Chicken Farm

A singular, single-minded asteroid surveyor named Harvey meets Anna, a woman at a Martian hotel, declares an abrupt romantic intention, and departs on a ten-month mission. He locates a tiny, frozen peripheral planet whose chemistry and orbit suggest it could be engineered to support life, even the poultry and agriculture Anna fondly mentions. Confronted with no atmosphere, negligible gravity, and the need for expensive infrastructure such as gravity lugs and thawing systems, he returns to Earth to arrange funding and transport. The narrative balances a brisk human encounter with practical, humorous plans for planetary colonization.