Amid the Crowd of Stars

by Stephen Leigh

  Murphy’s Alehouse: A tavern in Dulcia run by Clan Murphy.

  Musha!: A versatile local exclamation of surprise, wonder, or irritation.

  Newtown: The first settlement outside of First Base, no longer well-populated.

  Odysseus: The name of the starship sent from Earth to Canis Lupus.

  Okaa-san: In Japanese, the polite way to address one’s mother. Less formal would be Haha.

  The Pale Woman: A tall white standing stone, with a single arm jutting out to indicate the nearly hidden opening to Dulcia Harbor.

  Pishmires: A six-legged, winged antlike swarming insect on Canis Lupus, considered a pest to be eradicated if they get in your house.

  Plockton: Another coastal town on the mainland.

  Plotch: A combination of “purple” and “blotch”—the skin fungus that infects most of the Inish.

  Plunkett’s Pub: A tavern in Dulcia run by Clan Plunkett.

  Poitín (poh-teen): From Irish. Whiskey traditionally distilled in a small pot still. The term derives from the Irish word meaning “pot.”

  Pure Barry: Slang for wonderful or fantastic.

  Rod of Asclepius: The military’s symbol for the medical corps: a single snake intwined around a rod.

  Sayounara: “Goodbye” in Japanese, but containing a sense of finality suggesting that you might never meet this person again.

  Scones to a sheeper: A waste of time (since sheepers are grass eaters and wouldn’t eat a scone).

  Seaflower: An herb that grows in the littoral zone along the coastlands. Used for flavoring in meat sauces.

  Sea giosta (ghista): A coastal bird of the Storm Sea.

  Seann (sh-oww-n): “Eldest” (literally, “old”).

  Seanmháthair (shan-wah-her): Grandmother.

  Sheeper: A ruminant quasi-mammal with six legs, a rounded ball-like body, covered in light gray hair that is thick like wool. The name is a combination of “sheep” and “spider.”

  Sleeping Wolf, The: An island in the archipelago that from the mainland resembles a canine animal resting on the sea.

  Sourmilk Tree: A local tree with channeled bark through which runs a thick, white liquid, edible but extremely sour to the taste.

  Spiny Walkers: A centipede-like, bottom-feeding sea mollusk with a large shell adorned with spikes. Humans like the taste of them, as so do several other sea creatures.

  Spiorad beag (spear-id be-ug): “Minor Spirit”—there are several minor spirits in the arracht/Inish pantheon. They are generally mischievous and troublesome.

  Spiorad Mór (Spear-id Mohr): “Great Spirit”—the major deity of the arracht/Inish pantheon.

  Stook: Idiot or fool.

  Storm Sea: The single ocean that girdles Canis Lupus, passing through the habitable zone as well as the sunward and spaceward faces of the planet.

  Sugar Root: A local vegetable that, when boiled, dried, and pulverized, provides a brown sweetener.

  Tartberry: A red-colored berry indigenous to Canis Lupus.

  Touchwrap: A rollable touchscreen one can wear around a wrist or arm.

  Tree Strands: A hanging, mossy growth found on the sourmilk tree, which is smoked by the locals. Considered medicinal, though it is habit-forming.

  Twenty-Eight Clans: AKA: “The Twenty-Eight.” The twenty-eight matrilineal lines that survived on Canis Lupus (see section “The Twenty-Eight Clans”).

  United Congress of Earth (UCE): The world-spanning government on Earth.

  Wetware: The biologically based components of Odysseus’ AI system, essentially the neural pathways of the central ship brain.

  Wabi-sabi (wah-bee sah-bee): A Japanese concept derived from Buddhist sensibilities: accepting and appreciating the transient nature of made things and the imperfections that come with creation, age, and use.

  Wasting, The: A disease that afflicts those of Canis Lupus, with no current cure on the mainland. The Wasting causes debilitating diarrhea and severe abdominal cramping and has a mortality rate of nearly 50%.

  Well tidy: An all-purpose slang phrase that can mean anything that’s excellent, fantastic, good, outstanding, beautiful, stunning, delicious, and so on, as in “That’s some well tidy bluefin there . . .”

  Wriggler: Small (no larger than a human’s little finger) squidlike fish that gather in large schools. A favorite prey food for many of the local aquatic or semi-aquatic animals and good bait for catching larger species like the bluefins.

  Lupusian Timekeeping and Timeline

  After the meteor strike on Earth and the Dunbrody’s departure from Canis Lupus stranding those left behind on First Base and Second Base, the Lupusians would eventually create their own way of keeping track of time. This was complicated by the fact that the habitable zone is an area of perpetual twilight, with the sun (when visible through the clouds) always low on the horizon with no demarcation between day and night as on Earth.

