Hundeerde — A Graphic Novel

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Hundeerde: Part 1 —
The Arctic Incident

At a remote Arctic drilling station, a team of scientists and engineers make a discovery deep in the permafrost. What comes up with the drill should have stayed frozen.

Lead scientist James Jarvis sees the pattern first. A closed system. An infection with no source. He gets close to the truth, very close. One glove, one tear.

Not close enough.

The Arctic Incident is the story of a chain of lives, choices, and sacrifices that would echo across the stars for a generation.

Episode 1: Well Preserved
Episode 2: Ancient Biomass
Episode 3: The Storm
Episode 4: Pressure Cooker
Episode 5: Scoop and Run
Episode 6: Nominal
Episode 7: Joining the Dots

Hundeerde: Part 2 —
The Great Collapse

Three years after the virus, the world that remains is not the world that was.

Red is seventeen, streetwise, and harder than he has any right to be. He leads a clan of twelve kids through the ruins of what was once London; scavenging, hiding, surviving. The basement is home. The bucket is everyone’s problem. The Marauders are never far away.

The Great Collapse is the story of one night that changes everything. A flight through the dark. Nine stations walked in the underground. A boy who looked back at the wrong moment, and a choice made in a split second that only one person saw.

What happens when the person keeping everyone alive decides to run the other way?

Episode 8: The Great Collapse
Episode 9: Fleeing by Night
Episode 10: The Station
Episode 11: Walking Underground
Episode 12: Barking Green
Episode 13: The Fox and Hounds
Episode 14: Dog and Bone
Episode 15: Extraction

Hundeerde: Part 3 — Greenwatch, Proving Ground

Seven years after the night that changed everything, three young men serve aboard the HSS Chasetail, one of three capital cruisers patrolling the skies above Hundeerde.

They now have call-signs and ranks. A life built from nothing on a planet with rings.

But something is out there. Probes. Non-organic. Smart and getting closer.

Lieutenant Sebastian Jarvis flies. Lieutenant Raven Cole watches. Lieutenant Lewis Vale, the youngest officer in Greenwatch history, notices things that don’t add up. And when Lewis notices something, it’s usually already too late to ignore it.

Greenwatch: Proving Ground is the story of what the boys from Earth became and the first sign of what’s coming next.

Episode 16: You Carry a Name
Episode 17: Consequence
Episode 18: Edge
Episode 19: Taco Tuesday
Episode 20: Coulda, Shoulda,Woulda
Episode 21: Squish
Episode 22: Split
Episode 23: Debrief
Episode 24: Intelligence
Episode 25: Hold

Hundeerde: Part 4 — Greenwatch, Becoming

When twelve boys from a London basement walked down a shuttle ramp onto an alien planet they looked up at a sky with rings.

This is the story of what happened in between.

Greenwatch: Becoming follows Seb, Lewis, and Raven through seven years of growing up at Headwall Station, a working farm in the Greyfall Valley. There are chickens to feed, eggs to collect, cows to milk, and an old brass telescope in the attic that belongs to someone who isn’t there.

There is also grief. It doesn’t announce itself. It just shows up, in hands that can’t stay still, drawings in a notebook. In a stone necklace worn around a neck that conveys both memory and hope found.

Hundeerde is not Earth. But it turns out that hope doesn’t need to be from the same place as the people who need it.

The prequel to Greenwatch: Proving Ground.

Episode 26: New Sky
Episode 27: Headwall
Episode 28: Telescope
Episode 29: Orion
Episode 30: Stones
Episode 31: Growl
Episode 32: Red Stone
Episode 33: Uncle Marvin
Episode 34: Veldmeer High School
Episode 35: Pocket Rocket
Episode 36: Snow Day
Episode 37: Planting
Episode 38: Eleven Minutes

New episodes of Part Four: Becoming, are coming soon!

Hundeerde: Greenwatch is a graphic novel published in chapters, accompanied by illustrations. For spoken dialogue, it uses an avatar, the character’s name: dialogue, format. Parts One, Two, and Three are complete. Part Four is ongoing.

AI-Assisted Content — The author has used Claude (Anthropic) for editing and proofreading his original story. The story reflects the author’s voice, creativity, and structure; however, there may be minor incidental phrases generated by AI. Character avatar images and story illustrations are generated by ChatGPT.

© 2012 – 2026 Craig Stanley Nelson
All written and graphic content copyright, Craig Stanley Nelson
Published on Royal Road by Ddraig Goch

Episode 38: Eleven Minutes

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Last Day of Term — Start of Summer: Year 1

The classroom had that particular quality of a room that can’t quite sit still. A warm breeze wafted through the open window bringing with it all the smells of summer. The final bell of the school year couldn’t come soon enough. Timo was already practically vibrating his chair clear across the floor.

