• I.

    It was a long time ago, further back than anyone alive now can remember. It was before the Union of Civilized Planets, before the Council of Worlds, even before the first Steele Empire. It was the earliest days of the Skonnos Empire, which was at the time a collection of less than five planets, all within the same star system. Space travel was then clumsy and awkward, and the ships of the fledgling empire often vanished without a trace. Sometimes their wreckage might be found scattered in perpetual orbit around some lonesome moon somewhere.

    Colyn Randarr was an ambitious man. He vowed that his ship, the Cloister, would be the first to leave the Skonnos star system and prove that there were more star systems with even more planets beyond the empire. The ship was fitted with the latest in cutting edge technology, a force field of pure energy that was virtually impervious to anything. It not only served to keep stray asteroids away from the ship’s hull, but also kept oxygen within the ship itself. Not that most of the crew required oxygen.

    Besides Randarr himself, there were only four humans. The other eight crew members were emotionless, calculating robots. The Cloister was the first space craft to employ so many artificial people, which Randarr saw as not only cheap but also reliable labor. Their most positive aspect was that they never questioned orders, which on a mission such as this was fairly crucial.

    Humanoid robots were not yet in common use in the empire in those days. They were still a fairly new invention, and many simpler people feared them, but Plebus Artificial Lifeforms, Inc. was churning out up to a hundred of them a day. They were quickly taking the place of humans in the workplace. Mostly they were left with janitorial positions and rarely had any positions of authority. On the Cloister, many of them were given more complex tasks than any robots before them. If they had any emotions at all, the robots might have a sense of pride that they were breaking barriers.

    The Cloister trudged on through the lifeless void of space, past the first nine planets in the Skonnos star system. After the first year, the human occupants began to miss their families. That feeling passed, though, sometime after the third year. Normally on such a long trip, the crew would be put into stasis and would sleep until they arrived at their destination. However, Randarr did not equip his ship with stasis cubes for three reasons.

    Randarr insisted he needed the extra space for fuel storage. Also, the stasis cubes took up enormous amounts of energy, which could not be wasted on such a vital mission. Finally, the captain wanted all of his men awake and aware so they could document everything they saw along the way.

    After four years in space, they came to the tenth world in the system, Mendrall. Randarr pulled his ship into orbit around the world, upon which no human had ever stepped. It was a small white planetoid, covered in ice but with an atmosphere rich in oxygen and a comfortable gravity. Randarr felt his men might want to get out, stretch their legs a bit, and explore the world.

    There had been much talk in hushed whispers of late amongst the men. They thought their captain could not hear, but he knew what was going on. They felt that the were on a fool’s errand, that they would find nothing past the tenth world, and that Randarr was quite mad. There was talk of mutiny, but none of them were so foolish. They knew the robots followed Randarr’s orders without question, and could easily quash any rebellion.

    However, the men felt something had to be done. So, after much debate, it was decided that the first mate would confront Randarr. The first mate was an older man who had been employed because of his experience in space travel. He piloted his own freighter, and knew the Skonnos-Plebus run like the back of his hand. Just before he went to work for Randarr, his freighter had been hit by an asteroid and barely made it back to Skonnos before crashing on it’s surface, never to fly again.

    “Cap’n,” said the first mate, his hat in his hands.

    Randarr was going over star-charts in his cabin. He looked up at his guest with a look of irritation, and said, “Yes, what is it? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

    “Yessir, but the men... They’s thinkin’ maybe this trip ain’t all we thought it would be... They’s thinkin’ maybe you ain’t well... They’s a little worried, cap’n.”

    “Then we’ll pay the more. Honestly, that’s why I hired you. You take care of the men, keep them in line, do what it takes to make them happy.”

    “Yessir,” replied the first mate, “but I agree with them... I miss me family... I wanna go home, an’ the men do, too. We thinkin’ you’re crazy.”

    Randarr turned sharply to the man. “I have a vision. A dream. That makes me mad? I’ll have you know --”

    He never completed the thought. The ship lurched sharply, then began barreling towards the surface of Mendrall. The two men scrambled towards the bridge, where a robot was casually gripped the wheel, trying to steady the ship. The robot had no need to exert much energy, as he could easily lift eighty tons on even minimal power.

    “Report!” barked Randarr.

    Without a hint of any sort of emotion, the robot replied, “We passed through an uncalculated gravity eddy. My attempts to maintain our course have failed. We are going to crash on the planet’s surface.”

    The first mate glared at Randarr. This did not go unnoticed. “We’ll be fine,” the captain said. “The force field should protect us from any major damage. I’m just worried we might burn up too much fuel trying to reach escape velocity when we take off again. Robot, shut down the engines. We’ll coast down, check for damage, then get going.”

