by Tim Allen
Wolf decided to bring the shuttle down in an area that was once the town of Odessa, Texas, according to Syn’s reworked global positioning data. Her ground-penetrating scans clearly revealed the outline of North America, although the coasts of many cities were forever lost beneath the waters of the new earth. Wolf’s choice of this landing site was based on the fact that region had a mean temperature of seventy-five degrees and a diminutive night and day. He wasn’t ready for perpetual daylight just yet. He pinpointed a long, flat strip he could use to land if the thrust vectoring from his IFLEX malfunctioned.
The landing site was in a small, dry creek where Wolf could conceal his ship. It was a few miles from a village and remote enough no one would spot the craft. He was concerned that the locals might hear the supersonic pop as his ship broke orbit, so he decided to land early in the morning during a thunderstorm that had settled over the area.
“Syn, rotate the shuttle for landing and initiate landing sequence.”
“Yes, Commander.”
The shuttle moved like a spatial glider as it turned upside down. Rotating tail first, its engines fired as it started its deorbital burn and descended, decelerating to 160 miles per hour. The shuttle then turned nose forward, in an upright position, and began its descent into the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere. Ten minutes into the descent, Wolf raised the nose to forty degrees to correctly orient the thermal shield protecting the ship.
“Syn, initiate the landing sequence and align us with the creek bed. We will use the shore as our runway.” Moving the nose up to nineteen degrees, Wolf declared, “We’re going too fast, Syn. Fire the thrusters at fifty percent and deploy flaps.” The shuttle slowed as its flaps and thrusters engaged. Its speed dropped to sixty miles per hour and then twenty. Wolf maneuvered the shuttle down in the creek bed, sending wildlife scurrying in all directions. He touched down, turned off all lights, and placed the shuttle into its cool-down phase.
“Good job, Syn. Are we intact? Any damage?”
“Nothing worth reporting, Commander. A few tiles are loose, but we did not lose them. We’ll need to repair them before we can take off and re-enter orbit again.”
“Can we still fly in this atmosphere?”
“Yes, we have unlimited fuel with the IFLEX engines, and the thrusters can get us in the air.”
“Keep the ship ready to lift off at all times, and I want a password put on the controls for anyone other than myself. Keep the force field up in a three-meter radius around the exterior of the ship.”
“Yes, Commander, deploying the force field now.” After a few seconds, Syn confirmed, “Force field deployed. The ship is prepped and ready for takeoff. What will be the password?”
Wolf answered, “Santa Claus.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, banging his head so hard on the roof of the shuttle that he saw stars. “Syn, what’s going on?” he demanded. “Is the artificial gravity malfunctioning?”
“No, Commander. The planet’s mass was reduced by Nomad’s impact to the South Pole and some other anomaly I cannot identify. The gravitation pull has been weakened by about fifty percent. Your muscles are attuned to Earth’s original mass. You will be two hundred percent stronger than you were before, and the higher nitric oxide content in the air will further augment your body’s muscle mass.
“Really? I thought nitric oxide was laughing gas. I guess I’ll have a healthy sense of humor here,” Wolf joked. “I do remember you saying Earth had lost mass, but I didn’t realize I would gain strength from it. Will I acclimate to this planet’s gravity?”
“No. Your cellular code is fixed from your old earth. Many generations of humans on this world have had tens of thousands of years to evolve. It is still unclear how you will age here—I am not sure you will. You may not be able to adjust to these new surroundings, Commander. It seems most life on the planet has changed to accommodate the diminished mass of Earth One. And your sense of humor will not be affected by the nitric oxide—it is not concentrated enough.”
“Syn, can you give me that in simple language?”
“You will be bigger, faster, and stronger than any man alive on this planet, Commander.”
Wolf laughed. “Syn, I didn’t know a computer could lie, but you do it pretty well. I am no superman…I’m just an ordinary man in need of human companionship. Divert water to the shower and make it ninety-nine degrees. I want to wash up and shave. Also, charge my M21 laser pistol and get the M1A1 MINIMACK operational.”
The M21 laser gun resembled a small starter pistol. It had a five-inch muzzle and fired a pencil-thin laser blast that could cut steel or burn a hole through living tissue. It had a standard charge of four hours. Once depleted, the battery required replacement. The M1A1 MINIMACK was a full-powered machine gun that fired pulse laser bursts. It was capable of stopping a tank. It held two thousand shots, and its power setting was adjustable. It was a precision rifle but also could fire a rocket-like laser projectile capable of obliterating a brick wall. Its charge could last months on standby, and it was equipped with a solar charger to maintain a static charge when it was not in its charging holster.
Wolf went to the weapons locker and said, “Syn, place my biomimetic print on all energy weapons. I don’t want these things to start another war.” The M1A1 could identify an operator’s voice, DNA, handprint, or behavior. The technology was developed during the final months of Earth’s demise. So many people had tried to hack their way into the safety zones that the authorities had to take steps to ensure that the right people were saved and only authorized personnel had access to advanced weapons. Wolf snapped a minicomputer linked to Syn on his wrist; it was about the size of a wristwatch. Then he put on camouflage Air Force blues, grabbed an Air Force ball cap, and strapped a ten-inch, serrated Bowie knife to his leg. Exiting the ship, he said into his wrist computer, “Shut down the force field for five minutes, Syn, and then bring it back up to full power. I’m going for a walk.”
