51

The next day, Hyder and Orion spent the day much like the last. They talked, they played children's games
outside, the ate the questionable food in the cafeteria.

On day three, Orion griped that the visit was already half over, and Hyder griped too, just because he could.
"More than half over," Hyder corrected. "Because I am leaving in the evening tomorrow." Orion nodded
glumly. "Well, at least I've enjoyed myself a great deal," Hyder said. "I don't have to worry about
responsibilities, and shit. I needed the break."

Orion grinned. "I bet Mr. Bigshot," he said. He snorted when Hyder drew himself up and tried to look
all-important. "You're not that important, my friend," Orion said with a laugh.

Hyder sighed. "You deflate my ego...some friend you are."

With a chuckle, Orion put his arm around the hyena. "Trust me, it's plenty big enough to survive."

Hyder gave Orion and dirty look and likely would have said a few not-so-nice things about him, except they
were interrupted by a rather ominous rumble. They were outside in the yard again, and Hyder frowned.
"What...was that a landquake?" he asked Orion.

Orion frowned, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"That's...that's weird," Hyder said. "I've never felt the ground shake like that before. That's unnatural."

"I kinda thought so. Come on, let's get inside, see if they know what's going on."

Hyder nodded, but as they began to walk in, another quake shook the ground, this time increasing in severity
that the ground heaved, and both men were thrown to the ground. It lasted a good long while, and Orion
flinched as one of the smaller trees in the yard fell over, and the fence on one side twisted upwards.

Attempting to stand was futile until the shaking abated, and then they were both up and running inside. they
almost literally ran into the soldier that had shown them their rooms. "You two okay?" he asked tersely.

Both had been a bit scraped up, but neither was really hurt. "Yeah..." Orion said. then his eyes widened. It
seemed part of the building itself had collapsed. "Jeez..."

The soldier nodded. "Good." Without another word, he rushed past once more.

"We should see if anyone was hurt," Orion said. "Maybe we can help."

Hyder nodded; the two men followed the soldier, who seemed to be heading towards what had been the control
room, and was now a pile of rubble.

There was a growing number of officers and soldiers approaching, and they all looked very upset. "What's
wrong?" Orion asked one who had paused to catch his breath.

"There's like five guys stuck in there!" he exclaimed. "We could use a hand getting this crap off them!"

Others were beginning to move parts of walls, and stone from the building. "Come on, Hyder let's give a
hand."

"No problem," Hyder said, and they both stepped forward to help.

Orion noticed that Hyder was getting some grateful looks, some suspicious ones, and yet other surprised ones,
but no one said a word, only concentrated on the task.

It took a few hours, but with everyone working on it, there was soon a big enough space to get the injured
people out. The whole had not collapsed, apparently, which had been lucky, and everyone was alive and
conscious. Two had broken bones, and one a bad concussion, but otherwise, they'd taken only minor injuries.

After the excitement was over, the building was evacuated. The dorms and guest dorms had not been touched,
and so the visitors were allowed to quickly get their things before they had to get out of the building. Hyder, not
wanting to freak the general population out, stayed close to everyone else.

Emergency squads arrived, and for a while, there was too much going on for anyone to say much. The injured
people were taken to a nearby hospital, and transports began arriving to take people to different bases. After
things had begun to get organized, the officer in charge of the base came over to Orion and Hyder, who were
dusty and dirty. he held his hand out to both of them. "I thank you for your help, gentlemen," he said, speaking
to Hyder as much as Orion. "It was much appreciated."

Orion grinned a bit. "No problem," he said, feeling a little timid.

Hyder was less so. He nodded courteously and shook the man's hand. "My pleasure," he said. "I'm glad they
weren't hurt worse."

"Yeah, me too." The officer sighed. "I wish I knew where these gods-damned quakes are coming from." He
shook his head then looked back to Orion and Hyder. "Well anyway, thanks once more. There's a transport
over there that's taking a few of the soldiers to a base in a neighboring town, if you'd care to hop it."

"We'll do that, sir, thanks," Hyder said. The officer nodded, and left.

"Wow," Orion said with a bit of a laugh. "Guess you made a good impression."

"Guess so," Hyder said with a laugh. "Come on, I need a shower. Let's get on that transport."

It ended up that the base they were taken to was a bit smaller, and they had to share a two-man room. but since
they'd been bunking together anyway, neither minded. It also turned out it was far more lenient security wise.
The yard had a fence around it, but it could be easily climbed if one were inclined. Thee weren't nearly as
many places that were restricted, and people seemed a bit less rigidly militant.

"I think I like this one better," Orion said. "And this place doesn't seem to have taken much damage."

"If any," Hyder agreed. "I call the shower first."

"Not if I get there first," Orion countered, and there was a mad dash for the bathroom.

Hyder cheats, Orion thought a moment later, sitting on his tail end on the floor. Hyder knew all those military
fighting throws... An extended foot, a quick straight-am shove, and Orion was on the floor. The young cat
stuck his tongue out at the door and waited his turn.

The Mutant visitor ended up staying a couple days longer than was planned, because resources were busy
tending wounded and repairing damage. Neither he nor Orion minded much, especially since Hyder was
allowed to contact his "rebel" base and let them know what was up. He also told them to let his military outfit
know that he'd be a few days late due to unavoidable circumstances. His superiors didn't know where he had
taken his vacation, and he wasn't about to tell them now.

When it was time for Hyder to leave, Orion hugged him tight. "You be careful, brother. I don't want to hear
that you got shot by the military or something stupid like that."

"I will if you will." Hyder grinned.

"It's a deal."

The two friend waved as Hyder got onto the transport that would take him up to the space-bound outpost, where
his ship was docked. Orion was offered a ride back to his city, but to their surprise, Orion said that he would
walk.

"You...realize that it's at least a week's walk back to Swift?" one of the officers asked.

Orion smiled. "Yeah, I know, but a lot of it's forest and plains. I'm kind of accustomed to that kind of
thing...it'll clear my head a bit."

The Thunderian officer was reluctant, but finally relented. "Well at least let me set ya off with a few supplies,"
she said to him. Then she grinned. "Call it thanks for helping us back at the other base."

And so, with Orion's bag full with a few days' worth of water and food, and his head filled with information
about where streams were and where hunting was allowed, Orion set off.

Chapter 52

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