J Alan Erwine's Tales of Mars

By J Alan Erwine

Three stories from prize winning science fiction author J Alan Erwine that are set on the planet Mars.
A soldier set on crushing a rebellion begins to question his own loyalties once he’s captured by the “enemy.”
One woman fights to save microbial life in Valles Marineris.
And a young woman forced into a bad life because of her race suddenly finds herself to have abilities she never could have expected...abilities that might just be able to save her people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Alan Erwine
• Release date: Jun 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310923555

J Alan Erwine

J Erwine was born Oct. 15, 1969 in Akron, Ohio. Early in his life he was exposed to science, and specifically astronomy. From there on, J's passion turned to science fiction, a passion that's never died. Due to family issues, J eventually found himself in Denver, Colorado, where he still lives (well, right outside now.) From the time he could put subject and predicate together on paper, J has been writing stories. None of those early stories exist anymore (thankfully), but that passion for writing has never waned. After several years of rejection, the story Trek for Life was eventually sold to ProMart Writing Lab editor James Baker. It wasn't Asimov's, but it was a start. Since that time J has sold more than forty short stories to various small press publishers. In addition ProMart also published a short story collection of J's entitled Lowering One's Self Before Fate, and other stories, which is still available. ProMart also published a novel from J entitled The Opium of the People, which sold a few copies before going out of print. The relevance of the novel after the events of September 11th caused J to self-publish the novel, as he felt the story had a lot to say in the new reality we now find ourselves living in. Now, this same book has been re-released by Nomadic Delirium Press. Eventually J would become an editor with ProMart. Then, after the untimely death of ProMart editor James Baker, J would move on to ProMart's successor Sam's Dot Publishing. J also spends most of his time working as a freelance writer and editor. J's novel was voted a top ten finisher in the 2003 annual Preditors & Editors contest, and his short story The Galton Principle won a ProMart contest for best story over 5,000 words. In addition, a number of his stories have been voted "best of" in various issue of The Martian Wave and The Fifth DI… and have been included in Wondrous Web Worlds Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 6. In 2009, the Ephemeris Role Playing Game was released. J is the co-creator of this game, and has written numerous supplements for the game. J has now sold three novels and four short story collections, all of which are still available from various sources, including Smashwords. J currently lives with his amazing wife, three wonderful children, three cats, and a very quiet turtle.

Book preview

J Alan Erwine’s Tales of Mars

All stories appearing in this collection are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

All stories Copyright: J Alan Erwine

CONTENTS

Sad Grey Eyes on Tharsis

The Lives of Billions

The Mind of the Cat

SAD GREY EYES ON THARSIS

Sanji held the crumpled hard copy in his hand. He knew it had been coming. He just hadn’t expected it so soon. When the message came up on his computer console, he printed it out rather than reading it off the screen. It seemed very old fashioned to him, but he had to have a physical copy of the letter. That somehow made it feel more real.

What are you going to do? his father asked, looking up from his breakfast of synth-eggs and synth-bacon.

I don’t know.

What do you think you should do?

I know what I should do, Sanji said, staring out at the red sand. I just don’t know if I can.

Why?

It would take too long to explain.

Try me, his dad said with a smile.

Dad, trust me, I’ll do the right thing, even if it kills me. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He suddenly thought of Jarvin, Rog, and Bienna. He could see their faces as clear as if they were standing in front of him. They’d all gone to Tharsis and died. Now it was his turn.

Rebellions had been popping up all over Mars for the last eighteen Martian years. The one at Tharsis had been the first. Government troops were yet to quash it. The guerilla tactics of the rebels made fighting them difficult. They hid in pressurized tunnels the government didn’t know about, only emerging to make political statements-breaking habitat seals, destroying archaeological sites, and attacking troops on the surface.

Sanji looked at his father who was still staring intently at him. How did this all start?

His dad shrugged. People are never happy with the government they have.

Sanji shook his head. There’s got to be more to it.

Probably, his dad said. But I barely remember. I guess it had something to do with the trade agreement with Earth back in 48.

The one that screwed us over?

His dad laughed. You sound like one of the rebels…but yeah, it was the one that screwed us over.

The trade agreement with Earth of 48 had basically sold all of Mars’ resources to Earth in exchange for the delivery of parts to keep Mars operating. The planet was still more than fifty years away from autonomy, at least that’s what the politicians told people. Of course, the politicians were all Earthlings.

I ship out in three days, Sanji said, although he said it so