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[marineris]

"This is Bobbie Draper. I'll get back to you."

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[marineris]

[This sounds like a mess, but the fact that she was on an MCRN ship, still enlisted, is such a rush of relief.]

So what happened? You said something about the Roci decelerating before. Is that when it did?

[donkeyballs]

Nah, we got through. I slowed way the hell down before we went in, so we slid into the ring like a knife through butter - though I think I passed out during the deceleration anyway. We were strapped in and on juice, so we all made it out okay.

But the missile? Stopped dead in the goddamn water, floatin' maybe a half second's flight away from us.

Inside the Ring...

Gunny, I don't think I could describe it. It wasn't Space. It was somewhere else. The whole thing like this weird blue bubble, only you could fit a small solar system in it. In the center was this - weird orb. Like a mini moon, only it was definitely constructed by the protomolecule. It was pretty damn far from being natural.

Once we went through, others started comin' too, only we still had our comms shut down. So I saw when your ship came through, Gunny, but there wasn't a way to reach you - any of you - and 'cause of the speed limit, ya'll couldn't catch up to us. The Belt came through, one of the big UN ships - it was a party, in slow motion.

We sent the reporters to go talk to Mars on our behalf by pushin' 'em out the airlock in the direction of the Xuesen, but - next thing I know, Holden's takin' off for the sphere an' not lettin' me or Amos go with 'im. He uh - he sort of had contact, with the thing, which is how he knew to go in real slow.

Kept appearin' to him like Miller. Like a goddamn ghost.

[marineris]

Wait, wait... The protomolecule looked like Miller?

[donkeyballs]

Now that - you'd have to ask Holden. [ A pause, a frown. ] If he remembers that far ahead, anyway.

But what he told us, it was like Miller was standin' in the room with him. Only we couldn't see him, and neither could the cameras. It was like it was sendin' a signal right into his head.

[marineris]

[Bobbie shakes her head, scrubbing a hand over her face.]

You weren't kidding about me missing a lot.

[donkeyballs]

[ He gives her an apologetic look, nudging her shoulder with his. ]

Yeah. An' I ain't done, yet.

Now, I wasn't there, but Holden told me a bit about what happened on the sphere. When the Xuesen saw him headin' down there, they sent a buncha Martians down to grab 'im.

Includin' you.

Somethin' happened, he activated somethin', and since everyone thought he was nuts and about to blow somethin' up, shots were fired. Only the bullets got stopped dead. One of the marines was torn to pieces by the protomolecule, after lobbin' a grenade.

And the speed limit? Dropped to almost nothin'.

Every ship that was movin' faster than it - and that was most of them, includin' us - got stopped dead in the water. Very fast.

I woke up when Naomi came outta nowhere and found me on the Roci. Had a fork in my arm and a damaged neck, but I was still alive. Same with Amos, though he has a nasty as hell bruise over his eye - think he broke a bit of his skull, too. Pretty sure we just wouldn't've woken up, if not for her.

[marineris]

[It takes her a second to process that, to understand the full implications of it.]

You're telling me a lot of people died.

[donkeyballs]

[ He lets out a breath, and then, very softly: ]

Yeah. A lotta people died. No one had any thrust, so, even the people who just got injured were bein' treated in zero gee... [ He trailed off. She knew what that meant. ]

[marineris]

[Bobbie exhales softly, not noticing the way she leans into him.]

Are you okay?

[She doesn't just mean physically.]

[donkeyballs]

Honestly, Bobbie, I thought you were dead. [ Very quietly. ] I thought - if she was still on the Xuesen when it came into the ring -

Hell, it was safer to assume everyone was dead, rather than alive.

But that was the first time I thought I'd lost you.

[marineris]

Hey, I'm fine. We're okay.

[And she assumes she's going to stay okay—he would have had a much different reaction upon seeing her if she wasn't.]

[donkeyballs]

[ He turned his head to look at her, a soft, relieved smile on his lips, though there was still a hint of sadness to it. ]

Yeah. We came out of it okay, somehow.

Once Naomi got me and Amos patched up - we headed for the Behemoth together. They'd spun up the drum, and were offerin' medical assistance to everyone in the Ring, so the Martians and the UN were sendin' people too.

