13

A couple of days later, the pair was working again in the hangar, fetching tools and parts for one of the
higher ranking slaves. He was a good natured human named Phiron Frankson, and was one of the more pleasant
mechanics to work with. He'd seen what the two kids had been put through, and was going easy on them. He
did not get angry when they were slow, and didn't make them do anything too hard. The cubs appreciated this
very much.

"Ha-have you ever been whipped?" Orion asked his companion as they scoured the junkyard for a wheel.

Hyder shook his head. "I got beaten once, but not with a whip. It was a wooden rod, and that was
because I messed something up really bad and cost my master a lot of money." His voice was more downcast
than usual, and Orion didn't blame him. He knew his friend still hurt as much as he did. "Have you?"

Orion sniffed and nodded. "Here I did...two times I think. I-It hurt a lot...more than this time."

The little hyena nodded sympathetically. He could definitely imagine. "Oh yeah...I remember when you
were in the mine." he'd seen the effects of that beating then.

Orion said no more on the subject as he peered under a junked transport. "Is this the wheel he needs?"

Hyder crawled underneath in the dirt to look, then came back out with a wince. "Yeah...it's the only
one too. We have to take it off ourselves." The cub retrieved a tool box from Phiron, and together he and

Orion got the wheel off. As they rolled the large rim and tire across the junkyard, Hyder said, "It hurts most
when I have to move a lot." He sounded like he was trying not to cry.

Orion already was. He nodded. "Yeah..."

Once back inside, Phiron smiled at the two younger slaves and took the tire. "Thanks, little guys." He
looked at them, and could see they were hurting still, and sighed, looking around to make sure no one was
looking. "Wait here a second, guys." The redheaded human left the room for a minute to retrieve his small
duffle that he kept a few personal belongings in. The higher ranking slaves actually had belongings. He
rooted until he found what he was looking for then came back, stopping at the sink along the way. "Here," he
said quietly handing each of the boys a glass of water and two pills.

They took them cautiously, almost as if afraid. "Are you sure?" Hyder asked him.

The human smiled and put a hand on Orion's head. "Go ahead, guys, it will make it hurt a little less."
He lowered his voice. "Just don't tell anybody I gave them to you."

The cubs took the painkillers gratefully, and Orion shook his head. "W-we won't, we promise."

Phiron chuckled. "That's a good boy. Now come on over here and sit down, I'll show you how this
thing goes on."

He was still showing the boys how things worked on the vehicle he was repairing when Blackmoor
walked in. He walked slowly around the room to see how things were going. There were three vehicles being
repaired, one being tuned up, and a couple of others being built. Illegal ones, those.

When the jackal got to where Hyder and Orion were watching Phiron fixing the vehicle he was working
on, Orion saw him first, recognizing his scent. His eyes widened, and he stood abruptly, backing away several
steps. He had been about to duck behind the human slave, but remember he had gotten smacked for hiding from Blackmoor, and with great difficulty stood still.

Hyder saw him a moment later and also stood warily away from him.

Blackmoor saw this reaction and smiled inwardly, but only looked mildly at them. "Why are you not
working?" he asked the pair.

Phiron had also stood at his master's entrance. "Sir, I was showing them how things worked. They did
the work that is need this morning. Perhaps someday they can work here in the hanger fixing the vehicles." He
was defending the children without getting himself in trouble.

Blackmoor looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You had them working earlier?"

"Yes, sir."

The jackal nodded. "Very well, Phiron. But from now on, you'll get my permission before showing the
lower slaves how things work, is that understood? I don't want these two learning yet."

The human nodded. "Yes, sir. It won't happen again."

"You two report to the mines, you'll be working there the rest of the day," Blackmoor said to the two
cubs, and they answered up and slunk away. Waving to Phiron, they left the hangar and headed for the silver
mine. It was the closest.

Hyder scowled. "I hate him. I want to kill him."

"Killing's wrong," Orion said. But he felt bad, because he felt the same way. He too, wanted to see
Blackmoor dead, even if he knew it was wrong to want it.

"Not always...most the time. But Blackmoor...he should be dead."

"Shhh...i-if someone hears us, w-we'll be in b-big trouble." Hyder nodded, and they walked in silence
for a while. But as they approached the mines, Orion walked slower. He looked at the tiny mine entrance, and
entrance where even some of the smaller adults that worked there had to duck to get through, and shuddered.

"What's the matter?" Hyder asked his friend. He stopped as the little Thunderian did as well.

"I-I hate the mine," Orion said, his voice shaking. "I-it's small, and th-there's no air, and there's rock all
around, and it's too little, and..." He was having difficulty thinking of the words he wanted to say how he felt.
"I-I feel like I can't breathe, and I feel like I'm buried...it scares me. It makes me feel like when B-B-Blackmoor puts me in the box..." Orion started to cry, wiping at his eyes.

