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Aement
“Yeah,” he finally said “That’ll be a bitch My job’s a lot easier Good luck”
Soarcoat it cracked the last of Anna’s fear, and she found herself laughing Before she could reconsider, she grabbed Aain,” she said, letting hi scaredy-cat You’re a good person, Aoing, Red I gotta getfor the door, and Anna moved to the wall to let theet back, big man”
Amos shook his hand and slapped him on the back once Holden’s face was filled orry Anna had a sudden vision of her future, sending Na terrified that she wouldn’t be there to look after her and having to let her go anyway
“Keep Nao Holden toward the door From Anna’s position, she could see the worry lines on Holden’s face only deepen at that He was going to have to let the, Alex would be leaving the ship to fly to the Rocinante, and Naomi would be left behind to keep the power shut dohile Holden continued on toward the bridge Anna knew the little crew had been together for several years now She wondered if they’d ever had to split up and fight like this before
Holden’s face see the tonot to think about why Monica grabbed her and started pulling her toward the ,” she said She deposited Anna just outside the careen wall they used as a backdrop
“Welco into cheery video host mode “I’ot so Doctor Anna Volovodov, and a number of UN and Martian ing you the most important broadcast we’ve ever done
“Today, we’ll tell you how to go ho past like it was soh it and couldn’t catch himself Anamarie Ruiz had an hour left before she had to decide whether to do what Ashford wanted or get killed If she didn’t have to choose, she wouldn’t choose wrong, and everydeck took theet back
They’d left the colonial administration offices in a small convoy Six electric carts with twenty-five people, including Jim Holden and three-quarters of his crew, the four Martian marines, an even dozen of the Behemoth’s creho’d stayed loyal to Pa, and five Earth soldiers who They had some riot armor that hadn’t been taken out of the arly collection of slug-throwing pistols and shotguns loaded with ballistic gel rounds; a ned to subdue without permanent injury and those meant to assure the eneuns they’d been able to scrounge up, but there were too few of both The whole thing stank of improvisation
He couldn’t sit down, so he’d taken the canopy off the electric cart and wedged his h the hot, close air of the druurehead on the prow of some doomed pirate ship Corin was at the wheel, hunched over it like she could eant Verbinski who’d brought Ji focused and beh thesound against the decking High above, the long, thin strip of blinding white illuminated the curve of the drum The southern transfer point loomed ahead of them like a cera a path Bull watched theer and fear and curiosity These were his people They hadn’t all been to start with, but he’d brought them here to the Behemoth He’d made the ship i central Earthers and Martians and Belters The ones who’d lived As the faces turned toward hi the convoy pass like flowers back on Earth tracking the arc of the sun, he wondered what Fred Johnson would have thought of all this It was a clusterfuck from start to finish, no question about that He hoped that when it caood than harm
“We’re a pretty co his neck back and up to look at Bull “How ainst?”
“Not sure,” Bull said “Probably a littleand colanced over his shoulder The truth was at least half of the people he was about to take into battle were already injured There were people with pressure casts holding their ar their skin closed In normal circumstances, half his force would still be in the infir into a fire zone either, except that he wasn’t going to stay back and send people into a rinder he wouldn’t step into himself
“Just about,” Bull said
“You know, if I still had that recon aret this done Not even me and my squad Just me”
“Yeah I know that”
“Kind of makes you wish you’d trusted me a little bit, doesn’t it?”
“Kind of does,” Bull said
There were tays to reach the transfer point The elevator was big enough to fit half the force into a box srenade would incapacitate nearly all of the raht spiral to the axis Its curve was going into the drum’s spin, so the faster they drove up it, the more the cart tires would push down into the floor That wouldn’t hting would essentially be in free fall, every bit of stability and control they could glean would matter