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“Uh, no,” Bobbie said
“Did you say no?”
“Yeah, no Hell no Fuck no Nein und aber when she ran out of languages “And I’ you to sleep with him”
“Good, because I don’t use sex as a weapon,” Bobbie said “I use weapons as weapons”
“Chrisjen!” Jules Mao said, enveloping Avasarala’s hand in his and shaking it
The lord of the Mao-Kwik empire towered over Avasarala He had the kind of handsome face that made Bobbie instinctively want to like him, and medically untreated male-pattern hair loss that said he didn’t care whether she did Choosing not to use his wealth to fix a proble hair actually made him seem even more in control He wore a loose sweater and cotton pants that hung on him like a tailored suit When Avasarala introduced Bobbie to hi in her direction
“Is your staff settled in?” he asked, letting Avasarala know that Bobbie’s presence reritted her teeth but kept her face blank
“Yes,” Avasarala replied hat Bobbie would have sas genuine warmth “The accommodations are lovely, and your crew has been wonderful”
“Excellent,” Jules said, placing Avasarala’s hand on his ar her to an enormous table They were surrounded on all sides by men in white jackets with black bow ties One of them darted forward and pulled a chair out Jules placed Avasarala in it “Chef Marco has proht answers? Are those on the menu?” Bobbie asked as a waiter pulled out a chair for her
Jules settled into his chair at the head of the table “Answers?”
“You guys won,” Bobbie said, ignoring the stea soup one of the servers placed in front of her Mao tapped salt onto his and began eating it as though they were just having casual dinner conversation “The assistant undersecretary is on the ship No reason to bullshit us now What’s going on?”
“Hulanced at Avasarala, but the old wo “You can’t tellthe transit to Jupiter just to oversee handing out rice and juice boxes And you couldn’t get enough relief supplies onto this ship to feed Gany-term difference”
Mao settled back in his chair, and the white jackets bustled around the roo the soup away Bobbie’s hisked away as well, even though she hadn’t eaten any of it
“Roberta,” Mao began
“Don’t callyour superiors at the UN foreign office, not ainst the rules in this ga, and empty “I made my ship available to provide Madanment And while you have not yet met them, there are personnel currently on this vessel whose expertise will be invaluable to the citizens of Gany enough to see the ga at her He knew this was all bullshit, and he knew she knew it as well But as long as he reave reasonable answers, no one could call him on it He was too powerful to be called a liar to his face