Under a starry, moonless sky, Grace started toward Port Casper. She marveled at how similar the sights were to Cloister Eleven. Little had changed in a century, or two, or three. Grass whispered in the breeze, the mesas kept watch, and most of the land remained open, save for small towns. Cattle grazed on the hills and prairies, as they always had. The grass didn’t look as full as the turf on their family ranch, and the cattle were decidedly less robust, but it wasn’t so different outside cloister. Not here, anyway.
Yet Grace hasn't gone very far...
Grace felt numb, her thoughts wrenching from one image to the next. There was no logic, no direction. She was a marionette worked by grief. She stared at the frayed edge along the bottom of Kyran’s lab coat. He should repair that. She didn’t understand why he’d wear cheap fabric when mimic would be superior.
Read MoreJacob Rander opened his eyes at the sound of water. He felt the cool wall of the canyon on his back where he’d fallen asleep in the shade. He rose, rubble crackling beneath his feet, and hiked down the rocky slope toward a narrow river, flowing fast. More than once his boot slid, a spray of rocks preceding him, so he took a leisurely pace, checking his steps.
Read MoreGrace Donner pulls down the long spiral within the Bode-6 outpost on Ceres. Enjoy the music while Grace conducts a tracking exercise to see how well she can navigate low gravity.
Read MoreGrace's first glimpse of Ceres is aboard the belt cruiser Waltz. Plate and Taisia, two asteroid miners (called roiders) explain what she sees. Finally, Tim Trouncer explains how the outposts were constructed.
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