Now six years later, Waterman gets to return to his beloved red planet, and to the mysterious dwelling in the Valles Marineris region.

However, the second voyage has sponsorship not from governments, but from corporations, most notably from millionaire Daryl Trumball, whose son is sent on the mission to make his father proud... and money.

Now, Jamie finds himself locked in a war between Trumball's wishes of exploiting the planet, his job as mission director, and his own desires to explore the cliff dwelling that could hold the key to discovering the planet's past inhabitants.

Publishers Weekly, in its 1999 review, wrote that Bova made the hard science aspects of this novel vivid and appealing.

His characters were "less enchanting and the inclusion of a saboteur seems like overkill, since the environment he describes more than capable of destroying anyone for simple carelessness.