Grendel Unit

by Bernard Schaffer

  From the sky, the surface of Pentak 1 was a puzzle of odd geometric shapes. Green rectangles butted up against large yellow hexagons and massive brown squares. As he spun around and around, he could see the thousand different crop formations below whipping past in a blur.

  The safety jets fired, running off mechanical-backups that were not wired to any of the onboard electronic systems. The spinning slowed, and Yultorot could see long blue streaks of water stretched across the land. Large buildings were built along the banks of the wider rivers. There were ships scattered along the waterways, either transporting lumber or fishing, and smoke, what might actually be coal smoke, emanated from a towering smokestack at their center.

  The landing gears hissed and a huge parachute popped out of the top of the Samsara, deploying over the cabin. The ship rocked back and forth as it fell, much slower and steadier than before. The landing jolted Yultorot hard in the seat, scraping the open wound on his chest against the nylon straps belting him in.

  He slowly unbuckled his harness and stood up, stretching his limbs to make sure he was uninjured. Finally, he adorned himself in his plain black robes, the proper attire of a man committed to God.

  He removed one of the canisters of kerogel from the robe's front pocket and touched the activator, surprised to see it was dead. Without activation, the yellow gel inside the tube was no better than mechanical grease. He had several more canisters hidden in various pockets of his robes, and he removed all of them and left them on the bench. He slid the large pistol out from under his shoulder and switched the weapon on, but nothing happened. The pistol's operating system was fried.

  "Perhaps the word of God exists in this place, still," he said, reaching for one of the scriptural tablets inside his bag. It was his custom to carry them with him at all times, so that he might hand them out to anyone who would take one. He closed his eyes and lifted one of the tablets close to his chest, whispering, "My Lord, I know I am not worthy of miracles, but I beg you to allow me to show these non-believers the glory of your scripture. Let this holy device work as proof of your greatness, I pray."

  He looked down at the screen hopefully and flicked the tablet on, waiting for it to brighten and come alive. It only remained dark. He smiled sadly as he put it back on top of the others and said, "Then I will be the word of God in this place, instead."

  He manually released the doors and stepped out into the warm sunlight. The field surrounding him was empty, save for the discarded wreckage of a wheelbarrow and several rotting bundles of hay. There were several windmills in the distance, and the peaks of silos emerged up over the hills in the distance. He walked around the ship, looking in every direction. There was no shouting. No sounds of men racing to his location. Had no one realized he'd landed on their planet? He laughed to himself and said, "What a strange place this is."

  He saw a barn and cottage not from where he'd landed. Trusting that his coordinates had been correct, he raised his arms to wade through the field of tall corn surrounding the house. As he walked, he stepped on something and heard it snap, crushing it into the soil with his heel. He looked down and saw a little girl sitting in the dirt, staring up at him. "You broke the house for my flowers. Now they're all dead."

  She was dressed in what looked like a grain sack with the arms and neck cut out. Her legs and arms were stained with filth, and her feet as black as Yultorot's robes. "Did I?" he said. "My apologies. Luckily, the Lord has blessed this planet with many flowers. Perhaps later I will help you find more."

  "That's all right," she said. Her expression changed as she looked at the scars along his hands and arms, and his ruined ear. "Were you in a fire? My Aunt's barn burned down when she was a little girl and she was asleep in the upper loft. She looks like that too. Maybe even worse."

  Yultorot held out his hands and wiggled his fingers so the girl could see, giving her a proper look at his injuries. "Tell me, child, have you ever seen a soldier in his uniform, wearing medals?"

  "Yeah," she said. "My daddy has a whole bunch. He won't let me play with them, but I seen 'em though."

  Yultorot nodded, "I am what your kind would call a Sapienist, and we earn our scars much the same way your father earned his medals. You see, I am proud of these. For I serve the Lord."

  "Oh," she said.

  "Tell me, little one, have you heard of a man named Jebediah? I am told he lives nearby."

  She turned and pointed at the house beyond the barn. "That's my house. He's my daddy."

  "What luck," Yultorot said. "Will you walk with me a little?"

