Aster lives in the shadows of the HSS Matilda, a generation ship where life is carved along brutal lines of race and class. Called a freak and an ogre, she shrugs off the names but longs for the power to shatter the walls of her world.
The Matilda is humanity’s ark, but its order mirrors the antebellum South. Dark-skinned sharecroppers toil in misery, overseen by a ruling class who preach morality while enforcing cruelty. Aster’s grudge against a sadistic overseer sparks something larger when she uncovers a path that could tip the balance of power.
To seize it means risking everything: her life, her people’s fragile survival, and a ship locked on course toward a mythical Promised Land. Change is possible—but only through fire.
