Chapter 8 Summary

Thorby is adopted into the Kraussa family and begins to be inculcated with the language and the rigidly prescribed customs of the Starship Sisu. He appears to have a remarkable talent for picking up the new culture but, as it is an enormous task, he is occasionally very frustrated. He still speaks with Dr. Mader who, as a detached academic, is able to explain to him the reasoning behind some of the more bizarre Free Trader customs.

Dr. Mader takes some time to explain free trader marriage customs to Thorby, a topic that the young boy seems to find uncomfortable. We learn that men stay on the ship on which they are born, while women are traded to other ships for the purpose of marriage. Free traders are expected to marry outside the moiety (or ship-based family unit) but marriages to fraki appear...