The Game (short story)

Set in a grim future after environmental catastrophe renders Earth nearly uninhabitable, survivors cling to orbital stations known as shards. There, a fiercely focused pilot named Killian devotes himself to “The Game,” a massive VR competition promising power and glory. But as Killian fights his way toward the championship, strange anomalies begin to undermine his ironclad trust in the virtual world—and in the very foundations of his life in orbit.