Jack was sitting beside Haden and Clara when Marcus started speaking. The tribe was treating them sort of like celebrities after they brought back the Pachycephalosaurus and Velociraptor meat. Everyone had been impressed that they had managed to carry it back, let alone hunt it down in dangerous woods and then defend it from predators. They were all grateful to eat a hearty meal and know that there was more for the next day. The days spent hiking and surviving in the jungle had been terrifying and difficult, so any sense of normalcy or stability was praised. Each of the hunters had been given a full bottle of water at the start of dinner, and it had not lasted long. Everyone was dehydrated and starting to miss salt and other minerals in their diets. The meat would go a long way.
“Firstly. “ Marcus continued. “I would like to cheer for our hunters. They set out this morning undermanned with just four people and still managed to return with enough food to feed the tribe for another full day. Their hard work and bravery will let the rest of us continue to improve our lives here, and grow this camp into a home.”
The entire tribe clapped. Someone cheered, and the general uproar of the tribe even made Thrasher trumpet in excitement. That got some laughs, and Skye went to bring the big guy some berries.
“I would like to thank the rest of you. Everyone has worked hard today. From our team of builders moving the rocks to prepare this area, and cutting down the trees to make the shower bridge, to the crafters who have made twine and stone tools. We have taken our first steps today to reach the top of the food chain once more. In the months to come when we have sturdy walls and clean water, we will look back on these early days and appreciate every drop of sweat we put into them.”
More cheering ensued, and Jack joined in, clapping loudly and making a show of his support. Clara and Haden did the same. It was strange having people look to him for his reactions to stuff like this, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
“We have much to discuss tonight, and not all of it will be pleasant. This world has many new challenges, but we can and will overcome them.” Marcus took a breath and centered himself before continuing. “Last night, the alien known as Kyxsyss returned for a short chat when Mavis was studying the encyclopedia. I was asleep at the time, but Mavis, Jack, Gordon, and Mattock all listened to what she had to say and brought it to me immediately after. Some of you have no doubt realized that not everything the Aliens have told us lines up. They are keeping things from us and acting strangely. We have confirmed that this is the case, but there is a lot more to it than we would like.”
The tribe all seemed to hold their breath. Waiting for the bad news to drop. Fear, anxiety, and anger were all clear in people's eyes as they thought about the aliens.
“They are watching us.” Marcus held up the bracelet. “They can see through this device, but we suspect it may be more than that. This planet is a nature preserve for them, and they have been studying the dinosaurs for thousands of years. We have no idea how to determine how they are watching us, or when, but we know that they are. According to Kyxsess, everything we have been told is true. We are inside a nature preserve set up by ancient advanced aliens, and they have no way to get us out. Their government has decided to make the best of a bad situation and provide us aid. However, they do not have the facilities to mass produce advanced technology in the space station above us, especially not for millions of tribes. So they are going to ration the supplies. They are treating us like a reality TV show. Watching us struggle to overcome the dangers of the planet, and each other. The more entertaining we are, the more resources we will have the opportunity to claim.”
The tribe was not happy with this knowledge, and multiple people shouted all at once.
“What about our rights?”
“What type of aid?”
“How can they do that?”
“How dare they”
Marcus let the people express their anger. It was clear on his face that he was frustrated as well. Jack wasn’t surprised by the tribe's reaction, though he had expected more outrage. He had guessed something was wrong with the story they had been told, and this was a far better outcome than he had been imagining at first. Being alien slaves or some convoluted test of worth were the main ones he had come up with. It sounded like the aliens did truly want to help, but were just limited. That could be a lie, but he couldn’t think of a reason they would need to lie if the other scenarios were true. The humans couldn’t do anything about it.
“I know you are all outraged by this. I am as well. But that won’t help us survive. We do not know the answers to many of your questions, but this is what we do know. The aliens are watching us for entertainment. There are several species of aliens, and each faction seems to want different things. One faction wants to help us, see us grow and thrive. I suspect they will want to see us tame the land, tame dinosaurs, domesticate them. To build our home and trade peacefully with others. To farm and live lives full of creativity and artistry. They want to study our cultures and see our families thrive. The other faction is primarily made up of a carnivorous species. They seem to want to see if we are worthy hunters, fighters, and warriors. They want to see war, conflict, and empire-building. For us to tame carnivores and ride them into battle against our enemies. The final group is made up of a mix of the others, as well as the omnivorous aliens. We don’t have a very good idea of what they want. My best guess is they are just curious, and will be very hard to predict.”