  She got up, not bothering to brush the clumps of dirt stuck to her knees away. "What's the Lord?"

  Yultorot smiled, looking down at her, "What is your name?"

  "Maria."

  "Well, Maria. Do you see all this corn around you, and the sky above you, and all of the birds and the trees?"

  She looked around and nodded.

  "And do you see me, and yourself, and have you see all of the people and animals that live on this place?"

  "Of course."

  "The Lord is the maker of all those things. Everything you have ever known, or seen, or heard of. Everything that exists in the entire universe. He is the creator of that universe, and has given everything in it a proper place."

  Maria's eyes widened as she listened. "He made everything? He must be very special."

  "He is," Yultorot nodded. "More special than anything else."

  "Will we ever meet him?"

  "Someday," Yultorot said. "And I shudder to think what happens then."

  "Why?"

  "Because he is extremely angry with all of us. We have committed a grave sin against him, and he is coming with terrible fury to destroy everyone and everything in his path."

  She stopped and looked up at him, "But, why is he so angry? What did everyone do to him?"

  Yultorot bent down on one knee beside her and stroked her long, dark hair out of her face. "My sweet, sweet, little Maria. You are so blessed by God with such wisdom. Many years ago, some very evil men betrayed God by joining with the beasts. Now, all of us must suffer for as long as that sin continues."

  "But I don't know any beasts," Maria said.

  Yultorot nodded gently and said, "I am sure that is true."

  "So he shouldn't be angry with me."

  "But I'm afraid he is, little one. You see, you were born. Just the same as the rest of us, born into grave sin, and until you repent, you will be consumed by eternal fire just the same as all the others."

  She looked at his scars and whispered, "Fire?"

  He bent down to her and touched her nose, "Do you want me to tell you a secret though? God loves children. They are his favorite. When a child enters his kingdom, it is the most glorious thing you could ever imagine. It is absolute paradise, where you are surrounded by love. Does that sound nice, Maria?"

  She nodded and smiled.

  He smiled back at her and said, "I have a question for you. Would you like to see my spaceship?"

  There was a man standing on the porch of the house, cupping his hand to the side of his mouth, shouting, "Maria! Come home, girl. It's time to wash up!" He stopped and listened for a moment. Night was falling on the fields and the sky glittered like bright red embers over the top of his barn. He cupped his hand again and shouted, "Maria? Can you hear me? I said it's time to come home! Come on now. Time to quit playing. Supper's almost ready!"

  The man turned swiftly at the sound of someone walking through his crops. His face turned as he saw Yultorot emerge from the corn stalks. "Hello, friend," the man said hesitatingly. "Can I help you?"

  He was a tall, lumbering figure, dressed in clothing made from rough material. His long beard hung down to the center of his chest, and his hands, large enough to crack walnuts. "Good evening," Yultorot said, stopping at the bottom of the porch steps. "I'm sorry to startle you like this. Is everything all right?"

  The man looked down at him and said, "My little girl's being stupid, that's all. She kno
ws to be home before dark. Did you see her running about out there, by any chance?"

  "A little girl?" Yultorot said, turning to look at the fields behind him. "I'm afraid I did not. I will be happy to help you look for her, if you like."

  The man cleared his throat and looked back out once more, estimating there was less than half an hour before total dark. "She'll be along soon enough, I expect. Where'd you come from, anyhow?"

  "From very far away, actually," Yultorot said. "I came to speak with you, if your name is Jebediah."

  "Me? What about?"

  "There is a war coming, and your people are in grave danger. We want to help you."

  "Oh yeah? Whose we?"

  "I have been sent here by His Holiness, the Pontifex, in the name of the Human God."

  "Is that right?" Jebediah said, smirking down at him. "You come a long way for nothing then, mister. The whole reason we colonized this planet was to stay away from people like you. Whole reason we filled the atmosphere with dampening fields and can't get so much as a radio wave down here is because all we want is to be left alone. We keep to our own. Don't ship nothing out, don't ship nothing in. Why in the hell should we care what happens anywhere else?"

