The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers (best novels in english .txt) 📕

Pei didn’t feel one way or the other about painting, but it was something to do, and honestly, she welcomed the opportunity to help. She felt sorry for Ouloo, trying so hard to be a good host in the midst of all this. ‘Any news beyond the emergency updates?’ she asked. She searched the wall for the nearest scuff.

‘No, nothing,’ Ouloo sighed. ‘I wish they’d let us leave the dome. I’ve been wondering how my neighbours are doing. I mean, I’m sure we’re all in the same boat, but it’s uncomfortable not being able to check in.’

‘Your friends didn’t send a note back?’

‘No. Which is good, honestly, because their lights have been on, and them not sending anything means they’re busy but not in a bad way. Or the worst way, I suppose. I wish I could say that’s made me stop worrying.’

Pei began to spray paint as needed – a simple task, but quietly pleasant. ‘Do you know all your neighbours well?’ she asked.

‘Oh, we have a wonderfully supportive community. It’s interesting – everybody’s in their own bubble, and everything is designed for self-reliance. The only things we share between ourselves are, well, comms and power.’ She gave a small laugh at these, the things they no longer had. ‘It’s all very to-each-their-own here, but we help each other out. Someone might look after someone else’s comms while they’re away, or loan each other some spare tech if needed. Tupo goes over to the gambling house across the way every couple of tendays to practise xyr Hanto.’

‘Good for xyr,’ Pei said. Hanto was a smart thing for the kid to have in xyr pocket, no matter where xe wanted to go. (Not that Laru had pockets, but still.)

Ouloo gave her a flat look. ‘Xe’s dreadful at it,’ she laughed, ‘but then, so am I, and at least xe’s trying. Xe could be trying harder, but …’ She trailed off, and in doing so, said all that was needed about her losing battle against preadolescence. ‘Anyway. The point is, it’s a great bunch of people on Gora. Or in this corner of it, at least. It’s made me twitchy the past few days, not knowing how everyone else is doing. Nice to know I can take care of almost everything on my own—’ she gave a nod in the direction of the solar generator and the life support system ‘—but that isn’t how I like it. Did you see people flashing their lights last night?’

‘Oh,’ Pei said, her inner eyelids blinking. ‘I saw some lights on the horizon, but I thought it was just … power trying to come back on. Or something.’

Ouloo stuck out the tip of her tongue in the negative. ‘That was on purpose. I don’t know who started it. I saw someone’s lights flash, and then I saw someone else do the same in reply, so I turned my lights off and on four times, and then we just … did that for a while.’

‘Was it some kind of code? Four for okay, three for help, that kind of thing?’

‘No, not at all. Though that kind of thing would be smart to have, in hindsight. No, we weren’t saying anything. Or at least I wasn’t. We were just letting each other know we were there, I think. That’s what I got out of it, anyway.’ She bobbed her neck approvingly. ‘Made me feel a little better.’

Sympathetic though she was to Ouloo feeling isolated, the conversation had arrived at a point of opportunity for Pei to ask what she most wanted to. She saw no reason not to pounce on it. ‘Are there any Aeluons living nearby?’ she asked easily.

‘Oh, yes.’ Ouloo turned and pointed. Pei followed the line of her paw out past the dome and through the desert. ‘Tobet works at the Halfway Hotel. And there’s Sila over at the art walk – you can’t see the dome from here, but it’s a hop and skip away. Let’s see … I know of several Aeluons on the TA orbiter. One’s called Sen, she’s usually the one who renews my business licence. And, of course, there are lots of places here that mainly cater to you folks. There’s a city field on the other side of the planet. We do get a lot of you passing through.’

Pei mulled that over. She was hardly the only Aeluon stuck on Gora, but walking into a city field and chatting up random people with her predicament was the last solution she wanted. ‘Any of them in particular you know well?’ she asked. She worked to keep the tone of her talkbox light.

‘Tobet and I are quite friendly. She sent over that jenjen cake I had out when you all first got here—’

Pei tuned out everything that came after the female pronoun, because no matter how good her jenjen cake was, Tobet would be of no help to her. ‘I see,’ she said once Ouloo had finished. She paused, trying not to tip her hand too much. ‘What about men? Or shon?’

Ouloo thought about this. ‘Well, there’s Kopi at the tea garden. I don’t know—’ She paused, stumbling on something. ‘Shon don’t use neutrals, right? I don’t know what Kopi is right now, so I don’t know what to call – not xyr, but—’

Pei came to the rescue. ‘Shon only use neutrals when in the middle of a shift. Whichever gender Kopi was the last time you saw Kopi is the polite thing to use.’

‘Ah, thank you. I’ll remember that. In any case, I don’t know Kopi well at all, beyond running into him on the orbiter and at parties and whatnot, but he’s quite nice. A little buttoned up, but—’ She paused and rocked her neck. ‘Why do you ask?’

Pei shrugged and continued to paint. ‘Just curious. I—’

Whatever feint she was about to attempt died the second she felt a warm, fuzzy paw gently push up the edge of her jacket sleeve so as to reveal the