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“What do you think the rest of us are doing?”
“Taking advantage of the weak, breaking the law whenever you can. Stealing from the rich — not because they’re any worse than the poor, but because they’re the ones who have the money.”
“It is true that stealing from the rich is much more profitable than stealing from the poor,” Orion admits with a rakish smile.
“And you’ve been in some truly dangerous situations,” I say, glancing at his arm.
“I met you tied to train tracks,” he reminds me. “You’ve been in just as many dangerous situations.”
“Not as many as you.”
“Maybe not,” he winks. “But you’re still young.”
“I don’t want to be a criminal all my life. I want to have a proper life. I want to be respectable.”
He’s listening to me with a raised brow and a slight smirk. “Is that right.”
“It is.”
“I don’t think so. If that’s what you wanted, you could have married any of the ranch hands or traders or hunters and lived a respectable life right here on Patch.”
“I want a good life too…”
“And that’s where crime comes in. Good lives come to three kinds of people, those who are handed them, those who earn them, and those who know how to take them. Most of the first kind of people think they’re the second kind. And most of the second kind are actually the third kind.”
“And the third kind?”
He spreads his arms, flexing his fingers, five metal, five flesh. “That would be me. I know what I am, I don’t make apologies for it, and I don’t pretend I’m a good man when I know I ain’t.”
He’s so proud. Completely remorseless. He’s wanted across this entire colony. There’s not a place in Patch that Orion can go and be safe, but he doesn’t care. I’m the one who wants to leave this planet, which is the sane thing to do. He wants to stay and keep playing hell with the Imperium. I wish I could be as brave or as bold as him. There must be so much freedom in not caring what happens to you.
“Aren’t you worried that they’re going to string you up one day?”
“There’s no point worrying about what the authorities will do. They’re going to try to crush us no matter what. Maybe they’ll win. Maybe they won’t. But I know that every day I live the way I want to is a day I win. And when I worry about them, that’s when I lose.”
“You’re actually very intelligent.”
“Well, thank you, ma’am,” he smirks. “So glad to have impressed you with my intellect.”
“I didn’t mean…” I cover my face with my hands and shake my head. “I just mean, you’re wise. I was trying to give you a compliment.”
“You’re cute when you’re flustered,” he smiles.
I look into his eyes and feel heat rising from the core of me, an excitement which isn’t appropriate for this situation. I can’t give into desire for Orion. I’ve wanted him from the moment I met him. He’s my savior. He’s my leader. He’s the one who is going to rescue me from this place and send me away on a rocket ship. I can’t fall for him, but with those bright blue eyes locked on me, his square jawed determination as he promises to look after me, I’m worried it might be too late.
THUDA THUDA THUDA
The sound of thunder is coming across the plains, but the sky is clear. Orion pulls his eyes away from me and looks out in the same direction we just came from. “Here they come,” he says. “Looks like your rear is saved from the bottle today.”
I’m relieved and a little disappointed. My solo time with Orion is so limited, but every time we are alone together, I feel that pull, an electric tingle which makes every moment feel so much richer and more meaningful than before.
His posse is coming fast, bearing down on us like a small army. There aren’t that many of them, but they know how to make their numbers work for them. As they get closer, I see that they look tired, but satisfied, and some of them are messy with blood and maybe guts besides. They have the look of dogs who have been out on a hunt and gotten their prey.
“Heya boys!” Orion calls out as they dismount, all of them grinning from ear to ear, bursting with a dozen stories told all at once in every direction. As they yap, they slam sleeping rolls down on the ground and toss themselves down on them, creating an instant camp in a matter of minutes. The blond man, Paris, comes to talk to Orion.
“So we dissuaded that band of hunters,” he says. “They weren’t too keen on following us once we started shooting and got a couple two or three of them.”
