Heart Of The Sun Read Online Free PDF Page A

painful way possible made the doctors think that it was some kind of chemical weapon.” He reached for Alan, squeezing his shoulders. “I can’t believe we would do something like this, Alan! The government is always talking about how moral Humans are now, that we’ve left our bloody past behind us, that the only reason for this war is self-defense. That it’s the Karalians that are cruel and merciless. Then what the hell was that?”
    “Are you sure we did it?” Alan asks, thinking hard. “It could be some kind of Karalian weapon, accidentally released or even intentionally tested. They must have bases on Rinax too; he easily could have come from one of them.”
    “If it was theirs, why did all the files become classified right away?” Martin asks. “I tried to find information and every time I asked I was told that the incident never happened, that we never had a Karalian at the base. I know what I saw, Alan! A few months later, I was transferred here, put into the fighter pilot program. The program with the highest fatality rate. They want me dead, Alan! They want the last person to know about this to be space dust!”
    “That’s crazy talk and you know it,” Alan says. “It’s far more likely that they classified it to avoid panic. What do you think the people back home would say if they heard about a weapon like that? It would cause widespread fear. Earth has already survived a dozen attacks, some nuclear. Adding a biological threat for people to worry about is only going to make the situation worse.”
    “You know we’re not just sitting back and letting Karalia destroy Earth, Alan. I saw a lot of plans while I worked at the base. Plans to maybe nuke Karalia if this whole thing goes south. You think we won’t do whatever it takes to survive? You still think we’ve evolved past that?”
    “I have to believe that,” Alan says. “If I don’t, then this is just another pointless war, like all the ones throughout Earth history, born of a failure to communicate. No. They attacked us. They tried to invade Earth. We tried to help them with their problems, and they responded by nuking us. There’s a giant piece of our world that’s now uninhabitable, and why? Because it turns out one of our generals gave the wrong salute and offended the Karalian High Commander. Well, fuck that, and fuck you too, Martin. I know you’ve seen some terrible things, Hell, we all have. I have more blood on my hands than I care to admit. I’ve killed more Karalians and lost more friends than I can count. If there’s a Heaven than my soul’s been damned thrice over for the things I’ve done. That’s why I have to believe we’re on the right side of all this, and it’s going to take more than a few wishy washy claims backed up with conjecture to convince me otherwise.”
    “You don’t believe me?” Martin’s taken aback, Alan can see it in his eyes. He shrivels back in his seat, expression filled with regret. “I thought you of all people would understand, maybe look into it for me so I could get a good night’s sleep. You know what? Never mind. Never fucking mind. I’ll look into it myself. But I’ll tell you right now, if I get blown up out there, it’ll be your fault. Yours, and theirs. I don’t know why you want to all cover this up so badly. You could nuke Karalia into a wasteland and nobody would give a fuck after what they did to Earth.” He stands up and marches out, the door sliding shut behind him.
    Alan sits in the same spot, looking out at the stars. He’s crazy, right? We wouldn’t do such a thing. We’re long past the age where biological warfare was ever deemed acceptable. Right?
    Right?
    He goes back to his room and rolls into bed, eventually settling into a restless slumber. The doorbell chimes and he wakes, rolling over to see it’s four-thirty. Pulling on his pants, he staggers to the door and opens it.
    “Sir?” A mechanic stands at the door and salutes him. 
    “At ease. What do you