Heir Apparent

The rain‑spattered crowd watches a bronze casket slip from the shuttle, a silent tribute to a pioneer whose final mission ended in tragedy. The mourners’ tears blend with the storm, and the empty space where his courage once lived feels like a void waiting to be filled. In a world where the government is racing to triple its fleet, the cost of reaching the stars is measured in lives left behind. The funeral hints at a larger, unsettling question: what does it take to survive alone among the cold void?

Ben, a weary hospital intern, returns home to find his friends Bart and Marny buzzing with news—Dillon’s new engineering competition promises a seat on the next generation of interplanetary vessels. The tests are meant to weed out the fragile, selecting only those with flawless skill and nerve after earlier crews fell apart in orbit. As Ben weighs the lure of adventure against the steady pull of his own relationships, he begins to wonder whether a lover’s devotion can keep a man grounded, even as humanity reaches for the heavens.