Page 52 (2/2)
Cortez ignored her “Anna, may I call you Anna?”
“Here it comes, Annie,” Tilly said
“Annie?”
“No,” Anna cut in “Anna is fine Please callwhite-and-brown head at her, blinding her with his sn a petition I’, and add your voice to ours”
“Ours?”
“You know that the Behe?”
“I’d heard”
“We’re asking the captain to accompany it”
Anna blinked twice, then opened herto say She closed it with a snap when she realized both Cortez and Tilly were staring at her Go into the Ring? Holden had made it inside, and it looked like he was still alive But actually entering the Ring had never been part of the ent
No one had any idea what the structures were that waited beyond the Ring, or what changes passing through the wor would stay open It ht have a preset ht just slaht slah Anna pictured the Prince cut in half, the two pieces drifting in space a billion light-years apart, hu into vacuu the Martians to come with us,” Cortez continued “Now hear ether in this—”
“Yes,” Anna said before she knew she was going to say it She didn’t knohy Cortez was pushing for it, and she didn’t care Maybe it was to get votes in the Earth elections Maybe it was a way for Cortez to exert control over theThey hadn’t come here as explorers, not really They’d come here to be seen by the people back at ho It hy they’d had so many protests and dramas on the way out Once, this had been about the spectacle, but now things had changed, and this was the answer to the fear she’d seen at church
The iht now It was hu their anxiety out on the nearest enemy they could actually see: each other If the OPA went ahead with its plan to follow Holden into the Ring, and the UN and Martian forces joined together to follow, no one would have any reason to shoot anyone else They’d be what they’d started out as again They’d be a joint task force exploring the most important discovery in hury fleets trying to keep one another fro spilled into Anna’s ain “I’ll sign it The things we need to know, the things we need to learn and take back with us to all those frightened people back home That’s where we’ll learn the me, Doctor Cortez”