Sometimes, when a gadget ceases to function correctly, your only recourse is to switch it off and back on again. But what happens when that ‘gadget’ happens to be an intergalatic ship, an ark no less? And when the starship is switched off, what happens to the humans on board who depend symbiotically on the ship through their implanted bio-electronic enhancements?

This is the story of Joe Doulton and his crew when his ship is attacked at the lowest levels by a strange, advanced race on which he has no data. It is a study of how humans learn to be human again, and of how the human spirit shines through adversity.

This is a book published online in serial installments. The completed work shall consist of approximately thirty chapters each containing 5,000 words (give or take a thousand or two). No more than four of these chapters will require payment of around £4/€5/$6 before they can be read; the rest may be freely downloaded once the preceding waypoint chapters have been unlocked.

The intention is to release a new chapter every month. Try not to be too disappointed if some chapters take longer! You can register your e-mail address to stay informed when new installments become available (you will need to do this to read through the pay chapters).

Part I

1. Contact Exercise 6390
2. Conference 5673
3. The Programmersʼ Lair 3906

ActivityPub is not currently integrated into this system, so discussion of this book is happening on Mastodon. If you donʼt have an account yet, go to any Mastodon server and set yourself up. Then search for either the user @broken_spark@cyberplace.social or the hashtag #brokenspark.