Red Planet Run

Though her "prefab world" business is booming, Star Svendotter decides she needs to make a change, so she accepts a commission to explore Mars. But she gets more than she barbains for, including marauding space pirates and a mysterious obelisk that might explain why all previous missions to the red planet have never been heard from again.
“The hell it isn’t,” I snapped. “We’re not Thoreau, this isn’t Walden, and this shack’s going to cost us a tad more than twenty-eight dollars and twelve and a half cents. We’re eating a lot of the start-up costs as it is for promotional purposes, not to mention which there’s a clause in the contract that calls for a penalty for every day we run over the scheduled completion date. Terranova’s already screaming about the profit margin. Be reasonable. If we’re going to get paid on time, if we’re going to show an acceptable profit for the Terranovan gnomes, and if we’re going to have enough money in the bank to start work on World Two, we’ve got to deliver the product when we said we would.” I leaned forward, weight on the knuckles of my clenched fists, and said, “And we can’t do that if you keep putting waterfalls in the goddam river.”