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[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of Harper Lee.Produce 4 sentences using the prose and structure of Harper Lee every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Things did settle down, after a fashion, as Atticus said they would." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "By the middle of October, only two small things out of the ordinary happened to two Maycomb citizens. No, there were three things, and they did not directly concern us—the Finches—but in a way they did.\n\nThe first thing was that Mr. Bob Ewell acquired and lost a job in a matter of days and probably made himself unique in the annals of the nineteen-thirties: he was the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness. I suppose his brief burst of fame brought on a briefer burst of industry, but his job lasted only as long as his notoriety: Mr. Ewell found himself as forgotten as Tom Robinson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Thereafter, he resumed his regular weekly appearances at the welfare office for his check, and received it with no grace amid obscure mutterings that the bastards who thought they ran this town wouldn't permit an honest man to make a living." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ruth Jones, the welfare lady, said Mr. Ewell openly accused Atticus of getting his job. She was upset enough to walk down to Atticus's office and tell him about it. Atticus told Miss Ruth not to fret, that if Bob Ewell wanted to discuss Atticus's \"getting\" his job, he knew the way to the office.\n\nThe second thing happened to Judge Taylor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Judge Taylor was not a Sunday-night churchgoer; Mrs. Taylor was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Judge Taylor savored his Sunday night hour alone in his big house, and churchtime found him holed up in his study reading the writings of Bob Taylor (no kin, but the judge would have been proud to claim it). One Sunday night, lost in fruity metaphors and florid diction, Judge Taylor's attention was wrenched from the page by an irritating scratching noise. \"Hush,\" he said to Ann Taylor, his fat nondescript dog. Then he realized he was speaking to an empty room; the scratching noise was coming from the rear of the house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Judge Taylor clumped to the back porch to let Ann out and found the screen door swinging open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A shadow on the corner of the house caught his eye, and that was all he saw of his visitor. Mrs. Taylor came home from church to find her husband in his chair, lost in the writings of Bob Taylor, with a shotgun across his lap.\n\nThe third thing happened to Helen Robinson, Tom's widow. If Mr. Ewell was as forgotten as Tom Robinson, Tom Robinson was as forgotten as Boo Radley." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But Tom was not forgotten by his employer, Mr. Link Deas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Link Deas made a job for Helen. He didn't really need her, but he said he felt right bad about the way things turned out. I never knew who took care of her children while Helen was away. Calpurnia said it was hard on Helen, because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way to avoid the Ewells, who, according to Helen, \"chunked at her\" the first time she tried to use the public road." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Link Deas eventually received the impression that Helen was coming to work each morning from the wrong direction, and dragged the reason out of her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just let it be, Mr. Link, please suh,\" Helen begged. \"The hell I will,\" said Mr. Link. He told her to come by his store that afternoon before she left. She did, and Mr. Link closed his store, put his hat firmly on his head, and walked Helen home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He walked her the short way, by the Ewells'." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On his way back, Mr. Link stopped at the crazy gate.\n\n\"Ewell?\" he called. \"I say Ewell!\"\n\nThe windows, normally packed with children, were empty.\n\n\"I know every last one of you's in there a-layin' on the floor! Now hear me, Bob Ewell: if I hear one more peep outa my girl Helen about not bein' able to walk this road I'll have you in jail before sundown!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Link spat in the dust and walked home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Helen went to work next morning and used the public road. Nobody chunked at her, but when she was a few yards beyond the Ewell house, she looked around and saw Mr. Ewell walking behind her. She turned and walked on, and Mr. Ewell kept the same distance behind her until she reached Mr. Link Deas's house. All the way to the house, Helen said, she heard a soft voice behind her, crooning foul words." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Thoroughly frightened, she telephoned Mr. Link at his store, which was not too far from his house." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As Mr. Link came out of his store he saw Mr. Ewell leaning on the fence. Mr. Ewell said, \"Don't you look at me, Link Deas, like I was dirt. I ain't jumped your—\"\n\n\"First thing you can do, Ewell, is get your stinkin' carcass off my property. You're leanin' on it an' I can't afford fresh paint for it. Second thing you can do is stay away from my cook or I'll have you up for assault—\"\n\n\"I ain't touched her, Link Deas, and ain't about to go with no nigger!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You don't have to touch her, all you have to do is make her afraid, an' if assault ain't enough to keep you locked up a while, I'll get you in on the Ladies' Law, so get outa my sight! If you don't think I mean it, just bother that girl again!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Ewell evidently thought he meant it, for Helen reported no further trouble.\n\n\"I don't like it, Atticus, I don't like it at all,\" was Aunt Alexandra's assessment of these events. \"That man seems to have a permanent running grudge against everybody connected with that case. I know how that kind are about paying off grudges, but I don't understand why he should harbor one—he had his way in court, didn't he?\"\n\n\"I think I understand,\" said Atticus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It might be because he knows in his heart that very few people in Maycomb really believed his and Mayella's yarns. He thought he'd be a hero, but all he got for his pain was... was, okay, we'll convict this Negro but get back to your dump. He's had his fling with about everybody now, so he ought to be satisfied. He'll settle down when the weather changes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But why should he try to burgle John Taylor's house? He obviously didn't know John was home or he wouldn't have tried. Only lights John shows on Sunday nights are on the front porch and back in his den...\"\n\n\"You don't know if Bob Ewell cut that screen, you don't know who did it,\" said Atticus. \"But I can guess. I proved him a liar but John made him look like a fool. All the time Ewell was on the stand I couldn't dare look at John and keep a straight face. John looked at him as if he were a three-legged chicken or a square egg. Don't tell me judges don't try to prejudice juries,\" Atticus chuckled.\n\nBy the end of October, our lives had become the familiar routine of school, play, study." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jem seemed to have put out of his mind whatever it was he wanted to forget, and our classmates mercifully let us forget our father's eccentricities." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cecil Jacobs asked me one time if Atticus was a Radical. When I asked Atticus, Atticus was so amused I was rather annoyed, but he said he wasn't laughing at me. He said, \"You tell Cecil I'm about as radical as Cotton Tom Heflin.\"\n\nAunt Alexandra was thriving." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miss Maudie must have silenced the whole missionary society at one blow, for Aunty again ruled that roost." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her refreshments grew even more delicious. I learned more about the poor Mrunas' social life from listening to Mrs. Merriweather: they had so little sense of family that the whole tribe was one big family. A child had as many fathers as there were men in the community, as many mothers as there were women. J. Grimes Everett was doing his utmost to change this state of affairs, and desperately needed our prayers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maycomb was itself again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Precisely the same as last year and the year before that, with only two minor changes. Firstly, people had removed from their store windows and automobiles the stickers that said NRA—WE DO OUR PART. I asked Atticus why, and he said it was because the National Recovery Act was dead. I asked who killed it; he said nine old men." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The second change in Maycomb since last year was not one of national significance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Until then, Halloween in Maycomb was a completely unorganized affair. Each child did what he wanted to do, with assistance from other children if there was anything to be moved, such as placing a light buggy on top of the livery stable. But parents thought things went too far last year, when the peace of Miss Tutti and Miss Frutti was shattered.\n\nMisses Tutti and Frutti Barber were maiden ladies, sisters, who lived together in the only Maycomb residence boasting a cellar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Barber ladies were rumored to be Republicans, having migrated from Clanton, Alabama, in 1911." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their ways were strange to us, and why they wanted a cellar nobody knew, but they wanted one, and they dug one, and they spent the rest of their lives chasing generations of children out of it.\n\nMisses Tutti and Frutti (their names were Sarah and Frances), aside from their Yankee ways, were both deaf. Miss Tutti denied it and lived in a world of silence, but Miss Frutti, not about to miss anything, employed an ear trumpet so enormous that Jem declared it was a loud-speaker from one of those dog Victrolas.\n\nWith these facts in mind and Halloween at hand, some wicked children had waited until the Misses Barber were thoroughly asleep, slipped into their livingroom (nobody but the Radleys locked up at night), stealthily made away with every stick of furniture therein, and hid it in the cellar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I deny having taken part in such a thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I heard 'em!\" was the cry that awoke the Misses Barber's neighbors at dawn next morning. \"Heard 'em drive a truck up to the door! Stomped around like horses. They're in New Orleans by now!\"\n\nMiss Tutti was sure those traveling fur sellers who came through town two days ago had purloined their furniture. \"Da-rk they were,\" she said. \"Syrians.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Heck Tate was summoned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He surveyed the area and said he thought it was a local job. Miss Frutti said she'd know a Maycomb voice anywhere, and there were no Maycomb voices in that parlor last night—rolling their r's all over her premises, they were. Nothing less than the bloodhounds must be used to locate their furniture, Miss Tutti insisted, so Mr. Tate was obliged to go ten miles out the road, round up the county hounds, and put them on the trail.\n\nMr. Tate started them off at the Misses Barber's front steps, but all they did was run around to the back of the house and howl at the cellar door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When Mr. Tate set them in motion three times, he finally guessed the truth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "By noontime that day, there was not a barefooted child to be seen in Maycomb, and nobody took off his shoes until the hounds were returned.\n\nSo the Maycomb ladies said things would be different this year. The high-school auditorium would be open, there would be a pageant for the grown-ups; apple-bobbing, taffy-pulling, pinning the tail on the donkey for the children. There would also be a prize of twenty-five cents for the best Halloween costume, created by the wearer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jem and I both groaned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not that we'd ever done anything, it was the principle of the thing. Jem considered himself too old for Halloween anyway; he said he wouldn't be caught anywhere near the high school at something like that. Oh well, I thought, Atticus would take me.\n\nI soon learned, however, that my services would be required on stage that evening." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mrs. Grace Merriweather had composed an original pageant entitled Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera, and I was to be a ham." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She thought it would be adorable if some of the children were costumed to represent the county's agricultural products: Cecil Jacobs would be dressed up to look like a cow; Agnes Boone would make a lovely butterbean, another child would be a peanut, and on down the line until Mrs. Merriweather's imagination and the supply of children were exhausted.\n\nOur only duties, as far as I could gather from our two rehearsals, were to enter from stage left as Mrs. Merriweather (not only the author, but the narrator) identified us. When she called out, \"Pork,\" that was my cue. Then the assembled company would sing, \"Maycomb County, Maycomb County, we will aye be true to thee,\" as the grand finale, and Mrs. Merriweather would mount the stage with the state flag." }, { "from": "human", "value": "My costume was not much of a problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mrs. Crenshaw, the local seamstress, had as much imagination as Mrs. Merriweather. Mrs. Crenshaw took some chicken wire and bent it into the shape of a cured ham. This she covered with brown cloth, and painted it to resemble the original. I could duck under and someone would pull the contraption down over my head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It came almost to my knees." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mrs. Crenshaw thoughtfully left two peepholes for me. She did a fine job; Jem said I looked exactly like a ham with legs. There were several discomforts, though: it was hot, it was a close fit; if my nose itched I couldn't scratch, and once inside I could not get out of it alone.\n\nWhen Halloween came, I assumed that the whole family would be present to watch me perform, but I was disappointed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atticus said as tactfully as he could that he just didn't think he could stand a pageant tonight, he was all in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had been in Montgomery for a week and had come home late that afternoon. He thought Jem might escort me if I asked him.\n\nAunt Alexandra said she just had to get to bed early, she'd been decorating the stage all afternoon and was worn out—she stopped short in the middle of her sentence. She closed her mouth, then opened it to say something, but no words came." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"'s matter, Aunty?\" I asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh nothing, nothing,\" she said, \"somebody just walked over my grave.\" She put away from her whatever it was that gave her a pinprick of apprehension, and suggested that I give the family a preview in the livingroom. So Jem squeezed me into my costume, stood at the livingroom door, called out \"Po-ork,\" exactly as Mrs. Merriweather would have done, and I marched in. Atticus and Aunt Alexandra were delighted." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nHarper Lee" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The weather was unusually warm for the last day of October." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We didn't even need jackets. The wind was growing stronger, and Jem said it might be raining before we got home. There was no moon.\n\nThe street light on the corner cast sharp shadows on the Radley house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I heard Jem laugh softly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bet nobody bothers them tonight,\" he said. Jem was carrying my ham costume, rather awkwardly, as it was hard to hold. I thought it gallant of him to do so.\n\n\"It is a scary place though, ain't it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I said. \"Boo doesn't mean anybody any harm, but I'm right glad you're along.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You know Atticus wouldn't let you go to the schoolhouse by yourself,\" Jem said.\n\n\"Don't see why, it's just around the corner and across the yard.\"\n\n\"That yard's a mighty long place for little girls to cross at night,\" Jem teased. \"Ain't you scared of haints?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "We laughed. Haints, Hot Steams, incantations, secret signs, had vanished with our years as mist with sunrise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What was that old thing,\" Jem said, \"Angel bright, life-in-death; get off the road, don't suck my breath.\"\n\n\"Cut it out, now,\" I said. We were in front of the Radley Place.\n\nJem said, \"Boo must not be at home. Listen.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay, to the sad lament of Poor Will, Poor Will, Poor Will." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We turned the corner and I tripped on a root growing in the road. Jem tried to help me, but all he did was drop my costume in the dust. I didn't fall, though, and soon we were on our way again.\n\nWe turned off the road and entered the schoolyard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was pitch black." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How do you know where we're at, Jem?\" I asked, when we had gone a few steps.\n\n\"I can tell we're under the big oak because we're passin' through a cool spot. Careful now, and don't fall again.\"\n\nWe had slowed to a cautious gait, and were feeling our way forward so as not to bump into the tree." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tree was a single and ancient oak; two children could not reach around its trunk and touch hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was far away from teachers, their spies, and curious neighbors: it was near the Radley lot, but the Radleys were not curious. A small patch of earth beneath its branches was packed hard from many fights and furtive crap games.\n\nThe lights in the high school auditorium were blazing in the distance, but they blinded us, if anything. \"Don't look ahead, Scout,\" Jem said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Look at the ground and you won't fall.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You should have brought the flashlight, Jem.\"\n\n\"Didn't know it was this dark. Didn't look like it'd be this dark earlier in the evening. So cloudy, that's why. It'll hold off a while, though.\"\n\nSomeone leaped at us.\n\n\"God amighty!\" Jem yelled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A circle of light burst in our faces, and Cecil Jacobs jumped in glee behind it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ha-a-a, gotcha!\" he shrieked. \"Thought you'd be comin' along this way!\"\n\n\"What are you doin' way out here by yourself, boy? Ain't you scared of Boo Radley?\"\n\nCecil had ridden safely to the auditorium with his parents, hadn't seen us, then had ventured down this far because he knew good and well we'd be coming along." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He thought Mr. Finch'd be with us, though." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Shucks, ain't much but around the corner,\" said Jem. \"Who's scared to go around the corner?\" We had to admit that Cecil was pretty good, though. He had given us a fright, and he could tell it all over the schoolhouse, that was his privilege." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Say,\" I said, \"ain't you a cow tonight? Where's your costume?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's up behind the stage,\" he said. \"Mrs. Merriweather says the pageant ain't comin' on for a while. You can put yours back of the stage by mine, Scout, and we can go with the rest of 'em.\"\n\nThis was an excellent idea, Jem thought. He also thought it a good thing that Cecil and I would be together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This way, Jem would be left to go with people his own age." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When we reached the auditorium, the whole town was there except Atticus and the ladies worn out from decorating, and the usual outcasts and shut-ins. Most of the county, it seemed, was there: the hall was teeming with slicked-up country people. The high school building had a wide downstairs hallway; people milled around booths that had been installed along each side.\n\n\"Oh Jem, I forgot my money,\" I sighed, when I saw them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Atticus didn't,\" Jem said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Here's thirty cents, you can do six things. See you later on.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" I said, quite content with thirty cents and Cecil. I went with Cecil down to the front of the auditorium, through a door on one side, and backstage. I got rid of my ham costume and departed in a hurry, for Mrs. Merriweather was standing at a lectern in front of the first row of seats making last-minute, frenzied changes in the script." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How much money you got?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I asked Cecil. Cecil had thirty cents, too, which made us even. We squandered our first nickels on the House of Horrors, which scared us not at all; we entered the black seventh-grade room and were led around by the temporary ghoul in residence and were made to touch several objects alleged to be the component parts of a human being. \"Here's his eyes,\" we were told when we touched two peeled grapes on a saucer. \"Here's his heart,\" which felt like raw liver." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"These are his innards,\" and our hands were thrust into a plate of cold spaghetti." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cecil and I visited several booths. We each bought a sack of Mrs. Judge Taylor's homemade divinity. I wanted to bob for apples, but Cecil said it wasn't sanitary. His mother said he might catch something from everybody's heads having been in the same tub." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ain't anything around town now to catch,\" I protested." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But Cecil said his mother said it was unsanitary to eat after folks. I later asked Aunt Alexandra about this, and she said people who held such views were usually climbers.\n\nWe were about to purchase a blob of taffy when Mrs. Merriweather's runners appeared and told us to go backstage, it was time to get ready. The auditorium was filling with people; the Maycomb County High School band had assembled in front below the stage; the stage footlights were on and the red velvet curtain rippled and billowed from the scurrying going on behind it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Backstage, Cecil and I found the narrow hallway teeming with people: adults in homemade three-corner hats, Confederate caps, Spanish-American War hats, and World War helmets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Children dressed as various agricultural enterprises crowded around the one small window.\n\n\"Somebody's mashed my costume,\" I wailed in dismay. Mrs. Merriweather galloped to me, reshaped the chicken wire, and thrust me inside.\n\n\"You all right in there, Scout?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "asked Cecil. \"You sound so far off, like you was on the other side of a hill.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't sound any nearer,\" I said.\n\nThe band played the national anthem, and we heard the audience rise. Then the bass drum sounded. Mrs. Merriweather, stationed behind her lectern beside the band, said: \"Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The bass drum boomed again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That means,\" said Mrs. Merriweather, translating for the rustic elements, \"from the mud to the stars.\" She added, unnecessarily it seemed to me, \"A pageant.\"\n\n\"Reckon they wouldn't know what it was if she didn't tell 'em,\" whispered Cecil, who was immediately shushed.\n\n\"The whole town knows it,\" I breathed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But the country folks've come in,\" Cecil said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Be quiet back there,\" a man's voice ordered, and we were silent.\n\nThe bass drum went boom with every sentence Mrs. Merriweather uttered. She chanted mournfully about Maycomb County being older than the state, that it was part of the Mississippi and Alabama Territories, that the first white man to set foot in the virgin forests was the Probate Judge's great-grandfather five times removed, who was never heard of again. Then came the fearless Colonel Maycomb, for whom the county was named." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Andrew Jackson appointed him to a position of authority and Colonel Maycomb's misplaced self-confidence and slender sense of direction brought disaster to all who rode with him in the Creek Indian Wars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Colonel Maycomb persevered in his efforts to make the region safe for democracy, but his first campaign was his last. His orders, relayed to him by a friendly Indian runner, were to move south. After consulting a tree to ascertain from its lichen which way was south, and taking no lip from the subordinates who ventured to correct him, Colonel Maycomb set out on a purposeful journey to rout the enemy and entangled his troops so far northwest in the forest primeval that they were eventually rescued by settlers moving inland.\n\nMrs. Merriweather gave a thirty-minute description of Colonel Maycomb's exploits." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I discovered that if I bent my knees I could tuck them under my costume and more or less sit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I sat down, listened to Mrs. Merriweather's drone and the bass drum's boom and was soon fast asleep.\n\nThey said later that Mrs. Merriweather was putting her all into the grand finale, that she had crooned, \"Po-ork,\" with a confidence born of pine trees and butterbeans entering on cue. She waited a few seconds, then called, \"Po-ork?\" When nothing materialized, she yelled, \"Pork!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I must have heard her in my sleep, or the band playing Dixie woke me, but it was when Mrs. Merriweather triumphantly mounted the stage with the state flag that I chose to make my entrance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Chose is incorrect: I thought I'd better catch up with the rest of them.\n\nThey told me later that Judge Taylor went out behind the auditorium and stood there slapping his knees so hard Mrs. Taylor brought him a glass of water and one of his pills.\n\nMrs. Merriweather seemed to have a hit, everybody was cheering so, but she caught me backstage and told me I had ruined her pageant. She made me feel awful, but when Jem came to fetch me he was sympathetic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He said he couldn't see my costume much from where he was sitting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How he could tell I was feeling bad under my costume I don't know, but he said I did all right, I just came in a little late, that was all. Jem was becoming almost as good as Atticus at making you feel right when things went wrong. Almost—not even Jem could make me go through that crowd, and he consented to wait backstage with me until the audience left.\n\n\"You wanta take it off, Scout?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Naw, I'll just keep it on,\" I said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I could hide my mortification under it.\n\n\"You all want a ride home?\" someone said.\n\n\"No sir, thank you,\" I heard Jem say. \"It's just a little walk.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Be careful of haints,\" the voice said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Better still, tell the haints to be careful of Scout.\"\n\n\"There aren't many folks left now,\" Jem told me. \"Let's go.\"\n\nWe went through the auditorium to the hallway, then down the steps. It was still black dark." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The remaining cars were parked on the other side of the building, and their headlights were little help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If some of 'em were goin' in our direction we could see better,\" said Jem. \"Here Scout, let me hold onto your—hock. You might lose your balance.\"\n\n\"I can see all right.\"\n\n\"Yeah, but you might lose your balance.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I felt a slight pressure on my head, and assumed that Jem had grabbed that end of the ham. \"You got me?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Uh huh.\"\n\nWe began crossing the black schoolyard, straining to see our feet. \"Jem,\" I said, \"I forgot my shoes, they're back behind the stage.\"\n\n\"Well let's go get 'em.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But as we turned around, the auditorium lights went off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can get 'em tomorrow,\" he said.\n\n\"But tomorrow's Sunday,\" I protested, as Jem turned me homeward.\n\n\"You can get the janitor to let you in... Scout?\"\n\n\"Hm?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nothing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jem hadn't started like that in a long time. I wondered what he was thinking. He'd tell me when he wanted to, probably when we got home. I felt his fingers press the top of my costume, too hard, it seemed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I shook my head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jem, you don't hafta—\"\n\n\"Hush a minute, Scout,\" he said, pinching me.\n\nWe walked along silently. \"Minute's up,\" I said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Whatcha thinkin' about?\" I turned to look at him, but his outline was barely visible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thought I heard something,\" he said. \"Stop a minute.\"\n\nWe stopped.\n\n\"Hear anything?\" he asked.\n\n\"No.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "We had not gone five paces before he made me stop again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jem, are you tryin' to scare me? You know I'm too old—\"\n\n\"Be quiet,\" he said, and I knew he was not joking.\n\nThe night was still. I could hear his breath coming easily beside me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Occasionally there was a sudden breeze that hit my bare legs, but it was all that remained of a promised windy night." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This was the stillness before a thunderstorm. We listened.\n\n\"Heard an old dog just then,\" I said.\n\n\"It's not that,\" Jem answered. \"I hear it when we're walkin' along, but when we stop I don't hear it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You hear my costume rustlin'. Aw, it's just Halloween got you...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I said it more to convince myself than Jem, for sure enough, as we began walking, I heard what he was talking about. It was not my costume.\n\n\"It's just old Cecil,\" said Jem presently. \"He won't get us again. Let's don't let him think we're hurrying.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "We slowed to a crawl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I asked Jem how Cecil could follow us in this dark, looked to me like he'd bump into us from behind.\n\n\"I can see you, Scout,\" Jem said.\n\n\"How? I can't see you.\"\n\n\"Your fat streaks are showin'. Mrs. Crewnshaw painted 'em with some of that shiny stuff so they'd show up under the footlights. I can see you pretty well, an' I expect Cecil can see you well enough to keep his distance.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I would show Cecil that we knew he was behind us and we were ready for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Cecil Jacobs is a big wet he-en!\" I yelled suddenly, turning around.\n\nWe stopped. There was no acknowledgment save he-en bouncing off the distant schoolhouse wall.\n\n\"I'll get him,\" said Jem. \"He-y!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hay-e-hay-e-hay-e, answered the schoolhouse wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was unlike Cecil to hold out for so long; once he pulled a joke he'd repeat it time and again. We should have been leapt at already. Jem signaled for me to stop again.\n\nHe said softly, \"Scout, can you take that thing off?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think so, but I ain't got anything on under it much.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've got your dress here.\"\n\n\"I can't get it on in the dark.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" he said, \"never mind.\"\n\n\"Jem, are you afraid?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No. Think we're almost to the tree now. Few yards from that, an' we'll be to the road. We can see the street light then.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jem was talking in an unhurried, flat toneless voice. I wondered how long he would try to keep the Cecil myth going.\n\n\"You reckon we oughta sing, Jem?\"\n\n\"No. Be real quiet again, Scout.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "We had not increased our pace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jem knew as well as I that it was difficult to walk fast without stumping a toe, tripping on stones, and other inconveniences, and I was barefooted. Maybe it was the wind rustling the trees. But there wasn't any wind and there weren't any trees except the big oak.\n\nOur company shuffled and dragged his feet, as if wearing heavy shoes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whoever it was wore thick cotton pants; what I thought were trees rustling was the soft swish of cotton on cotton, wheek, wheek, with every step." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I felt the sand go cold under my feet and I knew we were near the big oak. Jem pressed my head. We stopped and listened.\n\nShuffle-foot had not stopped with us this time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His trousers swished softly and steadily." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then they stopped. He was running, running toward us with no child's steps.\n\n\"Run, Scout! Run! Run!\" Jem screamed.\n\nI took one giant step and found myself reeling: my arms useless, in the dark, I could not keep my balance.\n\n\"Jem, Jem, help me, Jem!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something crushed the chicken wire around me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Metal ripped on metal and I fell to the ground and rolled as far as I could, floundering to escape my wire prison. From somewhere near by came scuffling, kicking sounds, sounds of shoes and flesh scraping dirt and roots. Someone rolled against me and I felt Jem. He was up like lightning and pulling me with him but, though my head and shoulders were free, I was so entangled we didn't get very far." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We were nearly to the road when I felt Jem's hand leave me, felt him jerk backwards to the ground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More scuffling, and there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed.\n\nI ran in the direction of Jem's scream and sank into a flabby male stomach. Its owner said, \"Uff!\" and tried to catch my arms, but they were tightly pinioned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His stomach was soft but his arms were like steel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He slowly squeezed the breath out of me. I could not move. Suddenly he was jerked backwards and flung on the ground, almost carrying me with him. I thought, Jem's up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One's mind works very slowly at times." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Stunned, I stood there dumbly. The scuffling noises were dying; someone wheezed and the night was still again.\n\nStill but for a man breathing heavily, breathing heavily and staggering. I thought he went to the tree and leaned against it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He coughed violently, a sobbing, bone-shaking cough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jem?\"\n\nThere was no answer but the man's heavy breathing.\n\n\"Jem?\"\n\nJem didn't answer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man began moving around, as if searching for something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I heard him groan and pull something heavy along the ground. It was slowly coming to me that there were now four people under the tree.\n\n\"Atticus...?\"\n\nThe man was walking heavily and unsteadily toward the road." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I went to where I thought he had been and felt frantically along the ground, reaching out with my toes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Presently I touched someone.\n\n\"Jem?\"\n\nMy toes touched trousers, a belt buckle, buttons, something I could not identify, a collar, and a face. A prickly stubble on the face told me it was not Jem's." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I smelled stale whiskey." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I made my way along in what I thought was the direction of the road. I was not sure, because I had been turned around so many times. But I found it and looked down to the street light. A man was passing under it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man was walking with the staccato steps of someone carrying a load too heavy for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was going around the corner. He was carrying Jem. Jem's arm was dangling crazily in front of him.\n\nBy the time I reached the corner the man was crossing our front yard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Light from our front door framed Atticus for an instant; he ran down the steps, and together, he and the man took Jem inside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I was at the front door when they were going down the hall. Aunt Alexandra was running to meet me. \"Call Dr. Reynolds!\" Atticus's voice came sharply from Jem's room. \"Where's Scout?\"\n\n\"Here she is,\" Aunt Alexandra called, pulling me along with her to the telephone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She tugged at me anxiously." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm all right, Aunty,\" I said, \"you better call.\"\n\nShe pulled the receiver from the hook and said, \"Eula May, get Dr. Reynolds, quick!\"\n\n\"Agnes, is your father home? Oh God, where is he? Please tell him to come over here as soon as he comes in. Please, it's urgent!\"\n\nThere was no need for Aunt Alexandra to identify herself; people in Maycomb knew each other's voices." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atticus came out of Jem's room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The moment Aunt Alexandra broke the connection, Atticus took the receiver from her. He rattled the hook, then said, \"Eula May, get me the sheriff, please.\"\n\n\"Heck? Atticus Finch. Someone's been after my children. Jem's hurt. Between here and the schoolhouse. I can't leave my boy. Run out there for me, please, and see if he's still around. Doubt if you'll find him now, but I'd like to see him if you do. Got to go now. Thanks, Heck.\"\n\n\"Atticus, is Jem dead?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, Scout. Look after her, sister,\" he called, as he went down the hall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Aunt Alexandra's fingers trembled as she unwound the crushed fabric and wire from around me. \"Are you all right, darling?\" she asked over and over as she worked me free.\n\nIt was a relief to be out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "My arms were beginning to tingle, and they were red with small hexagonal marks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I rubbed them, and they felt better.\n\n\"Aunty, is Jem dead?\"\n\n\"No—no, darling, he's unconscious. We won't know how badly he's hurt until Dr. Reynolds gets here. Jean Louise, what happened?\"\n\n\"I don't know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She left it at that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She brought me something to put on, and had I thought about it then, I would have never let her forget it: in her distraction, Aunty brought me my overalls. \"Put these on, darling,\" she said, handing me the garments she most despised.\n\nShe rushed back to Jem's room, then came to me in the hall. She patted me vaguely, and went back to Jem's room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A car stopped in front of the house." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I knew Dr. Reynold's step almost as well as my father's. He had brought Jem and me into the world, had led us through every childhood disease known to man including the time Jem fell out of the treehouse, and he had never lost our friendship. Dr. Reynolds said if we had been boil-prone things would have been different, but we doubted it.\n\nHe came in the door and said, \"Good Lord.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He walked toward me, said, \"You're still standing,\" and changed his course." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He knew every room in the house. He also knew that if I was in bad shape, so was Jem.\n\nAfter ten forevers Dr. Reynolds returned. \"Is Jem dead?\" I asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Far from it,\" he said, squatting down to me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He's got a bump on the head just like yours, and a broken arm. Scout, look that way—no, don't turn your head, roll your eyes. Now look over yonder. He's got a bad break, so far as I can tell now it's in the elbow. Like somebody tried to wring his arm off... now look at me.\"\n\n\"Then he's not dead?\"\n\n\"No-o!\" Dr. Reynolds got to his feet. \"We can't do much tonight,\" he said, \"except try to make him as comfortable as we can. We'll have to X-ray his arm—looks like he'll be wearing his arm 'way out by his side for a while. Don't worry, though, he'll be as good as new. Boys his age bounce.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "While he was talking, Dr. Reynolds had been looking keenly at me, lightly fingering the bump that was coming on my forehead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't feel broke anywhere, do you?\"\n\nDr. Reynolds's small joke made me smile. \"Then you don't think he's dead, then?\"\n\nHe put on his hat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Now I may be wrong, of course, but I think he's very alive. Shows all the symptoms of it. Go have a look at him, and when I come back we'll get together and decide.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dr. Reynolds's step was young and brisk. Mr. Heck Tate's was not. His heavy boots punished the porch and he opened the door awkwardly, but he said the same thing Dr. Reynolds said when he came in. \"You all right, Scout?\" he added." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes sir, I'm goin' in to see Jem. Atticus'n'them's in there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll go with you,\" said Mr. Tate.\n\nAunt Alexandra had shaded Jem's reading light with a towel, and his room was dim. Jem was lying on his back. There was an ugly mark along one side of his face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His left arm lay out from his body; his elbow was bent slightly, but in the wrong direction. Jem was frowning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jem...?\"\n\nAtticus spoke. \"He can't hear you, Scout, he's out like a light. He was coming around, but Dr. Reynolds put him out again.\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\" I retreated. Jem's room was large and square." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Aunt Alexandra was sitting in a rocking-chair by the fireplace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The man who brought Jem in was standing in a corner, leaning against the wall. He was some countryman I did not know. He had probably been at the pageant, and was in the vicinity when it happened. He must have heard our screams and come running." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atticus was standing by Jem's bed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Heck Tate stood in the doorway. His hat was in his hand, and a flashlight bulged from his pants pocket. He was in his working clothes.\n\n\"Come in, Heck,\" said Atticus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Did you find anything? I can't conceive of anyone low-down enough to do a thing like this, but I hope you found him.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate sniffed. He glanced sharply at the man in the corner, nodded to him, then looked around the room—at Jem, at Aunt Alexandra, then at Atticus.\n\n\"Sit down, Mr. Finch,\" he said pleasantly.\n\nAtticus said, \"Let's all sit down. Have that chair, Heck. I'll get another one from the livingroom.\"\n\nMr. Tate sat in Jem's desk chair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He waited until Atticus returned and settled himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I wondered why Atticus had not brought a chair for the man in the corner, but Atticus knew the ways of country people far better than I. Some of his rural clients would park their long-eared steeds under the chinaberry trees in the back yard, and Atticus would often keep appointments on the back steps. This one was probably more comfortable where he was.\n\n\"Mr. Finch,\" said Mr. Tate, \"tell you what I found. I found a little girl's dress—it's out there in my car. That your dress, Scout?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes sir, if it's a pink one with smockin',\" I said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate was behaving as if he were on the witness stand. He liked to tell things his own way, untrammeled by state or defense, and sometimes it took him a while.\n\n\"I found some funny-looking pieces of muddy-colored cloth—\"\n\n\"That's m'costume, Mr. Tate.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Tate ran his hands down his thighs." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He rubbed his left arm and investigated Jem's mantelpiece, then he seemed to be interested in the fireplace. His fingers sought his long nose.\n\n\"What is it, Heck?\" said Atticus.\n\nMr. Tate found his neck and rubbed it. \"Bob Ewell's lyin' on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He's dead, Mr. Finch.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Today you will be acting as a writing assistant, your partner will send something and you will write the next 4 sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Aunt Alexandra got up and reached for the mantelpiece." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate rose, but she declined assistance. For once in his life Atticus's instinctive courtesy failed him: he sat where he was.\n\nSomehow, I could think of nothing but Mr. Bob Ewell saying he'd get Atticus if it took him the rest of his life. Mr. Ewell almost got him, and it was the last thing he did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you sure?\" Atticus said bleakly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He's dead all right,\" said Mr. Tate. \"He's good and dead. He won't hurt these children again.\"\n\n\"I didn't mean that.\" Atticus seemed to be talking in his sleep." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His age was beginning to show, his one sign of inner turmoil: the strong line of his jaw melted a little, one became aware of telltale creases forming under his ears, one noticed not his jet-black hair but the gray patches growing at his temples." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hadn't we better go to the livingroom?\" Aunt Alexandra said at last.\n\n\"If you don't mind,\" said Mr. Tate, \"I'd rather us stay in here if it won't hurt Jem any. I want to have a look at his injuries while Scout... tells us about it.\"\n\n\"Is it all right if I leave?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "she asked. \"I'm just one person too many in here. I'll be in my room if you want me, Atticus.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Aunt Alexandra went to the door, but she stopped and turned. \"Atticus, I had a feeling about this tonight—I—this is my fault,\" she began. \"I should have—\"\n\nMr. Tate held up his hand. \"You go ahead, Miss Alexandra, I know it's been a shock to you. And don't you fret yourself about anything—why, if we followed our feelings all the time we'd be like cats chasin' their tails. Miss Scout, see if you can tell us what happened, while it's still fresh in your mind. You think you can? Did you see him following you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I went to Atticus and felt his arms go around me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I buried my head in his lap. \"We started home. I said Jem, I've forgot m'shoes. Soon's we started back for 'em the lights went out. Jem said I could get 'em tomorrow...\"\n\n\"Scout, raise up so Mr. Tate can hear you,\" Atticus said. I crawled into his lap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Then Jem said hush a minute. I thought he was thinkin'—he always wants you to hush so he can think—then he said he heard somethin'. We thought it was Cecil.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Cecil?\"\n\n\"Cecil Jacobs. He scared us once tonight, an' we thought it was him again. He had on a sheet. They gave a quarter for the best costume, I don't know who won it—\"\n\n\"Where were you when you thought it was Cecil?\"\n\n\"Just a little piece from the schoolhouse. I yelled somethin' at him—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You yelled, what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Cecil Jacobs is a big fat hen, I think. We didn't hear nothin'—then Jem yelled hello or somethin' loud enough to wake the dead—\"\n\n\"Just a minute, Scout,\" said Mr. Tate. \"Mr. Finch, did you hear them?\"\n\nAtticus said he didn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had the radio on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Aunt Alexandra had hers going in her bedroom. He remembered because she told him to turn his down a bit so she could hear hers. Atticus smiled. \"I always play a radio too loud.\"\n\n\"I wonder if the neighbors heard anything...\" said Mr. Tate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I doubt it, Heck. Most of them listen to their radios or go to bed with the chickens. Maudie Atkinson may have been up, but I doubt it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Go ahead, Scout,\" Mr. Tate said.\n\n\"Well, after Jem yelled we walked on. Mr. Tate, I was shut up in my costume but I could hear it myself, then. Footsteps I mean. They walked when we walked and stopped when we stopped. Jem said he could see me because Mrs. Crenshaw put some kind of shiny paint on my costume. I was a ham.\"\n\n\"How's that?\" asked Mr. Tate, startled.\n\nAtticus described my role to Mr. Tate, plus the construction of my garment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You should have seen her when she came in,\" he said, \"it was crushed to a pulp.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate rubbed his chin. \"I wondered why he had those marks on him. His sleeves were perforated with little holes. There were one or two little puncture marks on his arms to match the holes. Let me see that thing if you will, sir.\"\n\nAtticus fetched the remains of my costume. Mr. Tate turned it over and bent it around to get an idea of its former shape." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This thing probably saved her life,\" he said. \"Look.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pointed with a long forefinger. A shiny clean line stood out on the dull wire. \"Bob Ewell meant business,\" Mr. Tate muttered.\n\n\"He was out of his mind,\" said Atticus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't like to contradict you, Mr. Finch—wasn't crazy—mean as hell. Low-down skunk with enough liquor in him to make him brave enough to kill children. He'd never have met you face to face.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus shook his head. \"I can't conceive of a man who'd—\"\n\n\"Mr. Finch, there's just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say hidy to 'em. Even then, they ain't worth the bullet it takes to shoot 'em. Ewell 'as one of 'em.\"\n\nAtticus said, \"I thought he got it all out of him the day he threatened me. Even if he hadn't, I thought he'd come after me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He had guts enough to pester a poor colored woman, he had guts enough to pester Judge Taylor when he thought the house was empty, so do you think he'da met you to your face in daylight?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate sighed. \"We'd better get on. Scout, you heard him behind you—\"\n\n\"Yes sir. When we got under the tree—\"\n\n\"How'd you know you were under the tree, you couldn't see thunder out there.\"\n\n\"I was barefooted, and Jem says the ground's always cooler under a tree.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We'll have to make him a deputy, go ahead.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Then all of a sudden somethin' grabbed me an' mashed my costume... think I ducked on the ground... heard a tusslin' under the tree sort of... they were bammin' against the trunk, sounded like. Jem found me and started pullin' me toward the road. Some—Mr. Ewell yanked him down, I reckon. They tussled some more and then there was this funny noise—Jem hollered...\" I stopped. That was Jem's arm.\n\n\"Anyway, Jem hollered and I didn't hear him any more an' the next thing—Mr. Ewell was tryin' to squeeze me to death, I reckon... then somebody yanked Mr. Ewell down. Jem must have got up, I guess. That's all I know...\"\n\n\"And then?\" Mr. Tate was looking at me sharply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Somebody was staggerin' around and pantin' and—coughing fit to die. I thought it was Jem at first, but it didn't sound like him, so I went lookin' for Jem on the ground. I thought Atticus had come to help us and had got wore out—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Who was it?\"\n\n\"Why there he is, Mr. Tate, he can tell you his name.\"\n\nAs I said it, I half pointed to the man in the corner, but brought my arm down quickly lest Atticus reprimand me for pointing. It was impolite to point." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was still leaning against the wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had been leaning against the wall when I came into the room, his arms folded across his chest. As I pointed he brought his arms down and pressed the palms of his hands against the wall. They were white hands, sickly white hands that had never seen the sun, so white they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall in the dim light of Jem's room.\n\nI looked from his hands to his sand-stained khaki pants; my eyes traveled up his thin frame to his torn denim shirt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His face was as white as his hands, but for a shadow on his jutting chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was wide; there were shallow, almost delicate indentations at his temples, and his gray eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind. His hair was dead and thin, almost feathery on top of his head.\n\nWhen I pointed to him his palms slipped slightly, leaving greasy sweat streaks on the wall, and he hooked his thumbs in his belt. A strange small spasm shook him, as if he heard fingernails scrape slate, but as I gazed at him in wonder the tension slowly drained from his face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbor's image blurred with my sudden tears." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately one sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Boo,\" I said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide four sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mr. Arthur, honey,\" said Atticus, gently correcting me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jean Louise, this is Mr. Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you.\"\n\nIf Atticus could blandly introduce me to Boo Radley at a time like this, well—that was Atticus.\n\nBoo saw me run instinctively to the bed where Jem was sleeping, for the same shy smile crept across his face. Hot with embarrassment, I tried to cover up by covering Jem up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ah-ah, don't touch him,\" Atticus said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Heck Tate sat looking intently at Boo through his horn-rimmed glasses. He was about to speak when Dr. Reynolds came down the hall.\n\n\"Everybody out,\" he said, as he came in the door. \"Evenin', Arthur, didn't notice you the first time I was here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dr. Reynolds's voice was as breezy as his step, as though he had said it every evening of his life, an announcement that astounded me even more than being in the same room with Boo Radley." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course... even Boo Radley got sick sometimes, I thought. But on the other hand I wasn't sure.\n\nDr. Reynolds was carrying a big package wrapped in newspaper. He put it down on Jem's desk and took off his coat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're quite satisfied he's alive, now? Tell you how I knew. When I tried to examine him he kicked me. Had to put him out good and proper to touch him. So scat,\" he said to me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Er—\" said Atticus, glancing at Boo. \"Heck, let's go out on the front porch. There are plenty of chairs out there, and it's still warm enough.\"\n\nI wondered why Atticus was inviting us to the front porch instead of the livingroom, then I understood. The livingroom lights were awfully strong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We filed out, first Mr. Tate—Atticus was waiting at the door for him to go ahead of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then he changed his mind and followed Mr. Tate.\n\nPeople have a habit of doing everyday things even under the oddest conditions. I was no exception: \"Come along, Mr. Arthur,\" I heard myself saying, \"you don't know the house real well. I'll just take you to the porch, sir.\"\n\nHe looked down at me and nodded." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I led him through the hall and past the livingroom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Won't you have a seat, Mr. Arthur? This rocking-chair's nice and comfortable.\"\n\nMy small fantasy about him was alive again: he would be sitting on the porch... right pretty spell we're having, isn't it, Mr. Arthur?\n\nYes, a right pretty spell. Feeling slightly unreal, I led him to the chair farthest from Atticus and Mr. Tate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was in deep shadow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boo would feel more comfortable in the dark.\n\nAtticus was sitting in the swing, and Mr. Tate was in a chair next to him. The light from the livingroom windows was strong on them. I sat beside Boo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, Heck,\" Atticus was saying, \"I guess the thing to do—good Lord, I'm losing my memory...\" Atticus pushed up his glasses and pressed his fingers to his eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jem's not quite thirteen... no, he's already thirteen—I can't remember. Anyway, it'll come before county court—\"\n\n\"What will, Mr. Finch?\" Mr. Tate uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.\n\n\"Of course it was clear-cut self-defense, but I'll have to go to the office and hunt up—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mr. Finch, do you think Jem killed Bob Ewell? Do you think that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You heard what Scout said, there's no doubt about it. She said Jem got up and yanked him off her—he probably got hold of Ewell's knife somehow in the dark... we'll find out tomorrow.\"\n\n\"Mis-ter Finch, hold on,\" said Mr. Tate. \"Jem never stabbed Bob Ewell.\"\n\nAtticus was silent for a moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked at Mr. Tate as if he appreciated what he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But Atticus shook his head.\n\n\"Heck, it's mighty kind of you and I know you're doing it from that good heart of yours, but don't start anything like that.\"\n\nMr. Tate got up and went to the edge of the porch. He spat into the shrubbery, then thrust his hands into his hip pockets and faced Atticus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Like what?\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sorry if I spoke sharply, Heck,\" Atticus said simply, \"but nobody's hushing this up. I don't live that way.\"\n\n\"Nobody's gonna hush anything up, Mr. Finch.\"\n\nMr. Tate's voice was quiet, but his boots were planted so solidly on the porch floorboards it seemed that they grew there. A curious contest, the nature of which eluded me, was developing between my father and the sheriff." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was Atticus's turn to get up and go to the edge of the porch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He said, \"H'rm,\" and spat dryly into the yard. He put his hands in his pockets and faced Mr. Tate.\n\n\"Heck, you haven't said it, but I know what you're thinking. Thank you for it. Jean Louise—\" he turned to me. \"You said Jem yanked Mr. Ewell off you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes sir, that's what I thought... I—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"See there, Heck? Thank you from the bottom of my heart, but I don't want my boy starting out with something like this over his head. Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open. Let the county come and bring sandwiches. I don't want him growing up with a whisper about him, I don't want anybody saying, 'Jem Finch... his daddy paid a mint to get him out of that.' Sooner we get this over with the better.\"\n\n\"Mr. Finch,\" Mr. Tate said stolidly, \"Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself.\"\n\nAtticus walked to the corner of the porch. He looked at the wisteria vine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In his own way, I thought, each was as stubborn as the other." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I wondered who would give in first. Atticus's stubbornness was quiet and rarely evident, but in some ways he was as set as the Cunninghams. Mr. Tate's was unschooled and blunt, but it was equal to my father's.\n\n\"Heck,\" Atticus's back was turned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If this thing's hushed up it'll be a simple denial to Jem of the way I've tried to raise him. Sometimes I think I'm a total failure as a parent, but I'm all they've got. Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I've tried to live so I can look squarely back at him... if I connived at something like this, frankly I couldn't meet his eye, and the day I can't do that I'll know I've lost him. I don't want to lose him and Scout, because they're all I've got.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mr. Finch,\" Mr. Tate was still planted to the floorboards. \"Bob Ewell fell on his knife. I can prove it.\"\n\nAtticus wheeled around. His hands dug into his pockets. \"Heck, can't you even try to see it my way? You've got children of your own, but I'm older than you. When mine are grown I'll be an old man if I'm still around, but right now I'm—if they don't trust me they won't trust anybody. Jem and Scout know what happened. If they hear of me saying downtown something different happened—Heck, I won't have them any more. I can't live one way in town and another way in my home.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Tate rocked on his heels and said patiently, \"He'd flung Jem down, he stumbled over a root under that tree and—look, I can show you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate reached in his side pocket and withdrew a long switchblade knife. As he did so, Dr. Reynolds came to the door. \"The son—deceased's under that tree, doctor, just inside the schoolyard. Got a flashlight? Better have this one.\"\n\n\"I can ease around and turn my car lights on,\" said Dr. Reynolds, but he took Mr. Tate's flashlight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jem's all right. He won't wake up tonight, I hope, so don't worry. That the knife that killed him, Heck?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No sir, still in him. Looked like a kitchen knife from the handle. Ken oughta be there with the hearse by now, doctor. 'night.\"\n\nMr. Tate flicked open the knife. \"It was like this,\" he said. He held the knife and pretended to stumble; as he leaned forward his left arm went down in front of him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"See there? Stabbed himself through that soft stuff between his ribs. His whole weight drove it in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Tate closed the knife and jammed it back in his pocket. \"Scout is eight years old,\" he said. \"She was too scared to know exactly what went on.\"\n\n\"You'd be surprised,\" Atticus said grimly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not sayin' she made it up, I'm sayin' she was too scared to know exactly what happened. It was mighty dark out there, black as ink. 'd take somebody mighty used to the dark to make a competent witness...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I won't have it,\" Atticus said softly.\n\n\"God damn it, I'm not thinking of Jem!\"\n\nMr. Tate's boot hit the floorboards so hard the lights in Miss Maudie's bedroom went on. Miss Stephanie Crawford's lights went on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Atticus and Mr. Tate looked across the street, then at each other. They waited." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Mr. Tate spoke again his voice was barely audible. \"Mr. Finch, I hate to fight you when you're like this. You've been under a strain tonight no man should ever have to go through. Why you ain't in the bed from it I don't know, but I do know that for once you haven't been able to put two and two together, and we've got to settle this tonight because tomorrow'll be too late. Bob Ewell's got a kitchen knife in his craw.\"\n\nMr. Tate added that Atticus wasn't going to stand there and maintain that any boy Jem's size with a busted arm had fight enough left in him to tackle and kill a grown man in the pitch dark.\n\n\"Heck,\" said Atticus abruptly, \"that was a switchblade you were waving. Where'd you get it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Took it off a drunk man,\" Mr. Tate answered coolly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I was trying to remember. Mr. Ewell was on me... then he went down... Jem must have gotten up. At least I thought...\n\n\"Heck?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I said I took it off a drunk man downtown tonight. Ewell probably found that kitchen knife in the dump somewhere. Honed it down and bided his time... just bided his time.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus made his way to the swing and sat down. His hands dangled limply between his knees. He was looking at the floor. He had moved with the same slowness that night in front of the jail, when I thought it took him forever to fold his newspaper and toss it in his chair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Tate clumped softly around the porch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It ain't your decision, Mr. Finch, it's all mine. It's my decision and my responsibility. For once, if you don't see it my way, there's not much you can do about it. If you wanta try, I'll call you a liar to your face. Your boy never stabbed Bob Ewell,\" he said slowly, \"didn't come near a mile of it and now you know it. All he wanted to do was get him and his sister safely home.\"\n\nMr. Tate stopped pacing. He stopped in front of Atticus, and his back was to us. \"I'm not a very good man, sir, but I am sheriff of Maycomb County. Lived in this town all my life an' I'm goin' on forty-three years old. Know everything that's happened here since before I was born. There's a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it's dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury the dead.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Tate went to the swing and picked up his hat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was lying beside Atticus. Mr. Tate pushed back his hair and put his hat on.\n\n\"I never heard tell that it's against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did, but maybe you'll say it's my duty to tell the town all about it and not hush it up. Know what'd happen then? All the ladies in Maycomb includin' my wife'd be knocking on his door bringing angel food cakes. To my way of thinkin', Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him with his shy ways into the limelight—to me, that's a sin. It's a sin and I'm not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man it'd be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch.\"\n\nMr. Tate was trying to dig a hole in the floor with the toe of his boot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He pulled his nose, then he massaged his left arm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still sheriff of Maycomb County and Bob Ewell fell on his knife. Good night, sir.\"\n\nMr. Tate stamped off the porch and strode across the front yard. His car door slammed and he drove away.\n\nAtticus sat looking at the floor for a long time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Finally he raised his head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Scout,\" he said, \"Mr. Ewell fell on his knife. Can you possibly understand?\"\n\nAtticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran to him and hugged him and kissed him with all my might. \"Yes sir, I understand,\" I reassured him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mr. Tate was right.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. \"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?\"\n\nAtticus put his face in my hair and rubbed it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he got up and walked across the porch into the shadows, his youthful step had returned." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Before he went inside the house, he stopped in front of Boo Radley. \"Thank you for my children, Arthur,\" he said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of Harper Lee." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When Boo Radley shuffled to his feet, light from the livingroom windows glistened on his forehead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every move he made was uncertain, as if he were not sure his hands and feet could make proper contact with the things he touched. He coughed his dreadful raling cough, and was so shaken he had to sit down again. His hand searched for his hip pocket, and he pulled out a handkerchief. He coughed into it, then he wiped his forehead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Having been so accustomed to his absence, I found it incredible that he had been sitting beside me all this time, present." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had not made a sound.\n\nOnce more, he got to his feet. He turned to me and nodded toward the front door.\n\n\"You'd like to say good night to Jem, wouldn't you, Mr. Arthur? Come right in.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I led him down the hall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Aunt Alexandra was sitting by Jem's bed. \"Come in, Arthur,\" she said. \"He's still asleep. Dr. Reynolds gave him a heavy sedative. Jean Louise, is your father in the livingroom?\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am, I think so.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll just go speak to him a minute. Dr. Reynolds left some...\" her voice trailed away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boo had drifted to a corner of the room, where he stood with his chin up, peering from a distance at Jem. I took him by the hand, a hand surprisingly warm for its whiteness. I tugged him a little, and he allowed me to lead him to Jem's bed.\n\nDr. Reynolds had made a tent-like arrangement over Jem's arm, to keep the cover off, I guess, and Boo leaned forward and looked over it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An expression of timid curiosity was on his face, as though he had never seen a boy before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His mouth was slightly open, and he looked at Jem from head to foot. Boo's hand came up, but he let it drop to his side.\n\n\"You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he's asleep. You couldn't if he was awake, though, he wouldn't let you...\" I found myself explaining. \"Go ahead.\"\n\nBoo's hand hovered over Jem's head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Go on, sir, he's asleep.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His hand came down lightly on Jem's hair.\n\nI was beginning to learn his body English. His hand tightened on mine and he indicated that he wanted to leave.\n\nI led him to the front porch, where his uneasy steps halted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was still holding my hand and he gave no sign of letting me go." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Will you take me home?\"\n\nHe almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark.\n\nI put my foot on the top step and stopped. I would lead him through our house, but I would never lead him home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mr. Arthur, bend your arm down here, like that. That's right, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm.\n\nHe had to stoop a little to accommodate me, but if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do.\n\nWe came to the street light on the corner, and I wondered how many times Dill had stood there hugging the fat pole, watching, waiting, hoping. I wondered how many times Jem and I had made this journey, but I entered the Radley front gate for the second time in my life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boo and I walked up the steps to the porch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His fingers found the front doorknob. He gently released my hand, opened the door, went inside, and shut the door behind him. I never saw him again.\n\nNeighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boo was our neighbor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.\n\nI turned to go home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Street lights winked down the street all the way to town." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle. There were Miss Maudie's, Miss Stephanie's—there was our house, I could see the porch swing—Miss Rachel's house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs. Dubose's.\n\nI looked behind me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To the left of the brown door was a long shuttered window." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I walked to it, stood in front of it, and turned around. In daylight, I thought, you could see to the postoffice corner.\n\nDaylight... in my mind, the night faded. It was daytime and the neighborhood was busy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miss Stephanie Crawford crossed the street to tell the latest to Miss Rachel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miss Maudie bent over her azaleas. It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him.\n\nIt was still summertime, and the children came closer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.\n\nIt was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.\n\nWinter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.\n\nSummer, and he watched his children's heart break." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.\n\nThe street lights were fuzzy from the fine rain that was falling. As I made my way home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the top of my nose I could see fine misty beads, but looking cross-eyed made me dizzy so I quit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As I made my way home, I thought what a thing to tell Jem tomorrow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd be so mad he missed it he wouldn't speak to me for days. As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra.\n\nI ran up the steps and into the house. Aunt Alexandra had gone to bed, and Atticus's room was dark." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I would see if Jem might be reviving." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus was in Jem's room, sitting by his bed. He was reading a book.\n\n\"Is Jem awake yet?\"\n\n\"Sleeping peacefully. He won't be awake until morning.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh. Are you sittin' up with him?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just for an hour or so. Go to bed, Scout. You've had a long day.\"\n\n\"Well, I think I'll stay with you for a while.\"\n\n\"Suit yourself,\" said Atticus. It must have been after midnight, and I was puzzled by his amiable acquiescence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was shrewder than I, however: the moment I sat down I began to feel sleepy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Whatcha readin'?\" I asked.\n\nAtticus turned the book over. \"Something of Jem's. Called The Gray Ghost.\"\n\nI was suddenly awake." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why'd you get that one?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Honey, I don't know. Just picked it up. One of the few things I haven't read,\" he said pointedly.\n\n\"Read it out loud, please, Atticus. It's real scary.\"\n\n\"No,\" he said. \"You've had enough scaring for a while. This is too—\"\n\n\"Atticus, I wasn't scared.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He raised his eyebrows, and I protested: \"Leastways not till I started telling Mr. Tate about it. Jem wasn't scared. Asked him and he said he wasn't. Besides, nothin's real scary except in books.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Atticus opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again. He took his thumb from the middle of the book and turned back to the first page. I moved over and leaned my head against his knee. \"H'rm,\" he said, \"The Gray Ghost, by Seckatary Hawkins. Chapter One...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I willed myself to stay awake, but the rain was so soft and the room was so warm and his voice was so deep and his knee was so snug that I slept." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Seconds later, it seemed, his shoe was gently nudging my ribs. He lifted me to my feet and walked me to my room. \"Heard every word you said,\" I muttered. \"...wasn't sleep at all, 's about a ship an' Three-Fingered Fred 'n' Stoner's Boy...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He unhooked my overalls, leaned me against him, and pulled them off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He held me up with one hand and reached for my pajamas with the other.\n\n\"Yeah, an' they all thought it was Stoner's Boy messin' up their clubhouse an' throwin' ink all over it an'...\"\n\nHe guided me to the bed and sat me down. He lifted my legs and put me under the cover." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding four sentences." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Almost three decades had passed since Paolo Cortazár and the breakaway fleet had passed through Laconia gate. Time enough to build a little civilization, a city, a culture. Time enough for him to confirm that alien engineers had designed the protomolecule as a bridge builder. They had thrown it into the stars like seeds to hijack whatever organic life it encountered and create ring gates into a pocket universe, a nexus between worlds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Until they died out, the slow zone and its rings had been the hub of an empire that defied human comprehension." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And now, it would be again. A little bridge-building mechanism that overcame locality changed everything for all humanity.\n\nNot that Paolo cared about all humanity. For him, the fact of the protomolecule and the technologies it opened was all-encompassing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It not only changed the shape of the universe around him but also altered his personal and professional life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For decades, it had been his only obsession. In the fight that ended their relationship, his most recent boyfriend had accused him of actually loving the protomolecule.\n\nPaolo hadn't been able to deny it. It had been so long since Paolo felt anything approaching love for another human that he'd lost the context for what did and didn't qualify." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Certainly, studying the protomolecule and all the myriad branches of scientific insight that came from it took most of his time and attention." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Understanding the ways in which it interacted with the other alien artifacts and technologies would be the work of lifetimes. He made no apology for his devotion. The tiny, beautiful speck so rich with implicit information was like a rosebud that never stopped blooming. It was beautiful in a way that nothing else could ever be." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His lover had been unable to accept this, and the end of their relationship felt inevitable in retrospect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Paolo did miss him, in an abstract sort of way. Like he might miss a lost pair of comfortable shoes.\n\nThere were so many other wonderful things to occupy his time.\n\nOn the viewscreen in front of him, a latticework of carbon grew and unfolded in intricate, interwoven patterns." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Given the correct environmental conditions and the right growth medium, the protomolecule defaulted to building these lattices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The material created was lighter than an equal volume of carbon fiber and had greater tensile strength than graphene. The Technology Directorate of the Laconian Military Council had asked him to explore its possible use in armor for infantry units. The lattice's tendency to permanently bond to human skin made that problematic from an engineering standpoint, but it was still beautiful.\n\nPaolo adjusted the sensitivity of the electron stream and leaned in toward the monitor, watching as the protomolecule picked up the free-floating carbon atoms and neatly wove them into the grid like it was a child focused on its play." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Doctor Cortazár,\" a voice said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Paolo answered with a grunt and a wave of his hand that meant Go away, I'm busy in any language.\n\n\"Doctor Cortazár,\" the voice repeated, insistent.\n\nPaolo pulled his gaze away from the screen and turned around. A pale-skinned person of indefinite gender stood in a lab coat, holding a large hand terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Paolo thought their name was Caton? Canton? Cantor?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something like that. One of the lab's army of technicians. Competent, as far as Paolo could recall. But now interrupting him, so there would have to be consequences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The nervous look on Caton/Cantor/Canton's face told him they were very aware of this fact." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Before Paolo could speak, the tech said, \"The director asked me to remind you that you have an appointment. With\"—the tech's voice went low, almost to a whisper—\"him. With Him.\"\n\nThe tech did not mean the director. There was only one Him.\n\nPaolo turned off the video display and checked to make sure the monitoring systems were recording everything before he stood up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, of course,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then, because he was making an effort these days, \"Thank you. Cantor?\"\n\n\"Caton,\" the tech replied with visible relief.\n\n\"Of course. Please let the director know I'm on my way.\"\n\n\"I'm supposed to accompany you, Doctor,\" Caton said, tapping on the hand terminal as though this fact was on a list somewhere." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Of course.\" Paolo pulled his coat off a rack by the door and headed out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bioengineering and nanoinformatics lab of the University of Laconia was the largest research lab on the planet. Possibly in the entirety of human space. The university campus spread across nearly forty hectares of land on the outskirts of the Laconian capital city. His labs accounted for almost a quarter of that space." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like everything on Laconia, it was orders of magnitude larger than it needed to be for the people who inhabited it now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had been built for the future. For all those who would come after.\n\nPaolo walked briskly along a gravel path, checking the monitor on his forearm as he went. Caton jogged along behind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Doctor,\" the lab tech said, pointing in the opposite direction, \"I brought a cart for you. It's in Parking C.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bring it around to the Pen. I have something to do there first.\"\n\nCaton hesitated for a moment, caught between a direct order from him and the responsibility of being his chaperone.\n\n\"Yes, Doctor,\" Caton said, then ran off in the other direction.\n\nAs he walked, Paolo scanned through his task list for the day to be sure he wasn't forgetting anything else, then plucked his sleeve down over the monitor and looked up at the sky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a lovely day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Laconia had a bright cerulean-blue sky, with a few cottony white clouds scattered about. The massive rigging of the planet's orbital construction platform was very faintly visible, all long arms and empty spaces between, like a massive oligonucleotide floating in space.\n\nThe gentle wind carried the faint burned plastic scent of a local fungus analog releasing what passed for spores. The breeze pushed the long fronds of dogwhistles across his path." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The grunchers—approximately the same ecological niche as crickets with even a few morphological similarities—that clung to the plants hissed at him when he got too close." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had no idea why the weeds had been named dogwhistles. They looked more like pussy willows to him. And naming an insect analog that looked like a cricket with four limbs a gruncher made even less sense. There didn't seem to be any scientific process to the naming of the local flora and fauna." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People just threw names at things until a consensus arose. It annoyed him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Pen was different from the other lab buildings. He'd had its walls built from single sheets of high-impact armor plating welded airtight into ninety-degree angles to make a dark metallic cube twenty-five meters on a side. At the building's only entrance, four soldiers wearing light armor and carrying assault rifles stood at alert.\n\n\"Doctor Cortazár,\" one of the four said, holding out a hand in the universal gesture for Stop walking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Paolo pulled his ID badge on its lanyard out from under his shirt and presented it to the guard, who plugged it into a reader." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He then touched the reader to the skin on Paolo's wrist.\n\n\"Nice day,\" the guard said pleasantly, smiling as the machine did its work of comparing Paolo's ID to his physical measurements and his identifying proteins.\n\n\"Lovely,\" Paolo agreed.\n\nThe machine pinged its acceptance that he was actually Paolo Cortazár, the president of Laconia University and head of its exobiological studies lab." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The guards had all known that by sight, but the ritual was important for more reasons than one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The door slid open, and the four guards stepped aside.\n\n\"Have a nice day, Doctor.\"\n\n\"You as well,\" Paolo said as he stepped into the security airlock. One wall hissed as hidden nozzles blasted him with air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sensors on the opposite wall tested for explosives and infectious materials." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And possibly even bad intentions.\n\nAfter a moment, the hissing stopped, and the inner airlock door slid open. Only then did Paolo hear the moaning.\n\nThe Pen, as it was called by everyone in spite of not having an official name in any documentation, was the second highest security building on Laconia for a reason." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was where Paolo kept his milking herd." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That name had come from an early fight with his ex-lover. He'd meant it as an insult, but it was an apt analogy. Inside the Pen, people and animals that had been deliberately infected with the protomolecule lived out the remainder of their lives. Once the alien nanotech had appropriated their cells and begun reproducing, Paolo's staff could drain the bodies of their fluids and filter out the critical particles from the matrix tissue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When the bodies were exhausted, any remaining fluids could be incinerated without losing anything of value." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were bays for twenty-four, but only seventeen were occupied at the moment. Someday, with a wider population base, subjects would be more abundant.\n\nThe great works of Laconia depended on communicating with the underlying technology the long-dead alien civilization had left behind. The protomolecule hadn't been designed as a universal control interface, but there was a modularity to the alien technology that let it function that way often enough for the work to proceed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was Paolo's job to supply the active samples needed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of his jobs.\n\nAs he walked toward his office in the rear of the building, he paused on a catwalk over one of the holding pens. Half a dozen people in early stages of infection wandered around the cramped, metal-walled space. They were still in the pseudo-hemorrhagic fever phase the techs called Pukers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They could manage no more than a shambling walk and occasional violent bouts of vomiting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the protomolecule's means of ensuring the infection would spread quickly. Once the bodies had been removed from the space, every centimeter of its metal walls and floor would be torched to destroy any biological debris.\n\nThey'd only had one accidental infection in the history of the lab, and Paolo intended to keep it that way.\n\nDr. Ochida, head of the Pen and Paolo's second in command, spotted him from across the holding area and rushed over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Paolo,\" Ochida said, clapping him on one shoulder in a friendly greeting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just in time. We finished pulling the stem cultures an hour ago, and the injections are prepped.\"\n\n\"I recognize that one,\" Paolo said, pointing at a hairy, muscular man in the Pen.\n\n\"Hm? Oh. Yes, he was one of our guards, I think. His intake paperwork said 'dereliction of duty.' Caught sleeping on watch, maybe?\"\n\n\"You tested them?\" Paolo asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't actually care about the hairy man in the pen, and Ochida's answer had satisfied his curiosity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It took Ochida a moment to realize they'd changed back to the original subject. \"Oh, yes. I tested the samples for purity three times. Personally.\"\n\n\"I'm going directly from here to the State Building,\" Paolo said, turning to look Ochida in the eye.\n\nHis assistant knew what he was asking and replied, \"I understand. These injections exactly meet your specifications.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If anything went wrong, they both knew they'd be the next two placed in the Pen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were valuable, but they weren't beyond consequences. No one was. That was what Laconia meant.\n\n\"Excellent,\" Paolo said, giving Ochida a friendly smile he didn't actually feel. \"I'll take them now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ochida waved at someone in a corner of the room, and a tech trotted over carrying a silvery metal briefcase." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She handed the case to Paolo, then left.\n\n\"Is there anything else?\" Ochida asked.\n\n\"I'm starting to see some growth,\" Paolo said, pointing at a bone spur protruding from the hairy man's spine.\n\n\"Yes,\" Ochida agreed. \"They're nearly ready.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the time he'd worked with Winston Duarte, Paolo had found much to admire in the man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The high consul was intelligent, given to astounding leaps of comprehension on complex topics but still measured and thoughtful in his decision making. Duarte valued the counsel of others but was decisive and firm once the information was gathered. He could be charismatic and warm without ever seeming false or insincere.\n\nBut more than anything else, Paolo respected his total lack of pretension." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Many lesser people, holding a position like absolute military dictator of an entire planet, would wrap themselves in pomp and glittering palaces." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte had instead built the State Building of Laconia. A massive construction of stone that towered over the rest of the capital city, it still somehow managed to feel comforting rather than intimidating. As though all its solidity and size was merely to house important works and solve serious problems. Not aggrandize those inside it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Caton drove Paolo's little cart up the wide street that led to the building's front entrance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were the only traffic. The street ended at a high stone wall, a narrow gate, and a guard post. Paolo climbed out of the cart, taking the metal briefcase with him.\n\n\"No need to wait for me,\" Paolo said to Caton." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tech hadn't spoken since picking him up outside the Pen, and seemed relieved to be dismissed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, Doctor. Call if you—\" But Paolo was already walking away. He heard the car's electric whine as it left.\n\nThe narrow gate opened as he approached, and two soldiers left the guard post and fell in alongside him without a word. These were not like the lightly armored guards that stood watch at the university." }, { "from": "human", "value": "These wore strength-augmenting suits of articulated composite plates, with a variety of weapons mounted on them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The suits were the same dark blue as the Laconian flag and had the same pair of stylized wings. A phoenix, he thought, but it might have been some sort of raptor. The pleasant color made the lethal war machines under it seem out of place. Their footsteps on the stone courtyard and the faint thrum of the power suits were the only noises that followed them to the State Building's entrance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the door, his two guards stopped him, then spread out, one on each side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Paolo fancied he could feel the tickle of X-rays and millimeter waves bouncing off his body as they scanned him head to toe. After a long moment one of them said, \"The high consul is waiting for you in the medical wing,\" and then they turned and walked away.\n\n\"Technically, yes. The dreams have stopped,\" Duarte said as Paolo slid a hypodermic port line into a forearm vein and taped it down. He knew from experience that Duarte was distracting himself to keep from looking down and seeing the needles go in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was endearing that the most powerful human in the universe was still a bit squeamish about needles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Have they?\" Paolo asked. It wasn't a casual question. The side effects of the incredibly experimental treatment Duarte was receiving were something to be kept close track of. \"How long ago?\"\n\nDuarte sighed, and closed his eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either relaxing as the first of the sedative mixture hit his veins, or trying to remember the exact date, or both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The last one was eleven days ago.\"\n\n\"You're sure?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Duarte said with a smile and without opening his eyes, \"I'm sure. Eleven days ago was the last time I slept.\"\n\nPaolo nearly dropped the IV line he was connecting to the port." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You haven't slept in eleven days?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte's eyes finally opened. \"I don't feel tired at all. Quite the opposite. Every day I feel more energetic and healthy than the last. A side effect of the treatment, I'm sure.\"\n\nPaolo nodded at this, though it wasn't anything he'd anticipated. His stomach gave a tiny spasm of worry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there was an unexpected side effect this extreme, then what else was waiting for them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd asked Duarte to wait until they had more data, but the man had demanded they move forward, and how could he argue?\n\n\"I see that look, old friend,\" Duarte said, his smile even wider. \"You don't need to worry. I've been monitoring it myself. If anything were out of balance, I'd have called you a week ago. But I feel fantastic, I'm not building up fatigue poisons, and the blood work promised I'm not psychotic. And now I get an extra eight hours every day to work. I couldn't be happier.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" Paolo replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He finished hooking the IV bag filled with its payload of protomolecule-modified human stem cells into the port." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte gave a tiny gasp when the cool fluid started to enter his vein. \"But please, do remember to send along these sorts of details, even if they don't seem to be a problem. Animal models are never perfect, and you're the first person to receive this treatment. Tracking the effects is incredibly important to—\"\n\n\"I will,\" Duarte replied. \"I have full confidence that your lab has everything working exactly as it's supposed to. But I'll make sure my personal doctor sends you all his daily notes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you, High Consul,\" Paolo said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm going to draw some blood as well and have my people do a workup. Just to make sure.\"\n\n\"Whatever you need,\" Duarte said. \"But as long as we're alone, please don't call me 'High Consul.' Winston's fine.\" Duarte's voice had grown mushy, and Paolo could tell the sedatives were taking effect." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want us all working together.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We are working together. But a body needs a brain. Leadership, yes?\" Paolo replied. He let the IV bag empty, used the line to draw a small sample of Duarte's blood and put it in the metal briefcase, and quietly went about the process of doing a full body scan. The treatment had begun growing a small number of new organs in Duarte's body that had been designed by the best experimental physiologists on the planet and implemented using lessons taught by the eternal protomolecule bloom. But there were still so many things that might go wrong, and tracking the development of the changes in Duarte was the most important aspect of Paolo's job." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Despite Duarte's warmth and the genuine friendship he showed, if anything happened to the Laconian ruler, he would be executed shortly thereafter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tying Paolo's safety to his own was how Duarte could guarantee the scientist's best efforts on his behalf. They both understood this, and there was no ill will attached. Paolo's death wouldn't be punishment, exactly. Just a clear disincentive to letting his patient die." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As relationships went, it was probably the most honest one Paolo had ever had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You know, Winston, that this is going to be a very long process. There may be imbalances small enough that they don't appear for years. Decades.\"\n\n\"Centuries,\" he said, nodding. \"It's imperfect, I know. But we do what we have to do. And, no, old friend. I'm sorry, but I haven't reconsidered.\"\n\nPaolo wondered if the ability to read minds was yet another unexpected side effect of the treatment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If so ... well, that would be interesting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wasn't suggesting that—\"\n\n\"That you should undergo the treatment too?\" Duarte said. \"Of course you were. And you should suggest it. Make the best argument you can. I don't believe you'll change my mind, but I'd like it very much if you did.\"\n\nPaolo looked at his hands, avoiding Duarte's eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Defiance would have been easier for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The melancholy in the man's voice was disturbing in a way he found hard to understand.\n\n\"The ironic thing?\" Duarte said. \"I've always rejected the great-man idea. The belief that human history was formed by singular individuals instead of broad social forces? Romantic, but ...\" He waved a hand vaguely, like he was stirring fog. \"Demographic trends. Economic cycles. Technological progress. All much more powerful predictors than any one person. And yet here I am. I would take you with me if I could, you know. It's not my choice. It's history's.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"History should reconsider,\" Paolo said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte chuckled. \"The difference between zero and one is miraculous. But it's as miraculous as it ever will be. Make it two. Three. A hundred. It becomes just another oligarchy. A permanent engine of inequality that will breed the wars we're trying to end.\"\n\nPaolo made a small sound that could have been mistaken for agreement.\n\n\"The best governments in history have been kings and emperors,\" Duarte said. \"The worst ones too. A philosopher-king can manage great things in his lifetime. And his grandchildren can squander it.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The habitation ring of the transfer station at Lagrange-5 was three times the diameter of the one Drummer had lived in on Tycho, half a lifetime ago. TSL-5 had a small city's worth of offices with the same fake-marble walls and soft, full-spectrum lighting as the one they'd given her, the same crash-couch beds and water showers as her quarters there. The air had a constant smell of terpene compounds, as if the station were the largest chrysanthemum in the universe. The dome in the center of the station had berths for hundreds of ships and warehouses that seemed so numerous and deep that filling them would leave Earth as empty as a squeezed-out bulb." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All those berths and warehouses were at rest now, but starting tomorrow, that would change." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "TSL-5 was about to be open for business, and even as tired as she was, as annoyed as she felt at having to haul herself halfway across the system for what was ultimately a ribbon-cutting ceremony, there was also an excitement to it. After three decades of struggle, Mother Earth was open for business.\n\nThe planet glowed on her wall screen, whorls of high white clouds and glimpses of the still-greenish sea beneath it. The terminator crept across, pulling a blanket of darkness and city lights behind it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The ships of the Earth-Mars Coalition Navy floated around it, dots of darkness swimming on the high sea of air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer had never gone down that well, and now by the terms of the treaty she'd signed on the union's behalf, she never would. Fine with her. Her knees bothered her sometimes as it was. But as an objet d'art, Terra was hard to beat. Humanity had done its level best to kick the shit out of the slowly spinning egg." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overpopulation, exploitation, atmospheric and oceanic imbalance, and then three military-level meteor strikes, any one of which would have fucked up the dinosaurs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And here it still was, like a soldier. Scarred, broken, reimagined, rebuilt, and remade.\n\nTime was supposed to heal all wounds. To Drummer, that was just a nice way of saying that if she waited long enough, none of the things that seemed important to her would turn out to matter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or at least not the way she'd thought they did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time, plus the combined expertise of a Martian terraforming project staggering under the loss of its mandate, the ruthless administration of Earth's political sector, and the huge market of thirteen-hundred-odd worlds all in need of biological substrates to grow food that people could actually eat had hauled Earth, slow and staggering, up to functional again.\n\nHer system chirped, a polite little pop like someone snapping bamboo. Her private secretary's voice followed like a drink of whiskey.\n\n\"Madam President?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Give me a minute, Vaughn,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am. But Secretary-General Li would like to speak with you before the ceremony.\"\n\n\"The Earth-Mars Coalition can wait until after cocktails. I'm not opening this station by jumping every time the EMC clears their throat. Bad precedent.\"\n\n\"Copy that. I'll handle it.\"\n\nThe system made the little woody tock that meant she had her privacy again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She leaned back in her chair, looked over at the images set into the wall behind her desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All the previous Transport Union presidents before her: Michio Pa, then Tjon, Walker, Sanjrani, and her own thin, stern face looking back at her from the end. She hated that picture. It made her look like she'd just eaten something sour. The first version of it looked like something off a singles forum." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At least this one was dignified." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For most of the Transport Union's members, this image was all they'd ever see of her. Thirteen hundred worlds, and within a decade most if not all of them would have their own versions of the TSL-5. Hand-off stations that marked the bubble of void where the planet's sphere of control ended and the union's began. Anything that the colonies needed from humanity's first home or from each other went up the gravity wells." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was the inner's problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Moving it from one system to another belonged to the Belt. Old terms. Inners. Belters. They stuck because language held on to things that way, even when the reality around them had shifted.\n\nThe Earth-Mars Coalition had been the center of humanity once—the innermost of the inners." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now it was an important spoke on the wheel whose hub was Medina Station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Where the weird alien sphere sat in the middle of the not-space that linked all the ring gates. Where her civilian quarters were when she wasn't on the void cities. Where Saba was, when he wasn't on his ship or with her. Medina Station was home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Except that even for her, the blue-black disk of Earth on her screen was home too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe that wouldn't always be true. There were kids old enough to vote now who'd never known what it meant to have only one sun. She didn't know what Earth or Mars or Sol would be to them. Maybe this atavistic melancholy just behind her breastbone would die with her generation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or maybe she was tired and cranky and needed a nap." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bamboo broke again. \"Ma'am?\"\n\n\"I'm on my way.\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am. But we have a priority message from traffic control on Medina.\"\n\nDrummer leaned forward, her hands flat against the cool of the desk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Shit. Shit shit shit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did we lose another one?\"\n\n\"No, ma'am. No lost ships.\"\n\nShe felt the dread loosen its grip a little. Not all the way. \"What, then?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're reporting an unscheduled transit. A freighter, but it didn't have a transponder.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Seriously?\" she said. \"Did they think we wouldn't notice it?\"\n\n\"Couldn't speak to that,\" Vaughn said.\n\nShe pulled up the administrative feed from Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could get anything from her realm here—traffic control, environmental data, energy output, sensor arrays in any slice of the electromagnetic spectrum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But light delay made all of it a little more than four hours old. Any order she gave would come through eight, eight and a half hours after the request for it was made. The vast alien intelligence that had engineered the ring gates and the massive ruins in the systems beyond them had found ways to manipulate distance, but the speed of light was the speed of light, and seemed like it always would be.\n\nShe scrolled through the logs, found the relevant slot, played it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Medina here. Conferme." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Traffic Control's usual calm.\n\nThe responding voice had a little interference. An artifact of the gates. This is the freighter Savage Landing out of Castila on approach, Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Transferring our status now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A new window popped up. The ship status of a light freighter. Martian design. Old, but not antiquated. It took a few seconds for Traffic to come back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Visé bien, Savage Landing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You are clear to transit. Control code is—fuck! Abort, Savage Landing! Do not transit!\n\nA sudden spike on the safety curve and the alarm status blinked to red. A new drive signature appeared on Medina's control board, the plume sweeping through the starless dark of the slow zone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was done. All of it over with hours ago, but Drummer still felt her heartbeat pick up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Traffic was shouting for the new ship to identify itself, the rail-gun emplacements clicked to active. If they'd fired, everyone on the unauthorized ship was dead already.\n\nThe safety curve decayed, the disruption created by mass and energy passing through the ring dropping until it passed the threshold. The intruding ship spun, burning hard, and zipped through a different gate, kicking the curve back up again as it escaped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Traffic cursed in several languages, sending stand-by messages to three other inbound ships." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Savage Landing was quiet, but the feed from their system showed a bruisingly hard burn as they peeled away, breaking off the approach to the Castila gate.\n\nShe rolled back, the near calamity reversing itself. The reckless asshole had come in from Freehold and passed out into Auberon. Because of course it had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The leaking radiation from the Auberon gate showed that the ship had made it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As close as it had cut the safety curve, it hadn't gone dutchman. But if the Savage Landing had gone through as scheduled, one or both ships could have vanished into wherever ships went when their transits failed.\n\nIn the short term, it would mean slotting Savage Landing in later. There'd be a bunch of pushbacks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe dozens of ships that had to change their burns and coordinate new transits." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not a threat, but a pain in the ass.\n\nAnd not a good precedent.\n\n\"Should I respond,\" Vaughn asked, \"or would you rather deal with this personally, ma'am?\"\n\nIt was an excellent question." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Policy was a ratchet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she pulled the trigger, gave the order that the next unauthorized ship through was going to be turned into scrap metal and regrets, it wasn't something she could pull back from. Someone much better at this than she was had taught her to be very careful doing something if she wasn't ready to do it every time from then on.\n\nBut, Christ, it was tempting.\n\n\"Have Medina log the transit, add the full cost to Freehold and Auberon's tabs, and penalties for the delays they caused,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn said. \"Anything else?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, she thought, but I don't know what yet.\n\nThe conference room had been designed for this moment. The vaulted ceiling looked as grand as a cathedral. Secretary-General Li of Earth stood at his podium, shifting his grave but satisfied countenance out at the cameras of dozens of different, carefully selected newsfeeds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer tried to do the same." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"President Drummer!\" one of the reporters called, lifting a hand for attention the same way people probably had in the forums of Rome. Her podium told her the man's name was Carlisle Hayyam with Munhwa Ilbo's Ceres office. A dozen others had started clamoring for her attention too.\n\n\"Hayyam?\" she said, smiling, and the others quieted down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The truth was, she sort of liked this part." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It appealed to some long-forgotten ambition to perform on a stage, and it was one of the few places where she felt like she was actually in control. Most of her work felt like she was trying to stuff air back into a leaking balloon.\n\n\"How do you respond to Martin Karczek's concerns about the transfer station?\"\n\n\"I'd have to listen to them,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I've only got so many hours in my day.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The reporters chuckled, and she heard the glee. Yes, they were opening the first hand-off station. Yes, Earth was about to stagger up out of years of environmental crisis to ramp up its active trade with the colonies. All anyone really wanted was a couple politicians being snippy at each other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that was fine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As long as they kept looking at the little stuff, she could work on the big things.\n\nSecretary-General Li, a broad-faced man with a lush mustache and a workman's callused hands, cleared his throat. \"If you don't mind,\" he said. \"There are always people who are wary of change. And that's a good thing. Change should be watched, moderated, and questioned. But that conservative view shouldn't rein in progress or put a damper on hope. Earth is humanity's first and truest home. The soil from which all of us, whatever system we now inhabit, first grew. Earth will always, always, be central to the greater project of humanity in the universe.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whistling past the graveyard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Earth was celebrating a huge milestone in its history, and that was maybe the third most important thing on her agenda. But how do you tell a planet that history has passed it by? Better to nod and smile, enjoy the moment and the champagne. Once this was over, she'd have to get back to work." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They moved through the expected questions: would the renegotiation of the tariff agreements be overseen by Drummer or former president Sanjrani, would the Transport Union remain neutral in the contested elections on Nova Catalunya, would the Ganymede status talks be held on Luna or Medina." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was even one question about the dead systems—Charon, Adro, and Naraka—where ring gates led to things much stranger than goldilocks-zone planetary systems. Secretary-General Li fended that one off, which was just as well. Dead systems gave Drummer the creeps.\n\nAfter the Q-and-A was done, Drummer did a dozen photo ops with the secretary-general, high-level administrators from the EMC, and celebrities from the planets—a dark-skinned woman in a bright-blue sari, a pale man in a formal suit, a pair of comically identical men in matching gold dinner jackets." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a part of her that enjoyed this too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She suspected that the pleasure she took in Earthers clamoring to get mementos of themselves with the head of the Belters spoke poorly of her in some vague spiritual way. She'd grown up in a universe where people like her were disposable, and she'd lived long enough for fortune's wheel to lift her up higher than Earth's sky. Everyone wanted the Belt for a friend, now that the term meant more than a cloud of half-mined-out chunks of debris trapped between Mars and Jupiter. For children born today, the Belt was the thing that tied all humanity together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Semantic drift and political change." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the worst that came out of it was a little schadenfreude on her part, she could live with that.\n\nVaughn waited in a small antechamber. His face was a network of crags that would have done credit to a mountain range, but he managed to make it work for him. His formal jacket was cut to echo old-style vac suits." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The marks of their oppression remade as high fashion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time healed all wounds, but it didn't erase the scars so much as decorate them.\n\n\"You have an hour before the reception, ma'am,\" he said as Drummer sat on the couch and rubbed her feet.\n\n\"Understood.\"\n\n\"Can I get you anything?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Encrypted tightbeam and privacy.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" he said without missing a beat.\n\nWhen the door slid closed behind him, she turned on the system camera and composed herself. The plan that had been forming in the back of her head all through the ceremonies was in place. All the bits and pieces she'd need to make it happen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And sooner was better than later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Punishment worked best when there wasn't a gap between misbehavior and consequences, or at least that was what they told her. But there was also a real advantage in giving the offender time to savor their regret.\n\nBest of all was when she could do both.\n\nShe hit Record." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Captain Holden,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm linking you through to the data on an unauthorized transit from Freehold to Auberon that occurred today. I'm also giving you access to the security review of the Freehold system. It's not much. One habitable planet a little smaller than Mars, another one that's exploitable as long as you don't mind too much nitrogen and cyanide in your air. The governor of Freehold is named...\"\n\nShe checked the records and coughed with contempt and laughter.\n\n\"Payne Houston. I'm assuming that's his own choice and not what his mommy called him. Either way, I'm sending you under an executive mandate so that you can get going right now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll get Emily Santos-Baca and the security committee to genuflect over this well before you get there, so we'll be fine with that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Your official mission is to carry the message that Freehold's repeated violations of Transportation Union guidelines have triggered punitive action, and that I'm banning all traffic in and out of Freehold for three years. When he asks whether it's Earth years, the answer is yes. He's going to make a point of that, because that's the kind of idiot he is.\n\n\"Your unofficial mission is not to hurry. I want Freehold and all the systems like it to see a gunship moseying toward them for weeks without knowing what it's going to do when it gets there. I'll have my staff draw up the usual work agreement. If you can't take the job, let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'll have you on the roster to fuel up and make transit in the next fifteen hours.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She reviewed the message, then sent it out with a copy to Ahmed McCahill, the chair of the security committee." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then it was an executive request to push the Rocinante to the head of the resupply and transit authorization queues. And then Vaughn was knocking discreetly at her door.\n\nHe took her grunt as permission to come in, which it was.\n\n\"Secretary-General Li is asking whether you're indisposed, ma'am,\" he said. \"He's getting concerned.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She checked the time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hour's respite had ended twenty minutes ago.\n\n\"Tell him I'm on my way,\" she said. \"And do I have a change of clothes?\"\n\n\"In the closet, ma'am,\" Vaughn said as he slipped out the door again, quiet as a phantom." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer changed quickly, shedding the formal jacket and slacks for a bamboo-silk blouse and self-tailoring skirt with a neural net woven into it that was about as intelligent as an insect just to keep the drape right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She considered herself in the mirror with a certain satisfaction. She only wished Saba were here to accompany her. But he'd probably make too many consort-of-the-queen jokes. She shut down the mirror, its screen defaulting back to the image of Earth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The planet was over half in darkness now, a crescent of white and blue." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Belters had tried to kill the Earth, but here it was still spinning. They'd tried to burn the inner planets' ships, and here was the EMC navy, scraped back together and flying.\n\nAnd on the other hand, Earth had tried to choke the Belters under its boot for generations, and here was Drummer. Time had made them allies in the great expansion of civilization out to the stars.\n\nAt least until something else changed." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 4 sentences sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The transit from the slow zone was behind them and Freehold was still weeks away, but an atmospheric landing in a ship as old as the Rocinante wasn't the trivial thing it had once been. Age showed up in unexpected ways. Things that had always worked before failed. It was something you prepared for as much as you could." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie squinted at a wall panel on the engineering deck and watched as a long list of data scrolled by, ending with the ship's reassurance that it could handle at least one more descent without burning up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All greens on the atmospheric braking thrusters,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Hmmm?\" Alex's sleepy drawl replied from the panel.\n\n\"You awake up there? This is your damn landing prep list. I'm down here doing the work. Could at least seem interested.\"\n\n\"Yeah, not sleepin',\" the pilot replied, \"just got my own list of shit to do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could hear his smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie closed the diagnostic screen. Verifying the status on the thrusters was the last item on her work order. And short of putting on a suit and climbing outside to physically look into the nozzles, there wasn't much more she could do.\n\n\"I'm going to do some housekeeping, then head up,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mmhm.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie put her tools away and used a mild solvent to wipe up some lubricant she'd spilled. It smelled sweet and pungent, like something she'd have cooked with back when she'd been living alone on Mars. Anxiety pushed her toward preparing more for the mission even after she was prepared. In the old days, this was when she'd have cleaned and serviced her power armor again and again and again until it became a kind of meditation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now, she went through the ship the same way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd lived on the Rocinante for more years now than anyplace else. Longer than her childhood home. Longer than her tour in the Marines.\n\nThe engineering deck was Amos country, and the mechanic kept a tidy shop." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Every tool was in its place, every surface spotless." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Other than the oil and solvent, the only other smell in the compartment was the ozone scent that hinted at powerful electricity coursing nearby. The floor vibrated in time with the fusion reactor on the deck below, the ship's beating heart.\n\nOn one bulkhead, Amos painted a sign that read:\n\nSHE TAKES CARE OF YOU" }, { "from": "human", "value": "YOU TAKE CARE OF HER" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie patted the words as she walked by and climbed onto the ladder lift that ran up the center of the ship. The Roci was at a very gentle 0.2 g braking burn, and there had been a time when riding the lift instead of climbing the ladder would have felt like admitting defeat, even if the ship was burning ten times that hard. But for the last couple years Bobbie's joints had been giving her trouble, and proving to herself that she could make the climb had stopped mattering as much.\n\nIt seemed to her that the real sign you were getting old was when you stopped needing to prove you weren't getting old." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hatches separating each deck slid open at the lift's approach, and then quietly closed after she'd passed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Roci might be a decade or two past her sell-by date, but Clarissa tolerated no sticking or squeaking on her ship. At least once a week, Claire made a complete pass through every environmental system and pressure hatch. When Bobbie had mentioned it to Holden, he'd said, Because she broke the ship once, and she's still trying to fix it.\n\nThe lift hummed to a stop on the ops deck, and Bobbie stepped off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hatch up to the cockpit was open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex's brown and almost entirely bald head poked up over the back of the pilot's crash couch. The crew spent most of their working time in Operations, and the air felt subtly different. Long hours spent in the crash couches meant the smell of sweat never entirely went away, no matter how hard the air recyclers worked. And, like any room James Holden spent a lot of time in, the comfortable scent of old coffee lingered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie ran a finger along the bulkhead, feeling the anti-spalling fabric crackle under the pressure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The dark-gray color had faded, and it was getting harder to tell where the fabric didn't match because it had been damaged and patched and where it was just aging unevenly. It would need to be replaced soon. She could live with the color, but the crunching meant that it was losing its elasticity. Getting too brittle to do its job." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Both of Bobbie's shoulders ached, and it was getting trickier to tell the difference between the one that had been explosively dislocated during hand-to-hand training years before and the one that just hurt from decades of not being gentle with her body." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd picked up a lot of battle scars during her life, and they were getting harder and harder to differentiate from the normal damage of wearing out. Like the discolored patches on the Roci's bulkheads, everything was just fading to match.\n\nShe climbed the short ladder up through the hatch into the cockpit, trying to enjoy the ache in her shoulders the way she'd once enjoyed the burn after an intense workout. As an old drill sergeant had told her, pain is the warrior's friend." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pain reminds you that you aren't dead yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yo,\" Alex said as she dropped into the gunner's chair behind him. \"How's our girl look?\"\n\n\"Old, but she can still get around.\"\n\n\"I meant the ship.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie laughed and called up the tactical display." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Off in the distance, the planet Freehold. The mission. \"My brother always complained I spent too much time looking for metaphors.\"\n\n\"An aging Martian warrior living inside an aging Martian warrior,\" Alex said, the smile audible in his voice. \"Don't have to look too hard there.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not too agéd to kick your ass.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie zoomed in on Freehold on their tactical screen. A mottled marble of brown continents and green oceans, with the occasional white swirl of cloud. \"How long?\"\n\n\"We'll be there in a week.\"\n\n\"Talk to Jizz lately? How's my future baby daddy doing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Giselle is fine, and she says Kit is doing great. Picked planetary engineering as his major at Mariner Tech.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It is the hot job market right now,\" Bobbie agreed.\n\nShe'd been Alex's best man when he'd married Giselle, and she'd waited at the hospital on Ceres when Kit had been born thirteen months later. And now Kit was going into upper university, and Alex had been divorced for over a decade. He was her best friend, but he was terrible husband material." }, { "from": "human", "value": "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." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But for all the unnecessary drama, Alex and Giselle's short-lived trainwreck of a marriage had produced Kit, and that made the universe a better place. The boy had all of Alex's laconic charm and all of his mother's regal good looks. Every time he called her Aunt Bobbie, she wanted to hug him until his ribs cracked.\n\n\"When you reply, make sure to tell Jizz I said 'fuck off,'\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The failure of the marriage wasn't entirely Giselle's fault, but Bobbie had picked Alex in the divorce, so acting like she blamed his ex for everything was part of the best-friend pact." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex pushed against it, but she knew he also appreciated her saying all the things that he couldn't.\n\n\"I'll send Giselle your love,\" Alex said.\n\n\"And tell Kit that Aunt Bobbie says hi, and I want new pictures. Everything I have of him is a year old. I wanna see how my little man is filling out.\"\n\n\"You know it's creepy to flirt with a kid you've known his entire life, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My love is a pure love,\" Bobbie replied, then switched tactical to the mission parameters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Freehold had a population of just under three hundred, all Earth-born. They called themselves an Assembly of Sovereign Citizens, whatever that meant. But the colony-ship manifest had included a lot of firearms and ammunition. And with the weeks the Roci had spent dropping down toward Freehold's sun, the locals had had plenty of time to work themselves up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reading along with her, Alex said, \"Captain'll need some backup down there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah. Talking to Amos about that is the next thing on my list.\"\n\n\"Taking Betsy?\"\n\n\"This is probably not a Betsy-level situation, sailor,\" Bobbie said. Betsy was Alex's nickname for the suit of Martian Marine Recon armor she kept in the ship's cargo bay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hadn't put the thing on in years, but she kept it operational and charged anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made her feel warm and comfortable knowing it was there. Just in case.\n\n\"Copy that,\" Alex said.\n\n\"Where is Amos, anyway?\"\n\nIt was subtle, the difference between Alex being at ease and Alex trying to sound like he was at ease." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ship thinks he's in the sick bay,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa, Bobbie thought. Well, shit.\n\nThe Rocinante's medical bay smelled like antiseptic and vomit.\n\nThe antiseptic came from the little floor scrubber that was humming around the room, leaving a trail of shiny decking in its wake. The acid-and-bile smell of vomit came from Clarissa Mao." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bobbie,\" she with a smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was on one of the med bay's couches, an autodoc cuff around her upper arm that buzzed and hummed and occasionally clicked. Claire's face would tighten at each click. Injections, maybe, or something worse.\n\n\"Hey, Babs,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hulking mechanic sat at Claire's bedside reading something on his hand terminal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't look up when Bobbie entered the room, but raised a hand in greeting.\n\n\"How're you feeling today?\" Bobbie asked, grimacing internally as she said it.\n\n\"I'll be out of bed in a few minutes,\" Claire said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Did I miss something on the pre-landing check?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, no,\" Bobbie replied, shaking her head. She feared that Claire would tear the tubes out of her arm and leap out of bed if she said yes. \"Nothing like that. I just need to borrow the lunk for a minute.\"\n\n\"Yeah?\" Amos said, looking at her for the first time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That okay with you, Peaches?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Whatever you need,\" she said, gesturing at the med-bay in general. \"You will always find me at home.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Amos stood up, and Bobbie guided him out into the corridor.\n\nSurrounded by the fading gray walls, and with the sick-bay hatch closed behind him, Amos seemed to deflate a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He leaned his back against the wall and sighed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's tough to watch, you know?\"\n\n\"How is she?\"\n\n\"Good days and bad days, same as anyone,\" Amos said. \"Those aftermarket glands she had put in keep leaking their rat shit into her blood, and we keep filtering it back out. But taking 'em back out would fuck her up worse, so ...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos shrugged again. He looked tired." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie had never really been able to figure out what the relationship between the Roci's mechanic and his tiny counterpart was. They weren't sleeping together, and it didn't seem like they ever had. Most of the time they didn't even talk. But when Claire's health had started its decline, Amos was usually there by her side in the sick bay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It made Bobbie wonder if he'd do that for her if she got sick. If anyone would." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The big mechanic was looking a little thinner himself these days. Where most big men tended toward pudge in their later years, Amos had gone the other direction. What fat he'd had was gone, and now his arms and neck looked ropey with old muscle just under the skin. Tougher than shoe leather." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So,\" he said, \"what's up?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did you read my briefing on Freehold?\"\n\n\"Skimmed it.\"\n\n\"Three hundred people who hate centralized authority and love guns. Holden's going to insist on meeting them on their turf, because that's the kind of shit he does. He'll need backup.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Amos agreed. \"I'll keep an eye on him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was thinking maybe I should take this one,\" Bobbie said, nodding her head toward the sick-bay hatch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not saying, She doesn't look good. Amos pursed his lips, considering.\n\n\"Yeah, okay,\" Amos said. \"Atmospheric landing will probably shake the damn ship apart. I'll have plenty to do here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie started to leave, then something made her stop." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Before she knew she was going to say it, she asked, \"How much longer?\"\n\n\"Rest of her life,\" Amos said, then went back into the sick bay and closed the hatch behind him.\n\nShe found Holden and Naomi eating breakfast in the galley. The smell of scrambled eggs with powdered onions and what passed for peppers competed with brewing coffee." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie's belly growled as soon as she walked into the room, and without a word Holden pushed a plate toward her and began slopping eggs onto it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Enjoy, because this is the last of the real eggs until we get back to Medina,\" Holden said as he dished her up.\n\nNaomi finished chewing a mouthful and said, \"What's going on?\"\n\n\"Did you guys read my threat assessment on Freehold?\"\n\n\"Skimmed it,\" Holden replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"First-generation colony,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Eight years since founding, and it's still only got one township on it in a semiarid temperate zone. Low-level agriculture, but most of the food supply is salvaged hydroponics. Some goats and chickens, but the livestock is surviving on the hydroponics too, so not the most efficient model. Lithium in the planetary crust and a weirdly lot of uranium trapped in polar glaciers that hopefully means it'll be easily harvested helium if they ever get the infrastructure to mine something. Charter that calls for radical personal autonomy enforced by a citizen militia made up of the whole colonial population.\"\n\n\"Really?\" Holden said. \"The whole population?\"\n\n\"So three hundred people who like guns,\" Naomi said, then pointed at Holden. \"This one will insist on getting off the ship and speaking to them in person.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Right?\" Bobbie said, then quickly shoveled a heaping scoop of eggs into her mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were as good as her nose had promised they'd be.\n\n\"This has to be done face-to-face,\" Holden said. \"If not, we could just have radioed the message to them from Medina and saved ourselves the trip.\"\n\n\"Diplomacy is your thing,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm strictly concerned with tactical issues. And when we talk to the powers that be on Freehold, we'll be telling them there's no reason not to just start shooting and hope for the best.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden pushed his half-empty plate away and leaned back with a frown. \"Explain that.\"\n\n\"You really should read my assessments.\"\n\nNaomi grabbed Holden's mug and moved over to the coffee machine. \"I think I know where she's going with this. You want any coffee, Bobbie?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, thank you,\" Bobbie said, then pulled up the tactical assessment on her hand terminal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"These are people who left Earth to form a colony based on personal sovereignty. They believe in the absolute right of each citizen to defend themselves and their property, with lethal force if necessary. And they are well armed for this purpose.\"\n\n\"I followed that part,\" Holden said.\n\n\"They are also years from self-sustaining at this point. The reason they're relying on hydroponics is that they're having a difficult time developing soil for their greenhouses. Something about the mineral content. The money they've been able to get from preliminary mining futures is all going to Auberon for agricultural supplies trying to get around that. They don't agree that the Transport Union should be taking tariffs on any basic life-sustaining trade. Which is what got us here.\"\n\nNaomi handed her a steaming mug of coffee with lots of cream, just the way she liked it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden nodded in a way that probably meant trouble." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd understood what she was saying.\n\n\"How long till they have local crops?\" Naomi asked, leaning over her shoulder to look at the report.\n\n\"I don't know, but that's not the issue here—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The issue here,\" Holden said, \"is that we're delivering a death sentence. Isn't that right? We're going to land and tell them they're cut off from trading with other colonies. And they know they're going to run out of usable food in a few months, and won't be able to grow their own for years. The union is putting them in an impossible position. And by union right now, I mean us. We are.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes,\" Bobbie agreed, glad he seemed to understand. \"These are people who believe in the inviolate right to use lethal force in defense of their own lives. When we land and tell them they're cut off, we'll leave them with no reason not to try to take the ship.\"\n\n\"I don't understand the penalty,\" Naomi said. \"Seems harsh.\"\n\n\"Drummer's been waiting for this one, I'd guess,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't look happy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The first colony to really test how far the union will go to protect its monopoly on gate usage. And she's going to crush this first example so hard that no one else will even try. She's killing one colony now so she doesn't have to kill thirteen hundred colonies later.\"\n\nThe idea hung in the air like smoke over a poker game. Naomi's expression mirrored Bobbie's concern. Holden had the inward focus he got when he was thinking about something too hard for safety." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S.A. Corey would" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh felt a tingle on his wrist and slid back his sleeve. The monitor wrapped around his forearm saw him look and displayed a notification of his most urgent task: the upcoming audience with the high consul.\n\nHe reset the notification timer to one-half hour before the meeting itself. His data pad had been riding on his arm or in his pocket for nearly five years." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It knew everything there was to know about him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was treating his upcoming audience with the high consul as if it were the single most important event of his life.\n\nIt wasn't wrong.\n\nHe pulled the sleeve back into place, giving it one sharp tug to smooth out any new wrinkles, and inspected himself in his mirror. His blue-and-white dress uniform fit him like a glove, emphasizing the muscular frame he spent an hour every day sculpting in the gym." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The newly acquired captain's stars glittered on his collar, polished to a golden gleam." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His chin and scalp were freshly shaved, and he imagined it gave him the feral, predatory quality that befit a military man.\n\n\"Still preening?\" Natalia said from the bathroom. She opened the door and came out in a cloud of steam, her hair dripping wet. \"A man so handsome needs to be groped, I think.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Singh said, backing away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you get water on me—\"\n\n\"Too late,\" his wife laughed, darting forward to grab him. She hugged him tight around the waist, her wet hair on his shoulder.\n\n\"Nat,\" he said, meaning to complain but finding himself unable to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her towel had come loose when she grabbed him, and in the mirror he could see the gentle curve of her hip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He put a hand on it and squeezed. \"I'm all wet now.\"\n\n\"You'll dry,\" she said, reaching behind him to pinch his butt. The newly promoted captain in the Laconian navy gave an undignified yelp." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt another buzz in his wrist, and for a moment Singh thought the pad on his arm was disapproving of all this tomfoolery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pushed his sleeve back again, and saw that it was just a notification that his car would arrive in twenty minutes.\n\n\"Car will be here soon,\" he said with regret, burying his nose in his wife's wet hair for a moment.\n\n\"And it's time to get Elsa up,\" Natalia agreed. \"It's your big day. You pick: wake the monster, or make breakfast?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll take monster duty this morning.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Be careful. She'll care even less about not messing up your clean new uniform,\" Natalia said as she pulled on a robe. \"Breakfast in ten, sailor.