Page 114 - SurprisingTruthFinal

The Surprising Truth About Lying
The UN channel went dark. The only thing left was
the sound of air traffic controllers in the background,
desperately signing off on their last few, frantic civilian
flight vectors.
Henry stared at the blank screen. The entire world
had been destroyed, not by a lie, but by the cold,
flawless logic of the Truth. There was no deceit to
punish, no malice to blame, only two parties, legally
and morally bound to adhere to their absolute, self-
destructive realities.
He looked up at the ceiling of the ancient archive,
hearing the first, distant, muffled thump of the kinetic
launch platforms initiating their global ascent. The
sound was immediately followed by the rising,
apocalyptic wail of every air-raid siren that still
functioned in the city.
He had won the war against illusion, and in doing
so, he had proven that only the illusion could
guarantee survival. The collapse was total. It was
worse than he could have ever imagined.
Henry ran out of the archive and into the streets, his
eyes fixed on the darkening sky. The sound was no
longer distant. It was a roar. The sky was turning a
sickening, violent shade of orange and green, the first
visible contamination from the strike.
114