A story about making the ultimate sacrifice – would you give your life for the greater good? Entitled ‘Martyrdom’, and with the opening scene on an alien planet where the indigineous race have been extinct for some time being one in which insects give up their life for the greater good, creating a conversation on the topic between the two protagonists, you just know what the climax of the story is going to hinge around.
There’s good interplay between the two characters, the POV guide, an expert on the planet, who is taking a scientist to visit the remotest of the ruins of the vanished race, of which little is known. The relationship isn’t a good one, the scientist being self-centred/self-serving. The tension builds as he finds that his suspicions about previous research are found to be true, and there is more to be discovered.
There’s a dramatic ending, with a nice twist in the tail.
