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5345038
|
Thank you, Mister Patel," Holden said. "In thanks, you may now have all my stuff. I don't care about any of it anymore." "Including the coffee maker, sir?" "Almost all my stuff."
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James S.A. Corey |
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17ba9f9
|
He is, however," Amos continued, "keeping a constant rail gun lock on the Israel's reactor." Holden ran his fingers through his hair. "So not too generous, then." "Say pretty please, but carry a one-kilo slug of tungsten accelerated to a detectable percentage of c."
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rail-gun
speed-of-light
tungsten
war
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James S.A. Corey |
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4bd7eb4
|
We may have to get clever before the next one shows up, but no matter what happens, we'll keep firing until that thing is a cloud of complex molecules and regret.
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James S.A. Corey |
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f8f27ef
|
He was her best friend, but he was terrible husband material. After his second failure at it Bobbie pointed out that if he just wanted something to hurt, she could break his arm for him and save everyone time.
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James S.A. Corey |
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a57fff0
|
Tilly screamed. Anna's shocked brain only registered annoyance at the sound. Really, when had someone screaming ever solved a problem?
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James S.A. Corey |
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bef4bfd
|
Inaros isn't going to chase after the Giambattista and Rocinante, because he'll be distracted by the largest and most aggressive fleet action in history kicking his balls up into his throat. By the time he understands what we were really after, it'll be too late for him to do anything but hold his dick and cry. But I need to know that you're in.
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James S.A. Corey |
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5c4ff4b
|
That humans only have so much emotional energy. No matter how intense the situation, or how powerful the feelings, it was impossible to maintain a heightened emotional state forever. Eventually you'd just get tired and want it to end. For
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James S.A. Corey |
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b6ed9bc
|
You ever wondered why I leave as soon as anyone else shows up?" "I'm special?" "Yeah, I wouldn't go that far."
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James S.A. Corey |
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74d1c42
|
If the medical bay could have raised its eyebrows and made judgmental little tsk-tsk sounds, it would have. Instead,
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James S.A. Corey |
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f9bb328
|
He'd been driven by his fear to become someone else. Someone who handled fear by turning it into violence.
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James S.A. Corey |
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4a5dc02
|
The thing Alex Kamal liked most about the long haul was how it changed the experience of time. The weeks--sometimes months--spent on the burn were like stepping out of history into some small, separate universe.
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James S.A. Corey |
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b2f246b
|
It's the problem with politics. Your enemies are often your allies. And vice versa." Fred"
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James S.A. Corey |
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9bab249
|
Holden's an idiot, but he's not stupid. If he realizes he's being watched, he'll start broadcasting pictures of all our Ganymede sources or something. Do not underestimate his capacity to fuck things up.
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James S.A. Corey |
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942f1db
|
That was the danger of being old and a politician. Habits outlived the situations that created them. Policies remained in place after the situations that inspired them had changed. The calculus of all human power was changing, and the models she used to make sense of it shifted with them, and she had to keep reminding herself that the past was a different place. She didn't live there anymore.
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James S.A. Corey |
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15a92b6
|
One of your mothers did the cooking? How traditional,"Naomi said with a smirk."
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James S.A. Corey |
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0f85378
|
I'm getting a medal for falling into a pressure hatch, sacrificing an arm and a leg to keep seven sailors from being trapped in a compromised part of the ship. I was unconscious at the time, but that doesn't seem to matter. Heroism is a label most people get for doing shit they'd never do if they were really thinking about it.
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James S.A. Corey |
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70643fb
|
it felt like waking up over and over without falling sleep in between.
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sleep
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James S.A. Corey |
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b14b127
|
Do we have a plan?" "A couple," Jim said. "Either of them good?" "Oh, no. Not at all. Just different flavors of terrible." The"
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James S.A. Corey |
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2652458
|
Those kids? They're illegal, but they don't just vanish, not
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James S.A. Corey |
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2eff757
|
I don't understand," Holden said. "If you didn't do this, then who did?" "See now, that's a good question, on several levels. Depending on what you mean by 'this."
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James S.A. Corey |
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d62d83c
|
You know," he said, "you have a really weird relationship with treason."
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treason
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James S.A. Corey |
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797401d
|
When what came next didn't matter, anybody could do anything. Nothing had consequences.
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James S.A. Corey |
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d239462
|
All of human civilization had been built out of the ruins of what had come before. Life itself was a grand chemical improvisation that began with the simplest replicators and grew and collapsed and grew again. Catastrophe was just one part of what always happened. It was a prelude to what came next.