Jack and Haden looked at each other. The aliens watching them would be annoying, but ultimately harmless if they were just waiting for their curiosity and rewarding hard work. But if what Marcus had guessed was true and the carnivorous faction of aliens wanted to see wars, Jack certainly wasn't going to go start a war just to appease some asshole aliens who wanted to watch them die. But the mere fact that you could be rewarded for conquest would make it a near certainty that someone would try and bring war to the other tribes. They would have to fight to defend themselves or be willing to submit to the rule of someone stupid enough to go to war just because the aliens promised them something shiny. It was not a pleasant realization, but Jack knew at that moment that he would eventually be forced to kill other humans.
“Now we are uncertain what sorts of aid the aliens will be giving us, but we do know that they will be delivering them in airdrops. They will be placing them between tribes with the hope that we will fight over them. I would much rather use diplomacy over force. When the drops fall, I will take the majority of the hunters to the point and meet any other tribes who come. We can split the supplies and make a rotating schedule of who gets what. I would like to bring some twine and trade it with the other tribes near us. Establishing good relations with our neighbors early will be crucial to our success. However, we will also need to be ready for a fight. Jade did a survey, and between the close to seventy of us, we speak English, a small amount of Spanish, and ten words of German. There is no guarantee we encounter people we can communicate with, and those encounters could easily devolve into conflict.”
The tribe had finished eating by this point, and now low murmuring broke out as people worried and speculated. Jack was most concerned about finding a group of aggressive people who spoke Russian or some other language and were hostile towards them. The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. He looked at his club. It was just a large branch with a thick knot at the end. It had nearly been broken twice already, and while he was impressed with it, against a real weapon it was just a stick. He would need to fight very well if he wanted to win with a weapon like this, or he would need to put the caveman side of himself away and use a spear.
“Now, I have two more things to say before I will turn this meeting over to Jade and then a public forum. The artifacts taming charge is ready again. It recharged near noon. Tomorrow I will venture out with the hunter team to try and tame another dinosaur. One that we can use to work the land and provide more protection. I would like to bring back a stegosaurus or triceratops, but if anyone has any ideas please speak up.”
Several conversations all broke out at once. One person suggested trying to tame one of the flying pteranodons they had seen above the river, but the idea was shot down. They would be extremely difficult to catch, and they needed a beast of burden. Thrasher was great, and the suggestion to get more Parasaurs was popular. But he wasn’t a fighter. At the end of the day, no one had any better ideas than a Trike or Stego. If they could find an Ankylosaur it would be good as well, but they were much rarer.
“I will keep all of your suggestions and ideas in mind. Please, try and think up creative ways to trap some of the dinosaurs we want. We will need to knock them unconscious or befriend them in order to tame them. I suspect that we may need to steal eggs for some of the larger dinosaurs, but that is a problem for later. Finally, today's use of the mapping charge located a deposit of clay two miles down the creak from our base. Once we have solid baskets and another large herbivore to help carry it, I want to take a group down to harvest some. We need bowls and a way to boil more water. So that will be our goal for the next day or two. Miles will still be in charge of building and keeping our base here organized. Skye is in charge of gathering, Ms Margert is in charge of cooking and food preparation, Mavis will be in charge of the crafting team, Jade is going to be in charge of the tribe laws and organization, and Mattock will be our lead hunter.”
