the journey of the ceres
A world died, a long time ago.
Those that now live in the spaces left behind were not around to witness that ending; great and terrible, or small and sad as it was.
On the space stations created before the catastrophe, factions vie for control over the limitless. On the husks of planets- used up and abandoned- machines continue to work without masters, while the Edge-Worlders who eek out their living become more and more isolated from their siblings in space.
The Ceres was Valentine's reprieve from the Order of the Seventh Sun, the convent which took his mother in during a plague which ravaged the Space Station she was from. They were not cruel, but they were not forgiving, and further, there was no place among them for a boy who could not sit still during Mass.
The Ceres was one of the half-functioning ships they had left from the exodus from the near-by station. The nuns, with no use for ships, repurposed most for repairs of their grand cathedral, but they allowed him use of their scrapyards. It kept him out of trouble, at least.
As he had always dreamed when he was little, The Ceres proved his escape.
Out there, somewhere, there must be a place where he can find happiness; where he can find freedom.