Orion's Belt - A Dark Sci-Fi Western Romance
“To me?” Paris points to his chest and shakes his head. “You’ve got the wrong guy. I’m not sheriff material.”
“Sure you are. You’re smart, resourceful…”
“You can blow slug smoke up my ass all day,” Paris smirks. “But I ain’t going to be sheriff. I reckon I’ve killed a hundred people this last week, and not all of ‘em deserved it.”
“You want the badge or not,” Orion says. “Because I’ve got it and I don’t want it. We can pass it down the chain until we find someone who’ll take the job on. Cross-eyed Charlie’ll do it.”
Paris sighs. “We ain’t lawmen, Orion. Asking me to be one’s like asking the slugs to watch over the cabbage.”
“Well maybe we can change. And maybe the law isn’t so bad when it is us who gets to make it.”
“Not us,” Paris says, shrewd as ever. “You’re leaving, ain’t you.”
I cling to Orion’s arm, hoping his men don’t talk him out of it. At this point, Orion is turning down endless wealth and power, everything a man is supposed to want, to run away with me. I’m afraid he’ll change his mind. It’s selfish, but I am.
“I’m taking this little lady out Into the big wide universe,” Orion says. “Like we always said, no girlfriends in the gang. I gotta take my leave.”
“So you’re running off with a girl and leaving me in charge of Patch, working for aliens,” Paris shakes his head, his hands on his hips. “What are people going to call me, Sheriff Paris?”
“They probably ain’t going to be that respectful,” Orion smirks. “Probably call you a mad bastard.”
“Well, they’d be right,” Paris smirks. Then the smile fades from his face as he gets more serious. “I don’t know. This is a whole lot of change, and I don’t know if I’m ready for it. I liked being lawless. Suited me.”
“Being lawful might suit you too. Might find yourself a lady.”
“Uh huh.”
I can see the doubt in Paris’ eyes, but I know he’s going to say yes. He won’t let Orion down, and he’s not going to let power slip through his fingers. If there’s anybody suited to running this dirt patch that ain’t Orion, it’s Paris. They both know what it’s like to live rough, survive by their wits.
“You ain’t supposed to be leaving,” Paris says, a hint of grit in his voice. “Was supposed to be the posse ‘til the end. All of us. Fighting them bastards up there.”
“We were planning on dyin’ in a hail of Imperium gun fire,” Orion says. “But we don’t have to do that now. We get to live.”
“I don’t care what it is, I ain’t working for it.”
“Listen here, if you can’t make the badge work for you, then you’re not the man I thought you were,” Orion says. “I reckon I can find someone else to take it on, and you can fight him.”
Paris taps his side arm impatiently. “I see what’s happening here. I don’t take it, you give it to someone else, I end up on the wrong side of them, have to kill them… I’m going to end up with it anyway, ain’t I.”
“I reckon so.”
“So after all these years, yer escapin’ the planet and leaving me to deal with the skin wearing aliens.”
“Not so much escape as leave in a casual fashion. The lady has her yen to travel, and I intend to indulge her.”
“Alright,” Paris relents finally. “I ain’t promising to uphold any alien law, but I’ll take their badge and their dinari.”
“And we’ll need you to declare us ambassadors from Patch,” Orion says. “So we can enter any of the connected colonies without worryin’ about the legalities.”
“Declare yerself ambassador before you hand the badge over,” Paris says. “I’ll kill any man you want, but I ain’t doing paperwork.”
I watch as Orion turns the badge over in his metal hand. There’s power in that piece of metal, but it ties the man who possesses it to Cabbage Patch. He must be tempted to keep it and make himself master of this entire rock. It is the key to his dreams. Complete power, unending access to as much money as he wants, and the prospect of wild adventures chasing those who evade his law. That’s what he’s holding in his hand while I cling to his arm and hope.
I watch as Orion turns his hand over, the metal fingers unfurl, and he drops that sucker into Paris’ palm without a second thought, choosing me over everything. He pulls me up from the ground, holding me close and spinning me about until I shout with glee and kiss him all over his dirty, bristly face.
Epilogue
Thirty days later…
Orion
“What if he takes his head off and he’s a monster underneath?”
I’ve heard that question more times than I can count. It’s a valid question though, given Josie had never seen one of those scythkin bastards before, and can’t seem to get over her curiosity about them, let alone trust that the aliens around us aren’t secretly scythkin too. Turns out discovering that everybody you meet might be a massive alien in a suit has far reaching existential consequences.