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“Got flustered”
“That’s ht,” Bobbie said “Well, hopefully, this’ll be a milk run to Luna”
Alex nodded and took a sip of coffee from his bulb “You think that’ll happen? You really think it’s over?”
Bobbie’s silence was an answer
They spent the rest of thefor marines and Navy were different and which one was better; Alex’s stories from Ilus and the slow zone; speculation about what exactly Avasarala was going to do once they got the prime minister to Luna It was all shop talk, and Alex found it easy and pleasant He hadn’t creith her in years, but she was good to talk to, good to be around In another life, he could i with her Well, in the military anyway He couldn’t quite place her on a water hauler like the Canterbury, and he wondered what it would have done to have her on the Roci Part of what made the Rocinante home was that the creas so small, and had soin quarters with the sa in – even so as Bobbie – would have had to contend with that, and there was nothing that screwed up a crew like having one person who felt excluded
He was still thinking about that, chewing the next-to-lastto Bobbie tell a story about free-cli on the Martian surface, when the Klaxons went off
“All hands to battle stations,” the calm, crisp voice said bethoops of the alarm “This is not a drill”
Alex was up and heading toward his crash couch before he fully registered as going on Bobbie was beside him They both threw their breakfast trays and drink bulbs into the recycler on the way out, long training identifying anything that wasn’t bolted down as a potential projectile if the ship’s vector changed too suddenly The staccato vibration of the PDCs was already ringing in the decks, but Alex couldn’t ih for that kind of close co off when they reached the corridor and one of the athered them up
“No tiet you to your quarters There are some spare couches we can put you up in over here”
“What’s going on?” Alex said, trotting to keep up
“The relief ships are firing on us,” Park said
“What?” Bobbie snapped
Park didn’t break stride, opening a hatch into an e them in Alex dropped into the e hi Hisover itself
“Someone faked military transponder codes?” he said
“Nope, they’re our birds,” Park said, checking Alex’s straps