October's Interview - Susan Burns

October's Interview - Susan Burns

Q. So, you’re an award-winning author. Tell us more.

Yes, thanks, Chris. I belong to a few chapters of Romance Writers of America (RWA), on and off-line. My first career had been basically as an engineer and applied mathematician, so in writing sci-fi novels, I wanted to delve deeply into the psyche of my characters through what Orson Scott Card (of ENDERS GAME fame) says is THIRD PERSON LIMITED DEEP POINT OF VIEW narration. RWA continues to help me to write my social sci-fis (or sci-fi romances (SFRs)) with more depth than we might find in traditional sci-fi thrillers.

Every once in a while, I like to write near contemporaries so I can amplify the relationships between characters (heroes and heroines) rather than getting lost in the science.

Years ago my first contemporary, originally called A PERFECT MATCH, was given The Golden Claddagh Award from the Celtic Hearts on-line chapter of the RWA.

Working it over as a suspense, I renamed it OPEN SEASON on Love and Death (finally out on August 31^st of this year, during the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in Flushing Meadows where the story of our future tennis champion takes place).

Q. Your books have been rather successful, sales-wise. What do you do for promotion?

Most indie writers know it is hard to get noticed, even if an author has honed their craft. My first book, an erotic sci-fi horror novella, was published traditionally through Whiskey Creek that was subsequently bought out by Simon & Shuster. Two of my LEGENDS OF THE GOLDENS series were published by SOUL MATE, who from time to time does promotion for its authors. To amplify sales, at the insistence of my SOUL MATE editor, I wrote a novella that I indie-published free through DRAFT2DIGITAL. Amassing a Twitter.com audience using Tweepi.com, I managed to keep my novella in the Amazon top-downloaded for months.

There are so few authors profiting from sales that it only takes the sale of one paperback to propel ones book or author rank to a top ranking for a day (in paranormal romance/SFR). Right now, it is more important for me to get my nonformulaic books out there than to earn profits.

Q. Your book covers seems kind of sexy but there’s also a fair mix of different kinds of sci-fi. What kind of genre writer do you see yourself as?

NA Social Science Fiction (New Adult (NA) relationships between individuals and their societies)

Q. How do you differ from other sci-fi writers?

I challenge myself to write in the most intimate manner possible through narration from within the character (deep POV).

Being a scientific generalist with advanced degrees, I write hard sci-fi that helps the reader to start asking real questions about space and time instead of using words developed in the mid 20^th century as placeholders. For example, instead of using just the word EXPANSION to describe what our universe is doing, I hope to get the reader to think about how space is created and destroyed (the destruction is where the black hole comes in).

Q. You have scientifically published research on fluid-fluid analogue of universal expansion. So for those of us who don’t know, what is this?

In a thin horizontal mould (bordered by glass top and bottom) a water-based viscous fluid droplet is injected into an oil-based outer fluid. As more of the inner fluid is added (at the source) the expanding boundary of the droplet goes from a perfect circle (stable) to an unstable boundary of any number of sine waves (a simple model of how quanta are created).

Though this experiment is low energy, it gives us an idea of how our universe arises as it is. Unless there are changes in potential (coming out of a singularity source), relationships cannot be formed in a permanent manner).

Q. How would you say you differ from other scientists?

Other scientists in this field (using a Hele-Shaw cell (my mould) to force the flow of two viscous fluids together) used higher flow methods that were easier to come by but harder to mathematically simulate/model. I invented a special valve to slice the syrupy/viscous fluids together so that air droplets at the interface between the two fluids would not affect the experimental results.

Many applied mathematicians did not have courses in how to solve for early unstable forces in the universe (using complex numbers and The General Energy Equation)— the beginning of existence of any number of relationships/objects on our expanding universal boundary.

Out of my research, I began to see that objects, anything that exists within the universe, represent relationships across boundaries. This is more of a relational natural philosophy, just another perspective to solve some of the mysteries out there (like bicameral vision (two ways of looking-at/perceiving things) gives us data on depth perception).

