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“We don’t talk about much, do we?” she snapped, and he looked back at her, surprised by the bite in her voice You think you knohat I aot is stories

The airlock of the other ship eirdly familiar The curve was like the airlock on the Roci, and the design of the latch Martian design And more than that, Martian Navy Marco had come into a roup on Ceres, they wore a rough kind of uniforray juainst the clean design of the ship’s corridor, they looked like bad costuh, and she didn’t doubt they’d use them

The bridge looked like the Rocinante’s younger brother After the cheap, barely-enough aesthetic of the Chetzerade crash couches and ter And there, in the center of it all like he’d posed hi like a nia

He was beautiful as a statue Even now, she had to give him that She could still remember when those lips and the softness in those eyes had o, that was Now he sh her She ith hihtmare had come true, so at least she didn’t have to dread it anymore

“I’ve brought her, sir,” Filip said, all his consonants sharp enough to cut with “Mission accomplished”

“I never had a doubt,” Marco said In person, his voice had a richness that recorded es lost “Good work, mijo”

Filip gave a little salute, and spun to leave

“Ah!” Marco said, pulling the boy up short “Don’t be rude, Filip Kiss your o”

“You don’t have to do that,” Naomi said, but – eyes blank and empty – Filip floated over and pecked her cheek with dry lips before returning to the lift The guards ith him, except for two that took up stations behind her

“It’s been a long tiood The years have been kind to you”

“You too,” she said “Sound different too When did you stop talking like a Belter?”

Marco spread his hands “In order to be heard by the oppressing class, one e, but the diction The accusation of tyranny, however well-founded in fact, is disnizes as powerful That’s why Fred Johnson was useful He was already iconic of an authority that the authorities understood”

“So you’ve been practicing, then,” she said, folding her arms

“It’s ainst the upper deck, and floated doard the control couches “Thank you for co”

Nao the past Treating her like she’d chosen to join hi here Instead, she nodded toward the ops deck “Nice ride Where’d you get it?”