Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly

Author:Dana Kelly [Kelly, Dana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-05-17T22:00:00+00:00

Within the confines of the embattled engine room, the tiny sphere dissolved. Very slowly, it mixed back into its water. Gloss black tendrils sprouted from the liquid mass, twisting and knotting, until the interloper reformed completely. After a lengthy pause, it opened the hatch at its feet and descended.

Chapter 21

Rust

Casey was already in the cockpit as April slid down the ladder and alighted upon the passenger compartment deck. The rest of her team rapidly descended. Shona shrugged out of her ruined vest and tossed it in the direction of the latrine before taking her place on the bench. Gingerly, she probed her bandaged forearm. Malmoradan embarked last, dropped the duffle bags inside, and sealed the top hatch behind him. He hurried to his seat, secured his harness, and Casey decoupled from the boarding tube.

For a moment, they drifted weightlessly as directional thrusters guided the shuttle to face Arsenal Bay. Mike looked at Orin, who sat with his head buried in his hands. “Hey man, are you all right?”

“I’m sure I will be,” said Orin. “I’ve never taken a life before.” He exhaled and let his arms float in front of him. “I mean, unless you count roaches and sludgel bugs.”

Images of the men Mike had slain aboard Fox Mendes flooded Mike’s thoughts. He searched for the right words to say as he relived every terrible moment. Bitterly, he remembered how good it had felt when he struck down the man with the repurposer—how angry and quenched he had felt in that instant, and a fierce wave of guilt washed over him. Taking a deep breath, he mentally placed each memory within its own piece of paper, folded them up, and shoved them far back in the desk drawer he tended in his mind. “Hang in there,” said Mike. “I’m told it gets easier to the live with over time.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Orin. “I don’t think everything gets easier, just because you have to live with it.”

Centrifugal gravity slowly returned as Casey accelerated toward the planet.

“If it gets to be too much, remember you’ve got a place in your mind to store it, now,” said Mike.

“Oh, yeah. That’s true,” said Orin. “Thank you.”

Casey’s shuttle skimmed the atmosphere, and fire roared around the hull. Pockets of turbulence rattled the shuttle as it dove through blankets of smoke, headed for the surface of Arsenal Bay. The vessel lurched, and Orin winced. He unbuckled a portion of his tactical vest and hiked up his shirt slightly, briefly. Wincing, he rubbed the ropy scar crossing his abdomen. “That’s quite enough out of you,” he said, and he set to re-buckling his vest.

“How’d you get that scar?” asked Malmoradan. “I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“I, uh… we were in an accident when I was twelve,” said Orin. “Mike, my uncle, and me. Some guy in a sky truck turned off his autopilot so he could make a delivery on time, and he plowed into us doing eighty, half a kilometer up. He killed my uncle Roy, and he almost killed Mike.

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