Dante's Icy Inferno (Finale Recording)

Dear story snacker,

I convinced a professional voice actor to perform an excerpt of the finale of Saturn’s Shadow, but only if he did a spot-on impression of me. Talented fella.

Saturn’s Shadow has been the first sci-fi short story I’ve ever completed, and I had a great time doing it. What did you think of it? Wait, don’t answer ‘till you’ve read the finale!

Next story will be a big one…

The Writer’s Apprentice: Pliny Penmight is a storysword, a warrior writer who conjures power from his prose to fight felwrits, monsters that escape from books to wreak havoc on the real world. When his age catches up to him and he narrowly avoids being eaten, Pliny recruits Tott, a boy writer, to be his apprentice and take over as the next Penmight.

Oh, and also…next post I’m taking Storyletter to Substack! I’m going to be adding audio recordings for every story, illustrations and more to go along with The Writer’s Apprentice.

More on all this to come, but without further ado, let’s get to the finale of SATURN’S SHADOW!

STORY SNACK

SATURN’S SHADOW

Part 4-Finale

Click for parts 1, 2 and 3

Dante drifted toward the edge of the shadow cast by Sunbeam 5’s black immensity. Beyond it the Field of Saturn expanded, a shining ocean of frozen carbon that glittered in the harsh starlight.

A cloud of jagged objects cut through the field toward Kronos, a storm of asteroid fragments flung by solar winds and the unstable gravity of a broken planet, coming straight for the eighteen-year-old boy with nowhere to hide.

Dante no longer felt fear as he drifted weightlessly toward death, only anger. He had been so close. He squeezed the chip in his glove so tightly it must tear a hole in his suit. Better to suffocate or be torn to shreds?

Choices, choices.

“Ungh!”

Dante grunted as he was struck from behind. Two pressure-suited arms wrapped around his chest, and suddenly the onrushing hail of meteorites seemed to reverse as he was yanked backward toward the spinning prison.

Perseta!

Dante gave a cry of pain as both of them slammed onto the scarred surface of Kronos. Magnetizing his boots to the metal, he looked into Nike’s face, an unrecognizable feeling surging through him.  

The green eyes widened and he saw her mouth outline a scream as she looked above and behind him. Dante reacted without thinking—he ducked down to the curving metal shell, pulling the Martian girl with him and shielding her with his body.

Behind him he felt instead of heard the impact of the asteroid sliver; its shockwave traveled up through his mag boots and rattled his skeleton. Shattered fragments of carbon sprayed around his and Nike’s cowering figures. He felt a hot stab in his right shoulder.

Through eyes burning with sweat, he saw his HUD blinking red: SUIT PRESSURE COMPROMISED. 2 MINUTES OF AIR REMAINING. He heard the deadly hiss of oxygen escaping through the hole in his suit.

Tartarus.