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Amos rose from behind one of the boxes nearest the wall His Martian ar pale streak across the chest and thite circles just below the ribs Amos limped toward him

“Sorry, Doc,” he said “Givin’ it to you was ht?”

Prax looked at the big un in it

“Wendell?” Holden said Prax still wasn’t sure where he was, but he sounded closer That was probably just Prax’s hearing co one sour: war

“One down,” Wendell said

“We’ll get a ht, but no point,” Wendell said “Finish the h the door They’ll raise an alarm”

One of the Pinkwater soldiers stood up Blood was running down his left arone Holden appeared He was ht elbow, and the armor showed a new scar at his left temple

“What happened?” Prax asked

“You started a gunfight,” Holden said “Okay, let’s move ahead before they can set up defenses”

Prax started noticing other bodies Men and wo to music They’d had pistols, but Holden’s people carried autouns and assault rifles and so armor The difference in outcome hadn’t been subtle

“Ah the doorway and into the unknown Prax moved to follow, and the head of the Pinkwater people took his elbow

“Why don’t you stay with ht”

On the other side of the door, the nature of the rooed They were still clearly in the old tunnels of Ganymede The walls still had their ork ofwas still old-fashioned LED housings, and the gray walls shohere ice had litch years or decades before But walking through that dooralking fro The air armer, and it smelled of bodies and fresh soil and the subtle, sharp scent of phenol disinfectant The wide hall they entered could have been the common room in any of a dozen labs where Prax had worked Threethe far wall and a rollingopen ahead of them A each in turn When the third flew open, Holden shouted so, but the words were lost in the bark of a pistol and A Pinkwater soldiers eren’t Wendell scuttled forward, pressing their backs to the wall on either side of the freight gateway Prax started toward the hand on his shoulder The man on the left side of the door ducked his head into the doorway and then out again A bullet gouged a streak in the here it ive ht he was talking to them Holden’s eyes were hard, and the scowl see to ht We’ve got a partial floor plan Through there, we’ve got an open room It drops down about two meters, with exits to our ten o’clock and one o’clock It’s built like a pit, so if they’re setting up defense here, we’ve got the high ground”

“Makes it a damned stupid place to set up a defense, then,” Wendell said

Gunfire chattered, three sateway The people on the other side were nervous