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dae23a7
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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 hun..
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James S.A. Corey |
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0a6dd2b
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He was kind of a pain in the ass, wasn't he?" Holden said. "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."
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James S.A. Corey |
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b9de792
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What?" Naomi said, an uncertain smile on her lips. Miller blinked. "You were laughing a little," Naomi said. "I don't think I've ever seen you laugh before. I mean, not when something was funny." "I was just thinking about something a partner of mine told me about letting cases go when you got pulled from them." "What did he say?" "That it's like taking half a shit," Miller said. "Had a way with words, that one."
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James S.A. Corey |
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7382a8b
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Ade, I like you. I mean, I really enjoy your company," he said. "I don't understand why we can't spend some time together with our clothes on." "Holden. Sweetie. Stop it, okay?" "Stop what?" "Stop trying to turn me into your girlfriend. You're a nice guy. You've got a cute butt, and you're fun in the sack. Doesn't mean we're engaged." Holden rocked back on his heels, feeling himself frown. "Ade. For this to work for me, it needs to be more ..
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James S.A. Corey |
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f487223
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They were the people who thought it was a good idea to kill people who looked or acted differently against the people who didn't.
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James S.A. Corey |
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b507c27
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Huh," Amos said over the ship system. "That is super creepy."
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James S.A. Corey |
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8712e5e
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Julie had become the part of him that was capable of human feeling.
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James S.A. Corey |
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4f22527
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What did you do?" Fred asked. "There was a button," Holden said. "I pushed it." "Jesus Christ. That really is how you go through life, isn't it?" "But" --
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James S.A. Corey |
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9c73a76
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It was all going to hell. The pirate casts from the OPA calling for war. The burgeoning guerrilla actions. All of it. The time was coming that Mars wasn't going to ignore them anymore. And when Mars took action, it wouldn't matter if Earth followed suit. It would be the first real war in the Belt. The catastrophe was coming, and neither side seemed to understand how vulnerable they were. And there was nothing--not one single goddamned thing..
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James S.A. Corey |
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7f12024
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A lot of people claim to believe in things. 'Family is most important,' but they'll screw a fifty-dollar hooker on payday. 'Country first,' but they cheat on their taxes. Not you, though. You say everyone should know everything, and by God, you put your money where your mouth is.
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James S.A. Corey |
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1089608
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I never changed sides," Fred said. "The sides keep changing around me. I was always the one who wanted order. Peace. Justice, even."
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James S.A. Corey |
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60e9bc5
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Platinum, iron, and titanium from the Belt. Water from Saturn, vegetables and beef from the big mirror-fed greenhouses on Ganymede and Europa, organics from Earth and Mars. Power cells from Io, Helium-3 from the refineries on Rhea and Iapetus.
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James S.A. Corey |
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5b00235
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Nothing like the stupid shit people do for a captain when they're really invested in not seeing how fucked up he is.
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James S.A. Corey |
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591e54e
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There's a damaged piece of the system ahead," Miller continued, "and I'd hoped we'd be able to get around it. No such luck. We're on foot from here." "Your fancy alien train is broken?" "My fancy alien material transfer system has been sitting unused for over a billion years and half the planet just exploded. Your ship was built less than a decade ago and you can barely keep the coffee pot running." "You are a sad, bitter little man," Holde..
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James S.A. Corey |
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4dbd819
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Everywhere, all through the city, space was at a premium. Extended families lived in decaying apartments designed for half as many. Men and women who couldn't escape the cramped space spent their days at the screens of their terminals, watching newsfeeds and dramas and pornography and living on the textured protein and enriched rice of basic.
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James S.A. Corey |
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cc8ec75
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atavistic
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James S.A. Corey |
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3e55522
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Recycled air that had passed through a million lungs. Water from the tap so clean it could be used for lab work, but it had been piss and shit and tears and blood and would be again. The circle of life on Ceres was so small you could see the curve. He liked it that way.
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James S.A. Corey |
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5931715
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The catastrophe began four days later. Quietly, and with near-military precision, the city opened a contract with Star Helix security. Soldiers from across the globe arrived in small groups and sat through debriefings. The plan to end the criminal networks operating in Baltimore would be announced after the fact, or at least after the first wave. The thought, widely lauded by the self-congratulatory minds in administration, was to take the ..
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James S.A. Corey |
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4ad2bec
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Anyone who had not had his determination, ruthlessness, and luck deserved pretty much whatever shit he handed to them.
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James S.A. Corey |
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63c8d45
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I don't know," he said. "But I've known Timmy since forever, yeah? He doesn't do anything unless there's a reason." "Well," Burton replied, pulling the word out to two syllables. "If it's since forever, I guess that makes it all right."
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James S.A. Corey |
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5491df7
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As soon as he took his chair, the waitress came over, her eyebrows raised, as if he were a new customer. He waved her away. There was something about sitting at an empty table in full view of hungry men and women that Burton enjoyed. What you want, I can take or I can leave, it said. All I want is to keep your options for myself. Erich and Oestra sat. "That boy," Burton said, letting the words take on an affected drawl, "is some piece of wo..
