Red Mars

The scientists discuss how to repair gene sequences to prevent cell division errors. Vlad has already developed a technique that allows lab mice to live up to 15 years. This anti-aging technology fundamentally “changes everything” about human society, the scientists agree.

Boone stands at the base of a giant shaft. He realizes that something is falling from far above and, just in time, he and his tour guide escape. An automated dump truck crashes into the ground beside Boone and his guide, Etsu Okakura. Inspecting the truck, Boone believes that the fall was caused by a deliberate explosion. This is the sixth such case of possible sabotage that Boone has seen in recent months, he tells Okakura. The Reds—the people against terraforming—are responsible, Okakura suggests. The giant shaft is one of many moholes dug across Mars. These moholes are attempts to drill through the planet’s crust in an effort to warm Mars as part of the terraforming project.

Boone and Okakura visit the town of Senzeni Na, a Japanese community that is one of many springing up on Mars as part of the newest wave of emigration from Earth. Boone gives suggestions for ways in which they might improve security in the sector. In conversations such as this, Boone deliberately plays up his larger-than-life persona as the First Man on Mars. At the same time, he takes a synthetic drug named omegendoprh. Vlad designed the drug on Mars, and Boone has developed an addiction to it. Boone calls Sax to discuss the sabotage incidents, and Sax suggests that he talk to Ann. Boone decides that he has a new role to play: “the first detective” (289) on Mars.

Boone visits Ann, who is conducting a research expedition to learn more about potential past oceans on Mars. They’ve found nothing yet. Ann insists that she has nothing to do with the truck incidents. She references the Coyote, a Mars folkloric figure who, according to legend, can travel anywhere on the planet without technological help. When Boone asks Ann to publicly denounce the sabotage incidents, she hints that she still believes that Mars should be left alone. When he asks about Hiroko, Ann says she has heard nothing since Hiroko and her followers disappeared. No one knows where they went. Referring to news reports from Earth, Ann notes that the wave of emigration to Mars will compound difficulties on their home planet, adding that the Antarctica treaty, which promised to keep the continent free of mining and politically neutral, has already been broken in many ways. Ann thinks the same will occur on Mars due to “Terran money.” As Boone leaves, Simon reveals that Ann is pregnant with his child. They’re in their sixties, but Simon believes that science can help them raise the child despite their advanced years. Boone congratulates him.

Boone journeys across Mars. He visits many of the new communities, all of which are happy to welcome the famous first man on Mars. He meets Swiss road builders and talks to them throughout the night about terraforming. The next day, he consults his artificial intelligence (named Pauline) about “the Swiss system of government” (308), hoping for inspiration about a future Martian government system. The Swiss welcome Boone; the Israeli and Arab communities are less welcoming. Boone blames Chalmers for turning these communities against him. He travels to Sax’s headquarters on Echus Overlook. The labs are built into the side of one of the planet’s deepest canyons. They discuss Ann, the sabotage, and the Coyote, including the suggestion that the Coyote may have been a stowaway, “hidden by Hiroko” (313) onboard the Ares. Boone remembers Maya’s story about seeing a stranger on the spaceship. In addition to discussing increased security measures, Sax mentions that Phyllis has proposed a space elevator that will make traversing to and from Mars much easier (and more profitable).

Boone watches Mars television broadcasts and spends several days at Sax’s labs. He leaves to meet with Helmut Bronski but visits Sax one last time. Sax talks about his plans to pull an asteroid toward Mars in a controlled crash. By scraping the asteroid across the surface, he says, he can introduce oxygen and hydrogen to the atmosphere, thus accelerating the terraforming process. When Sax is out of the lab, Boone looks around. He finds a hidden message about an unnamed group that is seemingly operating out of sight of everyone else. Boone doesn’t mention this message to Sax. Boone travels to Burroughs, one of the largest new Mars communities, which the transnational corporations operate. It’s considered “the most beautiful city on Mars” (320). Bronski is a UNOMA official and a millionaire, who informs Boone that one of the transnationals—Armscor—will be awarded a mining contract on the Elysium plain of Mars. This, Boone suspects, may break the Mars treaty. Bronski notes that the treaty will be up for renewal soon. The transnationals and other interests on Earth expect many profitable concessions. Armscor, one of Earth’s richest companies, anticipates these favorable revisions. As they dine together, Boone notes that he’s being served for the first time on Mars. He isn’t used to a serving staff at his meals. He mentions the Coyote to Bronski, who knows nothing about the legend.

