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One moon of Uranus sported five thousand, the farthest outpost of human civilization, at least until the Mormons finished their generation ship and headed for the stars and freedom from procreation restrictions.
“What the hell is the ‘forgotten arm’?” “Boxing term,” Miller said. “It’s the hit you didn’t see coming.”
“Poor little rich girl,” Miller said to the screen. “Sucks to be you, I guess.”
“I like Alex. He’s ebullient,” Naomi said. “I don’t know what ebullient means, but if it means Alex, it makes me tired.”
Like everything else humans built for space travel, it was designed to be efficient, not pretty. That always made Holden a little sad. There should be room for aesthetics, even out here.
Mentally, he was holding up his problem, turning it one way and then the other, not even looking for an answer. It was a simple mental exercise. Look at the facts without judgment: Havelock was an Earther. Havelock was in a portside bar again and looking for a fight. Havelock was his partner. Statement after statement, fact after fact, facet after facet. He didn’t try to put them in order or make some kind of narrative out of them; that would all come later.
We’re getting fucked here and not the nice way.
“Hey, buddy, mind if I come in?” Holden asked. Did I actually say “Hey, buddy”?
“See, this is why I can’t ever be in command,” she said. “Don’t like making tough calls with incomplete information?” “More I’m not suicidally irresponsible,”
You know how it is. You’ve got a pit bull on one side of you and a rottweiler on the other, first thing you do is drop your steak.”
Life is risk,
“My proselytizing days are long behind me.” “I didn’t think those ever ended,” Miller said. “They don’t. Not officially. But after a few decades, you come to a place where you realize that there’s really no difference between trying and not trying. I still travel. I still talk to people. Sometimes we talk about Jesus Christ. Sometimes we talk about cooking. If someone is ready to accept Christ, it doesn’t take much effort on my part to help them. If they aren’t, no amount of hectoring them does any good. So why try?”
With the amount of radiation he’d just taken, it was a good thing he had sperm tucked away in Montana and on Europa. Thinking that made his balls itch.
“Where the hell did you get that?” Miller grinned. “If I gave you that information and it got out, a good man would get killed,” he said. “You see how that works?”
“Tell the others I said goodbye,” Miller said. “Will do,” Holden said. Then, as Miller moved past him toward the lift: “So assuming we all actually live through this, where should we meet up?” Miller turned. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Yeah, I know. Look, I trust Fred or I wouldn’t have come here. I think he’s honorable, and he’ll do the right thing by us. That doesn’t mean I trust the whole OPA. After we get this thing done, I want the whole crew together. Just in case we need to get out in a hurry.” Something painful happened under Miller’s sternum. Not a sharp pain, just a sudden ache.
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“Hey, Miller,” Holden said. “Yeah?” Miller said softly. He knew what was coming. “Find your own ride home,” the captain of the Rocinante said,
“The Mormons are going to be pissed,” he said.
She stopped murmuring and smacked her lips a few times, then said, “Thirsty.” Holden slid out from under her and headed for the kitchen, knowing that this was the obsequiousness that always accompanied a new lover. For the next couple of weeks, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from fulfilling every whim Naomi might have. It was a behavior some men carried at the genetic level, their DNA wanting to make sure that first time wasn’t just a fluke.
They had sex again in the morning. After a long night with too little sleep, it wound up being far more effort than release for Holden, but there was a pleasure in that too,
Naomi kissed his ribs, which simultaneously tickled him and caused him to question his assumptions about his own refractory period.
“Miller’s on our side. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
Amos’ head snapped up, and he dropped his fork on the table with a loud clatter. “Holy shit, you guys are doing it!” “Um,” Holden said. “What?” “Something’s been screwy ever since we got back on the Roci, but I couldn’t figure. But that’s it! You guys are finally playing hide the weasel.”
Either help or give up. Right now devil’s advocate is just another name for asshole.”
‘What can we do right now to make things better?’”
Wonder where Fred’s going to drop those.” “Hell if I know,” Amos said. “Just disarmed Earth, though. That’s gotta be fucking embarrassing.”
“Cap,” Amos said. “You are seriously harshing my buzz.”
“That man could take a visitation from God with thirty underdressed angels announcing that sex was okay after all and make it seem vaguely depressing.”
