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“They’ve all got fusion reactions They’ve all gotdeal by themselves, but the station’s been spooked a couple tiive it a little e Show that you’re not a threat Do that, and I’ain That or it’ll break you all down to your coetic

“Sorry,” he said “Joke Just get the reactors off-line and the internal grids off It’ll get you below threshold, and I can take it from there I mean, if that’s what you decide you want to do”

“What do you ainst his shoulders He couldn’t stretch in here There wasn’t room for two people

There wasn’t room for two people

For a fraction of a second, his brain tried to fit two iether and failed The flesh on his back felt like there were insects crawling all over it The two things couldn’t both be true, and his brain shuddered and recoiled frohed

“Don’t do that,” he said “This is hard enough the way it is What I et to pick what part of the trap gets unsprung If I take off the da at each other or whatever, thatthe ones with the burned-up stars?”

“No,” Miller said “Those gates are gone Only real star systems on the other side of the ones that are left”

“Is that a probleh,” Miller said “That’s a lot of doors to kick down all at once” The only sound was the hiss of the air recyclers Miller nodded as if Holden had said soure out a way to sneak back hos and try and pretend this all never happened”

“You think we should do that?”

“I think there was an e? That’s one of their tools It’s a wrench And soh to put a bullet in theates, waiting for so stupid So maybe you’d rather set up shop here Make little doomed babies Live and die in the darkness But at least whatever’s out there stays out there”

Holden put his hand on the crash couch to steady hi a mile a minute, and his hands were claht throw up, and wondered whether he could get the vacuu in time In his memory, stars died

“You think that’s e should do?” he asked “Be quiet and get the hell out of here?”

“No, I want to open ’eet froure out what happened, and thata look at the scene”

“You’re the s”

“Yes,” Miller said “Consider the source, right? You ht want to talk about it with someone who’s not dead You people have ht for a hed

“I’m not sure it matters I’m not in much of a position to set policy,” he said