A Madman on Board

Dave Conroy awakens chained aboard a massive orbital wheel, the Earth a glittering sphere behind a plexiplast dome. He discovers he’s been conscripted—against his will—into the grim “jetroom” of a satellite where men are forced to feed radioactive material into a converter, a job that will erode their bodies in a year. The harsh, claustrophobic environment and the gaunt, irradiated veterans who already labor there set a stark tone of desperation and survival.

As Conroy grapples with the reality of his forced sentence, he recalls the night he was lured away by recruiters while drunk, a decision that now seems fatal. The story follows his struggle to retain his humanity and find any chance of escape before the relentless radiation begins to claim him. It’s a tense, atmospheric tale of a man confronting an unforgiving future in the cold vacuum of space.