Read Writers of the Future, Volume 29 for Free Online Page B

he checked out of the public library was Ben Bova’s Star Conquerors. From there, he made his way through as much of the library’s sci-fi collection as possible, reading the classic novels of the ’50s and ’60s from Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Brunner, Le Guin and others. He started writing at ten and continued sporadically throughout his working career but never did so in earnest until retirement. In the interim, Stephen repaired radios in the Navy and afterward in civilian life until he decided to upgrade his education.
    After ten years of engineering and another stint in college, he became an engineering librarian for the rest of his working career. As an academic librarian, he wrote numerous dull, scholarly articles published in library journals. The possibility of early retirement offered him the opportunity to return to his first love and write fiction full time. His short stories have been published in regional magazines but Writers of the Future is his first national publication.
    ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
    Joshua Meehan was born in Nevada in 1990 and raised with his five younger siblings in Anchorage, Alaska. His interest in art began at the age of three, when he used crayons and markers on the walls and pillows in his house. His parents were always extremely supportive in his artistic pursuits. Since Joshua was home-schooled, they made sure to foster his passion through an art-focused curriculum, which included private lessons from Betty Dye, a local art teacher.
    Joshua and his family moved to Tucson, Arizona in 2002. Here he studied fine art at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and attended Ironwood Ridge High School. In 2008 Joshua received the grand prize in the Congressional Art Contest for his district and earned the honor of Eagle Scout. Later he studied fine art and illustration at the University of Arizona and pursued large-scale game and film projects, creating content and direction for production teams. Today he resides in Tucson, where he works as a freelance illustrator and concept artist and looks forward to the future in such a passionate field.
    His website is joshuameehan.com .

Planetary Scouts
    -1-
    I was about to order another beer when a rumbling in the floor announced the arrival of the passenger liner. I thought about letting my new partner find me in the bar but decided against it. New recruits are impressionable. No use scaring off another one.
    Picking my left leg carefully off the bar rail, I placed the offending appendage on the floor. My knee had locked again. Hobbling would make me late. I forced the scarred fingers of my left hand into a fist and smacked the back of my knee. It gave with a jolt of pain. I was barely able to grab the edge of the bar to break my fall. Levering myself up, I flashed my credit chit at the pay station and made my way unsteadily to the door.
    Some parents and their Scout son were standing at the door of the bar making “oo-ah” noises at the painting on the bar’s domed ceiling. The owners had hired a starving offworld artist to immortalize the Planetary Scouts. The artist was talented, but he never talked to any of us. To start with, there’s the motto: Discover and Explore . That’s our motto all right, but we don’t do discovery any more. The boredom of hop to a planet, take a few readings, and repeat endlessly, had driven humans nuts, so discovery is now left to robot ships. The only reason they use us for exploration is because they’ve never come up with a computer that’s as adaptable as a human; although there are more than a few Scouts who wish they would, and pronto.
    Then there’re those planets the artist has us exploring. All the planets look a whole lot like primitive Terra or one of its clones. The fauna looks cuddly—nothing with claws or fangs. Some day I’d like to explore a world like that. Hasn’t happened yet.
    The space dock wasn’t far, so I walked. The night was typically