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Melba wondered why the wo a co it out loud Either the computer was down, the rest of the crew dead or incapacitated, or it sie what Melba had to do She shifted to her right, sliding through the air,the other woman the chance to catch her unmoored and spin her into the open air at the center of the roo one way, then other, searching for advantage There was no fear in them, no sentimentality Melba had no doubt that if the opportunity ca theone arm free to reach for the door’s controls It was a provocation, and it worked The Belter juht at Melba, but to the deck above her, then turned, kicked, off, and drove down, her heels ai for Melba’s head

Melba drove her ar the Belter in ht Her handhold broke free of the wall, and the pair of theether into the open air of the rooht in the ely with her heels One blow connected, and Melba’s vision narrowed for aat her like a terrier with a rat, and thenthe free arm up and catch the woman by the neck

The Belter’s hand flew up to the claht It would take a twitch of Melba’s fingers to crush the woman’s throat, and they both knew it A sense of triuht not be here, but she had his lover She would take someone he loved from him just the way he’d taken her own father fro any red, her breath constricted and rough Melba grinned, enjoying the moment

“This is his fault,” she said “All of this is what he had co”

The Belter scratched at the ht have been froht already have broken the skin Melba closed her fingers a fraction, the pressure feather light The mech’s servos buzzed as it closed athe word out past her failing windpipe, and Melba knew she couldn’t let her speak She couldn’t let her beg or weep and cry o through with it, and it had to be done Sympathy is for the weak, her father’s voice whispered in her ear

“You’re Naoata,” Melba said “My name is Clarissa Melpo that’s happened here? Everything that’s going to happen It’s your fault”

The light was fading froasps All it would take was a squeeze All she had to do was make a fist and snap the woth, the Belter woesture of obscenity and defiance

Melba’s body buzzed like she’d stepped into the blast froainst itself Her hands flexed open, her toes curled back until it seemed like they had to break She heard herself screa her crucified in thestopped, but she couldn’t move No matter how much she willed it, her ainst the opposite wall, a knot of panting and blood

“Who are you?” the Belter croaked

I aht I am your death made flesh But the voice that answered caht?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Anna

T

he wolob of blood

“I’ht,” Anna said, then floated over to her, pausing to push the still-twitching Melba to the other side of the compartment Girl and mech drifted across the room, bounced off a bulkhead, and caency locker,” Naomi croaked, and pointed at a red panel on one wall Anna opened it to find flashlights, tools, and a red-and-white bag not too different frorabbed it While Anna extracted a package of gauze and a can of coagulant spray for the nasty wound on Naomi’s shoulder, the Belter pulled out several hypo a herself with them one at a time, herwas tearing in her shoulders every tiauze around Naomi’s upper torso, and she almost asked for another shot for herself

Years before, Anna had taken a se addictions The instructor, a mental health nurse named Andrew Ss didn’t only give pleasure and pain They changed cognition, stripped away the inhibitions, and more often than not, someone’s worst habits or tendencies—what he called their “pathological erated An introvert would often withdraw, an aggressive person would grow violent Someone impulsive would become even more so

Anna had understood the idea intellectually Almost three hours into her spacewalk, the aan to fade and a clarity she hadn’t known she lacked began to return to her She felt she had a deeper, ht be

Anna had spent only a few years living a enough to know that their philosophy boiled down to “what you don’t know kills you” No one growing up on Earth ever really understood that, no matter how much time they later spent in space No Belter would have thrown on a space suit and EVA pack and rushed out the airlock without first knowing exactly what the environment on the other side was like It wouldn’t even occur to them to do so

Worse, she’d run out that airlock without stopping to send a e to Nono You don’t ask for periveness echoed in her head If she died doing this, Nono would have it carved as her epitaph She’d never get that last chance to say she was sorry