Q. Tell us a bit about your life doing forensics on F16s as an aerospace engineer.

Well, it was the beginning of diversification of computers and many different forms of disc operating systems and different Basic languages existed or each system.

I did lots of fractography. When a plane crashes, if a fractographer examines the way an aerospace material breaks, that can us tell us lots about how the part failed.

I created a program that helped me measure the crack growth markers (for example, as a result of the high and low stress imposed by a failure or a test to reproduce the failure). The program was given to those friendly countries who wanted to do their own failure analysis.

I also worked with a composites group, by developing ways of recognizing damage on aircraft skins and load members through the use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that appears in my space opera novel SPACE FOR US (coming soon).

Q. I read somewhere on your blog that you’re the mother of one of smartest sons in the world. Do you ever get any ideas from him or run any ideas past him?

We are speaking of a millennial now. And I am his mother!

The most important things I glean from him is his laid back attitude about the world, and yet a powerful empathetic understanding of it. These kids will be my beneficiaries. Our world, whatever we make of it, will be theirs. They see most of the mistakes of the former generations. Things will change. I hope these kids, like my son, figure things out for themselves.

Since I write both NA and YA (young adult) my editor beta reads my work and tells me what I should be writing in the millennial vernacular.

Q. You’ve a couple of books out this year. Tell us about them.

OPEN SEASON on Love and Death: is an NA romantic suspense. Dedicated to my father who was involved in early tennis in the United States, it is about Madison Weller (heroine) who has no mother, but a distant father, who was a successful tennis champion. His indoor tennis center ambitions are a different matter. He forms an alliance with a crooked tennis agent, mother of the hero, the current mens tennis champion. The suspense comes in when chemical forensics is used by NYPD to stop the nefarious ambitions of the sociopathic mother of the hero. Can any number of rain delays and poisonings propel our heroine to the finals?

SPACE FOR US: is an NA, SFR, space opera. The heroine, Jade, looks Asian, but is a descendent of the Sledani aliens who had once gone to the stars in generation ships, and have returned to Earth to retake their planet.

The mind of the first lady is missing. She is in a coma, but it was not Jade (the heroine) who put her there. The president goes nuts and sends Jade out with his black ops squad to rescue a downed pilot, Shepard (the hero). But all that rescuing was a farce, to insert Shepard as a mole on a rebel crew who steals one of the space planes.

If this becomes a series, it will be labeled SQUARE BALLOONS, since the motive forces of the new alien-invented spaceplane (and its AI riding shotgun) is a product of the expansion and contraction of space.

Q. You’ve written so many books. Do you have a particular favourite?

The one I have not written yet. The one I wrote the outline for during the 2018 NANOWRIMO: BAZOOKA TIME MACHINE, starring metallic and wetware androids and aliens, a woman on woman relationship, and written in the first person.

Q. Your books are rich in dialogue. Has this been a conscious decision? And what’s the secret to good dialogue?

As a very young one, I read the plays of Shakespeare and scripts from those on Broadway. Dad, also, encouraged me to recite some Shakespearian soliloquys.

Because of my comfort with dialogue, I write that first (no grammar, just words). Then in layers (through editing) I add the grammar, the tags, and the behavioural beats. I am seriously thinking of downloading at least one novel into a screenplay.

I have to admit, when I started writing, that I spent my time putting in too much background information and narrator intrusion. So I force the extreme of only narrating from within my characters.

Memorize all the rules in the little book, STRUNK AND WHITE: Elements of Style, keep it under your pillow, and practice it profusely.

Okay, thanks for the interview.

You can find out more through SBK Burns’ webpage here

where you’ll also find a link to her twitter.

Check out her bibliography on the amazon webpage here

and you can connect with her on goodreads here.

October's Book - Cosmic Chronicles by Quent Laws

October's Book - Cosmic Chronicles by Quent Laws

A stylish collection of sci-fi shorts. Well written and easy to read.



 



Cosmic Chronicles presents four short supernatural stories that are suspenseful, dramatic and mystical all in one!

