Lie on the Beam

A thin veil of mist clings to the towering apartments of Venus, where the air is heavy with humidity and the landscape is a constant battle against corrosive clouds. Frederic Ward, a grizzled astronaut with a habit of grumbling, awakens from a nightmarish dream of crashing into the planet’s turbulent atmosphere. Still coughing the thick, alien air, he scrambles to seal a leaking window and brace himself for the day’s briefing.

The colony’s control hub buzzes with urgent messages: a trajectory beam has failed, and two unlisted ships are hurtling toward the settlement—one from Mars, the other from Earth. Ward’s superior, Wagner, is incapacitated, leaving the crew to coordinate a precarious rescue while contending with bureaucratic infighting and the ever‑present threat of Venus’s hostile environment. As the clock ticks, the engineers must decide whether to risk the fragile signal that could save the incoming vessels—or watch them burn up in the sun’s unforgiving glare.