How could death be thrilling?
"You make me sick," said Maynard uncertainly.
"He's drunk."
"Yes, I'm drunk," he roared. "And you'd be dead or worse than drunk if you'd seen what I had to live with. What do you know of death and of war? Thrilling? Exciting? Wonderful? Bah. It was rotten, as sordid, and as ungodly as running opium! Sending men to their death. Fighting a war against an enemy that knows it is fighting for its right to live.
"Fighting for what? So that you and your kind can sit here and praise the unlucky man who is destined to return for these medals.
"Fighting to make the Solar System bend to Terra's will, that's what it is. What did we want of Mephisto? Nothing except tribute. I'm sick and tired of people telling me that I did a wonderful job. A brilliant job of butchering, that's what they mean!"
"Guy, take it easy. They mean no harm," interposed Kane.
"If they want to see how thrilling war is," blazed Guy, "let 'em go out and see!"
"Take it easy!"
"Let 'em help cut the leg from a corpse so that it can be grafted onto a lad with his leg shot off!" stormed Guy. "Let 'em watch a ship fall ten thousand miles into a planet, and watch it blaze as it hits the air."