Glowing Squares- An urban Chicago youth stumbles across a mysterious pair of dice and realizes that it has a bizarre power.

The Castle of Clues- Pierre Marcos, an arrogant young man from a wealthy background, disrespectfully encounters a strange homeless man and finds himself in a dangerous world of riddle and clues.

Prism- A Portland journalist, Marlin Bryant, is sent to Egypt to cover a story on the pyramids but discovers an ancient object inside that brings about the most pivotal point of his life.

Sapphire City- The result of international nuclear war has rendered the Earth into a wasteland and some humans into mutants. The planet's face is distorted... all except for one place on the top of the globe.

October's Story - Time Fuze by Randall Garrett

Time Fuze

by Randall Garrett

Commander Benedict kept his eyes on the rear plate as he activated the intercom. "All right, cut the power. We ought to be safe enough here."

As he released the intercom, Dr. Leicher, of the astronomical staff, stepped up to his side. "Perfectly safe," he nodded, "although even at this distance a star going nova ought to be quite a display."

Benedict didn't shift his gaze from the plate. "Do you have your instruments set up?"

"Not quite. But we have plenty of time. The light won't reach us for several hours yet. Remember, we were outracing it at ten lights."

The commander finally turned, slowly letting his breath out in a soft sigh. "Dr. Leicher, I would say that this is just about the foulest coincidence that could happen to the first interstellar vessel ever to leave the Solar System."

Leicher shrugged. "In one way of thinking, yes. It is certainly true that we will never know, now, whether Alpha Centauri A ever had any planets. But, in another way, it is extremely fortunate that we should be so near a stellar explosion because of the wealth of scientific information we can obtain. As you say, it is a coincidence, and probably one that happens only once in a billion years. The chances of any particular star going nova are small. That we should be so close when it happens is of a vanishingly small order of probability."

Commander Benedict took off his cap and looked at the damp stain in the sweatband. "Nevertheless, Doctor, it is damned unnerving to come out of ultradrive a couple of hundred million miles from the first star ever visited by man and have to turn tail and run because the damned thing practically blows up in your face."

Leicher could see that Benedict was upset; he rarely used the same profanity twice in one sentence.

They had been downright lucky, at that. If Leicher hadn't seen the star begin to swell and brighten, if he hadn't known what it meant, or if Commander Benedict hadn't been quick enough in shifting the ship back into ultradrive – Leicher had a vision of an incandescent cloud of gaseous metal that had once been a spaceship.

The intercom buzzed. The commander answered, "Yes?"

"Sir, would you tell Dr. Leicher that we have everything set up now?"

Leicher nodded and turned to leave. "I guess we have nothing to do now but wait."

When the light from the nova did come, Commander Benedict was back at the plate again – the forward one, this time, since the ship had been turned around in order to align the astronomy lab in the nose with the star.

Alpha Centauri A began to brighten and spread. It made Benedict think of a light bulb connected through a rheostat, with someone turning that rheostat, turning it until the circuit was well overloaded.

The light began to hurt Benedict's eyes even at that distance and he had to cut down the receptivity in order to watch. After a while, he turned away from the plate. Not because the show was over, but simply because it had slowed to a point beyond which no change seemed to take place to the human eye.

Five weeks later, much to Leicher's chagrin, Commander Benedict announced that they had to leave the vicinity. The ship had only been provisioned to go to Alpha Centauri, scout the system without landing on any of the planets, and return. At ten lights, top speed for the ultradrive, it would take better than three months to get back.

"I know you'd like to watch it go through the complete cycle," Benedict said, "but we can't go back home as a bunch of starved skeletons."

Leicher resigned himself to the necessity of leaving much of his work unfinished, and, although he knew it was a case of sour grapes, consoled himself with the thought that he could as least get most of the remaining information from the five-hundred-inch telescope on Luna, four years from then.

As the ship slipped into the not-quite-space through which the ultradrive propelled it, Leicher began to consolidate the material he had already gathered.

