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“It can’t really be Miller, can it?”

“If it’s the proto a Miller suit, I think that’s actually creepier”

“Fair point,” Nao new, at least?”

“A little bit,happened”

“What?”

“I don’t know He just said, ‘It happened,’ and blinked out”

They sat together for a few ers interlaced with his She leaned over, kissing his right eyebrow, and then pulled hioing?”

“I’ to teach you how to play poker,” she said

“I kno to play poker”

“You think you do,” she said

“Are you calling ed at hio back to the ship We can get a few people together and have a private game It doesn’t make sense to do it here The house alins”

“We aren’t here to win,” Naomi said, and the seriousness in her voice“We’re here to play”

The news ca takeout froarlic sauce over rice, three kinds of leguht as well have been the real thing A of nutrients and filters for the air recycling systems Alex, in the pilot’s seat, was asleep On the other ships Holden had served aboard, having the full crew back on ship before departure required it was alhts in dockside hotels before they’d coh the local feeds on his hand terhout the systeame meant that financial and personal information from sixTitan Martianto address the losses suffered in the battle around Gany the ban on a nitrogen-fixing strain of bacteria Protesters on both sides of the issue were taking to the streets in Cairo

Holden was flipping back and forth, letting his mind float on the surface of the information, when a red band appeared on one of the newsfeeds And then another And then another The i, they called it The gigantic alien structure that had left Venus and traveled to a point a little less than 2 AU outside Uranus’ orbit, then stopped and assembled itself

Holden read the news carefully as dread pulled at his gut When he looked up, Naomi and Amos were in the doorway Amos had his own hand terminal out Holden saw the same red bands on that display