"FREE MARS!" is ready as it is, but I've decided to take a couple steps back and give it a chance to breathe.

I have a theory: patient never finishes. Impulse gets it done. Or as my Dad always put it, "Do something...even if it's wrong."

Still...

Anyway, I love the story as is. There are a few changes I want to make at the end. I sort of have the villain blurting out his nefarious plans. Instead, I can break the scene into two parts, where Sceeter figures out what he's doing and challenges him and only then does the villain blurt out his nefarious plans.  

Other than that, I'm ready to go. So sometime in the next week or so, probably.

Here's the kicker. I think there's a novel here, so I'm going to go ahead and expand it. There is a tradition of short stories and novellas being expanded into novels, so I don't think I'm breaking any rules here. The short story is complete in itself, but can also be expanded.

The whole thing has really grabbed me, and plot elements are spilling out of my subconscious, so apparently that's what I'm going to be writing for the next couple of months.

I never know until I'm finished on one project what is going to grab me. But when something excites me, I go with it.