  Yultorot moved toward the house, saying, "We can give you medicine. Refined agricultural techniques. Build churches so glorious your people will weep upon seeing them."

  "We're just fine without all that," Jebediah said.

  "How can you be fine if your immortal soul is in danger?"

  "I think it's time for you to get, mister."

  Yultorot frowned as he walked up to the porch, standing nearly close enough to reach out and touch the man's filthy boot. He smiled up at Jebediah and said, "Sit down with me. Let us pray together and come to a better understanding of one another."

  Jebediah reached behind his back and brought his hands around, clutching an antique semi-automatic pistol that he pointed directly down at Yultorot. The gun was large, even in the man's oversized hands, and its metal gleamed silver in the fading light. "That's close enough. Now you go back and you tell your President, or whatever the hell he is, that we're not interested. We're not part of Unification and we're not part of any damned church, neither."

  Yultorot admired the gun and said, "I was told no weapons would function on this planet."

  Jebediah moved the gun slightly right and fired past Yultorot's head, the bullet buzzing him close enough to make him flinch and clutch the side of his face. The gunshot echoed for miles, travelling out over the cornfields and valleys surrounding the home. Jebediah cocked the hammer back and aimed it again at Yultorot. "Just because we live simple don't mean we are simple, mister. People killed one another with this kind of weapon for millennia before all your fancy electrical guns, and I reckon it will kill you just fine too. Now get."

  Yultorot nodded and said, "As you insist." He began to back away, putting distance between himself and the weapon. When he'd nearly reached the first line of corn, he called out, "Aren't children wonderful, Jebediah? So innocent. So trusting. So…curious about strangers?"

  Jebediah's face twisted in horror as he watched Yultorot smile wickedly, then duck backwards through the corn stalks and vanish. "Maria!" he cried out, leaping off the porch in one bound. He staggered as he raced forward, trying to catch his footing. "Maria? Where are you! What the hell'd you do with my little girl? I'll tear out your eyes for this! I'll kill you."

  He panted as he spun around in the dark, searching futilely up and down the rows of corn. He heard a man's voice mutter something, and ran forward blindly, only to stop and try to listen over the sound of his heavy breathing.

  "Call him again. He cannot hear you," the voice said.

  "Daddy!"

  "Again. Louder."

  "Daddy! Help me!" Maria screamed.

  Jebediah crashed through two rows of corn toward the sound of his daughter's voice, only to stop at the sight of her standing at the far end of one of the rows, facing him. Yultorot was bent down behind her, shielding himself with her body, with his arm cinched around her throat. "Hello, Jebediah," Yultorot said. "Now, do exactly as I say, or I shall break her neck."

  "She's just a little girl," Jebediah whispered hoarsely.

  "I've sent many little girls to paradise, Jebediah. It was my sacred duty to do so." He tightened his grip, making Maria cry out in pain. "Perhaps you'd prefer that."

  "No!" Jebediah said, holding up his free hand. "I'll do anything. Please don't hurt her."

  "Daddy, please!" Maria whimpered.

  "I won't baby," Jebediah whispered. "Daddy's here. Nothing's going to happen."

  "Oh, but it will," Yultorot sneered. "Unless you do exactly as I tell you."

  Jebediah took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Come forward, very slowly, and throw that gun on the ground toward us."

  Jebediah started forward, eyes fixed on the man holding his daughter, and Yultorot tightened his grip again. "I'm warning you, do not try anything foolish. That's close enough."

  Jebediah stopped and tossed the gun into the dirt near his daughter's feet.

  Yultorot shuffled the girl forward and said, "Now, stay right where you are, Maria. You don't want me to have to kill your father, now, do you?"

  "No," she sputtered.

  Yultorot tightened his grip on the back of the girl's sack dress and bent down behind her to pick up the weapon. He tightened his fingers around the grip as he stood up and leveled it at Jebediah.

  "I did what you asked. Now let her go. You can have me instead," Jebediah said.

  "Oh, but I already do," Yultorot said. "Now," he began, but paused. A dog was barking nearby, its voice echoing throughout the field.