* * * * *

Commander Benedict wrote in the log: Fifty-four days out from Sol. Alpha Centauri has long since faded back into its pre-blowup state, since we have far outdistanced the light from its explosion. It now looks as it did two years ago. It –

"Pardon me, Commander," Leicher interrupted, "But I have something interesting to show you."

Benedict took his fingers off the keys and turned around in his chair. "What is it, Doctor?"

Leicher frowned at the papers in his hands. "I've been doing some work on the probability of that explosion happening just as it did, and I've come up with some rather frightening figures. As I said before, the probability was small. A little calculation has given us some information which makes it even smaller. For instance: with a possible error of plus or minus two seconds Alpha Centauri A began to explode the instant we came out of ultradrive!

"Now, the probability of that occurring comes out so small that it should happen only once in ten to the four hundred sixty-seventh seconds."

It was Commander Benedict's turn to frown. "So?"

"Commander, the entire universe is only about ten to the seventeenth seconds old. But to give you an idea, let's say that the chances of its happening are – once – in millions of trillions of years!"

Benedict blinked. The number, he realized, was totally beyond his comprehension – or anyone else's.

"Well, so what? Now it has happened that one time. That simply means that it will almost certainly never happen again!"

"True. But, Commander, when you buck odds like that and win, the thing to do is look for some factor that is cheating in your favor. If you took a pair of dice and started throwing sevens, one right after another – for the next couple of thousand years – you'd begin to suspect they were loaded."

Benedict said nothing; he just waited expectantly.

"There is only one thing that could have done it. Our ship." Leicher said it quietly, without emphasis.

"What we know about the hyperspace, or superspace, or whatever it is we move through in ultradrive is almost nothing. Coming out of it so near to a star might set up some sort of shock wave in normal space which would completely disrupt that star's internal balance, resulting in the liberation of unimaginably vast amounts of energy, causing that star to go nova. We can only assume that we ourselves were the fuze that set off that nova."

Benedict stood up slowly. When he spoke, his voice was a choking whisper. "You mean the sun – Sol – might.…"

Leicher nodded. "I don't say that it definitely would. But the probability is that we were the cause of the destruction of Alpha Centauri A, and therefore might cause the destruction of Sol in the same way."

Benedict's voice was steady again. "That means that we can't go back again, doesn't it? Even if we're not positive, we can't take the chance."

"Not necessarily. We can get fairly close before we cut out the drive, and come in the rest of the way at sub-light speed. It'll take longer, and we'll have to go on half or one-third rations, but we – can – do it!"

"How far away?"

"I don't know what the minimum distance is, but I do know how we can gage a distance. Remember, neither Alpha Centauri B or C were detonated. We'll have to cut our drive at least as far away from Sol as they are from A."

"I see." The commander was silent for a moment, then: "Very well, Dr. Leicher. If that's the safest way, that's the only way."

Benedict issued the orders, while Leicher figured the exact point at which they must cut out the drive, and how long the trip would take.

The rations would have to be cut down accordingly.

Commander Benedict's mind whirled around the monstrousness of the whole thing like some dizzy bee around a flower. What if there had been planets around Centauri A? What if they had been inhabited? Had he, all unwittingly, killed entire races of living, intelligent beings?

But, how could he have known? The drive had never been tested before. It couldn't be tested inside the Solar System – it was too fast. He and his crew had been volunteers, knowing that they might die when the drive went on.

Suddenly, Benedict gasped and slammed his fist down on the desk before him.

Leicher looked up. "What's the matter, Commander?"

"Suppose," came the answer, "Just suppose, that we have the same effect on a star when we – go into – ultradrive as we do when we come out of it?"

Leicher was silent for a moment, stunned by the possibility. There was nothing to say, anyway. They could only wait....

* * * * *

A little more than half a light year from Sol, when the ship reached the point where its occupants could see the light that had left their home sun more than seven months before, they watched it become suddenly, horribly brighter.

A hundred thousand times brighter!

Time Fuze was published in IF Worlds of Science Fiction March 1954. For more information on Randall Garrett, click here. This story is taken from Project Gutenberg. For legal reasons the following statement must be included: (This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org).

