Author: Derin

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next I gave my present to Tikka the next day. It seemed like a stupid idea now, just giving her a much worse version of what she’d given me, but we were off to the Ironstock in a few days and it was way too late to come up … Continue reading 74: Gifts

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next Weaving is hard. Spinning is harder, but I gave up on that straight away. I found a workshop that had a little machine that could spin fibre into yarn, and the locks of hair I fed it spun up just fine. But I wanted to do the weaving … Continue reading 73: Competence

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next Later on, I joined the historians in one of the relaxation rooms. Tima had chosen the illusion (we took turns), and today we were in a cave of ice with light faintly shining through the walls. We were supposed to be, well, relaxing, but Plia had a small … Continue reading 72: Gender Theory

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next “And they just won’t grow solid!” Ella exclaimed over lunch. “But it’s better to find out now, I suppose. The problem with plants is that, like all other biological matter I could be working with, the stock didn’t evolve in space. Not so far, anyway.” I had no … Continue reading 71: Evolution

Previous --- Next After mastering sight, I put all my effort into figuring out the language systems in my nervous system. This, as it turned out, was a fantastic move. The crew used sound to share information constantly. “Okay, rocks and stars,” said Ricky Danger to everyone one morning in the mess, “we’re about thirty … Continue reading Inner Life 4: Language

First -- Prev -- Archive -- Next This was a test. The capuchins being in charge was big news, but that wasn’t as urgent as the way that all three of them were watching me. Like a plant in the lab with a changed gene, that might grow better or worse vines because of it. … Continue reading 69: Mutually Assured Survival

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