ROYCE REMEMBERED THE day before he'd shipped out for the Hunter Guard Corps, back on Newton IV, his home planet. The orange sun was setting over the cornfield behind his parents' house, painting the sky with vibrant hues of red and yellow and pink.

Royce sat on an old tree stump outside the field, not daring to take his eyes off the sunset. He knew very well he might never see it again. Sweat soaked through his thin white undershirt and dripped down onto the tree stump, ...