"Awww..." The little hyena wasn't sure what to say. Most the time he knew how to comfort his
younger friend, but this time he just did not know how. He did not know the word for what Orion was
describing, but he knew what it was. The cub had a case of claustrophobia developing...and he knew whose
fault it was, too. He put his arm cautiously around his shoulders. "It's okay, Orion. I'll be right there. I won't
let anything happen to you, I promise."

The child nodded and started walking again. But he kept his gaze to the ground.

Orion did not look at anything as they entered the mine, only quietly went where the taskmaster told him
to go and started working. Already he was breathing faster as he tried not to look at anything but the flat wall
before him. He tried not to look at how low the ceiling was, or how narrow the passageway was. He tried ot to
feel hot hot it was in there, even in the cool autumn air. He tried not to feel the stuffiness or the closeness...

Well into his work, with Hyder working next to him, Orion did not notice the first noises. He did not
notice, a few hours into the shift, the rumblings from the front of the cave, where the weakest supports were.

The taskmasters that were there, two of them this time for a larger group, did. They said nothing for now.

A half hour later, it happened. There was a loud crack that everyone heard, and a dozen heads snapped up at the noise. "Uh oh," one of the older ones, a jackal of about fifteen, said.

The two taskmasters stood up hastily, but had no time to do anything before there was what sounded
like a far-off bomb going off, and all of a sudden, the lights went off. There was coughing and sneezing as the
passageway filled with dirt, and pebbles came rolling down from the entrance of the mine.

One of the taskmasters cursed, then barked out an order in Plundaarian for everyone to stay exactly
where they were. If they put on a light to see anyone move, they'd bust heads.

The two taskmasters revved up a small set of emergency lights to show a little more than a dozen
scared faces, mostly youths and children with the youngest being Orion, and three or so smaller adults. "What
do we do?" one of them asked in a low voice. He was speaking Plundaarian.

"I don't know, there hasn't been a collapse of the mines in a while. Let's see how far it's gone in. You
stay here, I'll be back." With that, he traveled towards the mine entrance.

Where they were mining now was a good deal farther in that the beginning of the mine shaft. They'd
already gotten all that was to be gotten from the front and had move on. But the taskmaster came back only a
few seconds later. "That passage is all blocked, almost to here. It'll take a while for them to get us out," he
reported to his partner.

The other nodded grimly. "I'll radio it in." He took his communicator and reported what had happened.

Blackmoor answered the call, and wasn't too happy, and said he'd have a crew come in and get them out. He
also said unfeelingly that if the air got too thin to kill the slaves.

Orion was closest to them as they talked, and he had learned enough Plundaarian to know what was
said. He began to panic. "We-we're trapped?" he said in Basic. He still spoke it more than the harsher Plundaarian language.

As the guards gave him a dirty look, Hyder tried to calm him. "It's all right, Orion, they're gonna dig us
out." The other slaves had huddled near the cave walls on the order to stop digging. They did not want any more to cave in.

But Orion could not be calmed, and although he tried hard to stay still, he could not. Finally he
couldn't take it anymore and stood, running for the entrance. "Hey!!" one of the Mutant guards yelled. The
boy heard footsteps running after him, but did not stop. He reached the blocked passage, and struck his hands
against it, pounding in the rocks as if that would get him out. "Let me out!" he cried, his reason having long
been banished by his panic.

The guard caught up to him and grabbed the metal collar around his neck. He threw the child to the
ground. "Get back there, wretch! You'll bring the rest of it down on us!"

But Orion was crying in fright now, not even hearing what the Mutant said. He went back to clawing at
the rock, breathing hard as if he had no air. There was enough in the caverns for several hours, but still it felt to
him that there was none.

The guard growled and grabbed him again, then yelped as the panicked cub slashed him with his claws.

He threw the cub to the ground again and kicked him in the midsection once, twice. Orion curled up on the
ground. He yelped as he was lifted by the throat, the Mutant digging his claws into the flesh. "You like to claw
people, worm?" he growled. He flexed the fingers of his left hand and raked them across the cub's face. He let
out a strangled whimper.

The guard probably would have done more serious damage, had Hyder not approached the two. he had
gotten permission from the other guard to come and get Orion with the promise to keep him calmed. To keep
his friend from getting further hurt, he would hold him down if he had to.

"Sir?" the young hyena said.

The guard spun around and growled, "What the hell are you doing here, brat? Get back in there!"

"I had permission, sir, to come get Orion...I'll keep him from running again if you let me take him back.
Please?"

The taskmaster looked at the cub for a minute then nodded, dropping Orion to the ground. The little
feline collapsed, gasping for air, and coughing between sobs. "Fine. Get him back in there. He gets up again, I'll
make sure he can't walk. That understood, slave?"

