Ghost Relay: A NebulaScript Short Story

by J.C. Ash

28 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2026

About the author

J.C. Ash is the creator behind Grid & Ink, an independent publishing imprint that blends creativity, design, and storytelling. From word-search collections and Sudoku challenges to tabletop role-playing tools and solo journaling games, J.C. Ash focuses on crafting books that inspire curiosity and imagination. When not designing new projects, they can usually be found testing ideas in the workshop, refining systems for future releases, or exploring how creativity and structure meet on the printed page.

Reviews

[FunctionX · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ More imagination packed into this short story than most full novels
I grabbed this on a lunch break expecting something quick and forgettable. I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about it.
The NebulaScript universe feels genuinely vast even though this is a short story. Ash has the rare ability to drop you into a fully realized world without stopping to explain everything. You pick up the rules as you go and that trust in the reader makes the whole thing feel immersive rather than introductory.
The mystery at the center of the mission unfolds at exactly the right pace for the format. Nothing overstays its welcome, nothing feels rushed. For a short story that is a harder balance to strike than it sounds.
The technology feels plausible in that uncomfortable way good sci-fi always does, where you cannot quite tell if it is warning you about something or just describing a future that is already closer than you want to admit.
The ending stuck with me. I will not say more than that.
If you are a fan of thoughtful science fiction that respects your intelligence and does not need five hundred pages to tell a complete story, this is exactly what a lunch break was made for.

[Tony Iglesias]

The length is is true short story. This is a quick science fiction story, but it does a good job building tension fast. What starts as a routine system audit slowly turns into something much darker as the logs don’t match and the relay station clearly has a hidden story behind it. The premise works well. One operator, one job, one mystery. The influence of the solo RPG scenario actually adds to the feeling that you are uncovering pieces of a puzzle step by step. Short, clean, and atmospheric. A solid little sci-fi entry that keeps the intrigue moving without dragging things out.

[JESSICA · Rating 5 out of 5]

It drops you right into the situation and lets the mystery unfold from there. Since it’s a short story, the pacing is quick, but it still manages to hint at a much bigger world behind the scenes. That’s what made it interesting for me, the feeling that this small event is just one piece of a larger universe.