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

traveled all day through grassy fields and rolling hills. There was still no wildlife or insects along the way. Just the calm swaying of the breeze in the nearly beautiful landscape of the planet.

If it weren’t for the many escape pods we found on our way, it might have been nice to take a walk. The looming shell of the damaged Orion was another thing that made the walk even more ominous.

More survivors joined our number from escape pods and landing crafts. Some pods we came upon were already abandoned with no sign of the occupants. It was chilling to think these survivors were already gone.

Everything in my mind told me they were just doing what we were. They had seen the Orion and were making their way to the larger ship.

I walked towards the head of the party with Stacy and Boss Creed. The former had her blaster tucked into her pants. The latter had been given a laser rifle usually carried by a suit. I sure as hell wasn’t going to try to take it away from him. Besides, I didn’t trust anyone, and everything I knew of Boss Creed said I could do just that.

“People are already asking questions about what happened to the ship,” Stacy said in a low tone. “They’re going to ask more and more questions and rightly so.”

“We’ll wait for Arun and Elon to make that call,” I said. “I don’t do politics. They decided to keep the truth about the Disciple from everyone in the first place. Let them decide what to do now.”

“If they’re still alive,” Stacy said, nodding towards the Orion. “The ship’s almost half of what it should be. Multiple pieces of it broke apart in the crash.”

I looked up to the sky, where dark smoke still reached to the heavens from the downed Orion. There was no point speculating as to who was alive and who wasn’t until we got there.

We traveled all morning, breaking only briefly for a noon snack of protein bars and water before heading forward again. We reached what was left of the Orion a few hours into the afternoon.

The damage I saw through a mechanic’s eyes was horrendous. The lower half of the craft had torn itself apart upon descent. Only the top upper half of the moon-shaped ship remained.

Whoever was at the controls had done one hell of a job turning the angle of the ship as it descended. They must have used whatever power the ship had left at the right moment. The Orion had come to a skidding halt on the planet as opposed to striking the ground like a meteor. Somehow, they had managed to turn the craft, so it slid on the ground and finally came to a hard stop against a large peak.

The landing divot made in the dirt was so long, the starting point appeared lost. The groove it made in the ground had to be ten meters deep. Opened like a cracked egg, exposed wires popped and sizzled, creating fires that continued to burn, while torn steel exposed sharp edges.

There was a large group of survivors who shouted, turning to meet us. I didn’t see either the Eternals or Iris amongst the group.

Stacy recognized a suit, who jogged up to her with a report.

“Miss Wilson, it’s so good to see you,” he said, motioning to the crowd around us. “And so many of you that made it.”

“It’s good to see you as well, Ira,” Stacy said, embracing the man quickly. “Have you searched the craft for survivors yet?”

“We just started going level by level.” Ira hesitated, looking to me and Boss Creed.

“It’s okay, you can talk freely in front of them,” Stacy told him. “We’re all in this together.”

“It doesn’t look good in there.” Ira swallowed hard. “A lot—there’s a lot of people who didn’t make it.”

We all stood quietly for a moment. It was strange to stand so still, thinking of something so horrific. In the background, we could hear shouts of joy. Multiple survivors from our group had found loved ones gathered at the base of the Orion.

For as many of the shouts of joy we heard, we also caught the concerned screams of others, shouting the names of friends and family, looking and not finding them.

“We can help,” Stacy said, breaking us all away from our thoughts. “We’ll divide into search parties.”

Stacy turned to all those gathered, using her hands to amplify her voice. She placed her palms in a circular shape around her lips. She began to shout, “Everyone, if I could have…”

It was obvious as she began that her voice would not carry to all the survivors gathered.

I put my right thumb and pointer finger into my mouth and released a shrill whistle.

“Hey, everyone listen up if you want to live!” I shouted.

That did it. Everyone turned and gave us their full attention.

My words might have been a bit dramatic, but they sure had done the job.

“Thanks,” Stacy said with a grin. She turned back to addressing everyone in front of us. “We need to search the Orion for survivors and any supplies. We’ll take the ship level by level.”

Stacy went on with directions and things to be careful of, as they made their way around metal corners and exposed wires. While she doled out instructions, I took the time to study what had been the greatest achievement of mankind to date.

It had taken thousands of workers years to build the craft. In minutes, it had been reduced to a pile of scrap steel.

“Ira and Mr. Creed will let you know what portions of the ship to search.” Stacy finished her instructions. “Be careful while you’re in there. We don’t know how stable or unstable the Orion is. Each team should carry a holo pad. The communication distance on each pad isn’t far, but we should be able to hear one another now since we’re so close.”

Murmurs of agreement followed her warning as Boss Creed and Ira divided