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“Everyone reht?” Holden asked “The lockdown? Mars co after the Rocinante?”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Naoreed to take this job”

Areement Alex said, “No one’s sayin’ we shouldn’t have taken the job What we’re sayin’ is that you’re the frontman for this band”

“Yes,” Nao that this docuets all about the rest of us That’s your job for the rest of this flight That’s the only way this works”

“No,” A up “There is another way, but I’ve never tossed a blind ht not be fun”

“Okay,” Holden said, patting the air with his hands in a calet it I’ll keep the ca trip Be patient When we get to the Ring, maybe they’ll be tired of us and we can pawn them off on some other ship”

They were silent for a moment, then Alex shook his head

“Well,” he said, “I think we just found the only thing that’llthere”

Holden ith a start, rubbing furiously at an itch on his nose He had a half-re to clis on the ship, so it had to have been a dreah

As he scratched, he said, “Sorry, bad drea,” and patted the bed next to hione to the bathrooh his nose several tiet rid of the itchy sensation inside On the third exhale, a blue firefly popped out and fleay Holden became aware of a faint scent of acetate in the air

“We need to talk,” said a faht His heart began to pound He pulled a pillow over his face and suppressed an urge to screae as the old fahtened his chest

“So There was this rookie,” Miller started “Good kid, you’d have hated hi the pilloay fro it in the direction of Miller’s voice He slapped the panel by the bed and the roo by the door, the pillow behind hieting like he had a rash

“He never really learned to clear a room, you know?” Miller continued His lips were black “Corners and doorways I tried to tell him It’s always corners and doorways”

Holden reached for the comm panel to call Naohost vanish the way it always had before And he was also afraid that this tiotta clear the room,” Miller said, his face twisted with confusion and intensity, like a druggedimportant “If you don’t clear the room, the room eats you”