Gear Engages

It takes more than a single terraformer to start a new world.

The human colony on the lost world of Not What We Were Looking For faces fracture and schism. On one side of the river, the settlers from Earth remember what it means to live in a free society. In the Marss-controlled city, the governor cancelled elections long ago and strives daily to cement his grip on the inhabitants.

Thaddeus Dawe and the Hudson cousins, including the one who agreed to marry him, save the colony's last terraseeder from the governor's political grandstanding, and head for the secret northern enclave started by Thaddeus' brother. But all Thaddeus' careful planning takes a wrenching turn when not one but two parties race in pursuit.

Thwarted in his original goal, faced with repairing the consequences of what he does to escape arrest, and besotted by the discovery of newspapers, Thaddeus wrestles with new ventures and roles in which he dare not fail. He must save not only Earth's microbial legacy but its knowledge base as well. Not to mention, he's getting married.

But when the governor's chief of staff decides to weaponize Thaddeus against both the city's farmers and the newspaper's publisher, Thaddeus must fight the governor's attempts to steal the farmers' land even as someone destroys everything Thaddeus himself tries to build. In the end, he must do what he can to save those his own betrayal put at risk.

Picking up where Under the Earthline left off, The Gear Engages is the fourth book in the gripping science fiction colonization series Martha's Sons. If you like action, political machinations, and a driven hero, you'll want to dive in heart-and-head first.

Pick it up now to join the fight for a lost world!