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

Dean, and Captain Harold will see to the construction of a barricade around the Orion as well as a perimeter defense.”

Great, how do I get roped into these things? I asked myself. Now I have to work with Captain Ahab over here.

“The—I can’t believe I’m actually going to ask this question, but the alien door,” Doctor Wong said, licking at dry lips. “It hasn’t been opened yet, has it? Are there any other doors that we can see?”

“You know everything we do at this time,” Arun reassured the man. “We haven’t found any other sign of intelligent alien life. Iris is monitoring the door around the clock. If it budges, we’ll know at once.”

“And your brother? Elon?” Doctor Wong added. “Is he well?”

Arun immediately tensed.

The act wasn’t lost on Captain Harold or me.

Arun was a stoic, clear-headed leader until it came to the people she loved. Her brother received a serious injury to his right leg during the crash. His Eternal genes would regrow the limb. For now, the brother and sister team decided to keep his healing a private matter.

I understood that. We were in a very delicate situation at the moment. The last thing people needed to hear was that Eternals were growing their limbs back. Even if they had a working knowledge of that ability, it would be something else to see it.

“He’s fine,” Arun lied. “He’ll be up and around soon.”

“And what are we telling the colonists?” Captain Harold asked. “I’m gathering we’re not telling them about the alien door. Sooner or later, someone is going to stumble across it.”

“I am going to tell them,” Arun said with a heavy sigh. For the briefest of moments, I could see how tired she really was. The weariness in her eyes, the way her shoulders shrugged forward. As soon as it was there, it was gone again.

“We need some time to provide them with anything that looks like stability before we drop this next bomb,” Arun said. “We just gave them water and food. If we can give them safety and tell them we have the long-range scanners in place to find the communication level of the ship, we can give them hope. I won’t crush them with this knowledge now, not yet.”

I got that. I understood it all. Still, standing there in the inner circle of the colonist leaders, I knew what we were doing was wrong. We were deciding what truth the rest of the Transients knew.

“Let’s get started,” Stacy said, ready to put our words into action.

The others were starting to talk and discuss the best place to begin when Arun motioned me to the side.

She lowered her voice to something just above a whisper.

“My brother asked that you would stop in to see him,” Arun said. “He didn’t say what it was about.”

“Sure, I can do that,” I said, reading the Eternal’s eyes but not finding what I was looking for. “Is he okay?”

“Health-wise, I know he’ll be fine,” Arun said, searching for the right words. “His spirit, on the other hand, could use a boost.”

“Got it,” I said, running a hand through my long, tangled hair. I really needed to get it cut. “I’ll check in on him. What level is he on?”

“He—he wanted to stay on level ninety-three,” Arun said in a voice so low I could barely pick out her words.

“Level ninety-three?” I repeated. “But that’s the—”

“I know,” Arun said in a harsh whisper. She looked at the others still carrying on their conversation behind us. “He’s in a dark place right now. Help him, Dean.”

4

Level ninety-three was no longer a habitable level. Originally, it was one of the many levels designated for recreation for the Transients on board the Orion. Prior to the crash, there had been large sprawling lawns with rich soil, tall trees, and even a running brook of water.

It was a place for the Transients to go and relax, for those who were claustrophobic to have a place to unwind and forget they were traveling through slip space in a steel globe.

After the crash, the entire level had been turned into a mess of dirt, broken trees, and plants. Lying on its side now, it looked more like the jungle I had just been through.

Lighting had been restored, as well as the cylinder-shaped elevators I had used to travel to the level. Moving around in the elevators that now traveled on their sides was strange, but it sure was a heck of a lot faster than walking up and down the one hundred and fifty levels of the ship that remained.

My feet hit the soft soil as I exited the elevator and moved deeper into the level of the Orion. The moist smell of earth filled my nose. That was a smell I knew I’d missed. We didn’t get it much back in the city I lived in or the yard where I worked. The rich, almost palpable odor of earth was comforting in a way I always took for granted.

I moved around shrubs and piles of upturned dirt. I was about to call out to see if Elon was on the level at all when I heard singing.

“Give us your survivors, your strong of will. We’ll lead them to the promised world. On and on, we’ll work the earth. On and on, we’ll toil,” Elon’s sad voice rang out.

I couldn’t see him yet, but I pinpointed his voice coming over from a section of the upturned level to my left. There was a spot where a tree erupted from the dark soil and a mound of dirt beside it.

I moved closer. I could tell he was drunk. His tune went up and down, his pitch was all over the place. I was no opera singer myself, but let’s just say Elon wasn’t going to win any awards.

“We’ll rule the wind and land and sea,” Elon sang on. “We’ll create a family that’s free.”

I turned the corner, clearing my throat out of respect