Nikki and the crew view spring geysers at the Martian South Pole

Parts 1 and 2 of NIKKI RED: MARS COLONY AGATHA are written, Part 3 still to go. It’s been a trip, pun intended, trying to conjure up the future just a few years ahead of reality.

Here’s an excerpt from the Martian South Pole …

Sept. 22, 2023
Planum Australe, Mars
They bounced west, two space trucks weaving and wobbling up rough terrain until they parked side by side atop a broad and exposed mesa. Down below, a sea of geysers spouted salty, brackish sand in spider-web patterns all over the glazed polar cap.
This was the true South Pole, shedding more of its white with each sol as the late-spring sun climbed in the Martian sky and warmed the CO2 gas until it erupted through vents in the surface, creating thousands of sand sprinklers across the panorama.
Scientists on Earth were aware of them, observed their dark deposits against the ice in blurry satellite images, wrote articles about them and conjured up illustrations from their overactive imaginations.
But Nikki, Sunny, Jo and Pluto just had to step out of their trucks, crunch their black boots to the edge of the overlook and stare west.
This show was reserved for Martians only.

31 chapters are now complete:

PART 1
CHAPTER 1: An International Chorus
CHAPTER 2: Epic Decision
CHAPTER 3: A Long, Long Way
CHAPTER 4: The Link
CHAPTER 5: Red Zeppelin
CHAPTER 6: Parking Lot Reunion
CHAPTER 7: Sisters in Space
CHAPTER 8: No Softballs
CHAPTER 9: Last Supper on Earth
CHAPTER 10: Mars is a Lucky Guy
CHAPTER 11: Dancing with the Stars
CHAPTER 12: Space High

PART 2
CHAPTER 13: Black Aces
CHAPTER 14: Song Inside a Letter Box
CHAPTER 15: Hazed
CHAPTER 16: What Now Genius?
CHAPTER 17: 12-Story Horror
CHAPTER 18: No Further Communication
CHAPTER 19: Is Matt Damon Here?
CHAPTER 20: This is Mars
CHAPTER 21: Backflip and Cartwheel
CHAPTER 22: No Interplanetary Sexting
CHAPTER 23: Ups and Downs
CHAPTER 24: Agatha F. Christie
CHAPTER 25: The First Cemetery
CHAPTER 26: Dome of The Rising Sun
CHAPTER 27: Badge
CHAPTER 28: Throwback Girl
CHAPTER 29: Space Truckin’
CHAPTER 30: Sucker Punch
CHAPTER 31: For Martians Only
Words completed: 33,544

A planet without lawyers …

Just completed Chapter 26 for my upcoming novel, “NIKKI RED: MARS COLONY AGATHA.” Here’s a little tease from that chapter …

After entering the airlock, testing the seals and checking the pressure levels with a wand gauge, Pluto smiled and waved his wand at the three women from a little square window on one wall. Jo stepped up the small ramp, pushed the red button on the door and it slid open.
The four astronauts soon laughed and embraced after the airlock shut tight, the pressure changed to a human-friendly level and they prepared to enter their new home on Mars.
“Hey, our real estate agent never showed up!” Sunny cracked.
“Yeah, no lawyers either for the closing!” Jo added.
“Lawyers? Wow. I’d already forgotten all about lawyers,” Pluto mused.
“A planet without lawyers,” Nikki pondered. “Amazing.”
A second later, the airlock’s inner door opened automatically and they charged ahead like schoolchildren being let out for recess.
With inadequate solar power thus far and their multi-umbrella-shaped nuclear-powered heat field not erected yet, three of the astronauts were wise enough to keep their warm helmets on while celebrating.
But Pluto couldn’t help himself.
He reveled in what they had built despite being down two men. He pointed toward the sun shining through the diamond-ice dome, popped off his helmet and sang with gusto:

“There is … a dome … on Mars
They call The Rising Sun …”

The extreme temperature quickly turned Pluto’s bluesy vocals into blue lips, so he restored his helmet and rejoined the ladies as they planted their gloves into the frosty ground, and spun into some light-gravity, light-hearted cartwheels.
Concussion syndrome be damned.
It was move-in day on Mars.

26 chapters are now complete:

PART 1
CHAPTER 1: An International Chorus
CHAPTER 2: Epic Decision
CHAPTER 3: A Long, Long Way
CHAPTER 4: The Link
CHAPTER 5: Red Zeppelin
CHAPTER 6: Parking Lot Reunion
CHAPTER 7: Sisters in Space
CHAPTER 8: No Softballs
CHAPTER 9: Last Supper on Earth
CHAPTER 10: Mars is a Lucky Guy
CHAPTER 11: Dancing with the Stars
CHAPTER 12: Space High

PART 2
CHAPTER 13: Black Aces
CHAPTER 14: Song in a Letter Box
CHAPTER 15: Hazed
CHAPTER 16: What Now Genius?
CHAPTER 17: 12-Story Horror
CHAPTER 18: No Further Communication
CHAPTER 19: Is Matt Damon Here?
CHAPTER 20: This is Mars
CHAPTER 21: Backflip and Cartwheel
CHAPTER 22: No Interplanetary Sexting
CHAPTER 23: Ups and Downs
CHAPTER 24: Agatha F. Christie
CHAPTER 25: The First Cemetery
CHAPTER 26: Dome of The Rising Sun

Words completed: 27,300