# Hradzka — Short Fiction character guide

> Hradzka in Short Fiction by H. Beam Piper.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0003-the-mercenaries

## Snapshot

A fugitive alien who studies a strange world's contradictions from beneath bridges and behind a deaf-mute's silence, he is hunted by men with blasters.

## Who they are

Hradzka observes the farm's dying animals and blighted crops with a scientist's bafflement, suspecting poison gas rather than disease. He takes work cleaning vehicles in a town repair shop, maintaining his mute pretense to avoid exposing his foreignness. When a uniformed man with a holstered blaster arrives asking after him, the quiet study of this world turns into a chase.

## In the story

### [Flight from Tomorrow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/flight-from-tomorrow)

Protagonist who flees the palace revolt and becomes a farm laborer.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/i)

The deposed dictator who escapes via time machine, only to be stranded in the First Century after sabotage.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/ii)

Protagonist of the chapter; wakes in a primitive world, kills a man for clothes, works on a farm, and flees when mysterious deaths occur.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/iii)

Hradzka discovers he is a plague carrier, attempts to find work in a town, and escapes after a violent encounter with the police.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/iv)

Hradzka is attacked by aircraft and bombs after being sent back in time; he is knocked down by a tree and engulfed in a searing light.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/iv)

Not present in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/hradzka
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters