"That's right," Jessica said.
Ditros lowered his head and touched his chest again, in admiration. "You have brought us great glory on your little expedition. When we hand them over, we will be richer than we ever dreamed."
Jessica raised one dark, arched eyebrow in consideration of the idea, then said, "These men are not our prisoners. They are my guests. How many extra suits do you have?"
"Enough for you and your crew."
"I am all that remains of my crew," she said. "Give the rest to these men and find one large enough to fit the mantipor's head. We are leaving this place, immediately."
As the alien handed packs containing jumpsuits to the others, Jessica brought Vic's up to him personally. Vic took it from her and said, "You're a pirate."
"I've been called worse," she said, helping him undo the packaging. "When we get up to my ship, we will have to send a transmission out letting everyone know you are no longer on this planet. That should leave these people in peace, I should think."
Vic slid his arms inside the baggy suit and she helped him pull it over his head. When the suit was on, Frank helped him rise from the rocking chair and make his way down the porch's front steps. He rested one arm around Frank's neck, and the other around Jessica's, making his way slowly toward the rescue ship.
"I knew who you were the moment I saw you," Jessica said. "All of you. As Unification hunts you, legends about your rebellion have spread. There are more people on your side than you can imagine."
"We will need them," Vic winced. "To take on Wolmar means total war."
"To lead an army, we'll need to give you a promotion," Frank said. "Congratulations, Vic. You're now a General."
"To lead this kind of army, General will not do," Jessica said. "How about Supreme General Cojo?"
Vic laughed and shook his head at the idea, even as Frank fell back from helping carry him, stunned by what he had heard. Monster bent down and picked Vic up for the rest of the way, helping him inside the ship, and all of the others filed in behind him.
Inside, they began affixing their helmets to their heads, and Vic called out through the door, "Are you coming?"
Frank slid his head inside his helmet and walked through the front door, looking around the interior. Monster was belted into one of the seats, saying, "I cannot wait to breathe artificial air again. I grow sick of all this sunlight. Mantipors were meant to be in space."
Bob Buehl was smiling through his helmet, "First thing I'm going to do is get a hold of the kids and see their faces again."
Jessica helped Vic get belted in and said, "You'll be seen by my medical staff the moment we arrive. They will have you on your feet in no time." She looked at Frank, "How wonderful will it be to work with modern equipment once more, instead of these barbaric antiquities?"
Frank could feel his hands trembling inside of the suit and squeezed them into fists to still them. He looked at Vic, wondering which version of the man he had seen in his visions he was looking at, the benevolent ruler, or savage Supreme General, and found that he could not speak. The ship began rising slowly, pulled upward by its hoist toward the sky, rocking them back and forth as it came free of the ground.
The blue-skinned alien wrapped his knuckles on the side of his helmet and said, "These will not work until we reach the upper atmosphere. Likely, we will all pass out from lack of oxygen. Rest assured, the ship is under orders to begin raising us as quickly as possible once we are in view. After that, the suits should activate automatically, and we will begin to breathe again." Ditros smiled wickedly at them and said, "Or, if we are unlucky, we will all die. Either way, see you on the other side."
They were higher than the peaks of the distant mountains then, with the ground rapidly vanishing beneath them in the darkness. "What is it, Lieutenant?" Vic said. "I thought you would be glad to be rid of this place."
"I am," Frank said. "Now I'm just wondering what comes next."
"What comes next?" Vic said, leaning his head back against the seat and looking at the woman sitting next to him, and then at Monster, and Bob Buehl, and finally at Frank. "Nothing we can't handle."
GRENDEL UNIT
BOOK ONE
Author's Dedication –
The Grendel Unit series, of which this novel is composed, is dedicated to my friend, Tony Healey.
This year, Tony and I have taken the long, winding, truly strange, harrowing, and wonderful trip from independent authors toward something much larger. We have done it together, and almost simultaneously.
I first met Tony in 2011 when I was soliciting contributions for Resistance Front, a non-profit anthology I was publishing, and he submitted "Redd." I was immediately impressed with his abilities, but also with the quality of him as a person. From then to now, he has grown into the best-selling author of the Far From Home series (featuring Commander Jessica King, who appears here as well, by his gracious allowance)…(It's not that weird, we share universes sometimes. He used a female mantipor in his series, and needed a name for her, so I told him to call her Barbie.) to the unbelievably successful author of Hope's Peak. This year I stood in awe as his book skyrocketed to the top of the Kindle charts in both the US and UK, and has remained there since.
Tony is the most enthusiastic, genuine, driven, and committed author I have ever met. Let me put it this way. If I had to pick one fellow author to go into battle with against all the other authors, I'd pick Tony.
And we would win.
In a lot of ways, the end of this Grendel Unit story arc says what I'm feeling about all of the changes that are coming our way in the next few years. The future is wide open, a little scary, definitely thrilling, and will require all of our skill and commitment.
But even as I ask myself what is coming our way, I already know the answer.
Nothing we can't handle.
Bernard Schaffer,
Montgomery County, PA
January 2017
www.BernardSchaffer.com
Bernard Schaffer is the author of multiple books that span a wide variety of genres. He has worked with famous literary figures such as Harlan Ellison, Alan Dean Foster, J.A. Konrath, and Bill Thompson, the editor who discovered Stephen King and John Grisham.
A decorated police detective, Schaffer's law enforcement philosophy books are taught in major universities and police academies all across the world.
You can find him at Philadelphia Union games in the Sons of Ben supporter section with his two children, acting like crazy people.
The Bernard Schaffer Author Facebook Fan Page
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @BernardSchaffer
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Multiple Series are Available from Bernard Schaffer
SUPERBIA (Crime, Police Procedural)
WAY OF THE WARRIOR (Law Enforcement Philosophy)
GUNS OF SENECA 6 (Western, Science Fiction)
GRENDEL UNIT (Science Fiction, Military)
CONFEDERATION REBORN (Space Opera)
TINY DRAGONS (Young A
dult)
Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes
The Girl from Tenerife
Women and Other Monsters
Agent Omega: You Only Live Forever
Thirsty Blade
Also available: Billionaire's Apprentice, as Chase Carroway
Bernard Schaffer
Published by Dia de los Toros Publications
Copyright 2017 Bernard Schaffer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No reference to any real person, living or dead, should be inferred.
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