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“I grew up here,” he said, his voice shaking “Everything I’ve ever done – every irl I ever rolled around with? It’s all been inside the 695” For a second, it looked like he was going to cry again “I’ve seen things coo I’ve seen shit ti myself this is like that It’s just the churn But it’s not, is it?”

“No,” Peaches said “It isn’t This is so new”

Erich turned back to the screen, touching it with the fingertips of his good hand “That’s my city out there It’s a mean, shitty place, and it’ll break anyone who pretends different But… but it’s gone, isn’t it?”

“Probably,” Peaches said “But starting over’s not always bad Even the way I did it had soot is better than what I had”

Erich bowed his head His sigh sounded like soood hand in both of hers and the two of the moment

Aht?”

Chapter Thirty-nine: Naomi

She didn’t have days Hours maybe For all she knew, minutes And the plan still had holes in it

She sat in thePeople passed through fro Martian uniforms, some their normal clothes, a few in a new Free Navy uniform, but the other tables stayed empty apart from her and Cyn Before she’d been almost cre she was a prisoner, and as a prisoner, her schedule had changed She’d eat when other people weren’t eating; she’d exercise when other people weren’t exercising; she’d sleep in the dark with her door locked from the outside

She was grateful for it She needed the quiet of her ownhad happened in the last days She couldn’t put her finger on when or how, but the dark thoughts had either vanished or else grown so vast she couldn’t see their horizons She didn’t think she was crazy She had felt herout from under her one time and another in her life, and this was very different She understood she ht sail froive or even understand her And she could tell that all of those facts mattered to her, and mattered deeply But they didn’t overwhelm her Not anymore

The u the ship

s was fifty meters at full extension Not even as wide as a soccer field The link between the ships was between the cargo-level airlocks, where it was easier to access engineering and move supplies, which left the crew-level airlocks unused There were EVA suits in the lockers there With a strip of welding tape or a crowbar, she could get one in only a couple of minutes Get into the suit, out the Pella’s airlock, force the airlock on the Chetze off and the Chetze thrusters There were no calculations for it It would be very, very close, but she thought it was possible And since it was possible, it was necessary

There were proble she didn’t have welding tape or a crowbar, and with her escorts now treating her as untrustworthy, her opportunity to steal either while running an inventory was gone Second, once Marco saw she’d taken an EVA suit andasome way to disable the proxiet a suit on the sly, though, so that the inventory said they still had a full coht think she’d killed herself If she was dead, she posed no threat She knew the inventory systeht she could force an update She knew she could, given enough time and access But she only had hours Maybe hours Maybe less

A familiar, sharp voice ca to the empty rooovernment She was also a close personal friend, and I will miss her company deeply”

Avasarala’s expression was careful, coh the screen and a couple hundred thousand kiloht all be an act, but if it was, it was a good act The reporter was a young man with close-cut dark hair who leaned forward and tried to look up to the task of interviewing her “The other casualties of the war have —”