Integral

Main Server Bank Command Level UNDFS Oculus Station Ceres November 2219 “Alright then,” the android said to the datamancer, “let’s talk.” Jacob Chryse’s mission completion bar ticked one step further at the android’s words, and chains of mission orders updated on his HUD. “The reshapers?” Jacob asked, quickly pulling up the rehearsed lines the data …

Pushing Salvation

Constellation Project Colony UNDSV 15-18 Jericho Ridge Hyperbolic Stellar Escape Trajectory 1.96 Light Years from Sol November 2219 The pickup truck tore down the interplate highway on one of the first warm days of spring in the colony. The thick coating of snow had finally broken up into a ragged patchwork of white and brown, …

Parallel Graves

Dirge Singer class Heavenly Container of Life i34_2015 Lament for Lost Worlds Hyperspatial Transit Trajectory Hyperspace October 2219 The great procession had begun the day after Jean’s discovery. The High Leader, whose name she’d learned was Hrathar, had sent her and Msipek back up to the ridge to collect the alien rucksack that also apparently …

Particle Tracks

Newton Class Starship MSCV Empiricist Hyperbolic Stellar Escape Trajectory 12 AUs from HD189245 October 2219 The Empiricist fell back into spacetime after forty-three days in warp. The technicolor warp tunnel vanished from the wallscreens to reveal a pale and troubled young sun wandering by itself in the dark vastness of space. The system was empty …

Missed Connections

Fabrique Intersolar Deep Space Station FI-ISCU Pioneer Elliptical Orbit 30,000 kilometers from Aldebaran b, Aldebaran October 2219 Kaito Pendragon was not happy. He paced the observation lounge with its long row of fake windows, watching the light of the Better Margins' departure as the little exploration ship performed its pre-warp burn. His wife was on that …

Pity for the Devil

The Allegra Bar and Grill Standrest Plaza Sacra Mensa, Martian Socialist Republic Mars September 2219 The datamancer was enjoying himself; at the rate Jacob Chryse was burning credits, the least he could do was enjoy himself. His partner for the evening, Tess, he thought her name was, was beautiful of course. And, the profile matching …

Depth of Field

Shinobi Network Systems Headquarters Building 8th Avenue and Lenora Street Seattle, Salish Sea Administrative Zone Earth September 2219 Dorian Valetti was, at age forty-eight, one of the youngest billionaires on Earth. His company, Shinobi Network Systems, was one of the fastest growing multinationals of the recent decades. They’d been sweeping through the fields of computer …

Availability Heuristics

Newton Class Starship MSCV Empiricist Circular Orbit 5 AUs from HR 7578 August 2219 “Exit burn complete,” Jimmy Alderson reported as the Empiricist’s main engines cut out. “Emmy, what’s it look like out there?” Ivy Czininski asked the shipboard AI. “No artificial objects have been detected on long range telescopes,” The ship told her. Ivy …

Posthuman

Fabrique Intersolar Deep Space Station FI-ISCU Pioneer Elliptical Orbit 30,000 kilometers from Aldebaran b, Aldebaran April 2219 Dianica Botheys awoke with a gasp, her consciousness rising groggily out of a painful sea of nonsensical dreams. She could feel nothing from her body but the static-y sensation of pins and needles, and her vision blurred in …

Zugzwang

Pyramid Station AEGIS Orbital Cluster II Geostationary Orbit 35,786 kilometers from Earth July 2219 Bartholomew Morrow was not an easily disturbed man. He’d fought in the joint Martian-UN expeditionary force that liberated Alpha Centauri. He’d tracked down and brought in some of the most dangerous and violent criminals in the system. He’d seen death, he’d …