Martian Dawn

Part 1, Chapter 3: Literature

"So, have you finished chapter 5? " her literature teacher, Nigel, indicated the e-reader on the desk in front of her.

"No, sorry. I had to put it down for a while. I promise I'll keep reading it, but it's gotten to be a bit boring." She touched the button on her tablet, and The Fellowship of the Ring, by JRR Tolkien appeared on her screen.

"Lost interest?" he said in surprise. "While they're still lost in the Old Forest? That was one of my favorite chapters when I was your age."

"I liked The Hobbit," she said. "They traveled through dark forests and climbed trees and fought monsters. It was fun, once. But here they are again, lost in a dark forest and fighting monsters. It just feels like I already read it."

"A forest is great once, but not worth a sequel?" her teacher chuckled. "Perhaps being lost in the woods doesn't resonate with you, since you've never seen one."

Dawn shrugged. "Maybe that's it." She tilted her head and thought. "Once, when I was very little, I got lost in the hydroponics dome. Everything in there is green, even the sunlight. The tubes run right up to the dome and crowd together so you can't see the sky. There was lots of noise, and I couldn't see or hear anyone. When they were lost in Mirkwood, that's what I visualized."

Her teacher regarded her, thoughtfully. Adapt and overcome, he thought. He rose from his chair, crossed the room and reached up to his bookshelf. He pulled a paperback off the shelf. "Maybe this book will feel a bit more familiar to you."

Dawn's eyes widened. "You're loaning me one of your paper books?" she asked incredulously.

The cover showed a spaceship hovering over the Valles Marineris, the largest canyon on Mars. "Science fiction," she scoffed. "I read a book about Mars, once. It was full of forests and monsters." She rolled her eyes.

Her teacher chuckled. "This one is a little closer to the Mars you know. It's one of the books that inspired me to become an astronaut and come here. If you ask around, you will find I'm not alone. In fact, I want you to do that. After you've finished it, I want you to go around to everyone, and ask them if they've read this book, and if so, how it influenced them. You should get some really interesting stories from them. Sound good?"

Cautiously, Dawn opened the front cover of the book, as she had seen her elders do, from time to time. This was most likely the only paper copy of this particular book on Mars. "Thank you for loaning this to me," she said sincerely. "I will be very careful with it."