The following day, Boone asks Pauline to compile information for him about Bronski. He wants to track people’s movements and see whether they line up with the sabotage incidents. Bronski is added to the ever-growing list of potential suspects. Visiting a mining operation on Bradbury point, Boone talks to the miners about the need for the space elevator. The mining operation isn’t currently profitable, he’s told, but will be when the elevator is complete. The miners expect Mars to be turned over to the transnationals. The miners tell him about an Arab caravan that supposedly met “lost colonists,” so Boone decides to visit them.

Boone joins up the with Arab caravan, only to find that Chalmers is already with them. The two Americans discuss recent developments on Mars; Chalmers insists that the UN remains in charge of the planet, while Boone accuses Chalmers of working for Sax. The next day, Boone is surprised when Maya arrives. She and Boone have had an intermittent relationship over the years, complicated by regular separations and her occasional return to Chalmers. Once again, Boone and Maya rekindle the “old flame.” This upsets Chalmers, who—Boone believes—will continue to turn the Arabs against him. After learning that the Arabs know nothing about the Coyote, Boone resumes his travels. He reflects on his old ambitions for Mars, few of which have manifested. He realizes that so many people are on the planet that his personalized approach to diplomacy is no longer feasible. He can’t simply reach out to or represent everyone. He wishes he could talk to Hiroko, but she’s missing.

Following Maya’s suggestion, Boone visits Ursula and Vlad, who operate a biotech lab at Acheron Fossae. Ursula suggests that Boone receive his regular medical checkup and, afterward, reveals to him that she and Vlad have developed a radical new treatment. The “gerontological therapy” drastically slows the aging process, allowing people to live much longer. Many of the 100 have already undergone this treatment, though Boone is hesitant. After talking to Maya, however, he agrees to the treatment. He and Maya sleep together later and, after Boone receives the treatment, he feels his body changing. Excitedly, he asks Maya to marry him and she vaguely agrees to “something like that” (348).

Staying at Acheron, Boone reviews the travel patterns of his suspects and looks into the botanical research on Mars. Marina, for example, has designed a species of sequoia to be grown on Mars. Like many of those who have undergone the treatment, Marina’s projects now look much further into the future. With Vlad and Marina, he discusses eco-economics, in which an economic system is based on calorific consumption rather than money. Outside, a dust storm brews. The storm will eventually become the longest in human history on Mars. Boone jokes about the storm and then leaves Acheron.

Boone visits another mine. The miners are waiting for the space elevator so that they can make money from their operation. They consider their time on Mars an uninteresting business necessity. Next, Boone visits Phyllis to learn more about the space elevator. Phyllis is deeply allied with the transnationals. Executives fill the Pavonis offices, where she’s based. She shows off her plans for the space elevator. As he dines with the executives, Boone does little to hide how much he hates the transnationals. He believes that they want to strip Mars for a profit. Afterward, however, he realizes that these new enemies are immensely powerful.

Boone goes to Hellas to see Maya. On the way, he stops with a caravan of Sufi Arabs. They’re more mystical and more welcoming that the other Arab communities whom Boone has met. He quizzes them about their culture and beliefs. He watches them dance in the dust storm and then joins them. Boone finds himself chanting along, repeating the old words for Mars in a moment of transcendence. The dance is overstimulating, making Boone sick. This religious experience, however, is something he wants for all of Mars. Later, he talks to the Sufis about these religious ideas. Though they know nothing of the Coyote, they have another legend about “the hidden one” (372), the sole survivor of an ancient Martian civilization, who is known to help lost people. As Boone departs, an old Sufi woman shares a poem with him.

Boone follows the trail of transponders to Turner Wells, a new settlement, where he meets Mary Dunkel, one of the 100. She tells him about efforts to drill for water. These efforts are dangerous, she says: The vast wells of water could cause a devastating flood if released. Boone awakes in the night to an explosion. The water well is capped, but Boone suspects another sabotage effort. He sets back out on his journey, this time visiting Nadia. She’s using her fleet of robots to build a farm. The sight impresses Boone, who resumes his journey through the dust storm. The “great storm” forces him to stop, and while he sleeps in his vehicle, five strangers visit him. They call themselves Martians. One is the Coyote, and one is named Kasei. They implore Boone to “slow the rate of immigration” (383) from Earth to Mars. In turn, he asks them to stop the sabotage attacks. Suspecting that they know Hiroko’s location, Boone asks to meet her. He then realizes that they’ve placed a patch on his neck that will paralyze him. He tries to attack but falls unconscious. When he comes to, they’re gone. However, he collects a sample of Kasei’s skin from beneath his fingernail and sends it to be analyzed.

