Reuben Quinlan

On the dying asteroid cooperative of Zhelezkova, heat is life, and vacuum is an absolute insulator. Levmir is a master brewer whose genetically engineered Spirka-yeast strains are the only biological engines converting raw slag into the edible calories that keep the miners alive. When a catastrophic radiator failure forces him into the sealed, irradiated upper strata of the asteroid to save his vats, he discovers that the station's founding wasn't an industrial miracle—it was a mass murder. The bodies of the first generation have been clogging the thermal vents for decades. Now, armed only with applied biology, thermodynamics, and the harsh pressure mechanics of his trade, Levmir must wage a shadow war against the cooperative's overseers. Every dropped degree and every vented pipe is a weapon in his fight to keep the truth from staying buried.

On the generation ship's lowest farming deck, the Bridge is a myth, the rations are short, and the blast doors are locked. Only Toralt, a veteran gatekeeper, knows the bypasses and hidden vents that weave through Sector Four's rusting hydroponic towers. When the deck's life-support cycle begins to drift toward terminal failure, an emissary from a higher, supposed allied tier arrives offering a vital filtration manifold. But their technical salvation masks a calculated quiet coup. As the stranger's private agenda threatens to paralyze the only habitable section left, Toralt must trade the safety of the shadows for a brutal mechanical insurgency, navigating broken pressure locks and cutthroat rationing factions before the air turns toxic for good.