The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Kizzy is up late tinkering. She is often up all night but lately she can’t sleep because of lingering anxiety from the Akarak attack. Lovey contacts her to tell her that there is a ship approaching. Kizzy starts panicking, thinking that the Akaraks have returned, but Lovey tells her that the ship is sending a GC distress signal. Kizzy takes a video call with their captain, a female Aeluon who identifies herself as Gapei Tem Seri.

Captain Gapei explains that a delayed explosive has gone off and damaged their life support systems. They need to transfer to another ship while they shut down their own ship’s power core and make repairs. They are without a repair tech, so Kizzy offers to help them. They discuss further details, and Kizzy discovers that Gapei is Ashby’s lover Pei. Kizzy assures Pei that the crew will be discreet and not expose her relationship with Ashby.

Ashby hurries to get clean and dressed. As he does, Sissix tries to calm his nerves. While the crew waits by the airlock to receive their visitors, Jenks teases Ashby. The Aeluon crew is welcomed aboard. The ships’ crews split up into their respective tasks, leaving Ashby and Pei alone. Pei has noticed the damage from the Akarak attack and is upset that Ashby didn’t tell her about it. They argue about who has to worry more about the other one being in danger. Ashby then takes her on a tour of the ship.

On board the Aeluon ship, one of the Aeluon soldiers takes Kizzy and Jenks to the damaged atmospheric regulator, and the pair set to work. In the Fishbowl, Rosemary and Sissix discuss the attractiveness of Aeluons. They both agree that Aeluons are very attractive to most species. They ask Lovey where Ashby is, but the AI pretends not to know. Corbin approaches Sissix and Rosemary to ask when Jenks and Kizzy will be back; he needs them to service a part for him. They promise to tell him when the techs return.  

Back aboard the Aeluon ship, Kizzy goes to recover a dropped tool and discovers a series of mines embedded within the bulkhead. Jenks and Oxlen beg her to come out and get clear, but Kizzy insists on trying to disarm one of the mines. Kizzy quickly grasps the construction of the mines and swiftly disarms one.

Pei is furious when she hears about the mines. She realizes that her tech wasn’t killed in a mugging back on Port Coriol; he was assassinated so that the mines would remain undetected. She soon realizes that she was intended to dock for repairs before the mines detonated to kill the most people. Kizzy insists she can disarm the rest of the mines, assuring Ashby that they aren’t set to explode for another three days, and the Aeluons say that their cargo is too valuable to abandon. Pei says that, as captain, she should accompany Kizzy.

Pei and Kizzy chat while Kizzy works on the mines. Pei is surprised that Kizzy is so unafraid. Kizzy explains that, when she knows how to tackle a problem, she simply sets about it and doesn’t have mental room for her fear. She asks Pei how she handles combat. Pei tells Kizzy that she is always scared in combat; however, it’s familiar to her, and she knows what to do during it. They continue discussing the ways to manage fear while Kizzy disarms the rest of the mines.

Jenks joins Ashby in the Fishbowl and dumps out a tub of assorted bolts and nuts. He is worried about Kizzy, so he is going to pass the time by sorting the bolts. Kizzy and Pei return a few hours later having disarmed forty-six mines. The two crews soon sit down to dinner together before the Aeluons depart. Ashby and Pei only shake hands when saying goodbye. Kizzy’s anxiety following the Akarak attack has dissipated, and she sleeps deeply.

Rosemary receives a message from Nib forwarding the available information on the Toremi. The Toremi are fixated on natural patterns and seek to emulate them. A small number have recently become parthenogenic. The emergence of these “New Mothers” has split the species into factions that venerate the New Mothers and those that kill or subjugate them. The Toremi have only recently begun to settle on planets as a result of the emergence of the New Mothers. The Toremi Ka, the faction that has been admitted to the GC, have settled on Hedra Ka because it is a young planet whose instability they consider sacred. 

The Wayfarer is approaching Hashkath, an Aandrisk colony world. Sissix explains to Rosemary that it is an Aandrisk custom to manually pilot one’s craft back to one’s home. Over the vox, Kizzy asks Sissix if she minds if Kizzy and Jenks go to a concert instead of going to dinner with her family. Sissix encourages Kizzy to go.

Sissix explains Aandrisk family structure to Rosemary. Aandrisks have three families: hatch family, feather family, and house family. Aandrisks are born into their hatch family and leave for a feather family once they’ve found one they wish to join or enough partners to form a new one with. Adult Aandrisks move between feather families as their needs change. Within a feather family, there is a great deal of physical and emotional intimacy, but not everyone is romantically attracted to everyone else. A house family is a group of older Aandrisk adults who form a household to raise children. Younger Aandrisk leave their eggs with a house family to be cared for. Rosemary is shocked to learn that Sissix has two children, but that she’s not old enough to be a mother yet.

The crew lands at Sethi, a quiet, desert community. Sissix basks in her native environment and strips her clothes before setting off for her childhood home. The crew meets two Aandrisk children playing in a stream, and Sissix is “egg mother” to one of them. The children have never seen Humans, so Ashby and Rosemary let themselves be touched by them. There is a comic moment when one of the children grabs Rosemary’s breasts. Sissix is impatient to get to her parents’ house.

The dozen or so adult members of Sissix’s hatch family greet her, and the whole family begins to stroke and pet one another. One of the oldest, Ithren, extracts himself and comes to talk to Ashby. He is glad to see Humans and tells several long stories about his time out in the galaxy among other species. Rosemary notices the Aandrisk children watching them all from a distance, waiting to see if they will be invited to join the adults. Rosemary enjoys the next several hours drinking wine and eating new delicacies. She wonders aloud to Ashby how Sissix can stand being on board ship without a feather family. He tells her to look up her personnel file. According to Sissix’s file, the crew of the Wayfarer is her feather family.

Sissix watches Hashkath fade in the window of her quarters. She finds it hard to be away from members of her species for whom she does not constantly have to modulate her behavior. Rosemary comes into her quarters carrying a bottle of wine and two cups. They chat until Rosemary asks Sissix about having the crew as her feather family. Sissix explains the details of having a ship’s crew as her family. Rosemary presses further, and Sissix realizes that Rosemary is asking if Sissix would like to have a sexual relationship with her. Sissix is interested but cautious. After more discussion, Sissix’s reservations are assuaged.