56

When Orion awoke, the first thing that he noticed was that he was very sore. The next thing that he noticed was that he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. He did know that a bolt of pain shot through his head as someone loudly exclaimed his name and came running to where he lay.

He winced, opening his eyes and squinting to see Jaguarin standing over him. "Oh jeez, Orion, they said you might not wake up for weeks!"

Orion nearly cringed as Jaguarin exclaimed this. "Jags..." he said, his voice hoarse. "Please...don't yell."

Jaguarin's eyes widened, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. "Jeez, I'm sorry," he said, this time almost in a whisper. "Man, when I found you, I thought you were dead at first, what happened? Wait, hold on, lemme get a doctor in here or something, wait here."

As if I could go anywhere else, Orion thought, amused despite himself. He closed his eyes again.

He vaguely heard Jaguarin coming back with a medic, and felt her checking his pulse, and listening to his breathing. He opened his unfocused eyes to watch her check the IV he now realized was in his arm, and to adjust the sheet covering him from the neck down. "Let him rest," she said to Jaguarin, smiling. "Now that he's awake, he should be all right. The concussion has subsided...that was the only thing we were very worried about. Because we couldn't wake him up."

"But...now that he's awake, he'll be okay?" Orion heard the worry in Jaguarin's voice, and had to smile. He was lucky to have him for a friend he thought. Him and Hyder. Listening to the medic reassuring Jaguarin of Orion's stability, he passed out once more.

When he awoke again, Jaguarin wasn't there. Must be home, he thought. But at least he felt a good deal more coherent, and he wasn't in as much pain. He had patches of fur that had been shaved on his arms, one on his neck, and one on his chest beneath the bandages that were wrapped around his torso. Some kind of sensors were stuck to the skin in those places. Well this is interesting, he thought. He held up his arm, which had the IV bandaged to it, and looked at it with distaste. He disliked things around his wrists.

A brace was snugged tight around his other arm, and a few places on his body had stitches, closing up particularly bad cuts. He narrowed his eyes as his muddled mind was now clear enough for him to remember what happened.

A medic came in his room then and smiled at him. It was a man, this time, and looked like he might be a mixed breed, like Orion. "I'm glad to see you sitting up," he told Orion. "I'm gonna check your vitals again, all right?"

Orion nodded, yawned, and tolerated the man checking his breathing and his pulse, and the like. "Am I alive?" he joked weakly.

The medic chuckled. "It may not feel like it, but yeah, you're gonna live," he said to the young Thunderian. "What happened? Your friend told us about threat that you received a few days ago, they've taken in the six Thunderians that vandalized your home a while back into custody again, for your safety." He paused. "Are they the ones that did this?"

Orion sighed, and nodded. But wait...the medic had said all six had been taken in? "Wait," he said. "Not all of them, it was only four. The one with the little kids, the father, he wasn't there. He was the one that warned me about these guys to begin with. And the tiger woman, she wasn't there, either. It was the other four. That...leopard bastard, and the others."

The medic nodded. "Hold on a second. Do you feel up to talking to a warrior?" Orion nodded.
Okay, good." He gave Orion a grim look. "With all this crap going on with the exodus, they very likely won't bother with a trial. They'll hook you to a lie detector, and if you pass it, they'll throw the bastards in jail."

Orion nodded; he knew what that meant. It had seemed a cruel thing, but Orion fully understood the reasoning behind it. Those in the jails would be evacuated off of the planet last, and those with crimes that didn't harm other Thunderians would be going first, when they did go. There was a good chance that many of the inmates would not make it off the planet.

When the warriors arrived, he was glad that Ocedra was one of them. "Hey, kid," she said to Orion, smiling at him. "You've had a rough time of it." She shook her head. "You okay being hooked up to a lie detector?"

With a shrug, Orion told her he was fine with it. "Might as well," he said, indicating all the other sensors on him. "I already look like a lab rat."

Ocedra laughed quietly, and went about hooking the complicated looking machine to him.

Orion told the warriors everything that had happened in the attack, and his eyes suddenly widened. Falcon! How could he have forgotten him? "Where's Falcon?" he said suddenly. "They just left him I think...he's not dead, is he?"

Ocedra shook her head and smiled. "Falcon is fine. The medics actually looked him over when they brought you here. He had a concussion also, but he's fine now. Your friend Jaguarin has been looking after him."

Orion gave a sigh of relief and leaned back against the bed. "Oh good," he said. Once he was sure Falcon was okay, he continued telling his story. Not once did the lie detector go off. "How long have I been out?" he asked as they were removing the wires from him.

"Well, it was five days ago that Jaguarin found you."

