Heart Of The Sun Read Online Free PDF

want at this hour?”
    “You’re the crew officer on duty yes? It’s Lieutenant Martin Avin, sir. He’s had an accident. He was working on his fighter when the jack came loose. The fighter fell and... it crushed him, sir. By the time we could get the thing off him, he was already dead. Medbay called it just a few minutes ago.”
    “Th... Thank you, Ensign. Dismissed.” Alan shuts the door again and walks back to his bed, slumping down on the edge of it. He lets his head sink into his hands.
    “So, you doing anything tonight?”
    “Are you asking me out on a date?”
    Foolish games, as if we were up here to play around and fall in love. Death stalks us every day. Only he knew it was stalking him. Alan shakes his head. I should have listened to him. Everything he said sounded crazy, but I still could have kept him safe, even if that meant keeping him in medbay for a psych evaluation. Instead I let him walk away. Let him walk to his death.
    An accident. It could be a coincidence, but those things have dozens of safety features built in. No, he was killed, but whether he did it himself or whether he was murdered is another matter. Still, who gets themselves squashed? Not exactly a nice way to go.
    But that means I’m entertaining what he told me. That we’ve really developed some kind of chemical weapon and there’s a cover-up going on. That he was murdered by somebody on this ship in order to keep a secret.
    Maybe there is. But he told the wrong man. I’ve long since sold my soul to this war. I’m not the man to start a revolution. I’m a warrior of my people, guardian of Earth. I’m here to fight for my home, my parents, and Chester. I have no desire to rock the boat. If it could be rocked. Martin was right about that, too. Few would care if we did use such a weapon. They only want the war to be over, and Earth to win. Survival is such a cowardly affair.
    And I’m a coward.
    So it was that Alan lie back down to sleep, filing away what Martin had told him. When he woke the next morning, he returned to his duties as if nothing had ever happened, and it was as if Death’s shadowy assassin had never even visited the Heart Of The Sun.

Chapter Five
On The Run
     
     
    Rinax One
    Day Four
     
     
    Alan awakens from his dream to the sound of a distant drop-ship. He reaches for his gun at once, and scrambles across the floor on his knees to where Vash is sleeping, shaking the Karalian awake.
    “Vash, come on! Wake up!”
    Vash remains unresponsive. I have to think fast, Alan realizes. They’ll be here soon. We need to be gone by then. If he’s not going to wake up, I’ll need to carry him.
    Alan tests Vash’s weight. Vash is surprisingly light to carry and Alan is grateful as he sets him down again. Supplies. We’ll need supplies. Can’t risk coming back here. He quickly grabs a bag and starts stuffing the cans and dried foods they had into it, along with blankets. He ties the gun around his waist. It’s big and unwieldy, but Alan knows he doesn’t want to travel across the desert unarmed. I remember Martin mentioning a Human facility in the desert. If we could somehow reach it, I could get treatment for Vash and perhaps go home. Back to the Heart Of The Sun. Vash could apply for asylum. It’s our best chance of survival. If we linger here, sooner or later we’ll be picked off by a commando team. I don’t want to face whatever fate they have lined up for us. He tries to push the memory of Vash’s near-rape away. I won’t let that happen. We have to get out of here. He looks up the Purple Sands Desert in the pile of maps they had ripped from the colonists’ books. This dot must be where we are now. It’s a day’s trip at most. It has to be worth a try.
    Satisfied that he has all he can carry, he slings the pack over his shoulders and picks Vash up. He leaves the facility and heads out into the forest, the rain pattering down on the trees and the ground around them. He can hear a drop-ship almost overhead