At 9,330 words, I have finished the Prologue and Chapters One through Three! There still isn’t much action – other than the opening scene – and the text so far is mostly me attempting to show an example of a diplomatic discussion. I did right a really fun piece of dialogue, as is seen below:

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“And what exactly are these products, ambassador Kikkilak?”

“The toria’s excrement is Space’s most efficient fertilizer! Or will be, once we have certified it. Its fur – which also happens to be self shedding, and will all fall off at once in an easily collectible pile – is a superb insulator and stronger than a stil-voran alloy when woven into a simple item of clothing. The korfalil’s feather shimmer and change color in recognizable patterns and even faces, and will continue to do so for at least a dateyn after they fall off the thing, guaranteed! And the gorinya itself is the product – the most adorable thing you’ll ever set your eyes on, completely obedient, with training coded into its genome, and recycles its own waste!” I didn’t even know that that was possible, and didn’t think too hard about it. The Cijadi sounded like a floundering businessman; quite a different impression than I had received from his acting the diplomat.

“Do you have a picture of this… gorinya?” I asked. I didn’t believe it was the cutest thing in all of Space.

Kikkilak clicked awkwardly. “I am afraid that I do not – the information is classified at the current moment, so as to avoid too many spies from being able to best us or steal our design.”

Of course. I was slightly disappointed. “Have you seen the designs or the creature yourself?”

More awkward clicks. “Well… not exactly.”

“Not exactly?” Meaning no, if I knew anything.

“No. The files are very confidential.” Apparently. Cuteness is very serious business.

“Then how can you tell me how adorable it is?”

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Cuteness is very serious business.

Chapter four is now underway, and is describing generally what happened in the meetings on Juxia and during the first two weeks of spaceflight. I have been away too long… back to the book!