Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Epilogue
Deimos Station Chapter One
Deimos Station Chapter Two
Deimos Station Chapter Three
Copyright © 2021 I.O. Adler
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording, or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
Published by Lucas Ross Publishing.
Author website: ioadler.com
Edited by Brittany Dory at Blue Minerva Copyediting
Cover Design by AFG Illustrations.
Image used in cover art courtesy of NASA.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to similarly named places or to persons living or deceased is unintentional.
Shadows of Mars
by
I.O. Adler
Broken Stars Book One
Chapter One
“My dad’s a rock star, my mom’s an astronaut on Mars, and once I get my master’s in water chemistry, I’m going to apply for upper management.”
Carmen Vincent forced a smile and hoped this response was snippy enough to end the conversation with her workmate Nora. The room was stuffy. She unzipped and pulled off her red hoodie and reclipped her ID badge to the front of her black T-shirt. The photo of her was off, making her skin appear a darker shade of brown. The photographer also hadn’t waited for her to retie her ponytail. The poof of black hair made it look like she had just rolled out of bed.
Nora remained leaning in the doorway to the Ross County Water Treatment control room and didn’t appear to be going anywhere. She was a tall woman, mid-fifties with a broad jaw. She had big arms and wide shoulders and Carmen wondered if she lifted weights.
Carmen shifted slightly in her chair to block the screen of her laptop.
Nora snorted. “The point of two truths and a lie is to only lie once. Come on, Carmen, lighten up. You’re new on the night shift crew. The bosses don’t care what we do as long as we pick up the phone before it rings three times.”
As if to emphasize her point she produced a flask, took a swig, and offered it to Carmen.
Carmen closed the laptop. “No thanks.”
Nora set the flask down in the center of the long table, rounded the workstation, and took
