53

The trial wasn't anything huge, and for that Orion was grateful. He wasn't entirely surprised that he recognized all of them, and even knew some of their names. They were glaring at him throughout the whole trial, which intimidated him somewhat, but he still went up in front of everyone and told them what happened. Ocedra also testified, as well as the vandals. All of them flatly denied having done such a thing.

But since they'd all taken a turn urinating on Orion's bedding, they were solidly convicted of their vandalism. Serves you right, you bastards, Orion thought when the trial was over. Their childishness had been their downfall, and how appropriate was that? He watched them being led from the courthouse towards the transport that would lead them to the town jail.

Orion was a bit worried, though. The townspeople that had come to watch seemed to be more disposed towards the other Thunderians than Orion. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, though; after all, he was an outsider. While most people were friendly enough towards him, when it came down to him against real Thunderians, he supposed that the other townspeople wouldn't be on his side.

He just hoped that it wouldn't lead to more violence.

As it happened, there were no more attacks on Orion's home, and a few of the villagers even apologized to him for it happening, and Orion was pleased about that. The vandals had all gotten 6 months' worth of jail time , except for one man, who had young children. He only got three, so that his mate would not be so long tending the children alone. Orion was fine with that.

He did put up with scorn from some of the other Thunderians, though, the ones that hadn't apologized. One day, fed up with it and in a rather surly mood, Orion turned on the woman who had spat her words at him. She'd asked him how he felt, having put a father in jail, and how his children felt, having their daddy in prison where they couldn't see him.

"Seems to me," Orion said, "that I've done those children a favor. Their father is a biased, childish, mean-spirited cur, and it's probably doing them good to be away from his influence. Try and remember that he committed the crime, not me!" And with that, he turned and stalked away. It hadn't been such a great retort, but at least it got the woman off his back.

Truth was, he usually only quietly walked away, and no one was used to him turning on them like that. The woman said no more after that day.

Eventually, thought, things went back to normal. The Thunderian people had a far more pressing issue to worry about.

The tremors were getting worse. Now it was two, three times a month. Emergency crews in the cities and villages worked overtime, and were always on call now, especially in the cities where earthquakes were not known. More than once, Orion had been knocked to the ground by a particularly viscous quake, and once had had to nearly tackle poor Falcon to keep him from being crushed by a giant of a tree, finally defeated by the heaving ground.

People were scared.

As the months passed, they became more and more frequent, and the newscasters had been giving no information. Many people thought that this was because there was something going on that the government didn't want the people to know, but the truth was, they had no explanation. These tremors had the experts totally baffled, which was the most disturbing thing of all. All of the normal causes had been ruled out, and they couldn't find any reason whatsoever why the planet was suddenly heaving and bucking every week now.

Astronomers had been consulted, as people began thinking that the unthinkable might have happened, that Thundera had somehow begun to slip its orbit, but no, that was not the case. Test upon test was performed, and nothing was discovered.

When Orion had been back on Thundera for seven months or so, four months after he had visited Hyder, the local war-raid alarm went off, signaling everyone into the town square. The mayor was there, and the warriors from the local guild. All looked very grim. "I have a very serious announcement today," the mayor announced.

All ears listened, and all mouths were quiet. School and work had both been let out for the day for this announcement, which signaled something very serious.

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Orion listened.

"As everyone knows, these landquakes have been getting worse and worse." Even as he spoke, a minor tremor rumbled beneath the ground. Everyone tensed for a moment, but it amounted to nothing more than a bit of a shake. Those little quakes had been happening several times a month. "Scientists have been working day and night on the cause, and have found nothing. Whatever is happening, it is happening deep within the core of Thundera."

Whispers rustled throughout the crowd until the mayor asked again for their attention. "You must heed my words, my people," he said. "Because what I am about to say will affect the whole planet. The king himself will be addressing the entire planet, very soon, via the telescreen, and it is for this announcement that I have gathered you here." He paused. "This announcement will be taking place in a half an hour, so please stay here in the town square and listen."

As there was some time before this mystery announcement, people talked. Orion wandered over to where Jaguarin and his family sat, looking worried, and sat down with them.

"This is bad, Orion," Jaguarin said to his old friend. "This is just...bad."

Orion nodded. Chills were going up and down his spine, and the fur on his back refused to lie flat. Even Falcon felt it, and lay with his ears down, as close to Orion as he could get. Orion picked him up and held him in his lap.

When the time came for the newscast, the mayor called for quiet. A grim-faced Claudus appeared on the screen, and the volume was turned up. "My people of Thundera," he began. Everyone was silent, listening. Orion could see that hundreds of people had shown up at the Cats' Lair to listen to this announcement in person.

Claudus continued. "We have studied these landquakes now for months. We cannot find a reason for them." He paused. "But our scientists have determined this: if they continue to get worse, if the disturbances within Thundera's core continue to worsen..." Claudus sighed, turning his head downward. When he "looked" back up, Orion could see the sorrow and the weariness in his face, even without the eyes to reflect these things. "I'm afraid that Thundera may be destroyed."

Here, the king paused for a good long time, because not only did the people there erupt into a barrage of denials, exclamations of horror, and the like, Claudus knew that this would be happening every place that listened to this announcement.

Orion's eyes had widened, and Jaguarin's jaw dropped.

