Grailem by Gary L Beer (top 100 novels txt) 📖

it surprises him that they do not all own their own auto vehicles.
The transport arrives in a few minutes; a long coach like vehicle that can hold several hundred people and Grailem boards with the rest of the passengers. Two stops later most of the passengers get off and walk towards a large fifteen story office building. With the distance to travel so short from home to work it is obviously easier and more convenient to ride the free bus.
Grailem remains on board as the coach heads towards the city; travelling along the highway and busy roads Grailem becomes bored with the bright metal of the buildings, auto vehicles, coaches and even the small parks. As the coach enters the city the streets become more crowded with Arct and their service robots. No one appears to be in a hurry and the coach slows down to match their slow pace.
As the coach reaches the centre of the city Grailem gets off and joins the throng of people and servant robots as they go about their business. He can see no security cameras and no security anywhere, making him wonder if this is also a crimeless society.
Knowing the workings of the human mind as well as his own and his reading of other races, deceit and crime always composed of at least ten percent of any civilisation. The Arct all seem at ease and Grailem wonders if he has missed seeing a mind controlling device in them. The last planet that was under Arct control had control of all the humanoids, but it was due to necessity as written in their history records.
Why not on their own race and home planet?
Or had he finally found a race of beings that could co-exist happily with each other?

Walking the busy streets Grailem sees the same system in operation as on the previous planet he had been on when the citizens purchase any goods. Their photographs are taken as they leave the store and the electronic tag on the item they have purchased recorded - and assumingly their bank balance decreases at the same time. The Arct appear happy with this arrangement.
Entering a clothing store Grailem chooses a new pair of the military type uniforms. He chooses the purple type and tries them on for size; they are a perfect fit and leaving his old clothes in the booth, Grailem makes his way out of the exit, having his photograph taken and purchases recorded on the way out.
The city that he walks appears filled with happy Arct and he realises that once again he is on his own; apart from his legion of a quarter of a million military style robots.
The thought fills him with sadness, loneliness was beginning to have an affect upon him more than when he was in space. Though he is surrounded by many different Arct of all ages, most smiling and happy, they had no effect upon him. Obviously lower in intelligence to himself Grailem had not considered bringing himself down to their level and made no attempt at socialising – mainly because he did not know how to.
These sad thoughts are interrupted by an 'attractive' looking female Arct who approaches him and looks him up and down,
"My, you are a big one." she exclaims and makes no pretence at looking at his trousers where his prosthetic penis puts a slight bulge in his trousers.
"What is it that you want?" asks Grailem in a gruff voice,
The Arct female ignores his tone of voice and forms a grimace, showing her canine-like teeth, which Grailem interprets as a smile; "Was wondering if you would like to come up to my place for a little while?" she asks as she steps forward and unashamedly reaches out and grabs hold of Grailem's prosthetic penis.
"I have to get back to the wife soon, she is cooking us humanoid child spare ribs with her special dressing."
The female Arct immediately loses interest and turns away and goes in search of another victim.

This part of the city suddenly holds no appeal, he had learnt what he came for, and that was this area was not guarded. No security patrols wandered the streets or loitered on street corners like he had seen on the other planet.
Such was their confidence in their security, they felt they had no need for them - or military robots.
That, felt Grailem, will be their undoing as an idea was beginning to form in his head.
Deciding to head back to the spaceport Grailem retraces his steps to the railway station. Now disguised as an Arct he waits along with other travellers for the train to arrive.
The train empties in a hurried mass of Arct and robot servants and Grailem steps aboard and finds himself a discreet corner. He does not have long to wait as the train, half filled with passengers and robot servants, slowly departs the station.
Soon it is heading through the city with the speed increasing all the time. When the train reaches about five hundred kilometres an hour it immediately starts to slow down as it passes through residential neighbourhoods towards the spaceport.
Reaching the spaceport the train comes to a gentle stop and all the passengers disembark with Grailem trailing behind them. Exiting the huge building Grailem stands close to the wall and activates his invisibility imagery. No one notices his disappearance and he makes his way back to the robot factory.
The main doors are firmly closed but the noise of the machinery inside permeates the air. Walking around the side of the building Grailem reaches a small entrance door and turns the handle slowly. Gently he opens the door and peers inside.
Robots fill the production line turning out even more robots at an incredible rate. Several Arct wander amongst the robot workers checking the product at each stage.
For Arct to be supervising and quality checking at such close quarters shows Grailem the importance; and urgency. Settling himself into a darkened corner Grailem watches the robots being made and stored at the far end of the factory unit.

