The Venus Prophecy

Twelve year old Victoria Campos asked NASA about mysterious white spots on Venus, but never got the explanation she sought. Years later, with a doctorate in interplanetary geology, Victoria is hired by the scientist she corresponded with as a child, Dr. Ed Mitchell of NASA’s Venus Research Project. Instead of unlocking Venus’s secrets, Mitchell forbids her from studying the enigmatic spots, assigning her to the mundane task of re-analyzing decades-old Venus mission slides. Her routine work takes a shocking turn when she uncovers evidence of primitive life. Mitchell seizes the moment, announcing her discovery alongside a bold claim that Venus holds untapped mineral wealth. NASA denies his assertions, and public skepticism mounts. Undeterred, Victoria dreams of inspiring the next generation, sponsoring Taylor, a curious orphan, to witness an upcoming Venus probe launch. The launch ends in disaster when the probe’s signals are jammed by unknown, advanced technologies. As the mission is deemed a failure, Russia escalates tensions, allegedly retrieving a soil sample and declaring Venus its territory. Amid the chaos, Mitchell breaks through the jamming, revealing photographs hinting at ancient intelligent life on Venus. Victoria, risking her career, admits to secretly studying the white spots and discovering they emit mysterious signals. Instead of celebration, NASA imposes a gag order, silencing her findings. With public trust in Venus research eroded and Congress slashing funding, Victoria and Mitchell are left isolated. The intrigue deepens as a covert meeting of global industrialists aboard a Turkish naval vessel reveals a chilling truth: Venus once harbored intelligent life that destroyed itself through runaway CO2 emissions. Fearful of public backlash against their own fossil fuel industries, they conspire to suppress further research, manipulating key NASA officials. Mitchell, disillusioned, defects to Russia’s space program. The Venus project is officially shut down, but is secretly reopened in Kansas City with Victoria in charge. Her work is sabotaged to make her appear incompetent. She’s fired and with Mitchell’s and his Russian allies help, she embarks on a perilous journey to uncover the truth. When news breaks falsely claiming she’s responsible for a deadly bombing which destroyed the Kansas City labs, she becomes a fugitive. Victoria realizes the forces she’s up against will stop at nothing to bury Venus’s secrets—along with anyone who dares to expose them. In a web of deception, betrayal, and ambition, Victoria must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect humanity from repeating Venus’s mistakes, even as the truth could cost her everything.