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“I have to try”

Miller sighed For a moment, his pupils flickered blue, like there were tiny bathypelagic fish swi in the deep trenches of his eyeballs

“You want to help her? You want to help all of theet to find out what happened And you et the chance to co back there, and they can still gently rip your arms off if they catch you”

Holden felt like there were two versions of hiht be dead Alex and Amos too He had to be there for them But there was also a sht It was too late

“You can tell the station that there are people on those ships,” he said “You can ask it to help theeneral Doesn’t onna listen All this?” Miller waved his hands at the dark walls “It’s dumb Utilitarian No creativity or complex analysis”

“Really?” Holden said, his curiosity peeking through the panic and anger and fear “Why not?”

“Sos, it’s better if they’re predictable No one wants the station co up with its own bad ideas We should hurry”

“Where are we going?” Holden said, pausing for a few deep breaths He’d been at low g for too long without taking the tirowing rich and lazy

“I’ for me,” Miller replied “I need access to the… shit, I don’t know Call ’ehtened and nodded for Miller to resu corridor he said, “Aren’t you already plugged in?”

“I’ive me the root password I need you to open it up for me”

“Not sure what I can do that you can’t,” Holden said “Other than be a char dead end, touched the wall, and a portal irised open He gestured Holden through, then followed and closed the door behind theonal and easily fiftyon each face More of the insectile lass pillars were not in evidence Instead, at the center of the cha blue onal, a smaller version of the dimensions of the roolow any brighter than the rest of the roo off of it, an al toward it difficult His suit said that the atanic che a body at all ot a certain level of status If you aren’t pretty daet to walk around in the fallen world”

“The fallen world?”

Miller shuddered and leaned his hand out against the wall It was a profoundly hu inning to turn black

“Fallen world The substrate Matter”

“Are you all right?” Holden asked

Miller nodded, but he looked like he was about to vo forto be so with all this crap connected to the back of et too much, I’m pretty sure they’ll… ah… call it reboot me I mean, sure, consciousness is an illusion and blah blah blah, but I’d rather not go there if we can help it I don’t kno , then turned and gave Miller a hard shove Both of theered backward “You seem pretty real to me”