The Orpheus Logs
(Image Description: The image above is a book cover that uses a comic book style illustration showing a split scene. In the foreground, a person sits at a desk with a computer, appearing to be logging or writing something. Above them, against a star-filled black space background, an astronaut in a full spacesuit stands on what appears to be a reddish planet or moon surface, with a large celestial body (possibly an asteroid or planet) visible in the background. The art style uses a limited color palette with oranges and teals, giving it a retro sci-fi feel. The title is displayed in a futuristic font style against the starry background.)
The Orpheus Logs follows Ian Irwin, a disillusioned legal aide working in the basement offices of Celestial Ventures, as he reviews the final mission recordings of Victor Strahm, a freelance space surveyor who disappeared in the asteroid belt. What begins as a tedious assignment quickly evolves into something far more disturbing as Ian delves deeper into the logs.
Through Victor’s recordings, we experience both the mundane reality of solo space travel and its psychological toll. The story alternates between Victor’s increasingly unsettling experiences in deep space and Ian’s growing obsession with uncovering the truth about what happened to the Orpheus and its pilot.
As Ian races against a corporate deadline to complete his report, he begins to uncover troubling patterns that suggest Victor’s disappearance might be connected to something far more sinister than simple equipment failure or space madness. The investigation forces Ian to question not only what happened to Victor, but also his own role within the corporate machine that sent him out there.
The narrative explores themes of isolation, corporate responsibility, and the price of truth, all while building tension through the contrast between Ian’s sterile office environment and the vast, mysterious expanse of space where Victor met his fate.