The Orion Incident

by Clyde Andrews

Conclusion

“Here, let me do it will you, woman?”

Just then, Reg also reached out. His hand connecting with Judy’s. After a spilt second Judy recoiled her hand. “Don’t touch me.”

He looked up at her, somewhat offended by her reaction. When their gaze met Judy quickly looked away, almost in embarrassment.

Reg, while he was close to Judy, whispered: “You still have feelings for me, don’t you?” Then he paused, then added after some thought, “Ahh, so this is what it’s all about?”

There was silence for a while, then Judy with a rasp said: “Don’t bet on it.”

Reg smiled. He then breathed Judy in. Her sweet perfume almost intoxicating him. He remembered the good times they had had. “We could make a go of it again... if you want... you know... as a couple,” he stammered. Now as nervous as a school boy. He didn’t usually get nervous around women.

“If I didn’t know you, Reg, I... I... would not hesitate,” she said sadly. “But I do know you — and that’s the problem, isn’t it?”

“I could change,” Reg said hopefully.

Judy did not answer. She turned away from Reg and looked through the grill holes. Pretending to concentrate on the job at hand.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity Reg said: “Is the Cassiopeian there?”

“Yes,” was all she said, somewhat distant, as if she was preoccupied by her thoughts.

“Well, what’s it doing, woman?” Reg snapped.

“You see,” she said, “you will never change. You just slip right back into being a pig at any given opportunity. Reg, I just don’t want to be another number to you. Another trophy.”

Reg opened his mouth, was about to say something, then closed it with a sigh.

Judy continued, “It’s just standing by the control panel. It kind of looks — yes, it looks puzzled by something.”

Cassiopeian She was right. The Cassiopeian, a large blue-scaled humanoid, scratched its head and stared with its black bulbous eyes at something on the engineering console. Reg remembered why it was appropriate to call them ‘it’: there was simply no obvious physical features on its body that would help in determining its gender. He then remembered that all Cassiopeian’s were like this — how they recognised each other seemed to be one of those great mysteries of life.

“That could be because of the code I integrated into the transfer protocols... purely a safety measure.”

“More like a measure to make sure your sorry arse was safe, if need be.”

“Whatever, Judy.” Reg said in an almost dismissive manner. “I am getting rather tired of you constantly —”

“Shh, it’s moving.”

Both looked through the grill. It now looked like the Cassiopeian had heard them, or, at the very least, sensed something was amiss. Their worst fears were realised as it headed over to the hatch.

“Oh, God —”

Reg, placed his hand over Judy’s mouth to silence her, but it was too late. The Cassiopeian had heard them. With lightning efficiency it stuck, crossing the engine room, opening the hatch, and ripping Judy from the escape hole all in one go. The motion was so fluid, so quick, that Reg did not have time to even blink. If he had he would have missed it, he was sure.

All he could do was back away from the hatch and hope with all his heart that the Cassiopeian had not noticed him. It was the hardest thing Reg could do for all he could hear were Judy’s screams for help. He felt so useless. The Cassiopeian was a frightening figure, and the ease in which it carried Judy across the floor added weight to that fact.

Judy continued to scream, that was until the Cassiopeian threw her down on the floor, like one would a scrap of rubbish, and knocked her unconscious. Reg gasped at the horror of it. The uncaring mentality the Cassiopeian had. It obviously did not care about human life. He now dreaded the thought of what had happened to all the other passengers and what would happen to him if he was found out.

Reg remained in the escape hole, huddled up, deep in worry. All he could do was think of Judy. How she was taken. Was she all right? Just then he heard a murmur. It was Judy, she was coming to. Reg smiled in relief, at least she was alive. He tried to crane his neck so he could see out the hatch one more, but he could not. All he could hear was a dull thud. Reg swallowed hard. He dreaded to think what that was.

Right there and then Reg decided, if only for his own benefit, that he would go back to his cabin and stay there: just like the Cassiopeian had instructed in the first place.

He began the long crawl back.

