Wife of the Deep Station

The treaty said they were married. Nobody said they had to touch. Six years ago, Dr. Nema Okonkwo was paired with Sahr, a Var commander, as an interspecies peace gesture. They share a berth on the deep-space relay station Ossuary, a galley schedule, and a polite silence that has outlasted three diplomatic councils. When a void-mite swarm breaches the hull, the two of them are sealed inside a decommissioned greenhouse module with one working atmosphere scrubber and eleven days of air. There is nowhere to stand apart in a greenhouse. Sahr, whose people stopped feeling at twelve, finally says what happened to his first bond-mate. Nema, who has been holding a survey-ship berth open for five years, finally says what she's been waiting for. On day eleven, the doors open. Nema has an answer. So does Sahr, and he gives it in front of the entire crew. A science-fiction alien marriage-in-crisis romance about the slowest handhold in the galaxy.