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

forehead was letting loose a slow trickle of blood. Martha had been freed and was crying softly alongside some friends who knew her. The suits along with Arun and Jackson were all gone.

“Tased but still standing,” Ricky said.

“I’m good,” I answered Stacy. “What happens now? I mean, with everything that just went down here.”

“Not exactly the best way to start recruiting for the Civil Authority Unit.” Stacy shrugged. “I guess now Arun and Captain Harold have to work out this situation. I don’t mean just what happened here in the tent, but how they’re going to move forward in the future.”

I knew what Stacy was getting at. Arun and Elon genuinely cared about the Transients under their care. Despite my not liking the man, I thought Captain Harold cared for them as well. He just had a different way of showing it.

The captain showed his level of commitment to the colony by doing whatever it took to protect it. This meant recruiting as hard as he could, training his officers and fortifying the position.

I understood all of this. What I disagreed with was his ideology that the end justifies the means.

“You all going to be able to make it to the funeral?” Boss Creed asked. He joined our group with a fresh new scar on his forehead, courtesy of the Heal Aid in Doctor Allbright’s hand.

“I told him he needs to be evaluated for further treatment but…” Doctor Allbright extended her hands to Boss Creed, taking him in up and down as if that were explanation enough.

“Yeah, we’ll go with you,” Stacy said, looking to Ricky and me for confirmation.

“Of course,” Ricky said.

I nodded too. I didn’t know Ira well, but I knew enough.

Together, we exited the cafeteria tent, ready to bury yet another colonist this planet stole from us.

10

The patch of ground chosen to act as the new cemetery was half a kilometer from where the Orion rested. A single tree rose from the brightly colored grass and dark soil on a sloping hill.

A hole had already been dug for Ira. His body was wrapped in a white cloth and lay beside the grave. The group gathered there was smaller than I expected, but I guess we were all still just getting to know one another.

I was surprised to see Elon there, still with a heavy limp but no pain on his face. He looked a hundred times better than the would-be drunk slinging bottles against the wall.

Lou, the older, bald, religious man, led the ceremony. He was dressed in a dark grey, high-collared shirt, a pair of matching pants, and dress shoes that looked as out of place in the alien grass as anything I’d ever seen. I guess we were all out of place at the moment.

A handful of other colonists I didn’t know came as well, and finally, right before the ceremony began, Arun and Captain Harold.

The two didn’t speak to one another, nor did they even look in each other’s direction.

“I want to thank all of you for coming,” Lou began. “I know many of us didn’t get to know Ira well. It’s a testament to his character that you showed up at all. I only spoke with Ira once in passing. We were on the Orion in those first few days. I was lost trying to get to one of the viewing levels. I didn’t even have to ask for directions. Ira was the kind of soul who saw others in need and came to help. He noticed the confused expression on an old man’s brow and offered assistance. That’s what kind of person Ira was.”

Lou paused for a moment to let the words sink in.

I placed my hands in front of me uncomfortably. It had been a long time since I had been to a funeral or any kind of religious gathering, for that matter. It took a lot to make me uncomfortable, but here I was.

Instead of making eye contact with Lou, I looked past him, surveying the landscape. To our right, the hull of the Orion rose on the horizon. In front of us and a good kilometer away, a line of trees dotted the landscape.

I caught movement. The trees were so far away, it was hard to tell if I had seen a person or maybe some kind of animal. It could have even been a breeze pushing against one of the many bushes. The only thing I knew was something moved out there.

I fought down panic or the need to tell anyone yet. I wasn’t sure what I had seen. I wasn’t going to interrupt a funeral to tell everyone I might or might not have seen a person hiding in the trees.

Lou went on about the life after and forgiveness. I ignored him for the time being, squinting and craning my neck forward to see if I could spot anything.

Once again, a figure that looked like a man dressed in black shifted deeper into the bushes.

A feeling of dread descended on me like a bucket of cold water. Someone was out there. The hairs on the back of my neck rose in unison. I went through the checklist of the reasons anyone would be hiding in the bushes while we held a funeral ceremony.

Most colonists were eager to find one another and traveled outside the Orion and the erected tents in pairs or even groups for safety. I was positive I had seen a figure and nearly sure it was a man.

I wasn’t about to interrupt Ira’s funeral to go off running to the trees now. It would have to wait. My eyes never left the area where I had seen the person moving, but no other signs appeared.

The call for anyone to share a story about Ira came. Two people I didn’t know had nice things to say about him. How Ira was always looking to help and that we had lost a great man.

Boss Creed came last.

He looked down on Ira’s still