Grendel Unit

by Bernard Schaffer

  A massive door awaited at the end of the hall. Inlaid with true gold and painted by hand, Albright's eyes widened as he approached it, seeing the texture of each color. He'd never seen anything like it. Even the greatest masterpieces only appeared in holographic form now, and despite their brilliant colors and ability to zoom in on the tiniest detail, it was nothing like seeing it in real life. Albright's hand reached out to touch the surface of the door, just to feel it with his skin, but it was already swinging open, revealing the dark room within.

  He reeled back at the odor, covering his face with his hand. It was the scent of burnt wood, rank sweat, and a sickeningly sweet chemical aroma, all billowing toward the open doors. Albright's eyes burned and he blinked hard, resisting the urge to cough, as he pressed forward. "Hello?" he called out, under his hand.

  A red, fiery ring appeared in front of him, and the sound of someone greedily sucking. The sucking sound dissipated as the ring grew dim, and the sound of coughing filled the room. The cough became a gurgling, choking sound, followed by a strained voice saying, "Who approaches?"

  "Major Daniel Albright, sir," Albright said, coming to a stop. His eyes were adjusting to the light, and he was beginning to see the outline of a throne stationed in the center of the room, and the figure seated within it. "From the Academy. I received a letter telling me to appear."

  The figure, who Albright now knew to be President Wolmar, leaned over the side of his chair to speak to a woman standing at his side. She raised the box in front of Wolmar's face, and the bright red ring appeared again, illuminating the shapeless mass of his cheeks and chin as he bent forward and inhaled once more. When he finished sucking, he collapsed back in his seat and said, "How many men are currently in your division, Major?"

  Albright cleared his throat, trying his best to stand at attention despite the foul stench filling his lungs, and said, "My staff currently stands at ten, sir."

  "And how many of those pathetic wastes you call soldiers are currently in Retread?"

  Albright raised his eyebrow in surprise, then quickly attempted to calculate the number. He found himself at a loss to give the exact number, and guessed. "I believe it is approximately one hundred, sir. You see, we attempt to limit each class to no more than fifteen per instructor, to make sure we maximize –"

  "Be silent," Wolmar said.

  Albright looked down.

  The President leaned forward in his throne, glaring down at Albright. His eyes flashed in the dark, "I am told you are a loyal man, Major Albright."

  "Yes, sir," Albright said, raising his chin, feeling suddenly renewed.

  "Times like these call for loyal men." Wolmar smiled thinly, "As a special reward for your distinguished service, I am going to give you a rare opportunity."

  "Thank you, sir. All I have ever wanted was to serve Unification—"

  Wolmar raised his hand to stop him once more. "You will take your entire division, including your staff and retreads, and put an end to Captain Victor Cojo and his men, once and for all."

  The President's words hung in the darkness as thickly as the acrid smoke between them, and Albright stood, shaking his head in confusion, trying to absorb them. Finally, he managed to utter, "S-sorry, sir?"

  "And when you complete this mission, you will have your pick of commands, as my newest General."

  Albright was too stunned to respond. He swallowed and cleared his throat again, watching as the woman raised the box in front of Wolmar once more, and he leaned forward to suck the smoke. "Surely you know we are not a combat unit, sir. Most of the Retreads are techs and service personnel. We only do basic firearms training."

  "Let me ask you something, Major," Wolmar said. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

  "No! No, of course not."

  "Do you trust your President?"

  "I do. With all my heart," Albright nodded, touching his chest.

  "Then believe me when I tell you that as long as you do exactly what I tell you, you will succeed in this mission." He leaned forward and sucked again, his thin lips pursing together, until he began to cough. He spat a chunk of loose phlegm onto the floor and wiped his mouth, saying, "I hope I did not make a mistake selecting you for this task."

  Albright snapped to attention once more, "Sir, I swear on Unification itself that I will not fail you."

  "Good. Return to your Academy and await further instruction."

