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“I thought ere past that”
“Past being scared?”
“No,” she said, the s yourself for it I’ that saot when he told her, part fear, part boast
“You should probably keep your eye on your station,” she said, her tone teasing She never told him she loved him when he said it first She’d said that when people did it too often, it ument, but he’d kind of hoped she’d break her rule this once He needed to hear it
Avasarala was hunched over the co into aon her like a scarecrow’s oversized coveralls Holden considered ordering her to button up her helh to decide for herself the relative risks and rewards of eating during a battle
Periodically she reached into her purse and pulled out another nut The air around her was a growing cloud of tiny pieces of pistachio skin It was annoying to watch her cluttering up his ship, but no warship was built so fragile that a little airborne waste would break anything Either the tiny pieces of shell would be sucked into the air recycling systeo under thrust and all the garbage would fall to the floor, where they could sweep it up Holden wondered if Avasarala had ever had to clean anything in her life
While he watched her, the old lady cocked her head to one side, listening with sudden interest to so only she could hear Her hand darted forward, bird quick, to tap at the screen A new voice came over the ship’s radios, this one with the faint hiss trans for h space
“—eneral Esteban Sorrento-Gillis Soo, I announced the formation of an exploratory coal biological weapon research While that investigation is ongoing, and the coes at this time, in the interests of public safety and to better facilitate a thorough and coation, certain UN personnel in key positions are to be recalled to Earth for questioning First, Aduyen, of the United Nations Navy Second—”
Avasarala hit the panel to shut off the feed and stared at the console with her mouth open for several seconds “Oh, fk
Chapter Forty-Eight: Avasarala
I’ve got fast ship is firing”
Avasarala closed her hel the in-suit display confirm the seal, then tapped at the co faster than her hands Errinwright had cut a deal, and now Nguyen knew it The ad it poorly A flag popped up on the console: incoh-priority broadcast She thumbed it, and Souther appeared on her terminal and every other one in the ops deck
“This is Ad command of—”
“Okay,” Naomi said “I need my real screen back now Got so at the console “Wrong button”
“—this task force Aduyen is relieved of duty Any hostilities will be —”
Avasarala switched the feed to her own screen and in the process switched to a different broadcast Nguyen was flushed al his uniforal and unprecedented seizure Ad until—”