September's Interview - Lawrence N. Oliver

September's Interview Lawrence N. Oliver



Q. So to give a brief setup, Ben Corbin and Sam Garrett have woken up in the 28th century after 200 years in stasis. Who are these characters and what is the mission they find themselves having to accept?

Thrust into a new age of engineered soldiers, interplanetary politics, and self-aware robots, Corbin has to quickly decide who he’s going to trust as he journeys back to the Mars colony to find Garrett. The task is to convince their new alien allies of humanity’s worth. What exactly is expected of Corbin though is unclear as the Commonwealth and the aliens both know he’s no diplomat. Corbin isn’t satisfied with the restrictions placed on him and he breaks rank in an attempt to find some closure regarding his dead wife – but his search for truth may come at the cost of his life, and the fate of the Commonwealth may rest on his decision.

Q. I found The Last Marines to be very visual, very fun. Are you influenced more by movies, TV or by books with regards to sci-fi?

As much as I’d like to say books it was really TV and Movies growing up. I’m dyslexic and I hated to read as a child. I slowly came around after my father bought me copies of The Hobbit and The Foundation. I love reading now but it took a long time for me to really enjoy them.

Q. Who do you write for and if you could slip this book onto anyone’s desk, whose would it be?

Adult lovers of Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space Opera, Westerns, Light Horror … If I could slip this book on to anyone’s desk it would have to be Quentin Tarantino. Though I know it would be very different I’d love to see what he would do with it.

Q. I read that you got the idea for The Last Marines while watching another movie …

No not really a movie, though I’m sure the movies I’ve seen over the years have influenced me even in ways I don’t realize. That said, I had actually found myself with let’s say a few “unplanned” days off work and I was catching up on some reading. Sitting in my cliché suburban recliner with a fire burning in the fire place and nothing to distract me from my book. Even still I kept finding myself staring out of the window think of another story. One I wanted to tell, in my own universe with my own characters. The book I was reading wasn’t bad mind you it was good ole’ Space Opera stuff. The hero was very heroic and right and the women swooned. I imagined something a little darker, with flawed diverse characters that made mistakes. Mistakes with real consequences, and casualties. So I put down the book I was reading and started writing.

Q. What has writing this novel taught you and what do you think you may do differently next time?

It taught me that there are many different perspectives you have to consider even when not writing from those perspectives. Hiring good editors and cover designers is important if you want people to pick up your book and keep reading it once they spent their hard-earned money on it. As a writer I hate to say it but marketing is just as important as the writing IF you want to sell books and get them into people’s hands.

Q. Which are the best gadgets/inventions of the sci-fi world you created? Any favourites?

Definitely the gauntlet weapons and living armor that the aliens use. Also the nanotech defensive and offensive systems humans have.

Q. When we read sci-fi, in many respects we are looking for something familiar. Familiar sci-fi I mean. So I wanted to ask, what did you invent and what did you borrow?

I borrowed blasters, anti-gravity vehl. “jetpacks” so to speak, robots, faster than light space travel, creatures of legend, aliens, cyborg prosthetics… because lets face it who doesn’t love a good mil-spec robot arm. What I invented… Living armor, AIs whose consciousness can be installed in a wide variety of enter changeable chassis ranging from a floating gun sentry the size of a basketball to a massive capital ship or installation. Also nanite defensive and offensive weapons for both personal and ship born use. These were original ideas mind you but I’m not swearing none of them were ever thought of by anyone before me in some work of fiction I’m not aware of.

Q. There are quite a few characters in this book. Apart from the main two, are there any other, say minor characters, that you are particularly fond of?

