The protomolecule Mindtouches Leareth. 

.̵̡̯̹͍̦͚͚̻̳͖̺̥̈́̄͆̆͌͐́̉̏̕͜͝͠|̶̛̳̱̦͌̍̍̒̎̍͊̔́͛͒́͝͝r̵̢͈̻͍̠͌͛̈́͗̌̾̂̋̈́͒̎͘͠ḛ̶̡̳͓̹̫̠͇̮̻̜̼͉̜͂̑̈̈́̃̋̊́̈́͝s̶̠̞̦͚̠̹̰̱̅̓́̓́̒̎ȯ̶̺̯̙̭̘̱̦̰̼͓̣̤͒̇̑ͅử̴̛̙̙͉͕̫̮̊̊͂̄̂͋̈́̾̄̊͝͝ṙ̶̡̭̘͇͎̉̔͋̔c̵̢͍̗̳̬̻̔e̷̛̥͙̱͉̼̥̞͖͑̃̈̉s̷͉̺͚͉̦̜̒́͆̏̀͋͘͝?̶̧̢̨͙̤̟͉͈̲̠̙̠̆́́͂̑̇̂̈́͆̂̇́͊̕͝ͅ*̸͍͓̭̏̆̅̄̊́̑̾͌̋͑̚͝͠  it asks plaintively.

:Soon: he tries to reassure it. :Halfway there - look -: He shares the navigation-schematic from one of Julie's screens, not that it's necessarily in a format that will make any sense to the Proto; in his foggy-headed state it barely makes sense to him.

:You need to wait - stop growing until we are there -: 

:̶̣̦̲̤̥͖̬̿̈͋̿́̓̑ͅ.̴̜̩͖̱͈͖̻͌;̷̧̢̬̠̤͓̪̗̞̳̖̫̞̤͐̍̏̋̓̽̋́̅͐̚̕͠͠͠'̴̪̈́͒̈́͋̌̽̆́̚"̴̛̗̹̦̊;̴̤̼͖̙̙͈̤̳̞̫͖̦̼̏́́̓̓̄̈̓͐͑͐̑̚͠'̷̧̲̭̦̝̟̜̖̩̩̱̦̱̉̓̽̍̀͊͑͛̌̓͒͋̓͜͝"̵̬̦͖̘̣̮̦̠̫͎̞́̋͂.̵̧̥̩̬͖̖͕̅́̎̈͑̒̀̎̌̒̊̚͠ͅ,̸̡͙̯̲̱͇̆͆̆̚.̵̨̰̼̬̔̈́͛̏̐̔͗̍̾̚!̷̼͖̤͍̻͍͗̃̈́̅̎̿̓̚͠ͅ.̵̧͎͕́̄l̶̨͖͉̖̳͎̤̲͎̖̗̱͍̍̒̽̈́͝;̵̛͙̰͕͎͎̱̻̗̔̍̑͛̀̎̑̇̊̑̆:̴̟̦̰̻̜̝̖͋̋̽̂̎͋̿̀́̌͜͝͝͠ị̵̡̪̲̭̠͇̦͔̎̕ͅl̴̝͍̬͖̻̩̫̔͐̃ͅį̷̼͓͎͎̘̞̩̰̖͇̪̺̄̊̈͘'̷͓̈́̐̄͛̽͝͝|̵͉̣̦̪͊̋͊̄̈́̐̃`̵̟͇̮̘̹̯̩̲̅͊͘~̸͍̙̠̮̈̐̃̓̇̕͝.̵̧̡̳̜̀̓̔͛̏̔̑̄̇́͝,̵̢̨̮̩͙̺̘̬͔̂̎̿̋̈́͑̎̂̕:̸̨̲̤̰̮̙̘̭̖͚̄̃̓̊̑̎̕͠

And now the drive is facing the moon and she can turn it on again. You can unstrap now, should be smooth sailing from here.

It belatedly occurs to Leareth that maybe the Proto was upset about the drive being off. He's still pretty unclear on how the drive works. 

:Better now?: he asks it. 

