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Old Soldier
I sat atop the silent electric tractor trying my best to keep it going straight toward a spot I picked on the horizon. This was about the twentieth row I’d plowed, and I had yet to master the vehicle.
“My friend,” Wang Zhang called to me, “you are not plowing straight!”
I looked behind me, and damn if he wasn’t right.
“Sorry, Wang,” I said.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“Why are you here?” I responded, mocking him in a childish taunt.
“I’m here to carve out a new life with my family,” he said gesturing to his wife, three sons, and two daughters planting seeds in the distance. “But you, you have no family. You are not a farmer. So why are you here?”
I often asked myself just what the hell I was doing there. I was a soldier, and that was all I ever wanted to be. It was all I’d ever been trained for, and all I ever wanted to do. And somehow I found myself on a tractor on a remote colony on the ass end of nowhere.
New Casthaska – a hell of a name, considering no one’s ever heard of Old Casthaska – was the rock I found myself on. But it’s not like I didn’t have a choice in the matter; I chose to be on this rock.
What happens to a soldier when peace breaks out? I found out first hand when it happened to me. The Bible says “Beat your swords into plowshares.” Yeah, but what if you don’t have a sword? For a zero-g’er like myself, I was the sword.
After taking that Bible passage a little too literally, I somehow found myself in the office of PlanetSys. You see, there are only so many positions for a zero-g combat specialist. An extensive résumé of complex martial arts training means little to the civilian world. Not many places have an opening for someone like that. But PlanetSys? They always have openings. They don’t care what your qualifications are as long as you are willing to trudge it out on some godforsaken place.
An old man long ago said that an old soldier never dies but rather fades away. That guy clearly had been in my shoes, for there was no better way to fade away than to go to New Casthaska.
Our new home took a while to get used to. Gravity was about 80% of earth; close enough to be familiar, different enough to be a pain in the ass.
Speaking of which, our skies were green and the vegetation was blue. Yeah, can you freaking believe that? But one good thing is that it helps you more easily identify the native weeds from our earth crops. At least the dirt was brown.
The unbearable heat of the bright sun felt no different in green skies instead of blue. Humid air carried the faint smell of rotten eggs. The sulfur in the water smelled awful, but they assured us it was safe to drink. The only problem was when everyone watered their crops; everything smelled like rotten eggs. It sucked for the first week or so but then you got used to it.
“Are you listening?” Wang said. “Hop down, and I’ll do it for a while.”
“No,” I replied. “Let me have one more go. I think I’ll get it right this time.”
“My friend, I do not want you to take offense,” Wang said delicately. “I appreciate your help, but…”
“But my help is being a hindrance,” I said, finishing his thought.
“I appreciate it,” he said. “I do. But I want it done right.”
I climbed off the tractor and stood aside of it. Wang scrambled up into the driver’s seat, but before starting it, he paused and nodded at me.
“The plowing can wait,” he announced. “First, we eat lunch.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. The colony only possessed a single tractor; today was Wang’s allocated day with the vehicle. It would be another two weeks before he could borrow it again.
“We must eat some time,” he said, “and I want to thank you for your work.”
I felt bad about causing more problems than I was solving, but I knew if I didn’t join him for lunch, Wang would be insulted.
We trekked over to the Wang family tent. Wang handed me a glass of shaojiu while his wife prepared shahe fen for us. I took a drink, and experienced a sharp burning pain in my throat.
“It is good, yes?” Wang said.
“Ahhh,” I said, trying to get my voice back. “In the old days, I think we could have burned that in a combustible engine!”
Wang let out a hearty laugh. I laughed also, but then I heard a noise, unlike anything I’d heard before. It sounded like someone was screaming “naaaaaack” in a shrill voice.
We both ran outside the tent, and I scanned the horizon looking for the source of the noise. It wasn’t coming from around us, but above us.
Circling above us was a two-meter long birdlike creature. Slender with a tall feathery body and long scaly legs, it let loose another piercing scream from its protracted and narrow beak. Grey plumage covered its body except for the bright red feathers that crowned its head and its small black leathery wings.
