CHAPTER 25

The OOB descends toward the galactic plane after Relay, covering vast distance but entering a Great Zone Storm that, combined with lingering damage, slows progress. Blueshell confirms multiple drive spines are degraded, raising the specter of being stranded near the Bottom. The crew debates repair stops, weighing Sjandra Kei and a nearer single-system, Harmonious Repose, but decide to delay.

Life aboard settles into work and ritual. Ravna manages the library for Tine-world guidance as automation weakens. Pham learns languages, builds powered armor in the workshop, and reshapes the bridge into a cozy “castle hall” where the four share stories. Ravna notes Pham’s heroic but inconsistent memories and the faint, episodic signs of godshatter, resenting Old One’s manipulation yet caring for Pham.

Contact with Jefri improves to near real time at moments. On Tine-world, development follows the library plan: alloys stabilize and small, pack-portable breech-loaders emerge; mass production is days away. Radio work swerves: Jefri proposes table changes that massively expand bandwidth to carry pack-thought. Pham doubts a first-time medieval society could derive this without hidden computation and suspects Steel’s deception.

Ravna defends Jefri’s authenticity but concedes the inference burden was huge. Pham outlines risks: Steel could be a fallen-colony remnant probing their priorities, planning ambush or blackmail, and using their help to crush Woodcarver. They agree to hide interest in the ship’s “rot,” feign separable landing gear to divert traps, and casually praise the radio improvement to test reactions.

Pham frames the “rot” aboard the refugee ship as a possible Countermeasure—something stolen from or escaping the nascent Perversion—that could harm the Blight if delivered and triggered. The crew persists through months of slow travel, uncertain drives, and rising stakes, even as Ravna and Pham’s relationship and the group’s fellowship grow into a rare calm amid looming peril.