Book excerpt: The Red Planet is a harsh, often hostile frontier world on the edge of civilization where only the toughest, roughest and, more often than not, the meanest are able to carve some sort of life out of the barren wastes. MarsColony is a rough-and-tumble, no-holds-barred collection of small cities, enviro-domed mansions and mining towns where people play by their own set of rules. Murders, rapes, smuggling, theft and all forms of immoral behavior are the "norms." In short, anything and everything goes on MarsColony. It's up to Joe Harker and a handful of MarsCops to make sure that things don't slide too much farther into the abyss