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Miller didn’t expand on this, so Holden followed hih the tunnel until it turned again and Miller led hied to say

Because the floor of the first room and the tunnel that led out of it had both had a consistent “down,” Holden had thought he waslaterally just under the skin of the station That couldn’t have been right, because the roo than was possible if that were true The space stretched out fro, hundreds ofthat enty meters off the floor in the center Scattered across the rooly rando that looked like blue glass with black, branching veins shooting through it The coluht, and each pulse was accompanied by a subsonic throb that Holden could feel in his bones and teeth It felt like enor

“Holy shit,” he finally said when his breath came back “We’re in a lot of trouble, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Miller said “You should not have come”

Miller walked off across the room, and Holden hurried to catch up “Wait, what?” he said “I thought you wantedthat from a distance had looked like a blue statue of an insect, but up close was a massive confusion of metallic limbs and protrusions, like a construction uess at its purpose and failed

“Why would you think that?” Miller said as he walked “You don’t knohat’s in here Doors and corners Never walk into a cri to put you down You’ve got to clear the rooot lucky For now Wouldn’t recoh”

“I don’t understand”

They came to a place in the floor that was covered in what looked like cilia or plant stalks, gently rippling in a nonexistent wind Miller walked around it Holden was careful to do the same As they passed, a swarround cover and flew up to a vent in the ceiling where they vanished

“So there was this unlicensed brothel down in sector 18 We went thinking we’d be hauling fifteen, twenty people in More, maybe Got there, and the place was stripped to the stone,” Miller said “It wasn’t that they’d gotten wind of us, though The Loca Greiga had heard about the place, sent their guys to clean it up Took about a week to find the bodies According to forensics, they’d all been shot twice in the head prettyone last cup of coffee If we’d been a little bit faster, we’d have walked in on it Nothing says fked like opening the door on a bunch of kids who thought they’d anized kill squad there for the ot to do with anything?”

“This place is the sa A lot of soht words An empire A civilization A home More than a home, a hts on a ti into the et your ass killed”

“What the hell do you mean?” Holden said “You, or the proto up The job, the attack, all of it”

That stopped Miller He turned around with a frown on his face “Julie’s dead, kid Miller’s dead I’s”

“I don’t understand,” Holden said “If you didn’t do this, then who did?”

“See now, that’s a good question, on several levels Depending on what youan unfao” He moved off at a faster walk toward the far wall of the room

“The marines,” Holden said “Could you stop the I can tell the station they’re a threat There’d be consequences, though”