\"\n\nBut it took nearly fifteen minutes to drag Elsa out of her crib, change her diaper, get her dressed, and carry her into their kitchen. Natalia had already put plates piled high with pancakes and fresh apples on the table, and the smell of chai filled the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh's wrist buzzed, and he didn't need to look to know it was the five-minute warning for his car." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He strapped Elsa into her high chair and put the smallest plate of apple slices in front of her. She chortled and smacked her palm down onto them, spraying droplets of juice everywhere.\n\n\"Will you have time to eat?\" Natalia asked.\n\n\"I'm afraid I won't,\" Singh said, pulling up his sleeve and scrolling through the day's schedule." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Monster just did not want to put pants on today.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think her single biggest disagreement with preschool is their pants requirement,\" Natalia said with a smile. Then she glanced down at the meeting schedule on his arm and sobered. \"What time should we expect you?\"\n\n\"My meeting is scheduled for fifteen minutes at nine a.m., and I don't have anything else today, so ...\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He did not say, but I'm meeting with High Consul Winston Duarte, so I control nothing about when the meeting begins or ends." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Natalia said, then kissed his cheek. \"I'll be at the lab today until at least six, but your father agreed to monster duty if you can't pick her up from school.\"\n\n\"Fine, fine,\" Singh said. \"Until then.\"\n\nThe dark naval staff car pulled up outside." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh paused at the mirror by the door to give himself one final inspection, and wipe away an errant bit of Monster's breakfast shrapnel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Natalia was at the table now, trying to eat and also get some of Monster's own food in her mouth and off her shirt.\n\nDread welled up from his belly, swamping his heart. He had to swallow half a dozen times before he could speak. He loved his wife and their child more than he could say, and leaving them was always a little difficult." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was different. Generations of navy men had faced mornings like this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Meetings with superiors that heralded change. Surely, if they'd faced it, he could too.\n\nThe imperial view, a history professor at the Naval Academy once said, is the long view. Individuals build empires because they want their names to echo through time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They build massive constructs of stone and steel so that their descendants will remember the people who created the world that they only live in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were buildings on Earth that were thousands of years old, sometimes the only remaining evidence of empires that thought they would last forever. Hubris, the professor had called it. When people build, they are trying to make an aspiration physical. When they die, their intentions are buried with them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All that's left is the building." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While Martian intentions had never been explicitly imperialist, they had a fair bit of this same hubris. They'd built their tunnels and warrens as temporary living space in the stone of Mars, then gotten down to the generations-spanning work of making the surface habitable.\n\nBut their first generation died with the work still unaccomplished. And the generation after that, and so on, child following parent, until the children only knew the tunnels and didn't think they were so bad." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They lost sight of the larger dream because it had never been their dream." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once the creators and their intentions were gone, only the tunnels were left.\n\nAs Singh looked out at the capital city of Laconia whizzing past the car's window, he saw the same masses of material and intention. Giant stone-and-steel buildings designed to house the government of an empire that didn't exist yet. More infrastructure than Laconia on its own would need for centuries." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their columns and spires called back millennia of Terran and Martian culture, and remade them as a vision of a peculiarly human future." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the dreams of empire failed, they'd just be big buildings that had never been used.\n\nIt was an open secret among the high-ranking officers of Laconia's military that the high consul's labs had made incredible breakthroughs in human modification. One of their most important projects was dramatic life extension for the high consul himself. The captain that Singh had served under as a lieutenant had received an official reprimand for getting drunk and referring to the high consul as \"our own little god-king.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But Singh understood why that particular project for the high consul was so important." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Empires, like buildings, are aspirations made material. When the creator dies, the intention is lost.\n\nAnd so the creator couldn't be permitted to die.\n\nIf the rumors were true, and the high consul's scientists were in fact working to make him deathless, they had a chance to create the sort of empire history had only dreamed of." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stability of leadership, continuity of purpose, and a single lasting vision." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which was all well and good, but didn't explain why he had been summoned to a personal meeting with Duarte.\n\n\"We're almost there, sir,\" his driver said.\n\n\"I'm ready,\" Singh lied.\n\nThe State Building of Laconia was the imperial palace in all but name." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was by far the largest structure in the capital city." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was both the seat of their government and the personal dwelling space of the high consul and his daughter. After passing through a rigorous security screening administered by soldiers in state-of-the-art Laconian power armor, Singh was finally ushered inside for the very first time.\n\nIt was a little disappointing.\n\nHe wasn't sure what he'd expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A ceiling fifty feet high, maybe, held up by rows of massive stone pillars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A red velvet carpet leading to a towering golden throne. Ministers and servants lining up for a word with the high consul and plotting intrigues in whispers. Instead, there was a foyer and waiting area lined with comfortable chairs, easy access to restrooms, and a wall monitor displaying the security rules inside the State Building. It all seemed very mundane. Very governmental." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A short, smiling man with a red jacket and black pants entered through the room's largest door and gave an almost imperceptible bow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Captain Santiago Singh,\" he said, not making it a question.\n\nSingh stood up, only barely stopping himself from snapping out a salute. The man didn't wear a military uniform or any rank insignia, but they were inside the home of their ruler. It carried a weight beyond protocol." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir. I am Captain Singh.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The high consul hopes you will join him in the residence for breakfast,\" the little man said.\n\n\"It would be my honor, of course.\"\n\n\"Follow me,\" said the little man as he exited through the same large door. Singh followed.\n\nIf the foyer of the State Building was underwhelming, the rest of the interior was positively utilitarian." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Corridors lined with office space radiated off in every direction." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The halls bustled with activity, people in suits and military uniforms and the same red jackets and black pants as his guide moving about. Singh made sure to salute any time he saw a rank that required it and tried to ignore everyone else. The whole human population of Laconia were the original colonists, Duarte's fleet, and the children born there in the last few decades. He hadn't imagined there were this many people on the planet he hadn't met." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His little guide moved through as though he didn't see any of them and kept his same vague smile the entire time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After a ten-minute walk through a maze of corridors and chambers, they arrived at a set of glass double doors that looked out on a large patio. His guide opened one door and ushered him through, then disappeared back into the building.\n\n\"Captain Singh!\" High Consul Winston Duarte, absolute military ruler of Laconia, called out. \"Please join me. Kelly, make sure the captain has a plate.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another man in a red jacket and black pants, this one apparently named Kelly, set a place for him, then pulled out his chair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh sat, dizzy and grateful he wouldn't have to try to keep from swaying on his feet.\n\n\"High Consul, I—\" Singh started, but Duarte waved him off.\n\n\"Thank you for joining me this morning. And I think we can use our military titles here. Admiral Duarte, or just Admiral is fine.\"\n\n\"Of course, Admiral.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kelly had placed a single egg in an egg cup in front of him, and was now using tongs to put a sweet roll next to it on his plate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh had eaten an egg before, so while it was a luxury, it wasn't a total mystery. The table was small—it would have been crowded with four diners—and overlooked a large patch of what looked like lovingly tended terrestrial grass. A girl of maybe twelve years sat in the middle of the grass playing with a puppy. Real chickens and Terran dogs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Unlike Noah's ark in the old story, the ships of the first fleet had carried only a few species of animal to Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Seeing evidence of two in the same sitting was a little overwhelming. Singh tapped on the shell of his egg with his spoon to crack it, and tried to keep his bearings.\n\nAdmiral Duarte gestured at Singh's coffee cup, and Kelly poured for him. \"I apologize,\" Duarte said, \"for pulling you away from your family so early this morning.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I serve at the pleasure of the high consul,\" Singh said automatically." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, yes,\" the admiral replied. \"Natalia, right? And one daughter?\"\n\n\"Yes, Admiral. Elsa. She is nearly two now.\"\n\nAdmiral Duarte smiled out at the girl in the grass and nodded." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's a good age. Not the toilet-training part, but she's sleeping through the night?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Most nights, sir.\"\n\n\"It's fascinating to watch their minds start to grow around then. Learning language. Learning to identify themselves as a separate entity. The word no becomes magical.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Singh said.\n\n\"Don't pass up trying that pastry,\" the admiral said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Our baker's a genius.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh nodded and took a bite. The pastry was too sweet for him, but the bitter black coffee paired with it perfectly.\n\nAdmiral Duarte smiled at him, then said, \"Tell me about Captain Iwasa.\"\n\nThe bite of sweet roll he'd just swallowed turned into a slug of lead in his belly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Captain Iwasa had been stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged based on a report Singh had given to the admiralty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If his former commanding officer had been a personal friend of the high consul, Singh could be witnessing the end of his career. Or worse.\n\n\"I'm sorry, I—\" Singh started.\n\n\"It's not an interrogation,\" Duarte said, his voice as soft as warm flannel. \"I know all the facts about Captain Iwasa. I want to hear your version. You filed the original dereliction-of-duty report. What moved you to do that?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "One of his professors at the military academy had once said, When there's no cover, the only sensible thing to do is move through the field of fire as quickly as possible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh sat up straight in his chair, doing his best version of standing at attention from the sitting position.\n\n\"Sir, yes sir. Captain Iwasa failed to enforce the newly delivered naval code of military conduct, and then when asked a direct question about those guidelines, he lied to Admiral Goyer, his commanding officer, in my presence. I sent a memo to Admiral Goyer that disputed Captain Iwasa's statements.\"\n\nDuarte eyed him speculatively, no hint of anger on his face. That didn't mean anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From all accounts, the high consul was not a demonstrative man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The revised code that made dereliction of duty an offense punishable by being sent to the Pen?\" Admiral Duarte said.\n\n\"Yes, sir. Captain Iwasa felt this punishment to be excessive, and spoke openly about it. When two Marines were found sleeping on duty, he gave them administrative punishments instead.\"\n\n\"So you went over his head to Admiral Goyer.\"\n\n\"Sir, no sir,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He lowered his eyes to look directly into the high consul's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I witnessed an officer lying to his superior in response to a direct question about his chain of command. I notified that officer, as was my duty.\"\n\nSingh stopped, but Duarte said nothing. Just kept looking at him like he was a particularly interesting bug pinned to a corkboard. Then, as if it were a casual question, \"Did you dislike Iwasa?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If I may speak frankly, sir,\" Singh asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Duarte nodded, he continued. \"Operating within the code of military conduct is the sworn duty of every officer and enlisted man. It is the instrument by which we are a military and not just a lot of people with spaceships and guns. When an officer shows a disregard for it, they are no longer an officer. When Iwasa demonstrated a repeated and deliberate failure to uphold that code, he was no longer my commanding officer. I merely informed the next person up the chain of command of this fact.\"\n\n\"Do you feel now, knowing what the consequences to Iwasa were, that you did the right thing?\" the admiral asked. His face and voice betrayed no opinion on the topic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He might as well have been asking if Singh wanted sugar." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, Admiral,\" Singh said. \"Duty isn't a buffet where you pick what you want and ignore the rest. Provisional loyalty isn't loyalty. Captain Iwasa's duty was to enforce the code of conduct on those in his command. When he lied about failing to do so, it was my duty to notify his commanding officer.\"\n\nThe high consul nodded. It could have meant anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you miss him?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I do. He was my first commanding officer when I left the academy. He taught me everything I needed to know. I miss him every day,\" Singh replied, and realized he wasn't exaggerating. Iwasa's fatal flaw had turned out to be his affection for those in his command. It made him an easy man to love.\n\n\"Captain,\" Duarte said. \"I have a new assignment for you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh stood up, nearly knocking his chair over, and saluted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Captain Santiago Singh, reporting for duty, High Consul.\" He knew it was ridiculous, but something about the entire conversation was surreal and ridiculous, and in the moment it just felt like the right thing to do. Duarte had the grace to treat it with respect.\n\n\"The first phase of our project is coming to an end. We are now moving on to phase two. I am giving you command of the Gathering Storm. The details of your orders are in the captain's safe on that vessel.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text.\n\nAuthor style: James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had been in his twenties when the Earth Navy kicked him out. He looked back at that version of himself with the kind of fondness and indulgence that people usually extended to puppies that were overly proud of themselves for scaring off a squirrel. He'd signed up to work ice-hauling runs with a sense of turning his back on the whole corrupt, authoritarian, cynical history of his species. Even the name of the company he'd signed on with—Pur 'n' Kleen—had seemed rich with meaning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A promise of integrity and purity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If it was also a little cartoonish, it hadn't felt like that at the time.\n\nBack then, the Belt had been the rugged frontier. The UN and the Martian Congressional Republic, the political gods of a solar system more isolated than an ancient island in the middle of the ocean. Belters had been a structural underclass fighting to have people on the inner planets even notice when they were dying." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now humanity was scattered to more than thirteen hundred new solar systems, and Earth might not even be the most hospitable planet for human life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anytime a few like-minded people could put together the resources for a colony and the fees for passage through the ring gates, the seeds of a new society could be sown out there among the stars. Even the most populous of the new systems only had eight or ten cities on a whole planet. It was a massive parallel experiment in the possible forms of human collective, a chance to remake the structure of culture itself. But somehow, it all wound up seeming very familiar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What makes you people believe you have the right to dictate trade between sovereign states?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Governor Payne Houston of Freehold demanded. \"We are a free people. And despite what your masters on Medina may think, we do not answer to you.\"\n\nWhen Houston had come into the meeting, he'd already been pretty worked up, and Holden hadn't had much opportunity to talk him back down to a meaningful, productive level of raising hell just yet. Instead, he watched and listened and tried to decide whether the governor's anger was based more in fear, frustration, or narcissism." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fear, Holden could understand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Frustration would have made sense too. All the planets connected by the ring gate had their own biomes, their own biologies, their own unexpected obstacles for someone trying to carve out an environmental niche for humans. Being able to trade for what they needed was quite often the difference between life and death. Anyone who thought they and the people they cared about were being arbitrarily blocked from the things they needed would be scared down to their bones." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The more the governor went on, though, the more it seemed like the guy was just an asshole." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Freehold is an independent sovereign state,\" Houston said, slapping his table with an open palm. \"We will engage in trade with willing partners, and we will not pay tribute to parasites like you, sir. We will not.\"\n\nThe council chamber was built like a courtroom, with Holden and Bobbie sitting at a low table and the governor and his eleven cabinet members above them looking down like a panel of judges. Their table was a dark-stained wood analog." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Windows behind Houston and his cohort silhouetted them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Interior design as a political tool. The sidearms that all the Freeholders wore underscored it.\n\nHe glanced over at Bobbie. Her expression was calm, but her gaze shifted between the people looking down at them, then to the guards at the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Calculating who she'd take out first, how she'd disarm them, where to take cover, how to escape." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was something Bobbie did the way other people knitted.\n\n\"So here's the thing,\" Holden said as Houston took a breath. \"You think I'm here to negotiate with you. I'm not.\"\n\nHouston scowled. \"There is a right given by God to all free men, and we will have no tyrants or kings—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I understand why you're confused,\" Holden said, his voice louder, but still friendly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You see a gunship coming out. Takes weeks to get here. You think this must be something where we're expecting a lot of give and take. Light delay would make back and forth awkward, so it makes sense to have someone right here breathing your air, right? You say something, we say something. No lag. But the thing is, the Transport Union has already decided what's going to happen. We aren't mediators. We're not looking for an amicable solution.\"\n\nThe woman to Houston's left put a hand on his arm. Houston leaned back. That was interesting. Holden shifted a little, speaking to the space between the two of them to include her in the conversation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're all adults here,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We don't need to pretend with each other. The union sent us here in person because they don't want to have to do this kind of thing over and over with a bunch of other colonies. They wanted to make sure that everyone else was watching this situation. Especially your friends and trading partners on Auberon.\"\n\n\"Political theater,\" Houston said with contempt in his voice. Which was kind of funny coming from a guy sitting a meter and a half higher than he needed to.\n\n\"Sure,\" Holden said. \"Anyway, here's the thing. You sent a ship through the gates without authorization. You endangered the other ships using the gates—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Houston huffed and waved a dismissive hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"—and there are consequences for that kind of thing,\" Holden went on. \"We're just here to tell you what they are.\"\n\nBobbie shifted her chair, turning it out so her legs were free. It might have been a casual gesture, except that it wasn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden ran his hands over the top of the table." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whatever it was made from wasn't wood, but it had the same hardness and subtle texture. Houston and his cabinet were quiet. He had their attention now.\n\nHolden needed to decide what to do with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Follow instructions or fudge it a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There are two ways this can go,\" he said, fudging a little. \"The first one is the union cuts off gate access to Freehold for three years.\"\n\n\"We aren't self-sustaining yet,\" one of the other cabinet members said. \"You're talking about a death sentence for three hundred people.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's a decision you folks made when you sent your unauthorized ship through the gates,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or maybe you can find some way to up the timetable. Get a way to feed people sooner. That's up to you. But for three years, any ship going in or out of the Freehold gate gets killed without warning. No exceptions. Communications in and out of the gate are jammed. You're on your own. Or, option two is Governor Houston comes with us for trial and probably just a whole lot of jail time.\"\n\nHouston snorted. His expression looked like he'd taken a bite of something rotten. The other people on the bench were less demonstrative. Freehold was a colony of pretty good poker faces." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You forget the third option,\" Houston said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Being the ambassador of tyranny is a job with risks, Captain Holden. Very. Real. Risks.\"\n\n\"Okay, so let's do the math on that,\" Holden said. \"We're here, and there are a dozen of you up there and four guards at the doors—\"\n\n\"Six,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Six guards at the doors,\" Holden said, not missing a beat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you just look at the hundred or so meters around this building, we're totally outnumbered and outgunned. But if you expand that to half a klick out, I have a gunship. My gunship has PDCs. It has a rail gun. It has twenty torpedoes. Hell, it's got an Epstein drive that can put out a plume that would glass this whole settlement if we pointed it at the right angle.\"\n\n\"So force,\" Houston said, shaking his head. \"Taxation always comes at the end of a gun.\"\n\n\"I thought of it more as an argument against shooting ambassadors,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're leaving now and going back to our ship. Twelve hours after we get there, we're taking off. If we have Governor Houston here on board, you can start scheduling ships with the union again. If not, we'll send someone back in three years to check in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden stood up, Bobbie following his lead so closely that she was on her feet before him. Houston leaned forward, his left hand on the table and his right at his side like it was resting on the butt of a gun. Before the governor could say anything, Holden started for the door. The guards watched him step forward, their eyes cutting from him to Bobbie, then up to Houston." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In Holden's peripheral vision, Bobbie settled a little deeper into her legs, her center of gravity solidifying." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was humming softly, but he couldn't quite pick out the melody.\n\nAs they reached the door, the guards stood aside, and Holden started breathing again. A short corridor to the anteroom, then out to the dirty street. He eased his hand terminal out of his pocket as they walked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex picked up the connection as soon as he put in the request." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How's it going out there?\" Alex asked.\n\n\"We're on our way back now,\" Holden said. \"Make sure the airlock's open when we get there.\"\n\n\"You coming in hot?\" Alex asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Copy that. I'll have the welcome mat out and the PDCs warmed up.\"\n\n\"Thank you for that,\" Holden said and dropped the connection.\n\n\"You really think they'll be dumb enough to make a play?\" Bobbie asked.\n\n\"I don't want to bet my life on other people being smart,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Voice of experience?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've been hurt before.\"\n\nFreehold was the name of the town and the planet and the solar system. Holden couldn't say which had come first. The town nestled in a valley between two ridge mountains." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A soft breeze smelled faintly of acetate and mint, by-products of whatever chemistry the local biosphere had figured out for its life cycles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sunlight was subtly redder than Holden expected, making the shadows seem blue and giving the sense of permanent twilight. Or maybe dawn. A flock of local bird-analogs flew overhead in a V, their wide, transparent wings buzzing in an eerie harmony. It was a beautiful planet in its way. The gravity was a little less than half a g—more than Mars, less than Earth—and the planetary tilt and spin made the daylight just eight hours and change, the night a little over nine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two minor moons were tide-locked to a big one almost a third the mass of the planet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The large moon even had a thin atmosphere, but nothing lived there. Not yet, anyway. If Freehold made it another few generations, someone would probably put another little town up there too, if only to get away from the locals. That seemed to be the human pattern—reach out to the unknown and then make it into the sort of thing you left in the first place. In Holden's experience, humanity's drive out into the universe was maybe one part hunger for adventure and exploration to two parts just wanting to get the hell away from each other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was always strange seeing the Rocinante on her belly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship had been designed to rest that way when it came down the gravity well. It didn't do any damage. It just seemed wrong. The PDCs that studded her side shifted as they got closer, restless and active." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The crew airlock stood open, a length of ladder leading down to the ground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos sat with his legs dangling over the lip of the open airlock door, a rifle resting across his thighs. Holden was a little surprised that Clarissa wasn't there with him. Bobbie waved as they drew close, and Amos lifted his hand in response without taking his eyes off the trail behind them.\n\nHolden went up first, then turned, standing between the ladder and Amos while Bobbie clambered up to them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Back toward the town, four people stood in a clump, not coming close, but clearly watching." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At this distance, Holden wasn't sure if they'd been at the meeting or if they were new. Bobbie hit the panel, and the ladder retracted into the ship.\n\n\"How'd it go?\" Amos asked, levering himself to his feet and stepping back from the outer door.\n\nBobbie cycled the door closed, raising her voice over the sound of the servos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Back with no shots fired. I count that as a win.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The inner door opened, and Amos stowed the rifle in a locker that their weird orientation made look like a drawer. Holden walked along the wall, heading toward the ops deck. Which should have been up, but was, for the moment, to the left.\n\n\"I'm going to be glad when we're out of here,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos smiled, the expression amiable and empty as ever, and followed after." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi and Alex were sitting in their crash couches, playing a complex combat-simulation game that they'd picked up in the last couple of years. Holden was reassured to see an exterior feed of the path to the town on both of their screens. Whatever else they were doing to pass the time, everyone was keeping their eyes on the town. Just in case.\n\n\"Hey, there, Captain,\" Alex said, his drawl a little thicker than usual." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We ready to pull up stakes and mosey on out of here?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're waiting twelve hours,\" Holden said, sitting in his couch. The gimbals didn't shift. The fixed gravity of the planet meant all the couches were locked in place, their workstations rotated to the correct orientation. Naomi twisted to look at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Twelve hours? For what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I may have renegotiated the deal a little,\" he said. \"I said if they turned over the governor to us for trial, there wouldn't be a quarantine.\"\n\nNaomi lifted an eyebrow. \"Does the union know about this?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I figured I'd send them a message when I got back here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think Drummer'll be okay with it?\"\n\n\"Cap changing the rules?\" Amos said with a shrug. \"That's just a day that ends in y far as I can tell. If she didn't leave some wiggle room for it, that's her mistake.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not going to hold the whole colony responsible for what a few administrators did,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's collective punishment, and it's not the kind of thing that the good guys should do.\"\n\n\"At least not without twelve hours' warning?\" Naomi said.\n\nHolden shrugged. \"This is the window they have to make a choice. If they have the chance to do something different and they still double down, I feel a little better about closing them off. At least we'll have tried.\"\n\n\"'A little better' meaning 'not totally guilt-ridden.'\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not totally,\" Holden said, lying back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The gel was cool against the back of his head and shoulders. \"Still don't love the whole cutting-people-off-from-supplies-they-need thing.\"\n\n\"Should have agreed to run the union when you had the chance,\" Alex said. \"Then it could all be the way you wanted.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It'd be pretty to think so anyway,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Twelve hours. A night and part of a day, for Freehold. And not quite enough time for a message to go from the Roci to Medina to the office of the president of the Transport Union and come back again. If Drummer threw a fit, they'd still be burning for Medina before her message came through. He'd have given the Freeholders more time to think things through if he could have." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But lightspeed was lightspeed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the irony of making threats while having mass. The messages and voices, culture and conversation, could move so much more quickly than even the fastest ship. In the best case, it would have made persuasion and argument much more important. Moving ideas across the gap between planets was easy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Moving objects was hard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it meant that whoever was on the other side had to be listening and willing to let their minds be changed. For all the other times, it was gunships and threats, same as ever.\n\nHolden was asleep when the answer finally came.\n\n\"Wake up,\" Naomi said. \"We've got visitors.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wiped his eyes, swung his feet to the wall that was now temporarily the floor, ran his hands through his hair, and looked blearily at the screen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A crowd of people were outside the ship. He recognized a couple of the faces from the council meeting. And in the middle of them, Governor Houston was hog-tied in a wide, gray ceramic wheelbarrow. The relief that poured through Holden's body was only tempered a little bit by the prospect of months on the burn with the disgraced governor on board." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He opened a connection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is Captain Holden of the Rocinante. Hang tight. We'll be right out.\"\n\n\"Be careful,\" Naomi said. \"Just because this looks like one thing, that doesn't mean it can't be something different.\"\n\n\"Right,\" he said, opening a connection to ops. \"Alex? You there?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He's sleeping,\" Clarissa answered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have the PDCs warmed up, and Amos and Bobbie are on their way to the airlock. If it's an ambush, it will be a very unsuccessful one.\"\n\n\"Thank you for that,\" Holden said, walking along the side of the lift shaft toward the airlock. The mixed voices of Bobbie and Amos already echoed down toward him.\n\n\"Give the sign if you need me to do more than watch,\" Clarissa said, and cut the connection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When the airlock opened and they lowered the ladder, Holden went first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A woman with sharp features and thick gray-black hair pulled back in a bun stepped out toward him.\n\n\"Captain Holden,\" she said. \"I'm Interim Governor Semple Marks. We're here to accede to your government's demands.\"\n\n\"Thank you for that,\" Holden said as Bobbie slid down the ladder behind him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos followed, his shotgun clanking as he came." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're lodging a formal complaint with the union about this infringement on our sovereignty,\" Marks said. \"This should have been handled internally in Freehold.\"\n\n\"I'll let you take that up with the union,\" Holden said. \"Thank you for being willing to bend on this one. I didn't want to quarantine your system.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce 4 sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer didn't want to be awake, but she was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The couch was built for the two of them, Saba and her. Acceleration gel over a frame designed to give them freedom to spoon while People's Home, first and largest of the void cities, was spun up or under gentler thrust or to divide them if they went into an unexpected hard burn while they were asleep. Balancing to keep from shifting the couch and troubling Saba, she checked the system console in the wall nearest her bedside. It was still two hours before she needed to get up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not long enough for a full sleep cycle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not short enough to ignore. She was, by some measures, the most influential woman in thirteen hundred worlds, but it didn't fix insomnia.\n\nSaba shifted in his sleep and muttered something she couldn't make out. Drummer put a hand on his back, petting down his spine, not sure if she hoped to quiet him back to sleep or wake him up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He picked the former, snuggling himself down into the gel the way animals in their nests had been doing since before humanity had been more than an upstart hamster trying to avoid the dinosaurs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She smiled in the darkness and tried not to be disappointed. She needed to pee, but if she got up now, it would wake Saba for certain, and then she'd feel bad. She could suffer a little instead. People's Home muttered around her like it was glad to have her back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were ways that she didn't have a home anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hadn't since she'd accepted the presidency. Their quarters on Medina near the administration levels. The captain's cabin of Saba's ship, the Malaclypse. Back before she'd become the leader of the Transport Union, they'd been enough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now she had more space devoted to her than she would ever see." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like a palace minced and scattered across light-years. Medina Station, Ganymede, Ceres, Pallas, Iapetus, Europa. The Vanderpoele, which was at her disposal as long as she held office. TSL-5 had quarters set aside for her, as would all the transfer stations when they were built." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And the three void cities that made up the spine of the Belters' dominion: Independence and Guard of Passage and People's Home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At rest, the central core of People's Home stayed on the float, seventy decks of permanent facilities and infrastructure that wore the drum section like a cloak. The dock at one end, the drive at the other. Magnetic fields more powerful than a maglev track held the core separate from the drum levels and corrected when the drum spun up, holding the core stationary while the body shifted from thrust gravity to spin. The rooms and hallways in the drum were fashioned to shift, their floors orthogonal to the direction of thrust when the drive was on, their feet pointing down to the stars at a constant tenth of a g when they were at rest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Enough to make a consistent up and down, but light enough for even the most float-adapted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not a ship, but a city that had never suffered a gravity well.\n\nSaba yawned and stretched, his eyes still shut. Drummer ran a hand over his wire-brush hair, a little more insistently this time. His eyes opened and his wicked little half smile flickered on and then off again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you up?\" she asked, trying to keep her voice soft, but really wanting the answer to be yes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Thank God,\" she said, and hauled herself up off the couch and went to the head. By the time she was back, Saba was standing naked at the little tea dispenser that had been provided for the exclusive use of the president. Saba had been with her for almost a decade now, and if his age showed a little in the softness of his belly and the roundness of his face, he was still a very pretty man." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sometimes, seeing him like this, she wondered whether she was aging as gracefully." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hoped so, or if not, that he didn't notice.\n\n\"Another beautiful morning in the corridors of power, ah?\" he said.\n\n\"Budget hearings in the morning, trade approval in the afternoon. And Carrie Fisk and her fucking Association of Worlds.\"\n\n\"And fish on Friday,\" he said, turning to hand her a bulb of hot tea." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As little time as People's Home spent on the float, she might as well have had Earther cups." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But she never would. \"What's an Association of Worlds?\"\n\n\"That's the question, isn't it?\" Drummer said. \"Right now it's a couple dozen colonies that feel like I'd listen to them better if they spoke with one voice.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are they right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He took another bulb for himself and leaned against the wall. He had a weirdly intense way of listening. More than his eyes, it was what made him pretty. Drummer sat on the couch, scowled at nothing in particular and everything in general." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" she said at last." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And so you don't like them?\"\n\n\"I don't dislike them,\" Drummer said and took a sip of her tea. It was green and flavored with honey and still just a little too hot. \"They've been around since Sanjrani, in one form or another. It's all been sternly worded press releases and political grandstanding.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And now?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sternly worded press releases, grandstanding, with occasional meetings,\" she said. \"But that actually means something. I didn't use to have to make room on the agenda for them. Now it seems like I do.\"\n\n\"What of Freehold?\"\n\n\"Auberon is more the issue,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There's talk that they're making progress toward a universal polypeptide cross-generator.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And what is that, when it's at home?\"\n\nIt was a mechanism for pouring whatever toxic, half-assed soup the biospheres of the scattered planets had come up with into one end of a machine and getting something that humanity could eat out the other. Which meant sometime in the next ten or fifteen years, the effective end of Sol system's monopoly on soil and farming substrates. And it meant Auberon was about to become the new superpower in the wide-flung paths of the human diaspora, provided that Earth and Mars didn't decide to fly a navy out through the gates and start the first interstellar war." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All assuming, of course, that the breakthrough wasn't vapor and tricks, which she wasn't ready to discount." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every great nation, they said, was founded on a knife and a lie.\n\n\"I'm not supposed to talk about that,\" she said. \"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it.\"\n\nSaba's face went hard for a moment, but he pushed it back into a smile again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hated it when she closed him out of things, but however much she trusted him—however much the union's security division had cleared him—he wasn't in the chain of authority." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer had spent too much of her life enforcing security protocols to ignore them now.\n\n\"The upshot is,\" she said, trying to bring him in enough to salve his feelings and still not say anything compromising, \"that Freehold is, among other things, a warning to Auberon not to get too cocky, and Carrie Fisk and the Association of Worlds is sniffing around to see if there's any opportunities in it for them. Including how far they can push me.\"\n\nSaba nodded and, to her mild disappointment, started to get dressed. \"So more palace intrigue, savvy sa?\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Comes down to that,\" Drummer said, apologizing and also being angry for apologizing, even if it was only by implication." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba saw the storm in her almost before she knew it was there. He stepped over to her, knelt at her feet, and put his head in her lap. She coughed out a laugh and patted his hair again. It was an obeisance that he didn't mean, and she knew it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He knew it too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But even if it didn't mean he was actually abasing himself before her, it still meant something.\n\n\"You should stay another night,\" she said.\n\n\"I shouldn't. I have crew and cargo and a reputation as a free man to maintain.\" The laughter in his voice pulled the sting a little bit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You should come back soon, then,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And stop hooking up with all the girls on Medina.\"\n\n\"I would never be unfaithful to you.\"\n\n\"Damned right you wouldn't,\" Drummer said, but there was laughter in her voice too now. Drummer knew that she wasn't an easy woman to love." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or even to work with." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There weren't many people in the vast span of the universe that could navigate her moods, but Saba was one of them. Was the best at it of anyone.\n\nThe system made its broken bamboo tock. Vaughn, making the first approach of the day." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Soon, there would be briefings and meetings and conversations off the record with people she liked or trusted or needed, but never all three at once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt Saba's sigh more than she heard it.\n\n\"Stay,\" she said.\n\n\"Come with me.\"\n\n\"I love you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Te amo, Camina,\" he said, and rose to his feet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And I will flitter off to Medina and back so quickly you'll hardly know I was gone.\"\n\nThey kissed once, and then he left, and the cabin seemed empty. Hollow as a bell. The system made another little tock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be there in five,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn replied.\n\nShe dressed, did her hair, and was in the office in slightly less than fifteen minutes, but Vaughn didn't chide her for it.\n\n\"What's up first today?\" she asked as he handed her a little cup of white kibble and sauce." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His hesitation was almost too small to notice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But only almost. \"Message came in from Captain Holden of the Rocinante.\"\n\n\"Sum it up?\"\n\nThe hesitation was more pronounced this time. \"Perhaps you should watch it, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The meeting room was on the outermost deck of the People's Home drum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Coriolis in the void city was trivial to anyone who'd spent time on a ring station, but outsiders who'd only known mass and acceleration gravity before still found it bothersome. The walls were a pearlescent gray, the table a veneer of blond bamboo over titanium that was bolted straight to the deck. Drummer sat at its head, seething. Most of the others around her—Emily Santos-Baca, Ahmed McCahill, Taryn Hong, and all the other representatives of the board and budget office—knew her well enough to gauge her mood and tread lightly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The poor man making the presentation had never met her before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's been a question of priorities,\" the man said. His name was Fayez Okoye-Sarkis, and he'd come to speak on behalf of some kind of nongovernmental, nonacademic group that pushed for science research. Chernev Institute, based out of Ganymede and Luna. \"Over the last decades—really since the bombardment of Earth—the vast, vast majority of research has been in increasing food yield and infrastructure. And mostly, it's been reverse engineering the technology that made things like the protomolecule and the ring station. Every planet we've been to has had artifacts and old technologies.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" Drummer said. Meaning Get on with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Okoye-Sarkis smiled like he was used to people finding him charming.\n\n\"When my wife was an undergraduate, back in the day,\" he said, \"her fieldwork involved tracking rodent species that had adapted to live in high-radiation zones. Old reactors and fission test sites. They had evolved to fit into environments that were specifically created. By humans. Well, we're those rodents now. We're adapting ourselves into spaces and environments that were left behind by the vanished species or groups of species that created all this. The changes in technology we've seen are immense, and they promise to be just the beginning.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Drummer said. Okoye-Sarkis took a drink of water from a bulb. The furrows in his forehead said he knew he was losing her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hopefully it would make him tighten the presentation up, skip the boring parts, and get to what he wanted so she could say no and get back to her job." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There has been a lot of speculation about what sort of beings built all the things we've found. Whether they were conscious individuals like us or some kind of hive mind. Whether they were one species in a community or a variety of interconnected species acting in concert. Whether—and I know this sounds weird—whether they had the same relationship to matter that we do. There's been a lot of great thought. Great theory. What there hasn't been is testing. The Chernev Institute wants to be the spearhead for a new generation of scientific research into the deepest questions that the ring gates embody. Who or what built them? What happened to those species between the time they launched Phoebe and the creation of the Sol gate? Did they leave records that we can translate and understand? Our belief is that somewhere in the systems on the far side of the gates or within the gates themselves, we will find something that acts like a kind of Rosetta stone. Something that places all the other discoveries in context. Our goal is to crack the present work in materials science, high- and low-energy physics, biology, botany, geology, even the philosophy of science wide open.\"\n\nDrummer leaned back in her chair, tilted her head. \"So ... you think the problem is that things aren't changing fast enough?\"\n\n\"Well, I think that progress is always better and more efficient when—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because it seems to me,\" Drummer interrupted, \"like we're on the ragged edge of being able to deal with what's already on our plate. I don't see how more growing pains are going to help us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is meant to help us with growing pains,\" the man said. He delivered the line with a certainty and authority that Drummer respected as a performance. He was a charismatic little shit. She saw why they'd sent him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To her left, Emily Santos-Baca cleared her throat in a way that might have meant nothing, but if it meant anything, it meant a lot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer was being an asshole. With a conscious effort, she pulled her irritation back.\n\n\"Fair enough,\" she said. \"And how does the union fit in with this?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There are several things that the Transport Union can do to help with the effort. The first being, of course, a contract to grant passage to Institute ships. We've got fieldwork proposals for sites on half a dozen planets whose preliminary surveys look most promising. But we have to get there first.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His grin was an invitation for her to smile back.\n\n\"That makes sense,\" Drummer said. His grin lost its edge.\n\n\"The other thing that we'd like to open a conversation about ... the Transport Union is in a singular position. The fruits of our work stand to benefit the union as much or more than anyone else in any system.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And so you'd like us to underwrite your work,\" Drummer said. \"Is that it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I had some more preliminaries that help lay the groundwork for why,\" Okoye-Sarkis said, \"but yes.\"\n\n\"You understand we aren't a government,\" Drummer said. \"We're a shipping union. We take things from one place to another and protect the infrastructure that lets us do that. Research contracts aren't really in our line.\"\n\nOkoye-Sarkis looked around the table, searching for sympathetic eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe he even found a few." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer knew that her reaction might have been different if the proposal had been made a day earlier. But Holden's message from Freehold ...\n\n\"The Institute respects that, ma'am,\" Okoye-Sarkis said. \"This is a very new project, but one I think has the potential to yield real benefits for everyone. I have a breakdown of our mission proposals I can leave with you and whoever in your staff wants to look at them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And the passage agreement. I don't mean to press, but we're still getting our backers together, and the fees—\"\n\n\"Give us your proposals,\" Drummer said. \"The board can go over them. Whatever conclusion they make about reducing or waiving the contract fees will be fine with me.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Madam President. That's wonderful. Thank you very much.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The scientist practically bowed himself out of the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer ticked off the last entry in her morning agenda. The afternoon's list looked just as long and at least equally irritating. Santos-Baca caught her eye and lifted an eyebrow.\n\n\"It's an interesting proposal. It should make for a lively debate,\" she said, meaning I see you just gave the board another issue to deal with." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's important that the board be involved in any serious decisions,\" Drummer said, meaning Suck it up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Emily Santos-Baca chuckled, and half against her will, Drummer smiled. But only for a few seconds.\n\nShe suffered through the small talk and pleasantries that came before and after all meetings like social plaque, then went back to her private office as soon as she could. Vaughn or one of his staff had left a bowl of soy pasta with mushrooms and a glass of wine for her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She started with the wine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pulled up the display of the full Sol system. Planets, void cities, stations. The asteroids swirling in the complex orbital dances where gravity and system geography made pools of stability. It looked like images of a snowstorm on Earth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd never seen snow to know how accurate that was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She cut out most of the data, simplifying it enough for a human eye to make sense of. There was People's Home, in Mars' orbit, but not near the planet. And there, nearer the ring gate, was Independence. She placed a query, and the Malaclypse appeared—a single bright-yellow dot that seemed like it was almost on top of People's Home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like the ship had never left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a failure of scale. That superposition of light in the display was a hundred thousand kilometers by now. More than the circumference of Earth twice over and getting larger every second. It was just that the unbridgeable distance between her and Saba was nothing compared to the vastness around them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here in the system, and then out in all the other systems beyond the gates." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even for a woman born to the void, it was overwhelming. And everyone seemed to want her to control it for them. To take responsibility for it all so that they could feel like someone, somewhere was in charge.\n\nShe'd never have said it aloud, but there was part of her that missed the way it had been in her youth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Belt had been the OPA." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Earth and Mars had been the enemy. That had seemed overwhelming at the time. It was only everything that had happened since then that made it seem small and manageable by comparison. A nostalgia for the age that had forged her into who she was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That had given her all the skills she'd needed and then changed into a place where half the time she felt like an impostor in her own clothes." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante was light-hours away through the gates. Light-centuries by more traditional paths. She pictured Holden as if he were across the table. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then started the recording.\n\n\"Captain Holden. I've gotten your status report about the situation on Freehold. Politely put, your proposed solution isn't going to work ...\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding 4 sentences." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Politely put,\" Drummer said on the screen, \"your proposed solution isn't going to work. What you're doing would fundamentally change the union. Jailing someone isn't a thing we do. We're a transport union, not a police force. We don't have prisons. We don't have prisoners. We don't have judges. We have contracts. When someone breaks the terms of the contract, we object. Then we levy fines and penalties. And then, if they still won't do what they said, we stop playing with them. What we don't do is arrest them.\"\n\n\"She sounds pissed,\" Alex said.\n\nHolden paused the message playback. The ops deck was dim, the way Alex liked it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air recycler clicked and the drive hummed through the bones of the ship, as familiar as silence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Holden said. \"That doesn't sound like her happy voice, does it?\"\n\nAlex scratched at his beard and gave Holden a sympathetic shrug. \"You want to finish that someplace private?\"\n\n\"I don't think that'll make it better.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden took the pause back off, and Drummer sprang back into motion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The other thing we don't do is let everyone who captains a ship on our registry make their own policies for the union as a whole. What you did on Freehold doesn't get to set precedent for what I have to do on every other system that decides to break the rules. I sent you out there with a mission to deliver a message. Not negotiate. Not broker deals. You were there because it was important for everyone else who's watching—and everyone's watching—to see what happens when you break the terms of your contract with the Transport Union.\"\n\n\"So it was theater first, and then an execution,\" Holden said to the screen. Not that she could hear him. Still, she paused, looked down, and gathered herself as if she had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My problem now,\" she said, \"is how to fix what you've broken with the least amount of damage. I will be consulting with the board and our legal counsel, and when we decide what needs to happen, I'll tell you. And you'll do it. I really hope this is clear enough that it doesn't confuse you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm getting the feeling she may not actually like me,\" Holden said.\n\n\"She's working herself up a little,\" Alex said. \"I wouldn't take it personally.\"\n\n\"For now,\" Drummer said, \"I am instructing you to proceed on to Medina with Governor Houston." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I will have someone ready to meet your ship when you dock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At that time, I will expect you to read a statement that I will put together for you. It may be an apology. It may be a clarification of the Transport Union rules. Whatever it is, I'll deliver it to you before you get there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And you'll recite it word for word." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't get to make the universe be what you want just by saying it, Holden. There are other people who live here too. Next time, show some respect.\"\n\nThe message ended. Alex blew out a long, slow breath. \"Well, maybe take it a little personally,\" he said as Holden closed the message out. The screen returned to its series of rolling system reports." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drive output, environmental stability, waste-heat management." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante doing what she did best. What she always did. The knot in his stomach sat there, quietly. He couldn't tell if it was anger or disappointment or something altogether else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex cracked his knuckles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You've got that look,\" he said.\n\n\"No, I don't,\" Holden said. \"I don't look like anything.\"\n\n\"She's got a point. There's a lot of colonies out there. If we're going to start hauling in bad guys from all of them ... well, there's a lot of mission creep in that. Telling them they can't come play if they won't play nice? It's rough, but it doesn't change what the Transport Union is, you know?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's more convenient,\" Holden said more sharply than he'd intended." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It is. No, I see that. I understand that it's easier to run the union if everything's in terms of who's violated the terms of the contract and withholding service and ... and give it a few more decades so the colonies are all able to support themselves, maybe cutting off trade will be a slap on the wrist. But the fact of the matter right now? It's a death sentence.\"\n\n\"Maybe,\" Alex said. \"What I heard about Bara Gaon Complex and Auberon, they're already—\"\n\n\"This isn't Bara Gaon Complex or Auberon. This is Freehold. If we cut them off for three years, the colony would collapse, and they'd all starve. So right now, yeah, she's saying we should kill them. Only she's phrasing it so it sounds like it's just the natural consequence of their choices and not also ours.\"\n\n\"Well, yeah,\" Alex said, but Holden wasn't done." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The words kept pushing their way out of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They didn't vote for Drummer,\" he said, tapping hard on the screen. \"They can't appeal her decisions, and she has the power of life and death over them. She needs to be held to a higher standard than 'whatever's most convenient.' And in every military service in history, when the commander gave an immoral command, it was the duty of the soldiers to disobey it.\"\n\n\"Every military service in history?\"\n\n\"All the good ones.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then a moment later, \"They didn't elect us either.\"\n\n\"Exactly! That's my point.\"\n\n\"Right,\" Alex said.\n\n\"So we're agreeing with each other.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes. But it still kind of sounds like we're fighting.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It does,\" Holden said, and leaned back. His crash couch shifted under him, hissing. The tightness in his gut hadn't lessened at all. He'd really hoped it would. \"Shit.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You think she's going to shut them out again? Put the quarantine back in place?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know,\" Holden said. \"Except if she was going to do that, she'd probably make us take Houston back to die with his friends. And it doesn't do great things for your political dog-and-pony show when the captain of one of your pet gunships starts refusing your orders. She'll have to give us this one.\"\n\n\"That sounds right,\" Alex agreed. \"Next one's going to be interesting, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were quiet for a moment. He knew Alex was going to speak even before the words came. Decades of living and working in the same place meant you never had to ask for someone to pass the salt at galley time. This was just the same." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you want, we could yell at each other some more.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thanks,\" Holden said. Alex nodded. It was an open invitation, and only half a joke. He consulted his gut again, then pulled himself up and headed for the lift. Alex didn't ask where he was going. He probably knew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The galley still had the ghost of the ginger tea Clarissa drank to soothe her stomach, but neither she nor Amos was there now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The food dispenser showed their supply levels, and he saw them without really seeing them. He'd lived on the Rocinante longer than anyplace else in his life. He knew the ship better than he knew himself.\n\nAs he walked down the corridor to their room, he tried to shrug off the bitterness and the anger." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sense of guilt that was rising in his throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even so, he knew she'd see it.\n\nNaomi was in the crash couch, her arm thrown over her eyes, but her breath didn't have the deepness of sleep. Her nap was already over or else it hadn't yet begun. She smiled, and the deep lines at the sides of her mouth were beautiful." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How bad is it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she asked even before she took her arm away.\n\nHolden took a deep breath and let it hiss out through his teeth. His gut didn't loosen, but it did shift. The anger turned toward something deeper." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Grief, maybe. He crossed his arms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She shifted to look at him. The gray at her temples had started appearing a few years ago, and was slowly spreading. There were lines at the corners of her eyes that the antiaging meds they all took now weren't going to rub away. They were beautiful, too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think it may be time for us to do something else,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"For me to do something else, anyway.\"\n\nShe shifted, the crash couch moving to adjust to her. If there had been a joke waiting, an impulse to lighten the moment, it died when she looked at him. Seeing her reacting to him told him how serious he really was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How bad he looked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Walk me through it,\" she said.\n\nHe gave her the basics—what Drummer had said, what he and Alex had talked about, what sense he'd made of it—and with every word, every phrase, he felt a confusion he hadn't known he was suffering start to clear. Just saying it to her, knowing that even if he got the words or thoughts wrong, she would hear the meaning underneath them, let him find his own clarity. The tightness in his gut didn't go away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When we were hunting down pirates, I could accept their surrender,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Even the Free Navy could have set down arms and we'd have arrested them. But now I'm working for a bureaucratic system that's willing to kill people as a matter of policy. I don't feel like I'm enforcing rules, I feel like an executioner, and ... I don't think I can do it.\"\n\nNaomi shifted, making room for him on the crash couch. He lay down beside her. The couch adjusted to their combined mass." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She made a low sound, part hum and part sigh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tough to do our jobs, then.\"\n\n\"These colonies? They're all dependent on the Transport Union, and maybe they won't always be. But until they're self-sustaining, they should have a voice in how the union makes the rules. How it enforces them. They didn't elect Drummer.\"\n\n\"They didn't elect any of them. Walker, Sanjrani, Pa.\"\n\n\"The others weren't cutting off trade. Drummer is. And yes, I know. Looking at it, this was probably inevitable. Maybe it's a miracle it took this long to happen. But now it has happened, and ...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And when one thing changes, other things change too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A voice came from the galley. Bobbie, talking to someone—Alex or Amos or Clarissa. He didn't hear the response, but Bobbie laughed a little at it. The knot in his gut grew heavier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I can put out a press release,\" he said, and the words seemed to sink him deeper into the gel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get the message out to all the colonies about what Drummer wants to do, why I think it's wrong. Try to lead some kind of ... I don't know, reform coalition. Maybe talk to the Association of Worlds, see if they want to take it on.\"\n\n\"Big fight to pick,\" Naomi said, neither approving nor disapproving. Just saying it because it was true.\n\n\"It'll mean grounding the Roci or keeping to one system for a while. There's a lot of trade between Earth and Mars, still. Ganymede. Ceres. Maybe there are some colony worlds with enough infrastructure in place that we could find a niche there. Or make one. Or I could tell a few people what's going on—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They already know,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Drummer sent us out here to make a statement. Everyone's already watching. Nothing you've said isn't already on news and discussion feeds all around the colonies.\"\n\n\"So maybe I could let someone else take point on this battle,\" he said, closing his eyes. \"Just get some in-system contracts and see what happens. It's important. But ... I don't know. But I'm tired. Too tired to fight this one.\"\n\n\"Or.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He opened his eyes, turned to his side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her head was tilted the way it was when she hid behind her hair, only without the hiding. Her mouth tensed. Her eyes met his.\n\n\"You remember when we first got the Roci?\" she said. \"We were on the run from, oh, I think everyone? Flying this stolen ship. You asked if we wanted to sell her, split the money, and all of us take an early retirement.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He chuckled. \"She was worth more back then.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Retirement' meant more years back then too,\" she said. She wasn't laughing. \"What if this isn't a decision you need to make for everyone?\"\n\n\"Meaning?\"\n\n\"We both know Alex's going to die in that pilot's chair. Bobbie's at home here. Clarissa's health isn't great. And I don't know, but if she decides to try a skilled-nursing facility on Ceres or something, I get the feeling Amos may go with her.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden let that idea sink in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't understand the bond between Amos and Clarissa except that it was fierce and platonic and had lasted through years. If it was love, it didn't look like any version he'd ever experienced, but it didn't look like anything else either. He ran his mind over the idea of Amos still on the Rocinante without Clarissa. He'd never considered it before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a melancholy prospect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, maybe,\" Holden said. Then, a moment later, \"Yeah.\"\n\n\"We're getting up to the same age Fred was when he stroked out on a burn. And you've been on daily anticancer meds for more than half of your life now. It doesn't matter how good they are, that's going to take a toll on your system. Leave you a little more fragile. So the other thing we can do? Sell our shares. Head down to Titan, pick a resort, and enjoy our retirement.\"\n\nNo, Holden thought. No, I will never leave this place and these people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This is my home, and no matter what the dangers and threats and fights are, I will stand this ground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This is where I belong. Where we all belong.\n\nOnly what came spilling out of his mouth was \"God, that sounds wonderful. Let's do that.\"\n\nNaomi leaned forward, her brows furrowed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Really? Because I've got a half dozen other arguments I've been working on for why it's not a terrible idea.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh yeah, hold on to those,\" Holden said. \"I'm going to flip my opinion back and forth for weeks. But right now, living in a dome on Titan with you sounds like the single best idea anyone has ever had.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't feel like it made you less of a man?\"\n\n\"Nope.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That you were letting the universe down by not taking on every fight there was? Because I worked on that one for a while. I've got some good lines practiced up.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Keep 'em,\" Holden said. \"You'll need them later. But right now, I'm sold.\"\n\nHer face relaxed. He could still see the woman she'd been when they were on the Canterbury. Time and age, sorrow and laughter had taken some of the curve out of her cheek, left her skin a little looser at her neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't young anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe you could only really see that someone was beautiful when they'd grown into themselves. He moved to kiss her—\n\n—and drifted off the crash couch.\n\nWith the thrust suddenly cut, leaning up had pushed him into the cabin, twisting as he floated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He reached back with his foot automatically, trying to hook it into one of the holds, but the ship was flipping, so it took a couple tries." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi had already braced herself on the frame of the crash couch.\n\n\"Well,\" Holden said. \"I guess Drummer changed her mind about letting Houston come to Medina. That's disappointing.\"\n\n\"Weird that Alex wouldn't sound the alert first, though,\" Naomi said, and then tapped her system console. \"Alex? Everything all right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was about to ask you,\" the pilot said through the speaker." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have a change of plan?\"\n\nHolden pulled his hand terminal out of his pocket. \"Amos? Did you just do a flip-and-burn?\"\n\n\"Hey, Cap,\" Amos' real voice said behind him as the big man floated into the doorframe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Wasn't me. We got something going on?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A chill ran down Holden's back that had nothing to do with temperature. Naomi was already on it, querying the Roci's logs and control systems, but Clarissa's voice came from the speaker before she could find anything.\n\n\"I received an alert from the air recyclers,\" she said, her reedy voice stronger than usual. \"It got a manual command from engineering to drop oxygen output to zero and flood nitrogen.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's not good,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We shouldn't do that.\"\n\n\"I had an aftermarket override in place. No one changes my environmental settings without my say-so,\" Clarissa said, as calmly as if she didn't mean, My paranoia just saved our lives. \"I'd like to know what's going on, though.\"\n\n\"Engineering, the machine shop, and the reactor are all locked down,\" Naomi said, scrolling through system screens faster than Holden could follow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think I've got the drive shut down, but I can't—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But Holden was already pulling himself out of the room. Amos hauled himself flat against the wall of the corridor as he flew past, then followed along behind him. Through the galley, to the lift, then down one level. His heart was tripping over, the pulse tapping at his eardrums, but it was just adrenaline." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just fear. There wasn't anything wrong with the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He hoped that was true.\n\nThe brig wasn't really a brig so much as one of the crew cabins that had been set aside, the door controls isolated from the system and disabled on the inside. Over the years, nearly a dozen prisoners had spent days or weeks or months in it. Now the door stood halfway open, the control panel flickering and throwing error codes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden pulled himself toward it cautiously—doors and corners were where they got you—but when he reached it, he was already sure what he'd find." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The cabin stood empty apart from bits of floating debris. Anti-spalling cloth floated in ribbons. Bits of fluff from the mattress, like February snowflakes that never fell. Bright lines showed where the storage drawer had been pried off its runners and a length of the guide pulled free." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A wall screen floated beside the bunk, and the exposed electronics showed where the door locks had been shorted out." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The governor of Freehold was nowhere to be seen.\n\n\"Well,\" Amos said. \"That's new.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding four sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a certain luxury to the thrust gravity of steady acceleration." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hooking your nethers to a vacuum toilet was one of the indignities space travel occasionally forced you into. On the float, with nothing to pull your waste away, it was that or have pee globes sharing your living space. Being able to just sit on a toilet in the crew head and relax for a moment while you did your business was something to appreciate. The fact that it felt like a luxury was also probably not very dignified, if you looked at it too closely." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie was just reaching behind her for the cleaning-pad dispenser mounted on the bulkhead when the gravity went off with no warning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The momentum of her twisting torso sent her floating off the toilet seat and into the air, pants still around her knees. Thankfully, the Roci immediately fired up the vacuum system on the toilet and spared her having to dodge floating waste.\n\nWhile she tumbled through the air tugging at her waistband, she yelled, \"Roci, get me the bridge!\"\n\n\"Yo,\" Alex replied almost immediately. \"Where are you—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not even a fucking warning light? I'm down in the head, taking a leak, and suddenly I'm trying to pull my pants up on the float!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Wasn't my plan,\" Alex said. \"Looks like ... Ah. Hold on.\"\n\nThe system link picked up Naomi's voice coming through a different channel. Alex? Everything all right?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was about to ask you,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have a change of plan? Naomi? Um, Bobbie? I think we may have a situation.\"\n\nAll it took was the tone of Alex's voice. Bobbie planted one foot against a bulkhead, hooked a handhold with the other, and yanked up her pants.\n\n\"Copy that,\" she said, the flat, emotionless tones of the old Marine taking over. \"On the move.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She found Holden and Amos floating just inside the door of their makeshift brig when she arrived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were examining a wall screen that someone had pried out of the wall. The prisoner wasn't there.\n\n\"How long has he been out?\" Bobbie asked as she came to a stop with one hand on the doorframe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Roci started throwing errors from this door almost an hour ago,\" Amos said with a grimace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is on me, Cap. Shoulda been paying attention, but I was—\"\n\n\"Forget it,\" Holden said. \"Let's just keep him from doing any more damage.\"\n\n\"He's down in engineering, if he was able to kill the drive and spin the ship,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's where he is,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Naomi's working to keep him from making too big a mess, but she's working remotely, and this guy has demonstrated surprising technical skills.\"\n\n\"Options?\" Bobbie asked. The tactical situation wasn't optimal. If the prisoner was locked in engineering and had also managed to seal off the machine shop above it, then they'd need to cut or breach two doors just to get to him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even with Naomi hacking the control systems, physical proximity to the reactor gave Houston options she just didn't have." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Bobbie didn't like him having.\n\nHolden drummed his fingers on his leg for a moment, the movement imparting an almost imperceptible spin to him as he floated.\n\n\"If he feels like he has no way out, he might blow the reactor out of spite,\" Holden said, mirroring Bobbie's own thoughts. \"So a standard breach has to be last choice. Amos, you're in charge of that. Have Clarissa help you hotwire the door sensor to the machine shop so you can cut it without Houston knowing. Then put a mining charge on the door to engineering and wait for my signal.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Got it,\" Amos said and pushed off down the corridor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He already had his terminal out, and was saying, \"Peaches? Meet me at the machine shop hatch ...\"\n\n\"If I'm not breaching, then—\" Bobbie started, but Holden cut her off with a shake of his head.\n\n\"I want you using the aft maintenance hatch. You can come in from behind. Keep us from doing a very risky breach.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Bobbie said, stretching the word out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But, that access is unusable with the drive on.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Naomi will make sure it stays off.\"\n\n\"And if she doesn't.\"\n\n\"You'll get cooked,\" Holden said with a nod. \"But we're playing against the clock here. We don't know how long we've got until Houston decides dying in a fireball is more romantic than jail.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Betsy won't fit into that tight maintenance crawl.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, she won't,\" Holden agreed. \"Pretty sure you can still kick this guy's ass, though.\"\n\n\"Not in doubt.\"\n\n\"Then gear up, Marine. You're going outside.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie wasn't really much of a ship mechanic, but she knew how to turn a wrench or draw a straight bead with a welding torch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Over her last couple decades of making the Rocinante her home she'd spent a fair amount of time outside the ship. Sometimes with Amos, who called her Babs for a reason only he understood, and who often assumed she knew what she was doing even when she didn't. Sometimes with Clarissa, who occasionally slipped and called her Roberta, and who explained every procedure in the exhaustive detail you'd use with someone who knew nothing.\n\nAnd, almost without her knowing it, they'd become her family." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She still had brothers and nieces and nephews back on Mars related to her by blood, but she rarely spoke to them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even then it was always in a recorded message fired across space on the end of a laser. Instead, she had Amos, the gruff big brother who'd let her fuck up on a repair job and just laugh at her, but then fix it later and never mention it again. And she had Clarissa, the annoying know-it-all little sister who wrapped herself in rules and procedure lists and formality like a shell around her fragile center.\n\nAnd then Holden and Naomi, who couldn't help but become the parents of the ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex, the best friend she'd ever had, and the person she'd realized recently she had every intention of growing old with, in spite of never having seen him naked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was an odd group of people to fall in love with, to adopt as your own kin and tribe, but there it was, and she wasn't ever going back.\n\nAnd now Payne Houston was threatening them.\n\n\"You fucked up, man,\" she said to herself as she drifted to a stop over the reactor-bay emergency-access panel. \"You just fucked all the way up.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Repeat?\" Alex said quietly in her ear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie realized she'd left the channel open and the volume low as she'd made the climb down from the crew airlock to the rear of the ship.\n\n\"Nothing,\" she said, turning the volume back up. \"I'm in position.\"\n\n\"Patching you back into the master channel,\" Alex replied, and then suddenly there were half a dozen voices breathing in her ear.\n\n\"Sound off,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We got through the machine shop door okay, and Peaches says no alerts were triggered. Breaching charge is ready. Just call it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos' voice, calm and faintly amused. He could have been reporting football scores.\n\n\"I've got the Roci in diagnostic mode, so she's asking me to verify any orders coming from the engineering console,\" Naomi's voice said. \"But that can't last. Pretty soon he can just start breaking things the old-fashioned way.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Draper here. I'm outside the emergency-access hatch.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How long once that door opens?\"\n\nBobbie ran through the layout in her head. It was an old habit, beaten into her by years of training in the toughest military outfit humanity had ever created. Plan it through before you go in, because once the bullets start flying, the time for thinking is over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All you can do is move and react." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fifteen seconds to cycle the hatch closed. A few seconds to squeeze past the reactor housing; it's a tight fit. But a good thirty seconds to equalize the pressure, so that's our speed bump. Once the atmo in the crawlspace is equalized, I can be through that inner hatch in less than five.\"\n\n\"Naomi? Can you keep our guest out of the controls for the next minute so we don't cook our only good Martian?\"\n\n\"Hey, Cap, that's low,\" Alex said with a laugh. Bobbie found it reassuring and terrifying that they could joke at a time like this." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bobbie,\" Naomi's voice said, gentle but firm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No way he gets that reactor on while I'm alive.\"\n\n\"Copy that. Draper is a go on your mark.\"\n\nHolden simply said, \"Okay.\"\n\nThe hatch in front of her vibrated under the palm of her vacuum suit's glove as Naomi cycled it open." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A faint puff of vapor escaped as the hatch popped open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie pulled herself inside, squeezing into the curved space between the inner hull of the ship and the outer shielding of the Roci's reactor core. The hatch began to cycle closed behind her.\n\n\"Governor Houston,\" Holden said over the radio. \"I'm sending this over the 1MC so I know you can hear me. It won't compromise your position at all to at least open a dialogue.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie pulled herself around the curve of the reactor to the inner hatch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The panel glowed red with the lock symbol, and the status read, NEG ATMOSPHERE. The timer in her HUD showed only ten seconds had elapsed, so the outer door wasn't even finished cycling. Almost forty seconds, then, before she could pop the inner hatch and go kick this Houston's ass up one side of the ship and down the other. She pulled the heavy recoilless pistol from the harness on her chest and double-checked the ammo counter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ten self-propelled high-explosive antipersonnel rounds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Houston forced her to shoot him, they'd be cleaning up red stains for a month.\n\nBobbie had served on ships most of her life. She wasn't scared of a little mopping.\n\n\"Come on, man,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"At this point, we can keep you from doing just about anything. Sooner or later, you'll need a snack.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To her surprise, Houston's voice answered. \"Naw. Found your mechanic's beer fridge down here. Had a big bag of sesame sticks in it. Jalapeño-flavored. Bit spicy for me, but still tasty.\"\n\n\"Better not be drinking my fucking beer,\" Amos said in that same nonchalant voice.\n\n\"Anyway,\" Holden cut in, \"we still have a situation. You're not going to be able to take the ship, and I'd really like to start using it again. How do we come to some sort of agreement?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie heard the first hiss of the atmosphere system outside her suit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pressurization was almost done. She held the pistol in her right hand and gripped the door with her left. The second it showed green, she'd be in the room with that asshole.\n\nThe asshole said, \"I don't know that we do. You're right. I can't get past that diagnostic lockdown. That was smart work, by the way. But I figure I can probably get the reactor back online from in here, and then I figure I can collapse the bottle if I just find the right wires to pull. You figure the same way?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well,\" Holden started, but the light on the inner hatch clicked green and Bobbie yanked it open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The main console for the reactor would be to her left as she entered the compartment. It was likely that Houston was using that workstation, so that was her first target. If she pushed off hard, she'd come out of the small hatch like a missile, do a quick flip to land feetfirst on the opposite bulkhead. From there she'd have open sight lines to the entire engineering deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nowhere for Houston to hide." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie gripped the edge of the hatch and pulled with all her strength to launch herself into the room. She had to—\n\nSomething crashed into the side of her helmet and sent her into a flat spin through the air. She tried to get her hands up to keep from crashing facefirst into the bulkhead, and only half succeeded. Her left arm crumpled under her, and she felt something tear with a wet heat in her shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She bounced off the wall and saw Houston standing on the bulkhead above the access hatch, mag-booted in place, and holding a heavy fire extinguisher with a dent in the bottom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miraculously, the gun was still in her hand. Blackness creeping in at the edge of her vision, Bobbie tried to line up a shot. Houston launched himself off the wall with one strong kick and brought the extinguisher down on her hand in a baseball-bat-style swing. She felt two of her fingers break, and the gun and extinguisher flew off in opposite directions across the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The deck seemed to swim up to meet her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She caught a glimpse of Houston spinning off toward the ceiling. She managed to turn on the mags in her glove and pull herself down long enough to get her boots locked onto the deck plating. If this was going hand-to-hand, she'd want leverage, and that meant planting her feet. She turned the boots' mags almost up to full, and watched Houston catch himself on the ceiling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She spread her arms wide, though from the tearing sensation in her left shoulder, she didn't think that one was going to be much use." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the broken fingers in her right hand made grappling or throwing a punch problematic.\n\n\"You're lucky you're wearing that suit,\" Houston said, gulping to catch his breath. \"I put a dent in that helmet woulda knocked your brains out without it.\"\n\n\"And you,\" Bobbie said, \"are very lucky it's this suit. I've got another one.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well. We gonna talk or are we gonna dance?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're playing my—\" Bobbie started, then Houston launched himself off the ceiling straight at her. She was expecting it. Getting someone else to talk while you threw a punch was an old trick. The moment he left the bulkhead above her, she was already shifting her body to the left and rotating through her hips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As Houston sailed past, she brought her right elbow into his chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Houston's teeth slammed shut with a crunch that meant he'd cracked a few, then his whole body cartwheeled past her and into the wall with a thud. She kicked her mags off and pushed over to him, wrapping her right arm around his neck for a choke hold. It was unnecessary. His eyes were rolled up in his head, and he was breathing blood bubbles out of his ruined mouth. One and done. Just like the old days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I put our guest to bed,\" Bobbie said over the radio, then hauled Houston over to the wall panel and removed the locks on the hatch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Amos, take that bomb off the door before I open it, 'K?\"\n\nBobbie sat in the galley, her left arm in a sling, and her right hand in a cast that the ship had spun for her out of carbon fiber. Holden sat across from her, a steaming cup of coffee on the table held down by the gentle 0.3 g Alex was flying them at.\n\n\"So,\" Holden said, then paused to blow across the top of his coffee." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Turns out that guy had a few more skills than I clocked him for. Thanks for saving my ship.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I kind of feel like it's mine, too,\" she said with a smile. Holden was Holden. He'd need to take the weight for every bad thing that happened, and to overstate his appreciation for the good ones. It's what made him him. He projected selfless heroism on everyone because that's what he wanted to see in people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the same thing that caused most of the problems in his life—most people weren't who he wanted them to be—but this was a nice moment. Ship safe." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No one dead. Not even Houston, though if someone didn't keep an eye on Amos, that might change.\n\n\"So it's funny you should say that,\" Holden said. He'd paused over his coffee long enough that she'd sort of forgotten what she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Would you like to buy the ship from me?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I—\" Bobbie started, then, \"Wait, what?\"\n\n\"Naomi and I are thinking of pulling the ripcord. We've been doing this shit for a lot of years. It's time to find a quiet spot somewhere. See how we like that for a while.\"\n\nIt was more of a hit than anything Houston had managed. The ache started just below her ribs and spread up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't know what it meant yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is everyone else on the crew ...?\" Bobbie said, then wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.\n\n\"No. As Naomi recently pointed out to me, Alex will die in that pilot's chair. Whoever buys the ship will have to be okay with that. I can't speak for what Amos plans to do, you know, after.\"\n\nAfter. He meant after Clarissa died." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I've been saving my money, mostly, but I'm not sure I can afford a gunship,\" Bobbie said, keeping her tone light, trying to make a joke of it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We'll finance it. Split the joint account six ways, then set up a payment plan for the rest. Based on our past income, it should be an easy nut to cover. You pay any new crew out of your end. The Roci is your ship.\"\n\n\"Why me? Why not Alex?\"\n\n\"Because there isn't anyone on this ship I'd rather take orders from, and I'm the world's worst person at taking orders. You'll make a fantastic captain, and you'll protect the reputation of this ship. It's weird, but that's something I find myself caring about.\"\n\nBobbie swallowed something that had become stuck in her throat, and she straightened up her back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was all she could do to not stand up at attention." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Military tradition died hard, and a captain handing over command of their vessel bordered on sacred trust.\n\n\"I would, you know,\" she said. \"I'd see us become a cloud of gas before I'd violate the honor and good name of this ship.\"\n\n\"I know. So is that a yes?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide 4 sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh was dreaming of wandering, lost in the halls of a vast spaceship, when the comm on his desk buzzed him awake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes?\" he croaked even before he'd opened his eyes. There was nothing wrong with his taking a nap in his quarters. He wasn't shirking any of his duties. And the shakedown of his ship, the Gathering Storm, had meant working for sixteen and sometimes eighteen hours a day for weeks now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He couldn't continue as an effective leader and officer if he didn't take every opportunity to grab a little shut-eye." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And yet, something inside him didn't want his crew to know. As if having the same biological requirements as other humans was admitting weakness.\n\n\"Sir, we are nearing rendezvous with the Heart of the Tempest,\" came the reply. Lieutenant Trina Pilau, his navigation officer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You asked me to—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, yes, quite right. I'm on my way,\" Santiago said as he rolled out of his couch and waved on the lights.\n\nHis quarters were also his office, and the red folder containing his orders from the admiralty was still sitting on his desk. He'd been reviewing them for the fiftieth time or so when he'd fallen asleep. Leaving them out was a breach of operational security, and one he'd have reprimanded a junior officer for." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As he returned them to his safe, he told the ship to make a note of the lapse in his private log." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least it would be part of the permanent record, and his superiors could decide later if it required further inquiry. He hoped they wouldn't.\n\nHe took a moment to wash his face in his private lavatory. The cold, biting water was one of the perks of his station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He put on a fresh uniform." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A captain set the standard for his officers. Appearing on duty clean and pressed was the minimum level of professionalism he expected from them, and so he was responsible for it in himself. When he was presentable, he opened the door that separated his private space from the bridge of the ship.\n\n\"Captain on the bridge!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "the chief of the watch snapped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The officers who were not actively manning stations stood and saluted. Even the consoles, polished to a spotless shine, seemed to radiate respect, if not for him as a man then at least for his authority. The blue of the wall matched the flag, and the sigil of his command—three interlocking triangles—had been built into the surface. It made him feel a deep, almost atavistic pride seeing it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His ship. His command. His duty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is Colonel Tanaka here?\" Singh asked.\n\n\"The colonel is in her briefing room with her senior officers, sir.\"\n\nA twitch of annoyance troubled him, as much with himself as with his chief of security. He'd meant to have a quiet conversation with her before meeting with Admiral Trejo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd heard unofficially that Tanaka and Trejo had known each other before, and he'd intended to get her assessment of the man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it was too late for that now.\n\n\"The con is yours,\" said Davenport, his executive officer.\n\n\"I have the con,\" Captain Singh said, and sat in his chair.\n\n\"The Tempest has cut thrust and is awaiting our arrival,\" his flight control officer said, pulling up the range map on the main screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"At current deceleration we'll make final docking approach in twenty-three minutes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Understood,\" Singh replied. \"Comm, please send Admiral Trejo my compliments and request permission to dock with Heart of the Tempest.\"\n\n\"Aye, sir.\"\n\n\"I'd love to get a good look at her,\" said Davenport.\n\n\"All right, let's take a peek,\" Singh agreed with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The truth was, he was just as curious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course they'd all been briefed on the configuration of the Magnetar-class battle cruisers, of which Tempest was the first. The old Proteus class had been retired, and this new generation was only now being deployed. He'd seen dozens of concept sketches and photographs of the ships under construction, heard rumors of the new technologies that they would support. This would be his first chance to see one of Laconia's most powerful battleships flying free and in her element." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sensors, let's take a close-up look, shall we?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Aye, sir,\" said the officer at sensor control, and the main screen shifted from the docking map to a telescopic view of the approaching ship.\n\nSomeone let out a quiet gasp. Even Davenport, an officer with nearly a decade in the fleet, took an unconscious half step back.\n\n\"Good God, she's a big one,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Heart of the Tempest was one of only three Magnetar-class ships to come out of Laconia's orbital construction platform." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Eye of the Typhoon was assigned to the home fleet and the protection of Laconia itself. The Voice of the Whirlwind was still being grown between the spars and limbs of the alien orbital arrays. And while the fleet now consisted of over a hundred ships, the Magnetars were the largest and most powerful by far. The Gathering Storm, his own ship, was one of the Pulsar-class fast destroyers, and he was fairly certain the Tempest could fit a dozen of them inside its hull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Pulsar-class destroyers were tall and sleek in design." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To Singh's eye they were almost reminiscent of old Earth naval ships. But the Heart of the Tempest was massive and squat. Shaped like a lone vertebra from some long-dead giant the size of a planet. It was as pale as bone too, even where the curves fell into shadow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like all ships built by Laconia's orbiting construction platforms, it had the sense of something not quite human." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sensor arrays and point-defense cannons and rail guns and missile tubes were all there, but hidden under a self-healing plate system that made the surface of the ship seem more like skin than not. Grown, but not biological. There was something fractal about its geometry. Like crystals showing the constraints of their molecular architecture in the unfolding of shapes at higher levels." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh wasn't an expert in the protomolecule or the technologies that it spawned, but there was something eerie in the idea that they'd built things partly designed by a species that had been gone for millennia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Collaboration with the dead left questions that could never be answered. Why did the construction array make the choices it made? Why place the drive here instead of there, why make the internal systems symmetric and the exterior of the ship slightly off? Was it a more efficient design?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "More aesthetically pleasing to its long-vanished masters?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had no way of being certain, and probably never would.\n\n\"Tempest acknowledges,\" the comm officer said.\n\n\"Remote piloting for dock now,\" his helm added, and the main screen shifted from telescopic shots of the battleship to a wire frame course ending at the Tempest.\n\n\"Very well,\" Singh said with a smile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The admiralty had entrusted him with one of Laconia's state-of-the-art ships, and they'd filled it with serious and focused officers and crew." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As a first command, he couldn't have asked for better.\n\nThat he and his ship were the tip of the imperial spear was just icing on the cake.\n\n\"Admiral Trejo sends his compliments,\" the comm officer said. \"He asks that you join him for dinner in his private mess.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh turned to his XO." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Stay on the Storm and keep the crew alert. We have no idea what reception we're getting on the other side of the gate, and may need to deploy at a moment's notice.\"\n\n\"Aye, Captain.\"\n\n\"Rig for docking. I'll be in the bow-crew airlock. Mister Davenport, you have the con.\"\n\nThe Tempest's operations officer, Admiral Trejo's third in command, was waiting for him on the other side of the airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Technically they were the same naval rank, but as a ship's captain, tradition dictated that Singh be treated as the superior officer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She saluted and granted him permission to board.\n\n\"The admiral would have greeted you personally,\" she said as she led him out of the airlock and they floated down a short corridor to a lift. The walls in the Tempest looked like sheets of frosted glass, and glowed with a gentle blue light. Very different from the bulkheads of the Gathering Storm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But this close to the gate he doesn't like to leave the bridge.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fisher, right? I think you were a year behind me at the academy.\"\n\n\"I was,\" she replied with a nod. \"Engineering track. Everyone said logistics was the faster path to command, but I just love working with exotic tech.\"\n\nShe stopped and tapped on the wall panel to call a lift." }, { "from": "human", "value": "While they waited, the bulkheads began to pulse from blue to yellow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Grab a handhold,\" Fisher said, pointing to one close by. \"Drive is about to come online.\"\n\nA moment later they both drifted to the deck, and Singh felt his weight grow until it was about half a g.\n\n\"Not in a hurry,\" Singh said, and the elevator made a gentle beep and the doors opened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The admiral's a cautious man.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Speaks well of him,\" he said as they began to rise.\n\nAdmiral Trejo was a short, stocky man, with bright-green eyes and thinning black hair. He came from the Mariner Valley region of Mars, but the traces of his accent were almost imperceptible. He was also the most decorated officer in Laconia's military, with a career that stretched back to pirate hunting for the Martian Navy even before the gates opened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They studied his tactics in the academy, and Singh thought the term military genius was justifiably applied to his career." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd expected the private mess of an admiral and fleet commander to be larger, more luxurious than the one he claimed on the Gathering Storm. It turned out to be a table that pulled down from one bulkhead in Admiral Trejo's slightly larger office/living quarters. The aesthetics were different only because the ship itself was.\n\n\"Sonny!\" Trejo said, waiting to return his salute and then grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Finally all the pieces are in place. It's an exciting time. Would you like to sit, or do you want the tour?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Admiral,\" Singh replied. \"If there's a tour to be had, I'd be honored to see a little more of the ship.\"\n\n\"She's a sight, isn't she? Call me Anton, please. No need for formality in private, and we'll be working very closely together in the coming months. I want you to feel like you have complete freedom to speak your mind. An officer who won't share his opinion and insight is of no use to me.\"\n\nIt was an echo of the high consul allowing him to use his military title, the permission of a little familiarity in private to build a sense of approachability and rapport. Now that he'd seen it twice, he understood it would be expected of him as well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you, sir. Anton. I appreciate that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Come on along, then. It's too large to take in all at once, but we can hit the highlights.\" Admiral Trejo led the way down a short corridor to a lift that stood wider than the one on the Gathering Storm, with rounder edges that left Singh thinking of the mouth of some deep-sea fish. \"I've been re-familiarizing myself with your career to date.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid that, like most of the officers trained after the transition to Laconia, I have very little in the way of operational experience.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The admiral waved this away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lift door opened, and they stepped in. The anti-spalling padding on the walls was gently scalloped, like the presentiment of scales.\n\n\"Top of your class in logistics. That's exactly what this posting will need. Me? I'm an old combat commander. Spreadsheets give me hives.\"\n\nThe lift descended with a hushing sound like a million tiny bearings spinning at once, or the hiss of a sunbird." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The small hairs on the back of Singh's neck rose a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was something uncanny about the Tempest. Like he'd entered into a vast animal and was waiting to see its teeth.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" he said. \"My orders were quite specific on—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The admiral waved him off again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Forget your orders for a moment. Plenty of time to get to that later. For now, I want to get to know you a little better. You have a family?\"\n\nAnother point. Duarte had touched on his home life as well. Another piece of the secret teachings of Laconian command. He'd read that a command structure took its tone from those at the top." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd never seen it so clearly in practice before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wondered whether he'd been meant to. If this was a conscious lesson passed from Duarte to Trejo to him. He had the sense that it was.\n\n\"Yes, sir. My spouse is a nanotech scientist with the lab in Laconia City. She specializes in genetics. We have one child. Elsa.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Elsa. Unusual name. Very pretty.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My grandmother's. Nat— Natalia, my spouse, insisted.\"\n\nThe lift stopped. The doors opened on a wide and flowing deck. There were no stairs, but a gentle undulation in the deck raised some workstations above others. It seemed almost random until he saw the captain's station that could command direct line of sight to all the flight-deck crew at once." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The design was elegant and utterly unfamiliar at the same time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The XO caught sight of them and stood at attention, surrendering command, but Trejo waved him back. The admiral was present, but not to take command.\n\n\"Connection to the past is important,\" Trejo said as they walked across the gently sloping deck. \"Continuity. We honor those who came before, and hope that those we bring into the world do the same for us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Anton, please.\"\n\n\"Anton,\" Singh agreed, but knew calling the admiral by his first name would never feel natural or correct. \"We almost never call her Elsa.\"\n\n\"So what, if not Elsa?\" the admiral asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Monster. We call her Monster.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The admiral chuckled. \"Named for another grandparent?\"\n\n\"No,\" Singh said, then stopped. He worried that he might be oversharing, but the admiral was staring at him, waiting for the rest of the answer. \"We were not really ready when Nat got pregnant. She was just finishing her postdoc, and I was doing two- and three-month patrol tours as the XO on the Cleo.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No one is ever ready,\" the admiral said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But you don't know that until after it's happened.\"\n\n\"Yes. So when Elsa was born, I'd just rotated back to an administrative position, and Nat had moved to a more permanent research job, and we were both learning the ropes while a very insistent one-month-old made her demands.\"\n\nTrejo led the way down a curving ramp at the side of the room. Hatches irised open as they approached them and closed again once they'd passed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The light came from thumb-sized recesses in the wall, perfectly regular in their spacing, but rounded and soft." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Organic life subjected to military engineering.\n\n\"So,\" Singh continued as they walked, \"we were exhausted. And one morning, at about three when Elsa started crying, Nat rolled over to me and said, 'That monster is going to kill me.' And that was it. She was Monster from then on.\"\n\n\"But you say it with a smile now, yes?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Singh agreed, thinking of his daughter's face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, we do. And that's why I'm here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why you're here, hm? You don't seem like the type of man who'd choose to go without his family.\"\n\n\"It will hurt to leave them behind for this deployment. It will be months, at least, before they can join me on Medina Station. Possibly years. But if I can give my daughter the version of humanity that the high consul has planned, it will all be worth it. A galactic society of peace and prosperity and cooperation is the best legacy I can imagine for her.\"\n\n\"A true believer,\" the admiral said, and Singh felt a flush of shame that perhaps he appeared naïve to the man. But when Trejo continued, there was nothing mocking in his tone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This will only work because of the true believers.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" he said. And then, \"Anton.\"\n\nThe admiral led the way into a broad corridor, larger than anything he'd ever seen designed in a ship. The Tempest didn't have the closeness of other ships, the design constrained by the need to cut back every kilogram, to waste no space at all. It was a ship that claimed power by the shape of its walls." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh felt a little awe at it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As he supposed he was meant to.\n\nTwo midshipmen sat at a table, laughing and flirting until they saw Trejo. The old man scowled, and the pair saluted and scurried off to their duties. Singh realized that no one had spoken to them in the time since they'd left the admiral's cabin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tour might seem casual, but it was intended to be private as well." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the same tone of voice one might use to ask what the time was, the admiral said, \"Explain to me the tactical and logistical problems with controlling Medina.\"\n\nSingh stood a little straighter. Comfortable discussions of family were over. Now it was time to work." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He pushed his sleeve back a bit to pull the monitor off his wrist, and flattened it onto the abandoned table." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pulled up the briefing. He'd been preparing it for weeks, and the sudden, irrational fear that he'd overlooked something obvious, something that would show the admiral that he wasn't a serious person after all, still lurked in him. It was an old, familiar kind of fear, and he knew how to push it aside. A wire frame rendering of Medina floated in the air above the surface." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Medina Station,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Assuming our intelligence is correct, it houses the hundreds of members of the planetary coalition and their personal staffs, including security. Add in the permanent staff and crew of the station, as well as trade union members passing through, and you get a conservative estimate of between three and five thousand people on the station at all times. I would guess the number is actually double that.\"\n\n\"Assuming our intelligence is correct?\"\n\n\"Passive monitoring, even over the course of years, will always have a greater opportunity for error than active examination. And the surface interference of the gates adds an additional level of error,\" Singh said. The admiral grunted and waved him to continue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He spun the rendering of the station, and hard points on the surface became highlighted in red." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The station itself is equipped with some defenses. A PDC network that provides missile defense brackets the station, and one torpedo launcher remains intact and usable from its Behemoth days. Eight rails, automated reloading system, we estimate a total capacity of forty missiles.\"\n\n\"Nuclear?\" the admiral asked.\n\n\"Almost certainly not. The lack of maneuvering capability and the confined nature of the ring hub makes high-yield weapons dangerous to the station itself.\"\n\nSingh adjusted the image and focused in on the hub station, a perfect sphere several kilometers across that sat at the center of the gate network." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The purest and most active alien artifact in all the worlds they knew of." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dotted on the surface of the sphere were six massive rail-gun turrets.\n\n\"The station's primary defense is an aging rail-gun network, first installed by Marco Inaros' people, and disabled during the final conflict with his faction. These guns are placed so that at least three guns and as many as five can fire at any of the rings. They're our design, from back when we were still supplying the Free Navy with weapons. Older, out of date now, but capable of sustained fire at thirty rounds per minute. Assuming, of course, that they haven't made modifications to them.\"\n\n\"The rail guns. In the ancient days back on Earth, they'd have cannons that could fire down into the harbors when enemy ships appeared. The defense of the sea from the land. We got rid of the land and the sea, but the logic of it stays the same. The more things change, eh?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What do you think of them?\" Trejo asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The design is elegant. Placing the defense battery on the alien station is brilliant,\" Singh said. He felt anxiety growing in his throat. Was this the answer Trejo was looking for? \"Anyplace else, and the rail guns would have to compensate with thrusters. The station doesn't move. Or maybe it moves and drags its entire local context with it. Either way, it avoids having to worry about Newton's third law. And as long as it has ammunition, it can hold off attacks from any of the rings, or even several at once. Honestly, I'm going to be sorry to see it go.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Trejo sighed. \"Rebuiding them won't be quick, that's true. But we have to look at the long term. Even if a replacement battery takes months to install and test, it will last centuries. I wish we could take control of them ourselves. But that's the Tempest's first target, while you disable the station's defenses. Then board and secure the station,\" the admiral said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir. Logistically, once the station's defenses are secured and the rail-gun network is taken offline, the Gathering Storm's Marines, which we've designated Task Force Rhino, can take operational control of the station within minutes. When we control their comm array and access to the hub space, we effectively control all communications and trade for the thirteen hundred worlds.\"\n\n\"You'll have operational control of the landing and securing Medina Station. Is the task force prepared?\"\n\n\"Yes, Admiral. They've been drilling for this assignment for months, and my security chief is Colonel Tanaka. She is well respected.\"\n\n\"Tanaka's good. And good personnel are critical,\" Trejo said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What obstacles do you anticipate?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The ship traffic coming into and out from the hub space is unpredictable. It's very likely that there will be one or more additional ships with some defensive capability beyond the use of drive plumes as weapons. How many and what their armaments are can't be stated with certainty until we pass through the gate. Also, Medina Station has been in operation for decades, and with a mission significantly different from her original design. The information we have about the initial configuration will be badly out of date. When we take control, there is the possibility of some local resistance, though that should be minimal. After that, it's a question of co-opting and improving the existing infrastructure, and coordinating the supply chains between the newer planets and the better established ones. Sol system included.\"\n\n\"And then you fly a desk for a while,\" the admiral said. \"I'd have to think that's the toughest part of your assignment. Getting thirteen hundred squabbling children to cooperate.\"\n\n\"High Consul Duarte wrote the book on governmental trade-control theories, back when he was with the Martian Navy. It's still the book we study at the academy. I'm prepared to enforce the new orders absolutely to the letter.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sure you are. Duarte has an eye for talent, and he selected you personally,\" the admiral said, then pointed at the briefing diagrams floating in the air between them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And you certainly seem to have done your homework.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Singh said, then cleared his throat. \"If I may speak freely, sir?\"\n\n\"I think I already made my feelings on that clear.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" Singh said, but the anxiety still tugged at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm absolutely certain of this portion of our plan. My worry is the Sol system. Intelligence says that the Earth-Mars Coalition has been steadily refitting and rebuilding their fleet. And that it is at least at the prewar levels of preparedness. When external resistance to our plan comes, it will come from them. And while we have newer ships, they have the benefit of an officer corps that fought in two serious wars in the last few decades. They will have vastly more battlefield experience to draw on.\"\n\nThe admiral paused, considering him. The bright-green eyes seemed to dig under his skin. Singh couldn't tell if the man was pleased or disappointed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he smiled, it seemed genuine." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Experience and home territory are real advantages for them, you're right. But I think you shouldn't worry about it overmuch,\" the admiral said. \"The Tempest was built for one purpose, and one purpose only. To render every other power in the known galaxy irrelevant.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide four sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They sat in the galley, the same way they always did. Amos and Clarissa beside each other, Alex at the end of a table across from her. Holden a little apart, and Naomi closer to him than to the others. Bobbie felt the anxiety humming in her throat and legs like she was about to get in a fight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Worse, because there was a moment of calm that came with violence, and there wasn't going to be one of those here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The dinner was—had been—mushroom noodles in black sauce. But everyone had stopped eating when Holden cleared his throat and said he had an announcement. When he'd broken the news, he'd seemed rueful more than anything else, and he covered it up by talking about numbers and business. Going over their last few years, and the projections for the next few." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His decision to step down, and Naomi's too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His nomination of Bobbie to take his place and all his arguments for it. The others listened in silence while he turned to the details of the sale. The noodles had all gone cold and sticky in their bowls.\n\n\"Naomi and I are cashing out a quarter of our shares in the ship,\" he said, \"with a payment plan that pays out the remainder over the next ten years. That still leaves a pretty fair balance in the operating account. The payment plan has a sliding structure, so if things get a little tight at some point, we're not going to sink you, and if things go really well, you can also pay us out early. So there's flexibility built in.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He thought he was being kind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That by making things formal, it would hurt the others less. Maybe he was right. Bobbie kept glancing around the room, trying to get a sense of how they were taking it. Was Alex leaning forward on his elbows because he was feeling aggressive, or did his back just ache a little?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Did Amos' affable smile mean anything?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Did it ever? Would they agree to the idea? If they didn't, what happened then? The anxiety in her gut stung like a scrape.\n\n\"So,\" Holden said. \"That's the proposal at least. I know we've always voted on these kinds of decisions, and if there's anything in this that anyone wants to look at or a counterproposal that anyone wants to make ...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The silence rang out louder than a bell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie clenched her fists and released them. Clenched and released. Maybe this whole thing had been a really bad idea from the start. Maybe she should have—\n\nAlex sighed. \"Well. Can't say I didn't see it coming, but I'm still a little sad now it's here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi's smile was a ghost, barely there and unmistakable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt something like the beginning of relief loosening the knot in her stomach.\n\n\"As far as putting Bobbie in the captain's chair,\" Alex went on, \"that's barely going to be a change. She already bosses me around plenty. So sure. I'm good with that.\"\n\nHolden tilted his head the way he did when he was surprised and a little embarrassed, and Naomi put her hand on his shoulder. The unconscious physical grammar of long, intimate years together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You saw it coming?\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex shrugged. \"It's not like you're all that subtle. You've been getting more and more stressed for a while now.\"\n\n\"Have I been an asshole and just didn't know?\" Holden asked, making it about half a joke.\n\n\"We'd have told you,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But there's this thing for the last couple years, I guess, where you kept looking like you had an itch you didn't want anybody seeing you scratch.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This has been a long damned tour,\" Alex said. \"If I'd re-upped for another twenty back in the day, I'd be out again by now.\"\n\n\"Except your navy didn't last that long,\" Amos said.\n\n\"I'm just saying a good run's a good run. I love you two, and I'm going to miss the hell out of you, but if it's time for something new, then it is.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi's smile grew less ambiguous." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden rocked back a few centimeters on the bench. In her imagination, Bobbie's best scenarios had involved weeping and hugs. The worst, anger and recriminations. This felt like relief only slightly colored by sorrow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It felt ... right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She cleared her throat. \"When we get back to Medina, I'm looking to put out a call for some new hands. So, no rush, but I'm going to need to know if I'm filling more than two couches.\"\n\nAlex chuckled. \"Not mine. The one thing I think my life experience has been unambiguous about is whether I'm good outside a pilot's station. I'm here as long as you'll have me.\"\n\nBobbie relaxed another notch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Good.\" She shifted toward Amos." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He shrugged. \"All my stuff's here.\"\n\n\"All right. Clarissa?\" Claire was looking down. Her face empty and paler than usual. She put her hands on the table, palms down like she was pressing it back into place." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like there was something that could be put back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her smile was forced, but she nodded. She would stay.\n\n\"Well,\" Holden said. \"Um. All right, then. That's ... I mean, I guess that's it. Unless someone else has something they wanted to bring up?\"\n\n\"Kind of a hard act to follow,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"Well, yes,\" Holden said, \"but I mean—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How about this,\" Alex said, standing up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm going back to my cabin and getting the Scotch I've been saving for a special occasion. Let's all have a toast to Holden and Nagata. Best damn command staff a ship could hope for.\"\n\nHolden's expression shifted and his eyes took on a shine of tears, but he was grinning. \"I won't say no,\" he said, then stood.\n\nAlex went in for the hug, and then Naomi put her long arms around them both." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie looked over at Amos and pointed a thumb at the knot of three." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Is this a thing we should do? Amos rose and trundled over to them, and Bobbie followed. For a long time, the crew of the Rocinante stood locked together in a long, last embrace. After a few seconds, Bobbie even felt Clarissa against her side, pressing in as soft and fleeting as a moth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Officially, nothing changed after that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The long float before the deceleration burn toward the gate and Medina Station beyond it went the way they'd planned it. Houston, in his cell, was sullen and uncomfortable but secured. Their duties and schedules, habits and customs, all had the same shape. The only thing that had altered at all was what they meant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This had become their last run together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt like something in her body had shifted.\n\nJames Holden had been a strange person from the start. Before she'd ever known him, he'd been the man who'd slandered Mars. Then the one who saved it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To judge from what the greater chunk of humanity thought of him, he was an opportunistic narcissist or a hero of free speech, a tool of the OPA or the UN or a loose cannon answerable to no one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd seen him that way too, more than she'd known, when she took her place on the Rocinante. Since then, day by day, sometimes even hour by hour, the man and his reputation had peeled away from each other. Captain James Holden of the Rocinante was a name to conjure with. The Holden she knew was a guy who drank too much coffee, got enthusiastic about weird things, and always seemed quietly worried that he would compromise his own idiosyncratic and unpredictable morality." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The two versions of him were related the way a body and its shadow were." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Connected, yes. Each inextricably related to the other, yes. But not the same thing.\n\nAnd now he was moving on. And Naomi with him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Losing her was a strange thought too, but different." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi had fought against being a persona in the greater world, always letting her lover take the stage so that she wouldn't have to. When she stepped away, it wouldn't change the story that other people told about the Rocinante the same way, but Bobbie was going to feel her loss more. As much as Holden was the public face of the ship, Naomi was the person Bobbie had come to trust in their practical, day-to-day lives. Whatever Naomi said was true." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And if that wasn't strictly accurate, it was close enough that Bobbie and the others relied on it with confidence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When they were gone, nothing would be the same. Bobbie felt the sorrow in that. But, to her surprise, the joy too. She found herself going through her rounds, moving through the ship to check everything that had already been checked, marking anything that looked off—a gas pressure level that was dropping a fraction too quickly, a doorway that showed wear, a power link that was past its replacement date—and the ship itself had changed too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was hers now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she put her palm on the bulkhead and felt the thrum of the recyclers, it was her ship. When she woke strapped into her crash couch, even the darkness felt different.\n\nShe'd been a Marine—she would always be a Marine, even after that role didn't fit her anymore. Becoming the captain of the Rocinante felt right for her in a way she hadn't expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The prospect of taking the captain's chair had the same sense of threat and anticipation that pulling on her power armor had back in the day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was as if her old suit had changed with time—changed as much as she had—and become a ship. A worn one, yes. Out of date, but dangerous. Scarred, but solid. Not just a metaphor of who Bobbie was but also who she wanted to become." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She believed the others—Alex, Amos, Clarissa—were as comfortable with the shift as they claimed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And before, she'd have left it at that. Before it was her ship.\n\nNow that she was going to be captain, it was her job to check.\n\nAmos was in the machine shop, as he usually was, paging through feeds on the strategies for keeping an old gunship like theirs flying and safe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A stubble of white along the back of his skull caught the light where he hadn't shaved it in a couple of days." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were on the float, conserving reaction mass, but he was braced against the deck like he was anticipating a sudden change. Maybe he was, even if only out of habit. His thick, scarred hands tapped at the monitor, moving from subject to subject in the feed's tree—lace-plating structural repair, overgrowth in microflora-based air recyclers, auto-adapting power grids. All the thousand improvements that study of the alien technologies had spun off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He understood them all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was easy to forget sometimes the depth of focus and intelligence behind Amos' cheerful violence.\n\n\"Hey, big man,\" Bobbie said, pulling herself to a stop with one of the handholds.\n\n\"Hey, Cap'n Babs,\" he said.\n\n\"How's it going?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked over at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, I'm a little nervous about the plating we put down by the drive at that depot back on Stoddard. Lot of folks are seeing flaking with that batch under radiation bombardment. Figure when we hit Medina, I should hop outside and take a peek. Hate to have that turn into baklava on us when we were counting on it.\"\n\n\"That would suck,\" Bobbie agreed.\n\n\"Lace plating's great when it's great,\" Amos said, turning back to his screen.\n\n\"How's the rest of it?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos shrugged, flicked through the feed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is what it is, I figure.\"\n\nThe silence settled between them. Bobbie scratched her neck, the soft sound of nails against skin louder than anything else in the room. She didn't know how to ask if he was going to be okay with Holden and Naomi leaving him behind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you going to be okay with Holden and Naomi leaving?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yup,\" Amos said. \"Why? You worried about it?\"\n\n\"A little,\" Bobbie said, surprised to discover that it was true. \"I mean, I know you saw it coming before Holden did. I think all of us did. But you've shipped with them for a lot of years.\"\n\n\"Yeah, but my favorite thing about Holden was knowing he'd take a bullet for any one of the crew. Pretty sure you actually have taken a few for us, so that ain't changing,\" Amos said, then paused for a moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You might should check in with Peaches, though.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think?\"\n\n\"Yup,\" Amos said. And that was that. Bobbie pulled herself back out.\n\nClarissa was in the medical bay, strapped into one of the autodocs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tubes ran from the gently purring machinery into the port on the woman's side, blood flowing out of the thin body and then being pumped back in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her skin was the color of a wax candle and stretched tight against her cheekbones. She still smiled and raised a hand in greeting when Bobbie floated in. As a technician, Clarissa Mao had always been one of the best Bobbie had worked with. She had the sense that the thin woman's drive came out of a kind of anger and desperation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Working to keep some greater darkness at bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was an impulse Bobbie understood.\n\n\"Rough patch?\" Bobbie asked, nodding toward the blood-filled tubes.\n\n\"Not a great one,\" Clarissa said. \"I'll be back on my feet tomorrow, though. Promise.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No rush,\" Bobbie said. \"We're doing fine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know. It's just ...\"\n\nBobbie cracked her knuckles. The autodoc chimed to itself and took another long draw of Clarissa's blood.\n\n\"You wanted something?\" she said, looking into Bobbie's eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's okay. You can say it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm not your captain yet,\" Bobbie said. \"But I'm going to be.\" It was the first time she'd said the words out loud. They felt good enough that she said them again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm going to be. And that's going to put me in a position where I'm responsible for you. For your well-being.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hadn't thought about her team in years. Her old team. Hillman. Gourab. Travis. Sa'id." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her last command before this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For a moment, they were in the room, invisible and voiceless, but as present as Clarissa. Bobbie swallowed and bit back a smile. This was it. This was what she'd been trying to find her way back to all these years. This was why it mattered that she do it right this time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And if I'm responsible for your well-being,\" she said, \"we need to talk.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right.\"\n\n\"This thing with your old implants. That's going to get worse instead of better,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"I know,\" Clarissa said. \"I'd take the implants out if it wouldn't kill me faster.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled, inviting Bobbie to smile with her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Making the truth into something like a joke.\n\n\"When we get to Medina, I'm going to hire on fresh crew,\" Bobbie said. \"Not co-owners in the ship the way we are. Just paid hands. Part of that is Holden and Naomi leaving.\"\n\n\"But you can also hire someone for my place,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tears welled up, sheeting across her eyes as she nodded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The autodoc chimed again, pushing her purified blood back down into her.\n\n\"If you want to stay on Medina, you can,\" Bobbie said. \"If you want to stay with the ship, you're welcome here.\"\n\nOn the float, Clarissa's tears didn't fall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Surface tension held them to her until she shook her head, and then they'd form a dozen scattered balls of saline that in time would get sucked into the recycler and leave the air smelling a little more of sorrow and the sea." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I ...\" Clarissa began, then shook her head and shrugged helplessly. \"I thought I'd be the first one to leave.\"\n\nShe sobbed once, and Bobbie pushed over to her. Took her hand. Clarissa's fingers were thin, but her grip was stronger than Bobbie expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They stayed there together until Clarissa's breath grew less ragged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa brought her other hand over and rested it on Bobbie's arm. There was some color in her cheeks again, but Bobbie didn't know if it was the flush of emotion or the medical systems doing their job. Maybe both.\n\n\"I understand,\" Bobbie said. \"It's hard losing someone.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Clarissa said. \"And ... I don't know. Something about it seems less dignified when it's Holden. You know what I mean? Of all the people to get choked up over.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Bobbie said. \"You don't need to make light of it.\"\n\nClarissa opened her mouth, closed it again. Nodded. \"I'll miss him, is all.\"\n\n\"I know. I will too. And ... look, if you don't want to talk about it now, I can just check your file for your medical plan and end-of-life choices. Whatever you and Holden worked out, I'm going to honor it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa's pale, thin brows knotted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden? I didn't work out anything with Holden.