The Five Hells of Orion

A spaceship navigator suddenly awakens in a dark, unfamiliar chamber filled with misplaced domestic and technical objects, unable to see his own body or raise his ship. He draws the attention of a nonhuman watcher whose odd physiology and perspective lead to a cautious alliance as both confront bewildering changes. An entity tied to the navigator grows to encompass vast portions of the Orion Nebula, gaining a perception of slow cosmic flows, ion interactions, and vastly different temporal scales. The tale examines altered identity and cognition as human and alien minds meet and adapt to expansion far beyond ordinary bodily and temporal limits.