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They installed a nal from any of the crew, or if it detected any of the products of her artificial glands, or if she left the crew decks of the ship It was three kilos of for like a barnacle The transfer ca the ed fro ter and a dozen other names and commended their ashes to the void Then each of the commanders of the other ships in the flotilla took their turns, standing before the ca a feords,on No one mentioned Ashford, locked away and sedated No one mentioned her

It was the last ceremony before the exodus Before the return Clarissa watched it on her hand ter at the screen that showed the shuttle’s exterior view The alien station was inert now It didn’t glow, didn’t react, didn’t read to the sensors as anythingofin a starless void

“They’re not all going back, you know,” Alex said “The Martian teaates See what’s on the other side”

“I didn’t know that,” Clarissa said

“Yeah This right now,” the pilot said, gesturing toward the screen where a UN captain was speaking earnestly into the caainst the sorrow of listing the names of the dead “This is the still point Before, this was all fear After this, it’ll all be greed But this…” He sighed “Well, it’s a nice moment, anyway”

“It is,” Clarissa said

“So, just to check, are you still plannin’ to kill the captain? Because, you know, if you are it see”

“I’m not,” she said

“And if you were?”

“I’d still say I wasn’t But I’h”

“Okay, Alex,” Holden said from the back “Are we there yet?”

“Just about to knock,” Alex said He tapped on the control panel, and on the screen the Rocinante’s exterior lights caold and silver in the blackness, like seeing a whole city froer than her quarters in the Cerisier, s it with anyone, though It was hers aswas a jumpsuit with the name Tachi imprinted in the weave All her toiletries were the standard ship issue Nothing was hers Nothing was her She kept to her rooalley and the head when she needed to It wasn’t fear, exactly, soto stay out of the way It wasn’t her ship, it was theirs She wasn’t one of theer, and not a fare they’d even wanted The awareness of that weighed on her

Over tian to feelelse That was enough to drive her out a little Only a little, though She’d seen the galley before in si how to destroy it, where to place her override It looked different in person Not ser, exactly, but different The crewfroh in the way she couldn’t They ate their host Like she’d already lost her place in the world

“Well,” Holden said, his voice grim, “we have a ot beer,” Amos said

“Yes,” Holden said “But beer is not coffee I’ve put in a request with the Behe into the vast and unknown void without coffee”