In it

“Well,” said Nyla, “now we’re in it, huh?”

Cas smiled. “Yep,” she said. She looked around. They were alone on the surface with no shelter other than their suits and the tent strapped to the SD Rover. Cas’s smile grew broader. “This is cool,” she said.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two
 
Coming in March
 
#mars #scifi #childrensbooks #middlegradebooks #kidlit #camping
 
(image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS, Perseverance, mission sol 136)

Parting ways

Everyone stood looking at each other. Cas realized that parting on the surface like this was different than parting when they went to school and their parents went to work. They were already separate, each in their own little world maintained by their suit. They couldn’t kiss each other goodbye. Even hugging was difficult with the helmets. But they hugged nonetheless.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March (available for pre-order now: https://www.amazon.com/Shelter-Generation-Mars-Book-Two/dp/1733731040)

(image: Luis Peres)

Offroad challenge

“Well, this looks terrifying,” said their mother, looking out the front window of the LD at the slope their father intended to descend.

“The nearest alternative adds over 120 kilometers to our route,” said Aedan, also staring at the slope. It was steep. It was uneven. It was rocky. He smiled. “It looks like fun,” he said. Nyla gave him a look but said nothing.

“Yeah!” said Cas from behind. “Do it, Dad! It’ll be epic!”

Ori joined in: “EPIC!” she hollered.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)

Earth and Moon

The HUD took over the front window, showing the fading blue of the sunset behind them. There was a particularly bright star shining there as well. “See that bright one there, near the horizon?” asked their mother. The sisters nodded. “That’s Earth,” she said, “and, if we’re very lucky…” she typed on her tablet and the HUD zoomed in on the bright star, splitting it into two: one bright and one smaller and very dim. “Yes, perfect,” she said. “This is using the telescope mounted on the roof. That little one is the Earth’s moon.”

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)

Dao Vallis

They reached Dao Vallis in the early evening. The dad rolled the rover right up to the rim and stopped. The girls stared out of the window, mouths open, saying nothing. Outside that window, the world dropped away. Where their minds told them there should be something, there was nothing. And below the nothing: chaos.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)

LD Rover

The rover they were riding in was called an LD Rover (LD for Long Distance), and it was a beast. It had four huge wheels of compressive chain mesh that could roll over almost anything and absorb most of the shock. These were powered by an internal combustion engine operating through a sophisticated series of differentials that sent power to all wheels while allowing them each to pivot independently for steering. The engine burned methane, the easiest fuel to produce on Mars. The rover could move at up to 60 kilometers per hour on a flat surface and could crawl over almost anything it might encounter. The cabin was pressurized and roomy enough for four people to live, closely but comfortably, on extended trips. There was no airlock. Instead, the entire cabin was depressurized when the occupants wanted to go outside. It carried fuel and supplies for ten days, bulbous tanks of pressurized methane and oxygen and water riding on its back.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)

Paths

Everywhere you walk on Earth, you can expect to find a path or a road of some sort. Humans (modern and prehistoric), coyotes, deer, cats, rodents, snakes, ants, slugs: any living organism capable of self-mobility tends to find the easiest way to move across the land and use it, over and over. Life that moves leaves paths. There are no paths on Mars.

Or, at least, there weren’t until humans arrived. The five thousand humans of Dawn Colony had created quite a network of roads and paths around their little town. But, travel only a little way from the colony and you were well and truly in for an off-road adventure.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell, tracks of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit near “Husband Hill”)

 

Author copies

Author copies just arrived!
 
Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two
 
Coming in March
 
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Outside

“I wish I could just goof around outside,” she said, finally.

“Yeah, I get that,” said her dad. He snatched the ball away again, stood up, dribbled it a couple steps away, than passed it back to her. “All of us adults have memories of growing up on Earth, going out when we wanted, goofing around outside. That’s why we built the Forest.” It was not unknown for an adult to climb a tree or grind a skateboard there once in a while. “It’s interesting that you are feeling this way, since you don’t have those memories.”

“I see kids on shows from Earth,” said Cas. She passed the ball back without getting off the bed.

“Ah,” said her dad, “I see. Well, it’s true that you can’t go outside the way kids on Earth can. But the thing is, you probably have more freedom to explore, goof around, and be a kid here within the colony than most kids have on Earth.”

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)

 

Sneaky soccer

This was not Surface Training. They had not filed an activity plan. Nobody knew what they were up to except the four of them in that room.

Their suits had not been maintained since yesterday’s Surface Training session, but they still had plenty of breathable air in them, and the scrubbers were well below capacity. They would be fine.

Helmets on, they walked into the airlock, Cas carrying a real soccer ball under her arm. The ball was shrunken and soft. She’d let most of the air out of it, knowing that it would puff up again in the thin air outside. They closed the inner door. Cas was reaching for the panel to depressurize the lock when Sally’s voice came over their comms. “I think that’s far enough, kids.”

Busted.

Shelter: Generation Mars, Book Two

Coming in March

(image: Luis Peres)