Chapter Three: The First Reservation—One Billion Credits

The newly unlocked office contained only a desk, a chair, and a wide window facing Earth. On the desk lay a paper ledger. Four Chinese characters were embossed on its cover: EVERY GUEST HAS REGRETS. Chen Qiming's name had appeared on the first page, with a silver seal beside his checkout time. Ink slowly bled across the second page. RESERVED GUEST: GU CHENGJUN. IDENTITY: FOUNDER, CHENGJUN SHIPPING. OFFER: ONE BILLION CREDITS. SPECIAL REQUEST: BRING MY SON BACK TO LIFE. Old Chen leaned over and sucked in a breath. Gu Chengjun controlled nearly a third of all Earth-Moon freight and had not given a public interview in a decade. Three years earlier, his only son, Gu Yang, had crashed an experimental craft into the Pacific. No body had been found.