Wisdom in the Dark

Chapter 7 - Jak

Jak had been just about right in his estimation of the time it took to get to the forest. Myra logged two hours, four minutes, and fifty-three seconds once they crested the hill that overlooked the forest. Jak and Myra were surrounded by their small scout party - Jan, Ivan, Myra’s cousin Ctik, and Myra’s attendant Ylya.

While others in the village had wanted to see the forest for themselves, Myra had impressed upon them the need for prudence.

“Everyone will get a chance to see this forest,” Myra had told the gathered Pyc Family members. “But we need to continue to guard and care for our home. As your leader I will scout out this forest, and when I can confirm its location we will reap its rewards together.”

Myra’s words had the desired effect, and the Pyc returned to their daily tasks.

Ctik had recommended taking Sylphs to scout the area, but Myra had warned against it.

“We don’t need the Sebrle or some other family tracking us.”

And so they had gone on foot.

Jak was pleased to see Myra’s excited expression. Her eyes were wide as they absorbed every detail of the forest below them.

“And it keeps going!” Myra explained, pointing toward the horizon. “How did we miss this?”

“You did say you didn’t come this way due to the Holowycz Family supporting the Sebrle,” Jak replied.

“But an entire self-sustaining forest?”

“It will take a while to map,” Jak said.

“It would be easier to map the area if we had satellites,” Myra remarked looking up into the sky. “I remember when I was a child the Pyc Family attempted to put a few rudimentary satellites in orbit around Callisto. Several other families immediately destroyed them. We’ve had be to content with ground stations and mapping using people or Sylphs.”

“We’ve had the same issue,” Jak said.

“Every once in a while, we’ve found ancient satellites from the time when the Jovian moons were colonized, but they’ve been dead for who knows how many cycles.”

Jak led the group down into the forest itself. Almost immediately a flock of birds shot from the trees, chirping and squawking in protest as they flew into the sky.

“Pheasants!” Ylya exclaimed.

As they continued forward Jak startled another male deer, as big as the one he killed earlier in the day, and it loped away through the trees. Here and there hares nibbled at grass. A marten poked its head up from a hole in the ground, then hopped away, out of sight. The further they went, the taller the trees became, until soon they were slightly taller than head height. New smells filled Jak’s nostrils as the continued on. The plants of the forest, rich soil, and decaying plant matter were pungent in the air.

Jak looked back at the group following him. Myra was close behind him, silent but gawking at everything she saw. The automatic rifle she brought was held in slack hands. Ctik and Ylya had the same reactions.

“The animals don’t seem to be used to humans,” Ctik said. “Some of them barely notice us. Others are startled at the last minute.”

Ctik was right. Any village that had managed to create such a forest should have utilized it regularly. The game within would have quickly learned that humans were to be feared as the apex predator. These animals acted as if they’d never even seen a human being before.

“Where is the Holowycz Village?” Jak asked.

Myra looked at the compact screen of her communicator, then pointed. “Another five kilometers or so to the north.”

“Let’s go scout it out.”

“We can’t,” Myra protested. “What if we’re discovered? They’ll kill us.”

“What are you thinking, Jak?” Jan asked.

“Trust me,” Jak said. “We just need to get eyes on the village, that’s it. We won’t be going into it.”

“That’s too much risk,” Myra protested.

“We’re taking a risk now,” Jak retorted. “What if the Holowycz found us here? What then?”

Myra was silent, clearly frustrated at being challenged, and seeming to weigh what Jak was proposing.

“How about Jak and I scout the village, and you all stay back a klick,” Jan said. “That way if we get in trouble you can get away and we’ll hold them off.”

“And get Myra’s husband killed the wake period after they just got married?” Ylya asked.

“I’m a fast runner,” Jak said with a smile.

“No, we’ll all go,” Myra said. “That way we can support each other if we do get into a fire fight. But we stop the moment we spot the village.”

“Understood,” Jak said with a nod, then moved in the direction Myra had pointed.

The six of them walked through the forest for another hour in silence. The trees became thicker, and Myra was forced to turn on the light on her communicator so they could see. Along the way they scared up more animals – foxes, lynx, horses, and eventually cattle and sheep.

The more Jak saw the more his hunch seemed to be confirmed – something had happened to the Holowycz Family.

Jak approached a clearing, and in the distance saw the first man-made structures he had seen near the forest. There was the dome and the mass-produced, prefabricated huts and rectangular box containers seen in almost every village on the Jovian moons. Jak could see the greenhouse domes on the other side of the village, and to the west were hangars for Sylphs.

Despite the size of the Holowycz Village, everything was silent. Jak couldn’t see any movement within the village. There were no people going about their regular tasks. No children played within or outside of the village proper.

Jan crouched to Jak’s left, Myra to his right. Ivan, Ctik, and Ylya lay low behind them. They waited for what seemed like an eternity to see something or someone.

Finally, Jak stood and strode out into the clearing. He made no attempt to find cover to hide behind.

“What are you doing?” Myra whispered, her tone tense.

Jak continued forward, ignoring his bride. It was about a hundred meters across the clearing to a defunct airlock which no longer had doors, and the nearest building in the Holowycz Village, a small rectangular house. He walked to the other side of the house to the door. Above the door was a stylized dragon – apparently whoever lived here had tried to spruce up their bland, mass produced dwelling.

The door stood open. The house was dark inside. Jak lifted his rifle, turning the selector switch from safe to semi-automatic, but something inside him told him he wouldn’t need it.

“Hello?” he called into the house as he entered.

Nothing.

Though it was Callisto’s dark period, it was even darker within the house, and it took a moment for Jak’s eyes to adjust. At first he saw only dark shapes, perhaps furniture. But as his eyes adjusted, Jak saw what had become of the Holowycz.

At his feet lay two skeletons, tattered clothes still clinging to the bones. Dust covered everything within the dwelling. How long had they been dead?

Jak exited the domicile and moved to the next hut, only to find three more skeletons, one of them a child he guessed would have been almost a full cycle old.

“It’s clear,” Jak called to the party still crouched in the woods. “There’s no one alive here.”