Nearly two decades prior, generation ship Kap’s Needle left Earth to start a new colony on what was believed to be a life-sustaining planet. The mission came with promises of generational wealth, fame, and glory for all ninety thousand passengers aboard. But after arriving on what was to be their new home, those promises quickly evaporated. The mission had become a spectacular failure and the crew a maligned disgrace. Now, two years into an emergency trip back to Earth, the crew is struggling to keep it together. The ship's biospheres are failing, and its breathable oxygen supply is running out at an alarming rate. The declining O2 levels will not sustain all life on board for the four more years it will take to reach Earth. The once shining endeavor has become a deadly game of survival and a suffocating race against the clock.
Author
Renan Bernardo is a Nebula and Ignyte finalist author of science fiction and fantasy from Brazil. His short fiction appeared in Reactor/Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, and others. He writes from secondary world fantasy to dark science fiction, and he enjoys the intersection of climate narratives with science, technology, and the human relations inherent to it. His solarpunk/clifi short fiction collection, Different Kinds of Defiancé, was published in 2024. His dark space opera novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, was released in 2025.
