Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

STAGE_ONE - - - 01_ORION

Orion walked briskly down a side street heading towards H-44, one of the main avenues in the Nardius 3 district. Garish holographic advertisements flashed above him in the night sky inviting him to spend his credit in their establishment. He noticed, as he glanced above him, the absence of sky transports of any kind. The street monitors blinked symbols in blue and white to direct ground traffic, which was also conspicuously missing.

The wind whipped his hair across his face as he searched for signs of life. Strange, thought Orion looking at his wrist com, there is always traffic heading to the H – even at 27 and 10. He noticed how empty the street felt, as if no one had walked here for many days; even the all-night spin-houses were closed. Impossible

A peculiar fear began to dominate his mind – something alien; as if a nameless, formless being were stalking him; an entity large and powerful, possessing speed and agility; something that could crush him at any moment but didn't – it restrained itself; it delayed its assault, and it had a reason.

Then he felt an equally strong force pulling him forward, leading him into a particularly dangerous part of his district in the dead of night. Orion would be an easy and valuable target for slavers or medical harvesters because he was almost fully grown. He had completed his fifteenth year not a season ago. He would fetch a good price.

I should never have stayed out here so late! Orion berated himself as he quickened his pace. Why are the streets so deserted, where did everybody go? Truthfully, I would even be glad to talk to a hex dealer right now; ask him what happened. He felt his heart hammering his rib cage as he spotted an entrance to the mag-way and broke into a run. The tendrils of terror were now tugging on his ankles and the back of his jacket as it flew out behind him. He raced down the stairs and through the com-gate.

He kept running till he got to the edge of the platform, then he skidded to a halt, almost tumbling into the mag-way track. He was breathing hard. He could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead despite the cool night air. He wiped them away with the back of his hand and placed his hair behind his ears.

Orion was a very average looking boy by Ophilion standards: hair that was naturally a mix of black and dark blue, dark blue eyes that looked almost black, skin: medium tone, dermal markings: an arrangement of irregular light-blue pigment marks on his forehead, cheeks, neck, chest and arms; typical for Remto-Halm, the south-east sector of Ophilion.

His eyes darted around the station. No one here either, he thought, becoming used to the idea. Somehow though, he felt safer underground; as if that frightening thing could not touch him here. He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and listened. All he could hear was the squeaking of the hiebra-luren inside the walls. Their passageways must go everywhere. He thought. I've never actually seen one down here. I wonder if they are all that different from the luren that live above ground. Fel said the ones down here have evolved and look different now, that they never come up to the surface anymore.

Orion opened his eyes and noticed movement to his left on the other side of the mag-way. A small creature with thick greenish-brown fur poked his head out from a crack in the wall near the floor. It seemed to look straight at him. The luren's large front-facing eyes glowed bright yellow, reflecting the lights of the station.

So, there you are, Orion thought. You're a cute little guy, and you're not much different from the luren I've seen on the surface. Orion noticed another one on the mag-way track only a few meters from where he stood. Oh, so you have a friend, Orion smiled, if I had anything to eat, I would give you some, but I guess you probably know where to get plenty of food. He saw three more luren to his right; then a few more appeared on the track in front of him. Wow, he thought, slightly alarmed, a whole family! I guess you only come out in the middle of the night.