.̵̡̞̭͍͙̼̱͈̼̩̻̆̃̆̉̐̂ͅ:̶͔͍͉̼̹͖̙͖̮́r̸̪̤̻̗̥̞̭̝̫̟͔̺̟͑̈́̚ȩ̴͔̺͙̤̦̖͈͖̺̩͗̒̏͆̀̿̿͒ͅs̸̛̥͔̰͓͇͖̰͚̞̙̦̥͖̹̄̍̎͗͛́̀́̉̋͘͘͝͝o̵̧̬͍̰̭̟̳̬̠͎̟̣͉͑͆̒̀͛̓̐̎̃́͐̕u̸̧̨͈͚̪̞̪̱̻̟͠r̴̨͉͖̝̝̩̪̹͈͚͐̇̋̂̈́̈́͌̑͊̆̽͛͛̚͠c̷͙̺̉̔̾ḙ̵̫̻̌s̷̗̀̎́̈́̂͌!̴̡͕̈̓͛̈́̓:̴̢̢̛͔͉̰̮̦̳̳͇̳͚͎̮̽̈̀̽̊̏̂͆͝

The Belter lovers prevent a catastrophic ship failure and make up their differences. The moon approaches. Julie sets the ship to autopilot and tries very hard not to fall asleep and falls asleep anyway.

Leareth is trying much less hard not to fall asleep, but he's still awake a little longer than her, captivated by the starscape through the transparent windows. 

Nayoki thinks the stars are pretty but the romantic comedy is a lot more compelling! 

She tries to pay some attention to what little she understands of the ship's navigation, though, and pokes Julie with a Mindtouch when she thinks they're almost there. 

Mmmmrgh why does she feel like she has an awful hangover and also spent the previous day shuttle racing and also someone kicked her in the ribs a few times and also she's allergic to this laundry detergent - oh, right, because she is infected by an alien parasite and on a weird medieval planet which she hopefully hasn't doomed to be eaten on her way to its moon. That's a pretty good reason, really.

Her vision is hazy and takes a while to clear up but she can confirm that the computers are on track to land. Strap back in, she advises everyone blearily.

They do this. 

Leareth is woken by the g-forces of the thrusters, from a confused nightmare about fractals with some awful hidden flaw propagating through them. He's disoriented enough that if he were any less depleted of strength, he might well have managed to actually throw a levinbolt at the nearest sound, rather than failing to scrape together the strength for it before remembering where he is. 

:Is the Proto behaving?: he asks Nayoki. 

She's been watching the romantic comedy, but she can ask the mage-Farseer who she tasked with watching the (much less interacting) reactor core, now home to all the Proto crystals draped around it. Does it seem to be trying to eat any vital ship components? 

It has eaten all the safety rails and walkways and so on but nothing critical to the reactor's functioning.

Well, it's not like the Proto particularly needs safety railings. 

:As soon as we land you can eat the rock outside the ship: he tells it. :As much of it as you want. But not anything else in the ship itself: 

???????????!, says the proto.

It makes a lot of sense that the Proto is confused! And it's still frustrating. 

:Some resources are being used for other things and those things would break if you ate them. But the rock here is not being used for anything else, and so you can safely eat it so that you will be bigger and stronger and understand more things, and - then it will be less confusing: 

They land. Julie unstraps herself. One small step for man, she says very tiredly, because she feels like it's her duty or something, and then she falls back asleep.

Leareth hauls himself into a sitting position again, since this at least makes it harder to fall asleep by accident, and briefly tries to think how they can let the Proto out to eat rock without also letting all the air out - oh right... 

He pictures the Gate-inverting motion it did before, pictures the Proto extruding some of itself onto the Moon's surface that way, pushes that concept across to it with a note of approval and encouragement. 

The proto is upset again that the drive is off but after a little thought it Gates some of itself out onto the surface of the moon.

Leareth stays awake for a while to see if it's going to manage eating the rock and growing or if it needs more coaching - or more cows or something, though he hopes not, getting them here would be such a challenge even by Gate. 

There's a lot of it, by now. It had been fairly compressed, in the ship; here, it spreads out across the ground, looking a bit like a glowing pool of water with something moving beneath the surface, and it covers almost an acre of ground. 

It doesn't seem to need any coaching. 

:Ask me if you have questions later: Leareth tells it, in vague hope that once it's smarter it might have some new kinds of understanding, and then he curls up on his bedroll on the floor of the ship sitting on the Moon, and goes to sleep. 

He dreams of seeing Velgarth from space, a blue-green-brown marble swirled with clouds, and as a backdrop, fractal patterns tracing leaps between the stars...

One of the Healers hands out food from a pack of it. They finish setting up their makeshift buckets-and-tank for cleaning wastewater and making it drinkable again. 

They wait, unsure what comes next.