Time to Orbit: Unknown

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “We should build a train,” Kieth said. We’d found them on the bridge, having finished their tour, laughing and applauding as Glath turned into various aliens and objects for their entertainment. I’d checked that the shyr was still imprisoned (she was, but maybe we should switch … Continue reading 19: A Plan

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk had forgotten how strange an experience it was to see a sky person for the first time. The soft being swathed in silks and looking like the front half of an enormous baby raises its mandibles tipped with fleshy tentacles and speaks in the disjointed … Continue reading 48: This Again

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “I mean,” Kate said, “there are multiple potential solutions. The problem is finding one that we have any ability to enact. The obvious method, and a method that might be within our power, is to help the Empire establish a trade route with some smaller, distant … Continue reading 18: Royally Stubborn

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “Did they see Smon?” Saima asks. “Hard to say. She travels under the farm cover sometimes, so they may not have. I don’t know when they spotted us. They were already heading back and their scout wasn’t surprised to see me, so far as I could … Continue reading 47: Border Dispute

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “So the main important factor is that the Out-Western Aljik Empire is not, in fact, an empire,” Kate explained. “I’m sure that Glath did as best he could translating from a stack of dictionaries with no knowledge of human culture, but to call this nest an … Continue reading 17: the Imperial Flaw

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Despite Smon’s rush to contact the Northern sky people as quickly as possible and Tyk’s eagerness to get Ketyk to a hive as quickly as possible, their remaining days at the little burrow seem to pass in no time at all. By the end of it, … Continue reading 46: On the Road Again

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> While my sister, with the help of Glath and Derek, interviewed the aljik, I had a shyr to deal with. Loathe as I was to leave the boys, I wasn’t taking either of them back onto my ship while the shyr was still a threat. I … Continue reading 16: Interviews

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk is getting pretty good, she thinks, at the Hiveless methods of foraging. She’s nowhere near as efficient as them, but she is only just learning the basics. They harvest more thoroughly than hives would, taking more from each plant or animal colony, and then leaving … Continue reading 45: Community Culture

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> “They have strict biological castes,” I explained. “Like ants or bees. Everyone has their own job, very little crossover.” “So not really like ants and bees,” Kate said. “Ants have castes that are naturally better equipped for certain jobs, but they’ll all do what needs doing. … Continue reading 15: Overview

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next The next day, Tyk’s stomach ache hasn’t gone away, and the day after that, when the rain stops, it’s sharp and insistent. She’s starting to worry that something serious is wrong with her as she climbs out into the tunnel in the morning to see the … Continue reading 44: Native Tongue