Rosemary successfully negotiates a compromise that will provide the Akaraks with what they need while allowing the Wayfarer to make it to the nearest port. Shortly after leaving Port Coriol, the ship is boarded by Akarak raiders, an impoverished avian race reliant on plunder to survive. There, Sissix, Kizzy, and Rosemary are accosted by a human-purist fanatic Jenks asks a friend about finding a body kit and Ashby meets with his Aeluon lover, Pei. Before leaving for their new job, the crew stops at Port Coriol to do some shopping. The Wayfarer is awarded the contract, and the crew decides to accept it. When a job posting looking for a ship of their size to punch the first tunnel to the Galactic Common’s newest member species appears, Ashby leaps at it. They both like the idea of it, but body kits are highly illegal. During the journey, Jenks and Lovey discuss the possibility of finding her a body kit to transfer her consciousness into. As they travel, Rosemary gets to know the other crew better, learns the existing dynamics between them, and adapts to spaceborne life.

The Wayfarer is making its way to the endpoint of a new wormhole that the ship will punch. Despite her fear that she will reveal her lack of experience, she quickly settles into her new role as ship’s clerk. Rosemary has fled her old life as the daughter of a disgraced businessman and forged her identification and qualifications. Chef, the doctor and cook Ohan, the navigator (a Sianat Pair, therefore plural pronouns are used) the two techs, Kizzy Shao and Jenks the ship’s AI, Lovelace (Lovey) and the algaeist Artis Corbin. Onboard, she meets the crew: Ashby Santoso, the captain Sissix, the pilot Dr.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet opens with the arrival of Rosemary Harper to the Wayfarer as it makes its way to its next job.

The long way to an angry planet