A CASE OF SUNBURN
BY CHARLES L. FONTENAY
In the past year the Martian rebels
had been pushed back to the wall. All
that was left to them was Plan Blue.
And what was Plan Blue...?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, April 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Jonner's hand dropped to his pistol and he edged cautiously behind a big rock as another groundcar appeared among the dunes to the south and approached the little group of men. He was sure Sir Stanrich had told him there were to be four others in his little task force: and there were four with him now.
But the new groundcar did not approach like a hostile patrol car. There was an air of confidence about the way its driver swung it up to the others. Jonner held his hand, thinking furiously, as the airtight door swung open and the newcomer leaped lightly to the ground.
The sun was settling over the iron-red wastes of the Isidis Desert. The groundcars clustered like giant beetles at the top of the cliff that dropped straight down to the shadowed lowland of Syrtis Major. The six men in marsuits, huddled at rendezvous, kept their helmet radios low, for Mars City was less than fifty miles east of them.
With the twilight, the blue mist of Mars was beginning to settle toward the ground.