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

“There’s a beach a few kilometers back,” Stacy explained, pointing with an open hand the way she had come. “I was on one of the larger escape crafts. We touched down on the beach. When we saw the Orion in the distance, we started to travel toward it, but it’s too dark now to see much. What happened to you?”

Everyone was eager to hear our story. I let Ricky tell most of it. Doctor Allbright relayed her encounter with the mist again. A thought crossed my mind that maybe the events surrounding her landing should be edited. People were already worried enough about being on an alien planet.

I decided against it. If nothing else, these people needed to know that under no circumstances were they supposed to venture into the mist.

While Doctor Allbright shared her story with those gathered, I took the time to search the area and see how many survivors Stacy had found along the way. Unlike me, she had come across multiple landing crafts and escape pods. It was dark, but I could guess the group she traveled with was near a thousand.

When Doctor Allbright finished, murmurs rippled across those gathered.

“It’s important that we understand there is no need to panic right now.” Stacy raised her voice for everyone to hear. “We’re headed toward the Orion and should be there tomorrow. Iris and the Eternals will have a plan. We’re going to get off this planet and back on track.”

“How do you know that?” someone asked in the dark.

“What if the Eternals are dead?” a woman shouted.

“Why should we trust them again? Look what happened to us this time,” a man pointed out.

Shouts of agreement grew. If someone didn’t do something soon, the mob mentality would take over and who knew what would happen then.

“Listen up!” Boss Creed roared. “If anyone doesn’t want to go with us to the Orion, there are no chains on your feet forcing you to do so. If you want to go have an adventure in the mist or sit on your ass and play in the dirt, be my freaking guest. We’re going to the Orion tomorrow because that’s our best bet of survival and getting off this god forsaken rock.”

Boss Creed’s years of experience managing others worked perfectly in this situation. He was commanding and used to being obeyed. Everyone around us hushed.

“Let’s get some rest,” Stacy said, picking up where Boss Creed left off. “We’ll start early tomorrow and hopefully reach the Orion with a few hours of hard travel.”

Those gathered nodded. The impromptu assembly meeting broke up.

“Looks like you found a new friend.” Stacy kneeled beside me and began to ruffle the mutt’s ears. “You’re a big boy. You’re a sweet boy.”

The dog loved the attention, rolling over on his back, and his tongue fell out of the side of his mouth.

“What’s his name?” Stacy laughed before going on to stroke the underside of his fluffy belly.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’ve just been calling him Dog.”

“What? No way, he needs a name,” Stacy insisted.

“Okay,” I said with a shrug. “You name him.”

“No, he’s your dog,” Stacy insisted.

“He’s not my dog, but if it’ll make you stop, then fine.” I sank to my knees and sat on my heels. “I guess we can just call him Mutt. He doesn’t know the difference and that’s pretty accurate.”

Stacy raised an eyebrow but then chuckled. “Okay, Mutt it is.”

Everyone was so exhausted; the rest of the night didn’t last long. Boss Creed organized a watch of volunteers that would take shifts through the night.

“I can take a shift,” I said, going up to my previous manager. “Put me in the rotation.”

“You look like hell, kid,” Boss Creed said. He craned his neck forward in the dark to get a better look at me. “Yup, like death warmed over.”

“Hey, man, cut me some slack. I’ve been nearly blown up, ripped out of a colony ship, and crash-landed on an alien planet.”

“Exactly why you need rest.” Boss Creed dismissed me with a wave of his open hand.

I didn’t argue with him. I was beyond exhausted. I fell asleep against a tree using my pack as a pillow. A million stars overhead acted as my own personal nightlight.

I don’t remember much, except that it felt like I had just closed my eyes when I woke to Stacy shaking me.

“Hmmm? What? What’s wrong?” I asked, jolting awake. I wiped at a line of drool coming down the corner of my mouth.

“Nothing,” Stacy said, pointing to the sky. “Sun—suns are coming up. Time to get to the Orion.”

“Right,” I said, stretching. Ricky and Doctor Allbright were still sound asleep across from me. All through the camp, people were talking to one another. They rose from their places of rest and prepared for the trek.

I stood, feeling every muscle in my body complain to me that they were sore and needed more sleep. I ignored them. Instead, I made my way to Ricky’s side. Mutt rose from his place beside me and followed.

I grabbed Ricky by the shoulders and shook him. “Rick. Hey, Rick, it’s time to get up.”

“But everyone will laugh at me if I wear that to the dance,” Ricky muttered in his sleep.

“Ricky,” I said with a grimace. “Snap out of it, man. You’re oversharing right now. I don’t want to hear any of this.”

I shook him harder.

Ricky finally opened his eyes, staring at me and then the sky, as if he had no idea where he was.

A look of realization hit him a moment later.

“Oh crap,” Ricky said, glancing around him and finally sitting up. He yawned and stretched. “All of this was real.”

With the appearance of the twin suns over the horizon, the half steel circle of the Orion was visible in the distance. We could cross the area in a day’s time if we pushed ourselves.

Time to get moving.

27

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