A Spaceport Interlude

By Robert David Boyle

Four strangers wearing restrictive bracelets on their wrists are seated in a spaceship about to depart from an Australian spaceport for a penal settlement on Mars. While guards attend to the final checks for the flight, which will be made on autopilot, the four exchange details of how they came to be prisoners. Their crimes range from the commonplace to the bizarre. One of them also has knowledge about the voyage which, out of an unexpected sense of compassion, he finds he is unwilling to share. As the ship lifts from the spaceport, this otherwise disparate group discover a common humanity that allows them to face the journey together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert David Boyle
• Release date: Sep 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463946770

Robert David Boyle

Rob has a keen interest in history and military strategy. Among others, he admires the work of Mervyn Peake, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Joseph Conrad; and especially loves the humour of P.G. Wodehouse. He lives in Brisbane, Australia and plays the trumpet in community orchestras.

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A SPACEPORT INTERLUDE

Robert David Boyle

Copyright Robert David Boyle, 2022

All rights reserved

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In a dreary spaceport at the Woomera rocket range in central Australia, four people were seated in the passengers’ compartment of a spaceship to be sent to Lentilia, a prison farm on Mars.

Lentilia had been established as a replenishment port for inter-planetary travel, especially the provision of nutritious, long lasting legumes.