Page 27 (1/2)

“There are a ht disappear out there,” he said “Loss of core containment, loss of atht have just gone out and they’re living co someone will drop by to check on them”

“Maybe,” Monica said with a nod “If there was only one But four hundred thirty-seven ships have passed through the rings into new solar systems over the last year And of theers out like a tiny explosion Holden did thelike a three percent rate of loss Back when he’d been in the Navy, the budgets had assumed about half of a percent loss to e, and enemy action This was six times that

“Huh,” he said “That seeh for ships that were able to fly the year and a half to get to the Ring”

“Agreed Way too high If ships bleithout explanation that regularly, no one would ever fly”

“So,” Holden said, then paused to order another drink fro he’d need it “Why isn’t anyone talking about it? Who’s keeping track of them?”

“No one!” Monica said triu the the inner syste to citizens of three different governments, and soovernht plan, they just threw their suitcases in a rock hopper and blasted off for the neorlds”

“Real estate grabs are like that, I guess”

“So here they are, heading off alone or in handfuls, and all of theet wherever it is first Only so them Or, some of them anyway”

“Clearly,” Holden said, “you have a theory”

“I think it’s the protomolecule”

Holden sighed and rubbed his face with both hands His drink arrived, and he sipped at it for a in filled hiswith ione It’s dead I fired the last processing node into a star”

“How do you know that? Even if it was the last of the ring-building weapon, we knohoever made all this did it with protomolecule tools And what else can it be? I’ve read the reports All those robots and things that woke up on Ilus? The proto its stuff”

“No, it doesn’t,” Holden said “That’s not what happened Without knowing it, I’d brought a node of the original infection withto connect hatever sent it out in the first place It woke a lot of stuff up in the process We shut it down, and, you know, shot it into a star to avoid that happening again”

“How can you be sure?”

At the sushi bar, one of the chefs barked out an announcement, and half a dozen people around hi it out slowly through his teeth