The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Sissix hurries to the med bay with a robe wrapped around her to hide that she is molting. Dr. Chef tries to stop her from scratching herself and begins ablating the dead scales. Sissix is irritable, and, as he works, Sissix asks Dr. Chef if he gets tired of humans. Dr. Chef lets her vent and points out that she is homesick. He also reveals that he puts an anti-odor powder into the humans’ soap, but their sense of smell is so poor they never notice. Ashby comes in while they are still laughing and offers to take Sissix’s cleaning shifts.

Rosemary is sifting through the accounts in her office when Corbin enters upset that she has ordered slightly different part than he had wanted. When she points out that Corbin can still use the part, he belittles her, leaving her humiliated.

Ashby finds the engine room in disarray. Kizzy has had a bad morning and is crying inside the bulkhead wall. Ashby tells her to take it easy. Lovey announces that a mail drone is on its way, and Kizzy perks up immediately. Kizzy receives a care package from her dads. Dr. Chef gets his new rosemary seedlings. Corbin gets a part he needs. Jenks receives a package from Pepper. Ashby receives a paper letter—an extraordinary extravagance—from Pei. As he is reading it, Lovey warns that a hostile ship is heading for them.

The crew can do nothing as they are boarded by four Akaraks, a small, bird-like species whose home planet was strip-mined by the Harmagians. Ashby tries to calm tensions but is struck with a rifle and knocked out. The Akaraks do not speak Klip, the standard GC language, but Rosemary speaks to them in Hanto.

The Akarak leader tells Rosemary that they will be taking the crew’s food and supplies and will kill them if they resist. Rosemary tries to find out what precisely they need in hopes that they will not take everything. She negotiates an agreement that will leave both ships enough supplies to make it to the nearest market planet. When Ohan is brought into the cargo bay, however, the Akaraks become agitated and insist on taking the navigator as well since they can sell him for a high price. They decide not to take Ohan once Dr. Chef tells them that they will not find a buyer because Ohan is dying.

Later, Ashby recovers in the med bay. He is relieved that everyone is alright. Rosemary informs him that the Akaraks struck him because he accidentally used an offensive hand gesture. Ashby thanks her for keeping her cool and helping the crew survive the encounter. Rosemary begins weeping. Sissix and Dr. Chef tell her it is because she hasn’t taken a chance to “freak out” and process the experience. Rosemary asks Ashby if Ohan are really dying, and he says they are. Once he is alone, Ashby resumes reading Pei’s letter.

Jenks takes a shower in his quarters and reads Pepper’s note. She has a contact for him to get a body kit. He goes to Lovey’s AI core, and they talk about the kit. Lovey pushes back on Jenks’ enthusiasm by pointing out some logistical and legal concerns. Helping Lovey transfer into a body kit could result in them both being dismissed from the crew. Jenks says he is willing to accept those consequences. They agree to continue pursuing the option.

The Wayfarer has arrived at Cricket, a rugged, sparsely populated moon colony favored by body modders and tech fetishists whose interests are generally semi-legal at best. Kizzy has brought them there to get a shield grid, since Ashby refuses to equip the ship with weapons. A transport skiff approaches carrying a man with a home-made multitool in place of his left forearm. Kizzy greets the man as Bear, and they embrace. After introductions, the crew pile into the skiff and set off, eventually arriving at a homestead cobbled together out from a derelict ship.

Bear tells Rosemary that the and his brother bought the place several years ago. Bear’s brother, Nib, enters the room and embraces Kizzy. Their little sister Ember soon arrives. She has killed a ketling, a large grasshopper like creature, and brought it back for dinner. Bear and Nib chide Ember for taking unnecessary risks, but she dismisses their concerns. The brothers tell the crew that ketlings are most dangerous when they swarm every year or so. From this specimen, it seems that they are due for another swarm soon. Ember begins preparing the carcass to be cooked.

Nib and Bear take the crew to their workshop and show off the weapons they have for sale. Ashby declines, and he and Sissix go over the shields with the brothers. Jenks shows Rosemary how to handle a pistol, while Sissix asks about getting a replacement for a part damaged by the Akaraks. Bear says they will have to ask Jess and Mikey, two other techs living on the moon but that they should get there and back in time for dinner.

Soon after Bear starts grilling the ketling killed by Ember but before Sissix and Ashby can leave the other homestead, the ketlings begin to swarm. The ketlings dash themselves against the shield protecting Bear and Nib’s homestead. Rosemary relaxes while Bear and Nib explain to Ember, once again, why she shouldn’t rush to get a “full implant.” Rosemary learns that Nib is a “reference file archivist,” a volunteer fact checker. He spends a good deal of his time disproving false historical claims.

The group turns their attention to the news where there is a report on the sentencing of Quentin Harris the Third on Mars for extortion, fraud, smuggling, and crimes against sapient kind. Rosemary begins panicking. Harris is her father, and she has taken a new identity to escape the association with him. When it was discovered that her father had been selling arms to the Toremi, she had become a social outcast. She confesses all this to Jenks who assures her that no one will think differently of her. She is still worried that Ashby will kick her off the ship, but she resolves to tell the rest of the crew. Jenks tells her that she should also talk to Dr. Chef about his species.