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Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  47. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  48. Copyright

Cage nodded and gave me a smile, some of his confidence settling into place even as the wide-eyed boy lingered behind it. And that moment left a warm feeling in my heart, a sense that maybe, just maybe, things would be okay after all.

Legion 1. Do you copy?

Copy, base. We are en route for intercept as planned.

Hold that, Legion 1. It may not be necessary.

With all due respect, we have a mission, and we plan to fulfill it. Or at the very least, we plan to be paid for fulfilling it.

You’ll receive your due. But if they see you coming, it could spoil everything.

*Laughter* No worries, base. They won’t see this coming.

NINE

JASPER LED US IN A shuffling, shambling procession through the winding streets of Mars City. As night fell, people emerged: streaming from public transit, mingling in the alleys, opening doors and windows. The temperature, which had hovered in the midseventies, dropped about ten degrees in a matter of minutes. I knew the domes managed some temperature control; otherwise, Mars would be freezing. But obviously they left nature a certain amount of authority.

We stuck to the shadows, avoiding contact with anyone. The people of Mars were unpredictable. You had your ambitious and your loyalists, but mining was still a tough life, and very few chose it voluntarily. You had families with mouths to feed, people with no other options who couldn’t get a job with a better corporation on Earth. Sometimes that meant they had no real loyalty to Mars Mining, which played somewhat fast and loose with its workers’ safety and paid them a bare minimum: enough to keep them alive, but never enough to get off planet and seek employment somewhere better.

On the other hand, you had people who took the opposite approach, becoming fiercely loyal to the only corporation willing to hire them. Mars was tough, but things could be worse. You could travel months in stasis to Jupiter’s moons, where the life expectancy was ten years due to hard working conditions and frequent breakages in water filtration. Or, worst of all, you could be a government citizen, scrambling for odd jobs and relying on charity for your next meal. We couldn’t predict who we’d run into. Those who resented Mars Mining might help us. Those who worshiped them, though, well . . . I’d already seen what that looked like with my parents.