To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

“At first, disbelief. It had been so long since the summons had been laid upon her, so very long since she had been called to perform her sacred duty. Then exultation at the much-delayed return. Now the pattern could be fulfilled, as once before.”

This is the first time Kira experiences the xeno’s perspective. Kira has felt a pull in her chest, a summons, and the xeno is responding to it with both memory and emotion. Here, both Kira and the reader begin to get a sense of the xeno as a sentient being with a history and feelings.

“‘And Ms. Navárez, if you see General Takeshi, tell him … tell him I remember the sound of summer. Bishop out.”

Bishop, the ship’s mind of the Extenuating Circumstances, has sent Kira a message. He is the reader’s first introduction to a ship’s mind, and its interaction with Kira illustrates how he is much more than a computer. Bishop’s statement is poetic and shows friendship and nostalgia for his friend. In this way, Paolini ensures that the reader understands the sensitivity, intelligence, and humanity of the ship’s mind before Gregorovich becomes a more important part of the narrative.

“Close to the group of seven, she spotted a pair of robed Entropists—one man, one woman—sitting facing each other, eyes closed. Surprised, Kira paused, studying them. It had been a long time since she’d seen an Entropist.”

Kira is in the Wallfish’s hold, examining the wide variety of other passengers they have picked up. The Entropists are a technically advanced group, and these two will join Kira’s journey after she approaches them. Veera and Jorrus will offer Kira a good example of Connectedness and Cooperation between two beings.

““How did any of us get here? Hmm? And is it even that important? One could argue that all that really matters is that we learn to deal with where we are at any given moment, not where we were.””

In the Wallfish passenger hold, Kira meets Inarë, an enigmatic passenger who offers her several bits of wisdom. This one applies directly to Kira’s situation since she is still mourning Alan and struggling with the xeno. The reminder to deal with her present situation instead of being mired in the past is a timely one and something that Kira will struggle to overcome.

“Kira hated that expression: Homeworld. Technically it was correct, but it just felt oppressive to her, as if they were all supposed to bow down and defer to those lucky enough to still live on Earth. It wasn’t her homeworld. Weyland was.”

Because Earth is the origin of the human species, it is referred to as Homeworld, and The League often prioritizes it. Kira’s perspective, however, highlights the attitude of people from other planets, which have been colonized for generations. While she also describes Earth as wild and uncontrolled, she feels a deep envy for those on Earth, and she is resentful of their advantages.

““Dammit,” she muttered. What am I going to do? Amid all the questions and uncertainties and events of galactic importance—amid a sea of choices, any one of which could have catastrophic consequences, and not just for her—a single truth stood out. Her family was in danger.”

Kira is trying to decide whether to turn herself in to the UMC. As she sorts through all the important factors, her family rises as her top priority. This is characteristic of Kira and a prevalent theme of the novel. Here, she decides that the best way to keep her family safe is to stay away from them and join the war. This foreshadows another decision at the end of the novel, when Kira decides to go out on her own to protect her Wallfish family and keep them safe.

“Take comfort, then that whatever you choose in life has importance beyond yourself. Importance, even, on a cosmic scale.”

During her discussion with the Entropists, Kira attempts to get information about the xeno. They do not have any insight, but she does feel some comfort after her conversation with them. The Entropists provide Kira with a welcome perspective shift, and she keeps this idea with her, especially at the end when she commits to ending the war at the expense of her own life. Kira’s choices have a bigger cosmic impact than the Entropists could have imagined.

“Eat the path, or the path will eat you. To paraphrase an old quote.”

Before they part, Inarë offers Kira another cryptic piece of advice. Although it does not make sense to Kira at the time, she remembers it often. In the end, this idea will help Kira commit fully to the difficult decision to sacrifice her life to win the war.

“‘Everyone messes up. How you deal with it is what determines who you are.’”

After Kira injures a passenger during the Jelly attack, she hides in her cabin, ashamed and afraid of the crew’s rejection. Nielsen comes to her cabin and offers this piece of advice, then persuades Kira to join the crew for dinner. This act and the way that the crew subsequently accept her without question show the depth of the familial bond of the Wallfish and that Kira is becoming a member of that family.

“The organism’s decisions built a sense of character: one that was impulsive and eager to find flaws that could be exploited. Its was a questing consciousness full of unbridled curiosity, despite its oftentimes destructive nature.”

As Kira’s relationship with the xeno develops, she begins to understand it better. Its choices show her that the xeno has a personality, with priorities and personal quirks. This understanding of the xeno as a being and not just a tool will deepen Kira’s relationship with it and allow them to connect and cooperate more fully.

“To Kira, the place felt old beyond reckoning. It seemed unlikely it had been the homeworld of the Vanished—for a sentient, technologically advanced species to evolve on a tidally locked planet would be extremely difficult—but she had little doubt the Vanished had settled there long ago, and had stayed for a long time thereafter.”

Kira, the Wallfish crew, and a cadre of UMC soldiers have landed on Nidus, the planet where Kira believes the Vanished hid the Staff of Blue. Nidus is the site of an abandoned city and is just one of the sites and objects the Vanished left behind, many of which have been scavenged by the Jellies. When they discover the city, its ancient, abandoned structures further emphasize that the Vanished have been extinct for a very long time.

“Kira’s heart was pounding with panic she couldn’t suppress. A Seeker. She remembered them from ages past: creatures made to enforce the word of the Heptarchy. A single one had wreaked havoc on the Jellies during the Sundering; she feared to think what it might do to The League if it escaped the planet.”

After discovering the shattered Staff of Blue, Kira and the team accidentally wake a Seeker, an enforcer for the Vanished. Kira recognizes it immediately, or rather, the xeno does, and its memories illustrate the extreme danger for Kira. This Seeker will evade both the humans and the Jellies and escape into space, leaving another dangerous foe for Kira to seek out in the future.

