure was a weirdo. Lunch could be made with the doe Cassie had managed to bring back in the small hours yesterday. Lots of meat on it, and if the storehouse could be finished today, they'd be able to keep it somewhat cool. Maybe even fully refrigerated.

"Hey, Chef-man," Squires slapped him on the shoulder, as if he'd known what he'd been thinking. "Let's finish up our walk-in freezer today, yeah?" He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "I can't wait to see it work!"

Chef again wondered how a cheery, energetic guy like Squires and a quiet, standoffish girl like Larisa had ended up falling in love, but he guessed that was just the magic of hormones and hearts at work, and he didn't mind it one bit. "Absolutely. But as soon as Larisa and Odile start bringing in the rice, I'm chaining myself to the stove."

He nodded with a grin. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Now come on, let's hop to it."

The work went well, and by the time Larisa and Odile brought forth the first bags of barely-ripe rice, the only thing that was left to do was part of the roof.

"Hey Risa," Squires called down from his spot on the wall, his legs dangling on either side, "Think we'll score a lot of rice from your little plantation?"

She flashed a beaming smile – it warmed Chef's heart to see it – and stuck both thumbs up. Then she held up a bag of rice and flashed two times ten fingers. Then she waggled her hand to show it was an estimate.

"Hot damn," Squires cheered back. "No food problems anytime soon, right Chef?"

"Nope," he answered. "We still need to vary though. Rice every day might get us constipated."

"There'll be more, right? There's potatoes growing, and uh, corn too?"

Larisa nodded, still smiling, then went back to harvest more rice. It was a lot more work than just pulling the plants, it would seem, because they spent a lot of time bent over. "Well," Chef announced, "That's my cue. Late breakfast coming right up!"

"Good," Squires acknowledged. "I'm hungry."

Larisa felt as if her back was broken, but it felt great. The pain made her feel alive, and finally harvesting the rice, even if it was just a little bit too early, brought her joy and pride. And relief, that they'd been able to grow the plants in the first place. You never knew on an alien planet. For all they knew, the soil could've been infertile for their seeds. Or toxic. Like, full of ammonia or something. It was insane how lucky they'd been. She didn't know much about astronomy, but she definitely knew that the chances of landing on a planet in the goldilocks zone of a star, with a breathable atmosphere and water were stupidly slim. And yet here they were, doing pretty great, all things considered – that was, if this Procene chick wasn't just biding her time, waiting for the colony to be properly up and running, before shooting them all in the back. She still didn't trust her. But she also knew she was pretty much the only one left who was still somewhat guarded. Even Chef seemed to have thrown all wariness to the wind. She'd have to be doubly careful. Maybe the girl was legit, but if she wasn't, then at least one person should keep her eyes open. Even Terry had begun to blindly trust her. She'd brought the matter up with him in the late hours, but he simply didn't see the problem.

"Daydreaming?" Odile tore her from her thoughts.

She shook her head, gave him an all-clear sign with her fingers and bent over to resume the harvesting, but before she could pry the grains free, she heard Chef's voice call out, "Breakfast! Or, uh, brunch, I suppose!"

"Great, I'm starving," Odile cheered. "Come on, Risa, we've earned this and then some."

She followed him back to the shelters. The storehouse was all but done now, Terry finishing up the roof. He waved at her from his spot on the walls, and she smiled and waved back. The others were alright and all, but the only one who could actually warm her heart was him. Maybe because he was so down-to-earth. The others always seemed to be thinking, and talking, and planning. Terry didn't waste time with any of that and just got things done. Or maybe it was the fact that he was the only one who could actually make her laugh. It didn't matter, she felt what she felt and she loved it.

Chef was bringing out wooden bowls of steaming rice porridge, and her stomach growled as she saw them, the steam rising from the food. Having proper meals sure was a big improvement over the thrown-together kibbles and bits that had served as food in the last few days. And at least this was free of carved up cadavers for a change.

Procene came out of her shack too, and Squires hopped down from the wall, falling into step beside her and putting his arm around her shoulder. He smelled of sweat, but that was just fine.

They all sat around the campfire, except Procene, who first wanted to bring Cassie a bowl. She took one, went to the shelter, and emerged a moment later without the bowl, telling the others that Cassie was asleep and that she'd probably eat when she woke up, best to let her sleep.

Everybody was enthusiastically talking around the embers of the old campfire, which had become some sort of an unofficial gathering place, the fallen logs being used as benches. Again the conversation led to tables and chairs, and Squires pledged to make one when he had the time, laughing through a mouthful of porridge. It had no sugar, but it still tasted pretty great. Things were looking up, and her initial uncertainty she'd felt when they'd just landed and started to eke out a meagre existence was slowly fading. Which probably meant something was about to happen to make it all fall apart.

After the late breakfast, Squires went on to finish the storehouse and Chef went back to the kitchen, saying he was going to make more meals out of the scraps they still had lying around. Odile went on back to the fields, leaving Larisa alone with Procene.

She felt awkward, but she wasn't getting up now. She wasn't giving the other girl the satisfaction of feeling she'd driven her off. So she sat there for a while longer, determined to show that she wasn't afraid.

"You still don't like me much, do you?" the girl's soft voice came.

Larisa merely shrugged, still looking away.

"Hey. I'm truly sorry about hurting you when I arrived. I was hungry and desperate and I didn't know who you were. Are you still upset about that?"

Again, Larisa could only shrug.

She heard a sigh. "Hey. I know I didn't make the best entrance, but I was hoping we could move on? Or is there something else?"

Fine. She wanted to know, she got to know. She pulled another paper out of her pocket and wrote,

still don't trust you

at least she wanted to. But before she wrote it down, she realized that the worst thing she could do was to reveal that she was still on her guard. Make the girl think everything was fine, that way she might slip up. So she wrote instead,

sorry

was having some dark thoughts

you're alright

don't worry

She hated lying, and hated apologizing to this intruder, but it was best for now.

Procene took the paper and read. "Oh. You sure it's nothing personal? Because if it is, it's okay to tell me, I won't be upset or anything."

She just shook her head, gave her a thumbs-up and got up to return to the fields.

"I there's anything you need, I'd love to help, alright?"

Shyeah, sure she would. Larisa simply walked away and waved at the girl without even turning. There was something up with her. She was too smooth, too sociable. And Larisa trusted her less and less with every perfectly measured answer she gave. She's pass the rest of the day finding some distraction in the soothing pain in her back, and hoped everyone else would just focus on work like she did.

Thankfully, that was how the day proceeded. All the daylight hours were burned on harvesting, building, cooking, healing, and inventing stuff, or whatever it was the Procene girl did when she sat around flipping the pages of the booklet.

But the feeling didn't go away. The feeling that somehow, this little world they built wasn't as stable as it felt, and could topple any second.