A Sky of Engines

The reek of rocket fuel, the rivets of the hull, the rumble of ignition: These are the things that Murton Klapp lives for-beacons on the path to his dream of leaving his world, Arth, for the lush frontier planet of Esperella. Life in the spaceport city of Gateway is loud, crowded, and shrouded in smoke, and after decades of struggling to keep his rocket business airborne, Murt is at the end of his fuse. And Esperella is still thirty million miles away. Ship after ship leaves Arth, and Murt remains grounded, trudging home to a crummy apartment, where he can't face his wife or son without argument. How will he reach the new world when he can't even afford a bus ticket? And how can he be the intrepid starship captain when his own son won't look him in the eye? Murt has no idea that in a world brimming with more likely candidates, it is he who is destined to make first contact. And when it happens, he must make an impossible choice to not only survive the encounter, but be worthy of it.