The Last Martian

audiobook

The Last Martian

by Ray Van Houten

EN·~40 minutes·1 chapter

Chapters

1 total

The Last Martian

40:08

Description

On a desolate Martian plain, the ancient pumps that once fed the planet’s lifeblood are grinding to a halt. Peetn, a solitary, fur‑clad caretaker, wanders the twilight‑lit dunes each night to tend the water stations that humanity abandoned long ago. His routine is simple—inspect the rusted machinery, patch wounds from the native predators, and keep the thin flow of liquid ice moving through a maze of forgotten pipes.

The story follows Peetn’s quiet perseverance as he battles the relentless wind, sub‑zero cold, and the ever‑present threat of the savage odlat that can bite through his armor. Though the technology is alien and the mechanisms indecipherable, his methodical checks reveal a subtle, growing unease: the pumps are aging, the oil long exhausted, and the planet’s future hangs on whether his careful watch can stave off total failure. Listeners will be drawn into a stark, atmospheric world where survival is measured in the steady hum of ancient machinery and the courage of a lone guardian.

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Details

Language

en

Duration

~40 minutes (38K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Release date

May 11, 2020

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

RV

Ray Van Houten

1919–1963

A lively figure in early science-fiction fandom, he helped shape the fan magazines and convention culture that kept the genre buzzing in the 1940s and 1950s. His fiction includes adventure tales like The Last Martian, but his biggest mark was as an editor, organizer, and fan writer.

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