God of the Hunted

Electrical storms and radio static increasing; cause unknown. Captain suspects Cartesian spy ship or probe in vicinity

Personal Log, 38229

I saw him again this morning, during my swim. His worry furrowed his brow, and he frowned. His eyes traveled down, and he smiled at my flashing nipple rings. Only a moment, then back to worry that was turning toward anger.

"It's the fucking Cartesians, Tits. Don't get your nipples in a wringer, we'll do that on the way home. Seems to be a static hurricane on the horizon; I've seen it before a dozen times."

I could see the face on the monitor, but the other guys could only see a static storm. Wish I knew if I was going mad; gave myself a scan but everything was normal for me.

"Take the day off, Tits, we don't need you. Soak your sorry ass. Get drunk. We'll get this cleaned up and be outta here in a coupla days. You'll be back with your family for a year or so, and you'll feel better with the new treatment. You'll see."

Shit, Monty must be hallucinating or fascinating about riches to be this nice to me.

I hate giving a planet a death sentence. The Consortium doesn't care if they leave a planetary desert behind; they're done it before. Most of the human governments have severe penalties for destroying indigenous life in commercializing a planet, but since the Consortiums are all based in Garkhamite space, the laws don't apply to them.

This morning I had a transcendental experience. While I was out swimming, floating naked in the water by one of the WalManas, I felt my consciousness merging with hers. I say hers, since I knew instinctively she was a female like me. We shared memories at first of our children, of carrying them and raising them. I got flashes of memories that seem to go back for centuries: this race is sentient and as intelligent as we are. There was nothing like language, no words, just images and emotions.

We shared sorry at the fate of this planet, and I got images of a Deity, standing huge in the sky and throwing lightning bolts at the WalMana's enemies. It looked like the figure I saw at sundown, and tonight I got another look at him as the daylight faded, only tonight he was closer.

Cosmo's pissed our electromagentic scanner wasn't working: the satellite we put in orbit is good at solar and planetary fluctuations, but it's shit for everything else. .

Personal Log, 38302

Today was my birthday, dammit. The bastards decided to celebrate by getting me drunk, spanking my ass angry red, then taking turns fucking me from behind. Greg was last and I thought he was going to rip me open. I'm glad we're lifting off tomorrow; if we were still planetbound, I'd have to walk bowlegged for two weeks.

Another vision of the giant in the distance; this time I could almost see what he was thinking. This time I ran the sensor logs and their readings were inconclusive. Telemetry showed a static storm, the same bullshit Monty's going on about. His eyes were flashing; I'm worried. Monty, Cosmo and the boys see nothing unusual.

Science Log, 38303

Mission completed. Output above expectations, extraction process proven effective, environmental impact negligible. Crew spirits high in expectation of visit to Starbase with shore leave, and return for second phase.

Two indigenous creatures returned to wild after examination. No threat to human life present on this world. Phase two of this operation can begin when data of current expedition finished.

Crew anxious to return to base and offload. All in excellent health and morale.

Personal Log, 38305

I'm still shuddering as I float here in space. The escape pod is still holding up, and I'm waiting for the rescue ship from Starbase 2003 to pick me up. I could care less: I would be happy to die here and now.

As we began departure procedures, a storm seemed to build in the West. As usual, it didn't register on our shitty equipment, and Monty blew off any threat as negligible. Cosmo got drunk and tried to rape me, but Monty stopped him and told him to wait until we got back into space. Twerp 1 and 2 made their minimal contributions.

It was after daybreak that we started launch sequence, and a commotion outside drew my attention. All the WalManas were in the lagoon, in neat columns and rows, their mouths open and chests heaving. I plugged my headset into an external monitor, and immediately my ears were filled with a macabre chanting. It rose and fell, traversing a scale unknown to human ears, building in waves to a climax before falling to rise again.

"Look at what's happening outside, I said."

Monty let loose a belch, and Cosmo tuned his monitor to the external feed. "It looks like a farewell chorus. They're singing their farewells to us. Goodbye, you sodding bastards, enjoy what's left of your lives."

Monty belched again, and the comm came to life with incoherent gibbering from the engine room. He punched a button and shouted: "What the fuck are you Jackoffs doing down there?"

"Some small issues with catalytic conversion," Greg said, "We'll have it patched in a sec."

"You damn well better or I'll have your nuts on a skewer."

Paulie cut in: "No problem, Cap'n, full power now."

Monty hit his panel and saw friendly readouts at last. "Prepare for departure. Begin launch sequence."

"Yes, Captain Bligh." Cosmo replied, touching pads that brought the boosters to life.

I kept my attention to the exterior of the ship, and saw a huge buildup of clouds, inky black clouds shooting from the far horizon and covering the sky in 30 seconds. "Bad weather moving in , Captain," I announced.

"Nothing, Tits, don't get yours in a wringer. We'll drive through it, nothing can stop us," Monty said calmly, before taking a pinch of snuff. After the ritual sneeze and discombobulation, he shook his head and looked again. "Clouds came in pretty damn fast, didn't they?"

"Clear for takeoff," Paulie's voice crackled.

At that moment, I saw a figure striding in from the distant horizon. Larger and larger he grew, until he stood on the far side of the lagoon. Rage creased his face and it shone red.

