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Chapter: Chapter 4: Zucchini

  • Bip's avatar mocks walking off the screen and waves a hand. Bip: Well, have fun figuring out more exciting recipes for zucchini. Keep in touch! The call ends. Idrisah holds her face in her hands in frustration while Talita and Gillie look at her, unsure what to say. Idrisah finally looks up, clearly distressed. Idrisah: (ASL) We’re so screwed if this gets out. Gillie: (ASL) Well, it’s a stalemate for now. Hey Talita. Since you're already over, wanna try adapting some sign handshapes? Talita looks startled, then immediately heads to the front door of the apartment, grimacing in embarrassment. Talita: Maybe later… I’ve got some… Chores to do…

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 121

    Jan 21, 2025

  • Gille: (ASL) Because… Doesn't it seem like fun?? Gillie smiles excitedly, eyes sparkling with her cute kitty cat canines showing. Idrisah blushes. Talita watches from the sidelines, amused by how obviously charmed Idrisah is by her wife. Idrisah: (ASL) Well… regardless. The skyhook is booked out for two years.  She looks at the monitor with Bip. Their avatar is curled up, looking disgruntled. Idrisah: So unless you REPORT yourself, you'll just be waiting longer to get caught! Bip: And what’s stopping YOU from turning me in? Idrisah pauses, not knowing how to respond. Then she looks away, scowling. Idrisah: … I have more important things to do with my time.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 120

    Jan 18, 2025

  • Idrisah: (ASL) And to get off the ground… You need a spot in Ixion’s skyhook queue! You can’t slip a whole ship made of stolen raw material into the VERY TIGHT schedule without the person in charge noticing! Inset panel: A long line of incoming and outgoing payloads are shown being transported to and from the launch loop via the skyhook. Gillie: (ASL) Aren’t you in charge of the schedule? They stare at each other. Idrisah: (ASL) Yes— But— If Ohwitiil or Mel notice we’ll be FIRED! Are you two not worried about that!? Gillie: (ASL) I mean… we're basically in charge of everything necessary to launch it. And we're trusted longtime employees with essentially no oversight. Idrisah: (ASL) And you're willing to risk that for some shady A.I. with no record? Why?? Bip: (looking insulted) Hey.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 119

    Jan 16, 2025

  • Idrisah: (menacingly) ...TALITA. Talita: I'm not in on this. Even if the papers can be done legally, there's— Idrisah: (ASL, to Gillie) Which papers??  Gillie: (ASL) Customs and Duties.  Idrisah rubs her eyes with her palms in frustration. Idrisah: (ASL) That's the LAST half the exit paperwork! To even get out of orbit, you’ll need an exit packet with a flight plan, ATGS code, and transponder code. Which needs to be scanned and approved by the gatemasters! Inset panel: A spacecraft's path is shown leaving orbit of Dirtball, communicating a transponder code with the orbital station, and an ATGS code with the wormhole gate. A second inset panel shows the occupants of the orbital station are a group of elderly tailed spacers. The wormhole gate is a huge structure. Triangular radiators take up most of its bulk, with a spherical wormhole generator and small entrance hole in the center. Its communications center is on a beam separating it from the generator body.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 118

    Jan 14, 2025

  • Idrisah: (ASL) Gillie, the farmers got me on the way home again. Could you stand another loaf of zucchini bread, or— She looks up and is confused to see Talita is in the room, cringing guiltily. Gillie reaches over surreptitiously and presses a button to retract the scroll monitor that's displaying Bip's avatar. Idrisah's look of surprise transforms into a glare. She storms over angrily and yanks the monitor screen back down. Idrisah: YOU! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! Bip: I’m not in your house, this is just a weirdly formatted video call– Idrisah: Don’t get prescriptivist with me, you souped up malware! Gillie glances over her shoulder at Talita, who is attempting to quietly leave.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 117

    Jan 11, 2025

  • Bip: Doesn’t Ixion have some in-house manufacturing? Talita: I’m in charge of the junkyard, not internal mechanics. I’m pretty sure Tod would notice me using our shop to make spacecraft bits. Gillie: (ASL) Yeah, also… Even if Ixion doesn’t own the Runaway…  Talita hears approaching footsteps in the hall and begins to visibly panic, but Gillie isn't watching her. Gillie: (ASL) They DO own all the materials you’d need to repair it. Talita: Uh— Bip: Details, details! Idrisah unlocks the front door with a beep and enters the apartment, holding a large bag of zucchinis and looking at it with a troubled expression. She flicks the lights on and off.  

