USS Second Dawn
Chapter 8 | USS Second Dawn: The Kamikaze
Darryl woke up with a start. For a second, he didn’t know where he was. The hum was different here than on the Silo. It was deeper, more mechanical. Then he remembered. The station. The Second Dawn. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and made his way to the control room. The corridors were ... Read more
Chapter 7 | USS Second Dawn: The Reunion
The shuttle ride was quiet. Darryl just stared out the small viewport, watching the Silo Endurance 15 get smaller and smaller. It looked like a tiny, forgotten piece of junk, floating in the void. He felt numb. John sat at the controls and, thankfully, let the silence hang. He didn’t ask questions. He just let ... Read more
Chapter 6 | USS Second Dawn: The Impossible Star
“Move it, John! You have to move faster!” Stephen Copley’s voice was a strained yell from the control room of the U.S. Space Station Majestic. “I’m pushing this shuttle to 100 percent!” John Zepeda’s voice crackled over the comms. “Any more and the engines will tear themselves apart!” “There’s damage to the Silo’s communications array,” ... Read more
Chapter 5 | USS Second Dawn: Mercy
Darryl stood up. His legs were stiff, his back aching from hours in the command chair. The silence in the bridge wasn’t just an absence of sound anymore. It was a presence. It was waiting for him. He had made the choice. The debate was over. It was the only option that wasn’t cruel. “Sentinel,” ... Read more
Chapter 4 | USS Second Dawn: The Decision
Time stopped making sense. Hours or maybe days bled together on the bridge. Darryl didn’t sleep. He didn’t eat. He just sat in the command chair, watching the dead world turn below. The sobs had dried up, leaving behind a hollowed-out ache that was somehow worse. He was an engineer, a man who solved problems. ... Read more
Chapter 3 | USS Second Dawn: The Last Messages
The silence on the bridge wasn’t just an absence of sound; it was a physical weight. Darryl sat in the command chair, the hiss of static his only reply. His broadcast had gone out into a void. It was all gone. Mars, the moon bases, Earth Command. But there was one last thing. The personal ... Read more
Chapter 2 | USS Second Dawn: The Great Silence
The journey to the bridge was a solitary trek through a ghost town in orbit. Darryl’s soft-soled boots whispered against the deck plating of the long, curving corridors. He passed the shadowed entrances to the communal mess hall, tables awaiting conversations yet to come; the silent training auditoriums, where they were all meant to learn ... Read more
Chapter 1 | USS Second Dawn: The Awakening
For twenty-two years, Silo Endurance 15 had drifted in silence, a massive ship in orbit around Earth. Now, the first signs of life were stirring inside. The vessel was just one in a large fleet, all part of a new kind of travel. Cryogenics had advanced to the point where people could book trips into ... Read more
Preface | USS Second Dawn
Dedication To my mother who taught me to dream and to my late father who taught me to never give up on life. A Note Before the Journey The story you are about to read began its life in a different form. Years ago, I wrote a short story that was complete in itself, covering ... Read more