"Yes, sir, thank you," Hyder said, and helped Orion to his feet. He ushered the cub back to the mine and
sat them both down in a corner, where he kept his arms around him. This was partly for comfort, partly to keep
him from getting up. "Shhh, stop it. Stop it, you'll get hurt. Its okay...listen. They're digging us out now."

It was true, they had gotten the machines out and higher ranking slaves were using them to dig the trapped party out. It would take a few hours, but they would get out.

Orion listened for a moment, but did not look up. He was afraid to; if he looked up, he'd panic again
and probably get seriously hurt. He kept his face down as Hyder held him tightly.

It took three and a half hours, even with the advanced technology of the digging machines, to get the
slaves and their guards out. The two were getting more and more irritable, smacking anyone that made any
sound. The slaves wisely kept quiet. When the machines finally broke through and the slaves on the outside
manually got the rest unblocked, the guards ordered everyone to their feet, and to get the hell out.

"Hurry," one of the workers urged. "We don't know how long we can keep the whole thing from collapsing."

That was sufficient to get everyone moving. Orion had stood up and ran for the entrance almost as soon
as he saw the dim daylight from the outside. He was the first out, running past the workers and the few guards
outside, and he kept running away from the mine until he got to a small supply shed, and then collapsed against
it crying in relief. The others emerged, filthy, streaked with sweat and dirt, and exhausted form the ordeal.

Hyder himself was covered head to toe in dirt as he came out.

He left Orion alone for now. It had been as stressful for him trying to keep him quiet, and was only a
cub himself. One of the older slaves that had been there smiled at him and gave him a friendly hug. "Ya did
good back there, little guy," he said to Hyder. "You okay?"

Hyder sighed and gave the slave a grateful look. "Yeah...I'll be okay. I'm okay now." He had taken
large lungfuls of air when they got out. It had been close, this he knew. The air was running out, and he could
tell it was. It was stale, and hard to breathe. He would never know how close the taskmasters had gotten to killing the slaves in the cavern.

Blackmoor was angry when he'd heard about the trouble Orion had caused. He knew full well the boy
probably had not been able to help it, but he was still mad. Orion was put in the box for the rest of the evening
while the other slaves were put back to work. The older ones went to a different mine, and the others were dispersed around the complex. Hyder went back to the hangar.

After what had happened, Orion had fought, actually fought Blackmoor for the first time in a long time.
He was terrified knowing it would get him more trouble, but as before he could not control his own body. He
kept begging Blackmoor not to put him in.

He did anyway, of course, packing the sides in so tightly he nearly cracked some ribs. When he could
get enough breath, Orion cried continuously to be let out, the whole time he was in there. He was left for
several hours, and even then, Blackmoor didn't let him out. He let the sides out a little and started filling the
box with water.

Orion screamed once he figured out what happened and started begging again to be released, or at least
to stop the water. Blackmore put enough it for it to be difficult for the boy to keep his head above water, and
then gave it a shake so it would splash over. He heard the cub sputter, cough, then start crying again. "You going to fight me again, cub?"

"No, master..." came the immediate, whimpered reply. Orion could not move, could only feel the
helpless terror as someone who had complete control over whether he lived or died shook the box once more.
The water went over his head again, and he screamed.

"You don't sound like you mean it, wretch," Blackmoor said coldly. "Will you fight me again? Tell me
what you will not do again."

What did he want?! "I-I won't f-f-fight you ag-gain, mas-master," Orion whimpered, almost unintelligibly. "I -I p-promise, I promise! P-please let me out?"

"'Please let me out', what?" Blackmoor prompted.

He had not shaken the box again, and Orion took this as a hopeful sign. He answered right away,
"Please let m-me out, m-master?"

Blackmoor nodded and let the water out of the box, opening the door when he was halfway drained.

The soaked cub tumbled out.

Orion took a sound beating with the bamboo rod before being allowed to go to bed, and by then it was
almost time to get up. As the crying child was shoved into his cell, Hyder said through the stone wall, "Orion!
Are you okay?" Worried, he had stayed up.

"N-n-no," Orion stammered.

"What happened?"

Through his sobs and stammers, Orion told his friend what had happened. Then he curled up in a corner
of his little cell. Even the cell was starting to feel cramped to him sometimes. Like now.

"Aww...it'll be okay, Orion...it's over now. Master Blackmoor says you don't have to mine tomorrow.
But he won't let us work together for a while."

Orion was disappointed to hear this...but relieved he would not be mining...very relieved. He closed his
eyes to sleep for a few hours before he had to get up.

The next day, Orion was not put in the mines, as Blackmoor knew he would be just about worthless.

But he was not allowed to do something he liked, either, like the hangar work. He put him with five other young slaves pulling a cart from the mine to the supply house. He did not have to go in, just pull the cart outside. Hard work for a cub.
Orion pulled the duty off without hardly a word other than acknowledgment of an order...and thus it went
for the next few weeks, as autumn gave way to the Plundaarian winter.

Phiron Frankson
Phiron

Chapter 14

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