empiresofwater

In the distant future, Earth's resources have been plundered and deep-space oil haulers have become the backbone of the solar system's many stations. Henry Starbuck is the first mate onboard such a vessel, the Pequod. He only wants to finish the season and return home to his husband and son. But the captain of the Pequod, Ahab, is a man obsessed with hunting down the vessel which took so much from him. There are legends of his quarry, Moby-Dick: talk from spacefaring astronauts that the ship, shaped like the extinct whales of old, is no longer crewed and is run entirely off a rogue AI programme. Many lives have been lost to it.Starbuck has to confront the terror of space and the awful mania of his captain, all the while dealing with a past which will never leave him alone. He wishes desperately to do what is right. The farthest galaxies are heartless, but no more cruel than the horror that exists inside man.[a sci fi adaptation novella of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick - but no previous knowledge of the book is required][Updates every Friday from 20/09]…

empiresofwater

2100. A mysterious ship, nicknamed the Chimera, appears in Martian airspace. It bears the symbol of the international space agency, the BASE, but there is no record of such a vessel. Word and rumour quickly spread.BASE investigator Leanne Ziegler is sent to inspect the ship and make contact with its crew. But the Chimera seems completely deserted, other than the imperious AI caretaker, Valkyrie. Down in the fledging Nerio colony on Mars, suspicion grows. The colonists are already turning against the ways of the BASE, creating their own Martian identity. This potential security threat could prove to be the final rift between Earth and Mars. Trying to keep control of the political situation, Nerio sends a mysterious and cold liaison, Ryan, to aid Leanne.But, in ten days, Mars will turn her guns on the Chimera. Leanne and Ryan must work quickly to discover the secret of the ship - and decide whether its fate under the Martian guns is deserved.[ONC 2024 entry]…