Grailem gives some serious thought as to what he is going to do next. His original plan had been to take control of the robots as they landed on the humanoid planet they were invading. Rendering them useless they could then be easily destroyed by the resident humans.
A new more daring plan had been beginning to take shape in his mind. Why not take control of the robots before they left orbit. If he could take control of the robotic operators and navigators aboard the Starship‘s he would have complete power over the whole planet.
Eager to see if this new theory could be put into practice Grailem makes his way cautiously out of the building. Once out in the fresh air he makes his way to the nearest shuttlecraft. The spaceport around the shuttlecraft is empty of people and Grailem can see, positioned between the shuttlecrafts and airport building, two guards wearing military uniforms.
As Grailem approaches the nearest shuttlecraft the guards keep their attention directed towards the main buildings and fail to see him as he climbs on board.
Making his way to the computer terminal in the main cabin Grailem turns it on and waits patiently for it to 'boot up'. Several minutes later when the machine has warmed sufficiently, Grailem works the keyboard at a furious rate. Feeding in complicated binary code, all from memory, he triumphantly hits the input key.
The screen before him changes immediately to a three dimensional image of the controls of the starship he had arrived on. Through the operating robot Grailem operates the mobile controller and alters the course of the starship by half a degree.
The operating robot appears oblivious to the change in course and remains motionless. Grailem returns the starship to its correct course, which is deep in space, and watches the operating robot closely. Appearing not to notice the recent deviation in course the robot continues to monitor and pilot the starship, pressing no alarm buttons.
Flushed with confidence Grailem takes control of six other Starship‘s and their operators. Performing small orbital changes Grailem accesses their computer banks and studies the overall construction of each starship.
The Starship‘s had been built on a planet, rather than in space and he wonders if the Starship‘s would be able to take the forces of re-entry. Reading of their construction Grailem soon learnt that they are designed for re-entry and a safe landing.
Wondering why the Starship‘s did not land on the planet to unload, rather than sending a fleet of shuttlecraft, was not to be found in the engineering sections. Grailem found the answer in the historical section.
Starship‘s landing on the planet was normal centuries ago until several, from a newly discovered and quickly humanoid cultivated sector of the galaxy returned carrying an unknown plague. The plague was released into the Arct atmosphere when the cargo doors were opened; the cargo had been treated and sealed but the air trapped in the cargo hold carried the plague as it had not been sterilised.
Due to the alien nature of the attacking plague carrying a particularly nasty nematode, a cure was a long time coming. After three hard years of intensive laboratory experiments and field trials a cure was eventually found. But by then two-thirds of the Arct population had been decimated.
The cure, a harsh mixture of antibodies, was released into the atmosphere saving the remaining Arct. The antibodies were also released into the humanoid planets atmosphere and improvements in the meat production were hurried through. The next harvest proved plague free with a higher proportion of protein and energy per kilogramme due to the improved conditions.
The result was a population explosion in the humans and within a few short generations the Arct had to re-introduce birth control. Using similar antibody principles, humanoid species were tested in many areas that had been considered as unsuitable for food production in the past. With the use of domes and disease free air the humanoids flourished and produced good tasting meat; that was guaranteed chemical free.

The restriction of not landing would not apply to Grailem as the Starship‘s will contain his modified security and military force. Grailem's plan that had been forming in his mind was to use the robots here; on this planet, to exterminate all of the Arct race.
Every Arct would have to be killed; and that included the women and children.
Grailem had found a feeling of compassion in his endless wandering in space. He had learnt the feelings of hunters and carnivores and their insatiable desire for a continuous food source. The eating habits of the Arct and the domination of all humanoid life forms within a distance of over one thousand five hundred light years in every direction was disturbing. The subjugation inflicted on these billions upon billions of humanoids ignited a feeling of great defiance within Grailem.
To kill all the Arct would give him great satisfaction; and