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like this, I want full aerial intervention. Or heads will roll .”
    The noise of her ship cut off the man’s frightened response.

6
    A PLANETARY TREASURE
    The first Marsian dwellings had been round. Not for reasons to do with fashions in architecture or the whimsy of the inhabitants. The round form was dictated, rather, by necessity. Unable in the early years to manufacture building materials upon the planet, the first colonists brought their houses with them in rockets that were, for considerations aerodynamic, universally round .
    “Go round or go ground,” early settlers advised those who lamented the limitations of the cylindrical domiciles. Digging into the frozen surface of Mars was the other popular way to construct a dwelling. But many, even those with no previous history of claustrophobia, found the underground dwellings unpalatable. Once a burgeoning plastics market erupted on Mars, enterprising manufacturers of home furnishings designed objects that would fit in homes with curved walls. Thus, even after it was possible to construct homes with four square walls, Marsians stuck to the round shape of their first homes and the pie-slice-shaped couches, tables, and desks to fill them.
    Round houses were just one of the many things Jess couldn’t wait to set eyes upon again. Over a month had passed since the Raiders had last seen home, with its scattering of circular dwellings. At last Mars began to grow visibly larger and brighter. From a small reddish smudge on the pilot’s view screen, the planet swelled to a faintly glowing globe of orange, and became at last the world-sized tan and golden planet Jessamyn yearned to see. Upon the thirty-ninth Marsian-length day since their departure from Mars, Crusty and Jessamyn donned spacesuits and clipped into harnesses for the touchdown.
    Mars had never looked more beautiful to Jessamyn. Clouds dotted the thin layer of atmosphere that was growing with every passing annum. Jess saw nary a dust storm in the planet’s northern hemisphere—the one enjoying Marsian summer. Her heart swelled. Summer was her favorite season. She recalled her promise to try to see Mars with Pavel’s eyes.
    What would you see? she wondered silently. A world warm and inviting? Cold and forbidding? Mars was both. But she remembered Pavel’s love of his planet’s desert spaces and felt hopeful Pavel would look with a gentle eye upon her home.
    Now that they had drawn close, Crusty was able to initiate radio contact with MCC.
    “We’ve got quite a welcoming committee here for you, Raiders,” said the voice of the Secretary General. “The citizens of Mars Colonial are deeply proud of your courage and accomplishments, as am I.”
    Mei Lo’s voice sounded like home—like yellow skies and reddish dirt and the scent of peroxide. In the place of the anger she’d been feeling toward the Secretary, Jess felt a rush of gratitude that Mei Lo had given her the opportunity to serve as a Mars Raider, bringing food to last the next generation and beyond.
    “We weren’t expecting this large a turnout,” said Mei Lo.
    Jess felt an odd flutter in her belly. She didn’t need a large welcoming party. She didn’t need anyone but her own parents. Her mom’s arms around her, her dad’s whisper that he knew she’d done everything she could—these were the things Jess craved. Not some big party. She vowed to sneak away as soon as possible after touchdown.
    Bringing the ship in a sweep along the Valles Marineris, Jessamyn marveled with Earth-attuned eyes at the deep chasm. The Galleon seemed to lean forward, to feel the call of the world that had launched her.
    “That’s my girl,” said Jess softly. “Almost home.”
    The moment of landing, shuddering and noisy, felt to Jessamyn like an embrace, a longed-for rest, a smile upon the face of a friend.
    She noticed a thrill running along her forearms as she hailed ground control.
    “Mars Colonial Command, this is First Officer Jessamyn Jaarda. We request