Sunfall

Saul Clay is a young man dragged up and brutalised by an alcoholic father and cursing the existence he’s fallen into, that of a lowly smuggler, friendless and scorned by all. When his ship’s seized because of debts and a local mobster wants him dead, things finally reach rock bottom. That’s when he meets Hanna Altus, a young, idealistic scientist, desperate to save millions of Martian colonists from a lethal solar storm about to hit. After much initial reluctance and a clash of misanthropic and altruistic viewpoints, fear for his own life and the promise of high reward prompt Saul to defy the powerful Corporate League’s ban and head for Mars. Paul Kubo, president of HEX and an ally of the League, has other plans. Determined to gain control of the entire solar system by turning the red planet into its sole food producer, he wants the colonists wiped out. Hanna and the terra forming device she’s carrying can’t be allowed to reach Mars. To this end he sends an Amitar after them, a super powerful, hybrid assassin his corporation has developed. Yet through skilful flying, asteroids, a mine field and a team of ill- tempered prospectors; Saul manages to keep them one step ahead. As the chase continues, he begins to learn about the colonists and their humanitarian beliefs. Slowly, he starts to question his own deep loathing for mankind, a view forged by his upbringing, dragged around spaceport bars and vice dens, watching over his drunk, hapless father. Epiphany comes when all seems lost, locked up in a mining prison. As Hanna, the idealistic scientist comes to realise her own privileged but isolated upbringing has blinded her to the worst aspect of her fellow man, the bitter, nihilistic smuggler accepts there are good people. The colonists’ only wish is to live free and peacefully outside of an oppressive corporatocracy. He determines to help them no matter what. Escaping the Amitar, an exploding mining station and finally freezing inside a failing escape pod, Saul and Hanna wake from near death to find themselves safely on Mars and tended by the colonists. Relief though turns to horror when they learn the superhuman assassin is just behind them. There’s nowhere left to run and with the sun storm about to hit Saul determines to finally make a stand against his seemingly unstoppable foe. Relying on what he can salvage in the colony’s dilapidated processing plant and his own tech skills, he lures the Amitar into a series of confrontations that gradually negates his opponent’s abilities. Yet as the Amitar lies dying we realise it is not the monster we imagined but merely another victim of Paul Kubo, and his greed and ambition. It is also someone very close to Hanna’s heart indeed.