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Chapter 1
Error at Capacity
The docking ring shuddered beneath Dex Shepard’s boots as the Nexus Disc accepted its ninth ship.
Through the armored glass, the transport slid into its cradle, hull lights trembling across the black.
Nine vessels now occupied the Disc’s inner track. Each carried a hundred crew and passengers bound from Uthor IX to Sol HQ.
Dex’s transport waited outside the gate.
His running lights blinked in the old fleet code.
He was on the wrong side of the glass.
“Open the access lock,” he ordered.
The ring answered with a red pulse.
NEXUS DISC CAPACITY REACHED.
“Override.”
OVERRIDE DENIED.
Dex slammed his palm against the control plate. The surface was cold enough to burn.
Beyond it, the pressure door remained sealed—a narrow strip of glass between him and his crew.
“Command override,” he said. “Captain Shepard. Transport fleet authority.”
The system repeated itself.
Then the loudspeaker came alive.
“Error. Error. Nexus Disc at capacity.”
A pause.
“Error. Error. Nexus Disc malfunction.”
The flat synthetic voice struck harder than the alarm. It was too calm for the violence gathering behind the glass.
Dex keyed his transmission to the transport.
“Hold position. Nobody undocks. Do you hear me? Hold position.”
Static shredded the feed.
“Captain?” someone answered. One of his bridge officers, though interference broke the voice into fragments. “We’re locked in. The docking clamps—”
“Stay on emergency power. I’m getting back inside.”
“Captain, the ring says capacity—”
“I know what it says.”
Dex tore away from the console and ran.
The docking ring curved around the Nexus Disc like a metal rib. He sprinted past sealed service hatches and emergency cabinets, past painted evacuation arrows that had not been used in a century.
The floor flexed beneath him with every distant rotation.
Somewhere beyond the walls, gears the size of buildings were waking.
A second access point waited at the far end of the ring.
Dex struck the release.
Nothing happened.
He struck it again.
“Open!”
The door’s status strip flared amber, then red.
NEXUS DISC CAPACITY REACHED.
The alarm repeated overhead.
“Error. Error. Nexus Disc at capacity.”
Dex drew his sidearm and fired into the lock.
The shot cracked through the ring. The control plate burst apart, blue sparks scattering across his gloves. Smoke curled from the ruined panel.
The door stayed shut.
For one clean second, Dex heard only his breathing.
Then his ship called again.
“Captain, the Nexus Disc is initiating rotation.”
“No.”
Dex pressed his helmet comm to his mouth.
“Abort rotation. Manual release.”
“We can’t. All systems are locked.”
“Cut the clamps.”
“They’re fused.”
“Use the emergency cutters.”
“We’re trying.”
The Nexus Disc groaned.
The sound moved through the ring’s frame and into Dex’s bones. The floor tilted beneath him.
Far across the docking chamber, the nine ships began to move in perfect formation, their hulls gliding along the circular track.
Dex ran back to the observation glass.
His transport remained outside the sealed ring.
The Disc’s interior was vast and dark, a cylindrical chamber built to fold distance between Uthor IX and Sol. Its walls carried scars from the first malfunction—panels patched over older panels, repairs layered across decades of neglect.
A hundred years earlier, ships had entered and been torn apart when the mechanism spun beyond tolerance.
The company had called it an isolated systems failure.
Then it had left the Nexus Disc in service.
Dex had read the reports. The diagrams had never conveyed what it felt like.
Now he saw enough.
The ships accelerated.
Their running lights stretched into pale arcs. Cargo containers broke loose from a maintenance cradle and slammed against the inner wall. One transport lurched as its clamps released unevenly.
“Captain!” his first officer shouted through the comm. “We’re losing attitude control!”
“Brace—”
The alarm was still shrieking when Dex Shepard woke.
“Error. Error. Nexus Disc at capacity.”
He came upright beneath the narrow bunk, one hand searching for the sidearm that was no longer there. His fingers struck the cold wall instead.
The compartment smelled of recycled air and old metal. Sweat chilled beneath his collar.
“Error. Error—”
Dex slapped the alarm panel.
Silence arrived so suddenly that it felt like another warning.
For a moment, he remained crouched on the floor, listening to the ship breathe around him.
The display beside the bunk glowed green.
VESSEL STATUS: ZERO CREW STATUS: ZERO CARGO STATUS: OFFLINE
The words blurred.
His armada was gone.
His crew was gone.
Nothing remained but the alarm and the taste of metal in his mouth.
A sound tore out of him—small at first, then raw enough to hurt his throat.
Dex pressed both hands over his face as the tears came.
Outside the compartment, the training transport continued toward Sol.
End of chapter one. 14 more chapters and about 27,631 words in the full book.
Swipe or use the arrows to turn the page
What's inside: 15 chapters
- 1. Error at Capacity
- 2. One Year Later, Ordered Back
- 3. Luther Jeckle’s First Drill
- 4. The Alarm in Dex’s Sleep
- 5. Dex Confesses the Lockout
- 6. A Training Ship Loses Its Route
- 7. Carousel Practice Turns Violent
- 8. The Error Code Luther Finds
- 9. Dex Loses Control, Luther Leads
- 10. Signed Off, But Dex Breaks
- 11. Dex Drinks the Last Light
- 12. Uthor IX to Sol’s Carousel
- 13. Something’s Wrong Before Loading
- 14. The Error Voice Returns
- 15. Ghost Shames, Luther Shoots
About this book
"The Malfunction" is a fiction book by Aidan Navarro with 15 chapters and approximately 27,631 words. The docking ring shudders, the system goes red, and a captain realizes the ship carousel is not just malfunctioning, it is locking people out of their lives. Dex Shepard watches the Nexus Disc accept the last transport, hears the calm synthetic voice announce capacity reached, and then finds his access override denied.
This book was created using Inkfluence AI, an AI-powered book generation platform that helps authors write, design, and publish complete books. It was made with the AI Novel Writer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Malfunction" about?
The docking ring shudders, the system goes red, and a captain realizes the ship carousel is not just malfunctioning, it is locking people out of their lives. Dex Shepard watches the Nexus Disc accept the last transport, hears the calm synthetic voice announce capacity reached, and then finds his access override denied. Behind sealed glass, his crew answers through static while the ship carousel holds steady like a trap. A year later, Dex is ordered back into the same machinery, stripped and reassigned, with half a million passengers still trusting the fleet that left him behind. This time, the drill is called training. The countdown is not. Step into the malfunction that never ends.
How many chapters are in "The Malfunction"?
The book contains 15 chapters and approximately 27,631 words. Topics covered include Error at Capacity, One Year Later, Ordered Back, Luther Jeckle’s First Drill, The Alarm in Dex’s Sleep, and more.
Who wrote "The Malfunction"?
This book was written by Aidan Navarro and created using Inkfluence AI, an AI book generation platform that helps authors write, design, and publish books.
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