The Tingsted Cipher

A literary science-fiction thriller of first contact, survival, and an impossible connection to Earth's past.

After a disaster on Callisto, geologist Latimer Boreaux joins a deep-space expedition aboard the Amaterasu. Ahead lies a world stripped of water, its deserted cities waiting to be explored.

Tarika is on her final voyage as second in command before taking command herself. Already, she is questioning whether their commander's plans can get them home.

Something is moving unseen.

When the ship is destroyed, the survivors' search for water uncovers an alien script with an impossible connection to Earth's past. The machinery around them is waking. Their commander is losing control. And the discoveries that might keep them alive are becoming harder to trust.

Following the script draws Latimer toward Tingsted-a sacred place where memory is shaped into law. With supplies dwindling and his companions divided, he must act on what he can decipher, knowing that every instruction comes from a civilization whose intentions he cannot read.

The mystery reaches across centuries, from medieval England to the remains of an alien world. For Latimer, each new connection brings a more immediate problem: whom to believe, whose orders to follow, and which obligations he can afford to break. His companions need him to find a way forward, even when they cannot agree on what survival demands.

The Tingsted Cipher combines planetary exploration and historical mystery with the psychological pressures of isolation, uncertain command, and dependence on strangers. Written for adult readers of philosophical and character-driven science fiction, it explores cultural memory, the demands of duty and mercy, and the authority we give those we trust to keep us alive.