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Anxious curiosity shone in every expression—even Vaughn’s—as she passed She could have played the e there, in front of all of the in it would be secret for long anyway But she didn’t want anyone watching her when she saw it Except Saba, and she wanted him there badly
In her office, she closed the door, then locked it The little fern in the corner held its fronds high in the null g A few things she hadn’t stowed—a drinking bulb, a printout on plastic fli soil—floated in the air She’d spent too long in spin gravity She’d come to assuh to erase generations of experience and Belter identity
She are that her brain wasn’t functioning nor her body than living it She kneas shock and trau
She strapped herself into her chair, took control of her personal interface, and opened her pending es Three were listed as unread One was froee ships, one from a captain of one of the EMC ships, and the last was listed as Admiral Anton Trejo of the Laconian Imperial Navy Somewhere in a different universe, the Klaxons stopped their wailing She wished now that she’d brought Vaughn at least And maybe a whiskey
She started the e playback
Trejo sat at his station, his unifor black hair was in place and his eyes a bright green He didn’t even have the good taste to look disheveled His smile radiated war to her about his relationship to God or a business opportunity she should keep quiet about for fear of starting a rush
“President Drummer, I hope” He drawled like someone from the Mariner Valley “If not, then please acceptI am Admiral Trejo of the Laconian battleship Heart of the Te out to you now because I don’t want to be misunderstood Despite all the hostilities the Transport Union and the Earth-Mars Coalition have greeted me with, we’re not enemies Not you and me Not the union and the eh consul knew that there would be resistance to this change We all did, and we respect that you had to do the things you’ve done
“When people like you and I enter into a new phase of history, there’s … I don’t knohat you’d call it Birth pangs? There’s a tih you don’t celebrate it When the high consul first explained to me the parameters of this ainst an entire systee, is part of why I felt that his approach was the only moral way forward
“I have tried to reach Secretary-General Li, but he isn’t returning es yet You’re here, and you are at least equal in dignity to anyone on the inner planets You can end this I understand that you had to fight You had to try to destroy me I don’t blame you for this But I am permitted at this point to accept your surrender Do this, and the inner planets will follow you You will be treated fairly by the new administration I promise you that
“If you are not yet willing to accept defeat, then I would ask you, out of what I hope isWhat is the number of dead that you need in order to show history that your choice to end this isdoht would not have been bravery but foolishness A hundred more A thousand more A million A billion Only say how many more corpses will make this possible for you, and I will provide them” He spread his hands “Tell me the number I await your reply”
The ainst her restraints and thought about whether to play the ive herself a few more moments before she went back to the command center She could feel her pulse in her throat and in her wrists—a throbbing exhaustion Released herself, pushed toward the door, down the short hall
They were all silent when she arrived She looked at her crash couch, there before the display The e
“Vaughn, I’ll need you to send a e to the Heart of the Tempest”
“Ma’a crisply I could order hiht to the last breath
“The e is this: ‘The number is zero’ Send that, and then order all union ships to stand down”