Fear that man

deep within he knew he possessed the ability to use each of them-and to a deadly intent. Against the far wall and next to the cargo portal sat a ground car, broadcasting nubs studding it. With its invincible shield turned on, it was, in effect, another weapon.
        There was something bothering him, something more than the mere presence of weapons. Then, as he gazed at the ground car, he knew what it was. Nothing here carried a trade name! The car was void of brand, model, and make. So were the rifles and the throwing knives-and the explosives. All of these things had been produced to provide anonymity for their maker. But who had made them? And for what purpose?
         Bong-bong-bong!
        At first, he ignored the ship’s alarm, trying to think. But the ship grew more insistent. He put back the rifle he had been examining and left for the control room.
        UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT APPROACHING. CLARIFICATION IN THIRTY SECONDS. The computer’s squawk-box grated the words out like sandpaper drawn across sandpaper. CLARIFICATION. IT IS A MAN.
        “A man? Out here without a ship?”
        THERE IS A HEARTBEAT.

----

    II
        
        Like a grotesquely misshapen fruit, the body in the red jumpsuit floated in the blackness, directionless, moving with a slight spin that brought all sides of it into view.
        
        UNCONSCIOUS.
        
        He brought the ship in as close as possible, studied the crimson figure. What was a man doing this far from a ship, alone, in a suit that could not support him for more than twelve hours? “I’m going to have him brought in,” he said to the ship.
        
        DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD?
        
        “He’ll die out there!”
        The ship was silent.
        Like small animals, his fingers moved. A moment later, the cylindrical body of the Scavenger appeared in the viewplate. It was another almost-alive machine. He tensed with the sight of it. The single eye of the Scavenger focused on the body. On the console screen, there was a close-up of the stranger. The lens caught the face inside the helmet, and he was no longer sure it was a man.
        There was a face with two eyes, but no eyebrows. Where the brows should have been, there were two bony ridges, hard and dark and glistening. A mane of brown hair streaked with white lay as a cushion about the head. The mouth was wide and generous, but definitely not the mouth of a man. The lips were a bit too red, and the teeth that stuck over them at two places were sharp, pointed, and very white. Still, it was more of a man than an animal. There was a look about the face that suggested soul-tortured agony, and that was very human indeed. He directed the Scavenger to begin retrieval.
        When the machine had done this and was locked in place on the mother ship, he opened the floor hatch, drew up the body, and carefully unsuited it. The helmet bore the stenciled name HURKOS…
        … He was in a great cathedral. The red tongues of candles flickered in their silver holders.
         Belina was dead. No one died any longer, but Belina was dead. A rare case. The monster in her womb had slashed her apart. Nothing the doctors could do. When you can’t turn to blame other men, there is only one entity to blame: God. It was difficult finding a temple, for there were not many faithful these days. But he had found one now, complete with its holy water tainted with the sacrificial blood and its handful of ancient Christians-ancient because they refused the man-made immortality of the Eternity Combine: they grew old.
         In the great cathedral…
         In the great cathedral, clambering across the altar railing and clutching the feet of the great crucifix. On the kneecap, slipping, falling to the feet three times until the bruises blackened his arms beneath the thickly matted hair. Then, grasping at the loincloth, fingers hooked into the wooden folds, pulling himself up, weeping… A foot in the navel, shoving up… screaming into the ear… But the ear, after all, was wooden. The ear merely cast back his condemnations.
         Candles flickered below.
         He began swaying, using his weight to topple God. The head did not respond at first. He locked his arms more tightly about it. It began to sway. The head fell, crashing from the shoulders, down…
         Then toppled the body.
         He pushed away from it as it-and he-fell.
         There were sirens and hospital