Deliver Us Mars

Deliver Us Mars is the sequel to Deliver Us The Moon.

## Story

### Prologue

A decade after the events of Deliver Us The Moon, the Earth undergoes a planetary-scale environmental failure, and as a result humanity sets its sights on the stars for escape. WSA scientist Isaac Johanson, an eminent scientist of the time, is father to Kathy and Claire. Isaac no longer has faith in his government to save the world, and decides to support the Lunar Council (William McArthur, Rosa Laverde, and himself). Motivated to create a better world, Isaac leaves Earth with ARK *Vita* (one of the three ships that can help create a sustainable space colony). Isaac hopes to bring Kathy and Claire, but Claire disagrees with Isaac's decision and refuses to join him. However, because Kathy is a young child, Isaac makes the decision for her. Unfortunately, on the day when Ark *Vita* is due to launch into space, Kathy is prevented from leaving by Claire at the last moment and does not join Isaac. Out of time with his hand forced by the automated launching sequence, Isaac has little choice but to leave his youngest daughter behind as *Vita* leaves Earth.

### Main Events

In 2068 AD, Kathy is now a young adult and one of the most promising trainees in WSA. The condition of Earth is worsening and there is an urgent need for advanced technologies to save the planet - unfortunately, Isaac's advanced technology onboard the long-departed *Vita* is identified as the key to preventing ultimate disaster. Kathy, Claire, and WSA members Sarah & Ryan learn that the Outward crew has colonised Mars, and receive a barely audible message from Isaac, calling for Kathy. WSA makes the decision to fly to Mars to retrieve the technologies necessary to salvage their dying world.

The four set forth to Mars but experience issues with their shuttle. Arriving at Mars, the ship is compromised through a sequence of catastrophes, and the order is made to abandon ship and make for the Martian surface in escape pods. Claire is set to be the last person to leave when a malfunctioning door closes before she can exit, preventing her from entering her escape pod. Kathy has to watch her sister remain trapped inside the shuttle as her pod launches her out; the shuttle subsequently explodes. The escape pods experience rough landings; they are heavily damaged and are separated from each other. Surviving planetfall, Kathy explores the environment on limited oxygen until she locates an abandoned outpost, re-establishes communications with her fellow surviving astronauts, and takes a rover to meet Sarah and Ryan at the next ARK.

The subsequent journey and exploration reveals an eerily empty colony with all inhabitants missing. Through their exploration of the ARK and logged holographic libraries, the astronauts learn that the colonists laboured under the poor leadership of William McArthur. Through these histories, they learn that both Isaac and Rosa (the Outward's medical officer) voiced concerns over the fragile mental & emotional wellbeing of Outward colonists under William, but he himself was prepared to risk the colonists' health in the name of progress. Isaac struggled between trying to make the colony work as a scientist, and his guilt as a father over leaving Kathy behind. As things worsened, a rebellious faction calling themselves *Homeward* developed within the colonist group, calling for a planned return to Earth and a cancellation of the Martian project. William began to blame Rosa for the increasing influence of the Homeward movement and pushed Isaac to choose a side. Eventually, McArthur's tyrannical leadership and questionable moral choices drove Rosa and the rest of the Homeward leadership to stage a coup. To contain the situation, McArthur shut down ARK Labos to stop Homeward from leaving Mars and restricted the air supply in his tyrannical madness, suffocating the colonists.

Back in the present after the death of Claire, as the next commander in line Sarah deems their mission too dangerous to continue and intends to return home, coming into conflict with Kathy who wishes to further explore and solve the mystery of the final outcome of her father's situation. Kathy is ordered to restore ARK Labos to leave. However, when ARK Labos is reactivated, their only means of leaving crashes and explodes in suspicious circumstances. Sarah is convinced that Kathy is to blame, but upon inspection, it is discovered that the ARK had been rigged to crash by Isaac under McArthur's command. Eventually, left with little choice and following a series of clues and notes, Kathy finds Isaac and the surviving colonists who have managed to establish a small, viable Martian colony under a man-made geodesic dome with its own atmosphere, powered by the last remaining Arks. Although the reunion between father and daughter is an emotional one, Kathy, revolted by the depths to which her father has sunk and the measure of his complicity in the misdeeds of McArthur, prepares to leave Mars with Sarah and Ryan.

The trio, knowing that the Martian colony depends on the spacecraft for power but also realising as a result that the colonists will never voluntarily permit them to be taken, take the decision to secretly commandeer the last two surviving ARKS and return to Earth in order to use the technology onboard to save it, dooming the colony to a slow death. While preparing to launch and return home, Isaac decides at the last minute to go with Kathy, despite knowing the consequences of his actions will see him imprisoned on his return. The story closes on the final voyage home of the two remaining ARKs to a better and brighter future for the Earth.