  "Yes, sir. At once." Albright saluted sharply and spun on his heels, walking as quickly as he could for the door, both to do as he was told and to fill his lungs with clean air. The meeting, he realized, had gone exactly as he'd always dreamed it would. Recognition, the promise of status, and a career-defining assignment. For some reason, it filled him with unspeakable terror.

  The Ischion half-breed waited for the door to close before holding the box up in front of Wolmar once more. He leaned in, sucking as long and deep as he could before the light flickered out. The box had been reduced to ash in her hands. "He suspects something," she said.

  She was his witch, he realized. His seer, like those who attended the great kings of old. He blew the ashes out of the palm of her hand and said, "He will do as he is commanded. Or I will kill him and find someone else to do it. I have no shortage of men desperate to advance."

  He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her toward him, pulling her onto his lap. Her tail curled up against the side of his throne, and he stroked the side of her reptilian face, feeling the smoothness of her scales. "What of Cojo? Have you tried reaching him again?"

  "He has awoken," she said, her yellow eyes drawing to slits as she gazed down at him. "I can tell you that his injuries are still grave. He will be defenseless against you. Have you decided how you want to proceed?"

  Wolmar stroked the inside of her thigh. His eyes lit with excitement and he squeezed harder as he said, "I want the largest freighter you can find, filled with as many escape pods as they can gather. We will fill up the escape pods with Major Albright and his misfits and cast them at the surface of that damned planet. I want so many pods to rain on that place that if one crashes, the wreckage cushions two more falling on top of it!"

  "And when the soldiers land, what then? They will have no weapons, and from what the Major said, they do not know how to fight," the Ischion witch said.

  "Trust me," Wolmar said. "By the time they land, they will kill every living thing in front of them."

  36. DON'T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN

  Vic's bandages had been changed. Frank stared at them angrily, then looked at Bob Buehl and Monster, searching their faces for signs of guilt. Which one of them had taken issue with the way he'd dressed Vic's wounds? Which one of them dared to suggest that Frank's hands had been shaking too badly to do the most basic task in all of tactical medicine? But neither one of them noticed him looking, and neither of them looked guilty at all.

  Vic groaned as he struggled to sit up, taking them in one by one. He stopped on Frank and smiled slightly before collapsing back down on the bed. "I wasn't sure it was really you guys until I saw Frank. Your natural look of befuddlement could never be duplicated."

  Frank forgot the fresh dressing on Vic's stomach as he sat on the edge. "Nice to see you too, buddy. I wasn't sure we'd hear from you again."

  "It was the lizard," Vic said, touching the side of his head. "In here."

  Frank and the others looked at one another in concern. "What lizard, Vic? What are you talking about?"

  "That bastard Wolmar and the half-Ischion the General warned us about. She's telepathic. The whole time I was out, they were attacking me. Trying to keep me under."

  Monster cursed in anger, and as the other two spoke over one another, echoing the mantipor's anger, Vic raised his hand and said, "It's fine. It's over. They tried, but I managed to get out anyway." He looked at his men, "I heard explosions. Have we been found?"

  "Yes," Frank said, looking down.

  "Well, you must have been ready for them. Otherwise, we wouldn't all be having this conversation.
What did you blow them up with?"

  "It wasn't us, Captain," Bob said. "They shot out the dampeners, but as soon as they hit the upper atmosphere they went lights out and ker-splat!" he said, clapping his hands together.

  "Any survivors?" Vic said.

  "None," Bob replied.

  "Any useable equipment?"

  "Nope," Frank said.

  Vic looked at the bedroom door, then back at his men, lowering his voice, "Are we in danger of being taken prisoner by the locals? Any chance they want to save themselves badly enough to string us up for when the next troops arrive?"

  "Not a chance," Bob Buehl said, waving his hands back and forth. "These are good people, Captain. They aren't like that."

  "Maybe not," Vic said, "but good people will do a lot to protect their families and homes. We are intruders on this place, and they may have second thoughts about letting it burn just to protect the four of us."

  Monster shook his head, "I also agree with Sgt. Buehl. You have been unconscious, but ever since the night in the barn, I have been visited daily by the people of this settlement. Women bringing me pies and cakes to thank us for saving the little girl and her father."

