Draft 2 Day 11: Science Lab The Science Lab was the only civilized room on the entire ship. While the rest of the Persephone was a claustrophobic maze of exposed piping, flickering lumen-strips, and the perpetual hum of the slip-space drive, Claude Kinskey’s lab was pristine. The walls were a sterile white, and the air…

Draft 2 Day 6, Transit to Charon Outpost, Med-Bay The Med-Bay was a sterile white sanctuary compared to the rest of the gritty bio-hauler. Helen lay on the examination table, while Unit Seven hovered around, scanning the medical equipment with suspicious intensity. Janet, dressed in blue scrubs, stood at the console, tapping commands into her…

Draft 2 Day 1, Transit to Charon Outpost “Engaging main thrusters.” John moved his hands over the primary flight console. “Gyros stabilizing,” Ingrid said. Helen braced herself in her seat at the engineering station. She watched her monitor as the Persephone’s faster-than-light slip-drive spooled up. She felt the floorboards vibrate as the thrusters fired, pushing…

Draft 2 Day 1, Docked at Luna Hub Helen loved Cargo Bay 4. The massive bio-dome was just like Omni-Corp’s brochures, complete with primordial terra-loam, rows of bio-stasis pods, and dormant terraforming kits, all waiting to be dropped onto the barren surface of the distant mining world on the edge of explored space, Colony Outpost…

Draft 2 Day 1, Docked at Luna Hub, Moon Orbit Inside the engineering workshop of the USCSS Persephone, Helen Mitchell hunched over her workbench with a micro-soldering iron in her hand. “Madam, if you fuse that processor bridge with a tremor like that, my cognitive functions will be reduced to that of a standard toaster,”…