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“Bull?”

He looked up The nurse see, ot a couple visitors, if you’re up for it,” he said

“Depends Who you got?”

“Priest,” he said It took a moment to realize it wasn’t a name but a job description

“The Russian from the Rocinante?”

The nurse shook his head “The politician Cortez”

“What does he want?”

“As far as I can tell? Save your soul He’s talking about protecting humanity from the devil I think he wants you to help with that”

“Tell hie at the security office Who else wants a piece of ed For a e about it, then he realized it was the first tiot a little prezzie for you,” the nurse said, then leaned back out into the corridor “Okay Co Behind her, two techs were carrying a blue plastic crate so big he could have put Sa tiot one more mutiny before it’s your ship,” Sam said “And yeah, when the crew heard about what happened with you and Ashford, soether a little present”

Bull shifted, then caught hi the an to fall, it was a little surprising It was one of the things heSam didn’t notice, or pretended not to She shifted to the side and took hold of the crate’s release bar like a stageappeared in the doorway, a sly s of walking in on his own surprise party

“You’resmarter,” she said “Ready?”

“Yeah, I don’t think so”

The crate slid open The hed for lack of anything he could think to say

“It’s a standard liftingout of its tuaveactuation with a si, and you’re still going to need help going potty, but you’re not stuck in bed It’s not as coet you anywhere in the ship you want to go, whether it was built for accessibility or not”

Bull thought he was about to cough again until he felt the tears welling up in his eyes

“Aw shit, Saet you in and adjust the support plates”

Sam took one shoulder, the nurse the other The sensation of being carried was strange Bull didn’t know the last tiuts of thethearound It was an inversion of the usual; instead of using his legs to s For the first time since the catastrophe, Bull walked down the short hall and into the general ward Saaze on the s for their first swiness didn’t leave, but it lessened

The worst of the injured from all three sides were here, men and women, Belter and Earther and Martian A bald led to breathe; a wo Bull could hardly believe she wasn’t a child lay almost naked in a bed, her skin mostly burned away and a distant look in her eyes; a thick-bodied man with an Old Testament prophet’s beard and body hair like a chih his sedation In the disposable plastic ed to what side They were people, and they were on his ship, so they were his people

At the end of the corridor, Corin stood in front of a doorway, a pistol on her hip Her salute was on the edge between serious and

“Macht sly, chief,” she said “Suits”