Losing Mars (Saving Mars Series-3) Read Online Free Page B

flying low to the ground back home,” she said. “This should be fun!”
    She circled the ship just meters above the ground, doing a quick fly-by of the Gopher Hole. Jess noted that Harpreet, though perpetually calm, was gripping both the armrests at her side.
    “I’ll exercise caution,” Jessamyn said, for Harpreet’s sake. “Earth’s gravity makes everything here trickier. But a lot more fun, too.”
    “How very comforting, indeed,” said Brian Wallace. He had placed a sort of sleeping mask over his eyes, perhaps sleepy, perhaps preferring not to watch Jessamyn’s under-the-radar flying.
    Jessamyn laughed and winked at Pavel. “We’re fine,” she said. “No dust-storms, no snow-storms. And the ship is in really excellent condition. Having access to replacement parts like you do here on Earth—well, Crusty would gladly sacrifice an arm or a leg to have what you take for granted here.”
    “Aye,” replied Brian. “There are compensations to life on Earth, lass.”
    The merriment drained from Jess’s eyes at his comment.
    Pavel saw this and reached over to place his hand on hers, murmuring, “We’ll get you home, somehow. Someday.”
    Jess nodded. But would it be soon enough? She feared for Mars’s future if Mei Lo couldn’t maintain control of Mars Colonial.
    Jessamyn felt anxious as she thought of hearing news from Mars, something they hoped to be able to do by taking this trip. They were on their way to purchase parts the Marsians needed for deep-space communication with MCC. With the high-power radio transmitters in Chicago, the group of Marsians and sympathizers would at last be able to speak with MCC.
    Jessamyn gathered her thoughts back to the navigation panel, her fingers flying across it. “It’s going to get rough,” she said. “We’ve got mountains ahead.”
    Brian uttered a resigned sort of groan.
    Harpreet murmured to him that perhaps she would take the sleep-patch he’d offered earlier. “If you truly don’t mind giving up your last one?”
    Brian sorted through his satchel for the med-patch. Finding it, he passed it over. “It’s the least I can do,” he said.
    “My friend,” said Harpreet, “You have done much already.”
    From her peripheral vision, Jessamyn saw the Scotsman shrug.
    “Well, if I’m to get yer CEO to accept me as ambassador,” said Wallace, “I should think no kindness would be too great or too small, eh?”
    Jess didn’t entirely approve of Brian Wallace’s latest wish: to be a liaison between the two worlds. But she definitely approved of his interest in bankrolling the Marsians’ activities on Earth. Equipment was expensive. Travel was expensive. Brian was wealthy. Hoping as she did for an independent Mars, Jess felt reluctant to promote Earth-Mars relations in the future. However, she kept this as much to herself as possible while depleting Brian Wallace’s stores of tellurium.
    As they neared Chicago, Brian placed a call and discovered the party which had previously agreed to trade transmitters for tellurium now insisted upon cold hard credits . He wheedled and joked, but the supplier stood firm.
    “Well,” said Brian to the merchant, “I hope ye don’t mind waiting an extra day, in that event. I’m not carrying credits in that quantity.”
    The Chicago supplier did not mind waiting, and the upshot was that Jessamyn had to fly onward, past where she’d planned to bring her craft down.
    “There’s an off-grid consciousness transfer hospital outside of Toronto,” said Brian Wallace. “We can convert tellurium to ready cash there.”
    It was night when the small craft touched down in a gritty suburb of Toronto. Pavel was eager to visit the hospital, out of curiosity about anything off-grid and medical, but Brian insisted the three remain safe in the ship while he make the transaction himself.
    “They know me and trust me,” said Wallace. “It’s best I give them no reason for suspicion. And if ye go sniffing about the hospital asking