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The attack on Ganymede had been on one hand a proof of concept assault, on the other a crippling blow to the outer planets’ food supply The OPA had never been on the list of bidders And then Nguyen had gone to the Jovian systeoods, James Holden and his pet botanist had walked in on soured out they were about to lose the trade

Avasarala wondered how iven Jules-Pierre Mao to outbid Mars It would have had to be et its first protoht had kept her out of the loop because whatever he was going to do with it, she wasn’t going to like it And she was one of the only people in the solar systeht have been able to stop him

She wondered whether she still was

“Thank you, Soren,” she said “I appreciate this Do we knohere she is?”

“She’s looking for you,” Soren said, and a sly sed at his lips “She may be under the impression that you’re asleep It is pretty late”

“Sleep? Yes, I re to need to talk to Errinwright”

“Do you want me to have her arrested?”

“No, I don’t”

The disappointment barely showed

“How should we ht,” she said “Can you get me some tea?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and practically bowed his way out of the room

Avasarala leaned back in her chair Her mind felt calm Her body was centered and still, like she’d ended a particularly long and effective meditation She pulled up the connection request and waited to see how long Errinwright or his assistant would take to respond As soon as she ed PRIORITY PENDING Three ht was there He spoke fro as the car he was in buht wherever he was

“Chrisjen!” he said “Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing in particular,” Avasarala said, silently cursing the connection She wanted to see his face She wanted to watch hi Intelligence thinks ht said “That’s unfortunate Are you arresting her?”

“I don’t think so,” Avasarala said “I think I’ll puton her traffic Better the devil we know Don’t you agree?”

The pause was hardly noticeable

“That’s a good idea Do that”

“Thank you, sir”