“Naaaaack!” the creature called again, and another one signaled a responding nack somewhere in the distance.
“Have you seen anything like that before?” I asked Wang. He shook his head. We’d been here for about a month, but we’d never seen anything like this before. The only other indigenous lifeforms we’d encountered were large pig-like herbivores with heavy bony scales. Those tended to stay away from camp.
As we sat outside the tent watching our visitor circle overhead, we heard more and more cries of that awful “nack” sound.
“Perhaps we should go into the tent,” Wang said. I had to agree with him.
Louder and louder the sound grew as more and more of the nackers – that’s what I nicknamed the things – flew overhead.
The children began to get scared, and Liu, Wang’s wife, had them start singing some Cantonese songs to help them relax. It may have helped relax the kids, but it wasn’t calming my nerves any.
A gunshot sounded in the distance. Then another. It sounded like it was coming from the O’Malley farm. Further in the distance, from around the Naffa farm, there were more gunshots.
Outside, the nackers’ sound grew louder and louder. I had no idea how many of them were circling above us, but from the sounds, they whipped themselves up into a frenzy now.
Wang opened a chest and retrieved his rifle. He cocked it, ready for whatever may happen.
The back of the tent tore open with a loud rip and a rush of air as a nacker tore through the tent as if it weren’t even there. Passing within a foot of me, it was my first chance to see it close up. Haunting yellow eyes under a scarlet cap and a long black stiletto of a beak.
Looking out the newly formed window, I could see maybe twenty of the creatures swarming overhead. Outnumbered, and knowing the tent no longer could offer us protection, I suggested to Wang that we relocate to the plastuminum barn. About a kilometer away, the community kept the communal equipment there.
“Do you really think we should leave?” Wang asked me.
“Yes,” Liu replied, as she gathered the children together.
Another nacker ripped through the side of the tent. Tangled in the fabric, it flailed and shredded more of the tent trying to get loose. That was enough for any of us.
Liu was first out of the tent with the oldest boys, both in their early teens. The two girls, nine and six, followed closely behind.
Wang passed me the rifle while he scooped up his three-year-old son Piao. “You’re the soldier,” he said as he took off towards the barn.
As soon as we ran out of the tent, the nackers swarmed at us. The first one dove down and speared the littlest girl, Hua, right in the chest. A single stab penetrated the girl’s ribcage like a knife in butter. It withdrew its beak in a quick recoil, and the nacker was off into the sky again, trailing the girl’s blood.
Liu screamed in horror, but Wang ordered her to keep going. Wang himself slowed, but I grabbed the girl and started running. She was bleeding badly and her breathing was labored.
The barn beckoned in the distance. Gunshots sounded all around us. The entire village was under attack from these vile creatures. We had to keep running, though.
I felt the breeze of a passing nacker blowing against the back of my head as it swooped past me and caught Liu in the upper shoulder. She went down and kicked up a cloud of dust as she fell. The nacker landed this time next to her, but the two boys ran at it, forcing it back to the skies.
At this point, I realized Hua wasn’t breathing. I stopped and laid her next to her mother. Liu was trying to stand back up, but every time she pushed, her arm strength gave out. I dropped the rifle and helped Liu back up to her feet. The blood loss was too much, though, and every time I got her to her feet, her legs gave out and she fell.
Wang set Piao down and took the rifle. As I tended to Liu’s injuries as best I could, Wang fired the rifle in several directions. Ten shots down, and the magazine was empty.
“Did you hit any?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
Blood poured out of Liu as her eyes rolled back in her head. She was dead. A check of Hua’s vitals showed she was dead also. Bao, the other girl, began crying hysterically once she realized what had happened. I picked her up and tried to console her.
The Wang family and I huddled at that spot halfway between the homestead and the barn. More gunshots in the distance. Looking at the barn, the only logical course seemed to be to run to it.
Tears in his eyes, Wang grabbed Piao and ran towards the barn. The two boys, Xun and Quon, looked at me with puzzled looks on their faces. I nodded towards the barn, and the boys took off running.
The boys quickly overtook Wang, and I hobbled behind them all at a distance carrying Bao.
