Derin Edala

10: The Ballad of Billie the Second Son

When I got up in the morning, the whole thing seemed a bit silly.

It didn’t really make sense for the treegrave to not be real. It would be a really silly lie to tell, just to kill off peop...

The Void Behind is moving to a 2/week update schedule!

That's right, folks! Expect The Void Behind chapters on Tuesdays and Saturdays (or on Wednesdays and Sundays), depending on where in the world you live). We're going back to 2/week!

9: The Secret

On the last day of my break, I had a dream.

I was in one f the ship’s viewing ports again, alone. But Grandma’s wheelchair was there with me. Like last time, I couldn’t just see out of ...

8: Seven

The number blocks were easy to use. There were little blocks that could be added together or taken away or sorted into groups to find out the answers to math questions. There were longer sticks, tw...

Supporter bonus (November)

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(Monthly bonus) The Void Behind 7: Round Numbers

Mum had her baby just as I was about to start Textiles, so she was gone for a few days, but came back fine. She was tired but okay; the baby was okay, safe in the orphanage. I never saw it.

T...

The Void Behind 6: Mammals

We did the rest of Farming, and most of it was stuff I knew and didn’t have to pay much attention to. Arai wasn’t paying much attention either, except for the basic attention that she always pa...

The Void Behind 5: The Sheep

We didn’t see any food making machines on the rest of the jaunt through the Kitchens, but that didn’t mean that I was wrong. They were probably just too dangerous to let kids our age close to. ...

The Void Behind 4: Change

I spend as much time as I can with Grandma over the next month, but it’s not easy. We have a big family, and she has old friends, so a lot of people want to spend time with her. And she has to sp...

The Void Behind 3: The Dream

When I went to sleep, I had a bad dream.

I stayed up late to spend more time with Grandma, and when I get to bed late I sometimes have nightmares. This time, I was standing in a viewing port,...

The Void Behind 2: Closed System

I didn’t tell my friends about the treegrave thing at Rubbish & Recycling the next day. They wouldn’t have understood. They would’ve congratulated me, and when I explained why it was sad,...

Supporter bonus (October)

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The Void Behind 1: What Every Girl Wants

Right from the first day of my jaunt, I knew that every girl on the Courageous must want more than anything to work in Rubbish & Recycling.

Arai didn’t agree. She said that wor...

Wandering Star 63: One Year Later

“Did you hear what Lorna and Smon were talking about this morning?” Ketyk asks, landing on the large metal dish on the ground that Tyk is trying to inspect.

“What? No. You know I can’...

Wandering Star 62: Realignment

“I have never claimed to be – ”

“I didn’t say you claimed to be anything. But that’s how you think. Like you and your people dropped out of the sky, a nascent beginning that gets ...

Wandering Star 61: Regrets

“Maybe somebody took her,” Ketyk frets. “Or hurt her.”

“There’s nobody around,” Yar assures him. “If there was, the scouts would’ve seen them, or we would’ve seen evidence...

Wandering Star 60: Sunseekers

The proposed Rayjo Tau site is very high above the ocean, but it’s not nearly as high as Tyk was expecting. Despite all of Smon’s talk about height being important, there’s still plenty of mo...

25: Two Years Later

Things move pretty fast when you have essentially unlimited labour and resources to get them done. The Lightsong Travel Agency was up before I knew it.

Word of our existence was spreading to ...

Supporter bonus chapter (September)

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(Since we're down to one story as of September, I'll be adding more bonus stories to the options.)

Wandering Star 59: To the Tower

Time moves on. Smon gets her metal purified and then forged, expands her farm, and starts stockpiling food. Ketyk grows very quickly into a surprisingly strong flyer, soon able to make it up and do...

24: Negotiation

“That’s our cue,” Kate said. “‘Should we meet up and talk’.”

I glanced at the boys. “This isn’t safe.”

“It was never going to be safe. This is as safe as it was ev...

Wandering Star 58: Forging Ahead

Tyk is of course as excited about the wingsong stream as anyone. She’s desperate for news of home, and Kemia thoughtfully keeps abreast of the situation and the very morning after they start to g...

23: Outmanoeuvre

The human wasn’t wrong. All three of the ships here were mine, part of my Empire; was it really more of a violation to transmit from the Red Four than to have stolen the Oval Nine? But I did need...

Wandering Star 57: Red River Ramble

The hiveheart announce Smon’s true nature and the Rayjo Tau plan that very afternoon. Smon helps them frame the situation as better than playing temporary host to some baby stars, as them being t...

22: Engagement

The Firedancer was beautiful.

Queen Tatik had never really acknowledged it as her flagship, not while the remnants of the Stardancer still existed as the heart of our nest, but necessity had ...

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Wandering Star 56: Alone

“It’s a bold claim,” one of the hiveheart says, “for a handful of inexperienced children to make. That this new type of communication tower could reach all the way across the ocean.”

21: Last Stand

I didn’t have to check the hull to know that it wasn’t doing great. Which is good, because I wouldn’t have been able to check it anyway; most of our external sensors were gone, burned away in...

Wandering Star 55: Diplomatic Potential

Tyk can’t help but be impressed by the restraint of the people of Glittergem Hive. Even as Smon, clean and well rested and adorned in her least tattered silks, strides through the entrance hall w...

20: Action

Bringing my rogue sister back to the Heart Planet is a very dangerous decision. Is it the wrong one? It might be. But I can’t risk killing her before I know which Queen her pack of traitors has t...