From Erin’s journal…
A few days ago, Frank Brentford asked me for a favor that changed my life forever.
He wanted me to fly him along with unknown cargo halfway around Mars to the middle of nowhere—just like we’d done before. For anyone else, it would’ve been insane. For Frank, it barely registered as unusual.
After three weeks grounded by relentless sandstorms, I was itching to fly anyway. Besides, I never turn down Frank. Well, except for his marriage proposal years ago…
We made the drop without incident. But instead of heading straight to the Orbital Transfer Point to pick up an Earther reporter—who will doubtlessly fabricate a hit piece on MarsVantage—Frank unveiled surprise after surprise.
The first? He wanted me to babysit the reporter.
As if I didn’t already have my hands full scheduling pilots for cargo transfers from the newly arrived transport and flying my freight runs. I refused, but Frank never takes the first “no.”
Then came what should’ve been the biggest shock of all: he led me to a second underground Bvindu city—one so secret only a handful of people in MarsVantage even know it exists. Inside were Knowledge Keepers from every walk of life: farmers, builders, planners, scientists, even retired Space Force Guardians. People who somehow made it from Earth to Mars without anyone noticing.
Frank was always up to something. I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t. But this was on another scale.
Keeping us Marsians in the dark is one thing. Fooling Earth is something else. Their newsfeeds showed no missing persons. No whispers. And yet here they are—smuggled across space using resources we Adon’t have. Someone powerful is helping him.
Since the government split MarsVantage away from Peter Konklin Interplanetary fifteen years ago, we’ve strived for self-sufficiency. The Bvindu tech will allow us to achieve it.
And that will allow us to bury the greatest, most dangerous secret humanity has ever known. A secret men would kill for, and nations would take up arms over.
Should it ever see the light of day, civilization would collapse. Compared to that, the death and destruction from every war, natural disaster, and plague throughout history would look like footnotes.
I won’t record the details—that feels too dangerous. I won’t be the reason this secret escapes and civilization disintegrates.
Considering the stakes, I agreed to help Frank and join the Citizens in Freedom Committee. Our aim is to gain independence from the United States by leveraging Bvindu technology while guarding the secret.
Frank calculates we need two years to achieve self-sufficiency, but we don’t have that long. We don’t even have two weeks.
The reporter we picked up is the government’s opening move to get its hands on the Bvindu tech. He’s intelligent and charming. I see why Gretchen was once married to him. And no one here believes for a second it’s coincidence that her ex is suddenly snooping into our business.
So now I’m his guide, showing him around and answering his questions. Watching his every step because reporters have a talent for uncovering truths that were never meant to surface.
Learn what happens in The Siege of Mars. For more information, click here.
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I’m an author living in northern Virginia with a wife and a cat. In the late ’80s, I worked on the International Space Station project. I recently retired from managing a group of software engineers to focus on writing science fiction and speculative fiction. Learn more.