Chapter One: Tomorrow in the Wheel

On the seventeenth of April by the Martian calendar, the sky above Dawnline looked like worn copper. Lin Li lay in the inspection trench of Maintenance Bay Three, listening to the wind scrape across the dome. It struck the eastern support first, then climbed the transparent aluminum panels one by one, tapping like a fingernail on a coffin lid. Every thirteen seconds, the dome shivered. Red dust sifted from the seams and settled over her goggles. “Stop counting,” Han Tuo said from above. “The beam will hold. Staring won’t embarrass it into silence.” Lin pushed her goggles onto her forehead. The R-17 survey rover stood over her, or what remained of it.