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“We can’t get there,” he said

The others were silent for a ood answer,” Holden said “Find a different one”

Prax took a long breath If they doubled back, they could go down a level, head to the west, and try getting to the corridor froh here would almost certainly have co to the old tube station, they ht be able to find a service corridor—not that he knew there was one, but ht direction Threethe ice With a sound like a baseball bat hitting a home run, the wall beside him cracked

“Prax, buddy,” Amos said, “sooner’d be better”

They had environment suits, so if they opened the door, the vacuu it Any strike hard enough to break through to the surface would …

Would …

“We can’t get there … through the station tunnels,” he said “But we can go up Get to the surface and go that way”

“And hoe do that?” Holden asked

Finding an access way that wasn’t locked down took twentyabreast, it was an automated service unit for the do since been cannibalized for parts, but that didn’tunder battery power Naomi and Prax fed it the instructions, closed the inner door, and cycled the outer open The escaping pressure was like a wind for aPrax walked out onto the surface of Ganyes of the aurora fro like it in the blackness of his own sky But there, not just above hireen and blue and gold—chaff and debris and the radiating gas of cooling plasma Incandescent blooauss round sla the the water ejecta geyser up into the darkness and then begin to fall back down as snow It was beautiful The rational, scientific part of his y transfer there was to the sten hit it It would be like a miniature nuke without all the messy radiation He wondered if the round would stop before it hit Ganymede’s nickel-iron core

“Okay,” Holden said over the cheap radio in Prax’s eency suit The low end of the sound spectrum was lousy, and Holden sounded like a cartoon character “Which way now?”

“I don’t know,” Prax said, rising to his knees He pointed toward the horizon “Over there somewhere”

“I need more than that,” Holden said

“I’ve never been on the surface before,” Prax said “In a dome, sure But just out? I et there”

“All right,” Holden said In the high vacuue and very far away detonated It was like the old cartoon lightbulb of so an idea “We can do this We can solve this Amos, you head toward that hill over there, see what you can see Prax and Nao that direction”

“I don’t think we need to do that, sir,” Nao back behind Holden and Prax both

“Because I’ down over there,” she said