THE RECRUIT
By; Gerald A. Polley
Chapter 17
The next morning the same young woman woke him. "Time to be
briefed!" she remarked. "Don't bother getting fully dressed.
We'll dress you. Just your pants and your slippers
fine. We're used to bare chests around here."
Imal grinned, got up and followed her out. He joined two others
that introduced themselves as his assistants. They had a nice
breakfast. Somebody must've asked because Imal's eggs were
prepared exactly the way he liked them! Then they went into a
room that had a mock up of a slicer. The instructor came over.
"Your assistants will receive the prisoner," he explained, "they will
take the robes off him and secure his arms and legs. When he is ready
you will position the blade. Go ahead, take ahold of the
handle. Four leverings will bring it into position. When
the prisoner is put on the platform you will lower the guide shield
that holds him in place. I understand he's to be face up.
The officer in charge will read the warrant of death. When he
commands 'Executioner, do your duty!' you pull on the lever the
restraining pin will withdraw, the blade will snap forward. It is
then your duty to reach down, pick up the head, and display it.
Just make one swing then put it back in the catch basket. Then
you will withdraw. The medical attendants will remove the body,
you will observe from the end of the platform, your attendants will
flush everything down. When the area is clean you will bow to
them and withdraw to the vehicle.
If there is trouble
there are rifles here and here that will be released by the security
device in your left hand glove. No one else but you and your head
assistant can retrieve the weapons. That's about it! We don't
recommend you eat lunch. Some people can handle it, the majority can't."
"I'll take your advice!" Imal assured.
"Now, let's get you dressed and get you to the proceedings."
Imal was taken to a room, stripped off, and put in fire resistant
underwear. On top of these were an ordinary looking pair of pants
and a shirt. On top of these were a robe with a hood.
"Bullet resistant, aren't they?" Imal remarked.
"Yes sir!" the attendant dressing him answered. "Sometimes people
don't like the executioner. They've been known to take shots at
him. We don't like to take chances. Your helmet and face
plate will stop anything but a fifty caliber."
He was
given comfortable gloves but he knew they, too were armored.
"Oh!" the attendant remarked, "There's two air conditioning vents for
the executioner. The instructor always forgets about them. One's
right by the lever, the other's by the stand by position. You'll
see them on the floor. Stand with your feet on either side of
them, and you'll be a lot more comfortable!"
"Thanks!" Imal praised.
They got in a vehicle with heavy escort, and drove to the place of
execution. Imal remembered his other instructions.
Visualize a circle of light with the air flowing into it. Keep
visualizing it until after the execution was completed.
Imal walked with the others to the slicer, took his place, there was a
reporter near by, probably from a local station, describing the
proceedings as a cameraman worked beside him.
There was a drum roll then the steady beat of drums as the prisoner was
brought out. He was prepared, the warrant of death was
read, and he was put in place. The officer gave the signal to
proceed. Imal drew back the lever and the blade snapped. He
could actually visualize the passage! He heard a murmur from the
crowd and thought they must be seeing it too. Suddenly something
was going by Imal. His hand shot out and grabbed it. Then
all hell broke loose!
The thing began to scream
with incredible fury. It bashed at him, tried to bite his shoulder. The
officer trying to come to his aide got both feet in the chest and went
flying! Imal could see the passage clearly now. With all
his strength he tried to push the thing into it. He could hear
the reporter.
"My God! My holy God we can
see it! It's horrible! It's simply horrible! It's
fighting with the executioner. There's two girls coming. They went
right through the guards. They couldn't even slow them.
They're coming up on the platform."
Suddenly Mary
was by Imal's side. "I have the passage father!" she
screamed. "Concentrate on getting it through! Hurry!
It's hurt you!"
Imal felt the back of his clothes
being ripped apart. Suddenly Crystal's hand was on his back, and
he felt a tremendous surge of strength. He rose the thing up,
staggered forward with it, pushing it into the passage. The
screaming became unbearable! Even the people in the stands were
covering their ears! Finally it began to disintegrate. He could
see it, he could feel it. It was being sucked into the
passage. Imal let go and it was gone. He could hear the
reporter screaming "My God! My God! The executioner's on fire!
The girl that was helping him, they're spraying them with fire
extinguishers! I hope all this comes out! This isn't
special effects! Everything you just saw is absolutely
real! They're tearing at the executioner's robes trying to get
them off him. The girl seems all right. She just got a little
scortched. There's a stretcher coming. It sure as hell
wasn't supposed to go this way! Oh, good Lord! One of the
attendants tried to pick up the cardinal's head. It
disintegrated! It fell apart! The smell! It's unbelievable!
His body's just falling apart on the slicer! Oh, God, I think I'm
gonna be sick!"
Imal was thrown on a stretcher,
rushed to an ambulance and got back to the executioner's headquarters.
They had a complete medical facility. Their doctor didn't seem
upset at all when Imal's favorite one showed up.
"Good Lord!" she gasped, "These slashes must be two inches deep!
How did he ever stay on his feet? The burns are only second degree in
places. Just first degree mostly. A lot of blistering, but
nothing too serious. You've got to let me write this up!"
Imal shook his head. "I think the video they got is going to be quite enough, How are the girls?"
"Boasting to everyone!" the doctor remarked. "The new one is
saying it was the spirit of her father that she saw helping the
executioner. So she went in, too. She'd been trained by The
First Speaker, you know!"
"Figured as much!" Imal answered. "What about Crystal?"
"She's just saying she remembered the stories," the doctor answered,
"that a young woman can empower someone fighting a demon, and didn't
hesitate."
"I felt that power!" Imal explained, "I felt it surge through me! It was incredible!"
The doctor nodded. "Well, now we've got these stitched up we'll put
some ointment on the burns, you can walk out of here. But nothing
like this again for some time! Damn! I went to take a look at
what was left. I'll be days getting the stench out of my
nose! The tissue, the bones, everything, just
disintegrating! We've got pictures of all of it. How do
they keep bodies together like that? How do they keep them functioning?"
She shivered, finished up and they got Imal home. He dragged his
wife into the bedroom and they were not seen for several hours.
But nobody said a thing!