Author: Derin

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next “This is Kapu,” Tikka told me in my room the next morning. “Kapu, this is Taya.” Kapu was a bit bigger than Tikka, but seemed smaller in the way she folded in on herself and sort of tried to hide behind her friend. Was she afraid of me? … Continue reading 68: Kapu

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next “What would you do, then?” I asked. “Nothing. I wouldn’t get involved.” “Well, what should I do, hypothetically?” “Your goal is to make sure that the capuchins have options, right? So they don’t have to stay on the Stalwart and all become engineers if they don’t want to. … Continue reading 67: Bruising

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next “Why,” I asked Plia and Tima, “are the Stalwart even working with Hexacorallia?” We were meeting in a vast field of flowers. Well, actually, we were meeting in a relaxation room, but so long as I only paced back and forth a small distance and didn’t run into … Continue reading 66: Incongruity

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next The trip to the Stalwart was uneventful. We had to put the braces back on and everything for the docking procedure, since we hit the Stalwart and nearly the same velocity that we left the Dish with, and after Miya gave us a quick inspection we tottered out … Continue reading 65: Charm

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next It was difficult to stay gloomy when boarding HEX-107, because as we were buckling in for the journey back to the Stalwart, all I could think about were the capuchins. We’d be spending a few weeks on the Stalwart before taking the Ironstock back to the Courageous, and … Continue reading 64: Transport Economy

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next The historians stayed in a pretty good mood for the rest of our time on the Dish, and I couldn’t blame them. But a few days before leaving, as the historians and I ate in the mess, Hali stared wistfully at the walls, barely picking at his food. … Continue reading 63: Keep Going

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next “And then you catch the arm on the twirl – yep, you got it!” Other Haken said as I took her arm and halted my spin. “That’s pretty good for someone who doesn’t live in zero pull.” “I played a lot of markball on Hexacorallia,” I said. “The … Continue reading 62: Hamelin

Previous --- Next After the presentation, we were each taken into a small room by the dissector one by one and given a thorough inspection. From the way it rubbed at my flesh, checking for hard shapes beneath, and inspected me for tiny unexpected holes, it was obvious that it was looking for ovipositors. That… … Continue reading Inner Life 3: Crew

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next One day, I found myself in a view port, looking at the stars. The Dish, being a zero pull ship, didn’t have seating in their tiny viewports, but they did have safety handles to hold onto so you could stay in place without thinking about it; I had … Continue reading 61: Cousins

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next I couldn’t stop thinking of the map for the rest of the day, or all night. I wasn’t sure why it bothered me so much. There were a lot of colonies; I already knew that. They were very far away and we didn’t have a whole lot of … Continue reading 60: Population Instability