Ice Planet

Aboard a sleek interstellar liner bound for the icy outskirts of Neptune, veteran telenews correspondent Bill Ricker settles into his red‑leather chair, ready to turn a routine transport into a story. The cabin is a motley crew: a grizzled old hand, a gaunt Martian, a rotund man handcuffed to a striking Venusian woman whose reputation precedes her. As the ship skims the planet’s ghostly green glow, Ricker senses the tension of a captive passenger and the weight of a looming headline.

The prisoner, Molly Borden, is infamous for killing the legendary engineer Benjamin Adison and for allegedly destroying his planet‑warming plans—technology that could melt an entire world. Ricker, always hunting a scoop, wonders whether the ashes of the schematics truly vanished or are being smuggled elsewhere, a question that could redraw power across the solar system. With a pistol suddenly aimed at the aisle and a mysterious Martian stepping forward, the voyage quickly tilts from reportage to survival.