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Prologue: Bobbie Draper

A thousand worlds, Bobbie thought as the tube doors closed And not just a thousand worlds A thousand syste that humanity had spread to, a thousand times over The screen above the seats across from her showed a newsfeed, but the speakers were broken, the raphic that zooh for her to follo data had coates Here was another ie of an unfamiliar sun, circles to mark the orbits of new planets All of them empty Whatever had built the protomolecule and fired it toward Earth back in the depths of tie builder had opened the way, and no great gods had coh

It was astounding, Bobbie thought, how quickly huence fashioned these soul-wrenching wonders? to Well, since they’re not here, can I have their stuff?

“’Scuse e for a veteran, would you?”

She looked away froray-faced His body had the halle head He licked his lips and leaned forward

“Veteran, are you?” she said “Where’d you serve?”

“Gany off with an atteot back here, governh to book passage to Ceres I’ve got family there”

Bobbie felt a bubble of rage in her breast, but she tried to keep her voice and expression calm “You try veteran’s outreach? Maybe they could help you”

“I just need so nasty Bobbie looked up and down the car Usually there would be a few people in the cars at this tihborhoods under the Aurorae Sinus were all connected by evacuated tube Part of the great Martian terraforo on long after she was dead Just now, there was no one She considered what she would look like to the beggar She was a big wo down, and the sweater she’d chosen was a little baggy He ht have been under the misapprehension that her bulk was fat It wasn’t

“What company did you serve with?” she asked He blinked She knew she was supposed to be a little scared of him, and he was uneasy because she wasn’t

“Company?”

“What company did you serve with?”

He licked his lips again “I don’t want to —”

“Because it’s a funny thing,” she said “I could have sworn I knew prettystarted You know, you go through so like that, and you remember Because you see a lot of your friends die What was your rank? I was gunnery sergeant”

The gray face had gone closed and white The man’s mouth pinched He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and