A lurch told me the ship had taken off. The compensators had been acting up since half way through the trip. I almost lost my balance; Monty and Cosmo hardly registered the jerk. With a tooth rattling shuddering we ascended.

Suddenly, the ship rocked in a huge explosion. "Enemy attack, shields up," Monty shouted.

"Cartesian ship at 9:00, " Cosmo chimed in, letting loose a barrage of torpedoes.

"Damn it, Cosmo, I'm supposed to order deadly force," Monty carped. "Altitude?"

"150 Kilometers and climbing. Orbit in 30 seconds," I reported. The readouts from the containment fields were quite alarming.

"Another barrage, then nothing more until we're in free space," Monty ordered. "We need some room to cope with these guys."

"Aye, sir," Cosmo said calmly, sending another set of torpedoes.

On my monitor, I saw the figure of a giant on the shore of the lagoon, gazing upward maliciously. The first wave of torpedoes reached him and passed through harmlessly.

"No effect," Cosmo reported laconically. "Shall I use energy weapons?"

"When we get to free space, Wadface," Monty barked. "We can't get things lined up right while we're lifting off, and our atmospheric capabilities suck. Our weapons will do us no good until we're in the black."

"Power at 130 percent and rising," Greg babbled. "Shields at 60 percent."

"60 percent? What the fuck have you two been doing that past week and a half, doing marathon circle jerks? Get those shields up to 100 percent. Now, you motherfuckers."

"Aye, aye," Paulie replied.

"300 kilometers and 10 seconds from orbit."

"Engine room, prepare for superlight at my command."

"No, Captain, not this close to the planet," Greg whimpered

"Shut the fuck up and do what I tell you. I've done this before, stupid. Prepare for a parting shot, Wadface, give him all the energy we can spare."

"When?" he asked calmly.

"On my orders, Wadface. Engine room ready?"

"No, no, no, no!"

"Get ready, damn it!"

The atmosphere dwindled away, and we were in the black of space. The lagoon was a small dot on the planet, but magnification showed the giant still standing there and reaching to point heavenward. More gibbering on the comm, and Monty ordered the shot of pure energy.

The ship rocked, throwing me to my feet and hurling the men in the bridge hard against their restraints. I was back on my feet in an instant, and realized we were in deep trouble. Guidance systems were going to fail in three minutes, and we weren't going to see home without help.

Alarms sounded, and Monty bellowed: "Report, all systems."

"Compensators offline," I said harshly, swallowing my panic. "Guidance systems down in 3 minutes. Shields at 10 percent. Thrust decreasing."

"Weapons had no effect," Cosmo said blankly.

"Fire in the engine room, fire in the engine room," Greg shouted. "Protocol 7"

Monty pounded his fist: "You mean Protocol 1, Jackoff. Tits, get down there and help them."

The lift was out, so I dropped down the ladder as fast as I dared. Greg and Paulie were in full panic: the wiring was on fire and the automatic system wasn't extinguishing it. I grabbed a tank to freeze it, but it had no effect. Hitting the comm, I reported: "Fire out of control. Cargo endangered. Fatal detonation in 2 minutes."

"You mean there's nothing we can do?" Monty demanded.

"I'd like to go home with money, too, Monty, but this will definitely blow. If we're not gone in 30 seconds, we're dead no matter what we do."

"Shit," Monty said. A few clicks indicated he'd checked some monitors on his own, then his voice came out loud and clear: "Abandon ship. Abandon ship. Abandon ship."

Greg and Paulie fell over each other getting to the escape pods. Two shuddered told me Monty and Cosmo were away. I stumbled over the twerps and got to the farthest pod. As I entered and hit the button, a fizzle followed by a series of short bursts made me think my life was over before the pod jumped away from the ship and the rocket pushed me away.

Tirillium is very unstable, and any potential for ignition demands caution. Any fire usually sets the damn stuff off in 90 seconds. Monty did the right thing, and no review board would have condemned him. All pods worked as they were supposed to, thank God, as Greg's and Paulie's pods finally kicked away. We were gone in time. As we shot away, I continued to receive data from the Jay Hook systems.

I saw the figure, huge and looming, impossibly big, appear next to the ship, its face lined with anger. He pointed his finger skyward, and the other escape pods holding the other crew members burst into bright microns as they traveled away. Then the Jay Hook exploded in a huge fireball and I lost all telemetry.

The face appeared on my monitor, no longer angry. His face was soft, kind and compassionate. An ancient face, lined with pain and wisdom. It gave me an astounding feeling of peace; He knew me and my trials, He loved me anyway. A nod, and He disappeared.

As I float through space, my marker beacon chiming every hour on the hour, I remember our journey. I do not mourn my shipmates' deaths; the universe is better off without them. I mourn the WalManas we have set on the road to oblivion. I mourn the loss of my independence: I will land and never travel in space again, even if it means baby sitting a two year old in the short run and living with Rowena the rest of my life.

I don't know what this tingling all over my body means, but I feel better physically than I have in years. My MedTechs will still laugh their heads off when they see Goodyear tattooed into my side, but I need some reminder that this really happened.

I mourn what the human race has become: lost in greed and selfishness. My life's work has meant nothing, nothing at all, and I have no future. Perhaps the God of the WalManas, or Herne the Hunter, will have mercy on us all, and I will find some peace at last.