She screamed sharply, and on instinct, I hit the ground just as a nacker passed inches over the top of us. It continued its original flight path undeterred and nailed Wang right in the back, sending him to the ground in a geyser of blood and dust.
“Nack!” Another cry above me, and two more to my right.
I ran to Wang and set Bao down by my side. Piao was crying but he was unhurt. Wang, however, was losing blood rapidly. “The barn,” his voice hoarse in its final breath.
Xun and Quon were still on their way to the barn, but I knew I couldn’t run with both Piao and Bao. I also knew that leaving either or both behind was certain death. Hell, just standing there was certain death.
But I was tired of running. I was tired of the nackers having the upper hand.
I was a soldier; I needed to remind myself to start acting like one again.
Zero-g combat requires a different mindset from normal fighting. This guy, a Mr. Newton, said that for every action, there’s an opposite but equal reaction. What Mr. Newton said, and the orbital civil war proved, was that fighting in space the same way as you do on earth resulted in as much – and maybe even more – damage to the attacker than the defender.
To be an effective zero-g soldier, we not only had to concerned about inflicting maximum damage to an opponent, but also to be conscious of ensuring minimum damage to ourselves. Before attacking, you had to know how that attack and its follow through were going to leave you situated. Toss an opponent, and you would find yourself traveling backwards at the same rate as your opponent.
Then there’s the third axis. Planetside, your opponent can only go so far in the vertical direction. Gravity keeps them on your level, keeping engagements mostly in two dimensions. In zero-g, though, anything goes. Fighting becomes a three-dimensional art.
Supposedly, there’s all sorts of math you can use to figure out the best attack using something called physics. Me? I didn’t need math. I just felt it. I just knew what I could do.
It wasn’t a zero-g environment, but the principles were the same. Being a fast attacker who wasn’t as limited by gravity had given the advantage to the nackers. As I learned in space combat training, though, the way to regain the advantage was to use the physics stuff.
I had Piao and Bao curl up in as tight balls as they could. “Play dead.”
Once they were down and out of the way, I scanned the possible targets. Two nackers dove at me from the south, about twenty meters away. I was ready for them.
The first came towards me, but veered at the last moment. The second one, though, came at me. He was headed straight towards my chest.
All of my training came back to me as I turned backwards to my right and dropped my left shoulder. As I rotated, the nacker narrowly missed striking me in the chest. Keeping my momentum going, though, I followed through and nailed it square in the middle of its back with my right fist. The nacker hit the ground and cartwheeled.
Using its legs and wings, it righted itself and popped back up. I spun and roundhouse kicked it in the head. Slightly stunned, I recocked my leg and gave it another swift kick. This time, the thing went down. I wasted no time. Placing my boot on its neck, I grabbed it just behind its red-crest and pulled up until I could feel the snap.
I jumped back to my ready stance by the children, and waited for the next attack. The nackers were making their awful cry, but in a different tone now. It was lower and longer, but it was still that same “nack” sound, although it sounded more like “nock” now.
They stopped buzzing around us and gave us some distance. Had they seen what I did to them? Were they afraid of me?
I wasn’t going to find out. I scooped up Piao and Bao and ran to the barn. I didn’t see Xun or Quon, but I didn’t see their bodies either. It was just wide open space between us and the barn. As long as the nackers stayed backed off from us, we’d be okay.
About thirty meters from the barn, though, my adrenaline finally gave out. I was out of breath, and I couldn’t run any more. I set down Piao and Bao – well, actually more like dropped them – and sent them scurrying to the barn.
But, like all good predators, the nackers knew I was weakened, and all at once, they swarmed at me. I got up and ran, but after a few steps, I tripped and fell. Back on my feet, I tried to sprint as much as my fatigued lungs could take me.
They told me in training that when you are on the run, don’t stop to look behind you; that moment of hesitation might be all your adversary needs to get the edge on you. I broke that rule and looked behind me. There were three of them coming at me fast and low.
I paused for a moment, wondering if I should try to take a defensive position and fight or if I should continue to run. That moment of hesitation was all the nackers needed. The lead caught me in the right thigh.