  "Whoa," Frank said, standing up. "Bringing you pies and cakes? I don't remember getting any."

  Monster pointed at Bob and said, "He was supposed to bring you your share."

  Frank looked at the muscled pilot, "Well?"

  "Well, I could never find you when I had them."

  "Did you try looking here? Or the ship? Those are the only two places I've been, Bob!"

  "Okay," Bob said, shrugging. "So maybe I should have looked in those two places."

  Vic touched the sides of his heads with his fingers and rubbed, "Listening to you guys makes me want to go back into a coma."

  "Sorry, Captain," Monster muttered.

  "It stands to reason that Wolmar is sending more troops. They may arrive at any minute. What are our defensive capabilities?" Vic said.

  "Well, aside from Jebediah Strong's pistol," Frank said slowly, trying to buy himself time. "These people are farmers, so there's a lot of shovels and axes, I'm guessing. That's all I've seen."

  Vic's eyes widened, "None of our weapons work? Not one? Bob, you weren't able to configure anything?"

  "I'm sorry, Captain," Bob said, "every piece of tech is fried. We have nothing."

  "There has to be something. Did you search both ships? The people who live here had to arrive somehow. Maybe one of them knows?"

  "There's nothing," Frank said. "It's all useless, Vic. That's why these people came here. They don't want to live like we live. Even without the dampeners, there's something else about this place that nullifies technology. It's probably why Yultorot came here in the first place. Imagine if you could weaponize it? Your enemies would be defenseless."

  "Well right now, we are the ones left defenseless," Vic said. "All this time I've been out, the three of you have just been sitting around, doing nothing? You have no plan, no acquired assets, and no weapons?"

  "It's been a little shaky here, if you haven't noticed!" Frank snapped. "You and Monster both almost died, and Bob and I had to do what we could to keep you breathing with whatever we could lay our hands on. I'd appreciate it if you didn't bark at us, like we didn't do enough, thanks."

  Vic took a long breath, until he winced and touched his stomach through the bandages, then said, "You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you both for everything you did."

  "No problem," Frank said, standing up. "I was hoping that now that you're awake, we could get started on figuring some of the other things out."

  Vic nodded and struggled to sit up, forcing his legs to swing over the side of the bed. He stopped to catch his breath, and pulled away when Monster came forward to help him. "Just give me a minute," he said, panting. "This unit has enough deficits without having to worry about carrying me around. Find Jebediah Strong and tell him I want to talk to him, and anyone else from this settlement who wants to meet. That will give us some idea if these people have designs on us, or not."

  As Vic sat, trying to force himself up from the bed, Bob Buehl stepped back and waved for the others to join him. "We'll give you a minute to get yourself situated, Captain."

  Vic nodded, and Frank filed in behind Monster, following him out of the bedroom door. "I can't believe you ate all the pies and cakes," Frank whispered.

  "Did you at least give him some of the cookies?" Monster said.

  "Quiet, Big Man," Bob said from the corner of his mouth as he pulled the door shut behind them.

  Frank stared at them both in disbelief as they walked past him, saying, "I seriously hate you guys."

  The parlor was filled with settlers, with hard-looking men and weary women packed into the corners on either side of the fireplace. They lined the walls, and crowded the entrance, and every one of their heads turned as Bob and Frank helped Vic into the room.

  Many of the men were covered in soot, Frank saw, realizing that it was from clearing the bodies and wreckage from the valley. They looked at him with steady, even gazes, their brows furrowed under deeply sunburnt foreheads, and he was no longer certain that they would not try and take him and his friends prisoner. Vic's arm clenched around Frank's neck as he winced in pain, grimacing at every shuffling step.

  Monster had offered to carry him, but even the mantipor had backed up slightly at the Captain's withering glare at the suggestion.

