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“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

“Take care of yourself, old man You look tired”

On the screen, Mei’sAn icon showed an authorized transfer code for eighty FusionTek Reál Prax checked the exchange rates, converting the company scrip to UN dollars It was alh But still, it had been a sacrifice for her

He pulled the ap between tords Nicola looked out at hih for him to see her pale teeth Her eyes were sad and playful He’d thought for so long that it was her soul and not just an accident of physiology that gave her that look of fettered joy He’d been wrong

As he sat, lost in history and ie appeared It was fro somewhere between anxiety and hope, he went to the attached spreadsheet At the first set of nuht be alive Certainly Strickland and his people were there They could be found They could be caught There was justice to be had

He just couldn’t afford it

Chapter Thirty-Two: Holden

Holden sat in a pull-down chair in the Rocinante’s engineering bay reviewing the da notes for Tycho’s repair crew Everyone else was gone Soht

REPLACE STARBOARD ENGINEERING BULKHEAD

SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO PORT-SIDE POWER CABLE JUNCTION, POSSIBLY REPLACE ENTIRE JUNCTION BOX

Two lines of text representing hundreds of work hours, hundreds of thousands of dollars in parts It also represented the after within a hand’s breadth of fiery annihilation for the ship and crew Describing it in two quick sentences felt alious He made a footnote of the types of civilian parts that Tycho was likely to have available that would ith his Martian warship

Behind him, a wall monitor streamed a Ceres-based news show Holden had turned it on to keep his mind occupied while he tinkered with the ship and made notes