Beyond the End of the World, Lokians 1

he product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

from th

ad compiled the stories into a novel and started shopping for literary agents. None were intereste

ists, and they were unable to provide what I wanted, but we settled on some garbage cover with a praying mantis on top of a planet, before a space backdrop, with a ship, that if you looked closely, was Photoshopped so poorly, the stars from the space backdrop were actually visib

letters, spaces removed from between other words, the wrong punctuation, half of pages blank, and shifts in the orientation. I simply jotted down everything I saw, tried to fix it, and sent it

ney on my work, but contracts are contracts, and there was nothing to be done. Unfortunately, though I hated selling my work at such a high price, I still needed to find readers, so I did my best to advertise, to try and land some reviews by way of free giveaways, raffles, contests, whatever, and for the most part, everyone enjoyed the story, but there was

u Beyond the End of the World as it was meant to be, and by way of an apology to those who

ol

hic minds pondered such implications, giving rise to questions with no answer. Who are we? Why ar

was sufficient to advance man's knowledge of space; no more flights to the moon were needed, probes were built to reach other planets, yet a qu

the ISS, building materials, and there, the engineers constructed new probes. Launching them from beyond Earth's g

me to obtain great findings. Less than a year into the program, the probes detected abundant deposits of precious minerals in asteroids both inside and outside the

zation with little cost or effort, however, there was always the obstacle of time. A journey from Earth to the closest sites meant decades of

A move to a colonial life in space was practically permanent, and traveling for years only to live in the desolation of

'Hara to lead a team of scientists and engineers aboard the Phoenix, a vessel orbiting a planet called Eon. The new ship and the new crew were set

pte

cluded O'Hara. There were also ten scientists aboard the Phoenix-a mixture of geologists, engineers, climatologists, and biologists-and ad

big break, Captain,

g, blonde hair, and glimmering, green eyes. O'Hara smiled back, looking

lieve Admiral Lay put me in charge instead of Rear Admi

four, and though he lacked real, world experience, his intel

ng Lay with the next

t...we're really do

they think were ready t

d to determine the cause of

working

posit, but there's always the risk of radiation. There's

System, or AMS as it was commonly known, stated in a robotic voic

chair, Miss Day,

were enrolled in military schools, receiving the best of education. Once they excelled in a certain area, they were trained specifically for that fie

the burgundy, carpeted floor. From the suede chair, Day checked the screens mounted in

essel's six, but the bridge officers marveled at the beauty of the purple and green sphere on display. Day smiled to herself before brushing a

and about three miles away from a dig site. Any closer and the ship ran the risk of damage by magnetic interference, the same interference Swain was

, it was the first time his feet were to grace genuine soil, and that was something he wanted to enjoy to its fullest. He and

and gray Navy uniform. He folded it nea

, " Swain grinned

ke a bear, struggled to buckle the straps in place, pulling laughter from his friends. Fortunately for the

e to your waist, pops,

a chuckled. "You only we

made many of the modifications on current, exploration technology. It was his expertise that captured aerial photographs of the dig site. At closest range he snapped pics two miles

th his tactical armor in tow and promptly sat on the john. The bright, white light m

s I put this suit on, you're going