Hermit on Mars: Mars Colonization Book 3
Kate Rauner
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Sept. 30, 2016)
Discover the third book in the On Mars series, stories of a Martian colony in our near-future. The sixth generation of settlers are new-adults now. Construction robots and the artificial intelligence Governor return in this story, joined by the Hermit's new bots and new settlers - disciplined Cerberans and rebellious mkazzi.The colony on Mars is thriving but Sig's life is falling apart, both in the robotics lab and with his partner. An urgent call from his mother - who lives in the Hermit's cavern, beyond the safety of the colony - seems like a fine chance to escape for a while. Sig yearns to recapture the freedom of his youth, but with freedom comes danger.At the southern tip of the magnificent Tartarus Mountains is Cerberus Base, the colony's mining and technology center. The colony has grown to over eight hundred settlers and Cerberans are dedicated to the Big Project - a multigenerational ambition to unite the three settlements with a transit corridor.In the robotics lab, Sig designs the bots that make survival possible on the hostile planet, but his greatest innovation is about to be scraped, and he's lost the Lab Leader job and his self-respect. He gets no sympathy from his partner, Helmi, whose dedication to protocols and the greater-good has turned grating.Life inside the colony bays hasn't prepared Sig for the rigors of a hostile Martian surface or for the strange society of the mkazzi - the miners who live in the cavern and explore the surrounding mountains for rare crystalline minerals. Rogues steal Sig's rider - his way home - and since no one's ever seen the Hermit, the mkazzi's blind trust in his life support systems could be deadly. It's not all bad - especially when Sig meets an attractive young woman - but exploring the surface of Mars is treacherous and sometimes fatal.Nothing works out the way Sig hopes as he struggles to save the cavern dwellers and his mother while trying to find his lost joy in lifeToday's headlines scream about colonizing Mars: NASA, Mars One, SpaceX, The Mars Society, The Planetary Society, and others seek to turn the dream into reality. Science fiction can take you there now, away from the early fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs to Ben Bova [The Grand Tour Mars], Kim Stanley Robinson [Red Mars], and Andy Weir [The Martian]. To Kate Rauner's On Mars series. Journey to a colony you might live in someday soon.