Binti

Binti turns on her transporter, praying silently. She doesn’t have a backup plan if her cheap transporter doesn’t work—and anything, from a drop of water to a grain of sand, could keep it from working. It shivers, buzzes, and lifts Binti’s baggage. Smiling, Binti wipes otjize off her forehead, touches her finger to the sand, and whispers “thank you.” Now, she can make it the half-mile to the shuttle in time. Suddenly, Binti feels “the weight of [her] entire life” on her shoulders and feels lost. She knows that her nine siblings and her parents will be shocked—and by the time they figure out where Binti went, she won’t be on the planet anymore. Her family will accuse her of causing a scandal. Binti tells the transporter to go and gives her suitcases a shove, and the transporter begins to move.

At the station, Binti purchases her ticket and boards the shuttle. She notes the rising sun as she threads her way down the aisle, aware of the fact that the bushy ends of her braided hair are hitting people in the face. Though Binti’s entire family has thick hair, Binti’s is especially thick. Before leaving, she rolled her braids with otjize, a special scented clay. Now, she wonders how she looks to these people who don’t understand this practice. Binti ignores people’s stares but glances. Everyone else is pale; Binti is the only Himba. Binti knows it’s easy enough to make a shuttle like this with the right equipment and the time—and it’s great for traversing roads that are poorly maintained, which these are since the Himba don’t often leave their homeland.

Binti looks back and can see the lights from her father’s astrolabe shop, the sand storm analyzer her brother built, and the Root—her parents’ house—as well. The house is huge and is possibly the oldest in the city. It’s covered in solar panels and bioluminescent plants. As the shuttle starts to move, Binti asks herself what she’s doing. An hour and a half later, she arrives at the launch port. She’s glad that she’s the last one off; the busy port is overwhelming. Binti becomes aware of her long silk skirt, stiff top, sandals, and anklets—no one is dressed like her. Turning red, Binti feels stupid and is reminded again that the Himba don’t leave their ancestral land. This is why they cover their bodies in otjize, which is made from the clay of their land. Moving away from the homeland makes a person lesser.

Binti thinks again that she’s 16 and has never left her city. She feels all alone and unmoored. Leaving home means that her bright marriage prospects are gone, meaning her chances of a normal life are shot. However, Binti also scored so high on the mathematics planetary exam that Oomza University across the galaxy admitted her and agreed to pay for whatever she needed. She reasons that she was never going to be normal and approaches the travel security officer. He scans her astrolabe deeply; Binti has to steady herself from the dizziness. The scan gives the officer access to everything about Binti, from her family and past to her possible futures. Binti can hear her mother’s voice suddenly, reminding her why the Himba don’t attend Oomza Uni: the school wants to make Binti its slave. Now, Binti suspects that this is true.

Binti wants to ask the officer if he scans everyone’s astrolabe so deeply, but now she’s afraid. The officer can do anything to her. Binti stops herself from angrily snatching back her astrolabe from the elderly Khoush officer. He’d insisted that he had to do the full scan since Binti hasn’t traveled before, but he read it as fast as Binti’s father could. This almost frightens Binti. When he’s done with the scan, he stares at her. Binti feels like everyone, including the people behind her, are staring. The officer congratulates her and explains that Binti is “the pride of [her] people.” He smiles and pats her shoulder as he gives back the astrolabe, and Binti almost cries from surprise.

Binti moves fast through the crowd. She considers finding a restroom so she can apply more otjize, but instead she keeps moving. Most people in the crowd are dressed like the Khoush, in flowing black and white garments. Binti has seen Khoush on TV and a few in her city, but she’s never seen this many in one place.

As Binti stands in line for boarding security, a group of Khoush women tug at Binti’s hair. When Binti turns, she notices that everyone else behind the woman is staring. The woman frowns at her otjize-covered fingers and remarks to the woman next to her, surprised, that it smells like jasmine flowers. The other woman insists it must smell like feces, and a third asks if Binti’s hair is even real. The first woman mutters that the “dirt bathers” are filthy. Binti faces front again. Her mother always told her to be quiet around Khoush, while Binti’s father always tried to make himself small around Khoush. The alternative, he said, was to start a war with them—and he doesn’t believe in war.

Binti pulls her hair to the front and touches the edan concealed in her pocket. It’s a strange device of odd metal and with a strange language on it. Binti found it eight years ago and has kept it ever since. Binti thinks that the people talking about her don’t know about her edan, and they don’t know where she’s headed. The security guard scowls when Binti reaches the front of the line. Binti struggles to keep herself from giggling at his uniform and feels warm as he scans her body. He pulls out her edan, inspects it, and asks what the metal is. Binti shrugs, uncomfortably aware of the people behind her. The guard notes that Binti builds fine astrolabes and asks if Binti built the edan. Binti explains that it’s just an old “computative apparatus” that she carries as a good luck charm.

