Shipyear 65
Tripday 131
Second Shift
6.55 hours

In which Dutiful Passage gains a pet librarian.

Details continue to emerge about what kind of ship Shan yos’Galan runs. Last chapter there was the policy of giving the crew a stake in the ship’s trading; this chapter it’s Shan’s approach to crewmembers who wish to pursue a skill that will increase their value to the ship.

All is not rosy, however; not everyone is as welcoming to Priscilla as Rusty and Lina were. The first mate is downright frosty, though it turns out she has some basis: Dutiful Passage has encountered Daxflan before, in circumstances which, though they are not detailed here, did not leave her with a trusting disposition toward Trader Olanek and his crew.

This chapter contains one of those details that might go past without notice on a first reading but attracts more attention from a re-reader: an off-hand mention, this early in the story, that this is Kayzin Ne’Zame’s last trip with the Passage. (Fortunately for her, this is not the kind of story where “one last job before I retire” means she has a metafictional target painted on her back.)

The chapter heading is again consistent with a 24/4 shift system but not a 28/4 system.