Freight, Family, and Fire

For Danny Bartlett, an eight-year-old red fox who spends half of each year living on his family's freighter, it was just another stop at Mars to drop off and pick up freight.

But for the adults around Danny, survival as spacers, creatures who operated small freighters or otherwise worked in space, striving to do more than live upon the basics provided by the United Creatures, the society set up across the solar system after the fall of mankind, the rise of sentient creatures, and sentience wars, this was another day in the struggle to thrive rather than simply survive.

Note that while the primary protagonist is a child, this story has not been written explicitly for children, but for a general or adult audience. This story contains profanity and weapons, including the use of weapons, terrorism, mentions of gambling, substance use, and references to bodily functions. This story mentions miscarriage and child endangerment.