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Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 11

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Mar 17th, 2008
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Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 11: The Xanthe Desert stretched red and barren on all sides of the plodding couple, the sands unbroken by the form of plant or stone or any living thing, all the way to the tight horizon of Mars. Above them, the small, glittering sun slid down the copper-hued sky slowly toward the west.
It was remarkable, thought Maya, how smooth and flat the desert looked from the air, and how rough and rolling it was when one had to walk across the packed sand. They had been walking for hours and, despite the gentle gravity of Mars, she was getting very tired.
"It's farther than I thought," said Nuwell, his voice distorted by the marshelmet speaker. "Distances on the chart are deceptive. We may not reach Ultra Vires by night."
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

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Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 10

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Mar 9th, 2008
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 10: Happy Thurbelow finished sweeping the long barracks and leaned wearily on his broom. That is, he didn't lean on it, or it would have collapsed him to the floor, but he made the gesture. Why, he wondered, didn't the Masters make the Toughs sweep their own barracks? Perhaps the Toughs couldn't be made, or perhaps the Masters did it just from an excess of cruelty.
Happy's monstrously bloated body sagged, and his skin felt dangerously dry and tight. Happy was so adipose that his hands engulfed the broom handle like a toothpick; under the transparent skin, his flesh was clear and translucent, and there could be seen the tiny red lines of the branching veins. Happy was like a jellyfish, in huge human form.
"Shadow!" he called in a high, grating voice. "I'm going below."
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 9

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Mar 3rd, 2008
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 9: From the time she saw Dark Kensington die until Nuwell's arrival at the Chateau Nectaris a day later, Maya remained in her room, half in shock, half in an agony of sorrow and remorse.
She was so exhausted by her ordeal that she did sleep, but it was fitfully and without genuine rest. She had her meals sent up to her room, and ate automatically, not tasting the food.
Rationally, she could in no way blame herself for Dark's death, but that did not prevent her feeling strongly that her insistence on tracking down the fugitives from the Childress Barber College had made her, directly, his slayer. Her feeling of distress was much deeper and more personal than normal regret at having brought about the death of a friendly enemy while in pursuit of her duty.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 8

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Jan 27th, 2008
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 8: The waiter unplugged the telephone and lifted it from their table.
"We're ready to order now," Maya said to him. "And please ask Mr. Gren to come in here."
A few moments after the waiter left, the manager came to their table. Quelman Gren was dark and thin-faced,with sleek, oily hair.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 7

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Jan 20th, 2008
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 7: Maya had never seen Nuwell in such a state of sustained rage.
He strode back and forth in the private dining room of the Syrtis Major Club, near the western edge of Mars City, slapping his fist into his hand. His face usually was engaging and boyish, the wave of his dark hair setting it off handsomely, but now it was flushed like that of a petulant child and the lock of hair hung down over his forehead. Maya, the only other person in the room, sat quietly and watched him pace.
"They had plenty of time and all the information they needed," stormed Nuwell, "and yet they didn't get a single one of the key men! Most of the rebels slipped out easily, right under their noses!"
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 6

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Jan 16th, 2008
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 6: The three men who stood by a table in the back lobby of the Childress Barber College and checked off the departure of the men at regularly spaced intervals were as different in appearance as they were in their positions in the Order of the Phoenix.
Oxvane Childress, big and bearded, was the "front," and directed the very necessary task of administering the Childress Barber College as a genuine barber college. Childress was a prominent member of two of Mars City's civic and social clubs, and careful examination of his activities over a period of years would have thrown no suspicion on him.
The Chief, whose real name perhaps Childress knew but never spoke, was a huge-headed midget who directed the far-flung activities of the Order of the Phoenix as an underground rebel organization. He never left the building, but reports were brought in to him from all over Mars. He knew a great deal at any time about what the government and Marscorp were doing, and he gave the orders for those moves aimed at maintaining the secrecy of the Phoenix.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 5

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Dec 22nd, 2007
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 5: Maya Cara Nome looked from her furnished room through cracked shutters at the building across the street.
A barber college. The building at 49 Sage Avenue, Mars City, was a barber college.
That surprised her. She didn't know exactly what she had expected: a hospital, perhaps, or even a kindergarten. But a barber college!
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 4

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Dec 19th, 2007
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 4: Fancher Laddigan made his way down a long dim corridor in the rear portion of the Childress Barber College, in Mars City's eastern quarter. He stopped and hesitated, with some trepidation, before an unmarked door near the end of the corridor.
Completely bald, bespectacled and well up in years, Fancher looked like a clerk and he had the instincts of a clerk. Yet he utilized that appearance and those instincts in a perilous cause.
Fancher knocked timidly on the door. On receiving an indistinct invitation from inside, he pushed it open and entered.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 3

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Dec 13th, 2007
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 3: Maya's education was extensive, but it did not include the genetic sciences. She was able to follow Goat's explanations and his references to the charts he hung, one after another, on the wall of his study, but she was able to follow them only in a general sense. The technical details escaped her.
Nuwell seemed to have a better grasp of the subject. He nodded his dark, curly head frequently, and occasionally asked a question or two.
"Surgery is performed with a concentrated electron stream on the cells of the early embryo," said Goat. "I call it surgery, but actually it is an alteration of the structure of certain specific genes which govern the characteristics I am attempting to change. Such changes would, of course, then be transmitted on down to any progeny.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.

Rebels of the Red Planet - Chapter 2

Submitted by Paul Campbell on Dec 10th, 2007
Content Rating: 
Parental Guidance
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Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay, an audio book read by Paul W. Campbell.
Part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge.
Chapter 2: Adam and Brute followed Goat Hennessey down the corridor, towering over him like Saint Bernards on the heels of a terrier. They turned into the dining room, a big square room centered with a rude table and chairs, one wall pierced by a fireplace in which a big cauldron steamed over smouldering coals.
The dining room swarmed with a dozen small creatures, human in their pink flesh, more or less human in their twisted bodies. As soon as Goat entered with Adam and Brute in tow, the assemblage set up a high-pitched howling and twittering of anticipation and began beating utensils on the dishes, table and walls.
"Quiet!" squawked Goat over the tremendous clatter, and the noise subsided. They stood where they were, bright eyes fixed on him.
Music: Melody From Mars by Action Faust.