\"\n\nBobbie felt a little tug of surprise. \"No?\"\n\n\"We don't talk about things like that,\" Clarissa said. \"I talked to Amos. He knows I want to stay here. With him. If things ever get too bad, he promised he'd ... make it easier for me. When the time comes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" Bobbie said. \"That's good to know.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And important, she thought to herself, to fully document so that if it happens in someone else's jurisdiction no one gets arrested for murder. How the hell could Holden not have done that? \"You're sure Holden never talked about this with you?\"\n\nClarissa shook her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The autodoc finished its run." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The tubes detached from the port in Clarissa's skin and slid back into the body of the ship like overly polite snakes.\n\n\"Okay, then,\" Bobbie said. \"I know now. I'll make sure you're taken care of. And Amos too.\"\n\n\"Thank you. And I'm sorry.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"About what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've been a little self-pitying about Naomi and Holden,\" Clarissa said. \"I didn't mean to make it anyone else's problem. I'll get back to duty.\"\n\n\"Everyone gets to mourn how they need to,\" Bobbie said. \"And then everyone needs to get their asses back to work.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 4 sentences sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay,\" Drummer said, it felt like for the thousandth time, \"but are these things naturally occurring or not?\"\n\nCameron Tur, the union's science advisor, was an impressively tall, gangly man with an Adam's apple the size of a thumb and faded tattoos on each of his knuckles. He'd come into the service when Tjon was president of the union, and kept the job through Walker and Sanjrani. As old as he was and as much as he'd seen, she had expected him to have an air of condescension, but he'd only ever come across as a little ill at ease." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His chuckle now was apologetic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's a good question, semantically speaking,\" he said. \"The difference between something made by nature and something made by beings that evolved up within nature, sa sa?\"\n\n\"Difficult,\" Emily Santos-Baca agreed. She was the representative of the policy council for the union's board." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Officially, she didn't have a higher rank than any of the other councilors, but she got along with Drummer better than any of the others." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made her a sort of first-among-equals. She was younger than Drummer by exactly two years. They even had the same birthday. It made Drummer like the woman just a little bit, even when she was being a pain in the ass." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer looked at the images again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The whatever-it-was was little longer than two hand-widths together, curved like a claw or a seedpod, and shining green and gray in the sunlight outside Gallish Complex on Fusang. She started the image playback, and the young man sprang into life, slotting one—claw, pod, whatever the hell it was—into another with an audible click to create an empty space roughly the shape of an almond. Light flickered into the space, shifting shapes that danced on the edge of meaning. The young man grinned into the camera and said the same things he had every time she'd watched him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Watching the light is associated with feelings of great peace and connection with all forms of life in the galaxy, and appears to stimulate blah blah fucking blah." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She stopped it again.\n\n\"Millions of them?\" she asked.\n\n\"So far,\" Tur agreed. \"Once the mine goes deeper, they may find more.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fuck.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The colony worlds had begun simply enough. A few households, a few townships, a desperate scrabble against the local biosphere to make clean water and edible food. Sometimes colonies would falter and die before help could arrive. Sometimes they'd give up and evacuate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But more than a few took root on the rocks and unfamiliar soil of the distant planets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And as they found their niches, as they became stable, the first wave of deep exploration had begun. The massive underwater transport arches on Corazón Sagrado, the light-bending moths on Persephone, the programmable antibiotics from Ilus.\n\nEvolution alone had created all the wonders and complexities of Earth. That same thing thirteen hundred times over would have been challenge enough, but added to that were the artifacts of the dead species of whatever the hell they'd been that had designed the protomolecule gates, the slow zone, the massive and eternal cities that seemed to exist somewhere on every world they'd discovered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Artifacts of alien toolmakers that had been able and willing to hijack all life on Earth just to make one more road between the stars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Any of it could be the key to unimagined miracles. Or catastrophe. Or placebo-euphoric snake-oil light-show bullshit. The images from the seedpods could be the encrypted records of the fallen civilization that had built miracles they were still only beginning to understand. Or they could be the spores of whatever had killed them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or they could be lava lamps. Who fucking knew?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The science stations on Kinley are very anxious to get a shipment for study,\" Santos-Baca said. \"But without knowing whether these are technological artifacts or natural resources—\"\n\n\"Which,\" Tur apologized, \"is difficult to determine with only the resources on Fusang—\"\n\n\"I get it,\" Drummer said and shifted to look at Santos-Baca." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Isn't this kind of decision pretty much within your wheelhouse?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have the votes to allow the contract,\" Santos-Baca said, \"but I don't have enough to override a veto.\"\n\nDrummer nodded. The question wasn't whether moving psychoactive alien seedpods between worlds was a good idea so much as whether someone was going to lose face in front of a committee meeting. Thus were the great decisions of history made.\n\n\"If we don't think they pose any immediate danger, ship them as alien artifacts with a third-level isolation protocol, and I'll let it pass.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Santos-Baca said, rising from her seat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A moment later, Tur did the same.\n\n\"Stay with me for a minute, Emily,\" Drummer said, shutting down the demonstration video from Fusang. \"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about.\"\n\nTur left, closing the door behind him, and Santos-Baca sank back into her seat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her empty half scowl was a mask." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer tried a smile. It worked as well as anything else.\n\n\"One of the things I learned working for Fred Johnson back in the day?\" Drummer said. \"Don't let things sit for too long. It's always tempting to just ignore the things that aren't actually on fire just at the moment, but then you're also committing to spend your time putting out fires.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're talking about the tariff structure Earth and Mars are proposing for Ganymede?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer's heart sank a little. She'd managed to forget about that nascent issue, and being reminded felt oppressive. \"No, I mean the Rocinante problem. And how it relates to—\" She jerked a thumb toward the empty monitor where the seedpod video had been. \"We've just taken control of the governor of a colony planet. The Association of Worlds hasn't formally asked about his status with us yet, but it's just a matter of time. I can feel Carrie Fisk rubbing her stubby little fingers together. It would make me very happy to get out in front of this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So,\" Santos-Baca said. \"Well, I have had some informal conversations about it. The idea of asking the UN for a charter is ... it's a hard sell. We didn't come all this way to go back down dirtside to ask permission for things, now did we?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer nodded. The enmity between the inners and the Belt was still the biggest obstacle Drummer faced. And even she didn't have much use for the Earth-Mars Coalition.\n\n\"I understand that,\" Drummer said. \"I don't like it either. But it gives us a level of deniability for things like James Holden's new policing schemes. What I don't want is thirteen hundred planets deciding that the union is the problem. If the UN is behind a crackdown—even just nominally—it spreads out the responsibility. This Houston and his band of merry men can rot in a UN jail, and then we're still just the ships that take things from one place to another. Prisoners, among other things.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Or,\" Santos-Baca said, \"we admit what we've been playing footsie with since we crawled up out of the starving years. We start treating the union like the government of the thirteen hundred worlds.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't want to be president of thirteen hundred worlds,\" Drummer said. \"I want to run a transport union that regulates trade through the gates. And then I want all those planets and moons and satellites to work out their own issues without it gumming up our works. We're already stretched too thin.\"\n\n\"If we had more personnel—\"\n\n\"Emily,\" Drummer said, \"do you know the one thing I am absolutely sure won't fix any of our problems? Another committee.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Santos-Baca laughed, and a soft chime came from Drummer's desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An alert from Vaughn. High priority. She let it ride for a little bit. If it wasn't People's Home about to break apart, another minute wasn't going to hurt. If it was, it wouldn't help." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've seen all the same logistical reports that I have,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Expecting the union to police the whole—\"\n\nThe chime came again, louder this time. Drummer growled and tapped the screen to accept. Vaughn appeared, and before she could snap at the man, he spoke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Laconia put out a message, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer looked at him. \"What?\"\n\n\"The warning message from Laconia gate was taken down,\" Vaughn said. \"It's been replaced by a new message. The report from Medina came in\"—he looked away and then back to her—\"four minutes ago.\"\n\n\"Is it broadcast?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Audio only. Not encrypted either. This is a press release.\"\n\n\"Let me hear it,\" she said.\n\nThe voice, when it came, was low and warm. It reminded her of a scratchy blanket she'd had once, comforting and rough in equal measure." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't trust it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Citizens of the human coalition, this is Admiral Trejo of the Laconian Naval Command. We are opening our gate. In one hundred and twenty hours, we will pass into the slow zone in transit to Medina Station with a staff and support to address Laconia's role in the greater human community going forward. We hope and expect this meeting will be amicable. Message repeats.\"\n\n\"Well,\" Santos-Baca said, and then stopped. \"Didn't see that coming.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Drummer said, and looked into Santos-Baca's wide eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Emily, get me everyone.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The void city People's Home was still in Mars orbit, down close to Earth and the sun, and hell and gone from the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. It took ten hours to hear back from all the experts in the union hierarchy, and five more for the system to review everything and build a unified report. Every question, every clarification, every new nuance or caveat would take about as long. Drummer was going to be spending most of the hundred and twenty hours before Laconia reopened waiting to hear from people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their messages were flying between planets and moons, void cities and stations at the speed of light in vacuum, and it was still too damned slow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The voice on the message matched Anton Trejo, a lieutenant in the MCRN who had gone to Laconia with the breakaway fleet after the bombardment of Earth. Yes, it was possible that the voice was faked, but the technical service tended to accept it as genuine. Medina Station reported light and radiation spikes coming through Laconia gate consistent with ships approaching on a braking burn. How many ships and of what kind, there wasn't enough information to guess at." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mars had lost almost a third of its ships when the Free Navy made its brief, doomed grab at power." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Those had been divided between the Free Navy's forces in Sol system and the breakaway fleet going to Laconia. In the decades since, Earth and Mars had slowly rebuilt their navies. Technological breakthroughs based on reverse engineering alien artifacts—lace plating, feedback bottles, inertial-compensating PDC cannons—were standard now. Even if the ships on the other side of Laconia gate had been able to glean some details of how the manufacturing processes worked, they would have to build shipyards and manufacturing bases before they could start using them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Thirty years without a refit was a long time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The most likely scenario was that something in Duarte's private banana republic had finally gone wrong enough that he was being forced back into contact to threaten or beg or barter whatever he—or whoever was in power by this time—needed to prop things up.\n\nThe flag in the intelligence report speculating about the fate of the active protomolecule sample that the Free Navy had stolen from Tycho during the war tripped Drummer up a little when she read it. She remembered that day. Fighting in her own corridors, her own station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even now, she remembered the cold rage that came from discovering betrayal in her ranks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Fred Johnson's leadership in the face of it.\n\nShe still missed Fred. And, sitting in her crash couch with the intelligence reports waiting patiently on her monitor, she wondered what he would have made of all this. Not just Duarte and Laconia, but all of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her monitor chimed and the orange temporary-priority flag appeared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A new report from Medina with the updated analysis of the drive signatures from the far side of Laconia gate. She blew out a breath and opened it. Certainty factors were still thin, but the drives were either unregistered or altered so much they no longer matched the database. She ran her finger over the accompanying text to keep her tired eyes from sliding off them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There had been at least one Donnager-class battleship in Duarte's stolen fleet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Given the size of the incoming plume, it was possible this was that ship. Older, yes. Worn down. But still a powerhouse.\n\nShe stood, stretched. Her back ached from between her shoulder blades up to the base of her skull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been spending too much time reading reports that she should have given to Vaughn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Digesting information down to the critical pieces was part of his job, after all. Used to be, it had been hers too. She trusted herself more than she did him.\n\nShe located Emily Santos-Baca on the ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was late, but the younger woman hadn't left for her quarters either." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The system put her in the administrative commissary. The idea of food woke her stomach, and a hunger she hadn't noticed rose up like a flame. Drummer sent a quick message asking her to wait there for a few minutes. She shut down her monitor, put it in security lock, and made her way out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hallways of People's Home still had a sense of newness about them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The foot- and hand-holds on the walls didn't have the wear of a lived-in ship or station. The lights all had a brightness, subtle but unmistakable, that spoke of recent installation. Not enough time for anything to age or break. Their great floating city would develop all of that in time, but for now, it and the others like it were the bright, perfect Singapores of their age." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The well-regulated city. Now, if she could just push that out as far as the stars, everything would be just ducky." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She found Santos-Baca sitting with an older man in a gray jumpsuit. He nodded to Drummer as she approached. When she sat down, he left. Santos-Baca smiled.\n\n\"You look like you could use some food.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's been a while since lunch. I'll get to that in a minute. You saw the reports?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm not quite caught up. But yes.\"\n\n\"Where's the board on this?\"\n\nThe younger woman settled into herself, thoughtful and closed as a poker player. When she spoke, her voice was careful." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's hard to get too worried about a fleet of out-of-date Martian warships commanded by the remnants of a decades-old coup. Frankly, I'm a little surprised to find out there's anyone alive there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Agreed.\"\n\n\"The message isn't coming up with any particular flag of high stress in the vocal patterns. Or any demands, at least not as yet.\"\n\n\"I know, Emily. I read the reports. I'm asking what you think of them.\"\n\nSantos-Baca opened her hands, an old-school gesture that said, It's right here in front of you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think we're about to see a bunch of self-centered assholes who've realized that their glorious independence isn't going to work out in isolation. If we can keep them from losing face, we can probably find a negotiated path to reintegration. But Mars is going to be a problem. They're going to want all of them trotted back to Olympus Mons and hung as traitors.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's what I was thinking too. Any idea how to approach them about this?\"\n\n\"I've been trading some messages with Admiral Hu. She's Earth, but she has friends in Martian high command,\" Santos-Baca said. \"Nothing formal. And McCahill in security.\"\n\n\"Of course.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The other possibility is that they're going to try force.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"With ships that haven't resupplied or seen a shipyard in decades,\" Drummer said. \"And with our rail-gun emplacements all warmed up and ready to poke holes in anyone that gets too rowdy. Are we thinking that's a realistic possibility?\"\n\n\"It's not the odds-on bet. Even when their fleet was new, taking out the rail-gun emplacements would have been a mighty tall order.\"\n\nDrummer considered. \"We can get a couple ships as backup, just in case. If it turns out Laconia needs its ass kicked, I'm not sending our ships through their gate. But it may make that charter an easier sell. Let Mars smell blood and vengeance and see if the EMC gets more interested in enforcement and policing than it was before?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It would be a very different case,\" Santos-Baca agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was good that they were on the same page with this. Drummer had half-feared that the board was going to come up with their own strategy. Her job was herding kittens. Only thankfully not this time." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S.A. Corey would" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When the Roci pulled into port at Medina, the security detail was there to take Houston into custody." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie watched Holden as the prisoner marched away. She thought there'd been a melancholy look in Holden's eyes. The last thing he'd done as captain was hand over a man to live in a cell. Or she might have been reading more into the situation than was there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer's threatened press release didn't appear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After that, they'd all gone out to a club. Naomi rented a private room for all of them, and they'd eaten a dinner of vat-grown beef and fresh vegetables seasoned with mineral-rich salt and hot pepper. Bobbie tried not to get drunk or maudlin, but she was the only one. Except Amos. He'd watched all the hugging and weeping and protestations of love like a mom at a five-year-old's birthday party, indulgent and supportive, but not really engaged with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After they'd eaten, they went out to the floor of the club and danced and sang karaoke and drank a little more." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then Holden and Naomi left together, their arms around each other's hips, strolling out into Medina Station's corridors as if they were going to come back. Only they weren't.\n\nThe four of them made their way back to the port talking and laughing. Alex was reciting lines and acting out scenes from one of the neo-noir films he collected. She and Clarissa egged him on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos grinned and ambled along behind them, but she saw him watching the halls in case four old half-drunk space jockeys attracted any trouble." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not that there was a reason to expect it. It was just something he did. She noticed it in part because she did it too.\n\nBack at the ship, the others scattered, floating to their rooms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie waited in the galley sipping a bulb of fresh coffee until they were gone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was still one more thing she wanted to do before she called it a day, and it was something she wanted to do alone.\n\nAround her, the Rocinante ticked as the residual heat of their journey slowly radiated out into the absolute vacuum of the slow zone. The air recyclers hummed. A sense of peace descended over everything like she was a child again and this was the night after Christmas." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She let her breath deepen and slow, feeling the ship around her like it was her skin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she finished the last drop of coffee, she put the empty bulb into the recycler and drew herself down the corridor to Holden's cabin. The captain's cabin.\n\nHers.\n\nHolden and Naomi had taken everything out already. The drawers were unlocked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The captain's safe was open and scrubbed, waiting for a new access code." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The double-sized crash couch—the one Holden and Naomi had shared for so long—gleamed, clean and polished. The slightly acrid smell of fresh gel told her that Naomi had replaced it all before she went. Clean sheets for the new tenant. Bobbie let herself drift into the space, stretching out her arms and legs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eyes closed, she listened to the peculiar quietness of this cabin, how it was like the one she'd been using these last years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How it was different. When she reached out to take a handhold, the wall was still a half a meter away. A double-sized crew cabin, created so Naomi and Holden could share the space, had become the privilege of being the Rocinante's captain. She smiled at the thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The safe waited for her passcode." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She fed it the prints from her thumb and two index fingers, then typed in the password she'd chosen and spoke it out loud for the system to learn. Sixteen digits long, committed to her memory, and not associated with anything outside itself. The safe closed with a solid clack, magnetic locks falling into place where it would take a welding torch and a lot of time to force. She pulled up her partition on the wall screen, checking to see that everything was in place." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The drive was quiet, the reactor shut down, the environmental systems well within the green." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everything just the way it should be on her ship. It was going to take a while, she figured, before that thought didn't seem like she was playacting. Better that she got used to it, though. Her ship.\n\nFour messages waited for her in the queue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The first two were automated messages, one confirming the docking agreement and fee structure for their present stay on Medina, the other showing the withdrawal from the group account of Holden and Naomi's lump cash-out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante already sending her the things it used to route to Holden. The third was from Medina traffic control, but the fourth was from the man himself. James Holden. She opened that one first.\n\nHis face appeared on the screen, floating in the same room she was in now, back when it had been his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was smiling, and she felt herself smiling back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Bobbie,\" he said, and his voice seemed loud in the quiet. \"I just wanted to leave this here for you as a note. I've spent a lot of time on the Roci. My best moments are part of this boat. And a bunch of the worst ones. And most of the people I love. I can't think of anyone else in thirteen hundred worlds I'd trust with it the way I trust you. Thank you for taking this cup from me. And if there's ever anything I can do to help out down the line, just say so. I may not be part of the crew anymore, but we're still family.\"\n\nThe message ended, and she flagged it to be saved. She opened the one from traffic control." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A young man with deeply black skin and close-cropped hair nodded into his camera at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Captain Holden, I am Michael Simeon with Medina Station security. I am sending this to inform you that, in accordance with union policy, the Rocinante is being called to a mandatory security contract. Your presence is required at a briefing on the incoming ambassadorial contact from Laconia at the location and time embedded in this message. Please confirm that you or your representative will be attending.\"\n\nBobbie tapped the reply, considered herself in the screen for a moment before she pulled her hair back into a bun, and scowled her reply.\n\n\"This is Captain Draper of the Rocinante,\" she said. \"I'll be there.\"\n\nTen minutes into the briefing, Bobbie thought, Oh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This is why he didn't want the job anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The room was in the drum section of the station, up near the nonrotating command decks. The desks were lined up in rows like the worst kind of classroom, with hard seats and built-in drink holders that didn't quite fit the cheap ceramic mugs they'd given out. There were around forty people in the uncomfortable seats with her—representatives of all the ships presently in the slow zone—but she and the executive officer of the Tori Byron had places of honor. Front row, center. Where the smart kids sat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Rocinante and the Tori Byron were, after all, the only gunships around Medina at the moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All the rest were tugs and cargo haulers.\n\nThe man at the front of the room wasn't the one who'd summoned her, but his boss. Onni Langstiver was the head of the security forces and so, for the length of her mandatory temporary contract, technically her boss. He wore a Medina Station uniform like it was a mech driver's undersuit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dandruff dotted his shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The biggest thing is we don't want to seem aggressive,\" Langstiver said, \"but we don't want to look passive either.\"\n\nIn her peripheral vision, the others nodded. Bobbie tried to crack her knuckles, but she'd already done it twice since she sat down and her joints were silent. Langstiver went on.\n\n\"We've got the rail-gun emplacements on the hub station, same like always, sa sa? So that anyone tries anything, we spark those up and—\" The director of station security for the Transport Union cocked his fingers into little gun shapes and made pew-pew noises." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Probáb they come through like any ambassador. Dock, talk, and los politicos do their dance. But if they come through with ideas, we're ready. Not starting, but not a clean shot too, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A general murmur of assent.\n\n\"You have to protect the guns,\" Bobbie said. \"The rail-gun emplacements on the hub station? If they get a force onto the surface—\"\n\n\"Savvy, savvy,\" Langstiver said, patting the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is the Tori Byron, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What we need is intelligence about what's coming through that gate before it comes through,\" Bobbie said, knowing as the words passed her lips that she wasn't going to be thanked for them. Still, now that she'd started ...\"A dozen probes going through the gate now could relay back whether we're looking at a Donnager-class battleship or a few gunships or just a shuttle. How we get ready for any of those should be different—\"\n\n\"Yeah, thought of that,\" Langstiver said. \"Don't want to be provocative, though, yeah? And anyway, we're not going to act much different no matter what. Working with what we're working with.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So send a ship through with a fruit basket,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Greet them on their territory and get a report back.\"\n\nLangstiver stopped and stared at her. She stared back. The room was quiet for a long breath. Then another. He looked away first." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can't send a manned ship through. Union rules. Is in the work agreement, yeah? So we put Tori Byron up like an honor guard. The Rocinanate in Medina's shadow, make sure no one lands that isn't welcome. Everyone else in dock or cleared out enough to put a clear path between Laconia gate and Medina. Everyone that gets delayed, the union picks up the fees. Tori Byron gets full security contract schedule. Rocinante gets three-quarters for support role. Standard.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie wondered what Holden would have done in this moment. Made an impassioned speech about how the union rules were restricting them past the point of tactical competence? Smiled his I-don't-actually-like-you-very-much smile, then gone back to the ship and done whatever the hell he wanted to do anyway? Or sucked it up as a battle that wasn't worth fighting?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only it was her battle now, and while she was very clear that she was in the right, it was also evident that her position wasn't going to help her change Langstiver's plan." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She couldn't beat sense into a stone. Not even when it seemed fun to try.\n\n\"Understood,\" Bobbie said.\n\nAll the way back to the dock, her jaw was clenched." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was just people." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were the same everywhere. She'd dealt with bureaucracy when she was in the service and when she'd done her veteran's outreach work. She'd run up against it when Fred Johnson had the idiotic plan to make her kind of an ersatz Martian ambassador during the constitutional crisis. And when she'd taken her place on the Rocinante, she'd been happy to let Holden or sometimes Naomi take point on the bullshit diplomatic dance-and-kiss charade." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't even that she was worried about the outcome of this particular encounter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was that there was a better approach, she'd told them what it was, and they weren't going to do it. And her ship—her people—were going to shoulder some part of the unnecessary risk. There was no scenario ever that was going to make that okay with her.\n\nAs a generation ship, the Nauvoo hadn't expected to berth a lot of ships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As a battleship, the Behemoth's needs had been minimal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What hadn't been there, time and necessity had added. The major docks on Medina Station were outside the drum, down near the engineering decks and the long-quiescent drive that had been designed to launch the ship on a centuries-long voyage to the stars. A smaller dock had been built on the far end of the drum, near the command decks, but it was used more for private shuttles and diplomatic meetings. The Rocinante was berthed in the main docks, not far from the Tori Byron, and Bobbie cycled into the airlock with her sense of rage starting to fade." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A little. She could hate it and still do the job." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was all she could do, really.\n\n\"Welcome back,\" Alex said over the ship comms as the inner doors of the airlock cycled closed. \"There a plan?\"\n\n\"Plan is to hang back and see if the new Laconian ambassador needs to show everyone how big his dick is,\" Bobbie said. \"The Tori Byron and the rail-gun emplacements are taking point. We'll hang back and splash any boarding teams that get close.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pulled herself past the lockers, out to the lift, and up toward ops." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex's voice shifted from the comms to his actual voice as she got close.\n\n\"Well, good that we won't be the first ones getting shot at. I mean, assuming anyone gets shot at all. Got to admit I'm a little bit hoping they try something.\"\n\n\"You mean because Duarte and his people are a bunch of traitors to the republic who all deserve to hang for treason?\"\n\n\"And theft. Don't forget theft. And not warning anyone when the Free Navy was looking to kill a few billion people. I mean, I'm all for forgiveness and bygones being bygones, but it's easier to stomach that after the assholes are all dead.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie strapped herself into a crash couch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This may not even be Duarte's people. For all we know, he got stabbed in his bathtub fifteen years ago.\"\n\n\"A man can hope,\" Alex agreed. The dimness of the ops deck meant most of the light on his face was splashing up from the monitor. \"I shifted the Roci back to a four-person-crew configuration.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's not enough,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We need more crew.\"\n\n\"We did it this way for years before you and Claire joined up. It works better than you expect. Hey ... Look, since there's a chance that someone might be trying to poke holes through Medina Station, would you mind if I kept Holden and Naomi on the ship's channel? Just in case?\"\n\nBobbie hesitated. Part of her bridled at the prospect of having personnel who weren't on the operation still be in the communications chain. But it was Holden and Naomi, and cutting them out also felt strange." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex was waiting for an answer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She made a gesture as if she'd been thinking of something else.\n\n\"Of course not,\" Bobbie said. \"They're family.\" Alex's faint smile meant he'd known she'd say it, and was glad she'd said it that way. She opened a connection to Amos and Clarissa." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay, everyone. Preflight checks. Let's get ourselves into position.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The slow zone—gates, Medina Station, and the alien hub station with the rail guns—was only tiny if compared to the vastness of normal space. The whole volume was smaller than the sun, and with the guesses she'd seen about how much energy it took to hold the gates open and stable, probably equally energetic, but controlled by forces they were still struggling to make sense of. And between the gates, a darkness that matter and energy slipped into, but from which nothing ever came back. The not-emptiness past the gates left her feeling a little claustrophobic, with only a sphere a million klicks across to move in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even that constrained, Medina Station would have been too small to see on her monitor if it had all been rendered to scale." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead, she had a window with the full system—gates, stations, the Roci, the Tori Byron, the rail-gun emplacements—on one side of her monitor and three smaller displays showing tactical displays of the Roci in the needle-thin radar shadow of Medina, the Tori Byron, and Laconia gate respectively. A countdown timer marked the minutes and seconds until this Admiral Trejo said he'd be coming through. Her shoulders were tight. She felt like they were in the moment between throwing dice and seeing what numbers had come up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gambler's high. She didn't like how much she liked it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Medina's sensors are getting something,\" Clarissa said from the engineering deck.\n\n\"Throw me the update, please,\" Bobbie said, and the screen with Laconia gate on her monitor shifted to a live feed of the gate itself, enhanced in false color to make the darkness legible. The weird circle of the gate. The wavering stars beyond it, and a looming shadow coming through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even just watching the stars go out behind it, Bobbie could tell it was a big ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it was their Donnager-class battleship. And that in itself would be the Laconians making a statement.\n\nUnless it was something else.\n\nThe ship that came through first looked wrong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was something more than the weirdly organic shape of it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The way the false color struggled to make sense of its surface was like a graphical glitch or something out of a dream. She found herself looking for seams where its plating came together, and there was nothing. Her mind kept trying to see it as a ship, but defaulting to some kind of ancient sea creature from the deep trenches of Earth.\n\n\"That ain't one of ours,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Shit. Where did they get that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't like this,\" Clarissa said.\n\nMe neither, little sister, Bobbie thought.\n\nOn the traffic-control channel, the captain of the Tori Byron was hailing the Laconian whatever it was, ordering it to come to a full stop. Bobbie nodded at the screen, willing Trejo to respond." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To make this a more normal interaction." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead the strange ship continued on its course, placid and implacable. Another drive plume still showed on the other side of the gate. Much smaller, but a second ship all the same. After a moment, the Tori Byron lit its main drive, moving itself in on an intercept." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was like watching a house cat preparing to face down a lion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This is your final warning, the Tori Byron announced. Bobbie's monitor updated. The Tori Byron had hit the big ship with a target lock—\n\nAnd then it was gone. Where the Tori had been, only a sparkling cloud of matter so strange the Roci's sensors didn't know what to make of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What the fuck!\" Alex breathed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did they shoot something? I didn't see them shoot anything!\"\n\nBobbie's stomach felt so heavy, it seemed like it ought to be dragging her down, even on the float. She opened a channel to the rail-gun emplacements before she was consciously aware she'd done it, the certainty growing in her even as she got the lock that it wouldn't be enough. That nothing would be." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding 4 sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Transport Union comptroller's offices were buried three levels deep in the thick walls of Medina Station's rotating drum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made the Coriolis slightly less noticeable than inside the drum, but also meant that they were inside gray metal cubes with desks in them and no screens to even give the illusion of a window. Holden couldn't say for sure why it felt more depressing than sitting in the metal cubes of a spaceship compartment, but it was. Naomi sat beside him, watching the newsfeeds on her hand terminal, unaffected by the grim locale. The Rocinante was doing a mandatory security contract." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The first gig since they'd left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe that was what he was reacting to.\n\n\"Form 4011-D transfers your retainer and future contracts to Roberta W. Draper, and states that she is now the legal captain of the Rocinante, and president of Rocicorp, a Ceres-registered corporate entity.\"\n\nThe Transport Union representative who was processing their paperwork handed Holden an oversized terminal covered in legalese. She had a pinched face, deep frown lines on her forehead and around her mouth, and wore her hair in short spikes dyed flaming red." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden thought she looked like a disgruntled puffer fish, but recognized his unflattering opinion was at least partly a reaction to the mountain of forms she'd made him fill out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You do know,\" the puffer fish said, \"that this is a temporary change of status, pending the legal change-of-ownership registration?\"\n\n\"Our next stop is the bank, where we'll be finalizing the loan to sell the ship.\"\n\n\"Mmhmm,\" Puffer said, making it a sound of deep skepticism.\n\nAs Holden filled out the next of the endless forms, he listened to the small voices coming from Naomi's terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He only caught about every third word, but the hot topic of conversation was definitely the approaching Laconian ships." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Luna,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"Something happening on Luna?\"\n\n\"No, I mean, let's try Luna first. It'll be easy to find consulting gigs, what with all the work going on down on Earth.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I—\" Holden started." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not you. Me. I could get consulting gigs. I like the gravity there. And you could pop down the well whenever you wanted to visit your parents.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"True.\" His parents were all pushing the centenarian mark, and while he'd been lucky and they were all in pretty good shape, he didn't want them doing orbital launches to visit him if they could avoid it.\n\n\"And it's all very far from this,\" she said, pointing at her screen.\n\n\"Not a bad thing,\" he agreed, and handed his filled-out screen back to the puffer. \"But I did like the idea of living in exuberant decadence on Titan.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When we have enough money to do that for another three decades. Two hours,\" Naomi said, and Holden didn't need to ask what she was referring to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two hours until the first representatives from Laconia to come through their gate in decades would arrive.\n\n\"We done here?\"\n\nThe puffer agreed that they were.\n\n\"I could use a drink,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Let's go get a drink and watch the big arrival on the screens in a bar or something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They did.\n\nIt didn't go well.\n\nHolden ran across the open fields of the rotating drum, heading toward the lift up to Medina's command enter. The adrenaline pumping through his veins only seemed to make his heart beat faster without speeding him up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It occurred to him, with a sort of surreal detachment, that this was exactly like many nightmares he'd had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He reached the lift station, pressed the call button, and willed the doors to open.\n\nBobbie was yelling Fire, fire, fire on the Roci's group channel, her voice coming out of his terminal loud, but not panicky. Commanding. On the screen, Alex was sending him the Roci's tactical display. Three of the rail guns on the hub station fired at the massive Laconian ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The shots all hit, tearing holes in the hull, but the breaches closed almost as fast as they were created." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't look like damage-control systems. It looked like it was healing.\n\nHolden had seen that sort of nearly instantaneous repair before. But not on human technologies." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took a really bad situation and made it a nightmare." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bobbie,\" he yelled back at the terminal. \"Keep the ship—\"\n\nHe didn't get to finish, because the screen flashed white and died. Medina actually shuddered. The entire station shook and rang like a bell.\n\n\"Jim,\" Naomi said, and then couldn't finish because she was still gasping for breath from their run." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She made the Belter hand signal for emergency." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Should we be looking for a shelter? It was a valid question. If the Laconians started poking holes in Medina, they'd want to be in a sealed emergency compartment with its own air supply.\n\n\"Go find one,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But I need to get up to command.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why?\"\n\nAnother valid question. Because I've fought in three major wars, he thought. Because the Belters running the station are the ones that didn't join Marco's Free Navy, so they've never been in this kind of fight. They'll need my experience." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All perfectly true and probably valid reasons." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he didn't say them out loud, because he knew Naomi would see through them instantly to the truth. Because something terrible is happening, and I don't know how not to be in the middle of it.\n\nThe doors finally opened, and the car recognized him as a captain with union clearances and gave him access to the overrides. As they went up, the feeling of gravity slowly turned into a lurching sideways motion and then disappeared." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lift opened onto corridors that Holden remembered fighting through under heavy fire, back when humans first found their way into the ring system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That astonishing moment in human history, passing through a stable wormhole into an alien-created network of interstellar gates, had just led to a whole bunch of people deciding to shoot each other. And now, a group of people who'd been isolated from humanity for decades were rejoining society just as things seemed to be going pretty well. And what did they do? Start shooting.\n\nHolden's terminal gave a gentle ping and then reconnected to the network." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A moment later, Alex's face appeared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You still there, Cap?\"\n\n\"Yeah, just outside Medina ops. Did that thing hit the station? Not seeing any atmo-loss alerts here.\"\n\n\"It shot the—\" Alex started, then said, \"It's easier to show you. Take a look at this shit.\"\n\n\"Just a minute.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden slapped the wall panel, and the door slid open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pulled himself inside the ops center.\n\nThe duty officer put up a hand. \"You can't come in here, sir. I mean, Captain Holden. Sir.\"\n\n\"Who's in charge right now?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Me?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had met her once before at a Transport Union function. Daphne Kohl. A competent technician. Somebody who'd done an engineering tour on Tycho. Perfect for noncombat ops duty on a station like Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Absolutely out of her depth now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden?\" Alex said. \"You still there?\"\n\nHolden turned his hand terminal so that the duty officer could see it too.\n\n\"Go ahead, Alex.\"\n\nOn his hand-terminal screen, the massive Laconian ship was floating past the ring gate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had a thick lozenge shape, not quite circular in cross-section, and with a variety of asymmetrical projections jutting out from the sides." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More organic than constructed.\n\nIt came to a gentle stop just inside the ring gate. The Tori Byron, the Transport Union's cruiser tasked with defending Medina Station, moved toward it. Holden couldn't see or hear them, but he imagined the stream of hails and demands the Byron was throwing at the Laconian ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then, happening so fast it was like a glitch in the graphic, the Byron turned into a rapidly expanding cloud of superheated gas and metal fragments." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the playback, Bobbie was yelling, Fire, fire, fire, and the rail guns on the hub station opened up.\n\nThe image jittered, and the rail guns were ripped away from the hub and sent spinning off, fracturing into a cloud of ceramic shrapnel as they went.\n\n\"That's what you felt,\" Alex said. \"The second time they fired that weapon, every ship in the zone shook, and half the electronics blew out.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What,\" Holden said, \"the fuck was that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex didn't answer. His expression was as eloquent as a shrug.\n\n\"Okay, I assume Bobbie's got you guys hiding in the station's radar shadow still, since I'm talking to you and you're not dead.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Alex said. \"She seems pretty strongly in favor of not doing anything to make it mad.\"\n\n\"Let me see what we can find out here, and I'll call back.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Copy that,\" Alex said. \"Roci out.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's ... magnetic?\" Naomi said, her tone managing to be authoritative and astounded at the same time. This is what it is, but I don't believe what I'm seeing. She'd floated across the ops center to one of the consoles and was working with the tech there. \"It's reading as an incredibly strong magnetic field focused down to a narrow beam.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is that possible?\" the duty officer said, her voice small and tight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Only if you define 'possible' as things that have already happened,\" Naomi said, not turning to look at her.\n\n\"So anything made of metal is vulnerable,\" another tech said.\n\n\"It isn't just metal,\" Holden replied, then pushed off to drift over to Naomi's station and look at the data she was pulling up.\n\n\"Everything has a magnetic field,\" Naomi added." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Usually it's too weak to matter. But at the levels that beam is hitting, it could spaghettify hydrogen atoms. Anything it touches will be ripped apart.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There's no way to defend against something like that,\" Holden said, then went limp. In microgravity, it was not as satisfying as collapsing into a chair would have been.\n\n\"That's what shook Medina,\" Naomi added. \"Just the beam passing near us. The maneuvering thrusters had to fire to hold us still.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Holden, this is Draper,\" his terminal said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden here.\"\n\n\"Looks like that big bastard is ignoring us as long as we stay really still and keep the weapons unpowered.\"\n\n\"That's a good sign,\" Holden said. \"It might mean they're not looking to kill everyone. Just making a point of destroying anything that's a threat.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Point loudly and clearly made,\" Bobbie agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But be aware, there is a second ship. Smaller. And it's heading for Medina.\"\n\n\"Tactical assessment?\"\n\n\"Based on how thoroughly they took out our defenses,\" Bobbie said, \"I'd bet they do a hard breach, storm ops and the reactor room, and grab full control of the station. If their ground troops have tech like that ship does, it shouldn't take long.\"\n\n\"Copy that. I'm going to try to minimize casualties down here. Wait for me to make contact. Holden out.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hard breach?\" Naomi asked, though her tone said she already knew the answer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They'll drop fire teams all over the station to take over access points, control centers, power, and environmental support,\" Holden replied, more to the room at large than to Naomi. He turned to Daphne Kohl. \"I think you should have everyone here start making calls. Get every union and planetary rep in secure locations, but tell their security details to stand down. No visible weapons. Tell them we're not attempting to repel boarders. That'll just get people killed, and maybe piss off that monster of a ship.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you taking command?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, I'm not. But this is the right thing to do, and we need to do it now. So we should do it. Please.\"\n\nHer expression fell a degree. She'd hoped someone in authority had arrived. Someone who knew what to do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He recognized the hope and the disappointment both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're not going to fight back at all?\" Kohl asked.\n\nHe gestured toward the screens. The dust that was Tori Byron and the rail-gun emplacements. Kohl looked away. Still, he couldn't bring himself to say no." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not yet,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi was already collecting side-arms from the other techs in the ops center and putting them in a duffel bag. Not yet.\n\nThe second ship looked to be about destroyer sized, to Holden's eye. It did a slow flyover of Medina Station, taking out the torpedo racks and PDC emplacements with pinpoint-accurate rail-gun shots, then dropping a dozen Marine landing craft.\n\nAs it came, Kohl did as he suggested, passing the word throughout the ship not to resist." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Live to fight another day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After the last call, she seemed to sway for a moment, then turned, spat on the deck, and pulled up something that looked like a security interface.\n\n\"What are you doing?\"\n\n\"Purging the security system,\" she said. \"No census. No biometric records. No deck plans. No records. We can't stop the fuckers, but we don't need to make it easy for them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fou bien,\" Naomi said, approving." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden wondered whether the forces coming in would be able to track the decision back to her. He hoped they wouldn't.\n\nEach landing craft held a fire team of eight Marines, all wearing power armor of an unusual design—like Bobbie's but with different articulation at the joints, and all in a vibrant blue that made them seem like something that had hauled itself up from the sea. The Marines were methodical and professional." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where the doors opened for them, they entered without causing damage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Where they found locked doors, they breached with ruthless efficiency, blowing the door seals and hauling the plates back in a single, well-trained motion. When they passed unarmed civilians, they moved on by with nothing more than a warning not to resist. The few times they ran into someone with a hero complex who tried to fight back, they killed whoever presented a threat, but no one else. That it wasn't a straight-out massacre was the only comfort." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Watching it all happen from his position in the ops center, Holden found that he had to admire the level of training and discipline the Laconians displayed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They left no doubt that they were absolutely in charge, and they responded to any aggression with immediate lethal force. But they didn't abuse the civilians. They didn't push anyone around. They showed nothing that looked like bravado or bullying." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even the violence didn't have any anger behind it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were like animal handlers. Holden, Naomi, and the rest of the ops-center techs did what they could to keep the station populace from panicking or foolishly resisting, but it was almost irrelevant. Nothing kept the people calmer than the calm their invaders demonstrated.\n\nWhen the door to the ops center opened and one of the fire teams entered, Holden told everyone in the room to raise their hands in surrender." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A tall, dark-skinned woman in armor with insignia that looked like a modified Martian colonel rank walked toward him on magnetic boots." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am Colonel Tanaka,\" she said, her voice booming with electronically augmented volume. \"Medina Station is under our control. Please indicate that you understand and are complying.\"\n\nHolden nodded and gave her his best fake smile. \"I understand and as long as you continue to not abuse the people here, we will not violently resist.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a deliberate provocation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Tanaka were there to flex her muscles and show how important and in charge she was, she'd point out that her people could abuse the populace to their heart's content and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.\n\nInstead she said, \"Understood. Prepare a hard dock at the reactor level of the station for our ship.\"\n\nWhen the dockmaster indicated that it was ready, Tanaka touched a control on her wrist and said, \"Captain Singh, a berth is being prepped for docking. The station is ours.\"\n\n\"I am Captain Santiago Singh of the Laconian destroyer Gathering Storm,\" the young man said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm here to accept your surrender.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His uniform was trim and spotless. The design looked Martian, except for the blue-gray color scheme where Holden was used to red and black. Kohl floated before him, confusion in her eyes.\n\n\"This is an act of war,\" she said, her voice trembling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden felt an urge to step in, refocus the man onto him just to make her safer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a stupid impulse. \"The union. The Earth-Mars Coalition. The Association of Worlds. They won't stand for this.\"\n\n\"I know,\" the young man said. \"This is going to be all right. But I have to accept your surrender now, please.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She braced to attention, and it was over." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had taken less than four hours from the first transit. Marines in Laconian power armor patrolled the corridors and command points of the station. Naval personnel in sharply designed uniforms hurried about hooking equipment into various communication and environmental systems with a well-practiced efficiency. The people of Medina mostly watched in a sort of dazed shock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had all happened so quickly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was impossible to process.\n\nHe and Naomi were swept up along with the hundreds of representatives from the colonized worlds, several dozen reps from the Transport Union, the senior staff of Medina Station. He didn't have any actual authority. He wasn't even technically the captain of a ship or a member of the Transport Union anymore, but no one argued." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They all gathered in the coalition-council room, an amphitheater with two thousand seats and a stage with a podium on it that consciously aped the layout of the General Assembly of the UN back on Earth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Admiral Trejo was a stocky older man, with the relaxed air of a person who'd spent so long holding a military posture that he looks comfortable in it. He took his place at the podium flanked by a pair of Marines. Captain Singh and Colonel Tanaka stood respectfully behind him and off to one side.\n\n\"Greetings,\" the admiral said, smiling out at them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am High Admiral Anton Trejo of the Laconian Empire, and personal representative of High Consul Winston Duarte, our leader. And now your leader as well.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He paused as though waiting for applause. After a moment, he continued.\n\n\"As you know, we have accepted control of Medina Station. And yes, we intend to take control of all the thirteen hundred worlds it leads to. This isn't an act of aggression, but necessity. We bear no ill will or animosity toward any of you. As you've seen, this will be as bloodless a transition as you allow it to be. I'm bringing you here to implore you to please, please, contact your home worlds. We will make communications available for anyone who will tell them to peacefully relinquish control to us. If they do this, there will be no need for violence of any kind.\"\n\n\"I admit I kind of like these guys,\" Holden whispered to Naomi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I mean as conquistadors go.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There'll be a 'but,'\" she said. \"There's always a 'but.'\"\n\n\"Cooperation is the coin of the empire,\" Trejo continued. \"The beginnings were already in motion here. Your Association of Worlds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Transport Union. All of these things will continue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "High Consul Duarte wants input and representation from all the systems humanity has colonized and will colonize. The Transport Union is a vital apparatus in supporting those efforts. Both organizations can and must continue their important work.\n\n\"The only thing that has changed is that High Consul Duarte will be expediting the process. The Laconian fleet will be the defenders of a new galactic civilization of which you will all be welcome citizens. The only price is cooperation with the new order, and a tax to be paid to the empire that will not be onerous, and will be entirely invested back into the creation of new infrastructure and aid to fledgling or struggling planetary economies. The golden age of man will begin under the high consul's leadership.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Trejo paused again, his smile slipping." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked pained and saddened by what he was about to say.\n\n\"Here it comes,\" Naomi whispered.\n\n\"But to those who intend to defy this new government and try to deny humanity its bright future, I say this: You will be eradicated without hesitation or mercy. The military might of Laconia has only one function, and that is the defense and protection of the empire and its citizens. Loyal citizens of the empire will know only peace and prosperity, and the absolute certainty of their own safety under our watchful eye. Disloyalty has one outcome: death.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" Naomi said, though it was more a long exhalation than a word." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The nicest totalitarian government ever, I'm sure.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately two sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"By the time we figure out all the ways it isn't,\" Holden said, \"it will be too late to do anything about it.\"\n\n\"Will be?\" Naomi asked. \"Or is?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S.A. Corey would" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "McCahill, head of the security council, spread his hands before him like he was trying to talk a gunman into putting down his weapon. \"We were all taken by surprise. And I think we can all agree this was a failure of intelligence.\"\n\n\"Well, if we all agree, then I guess it's not a problem,\" Drummer said. McCahill flinched a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What the hell happened out there?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The meeting room was small—McCahill, Santos-Baca, and the present liaison of the Earth-Mars Coalition, Benedito Lafflin. And Vaughn haunting the back of the room like a funeral director at a wake. There were others in her feed. Messages from every division of the union and dozens of organizations outside it too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A kicked anthill the size of the solar system, and all of them wanting answers and leadership from her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would take days to view all of them, weeks to reply, and she didn't have the time or the energy. She needed answers.\n\nAnswers and a way to turn time backward long enough to undo what had already happened.\n\nLafflin was a thick-faced man with a tight haircut that made him look like a particularly self-satisfied toad. He cleared his throat. \"Data on Laconia has always been thin,\" he said. He had a reedy voice and the manner of a doctor explaining why he'd left a sponge in someone's belly by mistake. \"The defecting forces from Mars have been playing their keep-away message since before the Transport Union was chartered. They've flooded the gate from the realspace side with chatter along the whole electromagnetic spectrum—radio, visible light, X-ray, everything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We've had no passive intelligence to speak of." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The few times that probes were sent through, they were disabled or destroyed.\n\n\"The official doctrine put in during the first years of the union was blockade. The navies of Earth and Mars were both badly damaged in the fight against the Free Navy, the focus of governance was disaster recovery on Earth and minimizing the collapse of infrastructure. Laconia never presented an active threat, and ...\"\n\n\"You're telling me the missing navy was just never a priority?\" Drummer said, but she already knew the answer: Yes, that's what he was saying." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sleeping dogs had been left to lie until they were good and rested." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the sting of it was worse because some of that at least had been during her watch. She was as guilty as anyone of taking her eye off the ball.\n\nThe images that had come through from Medina were surreal. The ship that had sailed through from Laconia didn't resemble anything that had gone out through the gate decades ago." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The blast that had scattered the Tori Byron was more like high-energy stellar phenomena than a weapon humanity had conceived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the destruction of the rail-gun emplacements had been accompanied by a blast of gamma radiation from the gates themselves that Cameron Tur had described as the energetic equivalent of a solar flare. It had destroyed the Sharon Chavez, a freighter that had been waiting for clearance from Medina's traffic control. Her crew died in the blink of an eye, and not even from a direct attack. It wasn't something Drummer could get her mind to accept." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was too big." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Too strange. Too sudden.\n\n\"The attacker has disabled the relay network,\" Vaughn said, answering something Santos-Baca had asked. \"There are no new signals coming in or out of the ring space. Medina is effectively cut off.\"\n\nDrummer squeezed her fists until they ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't let her mind wander like that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't matter that she felt traumatized. The union was under attack, and it was all on her. She had to keep focus. \"We do have some record from the freighter that was parked outside the gate. The interference is too severe to get anything with high definition, but enough that we can say with some confidence that Medina Station was boarded. We have to assume it's been taken.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can we get data through the gates?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer asked. \"Radio loud enough to carry through the interference on both sides? Or tightbeams? Something to get messages to the other systems?\"\n\n\"It's possible,\" Lafflin said in a tone of voice that meant he didn't actually think it was possible. \"But it would certainly be monitored. And our encryption schema aren't breakable by any known tech, but we're not looking at known tech.\" His hand terminal chimed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He glanced at the message and lifted his eyebrow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Excuse me for a moment. Someone's made a mistake.\"\n\nDrummer waved her permission, and the inner left them to themselves. When the doors had closed behind him, she turned to Santos-Baca and McCahill. \"Well, seeing as it's just us, what are the options?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If we can find a way to communicate with the other systems, we can coordinate a counterattack,\" Santos-Baca said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've been putting together a spreadsheet of the resources we have in each system.\"\n\n\"Let me see,\" Drummer said. Santos-Baca flipped the data to Drummer's display. More than thirteen hundred gates, each opening onto a new solar system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Almost all of them with colonies that varied from barely functioning villages to scientific complexes that were on the ragged edge of self-sustainability." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The union's void cities were the largest ships, but she could only pour attacking forces through so quickly without losing them to the gate's glitches. She'd be sending them through one at a time to be mowed down. She pressed her fingers to her lips, pinching the flesh against her teeth until it ached a little. There was a way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There had to be a way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had to put first things first. And that meant reestablishing communications with all the union forces in all the systems. Some kind of stealth relay system had to be put in place. Maybe some kind of feint that would draw the enemy's attention long enough to let her sneak new repeaters on either side of if not all the gates, then a strategic few—" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ma'am,\" Lafflin said from behind her, \"please, you can't—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An unfamiliar voice answered. \"Give it a fucking rest, Benedito. I can do whatever the fuck I want. Who's going to tell me not to? You?\"\n\nThe old woman moved slowly, using a cane even in the light gravity of People's Home. Her hair was blindingly white, thinning, and pulled back in a bun at the base of her skull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her skin was slack and papery, but there was an intelligence in her eyes that the years hadn't dimmed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked up at Drummer, and smiled with the warmth of a grandmother. \"Camina. It's good to see you. I got the first shuttle I could. How's your brother doing?\"\n\nDrummer pushed through a flurry of reactions—surprise that the woman was here, a flicker of starstruck awe, disorientation at being called by her first name in public, distrust that Chrisjen Avasarala—the retired grand dame of inner-planet politics—knew about her brother at all, and finally the solid certainty that every feeling she'd just experienced had been anticipated. More than anticipated. Designed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was all a manipulation, but done so well and with such grace that knowing that didn't make it ineffective." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He's fine,\" Drummer said. \"The regrowth went well.\"\n\n\"Good, good,\" Avasarala said, lowering herself into a chair. \"Astounding what they can do with neural replacement these days. When I was growing up, they cocked it up more than they got it right. I had most of my peripheral nervous system redone a couple years ago. Works better than the old stuff, except my leg gets restless at night.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Santos-Baca and McCahill both smiled, but with anxiety in their eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ma'am,\" Lafflin said, \"please. We're in the middle of a meeting.\"\n\n\"You can finish it later,\" Avasarala said. \"President Drummer and I need to talk.\"\n\n\"I didn't see you on my schedule,\" Drummer said mildly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Avasarala turned back to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The warmth was gone, but the intellect was there, sharp and feral.\n\n\"I've been where you are right now,\" the old woman said. \"I'm the only one in the whole human race who has. The way your stomach feels when you try to eat? The part of you that's screaming all the time, even when you're acting calm? The guilt? Anyone who's had a child in the hospital has suffered through that shit. But the part where all human history rides on what you do, and you only get one shot? That's only you and me. I came because you need me here.\"\n\n\"I appreciate—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're about to fuck up,\" Avasarala said, and her voice was harder than stone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I can keep that from happening. And we can have that conversation here in front of these poor fucking shitheads, or you can roll your eyes and humor the crazy old bitch with a cup of tea and we can have a little privacy. You can blame me for it. I won't mind. I'm too old and tired for shame.\"\n\nDrummer laced her fingers together. Her jaw ached, and she had to focus to unclench it. She wanted to scream." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wanted to have Avasarala thrown out of the city in a plastic emergency bubble with a note tacked to her cane that said Make an appointment first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted to see McCahill and Santos-Baca look at her with awe and fear at the violence of her reaction. And none of those things had anything to do with Chrisjen Avasarala. They were all of them about what had happened to Medina.\n\n\"Vaughn,\" Drummer said. \"Could you get Madam Avasarala a pot of tea? We'll take a recess of an hour or so.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Of course, Madam President,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The others rose from their chairs. Santos-Baca took a moment to shake Avasarala's hand before she left. Drummer scratched her chin even though it didn't itch and kept her temper until the room was empty except for the two of them. When she spoke, it was with a careful, measured tone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you ever undermine me like that again, I will find a way to make everyone in the EMC stop taking your calls. I will isolate you like no one this side of a prison door has ever been isolated. You'll spend the last days of your life trying to talk interns into getting you coffee.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was a dick move,\" Avasarala said, pouring a cup of tea for herself and then another one for Drummer. \"It's my fault. I overreact when I'm scared.\"\n\nShe hobbled across the room and set the mug down in front of Drummer. An act of submission as calculated as everything she'd done." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whether it was sincere or insincere didn't matter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd kept the form. Drummer picked up the tea, blew across it, and sipped. Because keeping the form was all that was keeping her together now too. Avasarala nodded her approval and went back to her seat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm scared too,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know. That was some frightening shit that came back from Medina. That ship? I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen speculation about anything like it.\" Avasarala picked up her own mug, sipped, and nodded toward the tea. \"This is good.\"\n\n\"We grow it here. Real leaves.\"\n\n\"All the food chemists in the system will never do better than evolution at making a decent tea leaf.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How am I about to fuck up?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"By trying to get back your losses,\" Avasarala said. \"It's not just you either. You're going to have advisors on all sides who want the same damn thing. Mass a force to reclaim Medina, find a way to coordinate, take the fight back to Laconia. Through a massive effort and at tremendous cost, push our way back to the status quo ante.\"\n\n\"Sunk-cost fallacy?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So you don't think—\" Drummer had to stop." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The words were physically gagging her. She swallowed more tea, the heat of it loosening her throat. \"You don't think we can get the slow zone back?\"\n\n\"How the fuck would I know? But I do know you can't get it back as your first step. And I know how much you want to. It feels like if you're just smart enough, fast enough, strong enough now, it won't have happened the way it already did. But that's not how it's going to work. And I know how consuming that grief can be. Grief makes people crazy. It did me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was like the air mix in the room was wrong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing Avasarala was saying was news to her, but the sympathy in the old woman's voice was worse than shouting. A vast fear, wide and cruel, welled up in Drummer's gut. She put her mug back down with a click, and Avasarala nodded.\n\n\"I was briefed about Duarte, back in the day,\" the old woman said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mars didn't want to share anything back then. I thought at the time it was because they'd just been surprise ass-fucked by one of their own, and it was shame. That was true as far as it went, but after I retired, I made him a hobby of mine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A hobby?\"\n\n\"I'm shitty at quilting. I had to do something,\" she said, waving a hand. Then a moment later, \"I found his thesis.\"\n\nThe little book she held out was printed on thin paper with a pale-green cover." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was rough against her fingertips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The title was in a simple font with no adornment: Logistics-Based Strategy in Interplanetary Conflict, by Winston Duarte.\n\n\"He wrote it at university,\" Avasarala said. \"He tried to have it published, but it never went anywhere. It was enough to get him a position in the Martian Navy, put him on a career path.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Drummer said, thumbing through the pages." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"After the Free Navy, the best intelligence services in two worlds went over that man's life in so much detail you could get the Christian names of every flea that bit him. I've read ... fuck, fifty analyses? Maybe more than that. It all comes back to those hundred and thirty pages there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why?\"\n\n\"Because that's a plan for Mars to take control of the solar system away from Earth and the Belt without firing a shot. And it would have worked.\"\n\nDrummer frowned, opened the book to a random page. The control of resources can be achieved through three strategies: occupation, influence, and economic necessity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Of these, occupation is the least stable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A chart on the facing page listed minerals and their locations in the Belt. Avasarala was watching her, dark eyes fixed and penetrating. When she spoke, her voice was soft.\n\n\"At twenty years old, Winston Duarte saw the path that none of his superiors did. That no one on Earth did. He laid it all out, point by point, and the only reason history ran the way it did is that no one took much notice. Then he was a good, solid career officer for decades, until he saw something—an opportunity, maybe—in the data from the first wave of probes that went through the gates. Without changing the time of day when he got his hair cut, he shifted into engineering the biggest theft in the history of warfare. He took the only active protomolecule sample, enough ships to defend a gate, and engineered the chaos that knocked Earth and Mars on their asses.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know all that,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You do,\" Avasarala said. \"And you know what that means. But you're scared and you're traumatized and you don't want to look it in the face because your husband is on Medina Station.\"\n\nDrummer picked up her tea and sipped without tasting it. Her stomach felt tight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her throat was thick." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala waited, letting the silence stretch between them. Saba was on Medina Station. It was a thought she'd been avoiding, and it was like touching a wound.\n\n\"Duarte's good,\" Drummer said at last." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He's very good at what he does. And he came back in his own time and on his own terms.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes,\" Avasarala agreed.\n\n\"You're telling me he won't overreach.\"\n\n\"I'm telling you he came back because he thinks he can win,\" Avasarala said. \"And if he thinks that, you should prepare yourself for the idea that it's true.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There's no point, then,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We should just roll over? Put our necks under his boot and hope he doesn't step on us too hard?\"\n\n\"Of course not. But don't talk yourself into underestimating him because you want him to be the next Marco Inaros. Duarte won't hand you a win by being a dumbfuck. He won't spread himself too thin. He won't overreach. He won't make up half a dozen plans and then spin a bottle to pick one. He's a chess player. And if you act on instinct, do the thing your feelings demand, he'll beat us all.\"\n\n\"Give up Medina. And the slow zone. And all the colony worlds.\"\n\n\"Recognize that they're occupied territory,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Protect what you can protect. Sol system. Reach out where you can, if you can. There are still people loyal to the union on Medina. And Duarte's intelligence on the last few decades is going to be thin, at least at first. Find angles he doesn't know. But don't take him on straight.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer felt a little click in her heart, the physical sensation of comprehension. Avasarala was making the case for defending Earth. That was why she'd come to her. Drummer and the union, the void cities and the gunships, were critical to keeping Earth and Mars safe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The strategy she was arguing for was all about playing defense, and the thing Drummer would be defending was, in the final analysis, the inner planets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's what she and her people would be asked to die for: Earth and Mars and all the people who'd made their civilizations on the back of the Belters back in the days before the union. It wasn't just strategy. It was naked self-interest.\n\nAlso, it was right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Medina was behind enemy lines now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Drummer wasn't going to be able to take it back. That didn't mean she was powerless.\n\n\"So,\" she said, \"what do we have to work with?\"\n\n\"The coalition fleet,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The union fleet. And whatever agents we can coordinate with on Medina.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can't reach anyone on Medina,\" Drummer said. \"The communications channels are all under Duarte's control.\"\n\nAvasarala sighed and looked at her hands. \"Yours are,\" she said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\nfour sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There have been significant changes to the internal structure of the station,\" Colonel Tanaka said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not that surprising. This was all supposed to be a generation ship that spun at a full g for a few centuries. Now it's a waystation at a third. A lot of the infrastructure would want rethinking, and there's never been a Belter ship that didn't get modified to suit the moment. If they hadn't purged their security and maintenance databases, we'd know a great deal more. But there's nothing lost there we can't build back, given time.\"\n\n\"I see,\" Singh said, considering the possible methods of recapturing the lost data.\n\n\"In addition, we've recovered one thousand two hundred and sixty-four firearms in our sweeps, the vast majority of which were handguns,\" she said, scrolling through a list on her monitor. \"Areas with complex compounds that can easily be used in bomb making are under strict security watches, but we'll need to make some extensive redistribution and security changes before everything can be effectively locked down.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Anything else?\" Singh asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They still have kitchen knives and power tools. And anything we missed.\"\n\nTanaka was out of her power armor, and her long, lean form was insolently stretched out across a chair in Singh's office. She was older than him by almost two decades, and he could see her reaction to his relative youth in the way she held her shoulders and the shape of her smile. She playacted respect for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The office—his office—was small enough to be functional." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A desk, chairs, a small decorative counter with its own bar. The workspace of an important administrator. He'd taken over a complex that had once been accounting space, based on the names and titles they hadn't scraped off the doors yet. The ops and command decks, like engineering and the docks, were in the part of the station that was permanently on the float, and he found the idea of working in null g uncomfortable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And more than that, he'd seen from Duarte and from Trejo what a real commander's space looked like, and it looked humble." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He went back to the issue that bothered him most.\n\n\"Twelve hundred guns? There were less than a hundred security personnel on the whole station.\"\n\n\"Belters have a long tradition of not trusting governmental authorities to protect them,\" Tanaka replied with a shrug. \"Nearly all of these weapons were in civilian hands.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But the Belters are the government here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're Belters,\" she said, as if her experiences before Laconia explained everything that was happening now. \"They resist centralized authority. It's what they do.\" She gave the report one last glance, then slapped the monitor against her arm, where it curled up into a thick bracelet.\n\n\"I have meetings today with their 'centralized authority,' so that should be illuminating,\" Singh said, surprised at the contempt in his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tanaka gave him a little half smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How old were you during the Io campaign?\" she asked.\n\nIt felt like a bit of a dig. He remembered the Io campaign the way most children in his generation did. The newsfeeds announcing the launches toward Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gut-clenching fear that one of the missiles bearing the alien hybrids would make it as far as the Martian surface." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even after the crisis had passed, the weeks of nightmares. He'd been a child then, and the memory had the near-mythical feel of a story retold until it barely resembled its truth. Those terrible days that had convinced his parents that something more would have to be done to protect humanity from itself and its new discoveries. It had planted the seeds that bloomed under the skies of Laconia." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But bringing up his age now felt like a power play." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A way to point out how little experience he had. He tried not to show that it got under his skin.\n\n\"Not old enough to think of it as the Io Campaign, though of course I'm thoroughly versed on the history.\"\n\n\"I was a JG when that shitstorm went down,\" Tanaka said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We were actively fighting with Belter factions back then. You probably think these people are a half step up from spear-carrying savages—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't—\"\n\n\"And you'd be right,\" she continued. \"They can be the most stupidly stubborn people you'll ever meet. But they're tough as nails, and resourceful.\"\n\n\"I think you misunderstood me,\" Singh said, fighting to keep a flush out of his cheeks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sure,\" Tanaka said, then stood up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have an interview with the technical-assessment crew. I'll report in when I'm done with them. In the meantime, don't leave this office without your monitor on. Security directive.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" Singh said, the flush of shame he'd felt shifting over into anger. Personnel security fell under Tanaka's operational command while they were occupying the station. It was one of the few areas where Singh could not countermand her orders." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So, after dressing him down and questioning his understanding of their situation, she was now delivering a direct order. The humiliation stung." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Appreciated,\" she said, and headed for the door.\n\n\"Colonel,\" Singh said at her back. He waited until she'd turned to look back at him. \"I am the provisional governor of this station, by direct order from High Consul Duarte himself. When you're in this office, you will stand at attention until I offer you a seat, and you will salute me as your superior. Is that understood?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tanaka cocked her head to the side and gave him another of her enigmatic little half smiles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It occurred to Singh that Aliana Tanaka had risen to the rank of colonel in the most punishingly trained combat unit humanity had ever known, and that he was alone in his office with her. He wanted to look down at her legs, see if she was rolling up onto the balls of her feet or shifting her stance. Instead, he stared her in the eye and clamped his stomach down into a knot. If he was supposed to be kind and humble, to ask about her family and trade familiarities with her, he was doing a poor job of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sir,\" Tanaka said, coming to attention with a sharp salute. \"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Dismissed,\" Singh said, then sat down and looked at his monitor as though she'd already disappeared. A moment later, his door opened and then closed.\n\nOnly then did he collapse back into his chair and wipe the sweat off his face.\n\n\"Give me one reason we don't tell you to go fuck yourselves,\" the head of Medina Station's Air, Water, and Power Authority said. \"The AWP—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The AWP works for us now,\" Singh replied, keeping his voice level." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Like hell we do.\"\n\nIt's shock, Singh told himself. It's surprise and confusion and sorrow that the universe doesn't behave the way they thought it did. And everyone on Medina Station—maybe everyone on the colonies and in Sol system too—was going to be struggling with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All he could do for them was keep telling the truth, as clearly and as simply as he could, and hope it sank in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You do,\" Singh continued. \"And if you do not order your workers to resume their duties, I will have technicians from the Gathering Storm take over for them, and then I will have every single member of your organization arrested.\"\n\n\"You can't do that,\" the AWP chief said with bravado, but he rubbed his bald head, and his expression wasn't as certain.\n\n\"I can,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Everyone on your staff is back at work by next shift rotation or I start issuing arrest orders.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You won't—\"\n\n\"Dismissed,\" Singh said, then gestured at one of his Marine guards, who ushered the AWP chief out of the room. Putting Medina Station in order was messy. He had imagined, coming out, that as governor of the station, he would be kept apart from the normal rank-and-file citizens and laborers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That he would have a status that kept those around him a little more in awe, with underlings to deal directly with the hands-on administration." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In practice, Admiral Trejo had the role of power, and he was the underling. He accepted it with good grace. It would all be more pleasant in a few months, when the new defense emplacements were complete and the Tempest could progress to the next phase of their mission.\n\nThe briefings he'd had on the way out—all information gleaned from passively monitoring the backsplash radio that leaked through Laconia's ring gate—were accurate, but wildly incomplete." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It left him feeling a half step behind himself all the time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't even the basic structures—those were constrained by the biological and energetic needs of the ships and station and so were, in a sense, predictable. It was the cultural forms and expectations. The absurdities and accidents of human character that affected the flow of goods and information in ways that were as unpredictable as they were exhausting. Like having to throw an entire branch of Medina's infrastructure staff in the brig." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Who's next,\" Singh asked his aide, a junior lieutenant named Kasik he'd grabbed from the admin pool on the Storm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kasik scrolled through a list on his monitor.\n\n\"You have Carrie Fisk next,\" Kasik said.\n\n\"The president of the Association of Worlds,\" Singh said with a laugh. \"Bring her in.\"\n\nCarrie Fisk entered his office, her frown lines and fidgety hands telling Singh she'd be trying to hide her fear with anger." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was a short, thin woman, with a severe face and beautiful black hair piled up on her head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her clothes were expensive. Someone from one of the richer colonies, then. He knew her from the newsfeeds they'd captured. She looked thinner and less pleasant in person." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh gestured at the chair across from his desk and said, \"Please sit, Madam President.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sat, the anger dissipating at his politeness.\n\n\"Thank you.\"\n\n\"Madam President, I have news,\" Singh said, flicking a document from his monitor at her. The hand terminal in her pocket chimed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And it will be good news or bad news, depending on how seriously you take your job, and how much you like doing actual work. You may read that later, to get all the details.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd started to take the terminal out of her pocket, but slid it back in at his words. \"I take my job very seriously.\"\n\n\"Excellent, because it seems you used to have a title that held no actual power, except that you presided over the Association of Worlds in their meetings here. Which is a body that negotiates interplanetary laws it has absolutely no ability to enforce. Earth and Mars haven't formally joined your coalition, and the Transport Union has been in a position to dictate terms in all your agreements. Or so I am led to understand. My access to the newsfeeds has been limited.\" He tried for a self-deprecating smile, and thought he probably got about three-quarters of the way there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's a start,\" Fisk said, the frown returning to her face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"At least we have people here talking out their problems, rather than immediately reaching for a gun.\"\n\n\"I agree,\" Singh said. \"And more importantly, so does High Consul Duarte. The document I just sent you empowers the Association of Worlds to make laws that will have binding authority on the member systems, which now includes every human colony. You, as president of that body, will be granted a variety of legislative powers to aid in that cause.\"\n\n\"And who is granting us this new power?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fisk asked. Her face had twisted up like he'd asked her to eat something distasteful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She knew the answer to his question, but she wanted him to say it so that she could begin her counterargument. A counterargument Singh had no interest in entertaining.\n\n\"High Consul Winston Duarte, who is now the supreme executive authority of the Association of Worlds and all subsidiary governments. All edicts passed by this body that are not vetoed by executive power will have the force of law, backed by the military power of Laconia.\"\n\n\"I don't know if—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Madam President,\" Singh said, leaning forward and waiting until her attention was fully on him before he continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I advise you to take this very seriously. The high consul wants a fully functioning legislature and bureaucracy, and believes that the existing one, with some modification of course, fits the bill. I strongly advise that you not give him a reason to think it's better to tear this down and build something new in its place. Do we understand each other?\"\n\nFisk nodded. Her hands were fidgeting in her lap again.\n\n\"Excellent,\" Singh said. He stood up and extended his hand. Fisk stood and took it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I look forward to working with you as High Consul Duarte's representative. We have much to do, but I believe it will be exciting and rewarding work.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh released her hand and gave a small bow.\n\n\"What comes next?\" Fisk asked.\n\n\"I would recommend you begin by familiarizing yourself with the document I sent you. It contains all the provisional rules for the Association Legislature, until such time as more permanent protocols can be voted into place.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Fisk said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know you will be quite busy,\" Singh told her, gently guiding her past his Marine guards and over to the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But I look forward to our next meeting.\"\n\nOnce she'd left, he let out a long sigh and leaned against the wall.\n\n\"One more, Lieutenant, then we can break for lunch,\" he said.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Kasik said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Next is Onni Langstiver, head of station security for Medina.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh smiled a little, thinking how Tanaka would have reacted to hearing that title. \"Former head of security,\" he said as he returned to his desk. \"Give me a moment. Let him wait.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Kasik said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can I get you anything in the meantime? Water? Coffee?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The water here tastes like old piss, and the coffee tastes like old piss run through a gym sock,\" Singh said. \"The recycling systems on this station are decades out of date and badly maintained.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Kasik replied. \"I can have water brought from the Storm for you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Or,\" Singh said, turning to his aide, \"we can go about actually fixing the problems here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" Kasik said, bobbing his head. If Singh hadn't been tired already and irritable, he would have let it sit there. But the constant pushing back from his own people and the natives of Medina had scratched him enough to raise welts, and he couldn't quite rein himself in.\n\n\"If the posting here becomes permanent,\" he said, \"and there is no reason to think it won't, I will be bringing my family to this station. I won't have my daughter drinking badly recycled water, breathing badly filtered air, and attending badly run schools.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kasik had found a bottle of water from somewhere, and was pouring it into the coffee machine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" he said, like it had become an autonomic reaction.\n\n\"Lieutenant, look at me.\"\n\n\"Sir?\" Kasik said, turning around.\n\n\"What we're doing here is important. Not just for Laconia but for all of humanity. These people? They need us. They even need us to show them that they need us. When you have children, you'll understand why that matters. Until then, you will behave at all times as an example of Laconian character and discipline. If you don't understand why that's critical, you will act as though you understand, or I will place you in charge of personally scrubbing the water-recycling system until it produces laboratory-grade potables. Are we clear?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there was a flicker of resentment in the man's eyes, it was a natural reaction to discipline." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Crystal, Governor Singh.\"\n\n\"Excellent. Then send their former head of security in.\"\n\nOnni Langstiver was a lanky Belter type in a sloppy Medina Security uniform, with greasy hair and a permanent sneer curling his lip. He looked over Singh's Marine guards just inside the door, then gave Singh himself a look of such low cunning that he almost had the man turned back out again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm here,\" Onni said. \"You want, bossmang?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're going to discuss your change in status on this station,\" Singh said.\n\n\"Discuss? Bist bien. Let's discuss.\" Onni shrugged, then walked toward the guest chair.\n\n\"Do not sit,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something in his tone brought Onni up short, and the man frowned at him as if really seeing him for the first time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You won't be here long.\"\n\nOnni shrugged again, a short lift of both hands that did not involve the shoulders. The psy-ops briefing on Belter culture had talked about this. That most of their physical gestures had evolved to use the hands only, because they spent so much time in vacuum suits that body language was invisible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It also talked about their cultural conviction that they were the put-upon victims in all interactions with non-Belters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, if this Onni had come into the room expecting to be victimized, Singh would oblige him.\n\n\"You are no longer the head of security on Medina Station,\" Singh said.\n\n\"Who's the new boss?\" Onni replied. He wasn't angry, which was interesting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It doesn't matter to you,\" Singh said with a smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because you no longer work for station security. In fact, you no longer hold any official duties of any kind on this station. The last official task you will perform is to hand over all personal files related to this station that are not in the official database. Failure to do this will result in arrest and prosecution by a military tribunal of the Laconian Navy.\"\n\n\"Sure, sure, jefelito. Only you know most that's gone. Purged,\" Onni said.\n\n\"What you have, you will surrender.\"\n\n\"You're the man now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You may leave.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A smile passed over Onni's face, soft and ingratiating. Singh had seen this before, from the playground to the academy. He'd seen it as a boy in the eyes of the science team that had been on Laconia when Duarte's ships arrived and on the football team when the woman who'd been their coach was reassigned and a new man stepped in. Respect for power, yes, but also the scent of opportunity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The opportunism of making good with the new powers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"One thing, bossmang,\" Onni said, as Singh had known he would.\n\n\"No, not one more—\"\n\n\"No, no, no. Wait. You've got to hear this one.\"\n\n\"Fine,\" Singh said. \"Out with it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So that weapon your big ship used? The magnetic one?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Tempest. Yes, what about it?\"\n\n\"Yeah, so,\" Onni said, then paused to scratch his greasy hair and smirk. \"When you hit the hub station with it? Where the rail guns were?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Singh said. \"We have extensive experience with similar artifacts, and judged the risk to be minimal.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay. So when that beam thing hit the hub station that pinché ball glowed bright yellow for que, fifteen seconds. Anytime anything hits the ball that dumps any energy into it, you get these little flashes of yellow. This is the first time the whole damn thing lit up, and fifteen seconds is a long time.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm having trouble understanding your point,\" Singh said.\n\n\"So during that fifteen seconds, all thirteen hundred rings dumped a massive gamma-ray burst into their systems. Hard enough that four ships on approach to the rings had their crews cooked. Emergency systems kicked in, autopilot stopped the ships, so we don't have four unmanned projectiles flying through the rings at us, but ...\"\n\nOnni lifted his hands as if he was presenting a gift. Singh blinked and sat back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something shifted in his belly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An emotion he hadn't felt since he'd arrived at Medina. Surprise. Maybe even hope. The ring space was, by the best understanding of the science teams, one of the most energetically active things in the perceivable universe. The power required to keep the space itself from collapsing was astounding even to people who routinely built things like Magnetar-class battleships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The effect Langstiver described wouldn't even be a rounding error in the overall system, but the application of it could mean a significant windfall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How do you know this?\"\n\nThe Belter spread his hands. \"I live here. I know things not everybody knows.\"\n\n\"Is this correct?\" Singh said, not to Onni but to Kasik." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll have a report prepared immediately,\" Kasik replied, and left the room already talking at his wrist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So, yeah,\" Onni continued, laughing a little now. Acting as if he'd already ingratiated himself. If he wasn't corrected, it would become true. \"Transport Union's gonna be pissed you just cooked four of their freighter crews.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh considered the man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He would need local contacts. Natives of Medina Station who were loyal to the new power structure and supporters of Laconian rule. The prospect of having this bootlicker as one of the first among them was beneath his dignity.\n\n\"Dismissed,\" Singh said to the man." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He needed to call Trejo on the Tempest and report this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Onni's face fell. The smile faded first into surprise and then indignation and resentment. Rejection bloomed into hatred while Singh watched. He'd rarely made a decision proven right so definitively or so quickly. People of this low character would never be part of his administration, and it was telling that Onni had managed to gain power on Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bossmang, you gotta listen to me,\" Onni said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I said you're dismissed,\" Singh barked at him, then looked to one of his Marine guards. She immediately grabbed Onni by the arm, halfway lifting him off the ground with her armor's augmented strength.\n\n\"Ouch! Fuck!\" Onni yelled as she dragged him out of the room.\n\n\"Have a cart brought around,\" Singh said to the remaining Marine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want to go to the ops center and look over the data about this gamma-ray burst.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Aye, sir,\" the Marine said, then stepped out of the room.\n\nSingh needed to corroborate Onni's story first, then get a full report to Admiral Trejo. If the man was correct, then they had the ability to release a lethal gamma-ray burst through the gates whenever they wished. Could there be a more powerful means of controlling travel through the network?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had the potential to shave months off their timetable in establishing control over the various colony worlds." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the first time that day, Singh felt himself relax. He might have just won the empire for Laconia, all without firing a shot in anger." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write four sentences sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As an operator in the Orbital Drop Task Force, Bobbie had trained with Spec Ops personnel from every command in the Martian military for a single purpose: the invasion of Earth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And while the old axiom \"If you wish for peace, prepare for war\" was not without its skeptics, that skepticism wasn't shared by the Martian military. The doctrine that drove Mars in the century and a half following its declaration of independence relied on it. Mars would never have as large a population or as big an industrial base as Earth. The only thing that prevented Earth from reconquering her wayward colony was a constant demonstration of Mars' willingness and ability to hit back hard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As long as they could land on Earth streets, Earth would hesitate to fight in their tunnels." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie and her fellow Marines in Force Recon regularly and visibly trained for that day. They took drugs and worked out in full gravity until Earth would be merely uncomfortable, not bone-crushing. They practiced dropping from orbit in troop carriers and one-person pods. They trained in urban pacification and insurgent elimination." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They learned to make up for what they lacked in troop numbers by using aggression and intimidation to keep the conquered people in line." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had literally spent years preparing to move through the streets of Earth commanding obedience through the threat of death.\n\nThe invasion and conquest of Medina Station was civilized by comparison. She wondered whether that would last.\n\nFour Laconian Marines in their power armor stood watch in the dock offices, mag boots locked to the deck, and kept a close eye on the line of people waiting to talk to the dockmaster." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But while they appeared vigilant, they were not aggressive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They acted like their presence was sufficiently intimidating to keep the populace in line. With some sort of slug thrower built into the armor in each forearm, and a pair of what looked like grenade launchers on each shoulder, Bobbie decided they were right. There were probably thirty people on the float waiting for the dockmaster. The four Laconians looked like they could have handled ten times that number." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been like them, once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I like your suit,\" she said to the Laconian closest to her.\n\n\"Excuse me?\" he said, not looking at her, continuing to scan the room.\n\n\"I like your suit. I wore an old Goliath back in the day.\"\n\nThat got his attention." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Laconian looked her over once, feet on up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was so much like the teams she'd trained with when she'd joined up, it felt like looking back through time. She wondered if he was as ignorant as she'd been back then. Probably. Hell, maybe more so.\n\n\"MMC Force Recon?\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was something like respect in his voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Once was,\" she agreed. \"You guys have made some improvements.\"\n\n\"Studied the Recon operators at the academy,\" the Laconian said. \"You guys were the real deal. Heart breakers and life takers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Less and less of both, as time goes on,\" Bobbie said, and tried out a smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Laconian smiled back. He was half her age, at most, but it was nice to know she could still pull 'em when she wanted to. She could have imagined the kid on the tube station back at home. Shit, he probably had family back on Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I bet you do okay,\" he replied, still smiling." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You see any action?\"\n\nShe smiled back, and the kid realized what he'd said. A little blush touched his cheek.\n\n\"Some,\" Bobbie said. \"I was on Ganymede in the lead-up to the Io Campaign. And I was on Io.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No shit?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't suppose there's any way an old Marine could try one of those suits out, is there?\" Bobbie said, ratcheting the smile up a notch. I don't use sex as a weapon, she thought to herself. But I'd love to get my hands on your outfit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Laconian started to reply, then got a distant look on his face that Bobbie recognized." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone on the group comm was talking in his ear.\n\n\"Move along, citizen,\" he said to her, the smile gone.\n\n\"Thanks for the time,\" she said, then pulled herself to the back of her line.\n\nThe wait was long and uncomfortably warm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The others there with her had flight-suit patches from a dozen other ships, and the same hangdog expression." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was like they were being treated this way because they'd done something to deserve it. Bobbie tried not to look like that.\n\nThe dockmaster's office was small and harshly lit. She identified herself and her ship, and before she could give any context, the new dockmaster cut her off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"As a military vessel, the Ceres-registered ship called Rocinante is now impounded by the Laconian Naval Command.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was a small, dark man in a Laconian naval uniform, and the look on his face was the mix of boredom and irritation shared by all natural-born bureaucrats. A screen on the wall listed all the ships in the slow zone and their statuses: LOCKDOWN in red, over and over again like it was a mantra. The counter in front of him glowed with the name CHIEF PETTY OFFICER NARWA.\n\n\"Okay,\" Bobbie said. She'd waited in line for nearly two hours to get up to the window, and she certainly hadn't done it to be told things she already knew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Behind her, the press of bodies was enough to give the office a little extra warmth, the air a little too much closeness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I understand that. But I have questions.\"\n\n\"I feel like I've told you everything you need to know,\" Narwa said.\n\n\"Look, Chief,\" Bobbie said, \"I just need to get a few clarifying details and I'm out of your hair.\"\n\nNarwa gave her a delicate shrug of his shoulders." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there had been any spin gravity, he'd have leaned on the counter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked like a guy who ran a noodle shop in Innis Shallows. She wondered if they were related.\n\n\"I own that ship,\" Bobbie continued. \"Is this a permanent impound? Are you commandeering it? Will I be paid any compensation for the loss of the ship? Will I or my crew be allowed on board to get our personal effects if the ship is being confiscated?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"A few points?\" Narwa said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just those,\" Bobbie agreed. \"For now.\"\n\nNarwa pulled something up on the counter and flicked it over to her. She felt her hand terminal buzz in her pocket.\n\n\"This is the form you can fill out to file for return of property or compensation for the loss of the ship. We are not thieves. The navy will provide one or the other.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What about our stuff,\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"While the naval wheels of justice slowly turn?\"\n\n\"This form,\" Narwa said, and her terminal buzzed again, \"is to get an escorted pass onto the ship to get your personal items off it. They're usually processed within forty-eight hours, so you shouldn't have to wait long.\"\n\n\"Well, thank—\" Bobbie started, but Narwa was already looking at the person behind her in line and yelling, \"Next.\"\n\n\"Any word from Holden and Naomi yet?\" Alex asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not yet,\" Amos said, tapping his hand terminal with a thumb." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"System's pretty loaded up right now, though. May be getting stuck in queue.\"\n\n\"They have it in lockdown,\" she said. \"There's not going to be free comms on Medina that aren't getting scanned by their systems.\"\n\n\"Sounds like that could add some time to delivery,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Standard occupation protocols care a lot more about security than convenience,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Message tracking, air-gapped encryption, pattern-based censorship, human-review censorship, throttled traffic. You name it.\"\n\nIt fit with everything else that was suddenly changed and beyond her control. She couldn't have her ship. She couldn't get her people back together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had to ask permission and an escort to let her retrieve her own clothes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So of course their messages were getting stuck in Medina's system. They'd found a bar on the inner face of the drum. The long ramp from the transfer point at the center of spin had been thick with carts and people on foot, some heading up toward the docks, and many—like them—coming back down. The grim expressions had been the same both ways." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was captain for about a week,\" Bobbie said, the beer in her cup sloshing dangerously as she jabbed at the air with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I mean, depending on if you count from when Holden offered it to me. Or when we did the paperwork. The paperwork came later, so officially, I guess. Houston clocked as much time in control of the Rocinante as I did.\"\n\n\"You're drunk,\" Alex said, gently pushing her beer hand back down to the table. He was sitting next to her at a long, faux-wood table. Amos and Clarissa sat across the table from them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos had a beer in his hand and half a dozen empties on the table and didn't appear impaired in the slightest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa had a plate of cold, soggy french fries in front of her and was using them to push ketchup into spiral art.\n\n\"I'm a little drunk,\" Bobbie agreed. \"I was just starting to like the idea of being captain of my own ship and these Laconian assholes took it away.\"\n\nShe punctuated the word Laconian by jabbing her glass toward one of their Marines walking past the bar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Beer splashed across the table and into Clarissa's fries." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't seem to notice or care. Bobbie plucked up her napkin and dabbed the worst of it away anyhow, with only a little pang of guilt.\n\n\"And that's why you need to ease down on the brews, sailor,\" Alex said, just taking the glass away from her now. \"We need to skip past this grief stage and get on to the kickin'-ass and gettin'-our-ship-back stage.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You got a plan?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos asked. His tone said he found this dubious.\n\n\"Not yet, but that's what we need to be doing,\" Alex shot back.\n\n\"Cuz, a couple hundred Marines, one destroyer in the docks, and one whatever the fuck that flying violation of the laws of physics is,\" Amos said, pausing to sip his beer and smack his lips. \"That's gonna be one hell of a plan. I gotta get in on that action.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, asshole,\" Alex said, half standing up from his chair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"At least I want to do something more than feel sorry for myself.\"\n\n\"This here?\" Amos said. He pointed at the Marine outside, the security drones that now hovered over every part of Medina's drum, the people in Laconian Navy uniforms everywhere. \"I've seen this before. This is us getting paved over. All we can do now is try to find some cracks to grow through.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Cracks?\" Alex said, then sat back down with a thump." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How long I known you? Half the time I still got no idea what the fuck you're talking about.\"\n\n\"No one is doing anything,\" Bobbie said. \"Not till I give the order. We get this pass to get our stuff off the Roci, maybe we can start making a strategy from there. I may not have a ship, but I can sure as hell still have my crew.\"\n\n\"Be nice to sneak a gun or two off the ship,\" Amos agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Be nicer to find a way to get Betsy off,\" Alex said to her. \"If that's possible.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So until then, we wait,\" Bobbie said, then started pressing on the table trying to order another beer. \"I just wish I understood what this Duarte asshole wants.\"\n\n\"They haven't started killing people,\" Amos said. \"I mean, it's still early days. Lots of room for shit to go pear-shaped.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But why now?\" Bobbie waved her arms around at the bar, at Medina, at all of human space beyond them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We were just starting to figure this shit out. Earth and Mars working together, the colonies talking out their problems. Even the Transport Union turned out to be a pretty good idea. Why come kick the table over? Couldn't he have just pulled up a chair with the rest of us?\"\n\n\"Because some men need to own everything.\"\n\nThe voice was so quiet, it took Bobbie a moment to realize Clarissa had spoken. She was still making ketchup art with her french fries and not looking at any of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's that, Peaches?\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Some men,\" Clarissa replied, louder and looking up at them now, \"need to own everything.\"\n\n\"Hell, I met this Duarte guy,\" Alex said. \"I don't remember him being—\"\n\n\"This sounds like personal experience,\" Bobbie said, cutting him off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What are you thinking, Claire?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When I was a little girl, I remember my father deciding to buy up a majority share in the largest rice producer on Ganymede. Rice is a necessity crop, not a cash crop. You'll always sell everything you can grow, but the prices aren't high, because it's easier to grow than a lot of other things. And at that time, his companies had an annual revenue in excess of one trillion dollars. I remember an advisor telling my father that the profits from owning rice domes on Ganymede would add a one-with-five-zeroes-in-front-of-it percent to that.\"\n\n\"Not sure I—\" Alex started, but Clarissa ignored him, so he trailed off.\n\n\"But the largest food producers were the rice growers. They had the biggest domes and farms. The most real estate. By owning a controlling share in their company, my father was in a position to dictate policy to the Ganymede Agriculture Union. It meant, in terms of Ganymede food production, he couldn't be ignored by the local government.\"\n\n\"What did he use that for?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nothing,\" Clarissa said with a delicate wave of one hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But he had it. He owned an important piece of Ganymede, a thing he hadn't controlled before. And some men just need to own everything. Anything they lay their eyes on that they don't possess, it's like a sliver in their finger.\"\n\nClarissa pushed her soggy fries away and smiled at them all.\n\n\"My father could be the kindest, most generous and loving man. Right up until he wanted something and you wouldn't give it to him. I don't know why I think this, but Duarte feels the same. And these are men who will mercilessly punish anyone who won't comply, but with tears in their eyes and begging you to tell them why you made them do it.\"\n\n\"I knew a few guys like that,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So, he won't stop until he has it all,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And it looks like he has the tech to make it work. The armor, that destroyer, and that planet killer floating outside. All of this? They all look like they came out of the same factory to anyone else?\"\n\n\"Yeah, it's protomolecule shit,\" Amos agreed. \"Some of it looks like the stuff growing on Eros.\"\n\n\"I'm seeing a timeline here,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We were looking into those missing ships when I talked to this Duarte guy,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was about the time Medina was throwing a lot of probes through the gates to get a gander at the usable planets.\"\n\nBobbie finally got the ordering screen to come up on the table, but on impulse bought a glass of club soda instead of another beer. It felt like something important was on the tip of her mind, and she didn't want to drown it in booze.\n\n\"So,\" she said, letting the words come out of the back of her head, hoping her subconscious had an insight it hadn't shared yet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"A probe finds something in the Laconia system, something that makes ships and armor and who knows what else.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What, like a big volumetric printer that says, 'Insert protomolecule here' on the side?\" Amos scoffed.\n\n\"Hey,\" Alex replied, \"we found a planet-sized power generator with moons that could turn off fusion.\"\n\nAmos considered that for a moment. \"Yeah. Fair enough.\"\n\n\"Marco's people are running a fifth column on Medina by that point,\" Bobbie continued." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Duarte must have been working with them already. Said he'd slip them a fat payday for early info on the ring probes. They call him up and say, 'Hey, we found this awesome thing.'\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He hands them a bunch of Martian ships,\" Alex said.\n\n\"And Marco starts fucking up the solar system while Duarte takes the rest of his fleet and a bunch of like-minded Martians and takes over in Laconia,\" Bobbie finished.\n\n\"Where he spends a few decades making ships and fancy armor and whatnot, then rolls through the gate ready to name himself king,\" Alex said as her club soda arrived.\n\n\"Which means Marco was just a tool,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Kind of knew that,\" Amos chimed in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Free Navy kept everyone distracted while Duarte got set up on Laconia. And we've been sitting here patting ourselves on the back and trying to keep all the food supplies where they need to be for thirty-odd years while he's been getting ready to kick the shit out of us,\" Bobbie said. \"Alex, maybe you should write up your thoughts on meeting him. What kind of guy he was.\"\n\n\"I sat in his office for a few minutes. There are probably some people on Medina who served around the same time he did,\" Alex said. \"If we can find where the Martian vets hang out, we could see if anyone knew him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, that's a good—\" Bobbie started, then stopped when she noticed Amos stiffen in his chair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The big mechanic's hand drifted toward his right hip and the gun that was no longer there since the Laconian weapon sweeps.\n\n\"Amos?\" she said.\n\n\"Trouble on the move,\" he replied with a gentle tilt of his head.\n\nThe people he'd nodded toward were a group of Belters, old-school OPA by the tats." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were walking through the drum section nearby." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They wore coats too large and heavy for the constant perfect weather of Medina's drum section, and several carried large bags. They kept their heads down and moved fast, like people with a purpose. She recognized one of them. Onni Langstiver, the asshole head of security." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's over there?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Some offices? The banking section, and some administrative stuff,\" Alex replied.\n\n\"The Laconians took it over,\" Clarissa added.\n\n\"Here we go,\" Amos said, and stood up. In the distance, the Belters were pulling things out of their coats and bags." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie felt the surge of adrenaline in her blood the same moment as the calm descended on her: danger followed immediately by the well-cultivated response to danger." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It felt like being home.\n\nBobbie looked around the little bar for likely cover. Nothing within ten steps looked like it would stop a bullet, so she grabbed Alex with one arm and Clarissa with the other and pulled them both to the ground with her. Amos was still standing up, watching the drama play out.\n\n\"Get down, you idi—\" Clarissa started, but whatever else she was about to say was drowned out by the gunfire." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As he stepped out of the office complex, Singh made the mistake of looking up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The thin line of blazing full-spectrum light that ran down the center of Medina's habitat drum blinded him, just a little. It cut a glowing streak across his vision, and filled his eyes with tears. Like looking into a sun, if instead of an orb several light minutes away, it was a line drawn in the sky and very close.\n\n\"Hold on a moment,\" he said to his Marine escort, as he tried to get his vision back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Copy that,\" the Marine replied, then said, \"we're oscar mike, triphammer two minutes from the cart. Rolling teams for cover to station ops.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It took Singh a moment to realize that most of that was comm chatter to his security detail. He had nothing but respect for the Marines under his command and for the security they provided, but they did love their jargon and code names. A moment later he'd shaken most of the water out of his eyes, and the yellow-green afterimage line across his vision was fading.\n\n\"Okay, I'm ready.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Copy that,\" the Marine replied, and pointed to a parking area about fifty meters away with three electric carts lined up and waiting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lieutenant Kasik was hurrying toward him from the carts, waving a monitor that had been extended to its full size. He met them a few seconds later, puffing with exertion.\n\n\"I have the initial defense reports,\" Kasik said, handing the monitor to Singh.\n\n\"Excellent.\" Singh scrolled past a spreadsheet of incomprehensible numbers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I hope there's a summary?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir, and the tech group is waiting for you in station ops to answer any questions. But the initial findings are very exciting.\"\n\n\"Tell me.\"\n\n\"What we can see,\" Kasik said, \"is the ring system converted all of the energy from the Tempest's field projector into gamma rays released through the rings.\"\n\n\"We knew that,\" Singh replied with a frown." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But ... the energy released was orders of magnitude more than the energy the central sphere absorbed. The ring system amplified it. Exponentially. If the factor is consistent, we can create predictive models for input versus output very quickly.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was exactly what he'd hoped. The alien rings could be made into their own defenses, and the reconstruction of the defense battery skipped entirely. The Tempest would be free to move into Sol system months ahead of the original plan. Any attack would fail, even if it were coordinated through every ring at once." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One Magnetar-class battle cruiser could guard thirteen hundred gates at once and never miss its shot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The battle to seize control of every human-controlled world in the galaxy was already over.\n\nAfter that, it was just administration of the new empire. Singh tried to imagine the high consul's pleasure, the possible rewards, and his imagination failed him. But one thing still bothered him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why was it, Kasik, that we heard about this from a local? If this had gone overlooked—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sure we'd have found it, sir. But we weren't looking at the logs. We have additional data in Operations,\" Kasik said. \"And I've requested technicians for more analysis.\"\n\nSingh realized his daydreaming of the high consul's patronage had stretched into an awkward pause. Before he could reply, something shifted at the edge of his vision." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone walking toward him with the purposeful stride of a messenger making a delivery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Except that the person striding toward him was Langstiver. The man who'd brought him the news of the new and glorious discovery. A small group of Belters were following him. He assumed Langstiver was coming to demand a reward for his information." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't want—\" Singh began, but his Marine guard had put one hand on his chest and shoved him back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kasik nodded at him sharply one time, then spit berry-colored saliva all over his face.\n\nThe Marine yanked Singh to the ground, hard, then knelt over him, shielding him with her body. Her knees pressed into his spine until it hurt. Singh heard her shouting orders, muffled by her helmet, to the rest of her detail." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then he heard nothing but the deafening ripping-paper sound of multiple rapid-fire weapons opening up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His guard was sitting on top of him and blocking his view, but the space between her thigh and calf as she crouched created a small triangular window on the carnage.\n\nLangstiver and half a dozen other people were dancing backward as four Laconian Marines cut them to pieces with streams of high-velocity plastic safety rounds. It felt like the firing went on forever, like the bullets were keeping the assassins from falling. In reality it could only have lasted a few seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He experienced a little discontinuity in his consciousness, like he'd fallen briefly asleep, though that was impossible, and his Marine had yanked him to his feet and was shoving him back toward the administrative offices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The other members of her fire team slowly backed toward them, weapons at the ready.\n\nLieutenant Kasik still stood near the carts, not having moved during the entire firefight. He looked like he'd spit raspberry pie filling onto his lips, and he was twitching like an epileptic experiencing a grand mal. Singh understood something that had been eluding him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Kasik's been shot,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pie filling on his face was the ruins of his lips from where the bullet had exited. The spray of red on Singh's face and uniform wasn't spit, it was his aide's blood.\n\n\"Medical has already been alerted,\" his Marine said, thinking he was talking to her.\n\n\"But no,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't understand. \"He's been shot.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She shoved him through the admin-building door and slammed it shut behind her. Just before it closed, the shocked silence that had followed the gunfire ended, and from a hundred voices outside the screaming started.\n\nKasik died on an operating table three hours after the attack. According to the report, he'd been shot in the back of the head, the bullet fracturing the occipital lobe of his skull and nicking his medulla oblongata." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It then passed through the back of his throat and nearly severed his tongue, before shattering five teeth and exiting through his lips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh read the surgeon's section of the incident report half a dozen times. Each time felt like the first.\n\nNone of the Marine security detail had been harmed in the exchange of fire, though several civilians had received minor injuries from bullet fragments, and one boy of nine had broken his arm while attempting to flee down a short flight of steps. All seven of the Belter radicals who'd attempted the assassination were dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The intelligence people were digging into their past associations to see if the rebellion had roots that spread farther." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rebellion.\n\nThe word felt wrong to Singh. The most Langstiver and his accomplices could have hoped for was his death. It would have done nothing to hand control of the station back to the Belters who'd once run it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Trejo would simply have assigned another officer to fill his place until a new governor could be dispatched from Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was all so short-sighted. So wasteful. Seven people had decided to toss their lives away on a symbol.\n\nThese are people who have a history of resisting centralized authority, Colonel Tanaka had said. He hadn't understood. He did now. They weren't rational." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't disciplined." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They valued their own lives less than the prospect of his death.\n\nWhat struck him most—what offended him as much as the still-implausible idea that he'd watched Kasik be murdered—was the monstrous ingratitude of it. The hubris of believing that Duarte's path for humanity's future was worth killing innocent people to resist. And after Trejo had been so generous with them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He tapped the monitor lying on his desk, and the comm officer in security replied with a crisp, \"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please have Colonel Tanaka report to me in my office immediately.\"\n\n\"Sir, yes sir.\"\n\nSingh killed the connection almost before the officer finished speaking. He looked around his office, not to take in anything new so much as to judge his own mind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't feeling the shuddering in his hands anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His eyes were able to move from the door to his desk to the little ferns in their planters beside the wall without jittering back and forth of their own accord. He'd been in shock. Only a little. And only for a short time. It was normal. Natural." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Expected." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The physiological effects were only the consequence of being an animal in a stressful situation. There was no reason for him to feel ashamed.\n\nAnd yet, when Tanaka entered the room with that little half smirk on her lips, he had to rein his anger in. Is this funny to you?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't say it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sir,\" she said, bracing. \"You wanted to see me?\"\n\n\"I was almost murdered today,\" Singh said. \"I found your silence on the matter disturbing.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tanaka's expression shifted. A little chagrin, maybe?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was hard to tell with her. Her voice didn't have the crispness he'd expect of someone being dressed down. \"I apologize. After your safety was established, my focus was on the response and investigation. I should have reported in sooner.\"\n\n\"Yes, well,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you ready to make your report now?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tanaka gathered her thoughts visibly, then nodded to the chair across the desk from his, silently asking his permission to sit. He waved a hand. She sat, leaning forward, her elbows resting on her knees.\n\n\"The basic facts appear straightforward. The attempt was instigated and organized by Langstiver. He was the head of security before we came, and his co-conspirators were drawn from the ranks of the local security force.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why weren't we monitoring them?\" Singh asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We were. But it appears that Langstiver wasn't using the station network. My team is still digging into it, but it looks like he did his coordination and planning on an encrypted network set up in the power conduits. Physically separate from the main system the way the Storm is from Medina. Air-gapped. From what we can tell, it was put in by criminal elements in Medina Station. Langstiver also had relationships there.\"\n\nSingh leaned back a centimeter in his chair. \"Criminal elements? You mean he was corrupt?\"\n\n\"It's not unusual on this side of the gate,\" Tanaka said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And it makes the investigation more complicated than I'd like. Add to that, he appears to have purged several caches of data he still had access to and inserted false entries into what we have got. And Langstiver and his little friends aren't going to be questioned by anyone but God at this point.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But you've found the network they were using.\"\n\n\"One of them,\" Tanaka said. \"There may be others. Part of the problem is that Medina wasn't run as a military installation. There were—and probably still will be—competing levels of culture and infrastructure. Controlling the official channels is trivial, but even the officials were using additional undocumented frameworks. It's not like the locals have to create ways to get around our surveillance. All those ways were built in before we showed up.\"\n\nShe lifted her hands in a shrug." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh had a stark flashbulb memory of Kasik, and with it a powerful, all-pervading dread." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In his imagination, Nat and the monster were looking at a picture of him with blood spilling down his chin. It wasn't the prospect of his own death that brought the flush of rage. It was how cavalier Tanaka was being with them.