[00:00.00]UNIT6
[00:16.07]The Pasture
[00:17.70]Night settled, thick with the acrid
[00:21.76]odors of gunpowder and blood.
[00:24.16]No moon meant firing at
[00:26.78]muzzle flashes, an inexact method
[00:29.41]by which to combat one's foe,
[00:32.37]but the enemy had no advantage either.
[00:34.77]With artillery fire blanketing
[00:37.94]the field of battle, Jack had
[00:40.13]no opportunity to go to Mike's aid.
[00:43.20]He poked his head over
[00:45.39]the rim of the trench to
[00:46.91]see if he could spot Mike's corpse.
[00:49.22]He knew he was dead.
[00:52.28]He had heard his scream
[00:54.69]of pain when he was hit.
[00:57.53]His agonized moans had grown
[01:00.15]weaker and less frequent and finally
[01:02.34]ceased about ten minutes ago.
[01:05.52]The regiment had been under
[01:09.02]heavy bombardment for two days,
[01:11.20]without respite. He had been
[01:14.71]too late to stop Mike
[01:16.24]as he propelled himself out
[01:18.20]of the foxhole and staggered
[01:20.28]as he hit the muddy terrain.
[01:22.58]In hindsight, he should have
[01:25.86]seen it coming. Mike had
[01:28.60]started to break yesterday.
[01:30.57]He was becoming bizarre, talking
[01:33.52]about his patriotic duty to
[01:36.15]expel the enemy from these shores.
[01:39.32]Paradoxically, just before he
[01:42.27]hopped over the edge of the trench
[01:44.24]he scorned the day he had
[01:46.10]heeded the call to enlist.
[01:48.73]It pained him to realize that
[01:51.68]his one friend in this ungodly war
[01:54.53]had betrayed him by dying.
[01:57.60]Soldiers don't often make friends with
[02:01.21]one another, knowing they might die.
[02:03.94]He and Mike were different.
[02:06.45]They had known each other
[02:08.31]since they were children.
[02:09.73]Mike was the best man when
[02:11.81]Jack and Lily walked down
[02:13.89]the aisle just a week before
[02:15.86]they left the dock and crossed
[02:17.61]the channel to engage the enemy.
[02:20.57]Clouds tumbled and overlapped one another
[02:24.50]as the wind began to freshen.
[02:26.80]It was getting colder now.
[02:29.65]The prospect of another night
[02:31.84]of rain, or perhaps even snow,
[02:34.57]made Jack quiver with dread.
[02:37.63]Blood tinged water was beginning
[02:40.70]to crust over with ice.
[02:43.43]He could feel his toes and
[02:45.51]fingers stiffen as the temperature dropped.
[02:49.01]Maybe Mike was better off than he.
[02:52.51]At least the cold wouldn't
[02:54.37]bother him any more.
[02:56.34]Suddenly, comets of light began
[02:59.95]to streak across the night sky.
[03:02.47]They were using flares!
[03:05.10]The increased tempo of cannon fire
[03:07.72]coming from the left flank,
[03:09.69]shattering the earth around them,
[03:11.98]could only mean the enemy
[03:14.17]had sensed their weakness, and
[03:16.47]was coming in for the kill.
[03:18.44]They were heading straight
[03:20.74]for the underbelly!Jack's rifle misfired.
[03:25.11]The whole corps had been issued
[03:27.74]new guns a few days before
[03:29.49]this campaign had started.
[03:31.68]It wasn't long before they discovered
[03:34.74]that the alloy used in the barrels
[03:36.93]couldn't endure prolonged firing,
[03:39.23]causing the shell casings
[03:40.87]to adhere in the bore. How could
[03:45.13]he repel the enemy without a weapon?
[03:47.32]Jack felt a stab of pain
[03:50.82]in his right thigh.
[03:52.79]The ground around him ruptured.
[03:55.53]Jerking from side to side,
[03:57.72]he tried to dodge falling rocks
[03:59.36]and the clods of dirt
[04:01.32]raining down upon him.
[04:03.95]He slumped into a prone posture
[04:06.14]as he felt himself shoved
[04:08.33]from behind by an unknown force
[04:11.07]that felt as if it might
[04:13.03]have been a racing locomotive.
[04:16.20]The last thing he heard,
[04:18.83]before his world was overturned,
[04:20.80]was a chorus of screams.
[04:23.54]“Am I dead? Where am I?
[04:27.80]Where is everybody?” Cognitively,
[04:30.43]Jack realized he was still functioning
[04:33.93]physiologically so that meant
[04:36.67]he was still alive, but
[04:38.30]for how long? He couldn't move.
[04:41.48]Maybe the impact had fractured
[04:44.65]his spine and he was paralyzed.
[04:47.17]He tried，analytically，to assess
[04:50.23]the damage incurred by moving
[04:51.87]his limbs, one by one,
[04:53.84]in a clockwise direction,
[04:56.24]starting with his right arm.
[04:58.87]Everything appeared able to be
[05:01.50]mobilized but for some reason
[05:03.58]he couldn't get up off the ground.
[05:06.31]Everything went black again.
[05:09.38]Jack led his horse by the reins
[05:13.31]as they stepped onto the overpass
[05:15.28]bridging the gap between the plateaus.
[05:18.78]In the distance, he could see
[05:21.52]a twelve point buck grazing
[05:23.60]in the pasture, silhouetted against
[05:26.66]the waning sunset. Out of nowhere,
[05:30.05]a bull came charging across
[05:32.35]the meadow toward him. He tried
[05:35.63]to run but his feet
[05:37.39]were pegged to the bridge.
[05:39.24]Drifting in and out of consciousness,
[05:42.97]Jack tried to make sense of
[05:45.04]what had happened to him.
[05:47.12]He seemed to be in a cavity
[05:49.74]under the ground. The earth
[05:52.48]was compacted on his legs
[05:54.45]but he thought he might be
[05:56.31]able to rotate his body enough
[05:59.31]to make himself a little more comfortable.
[06:01.69]Was that a shaft of light
[06:04.76]he could see through the groove
[06:06.18]between the fingers of his left
[06:07.60]hand covering his eyes?
[06:09.57]He groped to clear a tiny
[06:12.42]bit more space for himself.
[06:14.72]The shutters of his consciousness
[06:16.90]closed again.The galaxy was
[06:22.15]being probed by lunar modules shuttling
[06:25.87]between Earth and the other planets.
[06:28.28]As a member of a federation of geologists,
[06:31.79]Jack and his team had to
[06:33.75]follow the seam of ore
[06:35.72]to its source, a pasture
[06:37.58]on a distant asteroid.
[06:39.44]Once again, Jack regained lucidity.
[06:44.04]“Wow,” he thought, “that was
[06:46.66]like a bad paperback novel
[06:48.74]about astronomy!” He sniffed the air.
[06:51.81]It was foul with the smell
[06:54.43]of death but qualitatively
[06:55.96]able to sustain life.
[06:58.80]Why was it so quiet?
[07:01.32]Was he deaf? Was the battle over?
[07:04.05]Was everyone dead? The weight
[07:07.12]on his legs was becoming oppressive.
|