Shaper / Mechanist Stories: Sunken Gardens Summary

Mirasol is one of the Patternists who have been assigned to the redemption camp in northern Syrtis Major on Mars. Advancing dunes bury it repeatedly and surface winds of two hundred miles an hour are commonplace. She is guided by the Regals, who occupy one of the orbiting city-states called Terraform-Kluster, which is a nexus of monitor satellites. She is under close surveillance at all times. A Ladder connects the Terraform-Kluster to the surface. The surface of Mars has been bombarded with large chunks of asteroid ice for a hundred years now, tearing large craters into the surface of the planet. It was a massive undertaking that gave the Regals enormous power.

The Martian surface is a collection of factions, and a contest is held to win the right to ascend the Ladder and live...