The guards were spread far and wide from the small huts they had manned, which were, in turn, flattened. But though the guards’ bodies were crushed almost beyond recognition, they were not burned. It was as if they had been blown outward by some mighty force. But Hassim was not about to ask questions; he had simply thanked God for the might of his leader and spurned the convoy onward. As Shahim had promised, the trucks had approached the front gate of the large army base unhindered.

As the evening fell, the sleepy guards had seen the column of trucks approaching. No one had mentioned this. Why hadn’t they heard about this from the checkpoint? But as they went to report the approaching trucks, they had been even more surprised to see the lone man that suddenly stepped out from the sparse brush not twenty yards from the front gate. He carried no gun and made no noise. He seemed utterly harmless. As he walked up to them, they had shouted at him to stop, arranging themselves in a line in front of the main gate and leveling their rifles at him. Some had even had time to notice that something seemed to be wrong with the lone man’s left eye, it was missing, replaced by some dark spiny object that they could not begin to describe.

Back in the cab of the first truck, Hassim had seen the blinding flash. But there had been no noise, no explosion. Just a momentary bright light, illuminating the front gate like the biggest camera flash he had ever seen. For a moment afterward he still had the image on his retina, and he was sure he could make out a single man silhouetted against it, standing in the road just in front of the gate.

For the twenty-five base guards that were actually facing the flash, it was impossibly bright, the white heat of the broad span laser flare emitted from Shahim’s eye blinding them instantly and permanently. Shahim was not happy at having to do it. These men did not deserve such brutality, and they would be only the first of many casualties tonight. But even if they all died in the coming battle, it would be for a greater purpose. He was trying to save a planet. Even five thousand deaths would be acceptable compared to the billions that would die if he failed in his mission.

The blind men had screamed and stumbled, but by the time Hassim had arrived with the rest of the men, Shahim had already killed most of them. The force had then split into three parts as planned and the attack had begun in earnest.