Story Shorts: The Last Stardust Harvester

The Last Stardust Harvester

Far beyond the Milky Way, on the edge of reality, a lone spaceship called "The Celestial Nomad" sails through cosmic seas. Its captain, Orion Vega, is the last of the Stardust Harvesters, a lineage of cosmic gardeners who harvest the remnants of dying stars to sow new celestial bodies.

Orion, a poet at heart, is on a mission to find the legendary Nebula's Cradle, a nebula rich with stardust capable of birthing not just stars, but life itself. The journey is solitary, and he keeps company with his thoughts, which are as expansive as the universe itself.

His quest takes a turn when he encounters Lyra, a sentient starbeam, a remnant of a supernova’s final breath. Together, they navigate through asteroid fields, dodge black holes, and surf on solar winds. As they near the Nebula's Cradle, they realize they are not alone; remnants of a forgotten cosmic civilization seek to claim the Cradle's power.

Orion and Lyra must outmaneuver these ancient entities and secure the cradle's stardust. In the process, they learn that creation and destruction are two halves of the same cycle, and Orion must decide the fate of the next universe he helps to birth.