On Silent Ground

On Silent Ground takes place in the 67th century and follows Jenart Bench, a posthuman Sycean Machine. In the fall of 6659, Jenart takes his son, Aleph, to shadow him at his job, as a superintendent of ship construction. Jenart hopes that Aleph might follow in his footsteps, but recognizes that his calling is being a pilot. Aleph strays away from Jenart to speak to a young cadet about being a pilot, drawing his father’s ire. But as Jenart begins to chastise his son, he is shocked as the station monitor announces that a heavily damaged ship has docked.

As time wears on, Jenart witnesses more and more ships coming into the dock with damage and missing crew. He knows that pushing Aleph away from his desire to be a pilot will damage him emotionally, similar to how Jenart’s father screwed him up. But he finds himself giving in to his fear, terrified of Aleph dying in service.