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

angry they didn’t know. I was the last to get into the elevator, so I was pressed up against the closed doors with Ricky’s elbow in my back.

“We’re going to all exit when the elevator doors open and head for an escape ship or an escape pod,” Stacy shouted over the noise in our steel can. “You’re going to be fine.”

“My son!” a man shouted from the back somewhere. “I have to get my son. I’m not leaving without my son.”

More shouts like this filled the elevator.

“Everyone is being instructed to get to the escape bay as soon as possible,” Stacy informed them. “The best bet of finding your loved ones will be there.”

The elevator doors opened, and there were people everywhere, running, shouting, crying, and screaming. We stepped out on the floor as a groan from the Orion reminded us of how dire our situation really was.

The level was wide open with white tile underneath and a large, bright screen overhead. A video played of a smiling woman going through the motions of calmly securing herself into an escape pod. She never stopped smiling and grinning, as if she were about to embark on a vacation instead of trying not to die in a horrible crash.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Ricky said, grabbing both me and Stacy by the arm and running forward.

“I can’t.” Stacy pulled away, going to an elderly woman who had tears in her eyes. The grey-haired woman looked around, confused. “They need our help.”

Ricky looked at me, motioning for me to follow. I glanced around. There were elderly, kids, and even a few adults, who were either held stock still by fear or genuinely didn’t know what to do.

“Dean,” Ricky shouted. “Let’s go!”

My eyes landed on an old man who had tripped and fallen. He was being trampled in the rush of people arriving on the elevators to get to pods. A line of blood gushed from the right side of his face.

Oh, here we go again, I said to myself. Are you really going to do this?

“Go!” I shouted to Ricky. “I’ll catch up.”

He started to argue, but I didn’t listen.

I elbowed my way to the old man, shoving people aside and receiving a few shoves myself. I leaned down, grabbing the terrified man by the arms and lifted him up. I directed him over to a ship that was already filling.

“Th-thank you,” he said.

“Get on a ship,” I told him, leading him to the open hatch. “The ship’s autopilot will take you to the planet.”

He nodded numbly, obeying my instructions.

I helped a confused family, then a little boy find his father, and on and on. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ricky helping as well. I would have to give him a hard time about that later if we survived this.

I lost track of time, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes when things turned from bad to worse. Escape ships and pods were beginning to fill up. One by one, they disengaged then broke away from the Orion. Whether it was a malfunction of one of the ships taking off, or something else altogether, I’ll never know. One second, I was leading a family to a waiting escape ship, and the next, a tear the size of a small ship burst through the far side of the escape level.

Cold air acted like a vacuum, sucking people out. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Transients were pulled off their feet and thrown out into the frigid air beyond. Their screams echoed as they were grabbed by the hungry hands of space and ushered to their graves.

The pull took me off my feet like a giant vacuum cleaner. I slid across the tile floor toward my death. My arms flailed widely as I tried to grip anything that would keep me rooted to my spot, but the floor was too slick, and there was nothing to hold on to.

“Got ya!” Ricky said, latching on to my right arm with his own. He anchored his body to an escape pod entrance set into the wall with his left arm and feet. “I wasn’t going to leave you that easily.”

I grabbed on to his arm, pulling myself to the steel rod he used to anchor himself. Looking through the tangled hair that had fallen in my face, I had slid dozens of yards from my previous spot. All around us, people were already in ships or sucked out into the atmosphere.

“We’ve done all we can,” Ricky screamed over the sound of the rushing wind. “It’s time to go!”

I knew he was right, even if I didn’t want him to be. Abandoning the Orion was like admitting defeat. We had worked so hard together to stop the sabotage, but in the end, it didn’t make a difference.

“Dean!” Rick screamed. “It’s time to go! We have to go, now!”

I nodded.

He reached for a lever beside us, opening the two-person escape pod and climbing inside. I joined Ricky, taking a last look at the Orion before I closed the hatch.

The wonders of humankind were truly boundless and so was their hate. It had taken years to build a ship like this and only the anger of a few to bring it down. I slammed the seal shut in front of me before I could get too deep in thought for my own good.

A lever I twisted in place ensured the circular hatch was sealed airtight. The single steel bar was a bear to maneuver, but I put some muscle into it, and it finally agreed to fall into place.

“You ready?” Ricky said as he opened the secure clear glass the disengage button was under. “If we die because we stayed a few minutes longer to help those people inside their own escape pods, I’m blaming you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as the Orion spasmed again. I clipped into the five-point harness, tightening the strap around my waist as well as my shoulder. “Do it!”

“Here