When the Sky Burned Author:Ben Bova In the early years of the twenty-first century, the sun exploded. On earth, the sky burned and whole continents flashed into flame. Civilization was destroyed - and almost all of humanity died with it. But on the moon, a tiny human settlement buried deep underground survived the disaster. Barely. The lunar colony depended on materials from earth... more » if it was to stay alive. One of the expeditions sent to the charred debris of the mother world refused to return. Its leader, Douglas Morgan, chose instead to carve out a barbaric empire for himself among the pitifully few human survivors on earth. His son Alec is sent to find the supplies that the lunar colony desperately needs. But he is determined instead to find his father. And kill him.
Soon after he reaches earth, however, Alec finds some of his longest-held and most deeply entrenched ideas threatened. He falls in love with Angela and is astonished to learn she is his father's stepdaughter. Their love affair crumbles, perhaps irrevocably, as Alec wonders who Angela's first allegiance is to - him or his father. The climax to this story pits father against son in a deadly match of wits and weapons, with both believing they are on a path to save humanity.« less