Tharsis City on Mars needs to refuel its aging power reactors to keep the farms providing food and oxygen. Chris Lafontaine, bored and ready for an adventure, agrees to lead an expedition to Mars’ North Polar Basin to prospect for thorium.

Leading a motley crew in a convoy of vacuum tractors, he expects trouble from the hostile Martian environment. He does not foresee three armed tractors from the Chinese Martian research station waiting for him in Chryse Planitia.

The leader of the force tells Chris that the People’s Republic has designated all mineral resources in the northern plains as a strategic resource. He demands that Chris and his team leave. Chris refuses, and his crew begins the search for thorium. The Chinese tractors interfere, and things spin out of control.

Once the shooting starts, Chris will need all his ingenuity to evade capture, complete his mission, and bring his fellow adventurers back to Tharsis alive, all without starting an interplanetary war.