MARS ADVENTURE
byWilliam Kidd knelt upon the cold stone floor in the complete blackness of the Condemned Hold in Newgate Prison. Heavy iron shackles lay loose upon wrists and ankles grown far thinner than when they’d first been fitted, the skin torn and scabrous from too-long acquaintance with the cold, rough metal. Chains rattled as he shifted into a somewhat less uncomfortable position.
All of these were familiar, and could be ignored. But the commotion in the hall beyond his locked door was new, and a terrible distraction. No doubt some of the other prisoners were celebrating the imminent demise of their most famous neighbor.
“Keep quiet out there!” he cried, or tried to. “Leave a condemned man to make peace with his Lord!”
There was no possibility that the revelers could have heard