\n\n\"Well, we'll have to address that directly, then,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mandatory curfews and roaming checkpoints will be a start. And restrict the station security forces to quarters until they can be interrogated and evaluated for service. And I'll want a list of anyone who might pose a threat moving forward for precautionary monitoring. And ... hm. Yes, and coordinate that through the Gathering Storm. If we can't be sure the local system's clean, we should use our own. The most important thing is that the systems on the Gathering Storm not be compromised.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've already set up an encryption strong room,\" Tanaka said, nodding without seeming to agree. Her sigh was like grit on his skin. \"But you want to be careful about a crackdown, sir. Especially this early on. It could send the wrong message.\"\n\n\"The wrong message,\" Singh repeated, stretching out each syllable into a question and a confrontation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Belter culture and identity is built around pushing back against authority. This is what that looks like in practice. We knew something like this was possible, and—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We did?\" Singh said, his voice sharp. \"We knew that, did we?\"\n\nTanaka's eyes flattened and her lips thinned. \"Yes, sir. We did. It's why I had a fire team with you at all times. And, respectfully, it's why you're alive.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Pity there wasn't one for Kasik.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" Tanaka said. The languor in her tone was gone. She had the tightness in her voice that said that at last she was taking him seriously. \"I'm sorry to have lost him. But that doesn't change my assessment. Bringing Laconian focus and discipline to Medina Station and the other systems isn't a matter of imposing our customs and rules on them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm surprised to hear you say that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Our discipline is ours, sir. The same actions can have different meanings in different contexts. What would be routine back home would seem draconian here. Anything harsher than routine will read as a wild overreaction. I believe the high consul would agree that underreacting to this would be a more persuasive show of authority.\"\n\nSingh stood up. He hadn't meant to, but the need to move, to occupy the space inside his office, was suddenly overpowering. Tanaka stayed still. Her expression was like someone tracking a target on a firing range—focused, but emotionless. He walked to his sideboard and poured himself a drink since his aide wasn't there to do it for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's an interesting perspective, and I can respect it,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But I don't share it. You have my instructions.\" The alcohol was sharp and strangely acrid in his mouth. His gut rebelled a little at it. He swallowed anyway, trying to enjoy the bloom of warmth in his throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kasik had had a better hand at this than he did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Governor,\" Tanaka said, not standing. It was the first time he could remember her using the title. \"I strongly urge you to reconsider this. At least sleep on it before we implement it.\"\n\nHe turned to look at her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He imagined himself as she saw him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A young man, off Laconia for the first time as an adult. Having been the target of enemy action for the first time. Seeing an unplanned death by violence for the first time. He must seem shaken and weak to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Because as much as he hated the fact, he did feel shaken and weak." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And naked before her implacable and judging gaze. She thought he was being irrational. Letting his fear make his decisions.\n\nAnd if he changed his course now, it would prove her right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Respectfully,\" Tanaka said, \"as your head of security and a woman with a lot of years of experience in her bag? This isn't a set of orders I can support.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh took in a long breath between bared teeth. His gums went cold with it. Whether he was right or wrong didn't matter now. He was committed.\n\n\"Your second is Major Overstreet?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please send him in on your way out. You're relieved of your command.\"\n\nThere it was in the flash of her eyes and the lift of her chin. The contempt he'd known would be there. Giving in to her would only have helped cultivate it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tanaka had never respected him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She thought herself better suited to make the policies of governance than he was. It didn't matter whether she was right or not.\n\nShe stood wordlessly, braced, and stalked out of the room. He more than half expected her to slam the door as she left, but she closed it gently." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He finished his unpleasant drink in a gulp and went back to his desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The alcohol did what it was supposed to do, taking his too-sharp mind back just half a degree. Letting him relax, just a little bit. He wouldn't have another one.\n\nHe pressed his palms flat against the surface of his desk, feeling the little bite of cool fading quickly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took a deep breath, let it out slowly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then again. When his calm was more or less reestablished, he opened his personal log and reported his decision and the reasoning behind it. Visible weakness to my chief of security undermines confidence in the chain of command. Tanaka's expertise is admirable, but her placement on Medina proved unsuitable. Recommend her without prejudice for more appropriate duty." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hopefully his superiors would approve of his actions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If not, he'd know soon enough. It was done. Time that he got back to work. He felt better now. More centered. More nearly in control." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had been a bad day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe the worst he'd ever suffered through, but he was alive and his command was intact. And it was just a bad day.\n\nHe opened a fresh message, flagged it for immediate delivery. For a moment, he felt the impulse was to send his first message home to Nat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To be with her even if it was only a little bit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This attenuated, one-way presence would be better than nothing. But it would wait until he'd done his duty. Duty always came first. He routed the message for the Tempest instead of home." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Stay still,\" the Laconian said. \"Look at the red dot.\"\n\nHolden blinked and did as he was told. The sack of rations tapped against his leg like it was trying to get his attention, but he didn't shift his weight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The dot on the hand terminal seemed to look back at him, and something flashed filling one eye with yellow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The guard's hand terminal chimed, and he shifted to Naomi. His other hand was on the butt of his gun. \"Stay still. Look at the red dot. You can move along, sir.\"\n\n\"I'm with her.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can move over there, sir,\" the guard said, gesturing down the corridor with his chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His voice didn't make it a request. Holden walked a few steps, then paused while he was still close enough to go back if something happened. Not that he knew what he'd do.\n\nThe hand terminal chimed again and the guard nodded Naomi forward, waiting until she was back with Holden and the two of them were moving down the gently curving hall of the crew decks before he turned back to the line and the next identity to check and record." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An older man with a close-cropped beard who was smiling at the guard like a dog hoping it wouldn't get kicked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Stay still,\" the guard said. \"Look at the red dot.\" And then Holden and Naomi turned the corner and left the checkpoint behind.\n\nHe felt his gut release a little, the tension backed off a notch just by not being in a direct line of fire." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, this sucks,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The security announcement had changed Medina like dye dropped into water. The rolling curfew meant no one in public spaces off-shift, and three one-hour periods each cycle when no one could be out of their quarters. A congregation ban—no more than three people in a group. Anyone with a weapon would be arrested." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anyone making unauthorized use of the comm system would be arrested." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anyone that the security forces deemed a threat would be arrested. With every new edict, the nature of the station itself shifted, and the fragile thought that maybe everything would work itself out, that maybe it would be all right, receded.\n\nHe knew the station architecture hadn't really changed. The walls were still at the same angles as before, the hallways curved around the drum the same as they ever had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air smelled the way air smelled anywhere." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was only the faces of the people that made everything seem smaller, closer, more like a prison. The faces and the checkpoints.\n\nThey reached their rented quarters, and Naomi tapped in the manual override code, since their hand terminals were still locked out. The door slid open." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When it slid closed behind them, Naomi sagged against it like she was on the edge of collapse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden sat at the little built-in table and unpacked the bag in silence. Pad thai and red curry, both with tofu and both spiced enough to make his eyes water a little bit just at the smell of them. On another day, it would have felt like a luxury.\n\nNaomi went to the bath, washed her face in the little sink, and came back out with droplets of water still clinging to her hair and eyelashes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She dropped down across from him and scooped up a fork." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Any thoughts?\" she asked.\n\n\"About?\"\n\nShe waved the fork in a small circle, indicating the room, the station, the universe. Then she speared a cube of tofu and popped it in her mouth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not yet,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've got to say, I wish that those assholes hadn't tried to kill this Singh fella.\"\n\n\"Or that they'd done a better job,\" Naomi said, and Holden felt a twitch of anxiety in his gut. Was station security monitoring their cabin? Was that kind of offhanded joke going to get them sent to the brig?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi saw it in his face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sorry,\" she said, half for him and half for the microphone that might or might not have been there. \"Bad joke.\"\n\n\"I'm thinking this takes the Luna consulting gigs off the table, though.\"\n\n\"Seems like it. And Titan.\"\n\n\"That's a shame. I would have liked Titan.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If only we'd gotten out a week earlier,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Things were different then.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Holden said. The pad thai was rich and hot, and it tasted almost like they'd used real limes and peanuts to make it. Almost, but not quite. He put his fork down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know what to do.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Eat,\" Naomi said. \"And when you're done with that, come take a shower with me.\"\n\n\"Seriously?\" he said. She hoisted an eyebrow and smiled.\n\nThey ate in silence after that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He thought about putting on some background music, and even reached for his hand terminal before he remembered that it was dead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After, Naomi put the plates and forks into the recycler and led him into the bathroom by the wrist. She pulled off her clothes slowly, and he felt himself responding to her body despite the stress and fear. Or maybe because of it. Lust and anxiety mixed into something that was more than one kind of desperation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She got the water to a decent temperature while he stripped, and then they were there together, arms around each other as the warm cascade filled the curves where their bodies made cups and reservoirs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She leaned her head against his, her lips beside his ear.\n\n\"We can talk now,\" she murmured. \"We've got about fifteen minutes before the rationing kicks in.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" he said. \"And here I thought this was just my masculine charm.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She grabbed him gently someplace sensitive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That too,\" she said, and the laughter in her voice was better than anything that had happened in days. \"We need to make a real plan. I don't know what's going to happen with our money. We only had this room to the end of the week, and I'm not sure whether we'll keep it past that or if they'll throw us out early. Or anything else, really. Not at this point.\"\n\n\"We've got to get back to the Roci,\" he said.\n\n\"Maybe,\" Naomi said. \"Unless that calls more attention to the kids. It might not be a kindness to have James Holden of the Rocinante ride again. Unless that's a fight you want to be part of.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You think there's going to be a fight?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She shifted against him, their skin slipping distractingly under the flow of water. \"What would Avasarala say?\" Naomi asked.\n\nHolden moved his arms around the small of her back, pulled her gently against him. Kissed her gently. \"That Governor Singh fucked up,\" he said softly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That cracking down on the enemy this hard shows that you're afraid of them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yup,\" Naomi said. \"The people who went after him? They were assholes and amateurs. There's a real underground going to start now, and it's going have the professionals. If you and I keep our noses very, very clean, we might be able to stay out of that. If we start reaching out to the crew, security may think we're putting the band back together.\"\n\n\"So leave them out of it. Commit fully to our new lives as war refugees?\"\n\n\"Or suck it up, get the band back together, and die as dissidents.\"\n\n\"I'm really wishing Titan were still on that list of options.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's waiting for yesterday, sweetheart.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He rested his head against her shoulder. The water ration warning cleared its throat. Just the first one, though. They still had time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why do I get the feeling I'm more freaked-out about this than you are?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "he asked, and felt her smile against his cheek.\n\n\"You're new here,\" she said. \"I'm a Belter. Security coming down on you just because they can? Checkpoints and identity tracking? Knowing that you could wind up in the recycler for any reason or no reason? I grew up like this. Amos did too, in his way. I never wanted to come back here, but I know how this all goes. Childhood memories, sa sa que?\"\n\n\"Well, shit.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She ran her hand down his spine and pushed him back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wall was cold against him. Her kiss was rough and strong, and he found himself pushing into it in a way he hadn't in years. When they came up for air, Naomi's eyes were hard. Almost angry.\n\n\"If we do this,\" she said, \"it's going to be ugly. We're outgunned and outplanned, and I don't see how we win.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't either,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And I don't see how we stay out of it.\"\n\n\"Getting the band back together?\"\n\n\"Yeah. And we were so close to out.\"\n\n\"We were,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The water ration chimed again, a little more urgently." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden felt some vast emotion move in his chest, but he didn't know what it was. Grief or anger or something else. He turned off the water. The rush of white noise stopped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gentle chill of evaporation brought goose bumps up his arms and legs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi's eyes were soft, dark, unflinching.\n\n\"Come to bed,\" he said.\n\n\"Yes,\" she answered.\n\nIn the darkness, the control pad on the door glowed amber." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Green would have meant unlocked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Red, locked. Amber meant override. It meant that they weren't in control of it. That, in a fundamental way, it wasn't their door anymore. It belonged to station security." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi was still asleep, her breath deep and regular, so Holden sat in the darkness, not moving to keep from waking her, and watched the amber light." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the dead hour of curfew between each shift. Right now, all the hallways in Medina were empty. The curved fields and parks of the drum. The lifts in lockdown." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only the Laconian security forces could travel freely while everyone else huddled in place." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Including him. Measured in work-hours, it was a massive tax. If it had just been the Roci, it was the same as losing someone for eighteen hours a day. Medina put a coefficient on that with at least three zeros at the end. Someone in the Laconian chain of command thought it was worth the sacrifice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That alone told him something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi murmured, shifted her pillow, and fell back into it without ever quite breaching up to consciousness. She would be awake soon, though. They'd been sleeping in the same couch long enough that he knew the signs her body gave out without even being certain what he was reacting to. He felt it when she was heading back up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hoped she could stay down until it was their door again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe she wouldn't feel the same kind of trapped that he did.\n\nOver the years, the Roci had done its fair share of prisoner transport duty. Houston had been the most recent, but they'd taken on half a dozen like him one time and another since the Tachi had become the Rocinante. Now that he thought about it, the first had been Clarissa Mao." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All of his prisoners had spent months in a cabin smaller than this, staring at a door they couldn't control." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd always known in a distant, intellectual way that had probably been uncomfortable for them, but it wouldn't have been that different from being in a brig, and he'd been in brigs.\n\nIt wasn't the same, though. A brig had rules. It had expectations. You were in a brig until your lawyer or union rep came to talk to you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There would be hearings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If it went badly, there was prison. One thing followed another, and everyone called it justice, even when they all knew it was an approximation at best. But this was a cabin. A living space. Turning it into a prison cell felt like a rupture in a way that an actual prison cell wouldn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A brig had an inside and an outside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You were in it, and then you passed through a door or a security lock, and you were out of it. All of Medina was a prison now, and would be for another twelve minutes. It left him feeling claustrophobic and oppressed in a way he was still trying to wrap his head around. He felt like the station had just become small as a coffin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi shifted again, pulling the pillow over her head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sighed. Her eyes stayed closed, but she was with him again. Awake, but not ready to admit it.\n\n\"Hey,\" he said, softly enough that she could pretend not to have heard him.\n\n\"Hey,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another minute passed, and Naomi pulled the pillow back under her head, yawned, and stretched like a cat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hand landed on his, and he laced his fingers between hers.\n\n\"Been brooding the whole time?\" she asked.\n\n\"Some of it, yeah.\"\n\n\"Did it help?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nope.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Right. Spring into action, then?\"\n\nHe nodded at the amber door alarm. \"Not yet.\"\n\nShe glanced down. The override light flickered in her eyes like a candle flame. \"Huh. All right. Brush teeth, pee, and spring into action?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That'll work,\" he agreed, and hauled himself up out of the bed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The way it worked out, he was brushing his teeth when the door clicked over to red—locked, but under his control. The relief and resentment at the relief came packaged together.\n\nThe hallways in the residential deck were no busier than usual. The checkpoint they'd passed through earlier was gone, relocated to some other intersection of hallways." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Keeping the surveillance unpredictable and visible, he assumed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the security systems were in Laconian control, the guards and checkpoints were all theater anyway. A show of force to keep the locals scared and in line. The transport was down—no lifts, no carts. If anyone wanted to go anywhere, the only option was to walk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the drum, the false sunlight was as warm as ever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fields and parkland, streets and structures, curved up and around the same way they always had. Holden could almost forget that it was an occupied station until they interacted with anyone.\n\nThe man they paused to get bowls of noodles and sauce from gave them extra packets of peanuts and a twist of cinnamon sugar candy, on the house. An older woman they walked past as they headed aft toward engineering and the docks smiled at them, then stopped and stroked Naomi's shoulder until little tears appeared in the older woman's eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A group of young men heading the other way made room for them to pass long before they needed to and nodded their respect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't, Holden decided, that people recognized him and deferred to his celebrity. All the citizens of Medina were treating each other like everyone was made from spun sugar. Likely to shatter if you breathed on them too hard. He recognized it from being on Luna after the rocks had fallen on Earth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The deep human instinct to come together in crisis." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To take care of each other. In its best light, it was what made humanity human. But he also had the dark suspicion that it was a kind of bargaining. Look, universe, see how kind and gentle and nice I am?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Don't let the hammer fall on me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even if it was only grief and fear, he'd take it. Anything that helped them all treat each other well.\n\nBeside a little café that served tea and rice-flour cakes, a dozen people in Laconian uniforms were building something—a wall made from cubes two and a half meters to a side, eight wide, and three high, with steel walls and backs and wide mesh doors facing the pathway. Like kennels. Half a dozen locals stood watching, and Naomi went to stand beside them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A young woman with mud-brown hair and a scattering of freckles across her cheeks made a little space for them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another small kindness, like a coin in a wishing well.\n\n\"Are they expecting prisoners, then?\" Naomi asked the woman as if they were friends. As if everyone who wasn't Laconian was part of the same group now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's the thought,\" Freckles said, then nodded a greeting to Holden." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Making a show of it. Supposed to keep us all in line, isn't it?\"\n\n\"That's how it works,\" Holden said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. \"Show everyone what the punishment is. Enough fear, and we'll all be obedient. They'll train us like dogs.\"\n\n\"That's not how you train dogs,\" Freckles said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She made a little, deferential bow when he looked at her, but she didn't back down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You train dogs by rewarding them. Punishment doesn't actually work.\" Tears glistened in her eyes, and Holden felt a lump in his own throat. They'd been invaded. They'd been taken over. They could kill everyone on the station, and no one would be able to stop it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This couldn't be happening, and it was happening." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I didn't know that,\" he said. Banal words, the closest he could offer to comfort.\n\n\"Punishment never works,\" Naomi said, her voice hard. Her face was unreadable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shifted her weight like she was looking at sculpture in a museum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The spectacle of power considered as art. \"Not ever.\"\n\n\"Are you from here?\" Freckles asked. She hadn't recognized them.\n\n\"No,\" Holden said. \"Our ship's in the dock. Or our old ship anyway. The one we came in on. And the crew we flew with.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mine's in lockdown too,\" Freckles said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Old Buncome out of New Roma. We were slated to go home next week. I don't know where we're going to stay now.\"\n\n\"Not on your ship?\"\n\nShe shook her head. \"The docks are off-limits. No one's allowed on their ships without escort. I'm hoping we can find rooms, but I've heard we may have to camp out here in the drum.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi turned, and he saw everything that he was thinking mirrored in her face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the docks were off-limits and the crews turned out, the others wouldn't be on the Roci. And with the network down, they couldn't put through a connection request. They didn't have any way of contacting Bobbie or Alex or Amos. Or Clarissa. Counting each deck and the inner surface of the drum, it was something over fifty square kilometers of hallways, cabins, access tubes, and warehouses. Recycling plants." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hydroponic farms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Air storage. Medical bays. A maze the size of a small city, and somewhere in it, four people he needed to find.\n\nHolden coughed out a small, harsh laugh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi tilted her head." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing,\" he said. \"It's just not very long ago I was thinking how small Medina felt.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A rope defined the line to the ships. Two and a half, maybe three hundred people, each with their fist on it, went the length of the dock and switched back twice. Men and women in the jumpsuits of dozens of different companies jostled in place in the dock's microgravity, inching forward along the line as if registering their silent impatience would make the whole operation move faster. Laconian guards floated along the perimeter, rifles drawn and ready for violence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If it came to that, Bobbie thought, it wouldn't be surgical." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not in a mob like this. If anyone started anything, the air recyclers would be spitting out blood clots for months. She hoped everyone else knew that too. She hoped they cared." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Every now and then, a team of Laconian military escorts came, took the people from the moored end of the line, checked their authorization, screened them for weapons, and led them off to their ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everyone on the rope would pull a little forward, grabbing on another half meter closer to their turn, feeling the weave of the strands, the grease from all the palms before their own. The unmoored end floated free, waiting for the next hapless crew to join the waiting horde.\n\nThey were lucky, Bobbie told herself. Most of the ships had full crews of twenty or thirty people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Roci just had the four of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They could all go aboard at once. Small blessings indeed. Almost too small to see.\n\nThe guards led away another group. They moved down the rope again, that much closer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How you holding together, Claire?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa took a long, shuddering breath and nodded. When she spoke, the words came just a little too fast, and all the consonants had sharp edges. Like she was trying to rein them in and couldn't. \"It would be very nice to get to the med bay. But right now, it's just euphoria and nausea. Nothing I can't handle.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That changes,\" Amos said, \"you let me know.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Will,\" she said. Bobbie wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. There weren't many actions Amos could take that would make the situation better. If putting their heads down and enduring wasn't enough to get Clarissa to her medications, the options got bad fast.\n\n\"Anyone else think it's cold in here?\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It is,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think the pressure's a little low too. The environmental systems are all off.\"\n\n\"That doesn't sound like a good thing,\" Alex said.\n\n\"Belters,\" Bobbie said. \"We trained for this.\"\n\n\"You trained for low air pressure?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos asked. He sounded amused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was better than sounding frustrated.\n\n\"We trained for occupying Belter stations. One of the base tactics that Belters used was throwing environmental stasis off just enough that we'd have to keep bumping it up our priority queue. Someone somewhere on the station is trying to make it harder for these folks.\"\n\n\"Huh,\" Amos said. \"That's pretty ballsy.\"\n\n\"It only works if the occupying force isn't willing to just kill everyone and start over. So yeah. There's an element of playing chicken.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The group in front them on the rope wore gray-black jumpsuits with CHARLES BOYLE GAS TRANSPORT logos in green on the back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The one floating nearest them looked back over his shoulder, catching Bobbie's eye almost shyly. She nodded, and the man nodded back, hesitated, tilted his head a centimeter forward.\n\n\"Perdó,\" he said, nodding toward Clarissa. \"La hija la? She's sick?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie felt herself tense." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't a threat. It wasn't an insult. It was just someone who wasn't part of her crew putting themselves into her business. But maybe she was feeling as tense as Amos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took a little breath and nodded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The man tapped his compatriot ahead of him on the rope. They spoke for a moment in Belter cant so thick and fast, Bobbie couldn't follow it, then they all released the rope and gestured Bobbie forward. Giving up their place in line so that Clarissa could get to the Roci a few minutes sooner. It was a tiny thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A gesture. It shouldn't have hit her as hard as it did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Bobbie said, and ushered the others forward. \"Thank you very much.\"\n\n\"Is is,\" the man said, waving her thanks away. It wasn't an idiom she'd heard before, but his expression explained it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We do what we can for each other." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Laconians were efficient. The line moved quickly. Even with as many people as were waiting, the Roci crew reached the head of the line in only a couple of hours. An escort of four Marines checked her authorizations, scanned them all for weapons." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Apart from a momentary hit of panic when they were looking at Clarissa's scan—would her modifications keep them from letting her on?—everything went smoothly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And after all, her mods had been designed to get past security unnoticed. Good to know they were still doing their jobs, even while they killed her.\n\nThe Rocinante was waiting for them in the dock, loyal as a dog. When they cycled the airlock and pulled themselves in, Bobbie felt her shoulders relax." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air smelled familiar." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't even a particular scent so much as a sense of rightness. Of being home. Bobbie let herself imagine they were getting on board to leave, that they'd be burning for one of the gates. Diving down toward one sun or another.\n\nSomeday, maybe. Not now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You have one hour,\" the escort lead said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie shook her head. \"My mechanic needs to be in the med bay for longer than that. She has to have a blood flush.\"\n\n\"She'll have to do the best she can in an hour. She can visit medical facilities on the station.\"\n\nBobbie looked at the guard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man had a wide face and skin just a shade darker than Bobbie's own." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A lifetime of habit mapped out how Bobbie would try disarming him, controlling his weapon, getting into cover. Chances weren't great. The Laconians moved like they'd been well trained, and the oldest of them still looked to be hauling around a decade less than she was.\n\n\"It's fine, Captain,\" Clarissa said. \"I can set the system to do a fast push and get blockers. I've done it before.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you need another waiver,\" the guard said, \"you can apply for it once you've left.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fine,\" Bobbie said. \"Let's get on with this.\"\n\nThey moved through the ship like they were visiting someone in prison. The guards went with them everywhere, examined everything they took from their cabins, watched every command they gave the ship, copied every report the ship returned. The resentment in Bobbie's gut ached, but there wasn't anything to be done about it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their pass allowed them to retrieve personal items and any tools they needed for their work, provided they didn't present a security risk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which was a shame. There was a part of her that would have liked to explain that she worked as a mercenary so that she could walk out of here with Betsy around her like a shell.\n\nAs she packed her things from the captain's cabin, her guard watching wordlessly from the doorway, she opened a connection to Alex.\n\n\"What's the good word?\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Roci's a little bored, but she's in good condition,\" Alex said from the flight deck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A little impurity in the water supply we should look at, but it's likely just a seal that's wearing out. A little stray leaching.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Bobbie said. She wanted to stay. She wanted to spend her hours polishing her ship and fixing every flaw they could put hands to. She had thirty-five minutes left." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Flag it. We'll dig in next time.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Next time, Cap'n,\" Alex agreed. Because there would be a next time. Even if there wasn't, they were going to pretend there would be. She locked down her cabinets, checked the message queue from the ship's system to make sure everything was getting to her hand terminal—or at least that the Laconian censors were locking everything down equally—and pulled herself back down the corridor and toward the lift." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This a Martian ship?\" her guard asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It is,\" Bobbie said as they reached the lift and headed down for the machine shop.\n\n\"I've seen some like her back home. First fleet had a lot like this.\"\n\nFirst fleet meaning all the ships that Duarte had stolen when he'd escaped to Laconia. But also, Bobbie realized, meaning there was a second fleet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One with ships like the monstrosity that had killed the Tori Byron." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Must look pretty quaint, eh?\" she said, trying to make light of it, inviting the guard to give something away. But if there had been an opportunity there, she'd missed it.\n\nIn the machine shop, Amos had almost finished collecting a set of safety-approved tools into a small ceramic toolbox." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He nodded to her as she floated in, stopping herself on a handhold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She saw his sign again: YOU TAKE CARE OF HER. SHE TAKES CARE OF YOU. The words had more weight now. She'd barely had a chance to take care of the Rocinante, at least not as her captain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hoped another chance would come." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You ready to roll out?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yep,\" Amos said.\n\nClarissa and Alex were already in the airlock with their guard when Bobbie and Amos got there. Clarissa looked more relaxed, and there was more color in her skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex would have seemed relaxed to anyone who didn't know him, but Bobbie saw how he looked at the ship, how his hand lingered on the bulkhead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He knew as well as she did that there was no guarantee they'd ever be back.\n\nThe guards escorted them along the nearly empty docks, back toward the transfer point to the drum and spin gravity, then went back for the next crew to the next ship. When they were alone, Bobbie cleared her throat.\n\n\"All right. How did that go?\" she asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They've locked her down pretty tight,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But they didn't get everything. Give me twenty minutes, I can probably get her working.\"\n\n\"I've got a decent kit,\" Amos said, holding up the toolbox. \"Could get some low-level work with just this. Not cutting through any decking, though.\"\n\n\"Claire?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa smiled and shrugged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I feel a little better, and I've got enough blockers.\"\n\nBobbie put a hand on her thin shoulder. \"We'll take care of you,\" she said.\n\n\"I know you will,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right, then,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The way I see it, the next step is find someone who can get messages back to the union. Or Earth-Mars. See if there's anyone out there with a plan, or if we're going to have to make one up on our own.\"\n\n\"We can do that,\" Amos said. \"Shouldn't be hard.\"\n\n\"You sure?\" Alex said. \"This is Medina Station under occupation by a bunch of splinter Martian military expats. It's not Baltimore.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos' smile was as placid as always. \"Everywhere's Baltimore.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie had known and worked with Amos Burton for years, and he kept being able to surprise her. For the next two days, Amos took the lead, moving through Medina Station apparently without any particular aim or purpose. They went to sit in a bar by the water recycling plant, went to interview with a pop-up service that was matching people who'd been locked off their ships with accommodations, played a little dirt football with a crew of technicians whose old split-circle OPA tattoos had been softened and smudged by the years.\n\nEvery now and then, Bobbie caught something—a phrase or a gesture—that didn't quite feel right, like there was a second conversation going on at some frequency her ears couldn't pick up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took up her position at Amos' back and watched for threats, either from the Laconians or the locals." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everywhere they went, the station seemed to be on the edge of something. It was in the air and the voices of everyone they spoke to. Guards in power armor. Checkpoints. The Laconians had erected an open-air jail, and filled it with men and women living behind bars like animals at a particularly shitty zoo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With hand terminals locked down and the internal communications network restricted to the point of uselessness, every conversation seemed fraught and dangerous." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anything worth encrypting is worth not putting on a network in the first place, Amos would sometimes say. Bobbie had never really thought about how much communication changed when every time you spoke, you had to be close enough that the other person could stab you if they wanted to. Never before, anyway.\n\nAnd then, after three days, the old Belter who'd been the opposing goalie at their football game came to them at the little public table where they were eating mushrooms and noodles, nodded to Amos, and walked away. The big man got up, stretched his neck until it popped, and turned to Bobbie." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We've got a thing,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A good one or a bad one?\" she said.\n\n\"One or the other.\"\n\nBobbie took a last mouthful of her breakfast, chewed, and swallowed. \"Understood,\" she said. \"Let's go.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa and Alex stood when she did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Part of her wanted to order them to stay back. If things went south, they'd be safe. As if anywhere was safe. She didn't say anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old Belter led them to an access corridor with a ramp that sank down, out toward the skin of the drum and the emptiness beyond it, the void always just underfoot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They passed two different concealed guard posts that she saw, and while she didn't think there were any others that had escaped her notice, she couldn't be sure. The old Belter didn't say anything, and Amos didn't try to strike up a conversation.\n\nThe warehouse they ended up in was half filled with storage boxes fixed to the deck with maglocks. The lighting was harsh, restricted-wavelength worklights with a flicker that made her feel like her vision was strobing if she moved her hand too quickly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Three men leaned on the crates, their arms loose at their sides so they wouldn't have to spend the quarter second uncrossing them if things came to violence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt a warmth in her gut, a presentiment of trouble that was almost welcome. Invading ships with unimaginable weapons, protomolecule technology that could rip atoms apart, sudden empires imposed without warning or precedent. She'd grit her teeth and move forward because there wasn't another option. But thugs in warehouses was territory she understood." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man in the middle of the three was a Belter, tall and muscular." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His skin was the same brown as his hair and eyes. Even if he hadn't been pretty, he'd have been striking. And he was pretty.\n\n\"Heard you wanted to talk,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos looked back at her, and pointed to the pretty man with his chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd gotten them this far, but she was the boss. This was hers now.\n\n\"Who'd you hear we wanted to talk to?\" Bobbie asked, stepping forward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa shifted out to her side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As weak and compromised as she looked, they'd underestimate her. Bobbie didn't know what using the implants would do to Clarissa, but by the time it took its toll, all three of the men would be incapacitated or dead. And that was without her and Amos weighing in.\n\nThe pretty man tilted his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Names are dangerous, coyo,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie pointed a thumb to herself. \"Captain Bobbie Draper.\" She turned to the others. \"Alex Kamal. Clarissa Mao. Amos Burton. Now, who the fuck are you?\"\n\nThe pretty man scowled, tilting his head like he was trying to recall a song that was just at the edge of memory." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a look she'd seen before, and she didn't feel like helping him place her. Not yet, anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Saba,\" the man said at last, \"and that's enough for you right now.\"\n\n\"You're playing this all pretty close to the chest, Saba,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Not interested in being under the authority of the authorities,\" he said. \"I've got reasons for that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, I'm not working for Laconia, so we can stop the bullshit, right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not sure we can,\" Saba said. His hand terminal chimed—a sound Bobbie didn't remember hearing since the crackdown—but he ignored it. Interesting that he had a working hand terminal, though. The chances that he was the real deal went up in her estimation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Heard you were looking to get in touch with the underground,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Leaves a man wondering why. You looking to trade with the new boss?\"\n\n\"Nope,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Then you thinking you're going to come tell us what to do?\"\n\nBobbie smiled. She could feel her teeth against her lips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either they were going to back each other down, or this was going to end in blood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hoped it was the former, but it wasn't her call. \"We were there when that fucking idiot tried to kill the governor. If that's the level you people are working at, then yes, I'd be happy to help organize. Someone ought to.\"\n\nSaba's face was cool. \"Belters been standing under the oppressors' boot for generations. You think you've got something to teach us?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Apparently so,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Seems like some of you assholes have gotten pretty rusty.\"\n\nA little darkness came to Saba's olive cheeks. He stood up, stepped forward. Bobbie took her own step in to meet him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If she showed weakness now, they'd never take her seriously again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The chirp of his hand terminal seemed to come from another universe.\n\n\"What?\" Bobbie said, not giving him the tempo. \"You planning to do this without any allies? Without any support? You against the Laconian Empire? I've seen how that went up to now, and—\"\n\n\"Saba!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The new voice came from behind her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't want to turn her back on the three Belters, but she didn't want someone unknown at her back either.\n\n\"Saba!\" the voice said again. It sounded young. Excited. Bobbie threw a glance over her shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A young woman in a green jumpsuit, grinning like someone had just given her a present." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Que, Nanda?\" Saba asked.\n\n\"Found someone,\" the girl said. \"Look.\"\n\nAnd from behind the girl, Holden and Naomi came into the room, squinting at the ugly light.\n\n\"Hey!\" Holden said, and then \"Bobbie. This is great. I wasn't sure how we were going to find you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba whistled low. \"James fucking Holden. You'll no believe how much I've heard about you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All good, I hope?\" Holden said, walking forward, oblivious to the tension in the room. Or maybe choosing to ignore it. It was always hard to tell with him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've met my old crew already?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You crew?\" Saba said, then looked at Bobbie as if seeing her for the first time. He laughed. \"Savvy I did. Well, then. Welcome to the underground.\"\n\nShe smiled, but something ugly plucked at her guts. James fucking Holden, Bobbie thought. Three magic words, and just like that, someone else was in charge." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce 4 sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The image was grainy, the sound almost as much noise as signal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Half a dozen encryption layers poured on and then stripped back out left their artifacts in the flattened audio and near-false colors. Drummer's heart softened all the same, because there in the middle of it—unmistakably—was Saba. His eyes had the little puff at the lower lid that he got when he was tired, but his smile was luminous.\n\n\"No savvy you how good it was to get your message, Cami,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Heart outside my body, you are. And no one better than us two to be where we're sitting.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I love you too,\" she told the screen, but only because no one else was in her office.\n\nAvasarala's covert contacts had come through faster than Drummer had hoped. That they'd come through at all was something of a shock. She had been willing to believe the old woman was overstating her powers, claiming a level of influence that retirement and age had long since taken from her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But here was evidence that, whatever else she was, Chrisjen Avasarala wasn't completely full of shit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba had burrowed deep into Medina Station like a tick, making connections with as many union operatives as he safely could. And by union, more often than not, he meant OPA.\n\nShe listened and took notes by hand as he went through his full report. Writing it out helped her to remember." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sixty-eight people on Medina Station broken into independent cells that went from three to eight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The amateur, botched assassination and the crackdown that followed. Saba didn't have to say that he was using it to recruit more for his effort. That was obvious. The focus moving forward was intelligence gathering and infrastructure. Avasarala's network was all well and good, but having multiple backups, blind zones in the station where the Laconian security couldn't reach, and opening backdoors into the communications of the enemy were how to prepare for the next wave." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And find out what the next wave was going to be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer found herself nodding with his words, thinking through their implications. The Laconians were routing their comms through a destroyer-sized ship docked on Medina with heavy encryption and an off-ship decrypt local to the station to physically isolate the two. No good way to gather intelligence there, and no chance of breaking into the enemy's system. She'd need to find the firmware code for the antennas and repeaters." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe Avasarala's henchmen in the Earth-Mars Coalition had some exploits they'd been sitting on that she could pass on to Saba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Laconian checkpoints were tying up a third of their ground force. That kept the soldiers busy in the known and public corridors, and gave Saba's people more time to create bolt holes and blind zones. If the crackdown slacked off, they'd want to do something provocative to keep the enemy busy with identity checks and traffic control. Trivial security theater, while the underground dug more tunnels into the body of the station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was possible that all the updated plans for Medina were in Laconian hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Any known holes, they had to assume were known to all the players, but making new ones wouldn't be hard for Saba. He understood smuggling as well as she ever had, and maybe better.\n\nThe message ended with Saba's impish grin.\n\n\"You watch you, m'dil,\" he said, and blew a kiss to the camera." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Live like you're dead.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer touched the screen as if it were his cheek, but it was cold and hard. Live like you're dead. There was a phrase she hadn't heard in a long time. Once, it had been the motto of the Voltaire Collective." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A call to courage with a fatalistic bravado that angry adolescents found romantic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd found it romantic once too.\n\nShe checked the time. Saba's message had run almost twenty minutes. Part of her found it hard to believe it had been that long." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could have drunk in the sound of his voice for another hour and still been thirsty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From her screen after screen after screen of written notes, it was astounding that he'd fit so much information into so short a time.\n\nShe went through all she'd written again, committing it to memory, then wiped her notes. Information couldn't be compromised if it didn't exist. She put in a comm request for Vaughn. He answered immediately." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where do we stand with the military attaché?\" she asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Waiting on word from you, ma'am,\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Have them in the conference room in ten minutes.\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn said. There was a surreptitious pleasure in his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The diplomats and coordinators from the Earth-Mars Coalition had been flooding into People's Home since the fall of Medina, and Vaughn enjoyed telling them what to do." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was probably a vice, but she didn't mind indulging it.\n\nDrummer rose from her desk and stretched. Her spine popped once between her shoulders, loudly. She yawned, but not from fatigue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the kind of yawn that a runner made before a race." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The deep inhalation of someone anticipating great effort. If she'd been keeping a normal schedule, her watch would almost be over. That wasn't how she lived anymore. Now she was awake when she needed to be awake, and asleep when she could." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sin ritma they'd called that lifestyle back when she'd been younger." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was harder on her body now, and it took an extra bulb of coffee to sharpen her mind sometimes, but it also left her smiling in a way she didn't wholly understand.\n\nBenedito Lafflin, the EMC liaison, was waiting for her twenty minutes later. His fist was closed around a bulb of soda water that was already half collapsed. His wide, toadlike face looked less smug than usual." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Madam President,\" he said, standing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer waved him back down. As she sat, Vaughn brought her a bulb of tea. She took a sip. Hot, but not scalding." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Vaughn drifted back to the wall like he was part of the ship's machinery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What are we looking at?\" Drummer said.\n\nLafflin cleared his throat. \"Candidly? I think you're going to be quite happy with the plan.\"\n\n\"Are you giving me direct control over your fleets?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He blinked. \"Ah ... Well, that's ...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer smiled. \"I'll probably still be okay with it. What do you have?\"\n\nHe took out a hand terminal and threw the data onto the conference room wall. The solar system unfolded before them. Nothing quite to scale, of course." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Space was too huge and too empty for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fleets of Earth and Mars and the Transport Union were all outlined—location and vector for everything in transit, planetary body and orbital period for everything else. All of it tracked through time. Nothing was ever at rest.\n\nAnd on the edge of the system, hell and gone from anything, the gate where the enemy would arrive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Given what we know about the enemy battleship,\" Lafflin began, \"we have worked up several scenarios that we think will give our combined forces the best tactical advantage. The first, of course, being to interrupt it in transit.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Walk me through it,\" Drummer said.\n\nFor the next two hours, Drummer reviewed scenario after scenario after scenario. Lafflin made his case for each of them. Another person like him was with every member of the union board making all the same arguments." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Soon the debates would start." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With the void cities, the union had a fleet at least as powerful as the EMC. If Saba could make contact with ships in the colonies, it might be possible to coordinate attacks on the slow zone, no matter what Avasarala thought. If not, there was local action to be done on Medina that might be just as good or better.\n\nTime after time, his plans came back to the same thing—protecting Earth, protecting Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Keeping the inners from being disrupted, no matter what the cost." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her guess was that the board would see the same things she did. And then ...\n\nShe hadn't wanted to be a police force for the thirteen hundred worlds. She certainly hadn't wanted to lead a military. But with every new twist, every tactical suggestion, she heard the imagined voices of the board, of Secretary-General Li, of Avasarala." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wouldn't work. Someone was going to have to take charge, and she didn't see many scenarios where that wasn't her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you,\" she said when the last of the imagined battles had played out on her monitor. \"I appreciate your time. Let me confer, and we'll talk again in the morning?\"\n\n\"Thank you, Madam President,\" he said as Vaughn escorted him out of the room.\n\nAs soon as he was gone, she pulled up the scenarios, paging through them all again without him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd considered mining their side of the gate with a wall of high-yield nukes, but abandoned it because no one was really sure if the ring could be damaged or not." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A safer plan was a series of ships looping up above the ecliptic, doing a high burn and dumping gravel that could make a stone veil over the mouth of the gate. She would be able to control when there were gaps that allowed passage and when any ship making the transit would step into a shotgun blast. And it would last until they ran out of reaction mass and gravel. It was a Belter tactic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another gift from the old days." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She thought about putting the idea in her response to the EMC, but the truth was she didn't need their permission, and the void city Independence was close enough to the gate that if they went on the burn now, they could have something in place before the board even finished debating ...\n\nDrummer let her head sink into her hands. Her neck ached and a deep, vague craving bothered her—something like thirst, but without a clear sense of what could slake it. If anything could.\n\nShe heard the door open behind her, but she didn't bother looking up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whoever it was, she didn't care." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And anyway, it would only be Vaughn.\n\n\"Madam President,\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"Something's come through you should probably see.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Something wonderful that's going to fill my life with joy?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No.\"\n\nShe sat up, waving one hand in a circle. Get on with it.\n\n\"There's been a new transmission from Medina,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"On the official feeds.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"More threats and posturing from Laconia? Or have they made the war official?\"\n\n\"Neither one,\" Vaughn said, and took the monitor focus. A simple video feed of a podium in front of a few tiers of chairs. Drummer was a little surprised by the simple blue curtains at the back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd expected more imperial pomp." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A Signa Romanum with a double-headed eagle. The chairs were filled with people meant to look like journalists, whether they were or not.\n\nCarrie Fisk walked into the frame and took her place at the podium. Drummer felt her mouth go hard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you all for coming today,\" Fisk said, nodding to her audience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She gathered herself. Looked out, then down again. \"Since its creation, the Association of Worlds has been a staunch advocate of independence and planetary sovereignty. As such, we have tracked issues of self-rule in the newly colonized systems and fought for the rights of people living on them. The hegemonic power of Sol system and the Transport Union have proven time and again that those in power have valued the systems unequally. Sol and the union have claimed a de facto sovereignty over what they have, through their actions, made clear they consider second-class planets and governments.\"\n\n\"Oh, fuck you,\" Drummer murmured. \"Fuck you and your quisling bullshit.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have had the opportunity to meet several times with the representatives of the Laconian system about the future of the ring gates and the nature of commerce and governance between the worlds. And I am very happy to be able to say that the Association of Worlds has voted unanimously to accept Laconia's offers of protection and the coordination of trade. In exchange, High Consul Duarte has accepted the association's requirements for self-rule and political autonomy. With this—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer killed the feed. Duarte had planned this too. Not only the military campaign but the story that made it something other than a blatant conquest. He came back because he thinks he can win, and if he thinks that, you should prepare yourself for the idea that it's true." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Carrie Fisk would be on the newsfeeds of thirteen hundred worlds—worlds that Drummer was cut off from—and the story she told would find rich enough soil to take root." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Self-rule and political autonomy?\" she said. \"At the end of a gun? How does that work?\"\n\n\"Tribute,\" Vaughn said. \"A pledge of financial and resource support if called on, but with very little suggestion that there will be occasion for it.\"\n\n\"Plus the promise that he won't kill the shit out of them, I'm guessing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Vaughn's smile was flinty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fisk didn't make that explicit, but I think the implication's there, yes.\"\n\nDrummer pressed her hand to her chin, stood up. Part of her wanted to send Vaughn to the med bay to come back with something to keep her awake. Amphetamines, cocaine, anything stronger than another bulb of tea." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's been a long day,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When the EMC's messages start coming through, tell them to calm their shit down, and that we're going to address this.\"\n\n\"And for the board members?\" Vaughn asked.\n\n\"Tell 'em the same,\" Drummer said as she walked out. \"Tell 'em it's all under control.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Back in her quarters, she stripped, leaving her clothes in a pathway from the door to the shower." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She stood under the near-scalding water, letting it run down her back and over her face. It felt wonderful. Heat conduction as raw, physical comfort. Eventually, she killed the water, took a towel to sluice off most of the moisture, and then dropped to her crash couch, one arm flung over her eyes. Exhaustion pulled down into the gel more powerfully than the spin of the drum." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She waited for the despair to come." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't. The union was facing an existential threat. The fragile fabric of human civilization in the colonies was ripping before her eyes, and she was relieved. From her first memories to the death of the Free Navy, she'd been a Belter and a member of one faction or another of the OPA. Her brain and soul and identity had all matured with the inners' boot at her throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the throat of everyone she loved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The respectability of Tycho Station and then of the union and now of the presidency had been her dream from the start. The prospect of a Belter reaching power equal to the inners had guided her on, if not for her, then at least a Belter like her. And like all dreams, the closer she'd come to it, the better she understood what it really was. For years, she'd worn power and authority like it was someone else's jumpsuit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now, with Duarte and Laconia, everything she'd built was falling away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And part of her was happy about it. She'd been raised to fight against great powers. To wage wars she couldn't win, but also couldn't lose. Returning to that now was a staggering loss, but it also felt like coming home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her mind began to slip away, her consciousness falling into dream." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "History was a cycle. Everything that had happened before, all the way back through the generations, would happen again. Sometimes the wheel turned quickly, sometimes it was slow. She could see it like a feed gear, all teeth and bearings with her on the rim along with everybody else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her last thought before forgetfulness took her and she fell deeply into slumber was that even with the gates, nothing really ever changed so much as repeated itself, over and over, with all new people, forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which, in light of the next morning's first meeting, was more than a little ironic.\n\n\"We've never seen anything like this before.\" She'd known Cameron Tur professionally since she'd first taken a job with the union, and he'd never registered as more than vaguely interested in anything.\n\nNow he sat across the table from her, gesturing with a tortilla like he was conducting an orchestra with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His eyes were wide and bright, his voice higher and faster than usual, and she couldn't make out what the hell he was saying." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hot places in space,\" she repeated, looking at the schematic. \"So, like stealth ships? Are you saying there are stealth ships waiting outside the ring gate?\"\n\n\"No, no, no,\" Tur said. \"Not that kind of hot. Not temperature hot.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer gave a short, frustrated laugh and put the hand terminal down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay, maybe we should try this again like you were talking to a civilian. There are these areas we've seen that are ... what exactly?\"\n\n\"Well,\" Tur said, nodding more to himself than to her. \"Of course you know that a vacuum isn't really empty. There are always electromagnetic waves and particles that pop in and out of existence. Quantum fluctuation.\"\n\n\"My background is in security and politics,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh. Right,\" Tur said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He seemed to notice his tortilla, took a bite from it. \"Well, vacuum state isn't at all just emptiness. There are always spontaneous quantum creations and annihilations. Hawking-Zel'dovich radiation that allows for—\"\n\n\"Security, Tur. Politics and security.\"\n\n\"Sorry. Really small things just show up and then they just go away,\" Tur said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Much smaller than atoms. It happens all the time. It's perfectly normal.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Drummer said, and took a sip of her morning coffee. Either it was a little more bitter than usual or she was overly sensitive today.\n\n\"So when we turned all the sensor arrays on the gate? To try to get more information about the war and all that? There was interference we couldn't make sense of. It was like the kind we see when signals pass through the gates, but it wasn't localized there. It was out in normal space.\" He pulled the schematic back up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Here and here and here. That we know of. There may be others, but we haven't done a full sweep looking for them. But we never saw anything like this, and the logs make it seem like they may have appeared about the same time that the Laconian ship went through the gate. Or when it fired at the ring station. We don't have great data on timing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Drummer said again. She was growing impatient.\n\n\"It's the rate, you see. The rates of quantum creation and annihilation are ... they're through the roof. The uptick is massive.\"\n\nShe was still struggling to get her mind around the idea that emptiness wasn't empty, but something about the awe in Tur's voice sent a chill down her back all the same." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So you're telling me ... what exactly?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That the space near the ring started boiling,\" Tur said. \"And we don't know why.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 4 sentences sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Santiago Singh spent a very unpleasant few days dealing with the fallout from his newly announced security protocols for Medina Station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One by one, every bureaucrat and functionary called him to express their concerns over how the crackdown might negatively impact morale and efficiency on the station. However the conversations were phrased, what he heard in them was always the same. The new rules will make people unhappy. They won't work as hard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sabotage will increase. Are you sure we want to do this?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His responses, however he put them, were also of a piece: I don't care if people are unhappy about the new rules, if they fail to do their jobs, they will be fired, sabotage is punishable by imprisonment or death, yes, I'm sure.\n\nIn High Consul Duarte's seminal book on logistics, he'd pointed out that of all the methods by which one can exert political and economic control over another state, occupation by military force was the least effective and the most unstable. The justification for occupation of Medina Station was that, as the checkpoint of all thirteen hundred colony worlds, it minimized the need for any further military action and let the imperial government move on quickly to economic trade and cultural pressure, which were much more stable long-term strategies for exerting control. And in fact, demonstrating to the people of Medina that the Laconian takeover would lead to better lives for all of them was the test case." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If Singh could convince a station full of people bred for anarchy that imperial rule was desirable, the still-nascent colonies beyond the gates should be a piece of cake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He understood all of this well enough. But it didn't change the fact that he'd had to spend his afternoon explaining to stupid, angry people why attempting to assassinate the governor of the station carried consequences.\n\nWhen he cut the connection on what he hoped was the last of those complaints, he yelled out for someone to bring him coffee or tea or whatever else passed for a potable on that festering armpit of a station. No one replied. Because Kasik was dead and he hadn't yet brought himself to assign anyone new to his duties." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As if by keeping the dead man on the roster, some part of him still remained that history hadn't erased." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For a moment, the buzz of activity and conversation, irritation and confrontation that he'd cultivated since the incident slipped away, and he saw Kasik spitting raspberry jam that was really his brain and his blood and part of his tongue—\n\nSingh lost a few seconds. When he became aware again, he was on his knees next to his desk, vomiting into his trash can. From the state of the bin, he'd been at it for a while." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The smell and look of the mess set off a new round of vomiting that only ended when his stomach clenched up painfully on nothing and a thin trickle of bile bit at the back of his throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Delayed shock. Trauma reaction. It was normal, he told himself. Anyone would go through it.\n\n\"I'm so sorry, Kasik,\" he said, face suddenly covered in tears for a man whose first name he couldn't even remember." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The comm unit on his desk politely beeped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Leave me the fuck alone,\" Singh yelled at it.\n\n\"Admiral Trejo is here for you, sir,\" a carefully neutral voice replied.\n\n\"Here?\"\n\n\"In the security lobby, sir.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh cursed under his breath, soft but vicious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He grabbed the liner out of his trash can and stuffed it into the recycler. The air probably still smelled of sick. He turned the air recyclers as high as they would run to cut it.\n\n\"Put him through in one minute, please,\" Singh answered, then used the sixty seconds to wash his face and rinse out his mouth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Trejo had returned to Medina." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It could have meant a number of things, but all of them meant he wanted to have a face-to-face conversation instead of trading messages through the comparatively glacial security apparatus that surrounded official communications. And that meant talking about sensitive issues.\n\n\"Sonny,\" Admiral Trejo said as he walked into the room. \"You look a fright.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" Singh agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm afraid that recent events have shaken me a bit more than I expected. But I'm getting it secured. Shipshape and ready to sail, sir.\"\n\n\"Have you slept at all?\" Trejo asked. He sounded genuinely concerned.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, because it felt like lying, \"Some, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's hard losing someone. Especially someone you worked with closely.\"\n\n\"I'll be fine, sir,\" Singh said. \"Please, take my desk.\"\n\nTrejo's smile was sympathetic as he sat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took the offered desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have good news for you, at least. I passed along your findings on the gamma-ray bursts through the rings, along with your recommendation about using a ship with an ultrahigh magnetic field projector stationed in the slow zone to control access and passage. Naval high command was very intrigued. They took it all the way to the top.\"\n\nThe top meant only one person on Laconia. \"I'm very flattered it got so much attention, Admiral.\"\n\n\"He agrees with you,\" Trejo said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His voice had a flatness that Singh didn't entirely understand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His green eyes flicked up to meet Singh's gaze and they stayed there. \"They're sending out the Eye of the Typhoon. It'll take a bit for her to outfit. She wasn't scheduled to come through for another four months, but you'll have her with all deliberate speed. She'll have Medina Station defense as her official mission, but holding the ring system using your new data will be part of her parameters.\"\n\n\"Rear Admiral Song has that command, as I recall.\"\n\n\"Yeah, that's Song's boat,\" Trejo agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But you're still governor of Medina. You'll have operational command over the defense of the station, and that includes determining when and if our new ring strategy is appropriate.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" Singh replied.\n\n\"It'll be heady stuff, knowing an admiral has to dance to your tune, Sonny. Just remember that this posting won't last forever. Don't make any enemies you can't unmake.\" There was a weight to Trejo's words, like they carried more than just what they said. They landed on Singh's chest like a gentle rebuke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Understood and appreciated, Admiral,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Will the Tempest remain here until the Typhoon arrives to take over?\"\n\n\"No. We are moving up the timetable, per your analysis. The Tempest is leaving through the Sol gate in four hours. Unless you've reconsidered your position?\"\n\nSingh felt an offer in the question. This was the chance for him to say that he was out of his depth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That he needed backup and help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The temptation to claim perfect fitness was strong, but he couldn't dismiss the fact that he was, in fact, compromised. The question was whether his own frailty was enough to risk giving Sol system more time to prepare. The most dangerous part of the Tempest's mission in Sol system was the transit through the gate and the hours immediately after it. The longer the enemy had to exploit that period of vulnerability, the less the time he'd won with his discovery of the gamma burst would gain them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't want to undercut the advantage he'd just provided." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And still ...\n\nHe started to reply, but stopped when the bitter-lemon taste of bile crept up the back of his throat again. Not now. He swallowed furiously, hoping this would be enough to hold off yet another round of vomiting into his trash bin. Trejo's eyes widened with what looked like genuine concern." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sonny,\" Trejo said, \"have you seen a doctor?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Immediately following the attack. I sustained no injuries beyond a bruise on my knee and a bit of pride.\"\n\n\"That's not what I mean,\" Trejo said.\n\n\"I'll be fine,\" Singh lied, but Trejo didn't call him on it. \"I know that the ring emissions were never part of the defensive strategy before, but I find myself worried about leaving such a powerful tool behind.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Understood. I'll be honest, I'm not totally happy moving the timetable up. Slow and steady, that's the strategy I like best. But there's nothing so far to indicate the locals have made any breakthroughs we don't know about. The high consul thinks we can afford to pull the Tempest out past the gate early. It does feel a bit like I'm leaving you here with your ass hanging out. But there is exactly one fleet in known space that poses a threat to our plans here. And it's bottled up in the Sol system. You won't need to worry about defending Medina from it at all, because I'm going to force them to fight me on their home ground. I don't expect the colonies are going to cause you any trouble a destroyer can't handle.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I agree, sir,\" Singh said. \"We'll hold and wait for the Typhoon's arrival, or word of your success in Sol, whichever comes first.\"\n\nSingh expected this to end the conversation, and waited for Admiral Trejo to stand. Instead, the old man stared at him with thoughtful eyes until the silence had become uncomfortable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Etiquette dictated that he not close the interview until his superior dismissed him, so he stared back and tried for a vague smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Trejo spoke again, his voice was lower. \"Tanaka filed her report. She'll be boarding a shuttle shortly to take up a post on the Tempest.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Singh replied, hoping it came off as casual.\n\n\"Don't misunderstand me. She's a fine operator, and her experience is more than welcome there. But if there are problems with her, I would like to know what they are.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sure her talents will—\" Singh started, but Trejo cut him off without raising his voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If she's going to take a command role on my ship, I'm going to need to understand why you removed her from yours,\" the admiral said, his voice as gentle as though he'd asked for the time. \"That's what I'm asking you for.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Singh replied. If I understood it myself, he thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fury at everyone and everything that had followed the attack had faded, leaving behind only a vaguely unsettled feeling, like the adolescent fear of forgotten homework." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like there was something that needed to be done, something that would cause trouble if it wasn't, but he had no idea what the thing was or even how to find out.\n\n\"Anytime, Sonny,\" Trejo said.\n\nSingh took a deep breath that stuttered a little. He hated that it did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It was my feeling, at the time, that failing to respond to the attack on my person, and by extension on the authority of the high consul and the empire itself, would only serve to embolden any dissident elements here on the station. I felt that a strong response was needed to enforce the message that this was now our station, that we weren't going anywhere, and that any attempt to hinder our work would fail. End the idea of a rebellion before it could begin.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And you believe Colonel Tanaka didn't understand or support this position?\" Trejo asked.\n\n\"She counseled a more conciliatory approach. I believe her experience in the Martian military guided her here, but that it was not experience that translated well to this new situation. She disagreed, and stated that she would not support the new security measures, deeming them too harsh. I relieved her at that point.\"\n\n\"Why did her considerable experience not translate, do you think?\" Trejo asked. The words could have been taken as mocking or rhetorical, but something in the old man's voice made it seem like genuine curiosity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there's no cover, the only thing to do is charge." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How did he keep finding himself in these situations?\n\nSingh cleared his throat. \"Colonel Tanaka learned about rebel pacification by dealing with a belligerent but unaligned population. The Belters were not citizens of Mars, though they fell under Martian influence and regulation. To some degree, 'winning hearts' was always part of the mandate. She still thinks that way. She wants to approach this insurgency in that way. Crack down on only those involved in the attack, and attempt to win the cooperation of the rest of the populace through kindness.\"\n\n\"You disagree with this assessment,\" Trejo said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I do. By mandate from the high consul himself, all humans are citizens of the Laconian Empire. The people on Medina are not a neutral third party placed between us and an insurgent faction. They are Laconians, and the insurgents are not a foreign government resisting conquest, they are criminals. Any other reaction defies the imperial mandate and legitimizes them. I don't need to win their hearts. I need them to understand that all the previous political bodies and relationships are irrelevant. We are not conquering new territory, we are enforcing the law in our empire.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trejo smiled. \"That could have come straight out of a political theory class at the academy. I wasn't asking for a book report, Captain. Do you believe all of that is true?\"\n\nIt was a strange question. \"I wouldn't be here if I didn't, Admiral.\"\n\n\"It is certainly the official position of the empire, and accurately stated,\" Trejo agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sir, if that's all, I—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why,\" Trejo asked, as if Singh hadn't spoken at all, \"did the high consul place you here, do you think?\"\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"Your educational credentials are impeccable. I've read your paper analyzing Duarte's theories on empire through logistical control. And I'd bet even he was impressed. You attributed some truly unique ideas to his text that I'm pretty sure aren't actually in there.\"\n\n\"Thank you, sir,\" Singh replied, trying to keep it from sounding like a question and failing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But you did exactly one tour on a naval vessel prior to this posting. And there are probably a hundred more like me and Tanaka on Laconia who have actual combat-command experience. Why you and not any of them?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh had wondered that himself. \"I honestly can't answer that, sir.\"\n\n\"And that's the only right answer, Sonny. No, you don't know. But I'm going to give you a hint. Do you know how to polish a rock?\"\n\n\"No, sir.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You put it in a tumbler with a lot of other rocks and some sand and you roll them around for a couple of weeks until all the edges are worn off and they're nice and shiny. We're taking control of thirteen hundred different worlds, and we've only got a hundred old farts like me and Tanaka, and a couple thousand university-educated greenhorns like yourself.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh had no idea what a greenhorn was. It sounded like a Mariner Valley idiom. But the context was clear. And so was the point." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Colonel Tanaka was placed here to—\" Singh started." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"To rub some of the stupid off you. Tanaka's been fighting insurgents since before you were born. She's killed more people than you've met. But we've already got a Colonel Tanaka. Putting her in charge doesn't create anything new. Hopefully this little dust-up has knocked some of your edges off, or this will be a waste of everyone's time. Tanaka's scheduled to fly out in an hour. I think you owe her a conversation.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Singh replied. It tasted like more bile in his mouth, but the admiral was right.\n\nTrejo rose. The meeting was ended." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Dismissed, Captain. Make sure Medina's still here when I get back.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Understood, Admiral.\"\n\nThe bravest thing would have been to go to the Tempest. The easiest thing, to record a message and send it through the Medina system where the security measures would forgive not having the conversation in real time. He split the difference." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Belter whiskey that someone had left in his old cabin on the Storm tasted like acid and mushrooms, but Singh drank it anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The alcohol seemed to finally cut through the last of the bile in his mouth and throat. He kicked his boots off, propped his heels on his desk, and waited for the knot in his chest to loosen, even if only a little bit.\n\nIt should have been obvious from the start. Looking back on it, the only thing Singh had to recommend him for the governorship was his absolute commitment to High Consul Duarte's vision." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But that's all they'd asked from him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They needed to take the inexperienced true believers like himself and drop them into the deep center of the lake, then hope they learned enough to swim back to shore. And everything about Tanaka: her arrogance, her contempt for his inexperience, her refusal to just accept his orders at face value. All of those were exactly the reason she'd been placed under his command. Throwing her out in a fit of pique was the sort of adolescent behavior they were trying to burn out of his system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had fucked it up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fact that Admiral Trejo understood that he'd done it in the blind panic that followed his first time under fire was both a relief and a humiliation. It was also probably the only reason he hadn't been relieved of command. Trejo saw what had gone wrong and still felt like Singh had something to offer. That he wasn't fit for the rubbish bin just yet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Comforting and humiliating, again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He took another drink of the whiskey. It left his throat warm. That was about the best he could say for it. That was enough.\n\nThere was another trap ahead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh found that he could sense it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could feel Trejo's attention, waiting to see how he'd navigate his way out now that his mistake had been made clear. The admiral had practically ordered Singh to speak with Tanaka before she left, so that's where the trap lay. He had a dozen different impulses about what that conversation would be, and he second-guessed every one of them as quickly as he recognized them. This was his command." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So it was his to lose." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe the right thing was to be willing to fail honorably. Even if he did get sent home to Nat and the monster, the disgrace would be less if he knew he'd done the fully adult thing.\n\nHe pulled the screen off his wrist and flattened it out on his desk. \"Colonel Tanaka, video and voice,\" he said to it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tanaka here,\" she said a moment later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the small screen, her face was compressed down to only the most prominent features. Dark, heavy eyebrows. Wide jaw. Flattened, slightly off-center nose. It made her look dangerous and angry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was probably both right now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Colonel,\" Singh said, trying to keep his tone even and informational. He thought he mostly succeeded. A call to finalize some trivial bureaucratic details.\n\n\"Governor,\" she said, actually achieving the emotionless affect he was only trying for." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I spoke to Admiral Trejo about your transfer. He said he was happy to move you into a command position on the Tempest, and I did nothing to dissuade him from this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you for not attempting to torpedo my career,\" she said, not sounding grateful at all. The fact that she didn't say, Fuck you, little man, you couldn't have hurt me even if you wanted to was as polite as this was likely to get.\n\n\"I want you to know that I recognize that in my heightened emotional state following the attack, I made some poor decisions, not least of which was removing you from your command.\"\n\nThere was a pause." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A fraction of a fraction of a second, but it was there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Really,\" she said. The large eyebrows moved up a millimeter.\n\n\"Yes. And if I could take that back without compounding my error, I would. But the most important thing now, to both my staff and to the citizens of Medina, is the appearance of calm authority at the top. To make so drastic a move as relieving you only to rescind it would make us ... make me appear weak and indecisive. So your transfer will be recorded as a move to put additional combat experience on Admiral Trejo's staff, now that we've secured the station and he's moving into the attack on Sol. It will not put a blemish on your outstanding record. Unfortunately, my apologies and regrets will have to remain unofficial for now.\"\n\nTanaka frowned, though it looked more like surprise than anger. \"I appreciate that, Governor.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Good luck and godspeed in Sol, Colonel. We will all be waiting for word of your mission's success. Singh out.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He closed the connection and drank off the last of the terrible Belter whiskey. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol, but he felt like a weight he'd been carrying ever since landing on Medina was lifting. This was his station now. His command, to fail or succeed at entirely on his own merits." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And now he felt that the worst mistake he was likely to make was behind him, and it hadn't actually been all that bad." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Things could only get better from here." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rather than leave them sneaking into and out of the refugee camps in the drum or Laconian-assigned quarters, Saba gave Holden and the crew access to a smuggler's cabin: a six-rack berth his people had carved out of a service tunnel where the station records were out of date and missing. It was a tight fit, and Alex snored a little, but it was better than the alternatives.\n\nThe room where they spent most of their time had been meant for midlevel storage. Not the deep pockets of the generation ship traveling through the vast abyss between the stars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not the immediate, day-to-day pantry of the men and women whose lives would begin and end in the journey without seeing either end." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Built-in yellow guides marked where crates of tools and imperishable rations would have been stacked along the deck and walls. History hadn't taken the room that way.\n\nCushions of gel and fabric covered the floor around a half-dismantled holographic display that acted as a low table. The air recyclers were set to minimum to keep the usage footprint of the space as low as it could be, and a battery-driven fan moved the thick air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lengths of printed textile—Holden couldn't tell if it was cloth or plastic or carbon mesh—draped the walls and rustled in the little breeze." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't know if those were functional somehow, or if the impulse to decorate interiors just outlived all political circumstances. Mostly, it reminded Holden of a Moroccan restaurant he used to go to on Iapetus, back when he'd been hauling ice for Pur 'n' Kleen.\n\nSaba and four people Holden assumed were his lieutenants sat across from him and the crew and refilled their cups with a smoky tea whenever they got low. In addition to being captain of a supply ship called the Malaclypse that was stuck in dock just like the Roci, Saba was married to Drummer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At first, Holden had been worried that what he'd done with Freehold was going to haunt him, but when he brought it up, Saba had waved it away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It happened in a dream, Saba said, which was a little confusing until Naomi told him it was an old-timey Belter idiom for Don't worry about it.\n\nEven after a long life spent outside Earth's gravity well, Holden was impressed by all the things he didn't know.\n\n\"Perdón,\" a Belter woman said, squeezing her way past the guard at the door. \"Saba? Are you ready for food yet?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba mostly managed to keep his smile polite." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, Karo. Bist bien.\"\n\nThe woman bobbed her hands, nodding like a Belter. She swept her gaze over the rest of them, but paused a little bit at the Rocinante's crew—Holden, Naomi, Bobbie, Alex, Amos, and Clarissa. \"Any of you? We've got mushroom bacon.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie cracked her knuckles meditatively." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was pretty sure that was a sign of annoyance.\n\n\"That's fine,\" he said. \"We're good. Thank you.\"\n\nThe woman bobbed her hands again and squeezed back out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the third interruption of the morning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was a little strange, but Holden put it down to a level of general anxiety for everyone. With the occupying force settled in, the freedom Saba's underground had to operate was thin as a razor blade, but everyone still wanted to be doing something.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" Holden said, shifting which leg was folded under him. If he was always going to have one leg asleep, better to alternate them, he figured. \"You were saying?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba leaned forward. It didn't seem like sitting on the cushions made his legs go to sleep, but he was younger than Holden by a decade or two." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We need to find the balance, sa sa? The more of our own that we build, the more there is for us to use. But the more there is for them to find.\"\n\nOne of Saba's lieutenants, who'd spent the morning arguing for building a fully separate comm system by threading hair-thin cables through the water system, cleared her throat.\n\n\"The way I see it, we serve three masters: making space for ourselves, making tools for ourselves, and keeping space and tools from the inners. We have three percent of Medina now set where security can't see it. We have support from the crew. We have transmission out to and back from Sol gate. Have to look at the margin of what we risk against what we'd get from it. All I'm saying.\"\n\n\"Well, sure,\" Holden said, and Saba tilted his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In his peripheral vision, Bobbie leaned in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he looked over at her, her expression was empty, but he had years of experience to tell him she was evaluating something. A threat, maybe, except that she was looking at him.\n\nHolden shifted his legs again. \"It's just that anything we do, we have to assume it's temporary, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can't build on stone out here,\" Saba said with a grin, but Holden was pretty sure he hadn't understood the point he was getting at." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Medina is our station,\" Holden said. \"We know it better. All the niches and passages, all the undocumented features. All the tricks and doors and corners. And that's going to be true right up until it isn't. These people aren't dumb. They're busy right now, and maybe they'll stay that way for a while. But sooner or later, they are going to get to know the station. Our advantage only lasts for as long as it takes them to learn. So whatever we do here, it shouldn't be planning for the long term. We don't have a long term. We've got a short term, and maybe a medium term. Like, maybe?\"\n\nSaba shifted, sipped his tea, and nodded. \"Good point, coyo,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe also, we start looking at evacuation plans. How not to spend a long life in a jail cell or a short one in an airlock.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Whatever goals we pick,\" Holden said. \"I just don't think we should spend the extra effort to make it something that's going to last a decade when we're probably looking at less than eight or ten weeks of freedom.\"\n\nThe way he said it, it sounded like an apology. Saba rubbed his palm across his chin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The room had gone so quiet, Holden could hear the hush of the man's stubble against his hand even over the whir of the fan." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eight or ten weeks of freedom. It was the first time anyone in the meetings had guessed at the time frame. Whatever little apocalypse took out the underground, Holden expected it would be less than a springtime back on Earth.\n\n\"Is fair point,\" Saba said as a noise came from the corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Voices. A thin-faced man with a scar over his left eye leaned into the room, looked around, and nodded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"New reports from upstairs if you want them,\" Scar-eye said. \"Doesn't look like much of anything new. Checkpoints still on the move, and they put some stupid coyo in their public prison for being out after curfew, is all.\"\n\n\"I don't think—\" Saba began.\n\nBobbie interrupted him. \"Maybe you should. We could take a break. Right, Holden?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Um,\" Holden said. \"Sure.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba shrugged with his hands. \"Bien á. Maybe bring in some lunch, yeah?\"\n\nThe meeting shifted. It was all the same people in the same space, but the motion of it changed. Holden leaned in and kissed Naomi gently on the cheek." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She leaned her head against his as if it were only affection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What the fuck is going on?\" Holden whispered. \"Did I do something to piss Bobbie off? Because I really try not to do that unintentionally.\"\n\nNaomi shook her head so slightly, he only felt it. \"You'll have to ask her what's up,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But you're not wrong. It's something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The conversations in the room rose and shifted, swirling like birds. A word or phrase that passed between Amos and Clarissa got overheard by one of Saba's people, shifted what he was saying, and soon Saba mentioned it to Alex. Controlling people is usually having stuff they want. Don't want nothing, and they're pretty much just down to hitting you until you do what they say became Was easier with the inners because they wanted to get rich and make rich-people toys became What do these Laconia coyos want, anyway?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What do they think they do it for, yeah?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everyone in conversation with everyone else, whether they were aware of it or not.\n\nHolden watched it, listening and waiting for Bobbie to come over. If humanity ever developed a hive mind, it wouldn't be psychic brain links that welded it together. It'd be gossip and cocktail parties." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, Holden,\" Bobbie said, touching his shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can I borrow you for a minute?\"\n\n\"You bet,\" he said, hauling himself up from the floor. Bobbie slouched out toward the corridor, and he followed. The air outside the room was cooler and seemed less like it had just come out of someone else's lungs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lighting was strung maintenance LEDs, harsh and bright." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The walls were painted in a dozen different colors, guides to the pipes and conduits behind them. The map and the territory both.\n\nBobbie paused at the junction of a service crawl with the main corridor. Voices murmured behind them, too distant to make out, but present." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As tight as the spaces were, she could have leaned against both corridors' walls at the same time, one with each shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She flexed her hands like a fighter about to go into the ring. There had been a time, when they'd first met, that he'd found Bobbie's physicality intimidating. Over the years, she'd grown in his mind into a place where she was only herself. Every now and again, he'd be reminded that she was a professional warrior and well trained in violence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her expression was intense, focused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could have been thinking her way through a hard problem or restraining herself from a killing rage. The two looked similar with her.\n\n\"Hey,\" Holden said. \"What's on your mind?\"\n\nHer focus shifted to him, and she nodded like he'd said something worth agreeing to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So are you here to help this or hinder it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" Holden said. \"I would have said help until you asked me that, but now it's feeling like a trick question. Am I missing something?\"\n\nBobbie put out her hand palm first, like she was telling someone to slow down, but it seemed intended as much for herself as for him. \"I'm thinking this through while I'm saying it, so just ...\"\n\n\"Got it,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Whatever it is, take a swing at it. We'll work it out.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Other people? People like me? We can show up and maybe not have an effect. That's not how it is with you. Either you're helping or you're holding things back. There's no middle setting.\"\n\nA little discomfort tugged at him, and he crossed his arms. \"Is this ... Bobbie, is this about you being the captain of the Roci? Because that hasn't changed. Naomi and I—\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Bobbie said. \"It's exactly like that. Look, you've seen all those people who keep interrupting the meetings, right? They're all just swinging by to be in the room for a minute, even if it's something they could have done on hand terminals. Or not done at all.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know the ones you mean,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But that's not me.\"\n\n\"That's absolutely you. James Holden, who led the fight against the Free Navy. And stopped Protogen from killing Mars. And captained the first ship through the ring gates. Brought people together on Ilus in the face of fifty different kinds of shit falling apart. You're in the center of everything just by walking into the room.\"\n\n\"Not because I like it,\" Holden said.\n\n\"When you showed up, Amos and I were getting ready to fight our way into all this. But then there you were, and you got recognized, and now we're all sitting in the absolute center of the conspiracy. Even if I'd pushed my way into this, there would have been days, maybe weeks, of proving to Saba and his people that they could trust me. You got that for free, and the rest of us drafted off you. I came in as the captain of the Rocinante, and it wasn't enough to be taken as seriously as you got for free.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden wanted to object." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could feel the denials welling up in his chest, but he couldn't quite bring himself to say them out loud. Bobbie was right.\n\n\"I have an idea how we gather intelligence on the Laconians,\" Bobbie said. \"It's the first step that we need. But we have to move quickly. Saba and his people? They think this is like going back to before there were gates. No matter what they say, they think this is going to sustain and become a way of life for them the way it used to be. Did you notice how they've started calling the Laconians 'inners'?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I did.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But you were right in there. We're looking at a really small window. So if we're going to do what I think we really need to do? It has to be your idea.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay, little lost here. Which idea of mine are we talking about?\"\n\n\"I'm talking about you taking the operation I have in mind, waltzing back in there, and presenting it like you just came up with it yourself.\"\n\nHolden didn't know whether to laugh or scowl, so he did a little bit of both.\n\n\"No, I'm not going to do that,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You say what you need to say, and I'll back you. But I'm not going to start taking credit for your proposals.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If it's my idea, it'll be like when we showed up,\" Bobbie said. \"I'll have to fight to prove it. If you do it, they'll just listen. Coming from you will give it weight that just being the right damn thing won't.\"\n\nA clank came from behind them, a hatch being opened or a tool being dropped. He didn't turn to look." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The unease he'd felt before shifted, changed its nature, but it didn't go away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't like that,\" Holden said. \"I hate the idea that you're being treated as anything less than me. It's bullshit. I'll tell Saba that—\"\n\n\"You remember the last time we went out to karaoke with Giselle? Right before Alex and she called it quits?\"\n\nHolden blinked at the non sequitur." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, of course. That was a terrible night.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You remember the song she sang? 'Rapid Heartbeats'?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Who was the singer? On the original, I mean. Who sings that one?\"\n\n\"Um,\" Holden said. \"The band is Kurtadam. The singer's Peter something? The guy with the one steel eye.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Pítr Vukcevich,\" Bobbie said, nodding." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Now, who plays bass?\"\n\nHolden laughed, and then a moment later, sobered.\n\n\"Right?\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Yeah, okay. I got it. I don't like it, though. I'm not more significant than anyone else. Acting like everything important has to go through me or else it's not legitimate ... I don't know. It feels like I'm being an asshole.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie put a hand on his shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her eyes were calm, and her smile was a straight line. \"If it helps at all, I'm thinking about all of this as me using you as a tool to achieve my own ends. It makes me less angry that way.\"\n\nThey talked for another twenty minutes, Bobbie laying out her plan in enough detail that he could introduce it. He asked a few questions, but he didn't need many." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sense of working together with her had a weird nostalgia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As if the gap between arriving at Medina and now had been years instead of days.\n\nLarge, sudden events did that. They changed the way time passed. Not technically, maybe, but as a measure of who he and Bobbie were to each other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And to themselves. A month before, Laconia had been one background issue among thousands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now it was the environment. A truth as profound as the EMC or the union. More, maybe.\n\nBack in the meeting room, the food had arrived. Recycled wheatpaper bowls filled with rice noodles and chopped mushroom bacon and fish sauce." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It smelled better than it should have." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie went to sit by Alex and Clarissa, folding herself gracefully down beside them. Holden felt the impulse to go sit there too, to be part of the family again. And he could have, except he also sort of couldn't. Would he be doing it to help or to hinder?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Because he couldn't do both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the first time, he felt what stepping back from the Roci had cost him.\n\nAnd still, he couldn't regret it.\n\n\"All well?\" Naomi asked, snaking her arm around his waist. \"You look thoughtful. Are there thoughts?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There were a few, yeah,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mostly that I'm a tool, but in a useful way.\"\n\nNaomi sat with that for a moment. Saba caught sight of them and waved them over. Two bowls with forks and bottles of beer were waiting on the low table for them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We can't place a physical monitor on the data connection to the Laconian ship,\" Holden said, just the way she'd told him to. Saba had chosen the people to be briefed, selecting them by some means Bobbie didn't know and didn't care to guess. They were watching Holden intently. It felt weird that the role of the great James Holden, come to lead them to glory, was being played by the Holden she knew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Apart from the coincidence of naming, the two didn't have much in common." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We need to passively monitor incoming and outgoing signal without detection. Mirror the data.\"\n\n\"For for?\" a tall, stick figure of a man said. His name was Ramez and he was in Medina Station's technical support department. According to Saba, he had the run of the ship, their insider on this mission." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie didn't like him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Alles la thick with encrypt. Better off reading their coffee grounds.\"\n\n\"Decrypting it is a later problem,\" Holden said, not giving too many details of the plan away to any one person. Bobbie had a decent idea, but she was still working out the details of how to get the decryption codes. The fewer people knew the details, the less likely it was to get out before she was ready." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Right now we just want to get as much as we can so that we can decrypt it when the time comes. The important aspect right now is that we get the signal without anyone knowing it's happening.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Gotta look inside the pipe without touching the pipe. Que pensa?\"\n\n\"I've brought along my team leader and technical expert to explain the how of the thing,\" Holden said, nodding to Bobbie and Clarissa. \"Captain Draper?\"\n\nBobbie gave him a wink only he could see. Say what you would about the man, he did take to the role of meaningless figurehead with panache." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie walked to the front of the room and pulled up a volumetric map of Medina on the wall display behind her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Nauvoo was intended as a generation ship,\" she started.\n\n\"Fuck is a 'no view'?\" a Belter woman asked. The others chuckled.\n\n\"Read some fucking history once,\" Saba said to her, then nodded to Bobbie to continue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They knew she'd be picking up signals from farther away than anything had ever needed to before,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She zoomed in on Medina's comm array. \"So the comm system is massively overpowered, and much more sensitive than anything on a commercial or military vessel.\"\n\nRamez nodded and shrugged expansively with his long hands. \"We don't even use most of that shit. No one talking from far away in here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He meant inside the slow zone, and he was right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing was ever more than half a million klicks from Medina. The physical boundaries of the space prohibited it.\n\n\"True, but the equipment is still there. And up on that comm array is a signal sniffer sensitive enough to track a single photon through a fiber bundle a meter thick,\" Bobbie said, zooming in on the technical map behind her. \"But we can't just steal it. Claire?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa pushed herself out of the corner she'd been hiding in and came to stand next to Bobbie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wore a mechanic's jumpsuit with the name TACHI on the back, and had her hair pulled into a tight bun. With her gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes, it made her look severe and impatient.\n\n\"Even though this array isn't in use,\" Clarissa said without preamble, \"it's still hooked to the primary comm system. If we start unplugging things, alarm bells are going to go off up in ops. So we need to put the circuits into a diagnostic shutdown before we physically yank the parts.\"\n\n\"Fuckonians all over in ops now, ninita,\" Ramez said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Watching everything all the time, them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa nodded her agreement, then said, \"And that's where you come in. We need to get you onto the ops deck to shut down the panel long enough for us to do our work,\" she said. \"And also if you call me 'little girl' again, I will hurt you.\"\n\n\"Is that right, ninita?\" Ramez said, his grin turning condescending." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Bobbie said, stepping toward him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, that's not right. Pulling that gear will be delicate work. I can't risk her damaging her hands before we get out there.\" Bobbie took another step into Ramez and stared down at him. \"So I'll hurt you. Mao's my second on this. Don't make me beat some respect into you, ninito.\"\n\nShe glanced over at Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked shocked, and maybe a little sad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wondered how he would have handled it, back before. It was so strange to be doing all this in the same room with each other.\n\nRamez threw a look to his buddies on the crates. No one stepped up to back him up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba was smiling and making a Let's get on with it circular motion with his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sabe,\" Ramez said, looking to the side the way abashed primates had since the Pleistocene. \"Just for fooling, que?\"\n\n\"Sa sa,\" Bobbie replied, then switched the screen from the volumetric map over to her mission plan. \"Here's the rundown, including precise times for each thing to happen. Mao and I will be on the outside of the station for most of this, and we can't afford to do any broadcasting out there, because the Laconian sniffers will almost certainly pick it up.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be calling up to ops using an unlocked hand terminal that Ramez here will get for me,\" Holden said, nodding at the man as an invitation for him to nod back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're picking a time when Daphne Kohl is the duty officer. She knows me now, and I'm thinking she'll understand what we're trying to do without me having to explain it. Comm discipline is in full effect, the assumption is everything is heard by everyone.\"\n\n\"So that call between Kohl and Holden is what we're all listening to,\" Bobbie said. \"We'll pass out a list of code words Holden will use during the call as signals. This is our only method of coordinating the action, and there's no way for us to signal an abort or call for help. Our backup plan is everyone does this right the first time so we don't need a backup plan. Understood?\"\n\n\"Lot of risk for a dump of gibberish we can't make sense of,\" Ramez said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie felt a little flush of annoyance at the man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The more we have, the more likely we find what we need in it when the encryption problem gets fixed,\" she said. \"We start where we can, and that's this. Are we all clear?\"\n\nA murmur of dui and sabe and sa sa rippled through the room.\n\n\"Outstanding,\" Bobbie said. \"Let's get to work.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The slow zone or the ring space or the gate network." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No matter what you called it, it was fucking weird.\n\nBobbie and Clarissa exited the drum section of Medina Station using an old maintenance airlock that Saba swore wasn't monitored from ops. They were wearing emergency vac suits, the so-thin-they're-barely-there type whose only purpose was keeping the wearer from dying of asphyxia before help could arrive. They were bright orange and yellow to make the wearer easy to find in smoke or against the black of space." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They had large flashing lights on the helmet and shoulders to aid rescue workers, but Bobbie had smashed those with a wrench before they put them on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bad enough to be a brightly colored blob climbing up the outside of the station. No reason to flash a distress signal too. Under normal circumstances, going outside a ship or station wearing the emergency suits was asking to be cooked by radiation. The cheap throw-away suits had almost no shielding to them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But the slow zone was fucking weird." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was literally no radiation in the ring space that humans didn't bring in with them. No background radiation, no solar wind, nothing. Just a massive, unnaturally black void all around, defined only by the distant and faintly glowing rings equally spaced around it and the blue sphere of the alien station at the center where they'd had the rail-gun emplacements.\n\nBobbie and Clarissa rode the outside of the massive, spinning drum section of Medina inside the old airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The indicator of their motion being the occasional distant ring moving past the black window of the outer airlock door, and the fact that something kept trying to shove them out the door at a third of a g. Bobbie had them both tethered to a clip inside the airlock so they wouldn't be hurled into the strange non-space outside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A large rectangular structure whipped past the outer airlock door. Bobbie pressed her helmet to Clarissa's and yelled so that sound would conduct directly. \"That's one of the exterior elevators. We go for the next one.\"\n\nClarissa nodded, wide-eyed, and braced for the jump." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Outside of the drum section of Medina, two structures ran the entire length of the ship from the engineering deck aft of the drum to the ops deck in the bow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They housed machinery, conduit, and a pair of elevators for moving from one zero-g section to the other without passing through the drum itself. Bobbie and Clarissa planned to use one of them to climb the station up to the comm array on the nose, and back down to the Laconian ship docked at the stern.\n\nBobbie opened the mesh bag at her hip, checking again that she had everything the same way she had a dozen times before. Spare air bottles for herself and Clarissa." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd be outside for hours making the long climbs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A magnetic grappling gun with high-tensile cable and a winch. And finally, a fat black recoilless handgun that one of the Belters had managed to hide from the Laconian weapon sweeps. If they actually needed to use it, the mission was fucked anyway, but there was a dignity in going down fighting that appealed to Bobbie's romantic notions.\n\nShe hooked the emergency cable on her suit to a loop at Clarissa's waist, then unhooked herself from the airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The station tried to throw her out the door, but she grabbed the lip of the outer airlock with one hand and held on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the other hand, she held the grapple gun. Behind her, Clarissa had one hand on her shoulder, and one hand on the bulkhead.\n\n\"Three, two, one, go!\" Bobbie shouted, hoping enough sound would travel up Clarissa's arm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She launched herself out the outer airlock door by releasing her grip on it, and was shooting off into the void at 3.3 meters per second." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The massive rectangular structure of the maintenance shaft rushed toward her, and she fired the magnetic grapple into it as she passed. If the grapple failed to connect, they'd keep flying off into the empty space of the slow zone until they ran out of air and their lifeless bodies eventually flew into the eerie curtain of black at the edge of the alien space. Dangerous, but no more so than a challenging free climb back on Mars. She didn't even think about it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her eye spotted the place she wanted the grapple to go, her hand and arm did the rest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The grapple landed less than half a meter from the spot she was aiming for. Like riding a bike.\n\nThe grappling line and the leash that connected the grappling gun to her suit snapped taut and pulled her in a fast arc around the maintenance shaft, dragging Clarissa helplessly behind. Bobbie started up the winch, pulling them closer as the speed of their arc increased." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just before impact, she bent her knees and activated her mag boots." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The landing was going to hurt a bit.\n\nShe hit the metal surface of the maintenance shaft like the tip of a whip being cracked, and let the impact fold her knees up into her abdomen. Clarissa slammed into her back, and it felt like someone dropping a bag of cement on her from a couple stories up. Bobbie rolled with it, slapping the decking with her hands to activate the glove magnets, and hung on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A few punishing seconds later, they were on the side of the maintenance shaft, all the violence of their motion gone, having been converted into lightly sprained knees and a collection of bruises." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ouch,\" Bobbie said, and floated motionless for a few seconds, tethered to the shaft by only one gloved hand.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Clarissa replied, faintly, through the helmet she had against Bobbie's back.\n\nBobbie pushed her helmet against Clarissa's. \"It's a long climb, but at least there's no gravity to fight. You up for this?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa answered by unhooking the tether, and pulling herself up the flat gray wall of the shaft." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Alrighty, then,\" Bobbie said, and followed.\n\nTwo hours and an O2 bottle change later, they floated near the massive Medina comm array. A bewildering cluster of antennae, dishes, and radio broadcast towers, and at its heart sat a laser powerful enough to send messages back to Earth from a hundred light-years away. It had never been used." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I remember when that almost ended all human life,\" Clarissa said, pressing her faceplate to Bobbie's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It doesn't look so scary now.\"\n\n\"I've heard that story,\" Bobbie replied. \"Wish I'd been here to back you guys up in that fight.\"\n\nClarissa shrugged. \"The story's more fun than the actual experience was. You didn't miss much.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa pulled herself over the rigging of the comm array, coming to a stop next to an oversized receiver dish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pointed at an access panel below it, then flashed the Belter sign for This one.\n\nBobbie nodded with one hand, then tapped the side of her helmet. Now we wait for word from Holden. She turned on the small emergency radio in her suit, already tuned to the channel Holden would be using to call Daphne Kohl up in station ops, and waited." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa stared at her across the vacuum between them, motionless and patient as a hunting cat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The minutes dragged. When her radio crackled to life, Bobbie found herself grinning. \"Medina control, this is workcrew kilo alpha, do you copy?\"\n\nBobbie could only hear Holden's side of the conversation, so there was a long pause and then his voice again. \"Copy that. Can I get Chief Kohl on the line? Gotta route some repairs though her office.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Office was their code that meant Ramez was outside of ops, waiting for permission to enter, so the plan was proceeding, and waiting only on Kohl's cooperation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Chief. Good to hear your voice again,\" Holden said, hitting the words hard. He hadn't identified himself by name, and he wouldn't. If Daphne Kohl didn't pick up on what was going on, they'd scrub the mission. If she raised the alarm ... Well, that would be an interesting problem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Working with Saba down here in electrochemical. Tracking a grid problem that Laconian death ray caused, and we'd love to pull a panel up there to really nail it down.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And here's where the most dangerous part of the plan happened. It wasn't flying through space on a tether, or climbing up the outside of a massive station wearing the thinnest and crappiest vacuum suits. It wasn't even going to be later, when they climbed down to the Laconian ship to hook in their signal sniffer, hoping no one was watching the outside of the dock. It was here, where Holden was counting on his voice, Saba's name, and the mention of Laconians to signal Kohl that they were up to no good and needed her help." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And more than that, counting on her Belter pride being stronger than her fear of execution by their Laconian masters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because if any of those things weren't true, Kohl could refuse them, and that was the end of the plan. Or worse.\n\nBobbie waited a very tense minute of radio silence, and then Holden said, \"That's great. I've got a tech heading to ops to pull that panel, if you can let him in. He'll take a gander at our glitch and get out of your hair.\"\n\nGander. Code for Go in five.\n\n\"Copy that, Chief. We appreciate the patience while we sort this out.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie gave Clarissa a thumbs-up, then flashed her five fingers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa nodded with her fist, then started pulling tools out of the mesh bag at her hip.\n\nFirst thing down, Bobbie thought. Just a two-kilometer climb aft and planting a bug on a Laconian destroyer without getting caught left to go.\n\nWith Medina Station functionally motionless in the slow zone, it was less of a climb than a mag-booted shuffle down the two-kilometer length of the maintenance shaft." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie pulled the blocky module containing the field-strength sensor on a short leash behind her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't have much mass, but she'd taken it without conversation when she'd looked through Clarissa's visor and seen the technician's complexion going a sickly gray. Other than jumping out of a rotating airlock, they hadn't done anything particularly taxing, but it was pretty clear that Claire was already running on fumes.\n\nAs they got closer to the engineering-and-docking-bay section of Medina, the Laconian ship came into view around the curve of the station. Bobbie couldn't help but whistle her appreciation of the beauty of the thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Say what you would about Laconian authoritarianism, their engineering included a lot of aesthetic beauty in its design." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The destroyer—Holden had called it the Gathering Storm—looked like a natural crystal formation that someone had chipped into a knife. The colors were all translucent pinks and blues, faceted like a gem. She spotted something at the tail that probably served as the ship's drive cone but didn't look anything like the UN or Martian designs she was familiar with. The nose of the ship ended in a pair of sharp projections, like a dagger point with a channel cut down the center that left her almost certain it was a rail gun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the ship had torpedo launchers or PDCs, she couldn't see them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship was so strange, so unlike anything humans had ever designed or flown before, that if it had docked and green three-eyed aliens had walked off, it would have felt more appropriate than the humans that actually flew her.\n\nClarissa stopped and turned, so Bobbie yanked the sensor array to a stop on its leash, then pushed their two helmets together.\n\n\"There,\" Clarissa said, pointing to a maintenance access hatch that looked exactly like a hundred they'd already passed. \"That's the router that feeds from the dock into the station network.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're sure?\" Bobbie said, looking around at all the other hatches." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa didn't answer, just rolled her eyes and took the leash. She pulled the sensor array down and attached it to the hull, right next to the hatch. She pulled a few leads from the box and plugged them into slots inside the hatch, then stuck a hand terminal on the side of the array and spent several minutes going through what looked like menus. Bobbie replaced both of their air bottles while she worked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A few minutes later, Clarissa stood up and gave her the thumbs-up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie looked over at the massive blade of the Laconian destroyer. If anyone on it had seen them working, the ship itself gave no hint. Clarissa walked over holding her hand terminal and touched it to the side of Bobbie's helmet. Her HUD snapped on, and a wall of text rolled past." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with 4 sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship came through the ring like an old video of a whale breaching the surface of the sea. The thousand kilometers of the ring gate was tiny in the scale of the solar system, huge by human measure, and the Laconian battleship fit between the two—too large to be comfortable in one, too small to fit well in the other. Its design seemed to come from the same uncomfortable place, neither the now-familiar eeriness of the protomolecule nor the history of human manufacture, but both and neither. Drummer watched the observations feed again and again, and it made her skin crawl a little every time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wasn't ready. Rock hoppers full of gravel were burning hard for positions that didn't matter anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The EMC fleet was consolidating around the inner planets and the Jovian system, but with days—sometimes weeks—left on their burns. The void cities were looping down to meet them. All of it preparation for tactical situations that weren't on the board anymore. Duarte and his Admiral Trejo had stolen the tempo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had to make sure the price would be higher than they'd intended to pay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Madam President,\" Vaughn said. Drummer watched the Tempest emerge through the gate again before she spoke. It was astounding to her that something so large could make it through the gate at all. It looked big enough to break the safety barriers with its own mass and energy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe there would have been a way to use that with Laconia the way they had with the Free Navy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Except that the fucking thing was already through the gate.\n\n\"Vaughn,\" she said, not looking back at him.\n\n\"Communications is asking for your decision on the repeater,\" Vaughn said.\n\nShe took a deep breath, let it out slowly between her teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were thousands of radio signal repeaters scattered through the system, but she knew which one Vaughn meant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their clandestine traffic to and from Medina—Avasarala's gift to her—ran through a low-energy repeater that was floating dark outside the ring gate. From Medina, its signal was weak and the wavelengths it jumped among similar enough to the gates' usual interference that it was easy to overlook. From normal space, it was more obvious.\n\nAnd the closest ship to it right now was the Tempest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could order her communications forces not to use it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was easy. But the EMC intelligence forces also had access to it. And Saba's underground. The more people who could make a mistake, the more likely that something would go wrong. And it was easy enough for her to shut it down. One signal packet would do it, like toggling a light off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would go into a passive listening state, and someone would have to know where to look for it to register as more than a grain of sand floating in the unimaginably vast ocean of the void." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Going dark was the right thing to do. But she rebelled at it.\n\n\"What's the point,\" she said, \"of having something you can't use? Functionally, it's the same as not having it.\" On her screen, the loop ended and began again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Tempest rising up from the gate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Preserving something to use at the right time isn't nothing, sa sa que?\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Was being rhetorical,\" Drummer said.\n\n\"Apologies,\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Tell them ...\" It was more than her window into Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was her link to Saba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What if he needed to reach her? What if something happened, and his call for help died in silence because she was being too careful? Loneliness widened in her chest, stretched until it felt bigger than she was. Emptier. \"Tell them to shut it down. Save it for a rainy day.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn said, and turned to leave." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Have you ever seen rain, Vaughn?\" she said, stopping him. Giving herself a few more seconds with the connection to Medina and Saba still there. Even if she couldn't use it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, ma'am. Never been to Earth. Never plan to.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Rainy day,' though. We still say it.\"\n\n\"Inner planet cultural imperialism is in everything,\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Rain isn't just for inners. It rains on Titan too. It's methane instead of water, but you can see it if you're in the domes there. I spent my madhu chandra week there. A billion dots on the surface of the dome with the orange clouds behind it? They look like tiny dark stars. If you can see them. Saba's distance vision isn't good. He couldn't see them. But I could.\"\n\n\"If you say so, ma'am,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either he was mildly embarrassed for her, or she imagined he was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, fuck you too, she thought, but didn't say it in case it was just her.\n\n\"All right,\" she said, turning back to her screen. \"Send the order.\"\n\nVaughn didn't answer, just walked out and closed the door behind him. She watched the Tempest pass through the ring gate one last time, looking for a clue in it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or a ray of hope." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't see one, and she closed the recording down and opened the other one.\n\nThis is Admiral Anton Trejo of the Laconian Imperial Navy, and high commander of the Heart of the Tempest. I am presently on a mission to secure Laconian interests in Sol system. We recognize the deep cultural and historical importance of Sol system, and hope that this transition can be made peacefully and with the minimum of disruption." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the event that local forces resist, I am prepared and authorized to take any actions necessary to complete my mission." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "High Consul Duarte and I extend our best wishes to the local residents, and ask that you contact your governments to urge them to act in the name of peace. Violence is always a loss, and the measure of that loss is entirely in your control.\n\nThe false gentility of the threat made her wish he'd just said he'd burn their cities and take their children. It would have felt more honest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People's Home was on its braking burn to meet with the EMC's second fleet, where Guard of Passage already waited." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Independence was already with the first fleet and Jupiter. The newest void city—Assurance of Peace—was half built at the Pallas-Tycho shipyards and wouldn't be ready for another year, assuming that they had another year.\n\nThe unspoken truth was that the union had commissioned the void cities as a permanent response to the colony worlds' interest in building their own fleets. A void city couldn't control a whole solar system, but it could command a ring gate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or that's what Drummer and the union board had assumed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now, People's Home was only a battleship. A massive one, with greenhouses and schools, children and common space, universities and research labs. But the prospect of violence meant that none of that mattered. People's Home was a delivery system for rail guns, missiles, PDCs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And she would drive it down to protect Earth and Mars, and be protected by their ships." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd hate everything about it, but she'd do it.\n\nAnd goddammit, she'd have to smile while she did.\n\nThe under-burn configuration of People's Home put the meeting rooms down near the massive array of Epstein drives. The EMC was represented by Admiral Hu of Mars and Undersecretary of Executive Affairs Vanegas." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Chrisjen Avasarala sat in a wheelchair at the back of the hall, eating pistachios and pretending to be dotty so that people left her alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lights had been set to a warm cut of the spectrum that was alleged to match a summer afternoon on Earth, and the air smelled of cut cucumber and soil. A reassuring environment that would hopefully affect the tone of the event, even if it was all engineering. The reporters and dignitaries on the formed bamboo benches all wore formal suits and dresses, as if a press conference were the same as going to church.\n\nMaybe it was. Drummer had read somewhere that newsfeeds were where secular societies went to find out what cultural narratives were important and what could be ignored." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were thousands of feeds streaming right now, all around the system, with every variation of the ways to make sense of the history they were living through." