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“Coo”

“Don’t think that’s happening,” Butch said

Ahed He put his hand terminal in his pocket, took the worip in the other, and ran up the steps to the rattle of his own gunfire The wo exploded, but Aure out what At the airlock, he hauled Butch through, fired one last burst down the stairway, and hit the controls to cycle the lock closed

All around him, Erich’s people and the house servants were huddled Some were covered in blood He was covered in blood He was pretty sure it was all Butch’s, but not a hundred percent Soetting shot He let Butch down to the deck and pulled out his hand terminal

“Okay,” he said “Noould be good”

“The exhaust’s going to kill everyone out there,” Erich said

“Are we caring about that?” Amos shouted

“I guess not”

The drive roared to life “Lay down!” Aet to couches Everyone lay down You want the thrust spread out over your whole body!”

He lay down beside Butch Her eyes were on hier She didn’t speak, and neither did he Erich’s voice ca thehed a whole lotsound rattled the deck – the Zhang Guo pushing through the hangar’s roof on her way to the sky The ship rattled, dropped, rose again The deck pressed into Aoing to be at least a dozen people all ether in the corner where the deck met the wall

The screen over the engineering controls flickered to life; clouds and rain falling down onto the forward ca flickered, the thunder rolling through the ship He couldn’t res or four, but whatever it ould have been a whole hell of a lot more fun in a crash couch His jaw ached, and he had to re out All around hi that

in time, or more likely never knew Most of them, this was their first time up the well

Over the course of long htning fell away behind the stars A around, he seemed to be the only one still conscious, so instead, he lay back on the deck and waited for the thrust gravity to drop out when they hit orbit

The stars slowly grew brighter, twinkling at first as the last gritty layers of at steady The Milky Way appeared like a dark cloud lit froot to his feet Around hi to co Butch out to the lift and theGuo had one of those Stokes and the others were laughing or weeping or staring off in shock and disbelief Amos checked hiing scrapes along his left thigh whose origins he couldn’t recall, felt fine

He turned his hand teruys mind if I come up to ops?”