The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Jenks tries to calm and reassure Lovey through a neural patch. She is disconnected from most of the ship and confused. Pepper’s ship docks, and she comes aboard. Jenks has sent for her to help save Lovey. Ashby is doing some rudimentary repairs while Rosemary watches the news feeds. The return of the damaged Wayfarer to GC space is the first indication that anything has gone wrong at Hedra Ka. A news alert pops up indicating that the Toremi fleet at Hedra Ka has divided into two factions, one pro-GC and the other anti-GC. Parliament is holding an inquiry and wants Ashby to appear in person to give testimony.

Ashby enters the AI core, and Kizzy pulls him aside. She tells him that Lovey has suffered the equivalent of a severe stroke. She tells him that they are left with only one option to restore Lovey—a hard reset. Ashby knows that it is a fifty-fifty chance at best. If it works, Lovey will probably recover in time. If it doesn’t, then Lovey will be reset to her factory settings and become Lovelace once more. Kizzy feels bad that they didn’t realize that Lovey was in distress earlier, but it wouldn’t have made any difference.