Chapter 1

I guess you could say I have an interesting job. At least, when people ask me what I do they say ‘Wow! That sounds really interesting, Jake.’ And parts of it are indeed very interesting, but a lot of it is sheer monotony like you wouldn’t believe (‘No way!’ people say. ‘I bet it is interesting really’). What do I do? I’m a planetary geologist. I go to faraway systems to investigate barren balls of rock to see if there’s anything worth taking. I have two degrees (a masters and a doctorate), I...