Miss Vera was handing out the final results for the year. She paused at Lewis’ desk, handed him his result sheet and smiled.

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Episode 37: Planting

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Spring — Headwall Station

Sunday — Dinner

Spring had arrived in the valley. Trees burst from bud into flower and everything started to take on the same shade of bright verdant green. Birthdays in Hundeerde were marked by birth-season, rather than by specific day. With the arrival of spring, tonight it was Lewis’ turn to be remembered. His choice for dinner was build-your-own burgers and chunky farmhouse wedges, seasoned with Charlie’s very own special mix of herbs and spices.

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Episode 36: Snow Day

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Winter — Headwall Station

Grandpa Jake stamped the snow off his boots as he came inside and hung the Hundeerwagon keys back on the hook. He and Daan had been up since dawn assessing the road. It had snowed all night and it was still snowing heavily. No-one would be going anywhere; the road was completely impassable, even for the six-wheel-drive Hundeerwagons.

Angus, also up since dawn, had his nose pressed against the window, making quite the foggy smeary mess. He was beyond excited. By the time the rest of the boys had come down for breakfast he was practically vibrating through the glass. Nobody had told him it might be a snow day, but he just seemed to know and he couldn’t wait to get outside and play in the snow.

Fifteen expectant faces at the breakfast table were awaiting Grandpa Jake’s verdict.

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Episode 35: Pocket Rocket

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Veldmeer High School

Tuesday — Morning Period

The bell rang and the general stampede of seat finding was underway. Lewis had already found a seat next to Hans near the front. Seb and Raven worked their way down the room and found seats together, towards the back. In the empty seat next to Seb, a blue heeler sat down. He clearly considered that school ties should be left alone to do their own thing, along with shirt tails.

He turned to Seb his mouth open just a little and his tongue in mid pant.

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Episode 34: Veldmeer High School

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Veldmeer High School — First Day of Term

The week following the Harvest Dinner, the first day of the new school term was rapidly approaching. It had been three years since any of the boys had attended school. Some of the boys could not wait to return to school, while others were a bit more apprehensive about the whole idea. Rupert’s biggest concern had been whether the school uniform pants had tail holes in them or not. Grandma Bella had been able to reassure him, that the school had arranged for a bespoke set of pants to be made to suit human specifications. No tail holes. Rupert had been visibly relieved at the news.

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Episode 33: Uncle Marvin

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The Harvest

Harvest was the time of year that needed all paws and hands to help. The boys were eager to help and Grandpa Jake had allocated the boys different areas of responsibility. In the large kitchen garden one group helped to dig potatoes, pull carrots and collect pumpkins. Another group harvested the very last of the beans and tomatoes.

Then there was the orchard. The summer peaches had finished, but now the apples were ready. All the boys were needed to help. They climbed up and down ladders, picking apples from the highest branches, filling their picking bags. It was quickly established that Angus and Fergus were a liability attempting to carry a loaded basket of apples, as more than one load ended up back on the ground. Fergus also developed a mysterious stomach ache, probably something to do with eating more apples than he actually put in the basket.

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Episode 32: Red Stone

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Early Morning — The Workshop

Raven was back in the workshop early after breakfast. Daan had been showing him how to make a small hole in each stone for the string. Each stone was held securely in a vice, one by one, and carefully and slowly drilled with a press to make the hole. Daan encouraged Raven to not rush the process. It was exacting work, needing careful concentration and attention to detail, at every step. The one stone that was critical to get right was the red stone from Earth. If it cracked or broke while drilling, or the hole was drilled in the wrong place there was no way to replace it.

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Episode 31: Growl

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Morning — The Kitchen

Charlie was busy cutting up vegetables for the chicken and vegetable soup that would be for lunch. They were all going into the enormous stock pot on the stove. They had discussed at length all of the ingredients that would go into the soup, the stock, the vegetables and the cut of chicken. Exactly how it would be made, and how long it would take to cook. Rebecca was impressed at his questions, his answers to hers and his knowledge.

Rebecca observed him slicing and dicing the onions. Cut in half, precision parallel cuts and then a quick flick of his wrist ninety degrees to dice them into the smallest of pieces.

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Episode 30: Stones

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Hundeerde — Headwall Valley

Morning — Breakfast

Headwall Station comprised the whole valley on both sides of the Grey River, all the way from Veldmeer to the Headwall homestead at the headwall cwm. It was a peak big-sky midsummer day, the sun rising high and warming everything that it touched. The rings were just faintly visible if you squinted.

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Episode 29: Orion

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Headwall Station

Morning — After Breakfast

Breakfast was just about to wrap up; the last of another enormous stack of toast and an equally high stack of pancakes had been systematically decimated.

Angus stood up with his glass and a fork. He then decided he needed some more height so he stood on the bench, almost spilling his orange juice in the process.

Grandma Bella frowned.

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