Definitely, Nolan. Partly because the readers love her and partly because of the evolution of the character during my writing process. Now when I started this journey there was a lot I did not know, still is really but I’m working on it. One of the things I’ve learned along the way is don’t interject yourself into the story. Originally Nolan was just a minor one scene character named Ollie… and his wife was named Mandie, after my wife and myself since a part of the original scene is modelled after phone conversations my wife and I have had. So I changed the character’s name for that reason and because I’d decided for story reasons to make the character a disabled veteran. I changed it a couple of times, in fact, before settling on Nolan. Then it was suggested that Nolan would be an even better character as a woman and after considering it for a hot minute I couldn’t for the life of me figured out why I hadn’t I thought of that. Having strong female characters that readers will really enjoy is very important to me. The character works great as a nare do well, inked, pan sexual, female, veteran getting by as best she as a VIP shuttle operator ever since she’d been kicked out of the Fleet Infantry for what amounted to insubordination. Changed Nolan’s wife’s name to Eidnam and haven’t looked back. This character is quickly becoming one of my favourites as I’ve written her into the series as supporting character.

Q. Okay, just to change the topic, you’ve set up quite a successful sci-fi group on facebook (in fact I’m a member myself). Tell us a little about the group and what drove you to create it?

I really wanted a group where experienced writers, new authors and fans of the Science Fiction genre could come together and share ideas, experiences both positive and negative as well as resources with each other. All while networking and promoting their work and mine… The group is growing but I’ve admittedly not given it all the attention I think it deserves to make it what it could be.

Q. I read in another interview that you like to hide secrets in your novels. How about telling us just one?

Throughout THE LAST MARINES series, a side theme, I guess you’d call it, is that the existence of certain creatures from Earth legends are explained as having alien origins. This isn’t the main theme of THE LAST MARINES but is the main theme for a spinoff I’m working on. It takes place in the same “universe” as THE LAST MARINES but instead of being set in the distant future it takes place in the American West of the 1880s.

Sounds interesting. Okay, thanks for the interview, Lawrence.

Check out these links for The Last Marines on amazon here, Lawrence’s blog here and you can connect with him on twitter here and on goodreads here. Also don’t forget to check out the facebook page here.



September's Art - Mohzart

 

September's Art - Mohzart

 

 

 

Mecha Prawn Awakens

 

 

 

NASA Spider

 

 

 

Tank-Mech Experiment 001

 

 

 

Mechatank Concept 003

 

 

 

Heavy Tank Suit

 

 

 

 



September's Book - Europa by Geoffrey Church

September's Book - Europa by Geoffrey Church

A short novel that moves quickly from a near future metropolis to the wonders held beneath the oceans of Jupiter's Europa. Told in a patiently realistic style, this story is both believable and fun. A ride worth taking.

The year is 2068. The United States already has several colonies on the moon, Mars, and Jupiter's beautiful moon, Europa. A vast saltwater ocean has been discovered below the frozen surface of Europa. The president of the United States has approved a special mission to drill through the frozen surface of Europa and deploy a submarine to explore and search for life in Europa's vast subterranean ocean. A team of highly successful business leaders and entrepreneurs finance the adventure, hoping to capitalize on the treasures and resources for the benefit of mankind back on Earth. They encounter a truly amazing world, with many similarities to our own planet, not to mention a breath taking landscape.

September’s Story – From by Katherine Hajer

From

by Katherine Hajer

On Mars the daytime sky is pink — it’s the sunsets that are pale blue.

After over two years of not being on a planet at all, Audrey didn’t care what colour the sky was, so long as she had one over her. She paused for a moment as she stepped off the spaceliner and onto the walkway that led to the Martian welcome centre. It was strange to walk without feeling engine vibrations coming up through the floor. She tilted her head back and gaped at the huge glass dome. Fred Peters, her job contact here, had told her that eventually people stopped thinking of the domes as “being inside” and identified anywhere without an opaque wall as “outside”. Audrey shook herself and continued to the welcome centre. It was going to take a while to get used to this.

She scanned the crowd for someone looking like the photo of Fred Peters that was on the employee intranet, then noticed a teenaged girl holding a sign that said “Audrey” on it. The girl made eye contact with her and smiled.

“Are you Audrey Fremantle? I’m Sarah Peters, Fred’s daughter. My dad got called into work at the last minute, so I said that I would come and meet you.” Sarah put away the sign. “It doesn’t happen that often.”

