2/3 Human (novel)

2/3 Human (romanized as Two-Thirds Human) is a comedy/drama space-opera novel written and illustrated by Damion Lapeyrouse, and released on June 8th, 2023. It is the first installment in the Thus Saith The Stars book series.

## Summary

Ripped from her remote jungle home by the population preserving organization Yetsibee, young Gerine is thrust headfirst into a universe chock-full of expectations she isn't prepared to meet, and forced to shoulder the burdens placed upon her not only by her human heritage, but by galactic culture at large. From simple tasks like toiling at an hourly job and paying bills to battling alien anarchists and juggling the fates of entire solar systems, this adult-oriented space opera navigates the muddled matter of responsibilities -both societal and self-imposed- and the question of what it means to truly live "free".

## Synopsis

### Preface

In the opening sequence, Lianhuan huntress Gerine spies on a newly-created crater from the safety of a tree branch, sequentially identifying a fire, smoke and spaceship. Finally, her eyes fall on the alien invader responsible for arranging these objects, and panics.

### Chapter 1

Gerine bathes in the stream south of her village, dwelling on the nebulous nature of life, experimenting on rocks and the like to try and pin down its precise attributes. While watching the clouds, she spots a stream of smoke rising over the rain forest, and mistaking it for a surface-scouring storm cloud, rushes to confront it.

Return to the crater, where Gerine is spotted by the alien creature, who beckons her forth. He introduces himself as Rewll, and asks her name. She surprises herself by immediately catching onto his unfamiliar language. After sharing a meal, she offers he spend the night with her colony. However, her insect brethren don't take kindly to the red menace, and chase him to a cave. Gerine reunites with him that night, where he argues with her that the bug-men couldn't possibly be her relations, because she more closely resembles a human. Gerine deduces that while her father is a pure-bred Lianhuan, her missing mother may in fact be one of these human things. She returns to her nest conflicted over her findings.

The next day, she rolls Rewll's pod back to his cave and watches while he tries to mend it, asking annoying questions all the while. Even after working hard all day, Rewll can't seem to get the ship started, a consequence of Gerine pocketing a few pieces as souvenirs. She finds him the following morning making a frantic call to an unknown associate, who warn him the Yetsibee are closing in on his location. He gives Gerine a radio receiver and instructs her to search the forest for her mother's ship, promising to let her leave with him if she succeeds.

Hours later, she locates the theorized ship, and discovers a recorder left by her mother onboard. After watching the contained message on repeat a number of times, she starts for the cave to tell Rewll the good news. Along the way, she runs afoul of a creature she dubs Ironclad, an officer sent by the Yetsibee to arrest Rewll, narrowly avoiding detection thanks to a troop of helpful Kuidits.

Rewll soon gets the ship back in working order, but is outraged to learn that Gerine met a member of the Yetsibee without telling him. While she sits replaying her mother's message, he sneaks up on the girl and injects her with a dose of Rokka knock-out serum.

Gerine awakens in an empty field hours later, and helpless to act, returns to her colony. After dinner (cooked over a campfire in Rewll's traditional style) she is placed on night watch. Zernia emerges from the forest, following the smoke rising from Gerine's fire, and interrogates the girl on her involvement with Rewll. Recalling a threat whispered in her ear moments before she passed out, Gerine is unwilling to divulge any information, resulting in a fight. Gerine is distracted by the sight of her nest, caught alight by the smoldering remains of her campfire, and rushes to act, allowing Zernia to catch her by the ankle and hit her with another dose of Rokka.

### Chapter 2

Global Guardian Jileeta huffs down the hallway of the Yetsibee Juvenile Detention Facility, having heard of Zernia's actions and disapproving of her decision to police an unregistered planet. She finds the cephalopod soldier outside of an interrogation room and reprimands her severely, only to learn Zernia's orders came straight from the organization's infamous head doctor Molsvitz K'takano, and were approved by founder Yoojinx Yetsi. On finding out from K'takano that electro-conversion is to be used in the coming interrogation session with the Lianhuan native, Jileeta volunteers herself to try and coax the desired information out of them.

Gerine is initially unwilling to divulge any info about Rewll's whereabouts, but taken off-guard by Jileeta's politeness, eventually acquiesces, even going so far as to identify Rewll in a line-up. She goes a step too far, however, by blowing up at Rewll through the one-way glass and making a threat on his life, landing her in a holding cell until she can be deemed stable.

During this time, Jileeta takes it upon herself to teach the young human math and how to tell time, so that when her date of release finally comes around, Gerine is a fairly civilized individual. But by then, Gerine no longer wants to return to Lianhua, wishing to remain in Jileeta's company, rather than that of her uncaring insect tribesmen. Jileeta suggests she instead immigrate to Earth, progenitor of her human half, to which the girl delightedly agrees.

