Part 1, Chapter 1 Techno-Nomads Summary

Toby is barely inside before he is greeted by Cermo, the huge man called Cermo-the-Slow in years past. Cermo is leaner and faster now. Cermo has already heard that the Cap'n has found food for the starving crew. He reminds Toby that it is his turn for maintenance detail. Cermo gleefully informs him the sewage seals have broken again. While Toby works, his teaching Aspect, Isaac, pointlessly informs him the term he has used (crap) comes from the name of one Thomas Crapper, who invented the flush toilet on Old Earth.

There is soon another sewage leak, this time on the Bridge. Toby and his friend Besen go to clean it. The Bridge is an almost holy place on Argo, where computers and the human crew make split-second decisions that decide the course of everyone's lives. The ship is...