To Climb a Flat Mountain

Trapped on an unknown world, alien beyond all imagining, Jacques Song works to survive, first alone, then rescuing others of his destroyed ship. Their tiny colony faces the harsh environment, their own ideological conflicts, and the ever-looming issue of how they came to be stranded. Was it an accident? Or sabotage?
"Excerpt: "
Needing some closure, he tore out an empty page of Ascendant's diary after her last entry. Some of the cells of her body would be on that, along with her fingerprints. Also, it represented her future, the unwritten pages of a life that might have extended to the end of time itself. Gone now. He took the page and lit it afire from his charcoal lamp. Its brilliance filled his small cave for a few seconds, then flickered out.
He sang Heinlein's "Green Hills of Earth" softly and went to sleep with tears in his eyes and an unanswered question in his mind.
Sabotage required a saboteur. Who? It would have been a suicide mission... or maybe not. He was alive, after all.
"Read the bonus article, " "The Science Behind To Climb a Flat Mountain," at variationspublishing.com.