Society considers his friends no more than machines born instead of built, engineered creatures lesser than their terrestrial inspirations. He never wanted to lead, but they named him “CAPTAIN.” He shields them from cruelty, and in a hundred years, they haven’t seen his loving words falter.
Displaced anger at the planets abroad brings those evils into his home. He threatens to sell off the violent BALEN. Some counsel The Captain. Some want Balen gone. Anger from each hides the other’s attempts at reconciliation. No one knows how to pull back these masks of anger to fix deep fears.
In an indirect bid for help, The Captain turns to CINNA, Balen’s victim. It only compounds his shame, pushing the real pain deeper. He retreats further from those capable of helping. Already struggling in her own mind, Cinna seeks the kindness she’s experienced aboard. A buyer demands Balen, and with it the soul of the ship.
AGAPE is a standalone biopunk social-scifi, complete at 82,000 words with series potential. A Becky Chambers-esque found-family faces the corporate and genetic engineering hellscapes of The Terraformers and Dogs of War, with the psychological exploration of Planetfall.
"I’d rather keep this ship together long enough for you to learn that you’re okay here."
— Cinna