  However, the inhabitants of First Base retained an artificial 24-hour day, mimicking Earth. Even after they abandoned First Base, the basics of the Terran solar cycle were retained, though the term “day” was replaced with the term “cycle.” Time was kept at First Base, then later at towers in the various towns and compounds which would sound bells at the top of every “hour” in two twelve-hour sequences. Deep and loud bells toll the first twelve hours; higher-pitched and quieter ones sound the second round of twelve. The Lupusians refer to the hours as “Low First through Twelfth” and “High First through Twelfth.” Most Lupusians sleep during High Fourth through Twelfth, waking around Low First.

  There are no weeks or months in the Lupusian calendar since Canis Lupus orbits very quickly around its sun Wolf 1061: 18 cycles = one Lupusian year. Thus, persons celebrating their 21st birthday on Earth would be 426 Lupusian years old.

  TIMELINE OF PAST EVENTS

  Terran Year

  Lupusian Year

  Event

  2134

  0

  The ship Dunbrody arrives at the Canis Lupus system with a large research crew.

  2139/1

  101/1

  Massive Meteor Strike on Earth. Devastation and a partial collapse of civilization results with an attendant loss of technology. Earth enters what will later be called “The Interregnum” and begins a new yearly dating system from the date of the meteor strike. The Lupusian years would later also be adjusted to start from that date. However, no one on Canis Lupus would actually be aware of this event until the news reached there in what would become year 284 in the new Lupusian calendar.

  10

  202

  Dunbrody leaves Canis Lupus for Earth as originally scheduled, promising to return as soon as possible with supplies for the bases. They leave behind about 400 people between two bases, one on each continent, rather blandly named First Base and Second Base.

  14

  284

  News of the meteor strike (and the new calendar established by the UCE) reaches First & Second Bases on Canis Lupus. The Lupusian retroactively change their own calendar to restart on the date of the meteor strike. They ask about Dunbrody and their supplies, but communication is limited to light speed. To ask a question and receive an answer takes nearly 27 Earth years (almost 5.5 centuries in Lupisian years), as Canis Lupus is 13.4 light years away.

  39

  791

  Dunbrody never returns, its fate unknown. The bio barriers and environmental systems of both bases slowly fail and can’t be repaired. There’s no choice for those living there: they are exposed to the local atmosphere an
d biome.

  39 - 41

  791 - 831

  New diseases and infections ravage the crew members, who are now effectively “settlers” (the first members of the second generation have already been born at First Base). The news from Second Base is more dire; all but a few people there have died (and the rest will eventually succumb).

  40

  811

  First Base is effectively abandoned. The first town (Newtown) is established a few kilometers away. The “clan” societal structure with clan “compounds” begins to coalesce within the Lupusian society.

  42 - 95

  852 - 1926

  The settlers begin to develop treatments, cures, and develop immunities to the local viruses and bacteria as they experiment with the local flora and fauna, and begin domestication and farming of some of the native species. The Lupusian population begins to stabilize and slowly increase once more. The last member of the original crew passes away in Lupusian year 1318 (Earth Year 73).

  61

  1236

  The town of Dulcia is established.

  87

  1761

  Clans Mullin and Craig establish their compounds on the Inish archipelago after a dispute over fishing rights with other clans.

  88

  1784

  The Inish come to realize that the arracht are sentient.

  90

  1825

  The Inish have largely transferred their religious beliefs to that of the arracht while the Mainlanders still mostly cling to homeworld beliefs, largely Christian given the background of the group from the British Isles.

  90 - 91

  1825 - 1845

  The “Great Fishing War” between the Inish and the Mainlander clans, caused by the Inish insisting that the mainlanders cannot hunt arracht any more. Lives are lost, but the arracht’s sinking of many Mainlander boats effectively ends the altercation.

  332

  6732

  Odysseus arrives at Canis Lupus.

  332 Terran Years/6732 Lupusian Years = roughly 15 to 16 generations of Lupusians counting from the original settlers.

  The Twenty-Eight Clans

  Two and a half generations lived in and were brought up in First Base after the Dunbrody, the starship that had brought the first humans here, departed for Earth, promising to return with supplies for the research colony left behind. The Dunbrody’s eventual fate is unknown. Even if it managed to return to Earth (and whether it did or not isn’t clear in the fragmented historical record) the ship would have been caught up in the chaos and violence of the Interregnum. In any case, the Dunbrody would never return to Canis Lupus. When First Base’s environmental systems began to fail under the burden of continual usage, and those inside had realized that they had no choice but to open the building to Canis Lupus in order to survive, there were ninety-three women among those in the base. That number would begin to drop quickly to illness, disease, accident, and starvation as the colony struggled with the new world confronting them.

  Of the original ninety-three maternal surnames, only twenty-eight matrilineal lines would survive.

  Any idea of monogamy was largely abandoned at that point, and all offspring took on the surname of their mothers—since the Lupusians lacked the ability to test DNA, the patriarchal line could never be entirely certain. People lived in large clan compounds, with the entire extended family taking care of offspring. Monogamy wasn’t entirely unknown, just rare and even more rarely long-lasting. If a man wished to live with a woman, he would move to her family’s compound while retaining his own clan name for a time. If he decided to stay permanently or if the two decided to pursue a monogamous relationship, then (with the permission of the clan elders) he’d take on the new clan’s name.