A lotta stuff happened after that... Holden had a vision, while he was on that thing, about what it could do. Saw it wipe out whole solar systems, in an effort to stop somethin' from spreadin'. Only you know how humans are, Gunny. They saw what the sphere did to all the ships, how it killed so many people - and figured they needed to destroy the ring, before it could take out the solar system, too. They'd done a test with a nuclear bomb on a skiff, to see how the sphere would react - and of course that just woke the damn thing up, and made us all look like enemies.

Things god pretty bad, pretty fast, after that, and I'll be honest, it's all kinda a blur.

[marineris]

[She just listens quietly, nodding.]

Just tell me what you can.

[donkeyballs]

Right, well - Holden managed to get a hold of Miller, and Miller said that we needed to show the sphere that we weren't a threat, and to do that, we needed to power down every drive core in the ring.

At the same time, the UN and Martian and Belt commanders were hatchin' a plan to do the exact opposite, and use the tight beam laser as a weapon by hookin' it up directly to the drive and then usin' it like a surgical laser to slice through the ring.

So Naomi and Drummer and Holden went to go get control of the drive, and me and Amos and Monica and Anna - the reporter and a really sweet priest who was really damn good at calmin' people down - went to hijack the comms systems, to send out a broadcast to the whole fleet to power their drives down.

Obviously, the powers that be didn't like that much, and sent down some Martian Marines to deal with us.

Hell, Gunny, if you'd had your armour with you, I think you woulda managed to kill all of us before you even knew it was us. But without it, we were firin' down the hall at each other without knowin' who was on the other end of the gun.

[ There was a pause, and then, very hastily - ] We didn't shoot you. You called out, and I recognized your voice, so I called back. Was surprised as all hell and damn lucky to boot. If it hadn't've been you, I'm sure we'd be dead.

[marineris]

[Bobbie laughs a little incredulously.]

They sent me? Why didn't I have my armor?

[donkeyballs]

Hell if I know. I was gonna ask you the same question, but - I got pulled here just after we got back on the Roci.

[ He wet his lips. ] Anyway, we uh - I came out without my gun and you lowered your weapon, and I was tryin' to tell you what the hell was goin' on, but- the two other marines that were with you didn't like it. They jumped both of us. Amos got one of them when he smacked me down, and you got the other-

But not before she got a shot off into your gut.

[marineris]

Shit.

[She feels a sudden thrill of dread, and swallows.]

What happened to them?

[donkeyballs]

... I don't think they made it, Gunny. [ His voice was incredibly soft. Apologetic. ]

I didn't actually see 'em - I was a little distracted. You got shot an' we weren't anywhere near a medic, and we were expectin' them to send more people down to get us at any second - so I was kinda spending the whole time tryin' to keep your blood in.

[marineris]

[Of course they didn't. That's the answer she was expecting, but it doesn't make it easier to hear.]

...How bad was it?

[donkeyballs]

It was pretty bad.

[ He can't actually look at her, when he says that, because if he thinks too hard he can still feel her blood welling up under his fingers. He tries to suppress a shudder, but it shivers down his spine anyway. ]

They listened, though. The fleet. We bought enough time, everyone shut their drive cores down. The lights went out, so someone up on the bridge of the Behemoth managed to get them to do it. It wasn't really the first thing on my mind, anymore.

But it meant that we managed to get you to a med bay, before you bled out.

[marineris]

[She feels him shiver, and she reaches for his hand instinctively.]

So you saved my ass, huh?

[donkeyballs]

You saved mine first. [ He pointed out, relaxing a little as he let her take his hand, then thread their fingers together, resting them on his knee. ]

If it hadn't been you, I'd've been dead. No question. But yeah, like hell I was gonna let you die on me, Gunny, not if I had anything to say about it.

[ There was a pause, and then he figured he needed to finish the story. ]

Somethin' else happened, though.

When we all powered down.

The sphere did what it was supposed to.

It opened all of the other rings.

[marineris]

[She frowns, squeezing his hand gently.]

Other rings to where?

[donkeyballs]

[ He wet his lips, looking at her. ]

... Everywhere.

Tens of thousands of them.

And each one leadin' to a different habitable system.

[marineris]

Holy shit.

[Just the implications of that are staggering—she can barely wrap her head around them. Everyone is going to be scrambling to get through those rings and lay a claim. It's going to be a mess.]

Has the arguing started yet?