I’ve been going through OpenZFS Mastery but don’t feel like reading a chunk of it, so here’s a tidbit of a story I’m putting out this month.
The scarred, cratered rear end of the twenty-thousand-year-old wreck hung two meters below my feet like a giant platter dividing the cosmos, filling me with an astonishment even the best holograms couldn’t convey. From childhood I’d studied every accessible work on generation ships to feed my fascination. Reality exceeded them all. Overhead, the plush black sparseness of the Orion-Perseus Gap filled me with a whole different awe. Our ship, Recovery Interceptor Hoover, was invisible against that darkness. The glow from our support drone a few meters above only thickened the void. Stunned by the distance, by the generation ship, by the mere awareness of the engulfing universe, only the stink of my pressure suit kept me anchored to my duty.
When I took my adulthood allowance and purchased my ensign’s commission in the Gap Guard, Father had bought me the finest Gieves & Hawkes custom-tailored pressure suit, worthy of a gentleman and the sixty-seventh son of the Duke of Horsehead.
I freely admit that publishing short stories from my backlog is all about a quick dopamine hit. Sorry. Last month’s new stories, an Aidan Redding Montague Portal and a Rat’s Man’s Lackey, are in my store right now.