The guard waves Binti through. Binti smiles to herself, as government security guards have lots of power but only receive education until they’re 10. They’re often especially rude to Himba, but this man doesn’t want to betray that he’s less educated than Binti is. Binti enters her ship, Third Fish, a living creature related to a shrimp. It has a hard exoskeleton that holds up in space and three breathing chambers containing plants. The chambers produce oxygen and absorb chemicals. Binti vows to get someone on the ship to show her one of the rooms and steps into the ship, knowing that she’s leaving home behind in exchange for her future.

Binti finds her room and her group of 12 other new Oomza Uni students. They’re all Khoush and all between 15 and 18 years old. An hour after boarding, the group finds a technician to show them the breathing chambers. The chamber smells like a jungle, and Binti loves it. Then, a few hours later, they meet their group leader, a stern old Khoush man. He looks the group over and then coolly asks why Binti is covered in “red greasy clay” and wearing heavy anklets. He forces her to explain that the Himba use the otjize as skincare and wear the anklets to protect from snakebites. He pauses for a moment and then tells her to wear otjize lightly but to take off the anklets. Binti removes all but a few so that she still jingles.

Binti is the only Himba on the ship. The Himba are known for their innovative technology, but the tribe is small, private, and prefers to stay on Earth. They believe in exploring the universe through travel inward, not by leaving the planet. Binti isn’t surprised that she’s the only Himba on the ship—she’s the first to go to Oomza Uni, after all—but this doesn’t make it easy. However, she soon discovers that everyone on the ship, even if they’re not Himba, loves math, learning, studying, and inventing. Binti realizes that these are her friends. Their similarities are more meaningful than their differences, even though most of Binti’s new friends grew up in large houses and didn’t spend much time outside. They spend most of their time in Binti’s room and challenge each other to treeing competitions, where they divide complex equations in half again and again.

A boy named Heru catches Binti’s eye. They don’t speak, but they smile at each other sometimes. He comes from a city far away from Binti’s. One day, while they’re in line for dinner, Binti feels someone pick up one of her braids. She whips around, ready to explode, but Heru drops her braid and says he couldn’t help it—she has 21 braids braided in tessellating triangles. He asks if there’s a code. Binti’s heart beats too fast, and instead of telling him the truth—that her father designed the code and that the braids tell the story of her family’s history and culture—she just takes her soup and walks away.

Binti never gets to tell Heru the truth about her braids. Five days before the ship arrives at Oomza Uni and two weeks after they began, Binti is happier than ever. She eats a savory dessert, watches Heru, and messes with her edan. Two friends are singing a song from home when suddenly, someone screams. Heru’s chest explodes, and Binti is covered in blood. There’s a Meduse behind Heru. Even though it’s blasphemy in Binti’s culture to pray to inanimate objects, Binti still prays to her edan to protect her. She shudders, terrified, and tries not to smell the Meduse. Binti opens an eye and shuts it—the Meduse are a foot away and the tentacle of one that tried to touch her is gray and dry.

The Meduse rustle. They’re tall, with silk-like domes for bodies and tentacles that spill to the floor. Binti can hear them breathe. She pulls her edan closer and prays to it to protect her again. Everyone else is dead. The Meduse’s method is known as moojh-ha ki-bira, a term that Binti knows even though it’s a Khoush term. Binti and her fellow Himba learned about it in history class, though they have nothing to do with the Meduse or the fight between the Khoush and the Meduse, as the Khoush are responsible for the curriculum. The Meduse worship water like a god, even though there’s no water on their planet. They began fighting the Khoush, who settled on watery lands on Earth and thought the Meduse were inferior. Both sides eventually agreed to not attack each other’s ships.

Binti suddenly remembers that she was just talking to her friends. She remembers how they’d spent their nights laughing over their fears about Oomza Uni. While with them, Binti didn’t think about home or the awful messages she’d received from her family hours after she left. Instead, they helped her look ahead toward her bright future. She thinks of watching the Meduse punch through Heru’s chest. For no reason she can think of, Binti begins to think of the number five over and over again in her mind as she looks at Heru’s unseeing eyes. Everything smells of blood.

Binti explains that no one in her family wanted her to go Oomza Uni, and that her best friend, Dele, didn’t want her to go either. Not long after Binti was accepted, Dele joked that Binti wouldn’t have to worry about the Meduse as the only Himba on the ship. Binti thinks of how she’s ignored everyone since getting her scholarship and acceptance. When she first got the news, she went to the desert and cried joyfully for hours. This is what she’s wanted since she learned what a university was—and there, she’d join a student body that is only five percent human but entirely obsessed with knowledge. Then, she told her family. Binti’s sisters scolded her, while her brothers laughed. Her parents said nothing. Dele laughed after congratulating her. He insisted that God has already chosen the path of the Himba.

