The Impulse to Punish

The year is 2169 and Mars has been transformed into a world not unlike rural America. Small towns. Farms. Churches. Dr. John Simon arrives from Earth, ready to take on the job of administering to the citizens of Milton Colony. Only the doctor soon discovers those who break the laws and morals of the colony are branded, quite literally, as their punishment. This the doctor cannot abide. But to change Milton Colony means not only adjusting the attitudes of the local minds and the government, but also a revelation of all the colonists' nasty little secrets. "The Impulse to Punish" is a short story of approximately 10,000 words. It and 15 other stories are available in the collection Sands of Time.