  Only rarely would a woman move to a male lover’s clan compound, and in those rare cases, the woman would never take the male’s clan surname.

  Everyone on Canis Lupus bears the surname of one of the original “Twenty-Eight Clans,” as they’re called, since the mothers were the only ancestors one could know for certain. The identity of a Lupusian’s biological father is often speculative and not considered to be of any particular importance. While a person will know her or his siblings, other than a woman’s brothers, all men in the clan are simply referred to as “Uncle” while all woman other than one’s mother, grandmother, siblings, or one’s own offspring are “Aunt.” Sexual contact with aunts and uncles is strongly discouraged.

  As with any human population, there are also those who are attracted to those of the same gender or any gender, or who don’t easily fit into a female/male binary, or who push the boundaries of gender in other ways. On Canis Lupus, no one is particularly bothered by such, in much the same way as no Lupusian generally cares who someone takes as a lover in any case. They’re all still part of an extended clan family and have their own roles within the clan. With a low overall population, however, finding other people with a like attraction can be difficult.

  A listing of the Twenty-Eight Clans (boldface indicates a clan mentioned in the book).

  Abney: mostly a Rhyl-based clan. Largely farmers.

  Ainsley: mostly a Newtown-based clan.

  Bancroft: mostly a Dulcia-based clan, sheeper farmers and weavers primarily.

  Cockburn: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Craig: one of the two clans of the archipelago.

  Delaney: Dulcia-, Rhyl-, and Usk-based clan. Fisherfolk.

  Douglas: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Fitzpatrick: mostly Dulcia- and Usk-based clan. In Dulcia, they’re fishmongers.

  Griffith: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Hearn: mostly Dulcia- and Plockton-based clan. In Dulcia, they’re primarily butchers.

  Kirkland: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Lewis: The primary constabulary and judicial arm of the mainland. Found in all the towns.

  Lynch: mostly a Rhyl-based clan.

  MacCába: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  MacGowan: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Mullin: one of the two clans of the archipelago.

  Murphy: mostly a Dulcia-based clan, where they own a pub, a brewery, and a bakery.

  Norris: mostly a Rhyl-based clan.

  O’Clery: mostly a Newtown-based clan. Metalworkers, ore smelters, and foundry workers. They make the bells that sound out the time in the towns.

  Pritchard: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Plunkett: mostly Dulcia- and Usk-based clan, very active in inter-clan politics. In Dulcia, they own a pub and brew liquor.

  Quincey: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Ramsey: mostly an Usk-based clan.

  Rhydderch: mostly Plocton- and Rhyl-based clan.

  Shea: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Stuart: mostly a Dulcia-based clan. Confectioners.

  Taggart: Dulcia, Plockton, and Rhyl-based clan, with a few Taggarts in other towns. Farmers.

  Vaughan: compounds in all the towns. No single primary occupation.

  Notes and Acknowledgments

  On the novel’s genesis:

  I took a trip to Ireland in May 2017 with my s
ister Sharon and her husband Dave (unfortunately, Denise was ill enough that she didn’t feel comfortable going, though she insisted I go). We were exploring the gorgeous Dingle Peninsula when I stumbled upon the story of the Blasket Islands. The Blasket Centre is well out on the peninsula’s Atlantic head, a delightful museum dedicated to the history of the Blasket Islands and the Blasket’s literary tradition. I was immediately fascinated, bought several of the islanders’ books, and the more I thought about the islands and their relationship with the mainland of Ireland, the more I found myself inundated with potential story ideas. This book is a result, even if the connection to the Blaskets isn’t immediately apparent.

  In our world, the Blasket Islands were well-known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for being the place to go if one wanted to study the Irish language as it was spoken, as this was one of the few places in Ireland (like the Aran Islands or parts of the counties in the west of Ireland) where Irish was the language the locals both spoke and wrote. But the lure of the modern world and other countries along with the difficulty competing with new fishing technologies and regulations caused the residents of the Great Blasket to slowly leave the island until there were too few of them left to sustain the settlement. The last permanent residents of the Blaskets were finally evacuated from Great Blasket Island on November 17, 1953.

  It was the sense of disconnection and the resulting escalating tensions within the Blasket culture itself and between the Blaskets and the more modern society of the mainland that provided the initial spark for this book, though there were other sparks as well.

  * * *

  On the chapter titles:

  Some (though by no means all) of the chapter titles are from William Butler Yeats’ works: usually a paraphrasing of one of his quotes or a snippet of one. In fact, the title of this book is the closing phrase (with the article “a” changed to “the” because I preferred it) of the Yeats poem “When You Are Old.” You’re welcome to Google the rest and look up the full source material—Yeats’ poetry is delightful and inspirational. Be careful, though; you might get lost down the rabbit hole of reading more of Yeats’ work and never return.