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In most, Laconia was an invading force to be resisted, but there were people who said Laconia was a liberating influence, an end to the oppression of the EMC and the Transport Union. Or that they were the true spirit of Mars, betrayed by the old congressional republic and now returned in triumph. Or that they were unbeatable, and capitulation was the only choice. Put a dozen people in front of their cameras, and you'd wind up with thirteen opinions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "None of them would matter as much as hers, because she was the president of the Transport Union, and that, despite all her intentions and efforts, meant she was a war leader now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the green room, Vanegas was getting his makeup freshened before they went out to the cameras. Hu put down her coffee as soon as Drummer stepped into the room and hurried over to her, a grim expression on her face.\n\n\"President Drummer,\" Hu said, \"I was hoping I could speak with you about the board's strategic cooperation documents?\"\n\nA steward led Drummer to a chair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A technician swung in beside her with a palette of cosmetics in his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't have much use for makeup, but she didn't want to look sickly in the feeds either.\n\n\"I haven't seen the new draft yet,\" Drummer said, trying not to move her face.\n\n\"Santos-Baca is insisting on the chain of command passing through a joint committee,\" Hu said. \"That's not coordination. That's making the EMC a branch of the Transport Union.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they kill us all, Drummer thought, this will be why." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not their technology, not their strategy, not the invisible cycle of history. It'll be our inability to do anything without five committee meetings to talk about it.\n\n\"I haven't read the draft, Admiral. As soon as we're done here, I'll have them get me a copy. I don't want to get this muddy any more than you do.\"\n\nHu nodded sharply and smiled as if Drummer had capitulated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The technician touched her cheeks with a rouge brush and considered her like she was a painting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had to fight the impulse to stick her tongue out at him.\n\nAnd then it was time. Vanegas walked out first, and then Hu. They took the podiums to either side." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer took the center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The podium's screen threw up an image visible only to her, running through the lines of the speech. She lifted her chin.\n\nIt didn't matter how she felt. It didn't matter what she thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All that counted right now was how she looked and sounded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Let those carry confidence, and she could find the real thing later.\n\n\"Thank you all for coming,\" Drummer said. \"As you know, a ship originating in Laconia system has now made an unauthorized transit into Sol system. The union's stance is unequivocal on this matter. The Laconian incursion is illegal. It is a violation of the union's authority and the sovereignty of the Earth-Mars Coalition. We stand as one body in the defense of the Sol system and all its citizens.\"\n\nDrummer paused. In the back of the group, Chrisjen Avasarala stood up from her wheelchair and dusted the pistachio bits off her sari." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her smile was visible even from here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And the union,\" Drummer said, \"will dedicate all its resources to the defense effort.\"\n\nJust like you told us to, you old bitch, she thought. She didn't say it.\n\nIn her dream, Saba was dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't know how he'd died or where, and with the non-logic of sleep, she didn't question that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was simply the truth: Saba was dead and she wasn't. She'd never see him again. She wouldn't wake up beside him. The rest of her life was emptier and smaller and sadder because of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the dream, she knew all of that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But what she felt was relief.\n\nSaba was dead, and so he was safe now. Nothing bad could happen to him anymore. She couldn't fail him or abandon him or feel the weight of his disappointment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She woke into darkness, a moment's confusion, and then a wave of overwhelming guilt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The darkness, at least, she could control. She moved the cabin lights up a quarter. Dim gold, faint enough to leave everything in monochrome.\n\nShe could feel the thrust gravity when she turned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The absence of even trace Coriolis telling her what she already knew." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted to send a message out. To tell Saba she was thinking of him, and not quietly longing for the failures that would lose him forever. But she'd cut that line of communication, and having a weird subconscious wasn't a good reason to change that policy.\n\nInstead she stretched in the near dark." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only half of her sleep cycle was done, but she wasn't interested in diving back into the pillow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead, she showered and ordered up a bulb of tea and a tortilla with fruit jam. Comfort food. Then she checked the system map.\n\nThe Tempest was still out in the vastness between the orbits of Uranus and Saturn. A billion and a half kilometers between the ring gate and the first human habitats of any real size, even if Saturn and its moons were at their closest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Having come through the gate so much earlier than she'd hoped, the Tempest wasn't burning hard for the inner solar system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At its present acceleration, it would take weeks to reach her. Drummer pulled on her uniform and went out into People's Home. The tube station was near her quarters. The void city knew where she was and arranged a private car for her without her even having to ask for it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her security detail shadowed her with the practice of years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even at the height of a shift change, she moved through the city like it was a ghost town. Only the litter and smell of bodies and old curry in the tube lingered as a promise that she wasn't as alone as she felt.\n\nThe arboretum was a restricted-access zone. Some of the trees were experimental, and being in a high-traffic area would have affected the data." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But one person or a handful?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was within tolerance. It was warm there, the air thick with moisture and the novelty of oxygen that had just been breathed out by another living thing. It was a strange place, exotic and surreal. Like something out of a child's fantasy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Usually, she was the only one there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala sat in the shade of a catalpa. Her hands were folded in her lap. Her eyes were unfocused until Drummer stepped onto the black rubber walkway in front of her.\n\n\"The fuck are you doing here?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "the old woman said. \"Don't you sleep?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I could ask you the same,\" Drummer said.\n\n\"I don't sleep anymore. It's one of the things you lose at my age. I'm not incontinent yet, though, so I don't get to bitch.\"\n\nDrummer leaned against one of the trees, folded her arms. She didn't know if she was pleased the old woman was there, or annoyed by her, or both." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is there a reason you're still on People's Home?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she asked, but her voice wasn't biting.\n\n\"Thought I might need to firm up your resolve. But I didn't. Now I'm only here because I hate fucking space travel. You're going my way. I'll get out when the last leg of the trip home is shorter.\"\n\n\"So not just looking to stick your nose in my business?\"\n\n\"Not until you fuck up,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sit down, Camina. You look exhausted.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No one calls me that, you know,\" Drummer said, but she sat on the bench at Avasarala's side.\n\n\"Almost no one.\"\n\nThey sat for a moment with only the sound of dripping water and the tapping of leaves that moved in the artificially controlled breeze. The wisps of her dream haunted Drummer's mind like the afterimage of a strobe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"One ship,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They sent one ship. They didn't hold ground at Medina. They didn't fortify. They didn't build supply lines or prepare a flotilla. They sent one big-ass ship through by itself. Like a boast.\"\n\n\"I'm as surprised as you are,\" Avasarala said. \"Though I feel like I shouldn't be. I actually read history. It's like reading prophecy, you know.\"\n\n\"All we have to do is deal with this one ship, and everyone will see that Duarte's not invulnerable. He's not infallible.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's true.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer laced her fingers, leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.\n\n\"All we need is one lucky break,\" she said. \"One thing to go our way, and your logistical mastermind who would never overreach loses his capital ship in front of everyone who's watching. And I think everyone is watching.\"\n\n\"They are,\" Avasarala agreed with a sigh. \"But ...\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with 4 sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next 4 sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going 4 sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh's monitor lay flattened on the desk in front of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Above it floated a 3-D projection of Natalia and Elsa smiling back at him. It wasn't a great shot of them. He'd photographed it himself, and it was a little out of focus. But it was taken at the park where they'd had the monster's second birthday party, and his daughter grinned out at him with cheeks covered in vanilla frosting, and Nat positively glowed with happiness." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was one of his favorite memories." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once the Typhoon arrives, I will be able to move to the important work. It also almost certainly means this posting at Medina will be made permanent soon. I want you to start thinking about relocation. Your work was always about helping the colony worlds establish stable food sources, and this is the hub of everything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'll welcome your research here with open arms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And I promise, the water issues should be fixed by the time you and Monster would arrive. Nothing but clean water for you guys, or I'll tear the station down one bolt at a time and rebuild it myself. I also—\n\n\"Governor,\" a voice said from the monitor, startling him.\n\n\"Yes?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Major Overstreet is here, he says it's an emergency.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Singh replied, then shut down the image and saved his letter to finish later. \"Send him in.\"\n\nOverstreet was almost the physical opposite of his predecessor. Where Colonel Tanaka was tall almost to the point of rangy, he was short, thick-necked and broad, with fists the size of boxing gloves. His shaved head was the palest skin Singh had ever seen, and his eyes were an icy blue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Among Martians, that combination was fairly exotic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Governor,\" Overstreet said with a sharp salute.\n\n\"At ease, Major.\"\n\nOverstreet shifted his feet apart and linked his hands behind his back. Where Tanaka had been all arrogant insouciance, Overstreet was every bit the disciplined Marine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh liked working with him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Governor, I'm sorry to report another terrorist incident. Unfortunately, this one also included a loss of life.\"\n\nLoss of life only meant one thing in this context: a Laconian fatality.\n\n\"Thank you for keeping it off the wire, Major,\" Singh said. Following the assassination attempt, he'd ordered that any further terrorist activity be kept as quiet as possible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They needed the population of Medina to feel like they were safe under Laconian control. \"Who and where?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Second Lieutenant Imari, an enviromental support specialist. She was tracking an air-filtration error and wound up in a crawl space on the outermost level of the drum. A small improvised explosive device was remotely detonated. Lieutenant Imari was killed instantly. One of her techs received minor injuries and is being treated on the Storm.\"\n\n\"Imari,\" Singh said, concentrating until he could place a face with the name. He'd only met her a few times. Pleasant and professional in all their interactions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And her skills with environmental systems would be sorely missed in Medina's refit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do we know who?\"\n\n\"I had bomb techs on the site within minutes of the blast,\" Overstreet said. \"The chemicals used to manufacture the explosive were traced to a storage compartment on drum level two. I pulled the logs. The majority of those with access have been identified. Marines have already begun rounding them up.\"\n\n\"That is excellent work, Major,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet brought him a solution with every problem he reported." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made his own terrible misstep with Tanaka feel like a blessing in disguise.\n\n\"The rules of engagement allow us to treat active terror cells as enemy combatants,\" Overstreet said. \"But unless one of these idiots has a hideaway gun, I'm betting we'll bring them all in alive. So, it's your call, sir.\"\n\nOverstreet looked like he had no opinion one way or the other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If Singh ordered him to go to the holding pens and shoot every single person in the head, it would just be the next thing he did that day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No lectures on how he'd fought Belter cells back in the day, no subtle digs at his lack of experience.\n\n\"We're going to need to start holding trials at some point,\" Singh said. \"This seems as good a time as any. We'll need some time to form a civilian justice system for Medina and the colonies. Something less encumbered than the local habits.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Overstreet agreed with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll have my people put together all the evidence we've collected and forward it to the advocate's office. We're not police, but whatever we can do to expedite the trial process, we're happy to help out.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh leaned back and pointed at one of the visitor chairs next to his desk. \"You're doing outstanding work, Major. You've slid into Colonel Tanaka's role without a hiccup. I appreciate it.\"\n\nOverstreet stretched out, relaxing but without the aggressive informality of his predecessor. \"Tanaka was a great mentor. She left me detailed files on ... the duties of this post. Give her credit for the smooth transition.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mmhmm,\" Singh said. \"Anyway, I've sent in my recommendation that you be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, as befits the posting you now hold. We're just waiting on word from Laconia to make it official. You've certainly got the years in, and your record is exemplary. I don't foresee any difficulty.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I appreciate that, sir,\" Overstreet started, then looked down at the monitor on his wrist. \"That's fast work. The detachment reports that all seven of the suspects have already been rounded up and taken to a holding area, awaiting your orders. Shall I have them taken to the open-air cells, pending trial? Let everyone on the station see them locked up? Sends a message.\"\n\n\"Yes, I—\" Singh began, then rethought it. \"No. If that holding area is private, keep them there. I'd like to speak to them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Of course,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Into his monitor he said, \"Triphammer oscar mike. We need transport and escort to level four, compartment one three one one echo bravo. Ready to move in five.\"\n\nSingh had studied detailed files on the history of Medina, from its aspirational beginnings with an Earther religious faction to its outright theft by the OPA and conversion into the universe's worst battleship before finally settling in as the hub of human expansion through the gate network.\n\nSingh found the idea of a generation ship fascinating, in a morbid sort of way. He could understand taking great risks for your children." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was doing that right now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trying to help build the well-regulated human empire that his monster Elsa and her future children could thrive in. There was a romance in the idea of setting out on a journey you'd never see the end of so that your grandchildren might live a better life. But all the numbers he'd seen on how a hundred-year voyage like that would play out were fairly horrifying. It was, to say the least, a very high cost and very low probability of success." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh assumed there was a faith element to the risk that he was just missing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In his opinion, faith was generally for people who were bad at math.\n\nCompartment 1311EB turned out to be a former storage compartment for animal feed. Another of the many structures built into Medina Station back when it had been the Nauvoo and had interstellar colonization as its purpose. Medina was filled with these relics of the station's original purpose even as they had been converted over to new uses." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Seven Belters sat on the floor, hands zip-tied behind their backs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Four men, two women, and one person who could be any gender or none and who looked far too young to already have decided on a career in terrorism.\n\nSingh entered the room flanked by two Marines in power armor and Overstreet taking up a position by the door. The four Marine guards in the room snapped him a salute, then went back to watching their little gang of prisoners. With fifteen bodies in the room, it felt very cramped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am the station governor, Captain Santiago Singh,\" he said, taking time to stare each of the seven prisoners in the eye as he spoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The youngest stared back with a fierce rage that looked entirely out of place on their beautiful, genderless face.\n\n\"No one fuckin' cares,\" one of the men spat back at him. The Marine closest to him casually kicked him in the ribs. Singh waved him back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need you all to listen to me very carefully,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A bomb was made using chemicals from the warehouse you seven work in. That bomb killed a Laconian naval officer, and injured another.\"\n\n\"Good,\" said one of the women.\n\n\"Not good,\" Singh replied, without changing his tone. \"Because the penalty for this criminal act will be death by firing squad. At this point, there is no reason to believe all seven of you aren't in collusion. You are either working with terrorist cells, or you are in fact the cell that planted that bomb.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Better to die a free Belter than live a slave,\" the young one said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They had a singer's voice, high and clear.\n\nHe started to wonder if it might have been better to have seven different conversations with the prisoners rather than one with all of them. They were performing for each other now. Each of them signaling their loyalty to the others." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It made it more difficult to know what their actual flexibility might be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can debate the benefits of centralized government later,\" Singh replied. \"For now, I have one offer to make, and only one. When I leave this room, I am going to ask that an appointed judge review the evidence from the bombing and find all seven of you guilty of terrorist acts. You will then be taken to a public place, and shot.\"\n\n\"Not much of a fuckin' offer,\" the first man said, rubbing his bruised ribs.\n\n\"While the judge reviews that evidence, I am going to have you held in private cells. The first one of you to cooperate in our investigation of terrorist activity on this station, lives.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Turn traitor to save our own necks,\" the young one said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't know Belters at all.\"\n\n\"I know humans. I know that staying alive and keeping one's family safe is not a trivial reward for valued service to the empire. It is the only choice you have left in your lives. Make the right one.\"\n\nBefore they could shout any defiance at him, Singh turned and left. As they walked away, he said to Overstreet, \"Put them in separate cells, far enough apart that they can't hear each other. Then make sure there's a guard outside every door. Just in case someone decides to take me up on my offer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Copy that,\" Overstreet replied." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a hint of skepticism in his tone.\n\nSingh stopped. Overstreet turned to face him, a puzzled look on his broad face.\n\n\"Something troubling you, Major?\"\n\n\"I didn't intend any disrespect, sir.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Our mandate from High Consul Duarte is to win over the population of this station, as a first step in winning over the population of the colony worlds. We do that by entangling our interests. By teaching them that what they think of as 'informing' is actually just good citizenship. This is just a first step in building what will hopefully be a network of cooperators to help us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Understood,\" Overstreet said. \"Marines make terrible police, sir. We're not trained for this sort of job. If we could build up a security force made up of local cooperators and Marine elements, it would help a lot.\"\n\n\"Good. Make that part of your mandate going forward. You have full authority to offer amnesty to people you think might be useful.\"\n\n\"I'll pass it down the ranks,\" Overstreet said. He began gently pushing Singh back up the corridor toward their little convoy of carts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The other thing,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think it would be appropriate to make a complete audit of the security protocols. Call it a supplemental security review.\"\n\n\"I can do that if you'd like, sir,\" Overstreet said. \"Can I ask what function the review would fill?\"\n\nHe meant Am I being called on the carpet?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was also the fallout of letting Tanaka go." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There would be a period where his people trusted him less. Suspected that he would blame them for failures in the system. Punish them for things that weren't their fault.\n\n\"We need—\" he began, then caught himself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need to look over the complete system of security we have. Things are going to change simply because we are here, with these people, and not in a classroom at the academy. I don't know how yet, but I think it's inevitable. I am trusting you to tell me not only what we do but why. And whether you think it should be altered.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Comprehensive, then,\" Overstreet said, but he sounded more pleased by the implied trust than put out by the extra work. \"I'll see to it. Back to the office, sir?\"\n\nSingh almost said yes, but a thought stopped him.\n\n\"No,\" Singh said. \"No, take me to Carrie Fisk's office. And notify her we're coming.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "On the ride to the Association of Worlds' offices, Singh thought back to his letter home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The idea that being able to hold the ring space meant they'd won the war was optimistic. Or simplistic, at least. Laconia could absolutely control access to the worlds through the gates, but every single world could decide this didn't mean they were conquered. And even if they placed a Laconian governor on every world, and a Laconian naval ship in orbit and Marines patrolling the streets, every individual might decide they personally had not been conquered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Establishing the empire was an endless series of microscopic magnifications into greater and greater granularity, and every grain was a potential renegade." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Medina was just a microcosm of the problem they'd be running into everywhere. Political opposition considered as fractal geometry.\n\nHe had been sent as a governor, and the more he saw, the more he came to understand what that assignment actually was. Not just a bureaucrat to oversee the smooth functioning of the station and the traffic it controlled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was creating the template for making every other human world into a new Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Seven Belters had decided that killing a single low-level officer was worth risking all their own lives. That wasn't a rational position. An enemy that bad at basic math might do anything. The colony worlds might decide that throwing a few hundred people with rifles onto a transport ship and trying a suicide attack on Medina made sense." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He only needed to hold the station for a few more weeks until the Typhoon arrived and rendered any such foolhardy attack plan irrelevant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Carrie Fisk could help to carry the message that would dissuade any such error before it could happen.\n\nThe office complex occupied by the Association of Worlds sat inside the drum section of Medina, surrounded by farmland. It consisted of three blocky structures of prefab fiberglass sheets, painted a gentle off-white, and sporting the interlocking honeycomb banner of their organization. Singh suspected the design was intended to symbolize the interconnected rings of the gate network." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For the headquarters of an organization whose goal was the centralized governance of thirteen hundred worlds, it looked cheap, shabby, and hastily erected." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing like the massive stone structures Laconia built to house the future government of mankind.\n\nCarrie Fisk occupied an office on the third floor of the largest of the three buildings. She had a lot of empty space, a single desk with four chairs, and flaking light-green paint on her fiberglass walls. He wondered what their first meeting would have been like if he'd come to her office instead of bringing her to his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Seeing all of this, he might have recommended against working with her at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Madam President,\" Singh said as he entered, taking her hand in his own. \"I'm glad you could take the time to meet with me on such short notice. This is Major Overstreet, the Marine commander on Medina.\"\n\nCarrie shook his hand, and gave Overstreet a baffled nod. \"Of course, Governor, anytime,\" she said, and gestured to her chairs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh sat, Overstreet did not. \"Tea?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh declined with a wave of his hand. \"I'm afraid I don't have much time to socialize. I have an important message for you to send to the association worlds, and to the local governments on those worlds that have at this point elected not to officially join you.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Carrie said. She really was a frightened little mouse of a person, Singh decided. He found himself wondering how such a person could become the leader of anything, much less the nascent government for a galaxy-spanning republic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But she'd had a following before he came, so maybe there was more to her than he saw." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Failing that, she could be made into the sort of person he needed.\n\n\"It occurs to me that while the Heart of the Tempest is engaged with the fleets in the Sol system, and additional Laconian forces have not yet arrived to secure Medina Station, some ill-informed members of your association or other prospective members who haven't officially joined you yet might view this as a moment of weakness for our occupation.\"\n\n\"I don't—\" Carrie started.\n\n\"But it's important that everyone understand that such a view is both inaccurate, and dangerous,\" Singh continued over the top of her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You will send a message, as the president of the new Laconian Congress of Worlds, to every planet in the network.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The what?\"\n\n\"The change of name will more closely join your group with the empire. It's important that they recognize you as a legitimate and trusted representative of Laconia. You will tell them that any hostile action taken through one of the ring gates, be that a ship full of soldiers or an angrily thrown rock, will result in the total sterilization of the inhabited planet on the other side of that ring.\"\n\nCarrie went still for a moment. \"Jesus Christ. Are you serious?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's come to my attention that many of the social organizations of the old human power structures show a shocking inability to do risk analysis. They may foolishly attempt a doomed assault, thinking all they're risking is their own lives. Reason doesn't work with this kind of person. I need you to make them understand, on an emotional level, the price for such an attack. I will kill every single person on their planet. I assume even former OPA radicals have family members they care about, and whose lives they are less willing to risk on a romantic notion of a hero's death.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet's bright-blue eyes were on him. Singh felt the man evaluating him.\n\n\"I can't be part of something like that,\" Carrie said.\n\n\"You can,\" Singh insisted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because I'm making that the rule of engagement for our occupation here, whether you warn people or not. I think it's best if everyone understands that before they do anything with such a terrible price. Don't you agree?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh stood up, and Overstreet opened the door for him. Carrie Fisk stared at him from behind her desk. Singh didn't see the fear he expected on her face. More a sort of simpleminded confusion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Please get the announcement out before the end of the day,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I leave the wording to you, as long as all the details I laid out are included. Good day, Madam President.\"\n\nHe left the room with Fisk still reeling from the shock. Overstreet fell easily into stride behind him.\n\n\"Permission, sir?\" Overstreet said, his tone reserved and formal. Distant, almost." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh felt a moment's chagrin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He should have called Overstreet by his given name. He'd forgotten that, and it seemed late to change their habits now. He needed to be more careful about that. \"Proceed, Major.\"\n\n\"Are we going to order those attacks?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Only if we have to,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet didn't reply at once, and when he did, his tone was flat. \"Understood,\" he said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden shifted in his bunk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he lay on his side with one arm raised and his head resting on it like a pillow, he could block that ear, then put a hand over the ear that was pointed up at the bunk above him. It was almost enough to block out Alex's snoring. But it also made his shoulder ache after a while, and his hand fell asleep before he did. He could track down a set of earplugs, but that meant getting out of bed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Half-awake as he was, that seemed like a lot of trouble." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anyway, no one else in the bunks seemed to be bothered. He also knew—half knew—that if he woke up enough to fix the problem, he'd be too awake to sleep again. Admitting that age and anxiety had turned him into a light sleeper felt vaguely shameful in a way that probably wouldn't have stood the scrutiny of a fully conscious mind. Years of living with his crew had built habits and norms that they were violating in these new circumstances, and it was weird." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa made an uncomfortable sound halfway between a whine and a growl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the bunk across from him, Naomi shifted. By the dim orange glow of the safety light, he could just make out the curve of her shoulder, the shape of her hair spilling out over her pillow.\n\nWhich meant his eyes were open.\n\nWhich meant he was awake." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He tried closing his eyes again, willing himself back down to sleep, but Alex coughed above him, and Holden shifted his arm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pins and needles started in his fingers. The last wisps of dream and oblivion thinned and vanished out of his brain. As quietly as he could, he rolled to the edge of the bunk, let himself down to the deck, and slipped out the door, leaving the others to get the rest he couldn't.\n\nThe web of unmonitored space that Saba and his people had carved out of the flesh of the station was tighter than living on any ship Holden had crewed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Keeping the power low enough to avoid detection meant thick air and rationed water." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The murmur of voices speaking in musical Belter Creole was as present as the hum of the air recyclers. Holden made his way to the head—an emergency cut-in to the processing system with a seat about the right size for a five-year-old. He had to wait for the woman already there to finish. By the time he stepped back into the access hall, he was fully awake, hungry, and a little grumpy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi slouched down the hall toward him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her undershirt was stained with sleep sweat and use. The top of her half-undone jumpsuit gathered at her hips like humanity's worst bustle. Her hair and face still had the shape of her pillow to them.\n\nShe was beautiful. She made everything better than it would have been without her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're up,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am.\"\n\n\"Me too.\"\n\n\"Sucks, right?\"\n\n\"Oh yeah,\" she said, then gestured toward the head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He shifted out of her way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Want to risk breakfast out in the world?\" she asked as she passed him.\n\nHolden let the question sit in his chest while he was alone in the corridor. When they were in the secret passageways of the underground, they were safe in that they were unmonitored." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Laconian-controlled station was dangerous, but it was also open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fresh air, better food, and as far as Holden knew, they still weren't on security's shit list.\n\nAnd there were things they could learn by being there that they'd never get if they only ever stayed where it was safe.\n\nWhen Naomi emerged, he took her arm like they were stepping out to a formal affair, and together they walked to one of the security hatches, and from there into Medina Station. The transition points were the most dangerous." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Moving from the unmonitored spaces into public without seeming to pop into existence out of nowhere meant timing their passage in places that were only intermittently watched, or else getting secondary entrances into showers, locker rooms, and toilets, where privacy gave them cover." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When they reached the open sections of the station, it was moving from one kind of oppressive environment into another. The halls were bright and open, the air fresh and if anything a little cool. Screens and monitors showed the locally produced Laconia-approved news: propaganda about the stability and security of the station mixed with whatever pop-culture feeds from outside the slow zone made it past their censors. Holden and Naomi walked through it like refugees at a shopping complex, trying not to blink into the too-bright lights." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't alone. The crews of all the other ships and the citizens of the station all had the same dazed look to them, though at different intensities." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People were still scrounging for quarters or camping on the inner face of the dome. The docks were still locked down, and that showed no sign of changing. Any normal hand terminals were still blocked from sending messages off Medina or gathering data that wasn't locally stored and vetted. There was a way that being in Saba's underground felt like being buried alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And there was a way that being outside of it made being buried alive seem like not such a bad thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was cozy, anyway.\n\nThey stopped at a café two levels below the open air of the drum's interior. He got a bulb of genuinely third-rate coffee—overroasted to hide the shitty beans in the taste of the char, and a chalky cream substitute—and Naomi got tea and a corn muffin that they could split. They sat at a little table as far away from the public passage as they could get and still have a good view of the foot traffic passing by." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two men, smoking pipes that looked like they'd been made of decking ceramic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A group of schoolchildren in matching gray-green uniforms. A busker with a marionette trying to amuse passersby with her antics. It could have been any station in human space. And as they watched, they talked about things that weren't dangerous if anyone were to overhear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the public corridor, a security team walked past." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two figures in the blue power armor bristling with weapons. The carts and foot traffic moved around the pair like a stream flowing around rocks. Their presence wasn't intimidating people as much now, or at least not in the same ways. On a screen across the corridor, Carrie Fisk of the newly renamed Laconian Congress of Worlds was being interviewed by a pretty young man with a military haircut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden wondered what she was saying, but the café had their system set to a light, friendly saidi list that shifted from one melody to the next without ever pausing in between." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The same music, Holden guessed, that they'd played before Laconia came knocking.\n\nIt was all becoming normal. He could see it in the way the clerk served up the terrible, terrible coffee. He could hear it in the conversations at the nearby tables." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It showed on the screens and in the gaits of the people walking by." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Panic and alarm were exhausting. He was exhausted by them, and Medina was exhausted too. It was already shifting into its new routine. Checkpoints, yes. Armed security, yes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the theater of dominance and control and nothing to undercut that narrative." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just to look at it, you wouldn't guess there'd been a bombing.\n\nSaba hadn't known it was coming either, and they'd only heard about it through him. A small explosion, but the unofficial reports said at least one Laconian had been killed. The official reports, apparently, were that it hadn't happened at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was a change." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The assassination attempt had been used to justify the crackdown. Now the crackdown was just another day, and highlighting the attacks on the structures of power wasn't useful. Nothing had to be justified anymore. Governor Singh in his offices was trying to project a sense of normalcy and inevitability." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And as far as Holden could tell, it was working." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kind of quiet,\" he said, meaning They think they're winning.\n\nNaomi tugged her hair down over her eyes. \"Right?\" she said. It meant I think they're winning too.\n\nBack in the underground, Holden found Saba sitting at a dumb terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even in full light, Saba's hair and skin were nearly the same color." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the backsplash from the screen, he almost seemed like a cartoon of himself. He nodded at Holden and shifted a few centimeters on his bench to give him room. Holden sat.\n\n\"Checking on the Storm dump?\" Holden asked, nodding toward the screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The log entries spooled up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The information they were intercepting from the Laconians was encrypted on a variety of levels, and using more than one schema.\n\n\"Dui,\" Saba said. \"Everything between the station and the Storm is coming in, but until we get access to the server that decrypts it, it's just noise. Plenty more irons in that fire, though. Medina comms got more compromised than we thought. Turns out Golden Bough bought a tech eighteen months ago, got a backdoor into the system we never noticed.\"\n\n\"Really?\" Holden said. \"How'd you find it now?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Coyo told us,\" Saba said, flashing a grin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Patriotism is weird shit.\"\n\nHolden chuckled. \"Whatever works, I guess.\"\n\nThey sat for a moment in near silence. Saba scratched his arm and pointedly didn't look at Holden when he spoke again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Big coya seems like she's got a little stone in her throat. Any trouble with your crew?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nope,\" Holden said. And then, \"I mean, yeah, but nothing that'll cause a problem.\"\n\n\"Don't guess you want to say what? Make me feel better to know.\"\n\nHolden leaned forward. The logs spooled past, storage filling with traffic that might be everything to them. Or nothing. Bobbie wasn't something he'd talked about before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't sure he wanted to start now, but he was living in Saba's rooms, eating the man's food, coordinating on his operations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's not exactly my crew,\" Holden said. \"I had some trouble with the union before all this happened.\"\n\nSaba's grin came again. \"You're forgetting whose man I am, que no? Drummer spends a little time talking about you behind your back, and that means to me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Right, so ... I was in the process of retiring when all this came down. Dropping off the Freehold guy was my last mission. Was going to be. The crew is really Bobbie's, only then history got in the way, and now I'm sort of back in charge and sort of not. It's awkward.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Savvy,\" Saba said. \"I'm there too.\"\n\n\"Something wrong between you and Bobbie?\"\n\n\"No, no, no. Only that Medina's my home port, but the Malaclypse is my home. This came down, and I got put at the front because of my spouse and her job and the union. Plenty enough around here don't like that. Do their own thing because it's their own.\"\n\n\"Like the bombing,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Like that trap, yeah. Like the trying for the governor. Like a bunch of assholes I stopped who were looking to steal Laconian uniforms, beat up some of our own so they could start shit between, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That doesn't seem productive,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Not about productive,\" Saba said. \"About reaching for what can get done. Plenty of old OPA on Medina. When the Alliance turned into the union, it didn't erase all the old factions. There's Ochoa OPA and there's Johnson OPA even when there's no Ochoa or Johnson. Voltaire Collective set that bomb like they'd just been waiting for the chance, and maybe they were. Oldsters going at it like they were young again. Young ones trying to live up to the stories of the bad old days. Like pumping oxygen into a fire.\"\n\nHolden shook his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If we're going to manage anything, we have to—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The dumb terminal chirped, and one of the entries came up highlighted. Saba pulled the interface pad closer and scrolled back to the flagged entry. He cross-checked and opened the file. All the things a real system would have done for him automatically, if they could risk using one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba clicked his tongue against his teeth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What've we got?\" Holden asked.\n\n\"Traffic control plan update,\" Saba said. \"Got something slated as coming in through Laconia gate, but not right away.\"\n\n\"How far out?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Forty-two days?\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He moved through the data as carefully as he could, checking the distribution stamps and time codes. It didn't take him long to find the name and transit specs for the ship. The Typhoon. And from the mass and energy profile, it was huge. On a hunch, Holden had Saba match it with Laconia's first transit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The two were the same." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Typhoon was another Tempest. Holden felt a tightness under his rib cage wondering how many more like it there were.\n\nSaba cursed under his breath. A man's voice came from behind them, somewhere in the warren of hidden corridors." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A woman answered. The bulkheads, the exposed conduits and industrial decking, the thick air and the darkness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All of it was just the same as it had been when Holden sat down, except that now it seemed fragile.\n\nAnother warship from Laconia with more soldiers. The beginning of the permanent occupation. Not just the beginning of the end. The end." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba cracked his knuckles and smiled ruefully at Holden." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" he said. \"Leaves me wishing I could tell Drummer and the union. Kind of thing she'd want to know.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Holden said, trying to gather his wits. There was more than a little of him jumping around behind his own eyes like a panicked monkey, but this wasn't the time for it. \"All right. We still have some time. Whatever we decide to do, our obstacles are the Gathering Storm outside the station and something like two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty power-armor-wearing Marines inside it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And loose-cannon OPA factions firing off without warning,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When they hear about this, they'll get worse. Complicate everything if they won't coordinate.\"\n\n\"So that too,\" Holden agreed. His brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton ticking. He wanted to get all his people onto the Rocinante and run away." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie, Alex, and Clarissa ate lunch together in a tiny compartment with ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES stenciled on the door in four languages. It had a few unlabeled crates in it that they could use as tables and benches, so they'd taken to calling it the Diner. The meal was the heavily spiced and deep-fried balls of bean paste that Belters called red kibble. On the side they had a few bits of dried fruit, and a thin seafood soup that tasted like the flavor came from having a fish swim through the broth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know what I miss most about the Roci about now?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex said, poking at his kibble, which rolled around his plate. \"My ship knows how to make Martian food. I'm so sick of this Belter shit.\"\n\nHe was exaggerating his Mariner Valley drawl the way he always did when he spoke of the ship. Bobbie laughed at him, then noisily drank off the last of her broth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's good for you, boy,\" she said, mocking his drawl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It keeps body and soul attached, and that's about the best I can say for it.\"\n\nClarissa smiled at their banter, but said nothing. She was picking up a single ball of kibble at a time, then carefully chewing it. It was like watching a bird eat in slow motion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I wonder if the Laconians still eat Martian food,\" Bobbie said. \"We could ask.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex tossed his plate down onto their crate-table in disgust. \"You know, I think what chaps my ass more than anything else about this shit? The guys who came out of the gate and started wreckin' our shit and takin' over aren't some damn aliens. It's fucking Martians. I bet there're people on that Laconian ship I served with back in the day. Dollars to donuts, the top brass in the Marine detachment here are people you know, at least by name.\"\n\nBobbie nodded, chewing the last of her kibble. \"That's actually an interesting idea. I mean, could that be useful? Find some people in their command structure that know us? Is that an in?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I ain't talkin' about how it's useful, Bob,\" Alex said, nearly knocking over Clarissa's water glass with his angry hand gestures." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm talkin' about the idea that people just like us, Martian patriots, picked up and ran off with this Duarte guy, and took about a third of the fleet with them.\"\n\n\"You ever wonder if it could have been us?\" Bobbie asked.\n\nAlex lowered his brows at her. \"You lost your mind?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, really, think about it,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We were both out of the service when Duarte started making his move. You'd been retired for a decade at that point. I'd been out of the Corps for a couple years. But if we'd still been active duty, could we have fallen for his pitch? I mean, a lot of good people did.\"\n\n\"A third of the stars of heaven,\" Clarissa said, as if she were agreeing.\n\n\"Uh,\" Alex replied, cocking his head in confusion.\n\n\"A third of the what now, honey?\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"From the Bible. Revelation. When the devil fell from grace, he took a third of the angels with him. It's described as the great dragon pulling a third of the stars of heaven down with its tail.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Huh,\" Alex said like he had no idea what she was talking about.\n\n\"Why'd that pop into your head?\" Bobbie asked.\n\n\"Whatever story Duarte was selling was compelling enough to get a big chunk of the Martian military to buy in. The devil's story was freedom from the oppression of God's rules, and it was good enough to win a lot of angels to his side. Whatever Duarte's pitch was, it's a good one. Don't be so sure you wouldn't have bought it.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm pretty fucking sure,\" Alex replied with a snort." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie had to admit she wasn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A galaxy-spanning human civilization run the way the Martians, at their best, ran things. Organized, focused on a single overarching goal. Efficient, well planned, not wasting anything. She could see why that appealed to a lot of people when Mars was watching its dream of terraforming die." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Duarte could step in and sell them a new dream that used all the same skills and attitudes that the old one had, but was even grander in scope." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie recognized that there was a version of her that was fighting on the Laconian side right now, and it made her itchy.\n\nAlex had started to gather up the plates and cups from their meal when Amos walked into the room. \"Hey, Babs. Cap wants to see us about that thing.\"\n\n\"Which thing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The making-sure-no-more-bombs-go-off-we-don't-know-about thing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh, that thing. Be there in five,\" she replied, and he shrugged and walked off without another word.\n\n\"Still kinda chafes, don't it?\" Alex said, his voice gentle.\n\n\"What? Hearing him go back to calling Holden 'Cap'?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie said, ready to shrug it off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But something caught in her throat. \"Yeah. I gotta admit it does. I might have a word with him on that.\"\n\n\"Be gentle,\" Clarissa said. \"He's fragile right now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie had no idea what the word fragile meant when applied to Amos." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wasn't sure she wanted to learn.\n\nSaba leaned against one wall in the larger storage space that they'd been using as their insurgent-cell meeting room. Someone had finally pushed all the crates and boxes up against the walls to serve as seating, and some enterprising thief on the crew had even managed to steal a few benches from one of the parks. About twenty members of their group were scattered around the space, including Holden, Naomi, and Amos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "On the wall screen behind Saba was a diagram of Medina, and a picture of a severe-looking woman with black hair and a lot of facial piercings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She stared at the camera with angry eyes, giving the picture a mug-shot feel. The name Katria Mendez floated beneath her photo.\n\n\"The Voltaire Collective,\" Saba said, pointing at her. \"Bomb throwers from ancient days.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fighters,\" someone in the room replied, making the word a term of respect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sa bien,\" Saba replied. \"Now with Laconia? They go back to the old script.\"\n\n\"Apart from the fact that their strategy doesn't work anymore and it's fucking our shit up, they seem like people we want in our team,\" Holden said. \"We should recruit them. Coordinate with them. Killing them or feeding them to the Laconians should be our last option.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He sounded a little scattered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Distracted. She wondered what was up with him. He knew something or suspected something that was eating up all his spare cycles. Bobbie had seen it before.\n\nSaba nodded with one fist." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If we can, we should.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pointed to a sublevel on the Medina map marked Water Reclamation. \"Holed up here, them. I say we send our envoys to make them an offer of alliance.\"\n\nHolden turned on his bench to look back at Bobbie. She gave him a tiny nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He stood up to take a spot next to Saba and said, \"I think we should send Bobbie to speak for us. She can pass along our respects, tell them we need to join up, and if they get belligerent ... well, she can handle that too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Agreed,\" Saba said. \"How many you want with you?\"\n\n\"Let's keep this small,\" Bobbie replied. \"Just me and Amos for now. This should feel like natural allies reaching out. Not a war party.\"\n\n\"Sabe bien,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But this ends with they don't plant more bombs unless we say so. Our house gets in order now. One way or.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Bobbie agreed. \"One way or, that's where this ends.\"\n\nThe shortest path to Water Reclamation included a short jaunt through the inner drum. Bobbie didn't mind. Hiding out with her resistance-fighter buddies included an awful lot of sleeping and eating in tiny metal rooms. Getting out into the habitat space with open air and a dirt floor and the full-spectrum light on her face was a welcome change." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even the ubiquitous Laconians didn't ruin the mood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the most part, their conquerors were easy to get along with. They acted like people who'd lived on Medina for years: eating in the restaurants, browsing the shops, making use of the entertainment districts. If you gave them a nod, they nodded back like old neighbors. Even the Marine patrols moving past in their exotic blue power armor looked alert, but not particularly threatening." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie had seen the other version of them during the assassination attempt on the governor, so she knew they could go from friendly and professional to full rock-and-roll at the flip of a switch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Easy to get along with or not, the Laconians were a military occupation. You forgot that at your peril.\n\n\"How are you doing?\" Bobbie asked as they walked through a particularly lush section of park." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lovingly tended path curved through grass, patches of flowers, and even past the occasional tree." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Insects buzzed about, still the best-designed pollinating system there was. Technology did a lot of things well, but evolution had it beat when it came to environmental systems.\n\n\"My feet hurt,\" Amos said. \"Kind of all the time now. Glad these Belters keep the rotation at a third of a g.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's quicker to list the shit that doesn't hurt, these days,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But that's not really what I meant.\"\n\n\"Yeah?\" Amos said. His tone didn't change at all, but Bobbie had flown with him for a couple decades now. She could hear the tension that had crept in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Claire thinks maybe you're having a tough time right now.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Does she.\" Amos' voice had gone so flat, it might have been a badly written computer simulation of him. He was checking out of the conversation. Pushing it farther wouldn't help.\n\n\"Anyway,\" Bobbie said, keeping it light." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You need anything, I'm up for whatever.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, I know, Babs,\" Amos said. \"But these Voltaire guys are no joke. We better get our game faces on.\"\n\nThe Voltaire Collective occupied a dusty crawl space beneath and between half a dozen gigantic stainless-steel tanks. It was a good spot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Unless the piping sprang a leak, there was literally no reason for anyone to come down to the space." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Collective definitely still had some skill sets left over from their OPA resistance-fighter days. Katria Mendez in person was all hard angles and sharp edges, and her dark eyes burned with a constant low-level fury.\n\n\"You're actually coming here to lecture us on how to run an occupied insurgency,\" she said. Her voice was gentle and warm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The voice of a favorite teacher, or beloved aunt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A voice that asked if you wanted some lemonade with your cookies. It also had the precise diction and studied lack of accent that Bobbie associated with advanced education. Her Belter accent could have been measured in parts per billion.\n\n\"Not at all,\" Bobbie started." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because,\" Katria continued, \"the Collective has been a militant branch of the OPA, resisting inner-planets control, for nearly a century.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I understand,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Do you? Because it seems like you just showed up here and told us that we're not allowed to run any resistance operations without your consent. Or did I misunderstand what you were telling me?\"\n\nBobbie heard shuffling feet behind her, and turned around to see five members of Katria's cell had taken up a loose semicircle at her back. None of them held weapons in their hands, but they all wore the loose-fitting jumpsuits of the Medina Station maintenance workers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lots of big pockets that could be hiding anything from a hammer to a compact machine pistol." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos, standing to her left, caught her eye without losing his smile. He took a half step back, managing to make it look casual.\n\n\"Look,\" Bobbie said to Katria, stepping up and looking down at her from their half-meter height difference. \"We didn't come here to start a fight. As far as I'm concerned, we're all on the same team. But if you force it to go the other way, we're prepared for that, too. And I promise you it will not go the way you want.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Honestly, I'm just not sure why Saba didn't come himself,\" Katria said, not backing down at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or why he thought sending a Martian and an Earther to tell Belters how to fight was the right message.\"\n\nBobbie didn't know any answer to that other than because we're the most intimidating soldiers he's got, now that walking through Medina with firearms has become a really bad idea. She winged it instead.\n\n\"Because maybe that is the message. Because this isn't about Belters and inners and last century's bullshit. Because now it's about all of us versus the assholes who popped out of their gate thirty years into our game and decided they get to flip the table over.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria nodded and smiled." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's actually not a terrible answer.\"\n\n\"Then let's ease down,\" Bobbie said, taking a half step back again to give Katria her space. \"Let's find a place to sit and have a drink and chat about how all of us can work together to fuck these Laconian assholes up. Yeah?\"\n\n\"You keep giving me that eye, boy, and I'm gonna pull it out of your head and hand it back to you,\" Amos said, his tone so mellow and conversational that it took Bobbie a moment to recognize the threat was real." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was looking back at the semicircle of OPA toughs at their back, directing his empty gaze at them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But Bobbie saw a vein at his temple throbbing like he was at risk of a stroke. The muscles moved under his skin like taut cable dragging over his jawbone.\n\n\"Amos,\" she said, and then she wasn't talking anymore because she was in a fight.\n\nAmos threw himself at someone behind her, and she heard grunts and the meaty thud of fists hitting flesh, but she couldn't turn around to see what was happening because a long knife had appeared in Katria's hand and the woman was dancing toward her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fighters, one of Saba's people had said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And like the Laconians, the Voltaire Collective folks also seemed ready to go from zero to a hundred at the flip of a switch.\n\nBobbie didn't have time to dance with Katria, nor did she want to get herself stitched up from a knife fight, so she straight-kicked the woman in the diaphragm and dropped her to the deck with an explosive oof. She took a second to kick the knife away, then started to turn when something heavy slammed into her cheek.\n\nThrough the explosion of stars in her vision, she saw Amos grappling with two men at the same time, choking one with his left arm while he slammed the second man into one of the water tanks over and over again with his right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A third man had climbed onto his back and was attempting a sleeper hold, but couldn't get his forearm under Amos' chin to lock it up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The other two OPA goons were flanking Bobbie, and one of them was holding the crowbar he'd just cracked her cheekbone with. In the sort of slow-motion clarity Bobbie always experienced during a fight, she saw skin and blood on the crowbar's edge.\n\nOh, she thought, that's why my face feels wet.\n\nCrowbar was pulling back for another swing, while his partner tried to get behind her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie decided Crowbar was the more serious threat and lunged at him to get inside the arc of his swing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His arm went around her, and she felt the bar slam into her shoulder blade, which made her right arm go pins-and-needles numb. She threw a throat punch at him with it, and even though she couldn't feel it, her arm did what she told it to. Crowbar dropped his weapon and clutched his throat with both hands, gagging.\n\nHis partner kicked her in the back, twice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One kick hit her kidney, and the other her butt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While the kidney shot might have her pissing blood for a few days, it was the kick to the ass that almost put her on the ground. It felt like someone set off a small bomb in her lower back, and she felt a sharp crack that almost certainly meant he'd snapped her tailbone.\n\nShe turned to see him unleashing another kick, and managed to mostly sidestep it, letting it bounce off her hip and forcing him to stumble forward into her. She grabbed hold of his left arm and rotated through the hips to throw him face-first into a pressure-monitoring console a few feet away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hit it with a thud and a crunch, and started to sag." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then, just because he'd kicked her in the ass, she snapped his left arm before she let him drop.\n\nFive minutes later, Katria and her five friends sat or lay on the floor, hands tied behind their backs. Amos had an eye that was already starting to swell shut, and four scrapes down his cheek that looked like he'd been clawed by a big cat. Bobbie had carefully avoided looking at her own face in anything reflective." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But based on the volume of blood in her shirt, the wound on her face had to be pretty grotesque." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There goes my not-needing-stitches plan. The pain in her backside also meant she wasn't going to enjoy sitting for the next couple of months. That thought made her want to kick the unconscious man with the broken arm again. Or maybe Amos.\n\n\"Katria,\" Bobbie said, leaning down over the Voltaire Collective cell leader." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is it okay if I call you Katria?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Katria had any objections, she kept them to herself.\n\n\"Great. So, look. This could have gone better. We kicked your ass and you're pissed now, I get that. If you want to be part of the revolution, great, we'd love to have you. But you run all your ops through Saba's group. That's nonnegotiable. Anything else, and we're killing you and hiding your bodies in the fertilizer-recycling system.\"\n\nBobbie grabbed the front of Katria's shirt and picked her back up to her feet, then kept lifting until they were eye to eye.\n\n\"Do we understand each other?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was easy to forget sometimes that the void cities hadn't always been there. During the starving years, they'd been something like a dream. A promised land without the land. Homes for the Belt that could move through the gates to whatever system they chose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There had been a magic to them then." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A sense of the unprecedented.\n\nTime had worn that shine away. Drummer had spent more time in the last decade on People's Home and Independence and Guardian than on ships or asteroid stations. They'd become so familiar that they'd bled back in her memory until it felt as though the corridors and chambers had been present since her childhood, even if she hadn't been on them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like a city often mentioned, but not visited until adulthood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had to remind herself that war was always this way. Had always been. Cities had been falling under siege since the time there were cities. Mortars had fallen on schools. Soldiers had stormed hospitals." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bombs had set churches and parks and children on fire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Homes had been lost before now.\n\nThe tactical display floating over the table was off by orders of magnitude. If it had been to scale, Independence would have been too small to make out with a microscope. As it was, the identifying code was larger than the ship icon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A smear of light smaller than a crumb of bread that meant a city where two hundred thousand people, more or less, lived and worked, raised children, divorced and married, drank and danced and died." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then burning sunward from it, the evacuation ships—even smaller—that carried as many people as would fit away from the theater of battle. She looked at them and saw all the other times children had been carried away from a disaster that was approaching and that could not be stopped: London, Beijing, Denver. History, she reminded herself, was peppered with moments like this one. It only felt different because this was her city, a void city, and this had never happened before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had repurposed the central traffic-control station of People's Home for this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Military analysts and engineers, some of them union, most of them EMC, sat at the desks where civilians usually were. Feeds to the war rooms on Earth and Mars showed similar rooms with similar people, but considerably less light delay. The screens that usually listed incoming and outgoing ships with approach vectors and expected times were devoted to the incoming signals from all the active telescopy in the Belt. Images of the major observation stations showed when fresh data streams were coming in, where they were coming from, when People's Home was transmitting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Images from Independence and the dozen EMC ships included flags for time delay—an hour and twenty-three minutes—and a composite of the enemy claimed the central display." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pale as a bone, burning lazily toward the point where the battle would begin. Maybe had begun. Maybe had started and ended in the hour and twenty-three minutes it took light to bring the message to them.\n\n\"The, ah, the resolution will get better as we get the signal bounce,\" the EMC technician said. She was younger than Drummer had been when she started working on Tycho, with red hair pulled back in a bun and a wide, doughy face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "On Earth and Mars, other technicians were probably having the same conversations with the prime minister and secretary-general." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's a trade-off, of course, between immediacy of the direct signals and the better information density of delaying a few minutes to get the extra feeds.\"\n\n\"I just need to know what's happening,\" Drummer said.\n\nAvasarala, who still hadn't made the passage back to Earth, and Vaughn were at the edge of the room. Admiral Hu was at one of the central control consoles, sitting forward like an overeager schoolgirl at the first lecture of term." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd come as a forward observer, the military leader of the EMC nearest to the battle without being in it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A bulb of what smelled like green tea rested on a side table Vaughn had brought out so that the admiral wouldn't risk spilling on the control board. Drummer walked to her less because she wanted to talk than because she had to move.\n\n\"Madam President,\" Hu said, nodding to her.\n\n\"Admiral.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Odd being on the same side of a shooting war, isn't it? I never thought the day would come.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That says more about you than the reality of things, Drummer thought. The EMC wasn't its own side any more than Ilus or Surabhi or Neue Ausland were. The dreams of empire faded slowly. It didn't matter.\n\n\"We've got a comm report, Madam President.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Play it,\" Drummer snapped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The main screen shifted. The Laconian admiral appeared. His voice was patient and calm, but there was a glitter in his eye. An excitement. It made Drummer's gut ache to see." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is Admiral Trejo of the Heart of the Tempest to the approaching warships. I ask that you stand down. Any interference with our ship will be met in kind. Don't make this worse than it has to be.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck you,\" Drummer said to the screen, but not softly enough that Admiral Hu didn't chuckle. It was only ten seconds before the answer came. God, that's how close the distant war ships all were to each other. Light-seconds.\n\nEmily Santos-Baca, the ranking board member who lived on Independence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her hair was pulled back in a tight braid in preparation for null g. Or it had been an hour and twenty-three minutes ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Admiral Trejo,\" Santos-Baca said, \"on behalf of the Transport Union and the Earth-Mars Coalition, I am informing you that your presence in Sol system is a violation of territorial space and is being considered an act of war. Your ship will brake immediately and return to Laconia until appropriate contracts and diplomatic resolutions are in place.\"\n\nThey were reports from two competing realities. Drummer wished that Santos-Baca's sounded more plausible. The icons that marked the EMC ships were like dots drawn on the skin of a balloon, the Tempest moving in like a pin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It couldn't be long. Couldn't have been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The dispersal,\" Hu said. \"You see that? The way they're spread out? That's based on the Medina data your people sent. The spread of that magnetic whatever-the-hell-it-was. We placed the ships so that no matter which one it aims at, it won't be able to get two. Good, eh?\"\n\n\"Excellent,\" Drummer said. Her throat was dry, but the smell of the tea was a little nauseating.\n\n\"The range of it can't be good either,\" Hu said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The science wonks say the power curve would be logarithmic. Remaining at range should force the bastards to use any other weapons systems they have. Assuming that the magnetic cannon even works in normal space. Because there's at least one idea that it's using special properties that only exist in the ring space. And if that's the case—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Gloria.\" The old woman's voice was like a knife. \"You're doing it again.\"\n\nAdmiral Hu glanced back at Avasarala. Drummer hadn't heard her approach, but there she was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her smile was indulgent and warm and, Drummer had to assume, utterly false." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Gloria is a good warrior, but she gets chatty when she's nervous.\"\n\n\"We're seeing fire,\" one of the analysts said. His voice was as calm and businesslike as a surgeon announcing a bleeder.\n\nThe display shifted. The EMC ships and Independence were still there, but backgrounded as the focus changed to swarms of missiles pouring out toward the Tempest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Each one burned hard enough that a human body would have been pulped by the g forces, and they barely seemed to move." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The distances they traveled were vast. Even at their speed, three million klicks was a long time. Verbal threats that took seconds at lightspeed followed by punches that would take minutes or hours. Even without the warheads, the kinetic force of the torpedoes would be massive. If they hit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The swarm crept forward, pixel by imperceptible pixel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer waved a steward over and ordered a bulb of ice water and a bowl of hummus with bread. She had to try to eat.\n\nThe hummus was half gone and the tea tepid before the first of the missiles started winking out of existence.\n\n\"What are we seeing, please?\" Hu said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It appears to be long-range PDCs,\" one of the analysts said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're waiting for the bounce feed so we can get higher resolution.\"\n\nAnother twenty minutes, and a much sharper image of the Tempest appeared with the timestamp to show it was just after the fleet's launch. All along the sides of the ship, tiny dark eruptions like the spots on a shark.\n\n\"The PDCs' housings appear to be covered by the hull. Telemetry from the Michael Souther is that the remaining missiles were redirected toward those structures.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Were. An hour and twenty minutes ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're not using their magnet beam,\" Hu said. \"That's good. If it was cheap for them to fire it, they could use it to knock down missiles. If it's expensive to use, we may be able to exhaust it.\"\n\nDrummer thought that sounded like wishful thinking, but she didn't say so. She tried to take comfort in Hu's optimism." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The data feeds shifted, more information coming in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The images of the Tempest sharpened. The PDCs came into clearer focus, but it didn't help Drummer understand them. The openings in the side of the ship looked like little mouths opening and closing. Like the whole side of the ship was singing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was no mechanism she could see." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She shuddered. The cloud of torpedoes was thinning. None of them would reach the body of the enemy ship.\n\nA bloom of glowing gas erupted from the Tempest's side, flinched, and then dissipated.\n\n\"Rail guns,\" an analyst said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The chatter of voices went into a higher gear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tracking the rail-gun round, examining the spectrum of the plasma that had accompanied it, identifying the particular torpedo that it turned to dust.\n\n\"Are their PDCs running low already?\" Hu said, to herself as much as anyone.\n\n\"It was a warning,\" Avasarala answered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're showing us that they have teeth and giving us the chance to back away.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe we should,\" Drummer said.\n\nNo one replied. The markers for the EMC ships shifted like a school of fish moving together, and Independence with them. Their own volley of rail guns, the slugs raining down from all directions. The Tempest had no way to stop them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All it could do was dodge." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer counted the minutes, watching the Tempest pull back and corkscrew out of the paths of danger. Mostly.\n\n\"I'm seeing contact.\"\n\n\"Two impacts on the starboard. Waiting for confirmation from Pallas and Luna, but I think we did them some damage.\"\n\nThe knot in Drummer's gut eased a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they could hurt it, they could kill it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was just a question of scale and tactics.\n\n\"The hull appears to be self-repairing.\"\n\n\"Matches the Medina battle,\" Hu said.\n\n\"Show me,\" Drummer barked, and the image on her screen shifted again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a fresh image, still fuzzy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bone-pale skin of the Tempest rippled as a round struck it, and then again with a second strike. Waves passed through the ship like the surface of water. Nasty black-and-red welts glowed where the rail-gun rounds had hit, but the plating—or whatever it was—folded over the wound, closing it, then folded again, and the damage was gone as if it had never been there.\n\nAnother volley of rail-gun fire from the EMC ships, but as the Tempest flinched back again and spun away again, it erupted in a cloud of plasma, and then emerged from it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer didn't understand until Hu spoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holy shit. How many rail guns does that bastard have?\"\n\nNow the Tempest shifted and swirled, leaving a trail of glowing gas behind it like an afterimage. It was beautiful in its way, a warrior's dance—power and intention and technique that were almost balletic. And then the EMC ships began to die." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Ontario is hit. Reporting reactor breach and dumping core. We are seeing impacts on the Severin, the Talwar, and the Odachi, but no system confirmation yet. Rounds arrived thirty seconds earlier than the model anticipated.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuckers,\" Avasarala said. \"That's why they took out the missile. Throw a changeup and let us think it was their fastball.\"\n\n\"Whatever they're using for predictive algorithms, it's really good,\" Hu said, awe in her voice. \"That's almost a third of our attack group down. And if ... Oh.\"\n\nFor a moment, Drummer didn't understand what she was seeing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Independence, the second void city to launch, the home to hundreds of thousands, seemed to bloom like a flower." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Long petals of carbon lace and titanium peeled back, turning as they did. Something terrible and bright happened in the center of the city, but Drummer couldn't guess what it was. What she knew, what mattered, was that between one breath and the next, Independence was dead.\n\n\"We're counting eight simultaneous impacts on the void city,\" an analyst said from somewhere farther away than the control room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They seem to have been placed to exploit resonance. We're seeing some structural breakdown.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Emily Santos-Baca was on Independence, Drummer thought, and she'd been dead already for over an hour. It didn't matter how much adrenaline was pumping through Drummer's veins, how tightly she gripped her bulb of old tea. She could shout the retreat order if she wanted to, but anyone in a position to hear her was dead already, or would be by the time her words could reach them.\n\nThe PDCs along the Tempest's side fluttered again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another group of EMC torpedoes died, faster this time because it was a smaller attack." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Tempest seemed to pause, floating in the distant nothingness as if inviting the EMC ships to take their best shots. Taunting them.\n\nAn hour and twenty-three minutes before, the EMC ships shifted, lit their Epstein drives as hard as they'd go, and turned to whatever vector got them away from the theater of battle as quickly as they could. The Tempest didn't react. No new blooms from their rail guns." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No more torpedoes. Drummer didn't believe for a second that the enemy's supplies had been exhausted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trejo wasn't killing the other ships because he didn't need or want to. That was all.\n\nDrummer put her tea on the little side table next to Hu's, turned, and walked out. She was aware in a vague, distant way of Vaughn behind her, calling her name. It wasn't something that mattered enough to attend to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The decking of People's Home felt fragile under her feet, as if her footsteps might be enough to break them and spin her and everyone else in the city flying out into the vacuum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She passed her security detail, distantly aware of the men and women assigned to make sure she was safe in any circumstances scrambling to follow her.\n\nIt didn't matter. Because they didn't matter. Not when a whole city could die in a heartbeat.\n\nShe was in the lobby of the union's executive offices, sitting in an uncomfortable couch with her eyes locked on nothing in particular when Avasarala found her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old woman steered her wheelchair across from Drummer like they were in someone's private quarters or a back porch back on Earth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was no one else in the lobby. That was Vaughn's doing, more likely than not. In her imagination, the decking beneath her and Avasarala bucked and split open. What had Santos-Baca thought when it happened?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Had she had time to think about it at all?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was trying to understand that she would never see the younger woman again, but the thought wouldn't take. She dreaded what came after it did.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" Avasarala said.\n\nDrummer shook her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It won't help you,\" the old woman said, \"but they all knew the risks going in. The chances that we would turn the Tempest back the first time we tried? Always thin.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We should have waited,\" Drummer said. \"We should have pulled them all back. Gathered everyone together and had every goddamn ship we have attack that fucking monstrosity at the same time. Wipe it out.\"\n\nHer voice broke. She was crying, but it didn't feel like it was her doing it. Avasarala handed her a cloth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're mistaken, Camina. The cost was higher than we wanted. Higher than we'd thought. But we did what we came here to do.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Die? Badly?\"\n\n\"Learn,\" Avasarala said. \"How quickly the deck healed itself? That's something we needed to know. But the places where a rail-gun round hit their PDCs, the weapons system there didn't grow right back into place? We needed those too, and we didn't even know to look for them. Maybe the ship can't fix more complex mechanisms. We have a map of the armaments now. Where the PDCs are. Where the rail guns are. Where the torpedoes launch from. Next time, you can target those specifically. Degrade its attacking power, push it in ways we couldn't this time because we just didn't know.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Drummer said.\n\n\"They didn't die for nothing,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Everyone dies for nothing,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were quiet for a moment. Drummer coughed, blew her nose into the cloth, and then leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. Since the moment she'd taken the oath of office, there had been moments—not many, but enough to recognize—that she'd been certain that her place at the head of the union was all a terrible mistake. Saba promised her that everyone felt like that, like an impostor, sometimes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was part of being human." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His words had seemed comforting before. In her mind, Independence died again. She had the sick feeling that it would die a thousand more times before she got to sleep. More when she dreamed it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Did you do this to me?\" she asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala frowned, papery forehead folding itself like a slept-on sheet.\n\n\"Did you manipulate me into sacrificing my people so that you'd get the data you wanted?\" Drummer said. \"Was this you?\"\n\n\"This was history fucking us both,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Live as long as I have? See the changes that I've seen? You'll learn something terrible about this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tell me.\"\n\n\"No point. Until you see it yourself, you won't understand.\"\n\n\"Hey, you know what? Fuck you.\"\n\nAvasarala laughed hard enough that her wheelchair thought something was wrong and bucked forward a few centimeters before she could stop it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The artificially pretty man who acted as the news anchor for what everyone was calling the Laconian-state newsfeed sat in somber reflection, not quite looking directly into the camera. On a screen behind him, the first battle between the Tempest and the combined forces of the Sol system played out. It was all from the Tempest's perspective, of course. Lots of telescopic zooms and torpedo-guidance camera footage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In one, a Martian frigate, one of the Rocinante's next-generation cousins, died in a fireball as a rail gun shot cut through it from nose to tail." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In another, a torpedo camera POV hurtled through space and into the flank of a UNN destroyer and ended in a flash of static.\n\nOne by one, the ships of the Sol fleet died. From the footage, it wasn't possible to tell if the Tempest was even damaged. And each time a ship died, a quiet gasp went through the air around Holden as he sat and watched the first act of the end of the world in a cramped metal room surrounded by the members of his little resistance group." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The screen behind the pretty man went blank." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He turned his sober face directly into the camera and said, \"To address Medina Station regarding what you've just seen, we are honored to bring you a statement from station governor, Captain Santiago Singh.\"\n\nThe camera pulled back to reveal Governor Singh sitting at the news desk next to pretty boy. Singh lacked his counterpart's carefully sculpted androgynous beauty, but he shared his look of quiet reflection.\n\n\"Greetings, Laconian citizens and residents of Medina Station. I come here in a moment of tragedy for us all. I will not gloat, or brag about Laconian military superiority. I have no wish to glory in the destruction you've just witnessed. Instead, I honor the brave warriors of the Sol system, who died believing they were defending their homes. There is no greater sacrifice a warrior can make, and I have nothing but respect for these courageous people. I ask that you honor them as well, as we have a moment of silence.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh lowered his head and closed his eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pretty boy did the same.\n\n\"Motherfucker,\" someone behind Holden said. Next to him, Bobbie loudly cracked her knuckles and frowned so hard Holden worried she might pull out the fresh stitches holding her cheek together.\n\nOn the screen, Singh lifted his head, then a moment later opened his eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Laconians, and I speak to everyone on Medina when I say that, as I consider all of you my fellow citizens and peers. Laconians, the stated goal of your military is always the defense and protection of life. When the Sol system fleet ceased their attack and began a retreat, the Heart of the Tempest immediately ceased firing on them. And no element of the Laconian military—ship, soldier, or station—will ever fire except in response to threat to life or property.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or in retribution against a whole fucking system you don't like,\" someone said from behind Holden. \"Hypocritical dawusa.\"\n\nSingh leaned forward, his dark eyes imploring all who watched him. \"I urge everyone with family or friends in the Sol system to contact them, to urge their political representatives to meet with Admiral Trejo and discuss the terms of their entry into the Laconian Empire without further military action and loss of life. Those who died were heroes all, but Laconia wants live citizens, not dead heroes. It is our duty—yours and mine—to do everything we can to achieve peace and safety for all of us. To this end, I am temporarily lifting the communication blackout back to the Sol system for those with family there. Please use this freedom to help your loved ones make the right decision. Thank you for your attention, and good day to all.\"\n\nBobbie rolled her shoulders like a boxer stepping into the ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To her right, Naomi was staring at the screen through half-lidded eyes, like she was solving a complex math problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was about to speak when Saba stood up and walked to the front of the room. The thirty or so people of the Medina Station insurgency became respectfully quiet. Holden held his breath.\n\n\"No reprisals,\" Saba said, and Holden released his held breath in a rush." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was not what he'd expected to hear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You savvy, coyos? Not one fucking thing. Yeah, pissed off, you. Got reason. Got all the reason. Want to cut a throat, make somebody pay.\"\n\n\"God damn right,\" a skinny man everyone called Nutter said, standing up and toying with the knife on his belt. \"Maybe a lot of throats.\"\n\n\"You do,\" Saba said to him, \"and yours is next, and I'm doing the cutting. Mushroom food, you. Every Laconian throat you cut is ten of ours you're bleeding out. We stay angry, but we stay smart, sabe? Stay with your missions, stay with your plans.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A ripple of grudging assent moved through the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People started getting up to leave. The mutters of conversation had an edge to them, but Holden didn't hear anyone actively planning a murder, so he'd call it a win.\n\nHolden caught Bobbie's eye and then stood up to grab Saba's arm before he could leave. \"Let's talk.\"\n\nFifteen minutes later Saba, Bobbie, and Naomi were sipping tea out of waxy cups in the Diner." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden tried casually leaning against the wall for a minute, then gave up and paced around the room to give his restless energy someplace to go." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The problem we've got right now is we're all rats in a cage,\" he said. \"And we're spending a lot of time and energy figuring out how big the cage is and where the doors are and how we might open one. But we haven't got a single clue what we'd do if we actually got out.\"\n\n\"We don't start with just getting out?\" Naomi asked.\n\n\"There was a time when I'd have said that was enough,\" Holden agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But that was when I was still thinking of this as a war. When escaping to join up with our side of the fight might matter.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This isn't a war now,\" Bobbie said, her voice low and dangerous.\n\n\"No?\" Saba asked.\n\n\"No,\" Holden said. \"The war's over. Sol might not know it yet, and a lot of people will die so that they can feel like they gave it a shot, but it's over.\"\n\n\"So what, then,\" Saba asked. \"Good Laconians, us?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Holden replied. \"At least not yet. But it does change the nature of what we're doing here. We're not looking to get the Roci free and join the fight. This is a jailbreak.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi made a clicking noise with her tongue, her eyes distant, then said, \"All the same problems. The Marines, the Laconian destroyer, Medina's scopes. But you're saying if we can solve those, we just get as many people and ships free as we can and make a run for it. Scatter.\"\n\nSaba nodded one fist, then gave her the two-fingered OPA salute. Holden felt a little twinge of unease about that, but this wasn't the time to talk it through.\n\n\"It gives us a goal,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe we can keep everyone pulling the same direction if they understand what the end game is.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba tilted his head. There was no surprise in his expression. He'd been thinking along the same lines, so maybe he'd come to the same conclusions. \"The decryption safe room.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't like losing it,\" Holden said, looking more at Bobbie now than Saba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're still getting in a lot of data from the sniffer, and I know once we move forward with the plan, we lose that. We won't get it back. But until we can decrypt what we do have, we can't use it. And the Typhoon? It's due in thirty-three days.\"\n\n\"Thirty-two,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"I don't want to die with one still in the chamber,\" Bobbie said. \"I'm good with the timing.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bien,\" Saba said. \"I'm in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Great,\" Holden replied. \"Get word to every cell leader and ship captain you trust. We need to have everyone ready when the time comes.\"\n\n\"This is gonna be some strange bedfellows,\" Saba said as he left.\n\n\"Find some lunch?\" Holden said to Naomi.\n\n\"Give me half an hour,\" she replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want to get a computer crunching the tactical data that video gave us. But after that, meet out front?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"OK,\" Holden said, wondering how to waste half an hour in the cramped space of their little hideout.\n\n\"Hey, Holden,\" Bobbie said as Naomi left the room. \"Can I hang on to you for a second?\"\n\nHolden shrugged and sat on a crate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie sat flexing her hands and staring at the floor so long that Holden started to wonder if he'd misheard her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He braced himself. He didn't know where this conversation was going to go, but he had a suspicion it was about her and him and the captaincy of the Rocinante, and he didn't know what to say about any of that. So it came as kind of a relief that he was wrong.\n\n\"Amos is going to be a problem,\" she finally said. \"I had the Voltaire people talked off the ledge when he started that fight. He wanted to crack some heads, and he made it happen. That's fine for shore leave when he wants to blow off some steam, but it won't fly when we're under the radar like this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Huh. Okay. I'd wondered about that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's a problem I don't know how to fix,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Me neither,\" Holden said. \"But give it a couple days.\"\n\n\"Not sure we have them,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why not?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie pointed behind her back, meaning not what was physically behind her but backward in time. \"You just gave us all a goal,\" she said. \"Something to bring us all together.\"\n\n\"I did,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And I'm thinking from the way you're looking at me right now that there's some aspect of that I've maybe overlooked?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Some of us are Katria Mendez and her mad bombers.\"\n\nHolden felt a coolness down his spine. \"Yeah. That could be interesting,\" he said.\n\n\"Right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He found Amos in a narrow side hall, a welding torch in his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The big man's arms showed little pocks of red where sparks had landed, but Amos hadn't done so much as find a long-sleeved work shirt.\n\n\"Hey,\" Holden said. \"How's it going?\"\n\n\"Doing all right,\" Amos said, gesturing at the conduits that textured the wall. \"Saba's folks said we should reroute the power. Makes it a little harder for the cops to track down where they're losing it from if it keeps moving.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Decent plan in theory,\" Amos said. \"In practice, kind of an ass-pain, but whatever.\"\n\n\"I can see that,\" Holden said, then paused.\n\nThe truth was, in spite of decades flying the same ship, Holden still had very little idea what made Amos tick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He liked food, booze, meaningless sex, jokes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He seemed to like palling around with Alex, but when their pilot had decided to try being married again, Bobbie had been his best man. Amos treated every word out of Naomi's mouth as if it were gospel, but the truth was all of them did these days.\n\nAmos found the conduit he was looking for, lit up the torch, and opened a six-centimeter length of it, exposing the plastic-sheathed wire inside it without so much as melting the insulation. It was a good trick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos killed the torch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So,\" Holden said again. \"How's it going?\"\n\nAmos paused. Turned to look at Holden.\n\n\"Ah,\" the big mechanic said. \"Sorry there, Cap. Were we having a conversation and I didn't notice?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Kind of, yes,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Babs ratted me out.\" Amos' voice was as calm as the surface of still water. Holden was pretty certain something big was swimming underneath it.\n\n\"Look,\" he said, \"we didn't get where we are by me prying into things you didn't want pried into. I don't want to change that now. But yes, Bobbie's worried about you. I am too. We're going into some pretty dangerous times here, and if there's anything that you need to get off your chest, now is a better time than later.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos shrugged. \"Nah, I get it. I got a little happy when we went on that last run. Opened up sooner than Babs would have liked. I'll rein in some if it makes her feel better.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't want to make an issue of it,\" Holden said.\n\n\"It ain't an issue, then,\" Amos said, turning back to the conduit. He took a thick pair of pliers from his pocket, clamped them over the power cable, and started wrestling it out like he was getting crab meat out of a shell. It looked really dangerous." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll play nice. Cross my heart.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay, then,\" Holden said. \"Great. Glad we had this talk.\"\n\n\"Anytime,\" Amos said.\n\nHolden hesitated, turned, and walked away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie was right. He didn't know what was going on in Amos' mind, but something definitely was." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was hard-pressed to think what the good version of that looked like. And if Amos was finally coming off the rails, he had no idea what would cause it or how to fix it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The representatives from the Voltaire Collective entered the meeting space like they were anticipating an attack." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She would have felt the same if the positions were reversed. Three in the front with unencumbered hands, three in the back looking around like tourists coming to a casino for the first time in case something interesting or threatening would come from behind, and in the center, Katria Mendez. Her face was the expressionless calm of a player at a poker table. The kind that always left with more chips than she came with." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just seeing her made Bobbie's cheek throb a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Psychosomatic pain, but pain all the same. She registered the sensation but didn't let it bother her.\n\nSaba stepped forward, Holden at his side, and greeted them, waved them forward with smiles and Belter salutes. He let them check him for weapons first as a kind of social courtesy, and Holden did the same." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old phrase from back in the day came to Bobbie's mind: There's OPA and there's OPA." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Same now as it had been then. It was always a little eerie to see how comfortably the men and women of the Transport Union fell back into being criminals. And how well she and the crew of the Roci fit in with them when they did.\n\nAmos stretched his shoulders and neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't like it either.\"\n\n\"Don't recognize the one with the nose,\" Amos said, pointing with his chin toward Katria's bodyguard. \"The other ones, I'm pretty sure we danced with.\"\n\nBobbie considered their faces." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The one Amos was talking about stood in the rear, just behind Katria." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had olive skin, close-cropped hair, and a long nose that had been broken a couple times and not set right. A white scar marked one nostril like someone had slit it for him once. She was pretty sure she'd have remembered him if she'd run into him before. The others, she wasn't as certain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria, obviously, and two of her guards at the front all seemed familiar enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe we'll get to know him,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Now you're just flirting with me, Babs. Promising a good dustup when everyone else is here for talking.\"\n\n\"Yeah, well,\" Bobbie said. \"A girl can dream.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The banter felt almost normal, but she wasn't easy with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not yet. She was plenty willing to play along for the moment, though. Katria caught her eye and nodded. Bobbie smiled, her cheek pulling at its new scab, and nodded back. It could have been respect between equals or the handshake at the start of a fight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie figured they'd all find out which soon enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The meeting space was new to her. A long, thin room that had been part of the water-recycling system recently enough that it still smelled a little bit of wet plant and sewage. Twice as long as it was wide, there was enough space for the Roci crew, Saba, and a half dozen of his most trusted crew. The ones who already knew the plan." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't a pleasant spot, but the cartography of the underground's borders were shifting now, more and more often." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Laconian surveys had been finding the holes in the system surveillance, denying them free access to the corridors and units they'd made their own. They'd been spending more and more of their time in the monitored public spaces. Part of that had been reconnaissance for her plan. Part of that had been that there were fewer and fewer spaces left on Medina where they could speak freely." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All through the station, there were soldiers and crowd-suppression drones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't bother her, passing the people with haunted eyes, walking like the deck might be too fragile to support their mass. She understood them. The others, the ones who were laughing and talking and listening to music loud enough that she could hear the bass, bothered her more. They were acting like the open-air prisons and the power-armored Marines, the communications control and shift curfews were normal. And because of that, they were." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wouldn't be long before the Laconians started shipping through the slow zone again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe she and the others would be allowed back on the Roci when that happened, but Bobbie found it hard to believe there wouldn't be monitors placed in there too. It could take Naomi and Clarissa days or weeks to purge them all and make their ship fully their own again.\n\nAnd by then, it would be too late anyway. Every day, every hour, brought the Typhoon's arrival closer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And once it had cleared the Laconia gate, staying ahead of the occupying forces became orders of magnitude more difficult." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which was the optimist's way of saying \"impossible.\" Bobbie felt the pressure of time slipping away like she was watching a door close, with her on the wrong side of it. If it hadn't been for the time pressure, she wouldn't have gone along with Saba's suggestion to reach out to the Voltaire Collective. Or at least not so soon after she and Amos had kicked their asses." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The only good thing was that Katria and her people were just as screwed as Saba and Bobbie and Holden, and by the same things." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So,\" Katria said once the requisite sniffing was done, \"I'm surprised at having so civil a meeting. I have to think you need something from me you can't manage by yourselves?\"\n\nSaba smiled, but waved his hand twice sharply. \"Too many ears, sa sa? Come sit with me and mine, have a drink, and we'll talk about what we talk about.\"\n\nKatria crossed her arms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's not you,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's just that the fewer people know about this, the less chance someone gets picked up by security. You can't tell anyone what you don't know, right?\"\n\nKatria Mendez looked from Saba to Holden and then, pointedly over to where the Roci crew were sitting. Not just Bobbie and Amos, but Naomi and Alex and Clarissa besides. \"So none of mine but all of theirs?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All of theirs already know,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're who wants to talk with you most.\"\n\n\"They have strange ways of showing it,\" Katria said.\n\n\"This is my house,\" Saba said. \"My salt on it, yeah? Parley. And if it's nothing, it's nothing. But we're under the same thumb, you and me. Not asking you to love anyone. Just listen to.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "For a moment, Katria hesitated." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her scowl bit into her cheeks like it was going for bone. Bobbie had a brief flash of certainty that the whole Voltaire Collective was about to turn and walk away without even hearing her pitch, and she was more than a little relieved at the idea.\n\n\"Esá es bullshit,\" the one with the nose spat. \"They're just trying to get you on your own, que? Make you not be here, that's all. It's all of us or none!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's my call, Jordao,\" Katria snapped. \"Not yours.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The one with the nose—Jordao, apparently—stepped back, sulking. Holden was smiling like a salesman, as if his radiant goodwill could warm up every other interaction in the room. It left him looking more than a little ridiculous, but damned if Katria didn't consider him for a long moment and chuckle.\n\n\"If I refuse, then we all took a long walk for nothing,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden beamed. Bobbie wasn't sure how he did it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The way he could disarm a situation with his almost palpable guilelessness astonished her every time.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Holden said. \"I really appreciate this.\"\n\nSaba lifted a hand and two of his people ghosted in from the corridor and led Katria's guard away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Standing by herself, she didn't seem any less imposing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The door to the corridor slid shut, and the bolt clicked. It was as near to privacy as anyone on Medina could have.\n\n\"So,\" Katria said. \"What's on your mind?\"\n\nBobbie took a long breath, let it out between her teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The idea had been hers from the start, and she'd been mulling it over for days." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hadn't slept as much as she'd wanted. Even when she hadn't been reviewing it and looking for holes in the plan, she'd felt too jagged and amped up to sleep. Part of that had been thinking about how to make the approach she was going for now.\n\n\"There's a single point of contact between the Laconian destroyer and Medina,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And we have a bug on it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria's eyes went a degree wider. She glanced over to Saba, who nodded. It was true. Katria didn't sit, but her weight settled into her hips a little. Bobbie had her attention. That was good." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The encryption isn't breakable,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not from the outside. The Martian codes it's based on are solid. We might be able to crack them if we had between now and about a decade on, but we're down to a countable number of days. So we've got enough intelligence gathered to fill libraries that we can't read. But I think we can fix that.\"\n\nShe plucked her hand terminal out of her pocket, slaved it to Saba's local system, and pulled up the schematic of Medina that she'd been using. The cavernous center of the drum, command and control on one end, engineering and the docks and the massive but quiescent engines on the other. The elevator shafts that ran between them outside the surface of the drum." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And also the ships in the dock, including—highlighted in red—the Gathering Storm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The longer goal is that we find a way to disable the Storm, here, shut down Medina's sensor arrays, and distract or isolate the security forces on Medina long enough to let all these ships get off station and out through the rings before their reinforcements from Laconia get here. The short-term goal\"—she zoomed in on a small red mark inside Medina proper, near the docks—\"is this.\"\n\n\"And that is?\" Katria asked.\n\n\"It used to be backup power storage,\" Bobbie said. \"But since our guests from Laconia got here, it's been repurposed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The thing is,\" Alex said, breaking in, \"these Laconian fellas? They were all Martians to start, or their leadership were anyway. And they were serving just a little after me and Bobbie here did our tours.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked from Bobbie to Katria to Saba and then back. Bobbie nodded him on. Alex licked his lips.\n\n\"One of the things we trained on was how to go about securing an enemy station,\" he said, which wasn't true." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was something Bobbie had trained to do, not him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Storm and control the homes and communities of Belters. If there was going to be a sore spot, this would be it. It was why Alex was saying it instead of the woman who'd cleaned Katria's clock and left her zip-tied to her friends. It seemed less likely to rub on Katria wrong that way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You heard of air-gap encryption strong rooms?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria's eyes were brighter. She hadn't, but she didn't want to admit that. Alex licked his lips again, shot a look from Bobbie to Katria and back to Bobbie, then went on. \"One thing that we did was maintain physical separation between whatever ship was taking control and the local systems. Lay in a pipe to one of our own boxes on the station, and send any commands we wanted for the base there. Communications, control protocols, everything. It gets unencrypted there, and set onto onetime physical media to walk over to the local system. No live connections at all.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bullshit,\" Katria said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's standard,\" Bobbie said. \"And it's part of why no one was ever able to hack back into a Martian ship from a controlled station. And since the Laconians are basing their protocols on Martian ones, this is where that machine is.\"\n\n\"But the lag time—\" Katria shook her head. \"That's impressive.\"\n\n\"The room is crewed by two people, always. The door is physically locked. Not connected to the security grid, no electronic interface. Old-school bolt and key, and no keyhole on the outside. Can't be hacked into remotely, can't be circumvented easily,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And a full complement of guards at shift change.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria took control of the model, zooming farther in on the encryption vault. Her face was thoughtful, which was better than Bobbie had hoped. It made her nervous to talk about this.\n\n\"I see,\" Katria said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can't get in without making a lot of noise and calling in the cavalry. Is that why you need me? To blow the door?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Bobbie said. \"We have a way in. We need your help to cover it up once we're done.\"\n\nKatria traced a slow circle with her fingers. Go on.\n\nClarissa picked up the thread. \"The room is still connected to the environmental system. But if we put a team here\"—she pulled the model back to a larger frame and touched the power junctions near engineering—\"we can shut down the fans and open the carbon dioxide scrubbers and recycling systems.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Choke them out?\" Katria asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex shook his head. \"Make a path to pilot some little drones in. Half a dozen of 'em with point-blasting charges. Take down the two guards, then use the rest to pop the lock.\" He made a little boom sound with his lips and opened two fists in the physical cartoon of an explosion.\n\nBobbie pointed toward Naomi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She has a snapshot cloning deck. I'll have a crowbar and a hammer. We get in, make a full-state copy of the encryption box, and get out to the hardened-radiation shelter\"—Bobbie moved the model—\"here. And then you come in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If los security coyos know we stole their codes,\" Saba said, leaning against the wall, \"they change things up, yeah? Not just new crypt but new procedures. Everything we've got turns into a whole lot less. So they can't know what we do, even after it's done.\"\n\nHolden pulled the model out to show where the Storm was docked against the side of the station. \"We need to give them a different story. The Storm's parked here. And the primary liquid-oxygen storage tanks are ... right here. If that blows out, it will look like we're trying to blow up the Storm, but Tycho built this place well. Lots of redundancy and fail-safes. There's an explosion-relief route that'll vent the pressure blast out along this pathway here ... which takes out the communications vault. And, y'know, a bunch of other stuff.\"\n\n\"You want to blow our air out as cover?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria said. \"I think you may owe us an apology. We're usually the ones who are called extreme.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not our air,\" Saba said. \"Theirs as soon as they came here. We're breathing on their grace, us. Plus, those tanks are docked-ship refills. Not for the habitat.\"\n\n\"And there will be plenty in the secondary and tertiary tanks,\" Holden said. \"Remember, lots of redundancy, lots of fail-safes. And Tycho's original design remembers longer than the people living in it do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria went quiet for a long time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt the anxiety growing in her gut. It had been a mistake to bring the Voltaire Collective in on this. It didn't matter how much Saba trusted them or how good they were with demolitions. She should have kept it just within her own crew, where she could control it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where she was sure of everyone ..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't like it,\" Katria said, shaking her head. \"A lot of moving parts. The more pieces there are, the more ways there are for it to break.\"\n\nBobbie shrugged. \"If the time wasn't so short, I'd do something simpler.\"\n\n\"All we need is the right bomb, the right place,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You give us those, and we take the mission from there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Katria said. \"You need the charges, you need someone to put the charges in the right places at the right time. And need someone on the remote switch who doesn't panic and throw it a little too early and take out your team. And even if they don't, do you think someone in a rad shelter's going to live through that blow?\"\n\nNaomi cleared her throat. \"They're rated for it. But you're right. We can't know until we try.\"\n\n\"What's the evac plan once your little Armageddon is over?\" Katria asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was more than Bobbie had wanted to say." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There should be some parts of the plan that weren't being shared. Saba paused, weighing whether to bring Katria that far in. When he spoke, his voice was surly. He didn't like having his hand forced any more than Bobbie did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Vac suits in the shelter. Go out through the hole. Same airlock we used to bug the line the first time, we use it to get back in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria took control of the model again, turning it, moving through the lower reaches of Medina deck by deck. \"It's going to kill people,\" she said. \"When the engineering decks start breathing vacuum, not everyone's going to make it to the shelters.\"\n\n\"Savvy,\" Saba said. \"Has a price.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is it one you'd pay?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is,\" Saba said, but Holden's expression had a distance to it. Bobbie could tell what was in his mind. There could be innocent people on the decks when the time came. At best, their plan would risk them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At worst, some would be killed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Saba and Katria were bothered by the idea, they didn't show it. Holden was bothered by it. She wondered if he'd stand on principle and scrub the whole thing. It was even money, knowing him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Demolition team goes here,\" Katria said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Plant the charges, then fall back to the shelter and wait for the team with the stolen data to arrive, then blow it. Everyone leaves together, or no one does. It's not my first time on an op like this. You'll need a couple more vac suits, is all.\"\n\nBobbie didn't catch the important word until Clarissa spoke, her voice gentle and questioning. But Bobbie heard the sharpness under it. \"Your first time on an op like?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Who else?\" Katria said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you want it done right, you get the best to do it. I'm the best. I make the charges, I place the charges, and it's my steady hand holding the detonator.\"\n\nThe room was quiet apart from the soft hiss of the air recyclers and the soft, harmonic thrum of the ship. The hint of old sewage smelled a little worse. Saba had only wanted the Voltaire Collective involved for material support." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't looking for another player when the operation took place." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But telling Katria she couldn't be active in the field ... would it insult her? And if it did, would that be enough to get her to turn on them?\n\n\"Sounds good,\" Amos said. \"You and me on the demo team, Miss Kitty.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "His smile was placid and empty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt a shock of alarm. She met Holden's gaze and shook her head a millimeter. This is a very bad idea. Holden swallowed, nodded, forced himself to smile as well." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "SOL OPERATION NEARING COMPLETION. PREPARE INITIAL SHIPPING AUTHORIZATIONS.\n\nSingh read Trejo's message over twice, joy blooming in his chest. He took a moment to send the order to his section heads and group commanders, and pulled up what everyone jokingly called the \"occupation calendar.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even based on the amended projections from Laconia that included not pausing to rebuild the battery, the immediate transit of the Tempest to Sol system, and the early deployment of the Typhoon, they were weeks ahead of schedule." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd built some flex into the schedule in the event that the Transport Union put up a more bitter fight to hold Medina, or the Earth-Mars Coalition Navy had revealed naval forces or technology significantly greater than their estimates. But neither thing had turned out to be true, and sooner than anyone expected, they could get down to the business of building the new human civilization.\n\nThe sad fact of the human species that High Consul Duarte understood so well was that you could never overcome tribalism and jingoism with an argument. Tribalism was an irrational position, and it was impossible to defeat an irrational position with a rational argument." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And so, instead of presenting a logical plan for why humanity needed to give up the old national and cultural divides and become a single unified species, the high consul obeyed the old forms that everyone would understand, and went to war." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thankfully, a brief one.\n\nThe real work, the work that would let Elsa grow up in a universe that was safe for her, and for her children's children's children, was the work that came after the conquest of the rest of humanity. Work that required stability.\n\n\"Ensign,\" Singh said at his monitor, which was currently flattened out on his desk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd appointed a temporary replacement for Lieutenant Kasik, and he hadn't quite memorized her name yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Governor?\" she replied a moment later.\n\n\"Please send my compliments to President Fisk, and let her know we're sending a cart to pick her up. I need an immediate meeting to discuss some urgent matters. Do not take no.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" the ensign replied. \"I also—\"\n\n\"Right away, Ensign,\" Singh said, then took a look around at his office." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The flowers someone had placed in a vase on his corner table were dying, and the shelf that held his coffeemaker was a mess." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Also, send in someone to make fresh coffee and replace these flowers before the meeting.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir. I wanted to also let you know that you have an incoming message from Laconia. The Storm just sent it over.\"\n\n\"Send it through. And please let me know five minutes before President Fisk arrives.\"\n\n\"Of course, sir,\" the ensign said and then killed the connection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh tapped on the glowing message button on his monitor and it projected a still picture of his wife holding Monster." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Play message,\" he said.\n\nThe still image sprang to life. The recording must have started midway through her expression, because Nat's face went from an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile to her normal wide grin. Monster didn't seem all that interested in the camera lens, and instead was focused on something over her mother's shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were both beautiful, and Singh felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach that was always there, but that he managed to ignore until he saw their faces." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hi, Sonny,\" Nat said to the camera. She held up Monster's hand and waved at the screen with it. \"Say hi to Daddy.\"\n\n\"Hi, sweetie,\" Singh said to the recording like an idiot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He couldn't help himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know you're so busy right now, but we have some good news to pass along,\" Nat said. She put Monster down, and the girl ran off out of frame. Singh felt irrationally disappointed to see her go. \"My work with sheep modification has been approved for the next round of live testing. We could go wide with it in the next thirty months. Which means a posting to Medina would actually help me move the project forward. No pressure, or anything.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled as she said it, but he felt the loneliness echoed in her eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She continued. \"Monster is doing well. She's a little bored, and so ready to move into the big kids' room at school. She spends most afternoons with your dad, and they're becoming the best of friends. She calls him Poompaw now, and he's started insisting everyone else call him that too. Most days he doesn't want me to take her when I get off work. We eat dinner at his place a lot of evenings.\"\n\nSingh felt a swell of love and gratitude for his father that he'd never felt before he had a child of his own. He paused the video playback and took a moment so he wouldn't get maudlin and weepy. It wouldn't do to bring Carrie Fisk in and begin delivering his orders while his eyes were goopy and red." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he'd gathered himself, he started it again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So, that's it, I guess. Reply when you get a minute. The home monitor has figured out Monster's version of the word play, so she loves replaying your messages over and over again. Love you, Sonny. Be safe out there.\"\n\nAnd that was it. Nat saying she loved him shattered whatever resolve he thought he had, and he spent the next several minutes blubbering shamefully to himself.\n\nSomeone tapped at his door, and he called out, \"Give me a moment!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then rushed off to his private bathroom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While he was washing his face, he heard the sounds of someone cleaning up his office, and by the time he'd put himself back in shape to see people, there was a fresh pot of coffee percolating on the shelf. A noncom was just finishing up by placing new flowers in his vase. The chief threw him a snappy salute, then faded out of the room like a cat.\n\nSingh sat at his desk, composed himself, then started a recording to Nat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hello, my dear. Thank you for the lovely message. I'm so happy to hear things are going well there, and Monster looks very well fed, so my father is almost certainly spoiling her rotten with sweet rolls. Things are still ahead of schedule here. Living here will take some getting used to, but there's plenty of usable land for your sheep and lab, and we're working to get all the services up to snuff for my little girl. Talk soon. I love you, Nat. I love you—\" He almost said Monster, but something felt wrong about using her pet name." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I love you, Elsa.\"\n\nHe killed the connection, and sent the file for processing to pass it down to Laconia with the next comm dump. He took a lot of pride in the fact that saying \"I love you\" to Nat hadn't sent him into another weeping fit. There were people who thought that sort of thing was unmanly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh didn't care about that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it was undignified.\n\n\"Five minutes,\" Ensign Somebody said from his monitor.\n\n\"I'm ready,\" he replied.\n\nCarrie Fisk sat in a chair in his office, drinking his coffee and looking twitchy and uncomfortable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been picked up at her office by fully armored Marines and driven to the governor's offices in a convoy of three carts filled with other Marines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For her protection, certainly, but it could also be a little intimidating for someone who wasn't used to it. If that gave Singh a bit of a home-field advantage when dealing with the minor functionaries on Medina, he'd happily take it. He waited until she'd stopped fidgeting and started paying attention to him, then pulled up a list of the hundreds of ring systems that had habitable colonies and threw the list up onto his wall.\n\n\"Madam President,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We've reached an exciting moment for us all, but especially for you as the first president of the Laconian Congress of Worlds.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Are we married to that name change?\" she asked. \"Or ...\"\n\n\"The name of the legislative body is established in the documentation I gave you after our first meeting. Did you not read those documents?\"\n\n\"I did,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I just wasn't sure if that was a working title, or not. We haven't voted on adopting the new—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You do not vote on directives delivered from the executive authority of the high consul's office.\"\n\n\"I see,\" Fisk said. She stared at her lap and blew steam off her coffee.\n\n\"As I was saying,\" Singh continued." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is an exciting time for us all. High Admiral Trejo has decided that our situation is now secure enough to allow limited trade to resume through the gates.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fisk looked up at him with genuine surprise. \"What?\"\n\n\"Yes. Limited trade can be scheduled starting now. Put together a list of the worlds in the greatest need, as well as a schedule of deliveries that can meet those needs. Not from Sol system. Not yet. At first, we'll allow a single ship transit per week, and of course each transit must be approved by me personally at least thirty days before it's scheduled to occur.\"\n\n\"That's actually—\" Fisk started, then stopped for a moment. \"That's actually really good to hear. There are a lot of colonies barely hanging on by a thread. This will save lives.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And that is, of course, always the first priority of our respective positions.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ah,\" Fisk said, then leaned forward to put her coffee cup on the edge of his desk. As Singh frowned at it and the disrespectful informality it denoted, she said, \"On that topic I passed along your threat to every colonized world. I also extended your invitation to the planets that have not already joined the association—forgive me, the Laconian Congress of Worlds—to elect a representative to join our group once trade has resumed. I assume some of those planets will be asking to send their new reps along with the trade ships.\"\n\n\"That's good,\" Singh said. The Laconian Congress of Worlds was something High Consul Duarte insisted on to make the member worlds feel like they had a voice in government." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As annoying as the idea of dealing with thirteen hundred Carrie Fisks would be, the high consul's opinion on this topic had the force of law, so he'd do his best to see that the new legislative body succeeded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fisk was still staring at him, waiting for some sort of answer.\n\n\"And?\" he asked.\n\n\"And, if some of these transiting ships are carrying newly elected representatives, they'll need permission to dock or send shuttles to Medina. Does the lifting of the transit ban also include permission to dock with the station?\"\n\nWhich was an excellent question, and Singh was annoyed that Carrie Fisk had thought of it before he did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Permission will be granted by this office on a case-by-case basis. Requests to be filed at minimum thirty days prior to the transit,\" he said, feeling like it came across as established policy and not something he'd just made up on the spot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd need to document that once Fisk left.\n\n\"Thank you, Governor,\" Fisk said.\n\n\"It's important that this feel familiar, stable, and safe as quickly as possible,\" Singh told her. \"To the degree possible, you will use Transport Union ships and pilots. The union will also handle the pickup and delivery of goods using their existing policies. Other than the approval process for transits, everything should work the way it did before.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll send out a notice to the union reps here on the station, and to the local leadership on each world.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Excellent,\" Singh said, standing up and reaching out to shake her hand. \"At the risk of sounding repetitive, these are very exciting times for us all.\"\n\nFisk didn't stand. She sat in his chair squeezing her hands and not looking at him. When the silence had become uncomfortable, he said, \"Was there something else, Madam President?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There is,\" she replied, looking him in the eye for the first time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She showed no sign of standing up to leave, so he sat back down again.\n\n\"Then out with it,\" he said, immediately regretting the snappish tone. \"Please.\"\n\n\"We're—I'm doing everything you asked. I've passed along your messages to the worlds. I've asked for reps to be sent from every planet that wasn't already part of the association. I've passed along President Duarte's—\"\n\n\"High Consul Duarte,\" Singh interrupted her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Of course,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've passed along the high consul's very detailed documentation on convening the new Congress of Worlds.\"\n\n\"Laconian Congress of Worlds,\" Singh said.\n\n\"Of course. But so far, that's the only thing my office has done. Act as press secretary for your office. And, with all due respect, that is not what I was voted into my office to do.\"\n\nShe looked nervous saying it, and Singh gave her a minute to stew in her worry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the mouse wanted to grow some claws, that was probably a good thing in the long run." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Laconian government had no use for those who wouldn't fight for what they believed. The high consul made it very clear that every conflicting viewpoint should have a vigorous proponent, so that everyone felt that the final decisions were made only after everything was considered fully. A planetary congress run by mice wasn't useful to anyone.\n\n\"And what,\" Singh said after he'd let her squirm enough, \"would be a better use of your time, Madam President?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If we're to be the legislative body of this new government, when do we actually start legislating? You've brought me in here to deliver these directives for me to disseminate, but not once have we voted on them. I feel that very quickly we'll be viewed as a congress in name only, in place to rubber-stamp your orders.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"As the governor,\" Singh replied, \"I am here as the direct representative of the executive branch, and the office of the high consul. You don't vote on orders from the high consul.\"\n\nHe couldn't help but laugh a bit at the very ridiculousness of that idea. As if the high consul might change his policies because of a vote.\n\n\"Then,\" Fisk replied, \"what do we vote on?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When the high consul's office has decided on this year's legislative agenda, you will be the first to be notified, Madam President. Until then, please continue working with the member worlds to ease their transition into the new government. And I assure you, that will be an excellent use of your time.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay,\" Carrie Fisk said, and stood. \"I'll just go make sure my rubber stamp is all warmed up.\"\n\nSingh didn't stand to shake her hand. \"You are dismissed.\"\n\nSingh was still mulling over the deeply unsatisfying meeting he'd had with Carrie Fisk when his monitor buzzed and Overstreet's voice came over the speaker." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sir, I have a ... gentleman who says he has important information for you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can't he give it to you?\"\n\n\"He's reluctant to, sir. Says it's for the top man only. I think it might be worth the interview.\"\n\nThat was interesting. Even if the alleged information turned out to be nothing, he was curious to see what sort of thing Overstreet thought important enough to engage him.\n\n\"Do we know this person?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, sir,\" Overstreet replied." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I assume he's already been searched for weapons.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"Give me two minutes, then,\" and Singh closed the connection. His office was still neat and tidy from Fisk's visit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He sat up straighter in his chair, and pulled his uniform jacket tight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He turned on his monitor's front-facing camera and examined himself. Secured and shipshape. The very picture of a military commander.\n\nThere was a discreet knock, then two Marines walked in with Overstreet and a tall, thin man of the generic Belter variety. The only feature this one had that seemed different at all was his comically large nose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was misshapen from repeated breaks, and had a large scar on one nostril." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clearly a man who'd been in a few fights, and who did a poor job of keeping his hands up while boxing.\n\n\"You asked to see me?\" Singh said. He did not offer the man a chair.\n\n\"My sister in one of them cages you got out there,\" the man said, clearly working to keep his accent as Belter free as possible, and only sort of succeeding." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh glanced at Overstreet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not one of the people involved in the bombing, Governor,\" Overstreet said. \"Petty theft from a merchant.\"\n\n\"A military tribunal has been formed, and the cases will be adjudicated promptly and in the order they were filed,\" Singh replied. \"Is that all?\" It couldn't be, or Overstreet wouldn't have brought the man to his attention, but he was willing to let the Belter do some of the work here." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All that shit you said, about we help you, you help us? That just the merde or what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's the truth,\" Singh said, feeling a glimmer of interest. Overstreet had what could have been the ghost of a smile on his lips. \"Are you here to help me?\"\n\n\"Let my sister go. She's just stupid, caught stealing, no threat to you. Let her go, I know something you want to know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man rubbed his big, lumpy nose nervously as he spoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Something coming, and I know the coyo behind, yeah? Deep in with Voltaire Collective, me.\"\n\n\"You're in contact with the forces behind the bombing?\"\n\n\"Maybe,\" the broken-nosed man said. His bravado was barely thick enough to stretch across his fear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If there's enough in it. You tell it to me.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh paused for a moment, letting the silence stretch. A network of locals loyal to him. Dependent on his generosity. It was all coming together so well.\n\n\"I think you and I are about to become friends,\" Singh said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sleep and Drummer had developed an uncomfortable relationship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Its worst aspect was the time it left her to read the public comment boards and newsfeeds.\n\nTHIS SENSE OF PURPOSE IS EXACTLY WHAT MARS LOST WHEN THE GATES OPENED. THIS ISN'T AN INVASION AT ALL. IT'S THE RETURN OF THE REAL MARTIAN SPIRIT TO ITS PROPER PLACE, AND I AM HAPPY—FUCK, DELIGHTED—THAT I HAVE LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE IT." