Riebeckite by O R Lea

After an asteroid strike on the moon, a strange blue dust began to flow down through Earth’s atmosphere. It’s harmful to breathe, but at least the microscopic creatures within the dust are dormant. Or so we thought.

Tahira made a childhood promise to a friend that the crisis would bring their people together… before a violent riot tore their lives apart. Now, as an adult, Tahira works as a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers to force the spores—known as riebeckites—to germinate into harmless colonies.

Except they’re about to learn everything they think they know about the dust is wrong, a discovery that will plunge Tahira into unimaginable danger. The real threat isn’t the asteroid that struck the moon and by the time humanity figures it out, it might be too late.

Category: Hard Science Fiction