Poisoned Bluestripe & The Machine and Her Mahout — Kater Cheek

Two hard science fiction short stories about the emotional perils of off-planetary colonization.

In Poisoned Bluestripe, and idealistic investigator tries to prove an impoverished colonial culture innocent of genocide.

The Machine and Her Mahout, a semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future contest, deals with the enduring love between a man and his sentient mining machine.