With that announcement done, Marcus stepped off his rock and sat beside Miles. Jade stood and took his place, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. She had stripped off most of the upper layers of her business suit, leaving her in a white top that was covered in grass and dirt stains.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Hello everyone. Now that we have started working on building a home and won’t be moving every day, it is time to establish some hard rules. There are sixty-eight of us and once we have sufficiently built up a safe home, our missing family will start to join us. If more survivors from other tribes arrive we could easily grow to well over a hundred people. That isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but we need to think about life a year from now, and ten years from now as well. I will start by explaining how the tribe's leadership and governance will work. While we are small this will be largely informal, but as we grow it is important to have the framework in place. Marcus Wright is our leader. He will carry the artifact most of the time and have the final say on decisions. He will be the voice of our tribe and if snap decisions are required, his are the ones that we will follow. Beneath him in command, we will have Gordon Gears. The same man who is recovering inside the cave. If Marcus is unavailable he trusts Gordon to speak on his behalf and make important decisions. From there we will have a council, consisting of the leaders of each profession. My name is Jade Ryser, I will be the council leader of a civic organization. I will be helping Marcus organize everyone and make sure that all of our voices are heard, any issues are addressed quickly and efficiently, and our laws are followed. If I have any theoretical free time from my duties, I will be helping Skye Hollows, our leader of the gathering team. This is the largest team by far, and we will always need more hands. The gathering team is responsible for all things related to resource gathering. From picking berries and leaves, to harvesting clay and salt. Mavis Martin is in charge of the crafting team and is also one of the councilors. Her team will be responsible for making and maintaining tools. As they figure out how to make more tools such as the twine, the gathering or building teams may be reassigned to help produce them in the quantities we need. That leads me nicely to introduce Miles Brimmer and the building team. Their jobs are to plan and build our homes and defenses. Finally, we have Mattock Finch and the hunters. They will bring us food and protect us against the dangers of this new world.”
As she spoke she gestured to each of the tribe council, some cheers were thrown out when each group was mentioned. Jack was surprised that Mavis was being put in charge of the crafting team. He had known she had helped design some of the stone tools and make the twine but he hadn’t been expecting her to be leading others. That was something she had always struggled with. He turned his attention back to Jade.
“As our community grows, we will add more council members and responsibilities. Some day we expect to have a team dedicated entirely to the raising of dinosaurs, and another based around agriculture. But for now, the council will be made up of five councilors, the leader, and vice leader.”
She let everyone take a moment to identify each of the tribe leaders. Mavis was notably absent, having crashed hard before dinner was even ready. Jack had brought her some meat before the tribe dinner at Marcus’s request, and he assumed that she knew all of this.
“Every society needs laws, so we have come up with a few simple ones to guide our community. They are all common sense stuff that everyone should be able to get behind. Law one, everyone contributes. We are trying to survive in a hostile environment and we are not at the top of the food chain. If you do not help out in some way, you do not eat. We cannot afford to be lax about this. Everyone will have a job, and they must do their best at that job. If you do not like the job you have, ask for a different one. I know I will never be a wonderful hunter, but I can make myself useful by helping boil water, gather berries, or make twine. As long as you are working, you will be given a share of whatever food we have. The only exception to this rule is illness. Gordon was hurt in clearing out our new home. Without him, we would have been stuck out in the storm and still searching for a home. We will do our best to take care of him, but once he is better he will be right back to working alongside everyone else.”
She took a long breath and lifted a second finger on her hand.
“The second law is a generic one. Do not hurt each other. No one should have to tell you not to hurt each other, but we have the rule in mind because it will eventually happen. Arguments happen. You will not be best friends with everyone here and in this world, violence will become a daily part of life. It is not acceptable to bring that violence against each other. If you hurt someone, the council will hear both sides of the story and pass judgment. Punishments will be proportionate to the crime. It could be anything from a less pleasant work detail to banishment or death if the crime is severe enough.”
No one complained about the laws. It put people at ease knowing they had some rules to fall back on if needed.
“The third law is regarding personal property. None of us are used to communal living and sharing everything, but it has to happen. Until we have enough space and safety for everyone to have their own home, no one will have a private home. We will all be sharing the cave and then the longhouse that Miles has planned. After that, we will need to build things like a tannery, food storage, and stables for the dinosaurs. We just don’t have enough manpower and tools to make everyone their own house right off the bat. So to start, we will all be living communally. Once we have homes, the laws of the tribe will protect your ownership of that property. Your current personal property only extends to your clothing. No one will try and take your clothing or shoes, and we are in the process of making more climate-appropriate clothing for everyone. We are going to make some simple kilts and skirts out of the larger fern leaves, and as we figure out a replacement for cloth or leather, we will make sturdier clothing. At the end of the day, we will all be living together, and you are going to see each other naked. It's going to happen at some point, so all we can do is destigmatize it. Ignore it, and don’t make a big deal out of it. Each of us only has one set of clothing at best. We will start passing out clothing as we make it, and you can change into it and clean your original clothing in the pond. We suggest that you save your better clothing, we do not know what winter will be like, so our heavier and better clothing will be useful to keep intact.”
