Nineteen-year-old Kiera is the first human to set foot on Mars with no return ticket. Her mission: build a base, stabilize the air and food supply, and prepare for the arrival of the colonists still months away. If she fails, humanity’s first permanent settlement on another world will fail with her.
Her only companion is Apollo; a synthetic dog built to assist and protect her. Together they face the desolation of Mars — storms that can tear domes apart, soil that poisons every attempt to grow food, and the crushing silence of isolation.
But the greatest battles are not only against the red planet itself. Fear, doubt, exhaustion, and loneliness stalk Kiera as relentlessly as the dust storms. And when Apollo begins to change in ways she never expected, he becomes more than a machine — he becomes her lifeline.