The mayor yelled for quiet, until the people simmered down, still looking at each other in disbelief. A few moments later, Claudus continued. "Evacuation vehicles are being sent to the cities as fast as possible, and more have been in construction now for a month. I know that many of you have your own ships, and if this is so, you must use them. Stasis pods are a wise idea, in case our destination ends up being somewhere far away." Claudus nodded his head. "Yes. We may have to leave Thundera and seek out a new life on another planet. We have no destinations in mind yet, but I want everyone to prepare. Those boarding government ships will be allowed one bag per person. Pets will be allowed if they will fit into a suspension capsule with their owners. If not, they must be left behind." Claudus waited a moment, then added one more thing. "Each town's mayor will be giving further instructions throughout the months, and I will continue to keep all of you updated as much as possible. For now, my people, prepare for an exodus from Thundera. And the gods be with you."

The rest of the day, most of the village wandered about in a state of shock. Orion himself felt like he'd been run down by an entire Fistpounder. He and Jaguarin's family talked about it all day, and wondered if it would really come down to a mass exodus.

The king's announcement was replayed five different times, to make sure everyone would catch it. Those that managed to miss all five still did not go ignorant, as the mayors of the town made sure that the citizens knew. It was in that night's newspaper edition, and whispered by every citizen of the planet.

Could a whole planet really be evacuated?

Apparently so. The next day, a ship was moved into Swift and set under heavy guard at the warrior's guild. So big it could transport 200 hundred people in stasis, and more were in construction. How much time did they have? No one could tell for sure. Maybe a month, maybe a year. The tremors had been getting steadily worse, but that was about the only thing that was consistent about it. The rapidity with which it worsened was highly erratic , and sometimes it seemed to be tapering off completely, only to rock the planet with an especially violent quake.

As the week progressed, and the news reports bode no good, the shock wore off, and panic began. There ere actually riots in the larger cities, with people competing in the stores to get supplies for their families, especially those with their own ships. The mayors and warriors did their best to keep these incidences from occurring, but a whole planet was panicking, wondering if their family would get off the planet alive.

But eventually the panic subsided, and people were left with a grim sense of anticipation. As the weeks went by, people watched very carefully for news reports on the tremors. They had seemed to level off...for now, but geologist reports gave no relief, only foreboding. Thundera was beginning to rip itself apart, and no one knew why.

People tried to live as normal a life as possible, especially for the sake of the children. They knew something was wrong, and the smallest ones didn't understand what. They needed a good healthy dose or normalcy. People went to work and school, and tried to do what they normally did every day.

But there was a dire sense of waiting over the whole village...and the whole planet.

Orion had begun to do what everyone else had. He had taken out his bag from his new floor safe (a wooden compartment beneath his bed area that revealed only when he pulled up the correct floorboard) and gone through it. He took everything out and surveyed it.

He had few remnants from Plundaar. Only three books, some photographs, his stone-game and the clothing (now ripped and torn) that Hintracrii had given him. Those took up a third of his pack's space. He added his tan shorts jumpsuit, vowing to wear the bulkier clothing on the ship, to make room.

Trying not to think of the tiny suspension capsules, he looked through his home and packed the things that he would either need, or that meant something to him. A current picture of Hyder, one of Jags, and one of Jags and his family. A supply of dried meat, sealed tightly in thick plastic wrapping. Some dehydrated space rations...for Orion had no idea where he was going. After some thought, he put in a thin blanket, the mess kit he'd gotten to make cooking a lot easier, his medical kit, and a small electronic game he had purchased in the town. He intended to borrow Jaguarin's camera and take a few photos of Thundera, and take those along too.

There was something very sorrowful about packing a bad thus. It always meant that one was leaving a place they had been a while, whether a pleasant vacation spot...or their home. Orion put an arm around Falcon, then stood up. "You hungry? I'm not... I think I won't hunt tonight." He went outside and retrieved some of the meat from the previous night's kill, which he was drying and preserving. He gave some to Falcon for his meal, then went back inside.

Two months later, making it nine that Orion had been back home, everyone was called for another major announcement. The quakes had been getting more and more serious, and in the deserts in the southern hemisphere, there had even been reports of the ground cracking open from the heat below. The arid, dry ground had not been flexible enough to withstand the superheating.

Indeed, the whole planet was warmer in temperature than it should have been.

"More terrible news, I'm afraid." On the telescreen, King Claudus looked more tired and haggard and old than Orion had ever seen him. "The situation is getting no better, and the word has come down to me. We will evacuate."

Gasps and murmurs from the citizens echoed around the planet. Up until now, they had been able to hold out a hope that it might just all go away, that their preparations and worries would amount to nothing and they could go back to their lives. But that was not to be so.

"We will not all leave at once,' said Claudus. "There will be several waves of ships departing, and more leaving after that as more ships are manufactured." Claudus lowered his head. "And if there is time. The first fleet of ships will leave in exactly one month. Why are we leaving at different times? For the entire planet to leave at once would be to invite further disaster. The spaceways could not possibly hold so many ships. We will be arriving at our destination, a planet in a neighboring system called 'Loanthrac'. Loanthrac is not a populated planet, but it is mild and livable, and large enough for we Thunderians to make a new life for ourselves. It will be very difficult, my people, but we will have our knowledge and our technology available, and we will survive!"

Orion felt a chill at these words, and found himself raising a fist grimly to the sky, while many of the people on the planet shouted their determination.

After people had calmed, Claudus went on. "The mayors of each city will see to it that everyone gets a number for the ship you will be boarding. Please pay attention to this. To ensure that people do not, as some might, hurt anyone else to get a low number, I will tell you this: The number does not indicate who is first, it indicates the number ship that you will be assigned to. Only the ThunderCats, mayors, and highest ranking warriors in each city will know in what order these ships will be lifting off. My people, please be civilized while you accomplish this task...and do it quickly." Claudus sighed. "Gods be with you."

Chapter 54

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