Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

I didn’t really want to feed into the crazy talk coming out of Tong’s mouth, or maybe I just didn’t want to consider the reality of what he said.

I did feel something for Stacy. I’d buried the feelings when they came up before. It felt wrong to want something for myself, like I was cheating on my wife. Given my recent dream, I sensed peace with that, like a new ideology had taken root deep in my heart.

These were feelings I didn’t really want to explore at the moment. We were about to head into the mist swamp searching for weapons to kill a symbiotic alien virus. This was neither the place or time to start doing soul searching.

Tong sensed that part of the conversation was over.

“I would like to volunteer as tribute to coordinate the morning meal for our expedition,” Tong said submitting his formal request. “Does that seem appropriate?”

“You mean you want to make breakfast?” I asked.

“Yes.” Tong nodded quickly. “Breakfast.”

“Knock yourself out,” I said.

Tong busied himself, walking quietly around the camp. He searched the food container, sniffing at a variety of options. My attention fell from him for the time being. The suns were coming up, and although partly obscured by the clouds, I began to see details of the section of the Orion around us.

Like I had suspected, this piece was massive. It looked it like it had been even larger when it crashed down and entire sections of it were crushed on impact. Burn marks showed where fire had lived and died.

I looked up into the variety of levels, trying to guess where the communication section would be located. I really had no idea.

The arch-like structure that rose above me extended out so far, I had to squint to see where it ended.

“What’s that smell?” Ricky sat up. “Is something burning?”

I looked over to what Tong was doing. The alien had begun toasting protein bars over a lighter. I didn’t bother to give him direction. He seemed happy with that goofy grin of his.

“Tong’s making breakfast,” I said with a shrug.

“Is it morning already?” Stacy said, sitting up from her spot on the blankets. “I feel like I just went down.”

I stood looking at her for a moment too long, with what Tong told me about the prophecy running through my mind.

“What?” Stacy looked at me with a sideways glance. “Do I have drool coming off my lip or something?”

“Naw, you’re good,” I said, shaking my head. “Just sporting some killer bed head. You could start a new trend.”

“Did you just tell a joke?” Arun asked, rising from her own blankets. “I’m either still dreaming or Dean just told a joke.”

This got a chuckle from Stacy and Ricky.

“Don’t get used to it,” I said, shrugging it off. “I slip up from time to time like everyone else.”

As our team prepared for the day’s journey, Tong served us breakfast.

I’m not really sure what kind of food the Remboshi were used to eating, but one thing was certain, it wasn’t anything good. Tong burned two protein bars and used them as a kind of sandwich bread. In the middle, he piled on jerky and used smashed apples like a paste to hold it together.

He munched on his, happily looking to all of us for approval.

“Is it good?” He looked at us with a smile and wide eyes like our praise meant the world to him.

We all looked at each other. Arun took the first bite. It was dainty and barely a nibble, but she managed to swallow the concoction with a grin. “Thank you, Tong, that was very thoughtful of you.”

“Mmmm…” Stacy said, taking a bite out of hers. It was clear she was holding it in her mouth instead of actually chewing. “So good.”

While Tong was busy looking at the others, I shoved one of the protein bars into my mouth and let the rest dangle by my lowered hand. Mutt came over and took care of it.

“I love it,” I lied when Tong looked to me.

“I don’t know why we didn’t think about this sooner,” Ricky said, actually taking another bite of the prepared meal and chewing noisily. “This is delicious.”

We all looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” Ricky looked back. “I like it.”

Tong looked on with his same wide grin and even clapped his hands a little.

“We should head out,” Arun said, bringing us all back to the task at hand. “Priority one is to find out what happened to Captain Harold and his team. Priority two is to search this section of the Orion for the communication level and salvage anything we can.”

I handed Ricky his rifle back. “This part of the Orion looks massive.” I pointed my eyes upward. “Do we take the crawler or walk?”

“Maybe both,” Arun said. “I don’t want to leave our only means of transportation unguarded, but I do see the value of walking slowly on foot so we don’t miss anything.”

“We can take turns driving the crawler slowly while everyone else walks,” Stacy offered.

“Let’s do that,” Arun agreed. “Whoever is in the crawler won’t need a weapon. The other three walking outside will use them.”

“Let’s make it happen,” I said.

Stacy took the first shift in the crawler, moving the vehicle so slow, it matched our own walking strides. We fanned out, creating a line with each of us a good ten meters apart from one another, and the crawler in the middle.

Arun took our left flank, followed by Tong, the crawler, Ricky, and me, and we slowly made our way under the arched part of the wreck.

“Tell us what the communication level looked like again?” Stacy asked over our comms. “What am I looking for?”

“Iris made me memorize the location of the communication level, but it looks so different upside down,” Arun admitted. “It should be on the lower left side of this arch if it wasn’t completely destroyed in the crash.”

“Hey, hey, I think I have something,” Ricky