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ll hiar Once he’s away from the machine, stun him, strip him naked, scan him for euard No one is to speak with hi unusual between this moment and then, shoot him in the head Then order an evacuation of all support personnel to the ships I want everyone except coet a particle beam pointed at the Spirit of Faran and blow that EMP to hell”
There’s a pause
“Copy that What’s what?”
“Patching a pool” I useout Alexandar and Rhonna Colloway joins from the confines of his isolation chamber Thraxa storms down the hall to link up withGlirastes out to the hangar When the rest of the pool has joined from all across Heliopolis, I infora-level enemy asset has been discovered inside the city Glirastes has flipped That EMP is for us I’ve ordered its destruction But it will be coordinated with an outside assault Prepare for heavy enemy contact Attack is imminent”
Should I call Rhonna and Alexandar? Will it tip e, or kill the I have to risk it and trust their discretion Even then, if anyone could take down a single man, it’s Alexandar I use my master command to turn on both of their cochlear i the Water Colossus “Do not react A Howler strike tea across from is not named Cato au Vitruvius He is Lysander au Lune Wait for us Do not engage him on your own”
“WHEN I FIRST SAW the Water Colossus, I thought nothing could be that big” Rhonna admires the ten-meter-tall ht I’d never seen anything as big as Tinos, or the Citadel of Light, or the Morning Star That shit nearly dropped er, ain’t there?” She is h island” in ancient Gaelic I doubt she kno apt a na, but just can’t help being jagged around the edges
Alexandar does not notice the jaggedness one bit
Starlight filters through the glass doht of certain stars aht over the models Froazes at the rough island as if she were the monument itself
Their unspoken tenderness seems already so frail to me
Before the Ash Rain, it wouldn’t have
“Nothing is as big as the Morning Star, o of a Valii-Rath,” Alexandar says, enjoying his role as tour guide It see his house’s sojourn from Mars to Io to Luna to rebels Even in my anxiousness to depart, I remind myself to be civil and correct none of his errors “It took seven years to build Dozens of asteroids But most of its metal came from the mines of Mercury”
Wrong
Gods, how long do they intend to loiter? I hide my vexation My ra of all,If this is what passes for Martian inia has done to the Palatine
My cousin’s enthusiasain has made it i ly head I’ve unfortunately noticed Alexandar no longer tongues his new teeth as he did when he arrived
“Fro fees rave,” Rhonna says with a folksy whistle “Costs raars horin “Raided the Votu at the only purveyor of Heliopolitan cigars in all Agea Well, soon as we skip this rock and make like pups for home, that is”