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“Course he would have He’d have gutted a hundred lowColors to save one Gold life Today, you killed howin fear Their eyes wide like a dying horse’s All white “Was it worth it? You could have helped them,” he says sorrowfully “But you went for her! One person!”

I take the punishet today It’ll be diluted by time For me I knoill not Myfaces even as I lie on ainst the mesh Smell the urine on the deck And I’ll wonder how many I could have saved if I’d had more sense

Our ship shudders again as another projectile hits us Our kinetic shields send it ricocheting off into space If they were ai for our engines “They want us alive,” I say

“Of course they do They saw that we’re Golds They’ll rape us and kill us when they get bored of it”

“And they’ll eat us,” I say “These ones are cannibals” He catches the fear in ines last if we overburn?” I ask, knowing the answer, but knowing too where I need to push him

He glances down at Pytha “Not long Maybe an hour, two Then we’re dead o? Nearest asteroid city is five days out”

“The Rim”

“The Riet your last na back down the hall “Your grandmother ordered the destruction of one of their moons and their docks”

“So they say”

“They think I personally stomped in the head of Revus au Raa”

“The Ascomanni won’t folloe make the Line They fear the Rim more than we do”

“There’s a reason for that”

“The chance they’ll have a warship even six days away froain Pytha jerks in her seat Blood dribbles down her lips She’s bitten her tongue Her uard wobbles on the console I pry open her teeth and push the thin slip of plastic in “I made a mistake in there But this is a matter of probability We can slip over the Line, shed the Ascoines, then…”

“No ship has crossed into Ri a war”

“Then what’s your plan?” I ask