To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Akawe sends men to stay on the Wallfish, along with the antimatter necessary to fuel the Wallfish’s Markov Drive for their journey. They also bring Casaba-Howitzers, fission bombs that are nearly as dangerous as antimatter. The Wallfish and the Darmstadt will go into FTL to reach their destination, sixty light years away, further than most humans have been into deep space. That night, they see a recording on the news of Kira’s attack on the Jelly and the Numenist. The news anchor speculates that the xeno is a battlesuit produced by the UMC.

Falconi asks for Kira’s assurance that she can control the xeno, and when she cannot give it, he orders her to train with Sparrow to learn to control it. Kira stays in her cabin, depressed, fearing she cannot control the xeno. Nielsen comes to her cabin and convinces her that she needs to face the crew. At dinner, the Entropists tell her that they have analyzed a tissue sample from one of the nightmares, and there is no connection between the nightmares, the Jellies, or her xeno. Falconi pours wine for the crew and toasts Kira, thanking her for saving Trig and Sparrow and setting them on their current path.

Kira has a long conversation with Gregorovich in her cabin about their respective situations. That night, she dreams she is in a forest waiting for companions, and she watches a sloth die and get eaten by another creature. Then she is looking into a tidepool and sees an orb that is coming to life. She is joyous, knowing that this being will change everything.

When Kira wakes, she finds that the xeno has consumed most of her bedding to replenish itself after the previous day. It has also gotten thicker in response to the threats they have been facing. Gregorovich suggests that she feed the suit with materials from the machine room. Kira visits Sparrow, who devises a program for Kira to learn to control herself so she can control the xeno. While they are traveling and the rest of the crew are in cryo, Kira can practice with the xeno. Throughout, Kira feels stomach pains, which have been happening intermittently all that day.

Kira asks Vishal about her stomach pains, and he tells her that she is menstruating. She is surprised because she had her periods turned off when she hit puberty like most women and realizes that the xeno saw the modification as damage and “repaired” her. Kira tries to feed the xeno in the machine room, but it is not interested. She sees Nielsen in the galley, who offers to listen and talk any time she wants.

That night during dinner, Kira asks why Falconi requested pardons from Akawe for the crew, and they tell her a story about smuggling newts gone awry. Because the newts were from Earth, they did not have the “kill switch” that engineered organisms did. They escaped and disrupted the planet’s ecology, and now the crew have arrest warrants there. Kira plays her concertina for the crew and begins to feel like a member of the group, with the same loyalty she felt toward her team on Adra.

The next morning, Kira and Sparrow meet to train again. Kira is beginning to understand the personality of the xeno by assessing the decisions it makes. Everyone enters cryo, leaving Kira alone with Morven, the ship’s pseudo-intelligence. Falconi encourages Kira to wake him up if there is a problem and names her acting captain, giving her a higher level of access and override capabilities. 

Gregorovich has decided to stay awake until Kira goes into her hibernation state, and she appreciates the company. She has decided to wake weekly to continue her training. As Kira drifts into sleep, Gregorovich goes into cryo as well. Kira wakes up after a week has passed, trains, and then goes back to sleep. Soon, two months have passed, and she believes she is beginning to have better control of the xeno.