Page 145 (1/2)
Alex shut off the mic, and rubbed his cheek They were on the float now, course matched with the mysterious ship only about fifty kiloer by far than he’d ever seen it fro the little pinnace aly Behind hi the same feed he was
“That doesn’t look good,” she said
“Nope”
As a boy, back on Mars, there had been a little improvised firework that his friends would soht-duty pipe, a le-use rocket motor The way it worked, they’d spike one end of the pipe to a flat section of wall, fix the motor to the other end with industrial tape or epoxy with the thrust pointing off to one side Fire theof s around its axis faster than the eye could follow, the flare of theSo the corridor, posing a threat to everyone watching Sometimes the spike came loose Most times, it just left a circle of scrapes and scorch marks on the stone of the wall that pissed off the maintenance crews They called them fire weasels He didn’t knohy
Above the like a fire weasel She wasn’t quite tuht All the acceleration she’d been using to burn hard out toward the Belt and Holden was getting eaten now, each point on her pathway canceling out the point a hundred and eighty degrees off from it Her exhaust plu that tried to approach her unless it came from above or below And if they did that…
“What do you think happened?” Bobbie asked
“Maneuvering thruster fired off, never got balanced”
“Can you match course with that? I mean even if we decided anted to?”
Alex pressed the tip of his tongue to the back of his teeth and willed Naon that she was still alive That he wasn’t about to risk his ship and his life and the lives of the people with hi clever”
He pulled up the tactical display The Razorback and her cloud ofits tail like a terrier that had gulped down its own body weight in uppers Then, far distant, the UN escort decelerating in fro the saht here – the head of the OPA, the prime minister of Mars, Avasarala’s best cavalry – because it here Nao breath, they’d be looking out for their own
The screen lit up with an incoe, but not from the Chetzemoka Alex accepted it, and Holden appeared on the screen For about four seconds, the captain didn’t do anything but look into the camera and scratch his nose He looked tired and thin Alex felt the same way himself Then a smile blooain “Alex! Good Tellat”
“Well, we haven’t had any new es since their radio cut out, but if that was an intentional e, this looks like about the worst definition of ‘in control’ I’ve seen in a while This mystery ship’s not quite on the tu her tail, it’s not going to be easyon an idea The Razorback wasn’t built for airlock to airlock This here’s the kind of ride you land in a hangar But we’ve got EVA suits for me and Nate That’s the prime u
re we put the Razorback at the center of the circle Nao with our nose up and our ass down, thenas no one pukes in their helmet, we can send someone over to the airlock Not sure it’ll work, but it’s the best idea I’ve got so far”
He leaned forhile the tightbeaht-seconds out to the Rocinante, then the four light-seconds back To judge from the shape of Holden’s face, he was probably at one into its surprise spin, the Razorback would have been the first to reach it Holden’s te Alex a beer, provided nothing new and unexpected blew up on theood odds on that
Five seconds in, he remembered that he’d wanted to h, since it would just interrupt whatever Holden was saying right then that wouldn’t be back to Alex for a few ht-delay conversations were all about etiquette and taking turns