Chapter 9 Summary

Thorby begins his time on Sisu in a lowly job on the ship's central dressing station, but is quickly promoted due to his math background. He is placed in the starboard fire-control room, where he is trained by the senior fire-controlman, his foster nephew and roommate, Jeri Kingsolver. The junior fire-controlman is Jeri's younger sister, Mata. Thorby struggles for a while to catch up with Jeri and Mata, who are far better at this than he his. However, he eventually gets the hang of it.

During this time, Thorby gets to know his adoptive niece, Mata, much better and begins to spend time with her socially—playing spatball, watching story films, and participating in other similar activities. They begin to call each other by their first names, which connotes a high level of familiarity in the Free Trader society.

Chapter 9 Analysis

In...