Mars was never empty. It was waiting.
Jon Tsukunaga-Barlowe boards the 09h20 train to Mars expecting nothing more than a routine audit. Ore yields are falling, his employer's miracle cancer drug depends on a steady supply from the red planet.
The last thing he expects is a hijacking.
Or the truth: that Mars was never as dead as everyone believed.
Rako Huxley has spent years fighting for a planet that isn't supposed to be habitable, leading a fractured rebellion against a self-appointed mayor who'll do anything to protect his monopoly. Buried beneath the copper dust is something older than either of their causes: a machine, temporarily asleep and utterly alien, quietly ensuring that Mars remains barren forever.
As Jon is pulled deeper into a war he never signed up for, he learns the miners aren't just getting sick. They're evolving. And whatever is responsible has the potential to save not just the planet but the whole solar system and maybe the galaxy.
To save Mars, someone needs to destroy the machine.
But that may be impossible, or already too late.
