Short Fiction · Chapter
II explained
Hradzka wakes in a primitive world and begins his plan to infiltrate and eventually conquer the local population.
What happens
Hradzka wakes in a primitive world and begins his plan to infiltrate and eventually conquer the local population. He kills a herb-gatherer for his clothes, finds work on a farm, and observes the culture's contradictions—simple tools alongside advanced technology like firearms and telephones. When the farm's animals and plants mysteriously die and the farmer and his wife fall ill, Hradzka fears suspicion and flees.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Resilience
Hradzka adapts to a hostile environment by killing, working as a laborer, and learning the local language to survive.
Alienation and Otherness
Hradzka is an outsider who must pretend to be a deaf-mute, hiding his true identity and technology from the natives.
Power and Corruption
Hradzka's plan to seize power through conspiracy and violence reveals his corrupt ambition.
Characters to notice
- Hradzka
Protagonist of the chapter; wakes in a primitive world, kills a man for clothes, works on a farm, and flees when mysterious deaths occur.
Key passages
“A plan of action was taking shape in his mind. First, he must get clothing of the sort worn by these people, and find a safe hiding-place for his own things. Then, pretending to be a deaf-mute, he would go among them to learn something of their customs and pick up the language.”
Hradzka devises a strategy to blend in: acquire local clothes, hide his advanced gear, and pose as a deaf-mute to study the natives and learn their language.
Shows Hradzka's calculated approach to infiltration and long-term conquest.
“After undressing his victim, Hradzka used the mattock to finish him, and then to dig a grave. The fugitive buried his own clothes with the murdered man, and donned the faded blue shirt, rough shoes, worn trousers and jacket.”
Hradzka kills the herb-gatherer, takes his clothes, and buries the body along with his own futuristic garments.
Illustrates Hradzka's ruthlessness and his willingness to commit murder to achieve his goals.
“The strange death of the animals, the blight which had smitten the trees and vegetables around the farm, and the sickness of the farmer and his woman, all mystified him. He did not know of any disease which would affect plants and animals and humans; he wondered if some poisonous gas might not be escaping from the earth near the farmhouse.”
Hradzka is puzzled by the simultaneous death of animals, plants, and the farmer couple, suspecting a toxic gas leak rather than a natural disease.
Highlights the mysterious environmental catastrophe that drives Hradzka to flee.