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The brightly colored display, which always seee of her vision no matter which way her face was pointed, had said that she had 83 percent of her air supply re a full tank would last robbed that information of so back down and keep fro had it been at 83 percent before it did? She couldn’t re of nauseaup in her space suit would be, which only irl, Melba, or Claire noas far ahead and gaining,practice Sonetic boots was nored to kick her boot with her other foot and turn the h to lock it to the hull of the ship The netic cla out how to fix that problerip back down to a norave up on haste and aimed for a safe, consistent pace Slow and steady, but she wasn’t winning the race She lost sight of the girl, but she’d told herself it didn’tOr Melba Koh Whoever this woes of the Rocinante on newsfeeds before It was probably as famous as a ship could be James Holden’s central role in the Eros and Ganyhts and antipiracy actions had kept his little corvetteas there weren’t two Martian corvettes parked next to each other, Anna felt confident she’d be able to spot it
Fifteen long minutes later, she did
The Rocinante was shaped like a stubby black wedge of metal; a fat chisel laid on its side The flat surface of the hull was occasionally broken up by a doh about ships to knohat they were It was a warship, so sensors or guns, maybe, but definitely not doors The tail of the ship had been facing her, and the only obvious opening in it was at the center of the e of the ship she was on and then froet a better look at the rest of the Rocinante before ju before she leapt at this late stage of the gah, and she felt soht of the drive cone was a bubble of plastic attached to the ship, pale as a blister A o doors and inside It had occurred to her, as she looked at the nets ht her plan through past this Did this room connect to the rest of the ship? The doors behind her didn’t have an airlock, which probably meant that this space was usually kept in vacuum She had no idea where anyone would be in relation to that rooirl she was chasing was still in there, hiding behind one of the boxes
Anna carefully pulled herself fro, narrow compartment Bits of plastic and freeze-dried food drifted around her like a cloud of oddly shaped insects The broken crates ht or debris created by the speed change; she had no way to know She reached into the s tethered to her EVA pack and pulled out the taser She’d never fired one inaffected it Another gareat relief, she found an airlock at the other end of the roo it took several minutes, while Anna pulled the heavy EVA pack off her back and played with the taser to make sure she kne to turn the safety off The n was intuitive, but less clearly labeled than the civilian reen and the inner doors opened
No one was in sight Just a deck that looked like a machine shop with tool lockers and workbenches and a ladder set into one wall Bookending the ladder were two hatches, one going toward the front of the ship, the other toward the back Anna was thinking that she wastoward the front of the ship when there was a loud bang frohts went out
Yellow LEDs set into the walls caenderless voice said, “Core duency power only,” and repeated it several times Her helmet muffled the sound, but there was clearly still air in the ship She pulled the hel it from her harness
Anna was fairly certain you only ejected the core in eine room, so she moved to that hatch instead With the constant ruone and her helh the hatch It took her several long ure out how to access it, and when she finally did the hatch snapped open so suddenly it made her al soreasy coverall was having her throat crushed by the mechanical arms Melba wore The woman—Anna could see now that it was Jaata—looked like Melba had beaten her badly Her arm and shoulder were covered in blood, and her face was a mass of scrapes and contusions
Anna drifted down into the vaulted cha inward like a church, the cathedrals of the fusion age She felt an alet one shot with the taser, and she didn’t trust herself to fire on thea dark, bruised purple Her breath the occasional wet rasp Soed to raise one hand and flip Melba off Anna’s feet hit the decking, and her boots stuck She was less than threestud, ai for the area of her back not covered by the skeletal frah a vacuum suit
She missed, but the results were i the fabric of Melba’s suit, the taser’s twowires ian to fall apart like burning string The taser got so hot Anna could feel it through her glove, so she let go just before it ray plastic The ht out The roo electrical cables All of Melba’s hair was standing straight up, and even after the taser had died her fingers and legs continued to twitch and jerk A s red error code