Binti is the first Himba ever to be accepted into Oomza Uni. Even though the hateful messages and threats from Khoush in her city scared her, Binti knew she needed to go. For her, numbers are her life and her destiny. She filled out the acceptance forms in secret and attended interviews in the desert over her astrolabe. Binti explains that she and her family are Bitolus, or master harmonizers who deeply understand math and math currents. Bitolus are relatively rare, and according to Binti’s father, God favors them.

Back in the present, Binti opens her eyes and clutches the edan to her chest. The Meduse in front of her is blue, except for one tentacle that’s pink and curled. Binti shoves the edan at it, and it jerks back in fear. Realizing she has a weapon, Binti stands up. She draws the Meduse’s attention to its dead brethren, grabs a satchel, and notices that she can see numbers and blurs. This is good. Binti repeats her full name, thinks of her father, and remembers how he taught her about astrolabes. Binti was a “master harmonizer” by age 12 and is gifted with “mathematical sight,” like her mother. Binti’s mind grows clear as she thinks of complex equations and trees.

Binti fills a tray and her satchel with food and water and then leaves the cafeteria. The Meduse follow her; they have no eyes, but they “see” through smelling with their tentacles. Binti heads for her room. All the doors are plated with gold sheets; Binti’s father would be aghast, as gold is a strong information conductor. As soon as Binti gets to her room, her confidence suddenly disappears. She stops treeing, scans her eye to enter her room, and the door seals behind her. She puts her food on her bed before collapsing onto the floor. Her friends’ faces swim in her mind, and she hears Heru’s laughter. She cries for a while.

Binti picks up her astrolabe, which she made to fit her own needs before this trip. It’s so well-made that Binti believes it’ll outlast her own children. She starts to call her family but then decides they can’t help her. Instead, she tries to call and report an emergency. The astrolabe heats up and vibrates, but then it goes cool again. Binti asks for a map and keeps an eye on her door. Though she read that the Meduse can’t get through walls, she understands that she can’t blindly believe that just because it was in a book. She also figures that the Khoush gave her a room with subpar security, since she’s Himba—and because she’s the only human on a Khoush ship, she’s still a target for the Meduse.

The astrolabe finally says that Binti is 121 hours from Oomza Uni and projects a map. Binti recognizes that she’s in the middle of what’s known as “the Jungle,” and the pilot should’ve been more careful. She’s relieved that it’s still headed for Oomza Uni. Binti closes her eyes and prays to the Seven. Though she wants to ask why, she doesn’t. Instead, she says that she’s going to die here. However, Binti is still alive 72 hours later, though she’s running low on water and is out of food. She spends her time pacing, reciting equations, creating currents, and trying not to think about the inevitable—security at Oomza Uni will blow up the ship, though she thinks it doesn’t make sense that the Meduse plan to commit suicide.

Something knocks at Binti’s door, scaring her. She jumps and then freezes to listen. Whatever’s on the other side knocks and kicks a few more times, and Binti shrieks for it to leave her alone. She grabs her edan and hears an angry hiss outside. Binti wracks her mind to try to find a weapon. The edan is all she has, and she’s not sure what makes it a weapon. She knows that it’s an abomination to commit suicide or give in, but she also knows that the Meduse are intelligent and will find a way to kill her, no matter what. Instead of fighting, Binti sits on her bed and waits for death. Her body feels oddly separate. As she gazes down at the edan, she notices the fractals on its surface. Suddenly, she understands.

Binti sits at the window and rolls otjize into her braids. The otjize smells like home and Binti thinks she never should’ve left. She picks up the edan again, and when she hears a thump on the door, she mutters for whatever’s out there to leave her alone. Binti smears some otjize on the edan and then drops into a “mathematical trance.” Her mind clears as she rubs the otjize into the edan. She can hear and smell home, and the edan feels heavy. Binti suddenly realizes that there’s a button on the edan that she hadn’t noticed until now. She presses it, and the edan feels warm. The world seems to shudder, and then she hears a voice say, “Girl.”

Binti snaps out of her trance and nearly screams. She hasn’t heard anyone speak since the Meduse killed everyone, so she makes sure that she’s alone in her room. Binti hears more voices outside, and then someone says that suffering is against “the Way”; the Meduse want to kill Binti. Binti leaps up but falls to the floor again, unable to drop the edan. It glows with a bright blue light, and Binti finds that the current emanating from it is so strong that she can’t let the device go. She grits her teeth and spits that she’d rather die in her room on her own terms. Voices outside talk about evil and say that “it” contains shame. One voice sounds more high-pitched than the others, and it says that the “shame” allows Binti to talk to them.

