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

what it meant. “I could really use Iris to communicate right now. I do not think you would call them satellites. We have a low-flying station that is able to pick up images at great distances.”

“Uh, yeah, sounds like a satellite to me,” I said.

“Is it in space?” Stacy asked.

“No, not in space. Low flying in our orbit, just visible to the naked eye if you knew where in the sky to look,” Tong answered.

While they were going over the definition of what a satellite was, Mutt went over to sniff at Jezra.

Jezra, unlike Tong, did not seem to be as amused with our mascot. She shooed him away with an open hand. When that didn’t work, she lightly hissed at him to be gone.

Mutt stopped growling at her and thought it was a game. His tail started to wag and he jumped from side to side.

“No, no, shhh, shhhh,” Jezra said, waving both hands at the dog. The motion only excited Mutt more.

“Easy, buddy,” I told Mutt. “Let’s leave this priestess or seer or whatever she is alone for the time being. We need more answers from her.”

Mutt looked at me with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. He pretended to pounce on Jezra one more time for good measure. She recoiled, then Mutt grinned and came back to my side.

“Filthy four paws.” Jezra scowled at him.

“So getting back to topic,” Stacy said, taking in the room once more. “You’ve been watching us and learned English when Iris taught Tong? You can hear us? Why haven’t you been communicating with us? Why didn’t you let Tong know you were awake?”

“So many questions, so many questions.” Jezra said, rolling her eyes. “The answer is yes and no, like so many answers tend to be. If you have so many questions, why aren’t you asking me why I woke from our hyper sleep? Why aren’t you asking how I control the fog and mist monsters?”

“Well, yeah, I was getting around to that,” Stacy said, doing a double take. “Did you just say you controlled them?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” Jezra said, leaning back in her chair. She pressed the fingertips from both hands together, creating a steeple. “I did not reach out to you when the Orion crashed for two reasons. I can only hear audio transmission, not send it. Also, I was not sure you were the Children of the Dawn until this very moment.”

I exchanged looks with Stacy again.

“Why weren’t you sure until now?” I asked her. My frustration was starting to show through in my tone. I didn’t care. “Why didn’t you know right away if you foretold this whole prophecy?”

“My vision came to me and I knew our savior would come in an alien race of people. Two would rise up as lovers to lead the charge—those two are standing right in front of me now,” Jezra said as if it were fact. “I knew Tong believed you to be the Children of the Dawn but I was not completely sure until I saw you two look at one another. It was the same look in my vision, the very same look.”

I intentionally didn’t look over at Stacy, nor did I acknowledge the fact that Jezra referred to us as lovers. It was just a little too much.

“So you monitored us with some kind of low-flying satellite and you learned English by spying on us, but how did you wake up?” I questioned. “Tong said his people were in hyper sleep. Only he was supposed to wake up when we arrived.”

“Unless he was lying to us,” Stacy said with steel in her voice, narrowing her eyes at him.

“No, no,” Tong insisted, looking back at us. He shook his head wildly. “I did not lie. That was what was supposed to happen.”

“He speaks the truth,” Jezra confirmed, placing her hands onto her lap as she muttered something under her breath.

We all stood silent, waiting for her to continue.

She muttered more under her breath. It wasn’t English.

“Well, how or why did you wake up? How long have you been awake?” Stacy blurted out.

“Ahhh, there is the question I’ve been waiting to answer,” Jezra said, nodding along with Stacy’s words. She repeated them again. “How long have I been awake?”

Jezra mumbled to herself, counting her three fingers on each hand, then going down to her toes and counting those. She went back to counting her toes and fingers over and over again, then finally lifted her head with a smile. “Sixty-eight years. I’ve been awake sixty-eight years, three months, two weeks, five days, nine minutes, and eight seconds if I am using human means of time correctly. And I’ll be the first to say I’m probably not.”

“Sixty-eight years?” I took a step back in shock. “You’ve been awake sixty-eight years all by yourself? Here?”

“I have been hard at work preparing for your arrival and securing our location as well as providing the means in which to defeat Legion and the Rung,” Jezra said, blinking at us through her thick-framed lenses. “I was awoken from my hyper sleep by yet another prophecy. Instead of going back to sleep, I elected to remain awake and prepare.”

“Another prophecy?” Tong asked with awe in his voice. “Please, tell us. What did you see?”

Even I had to admit this Jezra chick had me on the edge of my seat. If she was right about us coming to their planet, what else could she be right about?

“That is not to be told at this time,” Jezra said, rising from her seat. “But come, you all looked famished and in need of rest and a shower if I detect the odor correctly.”

“Not so fast,” I said, still wanting to know more despite the angry roar my stomach made in protest. “The fog, those creatures in the mist—what are they? They killed some of my people when we landed.”

“Yes, I couldn’t stop them in time,” Jezra said. For the first time, I saw regret wash over