39. Docking Tube

Root, Ash, and Ember coast down a transparent docking tube along a corridor of the USS Prospero.

2012-02-04

Transcript

39.1 Root, Ash, and Ember coast down a transparent docking tube along a corridor of the USS Prospero.

Root: So which of you is chief engineer?
Ash: All three of us are—we two and Smoke, who is on watch.
Root: Oh, I get it. I skimmed Uhura’s notes before we came over. Famlies are the main economic unit on your homeworld, right?
Ash: Hrm, Yes, that is true but it is a bit more—
Ember: Not a family, a three.
Ember: None of us is a mother.
Ember: Obviously.
Ember: Where’s Smoke?

Notes

39.1

Ember is being a bit gruff here but he has a lot on his mind, and little patience with people reciting back to him facts they have just learned about his culture—wrongly.

I was not sure whether I prefer three, trio, triad, or triple as the word for the companionship Ash, Smoke, and Ember are in. Part of the point is there is no exactly correct English word for it. Vonda McIntyre uses partnership for similar concepts in her stories.

With apologies to Gene Roddenberry and the many professionals and amateurs who have created the Star Trek universe over the years.

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