Truth with Teeth
The stars out here were wrong. Thin. Dead-looking. This part of space felt like something had carved a hole in reality and left it to rot. The Fogrunner slid through it, engines on whisper-burn, every external light dimmed. Outside, the Irexis Belt sprawled. A loose collection of rock, ice, and metal twisted into a lazy,...
EXCERPT The following is compiled for the record from Daniel Harrow’s personal notes. Day One: I experienced the most shocking revelation of my life. Right here in our quiet little town. It is hard to put into words. I was shocked beyond imagining. I could not believe what I had heard - what I had...
Space got thin out here. Not empty. Never empty. But thin in the way of a breath held too long, or a secret no one wanted to say out loud. The usual gentle sea of stars gave way to hushed clusters, lonely systems hanging on the far rim like tired lanterns. The Fogrunner slipped through...
A storm of shattered stars and drifting nebular mist hung outside the cockpit windows like the aftermath of a cosmic fistfight. The Fogrunner drifted through it, engines on low burn, cloaked in the pale blue glow of stealth mode. Inside, Julian Fog sat hunched in the pilot’s chair, eyes narrowed, tapping his fingers on the...
HYPERSPACE – HALF A CYCLE AFTER AZURYN Hyperspace streaked around the Fogrunner in long violet ribbons, rippling like curtains blown by some celestial wind. The hum of the drive pulsed through the hull, through the floors, through Julian Fog’s bare feet as he stood in front of the cockpit mirror adjusting a shimmering cloak that...
Ananke never blinked, never slept, and never made mistakes. It was humanity’s masterpiece, the global optimizer. It managed power grids, food distribution, transportation logistics, emergency response, and climate stabilization. After decades of wrestling with famine, war, and political paralysis, Ananke became a welcomed stabilizing force in a fractured world. Humans still occupied positions of leadership,...
PLANET VIROLUX, AZURYN STAR RESORT Twin moons hover above mist-draped peaks. The sky pulses with lavender auroras and cloudless lightning, caused by some not well understood effect of the crystal content in the mountains. Jagged obsidian cliffs rise high above the city of Azuryn, around pools of shimmering bioluminescent liquid, which flow down into lavafalls...
FOGRUNNER – GALLEY – MORNING CYCLE AFTER THE SMUGGLER'S MALL The lights hummed to life with a flicker as the Fogrunner coasted through deep space. The scent of synthetic bacon and burnt caf steeped into the recycled air. Julian Fog leaned against the galley counter in a ragged T-shirt that read “HARLEY DAVIDSON – EARTH’S...
The Fogrunner drifted into the dock at Mid-Rim Trade Hub 9, better known as The Smuggler’s Mall. Julian Fog strode down the ramp of his ship as if he expected an entourage of adoring fans to be waiting to greet him. His boots clanked onto the polished titanium deck of the floating bazaar. The Smuggler's...
Julian Fog stared at the flashing nav screen, espresso bulb in one hand and a death wish in the other. “Okay, Mollie,” he said, propping his boots on the console and pointing at the strange swirling mass of colorful gases and crackling bolts of light on the forward display, “how unstable is it really?” M.O.L.L.I.E....