内容简介：
By 2160, humans have lived through devastating catastrophes, and then slowly recovered from the threat of annihilation by their own hands. To relieve constant population problems, humans have colonized the Moon, Mars, Europa, and Ganymede with little relief. It has become painfully obvious that humans have outgrown their humble home.As raw resources and the ability to produce food are quickly being depleted, human need continues to grow. Earth is once again faced with the overwhelming population pressures that catapulted mankind into devastating wars over food. With new technological advancements, mankind can now look to the stars for new planets. The Galactic Exploration Project has sent ships to explore other star systems in search of new worlds for humans to colonize.Banid is the first Earth-like planet humans discovered, it has all the right conditions needed for humans to survive. The Banid Colonization Project has spent ten years preparing Banid for human colonization. The Project is looking for a limited number of people to immigrate to Banid. Rather than overwhelm the planet, colonization will be done in stages. The first colonization ship will leave from Earth in January 2161 and the second ship will leave from Mars in March. Each ship will have a maximum of three thousand people willing to brave the rigors of trying to colonize a new world.David Coleman is a geologist working for Consolidated System Mining Corporation of Mars. He is the twenty-two-year-old junior science officer on a mining survey ship. The company sends survey ships out for months at a time to scout the solar system for likely ore sites for the company to mine. Having any kind of a personal life is almostimpossible. The attraction of a whole new planet and solar system to explore is just the kind of change David is looking for in what has become a stagnant life.Arianna Walters, is a twenty-one-year-old financial advisor for Fidelity Trust of Mars. Sitting at a desk re