"The best Gronk is a dead Gronk," said Spad, echoing the views of soldiers down the ages. "Just let me get one in my sights..." he aimed his empty hands at the guard room wall, miming the shape of a rifle. "Pcheeuw!"

"You have to admit though," said Winton, wishing he had never started it, "if someone overran your planet..."

"Satellite, Titan is a satellite," interjected Moyo.

"If someone overran your world," Winton persisted, "You might be inclined to give them some bother. That's all I'm saying. I know there's been atrocities, I'm just saying when we're down there guarding the shaft that leads to this installation, maybe it helps to think how it might look to them. That's all."

Spad wouldn't let it go. They could have left humans to mine their oil in peace, he said, it wasn't as if the Gronks could do anything outside of the sulfurous interior where they lived. Winton ignored him and started pulling on the insulated suit and patrol boots ready for their turn of duty down below. Ready to guard the free world's hydrocarbon supplies on this god-forsaken, planet sized moon of Saturn. He hadn't yet seen a Gronk.

Lieutenant Aston-Li had described with military precision how the Force had "possession" of this particular hole in the ground. Possession in this case meant round the clock guard duty, teams of three at a time sent down the shaft, booted and suited against the inhuman temperature of the Gronks' world, watching as they went about their business in the maze of tunnels that connected to the ethane export terminal. Making sure they knew who was in control.

The three men descended in silence in the cage-like elevator. A scratched thermometer read out the temperature as they descended, though in the comfort of their suits the numbers seemed other-worldy. The cage stopped with a jolt. They looked out into a smoky reddish orange chamber about twenty feet wide with small round tunnels running into it. In one of the tunnels something moved quickly out of sight. Winton realized he had seen his first Gronk without really getting a look at it.

Sergeant Merton from the outgoing patrol gave the "All OK" sign from the other side of the cage door and slid it open to let the new guard out. He had the high gravity body language of a typical Terran - he was the only one of the Guard who was from Earth itself. On the way to Titan he had told them the myths of old Earth where humans once believed there was a world above them called Heaven and an evil place below that Winton couldn't remember the name of.

Sergeant Merton's patrol got into the elevator and began the slow ascent to the surface. Winton, Spad and Moyo positioned themselves around the chamber and prepared to look authoritative. Yellowish smoke from the tunnels spread across the chamber floor. Winton tried not to stare as the first Gronk emerged into the chamber. It was a small scaly creature with a flat face, large eyes, pointed ears and a demeanor that he assumed was Gronkian for surly acquiescence. It was carrying a bundle which Moyo made it stop and unpack to show there was nothing suspicious in it. Spad and Winton covered his back nervously.

Things proceeded more or less uneventfully until the fifth hour. There had been a steady trickle of Gronks, mostly crossing the chamber quietly and disappearing on the other side. At a sudden instant, Winton felt the back of his neck crawl. There had been a sound, a small quiet sound. He turned around slowly, rifle at the ready. A number of nondescript shapes in the mouths of the tunnels moved into the chamber. It was suddenly clear these were Gronks, camouflaged red against the tunnel and bristling with what were clearly weapons. There was a report, then a sharp hissing noise as Moyo stiffened and fell, air steaming out of his suit in a white haze specked with red. Spad and Winton opened fire on the Gronks, spraying lead bullets all around the chamber. Hot balls of molten sulfur and sharp metallic projectiles flew across the chamber from all directions, threatening to rip open the suits and expose them to the fatal underworld atmosphere. As the chamber filled with noise, smoke, lead, sulfur and fear, Winton remembered what the mythical place under the Earth was called.

It was Hell.