“She was the mother of the Corrupted. Her actions had led to their creation, and their sins were hers. All those dead: Jellies, humans, and so many innocent life-forms on distant planets—her heart ached to think of it...”

Kira now understands the origins of the Corrupted, or the nightmares, and the Maw. Their creation is the result of a piece of her suit melding both a human, Dr. Carr, and a Jelly into the genetically mismatched being that is sending the nightmares. Kira feels responsible for the Maw’s creation and for all the destruction that followed.

“‘It makes you feel good to blame yourself. You know why?’ Kira shook her head, mute. ‘Because it gives you a sense of control. The hardest lesson in life is learning to accept that there are some things we can’t change.”

When Kira tells Falconi about her part in the creation of the Maw, he tells her she cannot blame herself. When she continues to do so, he loses his temper and reveals a greater truth to her. By continuing to feel guilt and blame for the situation, she is attempting to assume control over it. This is the same mistake she makes at first with the xeno, and she learns the same lesson: give up control and practice acceptance.

“She blinked and felt a sense of comfort as the familiar HUD of her overlays popped up. There now. She was a fully functioning person again.”

Several times throughout the novel, Kira is left without her implants and overlays, as the xeno absorbs them while she is hibernating. Each time, Kira feels less than fully human without the enhancements. This normalization of enhancements, to the point where she feels inhuman without them, reminds the reader of the distance between reality and this future.

“A sense of pleasure emanated from the Soft Blade at finally being let loose to pursue its purpose; from it Kira had flashes of … yellow fields with flowers that sang … memories that … a treelike growth with metal scales for bark … disoriented her further, made it almost … a group of long, furry creatures that yipped at her from between brindled mandibles … impossible to concentrate. In a brief shard of lucidity, the horror of the situation struck Kira. What had she done?”

Kira has relinquished control of the xeno, or rather her need to control it, slowly throughout the book. At this point, she and the xeno are working well together, and she gives it a freer range. Each time, however, she experiences some panic as she loses more control and sees what the xeno is capable of. In this example, the xeno is clearly more interested in growth and creation than destruction.

“She’d managed to heal a living thing—to reshape flesh (of a sort) and to give comfort instead of pain, to create instead of destroy. Unbidden, a laugh escaped her. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders, as if the thrust had dropped to half a g or less. This was a gift: a precious ability pregnant with potential…Triumph and gratitude filled her eyes with tears, and she smiled through them, happy…”

Kira and the xeno work together to heal Falconi’s bonsai, which was destroyed by the UMC during their search. This is the first time she explores the xeno’s healing capabilities, and after the death and destruction it has wrought it is a huge relief to her. She is discovering the xeno’s true purpose, and the experience shows her what they are capable of together. It also gives her the confidence to use those same healing abilities on Gregorovich later.

“Their time spent in cryo appeared to have dulled the shock of having their hive mind broken. They never moved more than a meter away from each other, though, and they were always touching, as if physical contact were somehow a substitute for the mental connection they’d lost.

After one of the Entropists, Veera, is shocked, she and Jorrus lose their connection to each other. To Kira, the Entropists have illustrated the advantages of their high level of Connectedness and Cooperation. Now, however, they illustrate the dangers of the vulnerability required to be so deeply connected.

“This she beheld, and her sacred cause she knew—to move among the empty worlds, to furrow the fruitless soil, and to plant therein the germs of future growth.”

During an extended passage from the xeno’s point of view, the reader is given further insight into its purpose and its emotional depth. The xeno has a mandate, the sacredness of life, that Kira takes into herself as their relationship deepens. It takes Kira time to realize that the xeno was built to create, not destroy.

“A sense of awe crept through her, for the truth of the name was greater, so much greater, than the words Soft Blade implied. The organism had a purpose, and that purpose was of almost unimaginable complexity and—of this she was sure—importance. And though it seemed a contradiction, that purpose, that complexity, could be summed up not by pages or paragraphs but by a single word. And that word was thus: Seed.”

Kira is communicating with the Soft Blade, as they are now more fully integrated, and Kira has come to understand the xeno much more fully. She finally comes to understand what its purpose is and with that understanding comes the true name of the xeno: Seed. After this revelation, Kira feels great guilt for her misuse of the Seed.

“Compared with before, commanding the Seed was effortless, and she had little fear of losing control. As she willed, so it was.”

Kira and the Seed are in cooperation now, and Kira is able to direct their action better. This is because she knows now what the Seed’s priority is—the sacredness of life—and it is a priority she now shares. This deep cooperation allows them to work together seamlessly to defend the Wallfish crew while still preserving life.

“She had done this. Her. A deep ache formed in Kira’s heart. Never had she aspired to hurt, to kill. Life was too precious for that. And yet circumstances had forced her to violence, forced her to become a weapon. The Seed also.”

Kira is surrounded by dead Jellies, which are the result of her and the xeno’s work. Now that she understands the Seed’s true purpose and is aligned with it, she is deeply saddened by what they have had to do. Yet Kira does not shy away from her mission as she sees it; she understands that the killing was necessary, but she will always feel guilt over it.

“For she was not fighting the nightmare, not anymore; she was allowing it to be what it was, and she was acknowledging its existence and her role in creating it. And through that, she healed the Maw’s agonized flesh. As her reach grew, Kira felt herself stretching thinner and thinner, fading into the accumulating mass of the Seed.”

Kira has entered the Maw with the intention of destroying it. However, she discovers the only way to win against it is to join it and absorb it. Kira uses the same strategy she used with the bonsai, Gregorovich, and Ctein, which is to join with the Maw to heal it. This final step in understanding the xeno’s capabilities and purpose is what allows Kira to finally end the war between the humans and the Jellies.