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"And, another thing, begging your pardon " "Yes, Co

"Were you and Zaireally lovers?"

"Yes, Commodore We are lovers" :

For a rasped her hand

"Thank you," he said

Nara found herself speechless for a moment Then she pulled her hand from his "No thanks necessary, Commodore It was never pity"

"Of course not, Senator I didn&039;t h I wantedall of us wanted somehow to restore Zai He lost too ht the Emperor&039;s pardon was real"

"It wasn&039;t"

He sed, the bitter taste of another lie showing on his face

"Co," Oxhah of you? Enough to fight those who&039;ll follow the Emperor without question?"

"Not yet But there will be The truth will turn the that he should join thehteous treason, this civil war into motion But he turned back to Nara

"Laurent Zai&039;s name will turn them," he said

"And death," Nara added

"Death, Senator?"

"Death is real again, Coht about this for moment, then shook his head

"It was always real, Senator, for us soldiers Death out in space rarely left enough for the symbiant But I suppose that now death is unavoidable, as it alas before the Emperor&039;s lie"

"Spread the word, then," Nara Oxhaain"

Fisher ti in the sky The tides were over

The fisherman looked down at hi been consumed a thousand thousand times The fish were placid now, half in the tide pool, half in the bay

But no, there were ht seemed to have filled with stars, as if he&039;d juht-years closer to the core But what looked like stars were in fact the little lualaxy, a rew clearer, and he understood what had pacified the ravenous schools: They had reached their goal, resplendent and sovereign in the dark

They were up there, beyond the reach of his spear

He dropped the weapon and turned toward the opening sky

Master Pilot Jociummy eyes focused first on the scarred woe had rendered it expressionless The hair had been burned froent

And violet, her eyes as bright a hue as stained glass catching the sun

Had he been captured by the Rix?

Marx started, trying to sit up The scarred wo its head He knew froan, then he saw Hobbes over the woman&039;s shoulder

"Jocim?" the ExO said She articulated the two syllables carefully, as if to establish whether he knew his own name

He did her one better "How are you, Katherie Hobbes?"

She s?"

"A month"

"Godspite" To Marx, it had see when contrasted to the real world He looked around, and recognized the room as a private sickbay cabin aboard the Lynx The violet-eyed Rix had ray-faced wo

"Why is there a Rixwoman here, Hobbes? Have we been captured?"

"No, Master Pilot She is aguest Or an ally, perhaps" Hobbes sounded only slightly less confused than Marx "She helped cure you," the ExO added with surety

He looked at the violet-eyed woman, blinked

"Thank you, then, I suppose"

The wo and empty as if he were a specimen pinned in a curio case

"How do you feel, Marx?" Hobbes asked

He sat up His ers, chronically suffering , felt rejuvenated from the enforced break His head was

Different

"What happened, Hobbes?"

"Everything"

That was Hobbes Concise, but not always helpful The passage of weeks ht He could see the executive officer&039;s stunning beauty again, as he had before growing accustomed to it over the last two years As if he&039;d spent a ht in an upload, Jociis co itself froot in the way"

The object That word brought a shiver to Marx Ies swirled in his head: a kind of liquid creature below hiant ates its kills Marx recognized fro his last memories from before the onset of coma He&039;d been taken, prey

"Your sensor subdrones were pu they could directly into your synesthesia," Hobbes continued "The inforh for you And perhaps it was partly my fault, too, Jocim You&039;d been pulled out of a hypersleep cycle out of phase, less than an hour before you were hit with the compound mind Your ing her to talk is compound mind You had a planet stuffed into your head"

Marx nodded, and rubbed his aching teht Then he blinked He hoped it was a ain, Hobbes," he pleaded "Why is there a Rixwo loose on our ship?"

"Ah," Hobbes said "She&039;s a cois attack"

"Oh, a commando Understandable then, that ould want her in sickbay" Marx vaguely realized that he should be terrified, as if a poisonous snake had been dropped in his lap, but his body wasn&039;t up to producing adrenaline

"Things have changed, Marx Not just here, but throughout the Empire We&039;ve had to ally ourselves--or at least cooperate--with the object With the Rix"

"The Empire and Rix are allied?" Suddenly, three months&039; sleep didn&039;t seem adequate

"No, just us, Marx The Lynx is on its own"

"Wait," the master pilot interrupted "Who&039;s in command, Hobbes?" He clenched his fists Had the aborted mutiny finally occurred?

"Captain Zai, of course"

Marx&039;s head swam The Vadan had committed treason?

"Listen, Marx," Hobbes kept at him "The Emperor&039;s status is unsure The dead have called a quoru into Honfrom a ten-year-old&039;s civics class A strictly theoretical possibility For sixteen hundred years, the E the billions of honored dead The dead never argued, never even disagreed For then see at her to slon His hten out this strange neorld

"What the hell?" was all he could e