  There were faces in the crowd that Frank recognized from his travels back and forth to the ships. Only a few of them seemed friendly. People looked up at Monster with a mixture of fear and awe, but he nodded pleasantly at everyone that he passed, his lips curling back over his fangs in a faint smile. These were not the settlers who had been bringing them pies and cakes. These were the ones who worked in the mines and fields and talked suspiciously about the outsiders, Frank saw.

  A broad-shouldered, bald-headed man reached out of the crowd and touched Bob Buehl on the arm encouragingly, and Bob said, "Thanks for coming, Oren."

  Jebediah Strong's voice rang out through the crowd in greeting, calling to them, "Come in, my saviors. Come on, make room for them. Make room!"

  The older man's eyes brightened at the sight of Vic. His chest was still wrapped in bandages as well, and he clutched a cane in his hands as he pressed himself up from the couch, saying, "My word, you're looking better, Captain."

  They gently lowered Vic down onto the nearest chair, and he clutched his stomach as he tried to quiet his breathing. All eyes were turned on him, and he pulled himself up slightly on the chair and forced a smile. "It turns out I just needed a little rest, that's all."

  A few smiles appeared around the room, but for the most part, the settlers faced remained hard and focused on the strangers. Jebediah Strong grimaced as he sat back down, saying, "I'm sure you've heard by now that we had a little visit from your Unification friends."

  "I did," Vic nodded. "Apparently, your planet's landing procedures were a too complicated or them."

  "So many dead," Strong said regretfully, shaking his head. "The men got the bodies cleared away and gave them a burial by fire. We couldn't muster the equipment necessary to bury each one, you understand."

  "Of course," Vic said. "You all did more than necessary, and I'm sure the families of those soldiers would appreciate it."

  "Why were they coming here?" one of the men standing closest to Frank said. He was one of the ones staring at them the whole time. His thick forearms were blackened and flecked with ash.

  "To kill us," Vic said, his voice flat and direct. His words brought the room to a loud murmur as each of the people standing around them turned to talk to one another.

  "And what about us?" another settler said. "Are we in danger because you all came here?"

  Vic nodded and said, "Possibly. I'm not sure. There's a chance that if they do come and kill us, they will try and eliminate any evidence of us being here."

  "How do you know that?" one of the women said.

&n
bsp; "They've done it before," Vic replied.

  "Is that what you do? Kill innocent people for the government?" the first man said angrily.

  "No," Vic said. "That man we followed here, who took Mr. Strong's little girl, is the kind of person we go after. Terrorists. Mass murderers. Not farmers."

  "Then why are they angry enough to send their soldiers after you?"

  "Because we found out things we weren't supposed to know. The President of Unification is working with the terrorists, and we showed proof of that to the public. In return, he labeled us enemies of the state, and ordered us dead."

  Another series of murmurs followed, and Jebediah Strong tapped his cane on the floor to quiet them, saying, "I can assure you the people of this settlement have no love for the President of Unification, Captain Cojo."

  "How do we know he's telling the truth, Jebediah?" one of the men shouted. "They might be making this all up. They might be the same kind of men they're trying to warn us about!"

  The older man's eyes settled on Vic, resting there from across the room. "I know what I saw the night that bastard Yultorot took my daughter. I know what this man said to me. He said he was going to go get my little girl, and by God, that's what he did. He walked through blazing hellfire to do it, and so did my hairy friend there, and she's up in her room right now because of it, so don't one of you dare say to me this man is a liar. Don't you dare."

  The room fell silent at Jebediah's words, and finally Vic pulled himself forward on the chair and said, "I understand everyone's concern. It isn't fair for us to put the rest of you at risk. Tomorrow, my men are going to drag our old ship out by the crash site and fashion it into living quarters. I'll remain there until the next wave of soldiers come."

  "Like hell," Frank said sharply.

  Vic ignored him, saying, "Once Unification has me, that should be enough for them. The rest of you should be safe after that."

  The room erupted in discussion once more, so loud that Jebediah had to slam the butt end of his cane hard enough to chip his wooden floor before they quieted. "That's a mighty noble offer, Captain, and it speaks to your character, but I'm afraid it's not our way to turn a friend over to his enemies."