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James S.A. Corey |
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ab38a75
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She pulled a sheer yellow scarf over her hair, swathed her neck, and tied it at her sternum, the ironic echo of her old hijab.
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James S.A. Corey |
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a990a69
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Very few people stood wholly for the law or wholly against it, and so for them the catastrophe of the churn was an annoyance to be avoided or endured or else a titillation on the newsfeeds. That it was a question of life and death for other people spoke in its favor as entertainment.
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James S.A. Corey |
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5dec64c
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Even in the first morning after the catastrophe began, security teams were calling on Liev's underlings, sweeping them up for questioning. Some, they held. Others, they released. Burton had no way of knowing which of those who had been set free had cut deals with security and which had been lucky enough to slip through the net. It hardly mattered. That branch of the business had been compromised, and so it would die.
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James S.A. Corey |
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acbf30c
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God might not care about financial standing, but He was the only one.
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James S.A. Corey |
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9a4603c
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It's the reward of old age," Avasarala said. "You live long enough, and you can watch everything you worked for become irrelevant."
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James S.A. Corey |
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3c98e63
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Not because of Laconia, not because of the union, not because of any of the authorities through all of history that have made rules and then dared people to break them. Because we're human, and humans are mean, independent monkeys that reached their greatness by killing every other species of hominid that looked at us funny. We will not be controlled for long. Not even by ourselves. Any other plan is a pipe dream.
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James S.A. Corey |
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f9ac8e5
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If people call me names, they do. I'm just trying to make it a little harder for people to feel comfortable killing each other.
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James S.A. Corey |
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63296b7
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Things change," Alex said. "And they don't change back," she" --
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James S.A. Corey |
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becc45c
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Traveling between the planets had never eliminated murder. So many highly evolved primates in the same box for months on end, a certain death rate had to be expected.
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James S.A. Corey |
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d62a63d
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We came out here with an operational plan," she said. "If we start rewriting it every time we find an adjustment we'd like to make, we might as well not have bothered." Privately, Bull thought the same thing, but with a different inflection. If he'd been XO, the operational plan would have been called a suggested guideline and only opened when he wanted a good laugh."
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James S.A. Corey |
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b2ef3b3
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For something that had been expecting prokaryotic anaerobes, it was doing a bang-up job of making do.
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James S.A. Corey |
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b1bd06c
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Or spadefoot toads in the deserts? In the dry periods, their eggs would just desiccate, so the adults go dormant until there's rain, and then they come back awake and go out to the puddles and mate furiously, just this mad kind of puddle orgy and... um, anyway, and then they, they lay their eggs in the water before they can dry out again.
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James S.A. Corey |
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19bfcb1
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If Miller squinted, he could see the seventeen-year-old boy he had been under the layers of time and disappointment
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James S.A. Corey |
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7bfcc37
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Nothing as big as a revolution can survive with only one account of it.
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revolution
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James S.A. Corey |
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54e6e30
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The problem, of course, with the idea of nature versus nurture was that it posed a choice between determinisms.
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nature-vs-nurture
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James S.A. Corey |
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5e0db68
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Maybe 5 percent, maybe less, were the ones who sucked it up, learned the lesson, and moved on. The Julies. The good ones.
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James S.A. Corey |
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f6ee119
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Humanity has done amazing things by just muddling through, arguing and complaining and fighting and negotiating. It's messy and undignified, but it's when we're at our best, because everyone gets to have a voice in it. Even if everyone else is trying to shout it down. Whenever there's just one voice that matters, something terrible comes out of it.
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James S.A. Corey |
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b91a3eb
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So I think to myself," the bartender said, reaching back toward the glassware by the mirror, "you're here for something. The Butcher of Anderson Station in a Belter bar."
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James S.A. Corey |
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bd6dbe0
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New job?" he asked. "New job," Burton said. "I know you and Erich grew up together. Is this going to be a problem for you?" "Nope," Timmy said, slipping the gun into his pocket. There hadn't even been a pause. "You're sure?" "Sure, I'm sure. I get it. They've got him in the system now. If they get him too, there's all kinds of things he compromises. If they can't get him, nothing gets compromised, and I'm the only guy who can get close to h..
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James S.A. Corey |
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75bb7da
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Fred launched himself at Dawes, pushing out with numbed legs, and Dawes scuttled back. Fred landed on the deck hard. The world grayed out for a second, and he tasted blood. He struggled forward, trying to get at Dawes's feet with his teeth if that was the best he could manage.
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James S.A. Corey |
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a60fda3
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Avasarala: "... and I understand that you've got a few after-market add-ons?" "Keel-mounted rail gun!" Alex said with a grin. "That scream of overcompensating for tiny, tiny penises, but might prove useful, the mission commander has requested you and your ship, and honestly none of you are worth a wet slap at this point except Ms. Nagata, anyway."
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James S.A. Corey |
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eb989c9
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I'm twenty years too old, and I'm pretty sure I've got the wrong plumbin', but I like that gal.
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James S.A. Corey |
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339e860
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After a few decades, you come to a place where you realize that there's really no difference between trying and not trying... 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?
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religion-spirituality
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James S.A. Corey |