  "Jebediah, where you at?" someone shouted.

  "I thought I heard something from the fields," someone else called out. "Coming from over there. Bring the dogs."

  Corn stalks snapped, followed by several loud barks.

  Jebediah grunted, half-smiling, and he said, "Let her go and drop the gun and I'll make sure you live."

  Yultorot pulled Maria close to him as he turned and looked, seeing nothing but the barn behind him. His ship was too far away to reach in time. He looked back at Jebediah and said, "Today is your lucky day. You are about to do something I've longed to for many years."

  The dogs were nearly upon them. Jebediah knew he only needed to keep the other man talking long enough for them to arrive. "What's that?" Jebediah said. His eyes widened as Yultorot raised the gun towards his chest.

  "Stand before God himself."

  Maria cried out as a single gunshot spun her father backwards. Jebediah collapsed face-down in the dirt, and the little girl's screams rang out across the fields. Yultorot grabbed her by the back of her hair and yanked her toward the barn, dragging her through the cornstalks while she shrieked like a wounded animal.

  30. Achilles Last Stand

  Their ship dropped down through the sky, falling straight toward the ground, with all of them screaming inside. "Pull this ship out of freefall, you idiot, or we're all dead!" Vic shouted, bracing himself against the seat in front of him.

  Bob Buehl twisted and turned the controls, calling out, "Systems are down! No power to engines!"

  They were starting to spin, the windows of the cockpit filling with the greens and browns of the valley below, showing them the exact place they were about to be splattered all over. Monster roared, forcing himself forward with herculean effort to grab the control panel with both paws. He wrenched it to the left, and then to the right, and was able to twist the plastic cover off of the emergency controls. His paws covered the red lever under the panel and slammed it backwards, locking it into place.

  The ship's hatch popped and an enormous parachute deployed, immediately expanding under the gust of wind like an enormous jellyfish. The ship slowed, but did not stop, even as the parachute rocked them back and forth. Their emergency jets fired blindly in automatic response to the chute being deploy
ed. Everyone inside the ship gripped the sides of the chairs and clenched their eyes shut.

  "I almost wish he hadn't done that," Frank shouted over the roaring jets.

  "Why?" Vic shouted back.

  "Because if we hit at full speed, it would kill us instantly. This is just going to hurt. A lot!"

  The ship's nose struck the ground first and bounced, sending them high into the air like a dolphin leaping across the ocean's surface. They landed sideways, thrown against their seats so hard the airbags deployed, filling the cockpit with white powder and foul-smelling gas. Small trees and corn stalks battered the windshield as they skidded through a field, pelting the windows with clumps of clay and grass.

  Finally, they bounced and slid to a stop. All of them remained belted into their chairs, none of them speaking as they looked around the cockpit. Panels had been thrown open, and wires were dangling out of them like they'd been vomited out. The emergency lights flickered and went out as the batteries died. Vic wearily groaned, "Is everyone still alive?"

  "I'm not," Frank said, slowly reaching to unbuckle himself.

  Bob Buehl checked the ship's controls. Everything was black. "We have no power, Captain. That energy field we encountered in orbit seems to have neutralized all electronics on the planet's surface."

  "Fine," Vic said, unbuckling himself and standing up cautiously on the sideways-turned ship. He stepped on Frank's headrest to balance himself. "We do this the old-fashioned way, then. Everybody out of the ship." He carefully lowered himself to one of the navigational consoles and walked over top of it, reaching for a support beam stretched horizontally near the exit. He bent down and popped the latch, releasing the compressed air of the ship's cockpit to inhale the warm evening breeze of Pentak 1.

  He looked back at the rest of his crew, struggling to unseat themselves, and said, "Double-time, boys. We need to find Yultorot, and fast."

  He heard the loud click of a trigger cocking back, and looked over his shoulder to see the wide mouths of a double-barreled shotgun aimed at his head. The boy holding the shotgun stammered when he said, "I got another one, Pa! Come out the sky just like the sumbitch that took Maria! Come quick!"