SERIAL NOVEL
Sidereal Dawn, Ch. 1
Mote of Dust
Earth lingered against the backdrop of cosmic pixels, dead and alive. Jaxen floated in the corridor, his gaze caught by the blue sphere. The world almost seemed tranquil through four-hundred thousand kilometres of vacuum.
He sensed someone approaching. Daemian.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
The thought reached Jaxen but he didn’t respond. His eyes were still captured in tidal lock with Earth.
Daemian tried again. Come on, let’s get going. Or are you too busy daydreaming of going home?
What does that even mean? Jaxen thought back instantly.
I dunno. Doesn’t everyone think about it? Maybe living down there eventually. Go back to the way things —
No. Jaxen swung out his arm, causing his body to rotate in the microgravity to face Daemian. “Home? We’re not from there. We’re not like them. They’d all be happy if the atmosphere in this tube vented into space.”
Jaxen stopped moving but the tails of his bridge coat took on a life of their own, continuing to swirl in the recirculating air.
“Maybe,” Daemian said with a laugh. “But you can’t be telling me that you don’t identify even a bit with that.” He pointed toward Earth. Sunlight…