“Nice to meet you, Sarah.” Audrey guessed the girl was about sixteen. “Thank you for stepping in.”

“No problem — I’ve never met someone who was actually from Earth before. You know the government will move your things to your residence, right?”

Audrey nodded. “Right.” She paused as Sarah’s words sank in. “Never? Both your parents were born here?”

Sarah nodded. “I’m third gen. All my grandparents were part of the construction crews that built the first domes, but they had all died before I was born. My older brothers can remember them a little. Want to have a tour of the colony, or do you want to go straight to your residence?”

“A tour would be great.”

Sarah led Audrey out of the welcome centre to a trio of glass tunnels. They stepped onto a movator, sort of like the ones at Earth airports, except this one had chairs. The two women sat down, and Sarah started pointing out things.

“I picked this tunnel because it gives you a good view of the dome layout, and it’s nice and long so we can talk about what you want to look at. The government area is over there — that’s where we live, and where your residence is too. I used to go to school there, but now I take the tunnel to the university area. The senior high schools are in the same location.”

Audrey compared the two dome clusters, but from this distance they looked identical. She supposed there would be better identifying landmarks once they were actually inside the domes.

“We’re going to go through the agricultural district now,” said Sarah. “This is my favourite place in the colony.” The movator slid past a field of tall plants. “Those are sunflowers. You can eat the kernels, and you can cook with their oil.”

“My mother used to grow sunflowers in her garden on Earth,” said Audrey.

Sarah looked surprised. “Really? I didn’t know they’d been exported to Earth.”

“They’re not, they were exported from...” Audrey started to say, but Sarah was pointing out a field of spelt, carefully explaining to Audrey what spelt was and proudly announcing it was a Martian staple.

Yeah, on Earth too, thought Audrey. She peered at the spelt. Maybe it was a Mars-specific strain invented to be grown under glass domes, but to Audrey it just looked like plain old spelt.

They trundled along more domes filled with fields of beans and strawberries. Each time, Sarah’s explanation indicated that she believed the plants were native to Mars, and that Audrey would never have seen them before.

“Ooh, the botanical gardens!” Sarah jumped off the movator. “Let’s walk around!”

Audrey followed Sarah into a walkway that led to a dome set out as a formal garden. There were plaques in front of each kind of plant stating what its common and scientific names were, but not mentioning that all of them, down to the last shrub, were transplants from Earth.

Sarah had stopped explaining what everything was when Audrey started reading the plaques out loud, but Audrey was still troubled by the misconception. After all, the reason why she was on this three-year research stint with the government was to ensure Earth-Martian links remained strong.

She decided to take her stand by a clump of rose bushes. “These are lovely,” she said. “I used to grow the exact same variety outside my townhouse on Earth. This kind’s from England originally, as I recall.”

Sarah smiled, but Audrey could see it was forced. “Those are Martian roses. Everyone in my family volunteers here. I planted that bush myself.”

“The plant is Martian, sure, but as a variety —”

“They’re Martian! It’s true, everything they say about Earthers is true! You’re all in total denial that Mars is Mars, you think this is all just Earth under a bunch of domes!”

Audrey tried to recall everything she had ever learned about staying calm. “The colony’s been here a long time,” she began. “Certainly long enough to have its own identity and culture.”

“I know,” said Sarah.

Audrey tried again. “On Earth, roses grow all over the world, but they’re from Asia, mostly.”

“These are from Mars.”

Audrey pointed to the emergency hatch at the end of the garden path. “If these are Martian roses, open that hatch and see how long they last without the dome’s seal protecting them.”

Sarah muttered something under her breath and stomped back towards the movator. Audrey caught only a few swear words and decided not to push it. She was here as a researcher, not a teacher.

The roses were lovely, though. She envied the Martians' ability to control the climate so precisely, thanks to the domes.

She heard Sarah shouting something, but couldn’t make out what it was.

Then she noticed the abrupt temperature drop, and how the wind started blowing.

For more information, check out Katherine Hajer’s blog here.