After he had crawled a fair distance from the engine room hatch, and the escape hole became dark again, Reg heard something that worried him. At first he thought nothing of it, but as he crawled further on he noticed it more and more. It sounded like the engines were straining. Like the Cassiopeian had decided to operate the engine above the safety protocols.

He could tell; he knew every screw, bolt and sound the Orion made. This sound was defiantly a good deal greater than what was considered normal: the resonance sounded like the engine was being pushed to the limit. And Reg could only assume one thing from that: The Cassiopeian was taking the Orion somewhere other than back to Earth, and it was doing it in a damn hurry, too.

This confused Reg. Wasn’t the whole purpose of this hijacking so that it could get back to its mate on Earth? Reg suddenly felt sick by this new revelation. There was certainly more to this than he or Judy had first thought. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Reg pondered his position for a long while, then eventually, as his curiosity got the better of him, and with a lot of cursing under his breath he turned in the escape hole and headed back to the engine room hatch. He was not going to let this alien take his ship anywhere other than where it was destined to go: And that was Lunar base, site A as far as he was concerned. He never missed a landing and he was certainly not about to start now. Besides, he had a cigar waiting for him back in the cabin — to be lit upon arrival at Luna in celebration for another successful mission.

Reaching the hatch once more Reg peered through the grill to see if the Cassiopeian was still there. He could see Judy. She still looked like she was unconscious. ‘That’s a relief’, he thought.

At least she would not know that he had deserted her. He smiled, he would probably have another chance with her now, seeing as she would think that he had rescued her.

Reg Conway decided to go for it. He would save his ship from whatever it was the Cassiopeian had planned, he would save the passengers: if there were any alive, and now, more importantly he would save Judy.

He realised, while cramped in the escape hole, looking at her while she was helpless, that he loved her. In fact he loved her so much, he would change his ways and remain faithful to her.

He prepared to spring out from the escape hole and hopefully knock out the Cassiopeian in the process. That was his plan anyway. The first time in his life he had ever really had a plan, and that thought alone scared him nearly more than a Cassiopeian that had hijacked his ship.

He waited for it to come closer, as it seemed to be pacing the engine room. It certainly looked anxious about something. This just puzzled Reg, but in the end he did not have time to consider it any further. The Cassiopeian had then come close enough for Reg to be confident in his attack plan.

He sprang from the hole, the hatch flying open with a metallic crash that echoed through engineering. The Cassiopeian, stunned by the noise did not have time to react. He was suddenly burdened by Reg landing on top of him. Its head cracked on the steel-grated floor.

It was knocked unconscious and Reg was more than happy that it had turned out so well. He smiled, he liked how his first ever plan had panned out. He stood there, above the Cassiopeian as if he were a lion that had just downed a deer. Satisfied and full of pride that he had done a good job.

Just then he remembered Judy, and as a result of that memory he rushed to her side.

She moaned and stirred as Reg examined her for any injuries.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking you over, just in case you’re hurt.”

“Like hell you are,” Judy retorted. “I bet you were feeling me up or something, and while I was unconscious, too. You’re more than a pig, you’re a sick mother —”

“Judy! Honest to God,” Reg said, almost looking hurt by what she had just said. “I tackled the Cassiopeian — and won I might add — and then came to see to you. Honest.”

Judy looked him up and down: Reg seemed to have a puppy-dog look that she had never seen before. She wondered what he was playing at.

She hesitated, then said: “Just help me up, will you?”

Reg pointed out the Cassiopeian, proving to Judy that he had actually done as he had said. She nodded, accepting what he had said. She was still dubious about his motives, but for the moment she let it be.

“Hey, have a look at this, will you?”

Judy turned, “What?”

“The Cassiopeian has set this ship on a course towards the sun — we’re heading straight for it. Oh, damn, we’re also approaching it faster than I first thought, too... Damn! Damn! Damn! Its locked me out!” Reg said, pressing buttons madly.

“I think I know why, too, Reg.”

Reg looked at her. “Why?”

“I’m not 100 percent sure, Reg — I kind of drifted in and out of consciousness there, but I’m pretty sure its mate, the one on Earth, died from the pain of separation.”