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 116

    Jan 09, 2025

  • Gillie: (ASL) The avian trawling company never bothered to tell Jovian authorities the ship was destroyed! Bip: And since Ixion bought bulk scrap, not the ship's registration papers, they don't legally own it. Gillie: (ASL) With a legit SIMS ID, getting customs and duties for wormhole passage would be as easy as declaring it active again! It would all be technically legal! Talita: Ok, that's... great. But. The Runaway isn't a SHIP. It's a SHIPWRECK. Bip: A shipwreck surrounded by salvage! Talita: Salvage that’s been rotting in abrasive regolith dust! Listen, I… I don’t feel comfortable letting you make repairs with broken equipment… Even if the papers work out, it could end… badly.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 115

    Jan 07, 2025

  • Gillie sits down at her desk in the corner of the living room and Talita walks up behind her on all sixes. It's a cluttered messy space obviously decorated by Gillie rather than Idrisah, with bug ferret posters, cups full of pens, stacks of paper, flags, character figurines, a stolen sign for "S 69th St," a plate and fork on the floor next to the chair, and an overflowing wastepaper basket. Two scroll monitors are attached to a support bar positioned diagonally over the corner desk. Gillie reaches up and pulls down on their draw cords to reveal the monitor screens. Bip's avatar on one of them, reclining with an eyebrow raised. Talita: Ah. How long have you two been conspiring? Bip begins transcribing her speech on the screen. Gillie: (ASL) Since Eid. But hear us out. Bip: It’s about paperwork. I'm assuming you looked up the Runaway's SIMS ID? Talita sits down in a loaf position and folds her arms over her chest, unamused. Talita: Yes. Amazingly, you don't have a record. …In the Jovian database, at least. Gillie: (ASL) Yeah, but did you see? The vessel is listed as inactive! 

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 114

    Jan 04, 2025

  • Gillie taps her phone to the entrance of apartment block 2 to unlock it with a beep. Talita looks back nervously, then ducks low through the human scale front doors after Gillie. Gillie unlocks the door to apartment 138 as Talita waits awkwardly on all sixes, head nearly touching the ceiling. Behind them, Yao leaves xer apartment in a fluffy black bath robe holding a weed pipe and is shocked to see Talita in the hall. Talita glances at xem with a mortified look. Finally, Gillie enters the apartment, immediately taking off her ear clips, and Talita walks in behind her. It's a cozy space decorated with antiques, houseplants, Arabic and Tiiliitian calligraphy, a ceramic chicken next to a candy dish, fish shaped gluggle jugs (one of which is serving as a flower vase), and a hanging arabesque lantern. The dining table is covered in clutter and an unfinished jigsaw puzzle, and an embroidered throw blanket hangs on the couch.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 113

    Jan 02, 2025

  • Talita leaves the recycling plant through the personnel exit and enters the habitat dome, heaving a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a human hand reaches from off-panel to tug on her baggy pants, startling her. Talita: a It's Gillie, who had apparently been waiting for her. She presses her finger to her lips to indicate Talita should stay quiet. The two walk briskly towards the human apartments, passing Rasheed, who is at the edge of the human agricultural sector talking to Tod. Rasheed is still working on harvesting from the hydroponic zucchini bed, and beside him is a large cart filled with zucchini fruit, one of which he's handing to Tod. Rasheed: We overplanted it. Take at least ten. Tod:  Eesh… Rasheed: Eat it now or you’ll be having it freeze-dried.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 112

    Dec 31, 2024

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