Leaving Hope Chapter 5–in which Anya and Borsk share a greenhouse detention on the grape trellis — and then a meal with Borsk’s mama.

I had a lot of fun with this chapter, especially the part in the greenhouses when Anya and Borsk are pollinating the grapes.

I read about people pollinating with paintbrushes in a news article when I was living in China. Apparently, some orchards in the northeastern part of the country didn’t have enough insects to do the job, so this was how people handled it.

I imagined that people wouldn’t have brought pollinators with them on the ship, hence the paintbrushes…

In fact, except for the recycling grubs and the humans, I imagined Hope to be completely without animals. What do you think life without most animals would be like? Do you think, instead, people would take animals with them when they took to the stars? How would they find enough space to keep whole species alive?

Let me know your answers to these questions–or your thoughts about anything in this chapter–in the comments.

Leaving Hope Chapter 5 is part of the Leaving Hope Read-Along series. Comment on any of these posts (or all of them!) to increase your chances of winning one of the StarRacer copies given away at the end of the month.