“Yes, Commander. Force field shut down for five minutes.”
Wolf walked out of the field’s range, locked the coordinates into his watch, and started down the road. His first steps launched him into the air and he fell, sprawling in the creek bed. After falling several times, he discovered taking small steps would keep him balanced, and a forceful step would send him flying eight to ten feet into the air. He remembered reading a tale long ago of a man who had gone to Mars and become a notable hero, using his immense strength for good, and he won the love of a princess. For a fleeting moment, Wolf amused himself with the notion that the same enviable fate might await him. He looked around at the colorful flora, thinking to himself that some of the trees looked quite small. Remembering what Syn had said about his tremendous strength, he spotted a large boulder about the size of an automobile and went to it, placing his hands underneath it. Incredibly, he lifted it over his head and casually tossed it into the woods.
Holy shit! That’s impossible! That rock must weigh a ton! Wolf thought, stunned by his amazing strength. He looked at several trees the boulder had taken down when he threw it and apologized to the Great Spirit for the destruction he caused. Then, he began walking towards a homestead that he had spotted in the computer scan. Twenty minutes later, the small farm came into view.
Wolf remained concealed at the forest’s edge, still troubled by a feeling that something was not right about these inhabitants. He was studying the humans and animals when the answer occurred to him. They were small—not dwarfish, but he stood over a foot taller, and his body was much broader. The largest inhabitant he had seen might have weighed around 130 pounds. Wolf weighed 240, and he was broader than two of these natives combined. The biblical story of David and Goliath came to mind, but he was Goliath in this strange, uncharted world. He knew that if he stepped out into the open, he would terrify the locals, so he retraced his steps back to the shuttle. He hungered for human contact and felt terribly alone, even though hundreds of humans were within hailing distance.
Wolf sat d
own to think. He had to find a way to rejoin the human race. He stood six foot five, and he was considered tall by most people in his own time. With the average height on this planet being about five foot two, he would be considered a giant. After a ten-minute rest, he stood and began walking, head down and dejected, when he unexpectedly came face to face with one of the bear-like creatures he had seen in the satellite feed. The animal was not as intimidating as he thought it would be. He was a bit taller than the animal and guessed that he weighed about the same.
“Go on Smokey, walk away from me. Let’s not get ugly about a chance encounter,” Wolf said aloud.
The creature rose to its full height with a menacing growl, swiping its claws and tearing off chunks of bark from a nearby tree. Then it charged. Instinctively, Wolf swung a left hook that struck the bear on the side of its head, decapitating it and splattering him with blood and brains. He looked at his fist and then back at the bear.
“Holy shit! I didn’t mean to kill it!” Wolf whispered in amazement.
A startled cry from behind him made him spin around and draw his pistol. A young boy stood a short distance away. He had seen the fight and now looked back and forth from the bear to Wolf, asking, “What are you?”
Wolf gazed at the child and said, “I am a man, nothing more.”
“You talk strange. Are you a god from heaven come to save us? No man can kill a dintar with his hands. They are the fiercest creatures in the world. All are food to them. If you had not been here, it would have killed me. You saved my life. Come, I will take you to my father.”
“I do not think it would be wise for me to go to your home without an invitation. My size might frighten your father. It seems I am much larger than everyone here,” Wolf said.
“Are you what my mother calls special? She says they can barely speak and need help to survive. Old man Tarver got kicked in the head by a cow and he sounds like you do. Mother says he’s special,” said the boy.
“No, I am not special, and I was not kicked in the head,” Wolf replied with a grin. “I am from far away and we talk differently. Listen, son, I have seen no man my size here. I should not see your father…I think I would scare your people.”
“My father is very brave. He has hunted many times alone in this forest. You will not scare him. Please, sir, I beg you, come with me.”
Wolf shook his head and told the boy, “Bring your father here. I will talk to him from a distance. If he invites me, then I will come to your house.”
“Yes, sir, I will bring him. But tell me your name. My name is Reon.”
“That is a good name, Reon. My name is Wolf. Go get your father. I will wait here.”
The child scampered off into the woods, disappearing into the dense foliage. Wolf looked at the bear he had killed and walked to a large boulder a few feet away. He sat down and pressed a button on his watch.
“Wolf to Syn. Do you read me?”
“Go ahead, Commander, I read.”
“Have you run a scan of the people here? I seem to be taller and much broader than they are. How can this be?”
“I have run a preliminary model of what has taken place. Life on this planet has evolved smaller over the millennia to compensate for the diminished planetary mass. All life, plant and animal, has shrunk to maintain a ratio with the planet’s decreased density…about a forty percent reduction in size. Earth Two would exhibit similar diminution of plant and animal life.”
Wolf took a long moment to digest this information and then asked, “Syn, will I shrink like them? Will I compensate for the planet’s decreased mass? Or will I live out my life this way, a giant to all?”
