The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Hodder & Stoughton
Abstract
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is the fourth volume of the Wayfarer series. The story is set in a rest stop on planet Gora called Five-Hop One-Stop, owned by Ouloo, a Laru who lives there with her child Tupo. When a technological accident renders the Goran satellite network unavailable, an emergency message is sent alerting all people that they should seek shelter within their homes or ships until further notice and that the Goran Orbital Cooperative is unable to access standard comm channels on the surface. This accident prevents any traffic into and out of the planet. At the Five-Hop, Ouloo and Tupo have received three guests who are now unable to leave Gora. Gapei (Pei) is an Aeluon cargo runner hired by the government to aid in the war against the Rosk; Speaker is an Akarak who uses a mech suit because of her intolerance to oxygen; Roveg is a Quelin, a species of arthropods with chitinous blue exoskeletons. When Tupo wanders into the Akarak ship, the inhospitable conditions for the Laru put Tupo in Olotohen, a cryptobiotic state which consists of a self-induced coma that works as a defense mechanism for exposure to extreme environmental conditions. However, the Laru can only remain safely in this state for eight Galactic Commons standard hours, and they must receive immediate medical attention. The guests at the Five-Hop work together to save Tupo while reflecting on their biological differences as members of different species. These contrasts focus especially on Speaker, whose mech suit allows her to breathe methane and works as a machine for mobility, as Akaraks are smaller than the other sapient species in the Galactic Commons.
Description
Keywords
biology , mech suit , alien , species , ship , satellite , health
Citation
Chambers, Becky. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Hodder & Stoughton, 2022.