The Road Yet Traveled — E. Robert Dunn

On the other side of a treacherous nebula trek, a well-needed shore leave on the planet Gaesia not only gives the crew some well-needed R&R, but also additions to their crew. While the crew await the arrival of the first children born to the Pioneer 4, the crew reviews recent events that had placed them on Gaesia: On the planet Sacha, the Kor'Ey people had provided the Pioneer 4 with a respite; a landing attempt on a habitable planet was in direct violation of the xenophobic Sylla, a point made obvious by their insecta army; the crew collected silicate from a comet in the Solal region, introducing them to the cybernetic Ho'Rris who tried to conscript Pioneer 4's automaton crewmate BeeTee into their battlesphere crew. All of it a journey into the unknown.