Jack suspected that whatever rules or laws they had in place now would be revised and edited later on. But he didn’t think he could come up with any better ones. He figured that they don’t hurt each other, don’t steal each other's stuff, and everyone has to work to survive, which made for a pretty good baseline.
“Fourth is a law for how we interact with the other tribes of this world. We will not be the aggressors for conflict. We desire peace and trade, not blood and war. If you encounter other humans in the wilds, use diplomacy first, not violence. Talk to them, back off if needed, and come back with the entire tribe to support you. They may call us cowards, but we will be the victors at the end of the day. Your lives are not worth any notion of honor or courage. We will focus on trade and building positive relations with our neighbors, but we will also prepare to defend ourselves. We think the best way to do this is to tame larger and more powerful dinosaurs and build defenses. If you start a war with one of our neighbors for a stupid reason, you will be punished in accordance with this law.”
Jade finally extended the last finger on her hand. Letting the people murmur for a moment about the rule and the consequences of dragging the tribe into war.
“The fifth and final law, for now, is the buddy system. We are not equipped to survive on our own out here. No matter who you are, where you are going, or why you are going there, you must have at least two other people with you. At a minimum. If you are pooping, and something attacks your buddy, you will be caught with your pants around your ankles. It will be that third person who needs to save everyone. A pack of raptors has been seen to avoid a group of four or five, but we have seen they will attack if you stray off in pairs or on your own. It is your responsibility to form a group of three to five, and know where each other are at all times.”
“What about in the camp?” Someone asked from the crowd.
“Even in camp. We do not have a wall yet, so we need to be careful and vigilant. We will have night and day watch rotations, and we will always keep the fires burning. But predators are already lurking at the borders of the camp. A sabertooth tiger has been seen in the dark, and there are thousands of other threats that we will have to overcome. The buddy system is the simplest way to keep each other alive.”
Jade put her hand down, and let people talk amongst themselves for a moment. A few people walked up to ask questions, many just stared into the fire. That had been a lot to dump on everyone, but it was also good to have figured out. Jack thought about the aliens watching them. He wondered what they thought of the tribe's first laws and their rationale. Anger at them for playing games with his life. But deep down, he felt a bit of excitement as well. He liked the challenge. Some of the others were much more upset, crying and cursing the sky. Jack felt like he had a path forward. Maybe the supply drops would have the medication needed to help Gordon recover.
Marcus returned to join Jade on the rock. He raised his hand and the tribe fell quiet again. He had a small smile on his lips, he was just as tired as the rest of them, but he was putting on a good show.
“The final thing to discuss before we open the conversation up to everyone is the tribe name. If we are going to be trading and meeting with others, we need one. Currently, the tribe log lists us as tribe number thirteen thousand seven hundred and forty-eight, but I would rather we pick our own name than be assigned one by the aliens or another tribe. I’ve thought of a few, but naming things has never been a specialty of mine, so let's hear some suggestions.”
The crowd was quiet for a moment as people thought. Jack had a few ideas, so he started the conversation off.
“How about the Jurassic Warriors.”
Everyone looked at him, and nearly as one shook their heads.
“Absolutely not.” “Nope” “Yeah that's terrible.”
Jack stood up a bit straighter. He thought it was a cool name.
“Ok, well what about the Wetland Bandits Tribe?”
Skye and Haden started to laugh.
“Jack. You’re not allowed to name anything. Those are terrible. We aren't bandits or warriors.” Skye said with a giggle as the rest of the tribe started throwing out names.
Jack huffed, but he wasn’t upset. Those maybe weren’t the ones he should have led with.
“What about the Whitewater Gators?” He suggested, and Skye’s laughter got louder.
Haden was chuckling as well, and put out his own suggestion.
“Let's name ourselves after the waterfall. It's the most unique part of our base after all.”
The crowd seemed to like that, and they started to brainstorm a few different ideas. They argued back and forth on a few, but at the end of the night, one of the older men named Justin suggested the winning name. Marcus pulled up the tribe log and renamed the tribe, they were now the Tribe of the Roaring Falls.
