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When he ithin range, Holden signaled the ship’s auto didn’t respond He piloted up to the nearest external airlock and told the Razorback toship was not designed to dock with another ship in space It lacked even a rudi would be a short spacewalk

Avasarala had gotten a master override code from Souther, and Holden had the Razorback transmit it The airlock immediately cycled open

Holden topped off the hazot onto Nguyen’s flagship, he couldn’t trust the air, even in the suit-recharging stations Nothing fro

When his stored-air gauge read 100 percent, he turned on the radio and called Naos, and a sharp push against the inner airlock door sent hiood picture,” Naoht on his HUD was on Nao and lonely at the sa a call to a friend who lived very far away

Holden cycled the airlock The twoclosed the outer door and then pumped air into the chamber seemed to last forever There was no way to knoould be on the other side of the inner airlock door when it finally opened Holden put his hand on the butt of his pistol with a nonchalance he didn’t feel

The inner door slid open

The sudden screech of his hazave him a heart attack He chinned the control that killed the audible alar It wasn’t data that actually did hi him that it could handle the current levels, and that was nice

Holden stepped out of the airlock into a se lockers and EVA equipment It looked empty, but a small noise from one of the lockers alerted him, and he turned just in time to see aa heavy wrench at his head The bulky haz quickly, and the wrench struck a ringing blow off the side of his helmet

“Jim!” Naomi yelled over the radio

“Die, you bastard!” the Navy , but he wasn’t wearing ive hi the rabbed the wrench out of his hand and threw it away He caught thewith his left hand and drew his pistol with his right

“If you crackedto throw you out that airlock,” Holden said He began flipping through suit status screens while keeping his pistol pointed at the wrench enthusiast

“It looks okay,” Naomi said, relief evident in her voice “No reds or yellows That hel in that locker?” Holden asked thehere when the … it … ca Earther, with pale skin and fla red hair cut close to the scalp A patch on his suit said LARSON “All the doors sealed up during eency lockdown I was trapped in here, but I could watch as happening on the internal security systeet out the airlock, but it was sealed too Say, how’d you get in here?”

“I have admiralty-level overrides,” Holden said to him Quietly, to Naomi he said, “At current radiation levels, what’s survival odds for our friend here?”