Minot Station
Administrative Offices

In which Clarence and Kara go shopping.

I’m beginning to get the impression that, on top of whatever else might be happening on Minot, the culture might be just a wee bit sexist.

Also, if this is the way the people in authority respond to Engineer ven’Arith’s youth and appearance, imagine how they’d react to Captain Waitley. Another point in favour of Clarence’s insistence on being the face of the ship in this negotiation.

I am… not surprised that Ambassador Vepal is not being afforded up-to-date information. Even less am I surprised that he was not previously aware of the career of Nelirikk Explorer.

Still no sign of him hooking up with the main plot. I’m beginning to worry — although there’s still a fair chunk of the book left, so I may be worrying for nothing — that he’s going to turn out to be one of those interlude subplots that never do intersect with the main plot of the book they appear in. There have been a few of those lately, and even having faith that they’ll eventually come together later in the series I still find something unsatisfactory about them.