Starbound: A Trilogy of Faith

A Christian science-fiction novel in seventy-five chapters

A Christian science-fiction epic set nearly five hundred years from now, told in rotating first-person voices. A man wakes from centuries of hibernation into a broken world, and God sends him and the family gathered around him to carry the gospel from Earth to the far edges of the galaxy.

The story is told in rotating first-person voices across four arcs. Every chapter below stands on its own page and reads in order from the top.

Foundation Arc (Chapters 1-16)

Chapter 1 — Awakening Matthew wakes aboard the Enterprise after nearly five hundred years of hibernation, and the AI who kept watch over him finally meets him face to face.
Chapter 2 — Resurrection Eight buried brain cores are pulled from the scrapyard and given new bodies, and four million sleepers on Mars are brought back to life.
Chapter 3 — The Queen The eight women wake human again, Jesus grants them gifts they never asked for, and Queen Esther takes her throne on Earth.
Chapter 4 — The Prophecy A prophecy five centuries old is finally spoken aloud, and it names shepherds who have not yet arrived.
Chapter 5 — The Wedding Nine women and one man marry in a single ceremony, founding a household that will carry a mission across the galaxy.
Chapter 6 — The Binding and Gifts Unveiled A supernatural binding joins ten hearts into one, and the first gifts begin to show what this family was made for.
Chapter 7 — Gifts Unveiled The wives learn what their gifts can really do, and the first enemy fleet arrives to test them.
Chapter 8 — Amy’s Soul Amy asks God for the one thing an artificial intelligence cannot build for herself, and her last signal leaves something behind.
Chapter 9 — The Tenth Wife and The Storm Gathers Amy learns what it means to be human and becomes the tenth wife, while a far darker storm builds above Zalem.
Chapter 10 — The Battle of Zalem The Battle of Zalem costs Matthew everything, and rescue arrives minutes too late.
Chapter 11 — The Long Year A year of captivity on a Nephilim world tests whether faith can survive when God seems silent.
Chapter 12 — The Escape An enemy commander asks the prisoners about a dream he had of Jesus, and everything begins to turn.
Chapter 13 — The Rescue Rescue finally comes for the prisoners, and an unlikely ally stands between the women and their executioners.
Chapter 14 — Before the Storm In the quiet before the last confrontation, Matt and Cindy build a marriage in the middle of a war.
Chapter 15 — The Sacrifice Matt bends time itself to undo the Battle of Zalem, and it very nearly kills him.
Chapter 16 — The Telling The family learns what really happened during the year that never was, and Matt takes his place among the living shepherds.

Shepherd Arc (Chapters 17-28)

Chapter 17 — Worlds of Faith and Fear Two planets, two receptions: one welcomes the gospel with open arms, the other opens fire.
Chapter 18 — The Shepherds’ Shield A diplomatic meeting turns into an ambush, and the council discovers the cost of standing between the weak and the armed.
Chapter 19 — The Lone Shepherd David steps out of a rift and out of the prophecy, and eight years of loneliness end in a single conversation.
Chapter 20 — The Bound Three women arrive guided by visions, and David learns the binding was never meant for one man alone.
Chapter 20A — The Shepherd’s Craft A rift that hums with technology as well as glory opens aboard the Enterprise, and Jonathan and Leah step through.
Chapter 21 — The Shepherd’s Teaching David drives both councils through hard training, and four shepherds pray together for the first time.
Chapter 21A — The Shepherd of Time A sparring accident leaves Matt dying, and a shepherd nobody expected arrives with five minutes to spare.
Chapter 21B — The Battle of the Rift Eighty warships pour through a rift exactly where Mark said they would, and Stephen finally comes home.
Chapter 22 — The Missionary’s Heart Mark and Felicity marry and leave for Kethara, carrying the gospel to the Nephilim who walked away from the slaughter.
Chapter 23 — The Word and the Sword Stephen names the enemy at last, and eight years of solitary war are laid open before the councils.
Chapter 24 — The Council United Three councils learn to move as one army instead of three households.
Chapter 24A — The Shepherd’s Shadow Something is wrong with Matthew, and Alita knows it before anyone else does.
Chapter 24B — The Shepherd’s Judge John's ship is the most advanced thing any of them have boarded, and his gift is the hardest one to receive.
Chapter 25 — Bonds of Fire Combined training pushes every council past its limits, and Paul appears where he cannot possibly be.
Chapter 26 — The Healer’s Burden Julia walks among millions of freed humans and learns what it costs to carry other people's pain.
Chapter 27 — Songs and Swords Ordinary days aboard the Enterprise: meals, music, marriage, and a fourth council joining the table.
Chapter 28 — The Gathering Storm The households are happy, the galaxy is quiet, and something enormous is already moving.