The pain was horrendous, but swept my legs out from under me. In hindsight, that’s probably what saved me from the other two. As I went down, they buzzed close to me. They were going for the kill.
As I was going down, I couldn’t help but wonder about the leg the nacker hit. It was the same one I used to not only stun a nacker with but the one I also used to wring its neck. Had the attack on my leg been a calculated strike or was it simply luck?
I scrambled up on my feet as I heard the nackers return to their original high pitched cry. I had no doubt that they were coming around for another strike.
Only thirty meters to the barn.
I stood up on my leg, and the pain shot up and down, all the way from my hip to my ankle. I could feel the warm blood running out of me like water from a faucet. The nacker must have struck the femoral artery.
Only thirty meters to the barn. I wondered if my body could survive that long. I had sprung a leak, and my blood was going fast.
I hobbled. One meter. Two meters.
I could hear the nackers cawing louder.
Three meters. Four. Only about twenty-six more to go.
My life depended on this last bit of distance. I willed myself forward. I didn’t want to die. Not that I was afraid of death; I didn’t want the nackers to have the satisfaction of defeating me.
My speed increased, and I lept forward faster. Only twenty meters now. Only fifteen meters.
My head became lighter and dizzy. I felt tunnel vision starting to close in on me. I lost my peripheral vision, but I remained focused on the one object in front me. I was not going to lose sight of that barn.
The nackers’ cries grew even louder, closer. They must have been close. Ten meters. I could see the doorway.
At eight meters, I fell to the ground. In that moment, I knew I was done for. I cried out, “God, make it quick!”
I felt something grab at my shirt, grabbing me under the left armpit. Damn you nackers, I thought as I was grabbed so close to my heart.
I was being dragged. But based on their size, there was no way the nackers could drag me. When I felt the earth under me change to the hard cold surface of concrete, I knew I must have been in the barn. The floor was so cold.
“You look like crap,” I heard a voice say. It was Derek O’Malley, our neighbor to the east. “Where’s Wang?”
I tried pointing, but I couldn’t feel my hands any more. I couldn’t see much any more. I felt my consciousness slip away. The blood pooling underneath me made me feel warm. The floor wasn’t uncomfortable any more. I was ready to die now.
“That old man was right,” I said as my tunnel vision closed in. “So this is what it is like to fade away…”
*****
But fade away I didn’t.
If I wasn’t cut out to be a farmer, I’m damn well not cut out to be a father to four orphaned kids. But until the next supply ship arrives – likely in about three months – that’s what Derek and I have to do.
Derek tried to save the leg. After the tourniquet, the leg got infected. It smelled really bad, and it wasn’t healing. To keep the gangrene from spreading and completely killing me, Derek used a tree saw on it. I remember him sawing away at the flesh until I passed out from the pain. He didn’t say how he survived the grisly task, and I didn’t ask. The stump is healing, although it itches like crazy. I think the damn thing might still be infected. I don’t blame Derek, though. He did the best he could. Hell, I would have just let me die, if I were in his shoes.
We’re here in the barn, Derek and I and the kids. The nackers are outside. We hear them, making that awful cry all hours of the day and night. We hear them banging their beaks against the side of the barn, against the door, against the ground. They’re trying to find a way in, and I’m afraid that before the ship gets here, they might just do that.
But I’ve got a plan. I haven’t shared it with Derek or the kids; they’re scared, and I don’t want to make it worse.
Those nackers took too much from me. Wang’s family was the closest I had to my own, and they took that away from me. And they took my leg.
I’ve been fashioning some weapons out of tools in the barn. I have to laugh when I think about that old Bible passage now. Yeah, you can beat a sword into a plowshare, but a hoe also becomes a mighty fine pike.
Tonight, while the rest are asleep, I’m going to sneak out and see what I can do to the nackers. Maybe I’ll take a couple out, and maybe I’ll put a little more fear in them like I did before. Or, maybe they’ll stab me and gut me in seconds like they did with the others.
But I don’t think so. I’m an old soldier, and old soldiers never die.
THE END
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