Marsbound

Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - they're going to Mars. Being picked from the lottery is considered an opportunity not to missed, even though Carmen isn't so sure she wants to bother with it anymore. After training for a year and preparing to leave on the six-month journey through space, she finds that the initial excitement has given way to nervous trepidation - and frustration.
Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against. Which leads her to venture out into the bleak Mars landscape alone one night, where a simple accident takes her to the edge of death - and she is saved by an angel.
An angel with too many arms and legs, a head that looks like a potato gone bad - and a message for the newly arrived human inhabitants of Mars: We were here first.