“First Words,” a new piece of flash fiction by James Marshall

The free SF story site 365 tomorrows has a new piece of flash fiction titled “First Words” (2009), by James Marshall. It’s about a discussion over what an astronaut should say when he becomes the first human to set foot on Mars. Here is the opening line: “Captain Will Kano of the Aries was sitting on an air-chair watching baseball with the sound muted.”

Interestingly, Marshall’s piece of flash fiction mentions Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Red Mars (1992) and Geoffrey A. Landis’ novel Mars Crossing (2000).