The voices argue. One Meduse, whom the others call Okwu, wants to break down the door and kill Binti. Binti interrupts their arguing and calls to Okwu to talk with her. She looks down at her hands on the edan and knows that she’s creating the current coming from it. It’s the strongest she’s ever produced, and it touches the Meduse—and Binti can’t control it. She’s revolted, but she knows she has to save her life. Binti stands slowly and moves to the door. Green leaves appear where the current touches the steel of the door. Trying to focus on the leaves and the comforting weight of her otjize-covered hair instead of the danger on the other side of the door, Binti stands her ground. Something hits the door, and Okwu spits, “Evil thing.” Its voice sounds the angriest, and it’s the most frightening.

Binti says she’s not evil and refuses to open the door. As the Meduse mutter outside, Binti sits against the door. Leaves appear above her shoulder and make her giggle. Calmly, Okwu asks if Binti understands them. Binti says she does, but Okwu says that all humans understand is violence. With a sigh, Binti assures Okwu that she only kills small animals for food, and she’s sure to pray and thank the animal for its sacrifice. Okwu doesn’t believe her, but Binti points out that she also doesn’t trust the Meduse to not kill her if she opens the door. Suddenly, Binti feels energized and shouts that the Meduse killed her friends. As Binti cries, Okwu says that they have to kill humans before humans kill them. Binti deems this stupid and wipes her tears.

Okwu speaks again and asks about the “blue ghost” that Binti created to help them converse. As Binti moves away from the door, she admits that she doesn’t know what it is. Being farther away makes her feel better. Okwu again asks how they can understand each other, points out that the Meduse haven’t spoken to humans in years, and promises not to harm Binti—but Binti refuses to say anything. She insists she doesn’t know and doesn’t care. She falls asleep for a while and wakes up to a sucking sound. Binti figures it’s the ship, but then the door crumples and reveals a group of Meduse in the hallway. Binti can’t tell how many there are; they’re translucent and blend together. She shrinks against the window.

One of the Meduse darts forward. Binti sees her entire family at her funeral flash before her eyes, and she sees her spirit return to Earth and her desert. Then, the Meduse stops, inches from Binti, and a withered pink tentacle brushes Binti’s otjize-covered arm. It feels soft and smooth. Binti stares, fixated on the Meduse’s stinger, which is as long as her leg. When the stinger gets close to her chest, it turns gray. Binti whispers that she hopes it hurts as the Meduse backs away. Binti can see her otjize on a tentacle. The Meduse tells Binti that she’s evil, and Binti recognizes the voice as Okwu’s. The Meduse leave.

Ten hours later, Binti is out of provisions. She tries to stay busy, but doing anything is difficult since the edan’s current sticks her hands to the device. When she takes breaks from packing and unpacking, she studies the patterns on the edan and tries to figure out how it’s allowing her to speak to the Meduse. It reveals nothing. Binti lies down and lets herself tree. Suddenly, Okwu surprises her and demands to know what’s on Binti’s skin. Binti snaps that she’s the only human who wears otjize because she’s the only non-Khoush on the ship. Eventually, Binti explains that her people live in a desert with sacred red clay, and they spread it on their bodies because they’re the children of the soil—and the otjize is beautiful. Binti studies Okwu and notices that its withered tentacle looks like it’s healing. Okwu leaves.

Fifteen minutes later, Okwu returns. Binti checks to see that she was right—the tentacle that touched her otjize isn’t as damaged now—and Okwu demands more otjize. Panicking, Binti insists she doesn’t have any. She only has one jar, and it’s just enough to last until she can find the supplies at Oomza Uni to make more. Binti isn’t even sure if she’ll be able to find the right red clay on Oomza Uni’s planet; she didn’t do enough research before she left. It’s possible that any clay on the planet might irritate her skin. Binti knows she can’t give the otjize to the Meduse because it’s part of her culture. Okwu says that its chief knows about the Himba and knows Binti must have more with her, but Binti snaps that the chief will then also know that taking otjize will be like stealing Binti’s soul.

Okwu doesn’t move. Binti asks if the otjize helped its tentacle, but Okwu blows an irritated breath and leaves. It returns a few minutes later with five other Meduse. Okwu asks again about the edan. Binti shares that a woman once told her it’s made of “god stone,” but Okwu interjects that the edan is shame. After a minute, Binti says that an object that keeps her alive can’t be shameful. Another Meduse points out that it poisons the Meduse, but Binti snaps that it only does that if they get too close or try to kill her.