Orion's eyes widened. He'd never been out that long before! Had he? Then his face paled as he realized something. "Oh man. I've missed the ship...wait a minute. Jaguarin's looking after Falcon? That means he missed the transport too!"

"Easy, Orion," Ocedra said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Yes you both missed the transport, but it's all right. You won't be left behind. We've already got you on one of the later transports. There is one leaving from this town in a little over a month and a half." She smiled. "It's actually the one that half the warriors are on, because many are staying behind as long as possible to help the people."

"Oh...oh good." Orion closed his eyes and slumped back into the bed. "So what's gonna happen?"

"Well...Jasdra and Hegreth, the two people you said did not attack you, will be released from prison with full apology. The others will stay there until they leave Thundera. If they make it that far." She looked at Orion, who seemed to accept this. "After they tried to keep you behind to die, they're lucky that the law prevents killing them outright." She shook her head. "I can't believe what scum we have, right here on Thundera. I mean...sometimes I wonder how we can condemn the people of Plundaar when we have so many here that are the same way."

Orion nodded tiredly. "I know what you mean."

He was released from the hospital a few days later, taking home a bottle of painkillers, some extra bandages, and instructions on how to use them. Orion thanked the medic and went outside, where Jaguarin was waiting for him. Orion was gong to stay with his friend for a few days while he recovered, and then go back to his home in the woods until the last transport left.

As a month went by, Orion watched Thundera begin ripping itself apart. Claudus had addressed the people that remained one last time, a week before Orion's transport would leave. "My people," he said. The man was weeping, which seemed odd for a man who was blind. But then damaged eyes didn't necessarily mean damaged tear ducts. "For those of you till left on the planet, I am keeping you in my prayers and in my thoughts. Our beautiful planet will son be no more, and even now it is not Thundera anymore. And so here are my final words to you. I am honored to have served you as king, and I hope that your new life will be prosperous and happy."

A chill went down Orion's spine as he listened to that. "Wh-what does he mean, 'my final words'?" he asked Jaguarin.

The jaguar winced. "Oh, that's right...you were out when the announcement was made. Claudus is staying behind on Thundera."

Orion's eyes popped open. "He's what?" he exclaimed. "Why? No, he can't do that, he'll die!"

Jaguarin sighed. "You have any idea how many people have said that to him? He is pretty old, Orion. And he wants as many people as possible to get off of Thundera. His son, Lion-O, and the other ThunderCats will be leaving about the same time we will, and that's all he wants, is for his son and his people to make it out."

Orion bit his lip, feeling the sting of tears. He had never met a man as great as Claudus. Sighing, he turned away.

The next day, Ocedra came to Orion's home to see how he was doing. There were quakes every day now, and places all over Thundera were splitting open to reveal fiery cracks in the ground. Swift was still fairly intact, but that could change at any minute.

"Came by to see how you were doing," Ocedra said to Orion, who had come out to greet her. He was a little paranoid about visitors after what had happened, which was understandable, even if the perpetrators were locked up. They were not the only ones who disliked Orion.

"Not bad, considering," Orion said, looking unhappily around. A large tree lay by his home, having toppled in the night and scared the daylights out of both Orion and Falcon. They were lucky it hadn't crushed the little building. The air had taken on a permanent red haze, from the sulfur and the steam from geothermal eruptions, and the like. Volcanoes that had run dormant for years suddenly erupted to life, and even as they planned evacuation from the planet itself, people had to be evacuated to other cities to avoid being buried in molten lava. Claudus was right. It wasn't Thundera anymore.

Ocedra nodded. "Understood. Well anyway, I wanted to tell you that Claudus gave us clearance to get you a communicator link to Plundaar, if you wanted to talk to your friend."

Orion's eyes widened. "Really?"

Ocedra smiled. "Yes. The Plundaarians already know what's going on, there's really no way that even a breech of security could harm us."

Orion smiled. "When?"

"Today if you like..."

An hour later, Orion was again looking at Hyder's face on a telescreen. The connection was worse than ever, but then communications weren't exactly at their best right now. "Oh man, Orion, I've been worrying about you!" Jaguarin was with Orion this time, wanting to at least say hello to the Mutant Orion had talked about so often.

"Yeah, me too," Orion said. "You've heard, I take it."

Hyder nodded. "Yeah...everyone here knows what's happening with Thundera. A lot of people are talking about evacuating, at least for a while...just in case." Hyder sighed, closing his eyes. "I am so sorry, Orion. To get home, only to have to leave it again so soon."

Orion shrugged a little. "It could be worse, Hyder. I could still be with Blackmoor."

Hyder smiled a little. "Yes, I suppose so. Who is that with you?"

