 How does Rikud change through the story?
Every day for a week now, Rikud had come to the viewport to watch the great changeless sweep of space. But ever since the engines somewhere in the rear of the world had changed their tone, from the steady whining Rikud had heard all twenty-five years of his life, to the sullen roar that came to his ears now, the feelings had grown. For a whole week that view did not change, and Rikud had come to accept it as fact. If he, Rikud, walked from one part of the world to another, it was with a purpose—to eat, or to sleep, or perhaps to bathe in the health-rays.
 He questions his world, his lack of autonomy, and what it really means to live.
 He questions his world, his lack of autonomy, and what it really means to live.  He realizes that he will one day have a mate chosen for him, and children as well.  He realizes his desire to feel pain, and to hurt for the first time.  He questions his "strange" thoughts, and how pervasive they are.