Okwu again asks how they’re able to communicate. Binti makes herself sound powerful and admits she doesn’t know. When Okwu asks, she gives her full name: Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib. She thinks about repeating Okwu’s one-word name to drive home the Meduse’s “cultural simplicity,” but her bravery begins to slip away. Okwu approaches and asks Binti what she needs. Knowing she has no choice, Binti says that she needs food and water. Okwu leaves. Feeling totally out of control, Binti falls asleep.

Binti wakes up to find a plate of smoked fish and a bowl of water right in front of her face. Still gripping the edan, she struggles to drink the water and then get the fish to her mouth. She knows that the chefs on the ship kill the fish by lulling them into a sleep and then slow cook them to perfection. Though the chefs are Khoush and Khoush don’t usually perform rituals like this, the chefs are Oomza Uni students. That made Binti feel good about heading to the school. However, this fish is full of bones. As Binti tries to work a long bone out of her mouth, Okwu suddenly appears. Surprised, Binti almost chokes on the bone. Okwu just hovers and breathes as Binti eats and wonders if this will be her last meal.

Eventually, Binti says that there are a people in her village who live on the edge of the lake. They prepare their fish much like the chefs on the ship do, but they remove all the bones. Hesitatingly, Binti thanks Okwu for the food. Okwu says it wishes it could just kill Binti, but Binti parrots a phrase her mother used often: “we all wish for many things.” Okwu observes that Binti doesn’t look like a normal human Oomza Uni student, since she’s dark and has okuoko. Binti asks what okuoko is, and Okwu begins to jiggle its tentacles playfully. Binti laughs and asks if it means her hair. Okwu confirms this, and when Binti asks why the word is different, Okwu doesn’t know—but it hears Binti in its language, so when Binti said “okuoko,” it heard “okuoko.”

Okwu remarks that the Khoush’s skin is the color of the flesh of Binti’s fish. They don’t have okuoko. Meanwhile, Binti is colored like the fish’s skin, and she has small but Meduse-like okuoko. Binti points out that there are lots of different types of humans, and it explains that the Himba don’t usually leave Earth. As several Meduse enter the room, Okwu moves closer to Binti. She coughs at the stench of its breath. Okwu asks why Binti left then and suggests she’s evil. Binti frowns. She thinks that Okwu sounds a lot like her brother Bena, who speaks often about how horrible Khoush people are—even though he doesn’t know any Khoush people. He’s justifiably angry about what the Khoush do to the Himba, but he speaks out of ignorance.

Binti can tell that Okwu is young. In a way, it reminds Binti of herself. It’s curious. Maybe this is why it’s so willing to talk to her and potentially die in the process. Feeling suddenly hot, Binti says that Okwu doesn’t know anything about her—the ship was full of professors and students. Okwu chuckles and notes that they didn’t kill the pilot. Binti understands that they’re going to infiltrate the university’s security and then invade the university itself. Okwu explains that they could fly the ship themselves, but the pilot can communicate better with those on the ground. Menacingly, Okwu says that they don’t need Binti. Binti feels terrified and trapped.

Binti reminds Okwu that its okuoko is healed and asks if it’ll let her live in thanks. Angrily, Okwu says the Meduse aren’t human—they don’t kill for gain or for sport. They only kill for purpose. Binti is confused, but Okwu elaborates: it says that their chief’s stinger is displayed in one of the Oomza Uni museums. The Meduse know, of course, that the chief was attacked, but they don’t know or care how the stinger got to Oomza Uni. They’re headed there to take it back—they have purpose. Okwu billows away. Later, Okwu returns with more food and water for Binti and sits with her while she eats. Binti tries to point out that what the Meduse plan to do is suicide; there’s a city on Oomza Uni where all people do is study and create weapons. Okwu is unmoved.

Binti asks Okwu about the “current-killer” it used in the Meduse-Khoush war and reminds it that suicide means dying on purpose. Okwu says simply that the Meduse aren’t afraid, and they’ll die with honor having taught humans a lesson. Suddenly, Binti shrieks. She asks to talk to the chief and explains that she’s a master harmonizer. She can create harmony anywhere and wants to speak for the Meduse. Binti believes that everyone at Oomza Uni will understand “honor and history and symbolism and matters of the body.” Binti doesn’t know this for sure, but she hopes she’s right. Okwu insists this is madness and points out that the chief hates humans, but Binti offers to hand over her jar of otjize. She suggests it might help the Meduse sting harder, but Okwu says that they don’t like to sting. Binti begs and points out that Okwu will be a hero.

