I met a Primeling woman on Earth before we reached Galaxcium. She was smoking something and she pointed at me with it like I was an exhibit. She told me “Primeling” was just an ugly word for human. I’d never thought of it that way.
She also told me it made sense that I didn’t know better than to put out someone else’s cigarette. I’m choosing to take that as a compliment. She had a point about the word, at least.
From Chapter 7:
“Q21? Nice planet, especially when its third moon enters its second orbit. Strange, but you don’t look like you’re from Q21,” the woman said, pointing at Zorra’s chest with her cigarette. “You look like you’re from here on Earth. You are a human, aren’t you?”
“Actually, I’m a Primeling…”
“Primeling is just an ugly word for human, darling.” The woman winked. She flicked her cigarette to the ground and stomped on it. “It makes sense why you don’t know better than to extinguish someone else’s cigarette.”
Zorra Wessing and the Platinum Starship: Year One