In the early twenty-first century, a $30 billion dollar prize will be awarded to the private organization that successfully lands a spaceship on Mars. Eccentric billionaire John Axelrod believes he can accomplish the impossible challenge. But following closely behind his Consortium is a joint venture mounted by China and Europe. The race to the Red Planet is on . . . but getting there is just the beginning.
GREGORY BENFORD is professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine, and lives in Irvine. Benford is a winner of the United Nations Medal for Literature, and the Nebula Award for his classic novel Timescape.
LARRY NIVEN is the author of the Ringworld series and many other science fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf's Children, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Chatsworth, California.