“Commander, you are who you are. You will not shrink to become like these people. They have been impacted by thousands of years of evolution, and generations of limited food and waning resources have caused them to adapt to this world. You are the only true human left that we know about. I have downloaded all available data from the remaining satellites that are operational. I’m afraid they provide limited data. We may be able to fix several to give us better information. But all scans indicate you are the last original man on either planet.”
“What does that mean, Syn—original man?”
“It means, Commander, no true human survives on either planet. Your DNA is superior to the common stock of these inhabitants. Things that kill them will have no effect on you. You will be resistant to most diseases. My readings also show that your skin is three times thicker and much harder than the skin of these natives. I suspect one of the unidentified gasses in the planet’s atmosphere has hardened your frame; or it might have come from your prolonged contact with Nomad’s liquid hydrogen core. Currently, I have no definitive answers. I am still running tests.”
Wolf drew his knife and looked at the razor-sharp blade. He swung it at a low-hanging branch, cutting it off clean. “Syn, are you sure of this?”
“Yes, Commander, I am sure. You will not injure yourself.”
Wolf placed the knife against the back of his hand but hesitated and said, “Holy shit! This is crazy! I won’t deliberately cut myself.”
“Commander, it is either the gas or the radiation that permeates the planet. You will see you can’t be hurt. Be careful what you do; the inhabitants of this world have no such power. You could crush them accidentally. Earlier, I said that you are perhaps two hundred percent stronger than any man on this world. We may have to reassess that calculation. To these people, you will seem like a god. Be careful.”
“I do not want to be a god. I am a man. I want to love and live again. I want to see human life on earth continue. Is there any way to reverse the way I am?”
“Again, you are who you are, Commander. There is nothing to reverse. You can do great good in this world or commit absolute evil. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.”
“Hell, Syn, I am not evil. I have worked hard to become the man I am. I do not want to release what my grandfather saw when I was a child, so evil is out of the question. As for doing good, what can I accomplish here? I will never fit in.”
“That remains to be seen.”
A sudden commotion arose from the edge of the forest, and a young boy’s voice urged, “This way, Father. The incredible giant is over here. I swear the dintar is dead.”
“My son, you took me away from my work to see the carcass of a slain animal?” a man’s voice complained. “Dintars seldom die, and when they do, it is always caused by another dintar. To find a whole one just does not happen.”
“Father, you will see I speak the truth. It is right over here.”
A man was holding the boy’s hand as they walked out of the forest and into the clearing where the beast had been slain. Wolf rose to his feet and quickly stepped behind a nearby tree, hiding his body from them. The man stood five foot three and weighed about 130 pounds. He stared at the downed beast and exclaimed, “Incredible! Look at its head! What could tear its face off like that?”
The boy looked for Wolf. Noticing the silent plea in the child’s eyes, Wolf took a deep breath and stepped around the tree. The child’s face lit up with a broad smile.
“Hello, I mean you no harm,” Wolf said, walking forward.
The man grabbed his son and spun him behind his back protectively. He lifted his spear and crouched in a fluid motion. “Stay back, giant! You will not feed on us. Take your meal. We have not touched it,” he said, pointing at the beast on the ground.
“Father, this man saved me from the beast. He killed it with his bare hands. I think he is a god.”
“I am no god. I am just a man. I come from a faraway land across the sea,” Wolf said.
The boy’s father stared at Wolf with fear and suspicion. “Your speech is strange. Why are you so large? I have never seen a man your size. Is what my son said true? Did you slay the dintar and save my son?”
“Yes, I killed the beast, but I didn’t see your son. The beast surprised me and I defended myself. I did not mean to kill it,” Wolf said.
The man stared at Wolf and then shook his head, asking, “Why do you apologize for killing the dintar? They kill many of us each year. Several men are slain each season when we cull their herds. How you killed this beast is astounding. It was young and in its prime.” The man smiled suddenly and walked towards Wolf, extending his hand. “My name is Haakon.”
“I am called Wolf. Tell me, Haakon, what is the name of this place we are in?”
“First, let me thank you for saving my son,” the man said with a smile. “Second, you are in Olivier Provence, in the kingdom of Springdale. We are a small community ruled by an aging king. If I may ask, sir, will you come to my hut for dinner? My wife and I would be honored.”
“So would I,” Wolf replied, thinking a home-cooked meal would be tasty. He had been living on reconstituted space rations for the last few months.
“It’s a shame we can’t take the dintar home. Its meat is a delicacy. It is too heavy for two men to move without a litter, and it is a good two miles to our home. Even its entrails are prized among us—they hold medicines that could cure many. What a waste,” Haakon said with regret.
Wolf glanced at the carcass and reached down, grabbing it by the hind leg. He lifted the dintar off the ground, surprised that it seemed to weigh almost nothing to him.
Haakon took a step back and exclaimed, “Jesu! What strength you have! Is it not heavy?”
“No, it weighs almost nothing to me,” Wolf answered truthfully. “Lead on. I will bring this thing. It is the least I can do for you offering me dinner.”
