Secret of The Red Planet



  Secret Of The Red Planet

  By

  Chris Hawley

  Mirador Publishing

  Copyright 2011 by Chris Hawley

  All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission of the publishers or author. Excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  First edition: 2011

  Any reference to real names and places are purely fictional and are constructs of the author. Any offence the references produce is unintentional and in no way reflect the reality of any locations involved.

  A copy of this work is available though the British Library.

  IBSN : 978-1-908200-02-0 

  SECRET OF THE

  RED PLANET

  A NOVEL FOR TEENAGERS

  BY CHRIS HAWLEY

  FOREWORD

  One evening in mid-2007 I was invited out to dinner at Pepper’s Restaurant in Nairobi by my daughter and her family and friends.

  I cannot remember how the conversation led to the topic but during the meal I was talking to my granddaughters, Sofia and Annamaria about the planet Mars. Their school friend Michelle said jokingly that she herself was from Mars and I said that one day I would go there to see her. That is how the story was born.

  The storyteller is an ordinary English teenager, living in an unnamed but typical small town, with a dream to fly to Mars. I am not Bill and I should not be identified with him. The story takes place during July and August 2007. Events occurring in the World during this time have been brought into the story to add reality to it.

  The story is of course fictional. However, the scientific and astronomical data is as accurate as I am able to make it. Information given about Mars, Earth and the Moon and their relationship and positions in the Solar System are factual. Mars has been near to opposition during the period the action takes place. I have presented the phases of the Moon and Earth as accurately as possible.

  The geographical features of Mars are as faithfully described as possible. I am sure the Monuments of Cydonia actually exist. There is still heated debate about whether they are natural or they were constructed by living beings, maybe even beings from outer space. Perhaps the pyramids of Egypt and America were also built by the same beings or by humans with incredible spiritual powers.

  I have drawn attention to the environmental degradation taking place on our beautiful planet and we have been painfully slow in waking up to the damage we are doing and even slower in trying to deal with it as a World community. Perhaps there are extraterrestrials on Earth giving us a helping hand.

  I am sure you often wonder if other inhabited worlds exist out there in the depths of space. It would not be strange if creatures similar, or perhaps entirely different from human beings, exist among the countless solar systems in our Universe. You may also wonder how it was that the ancestors of the Similarians and other human Martians living on Mars in the story came to be exiled from Earth in 11,994 BC and what kind of world they left behind. And who are these Zoggs, who threaten to invade our solar system? These questions may be answered in a sequel to Secret of the Red Planet.

  As for the ‘unbelievable’ elements of the story, notably the Uninet, telepathic communication over immense distances, time travel and huge, Earth-crossing asteroids, I would say that anything is possible. Telepathy was practiced by so called ‘uncivilised’ peoples and I believe there are particles as yet undiscovered by humanity that exceed the speed of light. In reality there is no such thing as time, (it is a creation of the mind) and therefore in theory travelling through time is possible and may one day become a reality. And the bubbles? As Bill says in the story, there are some things in life you just do not understand and have to accept.

  CHRIS HAWLEY

  LAMU, KENYA

  December 2010

  To my four grandchildren, Ben, Sofia, Tim and Annamaria.

  PART ONE

  Mars Here I Come