Persepolis Rising, Page 54

  Holden looked around the cell like there might be something there to help him. Duarte didn’t need any new fields of perception to see the agitation in Holden’s mind. Duarte softened his voice the way he had with Natalia and Elsa, offering comfort and consolation in his tone if not his words.

  “There was no path where we left the gates alone. No future where we didn’t use the technologies and lessons we learned from them. And there wasn’t likely to be one where we didn’t face the same kind of pushback that killed the ones who came before us. There was only the way forward where we were scattershot and chaotic, or the one where we were organized, regimented, and disciplined. And the missing ships are a promise that the killers in the abyss will come back. That they’ve never really left. You, more than anyone else, should understand that.”

  “I did,” Holden said. “I do. It’s why I came here. To warn you.”

  Duarte leaned back. The bunk was thin and uncomfortable. He didn’t envy Holden’s having to sleep on it. But there was a breeze through the window and a bit of sunlight. The cell was still more luxurious than half of the ship cabins Duarte had been assigned early in his career.

  Holden’s hands were open as if he were offering something. And he was, but it wasn’t what he thought.

  “I don’t need a warning,” Duarte said. “I need an ally. You have seen things no one else has ever seen. You know things I need to know, and you might not even be aware of the significance of some of it. Doctor Cortazár has been trying to find that. Help him. Work with him. Work with me.”

  “To do what?”

  “To take the shards of the protomolecule’s broken sword and reforge it. To bring humanity into a single community that is functional and strong. And prepare us.”

  Holden laughed, but there was no mirth in it. Duarte knew he hadn’t reached the man. That was disappointing.

  “Prepare us for what?” Holden asked. “To poke gods with a sharp stick?”

  “No, Captain Holden. No sticks,” Duarte said. “When you fight gods, you storm heaven.”

  Acknowledgments

  While the creation of any book is less a solitary act than it seems, the past few years have seen a huge increase in the people involved with The Expanse in all its incarnations, including this one. This book would not exist without the hard work and dedication of Danny and Heather Baror, Will Hinton, Tim Holman, Anne Clarke, Ellen Wright, Alex Lencicki, and the whole brilliant crew at Orbit. Special thanks are also due Carrie Vaughn for her services as a beta reader, and the gang from Sakeriver: Tom, Sake Mike, Non-Sake Mike, Jim-me, Porter, Scott, Raja, Jeff, Mark, Dan, Joe, and Erik Slaine, who got the ball rolling.

  The support team for The Expanse has also grown to include the staff at Alcon Entertainment and Syfy, and the cast and crew of The Expanse. Out thanks and gratitude go especially to Matt Rasmussen, Glenton Richards, and Kenn Fisher.

  And, as always, none of this would have happened without the support and company of Jayné, Kat, and Scarlet.

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  BY JAMES S. A. COREY

  THE EXPANSE

  Leviathan Wakes

  Caliban’s War

  Abaddon’s Gate

  Cibola Burn

  Nemesis Games

  Babylon’s Ashes

  Persepolis Rising

  THE EXPANSE SHORT FICTION

  The Butcher of Anderson Station

  Gods of Risk

  The Churn

  Drive

  The Vital Abyss

  Strange Dogs