“My name is Rowany de Vere, and I’m with the Colonial Service.”
A graduate of the Crater School and of Oxford, Rowany has newly taken up service. As a spy. Her first mission requires her to escort a prominent defector, whose backstory encompasses both Russia and the opaque colony of Venus. Pursued by Russian agents intent on killing them both, she must see her charge safely across the hostile surface of Mars. Success will require every ounce of her wits and her training, but if she can’t outsmart strangers who know nothing of her people nor her land, she doesn’t deserve the title on her calling card: Rowany de Vere. Of the Colonial Office.
Chaz Brenchley’s acclaimed Crater School stories have been appearing since 2021. Essentially, the Crater School is an English girls’ boarding school but transported to the harsh environment of Mars. Former Head Girl Rowany de Vere is perhaps the school’s most renowned pupil; after graduating from Oxford, she has returned to make her home on the red planet, working for an unnamed department of the Colonial Service.
In this novella, we step beyond the Crater School, sharing in all the dangers and thrills of Rowany’s debut mission.