Mission Arc (Chapters 29-53C)

Chapter 29 — The Unworthy A trusted man from Queen Esther's guard asks to meet Matthew, convinced he is unworthy of anything God might offer.
Chapter 30 — The Heart Revealed Samson's past comes out at last, and the council learns what he has been carrying alone.
Chapter 31 — The Rift Between Worlds A second Enterprise comes through the rift, crewed by the people they might have become.
Chapter 32 — Legacy of Another World The alternate council trains them in everything it cost a broken world to learn.
Chapter 33 — The Forgiven Eleven ships arrive out of nowhere, and the truth about where Amy came from is finally told.
Chapter 34 — War Against the Nephilim — Part 1 The full war begins, and four councils go into it together for the first time.
Chapter 35 — War Against the Nephilim — Part 2 The ground war rages across five hidden worlds, and the cost lands on people rather than numbers.
Chapter 36 — Liberation The shooting stops and the harder work begins: rebuilding worlds and governments out of the ruins.
Chapter 37 — The Last Reckoning Timothy learns why God gave him gifts that work best where no living person can follow.
Chapter 38 — Adam’s Heart An artificial intelligence aches for something no diagnostic can name, and the first Matthew is found.
Chapter 39 — The Hidden Three Samson reveals a secret he assumed everyone already knew, and three more lives are waiting beneath the ruins.
Chapter 40 — The Shepherd’s Shepherd Elder Matthew teaches the shepherds what five centuries of faithfulness look like, then goes where they cannot follow.
Chapter 41 — The Evil Kingdoms Four evil kings, one planet, and intelligence good enough to make the councils overconfident.
Chapter 42 — The Wounded Shepherd Stephen's nightmares reach his wives through the binding, and the strongest man in the room admits he is not fine.
Chapter 43 — Emily’s Shield Eighty million people live under an ancient curse of fear, and Emily is the one God sends against it.
Chapter 44 — Tiffany’s Bridge Fourteen island civilizations separated by two thousand miles of ocean, and one woman who can open a door between them.
Chapter 45 — The Forgotten Children The enforcers of the Nephilim ask for asylum, and the councils must decide whether even they can be saved.
Chapter 46 — The Shepherd of the Shepherds Something shimmers in the hallway in the middle of the night, and Amy is the only one awake to see it.
Chapter 47 — The Shepherd’s Family Alita's life before Matthew is finally seen by everyone who loves her, and the past returns in a way no one predicted.
Chapter 48 — Julia’s Eyes Millions live divided between freedom and a cult that worships the Watchers, and one healer can see exactly what holds them.
Chapter 49 — The Children’s Garden Eight hundred children with abilities they cannot control are quarantined and feared, and the councils go in anyway.
Chapter 50 — Brothers in Arms The last organized garrison in the galaxy digs in, and the eight shepherds go in together.
Chapter 51 — The Word and the Sword The slow, unglamorous work of helping a liberated world govern itself, carried by Stephen's wives.
Chapter 51A — The Angel of Death Twenty-eight people walk into a diplomatic invitation that was always a trap, and the Angel of Death comes for the men who set it.
Chapter 51B — The Angel Becomes The Guardian Jesus commissions Luke to a new mission: no longer judgment, but the protection of everyone the councils are trying to save.
Chapter 51C — The Guardian’s Heart Six years of solitary command meet the noise and warmth of a household, and Luke has no idea what to do with it.
Chapter 51D — The Guardian’s Table Luke sets a table with food nobody has tasted in five hundred years, and fellowship does what strategy could not.
Chapter 52 — The Harvest of Tears An unknown ship comes through a rift while the councils are planetside, and nothing about its shape makes sense.
Chapter 53 — Robin’s Prayer A civilization built with no room for God in it, and Robin is sent to a world that will not listen.
Chapter 53A — Hannah A woman arrives with years of dreams about Matthew and a message she believes came from God.
Chapter 53B — The Gathering Storm Two weeks of ordinary peace end at dawn with a word from God that the war is not over.
Chapter 53C — The Covenant Returns The shield wall fails, the perimeter breaks, and help arrives from a direction nobody was watching.

Culmination Arc (Chapters 54-63)

Chapter 54 — The Eve of War The last quiet night before everything, spent the way people spend such nights: together.
Chapter 55 — The Crucible Worlds The hardest worlds in the galaxy, taken one at a time and at real cost.
Chapter 56 — The Siege of Draynar Draynar holds out longer than anything before it, and the siege tests every gift the councils have.
Chapter 57 — The Spiritual Frontier The councils prepare to fight where bodies cannot go, and Melissa is given a mandate for Hades.
Chapter 58 — The Battle for Heaven The war moves into the heavens, and the enemy is finally seen for what it truly is.
Chapter 59 — Descent into Hades The councils go down into Hades itself, carrying the gospel to the dead.
Chapter 60 — Salvation of the Dead The dead hear the good news, and Amy's love reaches the place it was always meant to reach.
Chapter 61 — Angels’ Joy Heaven throws the celebration Scripture always promised, and the shepherds are there to see it.
Chapter 62 — The Shepherd’s Seasons / The King Returns Nine years of ordinary life, marriages deepening and children growing, until the King returns.
Chapter 63 — Eternity The story ends where it always meant to end, and a mural painted three hundred years ago finally comes true.