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“We’ve got our escort,” Alex said “Let’s get out of here How s can you take back there, Draper?”

“If I break a rib, I’ll let you know”

Alex grinned, spun the pinnace toward the sun, and accelerated – two g, three, four, four and a half – until the syste that it couldn’t inject hih the EVA suit He hit the suit’s crude helmet controls with his chin and injected hiency pack The enemy ships seean to turn, thin red triangles on the display Exhaust plumes competed with the stars behind him as he fell toward the sun, toward Earth and Luna and the rattled re up in his chest, like shrugging off a weight

“You can’t take the Razorback,” he said to the tiny red triangles “We are gone and gone and gone” He switched the radio to general “How’s everyone doing back there?”

“Fine,” the pri like this for er?”

“Bit longer, yes, sir,” Alex said “Once we get so”

“Breathing room,” the prime minister said, the words labored “That’s funny”

“Five by five here, Alex,” Bobbie said “Is it safe to pop h all my bottled air when there’s fresh in the ship”

“Yeah, that’s fine Same back there, Mister Prime Minister”

“Please Call me Nathan”

“You got it, Nate,” Alex said The sun was a sphere of white He pulled up the nav co in paths to Luna The fastest would take them inside the orbit of Mercury, but the pinnace wasn’t rated for oing to

be a little tricky And Venus wasn’t anyplace that he could gracefully use to slingshot But if Avasarala was sending out an escort to et a boost off the planet So heading that direction ht make sense

“Alex?” Bobbie said

“I’m here”

“That thing about not leaving me behind? You really meant that, didn’t you?”