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“Mister Taylor, sound the acceleration alert Mister Kogo”

“Sir,” the tactical officer said, “permission to open weapon ports”

“Are we expecting action, Mister Kuhn?”

“Not expecting, sir An abundance of caution”

Kuhn didn’t trust the skinnies either That was fair They were a bunch of thugs and cowboys who thought that because they had guns, they had power Sauveterre thought it was early for the Free Navy to start double-crossing Duarte, but they were stupid and impulsive It didn’t do to assume an amateur force would ranted And waroma, please advise the fleet to do likewise”

“Yes, sir,” Kogoma said

The Klaxon sounded and Sauveterre settled into his couch, the sensation of weight returning over the course of seconds The transit to the Laconia ring was short The space between the rings was almost claustrophobic compared with the vastness of real, open vacuum And dark Starless The physics wonks said that there wasn’t any space on the other side of the rings That whatever bubble they all existed in ended not in a barrier, but in some more

profound manner that he couldn’t picture He didn’t need to

The Laconia gate drew closer, a handful of stars burning solid and clear on the other side of it, and growing as they cahter as they passed through There would be new constellations there A different angle on the galaxy, like a whole new sky

“Approaching the ring, sir,” Keller said froh in three Two…”

Keller fell apart No, that wasn’t right Keller here she had been, sitting as she had been sitting But she was a cloud now All of them were clouds Sauveterre held up his hands He could see theertips, the spaces between the molecules, the swirl and flow of his blood beneath theen, carbon dioxide all bouncingsome more profound space between them A vacuum that penetrated them all

I’ else is wrong

“Kill the drive!” he shouted “Turn about!” And the waves of his words passed through the visible but invisible air in an expanding sphere, bouncing against the walls, shuddering where they intersected with the cries of fear and a blaring Klaxon It was beautiful The cloud that was Mister Keller h the vast emptiness of her control deck

He saw the sound co in the rush of molecules before it reached hi?”

He couldn’t see the ie on the screens to know if the stars were there All he could sense were ato itself, not the pattern theyThen someone else