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James S.A. Corey |
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8e00975
|
But, Bobbie? Really, really don't die out there." "No one lives forever, sir," Bobbie said, "but as long as it doesn't compromise the mission, I'll try to live through it." "Thanks." --
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James S.A. Corey |
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f04de5a
|
You never ask for permission, you just apologize later.
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James S.A. Corey |
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81f9fac
|
Seemed like a fact of the universe that the closer you got to anything, the worse it looked. Take the most beautiful person in the solar system, zoom in on them at the right magnification and they were an apocalyptic cratered landscape crawling with horrors. That's what the Earth was. A shining jewel from space, up close a blasted landscape covered with mites living by devouring the dying. "One ticket to New York," he said to the automated ..
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James S.A. Corey |
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8258e1e
|
to be monitoring anything we fucking say. If you wanted to discuss menstruation at great length and detail, this is probably our best chance. He's always been squeamish about women, and no one likes a Peeping Tom, even if he is prime minister.
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James S.A. Corey |
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0494f22
|
But listening to people bitch? Yeah, that's sorta your job. It's why you make the big money." "We make the same money." "Then I guess you're doing it for the fame and glory." "I hate you," Holden said."
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James S.A. Corey |
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820449d
|
Bobbie ignored the macho posturing. Everyone dealt with pre-combat jitters in their own way. Bobbie preferred obsessive list making. But flexing and threats were good too.
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James S.A. Corey |
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399b9aa
|
Do we have a plan?" "A couple," Jim said. "Either of them good?" "Oh, no. Not at all. Just different flavors of terrible."
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James S.A. Corey |
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3f053f9
|
Nothing like a little shared racism to build ties with the boss.
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sarcasm
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James S.A. Corey |
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316aad5
|
We're all traitors now." "Ha!" the old lady said. "Only if we lose."
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perspective
traitors
winning
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James S.A. Corey |
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e100769
|
Nothing wrong with a little optimism, long as it doesn't set policy....
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realism
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James S.A. Corey |
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5273ad3
|
Doors and corners are always dangerous, because you're moving into something without being sure what's there. By the time you see the enemy, you're exposed to them." "Sir?" Havelock"
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James S.A. Corey |
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cb5b636
|
It keeps people calm. That's the important thing. Holden thinks he's a hero, power to the people, information wants to be free blah blah blah, but he's a fucking moron." "He's on his own ship." Avasarala crossed her arms. "What's your point?" "He's on his own ship and we're not." "So we're all fucking morons," Avasarala said. "Fine."
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James S.A. Corey |
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f479dd0
|
Maybe one sad detective pulling a nuclear weapon on a wagon would slip through their defenses.
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James S.A. Corey |
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45b9da6
|
Cells became molecules--countless and complex and varied. The demarcation of one thing and another failed. There was only a community of molecules, shifting in a vast dance. And then the atoms that made the molecules gave up their space, and she was a breath. A mist. A tiny play of fields and interactions in a vacuum as perfect as space. She was a vibration in nothingness.
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atoms
cells
molecules
transcendence
vacuum
vibration
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James S.A. Corey |
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2580e8a
|
It was the security man's nightmare scenario. In the face of death, why wouldn't there be riots? Why wouldn't there be killing and theft and rape? If there were no consequences - or if all the consequences were the same - then anything became possible. It was his job to expect the worst of humanity, including himself.
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humanity
social-psychology
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James S.A. Corey |
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78df79d
|
So there was this unlicensed brothel down in sector 18. We went thinking we'd be hauling fifteen, twenty people in. More, maybe. Got there, and the place was stripped to the stone,
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James S.A. Corey |
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42c30b1
|
Only here on Earth, where food grew on its own, where air was just a by-product of random untended plants, where resources lay thick on the ground, could a person actually choose not to do anything at all. There was enough extra created by those who felt the need to work that the surplus could feed the rest. A world no longer of the haves and the have-nots, but of the engaged and the apathetic.
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James S.A. Corey |
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64d86b9
|
She felt that politics was the second most evil thing humanity had ever invented, just after lutefisk.
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James S.A. Corey |
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22072f3
|
I could kill you with my hands, Marcus thought, and it was enough to evoke the smile that etiquette called for.
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James S.A. Corey |
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88eaa3a
|
We're back up and commencing burn in thirty seconds unless someone says otherwise. Everybody get ready to weigh something.
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James S.A. Corey |
|
e922578
|
Everything about the former colonial administrative offices made Holden sad. The drab, institutional green walls, the cluster of cubicles in the central workspace, the lack of windows or architectural flourishes. The Mormons had been planning to run the human race's first extrasolar colony from a place that would have been equally at home as an accounting office. It felt anticlimactic. Hello, welcome to your centuries-long voyage to build a..
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James S.A. Corey |