What a great story! I love how after all these decades the whole "Martian paranoia" still works. As i read the story I had no idea it was going in the direction you took, and once I got there I was thrilled with the ending.
Welcome to SteemIt. You are a great addition to the community and I look forward to reading more.
One small tip - In the long run you will probably get a little more traffic if you were to use some of the bigger tags like fiction, or writing alongside your preferred ones like scifi, horror and the like.
Thank you for your kind words and for your tip. Being so new to Steemit, I'm still figuring out what works best to get new readers for my content.
You're right that I'm playing on the Martian scare trope, with I hope an effective misdirection. This reverse War of the Worlds scenario was a lot of fun to write.
Thanks again!
You're welcome for the tip. You might want to check out the tag #newbieresteemday and the Newbie Resteem Initiative. We are a group here to help with any questions new members might have, and to help them get some exposure for their great content.
I definitely love the misdirect, it was perfect.