Boone visits Sax and then Ann. He meets Ann’s son, Peter. Soon after, he meets Sam Houston, Chang, and a team of UNOMA investigators. They’ve been sent to find out who is responsible for the sabotage incidents. Boone, however, soon believes that they’ve targeted him as a suspect. He receives a message from Ursula. The DNA from under Boone’s fingernails, she says, shows that Kasei is Boone’s son. As Boone walks through the dust storm, thinking, he’s attacked. He manages to recover and reach his quarters, believing the investigators are responsible. The investigators arrive soon after and ask Boone to come with them. Acting as though nothing happened, Boone goes with them and plays along. He argues with Houston and Chang, believing that his status as the first man on Mars makes him immune from their prosecution.

Boone travels to Phobos to talk to Arkady. He’s shown around the moon, which Arkady’s team has radically engineered. Arkady insists that he knows better than to involve himself directly in the sabotage attempts. In a room of mirrored surfaces with “thousands of infinite regresses” (401), Arkady lectures Boone about the changing nature of the Martian economy. The utopia that the spacefarers imagined was funded by the transnationals and UNOMA, he says, and now Earth has come to collect. Arkady accuses other members of the 100 of helping them do so. Phyllis and Chalmers, he says, both work as consultants for Earth-based organizations. While Boone thinks a revision of the UN treaty could protect Mars, Arkady believes that a more radical response is necessary.

Boone returns to Mars, where he visits a Japanese mining outpost. The people there have refined their Shinto religion for a Martian context. Many of the new wave of Martian arrivals, he realizes, are asking different, new questions. As Boone asks about Hiroko in Senzeni Na, he hears rumors of an imminent revolution on Mars. He believes that a revolution is a bad idea; he wants to use other methods to combat the transnationals. He meets the UNOMA investigators again but refuses to answer their questions, particularly because they feel that they can break into his room.

Traveling again, he calls Bronski to ask him to rein in the investigators. Bronski seems to side with them, however. Boone calls Chalmers. He wants to know why Bronski seems so closely allied to the people persecuting him. Chalmers insults Boone, telling him to open his eyes to the world around him and to stop being so naive. Returning to Underhill, Boone is surprised to find it “crowded with strangers” (416). The settlement that was once home now feels alien. As he walks around, he notices the investigators. Suspecting that they’re targeting him, he hacks Underwood’s security system and finds a dead body in his room. He uses the cleaning robots to dispose of the body and then returns to the room, where the investigators burst in, hoping to find him with a corpse. Instead, they find nothing, and Boone cathartically berates them. Later, they find the body. Outside, the yearslong dust storm ends. Boone has the idea for a festival to celebrate the “day the Great Storm ended” (425). He suggests that they time the festival with the moment when Sax’s asteroid enters the atmosphere.

The festival takes place nine months later. Many more people attend than Boone intended. They arrive in convoys of cars and dirigibles. Each small community sets up a tent, expressing its culture in a communal fashion. Boone is shocked when a fleet of dirigibles arrives, carrying Hiroko and her people. Duval and the vanished members of the 100 are with her. People are “cheering their reunion” (431). Later, Boone gathers almost 60 members of the 100 for a private reunion. He lays out the findings of his long investigation. Boone believes that someone is trying to kill him, though he isn’t sure who. Hiroko’s people, he says, are responsible for the sabotage incidents, though Hiroko herself wasn’t aware of what they were doing. Hiroko’s people were born on Mars, Boone explains, so they were the only people on the planet not in the computer systems. Hiroko reveals that—like Kasei being Boone’s son—she impregnated herself with many samples taken from the first 100. She has raised these children as part of her vision of what Mars could be. She needed to leave the other settlers, she says, because she knew they’d reject her vision. Boone criticizes her decision. The rest of Martian society needs her, he says. At the end of the meeting, the 100, including Hiroko, agree to remain in contact. As they leave the meeting, Boone meets the Coyote.

Later, the crowd gathers to watch the asteroid arrive as though it were a fireworks display. Boone delivers a speech about the future on Mars and how great it could be if they work together. The crowd reacts positively to his speech. After the festival, the attendees go their separate ways. They agree to work together on a revision of the Mars treaty.