    The robot did not reply, he simply followed orders. The first mate skulked out of the room, to go and calm down the men. They were probably crawling the walls now. Randarr stayed on the bridge and watched as the planet Mendrall grew larger and larger on the viewscreen.
    *

    The men had built a huge bonfire to keep warm as the robots went to work digging the ship out of the snow. They stood around their fire, watching the robots with mistrust. Randarr was on top of the ship, looking out across the white, barren horizon. He never fraternized with the men, as he knew what they thought of him. He did not care, though. He had a vision that they would never understand.

    Suddenly, they heard an inhuman howl that echoed across the landscape. The robots continued to work, but the men tensed at the sound. Mendrall was supposed to be completely lifeless. Early probes had determined that the planet, though capable of sustaining life, was much too harsh an environment for any lifeform to thrive.

    The first mate ran over to the ship and called up to Randarr. The captain, however, was oblivious to the man. He saw something on the horizon. A man was lumbering in their direction. The first mate followed Randarr’s gaze, and he too saw the hulking figure. He ran back to the fire and pointed the creature out to his crewmates.

    Randarr jumped off the ship into the soft snow and watched as the giant man ran towards the ship with incredible speed. The man, as though he had suddenly noticed the crashed vessel, quickly veered off to the left and ran even faster toward a distant mountain range. The captain got a good look at the creature. It was seven feet tall, and ran in massive strides. It’s head, bare to the elements, was bald and badly scarred. His cheeks sagged, as if his skin were too big for his body. His eyes seemed to glow red. Though humanoid in shape, the creature was by no means a man.

    Randarr backed up until he was very nearly standing in the fire. The creature ran away, and was out of sight in less than a minute. The men crowded around their captain and watched the monster go. They turned to Randarr, as if he held the answer. All the captain could do was shrug and watch the horizon with a look of disbelief.

    Then, with the same fury as the monster, a small hovercraft came sprinting over the horizon. It was a tiny vessel with an open top and a single seat. The man driving it was well covered, his eyes trained on the ground. He was following the monster’s tracks. He looked up quickly, and saw the fire. He brought his craft to a halt before the men, and jumped off.

    “Have you seen it?” he cried, approaching the fire and basking in it’s warmth. “Have you seen the creature?”

    The men were speechless. This newcomer had long, untamed black hair streaked with white, and a thick beard. His face and hands were dark and filthy. The furs he wore were sewn together haphazardly, as if assembled into clothing in a hurry. His eyes burned with a sort of rage that they had often seen in Randarr’s eyes.

    “Who are you?” demanded Randarr.

    “It is not important,” replied the man. “I know it came this way. Did you see it?”

    Randarr stepped forward. The newcomer dropped to his knees, holding his head. “I am so tired,” the man mumbled, before collapsing on the snow. Randarr and his men stood over the body, not sure what to do. The captain finally ordered a couple of robots to carry the limp body to his cabin.
    *

    The man awoke with a start. He looked around his surroundings with a confused expression. Randarr stood over him, a hot mug of broth in his hand. He offered it to the stranger, who drank thankfully and quickly. He downed a few more mugs before he spoke.

    “I must look pretty frightful,” he said. “It has been a while since I have been around people.”

    “You’re Plebian, aren’t you?” asked Randarr. He recognized the man from somewhere, but could not place him.

    “Yes, I am. Born and bred on Plebus. That is a long way away now, though. That place of innocence is forever gone from me.”

    “Who are you?”

    The man seemed almost taken aback. “Yes, I suppose I am not recognizable right now,” he said. “My name is Benjamyn Shockmann. You may call me Ben if you wish. When I was alive, I was quite a good engineer.”

    “I have heard of you,” said Randarr. “You went to the University of Skonnos with my cousin. Some of your space craft designs are still in use today. You disappeared shortly after graduating from the University. That had to have been sixty years ago. As I recall, everyone thought you were dead.”

    “I am dead. Metaphorically, that is. The only thing that keeps me alive is my drive to destroy the thing that took my life away from me.”

    Randarr shook his head. “You aren’t making any sense, old man. The only thing that is keeping you alive is your desire to destroy that which killed you? It is a paradox.”

    “Who was your cousin?” asked Ben.

    “Dak Randarr, the geneticist,” said Randarr. “He died shortly after his graduation, about the same time you left Skonnos. Did you know him?”

    “Know him? Ha! He was the one who helped me when I...” Ben trailed off, looking out the window at the white landscape. “I have to go and destroy the creature.”

    “What is the creature? What is all of this about?” demanded Randarr.

    Ben said nothing at first. He stared out the window, lost in thought. He looked very tired, very beaten. From his expression, he seemed to have the worries of the empire mounted on his shoulders. Finally, he turned to Randarr, and said, “I will tell you my story, Randarr. I will tell you all of it, if only to assure myself that it all really happened. It began many years ago...”

    With that, Ben began to relate to Randarr the most incredible story the captain had ever heard.