J Alan Veerkamp

Ansariland J Alan Veerkamp

Corporations control every sector of society from law enforcement to automated manufacturing. The economic and social divides are chasms.

Jobs are scarce for an undocumented slug like Arad Ansari, and life on Earth's Grey District A-5 colony is even harder. With no other options, he plies his youthful looks to hustle enough money to stay fed even without a roof over his head. So when Captain Torrins of the Midas Ascending offers him employment as his personal cabin boy, Arad takes the opportunity despite his reservations. Because what other choice does a desperate, poverty-stricken man with no prospects have?

When corporate military forces demand payment for Torrin's and the crew's sins, Arad is left alone and adrift in unknown space. After years of smothering on the crowded streets of Grey District, a ship of his own should be an unexpected windfall, but it doesn't take long to discover what-or rather, who-were originally being smuggled on board.

More than human, more than an animal, Roku is a blend of both, a marvel of genetics and highly illegal. His past is a mystery, even to himself, a story told only through his nightmares. Despite a dubious introduction, an unspoken bond forms between him and Arad while they try to repair the ship before supplies run dry or corporate forces track them down.

Time is not on their side.

Overcoming their pasts and learning to trust one another are the keys to Arad and Roku's survival, and they have to succeed to find their place together in the universe.