This is the first draft of the story. The edited and expanded final version is available free for KU subscribers and for sale on Kindle.

Planet Dirt: Remnant of an exile world, ground down by governmental and megacorp warring.The Accident a generation ago erased what its inhabitants had not already forgotten.Their brightest scientists vanished without a trace, leaving only the icy Wasteland.Carrick, a gangster, chooses Wasteland exile rather than betray the Family. Intelligent and loyal, he determines to bend the frontier's prisoners to his will.After all, when people won't choose what's best for themselves, they must be forced to choose.But the Wasteland conceals impossible scientific phenomena that force Carrick to realize how little he understands.And when an officer of humanity's ancient, starfaring empire crashes into the Wasteland's heart, he reveals Planet Dirt's coldest secret.The Accident was only the beginning of a bitter end.