### Chapter 3

As she approaches Earth's orbit in a borrowed pod, Gerine realizes she may not even be able to breathe the air available there. This concern is forgotten as the sight of the planet itself takes her breath away; a majestic blue-green orb surrounded by a silver ring.

Upon entering the atmosphere, her pod suddenly malfunctions, causing it to crash down in the ocean on an unknown part of the planet. Gerine abandons the ship and swims to the shore, where she catches her first sight of a native Earthling; a bipedal green creature sunbathing in the warm sand. Gerine asks him for help fishing her ship out of the water, but he merely scoffs at her. But as she begins to make her way toward the treeline, his attitude changes. He advises she be wary of Obano, the ravenous lion who has claimed ownership of these lands, and doesn't take kindly to strangers. Obano himself swiftly emerges from the wilderness, accompanied by his adoring harem, consisting of lionesses Rishina, Quidikeeta and Faseretta. Obano interrogates the green creature, Kuku, on the presence of Gerine, who he mistakes for a strange looking tree. Kuku goes along with the act, until Gerine attempts to slip away, prompting Obano to strike. To Kuku's surprise, Gerine manages to hold her own in combat against the ferocious beast, forcing Obano to invoke his pride on her instead. In a moment of panic, Gerine draws her spear and crams it down Rishina's throat, effectively paralyzing her, lest she rupture her internal organs. Gerine offers to remove the spear without any damage, if Obano will allow her a moment to retrieve her "tools", an opportunity she uses to flee the scene entirely.

While fleeing through the jungle, Gerine comes across Kuku, who expresses admiration for her handling of Obano's attack. He introduces himself, explains that he's a gremlin, and admits to using his powers of electrical interference to crash her ship so he had a chance to meet her. When Gerine reveals herself as a human, he is again surprised, as to his knowledge human beings went extinct roughly fifteen years beforehand, the same day the ring appeared around the planet. The sound of Obano's roar rings out across the jungle, and Kuku offers to distract him while Gerine escapes, something he hopes will earn her favor.

Gerine stops to rest, and dwells on how much easier escape would be if she could simply fly like the winged beast overhead, if only her wings weren't so small. Just then, a burst of flames sends the aforementioned animal crashing into the trees, and she somehow caused this to occur, Gerine hurries to help. The dragon appears uninjured, and brushes off his devastating fall as a minor inconvenience. Gerine makes known her desire to fly as well as he can, and at her continued urging, he offers to teach how. After a few failed attempts at lift-off, Gerine's feet finally leave the ground, and together with her tutor (who introduces himself as Doerdon), makes her way to the nearby city of Buffalo.

While soaring over the city, Gerine spots Obano and his brood making their way to a medical clinic, something Doerdon sees as strange, since Obano nearly never voyages outside his territory. Knowing she's the cause of this, Gerine makes a hasty landing by the lions and successfully dislodges the spear skewering Rishina. Though relieved, Obano has his lionesses maul Gerine anyway in order to protect his wounded pride. Gerine awakens in the clinic to find Doerdon by her bedside, who compliments her on her brave actions.

Aboard the Yetsibee space station, Jileeta watches these events transpire on a tablet, and sets it aside assured that Gerine will get along just fine on Earth.

### Chapter 4

Gerine quickly learns that living on Earth isn't cheap, and after receiving a lesson from Kuku on the concept of currency, decides to go out and get a job. After a tense interview with the manager, Mr. Sunshine, she lands a position as hostess at the fancy seafood restaurant Floaters. Unfortunately, when pay day arrives, Mr. Sunshine deducts a large portion of her wage to cover all of the food she'd sneakily consumed over the course of her shifts.

That night, a still homeless Gerine crosses paths with Cornelious Clowngood, a fugitive fish who appreciates Gerine for treating him like a person instead of a piece of meat, and gifts her the key to an apartment he invested his savings into when humans vanished from the face of the Earth. Now armed with a place to live, Gerine tires of working for minimum wage somewhere that doesn't respect her time, preferring to lounge around and decorate her new home. She is visited by Doerdon, Kuku and, surprisingly, Jileeta and Hujuno, the latter of whom lets slip that they've been spying on her activities since she arrived on Earth. Jileeta clarifies that they were ensuring Gerine would be safe on Earth, and Hujuno offhandedly mentions how often alien races go completely extinct. Inspired by this remark, Gerine decides to join the Yetsibee to stop any other species from ending up like hers.

Aboard the Yetsibee space station, Gerine is interviewed by Yoojinx Yetsi, who hires her as a Feeder; the person responsible for the keeping freighters clear of space moss.

## External Links

* Barnes And Noble Page
* Books-A-Million Page