Bill

Bill Bill is the green lobster from Fallen Angels, and he deserves to be separated from Don when talking about them. They enter the story together, but Bill ends up having to continue after Don is gone. The cybernetic work done on the lobsters gives them abilities and awareness far beyond what anyone expects when they first see them. Gomi already understands that they're companions he can communicate with. The rest of the cast has to catch up. There's a big difference between looking down and seeing an animal near someone's feet and realizing that animal is participating in the conversation. Bill's part becomes much more serious after Devil Dinosaur accidentally kills Don. He is angry, and the fact that the death was an accident doesn't immediately make that anger disappear. From Bill's position, somebody he lived with and traveled with is gone. The rest of the group still has another adventure to survive, but he's dealing with something much more personal. That carries into the escape from Coconut Grove. Bill is in a position to help, but helping means cooperating with the same group that includes Devil Dinosaur. Gomi has to reach him rather than simply assuming he will do whatever is needed. Bill gets a choice, and the others need him to make it. There's something unusually direct about giving that part of the story to a lobster. The book has already made him funny and strange. Then it expects the reader to take his grief seriously as well. If the group accepts him as a friend when he's useful or entertaining, that friendship has to include the moments when he's hurt and difficult to reach. Bill helps. That doesn't undo Don's death, and it doesn't give him a long speech explaining everything he feels. It does give him a role in whether his friends make it home.