50 in 50

"What about the others aboard your ship?" she asked.

"I am alone. Very automated you know. It took me a while to work out the formula, I don't think there has ever been a planet-buster bomb before, but I did it in the end. It wasn't easy, but I did it. For the sake of peace."

"That has a familiar ring to it," Frank said.

"I am quoting one of your generals in a war a few years ago. 'I killed them in order to save them.' But I'm not that hypocritical. I killed your planet in order to save mine. Just playing by your rules, you see."

"I see," Frank said, very calmly. "But you said you were alone. How about the other green man climbing over the ledge, there behind you?"

"Impossible, I assure you."

When he turned to look, Frank stepped forward and struck him a mighty blow on the jaw. The alien folded nicely and Frank sat on him and choked him until the body was still. Gwenn looked on and nodded approvingly.

"I'll take the feet," Frank said.

Without another word they carried the body to the edge of the cliff and slung it over, watching as it spiraled out among the rest of the space debris.

"We have to find his ship," Frank said.

"No, kiss me first. Hard."

"Yum," Frank said long moments later when he emerged from the embrace breathless and happy. "That was pretty good. Might I ask what brought it on?"

"I want to get used to your kisses, your embraces. We will have to raise a large family if we intend to repopulate the entire world."

"I couldn't agree more. Could I also ask you what made you change your mind?"

"Him, that creature. He can't get away with it."

"You'retlamn right! Revenge! Raise the family, teach them to fly, build bombs, go out and find those alien bastards and blow them out of space. Prove that he was right after all. We'll get our revenge."

"I certainly hope so. He can't kill my Robert and get away with it."

"Robert! Is that why you're doing this? What about everyone else? The billions, the rest of the world?"

"I didn't know anyone else in Minneapolis."

"If Horace had known about Robert I'll bet you he would have thought twice about blowing up the world."

"Well, he didn't and that was his mistake. Shall we go now?"

"Do you want to bring the sheep?"

Gwenn looked at it and frowned in thought. "No," she finally said. "It looks so nice there. And it will give us something to come home to."

"Right. Out for revenge. Make plans. Build bombs, raise children for revenge. Destroy."

"It doesn't sound so nice when you say it that way."

Frank rubbed his jaw. "Now that you mention it, it doesn't. But we really have no choice."

"Don't we? Just because that horrible little green man blew up a whole world, it doesn't mean that we have to act the same way."

"Of course it doesn't. But there is justice! An eye for an eye, you know the sort of thing."

"I do. I am well read in the Old Testament. But just because this was done and we learned to do it, that doesn't mean that it's right, does it?"

"I find your syntax difficult but your thought simple. What are you trying to say is that our world is gone. We can't restore it by blowing up another world. If the aliens are as peaceful as Horace said, then it would be a crime to destroy them as well. After all — they didn't blow up the world."

"It makes you pause to think."

"It sure does — and I'm sorry that I did. There was something nice and clear-cut about blowing up their planet because they blew up ours."

"I know. But still, it's a bad habit to get into."

"You're right. Start blowing up planets and you never know where it will end. So we have a chance not to go on with the old eye-for-eye tooth-for-tooth business. If we build our own world, just you and I and our kids, we'll be building on something other than vengeance for a change. That's a big challenge."

Gwenn dropped heavily into the swing. "I get a little frightened when you talk like that," she said. "It's a big enough responsibility starting a whole world, but starting a whole moral system is even more important. No killing, no violence…"

"Peace and love on Earth to all men. The sort of thing the Church was saying while they were blessing the troops. Only this time we would mean it. Turn the other cheek in a really big way. Forget the fact that they blew up our world. Prove that Horace was wrong. Then, when we meet them someday, they would have to apologize for him."

"We apologize for him right now.” the green man said, climbing up over the edge of the world.

Gwenn screamed and fell back. "Horace — you're not dead!" she gasped.

The green man shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "but the individual you knew as Horace is dead. And after what I have heard just now I tend to agree that his death was richly deserved. He destroyed a world and was punished for it."

"Horace said that he was alone," Frank said; his fists were clenched again.