Writers of the Future, Volume 28 by L. Ron Hubbard Read Free Book Online Page B

in the workroom. He’ll be great one day, but not as a king. Definitely a boy after my own heart, one I could l . . .”
    Lan folded the tiny scrap of paper gently and placed it in his head, latching the lid tightly against the threat of emptiness.

The Rings of Mars
    written by
    William Ledbetter
    illustrated by
    J. F. SMITH

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    William Ledbetter was born in a small Indiana town the same year humans first flew in space. He grew up watching Star Trek, Lost in Space and real moon landings, but his first introduction to written science fiction was by accident, when during a library visit at age twelve he checked out a copy of On the Beach believing it was a war story. He’s been hooked on science fiction ever since, and those wondrous and formative years instilled in him a belief that all things are possible, a belief that is still reflected in his writing.
    Now living near Dallas with his family and a bunch of animals, William is a mechanical designer in the aerospace/defense industry and an avid speculative fiction writer. He’s also an unrepentant space geek and loves to travel (so far only over the Earth’s surface). His fiction has appeared in numerous publications and his winning Writers of the Future story will be his second professional sale, the first having been to Jim Baen’s Universe in 2006. He just finished the first novel in a trilogy about humanity’s next rung on the evolutionary ladder and our expansion into the cosmos.
    William also runs a Dallas-area writer’s group called Future Classics, is an active member of the National Space Society of North Texas, is the Science Track coordinator for FenCon, is an editor at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and runs the annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest for Baen Books and the National Space Society.
    ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
    J. F. Smith was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. He took art classes in high school and college but never pursued art as a career. After spending ten years in the US Air Force, he went on to finish his bachelor’s degree and is currently working in the airline industry.
    He never lost his love of art, though, and started painting again after a long hiatus. At this point James is in the process of improving old skills and developing his own unique style.

The Rings of Mars
    Y ou can’t run away from me, Jack,” I said into my helmet mic. “I can radio base and get your suit coordinates.”
    “Screw you, Malcolm,” he said, then refused to talk again. I followed his trail and tried not to think about why my oldest and closest friend in two worlds, and his robotic digger Nellie, had left me far behind.
    Instead, I concentrated on perfecting the loping stride Jack had taught me months before. It was an awkward, unnatural rhythm, but he assured me it was the most efficient method. And of the humans on Mars, no one had covered more ground than Jack.
    Tiny dervishes lifted from the dust churned by Nellie’s tracks, swirling on a delicate breeze, but my passage was enough to cause their collapse. Everything on Mars seemed ancient and tired, even the wind.
    Jack’s boot prints—wide apart and shallow—were on a straight course and easy to follow, but Nellie’s tracks peeled off in strange directions many times. She must’ve sniffed out oxide-rich gravel patches to melt in her electrolysis furnace, but no matter how far she went, the robot’s path always returned to Jack’s. I followed their trail and tried to rejoice in being one of the few humans to ever see Mars like this, but my regrets persisted.
    Against all reason and expectation, Jack thought himself more colonist than explorer and was willing to trample anyone in that pursuit. If devious resourcefulness was typical of Martians, then Jack was a good one.
    An alarm squawked in my ears, surprising me enough that I stumbled and skidded to a floundering stop.
    RADIATION ALERT! RADIATION ALERT! ETA, 47 MINUTES. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER.
    Forty-seven minutes ? My