Episode notes
Deep beneath a failing asteroid colony, the underground domes and maintenance spines are choked by a spreading Cablefield infestation. A defecting overseer enters the contaminated corridors to erase his identity engram in Dome Three, while the colonial administration deploys handler squads to capture him and convert him into a tactical asset.
The Cablefield network survives by anchoring leathery masses to the tunnel walls, waiting for the vibration of boots on the grating to trigger synchronized ruptures of contagious symbiont dust. The administration does not execute infected personnel because converted hosts remain conscious and functional for weeks, shedding contagious spores while still following orders.
The defector attempts to navigate the dead zones by moving slowly, but the pursuit team drives him forward into the active sections, forcing him to detonate a carrier mass with a plasma round to keep the route open. The blast tears open the corridor seals and accelerates the network's coordination. As his filter gauge countdown accelerates and the alien dust fills the narrowing tunnel, the synchronized rupture waves begin to close in.
This is "Counting Dogs" by Sascha Schmidt.
Military Sci-Fi Story for Sleep is an anthology of immersive military science fiction told from the infantry perspective. Each standalone sleep story blends grounded sci-fi military operations, hostile alien encounters, survival horror, and impossible missions in deep space with calm, steady narration created for sleep.