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When Holden spoke, his words were measured and cal

“Naoet off this hteen: Avasarala

What do you think?” the secretary-general asked froht, Errinwright leaned forward a centimeter, ready to ju, sir,” Avasarala said sweetly

The secretary-general waved his hand in a lazy circle He was in his early sixties and wore the decades with the elfin charhts The years Avasarala had spent building herself from the treasurer of the Workers Provident Fund to the district governor of the Maharshta-Karnataka-Goa Communal Interest Zone, he’d spent as a political prisoner at a minimum-security facility in the recently reconstructed Andean cloud forest The slow, grinding wheels of power had lifted hi lent hiravity without the inconvenience of an opinion of his own Had a overnurehead, he still wouldn’t have achieved the perfection that was Secretary-General Esteban Sorrento-Gillis

“Political briefs never capture the really is,” the bobble-head said “Tellbriefs, Avasarala thought Not that I can really co and no fight, sir,” Avasarala said “The players are top level Michel Undawe, Carson Santiseverin, Ko Shu They brought enough military to show that it’s not just the electedinteresting is a e for so”

“And what about”—the secretary-general paused and lowered his voice—“the alternative hypothesis?”

“There’s activity on Venus,” Avasarala said “We still don’t knohat any of itof elemental iron in the northern hemisphere that lasted fourteen hours There has also been a series of volcanic eruptions Since the planet doesn’t have any tectonicin the ether a statistical y output expected for the changes we’ve seen It suggests that the overall level of activity is rising about three hundred percent per year over that last eighteen rave It was almost as if he’d understood any part of what she’d said Errinwright coughed

“Do we have any evidence that ties the activity on Venus to the events on Ganymede?” he asked

“We do,” Avasarala said “An anoy spike at the same tiht have been coincidence”

A woeneral’s feed, and he nodded

“I’ fine work, Avasarala Da from you, sir,” she said with a seneral barked out a laugh and wagged his finger at the screen before the green connection-ended ht sat back, his palms pressed to his temples Avasarala picked up her cup of tea and sipped it with her eyebrows lifted and her gaze on the ca The tea wasn’t quite down to tepid

“All right,” Errinwright said “You win”

“We’re i him?”