Page 118 - Demo

118Kyle was a soldier who, after ten years of war, had earned the ten years service award. It was a converted prize. In his chosen trade, only twenty percent of soldiers ever won such a prize. The reason for that was easy to understand, all the other soldiers died before the ten years were up. War raged amongst the planets as settlers fought each other for land and resources, nation against nation. No longer was a country a piece of land with borders on a planet. One nation could stretch across many light years of the galaxy and encompass countless planets and moons. It had been that way since before he was born. And then there were the wars between different species and humans. Many planets and moons had been found with intelligent creatures already living on them. Some technology had advanced enormously, but other forms stayed in a previous era of design and development.At thirty years of age, war was over for him. Ten years was the maximum number of years anyone could serve. You needed to be fast, resilient and to be a person with exceptional reaction skills to stay alive. The weapons used were efficient at deception and killing. Intelligence was required to quickly out-manoeuvre machine-intelligence and the killing machines it controlled.Most of his army friends were either dead or too maimed to remain in the service. The men travelling with him now were strangers, soldiers from other units that he had never met. As they sat in the ship, some engaged in conversations but most remained silent.Kyle was engaged with another soldier in a light-weight, timepassing chat. He had introduced himself as Norman.%u201cWhat do you know about the recreational moon, Athena,%u201d he asked Kyle.%u201cNothing evidential,%u201d Kyle replied. %u201cI have heard fantastic tales like The Brothel Chapter 1: Plum