Echo Book 2

32. 1 And 24 Spares

Malax and I cuddle in the morning. "Thank you, babygirl. I needed that."

"Me too. I missed you. What are we doing today?"

"Helping on the new werewolf land. We need to get the brains going and make sure Kyro knows how to use them. You need some more wind down time before we leave. This place is nice for that."

"It is. I had so much fun in the water yesterday. I want to fly some more."

"I'll fly with you today. Do I have a wolf form?"

"I think Nadine has to bite you for that."

"We can still fly."

I snuggle him. "I'll tell her to bite you nicely."

He chuckles and helps me up. We have a nice breakfast and go back to the planet. The brains have a city laid out. Some houses are being built. Looks like some businesses are going in. A castle in the middle of all of it. Tim is standing on the path with Kyro, Fang, and Hunter.

I jump on Tim and wrap around him. "Where is everyone else?"

"On ships in space. We'll bring them down as the houses get built."

Malax stretches. "We should probably bring the alpha's down. Let them pick spots and get started."

Kyro nods. "Alpha's and Beta's. Have them take brains and pick a spot. They can keep themselves safe from bears. That seems to be the biggest animal here."

Tim pats my butt. "Seems to be. But keep an eye out. We can't guarantee that. There could be some scary s**t here that we haven't found yet. Make sure they know that."

Thora grabs me. "We're going to fly around and see stuff now."

I turn into a dragon and fly with her and Nadine. We fly around for an hour. I see waterfalls and a momma bear with her babies. Then shuttles pour out of space. So, we go back to the city. Lots of people are here now. They're sitting on the ground in the center of the city. There's probably thousands. Kyro is making a speech on a wooden platform.

I land beside Malax. He puts his arm around me. "These are the alpha's and beta's. Kyro is setting them free to find a spot for their packlands."

"What were the shuttles raining down?"

"We sent brains everywhere. They are mapping and doing some other stuff."

I watch Kyro talk for a minute. He's boring. "WRAP IT UP."

The group sitting on the ground crack up laughing. Tim rubs his face. He's standing by Kyro.

Kyro laughs. "Maybe I was rambling a little. I know you're all excited about running and stretching out after being stuck in space. Keep in mind, bears are here and there may be other predators as well. Be safe. Make sure to keep a brain with each of you. You may go."

I jump up and down and take off. Then I land again. I don't know why I was excited about that.

Malax smiles and hugs me. "I love you, woman."

"I love you too."

Hunter, Fang, and another man come over. "See anything good while you were flying around?"

"Waterfall." I jump up and down. "And a momma bear with her babies."

"Well, we don't want to mess with her. Where was the waterfall?"

"I'LL SHOW YOU." I turn into a dragon and half tackle Hunter.

Thora tackles us both. "YOU CAN'T FLY WITH PEOPLE. YOU'LL FORGET HE'S THERE AND HE'LL FALL TO HIS DEATH. I'LL FLY YOU INSTEAD. NADINE."

Tye runs over. "Where are you going?"

"Waterfall." I point in the general direction.

"I remember where it is. I'll fly 1 of you. Wrap your arms around my neck and hold the f**k on. We go fast."

Nadine comes over. "What?"

"We have to fly them. Echo's never flown with anyone."

"Yea, probably shouldn't do that the first time on land. Malax, are you going?"

"No. I'm going to sort out s**t here. Have fun seeing the waterfall. Take some brains."

Tye nods. "Everyone grab 2 with your feet. Bring 8 of you over here and put your hand up."

"Yes, sir."

I turn into a dragon and pick up 2 brains by their wrists. It's not too bad. I can fly like this.

We follow Tye for about 20 minutes. We see the waterfall. Then Tye keeps going. He lands in a big open area.

I jump up and down. "WE ARE SO FAST." Then I search for the other brain I was carrying. I can't find it.

Tye laughs. "We have 7 brains and an arm. Where's the rest of it?"

"About halfway back in a tree." Thora points.

"That's fine. They are claiming the waterfall and some more area. We need a map of the entire area quickly."

"Yes, sir."

"How far is the main city?"

"About 6 hours by carriage. Probably 2 days of walking time. 2 hours in the car. Something like that. It's not super close."

Fang smiles. "It's perfect. And I love the rolling hills and trees. The river is through here. The waterfalls. Everything is perfect."

"Yea, mom will love this, dad." Hunter spins in a circle. "We need to figure out where to put the houses and packhouse."

Tye shakes his head. "We need to get the location locked first. You have to claim the land and set the perimeter or anyone can take it."

"Here's your map, sir."

I peek at the map. "Where's the waterfall and where are we?"

The brain points out a few places. "There are 3 waterfalls in the area. 1 goes to a lake."

"I want that too."

The brain marks spots on the map.

I make a big circle around everything. It's a huge circle. But I get it all. "Are there brains on my ship? I haven't seen any of them."

"500k."

"Wonderful. Bring 200k down here. Claim the area circled as Alpha Fangs land. Have the brains stand 20 feet apart around the entire perimeter. Make sure people know it's claimed land. The rest of the brains move to this clearing and wait for further instructions."

"Yes, ma'am."

The rain of shuttles fall again. 1 of my brains walk over. "These 3 will walk the perimeter with you. Allow them to alter it as needed. Defend them and take 25 of you."

"Yes ma'am."

Hunter puts up an eyebrow. "Why do we need 25?"

