High Time in Low Town: A Story of Alien Invasion

By John Walters

On the eve of an imminent invasion by a violent alien species that leaves no survivors, a lonely technician on a remote moon station seeks solace among the denizens of Low Town, the lawless, undisciplined quarter where all the riffraff and outcasts live. While there, he learns of a wild plan to save the station that involves driving all the personnel to the edge of sanity and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Astaria Books
• Release date: Aug 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386823650

John Walters

John Walters recently returned to the United States after thirty-five years abroad. He lives in Seattle, Washington. He attended the 1973 Clarion West science fiction writing workshop and is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America. He writes mainstream fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and memoirs of his wanderings around the world.

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High Time in Low Town | By | John Walters

High Time in Low Town

By

John Walters

Published by Astaria Books

Copyright 2018 by John Walters

All rights reserved.  No portion may be copied, other than brief passages for review purposes, without permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to actual persons places or events - except those in the public domain - is purely coincidental.

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High Time in Low Town

The day before the aliens invade Eric Hempman scans the star-laden skies one more time before he goes below. What's the point, though? Nobody will see them coming with the naked eye. Instruments will detect them, but a warning of imminent attack is futile; the outpost has far too few weapons to even slow down, let alone stop, the enemy. They'll come, and they'll wreak havoc. They may take prisoners or they may not; they may deign to permit survivors or they may not. If they do allow anyone to live, it will be as mangled abominations of what they once were.

Eric sighs, turns, and descends metal steps several levels deep into moonrock. His melancholy causes him to wax philosophical: what does one do with the last hours of one's life?

Find a woman, of course.

But how?

He hasn't exactly had much of a social life for the past decade or so. Not only that, but to call him merely ugly would be a kindness. Oh, he started out once on Old Earth young and spry and all self-contained with his original body parts, but various accidents and ill fortunes pared him down and necessitated replacements. Sometimes doctors found close fits to the original tissues, but other times they had to make do with whatever organic, metallic, or synthetic substitutes were available. In short, he now