"Frederick Lucius Johnson. Former colonel in Earth's armed forces, Butcher of Anderson Station. Thoth Station now too. Unelected prime minister of the OPA. He had faced his own mortality a dozen times, lost friends to violence and politics and betrayal. He'd lived through four assassination attempts, only two of which were on any record. He'd killed a pistol-wielding attacker using only a table knife. He'd given the orders that had ended hundreds of lives, and stood by his decisions. And yet public speaking still made him nervous as hell. It didn't make sense, but there it was. Ladies and gentlemen, we stand at a crossroads-- "General Sebastian will be at the reception," his personal secretary said. "Remember not to ask after her husband." "Why? I didn't kill him, did I?"