Orion introduced Ocedra and Jaguarin, and Hyder grinned. "I've heard a bit about you," he said to Jaguarin, who raised a brow and looked at Orion. Orion smiled innocently back.

"Oh lovely," said Jaguarin, but then he laughed. "Good or bad?"

"Good, mostly," said Hyder with a chuckle.

"That's good...' said Jaguarin, then laughed a bit. "This is the first time I've ever talked to a Mutant before."

Orion smacked his forehead, but Hyder only laughed. "I'm honored to be the first."

"Well...I kinda wanted to thank you for looking after Orion, too. He told me a lot about you." Jaguarin's face was turning red. "I'd wanted to meet the guy that showed so much courage and honor and stuff."

Hyder smiled, moved by the jaguar's words. "Thanks," he said, and smiled. "It was my pleasure." Jaguarin nodded, his face now curiously matching his flaming red mane. "Anyway, Orion...I probably won't see you for a good long time."

Orion sighed. "If ever."

Hyder nodded. "Yes. If ever. How long do we have to talk?"

Orion looked to Ocedra for the answer to that. "Not long," she said apologetically. "A half hour more, tops. We need the airways open."

"That's okay," Hyder said, smiling a bit at Orion. "Hey we can say good-bye in a half hour." They talked, and Orion told Hyder what had happened in the past month or so.

"I'm almost glad those bastards attacked me," he said to Hyder. "I wouldn't have been able to talk to you otherwise."

Hyder smiled a bit. "Me too then," he said. "I'm not gonna be leaving Plundaar, they're pretty sure that it shouldn't be affected too badly. I'll still be here working away at the government." He chuckled. "And Orion, when you get to your new home, just maybe I can look you up there, eh? I mean it's not like you're all going light years away or anything."

"Well damn, I hope not," Orion said. "It's a three month trip, from what I can tell. We're going in stasis."

Hyder winced. "Stasis...I have heard a lot of bad things about stasis. I mean not that anyone's died from it, but just that it's not real pleasant."

Orion nodded a bit shakily. "And the pods are really small."

"Oh shit, that's right...well I hear the gasses work fast, if nothing else. You won't have to put up with it for long."

Ocedra put a hand on Orion's shoulder. "I've got to shut it down real soon," she said to him.

Orion sighed. "All right. Well Hyder...take care, okay? And if I don't ever see you again, I won't forget you, hekti."

Hyder nodded solemnly, and Orion could see, even though the poor connection, and he was weeping. "You too, Orion. Hopefully I'll see you again in a couple years or so. Until then keep yourself safe." Orion nodded, not trusting himself to speak. "Good-bye, Orion."

Orion waved as the transmission fizzled out, and Orion closed his eyes. Jaguarin put an arm around him, and led him outside.

Finally, the day arrived. They did not think that they would be able to get many more transports out, as Thundera was on the verge of blowing. They had managed to get a good amount of people off, more than at first had been expected, but it was still not enough. Jaguarin and Orion stood in line, waited to board the transport. Orion was shaking with anxiety, holding Falcon close to him. His backpack was on his back, and he wasn't saying much.

Once inside, Orion eyed the stasis pods that stood in rows along the walls and in the middle of the aisle. They were very small. He had asked the warriors how fast the gas was, and they said no longer than a minute. He had also asked how one pod could sustain two life forces, and they'd assured him that there was enough stasis gas in any given pod to take care of four people if need be. Although that had eased his mind a bit, he was still terrified.

Gulping hard, he forced himself to step into his stasis capsule when it was his turn. "W-well..." he said to Jaguarin. "I guess I'll see you in a few months..."

Jaguarin nodded and embraced his friend briefly, before the stasis capsule's lid was closed, and Orion was shut inside.

He bit back a whimper of terror and clenched his fists hard to keep from fighting to get out. Falcon curled up at the bottom of the pod, whimpering with fear, as the gas flooded the pod. As the warrior said, it was swift.

Maybe it was better this way, Orion thought. He had made it back home, but he had been almost as much of an outcast in some respects as he had been on Plundaar. Maybe the Thunderian people needed to start over.

As the once beautiful planet seethed and erupted in its orbit, Orion's ship took off. He was deeply in stasis by that time, not knowing that just minutes after they left orbit, the planet would self-destruct, leaving many people behind to die. He could not possibly know that many ships would take damage from the explosion, and that he had been lucky to get a ship with strong shields. He didn't know that in just an hours' time, the combine armies of Mutants would attack the fleet, killing many of the people that had managed to get off the planet, and tearing his own ship apart. He did not know that the pods from his ship would be scattered into space, to land where they would...

All he knew was that once again, he would be starting over.

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