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The way it played out was predictable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "During her days, she felt like People's Home was turning too fast on its axis. Only it wasn't just her body that was getting spun. Her mind was too heavy to lift. She was controlling herself with a bad lag, like driving a mech with choppy software or running a waldo at the edge of its range." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Meetings with the union board, with the EMC admiralty, with her own staff." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Interviews and speeches in which she declared the independence of the union. She got through all of them with a physical sensation like her brain was evaporating. All she wanted to do from the start of her shift to the last moment before bed was close her eyes.\n\nAnd then, as soon as she did, they opened again, as if by themselves." }, { "from": "human", "value": "THESE ASSHOLES SHOULD HAVE BEEN CUT OFF BEFORE THEY COULD GET THROUGH THE GATE." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR YEARS. A TRADE UNION DOESN'T MATTER FOR SHIT WHEN AN ARMY COMES KNOCKING. IF YOU EVER NEEDED ANY PROOF THAT THE TRANSPORT UNION ADMINISTRATION WAS INCOMPETENT, THERE YOU GO. IT'S RIGHT HERE FOR YOU, AND IN SPADES." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd try to rest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Try to lure sleep back. Her eyes felt gritty. Her mouth felt dry. She wanted to eat, even though she wasn't hungry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wanted water, even though she wasn't thirsty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was like her body knew it needed something, and all it could do was run through the list of possibilities over and over, hoping that something would give her solace that hadn't the last time. She found herself craving a pipeful of marijuana, even though she hadn't smoked in decades.\n\nShe waited an hour, maybe two, then got up and spooled through the feeds and networked discussions with a dummy account she'd made for the purpose. She told herself it was research, that she was gauging the morale of the populace." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was easy to pretend that she was somehow learning something that would help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It felt like tearing off a scab and pressing salt into the opened sore, but it was better than paging through the names of the dead. Emily Santos-Baca ...\n\nFrom Ganymede, an independent journalist's twenty-minute recording on the importance of solidarity in the face of the enemy. An old Earther's open letter about surviving the terrible years after the rocks fell and why this time was different. A roundtable discussion by an open salon on Ceres about how the union was or wasn't able to rise to the occasion and address the Laconian threat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A dozen languages, a thousand faces and voices and rhetorical styles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she was looking for clarity there, she didn't find it.\n\nMY WIFE IS ON MEDINA STATION. I JUST GOT A MESSAGE FROM HER SAYING THAT THE LACONIAN GOVERNOR IS OFFERING BETTER TERMS THAN THE TRANSPORT UNION DID FOR EVERYONE WHO WORKS FOR THEM. AND SHE SAID THE TECHNOLOGY THAT'S COMING THROUGH LACONIA GATE IS GENERATIONS AHEAD OF ANYTHING WE HAVE." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I KNOW IT'S NOT A POPULAR OPINION, BUT IF THEY'RE GOING TO TREAT THE WORKERS BETTER, BRING BETTER EQUIPMENT, AND STAY OUT OF OUR BUSINESS OTHERWISE, I THINK OUR REAL ENEMY IS THE BUREAUCRACY IN THE TRANSPORT UNION OFFICES!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were other voices—many more of them, really—that saw the attack on Medina for what it was. She read essays on defiance in the face of tyranny, listened to music designed to rally the patriotic against the enemy. A school on Luna had started a campaign where the children were dyeing their right hands red in defiance of Laconia. The symbolism of it escaped her, but the trend spread far past the school, and half of the interviewers and journalists on the feeds had some version of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Red gloves or finger sleeves or rings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she'd wanted to feel hopeful or resolved, it would have been easy to find those people and spend her insomniac hours only with them. But like a tongue prodding a sore tooth, she kept reaching for the others. Laconia is the future. The conquest is inevitable. Stop the war." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Capitulate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were also whole subfeeds devoted to speculating on the strategy of the EMC and the union. Some of the conversations there were eerily like briefings from the EMC admiralty. Others were desperation-fueled optimism dressed as military theory. None brought Drummer any more hope than she'd had before, and some left her mood darker." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And she hadn't heard from Saba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even when Medina lifted its comms blackout for propaganda, there'd been no message from him. From the others fighting against the occupation. She imagined that he was still there, sneaking between the decks like a rat made for gnawing through steel. That Medina would fall, and she'd hear his voice declaring their victory." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or failing that, that she'd hear his voice at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And behind it all, pressing down on her soul like a suffocating hand, the Tempest made its vast, stately way sunward. Already past the halfway point. Already braking. She understood their strategy perfectly. A single ship, making its way for everyone in every system to see." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a demonstration of authority. Of inevitability." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A piece of theater designed to humiliate, to subjugate, to control.\n\nIt was what she had done to Freehold.\n\nThat, as much as anything, kept her at the table in her quarters as the hours of sleeplessness slipped by. When she'd made the call, it had seemed like the obvious thing to do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hard, yes, but in the service of a greater peace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A more orderly universe. Someplace where there'd be some respect for the rules.\n\nThe colonists on Freehold had made their choices. They'd broken the rules she and the people before her had set down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd felt justified when she sent the Rocinante." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now she wondered whether the colonists there had sat up in their beds in the night. Wondered how they would feed their children. Whether there was some way to finesse their way out of the future that was bearing down on them. Probably they had.\n\nMaybe this was the way the universe showed her the errors of her ways." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Taking the evil that she'd committed so offhandedly and turning it around to point at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her and Santos-Baca. All the refugees of Independence. All of the void city's dead. If it was, then the universe hadn't embraced the idea of proportional response yet.\n\nThe small, quiet part of her mind that watched all the rest knew that she wasn't right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That there was no way for her to be right, not in a situation like this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she'd been able to sleep, maybe. But the fear was eroding her bit by bit and taking away all the things that let her recover. Like a recycling pond with a plugged drain, she was filling with shit, and sooner or later, she'd overspill. It wasn't a source of anxiety." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was just something she knew about herself, as if she were thinking about some different woman." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She drew her robe closer around her chest, spooled through the feeds. Watched a few seconds of the news from Loundres Nova, a few seconds out of the shipyards at Tycho-Pallas Complex, Ceres, Luna, Earth. Never enough to hear a whole story.\n\nWeirdly, not all of it was about Laconia." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a fire at an arcology outside Paris." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A popular musician Drummer had liked as a girl had died. It was as if not everything were defined by Laconia and Duarte and her own failures. And then the top traffic on the feed would re-sort, and there was an image of the Tempest in all its threat and glory.\n\nHolden had been right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her plan for Freehold had been cruel, and she'd done it for the convenience of not being a government, not really." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So that she could be unprepared when a navy no one knew existed arrived in force. She should have been kinder, wiser, more cunning. She should have been something other than what she was. There had to have been a moment when she could have chosen something different, when all of this could have been stopped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't think when it had been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her system made its tock. If she'd been asleep, her lights would have come up.\n\n\"Ma'am?\" Vaughn said. Not even his nighttime staff." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever it was, they'd woken him up for it first, and he'd made the decision to wake her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That couldn't be good.\n\n\"I'm awake,\" she said.\n\n\"We've had a message for you from the Tempest. It came in on tightbeam an hour ago. Signal intelligence says it's genuine.\"\n\n\"Not broadcast?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, ma'am. Unencrypted, but not broadcast.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something the enemy wanted her and her people to see, but not as a press release. The switch in her mind flipped, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep forever. \"I'll take it in my room,\" she said.\n\nHer screen went dark, and then Admiral Trejo was on it, looking out at her as if he could actually see through the screen and light delay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His expression was almost rueful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That would be a pose, of course. A decision he'd made about how to appear. She hated that, even knowing that, she felt herself hoping he could be reasoned with. Wanting to like him, because then maybe he'd like her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stockholm syndrome's first, pale roots." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pushed the gentle impulse away and summoned up her hatred.\n\n\"President Drummer,\" he said. \"I hope I find you well. On behalf of High Consul Duarte, I'm asking again for the Transport Union's ships to stand down and accept administration by the Laconian Empire. But I understand if that answer is still no." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'm going to keep asking until you change your mind, though." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sooner that comes, the less loss of life your people will suffer. Their fate is entirely up to you.\n\n\"If we do not have your unconditional surrender within eighteen hours, though, then I'm afraid things will become less pleasant. I have been ordered to deny you the use of the shipyards at Pallas Station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'd rather get through this with the least loss of life and infrastructure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Again, entirely in your control. You can end this at any time.\n\n\"I am tendering a similar offer to the EMC, and I imagine you'll all want to talk this over. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to do the right thing and lay down your arms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The high consul has given me a certain amount of latitude in how we bring this unpleasantness to a close, but the longer this drags on, the less freedom I'll have." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the worst-case scenario isn't something I relish.\n\n\"Confer with your colleagues at the EMC, and reply back to me as soon as you can. If I don't hear from you, I'll assume you've chosen to protract this a little farther. The blood of Pallas Station will be on your hands. I sincerely hope and pray that you'll be wiser than that.\"\n\nHe gave a little nod, and the message ended. Drummer's rage was sluggish and muddy from lack of sleep, but it was hot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She made the connection request, and Vaughn picked it up immediately." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How many people have seen this?\"\n\n\"The comms officer on duty, my assistant, me, and now you. Only four.\"\n\nIt was two people too many. Maybe three. Still it might not find its way onto the nets, depending on how well the EMC controlled information in its house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the nature of bad news to spread, and once it was out, it was out forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had to assume that she didn't have much time before it did. One more chance to try being the person that the situation called for instead of just herself.\n\nIf she were the person who should be here, if she were the leader that the union and the system and humanity needed, what would she say now? How would she say it?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Wake Lafflin up, and get Admiral Hu on the horn. We're going to need a talk.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pallas Station, Trejo had called it. Not Pallas-Tycho Complex. One of the strange things about Laconian language was the decades of linguistic drift. No one had called it Pallas Station since before Sanjrani had been in charge of the union. He'd overseen the update of Pallas' refineries and the semipermanent installation of Tycho Station as the primary shipyard of the metals and ceramics, lace and nanolaminates produced there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had been more efficient than leaving Tycho independently on the float." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were generations of work that would need to be done, and putting everything in the same place made it all go faster.\n\nPeople's Home had been assembled there. And Independence. The void city Assurance of Peace was half-together now, its vast carbon-silicate ribs still bared to the vacuum. Thousands of families lived and worked there, and would for another few hours, unless Drummer capitulated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The loss of building capacity would set us back by decades,\" Admiral Hu said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Any chance we have of rebuilding and fortifying a navy relies on that station. This would cause a bottleneck that would radically change our projections.\"\n\nDrummer shifted in her chair. It wasn't the first time she'd listened to the message.\n\n\"Deploying the full force of the EMC-and-union-combined navy can't be accomplished in the time frame described here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hu's face was replaced by a schematic of the system, each fleet marked with its time to engagement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd been keeping the ships scattered to deny the Tempest a single target-rich environment. Here was the trade-off for that ...\n\n\"And furthermore, only three-quarters of our ships have completed resupply with the torpedo modifications based on our first engagement. Our strategic analysis is that a decision to sacrifice Pallas-Tycho Complex in order to fully prepare the combined fleet will degrade our long-term readiness, but increase our chances of making a decisive blow against the Tempest in the short term. Of course, any decision requires full coordination between the union and the EMC.\"\n\nWhatever she chose, they would do the same." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the midst of the apocalypse, the military brass on Luna were still playing cover-your-ass." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That seemed like the most optimistic thing about the whole report. They still thought they might have careers worth losing when this was over.\n\nDrummer could remember living on Tycho Station. She could still walk through the corridors in her memory." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The layout of the engineering decks the way they had been before the refit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The smell of the habitation ring. The office she'd inherited from Fred Johnson after his death. He'd had a personal cabinet there with a few things—an old book, a bottle of brandy, the physical copies of some of his personal initiatives that had foundered after he'd gone. She'd been the head of Tycho Station for three years before she'd cleared that out, and she still remembered how it had felt when she had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like a widow finally selling off her dead husband's suits." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she looked at Pallas-Tycho Complex, she felt the same way again. She wanted a way to save it. She kept looking for the clever move that would put it out of the enemy's hands, only there wasn't one. It was already too late." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could hand it and any chance of freedom away, or she could see it destroyed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One or the other. And she had to choose.\n\n\"Vaughn?\"\n\n\"Madam President?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We need to put out an emergency evacuation order for Pallas-Tycho. Everyone who doesn't have their own craft, put on Tycho and break it away from the complex. No one is to be left in the Pallas structures, and the highest possible burn for all ships and Tycho Station is recommended.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked over at him. His face was grayish. His eyes were dead as a shark's. He didn't argue, though." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He only braced, turned, and left the room to carry out her order." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even if he disagreed with her, he was probably glad he hadn't had to make the call. She would have been.\n\nShe set her system to Record, considered herself on the screen. Her eyes were sunken with exhaustion and despair, but not as badly as she'd thought they would be." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her skin had a waxy look in the bright light of her private office." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd want to have the communications staff get her some powder and rouge before she made the public announcement. God, there would have to be a public announcement. But that was later. That was next.\n\nShe keyed in the reply code, and the high-security link to Luna showed Ready." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She coughed and looked into the camera." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Admiral Hu, I have given the evacuation order to Pallas-Tycho,\" she said. \"Even if we can't save the station, we can make it harder for the Tempest to kill the population there. And seeing whether they feel the civilian targets are worth hunting down may also give us greater insight into the character and aims of the enemy. I advise the EMC forces to refrain from any premature engagement with the enemy at this time.\n\n\"It is my opinion that attempting to save Pallas Station would have been an error,\" she said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide four sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The electric cart they rode on seemed almost as old as the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The magnetic wheels gripped the ramp and kept them on track even as the spin gravity of the drum fell slowly away. If Medina Station had followed its intended path, it would have been well away from Earth by now, gone into the vast depths between the stars where spare carts were pretty hard to come by. The Mormons had built everything about the ship to last for generations, to grow and renew itself, to recycle with the least possible loss. Medina Station would outlive them all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Except that he was going to blow a hole in it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos rode shotgun, his hands splayed wide on his knees, his head freshly shaved. From his place in the backseat, Holden mostly saw the back of the big man's neck—white skin flecked with age spots but still muscular and hard. He didn't need to see the amiable smile to know it was there, and how little it meant. A massive conduit wrench clanked at Amos' feet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria drove with the studied boredom of someone who knew the consequences of drawing the attention of station security." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hair was already in a tight bun, prepped for the null g of engineering. She tapped her palm against the side of the cart as if she were listening to music, so maybe she already had her earpiece in. Holden tried to lean back against the seat, but in the lower g, it just scooted him forward. The bomb rested on the bench beside him like a fourth person." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't big. A square box, safety orange with scratches at the edges and corners, the marks of long use." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't know exactly what was inside it, only that Katria was certain it would blow the right kind of hole into the pressure tanks and that the ruptured pressure tanks would blow the right part of the station apart. She also said that, in its present form, it was both hard for security to detect and stable enough to play football with if you didn't mind a square ball. Still, Holden didn't rest his elbow on it.\n\nThey were nearly at the top of the ramp when a line of carts stopped them, all heading the same direction as they were and all stuck waiting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the entrance to the transfer point, three Laconian Marines in power armor were talking to a dark-skinned woman in a green jumpsuit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Checkpoint,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Inconvenient,\" Katria said. She sounded like it was an annoyance more than an immediate threat to all their lives and the safety of everyone in the underground who was counting on them. He really did admire the way she did that.\n\nThe raid had come two shifts before, when Holden had been in his sleep cycle." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Between the time he'd curled up in the bunk and put his head on the thin pillow and when he'd opened his eyes again, a quarter of Saba's people had been snatched up and a man named Overstreet was on all the screens in the station telling the rest of Medina about it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the Typhoon was already past its flip-and-burn, braking now toward the other side of the Laconia gate. They weren't saying exactly when it was supposed to arrive, but their data placed it at around ten days. And the news from Sol looked grim, even correcting for the fact that it was all coming through the state-run newsfeed.\n\nThe noose was drawing tight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And in order to have any chance of escaping it, they were about to at least risk the lives of, and most probably kill, a bunch of people who were on the engineering decks at the wrong time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden. Do you have to do that?\" Katria asked.\n\n\"Do what?\"\n\n\"Grunt.\"\n\n\"Was I grunting?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Cap does that when he's thinking about something he don't like,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He has a wide variety to choose from,\" Katria said.\n\nFrom the way they talked, Holden could almost believe that they wouldn't kill each other, given the chance. Almost, but not enough that he was sorry to be there. Maybe Katria really didn't hold a grudge about the fight that Amos had started." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And maybe Amos wasn't spoiling to start another one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or maybe the bomb was the most stable thing in the cart.\n\n\"I'll think happy thoughts,\" Holden said. \"Butterflies. Rainbows.\"\n\n\"What the fuck is a butterfly?\" Katria said.\n\nThe cart ahead of them shifted, and they followed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took fifteen minutes to get to the guards and then a minute and a half to get past them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their cover story—Holden and Amos were applying for on-station work permits since their ship was locked down, and Katria was taking them to an on-site test—never even came up. Katria drove the cart to its queue, strapped the bomb to her back, and led them into the engineering decks, moving from handhold to handhold with the unremarked grace of someone who'd spent a good portion of their life on the float. Amos followed with the conduit wrench in his fist like a club.\n\nOnce the drum was well behind them, Holden pulled the earpiece out of his pocket and turned on the contact microphone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"—is clear,\" Clarissa said. \"Can you confirm?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yup,\" Alex replied, his voice slow in the way that meant he was concentrating. \"I'm moving my little pixies through now. Gimme just a ... All right, I'm through.\"\n\n\"Turning the recycler back on,\" Clarissa said.\n\nClarissa and her team were in the drum, tapped into the environmental controls through a back door that, if they were found out, Saba would never be able to use again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex was back in the underground's galley, flying the drones with his hand terminal and several layers of encryption." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi and Bobbie were, he assumed, loitering outside the secure server room, ready to force their way in. It was strange hearing their voices as if they were with him. It made him feel like he was back on the Rocinante.\n\nThe engineering decks of Medina were a lesson in the way ships learned and changed over time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he squinted, he could still see the bones of the original, unmodified space, but years and mission drift had altered everything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here, a section of floor had a slightly different color where a bulkhead had been taken out. There, a set of conduits had been rerouted with the three-point welding style that Martians favored. The pipes along the walls were labeled in half a dozen languages and safety-regulation styles. History made physical. Even where the walls were had changed over the years, added extra reinforcement from when the docks had been built or taken away when the new generation reactors had been put in place." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria led the way down a side corridor, moving from handhold to foothold to handhold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos followed close behind her, only crowding her a little, and she seemed not to notice. Or at least not to care. Their little triumvirate. Katria to place the charge, Amos to keep an eye on her, and Holden to keep an eye on him.\n\nA young woman floated past them, coming the other way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had an electrician's rig strapped to her arm, and her hair was the same texture Naomi's had been when they'd first met." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She passed Katria, then Amos. When she and Holden landed at the same handhold, she smiled an apology and pushed quickly off. He wondered whether they were about to kill her. Seemed possible. He hated the thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Alex?\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're awfully quiet there, buddy. Everything all right?\"\n\n\"Yeah, sorry. Just ... there's a little lag. It's not bad, but it makes me paranoid. Last thing I want is one of these charges to go off in a vent someplace. Take the whole group out.\"\n\n\"That would be bad,\" Bobbie agreed.\n\n\"Jim?\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you on yet?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're here,\" he said softly. \"Past the checkpoint. Not at the pressure tank yet.\"\n\n\"There was a checkpoint?\" Bobbie said.\n\nAmos' voice was calm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nothing we couldn't handle, Babs.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm coming up on the last turn here,\" Alex said.\n\n\"There's a carbon dioxide scrubber intake,\" Clarissa said. \"Don't get caught in the draft. I'm accessing it now.\"\n\nKatria started whistling between her teeth, a tuneless sound that her mic didn't pick up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They reached an access panel with caution placards in a dozen languages and half the colors of the rainbow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "CAUTION HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM. Katria plucked a knife from her boot and pried the panel open as casually as if she did it every day.\n\n\"Make sure no one's coming,\" she said.\n\n\"You got it,\" Amos replied, sailing on a little farther down the corridor and slipping to the center of the narrow space so that anyone coming the other way would have a hard time getting past him and his massive wrench." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria pulled the bomb off her back and popped the case open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The workings inside didn't look like much. A cone of carbon-silicate lace, the same as a ship's plating. A hand terminal. A pair of standard wires. It didn't look like enough to do much damage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Certainly not enough to blow out the side of the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But of course, it wasn't. That was all coming from the pressure tanks on the other side of the bulkhead. This was just the pin that popped that balloon.\n\n\"Okay,\" Clarissa said. \"You're good to go.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Heading through,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And we're past. The vent for the server room should be just ahead. Looks ... looks a little higher grade than I was expecting.\"\n\n\"Do we have a problem?\" Bobbie asked. He could hear the tension in her voice. The electrical technician he'd bumped into intruded into his memory, and with it the faint and compromised hope that maybe it would all go wrong and they'd have to abort the mission." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think we'll be fine,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My little pixies here are armed for bear. But I'm pulling five of them back around the corner here so they don't get mussed up when the vent goes.\"\n\nKatria closed the case, set it in behind the access panel, squinted at it, shifted it fifteen degrees. What was it like, Holden wondered, being able to picture blast cones in your mind? What kind of life did you have to lead to have that come naturally?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Katria rubbed her throat, and when she spoke, her voice had doubled, coming from the air they were breathing and through the earpiece." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The reverb gave her words a weight.\n\n\"We're done here. We'll see you in the place.\"\n\nMeaning, the shelter. Where, when Naomi and Bobbie joined them, they could trigger the blast and wipe out the evidence.\n\n\"Hey,\" Katria called down the corridor. \"You coming?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos floated back toward them as Katria slid the panel back into place and slipped her knife back into her boot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were skimming along through the air together when it all fell apart.\n\n\"Um,\" Alex said. \"I think we've got a problem here.\"\n\n\"What's up, Alex?\" Bobbie asked.\n\n\"Well, I got my little pixie looking through this vent. I've got eyes on both of these Laconian fellas, and one of them's got his hand on something that sure looks like a dead man's switch.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's not protocol,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It ain't Martian protocol,\" Alex agreed. \"But I'm pretty certain that's what I'm seeing here. If I move forward with this, I won't even have the door open before the Laconian fellas know about it. You're going to be ass deep in alligators pretty damned quick.\"\n\n\"We knew we were going to have to move fast,\" Bobbie said. \"This just means we move faster.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It means more than that,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It means they'll log the alarm. The whole point of blowing out the pressure tanks was so they wouldn't know we'd compromised them. If the secure room shows an alert right before the explosion, they'll know what we did. They'll change all the procedures. The data we recover won't be worth anything.\"\n\nThe silence lasted one long breath. Then another. Holden felt something in his chest loosen, it was almost like relief. And almost like dread too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He knew what had to happen before anyone else did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Bobbie said, and Holden could see her clenched jaw as clearly as if she were there with him. \"Let me think.\"\n\n\"You'll be fine,\" Holden said. \"Just wait until the ... I don't know. The tenth alarm goes off.\"\n\n\"The tenth what?\" Alex said, but Holden plucked out his earpiece and the mic and tossed them to Amos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The big man caught them in one wide hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You going somewhere, Cap?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Holden said. \"Can I borrow that wrench?\"\n\nAmos pushed it gently out to him. It was massive enough that Holden had to readjust his grip on the handhold to stop it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Am I getting that back?\" Amos asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe. You get Katria to the shelter. Everything goes forward, just like we planned.\"\n\nAmos' face went still as a mask for a moment, and then he smiled his empty smile. \"You got it.\"\n\nHolden squared himself on the wall's footholds and launched down the corridor. In an instant, Amos and Katria were behind him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It'll be okay, he told himself, but he didn't dig into why that might be true." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was pretty sure it wouldn't hold up.\n\nIt only took about twenty seconds to find a panel with a manual fire alarm. He flipped the case open, pulled the switch down, and a Klaxon started screaming. One.\n\nIn the next corridor, he picked a thin copper pipe, set the wrench around it and pulled until it popped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Green fluid that stank like vinegar and acetate spewed out into the hall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Somewhere, the system would register the pressure drop and raise a flag. That was two. He heard voices shouting from the main deck. They weren't raised in panic, not yet. More like they were trying to be heard over the alarm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He passed a radiation alarm and tripped that too—three—then headed toward the voices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi would understand, even if the others didn't. She knew him well enough to follow his mind without so much as a question. There were two ways to hide something. Either put it where no one could see it or leave it in plain sight with a thousand others just like it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the alarm went off in the secure room, that would mean one thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If a bunch of alarms went off all through the engineering and dock levels, and it was only one, maybe the guards had panicked. It would just be more noise in the chaos. Unremarkable.\n\nIn the wide space leading to the transfer hub, half a dozen people were clinging to a wall, each of them talking over the others. He recognized the electrical tech they'd passed going in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey,\" he shouted, waving his wrench." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can't you people hear? Get to the shelters!\"\n\nIt was enough to start them moving. He picked another corridor at random and launched himself down it. He broke three electrical conduits, tripped another fire alarm and another radiation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he could make his way down closer to the reactors, there'd be more he could break, but there would also be guards there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wrench was unwieldy and massive enough that cracking the conduits and pipes open was starting to leave his shoulders and palms aching. He ducked into an access crawl and pulled two power exchanges out of the wall. That had to be good for at least one alert. He floated out into another hallway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The engineering deck was drowned in a cacophony of blaring alarms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pulled himself toward a ladder. When the station was under thrust, it would lead down toward the drive cones.\n\nIt took the Laconians about two minutes to find him, but it felt like longer. Holden was trying to fit the wrench behind a support strut when two Marines in power armor came around the corner, their suits clicking as the actuators fired." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden started to raise his hands, but the first one slammed into him before he had the chance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The impact knocked a few seconds off his awareness. The next thing he was sure of, there was a barrel pressed just above his left eye and his ribs hurt badly when he tried to breathe.\n\n\"You just fucked up, old man!\" the guard growled.\n\nHolden blinked. \"I surrender,\" he said. Breathing really hurt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were bones broken." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was sure of it.\n\n\"You don't have that option,\" the guard said. Holden realized his life was now based on whether a Laconian Marine who looked like he was maybe in his early twenties had the self-control not to shoot his brainpan empty out of anger and excitement. Holden nodded.\n\n\"I understand, sir,\" he said, and hoped that submission and respect would be enough to keep that one critical neuron from firing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am not resisting. You got me. I'm no threat.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"CJ,\" the other Marine said.\n\nThe one with the gun snarled, pulled back a few centimeters, and hit Holden along the side of his face hard enough to split the skin. Bright red globes of blood flew in a cloud and painted the pale anti-spalling cloth of the hallway. The pain was dull first, and then bright." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You are an ungrateful piece of shit,\" the Marine—CJ, apparently—said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If we were someplace civilized, your sad ass would be in the pens.\"\n\n\"What are the pens?\" Holden asked, and the guard hit him again, hard against his right ear. He had the impression that CJ enjoyed this kind of thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden wasn't frightened so much as resigned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd known that he'd be trading his freedom for the chance that Bobbie's plan would work. And for the electrical tech's life. He was past the good part of his plan now, and the bad part might last a very long time or a very short one. Either way, probably the rest of his life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "CJ hauled him out into the free air where there was nothing for Holden to grab onto." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately five sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A drop of his blood smeared the Laconian's faceplate.\n\n\"What the fuck do you have to say for yourself now, asshole?\" CJ said, shaking him just enough to make his teeth rattle. Holden took a deep, painful breath.\n\n\"We should probably get to an emergency shelter,\" he said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tenth what?\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His voice was reedy and distant. Not all of that was because of the tiny speaker it was coming out of. Alex understood what Holden was doing just as much as she did. One alarm was significant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One alarm out of a dozen meant less." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was giving them cover, and Alex was asking Bobbie to say that Holden hadn't just decided to sacrifice himself to keep the mission on track.\n\nHer mouth was dry.\n\n\"You heard him,\" she replied, keeping her tone all business. \"As soon as that tenth alarm goes off, blow the vent, take out the guards, and get us into the room.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Am I getting that back?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos asked, but not to them.\n\nNaomi was staring at her, wide-eyed. She was on the radio, too. She knew what was happening." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But she tightened her grip on her tools and pressed her lips together, then gave Bobbie a nod." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Good to go. The Roci's former XO would finish her mission. Then she'd worry about Holden afterward. They both would.\n\nThe sound of the alarms had started close to them, and grew more distant as new sirens joined the cacophony. Holden was moving away from them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Which was good, considering what was about to happen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Chief,\" Alex said. \"That was ten.\"\n\nBobbie took one last look at her surroundings. She and Naomi floated alone in the narrow corridor. The door to the computer room was five meters away, and she had her improvised battering ram in one hand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As it always did in the calm seconds before a mission began, her mind ran through the checklist of things that were about to happen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing popped up as a red flag, so she said, \"Go, go, go.\"\n\nFor three long breaths, nothing happened.\n\nThere was a distant thump, like a firecracker going off inside a locker. The first drone just blew itself up to take out the venting cover." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was followed by a shout of surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie could picture the two men in the room looking up in shock as the vent turned into shrapnel behind them, and five tiny drones flew into the room. Then two more bangs, close together like firing a double tap with a pistol. This time louder, and closer. Two more drones going off to take out the guards." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The alarm in the room started screeching as the man with his hand on the dead man's switch went down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But now, instead of drawing every guard in the area, it was just one of over a dozen alarms going off, and new ones coming up every few seconds. Holden had been busy.\n\n\"I'm getting smoke in the vents,\" Clarissa said. \"I'm turning up the recyclers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The last explosion was the loudest yet, right on the other side of the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The last three drones clustering around the latch and detonating. Alex said, \"My guys are done. Me and my team are cleaning up the logs and shutting down.\"\n\nBobbie planted her feet on the corridor wall and launched toward the door. The heavy length of ceramic-filled pipe she was using as a ram was gripped in both hands, and she slammed it into the door just above the latch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The door exploded open so violently that it bounced off the bulkhead and swung back hard enough to clip her knee as she flew by." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hurt, but not enough to think about.\n\nShe had a split second to clock the room: workstation and two dead men with blood soaking their suits floating next to it, server rack bolted to the deck in the center of the compartment, plain metal walls. She slammed into the server rack and bounced off into an empty corner of the room.\n\n\"Ouch. Fuck.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's that, Chief?\" Alex asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing. Just went a hundred kph when twenty would have done,\" Bobbie replied. \"We're good, Naomi. Do your thing.\"\n\nNaomi's lean form slid through the opening with Belter grace, tapped one foot against the bulkhead, and came to a perfect stop next to the server rack. Watching her slide through the air like a fish in water made Bobbie feel overlarge and clumsy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be in the hall, watching for gawkers,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mmhmm,\" Naomi replied, already ignoring her. She was pulling panels off the server rack, and a variety of gear floated in the space around her like a high-tech cloud.\n\nBefore she left, Bobbie pushed over to the two Laconian guards and checked their pulse. Up close, it was hardly necessary." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Both men had massive head injuries, and bits of bone, blood, and drone parts floated around them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a shitty way for a soldier to die, ambushed like that, and Bobbie pushed down the feeling of guilt and regret. It was war. Right now, her brothers and sisters in the Martian fleet were fighting and dying in the Sol system in that same war. And a lot more blood was being spilled on their side than on the Laconian one so far.\n\nStill, as a person who'd stood a watch in enemy territory, the sightless eyes of the two dead men made her scalp crawl the way she'd always imagined it would when a sniper had you in their sights for the kill shot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Your turn now,\" she told the dead man. \"My turn later.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pushed out into the corridor to keep watch. The shrill electronic screech of alarms echoed down the hall and all around her. So far, no one had come to check on the computer-room alarm. Why would they? Holden had made sure that the only important alarm was drowned out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had to hand it to him, as an improvised element of the plan it was a pretty good idea." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probably something they should have included, just in case.\n\nNext time, she thought, knowing there would never be a next time.\n\n\"Got it,\" Naomi said from behind her. Bobbie nearly elbowed her in the face before her brain could override the startle response." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Great,\" she said instead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Let's get to the shelter before Katria gets itchy and blows us all to hell for the fun of it.\"\n\n\"Jim won't be there,\" Naomi said.\n\nAmos and Katria were floating in the cramped space of their chosen radiation shelter. It was nothing more than a four-meter length of hallway with heavy pressure doors at both ends." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Netting hung on both walls with rebreathers, first-aid kits, emergency vac suits." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie had stowed a gear bag with the less-standard equipment.\n\nAs soon as she and Naomi climbed in through the one open door, Katria slapped her hand to the panel and it slammed shut.\n\n\"What the fuck?\" Amos said, rounding on her.\n\n\"We need that closed when the bomb goes off,\" Katria replied, pulling the detonator out of her pack." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know, to live.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing happens without my direct order,\" Bobbie said to her and put a restraining hand on Amos' chest. He reacted by mag-booting himself to the deck, so she kicked on her own boots and clamped them to the bulkhead to keep her leverage.\n\n\"Babs,\" Amos said, \"I'm going to go get Cap, and it'd be nice if you held off on the boom till I'm done.\"\n\nBobbie waited for Naomi to voice her agreement, then Katria to argue against it, and for their tiny shelter to turn into shouting and chaos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But to her surprise, everyone just looked at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was an interesting fact of her brief captaincy that the only time anyone seemed to want her to make a decision was when it was one she didn't want to make.\n\nAmos was staring at her, his expression as blank as always. But he held his fists with the ease of long use, and Bobbie knew how fast the old man was in a fight. With his feet clamped to the deck for leverage, he'd be tough to restrain if he decided to start swinging." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Our window is closing,\" Bobbie said, raising her hands, making it about the logic of her words instead of a threat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"At some point someone checks that alarm and finds two dead guys. We don't have time for a rescue.\"\n\n\"She's right. So let me blow this fucker and get on with it,\" Katria added. Bobbie winced at the cold disregard in her words, but didn't take her eyes off Amos.\n\nNaomi still hadn't weighed in, but Amos' eyes kept cutting to her, waiting for the go sign." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If Naomi said, Yes, go get him, Bobbie knew the only way they'd keep Amos in the room was to physically restrain him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie couldn't see what Naomi was doing behind her back, but whatever it was, Amos wasn't getting the signal he wanted, because he didn't make a move.\n\n\"Those alarms were moving away from us, fast,\" Bobbie said, still only looking at Amos. \"Holden knew the schedule. Either he's made his way to a shelter or he's told whoever has him now to get to one.\"\n\n\"You don't know that,\" Naomi finally said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, I don't. But I hope. And right now, that's what I've got. Because we have to blow that bomb now, or this whole operation fails and we still don't get Holden back.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, so let's get on with it,\" Katria said.\n\n\"Stop fucking helping me, lady,\" Bobbie snarled at her without turning around.\n\nNaomi spoke, and her voice was as calm as it was empty. \"Bobbie's right. This can't all be for nothing.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos flicked his eyes to Naomi, then locked on Bobbie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His face had the same meaningless half grin it always wore, but his shoulders were tense, and his fists were white-knuckled. A flush of blood darkened his neck. Bobbie had never seen him like this before, and she didn't like it now.\n\nNot that it changed anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Katria, get ready to blow on my signal,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Let's get into these emergency suits for evac immediately after. You've got one minute to dress.\"\n\nBobbie heard the Velcro ripping sounds of vac suits being pulled off the walls and hastily donned. Amos wasn't moving.\n\n\"Put your suit on, big man,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"You're really gonna blow it,\" Amos replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't sound surprised." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or like he was issuing a challenge. He didn't sound like anything. Bobbie involuntarily braced for violence.\n\n\"Yes,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Without changing his expression, Amos squared up on her, hands at his sides." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I guess you really want that captain's chair back, huh Babs?\"\n\nBefore she knew she was going to do it, Bobbie had already grabbed his collar and yanked him up hard enough to pull his mag boots off the floor, then slammed him against the bulkhead.\n\n\"If we had more time,\" she hissed at him through her teeth, \"you and I would be dancing right now.\"\n\nAmos smiled at her. \"I got time.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Katria. Blow it,\" Bobbie said, and the world ended." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Katria's charge went off, it demolished the control panel and ripped a seventeen-centimeter hole in the oxygen storage tank. Bobbie didn't know the exact size of the tank, but she had a vague memory that liquid oxygen compressed down to about eleven hundred kilograms per cubic meter, and now all of it was trying to become a gas again, all at once.\n\nThe initial blast of expanding gas was deafening. The shock wave ripped apart bulkheads and piping." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the liquid oxygen in those pipes joined the explosion as additional expanding gas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From inside the relative safety of their reinforced emergency compartment, it sounded like someone had set off a tactical nuke in the next room.\n\nAnd then, as was inevitable, something oxidized fast enough to produce a flame, and the initial blast of air became fire.\n\nThe entire emergency shelter shuddered, then canted over onto its side. The reinforced and blast-hardened bulkheads didn't break, but the mounts holding the compartment to the deck were sheared off by the force of the blast." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took seconds that lasted for hours." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The inner walls and the pressure doors at each end of the compartment got hot enough to start smoking. Bobbie shared a look with Amos, then let go of him and they both scrambled to get into the emergency vacuum suits.\n\nWhen the exterior bulkhead blew out, there wasn't another deafening explosion, but rather a sudden drop in the sound level. The roar was replaced by the hiss of rushing air, then a high whine, then nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The seals on their shelter stayed intact, so afterward all they could hear was their own panicked breathing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay, we're getting massive alarms,\" Clarissa said, her voice the only calm thing in the universe. \"The station's going into shutdown. I'm pulling out too. I'll see you back at the place.\"\n\n\"God damn,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"Told you,\" Katria said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My shit always works.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie finished pulling on her vac suit, and saw Amos was sealing up his own. They traded a look. \"We need to get out of here,\" she said to him, and he nodded his agreement. Whatever was going to happen between them, it was on hold for now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd come back to it, she was certain of that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And it would need to get settled.\n\nIf I just killed Holden, this probably ends with one of us dead.\n\nWhatever she'd imagined when she heard the blasts from inside the shelter, the reality was worse.\n\nThey opened the door to an entire deck that had been dropped in a blender, then spun up in a centrifuge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bulkhead panels, control stations, equipment, decking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had all been torn, twisted, burned, and then thrown out against the outer walls at high speed. A long piece of pipe was embedded in a wall, still quivering like an arrow shot into a tree. Something that looked like a metal desk had been slammed into a support beam so hard that the metal had actually fused. And in one corner, a single boot had been pinned to the ceiling and then melted into a stalactite of rubber." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hoped there wasn't a foot in it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They floated silently through the wreckage looking for their exit. It wasn't hard to find.\n\nA hole gaped in the exterior bulkhead of the drum nearly five meters across. The nearly circular rim of it was all bent outward, like the metal wall had been breached by a giant's battering ram." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Which, Bobbie supposed, it had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Only instead of concrete and steel, it had been oxygen and fire. Outside, she saw the faint twinkle of light on the ejecta as it raced away from the station and toward the curtain of black at the edge of the ring space.\n\n\"Exactly where I said it would be,\" Katria cackled. \"Damn near half a meter from the exact spot I marked as the weak point. I should charge money for this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you think anyone survived?\" Naomi asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We kept everyone we could out of the affected area,\" Bobbie replied. \"Only should have been Laconians down here ...\"\n\n\"And anyone who didn't get our fucking memo,\" Amos added.\n\n\"Jim would have warned anyone he ran into,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He wouldn't be able to stop himself.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, by then it wouldn't matter much,\" Amos agreed. \"No time to track the bomb down before it did its business.\"\n\n\"And fuck any Laconians who were here,\" Katria said in a tone that sounded like she'd have spit if she weren't wearing a helmet. \"I hope they fucking saw it coming.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Kat,\" Bobbie said, \"please shut up now.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is going to work,\" Naomi said, pointing out the hole toward the docks. \"They're going to think that was our target.\"\n\nThe Gathering Storm sat a few dozen meters away. The nose of the ship and its port-side flank showed significant hull damage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Debris from the blast had punched holes in the landing clamps and dragged long gouges down its side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A large cluster of objects that looked like a sensor or communication array had nearly been ripped off the side of the ship, floating now at the end of a tether of cables.\n\nIt was an eerie ship. The angles of it were like something cut from crystal, and the curves felt like something grown more than built. It was like looking at a venomous snake." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had a hard time pulling her eyes away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Too bad we didn't kill it,\" Katria said, ignoring Bobbie's request.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Bobbie agreed. \"Too bad.\"\n\nAmos pulled a magnetic grapple gun out of the gear bag he was carrying and fired a line over to the elevator shaft exterior. They'd need to climb up to a point not far from the maintenance hatch on the outside of the drum she and Clarissa had used earlier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hard part would be getting a grapple onto the drum, then hanging on while the station tried to hurl them away at a third of a g. After that, it was an easy climb up to their secret entrance back into the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Up into Medina from the underworld, and mission accomplished.\n\nUnless something else went wrong. The only thing worse than losing Holden would be losing him for no damned reason.\n\n\"Laconians are gonna find this hatch,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Shouldn't plan to use it again after this. No way the crews that come to fix that hole are gonna miss it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Bobbie agreed. \"If we thought the sweeps before were bad, they're about to get a hundred times tighter.\"\n\n\"Yeah, fuck 'em,\" Katria snorted.\n\n\"No,\" Naomi said. \"It'll be worse than that. We stung their pride before. But today we hurt them. Hurt them bad. And they're going to try to make it better by hurting us back. Not just us either. Anyone who they think might be like us.\"\n\nWhile Amos hooked his grapple line to the edge of the hole so that they could climb up to the elevator housing, Naomi remained staring at the damaged Laconian ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We killed a lot of people today,\" she said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately one sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Some of them just don't know it yet.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\nfour sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The battle will be here,\" Benedito Lafflin said, indicating a space between the curve of the asteroid belt and the orbit of Mars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The place where physics and geometry calculated that the paths of the Tempest and those of the fleets of the EMC and the union would cross. There was nothing there now—no port, no city, no outpost of any civilization. Only a hard vacuum wider than worlds, an emptiness of strategic importance. \"We're calling it Point Leuctra.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Luke-tra?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Spartans were decisively defeated there by Thebes,\" Lafflin said. \"I mean, they call their planet Laconia. Psy ops thought it might speak to their sense of their own invincibility.\"\n\nThey stared at each other a moment. That's the best we've got?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Intimidate them with classical allusions?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "floated at the back of her throat. Lafflin shrugged uncomfortably.\n\n\"All right,\" Drummer said. Because what else was there to be said? It wasn't as though her will was going to change any of the factors involved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The timetable was listed at the side of the display, days and hours as ticks of red and gold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The eggheads have a good model of the Tempest,\" Lafflin went on, swapping out the map of the system for a schematic of the Tempest. The weird, organic shape of it made her feel like she was looking at a detail from an autopsy. Here is the vertebra where things went wrong. You can see the malformation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled at the absurdity of the thought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lafflin smiled back reflexively. \"The only hard data we have is where the PDCs and torpedoes came out, but we also got a lot of good heat data from the last engagement.\"\n\n\"The death of Independence,\" Drummer said. The death of the first void city and everyone who hadn't fled their home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lafflin looked down. \"That, yes, ma'am. The data's given us some idea about the internal structures too. Enough that we feel confident that we can target the right places on that bastard. Take it out before it reaches Earth.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because that was the point, Drummer thought. That was always the point. Protect Earth and Mars. Keep the inner planets safe and independent, even at the cost of more Belters' lives." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And she'd known that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From the moment Avasarala had stepped into her meeting, she'd known. Some part of her expected to feel some kind of outrage, some betrayal. Resentment that the wheel of history was still rolling over the backs of her people first.\n\nShe didn't. There was a term she remembered from her years in the OPA. Saahas-maut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't know where the term came from, but it meant something like the pleasure you take in hardship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was supposed to be a peculiarly Belter emotion, something that the inners didn't name because they didn't feel it. She looked at the Tempest now, the guesswork lines of her superstructure and drive, the target points along her hull. Drummer wasn't angry at the inners for using the union to protect Earth. She wasn't even angry at the Laconians for being another iteration of everything the inners had been before the union existed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "War and loss, the prospect of the oppressor's boot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a nostalgia to it. A bone-deep memory of what it had been to be young.\n\nShe couldn't help wondering what that girl, riding rock hoppers and taking gigs at Ceres and Iapetus and Tycho, would have thought of the woman she'd become. The leader of her own oppressions. Not much, probably." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lafflin cleared his throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sorry,\" Drummer said. \"Didn't sleep well. Vaughn? Could you get me some tea?\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" Vaughn said. \"Also, Pallas.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" she said. She didn't mean it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd placed the strategic update with Lafflin on her schedule on purpose." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Tempest's inexorable flight sunward was slated to reach its point nearest to Pallas Station within the hour. The evacuation was complete, or as near to complete as it would be. There was always some old rock hopper with a gun and an attitude who'd stay behind out of spite and rage. It wouldn't help. One of humanity's oldest homes in the Belt would be dead before she went to sleep again, or if it wasn't, it would be because Admiral Trejo had seen fit to grant his mercy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least she could go into the terrible, predictable tragedy with all the vulnerable points of the Tempest firmly in mind. She had some hope of retribution.\n\nThere was a certain peace in the impossibility of subterfuge. Sure, there were stealth ships and long-range torpedoes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cloak and dagger of vanishing into the vastness between worlds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They worked for a ship here and there. For the small and swift and furtive. But on this scale—the scale of war on the battlefield of the abyss—everyone knew more or less where everyone else was. Their drive plumes and heat signatures announced them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hard laws of orbital mechanics and time placed every base, every planet, every person predictably in front of their own personal firing squads." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Situations like this one, they could see death coming, and it didn't matter. Death still came.\n\n\"Did you ...\" Lafflin said. \"We can continue this after. If you'd like.\"\n\nDrummer didn't like. She didn't want to see it happen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Didn't want to hope that Pallas might survive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But she was the president of the union, and bearing witness was part of what she was supposed to do. She wondered where Avasarala was, and whether the old lady was going to watch too.\n\n\"Yes,\" Drummer said. \"That'll be fine.\"\n\nLafflin nodded, rose from the table, and made his way out of the meeting room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer stood, stretched, and switched the display to the tactical service's analytics." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The image wasn't real. It was a composite of visual telescopy and Pallas' internal data cobbled together into a best guess that was five minutes old from light delay before it reached her. Without Tycho beside it, Pallas looked ... Calm? Still. The curves of the bases' structures didn't spin against the starscape." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pallas was older than that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "By the time they'd learned how to spin asteroid stations up, Pallas had been in business for more than a generation. It would die without changing. A countdown timer showed the minutes to the Tempest's closest pass. Seven minutes and thirty-three seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The door slid open again, and Vaughn ghosted into the room, a drinking bulb in either hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The smell of tea wafted to her seconds later. He didn't speak as he reached out to her. The bulb warmed her palm and the tea was rich and sweet.\n\n\"Hard day,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was strange. She didn't like Vaughn or dislike him, but she'd come to rely on him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And now, in this traumatic hour, it was this crag-faced political operative at her side instead of Saba. The universe was tricky, and its sense of humor came with teeth.\n\n\"Hard day,\" Drummer agreed.\n\nOn the display, the Tempest fell slowly toward the sun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pallas Station would pass on the ship's starboard, and too far away to see with the naked eye." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Admiral Trejo would be watching the show on a screen of his own. The death of Pallas would be one of the most observed events in history. Five minutes and fifteen seconds. Which meant, in Pallas' frame of reference, now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took another sip of tea, feeling the hot water against her tongue and the roof of her mouth, Brownian motion making it seem to fizz against the soft flesh of her palate, beat against the individual taste buds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Molecules of sugar latched to contact sites, and the nerves ran through the meat of her tongue, back into her body like she was drinking twice, once with the liquid and once with electrical fire. A sense of vertigo washed through her.\n\nShe tried to put the bulb down, but the surface of the table was distant, visible, but through a distracting cloud that was the air—atoms and molecules bouncing against each other, striking and spinning away and striking again. Thicker than bodies at a tube station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She tried to call out to Vaughn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could see him, right there before her, the jagged territory of his skin fractally similar at every scale. She tried to make out his expression, but she couldn't bring her focus back that far. It was like trying to see the face of God. Something hummed and throbbed, ticking faster than she could quite be aware of." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The pulse of her own brain, the tempo of her consciousness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It sang like a chorus, and she heard herself hearing it.\n\nShe dropped the bulb. It clattered against the table, rolled, and dropped to the ground, falling closed so that it kept even a drop of tea from escaping. Vaughn took a step, then sank down to his knees." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His eyes were wide, and his face pale as death and covered by sweat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer sat slowly. Her knees felt weak.\n\n\"God,\" Vaughn said. \"Besse God.\"\n\nDrummer couldn't tell if it was profanity or prayer.\n\nThe timer on the display read two minutes and twenty seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever had happened, it had taken almost three minutes out of her life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hadn't seemed that long. Maybe she'd passed out?\n\n\"I need,\" she began, and her voice felt strange. Like she could still hear overtones fluting up from her vocal cords." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need to know what that was.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't,\" Vaughn said. He was weeping. Wide, thick tears dripping down his cheeks.\n\n\"Vaughn,\" she snapped, and it sounded more like her own voice again. \"Come to! I need to know what that was.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I saw everything,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How widespread. What happened. Everything. Get me reports.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, and then a moment later, \"Yes, ma'am.\" But he rested his head on his knees and didn't move.\n\nOn the display, the timer came to twelve seconds, and the Tempest fired." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not missiles, but the magnetic beam that Saba had reported." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The thing that had stripped the defenses from the slow zone and burst gamma radiation out all the gates. Pallas Station vanished like a blown-out candle with eleven seconds to spare. They were roughly five light-minutes away, so it had happened ... the two things had happened together in the Tempest's frame of reference.\n\n\"Tur,\" she said. \"Get me Cameron Tur.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The thing you have to understand is that the technology of the ring stations doesn't break the speed of light,\" Tur said, his Adam's apple bobbing like a ball on a string." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The one thing we can absolutely say is that the protomolecule is bound by the speed of light. Everything they designed got around it with a different understanding of locality. That's not the same thing at all.\"\n\nHe was talking fast and, Drummer thought, more than half to himself. That she was in the room let him think out loud, but he didn't have his science-advisor voice tuned up. This was one step short of a chimpanzee shrieking and pointing at the charred spot where lightning had struck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you look at it, the gates themselves are clearly bounded by lightspeed. The strategy the protomolecule employs is to send out bridge builders at subluminal speeds to environments where there are stable replicators to hijack and employ to ... to poke holes into a different space. Going from Sol gate to Laconia or Ilus or wherever, we don't accelerate ships past lightspeed, we just take a shortcut because the slow zone is a place outside locality where very different places in our reference can be very nearby in that frame.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's great,\" Drummer said. \"Was it a weapon?\"\n\nTur goggled at her. \"Was what a weapon?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That—\" She waved her fingers in front of his eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That whatever the hell that was. With the hallucinations and the missing time. Was it a weapon? Can the Laconians turn us off like that anytime they want?\"\n\n\"It was ... it was associated with their weapon,\" Tur said. \"I mean it happened at the same time, but that's the thing. Time doesn't actually work like that. 'The same time' is a weird linguistic fantasy. It doesn't exist. Simultaneity doesn't act like this.\"\n\nHe waved his arms, flapping them out toward the sides of the room. This." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The whatever-the-hell-it-had-been hadn't just happened in Drummer's meeting room, or on People's Home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had been spread throughout the system—Earth and Mars, Saturn's moons and Jupiter's. Even the science stations on moons around Neptune and Uranus, and the deep labs in the Kuiper Belt. The reports were startlingly similar—hallucinations and lost time that began uniformly at the moment the Tempest had fired its magnetic weapon at Pallas Station. Or, more accurately, the moment in the Tempest's frame of reference." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tur seemed very specific about that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like it was important.\n\n\"But it didn't happen when they fired it in the slow zone,\" Drummer said. \"Why didn't Medina have this happen?\"\n\n\"What? Oh, no, we don't know. The ring space and the station there and the gates, we don't know what their relationship is with normal space. The rules of physics may be different. I mean, it's clearly an active system, and the energy output from the magnetic weapon there was smaller than the gamma bursts that came from it, so it was tapping into an energy supply that didn't have anything to do with the Tempest per se. But the thing is I'm not sure that was a propagating event. If it wasn't a propagating event, then maybe it didn't violate lightspeed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know what that means,\" Drummer said between clenched teeth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, I mean when you drop a pebble in a pond, there are ripples. They propagate, and all propagation is limited by lightspeed. But instead of a pebble, imagine you dropped a sheet of plating. So that the surface of the plating hit the surface of the pond everywhere at once. It doesn't matter that the trigger that dropped the plate was in one place, because it happened everywhere. Not a point location, but a nonlocalized location.\"\n\n\"Nonlocalized. Location,\" Drummer said, pressing her palms into her eye sockets. Annoyance and fear curled in her throat. So you're telling me you don't know shit floated at the back of her mouth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Everyone would experience it as if the effect began exactly with them and then propagated away in every direction at the speed of light, but in reality—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't care,\" she said. It was still harsh, but less than what she wanted to do. Tur reared back from her anyway. \"What it is, what it means about the way you understand the universe or physics? I don't care. None of that matters to me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They just demonstrated a weapon that at its minimum ripped Pallas Station down to hyperaccelerated dust. I am preparing to lead thousands of soldiers on hundreds of ships into battle against this thing. You need to tell me was that a glitch in consciousness because of their attack, or can they make that happen again anytime they want? Did they know it was going to happen? Did they suffer all the same high weirdness that we did? Because if they can turn our brains off for a few minutes at will, I'm going to need some very different strategies.\"\n\nBy the end, she was shouting. She hadn't meant to shout. Tur had his hands up, palms toward her, like he was afraid she might attack." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fine, let him wonder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it would focus him up.\n\n\"I ... that is ...\" Tur took a deep breath, let it out slowly. \"I feel comfortable saying that the glitch, if that's what we're calling it, was associated with Tempest's attack on Pallas. Given that it didn't happen in the slow zone, I can't say whether it was a controlled effect or an artifact of the weapon with some quality of local space around Sol.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Whether the enemy anticipated it or not, I can't say.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's fair,\" Drummer said. The first pricks of regret were forming at the back of her mind. She shouldn't have yelled at him.\n\n\"And I can't say whether they suffered the same effect ... but I would guess they did. If I'm right about the mechanism, there isn't any sort of shielding against it. You can't block something that's already there. That's what nonpropagating means. It doesn't come from anyplace. Everywhere it is, that's where it came from.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer leaned back. That, at least, was interesting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the Laconians had to go through the same things she had every time they fired their big gun, it would make a gap when automated systems might be able to penetrate their defenses.\n\n\"We're also seeing the increased quantum creations and annihilations much more broadly,\" Tur was saying somewhere nearby. \"Like system-wide broadly. And there's early suggestion that some experiments on Neptune and Luna that were working with controlled entanglement structures collapsed. So maybe—\"\n\nDrummer leaned back in her chair, folding her hands together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her eyelids fell to half-mast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She knew—they all knew—that this was the first time one of the Laconian ships had left its home system. This wasn't only an invasion, it was also a shakedown cruise. And nothing ever went completely as expected on a shakedown. The question was whether the Laconians knew what had happened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whether they'd been anticipating it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they'd been taken by surprise as well, they might not risk using the magnetic beam again.\n\nTur wouldn't be able to tell her that. Or Vaughn or Lafflin. Admiral Trejo could say it, but not to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Which meant there was only one plausible way for her to find out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her heart leaped at the idea, and she waited for the joy to fade before she risked thinking about it again. It was always dangerous when the universe fell down in a pattern where the thing you wanted and the wise path were the same.\n\nSomewhere, Tur was still talking. He might as well have been on another ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer's mind pressed through the possibilities, the dangers, the possible profits, and the certain loss." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Each time, she found herself at the same conclusion.\n\nShe thanked Tur, using the social conventions of conversation to signal him it was time for him to go. She even shook his hand to make up a little for losing her temper before. As she walked him to the door, he was still talking about locality and signal loss." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She closed the door behind him and went back to her desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Vaughn answered the connection request like his finger had been hovering over the button.\n\n\"Ma'am?\"\n\n\"The Tempest is going to make a report. It may go back to Medina, or route through Medina back to Laconia,\" she said. \"We're going to find out what it says.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am. And how are we going to do that?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Saba,\" she said. \"The risk is worth it now. We're reopening communications with Medina.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"An improvised explosive device punctured a liquid-oxygen storage tank on deck four of the engineering section,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was reading from a report that scrolled by on the monitor wrapped around his thick forearm. \"We've recovered very little of the device itself, but what few pieces we have indicate it was made with material common to this facility. It'll be difficult if not impossible to track the exact source.\"\n\nSingh sat and listened to the report and tried to look present and thoughtful. But the truth was, his mind was bouncing around like a tiny animal trying to escape a predator." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He found he only processed about half of what Overstreet was saying." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His hands were shaking so badly that he didn't trust himself to pick up the glass of water on the desk in front of him. He kept them under the desk, where Overstreet wouldn't see them. The sense that he was in immediate danger was inescapable because it was true.\n\n\"The damage to that deck was significant. Total loss of the primary liox storage. The thrust from the breach caused the station's maneuvering thrusters to fire, and the shaking knocked down several structures in the habitat cylinder. The network-traffic station for the Storm was completely destroyed. A backup environmental-systems plant was significantly damaged, and will probably not be repairable.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Storm,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "My first command. The symbol of Laconian power at Medina.\n\n\"This is preliminary, of course,\" Overstreet replied, flicking one finger to skip down the report on his arm. \"It does seem like that might have been the target of this attack, so minor hull damage and the loss of one sensor array feels like we got off light.\"\n\nSingh's hands felt like they were shaking hard enough to be visible, even under the desk, so he gripped his thighs with both hands and held on tight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Preliminary casualty reports?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Again, light,\" Overstreet said. \"At this time, we have five confirmed Laconian fatalities, three from the engineering detail, two from security. Seven injuries ranging from life threatening to minor. Only two locals confirmed dead at this time. But we also have another dozen missing, so that number will probably go up.\"\n\n\"To be willing to do so much damage to their own station, to their own people, just to try to hurt us ...\" Singh said, then trailed off.\n\n\"We have several persons of interest in custody,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"One of them was setting off alarms immediately before the blast. It's possible he wasn't involved, but the coincidence seems unlikely. I will be debriefing him once we're done here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is he a local?\"\n\n\"Former captain of a Transport Union ship. James Holden.\"\n\nSingh frowned. \"Why do I know that name?\"\n\n\"Apparently he's something of a celebrity, sir. He was involved in the Io Campaign and the defeat of the Free Navy back in the day.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Both things that had happened when Singh was a child." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The old guard still playing old-guard games.\n\n\"We will need to make the strongest possible response to this,\" Singh said.\n\nOverstreet nodded, his face grim. The hesitation meant something that Singh didn't understand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sir, the radical factions of the Outer Planets Alliance fought a guerrilla war with Earth and Mars for nearly two centuries. The veterans of that war are almost certainly in leadership positions in this insurgency. That means we have some difficult decisions to make. About the scope of response.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sorry,\" Singh said. \"I'm not following ...\"\n\n\"Insurgencies are historically nearly impossible to eradicate, for a few very simple reasons. The insurgents don't wear uniforms. They look just like the innocent populace. And, they're the friends and family of that populace. This means that every insurgent killed tends to increase recruiting for the insurgency. So unless you are willing to rack up a sizable civilian casualty count, we can't just shoot everyone we suspect. If we take the strongest possible response, we stop calling it counterinsurgency and start calling it genocide.\"\n\n\"I see,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd studied counterinsurgency and urban pacification at the academy, of course." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Afghanistan had been impossible to conquer going all the way back to Alexander the Great. Ireland in the twentieth century. The Belter troubles for the last two centuries. It was different reading about it, but now he saw how this cycle of violence could go on and on for him too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not prepared to execute every Belter on the station.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet seemed to relax without visibly moving at all.\n\n\"I agree, sir. All we can do is make it harder for them to operate,\" Overstreet said. \"We're going to have Marines enter every compartment on the station. Anything we don't control or have immediate use of will be sealed and the atmosphere removed. It won't end this, but it'll make it harder for them to plan and execute with no spaces under their control.\"\n\n\"Agreed,\" Singh said. \"You have authorization to conduct this operation, and shut down any sections of the station you see fit. Let's see if these people can work in daylight, not hiding in the sewers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet stood and saluted, then headed for the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But just before he left, he turned back as if suddenly remembering something. \"Sir, you might consider putting more pressure on your civilian informants. This is exactly the sort of thing they should be doing for us.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Singh agreed. \"That's next on my list.\"\n\nThe Belter with the badly broken nose—Jordao, Singh thought he called himself—was ushered into the office by two Marines." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They held him by the arms, his feet barely touching the ground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His expression was somewhere between angry and sniveling.\n\n\"Put him down,\" Singh told the Marines. When Jordao moved toward a chair, he said, \"Don't sit.\"\n\n\"Sabe, bossmang.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know about the attack?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh's hands had mostly stopped shaking after Overstreet left, so he took a sip of his water. It was all playacting. Look calm, casual, in control. Make Jordao feel like Singh already knew the answer to every question he was asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Make him afraid to lie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It seemed to be working. Jordao rubbed his hands together and bobbed his head like a supplicant.\n\n\"Sa—I mean, yes, boss, I heard.\"\n\n\"It shook the station hard enough to knock down buildings in the drum section,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So, of course, everyone knows about it. I'm not asking that. I'm asking if you know about it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Knew the underground was up to something, them, but details? I don't—\"\n\n\"Because, you see,\" Singh continued, \"I released your sister from our lockup as a down payment for future services rendered. Services like letting me know when a bomb was going to blow up half the engineering section of my station, for example.\"\n\nAll the servility left Jordao's face. Singh watched it happen, like a switch had been flipped in the man's head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was a man who would grovel only so far and no farther." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a useful fact about him, though it did seem to diminish his value.\n\n\"Old OPA, them, sa sa que? The ones the inners couldn't kill,\" Jordao said, not attempting to hide his thick Belter accent now. \"The ones like me? We never get to know.\"\n\n\"Before you leave this room, you will give me a list of every name you think might be involved in this underground so we can add them to our surveillance list. You will also make sure that whatever happens next, you are part of it, so that we can catch the conspirators in the act and bring the full force of the law against them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jordao was shaking his head. \"Kenna nothing, you—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or,\" Singh continued. \"I will have your sister rearrested, tried for larceny and crimes against the empire, and hanged in a public space as a warning to others.\"\n\nBefore Jordao could respond, Singh nodded at his Marines, and they picked the Belter up off the floor again. \"He doesn't leave until his list is delivered and verified.\"\n\n\"Copy that, sir,\" one Marine said, and saluted with the hand that wasn't holding Jordao." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Belter looked from him to the Marine and back again, understanding blooming in his eyes. Understanding and fear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When it was over and he was alone in his office, Santiago Singh found that he very much wanted to send a message to his wife. Tell her how afraid he was. Tell her that maybe accepting this assignment had been a terrible mistake. That walking the line between the man he had always thought he was and the ruthless authoritarian ruler the job required of him wasn't something he could do and remain whole." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That the man who could order civilian deaths as a reprisal could not share the same space with the man who loved his wife and played with his daughter and couldn't wait for her to get old enough so he could buy her a kitten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he couldn't make that call, because the explosion had cut the Storm off from the station, until they could replace the network encryption node. Which was probably a good thing, because he suspected that everything he would have told his wife was a lie.\n\nThe truth—the one that he didn't think he'd ever be able to admit to her—was that he could be both men at once. He'd already delivered the ultimatum to Carrie Fisk that any colony world that joined the resistance would be destroyed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He understood that, should it become necessary, he could order Overstreet to execute every person on the station that hadn't come through the gates on the Tempest and the Storm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Marine commander would do it. And that when Natalia and the monster arrived, he would be able to hold them and kiss them and be the man he'd always been around them. And know that he'd made them safe.\n\nThat was what terrified him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not that the job would force him to be both of those men but that he was capable of being both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That all it would take is a bit more pressure, and Santiago Singh would be a man who loved his daughter with all his heart and who also ordered genocides.\n\nHe tapped at his desk. \"Chief.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" came the immediate reply.\n\n\"How long until we have the network back up so I can send traffic back through the Storm?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's on the priority list. I've been told eleven hours until the replacement system is in place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Singh said. \"Please let me know the instant it's done. I have priority traffic for Laconia.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir. Sir? On that topic, the Storm reports traffic incoming from the Sol gate, marked highest priority. They have a courier bringing it over now.\"\n\n\"Very well. Bring them directly in,\" Singh said, then killed the connection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It seemed too early for the Tempest to be reporting the Sol system's surrender, but he was open for a pleasant surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "According to his tactical map, they would barely be crossing the asteroid belt now. Their projections placed the earliest expected surrender point at the Mars crossing.\n\nSingh needed a distraction to pull himself out of his self-pitying and introspection. Whatever Admiral Trejo needed to tell him so urgently, it was bound to be interesting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The petty officer who was ushered into his office half an hour later was a tall woman with pale hair that had been turned dark by sweat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was breathing heavily, and her uniform was damp.\n\n\"Sir,\" she said, then held out a small black wafer to him.\n\n\"You look terrible, sailor,\" Singh replied, taking the chip. \"Are you all right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Marines are using all the carts for patrol duty, so ...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did you actually run this over all the way from the Storm?\" Because of the attack, traveling from the ship to his office meant donning a vacuum suit, moving through the damaged sections of the station, then removing the suit and running down the long spiraling ramp that went from the center of rotation down to the drum floor. And after that a kilometer-and-a-half run across the drum to reach his office complex.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" the petty officer said, starting to get her breathing under control." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be sending my compliments to your senior chief. Outstanding effort, sailor. Take a moment to clean up, and we'll round up a cart to drive you back.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, sir,\" she said, then gave him a sharp salute and left.\n\nPart of the self-pity trap that Singh had realized it would be easy to fall into was the terrible sense of being utterly alone in his job. He needed more interactions with his fellow Laconians. With his ship, and the sailors under his command." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He needed these reminders that he wasn't working alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That hundreds of like-minded and dedicated professionals shared the dream of the empire. Singh made a mental note to spend more time on the Storm.\n\nHe rolled his monitor out onto the desktop and dropped the small black chip on it. \"Transfer all files and wipe,\" he said, then when the monitor blinked its acknowledgment, snapped the little black chip in two and dropped it in the recycler." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Admiral Trejo's face appeared on his monitor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh found he was a little excited. Trejo was a man with even greater responsibility than his own, and one who handled it with dedication and grace. He was a man who always knew the right thing to do, and did it without hesitation. If Singh wanted to spend more time with the Laconian sailors like himself, he wanted to be Admiral Trejo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He told the monitor to play the message." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trejo's face blurred into motion, and his expression became one of puzzlement, and maybe even fear. \"Sonny. Something's happened, and we have no idea what it is or what to do about it. We need some help.\"\n\nHe paused, and something like dread took root in his expression. \"It seems we've taken on a passenger of sorts.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh watched the message play out in fascination and then horror and then fascination again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The object—there really wasn't any other word to describe it—was a floating sphere of light and darkness hovering about three feet off the deck in a corridor on the Heart of the Tempest. Just looking at a recording of it on the monitor's small screen made his head hurt. Someone passed a length of pipe through it and back again on the recording. The pipe did not seem to interact with the object at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And in fact Singh had the sense that he saw both the pipe and the object at the same time with equal clarity even when that should be impossible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made his head hurt even worse.\n\nMercifully, the person with the pipe stopped doing it, and Trejo began speaking.\n\n\"As you can see, the anomaly doesn't seem to exist as a physical object. It doesn't appear to radiate on any wavelength, except for visible-spectrum photons. Not one sensing device we've aimed at it can even tell that it's there, but we can record it and see it just fine. Being in the same room with it, looking at it, it's quite disorienting and causes double vision and severe headaches.\"\n\nAs if in response to this, four sailors set up a curtain around it using poles and blankets." }, { "from": "human", "value": "While they worked, Trejo continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's moving with us. With the ship, because we're still under thrust and it hasn't moved a millimeter since it first appeared. I've tried making some minor course adjustments, but it keeps us as its frame of reference. I've included all the data we've collected on this file, but I can tell you that its first appearance almost exactly matches the moment when we destroyed Pallas Station. It also includes a nearly three-minute blackout shared by every single person on this ship.\"\n\nThe sailors had finished setting up their curtain, and left. Trejo pulled his monitor close, so his face filled the screen. He lowered his voice, as though telling Singh a secret." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If this is some new weapon of the inner planets, we need to understand it and now. Blacking out a crew for three minutes, the right three minutes, would create a serious tactical advantage for them. I need you to pass along this information to Laconia through our most secure channels. Get me answers fast, Sonny. I'm about to engage with the combined might of the inner planets' navies, and this is the first thing that's made me wonder if I can win.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh sank back in his chair, and rubbed his face with both hands. What if everything, including the attacks on Medina, had just been a distraction? What if the inner planets needed time to bring some new superweapon to bear, and feints and jabs from the Sol fleet and his own insurgents were just to create confusion and buy time?\n\n\"Major Overstreet?\" Singh said to his monitor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll need a cart with an armed guard. I'm going to the Storm.\"\n\n\"Copy that, sir,\"\n\nSingh took another data chip out of his desk, laid it on the monitor, and copied all the files Trejo had sent. He then told his monitor to wipe everything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He placed the chip into a lockable metal briefcase, and waited for his ride to arrive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While he waited, something tugged at his mind. Some memory, from the academy, maybe. Another mention of a sphere of light and darkness. It had to do with the first wave of colonization, even before the high consul had led his people to Laconia ..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took a moment to have his monitor search the local network for any mention of such an object with the properties Trejo had described." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately five sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The search took less than a second, and what it found was a minor colony world named either Ilus or New Terra. In among the list of names connected to what the article was calling the \"Ilus Incident\" was one that his monitor underlined. When he tapped it, he understood why.\n\nIn the report, Captain James Holden of the Rocinante had reported seeing the exact object that was currently residing on Admiral Trejo's ship. The same James Holden who was now in their security lockup, under suspicion of terrorist acts." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The public prison was full, but not with her people. Laconian guards stood at the corners with weapons drawn, watching the crowd watch the prisoners. Drones buzzed overhead, scanning constantly. On the far side of the steel mesh, men and women sat disconsolately waiting for trial or judgment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie stuffed her fists deep into the pockets of her plain gray jumpsuit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A man at the back of the lowest cell on the left looked a little bit like Holden, but not so much she could talk herself into thinking it was him. Even if they had him, Holden probably wouldn't be put here. This jail was more than half for show—public stocks for a new generation. Anyone with real value to the security forces would be somewhere else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Still. She had hoped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It never hurt to hope, except when it did.\n\n\"Pinché schwists, alles la,\" the man next to her said under his breath. She'd been around Belters long enough to translate it in her head. Lousy kids, all of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man who'd said it had long brown-gray hair and an expression as sour as old lemons." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She only smiled her agreement. This wasn't a place where she wanted to say anything aloud against the Laconians.\n\nIt turned out it was just as good she didn't.\n\n\"Esá all the fucking underground, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he said. \"Things aren't hard enough, now they're killing our goddamn station?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie felt her smile grow tighter, less sincere. The rage in the man's eyes wasn't for the invaders who'd swept in, destroyed their defenses, and taken over. It was for the people fighting against them. It was for her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hard times,\" she said, because the drones might be listening." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She walked away, heading north along the drum. The straight line of sun above her, the ruins of the engineering decks far away at her back. Being out in public like this left her feeling exposed. The Laconians were everywhere, the checkpoints twice as thick as they'd been before, and everywhere she looked, faces shaped by fear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Laconians' fear that their control over the station hadn't been enough to stop the underground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The locals' fear of Laconian reprisals. Her fear that she'd be found out, or that she'd broken something she wasn't going to be able to mend.\n\nSaba's network had managed to get the warning out pretty well. The death toll in the explosion was low." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd heard a dozen, and most of them Laconian, but it was hard to know what was true." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was as deep in the culture of the Belt as bones in their bodies that you didn't fuck with the environmental systems. She hadn't thought about the symbolic meaning of her plan, or what it took for Saba and Katria to agree to it. To Bobbie, they'd been getting important intelligence and covering their tracks. To the Belters, they'd been saying that they would be free of Laconian rule, even if the only freedom was death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If not everyone on the station signed on for that, she couldn't blame them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A swath of green grass lawn on her right had a classroom's worth of children, a teacher talking about insects and soil. A man on a bicycle rode past her, whistling to let people know he was coming, and to clear the path. All the things that had happened before Duarte and Trejo and Singh. She couldn't guess how many of the people she was walking past would have turned her in to the authorities if they'd known." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How many would have applauded her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was no way for her to ask.\n\nThat was the trick of living under the thumb of a dictator. It broke every conversation, even the private ones. The invasion had wounded everyone, one way or another." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Herself very much included." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hand terminal chimed, and she plucked it out of her pocket with a sense of dread. The message was from Alex, and all it said was WHEN YOU HAVE A MINUTE. The underground was still using encrypted back channels. The security forces wouldn't see the message in their logs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But if Bobbie got picked up, or someone looked over her shoulder, the words would be innocuous." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba's cramped halls and corridors were the only place they could speak freely. Everywhere else on Medina had become the land of subtext.\n\nShe found an escalator and let it carry her down into the body of the drum. It wasn't far to the entry to Saba's alternate station, but they all had to be careful to see they weren't followed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their bubble of freedom was fragile, and once it popped, it wouldn't come back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex was waiting for her when she ducked into the access corridor. The flesh under his eyes looked ashy and his shoulders slumped like he was under a higher gravity than they were. He smiled, though, and that her friend seemed pleased to see her counted for a lot. For more than it should have, even." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How's the weather out there?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "he asked as they made their way down toward the makeshift galley.\n\n\"Stormy,\" she said. \"Get the feeling it'll get worse before it gets better too.\"\n\n\"That was a given.\"\n\nIn the galley, half a dozen of Saba's people sat at the tables, talking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air smelled like noodles in black sauce, but the food was gone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie wasn't hungry anyway. One of Katria's men, a crook-nosed guy named Jordao, nodded to her, smiling a little too widely. She nodded back with a sense of dread. This was not a time she wanted someone hitting on her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Any word?\" she asked, her voice low even though security wouldn't hear her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wasn't afraid of being found out here, but the wounds were fresh. Some things didn't need to travel outside the family.\n\n\"On Holden, no,\" Alex said.\n\n\"Okay,\" Bobbie said. It cut her a little every time there was nothing, and she welcomed it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If it came back that she'd killed him, the hurt would be a million times worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every little wound was a good thing because it wasn't the killing blow.\n\n\"That stuff Naomi pulled off the encryption machine? It's working. Saba's folks are able to dig through a bunch of stuff we intercepted before. Of course, the Storm's not talking to Medina anymore since we blew the channel, so we're not getting anything new. But it makes it rough for the bad guys that they can't have their ship talk to the station without radio or tightbeam, so ...\"\n\nHe trailed off like his words were running out of pressure.\n\n\"So we won,\" she said. \"Go us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Doesn't feel like it, does it? I keep asking myself what the hell happened.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We lost Holden.\"\n\nAlex shook his head, tapped four fingertips on the table. \"Yeah, and that's hard, but something happened before that. We've faced all kinds of bad before now, and it never split up the family. It was always everyone else, never us. Now Naomi's off in her room, and Amos is wherever the hell Amos is. You're going for long walks. We used to be a crew. Now it's me and Claire playing cards and worrying about everyone.\" She heard the accusation in his voice, and she wanted to push back at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only he was right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something deeper was wrong. Had been wrong.\n\nIn the hallway, Saba's voice. A woman replied. It was all too quiet to make out the words. The people at the other table laughed about something." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie hunched forward, her scowl deep enough to ache." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden's not just Holden,\" she said, knowing it was an evasion but saying it anyway. \"He's the face of the Rocinante. He's been on newsfeeds since before I joined up. He's the special man. We pulled this thing off, and we lost one person in the operation. That's a win. If it had been you or me or Claire that got caught, we'd still be celebrating, but it was Holden. Now it feels like we lost our good-luck charm.\"\n\n\"Feels like that to them, sure,\" Alex said, pointing to the others with his thumb. \"But we lost him before, and it didn't break us. Him and Naomi retiring was sad. And then he didn't go away, and that was weird.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah. The whole Captain Draper thing might have worked if he'd actually been out of the picture—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex leaned forward, talking over her.\n\n\"But we know better. Whatever's going on with Amos and you, it didn't start when Holden left. Or when he came back. It was when that big-ass ship steamed through the gate from Laconia and fucked everything sideways. And now Naomi's curling up in her bunk while everything's still on fire.\"\n\n\"She's not helping with the decrypt?\"\n\nAlex shook his head once, sharply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She can't pull back,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's the best tech on the station. Saba's people are fine, but she's better. She can't just stop working because ...\"\n\nBecause her lover's dead. Or worse. Bobbie felt the hurt and the guilt again.\n\n\"We need her,\" Alex agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll have a talk with her if you want. Unless you want to be the one who kicks her butt?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I really don't.\"\n\n\"Good, because I don't want to be the one who tells Amos to get his shit together. So that one's on you.\"\n\nTo Bobbie's surprise, she smiled. For a moment, she could pretend the cramped little galley was the Rocinante." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That she and Alex were burning between the gates and the stars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She put a hand on his arm, grateful that her friend was there. And that however shitty things got, the plan was still to fix them.\n\nAlex's smile was enough to show he understood everything she hadn't spoken. \"Right?\" he said.\n\n\"You're Naomi. I'm Amos. Then if Holden's still alive, we find him, crack him loose, and get the hell out of Dodge before the next big-ass ship comes through that gate.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"See? Now you're talking sense,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He sighed. \"Which is good, because I thought I was going to have to tell you to stop sulking, and I really wasn't looking forward to the part where you punched me in the mouth.\"\n\nSaba stood at the wider part of the hallway where an access panel had been taken out and never replaced. He held his arms above his head, bracing against the ceiling with the unconscious ease of someone ready for a ship that might move unexpectedly. He lifted his chin as Bobbie came close." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, I'm looking for Amos,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Problem?\"\n\n\"Tell you when I find out,\" she said. \"He's not answering his comms.\"\n\nSaba's brow furrowed. \"Que shansy que he's after Holden?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I wouldn't put the odds high that he'd go on an extraction by himself,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then, a moment later, \"I mean not zero, but not high.\"\n\n\"See it stays, if you can,\" Saba said. \"We're carrying plenty enough already, and more rolling down, yeah?\"\n\nSomething in his voice caught her. \"More news?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba hesitated, then shifted his head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Come this way. \"You looking for yours, me looking for you. You want the good word first, or the worrying?\"\n\n\"Good,\" Bobbie said. \"I'm looking for good.\"\n\n\"Word from a coyo on the cleaning crew is Holden's alive. Locked down tight, but not dead.\"\n\nA tightness released in Bobbie's gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever else happened, she hadn't killed him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And more than that, when she found Amos, she'd have it on her side. She felt a deep gratitude that she'd run into Saba before he'd found him. She had to let Alex know. And Naomi. And everyone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The relief was profound." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's ... Okay. What's the worrying?\"\n\n\"Message from the union. From the spy repeater.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" Bobbie said, following him as he walked toward his cabin. \"We've got communications lines open? I thought we shut that down.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Turned it back on for this,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It ate a missile right after. Drummer thought it was worth burning the channel for.\"\n\n\"Something big, then?\"\n\n\"Come see.\"\n\nSaba had Drummer's message up on his cabin's monitor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The change in her face was shocking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't only that the president looked tired and thinner. She looked older, like the last few weeks had been measured in years instead of days. Saba didn't speak, but started the message from the beginning. Bobbie listened until the end, then played it again, making sure she understood." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The loss of Pallas, and the loss of time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" she said. \"Holy shit.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Saba said. \"Got my people going through all the information we intercepted. All that's finished decrypting, anyway. Nothing about lost time or boiling up the vacuum.\"\n\n\"Even if we found something, it's not like we can sneak a message back if the repeater's dead.\"\n\n\"Not sneak one, no,\" Saba agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can shout, though. If it was the right time. Medina's not home anymore. Not for us. When we scatter, maybe send something back down to People's Home. Tell them what we've got to tell them. If we get anything.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fair point,\" Bobbie agreed. \"And that is the plan now, right? Clear a path and evacuate as many as we can before the new ship gets here?\"\n\n\"Already putting out the word to the underground,\" he said. He sounded as tired as she was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Just the ones we trust. Saying to get ready. Window opens, and get to the ships and go. Everyone someplace different. Harder to kill us if we're not in one place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Even better if they don't know who went where,\" Bobbie said. \"I'd love to find a way to take out Medina's sensor arrays when we go.\"\n\n\"Would be sweet,\" Saba said, his voice dull.\n\n\"You holding up okay?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba shrugged toward the image of Drummer still on the screen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That woman is my heart, and I lost her. Lost my ship. Lost my place for my people. Got an enemy ship killing my cities and stations, and now it can turn off minds in a whole system at once. Got another one like it braking toward me. Got all those Marines in power armor ready to shoot me and mine through the brainpan, and the loosest mouth on a thousand worlds is in the enemy's jail. So given so, I'm all right.\"\n\n\"Holden won't rat us out. He's given a lot of unvetted press releases over the years, but that's not the same as this.\"\n\n\"They have him, they'll have us. Not talking him down, but these people were Mars before they were this. Ask anyone in the OPA from the old days. Martian interrogation, it's a question of how long until the break. Never if. Better that he'd died.\"\n\n\"We can move,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you have any holes that Holden didn't know about?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Few,\" Saba said, reluctantly. \"But fewer now. My people are moving now. Still room for you and yours, but there won't be. Not for long. And ...\"\n\nHe shook his head.\n\n\"And what,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If there's something more, I need to know.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba shrugged and nodded at the screen. \"When it comes, if it comes, the one system we can't go to? Sol. Anyplace else, I can try for. Anyplace else, I can go. But no matter where it is, she won't be there. Wasn't so bad when the repeater still was, but with it gone, it feels ...\"\n\nA tear tracked down Saba's brown cheek. Bobbie looked away.\n\nIt was so easy to forget all the others." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not just Saba, but all of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The crews of all the ships trapped in the dock beside the Roci. The children in Medina's schoolrooms, the medical staff in the clinics. The artists playing music live outside the cafés out of love of doing it. Medina Station had been the nearest thing to a void city before the void cities were built." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a home for a generation of people, and every one of them was carrying something now that made their days harder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She thought of the prisoners in the public jail, the angry man who'd come to watch them. Who had he lost back on Sol? What was keeping him awake in the nights?\n\nThere were so many families, so many crews, parents and children, lovers and friends, whose lives had been changed past recognition since Laconia gate had opened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't just her and the Roci crew." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't just Saba. Everyone was dancing on this same landslide, and no one knew how to make it end well.\n\nShe wanted to say something comforting, but she couldn't bring herself to lie. The best she could think of was to change the subject." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When we get out,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not if. When. We're going to need a plan. If every ship just bolts off on its own, we'll lose contact. They shouldn't know where we went, but we should. At the very least, we should have a record of who went where. This every-man-for-himself-and-God-against-all shit's romantic, but we have to plan for something past just this.\"\n\nSaba nodded. In the distance, voices and footsteps.\n\n\"Not just encrypted but in code,\" Saba said. \"Something where only we know what it means.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ou y mé,\" Saba said. \"Leaders of the underground, us. First among dissidents.\"\n\nBobbie chuckled. \"Well, there's a fucking job title.\"\n\nThe footsteps came faster now, and coming closer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba looked up like an animal smelling smoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fuck, Bobbie thought. Not something else. It's too much already. We can't carry something else.\n\nThe woman who appeared in Saba's doorway was older, white hair pulled back in a tight braid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her body was long and thin, her head a little too large for her shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The classic build of someone who'd grown up without gravity to hold her down. She even had the split circle of the OPA tattooed on her arm. She should have looked ancient, but the brightness in her eyes belonged on a woman a third her age. She looked from Saba to Bobbie and back with something like triumph in her eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maha?\" Saba said. \"Que?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then to Bobbie, \"Maha one of our best communications techs. Had her hands in the codes since before I was born, yeah?\"\n\n\"And I know all their secrets,\" she said in a weirdly accented voice. She held out a dumb terminal that wasn't connected to Medina's system. \"The new decryption run turned over some stones. And look you what was squirming under one.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie was closer. She took the handheld terminal and flipped through the file there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was titled MEDINA STATION SUPPLEMENTARY SECURITY REVIEW AS REQUESTED BY GOVERNOR SANTIAGO SINGH. The file's creator was listed as Major Lester Overstreet. She checked the file length and whistled.\n\n\"Que?\" Saba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is way too long to just be an incident report,\" Bobbie said. \"It's ...\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The section headings were Materials, Procedures, Personnel, Protocols, Audit Summary, Recommendations. She recognized the style of paragraph marking from when she'd trained back on Olympus Mons. It looked like an MMC security report, but twice as long. Maybe three times. She shifted through one after another, her head starting to swim a little.\n\n\"I think ... Saba, I think this is everything,\" she said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\nfour sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His back hurt. Of all the thousand things that were jacked up and wrong in his life right now, the one that chose to make him crazy was that. His back hurt, just below his rib cage where it clicked for a couple days after they'd been on the float for a while. Now it clicked and ached a little. Just time and age catching up with him, but it made him crazy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Probably anything that he couldn't fix was going to make him crazy right now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He walked down the tight hallway, his shoulder brushing the conduits and pipes, and told himself that things were getting better. Not losing Holden. That was still a long way from better. But the rest of it. The rest of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever else happened, he still had Bobbie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And for him anyway, Bobbie counted double.\n\nTaking care of their little family had been his job damn near since the day the Canterbury died, back in some other lifetime. And usually, he felt like he managed it pretty well. The only time things had really come apart, he'd been married to Giselle and preoccupied with trying to pump air into that leaking sack of a relationship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But all the times he hadn't lost focus, Alex felt like he'd kept the crew of the Roci working together, mostly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't big things. The powerful stuff was always small. A kind word when Clarissa was feeling unappreciated, a little elbow in the ribs when Holden's outrage on someone else's behalf threatened to eclipse the person in question, a cordon around Amos when the big man was in the bad part of his head. Every crew that lasted more than three runs together had someone who kept a weather eye on the balance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For decades now, he'd been that man on the Roci." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Only they weren't on the Roci now. And that, so far as he could see it, was more than half of the problem. Not the whole problem. But more than half." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hoy, hoy, hoy,\" one of Katria's people said, trotting up behind him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex recognized him from the galley. Young guy with a nose that had gotten bent sometime back and never put straight. \"Passé alles gut?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" Alex said. \"Everything's fine.\" It wasn't true, but he wasn't looking to talk about family business outside the family." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bist bien,\" the crook-nosed guy said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just. We're alles busted about Holden, yeah? Whatever Voltaire can do, help out, yeah?\"\n\nAlex clapped the crook-nose on the shoulder, and looked deeply into his eyes. \"Thank you. Seriously. That means a lot.\"\n\nThe kid was just another someone who wanted to get close to the action." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There had been a million like him over the years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had always been the one who soaked up the fame and celebrity, because for the most part he didn't notice it. He just kept on being himself, and got vaguely surprised when anyone recognized him. The rest of them had to build up their routines and diversions, ways of being polite to the people who wanted to insert themselves into anything that the Rocinante did so they could tell their friends and feeds that they knew James Holden. Shaking Crook-nose's hand and sending him away didn't cost Alex much, but it didn't cost him nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Part of him wanted to ignore the guy or yell at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But this was easier in the long run. He had enough experience to know that, and he was pretty good with patience when he needed to be.\n\nAfter a well-calculated moment, he turned away and resumed walking toward the makeshift bunkroom. And Naomi.\n\nIt had been hard when Holden and Naomi pulled the ripcord, but it hadn't been unexpected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Part of him had been braced for it since his own second divorce." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd been ready for the blow when those two packed up their things and retired. When Duarte's forces blew through the gate and changed everything, part of him had thought that getting Holden and Naomi back was going to be the silver lining.\n\nHe'd called it wrong, though.\n\nThey treated it like Laconia was the only problem because it was the one most likely to get them all killed, but there was more than that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now that Holden was out of the picture, the only one in a position to fix it was Naomi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fix it. That was optimism. The only one who could fix as much of it as was fixable. He hoped she was able to rise to the occasion. He hoped he was too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But no matter how bad it was, things had gone pretty well with Bobbie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He still had Bobbie.\n\nThe smuggler's cabin was dim. Golden light spilled from the toolkit light they used for illumination when the built-in fixtures were too harsh. The air was warmer here, and it had the vague smell of bodies and old laundry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They hadn't changed out the sheets since they'd gotten here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Some things slipped when you were hiding from authoritarian police squads and trying to topple a conquering army. Linens appeared to be one of those things.\n\nNaomi sat against the back wall, her stool tipped back so that she could rest against the bulkhead. She smiled when he came in and put a finger to her lips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex paused, and Naomi nodded toward the bunk to his left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lump under the blanket was the curve of Clarissa's back. It rose and fell slowly. She was asleep. Alex turned back to Naomi, gestured to the door behind him in invitation, but Naomi shifted her stool to one side, making room for Alex to sit on the lower bunk beside her. Come sit with me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I will not go outside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With a sinking sensation in his gut, Alex sat. His back popped like a bolt shearing off, and the ache went away. In the shadows, Naomi seemed like someone just waking up from sleep or just falling into it. On a borderline, regardless, between one state and another." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey,\" Alex said softly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi made a little wave with a smile behind it. \"I've been sitting with her for the last couple hours. Amos is trying to get something to take the edge off in the short run, but we need to get her to the med bay. That sludge in her blood is building up. It's making her jittery.\"\n\n\"Soon as we're out of here,\" Alex said. \"First thing. How're you holding together?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shrugged with her hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" he said.\n\n\"You coming to tell me that I need to put my big-girl boots on? Stop sulking in my tent and rejoin the battle, quick before Patroclus does something rash?\" There was a warmth and a humor in her voice he hadn't expected. It almost undercut the sorrow that he had expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, I don't actually know who Patroclus is,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Greek kid, got in over his head,\" Naomi said, waving it away. \"I'll be fine, Alex. I'll be out there. Just I needed to be away for a little while. It's just the down cycle.\"\n\nHe went through all of the things he'd planned to say, all the arguments he'd prepared to make. None of them seemed to quite fit the situation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, okay,\" he said instead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then, a moment later, \"Down cycle?\"\n\n\"The part where I don't know if he's dead or alive. The part where I don't know if I'll ever see him again. The part where I think how much I want him to be here and safe and not hurting. And telling me not to hurt either.\"\n\n\"I know it's ... that's got to be—\"\n\n\"Alex, I live here,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I can't tell you how many times he's put me here. How many times he's seen the right thing to do and rushed off to do it without thinking about the price. Without letting me or you or the Roci scare him into being less than his conscience demands. He doesn't even know he's doing it. It's natural to him. Who he is. It's the only thing about him I'm really angry about.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The buzz in her voice wasn't sorrow.\n\nAlex took a deep breath and let it out slowly. \"I may not have really understood the whole situation.\"\n\n\"You remember Io? When he went off to a ship with active protomolecule all over it because maybe he'd be able to save Mars? Or Ilus, when he vanished with whatever that weird version of Miller was because maybe he'd be able to keep you and me from falling out of orbit? Or on Marais, when he went into the cliffs so we wouldn't run out of water? So this time he went to keep Amos and Katria playing nice, and instead, he saved the whole operation and maybe opened the way for all of us to get away safely. All it cost was him. And he paid that price without hesitating. Same as fucking always.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A tear tracked down her cheek, and he felt his own eyes stinging." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We'll get him,\" Alex said. \"We'll always get him back.\"\n\n\"Sure we will. Until the time we don't,\" she said. \"It's like this for everyone. There's always going to be a last time, eventually. I just wish with Jim there could only be one last time, and not all of them, over and over and over.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took her hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her fingers were warm, but thinner than he remembered them being. He could feel the little bones beneath the skin, and her skin was dry.\n\n\"He's exhausting,\" she said.\n\n\"But we love him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She sighed. \"We do.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They sat in silence for a moment before she drew her hand back from his and wiped her cheeks dry. She leaned forward, setting the legs of her stool down against the deck. Her sigh came from a thousand klicks away. \"Let me get cleaned up, and I'll get to work,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex stood when she did, but waited behind as she walked out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd been traveling with Naomi for a lot of years. It was amazing how easy it was to forget how much she knew herself. He didn't know if that said more about her or him.\n\nProbably him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa made a soft sound, somewhere between a grunt and cough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She turned toward him. Her skin was pale, sheened with sweat, but her smile was strong and unforced. \"Hey,\" she said. \"What did I miss? Did we hear about Holden? What's news?\"\n\n\"No, it wasn't that. I was just getting a little pep talk,\" Alex said. \"How're you doing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa's eyes drifted closed and then open again, like a blinking in slow motion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Living the dream,\" she said, and chuckled. \"Have you seen Amos? He was going to get me ... something.\"\n\n\"I think he's still out doing that. He'll be back, though. Don't worry.\"\n\n\"I never do,\" Clarissa said, and shuddered like she was cold." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The room wasn't cold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think they could fix me?\"\n\n\"Who?\"\n\n\"The Laconians,\" Clarissa said. \"I keep thinking about how their tech is all levels and levels above ours. And I wonder if maybe their medicine is too. Maybe they could get these fucking implants out of me. Plaster over the worst of the damage.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know. Maybe.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kind of ironic that I'm working to fuck them all the way up, isn't it?\" She made a single, low sound. If she'd strung a few like it together, it would have been chuckling.\n\n\"I guess it is,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then a moment later, \"If you want to go to one of their clinics? I mean it would probably mean getting out of this underground business, but if you want to, we can work something out.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her smile was love and pity. \"You really think that's true? That we could work something out?\"\n\n\"Hell yes,\" Alex said.\n\n\"Well, I'll keep that option in mind,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're a good man, Alex Kamal.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're not too bad yourself,\" he said.\n\n\"I am not presently at my best,\" Clarissa said. \"But I appreciate the thought. I really do.\"\n\nHer eyes fluttered closed again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her face relaxed. She looked like a wax model of herself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'll be better when we get the Roci back, he thought. Not better-better. Just improved, but better than this. And once he was back in the pilot's seat, he wasn't ever going dockside again if he could help it. Being on the Rocinante was being home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everywhere else was where the trouble came." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie came with the news about Holden, and something else besides. It felt almost like something foreordained. As soon as he had told Naomi that they'd save Holden, Holden appeared in the station brig and the document outlining how to free him fell into their hands. It was perfect enough to make him very nervous." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is astounding,\" Naomi said, paging through the file." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex leaned over her, trying to see the screen of her terminal and not interrupt her at the same time, and doing a middling job of both. If there was any sure sign of Naomi's relief, it was that she was back on the job.\n\nThe room was small, the door firmly closed, and Saba had set the monitor to the local newsfeed with the volume high. A young man he didn't recognize was interviewing Carrie Fisk about the war in Sol system and the traffic between the colony worlds that was just about to begin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The colonies don't care who's running Medina, so long as we're running it well." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Transport Union was fine, and Laconian oversight will be fine too. Better, even, because the Laconian model respects self-rule. The Laconian Congress of Worlds is a real voice for its members. That's never been the case before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex tried watching her, just so he'd have something to do besides hover." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't work very well.\n\nBobbie paced along the wall behind her, three strides one way, then turned, then three back. Saba was more subdued, his body held still and only his eyes flickering. The two of them had the same sense of barely restrained action." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like a boulder on a mountaintop that's just starting to shift toward the slope." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi made a small, satisfied sound at the back of her throat and followed a linked passage to a schematic of a ship that looked from the outside like the Gathering Storm.\n\n\"Who knows about this?\" Alex asked. \"I mean, who's seen it?\"\n\n\"One of mine broke the encryption,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She brought it to me straight. Didn't read it, even. Maha, she solid like stone. Not everyone of mine is, but her? I tell her she didn't see it, and it never got seen.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This has the operational plans for the Gathering Storm,\" Naomi said. \"Whatever else you want to say about these Laconians, they are thorough.\"\n\n\"Most of it's MRCN and MMC protocols and practices,\" Bobbie said. \"Five-sixths of it are the operating procedures Alex and I trained on, word for word.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You should both read the thing, then,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Alles la. Mark down where it's changed. There's reasons to change things. Might point us the right way. Know what's behind it, maybe even better than this on its own.\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" Naomi said. \"This on its own is pretty damned good.\"\n\nThe excitement in Alex's chest felt like champagne bubbles." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bright and dancing. He'd forgotten what a good break felt like after all the dread." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was astounding to think how close he'd come to scrubbing the mission, leaving the waldoes abandoned in the air duct, and calling it impossible. And if this was the key that let them get themselves and everyone else in the underground off Medina before the Typhoon appeared, his balking would have pissed their best chances away.\n\nHolden's gambit had worked. He'd thrown himself to the wolves so that they'd have this, and it was everything they'd hoped for." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything but having him back, and maybe that too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is there anything in there about where the prisoners are held?\" he asked.\n\n\"There is,\" Naomi said, her inflection landing on the words in a way that meant it was the first thing she'd looked for. All the rest of it was important, but that part—where Holden was, how to get him out—was a settled issue in her mind. That was enough for Alex." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could hear the details later, so long as there were details to hear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Problemas son,\" Saba said, shifting his weight. \"Maybe is too good, yeah? Maybe is designed to look like something it's not.\"\n\n\"You think it's fake?\" Naomi asked.\n\nSaba made a ticking sound with his tongue and teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No. But can't make the assumption without risking everybody's ass, yeah? Hoping more than not. If it is what it is, it won't stay secret for long. Too proud a victory, yeah? Someone finds out, gets a little drunk, then everyone knows.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't trust your people's discipline?\" Bobbie asked.\n\nSaba pointed at the closed door. \"My people are the crew on the Malaclypse. These others weren't mine until they stopped being Drummer's. And she's had five or six layers of bureaucrats between. It's not I don't trust, it's that I don't trust blind. People are people. Fucked up like we all are, it amazes me when we can even make a sandwich.\"\n\n\"A man of infinite cynicism,\" Naomi said, but Alex could hear the calm behind the words." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever she was seeing there, it soothed her more than he'd been able to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then, \"Bobbie, when you were active Martian Marine Corps, did your Goliath suits have a command override?\"\n\n\"A what?\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Command override. Something that let your commanding officer shut the suit down?\"\n\n\"Sure, we called it a radio. CO said stand down, and we did. What are you seeing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi leaned back so that Bobbie—and since he was right there, Alex—could see better." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Back when he'd been in the service, there had always been a clear chain of command, and procedures in place for when someone bucked it. Most of the time it involved MPs dragging someone off for a little summary roadside attitude adjustment followed by a court-martial. Maybe it was different in the Marines, but he was pretty sure he hadn't seen anything like what was outlined on the screen.\n\n\"They can ... they can turn them off?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie said, her voice caught between outrage and laughter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because that right there looks like it's saying the governor can push a button and turn all those pretty suits of power armor into a couple thousand sarcophagi.\"\n\n\"Life-support functions stay in place,\" Naomi said. \"But disables the weapons and comm systems, and freezes all the joints.\"\n\nAlex whistled appreciatively. \"These folks must really be scared of mutineers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well,\" Bobbie said. \"Think about how they got here. Duarte managed to build a schismatic faction inside the MCRN big enough to start his own navy. Going on with the assumption that no one would ever try the same thing on him would seem stupid. He's not stupid. This solve in particular, though ...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Seems a mite overaggressive,\" Alex said.\n\n\"And it's always the aggressor who exposes their weakness,\" Bobbie said. She put her hand on Naomi's. \"What are the chances we could spoof that lockdown signal?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Get me one of their powered suits,\" Naomi said, \"and I'm pretty sure we could manage it.