Binti bravely walks through the corridor linking the Meduse ship to the Third Fish, trying to ignore that she probably won’t return. Even though Binti wears a breathing mask, she’s certain that the Meduse ship stinks—everything related to the Meduse stinks. There are Meduse of every color on every surface. Okwu leads Binti into an enormous room that feels almost like the outdoors. The chief, surrounded by other Meduse, looks just like the others; Okwu has to stand next to the chief to show Binti which one it is. The current from the edan branches wildly in every direction, bringing Binti the Meduse’s words.

Binti knows she should be terrified. The chief hates humans, so both she and Okwu are risking their lives. But the ground feels spongy like pudding that Binti’s mother likes to make, and Binti can see that the Meduse have technology running through the walls of the ship and their bodies. Some are almost living astrolabes. Her facemask makes everything smell like desert flowers, which is typical of the Khoush women who probably made it. However, Binti loves it. It makes her feel calm and connected to Earth. She stops treeing, clears her mind, and prostrates herself in front of the chief. Okwu introduces her, and the chief spits for Binti to sit up and says that if she damages the ship at all, both she and Okwu will die.

Binti closes her eyes and focuses on the edan’s current. She can hear that the floor is humming to itself and she sits up. Binti tells the chief that the Himba create and build astrolabes using math to create their currents. Suddenly, Binti realizes why the edan works for her: she’s a master harmonizer. A woman once told her it was a “god stone,” but it only worked now, among the Meduse after the Meduse murdered her friends. Binti begs the chief to let her speak for the Meduse to spare other lives, lowers her head, and pulls the edan to her belly like Okwu told her to do. She confirms that she knows about the chief’s stinger, and Binti insists that her way will get the stinger back. She can feel the point of a stinger on the back of her neck.

With Okwu’s prodding, Binti shares her plan to negotiate peacefully with Oomza Uni. Binti insists that many will die—and all the Meduse will die—if the Meduse try to attack. The stinger presses harder against her neck and Binti begs. A Meduse asks how they can trust Binti and points out that human females are great at hiding. Okwu suggests that Binti put down the edan, making herself vulnerable to the Meduse. Terrified, Binti shrieks that the edan is how they can communicate. The chief throws up a tentacle, and everything stops. Binti looks from the Meduse behind her, to Okwu, and then to the chief. Slowly and painfully, she pulls her fingers away from the edan and screams in pain. The edan drops, but the current remains connected to Binti. Binti knows she’s dead, and everything goes black.

Binti says that the Meduse are right: she can’t represent them while holding the edan. Someone at Oomza Uni would no doubt know everything about the edan and know it was poisonous for the Meduse; letting it go is the only way to get Oomza Uni to trust her. Binti says that when she left home, she died. She didn’t pray to the Seven; she didn’t go on her pilgrimage; and she’ll never return to her family. She thought she had time for all of these things. Now, she can’t go back because she knows that the Meduse aren’t what humans think they are. They’re truth and clarity, and understand honor. Binti earned their honor by dying again. Just as Binti blacks out, she feels the stinger painfully enter her spine. Then, she leaves the singing ship. She hopes that her family can hear her final thought.

Binti smells home—specifically, she smells the place where she digs up clay to make otjize. She opens her eyes and finds herself in her room, naked except for her skirt and smothered in otjize. She sits up, and the edan rolls off her chest. Now, it’s back to being blue and dull. The spot where the stinger stabbed Binti is sore, scabbed, and covered with otjize. Binti checks her map, stares outside, and stands up. She discovers her otjize jar, mostly empty. Laughing, Binti dresses and looks out the window—the view is amazing, and she’ll land in an hour.

The Meduse don’t return, so Binti prepares for landing. She looks out the window at the planet’s two suns, giving the planet many hours of daylight. Using the binocular vision on her astrolabe, she studies the planet. It’s all different colors; the part the ship heads for is orange with forests, lakes, and skyscrapers. As the ship enters the atmosphere, the sky turns pink and orange. The ship shoots between two huge, gorgeous buildings that Binti thinks makes Earth’s skyscrapers look tiny. She laughs as they land and suddenly wonders if the Meduse will kill the pilot, since she didn’t negotiate for his safety. Binti unbuckles and leaps up, but she falls. Her legs feel heavy.

Binti hears a horrible, rumbling, angry growl. She’s terrified that a monster is coming for her, but it’s Okwu—and she understands what Okwu is saying. Binti sits and then drags herself onto her bed as Okwu points out that humans take time to adjust to gravity. As Binti stands, Okwu says that the other Meduse and the pilot—alive—are in the dining room. Binti realizes she can now hear Okwu’s true voice and she notices that Okwu’s tentacles quiver as it speaks. Okwu says it wasn’t the sting that did this; Binti can understand because she’s a master harmonizer. Binti brushes past this and notices that Okwu’s damaged okuoko is now healed. Okwu explains that they used more otjize to heal their sick and that they’ll always remember the Himba. Okwu sounds less and less monstrous. It leads Binti out. Binti leaves the edan behind.

