The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Dr. Chef makes tea for him and Rosemary in the Fishbowl. He is telling her what happened to his species. He says that Grums and Humans are very different physically but that both species are capable of horrific cruelty. After generations warring amongst themselves, there are now only about three hundred Grums left. Dr. Chef had been a medic responsible for patching troops up enough to return them to the fight. He did not get close to his patients during the war.

Towards the end of the war, both sides began to use “organ cutters,” projectiles designed to burrow into the target’s body until they are dead. When Dr. Chef learned that his side had been the first to research the cutters, he lost his will to fight. One night, his youngest daughter is brought to the hospital after being hit by a cutter. She was the last of his five children. All had died before mothering children or becoming male. Dr. Chef had a breakdown and spent the rest of the war convalescing.

The war finally ended when there were simply too few Grum to continue fighting. Rather than start over on a new world, the Grums collectively decided that their species didn’t deserve another chance and that they would allow themselves to go extinct.