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    Mars for Humanity
    Mars for Humanity
    Mars for Humanity
    Ebook80 pages56 minutes

    Mars for Humanity

    By Brandon Terrell and Tony Foti

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Eleven-year-old twins Lila and Max are leaving Earth to reunite with their parents on Mars. It's nearly fifty years in the future, and the Earth is dying. The damages caused by global warming are too severe to repair. So six years ago, the twin's parents were sent to the red planet on a special mission to make the land and environment habitable. Now it's time for civilians to join the scientists, and Lila and Max are among those chosen. Will they survive the trying journey through space, and can Mars truly become humanity's new home planet? Riveting and action-packed, this speculative novel imagines the history of tomorrow as the people of Earth look to the stars in the hope of survival.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateAug 1, 2015
    ISBN9781496524614
    Mars for Humanity
    Author

    Brandon Terrell

    Brandon M. Terrell (1978–2021) was a talented storyteller, authoring more than one hundred books for children. He was a passionate reader, Star Wars enthusiast, amazing father, and devoted husband.

    Read more from Brandon Terrell

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      Book preview

      Mars for Humanity - Brandon Terrell

      Chapter 1

      PAST CURFEW

      Lila

      The first things Lila Hartfield saw when she stepped out of the junk shop on 37th Street were the space shuttles. They stopped her in her tracks so quickly that her twin brother, Max, his nose buried in a book, bumped right into her. He didn’t say anything when they collided. No surprise there. He never did. Max hadn’t spoken a single word since their parents had left.

      The shuttles weren’t in the sky overhead. Their image was displayed on three busted-up television screens set side by side on a metal shelf in the junk shop’s giant picture window. Each screen showed the same thing: a news story featuring a large, sleek-looking rocket facing toward the sky, ready to blast into the heavens.

      Away from Earth. Never to return.

      Wouldn’t that be nice, Lila thought.

      Behind the initial rocket, several others were being built, all in varying stages, all surrounded by cranes and scaffolding and swarmed with construction bots like worker ants building a colony.

      Check it out, Lila said, looking down at her shorter, thinner brother. She pointed to the screens.

      Max lifted his eyes from the page — he’d used the last of his allowance from Uncle Aaron to buy a hardcover by his favorite author, H. G. Wells — and smiled.

      Lila stepped forward until she was inches away from the glass. The window was coated with dust and grime. A large crack ran through the middle of it.

      "Salvation One," she said, reading the name written in bold black letters on the side of the shuttle. The televisions offered no sound, but a ticker on the bottom of the screens displayed a few facts about the spaceship.

      Launching in one week, on February fifth, Lila read. "Salvation One will be the first manned Mars launch to carry civilian passengers … Just the beginning of Mars colonization by humans … Two dozen settlers will take this one-way trip to outer space …"

      Lila stopped reading. She wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Even though it was after dark — past the curfew for kids under eighteen — it was still really hot.

      It must be a hundred degrees out here, she thought.

      For years, scientists had warned about global warming, increases in temperature, melting polar ice caps, and freshwater shortages. While some took the threats seriously, too many others ignored the outcry. Until it was too late. Only then had they reacted. But Earth was past the point of no return. It was like trying to slam on a car’s brakes at the edge of a steep cliff.

      And so scientists then turned to the sky, to a resurrected space program that, if successful, would eventually terraform Mars, transforming the red planet to be more like Earth so it could support human life. If they were unsuccessful, the human race would become extinct.

      Lila was so focused on the televisions that she didn’t notice the trio of teenage boys walking toward her and Max.

      Hey! one of them shouted. Lila’s heart leaped into her throat. She pulled her twin brother Max safely behind her. Older by eleven minutes, Lila had always protected Max. She took the job very seriously.

      What are you doing out past curfew? one of the teenage boys asked.

      Half of his head was shaved; the other half was full of stringy, bright blue hair. His two companions were taller than their leader. One had a tattoo that snaked up his neck and across his face. The other had a robotic arm whose metal fingers clicked and whirred as he squeezed them into a fist. Their clothes were covered with dirt, their jeans ragged and torn. All three wore matching snarls.

      On our way home, Lila said, hoping her voice wasn’t quivering.

      Empty your pockets, the guy with the robotic arm said.

      Lila stood frozen in her spot.

      Come on, Blue Hair urged. I ain’t got all night.

      Wordlessly, Max upended the pockets of his shorts. A few coins fell out, clinking onto the cracked sidewalk.

      We don’t have any money, Lila protested.

      Blue Hair pointed at Max’s book. You had money enough for that.

      Max clutched the book to his chest.

      Blue Hair and the other two stepped closer. He toed the change on the ground. That’s it?

      Lila had a handful of dollars in her pocket, along with a broken music player she’d just bought. But she wasn’t about to give them up.

      Blue Hair sneered. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to the little man, would you? he asked. The teen with the robotic arm stepped close enough to Max that he could reach

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