They survived first contact. Now they have to decide what belongs to whom.
Winter has made the coast smaller.
A system coupled to the ringing ground can produce usable power. That means light. Heat. A room out of the wind. It also means copper, wire, labour and choices no instrument can make.
Commander Juno Carver keeps one rule at the centre of the settlement: nobody fires. Chen counts people and stores. Noor builds. Ionescu measures everything she is willing to call a fact. Around them, the hill and the stranded crew trade words, tools, food and obligations until no boundary stays simple.
Then a new claim reaches the coast.
What began as mutual survival becomes politics: who can authorise, who can refuse, what can be shared, and whether peace can survive once the stakes include ownership.
Nothing Given is the second novel in The Long Going. Reading Wrong Sky first is recommended.