Reg was stunned. It was like he had just been hit by a large object. “I... I killed its mate?”

Judy nodded. “It mourned like I had never seen in my life. It just wailed and wailed in a high pitch tone, like a siren, for what seemed ages. I felt for it. I was considering comforting it, but it was mad as hell, so I just let it be,” she explained. “I woke to see your ugly mug.”

Both then turned from the console when they heard a noise from behind them. The Cassiopeian was awake.

“I thought I told you to stay in your cabin, Captain,” the Cassiopeian said coldly. “And trying to interfere in my plans will not save you now. I will kill anything that goes near that control system — I will have my vengeance.”

“You seem mighty calm for an alien that has just lost its mate,” Reg remarked. Judy could not believe he just said that. Was he trying to upset the Cassiopeian? She gave him a glance that could freeze water in response. He just ignored her.

“Don’t... Ahh, I, I will rip your skin off your weak human bones for saying such a thing,” the Cassiopeian said, obviously ruffled by Reg’s comment.

Reg continued, “I think that you are the one that is weak, not I. You have... no, you need another to survive.”

“Then you are the sad one, human,” the Cassiopeian proclaimed. “Love and life shared is far deeper than just love or life.”

Judy nodded in agreement. But she just knew the words were falling on deaf ears when it came to Reg.

“It’s right,” she uttered to herself, thinking no one heard her.

“I understand,” Reg said, looking at Judy.

Judy was taken back by this, her eyebrows shooting up her brow like the Orion on take-off.

“Judy, I may not get another chance to say this... but... I have... feelings for you,” he said, now facing her properly.

In fact he had placed his hands into hers and came closer to her. She did not resist, she was just too stunned for one. This was not the Reg she knew.

The ship’s engine room warning sirens then sounded, startling all three. The temperature of the hull was exceeding safety limits. It was nearing the sun, at ever increasing speeds.

“What?” the Cassiopeian said. “You understand a love for another? How can this be, you’re only a human?”

“I suddenly understand,” Reg added, ignoring the warnings from the console. He only had eyes for Judy. “I want to spend my last moments with her. To be with her and her alone.”

Judy smiled. “How can I ever trust you?”

“I... I just don’t know. I have changed, Judy.” Reg then looked to the floor. “I cowered away when I saw you taken... I... I was weak, a jerk, Judy. In the time I was hiding, I discovered something about myself.”

“What was that, Reg?”

The Cassiopeian moved to the engineering control panel. Reg did not care, he now had to finish what he had started with Judy.

“That I was a selfish pig. And it took you to wake me up to that fact. I don’t want to be remembered like that.”

“You won’t have to be, Captain,” the Cassiopeian interrupted. “I have turned the ship around and returned it to its normal course.”

“Why?” Judy said, now surprised by everything she was hearing.

“Because I cannot kill two that love. It would be... a disaster. There is one condition to this though.”

“What’s that?” Reg added.

“That you kill me.”

“Oh, my God, no. We can’t,” Judy cried.

“You must. I cannot live without my other. Just like it could not live without me. I am dying now anyway. I was selfish, just like you, Captain. I was going to kill all on board just to satisfy my selfishness. My wish was that nothing should live if I could not have my other.”

“That’s not selfish, that’s honourable, if you ask me,” Judy said.

“No, human woman, it is selfish. The most selfish I could have been. There was no honour in it. If I die now, if you kill me as I have asked you to, then that would be honour. My body returned to Cassiopeia Prime with that honour intact. Both for myself and for my mate.”

Judy could not hold her tears back, and they came flowing down her cheeks when she finally let go. Cradling herself into Reg.

“We understand. But, if you let me, I would prefer that we freeze you,” Red said with a sadness to his voice.

“Agreed.”

The Orion landed on Luna base site A three hours late with all on board accounted for. All but one. The Cassiopeian was suspended in a cryogenic tube. It was given a state funeral, and sent immediately to Cassiopeia Prime. Judy gave Reg that second chance. Time would tell if he kept his word and had indeed changed.