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There was still no reply from Persis-Strokes, but it was probably too early to expect one In theto fund this, he couldn’t do it alone

Whichthe cae on the screen looked thin, wasted The weeks had dried him out, and his tiht never be rebuilt The sunken cheeks on the screen

“Hi, Nici,” he said “I wanted you to know I’ot to Tycho Station, but I still don’t have Mei I’ I know They seem like they’ll really be able to help But it’s expensive It may be very expensive And she may already be dead”

Prax took a moment to catch his breath

“She ain “But I have to try I know you aren’t in a great financial position right now I know you’ve got your new husband to think of But if you have anything you can spare—not forfro, this is the last chance”

He paused again, hisbetween Thank you and It’s the least you can fking do In the end, he just shut off the recording and sent it

The lag between Ceres and Tycho Station was fifteen iven their relative positions And even then, he didn’t knohat the local schedule there was He ht or during dinnerti to say to him

It didn’t matter He had to try He could sleep if he knew he’d done everything he could to try

He recorded and sent e who’d taken a position on Neptune Station, to his postdoctorate advisor Each tiot a little easier to tell The details started co into another With them, he didn’t talk about the protomolecule At best, it would have scared theht the loss had broken his one, he sat quietly There was one other thing he thought he had to do now that he had full communication access It wasn’t what he wanted

He started the recording

“Basia,” he said “This is Praxidike I wanted you to know that I know Katoa is dead I saw the body It didn’t … it didn’t look like he suffered And I thought, if I was in your place, that wondering … wondering would be worse I’, sent it, and crawled onto the small bed He’d expected it to be hard and uncoel, and he fell asleep easily and woke four hours later like someone had flipped a switch on the back of his head Aht There was still no e from Persis-Strokes, so Prax recorded a polite inquiry—just to be sure the inforotten lost in transit—then watched it and erased it He took a long shoashing his hair twice, shaved, and recorded a new inquiry, looking less like a raving lunatic

Ten e alert chimed Intellectually, he knew it couldn’t be a response With lag, his e wouldn’t even be at Luna yet When he pulled it up, it was Nicola The heart-shaped face looked older than he reray at her temples But when sheacross frora throbbed and lasers traced living art on the domed ice above them He remembered what it had been like to love her

“I have your e,” she said “I’m … I’s aren’t so good here on Ceres I will talk with Taban He makes ht want to help too For my sake