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A final prayer and the service was over. Not one of her congregation pushed toward the door to leave. Eleven young faces stared at her, waiting. The oppressive aura of fear she’d managed to push away during the communion crept back into the room.

A

Chris spoke first. “No, it was real nice.” He seemed to want to say more, but stopped and looked down at his hands instead.

“Back on Europa, people would have brought snacks and coffee for after the service,” A

A few halfhearted nods. A muscular young woman in a marine uniform pulled her hand terminal halfway out of her pocket to check the time. A

“I had a whole sermon on David,” she said, keeping her tone casual. Conversational. “On the burden we place on our soldiers. The sacrifices we ask you to make for the rest of us.”

Chris looked up from his hands. The young marine put her hand terminal away. With her podium behind her, the meeting room was just a featureless gray box. The little knot of soldiers floated in front of her, and suddenly the perspective shifted and she was above them, falling toward them. She blinked rapidly to break up the scene and swallowed to get the lemony taste of nausea out of her throat.

“David?” a young man with brown hair and dark skin said. He had an accent that she thought might be Australian.

“King of Israel,” another young man said.

“That’s just the nice version,” the marine countered. “He’s the guy who killed one of his own men so he could sleep with his wife.”

“He fought for his country and his faith,” A

A few more nods. No one looking at hand terminals. She felt herself getting them all back.

“And we’ve been asking that of our soldiers since the begi

“So why didn’t you?” Chris asked. “You know, do the David sermon?”

“Because I’m scared,” A

More nods. Chris said, “When the ski

“No shit,” the marine said. She gave A

“It’s okay.”

“They say they didn’t,” another woman said. “They shot at Holden.”

“Yeah, and then their whole ship mysteriously turned off. If the dusters hadn’t pinged Holden, he’d have flown off scot free.”

“They’re go

“Dusters say they’ll smoke them if they go in.”

“Fuck the dusters,” the Australian said. “We’ll grease every one of them if they start anything.”

“Okay,” A

The marine snorted and looked away.

“And,” A

“Yeah,” Chris said. “If we fight out here, we’ll all die. No support, no reinforcements, nothing to hide behind. Three armed fleets and nothing bigger than a stray hydrogen atom for cover. This is what we call the kill box.”





The silence stretched for a moment, then the Australian sighed and said, “Yeah.”

“And something may come out of the Ring.”

Saying the thing out loud and then acknowledging it drained the tension out of the air. With everyone floating in microgravity, no one could slump. But shoulders and foreheads relaxed. There were a few sad smiles. Even her angry young marine ran a hand through her blond crew cut and nodded without looking at anyone.

“Let’s do this again next week,” A

The group began to break up, heading for the door. A

“Chris,” the marine said with a mocking singsong voice. “Go

“That’s not fu

“Sorry, ma’am.”

“You may leave,” A

He shrugged. “There were lots of people coming and going.”

“This one had long dark hair. She looked very sad. She was wearing civilian clothes.”

“Oh,” Chris said with a grin. “The cute one. Yeah, I remember her.”

“Do you know her?”

“No. Just a civvy contractor fixing the plumbing, I’d guess. We have a couple ships full of them in the fleet. Why?”

That was a good question. She honestly wasn’t sure why the angry young woman weighed on her mind so much over the last few days. But something about her stuck in A

“I’m worried about her?” A

Chris was tinkering with his hand terminal. After a few seconds, he said, “Melba Koh. Electrochemical engineer. She’ll probably be on and off the ship here and all the way home. Maybe you’ll run into her.”

“Great,” A

“You know what sucks?” Tilly asked. Before A

She didn’t have to elaborate. They were floating together near a table in the civilian commissary. A small plastic box was attached to the table with magnetic feet. Inside it was a variety of tubes filled with protein and carbohydrate pastes in an array of colors and flavors. Next to the box sat two bulbs. A

“The oat and raisin isn’t bad. I think it might actually have real honey in it,” A