The Transformative Ethic
By Doug Franklin
Art by David Cherry
Ian Morley is on a path to revolutionize life in the Belt, where humans and the lifeforms they depend on struggle with the effects of radiation and microgravity. But crafting retroviruses that can dynamically reengineer living organisms to thrive in the harsh environment of space is not the kind of thing you do on a bustling asteroid like Pallas, and running a lab on a remote asteroid isn’t cheap. So when Pallas Industrial Complex sends Madori Beecher to see how Morley’s research is going, his life’s work hangs in the balance. All he needs to do is pull off one successful demo of what his virus can do, and his contract will be renewed. But in the hypercapitalistic universe of “The Transformative Ethic,” Morley’s contract with Pallas is not all that is at risk…
Gray Lies
By Doug Franklin
Art by Charles Lang
After Earth’s ecosystem collapse, Captain Tacoma Washington gave up everything he cared about – his wife and his son – for the sake of commanding the first manned interstellar flight. But his past catches up with him when a renegade Bussard ramjet overtakes his torchship en route to Alpha Centauri. His first instinct is to destroy the ramjet, as it appears to be a self-replicating von Neumann probe. But then he discovers his son is onboard. Or is he just a virtual echo? With the clock ticking down to intercept, it is a race to discover the truth.
Newport's World
By Doug Franklin
Art by Alan Gutierrez
Asteroid mining is a rough-and-tumble business, but when Blue Herron signs on to Buck-Dancer’s Choice he does not expect anything more than the usual hazing of a new crew member. Then they anchor down by an old shipwreck on Newport’s World, hoping to salvage the uranium in its reactor, and realize they have become part of an exotic food chain.
If I Should Die Before I Wake
By Doug Franklin
Art by Alan Gutierrez
Amelia’s scout ship can travel faster than light, but communications are still limited by lightspeed. It will be almost fifty years before her and Fred’s distress call reaches home. In the meantime they are marooned on a primitive ocean planet with a couple months of food. So the question is what’s more important: living as long as possible, or making sure the memories stored in her implant can be recovered when rescue finally arrives?