Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price Read Online Free Page B

were deliberate on her part and that she held back with a particular goal in mind.  She had no problem excelling in science and xenobiology, so on completion of her basic training she was assigned to a military research facility here on Megelleon as an aide in the study of poisonous life forms and pathogens of the galaxy and research and development of antidotes and uses for their toxins.  I think she reports for duty within a week or two of Reide.”
    “Have you heard where Reide will be assigned?”
    “No.  He could easily be attached anywhere, rating as high in his training as he did.  His combat skills were outstanding, so he could end up as a ground trooper.  Maybe he’ll be a fighter pilot.  I understand he tied for top pilot in his class.  And it’s not impossible that he could be assigned to a carrier or even a frigate as a junior bridge officer.  In the end, he’ll be assigned where it’s felt by his commanding officers that he will best serve the Federation, just like the rest of the graduates.  We don’t always get what we want in life, you know.”
    My tone in my last statement must have sounded more melancholy than I intended, because Marranalis was silent for a minute and then asked, “You’re a highly successful man in the eyes of the Federation, but is this what you want?  I mean, what do you really want ?  I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard you say.”
    “Certainly not this,” I replied.  “This is the last thing I would want.  If I had my way, Kala and I would be living in a small cabin up by the lake at the estate, far away from all the doings of the Federation.  Most of the time I wish I’d never found the TRITYTE .”
    “If you hadn’t, you would have been destroyed when the asteroid hit your planet,” Marranalis reminded me.  “And you never would have met Kalana.”
    “You forget about relativity.  I was flying with Gravity Waves during some periods and at the speed of light during others, so I experienced time dilatations.  I would probably have been dead before the asteroid hit, because I’d have been in my late 80s or early 90s at the time.  True, I wouldn’t have met Kalana, and that would have been sad, but perhaps the universe would have been better off.  Besides all of that, had I not arrived with the solbidyum, events leading to the Tottalax aligning themselves with the Brotherhood probably wouldn’t have happened, so maybe they wouldn’t have directed that asteroid at Earth at all.”
    Marranalis ignored my last comment, because he knew too well that nothing he could say would appease the guilt I felt for the multitude of deaths that had occurred because of the solbidyum, because of the war, and because of me.  “I keep forgetting; the life expectancies for humans were less than a hundred years on your world,” he said.
    “It won’t be any different for me here.  A’Lappe tells me that at the rate I’m aging now, even with the treatments for the synthetic nerve rejection, I probably only have another twenty years left.”
    “Isn’t there anything that can be done about that?  Can’t A’Lappe just clone you a new body and transplant your brain into it?  I mean, he seems to be able to do just about everything else,” said Marranalis with a thinly disguised angst in his voice.
    “I asked him once, half-jokingly, I guess.  Anyway, he doesn’t think so.  He says it’s never been done successfully.  The connections between the brain and the rest of the central nervous system are just too complicated and matching them all up would be an insurmountable task.  At the very best, I would still come out of the procedure crippled and severely impaired.  I wouldn’t want to go on living that way just for the sake of prolonging my years.  I just need to make the best use of my time until then.”
    “You know, sir, people are starting to notice that you're aging more rapidly than others in the Federation.”
    “Really?  What are they