In a drought-stricken Illinois, water is life, machinery survives on borrowed parts, and neighbors depend on one another to get through another season.

Benton Jacobs returned from the Navy hoping to save his family’s farm. Instead, he finds himself fighting to protect the water plant keeping his community alive. Beside him is Bob, an aging ZINE industrial robot with a persistent mechanical tick, considerable patience, and a habit of being useful when everything else goes wrong.

When a piece of the past falls from the sky, it brings secrets humanity was never meant to find. Benton and Bob must decide what is worth saving—and how far they will go to keep it safe. The consequences will reach beyond Benton’s lifetime, drawing his son, Kyte, into a legacy far larger than the farm he calls home.

Space Junker blends survival, government secrets, battered spacecraft, and dry humor with a story about family, friendship, and the choices people make when their world begins to fall apart.

Because out here, nothing is truly gone.
Not the dust. Not the danger. And not the truth.