Binti follows Okwu and the chief through the ship. She sees all the Meduse in the dining room. Fortunately, there are no visible bodies. The chief threateningly tells Binti to prepare what she’s going to say. Binti wears her best shirt and wrapper, and she refreshed her otjize before leaving the ship. As she rolled otjize into her thick braids, she noticed her hair had grown. Her head ached and tingled.

She remembers that once, a long time ago, she snuck to the lake with some other girls at night and they all scrubbed off their otjize. Then, they stared at one another, horrified. If anyone were to see them, they’d be beaten and considered mentally unwell. Despite this, they felt happily shocked and enjoyed the breeze on their skin. Binti thought of this as she rubbed otjize in her hair and considered washing all the otjize off, but she decided that someone would’ve researched the Himba and would know she was naked.

Outside the ship, human soldiers meet them. The chief growls for Binti to go first and Okwu softly tells Binti to look strong. Her scalp still tingles as Binti steps off the ship. The planet smells like a jungle and there’s water in the air. One of the soldiers announces that they’ll go to the Presidential Building and asks Binti to translate for the Meduse. When the soldier asks if the Meduse will mind taking a shuttle to move faster, the chief grouses that these people are primitive.

They arrive at a large, light blue room. There are ten professors and many soldiers wearing blue. The professor who represents the university looks like a “spider made of wind” and introduces itself as Haras. Haras invites Binti to speak. Binti explains that she comes from a land where there’s so little fresh water that they save it for drinking. Instead of bathing with water, they cover their bodies with otjize. Several human professors chuckle, as does an insect professor, and Binti frowns. In a way, though, this is comforting: these professors are just people.

Binti continues her story and details how the Meduse killed everyone on the ship. She makes sure to point out the Meduse are at war with the Khoush, and the Khoush think of Himba people as almost slaves. She points out that the professors have never seen the Meduse in person. They study the Meduse from a distance—and some of them have certainly studied the stinger in the university’s possession. The professors murmur to one another. As Binti speaks, she falls into a meditative state and begins to cry. She shares every detail of her time on the ship and insists that her otjize saved her. She talks about how honorable, focused, and willing to listen the Meduse are. Finally, she tells them how they can fix this conflict peacefully.

Binti is certain that the professors will agree to her proposal. The Meduse chief speaks angrily but eloquently and says that they have the right to take back the stinger forcefully if the university won’t give it up willingly. After this, the professors form a group and talk among themselves. Binti, Okwu, and the chief stand awkwardly. Binti is used to elders talking privately, and Okwu seems just as shocked as she is. Every now and again, Binti catches a bit of the conversation. Eventually, she gets tired and sits down on the floor. After a while, the professors sit down again, and Binti stands up. She notices that the chief is a deep blue now, and that Okwu has its stinger ready to strike.

Haras speaks in the Meduse language and apologizes on behalf of Oomza University. They promise to expel and exile the scholars who stole the stinger, and Haras makes a point to note that they’re only supposed to acquire specimens like the stinger with permission from the original owners. Oomza tries to be honorable, respectful, and wise in all things. Haras says that they’ll give back the stinger right away, which makes Binti sink to the floor. She apologizes and then feels Okwu steady her from behind. Binti pulls herself back up, and Haras tells Binti that she made her people proud. Haras welcomes her to the university and says that the Khoush woman next to him, Okpala, is in the mathematics department and will help Binti study her edan—from what Okpala knows, Binti shouldn’t have been able to do what she did with the edan.

Then, Haras invites Okwu to stay as the first Meduse student at Oomza University. Okwu’s attendance will be a show of allegiance between Oomza Uni and the Meduse, as well as a symbolic renewal of the pacts between humans and the Meduse. Okwu rumbles. The chief says that it’s learning something “outside of core beliefs” for the first time. It had no idea a human place could be so honorable. The chief says that it will speak with advisors before making a choice, but Binti can tell it’s pleased.

Looking around, Binti feels very alone and like she’s part of something monumental. She wonders if her family would get it at all if she told them about this. They may just focus on her close brush with death, or they may believe it’s too late to go home. Okpala asks Binti what she’s going to do now. Binti is confused by the question and says that she wants to study mathematics so she can make astrolabes and understand her edan. Okpala clarifies and asks Binti if she’ll ever go home; she knows of the Himba and knows they don’t like “outsiders.” Irritated, Binti insists that she’s not an outsider, but then she notices one lock of hair on her shoulder. Horrified, Binti drops into meditation and trees to calm herself. Her hair isn’t hair anymore; it’s blue okuoko like Okwu’s tentacles.

