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They were quiet for ato speak even before the words ca in the same place alley time This was just the same

“If you want, we could yell at each other some more”

“Thanks,” Holden said Alex nodded It was an open invitation, and only half a joke He consulted his gut again, then pulled himself up and headed for the lift Alex didn’t ask where he was going He probably knew

The galley still had the ghost of the ginger tea Clarissa drank to soothe her stomach, but neither she nor Amos was there now The food dispenser showed their supply levels, and he saw theer than anyplace else in his life He knew the ship better than he knew himself

As he walked down the corridor to their rooer The sense of guilt that was rising in his throat Even so, he knew she’d see it

Naomi was in the crash couch, her arm thrown over her eyes, but her breath didn’t have the deepness of sleep Her nap was already over or else it hadn’t yet begun She smiled, and the deep lines at the sides of her mouth were beautiful

“How bad is it?” she asked even before she took her arm away

Holden took a deep breath and let it hiss out through his teeth His gut didn’t loosen, but it did shift The anger turned toward so deeper Grief, ray at her teo, and was slowly spreading There were lines at the corners of her eyes that the antiagingto rub away They were beautiful, too

“I think itelse,” he said “Forelse, anyway”

She shifted, the crash couch , an ihten theto him told him how serious he really was How bad he looked

“Walk h it,” she said

He gave her the basics—what Drummer had said, what he and Alex had talked about, what sense he’d made of it—and with every word, every phrase, he felt a confusion he hadn’t known he was suffering start to clear Just saying it to her, knowing that even if he got the words or thoughts wrong, she would hear the htness in his gut didn’t go away

“When ere hunting down pirates, I could accept their surrender,” he said “Even the Free Navy could have set down ar for a bureaucratic syste to kill people as arules, I feel like an executioner, and … I don’t think I can do it”

Nao room for him on the crash couch He lay down beside her The couch adjusted to their coh “Tough to do our jobs, then”

“These colonies? They’re all dependent on the Transport Union, and , they should have a voice in how the union makes the rules How it enforces them They didn’t elect Drummer”