Mars Wars Detonation Event by John Andrew Karr

 GENRE: Science Fiction

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

For decades the Space Consortium of America has searched for new ways to harvest resources beyond an increasingly depleted Earth. The ultimate plan is about to be ignited. So is the ultimate threat to humankind . . .

 

DETONATION EVENT

 

Battle-hardened Captain Ry Devans and his crew of the Mars Orbiter Station One (MOS-1) are part of a bold plan: resurrect the active molten cores of the Red Planet with synchronized thermonuclear explosions, and terraform the hell out of that iron-oxide rock for future generations. It’ll change history. So will the strands of carbon-based Martian cells that have hitched a ride on the ship.

 

Dr. Karen Wagner knows the microbes’ resistance to virus is incredible. It’s the unknowable that’s dicey. Her orders: blow them into space. But orders can be undermined. Two vials have been stolen and sent hurtling toward the biosphere. For Devans and Wagner, ferreting out the saboteurs on board is only the beginning. Because there are more of them back on Earth—an army of radical eco-terrorists anxious to create a New World Order with a catastrophic gift from Mars.

 

Now, one-hundred-and-forty-million miles away from home, Devans is feeling expendable, betrayed, a little adrift, and a lot wild-eyed. But space madness could be his salvation—and Earth’s. He has a plan. And he’ll have to be crazy to make it work.

From Destination Event, Mars Wars, Book 1

 

 

The barren red face of Mars grew before them.

 

The space shuttles of two centuries earlier had orbited Earth at roughly five miles a second. Doubling that speed, even tripling it—and in a hurry—was within easy capability of the PS-class shuttles.

 

Devans threw in a series of mild doglegs to make it a little interesting for Wagner. He had to admit, the youth had staying power. An hour later and Wagner hadn’t even taken a bathroom break. Two blips showed up on the main hologram of the planet below. They marked tunnel locations T1 and T2 as yellow-highlighted lines that shot straight down. Both had tiny right angles at the ends where the bombs were housed.

 

As they approached the space over T1, the surface camera feeds showed nothing but a mass of gray-and-red dust. Very little wind speed. It was thick but gentle, like a snow globe after its been shaken.

 

“Raise shields, Nuro,” Devans said. “Shannon, how about splashing our entry on the big monitor here and the feed to the crew?”

 

The shuttle’s shields warded off the entry heat and they entered the anemic Martian atmosphere.

 

“Withdraw shields, Nuro.”

 

“Withdrawing.”

 

“Nice sandstorm,” Devans said, gazing at the roiling wall hundreds of feet high.

 

“Dust storm!” Trent Wagner said over his shoulder as he leaned back and forth on the table as if shredding the galaxy’s longest wave. “This is the tail end of it!”

 

“How long until cleared?”

 

“Two or three.”

 

“Couple, three hours, not so bad.”

 

“Weeks,” Wagner said.

 

“And here I just had this thing washed. Let’s go to the dark side for now.”

 

The sun cut a divide on the red planet’s surface. PS-9 easily outdistanced the storm and raced over the desert surface to the dark side. The second blip beckoned them on the navigation screens. Near total darkness pushed against their vessel lights.

 

This was the eve of the moment they all had labored for…One last manual check and they would attempt to resurrect Mars with synchronized thermonuclear explosions at the core.

 

At least, that was the plan.

 AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

From his home in Wilmington, North Carolina, John Andrew Karr (also John A. Karr) writes of the strange and spectacular. He is the author of a handful of independent and small press novels and novellas, and also leaves in his wake a trail of short stories.

 

www.johnandrewkarr.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/John-A-Karr/e/B003DVNQ8G%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Twitter: @johnandrewkarr1

Instagram/Tumblr: johnandrewkarr

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgMXLJ0MK2Q

 

Detonation Event: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D6BDQBC

 

 

Rogue Planet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XFMCD21

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