Binti inspects her lock and feels her head. She can feel her hand pressing down on her new hair. She desperately wants to inspect the rest of her body to see what else the sting did to her, but Okwu quietly assures her that it was just her hair. Binti asks if this is why she understands the Meduse. Okwu says that it was the only way to allow Binti to understand them, while the chief says that it was the only way to make it clear that Binti is their ambassador, not their prisoner. The chief turns for the ship but tells Binti that the Meduse will honor her forever. Binti thinks that she’d scream if she weren’t deep in meditation, and that she’s far from home.

Binti explains that supposedly, all that happened spread around Oomza Uni in mere minutes. The story goes that a “tribal” human female saved the university from terrorist Meduse by using “mathematical harmony and ancestral magic.” Binti shares that people at Oomza Uni use “tribal” to describe humans from remote and supposedly uncivilized ethnic groups that seldom attend the school. Over the next few days, Binti discovers that people look at her skin and hair with wonder. When they see her with Okwu, they move away. Binti is fascinating; Okwu is a threat. Okwu enjoys this and declares that all people are afraid of “decisive, proud honor.”

In one of the libraries in Weapons City, Binti and Okwu stare at the empty place where the chief’s stinger used to be. The city is a three-hour journey from Math City and is bustling with students and researchers. This is where Binti, Okwu, and the chief came to retrieve the stinger. The head professor let them into the case and the chief slowly held out an okuoko. The chief’s body changed from blue to clear as soon as its stinger reattached, though a blue scar remained—a reminder of what Oomza Uni did in the name of research. Then, Binti took the chief’s stinger in her lap and smeared otjize on the blue scar. When she wiped it away a minute later, the scar was gone. The Meduse left with a half jar of otjize, allowed Okwu to remain, and left Oomza Uni happy.

Weeks later, once Binti starts classes and people stop pestering her, Binti runs out of otjize. She tracks down a similar oil in the market, but she struggles to find clay. One evening, she walks into the forest in search of clay. She takes her edan with her and squeezes it, feeling naked because her otjize is so thin. Binti stops, concerned that she won’t find what she needs in a place that looks so different from her desert, but she looks down and sees clay. That night, Binti makes otjize. She lets it sit in the sun the next day, fasts, and doesn’t attend class. Then, she washes herself with water.

Binti weeps and washes her homeland off her skin. When she’s done, she touches her okuoko. They’re slippery and firm. Binti prays to the Seven and her parents for the first time since she arrived at Oomza Uni and knows she needs to call home soon. When the coast is clear, Binti wraps herself in a wrapper and looks at herself in the mirror. She studies the soft blue okuoko, which have darker dots at the tips. They hang a bit longer than her old hair. There are only 10, so Binti can’t braid them into the code pattern as she could with her hair. She wonders if they grow like hair or if they are hair, but she decides she’s not ready to ask Okwu. Binti allows her okuoko to dry in the sun.

When it’s dark, Binti grabs her container of fresh otjize. As she prepares to dig her fingers in, she wonders if her fingers will glide through it. Maybe what she got from the forest isn’t clay at all. The otjize could be as hard as rock. Binti takes a deep breath and realizes that if she can’t make otjize here, she’ll have to change. She touches an okuoko, ignores the tightness in her chest, and scoops out a dollop of otjize. After Binti rubs it onto her skin, she cries.

Binti goes to see Okwu at its dorm. Okwu emerges and tells Binti that she looks well; she looked like she was fading before. Okwu holds up an okuoko and explains that it suffered a burn during an experiment. Binti and Okwu pause. Binti thinks that while the otjize felt normal earlier, this is the real test of its purity. She takes otjize from her arm and rubs it onto Okwu’s burnt flesh. Binti remembers that her Earth-made otjize healed Okwu. That otjize was made with Binti’s homeland, and it’s the reason the Meduse respect her. Now, that otjize is gone, and Binti is someone else—and maybe she’s not even Himba. She wonders what Okwu thinks of her.

At Binti’s dorm, Okwu insists it knows what Binti is thinking. Binti sobs that the Meduse are honorable, but they’re also very traditional. She says that Okwu is her friend and is all she has here. Okwu interjects that Binti will call her family, and then she’ll have them. Binti is aghast and hurt, but Okwu laughs. It says that they’re friends whether or not Binti has healing otjize. It makes an okuoko vibrate and Binti feels the vibration in one of hers. Binti is shocked and confused, but Okwu explains that this means that Binti is family. Binti smiles and with Okwu’s prodding, she rubs the otjize off its okuoko. The burn is gone. Later, Binti sends signals to her family with her astrolabe. Her mother answers.