4) Carol, Shervah. Home planet Krekka circles M2 main sequence flare star; temperature range 240-250K, gravity 0.83 Earth normal, normal atmospheric pressure 2700 millibars, partial pressure of NOC1 210-330 millibars. Body fluid ammonia based, NOC1 breather. Shape humanoid, but very small by human standards; height 137 centimeters, mass 32 kilograms. Face repulsive to human taste; no chin, mouth almost out of sight, large independently mobile eyes on opposite sides of head able to cover full circle. Covered with dense brown fur.

5) Jenny, Rimmore. Planet Hrimm, sun an M2 main sequence star, temperature range 220-260K, gravity 1.85 Earth normal, atmospheric pressure 4300 millibars, oxygen partial pressure about 320 millibars, rest mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Body fluids ammonia based, oxygen breather. Physical shape, two-meter-long centipede, front three of eighteen limb pairs modified for handling. Two large eyes on sides of head.

Chapter One

Datum One: Joe

Joe, for the first time in weeks, felt really comfortable. True, the gravity was only half what it should be, but it was real gravity, and in a moment he would be outdoors. Not, of course, that he could feel any difference between acceleration and gravity—there wasn’t any—but having to compromise with beings who walked or slithered or crawled or even flew around weighing two or five or ten times what anything of their size should weigh was uncomfortable. It could even be dangerous, after a while.

There was gas outside, too.