Lyra's Silence - Rob Gullette - Bog

Wendy Nagumo beat all the odds to be the first woman to travel to Mars. Thirty years later, she's battling an enemy she can not overcome. Terminal cancer may be eating away at her body, but she's determined to make one last dangerous journey to the Moon to see her new granddaughter. For years, Tycho City and Clavius Station have sought independence from China through peaceful means, but when separatists blow a hole in the pressure dome that protects Tycho City, things get out of control. Wendy must elude the police, revolutionaries, and Chinese mafia if she's to make it out of Tycho City and get to Clavius Station in time to meet her granddaughter before the cancer takes its toll. With all shuttle flights in and out of Clavius shut down, the only way there is a treacherous overland route that passes through the badlands, a lawless region frequented by outlaws and thieves. Luckily, she meets Tom, an engaging Japanese-American with a heart of gold and a way of solving problems that's almost too good to be true.