I Cheerfully Refuse

Rainy waits in a cell deep in the ship. It has a tap, but the water is discolored and makes him ill. At intervals, a man appears at his door and pushes stale bread through a small opening. Rainy asks the man if he knows what happened to Sol, but the man won’t answer him. After Rainy begs for clean water, the man brings him clean water and some bread, warning him to save it. Werryck visits, and though Rainy believes he can overpower the old man, one look into Werryck’s eyes terrifies him. Werryck says that though he believes Rainy did not know about Kellan’s stash of Willow, Rainy is convicted under the Expedited Judicial Fairness Protocol. There will be no trial, and Rainy can’t appeal. Werryck gives Rainy his bass guitar and amp back, telling him he may be on the ship, Posterity, for a long time. It isn’t only a medicine ship for pharmaceuticals but also a prison.

Rainy doesn’t play guitar at first, feeling the weight of the memories that music evokes of his band and