Tye laughs and tosses the arm. "It's 1 and 24 spares. Put 25 on each girl. Defend them."

"Yes, sir."

"You girls are free to roam. Use wolves so they can keep up with you. And stay on his land."

Nadine turns into a dragon. I turn into a wolf. Then I get stuck in my dress. It's too tight on my throat and all wrapped around me weirdly. I wiggle and fall over.

"Well, she's naked now." Thora turns to a brain. "Bring her another dress and underwear. You have to remember. Dragon, then wolf, or you'll be naked."

I try to stretch out my clothes. They rip more. Hunter reaches down and rips them off me. I shake out and stretch. I try to say thanks, but instead I bark at him. Then I jump up and down.

"Go play."

I run away so fast. I knock down a brain in the process. We find the waterfall that drops into a lake. It's a beautiful waterfall. The water falls down a bunch of rocks. I can imagine it will stop during dry seasons. It is beautiful though. I swim as a wolf and jump off some of the lower rocks into the lake. Then a brain hands me some clothes. They are done with the perimeter.

I get dressed and go back to the clearing with the girls.

Tye rubs his face. "I can't command your brains. You have to do it. We need..."

"You told them to stay with the girls earlier."

I nod at Hunter. "If it's for safety, pretty much anyone on the throne can command them."

"We need his guards down here. No mates or families. Just the guards. Then we got some of the main village laid out."

I stretch. "How many people will live here?"

"Counting children, about 10,000."

"Alert."

Tye rubs his face. "What?"

"A city with a population of over 9,999 requires a hospital with a trauma center. It is not on the plans."

"We never had 1 before."

Thora shakes her head. "Don't matter, you're getting it now. You have to follow our laws. They require hospitals, schools, all kinds of weird s**t you'll figure out. But the brains will put it all in, and you'll know if something doesn't follow the law."

Nadine smiles. "Also, the brains don't know what you had before. They are building what you tell them to now. So, if you say the packhouse needs to be 7 stories tall, they'll build it that way."

The boys laugh. Hunter smirks. "I wouldn't mind having that cool air in the shuttles. It's nice to cool down."

"Air conditioning." Tye nods. "Put air-conditioning in all the homes and buildings here. You can control the temperature you want in the house. It can make it warmer or colder than it is outside. Just set the temperature in the room."

"We never had anything like that."

Thora smiles. "And now you do."

Nadine checks the plans. "I would suggest bringing your builders down as well. While this looks very good, it's not the same as building from a blueprint. The brains won't understand it. You'll end up with 18-foot tall doors or something weird. Bring them down to help the brains with dimensions."

I nod. "That's true. Your builders should know some of the stuff by heart anyway. Then I would bring the medical people down. They can help with the hospital. Making sure it has everything it needs."

Thora winks at them. "They can also make sure it has everything they've ever wanted but never had before."

They laugh. "Bring those people down. No kids or families yet."

Tye yells, "ONLY FROM HIS VILLAGE. NOT ALL OF THEM."

"Yes, sir."

"That would have been a catastrophe."

I find a shade tree and lay down. Then I call daddy and cry about the suppra's getting electrocuted. He says the insurance covers that, and he'll make me and Tre new ones.

I smile and stretch out.

I wake up, and I'm wrapped around Tim.

"You looked so comfortable I took a nap with you." He hugs me.

"I was sleepy. I played in a lake earlier." I roll on him and give him a kiss.

"Did you eat lunch?"

"No. I wasn't paying attention to time."

"Let's have the brains bring lunch for everyone here. I came here wondering how the hell they were so far ahead with building. Didn't realize they had you kids with them."

"We helped."

"Yes, you did." He pats my butt and we order lunch.

The brains set up a bunch of tables and chairs then deliver the food. Everyone comes quickly. They must have been hungry.

We sit with Fang and Hunter to eat. "How's it going? I took a nap."

"Perfect. You weren't joking. The brains are fast."

Hunter nods. "We had them build 1 house. Then had them fix it." I crack up laughing. "Now they're making about 3,000 at once. Everywhere we wanted them."

"You didn't make them all 1 bedroom, did you?"

"No. The builders knew how many bedrooms each family needed. I guess they were working on plans while they were in space."

"That was smart."

Fang smiles. "I have a smart group. We're going to put the number of bedrooms on the door and the women pick their house from that. It's a start."

Hunter nods. "They're air-conditioned with our normal stuff. The brains knew refrigerators, stoves, and all that. I'm concerned about furniture and blankets though. Towels."

Tim shakes his head. "Brains can make those. Design a couch, table, chairs, whatever you like. Have them make 1. Then fix it. Then have them mass produce it. People can always upgrade their stuff later. But it'll be a start for everyone. Once businesses get going again, it'll be easier."

I smile. "You might want to bring your mate down to help design stuff. We can always send her back up tonight if you want. Keep her in the middle here. It seems safe. I swam all morning and never saw a bear. That was pretty far out too."

Dipak roams over. "Only 3 alphas picked land yet and yours is half built. How the hell?"

Tim looks up from his food. "They cheated and took the kids."

He puts an eyebrow up. "I'm surprised this place doesn't have a pool yet."

I jump up. "TYE POOL."

Nadine pulls him off the chair. "AND A SPA."

Dipak shakes his head. "NO. IT'S HIS LAND. NOT YOURS. YOU CANNOT ALTER IT. FINISH EATING."

I plop down and stab my chicken. I want to swim in a pool.