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He nodded at the amber door alarm “Not yet”
She glanced down The override light flickered in her eyes like a candle fla into action?”
“That’ll work,” he agreed, and hauled himself up out of the bed The way it worked out, he was brushing his teeth when the door clicked over to red—locked, but under his control The relief and resentether
The hallways in the residential deck were no busier than usual The checkpoint they’d passed through earlier was gone, relocated to so the surveillance unpredictable and visible, he assuuards and checkpoints were all theater anyway A show of force to keep the locals scared and in line The transport was down—no lifts, no carts If anyone wanted to go anywhere, the only option was to walk
In the druht was as warm as ever The fields and parkland, streets and structures, curved up and around the saet that it was an occupied station until they interacted with anyone
The ave thear candy, on the house An older wo and the docks smiled at them, then stopped and stroked Naomi’s shoulder until little tears appeared in the older wo the other waybefore they needed to and nodded their respect It wasn’t, Holden decided, that people recognized him and deferred to his celebrity All the citizens of Medina were treating each other like everyone was ar Likely to shatter if you breathed on the on Luna after the rocks had fallen on Earth The deep huether in crisis To take care of each other In its best light, it hat made humanity human But he also had the dark suspicion that it was a kind of bargaining Look, universe, see how kind and gentle and nice I am? Don’t let the hammer fall on me
Even if it was only grief and fear, he’d take it Anything that helped them all treat each other well
Beside a little café that served tea and rice-flour cakes, a dozen people in Laconian unifor—a wall ht wide, and three high, with steel walls and backs and widethe pathway Like kennels Half a dozen locals stood watching, and Nao wo of freckles across her cheeks made a little space for the well
“Are they expecting prisoners, then?” Naomi asked the woman as if they were friends As if everyone asn’t Laconian was part of the saroup now
“That’s the thought,” Freckles said, then nodded a greeting to Holden “Making a show of it Supposed to keep us all in line, isn’t it?”
“That’s hoorks,” Holden said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice “Show everyone what the punishh fear, and we’ll all be obedient They’ll train us like dogs”
“That’s not how you train dogs,” Freckles said She made a little, deferential bohen he looked at her, but she didn’t back down “You train dogs by rewarding thelistened in her eyes, and Holden felt a lump in his own throat They’d been invaded They’d been taken over They could kill everyone on the station, and no one would be able to stop it This couldn’t be happening, and it was happening
“I didn’t know that,” he said Banal words, the closest he could offer to comfort
“Punishment never works,” Naomi said, her voice hard Her face was unreadable She shifted her weight like she was looking at sculpture in a museum The spectacle of power considered as art “Not ever”
“Are you fronized them