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Storm, Medina's scopes, and the Marines,\" Bobbie said. \"This looks like we can build a plan that's three for three.\"\n\n\"And the prisoners,\" Naomi said. \"Freeing the prisoners.\"\n\nShe meant Holden, Alex knew. Bobbie did too.\n\n\"Goes without saying,\" Bobbie said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S.A. Corey would" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh found it unsettling to think of a time before Laconia. He'd been young enough when his parents made the crossing that he had virtually no memories of anything but Laconia as home. And yet, Laconia wasn't even the first of the thirteen hundred worlds to be colonized. First, there had been a ball of mud and water that the settlers called Ilus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The government of Earth, faced with the daunting prospect of surveying, studying, then exploiting the potentially vast riches of these new worlds, did what it always did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It gave out a government contract to a civilian company to do it for them. But when the prospecting vessel from Royal Charter Energy arrived at what the UN was calling New Terra, they found a couple hundred squatters already there digging up mineral resources and calling themselves an independent government.\n\nA lot of violence later, RCE left the planet, Ilus had its own charter from the UN, and it was, up until recently, a founding member of Carrie Fisk's Association of Worlds and an exporter of lithium and heavy metals.\n\nJames Holden had been there during the worst of that initial violence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now he was in an observation room with his ankles shackled to the deck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh considered the man on his monitor. Holden was older than he'd expected, his temples gone white. The images he'd pulled from the public archives going back decades showed that same open, serious-eyed face on a man very nearly Singh's own age.\n\nNow Holden sat with his head bowed forward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Blood streaked the chest and sleeves of his prison uniform." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Round drops of it spotted his paper slippers. He cradled one hand against this belly, and his cheek was swollen and bruised. The stool he sat on had a single leg bolted to the deck, and he swayed forward and back like a man nodding himself to sleep. The restraints on his wrists looked like wide black ribbon, but Singh knew they were strong enough that the man's bones would break before they did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't a person so much as a distillation of human misery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Should I ask how many of those wounds came from the explosion?\" Singh said.\n\nOverstreet didn't smile, but a subtle merriness came to his eyes. \"If that's important to you, sir, I'm sure I could find out.\"\n\nAfter the prisoner had set off false alarms throughout the engineering deck, he had been captured." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Five minutes after that the real alarms had begun." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In other circumstances, Holden would already be dead. All that had kept him alive until now was his connection to the mechanisms and people involved in his terrorist group and his own stubbornness.\n\nBut if this was going to work, Singh knew he would have to somehow reach this man. Make a human connection with someone ready to kill Laconians out of prejudice and hatred." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he was going to find something that he could exploit, he had to believe there was good in him, even if he only maintained the illusion for a little while." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he could reframe Holden in his own mind, if he could see some other version of the man than the obvious one, it might be possible. \"He did warn people. The alarms before the detonation? They let more people get to safety. When he was taken, he warned the security forces to take shelter. If he hadn't done what he did, the loss of life would have been worse.\"\n\n\"That's true,\" Overstreet said. \"He could also have chosen not to bomb the air supply.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What was this man?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A patriot to his government? A man so frightened of change he'd resort to violence? A rabble-rouser who took Singh's governorship as another opportunity to start trouble that he would have been making under any circumstances?\n\nWhat he came back to—what he brought himself back to—was that point: Holden had let himself be captured in order to save lives." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't much, but it was all Singh had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" he said. \"Let's see what happens.\"\n\nHolden looked up as he entered the room. The older man's left eye was nearly shut and his upper lip was split and scabby. He nodded to Singh as a guard brought a light chair for the governor to sit on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Captain Holden,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances.\"\n\n\"Me too,\" Holden said. His voice was low and graveled. Singh had the sense that it wasn't always that way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can I get you anything? A cup of water?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Coffee,\" Holden said. \"I could stand a cup of coffee.\"\n\nSingh tapped his wrist monitor, and a moment later the same guard reentered with a bulb. Holden accepted it with both hands and sipped it. His smile seemed genuine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is actually pretty good.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm glad you approve. I'm more of a tea man myself.\"\n\n\"It'll do in a pinch,\" Holden said, then lifted his gaze to meet Singh's. He had surprisingly clear and focused eyes, considering all he'd been through. \"Just to clarify, are you trying to build rapport with me, or am I trying to build rapport with you? I'm a little hazy on it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Both, I think,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I haven't done this before. I'm a novice.\"\n\n\"Yeah, well. No offense, but you look like a teenager.\"\n\n\"I'm the same age you were when you were thrown out of Earth's navy.\"\n\nHolden laughed. It was a warm, rueful sound." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not sure you'll do yourself any favors comparing yourself to me back then. I was kind of an idiot.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh found it was easy to chuckle. He could imagine coming to like this man. That was good. It made the next part easier.\n\n\"So why do you hate us? If you don't mind my asking.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You personally? I don't. But this conquistador bullshit? It's true I don't think much of it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh leaned back in his chair, cocked his head. \"This is all a conversation about politics for you, then? It matters to you that much whose vision guides the government, no matter what that vision is?\"\n\n\"Not that academic,\" Holden said. \"I've spent a lot of years trying to get people to get along without anyone's boot being on anyone's neck. Your plan A is what I've spent a lifetime pushing against.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you really think we're so bad? Look at what we've done, how we've done it. We haven't opened fire on a single ship that didn't attack us first. In all of history, when has a conqueror been able to say that? We have embraced local rule. Any of the colony worlds that submits can make their own local government, keep their own local customs—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Unless they conflict with your rules.\"\n\n\"Of course.\"\n\nHolden sipped his coffee. \"That's the thing. The people you're controlling don't have a voice in how you control them. As long as everyone's on the same page, things may be great, but when there's a question, you win. Right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There has to be a way to come to a final decision.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, there doesn't. Every time someone starts talking about final anythings in politics, that means the atrocities are warming up. 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.\"\n\n\"And yet, I understand from Ms. Fisk that the Transport Union was condemning whole colonies that didn't follow its rule.\"\n\n\"Right?\" Holden said. \"And so I disobeyed that order and I quit working for them. I was all set to go retire in Sol system. Can you do that?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can I do what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you are given an immoral order, can you resign and walk away? Because everything I've seen about how you're running this place tells me that isn't an option for you.\"\n\nSingh crossed his arms. He had the sense that the interrogation was getting away from him.\n\n\"The high consul is a very wise, very thoughtful man,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have perfect faith that—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No. Stop. 'Perfect faith' really tells me everything I need to know,\" Holden said. \"You think this is a gentle, bloodless conquest, don't you?\"\n\n\"It is, to the degree that you allow it to be.\"\n\n\"I was there for the war Duarte started to cover his tracks. I was there for the starving years afterward. Your empire's hands look a lot cleaner when you get to dictate where history begins and what parts of it don't count.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So you and your friends decide instead?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh said, trying to keep his tone light. \"You know that sooner or later, you're going to tell us who they are.\"\n\nHolden took a long drink from the coffee cup and set it down gently on the floor beside his feet. \"I'm hoping for later,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But I see we're already done with the part where we make friendly with each other.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh felt the warmth he'd cultivated toward Holden slipping away into frustration. He'd started in too quickly. He should have spent more time building up the relationship, and now they'd both fallen into adversarial stances with each other. It was time to change tack." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tell me what you can,\" Singh said, \"about Ilus.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden frowned, but not angrily. \"What do you want to know?\"\n\nSingh waited without answering.\n\nHolden shrugged. \"All right. It was the first contested colony. I went out there to try to mediate between the different claimants, and it all pretty much turned to shit. People shooting each other. Old artifacts coming to life and blowing up the ocean. Local ecosystem trying to mine us for fresh water. And there were death slugs. It wasn't great.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Artifacts coming to life?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Holden said, shifting on his little stool. \"We had a trace of active protomolecule on the ship. We didn't know about it. It was trying to report in about the Sol gate being complete, but everything it wanted to report to was dead or turned off. So it started turning things on. Only part of it was this guy I used to know, and ... It's kind of a weird story. Why do you want to know about Ilus?\"\n\n\"What about the other artifact?\"\n\nHolden shook his head, opened his hands. What other artifact?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh pulled up the image from the Tempest on his monitor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A bright-black nothingness. He enlarged it and held it out for Holden to see.\n\n\"Yeah, the bullet,\" Holden said. \"It was the thing that turned everything off again. Deactivated the protomolecule.\"\n\nSingh felt a chill in his heart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The calmness and innocence of the way Holden said the words was deeper than any threat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It did what?\"\n\n\"The guy I used to know? The dead one? He was a detective, and it was using him to look for where to report in. Only he—the reconstructed version of him—noticed that there was this place that killed off protomolecule activity. He said it was like a bullet that someone had fired to kill off the ... the civilization ... that ... Bring that where I can see it better?\"\n\nSingh enlarged the image. Holden blinked. The weariness seemed to fall away from him, the pain of his injuries forgotten." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he spoke, his voice had a firmness and command Singh hadn't heard there before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's not Ilus. Where is that?\"\n\n\"It appeared in Sol system. On one of our ships.\"\n\n\"Oh. Fuck that,\" Holden said. \"All right, listen. There's a woman you need to find. Her name's Elvi Okoye. She was a scientist on Ilus. I don't know where she is now, but she spent years researching the artifacts there, including that one. She went through it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Went through it to where?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not like a door. Like she carried part of the protomolecule's network into it, and it killed off the sample. Turned it all inert. And she said it turned her sort of off while it did.\"\n\n\"Turned her off. Like she lost consciousness?\" Singh said. \"Lost time?\"\n\n\"Something like that,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know. I didn't go through it. But I did see the thing on the station. I saw what happened to them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh found he was leaning forward. His blood felt like it was fizzing. And what was more, he saw the same feelings echoed in Holden's battered face.\n\n\"There was a station on Ilus?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No. The one here. The station that controls the ring space. The first time anyone came though the ring, that same dead guy took me to the station. It was part of how the rings turned on. But I saw things there. Like a record of the old civilization? My friend, the dead guy, was looking through it for something, and because he was using me to do it, I saw it all too. Whatever made this? All of this? They were wiped out a long time before you and me got here. Billions of years, maybe. I saw whole systems going dark. I saw them trying to stop it by burning away entire solar systems. And it didn't work. Whatever they tried to do, it failed, and they were all just wiped away with just their roads and their old machines left for us to stumble across. That thing that showed up on your ship? That's them. The other them. That's the thing that killed everything before Earth and Mars were part of the gate network.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But why would it appear now?\"\n\nHolden choked on a laugh. \"Well, I don't know. Have you people been doing anything different recently?\"\n\nSingh felt a little stab of embarrassment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a fair point." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the first time, the Tempest had employed the magnetic-field generator in an uncontrolled environment both here and in Sol system. Maybe this was a side effect. Or something else about the battleships built on the platforms. Or ...\n\n\"Look,\" Holden said. \"You and me? We're not friends. We aren't going to be friends. I will oppose you and your empire to my dying breath. But right now, none of that matters. Whatever built the gates and the protomolecule and all these ruins we're living in? They were wiped out. And the thing that wiped them out just took a shot at you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh couldn't sleep that night." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was exhausted, but whenever he closed his eyes, Holden was there, squinting through his injured eyes, pointing with his broken hand. And the enigma of the bullet, the threat and mystery it represented. They defied him to sleep.\n\nIn the middle of his sleep shift, he gave up, put on a robe, and ordered a pot of tea delivered from the commissary." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When it arrived, he was already searching through the station records for other documentation of Holden's ravings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was hoping to find something to suggest that the man was either insane or playing a game to deflect attention from his terrorism. But file after file, report after report, confirmed him. Even when there was no other witness to what he'd seen, there was at least a history to show that his claims had been consistent.\n\nIt would have been so much easier if James Holden were only a madman." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Your empire's hands look a lot cleaner when you get to dictate where history begins, and what parts of it don't count." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He knew the story of Laconia's founding. He'd been there for it, though he'd been a child at the time. The gates to the thirteen hundred worlds had opened, and the probes had gone through. They'd brought back reports of the different systems, the stars and planets, and the stranger things that they'd seen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All humanity had seen the opportunity of new lands, of new worlds to inhabit, but alone of them all Winston Duarte had recognized the terrible danger that expansion would bring." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The chaos and violence as humanity pressed out past the limits of civilization. The choke point of the slow zone and the endless wars it would generate. The unanticipated environmental collapses made worse by the lack of a central response. And he alone had the will to solve the problem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From among all the planets on the far sides of the gates, he chose Laconia because of the orbital construction platforms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He found the live culture of the protomolecule that he could use to harness Laconia's power. He found Dr. Cortazár to lead the research and development. And he took a third of the Martian Navy as the seed that would grow to become the world tree. The fraction of humanity that would rebuild on Laconia and come forth to bring order to humanity's chaos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To bring the peace that would last forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The end of all wars. Singh doubted none of it. Holden's version wasn't incompatible, even if it chose a different emphasis. Holden himself had used the protomolecule on Ilus—or been used by it—to turn on the ancient mechanisms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only he had done it haphazardly, and with terrible results." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte had done it carefully, and to glorious effect.\n\nHe sipped his tea. It hadn't quite gone cold, but it wasn't as warm as he'd expected. Holden was a problem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was the key to breaking the terrorist network on Medina." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was also the key to the mystery of the thing that had appeared on the Tempest. His was the only report on the visions from the ring station. He was singular in all humanity because he'd bumbled into being in so many of the right places at so many of the right times. If there was one thing Laconia's history taught, it was the power of the right person at the right moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh had always known that the history of Laconia and the history of Sol system were connected." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd never felt those common roots more deeply than now. The sense that his world and Holden's were part of a single, much vaster story. The makers of the protomolecule were also a part of that larger frame. The things that had killed them, and then vanished.\n\nThe things that had returned." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was thinking about the recyclers,\" Peaches said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sounded tired. She always sounded a little tired, but this was more.\n\n\"Yeah?\" he said.\n\nThey were alone in the bunk. She was sitting up, paring her toenails with a little knife he'd found for her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something about her meds made them thicker and yellow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He knew it was important to her to keep them short, even though she never said anything.\n\nHis hands imagined what it would feel like to snap her neck. The tension first, then the grinding feeling of cartilage ripping as it gave way. He saw the look of betrayal in her eyes as the life went out of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was as clear as if he'd actually done it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The returns aren't as good as they ought to be,\" she said. \"We've been able to get eighty-eight, ninety percent recovery, but I don't think we broke eighty-five on the Freehold run.\"\n\n\"Worth looking at,\" Amos said. \"You got any suspects?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want to take a look at the water filters. I know they're supposed to be the best there is without retrofitting to a straight gel system, but I don't think they're doing what's on the label.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He closed his eyes and the Rocinante's recycling system appeared in his mind. If the filters were underperforming ... yeah, could throw off the pressure going into the recyclers. Might be enough to drop the reclamation percentages. He pictured what else it would do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We should take a peek at the feed lines,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Look for distention?\" she said.\n\nHe grunted. Peaches scowled and nodded once, the way she did when they'd come to an agreement. There were still a few things about the Roci that he knew better than she did, but those were few and far between. And mostly about the weapons systems." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't like those, and it had an effect on how much she thought about them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were conversations he had with her that he couldn't have with anybody else.\n\nThat didn't keep the thoughts from coming. It didn't do anything about the thing in his throat. \"You think Holden's okay?\" she asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is or he isn't,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The thing in his throat got a little bigger. A little tighter. He wasn't sure why.\n\n\"I wish there was something more I could do,\" she said.\n\n\"Naomi'll come up with something. Whatever needs doing, we'll do it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She finished the last nail and tossed him the knife." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He caught it in the air, folded it closed, and put it under his pillow, where it would stay. Peaches got another couple of her pills and swallowed them dry, then lay back on her bunk. There wasn't room enough between her bunk and the one above her to get a decent punch going, but he knew what it would feel like to do a straight-kick to her ribs. Or her head. Push her back against the bulkhead, then the next kicks, she wouldn't be able to avoid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't going to do it, but the thoughts came anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You need some sleep?\" he asked.\n\n\"Little.\"\n\n\"You should try to eat some afterward.\"\n\n\"I'm not keeping much down right now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's why they call it 'try,'\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Worst case, just smear it around your face like a little kid. Absorb some nutrients through your skin.\"\n\nShe chuckled. \"You talked me into it, big guy. After I rest.\"\n\n\"I'm going to get a jump on it,\" he said. \"You need anything, you just say it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Peaches said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He made his way down toward the galley, his shoulders brushing against the conduit and pipes on both sides. In the galley, one of Saba's people was drinking a cup of coffee. Nice-looking guy, always been pleasant. The thing in his throat moved a little, and Amos felt the coffee cup slamming into the other guy's face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The edge of the cup folding against the guy's upper lip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The coffee burning them both. He felt what it would be like, bending him back, trapping his legs under the table so he couldn't writhe away, pulling until his back snapped. There'd be others by then. The guy's friends. He thought about how to kill them too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos smiled amiably and nodded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The guy nodded back. Amos got a bowl of oatmeal and honey flavoring. He sat by himself to eat. Saba's guy finished his drink and walked away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a moment when his back was turned, Amos felt his own foot driving into the back of the man's knee, knocking him forward and down where he'd be in the right place for a choke hold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos only sighed and took another spoonful of grain mush. The stuff on the Roci was better, but this was warm anyway. It soothed his throat.\n\n\"Hey there, big guy,\" Babs said from the doorway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She stepped over, sat across from him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her jaw was set and her gaze was firm and straight-ahead. Looking right at him like she was playing at being Holden.\n\n\"Got a minute?\"\n\nAmos took his half-empty bowl, dropped the spoon in it, and threw them all away as he walked out the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was an environmental-control station about seven doors down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba'd been using it to store food, but they'd all been eating at a pretty fair clip, and it was mostly empty space now. Only one entrance, so no one spent much time there. Thick walls filled with insulation foam. The kind that just ate up sound like it was nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the Laconians came, it was a death trap." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He shouldered the door open. Babs' footsteps came from behind him, hard and fast and authoritative. Like a schoolteacher about to chew out her students.\n\nThe room was dark, but he found the switch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Too-bright utility lights. They were down to half a pallet of textured protein and some tubs of grain and yeast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The walls were all steel plate except for a patch in one corner where they'd used carbon-silicate lace. A pipe ran along the corner where the ceiling met the left wall. The actual environmental controls were all in locked cabinets and behind security doors that would take a crowbar, a welding torch, and a couple hours to get through. The whole place was maybe three meters by four, and a couple high." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't have anyplace better.\n\nBabs stepped in behind him and closed the door. Her nose had the two little half-moons beside the nostrils that she got when she was pissed. The thing in his throat throbbed like a tumor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For a second, he thought it was maybe going to rupture." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Babs crossed her arms, blocking the door.\n\n\"Look, Amos. I understand you're pissed off at me. And honest to God, I'm more than a little pissed off at you right now too. But we're a crew. We're friends, and we can work this out, whatever it is. I'm here, okay? So whatever it is—\"\n\n\"When did you turn into such a fucking pussy, Babs?\" he said. His hands were tingling like they had too much energy in them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like he was about to ground out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did you really come in here to talk about your feelings?\"\n\nHer face went blank, her eyes flat. She uncrossed her arms. Her weight sunk into her hips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her knees bent a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He figured she was good for maybe one or two more rounds of insults, but he'd gauged wrong.\n\nShe shifted her shoulders, swung at the hips, her right arm unfurling. A few years earlier, he might have been able to slip it and get inside. But a few years earlier, she might have been faster." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either way, all he managed was to turn his head away and pull back a couple centimeters before her knuckles slapped into his cheekbone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he'd been slower, it would have splashed his nose across his face. Her next punch was already coming, and he turned so that it got his shoulder at an angle. The pain was sudden and wide and familiar as an old song. He felt this thing in his throat blowing up like a balloon, expanding out bigger than he was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He kicked straight, hitting just above her hip with his knee still bent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't to break her but to push her back, then with the room he'd opened between them, he rushed her. Right fist to her face, left swinging up into her ribs. She lifted her arms into a boxer's stance, but a fraction of a second too late. He finally got inside her guard, his right elbow across her throat, and he had her back against the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pushing against her windpipe." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She shifted under him, looking for a way to get a breath. His legs and back ached with the effort of closing her throat for her. He gritted his teeth until they creaked.\n\nThe pain in his balls started with a thump like hearing someone drop a brick, then a second later the brightness came, spreading out through his whole body." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt himself stumble back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie turned out from under his arm, hitting him once with each fist on exactly the same rib. He felt it give.\n\nShe wasn't pulling her punches. She meant it. He let go of the last shred of restraint, and surged forward, roaring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ready to kill or get killed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The tiny part of him that was still watching him, still thinking and aware, expected her to flinch back. Instead, she jumped in toward him. They hit like a wreck, her hand on his neck, her hip against his, and he was in the air. He hit the bulkhead hard enough that sound faded away for a second." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He pushed off just as she swung a knee into his gut, grabbed her around the thigh, and lifted, swinging her up over his head, and then both of them down to the deck as hard as the spin gravity would take them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone was shouting, and it might have been him. It was all ground game now, and her hands were on his head, fingertips digging into his skin, looking for a grip. If she got his ear, she was keeping it. He reared back, grabbing for her arm, trying to get her elbow where he could bend it back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Snap it. For a second, he was almost there, but she twisted, got a foot against his waist, pushed him back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He caught her ankle and tried the same move on her knee, but the muscles there were too strong, the joint too solid to break. And while he was trying it, he couldn't move as well.\n\nHer other heel came down on his left eyebrow, popping it open. He pushed in toward her, driving her back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The blood stung his eye, but he moved fast and with a lifetime of practice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had his hands around her throat, squeezing as hard as he could. Her windpipe was between his thumbs where he could crack it like a walnut—\n\nExcept she was already bringing her arms up inside his, rolling her shoulders and shrugging off his grip. She'd planned it. She wasn't lost in rage haze." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was still thinking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She locked her legs with his, and rolled so she was on top. The heel of her left hand pushed his chin up and away so her right fist could land on his throat. Amos coughed, tried to roll away. His breath was a thick wheeze." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air that made it into his lungs felt pressed thin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He struggled to get to his feet, but she was already up, kicking his knee out from under him. He hit the deck hard. She was over him, kicking down. Curb-stomping him. He tried to curl away from her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her heel hit his shoulder, his back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was going for his kidneys, and he tried to shift away, but he couldn't. The pain was exquisite and vast. He was helpless. He was fucked. She kicked him again, the whole weight of her body behind it, and he felt another rib go." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't going to make it up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The violence was going to go on until she decided it was over, and there was nothing he could do to make it stop. He curled against blow after blow after blow, felt the damage in his body getting deeper. There was nothing he could do to defend himself. If Bobbie wanted him dead, he'd die." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He endured, helpless. The pain smeared into itself until it wasn't any part of him that hurt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Until it was bigger than his body.\n\nHis mind slipped, shifted. Images flickered through him like a memory too deep to bother being coherent. A perfume smell like lilacs and bergamot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A white blanket so used that the cotton fibers were shattering, but soft." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The way the cheap ice pops they sold at the shitty little bodega at Carey and Lombard tasted. The sound of a feed in the next room, of rain. It had been a long time since he'd thought about how the rain sounded in Baltimore. Violence, helpless pain, but cheap ice pops too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A deep peace welled up in his gut, flowing out through him, lifting him up and out of his body." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He relaxed into it. The thing in his throat was gone. Or no. That was never going to happen. It was sated. Back in the deep place where it belonged." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt like the moment after orgasm, only better. Deeper." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More real.\n\nEventually, he noticed Bobbie wasn't kicking him anymore. He rolled onto his back. Opened his eyes. There was blood on the bulkheads and the deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His testicles felt like soccer balls made of agony." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drying blood glued his left eye closed. His throat ached and burned when he swallowed, but the thing was gone. Something was weird about his breathing, though. It took him a second to figure out what." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was that he wasn't the only one wheezing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie sat with her back against the door. Her legs were spread a little, taking up the space. Her hands were on her knees. The little bleeding divots where the skin over her knuckles had split looked like art." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her hair was plastered to her neck. Mostly by sweat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked at her looking back at him. Neither one of them spoke for a while. The hum of the station was the only sound.\n\n\"So,\" Bobbie said, then took another couple breaths before she went on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The fuck was that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos swallowed. It hurt a little less this time. He tried to sit up, then thought better of it. There were even a few spatters of blood on the ceiling. One of them looked a little like a cartoon dog face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't,\" he said, then gulped in another breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't want things. You know what I mean?\"\n\n\"Nope.\"\n\n\"People ... people want things. They want kids. Or they want to get famous or rich or something. And then they get all screwed up trying to get it. So I just don't want anything. Not like that.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Only I fucked up. Didn't even know I was doing it, but it got where I wanted a thing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He waited for the lump to come back to his throat, and when it didn't, he went on. \"I want Peaches to get to die at home. With her family.\"\n\n\"On the Roci,\" Bobbie said. \"With us.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I want that. Only ever since we got back from Freehold, it's all coming apart. It wasn't so bad when it was just Holden and Naomi peeling off on their own, because they picked that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And also they never actually went away,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But then that big bastard came through the Laconia gate, and now we're locked off the Roci, and it's like the chance to do it right's just slipping too far away to get a hold of it, you know? I see her acting like it's not much one way or the other, only it is to me. And then ... then everything gets harder. I get cranky. Start thinking about shit I don't want to think about. You know.\"\n\nThey were silent for a long moment. Amos tried sitting up again, and managed it this time.\n\n\"All right,\" Bobbie said. \"I get it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You do?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Close enough,\" she said. \"I get it close enough.\"\n\nShe levered herself up to standing, then held a hand out to him. He took it, his hand on her wrist, hers on his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They pulled together and got him to standing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face was almost unmarked, but there were some bruises starting to show around her neck. \"You really beat the shit out of me,\" he said.\n\n\"Would have been easier to kill you,\" Babs said, and grinned with bloody teeth. \"But I feel like we still need your dumb ass.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He nodded. She was right about both things." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We should get you some ice,\" he said.\n\n\"Fuck you,\" she said. \"If I did half my job, you'll be stuffing your jock with every cold thing we have.\"\n\n\"Yeah. You can have it when I'm done, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She managed another bloody smile and turned toward the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Babs,\" he said. \"No hard feelings, right?\"\n\n\"Just next time you need to beat someone up, how about you don't insult me first.\"\n\nHe chuckled. It hurt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If I need to beat someone up, I've got a whole station full of possibilities. But if I'm looking to lose a fight, I'm pretty much down to just you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She took a second. \"Fair point.\"\n\nIt took him about five minutes to get to the head. He washed up the best he could, but he was going to need some fresh clothes, and washing his eye pulled the clot a little bit loose. It started bleeding again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd talk to Saba about getting someone to stitch it closed. But clothes first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jesus Christ,\" Peaches said when he stepped into the room. \"What happened?\"\n\n\"Huh? Oh, you mean this? Me and Babs were doing a little sparring. I put my face where it shouldn't have been. It ain't nothing.\"\n\nHer face balanced between not believing him and choosing to, despite the thinness of the lie. He looked at her collarbone, waiting for the thing to come up with some way to break it, but nothing came." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So that was good." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You need to be less rusty,\" she said at last.\n\n\"That's not wrong,\" Amos said. \"What're you up to?\"\n\n\"I was going to go smear some food on my mouth like a toddler,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sounds good,\" he said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll go with you.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Wake up. We have to go,\" someone said. \"Now. Go, go, go.\"\n\nNaomi forced her eyelids open. Her feet hit the decking before the dream she'd been in loosed its grip on her mind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There had been a fire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd been talking to it ... she felt herself forgetting, the dream dissolving like sugar floss in water.\n\nAmos rolled off his bunk with a grunt of pain and went to help Clarissa up. Alex was tugging his jumpsuit up over thin, brown legs. The new voice belonged to a girl too young for the split-circle tattoo on the back of her hands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's going on?\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We got a problem?\"\n\n\"Saba got word we need to go, so we go. Now go.\"\n\n\"Where is he?\" Bobbie asked.\n\n\"Gone,\" the girl said, and then she was gone too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Light spilled into the bunk from the door she hadn't closed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The voices and sounds of metal against metal were loud and panicky, but they weren't battle. There wasn't gunfire. The fear and the urge to motion that grabbed Naomi's heart were still as violent.\n\n\"You good, Peaches?\" Amos asked. Clarissa nodded, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail like she was getting ready to go to work." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was more color in her cheeks since she'd gotten the new medicine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Amos hadn't found a supply, they'd have been carrying her right now. Heaven. Small favors. Like that.\n\nThey piled out into the corridor, and Naomi paused, looked back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were no tools, no terminals, nothing left behind but traces of hair and DNA." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which would be plenty enough to identify them.\n\n\"Naomi?\" Alex said from the hall. \"Everyone else is getting out mighty quick here. We should maybe—\"\n\nShe moved quickly, decisively, pulling blankets and pillows and sheets up in her arms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were cheap, so they pressed down to almost nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another small favor. She shoved them into the makeshift recycler feed at the end of the hall. Maybe it wouldn't make a difference. Maybe she'd been foolish to take the time. It didn't matter. She'd done what she'd done." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A lot of her life was like that now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba was at the service doorway that led out to the rest of the station. The vast body of Medina that the underground didn't control. His jaw was tight, and there was a darkness around his eyes that the brown of his skin couldn't hide.\n\n\"What's going on?\" she asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Had word from one of ours in system logistics. Laconia's slated this section for survey. If they're going to find our holes here, best we not be in them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well. We knew it would come.\"\n\nHe pressed a hand terminal into her palm. \"This is yours. Cooked profile. Got one for alles la along with. Rooms, jobs. Don't scratch the chrome, it'll come off, but it's what I could do fast.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Bobbie said as he passed one to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Messages too. Just text. And just to me. Your circle is your circle.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi nodded. It felt like being young again, in all the worst ways. Amos, Alex, and Clarissa were already moving toward the common corridor, Bobbie trotting to catch up to them. Naomi put her hand on Saba's arm. \"The false identities don't have to hold up long. We're close to doing this. No despair.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba's eyes softened. \"My lady wife is back in Sol leading the fight against these bastards. And I will move worlds to wake up beside her again. Just once more.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi thought of Jim, and the ache of fear in her stomach. Saba touched her shoulder, and pushed her gently away toward her friends. Her crew. Her family, less one.\n\nThe inner layer of Medina's drum could have been any of the old spin stations." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wider, common corridors with room for carts and foot traffic both, ramps that led up toward the soil and false sun of the inner face or down toward the vacuum beneath her feet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hadn't stepped outside Saba's hidden dens since they'd lost Jim. Now, walking with the normal inhabitants of Medina, trying to fit in with the midshift patterns, she kept noticing how open everything felt. In another context, it might have been a relief. Now it left her feeling exposed as a mouse in cat territory." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She plucked up the terminal that Saba had given her, trying to look bored as she checked who she was, where she lived, all the answers she'd need to give the Laconians if she was stopped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd seen plenty of faked identities before, and this one was decent. The real question was how deeply Saba's moles had been able to get into the Laconian datasets. With the link between Medina and the Storm severed, they'd be working from local copies. Corruptible ones. Odd to think that without Jim's sacrifice, the underground might have ended right then." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her gratitude was complicated by anger." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wide screens showed the station newsfeed. Laconian propaganda, but maybe true, some of it. They were playing images of Sol system and the war there. She didn't watch that, but when it shifted, she paused." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A young woman with olive skin and a wide jaw in Laconian blues." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The text below her said, ADMIRAL JAE-EUN SONG OF THE EYE OF THE TYPHOON. And on the other side of the screen, a young man. Santiago Singh, governor of Medina.\n\n\"What are your hopes for your arrival at Medina Station?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he asked, the subtitles in Spanish, Chinese, and—unnervingly—Belter Creole." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The woman nodded seriously, and answered. \"The important thing is that we ensure the safety of the people on the station. High Consul Duarte has made it very, very clear that—\"\n\nNaomi didn't realize she'd stopped until Amos prodded her.\n\n\"Should probably keep moving, boss. Less attention.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's editing,\" Clarissa said. \"They do it all the time. That's not what the light delay really is. There's still time.\"\n\nNaomi nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak.\n\nHer name, according to Saba's faked ID, was Ami Henders, and her address was listed as refugee housing on level four." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was supposed to be the pilot of the Blue Genius, a water hauler presently burning somewhere on the far side of the Athens gate without her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wondered whether Saba had been able to scrub Naomi Nagata from the station records. He wouldn't have been able to get her out of decades of newsfeed footage, standing behind Jim and wishing the cameras were elsewhere.\n\nShe was walking on the surface of a soap bubble and hoping it wouldn't pop.\n\nThe refugee quarters, when they reached them, were a little better than living in the underground had been." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A little suite of five rooms with a narrow common hall and a shared head at the end." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could have touched one wall with her elbow and the other with her shoulder. It was tighter than their quarters on the Roci, but with doors, so they could sleep without breathing each other's dreams. A little monitor in the wall was set to the official newsfeed, but the captain of the Typhoon was gone, replaced by a sober-faced man in a security uniform.\n\n\"The base was exactly what we thought we would find." }, { "from": "human", "value": "These rat holes are what allowed the terrorists to function and plan in secret." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Without them, they'll be forced out into the light. That's where they can be stopped.\n\n\"We don't know how many people were using the secret base, but we've cordoned it off and we're making a full investigation. We feel certain that the threat to the station is reduced, but we can't be complacent." }, { "from": "human", "value": "These people are willing to risk the integrity of the environment for their ideological purity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Risk the lives of the whole station. It's important that we isolate and disarm these terrorists before another attack like the one on the oxygen tank.\n\n\"With that in mind, the governor has authorized a limited amnesty for anyone who—\"\n\nClarissa turned the monitor off with her thumb." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She met Naomi's eyes, and the determination and exhaustion in them was clearer than words could have been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Let it go. We have work to do.\n\nAlex cleared his throat. \"Well, since there's no galley anymore, I guess I'll head down the hallway and see if I can't find a coffee shop or something. Anybody else need breakfast?\"\n\nThere would be guards." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There would be drones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There would be the risk that trying to pay for something would collapse Alex's false identity or flag his real one. She wanted to grab him and lock him in his room. She wanted to make sure no one left the uncertain safety of their cabin.\n\n\"Tea,\" she said. \"Maybe some protein cakes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll be back.\" The way he said it made it a promise. As if he could keep it.\n\n\"I'm gonna ...\" Amos said, gesturing to Clarissa.\n\nNaomi nodded. \"I'll get some work done.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That leaves me for watch,\" Bobbie said with a lopsided smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not much of a plan, but it isn't nothing.\"\n\n\"I'll get you a plan,\" Naomi said.\n\nSitting alone on her new, thin bunk, she built a list on Saba's terminal. If she thought too much about the dangers, the time pressure, she knew the dark thoughts would start coming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There wasn't time for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she could focus, though, problem-solve, she'd be okay. She'd known herself long enough to learn that. The care and feeding of a well-used mind.\n\nThe final goal was to get out of the slow zone and find someplace safe to hide and regroup." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So the last step was at the top of the list:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "REGROUP\n\nShe didn't have the details of what that would look like. Probably keep her head down and see what happened. Wait for the enemy to stumble or new allies to appear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old, old strategies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But whatever shape it took, that was the final goal. In order for that to happen, they would have to manage some other things ...\n\nREACH SAFETY\n\nBefore that ..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "IDENTIFY SAFETY" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After all, they'd need to know where they were fleeing to before they fled. It had to be someplace that they could land the Roci. Someplace that wasn't likely to fall in line with Duarte and turn them in. So none of Fisk's association worlds, and not Sol either." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was tricky, but she felt the beginnings of some ideas for it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So all right. But there was more than one dependency for that, so she split the column and added the other track.\n\nBLIND MEDINA AND GATHERING STORM\n\nIf the Laconians knew where they'd gone, they wouldn't stay hidden long. So that would be important." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And it would be the last thing they did before they left, so the enemy wouldn't have time to fix whatever they chose to break." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd have to have everyone ready to go before the sensor arrays went down, so ...\n\nGATHER EVACUATION GROUPS\n\nAnd in order to do that, they'd have to get the word to everyone in Saba's networks. All the underground. All of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And there it was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sorrow and the fear. And the tightness at the back of her throat. It was all right. She just had to put it on her list." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was just part of the plan." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "SAVE JIM\n\nSaba sent a message an hour before \"Ami Henders\" was supposed to get off her shift. Bobbie got the same message, though none of the others did. It was a restaurant just one level under the drum's inner surface and a route to reach it that would, if everything went well, avoid any checkpoints." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi washed her face in the little sink no wider than her two palms together and tugged her hair into something like order." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she got home to the Roci, she was going to spend a day in the showers. A whole damned day.\n\nAlex and Clarissa were waiting for her in the public hall. Bobbie and Amos were a few meters down, pretending to talk, but actually keeping watch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were both bruised, and there was a cut over Amos' eye." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They looked like they'd been caught in the explosion, which was technically true, but the tension that had been showing in the way Amos held his gut and shoulders was gone.\n\nNo, not gone. But lessened. That was good.\n\n\"We ready to paint the town red?\" Clarissa asked, taking Naomi's arm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had the form of a playful gesture, but the need for support was there too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I hope this place serves margaritas,\" Alex said. \"It's been a long time since I had a good margarita.\"\n\n\"Trust me when I say you've never had a good margarita, Martian,\" Amos replied. \"Still some things only Earth does well.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie caught Naomi's eye, gave a little nod, and started off along the route." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos walked at her side, his steps rolling a little in the fractional gravity, like something hurt with each step. Naomi gave them a few seconds, and then started after them. There was a story behind those bruises, and she had the impression she'd never know what it was.\n\nJames Holden had shipped with five others on his crew, but they weren't five." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were a couple up ahead, and a different group of three behind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As ways to avoid pattern recognition, it was thin. But it was something.\n\nThe restaurant was a wide, white ceramic bar open to the corridor. Billows of steam came from the back, rich with the smells of fish and curry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The design didn't fit into the aesthetic of the original ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This space was a modification, the Nauvoo, which became the Behemoth, which became Medina Station in the process of learning what it was and would be. Looked at that way, Naomi liked the restaurant, even if it was a little ugly.\n\nThe man behind the counter nodded, greeted them all in a dialect Naomi didn't recognize, and waved them back into the steam. The kitchen was small, with two women—one very old, the other hardly more than a girl—who looked at them curiously as they passed through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old man opened a thick metal door and nodded, smiling, at the walk-in freezer beyond it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba was already there, a blanket over his shoulders and a thin, black cigarette in his mouth. His cheeks were ruddy with the cold. The old man closed the door behind them, and a golden emergency light came on, throwing shadows across them from crates of vat-raised fish. Amos' gaze cut over to Clarissa, but if anything she seemed to be enjoying the cold." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not perfect,\" Saba said, \"but hard for them to hear us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think they're listening?\"\n\n\"No,\" Saba said. \"But here, seems less likely I'm wrong. Perdón for the fast change. I didn't have much warning.\"\n\n\"Shikata ga nai,\" Naomi said, and Saba nodded ruefully.\n\n\"We have a plan,\" Bobbie said. \"Well, Naomi does.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The outline of one anyway,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't love it, because a lot of things have to happen in a very small time frame. But the Typhoon arrives in less than a week, and slowing that down isn't something I can do.\"\n\n\"I have people,\" Saba said. \"You tell me, I'll tell who needs telling.\"\n\n\"There's just a lot of moving parts,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Lots of ways for things to break down.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tell me a story,\" Saba said through a cloud of smoke and visible breath.\n\nNaomi did. She went through step by step, detail by detail. As she talked, the whole operation solidified in her mind, letting her speak with a clarity and authority she only halfway felt. It was a terrible plan, open to a thousand different failures, and some of them wouldn't be things they could recover from." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the assault team couldn't get onto the Storm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the kill code was changed or unhackable. If the Laconian repair crews could get the sensors fixed more quickly than she expected.\n\nBut with every word she spoke, with every detail she provided, she felt the Typhoon looming behind her. Coming close. Ending any chance they had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Gonya need two bombs,\" Saba said, pulling up his hand terminal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The one that didn't connect to the station's legitimate network. He talked as he composed a message. \"One for sensors, one for the jail. Katria's good for one. Have to see who she likes for two. Which one matters more?\"\n\nThey both matter, Naomi said at the same moment Clarissa said, The jail." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I worked on this station, back in the day,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get me access to the secondary power junction that feeds them and a way to reset the primary. I can keep the sensors down.\"\n\n\"Claire,\" Bobbie said, concern in her voice.\n\n\"I'm good for it,\" Clarissa said. \"It will work.\"\n\nAnd then that was decided." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba was already putting a message into his hand terminal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bist bien alles,\" he said.\n\n\"Amos and I are dealing with the Storm,\" Bobbie said. \"You give us a team, but we're point or no deal.\"\n\n\"Deal,\" Saba said. \"I'll put me and mine on the Malaclypse as soon as the signal goes. If the muscle here has trouble, at least there can be two against the one. Plan B, sa sa?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex raised his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No one's flying the Roci on this but me. We all knew that, right?\"\n\n\"I'll take the jail,\" Naomi said. I'll get Jim.\n\nSaba's terminal chirped, and he looked at it with pleasure. \"Katria has someone. Coyo with experience in demolitions. He'll need to know what we're doing. Just his part, though. Inner circle, us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Inner circle,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Claire and I can meet with him.\"\n\n\"Good,\" Saba said as he trundled to the freezer door and pounded on it with a blanket-wrapped fist. Then he pointed to Bobbie and Amos. \"You come with me. We'll see Katria. Talk about how to hunt Marines.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something flickered over Bobbie's face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hardly even an expression, but Naomi saw it.\n\n\"You lead, we'll follow,\" Amos said, smiling his empty smile.\n\n\"Any thoughts on how to get me onto my ship?\" Alex asked as the door opened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Several,\" Saba said. \"You should come with.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then he shook his head. \"Too many things. Not enough time.\"\n\nThey stepped out into the suddenly burning air. Naomi hadn't even noticed she was getting cold until suddenly she wasn't anymore." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saba led them out to the kitchen, and then they slipped through the steam and into the civilian world two by two until she and Clarissa were all that remained." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They sat at the counter and watched people go by. The fish was unremarkable, but the curry and mushroom rice actually were good. Across the corridor, a monitor spooled out the newsfeed until it repeated. Clarissa ate, drank tea, talked about everything and nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi almost didn't notice the tremble in the other woman's hand or the way her eyes jittered sometimes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she thinks she can do it, she can do it, Naomi told herself.\n\nThe man arrived, sliding into the chair beside them. Dark, handsome eyes and a bright, excited smile with a crooked nose between them. \"Namnae na Jordao,\" he said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had trained on ships back home, as anyone at his rank would." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd spent weeks sleeping in a tight cabin and eating elbow to elbow with his fellow officers, but at the end of training, he went home, back to Laconia and Natalia and the monster. The weekends after a training run had been some of the best he'd ever had, waking up late with Natalia beside him. Before the monster came, they'd had quarters with a bedroom on the third story and a folding wall that they could pull back to get fresh air and the view. He remembered lying in that bed, looking out over the city as twilight fell." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Vast clouds turning gold and violet on the horizon, and the alien construction platforms glittering among the stars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd laid his head against Natalia's as-yet-unoccupied belly and thought about the ships being made up above the planet's atmosphere. How one day, he might command one. It had seemed glorious at the time.\n\nHe'd known without checking the dates when his exile on Medina Station had lasted as long as a full training tour." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something in the back of his mind had been anticipating the end of low ceilings and false skies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Each day, he found himself growing more anxious, and it wasn't only the threat from local terrorists or the mounting pressure he felt to reopen the traffic through the gates. It was his flesh itself, grown accustomed to these long isolations having an end, expecting relief and not getting it. Wanting his wife and his child and their sky, even as his conscious mind knew the first two would come much later, and the last ... perhaps never.\n\nIt was possible that he would live his whole life and die as the governor of Medina Station and never see a real cloud again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd known that from the moment he'd met with the high consul, all those months ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hadn't started chafing until just now.\n\nThe draft of his monthly report was open on his monitor, his personal journal inset in a smaller window. Everyone above him in the chain of command could see his journal if they chose to, but his report gave him the chance to summarize his experiences. To say what, from his perspective, was important." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His fingers hovered over his keyboard, where they had been since the memory of Natalia and their old bedroom and the clouds had intruded on his thoughts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wished he could pause longer.\n\nMany of the locals persist in referring to the transfer of control in Sol system as a war. This kind of rhetoric has emboldened dissident factions on Medina Station. Given the escalating violence employed by the dissidents, I have elected to maintain the closed-gate policy until the arrival of the Typhoon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ships coming in from colonial systems have too great a potential to smuggle in relief supplies and reinforcements for the recalcitrant elements here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He paused again. A small, angry voice in the back of his mind said, In the event of another large-scale attack on the station, I recommend pulling Laconian forces back to the Storm and venting Medina Station. He pushed the thought away without writing it down. It wasn't only that it was immoral, though that should have been enough. It was also a statement of weakness." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An admission that he could not cut the rot out of this tree without burning it all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And still, the elegance of it made it hard to turn away.\n\nIf Holden and his allies had been held to truly Laconian standards, they would be dead. It was that simple. If Singh treated them with the respect and dignity with which Duarte treated him—to which Singh held himself—removing them all from the equation would just be proper discipline." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But he had grown to understand that they weren't Laconian." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not yet. They hadn't had time to understand the necessity of the empire. Holden's arguments were more than proof of that.\n\nHe had to be patient with them. Firm, but patient. He had to keep them from hurting themselves or others until the ripples of this admittedly vast change had calmed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Until the new patterns of life had become normal for them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While I am certain that James Holden knows more of the local dissident factions than he is presently admitting, he is not our only resource on that matter. His experience and expertise in the anomaly that Admiral Trejo reported make him a genuinely unique asset on that issue. For that reason, I have chosen to break off his interrogation here and remove him immediately to Laconia for debriefing in whatever context the high consul considers most appropriate.\n\nMeaning that the terrorist figurehead would see Laconia before he did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Might even come across Natalia and the monster before they came out to Medina, if the high consul chose to treat him gently." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden would smell the rain. See the sunrise. And Singh would be here, in this spinning can in an eerie non-space that didn't even have stars to make it feel like home. It was a deep irony that being a prisoner and being in power could be so mismatched.\n\n\"Damn it,\" he said to his empty office, then leaned back, running one hand across his scalp." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was so much more to put into the report." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The preparations he'd made—was making—for the stationing of the Typhoon and the additional personnel that it was bringing to Medina. The victories he'd had in rooting out the bombers and repairing the damage they had done. His schedule for coordinating and controlling the traffic between the worlds. The empire would succeed or fail on the back of its logistical planning, and his implementation of the high consul's vision was actually quite detailed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only just now, something itched in his soul, and he couldn't concentrate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wondered whether Duarte ever suffered the same base animal distractions. It seemed he would have, but Singh couldn't imagine it. He closed the draft report, opened his personal journal wide enough to edit, and then closed it too. The walls themselves seemed to push the air at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was like an optical illusion of something falling that never quite fell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Damn it,\" he said again, less forcefully this time.\n\nThe reports coming in from Sol were distracting too. Trejo's private reports tracked through the Gathering Storm, but they were meant for Duarte. Singh wished he could read them himself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were so many questions—whether the Tempest had taken any lasting damage in its first foray against the enemy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whether anything had changed with the anomaly that had appeared after Pallas. When Trejo anticipated the next battle would come. And if he believed it would be the last one.\n\nThere were the public feeds, of course." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The positions of the combined navies were, for the most part, a known thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The larger cruisers were impossible to hide, and the massive union ships they called void cities. But there might be stealth ships lying in wait or fields of torpedoes launched into a quiet orbit, counting on the vastness of space to conceal them until they burned to life. Just looking at the declassified tactical map made Singh's flesh crawl. The vast cloud of the enemy shifting through the gravity-bent space of inner planets, like a swarm of insects with a single, hated enemy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And the Tempest alone in its simple course." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trejo wouldn't evade and he wouldn't retreat. He had his orders, and he would follow them.\n\nSingh reminded himself of how powerful the Tempest was. How resilient. The high consul wouldn't have committed the ship to a path that led to embarrassment for the empire and death for Trejo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And yet, what if he'd miscalculated?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or what if Earth or Mars or the union had been behind the wave of lost time? Or ...\n\nThis speculation was pointless. Worse, it was self-indulgent. Even if he knew everything else he needed to put into his official report, it was going to have to wait." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had to get out of his offices, if only for a while." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had to collect himself.\n\nOverstreet answered the connection request almost at once. \"Governor?\"\n\n\"I will need a security detail to my office at once.\"\n\nOverstreet's silence was less than a heartbeat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is there a problem, sir?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No. I want to inspect the docks. When will there be sufficient security for that?\"\n\nIf Overstreet was surprised or annoyed, there was no sign of it in his voice. \"I'll have a detail to you in five minutes, sir.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Singh said, then dropped the connection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Lightbreaker was a cargo ship that had been in the union's fleet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A small vessel, but fast and with an efficient drive. All of the ships and their crews were guests of the empire until the Typhoon arrived. But not the Lightbreaker. Of all the ships on the station manifest, that was the one best suited to act as a prisoner transport." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was slated to push off in half an hour's time with James Holden in its brig and a crew Singh had chosen from the Gathering Storm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Singh found he very much wanted to be there when the first ship left Medina Station for Laconia. The first transit to happen while he was in charge of the ring space. His watch.\n\nHe straightened his uniform and checked himself in the mirror before stepping smartly into the outer offices. He heard the change when he walked into the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The men and women under his command making certain that he saw them busy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eight Marines in armor were waiting outside, along with a driver, who wasn't in power armor but did carry an assault rifle beside her in the cart.\n\n\"The docks, sir?\" the driver asked.\n\n\"Berth K-eighteen,\" Singh said, then sat back as the cart started off.\n\nThe Marine escort loped along as fast as the cart could drive and with the sense that they weren't anywhere near an uncomfortable pace." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hallway had been cleared, and guards stood at the intersections with weapons drawn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was like traveling through the dream of a tube station that had grown out in all directions until there wasn't even the promise of finding a way up to the surface. A woman with a heart-shaped face peered past the guard's shoulder, straining to catch a glimpse of him, and Singh waved at her. Let the civilians see that their governor was here, not hiding away in his office. If he wasn't scared of the terrorists, the loyal faction of the population wouldn't be either." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or less so, anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And still, he did wonder how many of those people he passed would have been as happy to see him dead. He wondered if the girl with the heart-shaped face would have shot him if she'd had the chance. There was no way to be certain. Would never be a way to be totally certain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or at least no way other than ..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the end of the drum, they left the spin gravity behind. The Marines shifted gracefully into a protective star formation with him at its center. He had seen images of the terrorists' attack—twisted metal and shattered ceramic. Flakes of carbon lace floating in the air like black snow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Passing through the space now, what struck him was the stink of it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Welding torches and burning lubricant oil, overheated wiring and the back-of-the-throat bitterness of exhausted fire suppressants.\n\nThey did this to their own station, just to spite me, he thought. And then No, not their own. Mine. This more than anything else proves they can't be trusted with the future." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This station is mine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They passed by the crowd of people waiting for permission to visit their ships, the Marines alert for any sign of violence, and passed by without so much as a scowl. At the berth, the guards held Holden at the airlock, assuming that Singh had come because he wanted to inspect the prisoner before he left. On the float, Holden looked younger. The lines in his face softened, and his hair stood wildly out from his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could see what the man had looked like as a boy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh nodded.\n\n\"Governor,\" Holden said. He made it just polite enough to make it clear he was impatient without actually demanding offense be taken.\n\n\"Captain Holden. I wish you a safe journey.\"\n\n\"Thanks.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Laconia is a beautiful place.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not sure I'm going to be seeing the nice parts of it, but I'm open for a pleasant surprise.\"\n\n\"If you cooperate with the high consul, you will be treated well,\" Singh said. \"We are an honorable people. No matter what you think, we were never your enemy.\"\n\nHolden's smile was weary." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay.\" That's bullshit, but I'm too tired to fight about it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh nodded, and the guards guided the prisoner away. The airlock closed behind him.\n\nFifteen minutes later, the Lightbreaker left dock and burned hard for the Laconia gate with Holden aboard.\n\nSingh heard Overstreet's report in the security office rather than his own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The walls were a pleasantly neutral gray-green that matched everything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The only decorations were a small potted fern and a framed piece of calligraphy in red, black, and gold that listed the high consul's Nine Moral Tenets.\n\nOverstreet himself sat behind his desk with a physical solidity that made it seem like he'd grown there. Singh stood looking down at the man rather than take the seat and posture of a visitor. It might be Overstreet's office, but it was all Singh's station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm expecting some unrest after the news comes back from Sol,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"People don't like seeing their team lose. I'm trying to get ahead of that. Channel it into something we can control. Not let it turn into something that can gain momentum.\"\n\n\"That's wise. Are you seeing a reaction to the news about the underground losing their hiding place?\"\n\n\"Not among the general population, no. But it meant a lot to the security force. We knew it was here someplace, but actually finding the hub and shutting it down? It's a major step forward. Without a physically isolated space, it's harder for the terrorists to coordinate. And it lets us move into the next phase. Identification.\"\n\n\"How many have you found?\" Singh asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet spread his massive hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fifteen for certain. Maybe twenty. The level of internal corruption within the local population can't be understated. My best estimate is that a third of our operating personnel are at least open to working against us.\"\n\nSingh let the assessment sit for a moment, watching his outrage at the ingratitude and arrogance of the locals flare like it was happening outside himself. When he was sure he wouldn't curse, he spoke.\n\n\"That's unacceptable,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Changing that has to be a top priority.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Didn't mean to suggest I was accepting it. Just reporting in on where it stood. I've put in double and triple checks, random audits, all the internal security procedures I can, but this is going to be something we struggle with until we start getting regular commerce open again. Once we can start breaking up the old guard here, I expect to see these problems fall away. Wash out the bad, bring in the new. Like that.\"\n\nSingh made a small sound of acknowledgment, neither approval nor condemnation.\n\n\"The dock attack was what led us to their nest,\" Overstreet said. \"But even there, I'm fairly sure some information isn't getting passed up the chain to us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And where do we stand on that investigation?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet's ice-blue eyes looked away.\n\n\"Permission to speak freely, Governor?\"\n\n\"Granted.\"\n\n\"It'd be going a lot better if you hadn't shipped my best resource back home. Holden was central to the conspiracy. The man's a murderer. And I'm still not a hundred percent certain what the aim of the attack was.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"To damage the Storm while it was still in dock,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe,\" Overstreet said. \"But why? In preparation for something? Or was it to degrade the oxygen supply and force us to open shipping before we're ready? Or was it to destroy the air gap server, or the secondary power storage, or one of the eight warehouses that got scraped out by the blast? Or was it just a propaganda move to make Laconian rule look weak? Or provoke a crackdown as a way to recruit new insurgents?\"\n\n\"It did all of those things,\" Singh said.\n\n\"But which ones it intended matters, sir. Understanding the mind of the enemy is what lets me do my job.\"\n\nSingh heard the frustration in Overstreet's tone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was fair. Part of his error in removing Tanaka had been putting Overstreet into position without the training and preparation time he should have had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And with the underground running circles around them, the man couldn't feel he was doing a good job. Nothing degraded morale like the sense that the potential for excellence was being denied.\n\nHappily, Singh was in a position to address that point right away. He took out his hand terminal, opened the message that had occasioned this particular visit, took off his personal security encryption and passed it to Overstreet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The young man appeared on Overstreet's monitor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wide, slightly feverish eyes, unruly hair. The lens and the perspective made the bent nose seem larger than it actually was.\n\n\"Hoy, bossmang. Something big going down,\" Jordao said, \"I only got my part, but it's about the sensor arrays. Parley, tu y mé, aber keep it quiet. Voltaire finds out I know you, and you'll see my water in your faucets, yeah?\"\n\nOverstreet's eyes narrowed to slivers of ice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His lips had thinned to a single dark line." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, that's interesting,\" he said.\n\n\"The Belters aren't the only ones with a network,\" Singh said. \"Not anymore. See that your debriefing isn't observed. This time, we'll be ahead of the bastards.\"\n\n\"May mean pulling personnel off the engineering investigation,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is the most important thing now,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately five sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet nodded slowly, lost in thoughts and calculations of his own. When he sighed, it was like a dying man's breath. \"We're holding this station with just the crew we carried out here on the Gathering Storm and a few extras that Admiral Trejo could spare us. And this station is a damn lot bigger than our ship was.\"\n\n\"Is that a problem for you, Overstreet?\"\n\n\"It's just that we do have a great selection of number-one priorities. Don't we, sir?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with 4 sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"... and if you fail to turn back,\" Secretary-General Li said, \"we will be forced to respond with force. There will be no further warnings.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He looks good,\" Lafflin said. \"Statesman-like.\"\n\nDrummer thought he looked sad, which actually came off pretty well, all things considered. It made it seem as if it was the impending loss of life that had dragged his spirits down. She was fairly certain that if she'd done the announcement, it would have come off as anger." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or fear. Or a near-psychosis-inducing lack of sleep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She went back in the spooled message and watched it again. The line had been drawn where everyone had known it would. Point Leuctra, 2.1 AU from the sun. By conventions of mining law and centuries of precedent, that placed the Heart of the Tempest inside the asteroid belt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An invisible line in space, unmarked by anything more than what people believed about it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And that was enough.\n\nThe combined fleet of the EMC and her union hadn't played coy. They had burned and braked to reach this position. Two hundred and thirty-seven ships, ranging from the void cities to traffic-control skiffs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anything with a gun was spread across the surface of a modified parabola with one focus on the Tempest's flight path." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ships on her side might shift and evade, but everything the secretary-general had said was for the newsfeeds and posterity. Anyone with a map and half a semester of military history could have drawn accurate conclusions without him.\n\nShe wondered if Saba would see it, back on Medina. She wondered if he was still alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There hadn't been a reply to her desperate question about the time slip, and the Tempest showed every sign of ignoring the EMC's warning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer went from optimism that Cameron Tur was right—that the Laconians wouldn't dare use their magnetic matter-ripping beam for fear of its mysterious side effects—to expecting time to stutter, stop, and come back with the fleet already in ruins.\n\nIf she died here, would Saba see it? Would the official Laconian newsfeeds be how they said goodbye?\n\nLafflin changed the display to the tactical map—the hundreds of green dots that were their fleet including the one that was People's Home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The single orange blip that was their doom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As a piece of abstract art, it looked like something a student would have come up with at lower university. If she'd ever thought to put together a visual display that said destined to fail, it would have been that small, glowing bit of orange.\n\nBut still ...\n\nSomewhere, when she'd still been working security contracts, she'd seen an interview with an old, smiling imam, whose name she didn't remember." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The one thing he'd said that stuck with her was, I am a human being." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anything that happens to human beings could happen to me. One time and another in the years since, she'd taken comfort from that. Or warning. People fall in love, so maybe I will too. People get jobs, so maybe I will too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And people get sick. People have accidents." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And now, she supposed, people are divided from their families by war and history. And so that could happen to me too. Even when they won, would it mean she would wake up beside Saba again? There were so many variations of victory and loss." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're confident, aren't they?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lafflin said, leaning back in his chair. \"It's astounding.\"\n\n\"I suppose it is,\" she said. She didn't know where his mind had been, but it had clearly been somewhere different from her own. \"You should probably get to the transport.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lafflin's smile was rueful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is there anything you'd like me to pass on?\"\n\n\"No,\" Drummer said. \"Anything that needs saying, I'll say after.\"\n\nOr, she didn't say, not at all. That part was understood." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As with Pallas Station and Independence, the plan was to evacuate the civilian population before the violence began." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ships had been docking with People's Home for days now, hauling off families that had lived there for years and taking them to Mars and Earth, Luna and the Lagrange stations, or any of the thousand little holes in the Belt that could still hold air. Going to the docks with Lafflin now was like walking through a graveyard. The wide, curving halls should have been filled with people. Music and voices should have echoed down through the common parks, the transfer tubes, the docks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even the air smelled different—closer and musty as the recyclers shifted down to match their reduced loads." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She gave Lafflin points for waiting until near the end. Most of the EMC political types in his staff had been among the first out, just after families with children. The lines of refugees waiting to leave were all older people now. The staff and citizenry that didn't have the skills to help in a battle, all with small bags floating beside them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overnight bags, many of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As if they might be coming right back. There was a lot of laughter in the line, and a sense of anticipation that bordered on feverish.\n\nPart of her wanted to stop, to shake hands, to take a little of that bright, jittering energy for herself, but Drummer and Lafflin didn't pause. There was still some decorum that came with rank." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The executive waiting area was well appointed with bulbs of coffee or liquor, living plants in wall gardens, soft music and LEDs that matched the spectrum of the morning light in early spring." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or so they told her. It wasn't as if spring were a concept with any practical existence in her life. It was nice, anyway.\n\nAvasarala floated in a white sari with a golden sash." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer admired the old woman's ability to wear it and remain decent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't something a lot of Earthers could manage.\n\nShe touched Lafflin's shoulder. \"You'll excuse me?\"\n\n\"Of course, Madam President,\" he said. \"I look forward to seeing you at the post-action debrief.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You too,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala nodded as Drummer slid close, braced on a handhold to kill her momentum.\n\n\"You're leaving too?\" Avasarala asked, her voice carefully neutral.\n\n\"No,\" Drummer said. \"I live here.\"\n\n\"You're a fucking idiot,\" the old woman sighed, \"but you'd be one if you left too. It'd be a better world if there was always at least one right answer instead of a basket of fucked.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you all right?\" Drummer asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala waved the comment away, then reached out to the handhold to steady herself. \"I'm trying to decide if we're absolutely certain to lose or absolutely certain to win,\" she said. \"I change my mind every ten minutes or so.\"\n\n\"It's one ship that hasn't been able to resupply in weeks,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's already been through a battle. And that turning-off-people's-minds-for-a-while thing it did, we're ready for it this time. The automated systems have their governors off. 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.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And because it's this ten minutes,\" Avasarala said, \"I find that argument persuasive. Next one, I'm going to remember that Duarte sent it, and then I'll get scared.\" She shook her head. \"Who knows? The son of a bitch has been off in his own private system since before the Free Navy got their nuts handed to them. And it's pretty clear he's been rubbing up against whatever artifacts he found there. Maybe it made him stupid.\"\n\n\"Doesn't change what we have to do,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It doesn't,\" Avasarala agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I hate this part. You have a clear succession? Santos-Baca went down with her ship too, and even if you turn that ugly motherfucker of a ship to slag, one of the EMC bastards is as likely to throw something the wrong direction. If this goes badly, the last thing we're going to need is a long, angry committee meeting with everyone saying they've got the conch.\"\n\nDrummer felt a blaze of annoyance, but pushed it down. The old woman wasn't trying to be insulting. She was just flailing around trying to find something she still had control over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have bylaws,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And it won't matter. If I eat a stray torpedo, Albin Nazari takes over.\"\n\n\"That whiner? He's just gotten used to Santos-Baca's chair, and then to get yours too? He'd be like a five-year-old driving a mech loader.\"\n\n\"I'll be dead,\" Drummer said. \"So I won't give a fuck.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Avasarala's laugh was short, surprised, and joyful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't hate you, Camina. I hate almost everyone these days, but I don't hate you.\"\n\n\"I'm not planning to put Nazari in charge,\" Drummer said. \"I'm planning to win.\"\n\nIn the scheme of the battle, People's Home was many things: battleship, medical facility, port, and resupply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was all the things a city could be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the display, it was slightly paler than the other green dots that were its fellows. Guard of Passage had a position that mirrored it. The two great cities of the union with their drums spun down, burning into the fight as anchors for the fleet. Cities that had become battleships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Coffee?\" Vaughn asked, and Drummer waved him away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The control room was lit like a theater—dim and warm with the tactical display in a multinetworked holographic output. Drummer had been in other battles. She had studied more than that. She had never seen more firepower leveled at a single target." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was fairly certain it had never happened before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She strapped herself into her crash couch, checked the juice. The chances were very slim that People's Home would go on the burn, but if it did, she'd be ready. The whole sphere of battle was less than three light-seconds across. Eight hundred and fifty thousand kilometers from the two most distant ships in the EMC fleet, a balloon holding three hundred quadrillion cubic kilometers of nothing, with a few hundred ships dotting its skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If she'd been in a vac suit, the drive plumes of the navy would have been invisible among the stars." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the most tightly formed major battle in decades—maybe ever—and she wouldn't have been able to see her nearest ally with her naked eye.\n\n\"The enemy's crossed Leuctra Point,\" the weapons tech said, his voice calm.\n\n\"Are the EMC ships opening fire?\"\n\n\"They are, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Then let's do too,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted there to be a throb of rail guns, the chatter of PDC fire, but People's Home was a huge structure. Even as her display told her that the rail guns were firing, the room was silent. Hundreds of other ships were doing the same thing at the same moment. Tens of thousands of tungsten slugs moving at a nontrivial fraction of c. It would be less than a minute before they converged on the Tempest, staggered and spread to make dodging difficult. But not impossible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And the enemy is evading,\" the sensor tech reported, her voice sharp." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do we have visual?\"\n\nIn answer, she put up the live feed. A second's delay. Maybe two. Hardly anything at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were so close, they could have spoken in real time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made her feel uncomfortable to be so near the Tempest. But there it was, its weirdly organic shape bright in the enhanced colors. Jets of reaction mass gouted from one side, pushing the ship to a slightly different course.\n\n\"Correcting for new vector,\" the weapons station said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And firing. EMC forces are also launching torpedoes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do the same,\" Drummer said. She checked the time. Three minutes had passed. She took control of the visual display, zooming in on the skin of the enemy ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It didn't look like it had plating so much as a single, textured surface." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She threw on the tactical overlay, and a dozen points appeared that weren't visible in reality. The high-value targets, the vulnerable places on the Tempest that didn't grow back, or at least not quickly. A dozen carefully placed dots that Emily Santos-Baca and Independence had died to find.\n\n\"Come on,\" she said, willing the missiles to strike." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The enemy is firing PDCs,\" the sensor tech said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Show me,\" Drummer said, and the Tempest almost vanished in a cloud of tracers. The data field was too rich to comprehend—missiles, streams of PDC fire, the straight-line paths of the rail-gun rounds.\n\n\"EMC Battleship Frederick Lewis is reporting damage,\" Vaughn said.\n\n\"Are you working comms now?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Drummer asked. \"Who's going to get me my coffee?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're dropping core,\" Vaughn said, ignoring her.\n\nA little cheer went up, and it took Drummer half a second to see why. One of the hardpoints on the Tempest was blinking—the system reporting a missile strike that had connected with the target. The cloud of PDC fire grew a degree thinner." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Any ship Drummer knew, any station she'd ever heard of, would have been reduced to slivers of metal and flakes of lace by now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The only thing she could think of that would withstand that barrage was a planet. Even then, cities would have been pounded to dust by what had been launched in the last fifteen minutes. Sixteen now. It was so fast. There should have been hours between launch and response." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But this wasn't that kind of battle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was no finesse to it. Just brutal, constant violence.\n\nThe tightness in her throat was the memory of Pallas. The harder they pushed the Tempest, the more Drummer feared the magnetic beam." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the Laconians used it on People's Home, she wouldn't live long enough to notice she was being ripped apart." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And if the glitch happened again ... well, the observatories on Earth and Mars might get more data about how long it took the enemy to recharge the damned thing.\n\nBut they hadn't used it yet. Maybe the time slip had been the fucking thing breaking. The universe owed her a little slice of luck like that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another two hits on the Tempest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It shifted, plumes of steam appearing from its thrusters as it evaded incoming fire. Five more of the EMC ships took crippling damage or turned to bright dust, too far away to see. The Tempest veered and danced. Dark streaks marked its sides where the missiles and rail-gun rounds hit, and while most of the marks faded, not all of them did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have expended two-thirds of our rail-gun ammunition,\" the weapons tech announced." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Shall I maintain fire?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Drummer said. \"Then start putting chairs in the launcher. We hit that thing until we're down to pillows and beer.\"\n\n\"Understood, ma'am,\" the weapons tech said. She could hear the smile in his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt it too—the giddy sense that even if they were winning ugly, they were at least winning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the display, the Tempest shifted and dodged like a fish in a tank. The organic curves of its design made it hard not to think of it as an animal. An apex predator surprised to find itself outmatched by its prey. And there was something ..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"On the aft. By that third contact point. Is that a gas plume?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sensors tech shifted through half a dozen slices of the spectrum in less than a second. \"That is correct, ma'am. The Tempest appears to be venting atmosphere.\"\n\n\"EMC Governor Knight is launching high-yield nuclear torpedoes,\" Vaughn said.\n\nDrummer sat back in her crash couch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anticipation was a tightness in her throat and her hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Tempest's PDCs weren't all disabled. There was still the chance it might kill the nukes before they got close enough to detonate. Seconds stretched into minutes. Her neck ached from straining toward the display." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The light of the explosion whited out the sensor array." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A ragged cheer came from all around the control room.\n\n\"One down,\" she said to herself. \"And fuck you all along with it.\"\n\nIt wasn't over. Laconia would send another ship after this one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A fleet, next time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The union and the EMC would have to get much more clever. But they knew more now—about how the enemy ships functioned, how they maneuvered in battle, and most important of all, how they could be killed.\n\nAnd she had to expect reprisals. By deciding to send her one last, desperate message, she had as good as told the Laconians that she still had allies on Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The choice had seemed like the right and obvious thing at the time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd pointed at Medina and said, Look for my people here. It might be the thing that killed Saba and his crew.\n\nIt was a problem for another day. A tragedy she'd face when she could do something about it, and not before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was too much that had to be done here and now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Send the return signal to all the transport ships and get the docks ready to bring everyone home,\" she said. \"It's going to be a long couple weeks, people. We may as well get to it.\"\n\nAnother cheer, this one louder. They'd all been so hungry for a win, they were drunk with it. She was too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ma'am?\" the sensor tech said, the word like a drop of ice in a sauna." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sensors had finished their reset. The Tempest was still where it had been, not scattered into atoms. An eerie blue mottling danced in lines like veins under the ship's skin, bright but fading. The EMCs' nukes might not have made contact before they detonated, but the fireball should have been enough to kill anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or at least anything that Drummer knew of." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's firing missiles, ma'am,\" the sensor tech said.\n\nThey'd known. Laconia had known they'd be facing nuclear torpedoes. And now everyone on all the colony worlds would see that even that wasn't enough to kill their ships. Maybe that had been the point all along." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide four sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The scratch came in the middle of the third shift." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If Naomi had been able to sleep, it would have been her midnight, but she was in her bunk, staring into the darkness and waiting for something she knew wouldn't come. So she heard it—fingernails against the access door that led to the corridor. It was softer than a knock, but it meant the same thing. I'm here. Let me in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She sat up. Her body ached like she'd worked out too hard, but it was just stress and fatigue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pulled herself up, opened her door as Bobbie, across from her, opened her own. Bobbie was wearing a tight jumpsuit. The kind you'd put on under a vac suit. Or, she supposed, power armor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She nodded to Naomi, but didn't speak." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were both being quiet for the others—Amos and Alex and Clarissa. The ones who could sleep, maybe. Someone ought to.\n\nBobbie opened the door to the public corridor.\n\nKatria wore the uniform of the Medina maintenance crew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Green with a station logo printed on the shoulders and back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A ceramic toolbox rested on the deck by her left foot. Gray where it wasn't scratched white by long use. Naomi guessed there was enough explosive in it to kill all of them so fast they wouldn't know they were dead until the funeral. Katria's nonchalance with it was like a boast." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Voltaire Collective had always been like that, even back in ancient days when Earth and Mars had ruled the solar system and no one had ever heard of Protogen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every revolution needed its mad bombers, apparently.\n\n\"Tag,\" Katria said to Naomi. Then to Bobbie, \"You ready to play a game?\"\n\nBobbie put her hand on Naomi's shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Take care of the kids until I get back.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I will,\" Naomi said. \"Good hunting.\"\n\n\"Thanks,\" Bobbie said. Katria stood aside and let the big woman pass. The emptiness on Bobbie's face could have read as indifference to someone who didn't know her. To someone who didn't understand the kinship that Bobbie felt to Mars and its military, and to those who had served once and then been forced by conscience or circumstance to walk away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bobbie,\" Naomi said. \"I'm sorry.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie nodded. That was all. An acknowledgment that they both understood the situation, and would do what needed to be done. Katria plucked the toolbox up, and the two of them walked away down the corridor. Naomi closed the door behind them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Back in her bunk and sleepless, she wondered what Jim would have done." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something idealistic and impulsive that would lead to more complications, probably. Certainly. And he would have done it in a way that kept that expression off Bobbie's face if he could. Even if it meant doing something terrible to himself. Like languishing in a Laconian brig." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An image came to her mind of Jim being tortured, and she pushed it away. Again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Feeling fear and sorrow would come later, when they were done. When he was back. There'd be time for it then. She didn't manage actual sleep, but she was able to drift a little before the shift change." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was enough to let her feel rested, but not deeply." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She met Saba at the same public counter where they'd used the freezer, but this time they sat at the front like customers. The girl behind the counter turned up the music playing from her system speakers loud enough that they could barely hear each other, their words drowned in drums and strings and ululating voices. Saba looked as tired as she felt.\n\n\"Something happening back in Sol system,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Looks like the big fight. Not sure how it's going to play.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Half a dozen possibilities flashed through her sleep-starved mind ranging from the miraculously good to the catastrophically bad. It didn't matter. Nothing that happened there changed what they were doing here. But Saba's wife was there, back in the empty spaces where they'd all lived, once upon a time. She knew too well what that fear felt like." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You have the list?\" she asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Saba nodded and pressed a silver memory chip into her hand. \"All the ships we could make contact with,\" he said.\n\n\"How many?\"\n\n\"Twenty-one.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi nodded. Twenty-one ships docked on Medina and waiting for their chance to load up and fly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was more than she'd hoped for. It was also enough to pose some problems. \"I don't like having this many people knowing what's going on.\"\n\n\"It's a risk,\" Saba said, as if he were agreeing with something she'd said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How does it make us for time?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you don't mind half of them vanishing in transit, we can go pretty fast,\" Naomi said, more sharply than she'd intended. She shook her head, apologizing, but Saba ignored both the snappishness and the regret for it.\n\n\"Say we don't. Everyone through the gates safe and sound. What does that look like?\"\n\n\"I can't know that until I look at the ship profiles. Mass, drive type, cargo. All of that's going to make a difference.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ballpark.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"A hundred minutes. That's conservative. I can probably find a way to make it less.\"\n\nThe girl at the counter swung past, pouring fresh tea into their glasses. Tiny bits of mint leaf swirled in the reddish amber. Naomi took a sip while Saba scowled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's a long time for the station's eyes to stay blind. And a lot to lose if they find a way to put it back together.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Truth,\" Naomi said.\n\nSaba scratched his chin with the back of his hand. If they ever played poker together, it was a gesture she'd remember. His tell.\n\n\"Your technician. The one to break the system?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Clarissa.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Her, yeah. If she doesn't do the thing and do it well, everyone on those ships is going to die from trusting me. Not disrespect, but it's mine to say. Not sure she's good for it.\"\n\n\"Clarissa knows what she's doing,\" Naomi said. \"She's smart, she's studied, and she knows this station. She broke it once already.\"\n\n\"She's as thin as wire,\" Saba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I could blow her over from whistling.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was no humor in his face.\n\n\"I trust her with my life,\" Naomi said. \"No hesitation.\"\n\n\"You're asking me to trust her with more than that,\" Saba said. \"I don't. Not that she doesn't know, not that she's unwilling or not to trust. But straight between us, sister. Putting all of us on one girl just this side of hospital? It's not prudence.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think you're asking me for something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You go with her,\" Saba said. \"Leave the prison work to me and mine. We'll do that. You back up your crew.\"\n\nNaomi shook her head. \"The prison's mine,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Clarissa will do whatever needs doing. She's got backup already. Jordao. Katria's man. Unless you don't trust him?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't trust anyone,\" Saba said. \"Not him, not her, not you. But I work with what I have to work with, and I know you're not going to run when things go harsh. Maybe Katria's people will, maybe they won't. You won't. And ... the sensors are more important than the prisons. We lose the prisons, we only lose the prisoners, savvy sa?\"\n\nHe was right, and she knew it. Putting the success or failure of the mission in the hands of a medically fragile woman—however competent she was—and then not giving her the backup to deal with an emergent problem was bad practice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But in her imagination, Naomi saw the letters on her list as clearly as if she'd been reading them afresh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "SAVE JIM. She shook her head. \"Prison's mine. Sensor arrays are hers. Won't be a problem.\"\n\nSaba sighed as the music shifted key and tempo. A man's voice growling like a bearing going bad lamented his own failings in a mix of Hindi and Spanish that she could almost follow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She looked Saba in the eyes until he looked away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Work up a schedule, then. All the ship data's on there. But do it fast. We have to distribute it by hand before we pull the trigger.\"\n\n\"Two hours,\" Naomi said. \"I'll have it ready.\"\n\nAn hour later, there was still no word from Bobbie." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No way to check in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They waited in their bunks, the doors open on their little common hallway. Amos stood in the head, leaning against the sink with his arms crossed. Alex sat in the doorway of his cabin. Clarissa stretched out on the deck like a bored teenager waiting for the hours to pass until she could begin living." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her skin was unnaturally smooth and tight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It helped the illusion. Naomi sat on her bunk, hand terminal in her lap, and arranged the flight schedule while they talked.\n\n\"I don't know,\" Alex said. \"I mean, sure, it's a risk that there'll be ships waiting on the other side of the gates. There have got to be some queuing up to get to Medina when they don't think they'll get shot at. But if we're only looking at twenty-one ships?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm only lookin' at one,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So let's say there's two hundred ships waiting to come through,\" Clarissa said, ignoring him. \"High end of plausible, but what the hell, right? That's eleven hundred gates with no one standing by close enough to get a really good look at whoever came through. That's still a fifteen percent chance of getting seen.\"\n\n\"That high?\" Alex said. \"You sure? I thought it'd be less than that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi went through the data Saba had given her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Old Buncome, a recent-generation transport ship with a high-capacity Epstein drive and a cargo hold full of refined titanium. The Lightbreaker, a three-generation-old yacht salvaged by a semigovernmental courier service. The Rosy Cross, a rehabilitated prospecting ship with five previous owners and a drive that leaked enough radiation to cook with. The Han Yu, a privately owned coyote with authorization to carry settlers to the colony worlds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Each ship had its own specs, its own limitations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And each one would have an effect on the ring gates that could make the ship leaving after it vanish into wherever ships went when they went dutchman. Naomi knew the curve as well as she knew her name, and the hand terminal—limited as it was—had enough native computing power to lay that in. Writing a program to weigh all the variables, evaluate each ship, and create a best-speed model wasn't hard, but it took time and focus. Neither of which she had in great supply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It ain't that high if you're only looking at one ship,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can bend the odds pretty good. I mean, no one's going for Sol gate unless they're tired of life. And there's not going to be any ships waiting to come through from Charon or Naraka.\"\n\n\"If we're down to hiding out in dead systems ...\" Alex began.\n\nClarissa interrupted him. \"We should go to Freehold.\"\n\n\"You feeling okay, Claire?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex asked. \"You remember we didn't leave on good terms, right? It was even money for a while that they were going to shoot Bobbie and Holden before they could get back to the ship.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From where Naomi was sitting, she could see Clarissa's ankles shift around each other as she rolled onto her belly. \"No, I'm serious. They're fiercely independent. They were willing to stand up to the Transport Union, and I don't see them rushing to wave the Laconian flag either. They're underdeveloped enough that there won't be complex local politics. No factions within factions that we don't understand. Or at least fewer than you'd get somewhere like Gaon Complex. Plus which, we know there aren't any ships observing the other side of their ring, because we were the only ship in the system, and no one's gone out there since the occupation started.\"\n\n\"That Houston asshole was pretty smart,\" Amos said.\n\n\"Ah! I see what you're doing,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're trying to make flying out to Charon and dodging radiation flares sound like a good idea. It's that whole 'I'll put a shitty idea next to a really shitty idea so the first one looks shiny by comparison' thing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think we should go to Freehold,\" Amos said. \"Naomi? You think we should go to Freehold?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" she said, starting the data run.\n\n\"Seriously?\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Her points are all solid,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The data run stopped a third of the way through. She ended the process and opened the run logs. \"We have to get small for a while. Be hard to see. Wait for Laconia to show us where its weak spots are. We'll have to be someplace while that happens. It might as well be there.\"\n\n\"But the shooting-us part?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is something we'll need to work through,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, those paper uniforms people can get out of the station kiosks? Do you think we could get that to print out sheets?\"\n\n\"Like bedsheets?\" Alex said.\n\n\"Something to write on so we can distribute this when I'm done. Can't put it on the system.\"\n\n\"Maybe,\" Amos said. \"Be kind of weird, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The run log looked decent until it started the confirmation routine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then it hung on something. She grabbed the code reference and went back to the original script.\n\nThe others were still talking, but her focus on the screen lowered the volume on them. She was aware of Amos' low, gravel-strewn voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa, higher and more musical." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex with the ghost of a Mariner Valley drawl that was more habit than accent. Her family. Part of her family.\n\nThere was a zero result where there should have been a berth number. That was where the code was choking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It probably made sense to just chuck the routine entirely." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Reaching beyond Saba's secret network—even if it was only for passive information like reading docking records—was a little risky. But building a schedule on unconfirmed data could screw them up as well.\n\nShe hesitated, pulled the code, then put it back and reopened the logs. The bad entry was the twelfth ship in the logs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Lightbreaker. She tapped her fingers against her thigh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dig deeper and risk being noticed by security or ignore the error and move ahead as if everything was as expected. If she'd gotten a little more sleep, it would have been easier to make the decision.\n\n\"Bárány o juh, son toda son hanged,\" she said to herself and opened a low-level request to the docking records. It only took seconds for confirmation to come through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Lightbreaker wasn't in its berth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had shipped out two days ago. The flight plan listed the destination as Laconia with a service code that looked military. Well, that was one less for the evacuation plan. It would make things faster, but Saba would need to know." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The crew, if they weren't on the burn for the heart of the enemy, would need other bunks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked at the service code. Touched it with a fingertip.\n\n\"Alex? Did the MCRN have a code eighteen twenty-SKS?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" he said from the hall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Did a few of those myself, way back when. Priority prisoner transfer. Why?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she'd been about eleven, Naomi had been working in a warehouse on Iapetus. A steel support beam had popped its welds and sprung out, clipping the back of her head. It hadn't been pain, not at first. Just a feeling of impact, and her senses receding a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The agony had two, maybe three seconds to clear its throat and straighten its sleeves before it crashed over her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This felt very much the same.\n\nHer hand trembled as she looked for a manifest. Something to say who'd been on the Lightbreaker. Who'd been important enough to the empire that they'd commandeered a ship just to take them away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was nothing. Of course there wasn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why would the Laconians announce that to anyone? She checked the dates, the times. It didn't have to be Jim. It could have been someone else. But it wasn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took a moment for herself and the pain. Five seconds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could let herself hurt for five seconds. Then she had to get back to work. The rest would be for later.\n\nShe sent a message—text only—to Saba." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The missing ship, the service coding, her suspicion that James Holden was already past the ring gate and into Laconian space." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Did Saba have any contacts who could confirm that? After the message sent, she took a deep breath. Then another. She pulled the Lightbreaker out of her dataset and ran her code again. It didn't hang this time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She got up, surprised by how steady she felt, and took the two steps to the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's the matter, boss?\" Amos asked.\n\nNaomi shook her head. When she spoke, she spoke to Clarissa.\n\n\"I had a talk with Saba. I'm going with you on the sensor-array leg of this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa's brow was bent by whatever she saw in Naomi's face. \"Okay. Why?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Risk management,\" Naomi said. \"If the prison break fails, we don't get as many people out. If the sensors come back up and they're able to track which ships went through which gates, the whole mission fails. Better that we spend our resources where they matter the most.\"\n\n\"But if Holden is ...\" Clarissa began, then went quiet. Naomi watched her understand. \"The prisoner transfer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex's face was grayish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And pale. \"Fuck,\" he said.\n\n\"And we need something to write down the evacuation plan on,\" Naomi said. \"Something small and portable, and not connected to the computer networks at all.\"\n\nAmos pushed himself up from the sink." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You got it, boss. Give me twenty minutes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And something to write with,\" Naomi said as the big man walked out into the public corridor.\n\nHer hand terminal chimed, and she went back to her crash couch. The run was finished. Twenty ships, in the order that would get them through the gates and gone at the min-max point of risk and speed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Optimal was eighty-seven minutes, even with the Rocinante looping back to pick up Amos, Bobbie, Clarissa, and her." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately five sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a solid plan.\n\nShe had a solid plan.\n\nShe pulled up her organizational notes and sat for a moment, looking at the words she'd put there.\n\nSAVE JIM.\n\nShe drew a line through them." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like James S.A. Corey and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tag,\" Katria said, then turned to look at her. A ghost of a smile touched the other woman's lips, and Bobbie wondered just exactly how much of the violence of their first meeting was really forgotten and forgiven. \"You ready to play a game?\"\n\nAfter half a beat, Naomi's gaze tracked over to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Exhaustion had yellowed her sclera, and her skin had an undertone of ash." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She put a hand on Naomi's shoulder to steady her as much as anything.\n\n\"Take care of the kids until I get back.\"\n\n\"I will. Good hunting.\"\n\nThe words were a little punch in the gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hope you kill someone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Some other Marine who had the bad luck to be born on the wrong side of this. Who's as loyal to his people as you are to yours. Whoever they are, I hope you get them before they get you. The truth of it was, despite everything, there was a joy in this." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd spent some of the most important years of her young life training for moments like this one, and as much as she wanted to have grown and matured, aged into a woman of peace, part of her still really liked it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thanks,\" Bobbie said, and stepped out.\n\n\"Bobbie ... I'm sorry.\"\n\nBobbie nodded as Katria scooped up her toolbox. They walked together toward the intersection with a larger corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The door closed behind them with a soft click and the whir of the lock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria chuckled under her breath, but Bobbie didn't ask why. She didn't much want to know.\n\nMost of the people in the corridor were walking, but there were a few carts loaded with containers. At one intersection, a man was driving a loading mech, moving it from one warehouse to another." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a four-point harness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she got in by his side, she could loop one arm around his neck and choke him out while she unbuckled him from the controls with the other. Drop him out, swing around, and strap herself in. It would probably take thirty seconds. Maybe less. Easy peasy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As they walked, she felt herself relaxing, sinking down into her hips as she walked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lowering her center of gravity. She whistled a little, softly. Katria raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. The screens along the walls announced that the security forces were closing in on the terrorist cell that had blown up the oxygen tanks, but Bobbie didn't see anyone giving the pair of them a second glance, much less closing in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a sparseness about the halls." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even with the carts and the people, there was an emptiness showing through. Part of it had to be that, with no ships coming in or out of the station, there just wasn't as much to do as there would have been. But part of it was also fear. People staying in their holes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Staying out away from the checkpoints. Out of trouble." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They took the ramp down, away from the inner surface of the drum. There weren't many places on the drum that came close to the skin of the station. Most of the outer layers had been designed with radiation shielding in mind. Water tanks, storage for ceramic and metal and steriles." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Service halls with anti-spalling covered in paint and conduit and pipes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But there were a few junctions near service airlocks where only a few layers of steel and ceramic and foam separated their feet from the outside. It reminded her of being on one of the old Donnager-class battleships. The bare functionality of the design belonged to a different generation from the residential levels or the inner face of the drum.\n\nThe hallway where Katria stopped looked just like the sections they'd been walking through, but she checked the section identifiers painted on the walls and the pipes, then stamped her foot on the deck like she was listening for something in the way it rang." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Here?\" Bobbie asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is the place. Boost me up.\"\n\nBobbie locked her fingers together into a cradle, and Katria put her foot into it. She didn't weigh much. Bobbie hauled her up toward the ceiling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Could have kept her there for hours, she thought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria caressed the ceiling with her palm, then found what she was looking for, pressed hard enough that Bobbie felt it, and slid a panel aside. A little gap, hardly more than a decimeter, between the panel and the structural beam above it. Katria hoisted her toolbox, checked its orientation, and slid it into place. She pulled the ceiling tile back and tapped Bobbie on the shoulder to be put down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Katria said, and pulled a bit of black tape from her pocket. After a moment's consideration, she curled it around a bit of pipe just beside the bomb, then took her hand terminal out and shifted to a screen Bobbie had never seen before. A rough, grainy image of the hallway appeared on it, including her and Katria from the tape's perspective.\n\nKatria stood directly under the bomb, then tapped her own image on the screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Red script came up—LOCKED—and she put the terminal back in her pocket." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Now, that's it,\" she said.\n\n\"Okay,\" Bobbie said. \"Let's go outside.\"\n\nThe maintenance airlock was uncrewed. Two vac suits hung in the lockers, a large gray transport box with its lid open and unsealed, and inside of that, a yellow ceramic box beside them with ZEMÎ TOR stenciled on it in black." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The transport box's wheels were retracted, the steering handle stowed on its side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The walls and lid were only a little thicker than the real thing. Whatever they were using for shielding, it was thin. She hoped it was light too.\n\nBobbie put on the environment suit, checked her seals and air supply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She and Katria checked each other." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The suit had a magnetic tether built into it, a ribbon as wide as her hand and thick as her pinky, dirty from years of use. The airlock itself was set into the floor. The little platform to carry them out to the drum's surface, and hopefully not fling them out into the emptiness of the slow zone. With both of them and the box, it was a tight fit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie watched the suit's sleeve puff out a little as the lock cycled out the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria pressed her helmet against Bobbie's and shouted. With only physical conduction to carry the sound, her voice was distant and muffled. \"Last chance to back away.\"\n\nBobbie smiled and made an obscene gesture." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could see Katria laughing, but she couldn't hear it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lock cycled, and the platform descended.\n\nThe body of Medina's drum curved away above her to the left and right, extended ahead of her and behind. She felt like she was hanging on to the belly of some massively vast whale. The gates were only pinpoints of eerie and erratic light, as regular as a printed pattern against the surreal darkness below her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gates and the tiny dot of the alien station in the center of ring space." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't her first time outside a ship in the slow zone, but she shuddered all the same. Falling off a spin station in normal space meant drifting out at whatever velocity the station had given her until someone came to haul her back or she ran out of air. Losing her connection here meant falling into the blackness between the gates and vanishing into whatever existed—or failed to exist—on the other side. Normal, star-strewn space could feel like an infinite ocean, vast and glorious and uncaring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The slow zone felt like being in something's mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria put her safety tether on the surface of the drum, then lay on her back and pushed her feet up until her mag boot locked to the station. Bobbie waited to follow until she'd taken a couple of awkward, swaying steps. And then she was also hanging upside down from the turning station. The crate in her hand wanted to fly up like the loop of her safety harness." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Blood rushed into her head, filling her ears with their own distant roar as they walked—release, swing, push up, and reconnect to the station—back along until they found the stretch of plating that would become the breach point." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria gestured to the crate—two fingers pointing, the Belter's gesture for opening or deploying. Bobbie nodded yes with a closed fist.\n\nThe mining net was a square of woven steel cable reinforced by carbon fiber. Rock hoppers and subsistence miners had been using things like it since humanity had first crawled up the well and started harvesting the near-Earth asteroids." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The primary piton was thicker than Bobbie's thigh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She fastened it to the skin of the station, then waited for a moment as the external elevator shaft that ran along the drum from engineering to the command center passed overhead. She and Katria took different edges, pulling and stretching the net as they navigated around the target, placing the secondary pitons until the whole thing lay like a low, black blister on the side of the drum.\n\nThe trap set at last.\n\nKatria dropped the box, and it flew up and away into the darkness, gone in an eyeblink." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She led the way back almost to the airlock platform, then turned off one mag boot, and then the other, and swung on her safety harness, feet to the void." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie did the same. It felt better to be right-side-up again, and worse to know that only one failure point was keeping her alive. Trade-offs. There were always trade-offs.\n\nKatria slaved her hand terminal to the suit's arm display, copied the output to Bobbie's, and set up a low-power radio connection between them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The corridor where they'd set the bomb appeared in the same grainy, muted colors as before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Empty for now, but not forever.\n\n\"Now we wait,\" Katria said through the radio. \"The patrol puts their foot in our trap, or someone notices that we're out here.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't worry. These Laconians are just like Earthers. They only think of ships and stations as inside. Comes from growing up in free air.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'The predictable limits of a conceptual framework,'\" Bobbie said. A phrase from her classroom on Olympus Mons. \"It's always where to hit the enemy. Whoever they turn out to be. When I learned how to do things like this, we were thinking about Earthers and pirates.\"\n\nKatria laughed. \"When I taught myself how to do this, I was thinking of people like you. Strange how the wheel turns.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The elevator passed above them again, the glowing orb of the alien station at the slow zone's heart appearing like a moon on her left, vanishing again on the right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie turned to look toward the docks. The Rocinante was down there somewhere. Her home and her ship. Or Holden's. Or neither of theirs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Strange how the wheel turns." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The minutes stretched. Became hours. Twice, people passed through the corridor. A pair of electrical technicians. A sketchy-looking young woman pulling a child by the hand and looking over her shoulder as she walked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie wondered what the story was there, but it wasn't hers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her anxiety slowly faded into a kind of dull anticipation, and then to both at the same time. The void passed beneath her feet again and again and again. She switched her air to the secondary bottle.\n\n\"Ah,\" Katria said. \"Here we go.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "On the monitor, two people walked down the hall toward the camera." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie couldn't mistake the Laconian power armor for anything else. The patrol they'd been waiting for. The enemy approaching. Without a word, she swung back, set her feet against the station, and reengaged her mag boots. The spin gravity would try to straighten her legs, but that was exactly the wrong thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She bent double, put her hands behind her knees, and held herself there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Katria did the same. Bat-brace position. It was hard to relax like that, especially knowing what was coming. She took a deep breath starting in her belly and moving through her whole chest, then let it out. Shook her shoulders to get out the tension. Smooth and loose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was the way to be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She remembered the young Marine she'd flirted with when the Laconians had first taken the station. She wondered if he was on one of the patrols walking above her now, the soles of his feet unknowingly against her own. Your turn now, my turn later, she thought. The seconds stretched. The temptation to shift her arms so she could look at the screen was almost irresistible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The station hit the bottoms of her feet like a hammer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her legs slammed into her chest, blowing the air out of her. One mag boot threw an error, but only for a second. Then it was done. She turned, walking fast toward the net." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't a low blister anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a hemisphere of debris and cables. Bent plating, shredded foam, and at the heart of it, trapped like two fish hauled out of a tank, human figures. Above her, the debris small enough to escape the net seemed to fly away from her, though it was really her spinning away from it.\n\n\"Hurry,\" Katria said. \"They'll already be on their way.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the net, they undid one of the pitons, opening it like the mouth of a tent. The gaping hole that led up into the station leaked water and coolant out, flying down past them as they hung. The nearer of the two bodies had taken the worst of the explosion. A crack along the collar and chest assembly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The inside of the helmet was a soup of blood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie wrestled the corpse closer, holding the arms and waist in a rescue hold while Katria fastened grips to the Laconian suit.\n\n\"Hold still,\" Katria said. The low-power radio made her voice seem farther away than she was.\n\n\"I'm doing my best,\" Bobbie said through clenched teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right. He's solid.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're sure?\"\n\n\"Positive,\" Katria said, and disengaged the primary piton. The net pulled free and fell away below them into nothing. Bobbie turned, forcing herself back to the airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her muscles were burning from the effort." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Twenty years ago, they wouldn't have been. The spin of the station made it feel like the dead Marine was pulling her down toward the depths, or else up into the emptiest sky in the universe. The power-armor helmet knocked against the back of hers. The dead arms and legs hung loose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Blood leaked from the crack in the chest plate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I hope this suit's not too fucked up,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"Hope later,\" Katria said. \"Walk now.\"\n\nAt the platform, Bobbie shifted her weight and the dead Marine's with a cry of effort loud enough that Katria turned off her radio. She hung from her safety tether and motioned Bobbie up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There wasn't room on the platform for all three of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie didn't even nod, just turned the controls, and the platform rose. While the air cycled in, she sat across from the armor. Her heart was pounding. Her muscles ached. She'd just killed two of the enemy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There would always be a little something—that tug on her humanity that came from doing violence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a satisfaction too. It didn't mean she was a good woman or a bad one. It meant she was a Marine.\n\nSomewhere in the station right now, security forces and maintenance techs were scrambling to figure out whether the hole in the station or the possibility of rushing into more bombs was the greater threat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "By the time they came to a decision, she needed to be as far away from here as possible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The inner airlock door cycled open, and she hauled the corpse up into the locker room before she cycled the airlock again for Katria to use. When she popped her helmet seals, the dead man stank of blood and overheated metal and the same kind of lubricant she used on Betsy's joints.\n\nShe pulled the body into the large gray transport box, closed the lid, and triggered the seals. Whatever alerts, whatever alarms the power armor had been sending out were blocked now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or if Saba was wrong, she and Katria would find out soon enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The airlock cycled open while Bobbie was pulling off her environment suit. Her jumpsuit was drenched in sweat. Katria undid the seals of her own helmet and slung it into the locker.\n\n\"You get the package to Saba,\" Katria said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know the plan. I'm on it,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And thank you. I know we didn't get off on the right foot, your crew and mine.\"\n\n\"No need for that,\" Katria said, popping the seals on her suit with the speed of long habit. \"Just get the work done.\"\n\n\"Copy that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know, this is the second time we've played the same trick. Use the blast to hide what we really meant? The data center. Now the missing power armor they'll all think is out there in the black?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If they think we have it, they'll change the shut-down code before we can reverse engineer it.\"\n\n\"I know why,\" Katria said. \"I'm saying don't count on doing it again. Patterns get people like you and me killed. This strategy's played out. If Saba thinks otherwise, he's a fool.\"\n\nBobbie popped the wheels on the transport cart out, extended the handle." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It rolled easily. She wasn't looking forward to pushing the damned thing through the public areas of the station to Saba's rendezvous, but she also wanted to get out of here as quickly as she could." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She forced herself to take one long, slow look at it before she opened the doors, though. In case there was blood on it.\n\n\"There won't be a third time,\" she said.\n\n\"You sure of that?\" Katria asked.\n\n\"Positive,\" Bobbie said. \"You get your people, and you tell them to be ready. Cracking the code on this suit is the trigger. Two minutes after that happens, we're all getting the hell off this station.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S.A. Corey would" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bright-green dots were blinking out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not all at once, but enough to notice. A wave of darkness moving through the cloud of attacking ships. Drummer checked the timestamp, but there was no gap. Whatever the Tempest had done at Pallas, it still hadn't repeated here." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So what the hell was going on?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is it the Tempest? Is it firing?\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" the sensors tech said. \"The missiles are coming from the Tempest. Yes.\"\n\n\"How fucking many of them?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cloud of green, the orange dot, and now a new form." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Red threads blooming out from the enemy, thick and ropey as a capillary map. The ship itself was lost in them. They reached out toward the EMC vessels. The union fighters. The void cities." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That isn't possible. That's wrong,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Tempest hadn't resupplied since it had come through the ring gate. It had been in a major engagement already. There was no way for what she was looking at to be real.\n\n\"The data is confirmed,\" the sensor tech said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Guard of Passage is reporting the same thing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get me Cameron Tur,\" she said. \"Or Lafflin.\" Anyone who might be able to make the incomprehensible make sense.\n\n\"Should I continue to fire?\" the weapons tech asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are we still in a fucking fight? Then yes, you should keep firing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Vaughn made a small, disapproving sound in his throat, but she was far past caring about the delicacy of his sensibilities. The red threads swam through the void. They only seemed slow on the display because the distances were so vast ...\n\nHere and there a thread died, a PDC round or a missile destroying the Tempest's attack." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But there were so many, and when even one slipped past the guard, another green dot blinked out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The green dots shifted, swirling in the display as the ships did in the darkness. A few dove toward the Tempest, moving almost at the same speed as the torpedoes. As gentle as it looked on the display, it was a killing burn. A suicide run for the crews of every ship that did it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "More followed suit until dozens of ships were driving down toward the enemy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a tactic of unspeakable bravery and desperation. Drummer didn't notice that her hands were in fists until the ache caught her attention. She made her fingers open, looked at the little flaps of skin she'd carved off with her nails.\n\nThe suicide attack reached its peak." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It reminded her of pictures she'd seen of cloudbursts over the deserts of Earth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Huge, angry clouds with numberless tentacles of gray falling from them. A torrent of water racing toward a parched landscape, and evaporating again before a drop could darken the soil.\n\nOn the visual display, the bright, dancing veins on the Tempest were fading, and now that she knew to look, Drummer could see tiny openings along the sides of the ship opening and closing like pores. The lights of the missiles' drive plumes were like blue fireflies." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How can they do that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she whispered past the tightness in her throat.\n\n\"I have Cameron Tur,\" the communications tech said.\n\nThe camera made his face even longer than it seemed in person. The light shone in his eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where the fuck are you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer snapped. \"Are you seeing this?\"\n\nThere was almost no lag before he answered. He was close, then. One of the escape ships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't understand. The number of missiles they've fired ... that they're firing. These can't be normal devices.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the display, the last three suicide attackers blinked out. If the Tempest moved to avoid the debris fields, it wasn't enough to register at this scale. It looked as though the enemy wasn't even bothering to evade anymore.\n\n\"The first battle, we wanted to learn from them,\" Tur said, talking fast and not looking directly at the camera." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I mean, we wanted to win. Of course we wanted to win, but we didn't expect to. The data—how we lost—was as important as stopping them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tur?\"\n\n\"Maybe they were learning from us too. Maybe they recalibrated something about the regrowth of the ship. Or the missiles.\"\n\n\"They survived a direct nuclear strike,\" Drummer said. \"Are you telling me that's something they can just do?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Apparently?\" Tur said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He licked his lips anxiously. \"We knew from the moment they stripped the rail guns off the ring station that they are capable of focusing and directing incredible sources of power. Things we've only ever seen on celestial levels. Collapsing stars.\"\n\n\"Collapsing stars? We're fighting a supernova in the shape of a ship? Why the hell didn't you see this coming?\" She was shouting. Her throat hurt with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tur blinked and his jaw shifted forward." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He would have looked like a man spoiling for a fight if it hadn't been for the tears on his cheeks. She didn't think those tears had anything to do with her raising her voice. \"Ma'am, that ship stripped Pallas Station down to something less than atoms. It shut down consciousness throughout the system in a way that I don't have the structural language to explain, and it seems pretty fucking unimpressed by the idea of locality. It's affecting the nature of vacuum through the whole solar system. If you didn't know we were punching above our weight here, I'm not sure what I could have said to clarify that.\"\n\n\"There is a way to beat them,\" Drummer said, \"and we are running out of time. Find me how to win this, and do it now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She cut the connection before he had the chance to reply." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Silence filled the control room. No one was looking straight at her, but she felt their attention like a weight. All the time she'd spent resisting the pressure to make the Transport Union into a police force—into a military—and here she was anyway.\n\n\"Mister Vaughn?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Find me whoever is in command of the EMC wing of the fleet. I need them now.\" Whoever's still alive, she thought, but didn't say.\n\n\"Yes, ma'am.\"\n\nThe weapons tech's voice shook. \"Should we—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Keep firing,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer felt a heat in her chest. A rage and a certainty. This was the moment that tested everything she'd meant to be. This was what it was to be a leader in a time of crisis." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt the power of it, the raw will to succeed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To devastate and end the people who would destroy her and the systems she embodied. She rose to her feet, her hands behind her, and she knew that everyone in the control room who looked at her would see nothing beyond her superhuman resolve. Not even Vaughn.\n\nAnd she knew it for the hollow mask that it was. How fragile.\n\n\"Guard of Passage is reporting a missile strike that got past their PDCs,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're requesting permission to withdraw.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can't run away,\" Drummer said. \"If we break now—\"\n\nPeople's Home shuddered. A sound like the wail of a demon rattled up from the deck, bellied out from the bulkheads, rained from the ceiling. She waited for the wide, low hiss of escaping atmosphere." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fading of screams as the air became too thin to carry them. Instead, Klaxons blared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She held her voice as steady as she could. \"Report?\"\n\n\"We're hit,\" the sensors tech said. \"Something hit us.\"\n\n\"Do we know what?\" Drummer said.\n\n\"Rail gun,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Appears to have impacted section twelve, just spinward of the medical facilities.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How bad's the damage?\"\n\n\"I'll let you know as I have reliable information,\" he said. \"Still trying to identify the chain of command with the EMC.\"\n\nWhich meant they were in disorder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wondered whether the band of suicide ships had been led by some admiral bent on making their last stand count for something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People's Home bucked again, then twice more.\n\n\"Engineering's been hit,\" Vaughn said. \"The reactor's ... I can't tell. Something's wrong with the reactor.\"\n\nIf the magnetic bottle failed, it would be like a low-yield nuke going off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even if it didn't crack the city open like an egg, the systems that kept them all alive would be melted and fused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the prospect of aid ships reaching them in the chaos of the battle were low enough to pass for never.\n\n\"Drop core,\" Drummer said.\n\nVaughn didn't reply, but the thrust gravity stopped. Drummer grabbed the edge of her crash couch and dragged herself back into it, strapping down with the ease of a lifetime's habit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The automated emergency report showed long swaths of the city under lockdown, pressure doors isolating levels and halls." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Keeping the air in the city as best they could. If she hadn't sent away as many nonessential personnel as the ships would hold, it would have been worse. As it was, it still meant deaths. People who'd trusted the union elections to put someone in charge who would protect them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How many of them were dead now who'd been alive an hour ago?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And how many more seconds before the next round came? It was like someone else's thought dropped into her own brain.\n\nA sickly calm washed over her. This was what it felt like to see death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To know that the worst was coming, and there was nothing she could do to turn it aside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Keep firing,\" she said. If we're going down, let's go down swinging.\n\nThe weapons tech coughed out something between laughter and despair. \"We are dry on rail-gun rounds. We are at six conventional plasma torpedoes, and five percent on PDC.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fire anyway, Drummer thought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Throw everything at them. Except that if the Tempest threw a missile at them, there would be no defense. Drummer closed her eyes. The temptation was still there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If it meant that she died—that all the men and women under her command died with her—at least it would be over." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wouldn't wake up in a wave of dread. She wouldn't watch the structures she'd sworn to protect be peeled away by a threat she hadn't considered worth thinking about until the Tempest had flown through Laconia gate.\n\nCome on. There has to be a way. Think of it. Find it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Should I maintain fire?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "the weapons tech asked.\n\nDrummer didn't open her eyes. The moment stretched. \"No,\" she said. \"Shift to defensive fire only. We can't shoot down rail-gun rounds, but we can hold their missiles off.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am,\" the weapons tech said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could hear the relief in his voice. She wondered if he would have thrown away the last scrap of protection on her order. And she wondered whether she'd have done it, in his position. Maybe.\n\n\"I have a connection to Colonel Massey,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Who?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Commander Fernand Massey. Of the Arcadia Rose, ma'am. He's in command of the EMC ships.\"\n\n\"I've never heard his name before,\" Drummer said.\n\n\"No, ma'am,\" Vaughn said. All the admirals were dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the people she might have known." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As ruined as People's Home was, the fleet was in tatters. Her tactical display listed the ships disabled or dead. There were so many. A quarter of the combined fleet incapacitated or destroyed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd thrown everything at the Tempest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A wall of tungsten and explosives. And the enemy was still under thrust. Still firing.\n\nIt had all been a show. She'd known that. The Tempest's intentionally predictable approach to Earth and Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Letting the EMC and union prepare themselves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd thought it was just a way to erode their morale, but it was more than that. She saw it now. They'd known that they would win, so they'd invited the enemy to make the strongest showing it could. That way, when victory came, it would be unequivocal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ma'am,\" Vaughn said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, fuck it. Fine. I'll talk to him.\"\n\n\"No, ma'am. There's a new message for you. A tightbeam from the Tempest. It's listed as 'command to command.'\"\n\nSomething twisted in her gut. Part despair and part relief." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they were sending messages, maybe they weren't sending nukes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least not until she'd had the chance to hear what they had to say.\n\nShe undid her restraints and launched herself to a wall handhold. Her crash couch hissed and spun on its gimbals. \"Route to my office, please,\" she said, as if it were a normal message on a normal day and not the dividing line between living under a conquering boot and dying before the end of shift." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anxious curiosity shone in every expression—even Vaughn's—as she passed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could have played the message there, in front of all of them. Maybe she should have. Nothing in it would be secret for long anyway. But she didn't want anyone watching her when she saw it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Except Saba, and she wanted him there badly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In her office, she closed the door, then locked it. The little fern in the corner held its fronds high in the null g. A few things she hadn't stowed—a drinking bulb, a printout on plastic flimsy, a clump of potting soil—floated in the air. She'd spent too long in spin gravity. She'd come to assume it would always be there, a few years' habit enough to erase generations of experience and Belter identity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was aware that her brain wasn't functioning normally." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt more like she was piloting her body than living it. She knew it was shock and trauma, but knowing it changed nothing.\n\nShe strapped herself into her chair, took control of her personal interface, and opened her pending messages. Three were listed as unread." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One was from the commander of one of the refugee ships, one from a captain of one of the EMC ships, and the last was listed as Admiral Anton Trejo of the Laconian Imperial Navy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Somewhere in a different universe, the Klaxons stopped their wailing. She wished now that she'd brought Vaughn at least. And maybe a whiskey.\n\nShe started the message playback." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Trejo sat at his station, his uniform immaculate and pressed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His thinning black hair was in place and his eyes a bright green. He didn't even have the good taste to look disheveled. His smile radiated warmth and sympathy. She half expected him to start talking to her about his relationship to God or a business opportunity she should keep quiet about for fear of starting a rush." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"President Drummer, I hope.\" He drawled like someone from the Mariner Valley. \"If not, then please accept my condolences for her passing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am Admiral Trejo of the Laconian battleship Heart of the Tempest, but you knew that. I'm reaching out to you now because I don't want to be misunderstood. Despite all the hostilities the Transport Union and the Earth-Mars Coalition have greeted me with, we're not enemies. Not you and me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not the union and the empire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not Sol system and Laconia. The high consul knew that there would be resistance to this change. We all did, and we respect that you had to do the things you've done.\n\n\"When people like you and I enter into a new phase of history, there's ..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't know what you'd call it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Birth pangs? There's a time when you have to expect violence, even though you don't celebrate it. When the high consul first explained to me the parameters of this mission, I wasn't pleased. One ship, no backup, against an entire system? But he brought me around." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And this moment, this message, is part of why I felt that his approach was the only moral way forward." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have tried to reach Secretary-General Li, but he isn't returning my messages yet. You're here, and you are at least equal in dignity to anyone on the inner planets. You can end this. I understand that you had to fight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You had to try to destroy me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don't blame you for this. But I am permitted at this point to accept your surrender. Do this, and the inner planets will follow you. You will be treated fairly by the new administration." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I promise you that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If you are not yet willing to accept defeat, then I would ask you, out of what I hope is mutual respect, to tell me one thing. What is the number of dead that you need in order to show history that your choice to end this was wisdom? That carrying on the fight would not have been bravery but foolishness. A hundred more. A thousand more. A million. A billion. Only say how many more corpses will make this possible for you, and I will provide them.\" He spread his hands. \"Tell me the number. I await your reply.\"\n\nThe message ended. Drummer floated against her restraints and thought about whether to play the message again, if only to give herself a few more moments before she went back to the command center." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could feel her pulse in her throat and in her wrists—a throbbing exhaustion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Released herself, pushed toward the door, down the short hall.\n\nThey were all silent when she arrived. She looked at her crash couch, there before the display. The moth-eaten wave of green." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tiny, indomitable dot of orange." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Vaughn, I'll need you to send a message to the Heart of the Tempest.\"\n\n\"Ma'am,\" Vaughn said, nodding crisply. I could order him to his death. I could tell them all to fight to the last breath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The message is this: 'The number is zero.' Send that, and then order all union ships to stand down.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked for some reaction in Vaughn's face. Rage or relief or disappointment. It was like expecting emotions from a stone.\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is there anything else?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" she said.\n\nThere is nothing else. No way forward. Her fight was over. If there was any hope to stand against this empire, it was someplace else now.\n\nIf." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write four sentences sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't see the catastrophe coming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even when the scope of it became clear, he struggled to understand it. Blindsided.\n\nThe talk in the station—the talk everywhere—was about Sol system and the surrender. Singh watched it play out in newsfeeds and discussion forums, taking the role of official censor more for the joy of being present in the unfolding of history than from any immediate need. The combined fleet of the Transport Union and the EMC beaten and standing down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The newsfeeds from the local sources in Sol system were anguish and despair, with only a few outlets calling unconvincingly for the battle to continue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For their own side, Carrie Fisk and the Laconian Congress of Worlds proved to be an apt tool for the job, praising the Transport Union's capitulation as a moment of liberation for the former colony worlds. The rules and restrictions on trade are no longer being dictated by the generational politics of Sol. By being outside the system of favoritism, nepotism, political horse-trading and compromise, Laconia is positioned to bring exactly the reforms that humanity needs. He noticed that she shied away from mentioning High Consul Duarte's name." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was always just Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which was fine. The two were essentially the same.\n\nBut it was the conversation beyond her and other specifically recruited allies that made him feel best. Governor Kwan from Bara Gaon Complex issued a statement of support for the new administration so quickly that Singh was almost certain it had been recorded in advance. Auberon's local parliament also sent a public message to put themselves in place as early supporters of the new regime." }, { "from": "human", "value": "New Spain, New Roma, Nyingchi Xin, Félicité, Paradíso, Pátria, Asylum, Chrysanthemum, Ríocht." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Major colonies, some with populations already in the millions, had seen the battle at Leuctra Point and drawn the only sane conclusion. The power center of the human race had shifted, and the wise were shifting with it.\n\nThe imminent arrival of the Typhoon also helped. He had known Rear Admiral Song since he'd entered the service." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not that they'd ever been close, but she was a face and a name that carried a weight of familiarity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd only traded a handful of messages with her, mostly to arrange the piece for the newsfeeds, but speaking to her had reminded him powerfully of home. The routines he'd had on Laconia, the taste of the tea, the little part where he would sit with Elsa when she was newborn and Natalia was sleeping. Watching sunbirds dive into the pond. Sending James Holden back had begun it, and the coming of the Typhoon would complete it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Traffic to and from Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Proof that the great roads of space were open.\n\nThe longing it called forth in him was vast and complex. The open sky that he wouldn't see as long as he remained governor of Medina. The touch of his wife's skin against his, which he could look forward to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His daughter's laughter and the soft sounds she made at the edge of sleep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a way in which every day since he'd stepped off the Storm had been a pause, like holding his breath. And soon, soon, his real work could begin. With the Typhoon in place and Sol system conquered, the empire would be unassailable, and humanity's future assured. He'd ignored his own anxiety and impatience, and now that he could almost relax, he felt them straining for that release." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Taken together, all the good news nearly made up for the bad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"By comparison, the attack was minor,\" Overstreet said, walking beside him as they went to the executive commissary. \"We lost two Marines, but the infrastructure damage was trivial compared with the previous attack.\"\n\nSingh wasn't sure whether they had come off the patterned time for the executive staff or if word had spread before him and cleared the commissary, but only four people were seated at tables enough for fifty. The door attendant ushered them to a small table set apart from the rest, where they wouldn't be casually overheard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He and Overstreet made their requests—green tea for Singh, a local drink called black castle for Overstreet—before they went on with the their conversation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have them on the run,\" Singh said. \"Smaller attacks, targets of convenience instead of strategic ones? This underground is running out of steam.\"\n\n\"That is certainly possible, sir,\" Overstreet agreed. \"Still, I'll feel better when we have them all in custody.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It probably wasn't another dig at his decision to send away Holden, but Singh felt a little sting all the same." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The drinks arrived with a small plate of pastries. Overstreet held back until Singh had taken one. A small point, but one that Singh appreciated.\n\n\"What is the status of our friend's operation?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet leaned forward, folding his hands around the cup of black castle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His mouth narrowed. \"We should know in about half an hour now. If your informant is what he claims to be, he and his co-conspirators will be walking into the power-routing station. I have five officers and five Marines waiting for them.\"\n\n\"Do you expect a fight?\"\n\n\"I'm hoping for one,\" Overstreet said. \"There's nothing the troops would like better than an excuse to break a couple heads.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need those brains intact.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fingers, then,\" Overstreet said with a chuckle. \"No one loves a mad bomber.\"\n\n\"Fair enough. The informant, though. He goes free.\"\n\nOverstreet nodded, but he looked like he'd tasted something bitter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh leaned in a degree and let the silence ask the question for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet met his eyes, looked away, and shrugged.\n\n\"I'm not sure that's a good idea, sir. If we take the others and he slips away, his people will know he's working for us. They could turn him back.\"\n\nSingh felt a stab of annoyance, but he pushed it down. He had to remember what he'd learned with Tanaka." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Better that he be patient." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think he may be a triple agent?\"\n\n\"It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened. The one thing you know about someone who's willing to compromise his allies is that he's willing to compromise his allies.\"\n\n\"What do you suggest?\"\n\n\"Question him, the same as the others,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When his trial comes up, put a word in the judge's ear.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh sipped his tea. It was still a little too hot. It scalded. \"I'm not certain that helps us build a network of locals who will work with us.\"\n\n\"If I do my job right, we'll be able to put a replacement in his spot. And a little clemency come sentencing time is more than he deserves.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It felt like a betrayal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The man, compromised though he was, had done his part. He'd brought the information to prevent the sabotage of Medina's sensors to Singh. Handing him over for trial didn't seem like a just reward for loyalty. But Overstreet had a point." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jordao was a member of a conspiracy against the station and Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He likely had blood on his hands, and there was a greater loyalty that a governor owed to his own people than anything a local thug could command.\n\n\"Fair enough,\" Singh said. \"A normal interrogation. But tell your people just that. If they need to take their frustrations out on someone, make it the ones who weren't working with us.\"\n\n\"I can do that,\" Overstreet agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And a moment later, \"It'll be good having this wrapped up before the Typhoon gets here. I was hoping this wouldn't drag on.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"To a degree,\" Singh said, \"it's to be expected. Periods of transition invite a certain—\"\n\nOverstreet started. He put his black castle down fast enough that it sloshed onto the table, then he checked the monitor on his wrist. The red of a priority alert glowed there like a little flame. He tapped it with a scowl." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His eyes went dead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Singh's breath went shallow.\n\nSomething had happened. Another terrorist attack.\n\n\"What is it?\" Singh asked.\n\n\"We have an unauthorized launch,\" Overstreet said, standing up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh stood with him, drinks and baked goods forgotten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Adrenaline surged through him. A ship—even a small one—crashing into Medina could do terrible damage. Could crack the drum, destroy the station. Overstreet was already walking for the security station, fast, scissoring steps that weren't quite running and weren't quite anything else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh had to trot to catch up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What ship?\" Singh asked.\n\n\"Old Martian gunship,\" Overstreet said. \"Name's the Rocinante.\"\n\n\"James Holden's ship?\" What did that mean? Was his crew making some kind of doomed bid to catch the Lightbreaker and bring him back?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or take revenge for his loss?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It has capacity for twenty missiles and a keel-mounted rail gun. Not to mention a fusion drive that could melt the station to slag if it chose to,\" Overstreet said, \"but it hasn't opened fire. It's staying close to the station with maneuvering thrusters.\"\n\n\"Can we take them out?\"\n\n\"We destroyed Medina's defenses when we took it,\" Overstreet said. \"We have a few that were repairable, but without the supplies from the Typhoon, our abilities are limited.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Storm, then,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet took a deep breath, turning smartly at the intersection. Surprise and anxiety made the security office seem kilometers away. \"I don't like the idea of having a close-quarters battle between those ships right near the station. If the Rocinante is just trying to escape, there's an argument for letting it go.\"\n\n\"We can't rely on the enemy's goodwill to protect us,\" Singh said, and opened a priority connection to the Storm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Commander Davenport, his executive officer on the journey out, answered like he'd been waiting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Davenport, this is Governor Singh. I am formally instructing you to leave dock immediately and protect the station from the gunship Rocinante.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Davenport said, then hesitated. \"We are presently at less than full crew, sir—\"\n\n\"A little short-staffed now is better than a full ship too late. Try to chase them away from the station before you engage.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" he said, and he dropped the connection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ahead of them, security was clearing the corridor. An emergency alert sounded and a gentle voice began. This is an emergency alert. Report to shelters immediately and await official instructions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This is an emergency alert." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The security center was buzzing like a kicked hive. Voices raised in alarm thickened the air. The feeds from drones and surveillance cameras filled every screen. Singh assumed it was all in response to the Rocinante's launch until an older woman in security uniform barked at them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Major Overstreet, sir! We have reports of a riot in the detention cells.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What?\" Singh said.\n\nOverstreet's voice was level and calm. Like a pilot whose ship was coming to pieces around him. \"What do we know?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Someone overrode the containment on the cells. There was some kind of explosion. The guards have retreated to the security lock, but I'm getting reports of gunfire from the civilian side too. I have two fire teams on their way.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good,\" Overstreet said. He turned to Singh. \"Sir, it is my opinion that the sabotage effort your friend discovered is part of a much larger operation, and whatever the enemy has in mind, it's happening right now.\"\n\nSingh shook his head, not as disagreement, but like a drunk man trying to clear away the fog. Some part of him was still thinking that because they had the guard force ready to keep the station sensor arrays up, things were under control." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That he was prepared for whatever was happening, even as it bloomed out around him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I understand,\" he said.\n\n\"As your chief of security, I recommend that we get you and any other essential personnel in lockdown until the situation is better controlled.\"\n\n\"Of course. I'll return to my office.\"\n\n\"Might not want to stay that near an obvious target, sir. I have a secure position prepared. I'll have a fire team escort you and stay there until we understand better what we're looking at,\" Overstreet said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He turned to the older woman and gestured toward Singh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He needs an escort.\"\n\n\"On their way, sir.\"\n\nBelay that, Singh thought. I'll stay here. Except that it was a stupid impulse, based in pride." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A leader should stand with his team in a time of crisis, but—as much as it galled him—Overstreet was that leader in this moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He would only get in the way. And even so, part of him wanted to remain. To be seen to be in control.\n\n\"I will expect updates,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When you need my authorization, I will be waiting.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, sir,\" Overstreet said without missing a beat, then turned away. A moment later, four Marines in power armor stepped in through the main door and saluted.\n\n\"Governor Singh, sir.\"\n\n\"You're my escort, then?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh said with a smile that he hoped looked confident." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Let's be on our way.\"\n\nAs they walked, Singh consulted his own wrist monitor. There was too much happening—too many individual groups coordinating on the fly—to have a complete picture of the situation. The Storm was maneuvering, and the Rocinante hadn't yet made an aggressive move." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The riot at the detention cells was growing more violent, and the Marine fire team was requesting permission to escalate to lethal countermeasures." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Overstreet's words came back, haunting with their implications: My best estimate is that a third of our operating personnel are open to working against us.\n\nThe hardest thing was to trust his own people to do their jobs well, but it was what he had to do. He wondered if the high consul suffered the same thing—knowing that all the critical action would be taken by others who were guided by his orders, but in conditions he could only guess at, and in places where his intervention, even if it were possible, could only muddy the waters. It was a subtle and terrible insight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The powerlessness of control." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The warning echoed through the station. A man ran through an intersection ahead of them without pausing to look. Singh's legs burned a little from his pace.\n\n\"Where are we going?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he asked the head of the fire team." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have a hard shelter at the end of this corridor, sir. It's a bit away from the main offices to be a less obvious target, but it has independent environmental controls and—\"\n\nThe Marine froze in midstride. Singh felt a rush of fear, looked down the corridor to see what danger the man was reacting to. There was nothing.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was only when he got no answer that he realized all the Marines had stopped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their visors were opaque, their radios silent, their power armor in lockdown. Singh stood, suddenly alone and terribly aware of his own vulnerability. The back of his head itched at the idea that someone might be targeting him right then, and he had no protection.\n\nFor a moment, he saw Kasik again, dying before him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Was all of this a distraction to pull him away from safety?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hands trembling, he strode fast down the corridor to the first door. A public restroom. He stepped in, made certain he was alone, and locked the door behind him. His heart was beating hard enough to feel the ticking of it in his neck. Leaning against a narrow sink, he pulled his monitor and keyed in his security codes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His Marine lockdown hadn't been triggered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Marines shouldn't have been disabled. Someone was putting out a false shutdown signal.\n\nOverstreet answered his connection request at once.\n\n\"My fire team is disabled,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir. I'm seeing the same with all the powered teams. Stay where you are. I am sending a conventional escort to your location.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What the hell is going on out there? I need a report!\"\n\nAnnoyance flickered across Overstreet's face, gone almost before Singh could register it. \"The loss of functioning fire teams has let the situation at the detention cells deteriorate. I have initial reports that something's happening at the dockmaster's office. I'm waiting for better intelligence on that, but I am seeing what looks like several ships getting ready for launch. The Storm has engaged with the Rocinante, but not conclusively as yet.\"\n\nNow, may I please go do my job instead of talking about it?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't say it, but Singh heard it anyway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I will wait for the second escort,\" Singh said. \"Carry on.\"\n\nHe dropped the connection. In the mirror, he looked small. Frightened. He stood, straightened his uniform, and composed himself until his reflection looked more like a man confident in his control of the situation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was important when his people came that he give the right impression." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was all he could do now.\n\nSomething thumped deep below him. A strike on the station drum, maybe. A sign of the battle going on all around him while he hid in a public toilet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The underground had caught him unprepared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To give them their due, he'd underestimated their coordination and their numbers and their will. He had been told that the Belters of the old regime had a culture of violent resistance. After the sabotage of the oxygen tank, he had thought he understood what that meant, but he hadn't appreciated the depth of it until now.\n\nTheir plan was unfolding right now all around the station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All he could hope was that the one place he knew that he was ahead of them would prove decisive." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately one sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If disabling the sensor arrays was critical to their plan, he could still bring all the rest of it crashing down." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S.A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S.A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie's harness consisted of three magnetic locks about the size of her palm and two bands of woven nylon that looked like they'd been green sometime in their past." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Basic safety equipment, standard on any ship, any dock, any station outside a gravity well. Wondering whether they worked was like wondering if her next footstep would sink through the atoms of the deck.\n\n\"You think these things are going to hold?\" she asked. Her radio was set to a broadcast strength so low a thick T-shirt would have jammed her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos, beside her, looked up the long curve of the Gathering Storm's exterior." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His helmet hid his expression, but his tone was fatalistic.\n\n\"If it doesn't, this'll be a weird day.\"\n\nThe surface of the ship wasn't like anything Bobbie had ever seen. Faceted like a gem, without the protrusions of PDC cannons or sensor arrays." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The pinks and blues seemed less like the color of the material itself and more like some kind of refraction." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something that it did to light that was much weirder than selective absorption. The darkness of the slow zone was profound. Her helmet had to enhance everything with what it picked up from the glow of the ring station. It even stretched the edges, pulling ultraviolet and infrared into the visible range, just to have more to work with." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was always like this, but waiting—exposed and uncertain—made it seem ominous." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While the surface of the ship looked like crystal, it was soft in a way that she wanted to think of as foam. What it really reminded her of was skin. The magnetic locks bound her to it in a rough, uncomfortable cradle, or would once the ship was under way. Provided that the magnetic locks held on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The red glow that said they were clamped was solid, except that every now and then she thought she caught a flicker of amber." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The other ten members of the insertion team besides her and Amos were all using the same equipment. Their suits were all low-level environment suits. None of them had better than welder's padding as armor. They looked more like a cleaning crew than a crack military force." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It worried her how true that might be, but that was for after the locks held." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the Storm pushed off from the dock and left them all floating behind it like a snake's shed skin, it would be up to Alex to solve the problem of the enemy destroyer. And they'd probably all die. There was no upside.\n\n\"Really hope these hold,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The encrypted alert came." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie tapped her forearm controls. When Alex's voice came through, it had the thick Mariner Valley drawl that meant he was scared shitless but also a little euphoric on the fear. \"This is Alex Kamal of the Rocinante calling out to my friends and family and all ships at sea. We are about to start this rodeo. Breaking loose from the docking clamps in ten. Nine ...\"\n\n\"Brace,\" Bobbie said. \"We don't know how fast this is going to happen.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took the nylon cords, tracked them in tight, and waited for the Gathering Storm to leave port." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In order to get there, they'd crawled out from the elevator shaft that ran the length of the station from the command and control at the bow down to engineering at the stern. They'd moved quickly, skimming along centimeters above the station. The others had been laughing until Bobbie reminded them that low-power radio wasn't radio silence and politely suggested they all shut the fuck up instead of getting the team killed. After that, she'd been alone with the sound of her own breath, the smells of old rubber and someone else's sweat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex had been on her right, Amos on her left, and the dock spiked with ships a quarter of a klick before them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Past that, just the blackness of the slow zone, and the killing nothingness beyond the gates.\n\nThe drum had spun beneath them. The scars and damage from the brief battle with the Storm still showed in blackened streaks and bright patch foam. Medina had taken more than her fair share of licks in her life, and today wasn't going to be any better." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd pulled out every trick that any of Saba's underground had up their sleeves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Stealing the welding rigs, uncrating the hidden caches of weapons, compromising the access shaft that let them through. Ever since the Laconians had come through the gate, smart people familiar with the station had been planning for this moment. Maybe since before that, if some of them were smugglers.\n\nAs they passed over the last of the drum, Alex split off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had to make his way almost a third of the way anti-spinward from the Storm to reach the Rocinante." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She told herself it wasn't the last time she'd see him as if she knew it were true. Then with a flick of her fist, she'd directed the insertion team toward the dark, looming form of the destroyer.\n\nThe plan was to lure the Gathering Storm off the station. As soon as its docking clamps were off and no new soldiers could get on, Bobbie and Amos would breach the hull and lead an insertion and take the Storm off the playing field." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whether they did that by blowing its reactor, sabotaging its controls, or steering it out toward the nothingness between the gates was going to be a game-day call once she was inside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Without better knowledge of the ship's internal workings, improvising was a better option than pretending she could make a solid plan.\n\nThe secondary objective was to get her people off the Storm and safely picked up by one of the fleeing ships. The tertiary objective was to get away herself.\n\nAlex reached zero, and Bobbie thought she felt a little tremor through the Storm as the Roci blew her clamps and spun out away from the docks using the body of Medina as cover." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two of her magnetic locks flickered amber, and then safely back to red." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a day with a lot of ways to die packed in it. Like Alex, she couldn't keep from grinning. Maybe it was a Martian thing. She stayed braced, her feet against the hull, knees bent." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The minutes stretched. The blower in her helmet felt cold against her forehead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That meant she was starting to sweat.\n\n\"How you holding together there, Babs?\" Amos asked. The radio made it sound like he was half a klick away and whispering.\n\n\"I'll be fine once they get this ship out of dock.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah. Not really leaping into action, are they?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We were hoping to catch them flat-footed.\"\n\n\"That's true,\" Amos said. \"Still.\"\n\n\"Maybe they didn't notice,\" one of the others said.\n\nOr maybe they're waiting for more troops to get on board, Bobbie thought, and the Gathering Storm surged out to the black, snapping the nylon bands taut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were on maneuvering thrusters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fifteen meters down from them, a blast of superheated steam vented, pushing the destroyer into a fast rotation. It didn't seem to come from anyplace, as if the thruster were hidden under the weird not-metal of the hull until they wanted it. Good thing they hadn't set up their camp there or at least one of them would probably have been blasted off the ship and cooked to death already.\n\nThe Storm lurched. The rumble of the thrusters translated itself up her legs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Medina fell away like someone had dropped it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The drive plume of the Storm's main drive flared, and the ship jumped forward. Only about a quarter of a g. They weren't going to risk melting Medina to slag. Still, it was a little eerie seeing her shadow stretched long ahead of her on the body of the ship. A reminder that if she fell, she'd die in fire." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Amos,\" she said. \"Make us a hole.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I see you coming after me,\" Alex shout-sang. \"You ain't catching the Roci, friend. We're just too damned pretty for you.\"\n\n\"Alex, get off this channel,\" she yelled, then remembered that her signal was intentionally too weak to carry. She shook her head and hoped he wouldn't be too distracting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos had the welding kit out, power supply strapped to his side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With two broken ribs, she figured the rig had to hurt like hell, but nothing about his movement betrayed the pain. Her own cracked tailbone wasn't making it any more comfortable either. They'd done themselves a lot of damage getting this far. She had to make sure it didn't make a difference." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pain was just her body telling her something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could choose to ignore it. Amos held the torch to the hull, and everything went bright. Sparks seemed to stream away behind them, curving down and vanishing against the hull like gravity was pulling them and not just the turning of the ship.\n\n\"Weapons ready,\" she barked, and the others acknowledged." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the destroyer had the double-hulled design that all Martian ships had, cutting their way through here would only be the first step." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it was a critical one. There was damage they could do there, but it was also difficult to defend, and with none of the Storm's crew there, tactics like flooding it with hydrogen and oxygen could take out her whole team without risk to the enemy. Tempting as it was, she had to get into the ship proper, and—\n\n\"Ah, Babs? This is weird as shit.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos stood braced. The cut from the welding torch was a line of brightness in the hull half a meter long." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Half a meter long and shrinking fast.\n\n\"What have we got?\"\n\n\"Remember how it looked like the hull could repair itself? It's doing it now too.\"\n\n\"That going to be a problem?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Amos said. \"I'd say that'll make this hard.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Storm lurched under them. The drive plume brightened below them, and the Storm gathered speed. The acceleration pulled the straps taut as the thrust gravity made the nuclear-powered flames of the plume more definitively down. The bow-most of Bobbie's magnetic locks flickered amber and slid a few centimeters before it went red again and stopped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The little moment of give shot adrenaline through her body." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her heart was thudding in her ears. Her voice was so calm it sounded like someone else.\n\n\"Got any bright ideas?\"\n\n\"Lemme try something,\" he said, and hunkered down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He cut again, but in a tight curve, not making a hole they could breach through, but something smaller." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he got around it, he punched in, pushing the little core of hull material into the space within the ship. The circle he'd made instantly began closing, but Amos was carving slivers off its edge. He pared the hole wider and wider, even as it fought to narrow. His motions were fast and efficient." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't slow down even as the ship bucked and turned under them, the proof of a lifetime's physical labor made into elegance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie knew that if she'd tried this, she'd never have been able to keep up, but with Amos, the hole grew wider.\n\n\"Edges are going to be toasty,\" Amos said. \"Nothing I can do about that.\"\n\nSaba's voice murmured in Bobbie's ear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Marine fire teams have reached the detention cells." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time to turn our little friends off.\n\n\"Sooner would be better than later,\" Bobbie said.\n\n\"You ain't wrong about that,\" Amos said. He started whistling tunelessly between his teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not going to be able to stop this while folks go through.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck that,\" one of the others said. \"Not winding up half in and half out, me.\"\n\nBobbie turned to the solider. \"You'll do as you're told, or I will shoot you in the head as an example to others,\" she said, she thought more politely than the man deserved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Get next to the hole. You're going in on one. Three ... two ...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The man dove through, Amos cutting through the nylon bands as he went. The hole didn't close over him, but only because Amos kept carving the sides.\n\n\"Next up,\" Bobbie said, pointing at the nearest soldier. \"You. Three. Two. One.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Again and again, Bobbie shoved one of her team through the molten hole of the hull." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The abandoned magnetic locks clustered around it like wildflowers in a garden, the cut tethers shifting as the ship shifted. Like seaweed in an unsteady current.\n\nMedina swam above them, and twice Bobbie caught glimpses of the Rocinante's drive plume limning the station like a sunrise that never came.\n\n\"Gonna be tight, Babs. This is taking a lot more fuel than I budgeted.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Keep going,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He did. Eight. Nine. Ten. And then it was just the two of them.\n\n\"We're good,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Give me the rig. I'll get you in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I appreciate that thought,\" Amos said. \"But just between you and me? You're not that good a welder. Head in. I'll make it.\"\n\n\"No heroic gestures.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm not dying out here,\" Amos said, and pointed toward the interior of the ship with his chin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Worst-case scenario, I'm dying inside there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie shifted her magnetic locks to the edge of the burning hole, then launched through, tucking her legs in. Arms caught her and pulled her to the side. The suits' worklights filled the space between the hulls with blue-white radiance.\n\nIt was eerie. It was familiar as a well-loved face, but wrong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where spars of titanium, ceramic, and steel should have been, crystals grew." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lines of fracture shot through them and then disappeared like watching lightning discharge in a bottle. Where sheets of metal and carbon lace should have been, seamless blankets of something that she tried to think of as lobster shell and then fabric and then ice defined the spaces.\n\nIt was unmistakably a Martian destroyer. And it was like nothing she'd ever seen before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Coming through,\" Amos said, and she turned to pull him safely to a handhold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The hole where they'd breached squeezed tight. It didn't completely close, but the opening ended up five centimeters across. In the worklights, Amos smiled his empty, amiable smile.\n\n\"Well, that part's done,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hope the next hull's a bit more familiar, if you know what I mean.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex was keeping the chase consistent. It was the only reason they weren't being bounced through the space between the hulls like rats in a dryer. The entry into the ship proper was always the most dangerous moment. Bobbie had known that from the start." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They moved quickly, bracing at the hand- and footholds, until they found a stretch of bulkhead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos checked the fuel on the welding rig and shook his head, but he didn't speak. The smoke shook and fell away with every turn of the ship like water falling from a faucet. The hull didn't heal itself, but that was the only good thing.\n\n\"That's going to be small,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's going to get done,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Any more, and we'll be trying to bend it to get through.\"\n\nAmos cut, and air and light spilled in from the other side. The ship's interior was still pressurized. That was odd, for battle conditions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the crew of the Storm hadn't realized they were being boarded, they were finding out now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie squeezed through first into the back of a bunk room. Two rows of gel-mattress bunks, not that different from the quarters on the Roci where the Marine fire teams were meant to sleep. These beds were empty and neat. She took a position by the doorway while the others pushed in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos came last, slapping a plastic patch over the hole that bellied out into the space between the hulls like a balloon before it hardened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't want to shoot you bastards,\" Alex shouted through the radio. It was a code phrase. The Storm was getting close. The Roci's evasions were going to fail, and soon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bobbie popped the door open, ducked her head out and back, and a bullet tore a streak out of the frame where her skull had been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How many?\" the man beside her asked.\n\n\"At least one.\" She looked around the bunk room for something—anything—that would give them the edge. \"This place is a death trap, and we're out of time. You three, with me. You two go in firing left, you to the right with me. If you see a grenade or anything that might be one, duck back in. Everyone else, into the bunks, on your backs. Set up to shoot between your feet if the bad guys rush the door. You have four seconds. Go.\"\n\nShe picked high when they went out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman crouched down beside her could have been anyone, but their lives depended on each other now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Down the corridor, Bobbie saw the intersection where the fire had come from before. A single head bobbed out and back. She aimed for it, but she couldn't tell if she hit.\n\nAnother doorway stood across the hall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pointed and gestured." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They made the crossing in a rush. Another cabin. Bunks for twelve, but no sign that they'd been used. No one fired at them. Whoever had tried before was down or fled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Going for whatever reinforcements the ship had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Surprise had gotten them this far. Skill had to take it from here.\n\n\"Amos?\" she said into the radio.\n\nThe walls of the ship attenuated his response, but she could still hear him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Babs? How do you want to play this one?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had been too many years since her ship tactics, but this one at least was easy. The ship had two points of vulnerability to boarding attack—engineering and command. The enemy had the home-field advantage, but if they were understaffed, they'd protect whichever one they thought she was making a play for. So the smart thing was to feint at one and hit the other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm taking these five and heading for ops. Wait two minutes, then take yours for engineering.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You got it. Are we looking to disable or blow up?\"\n\nThe Storm lurched again. A smooth rattling sound echoed through the ship like a chain slipping off a shelf. It was different enough from what she was used to that she almost didn't recognize it as PDC fire." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were going for the Roci." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Before she could speak, Saba's voice came through on the radio. Evacuation teams are at the docks. Waiting for clear sign, yeah? And then, almost overlapping, Naomi's answer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Message received. We're going in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The underground's ships were ready to launch. Medina's sensor arrays were going down soon. The window was opening. It wouldn't stay that way long." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The first thing you find that kills this ship, do it,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What about evac?\"\n\nShe knew what he meant. If he could blow the reactor, should he? Was the mission more important than living through it?\n\n\"Use your judgment, big guy,\" she said. \"I trust you.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were only two ways that she felt anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Either she had the shakes or she was exhausted. The shakes part had been nasty when it started because it felt like being scared—jittery and heart racing. And because it felt like fear, she kept thinking she was afraid, and then becoming afraid without any focus or reason. Once she understood it was just her shitty aftermarket endocrine system leaking into her bloodstream, it helped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At least she understood that it wasn't just her going crazy with amorphous anxiety." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She still shook, though.\n\nIn the worst of it, she'd go back to her old mantra, the one from prison. I have killed, but I am not a killer. Because a killer is a monster, and monsters aren't afraid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt like she was afraid all the time now, and in that frame, it was almost comforting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The superstitious part of her kept thinking that she'd invited this shape to come into her life with the sympathetic magic of her words. The rational part thought she'd invited it by paying a shitload of money to have illegal body modifications as part of an insane adolescent revenge fantasy. That and the part where she'd killed a bunch of people.\n\n\"You okay?\" Naomi asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa lifted her hand in the same Schrödinger's answer she always had, no matter how she expressed it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Always yes, and always no. Yes, I'm fine in that I am not presently in medical collapse. No, having that be what fine meant didn't ratify her early life choices.\n\n\"You?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fine,\" Naomi said in a tone of voice that probably meant the same thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ever since Holden had been taken, a light had gone out of Naomi's eyes. After discovering the Lightbreaker was gone and Holden with it, Naomi wasn't catatonic from grief, and so sure. Fine.\n\nThey were waiting on a bench at the edge of a field on the inner face of the drum. Wheat stretched out to their right, curving up and away from them, ripening in the light of the false sun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A woman in a systems control uniform walked along the path holding a little boy's hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He stared at Clarissa as they passed. She could practically hear, What's wrong with that woman, Mommy? he was thinking it so loud.\n\nIt felt a little weird being out among the normal inhabitants of Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All of the people going about their lives like they were trying to forget that the Transport Union had ever existed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Picking their kids up from school, eating dinner with their friends, working their jobs and performing their duties as if they'd always done this at the wrong end of a gun. As if Laconian rules were normal. As if there weren't already things in play that were going to change everything before night.\n\n\"I'm sorry about Holden,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hadn't meant to, but she did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi took a quick breath, let it out. Like someone ripping off a bandage that had adhered a little too much to her skin. A quick pain, and then over with. \"Thank you. It's not ... what I was expecting.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Clarissa said. \"It seems like there's always the way we wanted things to go, and there's what actually happens.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A warning tone sounded through the drum, echoing with the distance and the free air. An artificial voice reassured them with its tone while it repeated, This is an emergency alert. Report to shelters immediately and await official instructions.\n\n\"Listen,\" Naomi said. \"They're playing our song.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh my,\" Clarissa said, laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have lived our lives wrong, haven't we?\"\n\nNaomi took her arm, half as a joke and half to give her support if she needed it, and they started toward the rendezvous. Clarissa's body twitched and shuddered as she walked. Once they went below, into the corridors and halls of the drum, the traffic thickened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The alert sounded from every corner." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Businesses closed their doors. Kiosks shut down. Everywhere, people moved quickly, some shouting and angry, but most with a kind of deathly focus. They'd had too many explosions and too much violence for any joking around. The illusion that life was normal for any of them vanished." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She and Naomi waited for a gap in the flow of bodies, then ducked into a public restroom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa sat on the couch built into the wall. She felt a little nausea haunting the back of her throat, but it wasn't bad. Naomi went to the sink and washed her hands slowly, not to make them clean but to make it look like they weren't just loitering in the place should anyone from station security come in.\n\nThe plan—their part of it anyway—was simple enough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or at least it was from Clarissa's perspective." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd tried to walk Alex through it once, and she was pretty sure he'd only followed about half. The sensor arrays on the Medina were all linked to the main system, but they all had their own backup batteries. Shutting down the power would keep Medina from seeing where the ships went in real time, but it wouldn't clear the local caches in all the sensor arrays. As soon as the power grid came back, the arrays would check in, reconnect, and deliver everything they'd saved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that process right there had a vulnerability in it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the arrays checked in to reconnect, the system could request a diagnostic run. The arrays would take about twenty seconds to cycle through their diagnostics and return the results with a fresh check-in. During those twenty seconds, no new data came in. And if the array check-in requests got routed to a false system that only replied with diagnostic requests, they could keep doing that until some poor bastard figured out where the false route was coming from or else physically went out to the arrays and ran a new dedicated line." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she'd gotten to about this point in the description, Alex's eyes had lost their focus, and she'd simplified." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Make a fake traffic card. Put the fake traffic card in at the secondary power junction. Blow the primary power junction to reset all the arrays. Arrays don't come back on without a lot of tedious work." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd gotten a thumbs-up from him then." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had been cute.\n\nIt was always strange to remember that she knew things that other people didn't. Not just about power- and signal-routing protocols. What it was like to murder someone who'd only ever been kind to you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How it felt when the people you'd dedicated your life to killing took you in as family." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even though she knew better, she always defaulted to the idea that her life wasn't singular. That whatever she'd done must not have been that odd, because after all, she'd done it.\n\nThe door opened and the bomb guy came in carrying a ceramic toolbox. Jordao. He nodded to Clarissa and then to Naomi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Between the hunch in his back and his ashy skin, he looked like a sample picture of \"furtive possible terrorist.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If we're going to pull this off, that guy's going to have to calm the fuck down.\n\n\"Hey,\" Clarissa said.\n\n\"Hoy,\" he responded. \"Bist bien?\"\n\n\"No problems so far,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But we've been out of touch. You heard anything?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Unauthorized launch,\" Jordao said as he set the toolbox beside the sink and opened it. \"Nos ew bû?\"\n\n\"Yes, that's one of ours.\"\n\n\"Perdíd,\" he said, forcing a grin. \"How many plays playing in one day?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"One less if we don't move,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jordao opened the case and tossed earpieces to her and Naomi before fitting his own. \"Katria, she didn't parle ero que la, right? They're going to be down on us hard after this. Alles la preva? Look like we were in a kids' school.\"\n\n\"If this works the way it's supposed to, that won't be a problem,\" Clarissa said, shifting the earpiece so it was a little more comfortable. \"Just stick with us, and you'll be fine.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi dried her hands, pulled her hand terminal out of her pocket, checked it, put it back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We should go,\" she said.\n\nJordao closed the toolbox, hoisted it onto his hip, and followed Naomi out. Clarissa brought up the rear. The shakes were a little better." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A little less. That was sort of a good thing, because she hated the shakes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was sort of bad, because the exhaustion came next, and she needed to get through the mission. At least enough not to slow Naomi down.\n\nOutside, the halls were emptier. This is an emergency alert." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Report to shelters immediately and await official instructions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi turned toward the ramp leading down toward the outside of the station. Clarissa put her hands in her pockets and tried to look bored. Her mind divided itself gracefully between rehearsing the steps that she'd need to take to swap traffic cards and watching for security patrols. When Saba broke the silence, it startled her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Evacuation teams are at the docks. Waiting for clear sign, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi put a hand to her ear. Hearing her through the earpiece and in person at the same time gave her words a little echo. Like they had more weight than they should have.\n\n\"Message received,\" she said. \"We're going in.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would only take a couple of minutes to swap the card and set the charges." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After that, they'd get to the docks if Saba's people could hold them that long, or if Laconian security retook them, an airlock. Naomi paused at an access panel, checked her hand terminal, and nodded. This was the one. Jordao was sweating and pale." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked worse than she did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's going to be okay,\" she said. \"We have a surprising amount of experience with weird situations.\"\n\nNaomi leaned against the access panel. A security drone passed through the intersection behind them, but didn't turn their way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa felt a little surge of adrenaline, but it only served to highlight the growing torpor in her muscles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Do this, she thought. Get this done. You can rest when you're dead.\n\nThe access panel clicked and slid down.\n\n\"What are we doing here?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jordao said. \"Got to go, us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're doing the thing that makes the next part matter,\" Naomi said, then stepped aside. The guts of the ship would have looked chaotic to anyone who didn't know the things she did. For her, there was a simple logic in every weld, every conduit, every connector. She took the doctored traffic card out of her pocket, plucked the old one out, and slotted hers in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fault indicator barely blinked to amber, and then went back to a flickering, happy green." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay,\" she said, sliding the panel back into place. \"Let's go set the charges.\"\n\nBut when she started walking, she knew it was going to be harder than she thought. If they moved fast enough, they'd be done before she ran out of energy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was why Naomi was here, after all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Because none of them thought she could do it by herself. Because they weren't necessarily wrong.\n\nThe worst part was that she'd done it to herself. The damage to her body, the wear and the weariness, were all products of conscious, determined choices made by a girl she hadn't been in decades." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She carried the weight of those decisions like a sack of bones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like a toolbox full of them.\n\nSome sins carried their own punishment. Sometimes redemption meant carrying the past with you forever. She'd gotten used to that over the years, but it was still pretty fucking inconvenient." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Down here,\" Jordao said, waving them on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know,\" Naomi said.\n\nThe door to the primary power junction was reinforced. A red border was painted around the frame, with warnings in half a dozen languages that all meant Please be careful. There's a lot of things in here that we'll have to fix after they finish killing you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jordao opened the door, and Naomi stepped past him into the maintenance way beyond—" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then stepped backward, her arms rising. Running footsteps came from behind her, sudden and loud. A young man in the blue uniform of Laconian security stepped out from the red door, a pistol leveled at Naomi's stomach. Rough hands grabbed Clarissa by the shoulder and threw her to the floor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jordao leaned against the wall and sank down to sitting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There a problem, sir?\" Naomi asked, her voice the perfect echo of innocence.\n\n\"Knees,\" the pistol man said. \"And keep your arms up while you do it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi looked down at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa saw no sorrow in her eyes, only calculation. And then a conclusion. Naomi sank to her knees. Jordao's head was leaned back, looking at the ceiling and taking deep gulping breaths." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He still had the toolbox under his arm, and she thought he might be about to set off the charges and turn them all to paste, until he started laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't mirth or gloating, but it was relief. Even before he spoke, Clarissa understood they'd been sold out. She laid her head against the rubber matting on the deck as someone put a knee in the small of her back and started pulling her arms behind her. The exhaustion was coming on stronger now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The deck felt almost comfortable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There's a thing,\" Jordao said. \"A thing they put behind an access panel. No savvy mé que, but I can show you where, yeah?\"\n\n\"What was it?\" the pistol asked Naomi.\n\nNaomi shook her head ruefully." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Afraid you're going to have to go fuck yourself, coyo.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He hit her, stepped forward. Clarissa felt the zip tie going around her right wrist while the guy fumbled with her left. She rolled her head. Five of them, all told." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All with guns drawn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pistol came down, ready to end Naomi where she lay.\n\n\"You're sure you can find whatever it is?\" the man said.\n\n\"'Course I am,\" Jordao said. \"Where are your Marines? You said there'd be Marines.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Change of plan. They're statues until we can get the lockdown codes undone.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked down at Naomi. \"Was that yours too, bitch?\"\n\nNaomi locked eyes with Clarissa. The calculation was gone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were out of options." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which meant, really, that Naomi was out.\n\nClarissa always had one left.\n\nIt was a weird moment. Through the bone-weary tiredness, through the fear and the panic and the anger, something else opened up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something like rage and joy, and more than all that, a profound relief." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi saw it in her expression, and her eyes widened. Clarissa pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, swirled it the way she hadn't in years. The fake glands in her body triggered, pouring their shit into her blood. It hurt. It didn't use to hurt, but this time, every one of them ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even the pain felt good." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time slowed down around her. She bucked and the man on her back fell forward. He still had a hand on her right wrist, and he kept his grip as he fell. She felt her shoulder dislocate and heard the deep pop, but there wasn't any pain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her legs were under her and she pushed off before he hit the floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her right arm was shredded and useless. Her muscles were thin and fragile. Just jumping, she felt the tendons in her knees and hips strain and rip, but she was already rolling, ready to hit the wall and launch again.\n\nPistol man didn't shift his aim from Naomi, but the other three were drawing down on her, moving slowly as someone underwater." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One pistol barked, but the shot only tore into the anti-spalling fabric on the wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa spun through the air, her ruined arm trailing behind her. She led with her knee, and it felt like dancing. Like flying. Her aim was still good. She brought her bent knee into pistol man's nose, felt the cartilage give in her joint and his face, the two of them crumbling together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been sick for so long, she'd let it make her fragile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So much of her life had become nurturing what fading health she had. Rationing it like one canteen that had to get her across a desert. Now she gulped it, and it felt wonderful.\n\nThe two who hadn't fired did now at almost the same instant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One missed, but one bullet dug into the thin meat over her ribs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hurt, but the pain was distant. She barreled into the closest of them. As they fell, she wrapped her good arm around his head, cradling it carefully so that when they landed, she could snap his neck. She hit the deck hard, pulled, and felt his spine give way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I have killed. But I am not a killer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She caught up the gun from his hand as the others turned. Clarissa felt the battle cry in her throat, felt the force of air and sound rattling her trachea. Felt the gun she'd stolen kick. The woman nearest her fired wild, and Clarissa placed a bullet in the woman's cheek, snapping her head back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was two. The one who'd been on Clarissa's back jumped toward her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She put a bullet through his teeth. Three.\n\nNaomi was scrambling for pistol man's fallen weapon. He was still down, holding his shattered nose like that was his biggest problem. Clarissa shot him twice in the center of mass." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was only one guard left, and he was close to Clarissa." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could see down the barrel of his gun. She saw the fear in his eyes. He fired. He couldn't miss. Her leg gave way under her, but she fired a shot on the way down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took the last guard in the throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She landed hard, but her blood was still made from light and rapture. She rolled, knelt. Her abdomen ached and it was hard to pull in a full breath. Jordao looked at her like he was seeing the devil.\n\nNo! I'm sorry!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he shouted in some universe close to hers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fuck your sorry. Sorry doesn't fix shit. She didn't know if she'd yelled or if it was just in her head. Either way, she shot him—once in the belly and when he doubled over, the crown of his head right where a little bald spot was just starting. Then the rush was over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't as bad as she'd remembered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was the retching and the feeling of illness. The helplessness. The pain. But at some point all of that had become familiar, so the experience of it wasn't as bad. Or else she was slipping into shock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Shock, or something like it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi cradled her head and she noticed she was lying down. Her mouth tasted like bile. The guards and the traitor were spread throughout the hallway. The air stank of blood and gunpowder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It looked like a scene from hell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All of the years she'd spent living with her regret, doing quiet penance for the lives she'd ended, and now the only thing she could think was That was fun.\n\nWords were happening somewhere nearby. Stay with me, Claire. She remembered Naomi was there and opened her eyes again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't remember closing them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi was spattered with blood, her face pale. Ren stood behind her. He was wearing some kind of black robe that made her think of Jesuits.\n\n\"I'm a monster,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No you aren't, baby." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You're not a monster. You're not. Which meant Naomi had misunderstood. Clarissa had meant, I'm not afraid. She tried to think what to say that would clarify that, but it was a lot of effort." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she was young, Bobbie had a recurring dream of finding a door in her room that led to some new, exotic part of her quarters that her family had forgotten or else never known about. Those dreams had been eerie but also beautiful. Full of promise and wonder and threat.\n\nThe Gathering Storm was exactly like being in one of those dreams." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The architecture of the ship had all the same aesthetics and design as the Rocinante." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The central lift, the size and spacing of the hallways and doors, even the shapes of the hand- and foot-holds was familiar. Or if not exactly familiar, at least related. Part of the same family. Laconian and Martian had the same cultural DNA, and as much as anything else, the ship proved it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But it was also strange." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The decks didn't have seams or bolts. The foam and fabric on the bulkheads had the same uncanny fleshy texture as the hull. The lights were different somehow too. She didn't know if it was the spectrum or the brightness or the way that there seemed to be some kind of subtle motion in them, but everything felt a little bit like being underwater." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like the ship was a huge fish with the bioluminescent glow of the deepest seas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was home, but wider, larger, and changed.\n\nThey moved from hall to hall in strict formation, covering each other as they went. The rattle of PDCs was joined by something else she didn't recognize. Some Laconian version of torpedo fire was her best guess." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The deck lurched and canted as the ship maneuvered around them, but the main drive never cut out, so down was always down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd expected the ship's defenses to meet them at the central lift that led to ops. It was the obvious choke point, and holding that space meant controlling movement between all the decks it passed through. If she'd been in charge, all the hatches would have been open and a dozen rifles pointing down, ready to put holes through any head that popped out. Instead, there had been three Laconians with pistols retreating up it, and firing behind them, more to discourage Bobbie and her people from following them than to actually injure anyone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were holing up on the command deck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad one.\n\n\"Amos?\" she said, and when he didn't answer, turned up her broadcast power. \"Amos, check in.\"\n\n\"Little hairy down here, Babs,\" Amos replied. \"Made it to what I'm pretty sure is supposed to be a machine shop. Fucked if I know what half this stuff is, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Any contact with the enemy?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, we lost a couple.\"\n\nThe sound that interrupted them was like something metal being torn by brute strength. It took a fraction of a second to recognize it as high-rate weapons fire. Amos was shouting over it—not to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She waited, tension knotting her gut." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted to know what was happening, but not badly enough to divide Amos' attention. He grunted once, and she was sure he'd been hit. Something loud happened—a grenade, maybe—and the firing stopped.\n\n\"Still with me, big man?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" he said. \"We just had a little thing there. Architecture's a little weird. And it looks like there's a bunch of stuff down here built out of ... I don't know. Crystals? Or bug shells? You remember those buildings on Ilus? Like them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The deck shifted hard to the right, and Bobbie's head went a little swimmy from the Coriolis. She grabbed onto a handhold.\n\n\"I wasn't on Ilus.\"\n\n\"Oh right,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, like them anyway. But yeah, we're kinda stuck where we are unless we can make another hole. We're looking for something to cut through the bulkhead with. Would like to get that done before they decide to rush us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex's voice cut in. He wouldn't be able to hear them unless she turned up her broadcast power a lot more, but the Roci's transmitters had more than power enough. \"Hey, y'all. The Storm's breaking off our little dance out here. It looks like she's trying to get back to port. Might be a good time to launch anyone that wants to get launched. You're getting short on time.\"\n\nSaba responded. \"Still waiting for the prison stragglers. Any ship's ready, I'll get them gone, but keep that bastard off us as long as you can, yeah?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm on it,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie ground her teeth. She wanted to break off, head down to back up Amos and his squad. Bad tactics. She needed to stick to the plan. Amos was going to be all right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had to believe that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lift tube went up the length of the ship, all the way to the ops deck. No one was waiting up there that she could see. That didn't mean no one was waiting.\n\n\"All right,\" she said to her team." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is going to be just the same. Two move forward while three cover, and then the forward pair cover while the three catch up. Only instead of going from door to door, we're going up from deck to deck. If we start drawing fire, we'll try to get the lift going up before us, but it's probably locked down, and I don't want to announce where we are.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belters all gave their assent and took position. Bobbie and a tall man went first, climbing the handholds like they were free-climbing. She glanced over the top of the deck before she climbed up, but she would have been surprised to find an ambush there.\n\nShe leaned against the wall, gun pointed up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It looked like the hatch to ops was closed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Leaving the rest open gave the defenders a great line of fire, but they weren't using it. Not yet. She gestured to the others, and didn't take her eye off the enemy as they scrambled up beside her. The Storm was bigger than the Roci. There were eight more decks between her and ops." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That last step was going to be tricky, but—" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Gravity cut out, and she grabbed for a handhold by reflex as the ship spun around her, sweeping her legs perpendicular to the deck. As suddenly as it had cut out, it came back. A hard burn—four or five gs slamming her down. The impact knocked the breath out of her, and then gravity cut out again, a moment of spin on the float and another high-g microburn." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She and her team were braced now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The float and burn happened three more times. It seemed ready to keep going forever.\n\n\"Amos?\"\n\n\"Hey there, Babs.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is this you? Did you break something?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nope. Whatever they're doing, this here is the product of conscious choice.\"\n\n\"I think—\" A hard burn made her grit her teeth. Then the float. \"I think they're trying to shake us around like bugs in a can.\"\n\nHard burn, and the float." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's going make this inconvenient. They trying to slow us down?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Until they can get back to port.\" Hard burn, and float. Her mind shifted. Delaying and heading back to the docks made the most sense if the Storm was undercrewed. It also explained why she wasn't catching heavier fire from the command deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the Laconians could get back to reinforcements, she wouldn't have a chance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And if she didn't, no one else would either.\n\nTwo more cycles of float, turn, and slam her into the deck failed to dislodge her from her place. When Amos spoke again, she could hear the effort in his voice. \"That could be a problem.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's what I was thinking.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another round of gunfire pressed its way through the radio. \"Not sure I'm going to be able to stop that from happening.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Bobbie said. \"New orders. Don't die until I say so.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If I find a way to kill this bird?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Then act like I said so, but don't stick your head out just to look for it.\"\n\n\"You got a plan?\" Amos asked.\n\n\"That'd be generous,\" she said, \"but I've got something I'm going to do.\"\n\nThe ship kept doing its stuttering bounce like one of the first-generation exploration ships that exploded nuclear bombs as a propulsion system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even for the crew that made it to crash couches, it was a miserable way to travel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She took a deep breath, felt the rhythm of it, and on the next float, pulled herself out to the lift shaft. Two good handholds, two good footholds, and suddenly she weighed five times her usual.\n\nHer fingers and toes screamed in protest. Her back and shoulder flirted with cramping." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The float came back, and the ship turned, but she was climbing up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just one set of handholds before the weight came back. But she was closer.\n\nIf she fell, it was a long way to the bottom. But no one was going to be shooting down at her during this, and they didn't think she could climb while this was going on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was it as much as anything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With every round of release and spin and high-g burn, she made her way higher, not looking back to see whether her team was with her. She needed all of her focus for this.\n\nSweat beaded on her forehead, and the suit's helmet fan kicked up to high so that her faceplate wouldn't fog up. She was burning through oxygen fast enough that a three-hour supply would last her maybe one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She thought about taking a break at one of the decks along the way and stripping off her helmet entirely, but if the Laconians decided to vent the ship after that ... well, that would be unfortunate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Better to play it safe. Or as safe as free-climbing with a full destroyer's depth of decks below her in radically uncertain gravity could be.\n\nSaba's voice came again when Bobbie still had three more decks to go before she hit ops. \"Sensor arrays are down. We're launching everything. No more time to wait.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll try to keep you covered, Malaclypse,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Storm is live and a threat. I can try knocking her torpedoes down, but treat her like she's got teeth.\"\n\n\"Bien,\" Saba said. \"And I have a package on its way to you, Rocinante. Keep an open eye.\"\n\nAlex swore under his breath. She didn't have time to guess why." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another moment of float." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another collapse into terrible weight. The temptation to go faster, to try for two handholds up instead of just one, was a trap. It meant less time to get braced, and that was an invitation to fall. It hurt. It took forever." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the right way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She couldn't get greedy. The pain in her hands was getting worse, but her feet almost seemed to be getting used to it. That or they were going numb.\n\nShe was over halfway up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Three and a half more decks, and she'd be at the ops deck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At the closed plate that kept the lift locked in place. Two and a half. One more. The float came again. She moved up. Her eyes were fixed on the seam where the lift plate would slide open." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where, if this was like the other Martian ships she'd been in, it would make the most sense to take cover and fire down at the boarders. At her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She waited for the next acceleration, but it didn't come. Only a gentle press as the ship maneuvered.\n\nThat was bad.\n\n\"The Storm is on approach to the dock,\" Alex said, and his voice sounded like ashes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Anybody has a good idea, I'm listening.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her arms and legs were trembling from the effort, and sweat stung her eyes. She risked looking down. Her team was following, but they were only about halfway up. This one was hers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Voices came from the ops deck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sharp, barked orders. A clattering, probably from a weapon's locker. They knew there wouldn't be much time, but they were also thinking she had a lot more territory to cover than she did. The lift plate slid aside, and she reached in and took the blue-sleeved arm by the elbow and hauled the man attached to it through and down. He bounced against a couple walls before he caught himself, and by then her team had their guns on him and Bobbie was through the opening and onto the ops deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Three people, in the most oddly designed crash couches she'd ever seen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie raised her pistol. Definitely undercrewed.\n\nA fair-haired man saw her first, and yelped, \"Commander Davenport!\"\n\nAn older man moved forward. Older than the others, anyway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He still looked like a puppy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get us into the dock! Whatever happens!\"\n\n\"I am Gunnery Sergeant Roberta Draper of the MMC,\" Bobbie snapped. \"I will kill every one of you if anyone touches the controls.\"\n\nDavenport lifted a defiant chin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You have your orders.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Doesn't have to go like that,\" Bobbie said. \"You know where that ends us. Your people dead. Mine too. Probably a lot of civilians if I have to ram this boat into the station to kill it. I said, Don't touch those controls.\"\n\nThe pilot flinched back, shot a look at Davenport. He stared hard at her, like he was looking at his death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like he was trying to talk himself into being brave and hadn't quite managed it yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a chance there in the space between who he was and who he was trying to be. Killing these three wouldn't fix the situation in engineering. Wouldn't save Amos. Behind her, her team was floating up onto the command deck. She wished they wouldn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "More pressure on the Laconians was only going to cement their position." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she spoke, she tried to make her voice calm and soothing.\n\n\"Here's the situation. All your people die and all mine too, or all of us live. Now, you can decide whether this bunch of amateurs and assholes is worth a crew of Laconia's best.\"\n\n\"Hey!\" one of her team said. She ignored him.\n\n\"You expect me to believe you won't steal the ship?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Davenport said. Well, I wasn't planning to until just now, Bobbie thought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But since you mention it ...\n\n\"I'm not talking about the ship. I'm talking about you and yours either put out an airlock with suits and bottles or else killed here.\"\n\n\"I've seen the way you people work,\" he spat. \"If we put down arms, you'll kill us anyway. You have no honor.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bite your fucking tongue,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm Martian Marine Corps. If you live through this, you go ask your old-timers what that means. They'll tell you how lucky you are I didn't crack your ass the other way just for saying it. If I say you and yours are safe, then you're fucking safe.\"\n\nDavenport said nothing, but there was something behind his defiance. She thought it might be hope. She opened a connection to Amos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, big man.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Babs,\" he said. He sounded winded. \"I got us into engineering. Gimme another five minutes, I can light this bastard up. May take a bite out of the station when we blow, but I figure that's someone else's problem. How's it going up there?\"\n\n\"Your team needs to stand down,\" she said. \"No aggressive action toward the enemy. Confirm that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was silence on the line." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's not the plan the way I heard it,\" Amos said.\n\n\"Amos, listen to me. Stand down. Don't blow the ship. And if anyone down there kills another Laconian, I will shoot them myself. Including you. Understood?\"\n\n\"Yup.\"\n\n\"Stand by. If I need you to go back to plan A, I'll know in about a minute.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Davenport looked from her to her team arrayed behind her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He scowled. Bobbie felt her breath go shallow. She waited.\n\n\"Thirty seconds, Mister Davenport,\" she said.\n\n\"You joined the wrong side, gunny,\" Davenport said. \"You should have been one of ours.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Twenty-five minutes later, the surviving crew of the Gathering Storm were tethered together in the cargo airlock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their arms were secured behind their backs, their ankles were tied together, and the maneuvering thrusters on their vac suits didn't have any canisters. Amos and one of his team went through checking their seals one last time and strapping emergency beacons to their knees. The Laconian commanding officer watched Bobbie now with the intensity of someone planning his revenge.\n\nAmos knocked on Davenport's faceplate to get his attention." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can you breathe in there? Getting good air? 'Cause if you're not, this is the time to say something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He nodded once, a perfect physical representation of resentment.\n\nOutside the Storm, ships were fleeing through the gates following the schedule Naomi had built. By and large, they were going to the smaller colonies where there was less traffic parked waiting for the gates to reopen. But some were going to the well-established places like Bara Gaon Complex and trusting to their ability to evade any traffic monitoring on the other side to get them to safety." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was still a little more than an hour before the last of them was slated to go, and then the Storm, following up at last." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If things went right, Medina's sensors would be deep in their routing seizures for at least four hours. And the prisoners had enough air for ten. A six-hour window for pickup seemed like more than enough.\n\nAmos gave her the thumbs-up, and Bobbie nodded him on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He undid the tether from the airlock deck, pushed off, and floated through to pull himself to a stop beside her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie cycled the lock, and when the outer door opened to the darker-than-space of the slow zone, she touched her radio.\n\n\"Okay,\" she said. \"Let's see if the controls work the way they said.\"\n\n\"Copy that, bossmang,\" her new Belter pilot said.\n\nThe Storm shifted, pushing gently to the side." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The prisoners seemed to float away, though really Bobbie was the one moving." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Out beyond them in the darkness, a distant drive plume glowed like a star, and then, passing through a gate, went out.\n\n\"Okay,\" she said. \"We're good. Make sure we get far enough away before we light up the drive. I don't want to save them just so you can burn them down in the drive plume.\"\n\n\"Sa sa,\" the pilot said.\n\n\"Alex?\" she said, then remembered her suit was still on the low-power stealth settings." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She changed it and tried again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Alex? Where do we stand?\"\n\nA different voice answered. A man that it took Bobbie a few seconds to recognize. \"We're hugged close to Medina for the extraction.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Houston?\" she said. \"Is that you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Now that you fuckers have come to your senses about the immorality of centralized power? Yeah, it's me. And I'm ready to accept your apology as soon as you untwist your diapers.\"\n\n\"He's gonna be a joy,\" Amos said placidly. \"I kind of missed him.\"\n\nBobbie killed her mic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. I need to know these things.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She turned the mic back on. \"We have a change of plan. We won't need pickup.\"\n\n\"Negative,\" Alex said. \"I'm not leaving you behind.\"\n\n\"We're flying escort,\" Bobbie said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Storm is ours.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No shit?\" Alex said, then whooped. \"Holy crap, you took a prize? Looks like you got yourself a ship after all, Captain Draper.\"\n\nNaomi's voice cut in, clipping into Alex's last syllables. \"I'm coming out.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Two to pick up, and then we can get in the flight queue out of this dump.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"One,\" Naomi said. \"One to pick up. We ran into a problem. Clarissa went down fighting. I wouldn't have made it out without her. None of us would.\"\n\nBobbie's throat went tight. She looked over at Amos, and he smiled his usual amiable smile, shrugged. Just for a moment, she saw something underneath the expression." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pain and loss and sorrow and rage, and then he was just himself again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Damn,\" Alex said. \"I'm sorry to hear that.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Houston said. \"I have you on the scope. We'll slide over and get you.\"\n\n\"Naomi,\" Bobbie said. \"When you get on the Roci, I'll need you to find a safe place for the Storm in the escape queue.\"\n\n\"I'm on it,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now that Bobbie knew to listen, she heard the exhaustion in her voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The weariness of grief. She turned off her mic, turned toward Amos, but he was pulling himself back toward the lift. She followed him, a little trickle of adrenaline coming in. Waiting to see what was coming next." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the lift, Amos stopped and scratched his nose." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I was thinking I should probably get a few of the new kids. Go through the ship. Just make sure we don't have anyone on board we didn't mean to have on the ride.\"\n\nFor a moment, she thought about letting it go. Letting Amos fall back into his usual self. It would be easier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would feel more respectful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was what Holden would have done.\n\n\"I need to know if you're okay,\" she said.\n\n\"I don't really—\"\n\nShe pulled herself in close, almost nose to nose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wasn't smiling and he wasn't either." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I didn't ask if you wanted to talk. I said, I need to know. Whatever ship I'm the captain of, if you're on it, that means you and I have clear, open, and honest conversations about your mental health. This isn't friendship. This isn't nurturing. This is me telling you how it goes. We both know what happens when you're off the rails, and I'm not going to pretend that you're anything more or less than what you are. So when I say I need to know if you're okay, it's an order. Are we clear?\"\n\nAmos' jaw clenched and his eyes went flat. She didn't back away. When he smiled, it wasn't the empty, amiable expression he usually reached for." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't a version of him she'd seen before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sad, Babs. I'm angry. But I'm okay. Going down fighting was a good way for her to go too. I can live with it.\"\n\nBobbie let herself drift back. Her heart was going a little faster than she liked, but she kept it off her face. \"All right, then. Take your team and go through the ship. I'll warn you when we're going on the burn.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm on it,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And a moment later, \"You know, you're gonna be good at this captain thing.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding 4 sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is exactly the kind of recklessness that has been underlying the Transport Union since its inception,\" Carrie Fisk said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face was flushed, her gestures sharp, and her voice had the buzz of rage behind every word. Her blouse was tan with black, and she wore the green armband that had come to symbolize antiterrorist solidarity among those loyal to Laconia and High Consul Duarte. \"The union claimed that stability and safety were their primary mandate. That was the whole point of letting it administrate ring space! But the minute—the minute—someone arrives with the power to question that? Bombings. Theft. Murder. The hypocrisy is mind-boggling. It's unreal.\"\n\nThe interviewer was a young man apparently well known in Sol system and on Medina." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Singh watched the man nod and stroke his chin like an ancient sage considering a deep mystical truth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His seriousness made Fisk look even more formidable.\n\n\"And would you say the situation is stabilized now?\" he asked.\n\n\"We can hope it is,\" Fisk said as she shook her head no. \"When I look at the patience that the present administration has shown to us and the violence with which it was answered, it leaves me ... not angry, even. Embarrassed. We called ourselves a civilization, and this thuggery is all we have to offer. I can only hope that the people who were fooled into thinking any of this could be justified are embarrassed too.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a sentence Singh had written himself and delivered to Fisk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She repeated it now as if it were an off-the-cuff thought, and she made it sound mostly convincing.\n\nOf all the things he had done since he'd come to Medina, Fisk and the Laconian Congress of Worlds was by far the most successful. Everything else—moving up the timetable for the Tempest's transit to Sol system, flushing out the underground, managing Medina Station—was tainted.\n\nThe catastrophe had lasted five and three-quarter hours from the launch of James Holden's ship to the restoration of full function to Medina Station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In that time, his best informant and the team sent to back him had been slaughtered, the station's external sensors had been compromised, the Laconian Marine forces neutralized, the detention centers broken open and fifty-two prisoners lost and not yet recovered, twenty union ships had transited through no one knew which gate or gates, and the Gathering Storm had been boarded and hijacked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was, without exception, the greatest failure of security Singh had ever heard of, and as governor of Medina Station, he had spent almost the whole time hiding in a public toilet. Humiliation sat in his belly like a stone, and he had the distinct sense that it would remain there forever.\n\nEvery decision he had made since he'd arrived at Medina returned to him in the light of his failure, and he considered each of them like a wound in his skin. If he had treated the local population with greater caution from the first, would Kasik have lived?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he had chosen to respond to the assassination attempt with a more focused response, would the underground have gained fewer followers and allies?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he had avoided the confusion of restructuring his security forces by retaining Tanaka, would they have exposed the underground in time to prevent this?\n\nThe list seemed to go on forever. And each choice he'd made—sending the Storm out despite Davenport warning him it was undercrewed, shipping James Holden to Laconia instead of questioning him more deeply about the underground, encouraging Trejo and the Tempest to move the timetable forward for the transit into Sol system—had led him here. So on some level each of them had been wrong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No matter how wise they had seemed at the time, how forgivable and subtle his failures of judgment had been, the final evidence was unmistakable." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had treated the people of Medina as though he were their leader instead of their warden. Instead of their zookeeper. And they had paid him back with violence, death, and dishonor. All of that was a given now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was no standing apart from the failure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had happened on his watch, and so it was his problem to fix. And it didn't apply only to Medina. He saw that now. His mandate was to coordinate the empire from this, its hub." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that would mean crushing the underground wherever it had fled." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wherever it emerged from the fresh dung heap of the union's demise. He'd thought of Medina as a station to run, a logistical heart to sustain a glorious future for humanity.\n\nHe'd been mistaken.\n\nHis system chirped a connection request." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He checked himself in the monitor, smoothed his hair, and straightened his tunic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was done looking less than knife sharp. These were, after all, the first days of his career's rehabilitation.\n\nHe accepted the request. A woman's face appeared on the screen, a small identifier hovering above her to say who and what she was to him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Lieutenant Guillamet,\" he said crisply." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Rear Admiral Song of the Eye of the Typhoon is requesting command-to-command, Governor.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" he said. The monitor flickered. He straightened his tunic again and felt immediately self-conscious that he'd done it. It was a sign of insecurity, even if he was the only one who knew about it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rear Admiral Song appeared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her wide mouth was set in a polite smile. The light delay was almost trivial. Evidence that the Typhoon was on track to pass through the gate. \"Governor Singh,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's good to see you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Likewise,\" he replied.\n\n\"We're on approach to the ring gate,\" Song said, then looked away. \"I'm very sorry, but given everything that's happened recently, I have to ask you this. Can you assure me that this transit is safe?\"\n\nSingh settled more deeply into his couch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Of course it is, floated at the back of his mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Typhoon can come through the gate, and there won't be any rogue ship zipping through some other gate in the seconds before to change the safety curve. You and your crew will survive the trip and take its place as the protector of the ring space.\n\nHe swallowed the words. It was like another fine cut on his soul to admit that he wasn't certain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have had no new security alerts,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We see no ships on approach through the other gates and have no reason to suspect any interference from fringe elements. But if you would like, I will consult with my chief of security to make certain we have done everything in our ability to minimize your risk.\"\n\n\"I would appreciate that,\" Song said, and her tone meant, I'm sorry to ask it.\n\n\"The safety of your ship and your crew are the most important thing,\" Singh said. \"I understand your caution.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll match orbit with the gate until we hear from you,\" Song said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And thank you, Governor. I do appreciate this.\"\n\nHe nodded and dropped the connection. She didn't trust him. Of course she didn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't trust himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Marines who accompanied him on his review of the docks were a mixed group—half of them in power armor and half in standard ballistic plates. Even if the underground managed to disable the power armor again—which Overstreet had assured Singh would be impossible—there would still be a guard ready to take point. Singh hated that they'd had to change their protocol. He hated remembering the fear of realizing his protection was gone, and he hated knowing that the fear would never completely go away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He still didn't know how the underground had even known the antimutiny protocols existed, much less how they'd managed to reverse engineer them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Was someone—a Laconian—a turncoat? Had they been careless? He had no way of finding where the information had leaked out. It was another little insult that burrowed into his skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He maneuvered through the docks on a small thruster of compressed air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The empty berths stared back at him like an accusation. The pocks in the decks and bulkheads where bullets had struck during the fighting hadn't been buffed out or painted over yet, though they would be. He felt the attention of the dockworkers. They were, after all, the audience for this excursion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Meant to see that the governor of the station wasn't cowering in his office, afraid to peek out from behind his desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That he wasn't hiding in a public restroom. The heavy guard undercut the message, as did the fear in his gut. But he would pretend and pretend and pretend in the hopes that it would somehow become true.\n\nSo he lifted his chin, and made his way through the full round of the docks—even where the damage from the bombing of the primary oxygen tanks twisted and deformed the deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked at the temporary plating with what he hoped was dignity and thoughtfulness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All he really wanted was to be done with this and back in his office.\n\nThe acting dockmaster followed along just behind him. The anger in her expression was unmistakable, but he didn't know if it was rage at the terrorists who'd done the damage or at him for not preventing it.\n\n\"How long will it take us to make repairs?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That will depend on the supply chain, sir,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Once we have the Typhoon, we should be able to get started in earnest, but they've been breaking more than we have the decking to replace.\"\n\n\"It's heartbreaking,\" he said because he didn't know what else to say. She didn't respond. \"What is our capacity at this point?\"\n\n\"It's not bad. The only berth that took serious damage was the first. Sheared off the docking clamps. Once that old gunship was out, the bastards took over my office. All the rest were released from the controls. That's one way it could have been worse, I suppose.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What if he'd brought Natalia and the monster had been here?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Laconians had died in these uprisings. If his family had come to Medina, would they have been targets too? Would he have watched his daughter die the way he'd watched Kasik?\n\nAnd yes, locals suffered too, but to have his people dead and hurt ... And with what repercussions?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The criminals had scattered like seeds on the wind, and taken his ship with them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What colony would see these images and not think that they could do the same?\n\nHe pushed over to the broken decking and put his hands on it. He'd been weak before. Lenient. He'd thought that by treating the people of Medina as if they were citizens of the empire, they would be transformed somehow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They would be civilized." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The decking was half a meter thick, and twisted like a torn leaf. They'd been willing to do this, and he'd pretended he could treat them as if they were sane. Another of his mistakes.\n\nHe had hesitated to wield his power before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And the universe had taught him what rewards hesitation brought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, he'd learned his lesson.\n\n\"Thank you. I understand now,\" he said. Possibly to the acting dockmaster. Possibly to something deeper in his own soul." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He turned to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This won't happen again.\"\n\n\"This was what they were building toward,\" Overstreet said. \"The bad news is, they were by and large quite successful in their aim. I'm not going to make this pretty, sir, they trounced us.\"\n\n\"I agree,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet leaned forward in his chair and threw the image from his wrist monitor to the screen over Singh's desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A list of all the people presently unaccounted for on Medina. The people that they knew had escaped. Or died.\n\n\"On the other hand,\" Overstreet said, \"their objective was defensive. This was a retreat. I've had the technicians make a complete audit, and I'm prepared to certify that it's safe for the Typhoon to make its transit.\"\n\n\"You're sure about that? Completely safe?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think we've established that perfect knowledge isn't possible in this context. But in order to pull off this last series of attacks, the underground had to spend a tremendous amount of its resources and capital on Medina. If they'd stayed here, they could have used the same knowledge of the station and agents within the civilian population to protract the struggle here for months. Maybe years. Instead, they burned it all in one day.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So this was a good thing?\" Singh said.\n\n\"No,\" Overstreet said. \"But it was all the bad things they could throw at us at once. I feel confident that they didn't hold anything back. So however bad this looks—and it looks very bad—we're going to end with Medina carrying a smaller insurgent population, with fewer resources at their disposal, and the main body of the underground scattered to the colonial systems.\"\n\n\"The colonies,\" Singh said. \"Yes.\"\n\n\"The loss of the Storm ... well, that's not inconsiderable. If we hadn't pulled most of the crew off to assist with other operations ... Or if your XO had scuttled the ship once it was clear they couldn't repel the boarders ...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Talk to me about the colonies,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Overstreet blinked his too-blue eyes in something like confusion. \"Sir?\"\n\n\"The colonies,\" Singh said. \"That's where the terrorists have gone. That's where the next wave of this will take place, yes?\"\n\n\"That matches my analysis, sir.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So how we proceed here should be considered in light of the colonies. We should examine how likely they are to cooperate with the enemy. And how we can affect those decisions.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"An example needs to be made. Something that not only restores confidence in the safety of Medina and the gate network, but displays what Laconian civilization stands for. What we believe. What we are willing to do to ensure our control over this situation.\"\n\nOverstreet was silent for a moment. Singh paged through the lists of the missing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The faces of the enemy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were pages of them, but not uncountably many. This was still a solvable problem.\n\n\"What exactly are we willing to do, sir?\" Overstreet asked, and his tone told Singh that he knew what was coming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"A white list,\" Singh said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I would like you to identify the people who we are certain are not involved with the insurgency. The people we know absolutely that we can trust.\"\n\n\"And the others?\"\n\nSingh closed the image down. The enemy vanished. \"An example has to be made.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Overstreet went very still." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For a moment, the only sound was the hum of the air recyclers.\n\n\"I see,\" Overstreet said. \"So a step up from counterinsurgency.\"\n\n\"It's been justified.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The official position of the high consul is that these are all Laconian citizens. That the terrorists are Laconian citizens who are also criminals.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know,\" Singh said. \"But I also know that I was placed in command of Medina to learn from practice what theory can never teach. And this is the lesson that James Holden and his friends have taught me. Will you refuse to respect the chain of command?\"\n\nOverstreet chuckled at that. Singh didn't know why." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, sir, I will follow the chain of command, as is my duty.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good. Please prepare the cull, then. I will trust your judgment on who best belongs on the white list.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Overstreet said. \"Only I have other orders. Sir.\"\n\nA thrill of confusion moved up Singh's spine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Other orders? From whom?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Standing orders I received from Colonel Tanaka when I accepted this position. So ultimately from Admiral Trejo. You see, sir, the high consul made it very clear to Admiral Trejo that the rule of the empire is permanent. And if history shows us anything, it's that people hold grudges for generations. Whole societies have lived and died because of their antipathy born out of events that happened generations before. Or maybe things that got so mythologized, they were just pissed off about stories of things that never happened in the first place. The admiral was adamant that we hold ourselves to a higher standard. As we always have.\" Overstreet spread his hands in a gesture that meant What can you do? His right hand held a gun.\n\nSingh felt his heart catch and then stumble like it was running down a hill." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"May I ask what your orders are?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm to set an example, sir. Restore confidence in the safety of Medina and the gate network, and display what Laconian civilization stands for. Including that we who have accepted the burden of government hold ourselves and each other to the highest possible standard.\"\n\nSingh stood. His legs felt weak. This wasn't possible. This wasn't happening.\n\n\"But I was loyal,\" he said. \"I've obeyed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've given me an order to kill Laconian citizens who have not been found guilty of a crime.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But—\"\n\n\"For what it's worth, I don't disagree with you. These people are scum. They don't deserve or understand what we've brought them. For me, I think they never will. But their children might. Their grandchildren or their great-grandchildren. The story of Medina will be that Governor Singh mismanaged the station, lost his ship to a band of malcontents, lost his perspective. And when he let his wounded pride exceed the mandates of the high consul's directives, he was removed for the protection of the everyday citizens in his care. You see the difference? If you kill an insurgent, you're the enemy of all their friends. All their family. And then there's an expectation. Precedent. Enemies for generations. Forever. If you kill your own—even the highest among your own—to protect someone powerless, they remember that too. It sows gratitude. It sows trust. Generations from now your sacrifice will lead to the peace, prosperity, and fellow feeling among all humanity.\"\n\nThe air was gone. He couldn't catch his breath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His mind rejected everything he'd heard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was going to see Natalia again. He was going to hold the monster in his arms and hear her gabble on about school and the dream she'd had and whether they could get a pet for their apartment. All of that was still true. It couldn't have changed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not so quickly. Not so finally." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Plus, it'll put Governor Song on notice,\" Overstreet said. He stood. \"I'm very sorry about this, but it could be worse. You could be going to the Pen.\"\n\nHe lifted the gun.\n\n\"Wait!\" Singh said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Wait. Do you believe all that? About what killing me is supposed to achieve?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I am an officer of the Laconian Empire, Governor Singh. I believe what I'm told to believe.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S.A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S.A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S.A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was three months before the Heart of the Tempest came to the transfer station at Lagrange-5. People's Home arrived behind it, like a servant waiting for the right moment to bow.\n\nIn those long, surreal weeks, the system had changed past all recognition. Or at least it had for Drummer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The surrender of the union ships had let the EMC fleet follow suit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were some signs that the Tempest had suffered from the pounding it had taken—fluctuations of its heat signature, a reluctance to turn to port, the decision not to burn at more than about a fifth of a g. It didn't matter. If Laconia was bloodied, it was unbowed. Drummer couldn't say as much for herself.\n\nA new armada of ships that had followed the Typhoon to Medina paused there for less than a day before they burned through the Sol gate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were smaller ships, of a more familiar design, and fewer than a dozen of them dominated the solar system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The newsfeeds had nothing but the names of the new Laconian Protector-class destroyers—Daskell, Ackermann, Ekandjo, Smith—and their locations in the system. Where they were and where they might go.\n\nGanymede and Iapetus, inspired by God knew what quixotic impulse, declared that whatever the union and the EMC had said, they hadn't surrendered. Two of the new ships had gone to each station, and the defiant announcements had ended quickly after that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The independent feeds that called out against Laconia grew fewer and more tentative." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ceres Station had a welcoming committee when the Ekanjo docked there, and pictures of the governor of Ceres shaking the hand of the Laconian captain became the iconic image of the moment. Of the capitulation. Two smiling men. The end of one age, the beginning of something new.\n\nThe ship that came to escort People's Home was named the Stover, and by escort, they meant occupy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "By then, People's Home had gathered back most of the citizens who'd fled before the battle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not all, of course. Some of the evacuation ships scattered themselves out among the smaller settlements and asteroids. Got quiet in hopes that with just a dozen ships, Laconia would overlook them. Maybe it even worked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For those who came back to the void city, Captain Rowman Perkins became their new leader." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was an older Martian man with close-cut white hair and skin the color of stained oak, with a folksy Mariner Valley drawl, kind eyes, and a fire team of Marines in power armor ready to make his wishes into law. When he'd come to her office, he'd had the courtesy to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk while they spoke. It was a small politeness that nailed in as much as anything had how utterly defeated she was. Laconia wasn't here to bully her or belittle her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It made no difference to Perkins whether he lost face before her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd come to take what he wanted—what he wanted was absolute authority—and he was going to get it. Gently was fine. Less gently was fine as well. The illusion of choice was hers.\n\nShe'd chosen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "House arrest was better than being in the brig." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her couch, her clothes, her files and access, though without any broadcast privileges and a Laconian censor looking over her data streams. She dreaded the moment when Saba reached out to her and gave himself away, but that message never came. She assumed that the detention and cooperation of the Transport Union president was useful to Perkins and Trejo and Duarte. Her confinement rooms, her escort to the gym, her meals delivered by Laconian soldiers were all part of the narrative of victory, broadcast through thirteen hundred worlds as a warning to behave well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Before Laconia even the union fell." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even Mars. Even Earth. What hope could any colony world have against them?\n\nThat was speculation, of course. Newsfeeds weren't on her diet anymore." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But she could watch old movies, listen to music, eat what she wanted, play games, sleep as much as she cared to sleep, exercise her way through all the routines she'd told herself she'd engage with if she ever had the time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the best days, house arrest was almost like an enforced vacation. For the first time in her adult life, she had no responsibilities. No long-term political aspirations to cultivate and attend to. No journalists or administrators or officials to spar with." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The problems of who passed through which gate, of what artifacts were banned and which were taxed, of how to balance the needs of the colony worlds, all belonged to someone else now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Except for Saba's absence, it was the life she'd imagined retiring to when her term was complete.\n\nOn the worst days, her rooms were a box of crushing depression and failure, and death would be the only release.\n\nHer handlers dealt with all of her moods with the same equanimity and insincere kindness. They were good to her because they chose to be." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they chose otherwise, that would be up to them as well." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her opinions didn't matter unless someone else decided that they did. And she had every reason to believe it was going to be like this—her rooms, the gym, her rooms again, under guard and cut off from humanity—for the rest of her life.\n\nAnd then, three months after her surrender, the Heart of the Tempest came to the transfer station at Lagrange-5, and Drummer went with it.\n\nVaughn came to her like a ghost from a past life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If she'd needed any measure of how her isolation had affected her, it was how glad she was to see him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His face seemed to have cracked a few new crags down the cheeks and across his forehead. He held himself with the same formality, but instead of radiating his usual low-level contempt, he seemed fragile. Like bread that had been hollowed out inside so that all that remained was the crust.\n\nOr maybe that was her, and she wanted to see how she felt reflected in someone else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To not be so alone with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He stood in her doorway while she gathered herself.\n\n\"There's a meeting, ma'am,\" he said. \"Admiral Trejo asked me to ... help you prepare.\"\n\n\"Trejo?\" she said, and it felt almost like a conversation they would have had before. \"Is he here?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"More that we're there, but yes. The secretary-general, yourself, and Admiral Trejo. A few others. They didn't give me the whole list, but they seem to want you presentable. And there's this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He held out a hand terminal. She took it, spooled through the file trees it had access to. It was a thin list, but it had the advantage of being new. Things she hadn't already been looking at for weeks had a certain charm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A text file with her name. She opened it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "NOTE TO THE SPEAKER: IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE SYSTEMS OUTSIDE OF SOL NO LONGER BE REFERRED TO AS \"COLONIES.\" IN THIS AND ANY OFF-THE-CUFF REMARKS, THEY ARE TO BE CALLED \"PLANETS\" OR \"SYSTEMS.\" NO PRIMACY SHOULD BE AFFORDED TO EARTH, MARS, OR THE SOL SYSTEM.\n\nQUESTIONER: MONICA STUART" }, { "from": "human", "value": "QUESTION: IS THE TRANSPORT UNION COOPERATING IN THE TRANSFER OF CONTROL?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "ANSWER: THE TRANSPORT UNION HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TEMPORARY STRUCTURE. BEFORE OUR LACONIAN FRIENDS ARRIVED, WE WERE ALREADY IN TALKS WITH THE UN AND THE EARTH-MARS COALITION TO DRAFT A CHARTER THAT WOULD GIVE OVER GREATER ENFORCEMENT POWERS TO A STANDING MILITARY. THE LACONIAN FLEET IS THE CLEAR CHOICE TO FILL THAT VACUUM, AND THE UNION IS PLEASED TO WORK WITH HIGH CONSUL DUARTE AND PRESIDENT FISK TO SEE THAT TRADE BETWEEN THE PLANETS (SEE NOTE) IS EFFICIENT AND FREE.\n\nQUESTIONER: AUDEN TAMMET" }, { "from": "human", "value": "QUESTION: IS THE UNION READY TO PAY REPARATIONS TO LACONIA FOR THE DAMAGE DONE TO ITS SHIPS?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Press conference, is it?\" Drummer asked.\n\n\"That appears to be part of the agenda,\" Vaughn said. \"You may, of course, choose to deviate from the script—\"\n\n\"May I?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"—but the Laconian censor will be reviewing everything before it goes out. And there are less pleasant accommodations than this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Drummer spooled through the script. Three pages of questions, all of them staged, written, and approved. \"So you're saying I should do this?\"\n\n\"You gain nothing by refusing. And there is a certain dignity in living to fight another day.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Or just living,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or that.\"\n\nDrummer sighed. \"I suppose I should make myself presentable. How much time do I have?\"\n\nThe conference room was the same one she'd been in when TSL-5 had opened for business. The vaulted ceiling seemed grander now than it had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The wait staff circulated with flutes of champagne and hors d'oeuvres—tank-grown shrimp, real cheddar, dates wrapped in bacon that had once actually been a pig." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wall screens with their views of Earth and Luna, People's Home and the Tempest, were crisp and beautiful. High-level officials mingled and chatted as if the system of humanity hadn't been turned on its ear. As if history were what it had always been. The absence of a few—Emily Santos-Baca, for instance—was something only she seemed to notice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The secretary-general was in a pale suit with a collarless shirt and a golden pin in his lapel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was smiling and shaking hands with the people around him. She'd expected him to be more somber, but in fairness, the transfer station had always been something of a humiliation for him. A place in the universe that defined the limits of his authority. Before, it had been her on the other side of that membrane." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now it was Laconia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So in a way, he'd already had more of a chance to get used to this.\n\nThe man he was laughing with, hand on his shoulder, was unmistakable. Admiral Trejo was smaller than she'd expected. Thicker about the chest and belly in a way that didn't speak as much to muscle or fat as genetics and age." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His hair was thinning, and not styled to disguise the fact." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His eyes were a bright green that would have seemed affected if they'd been fake.\n\nTrejo noticed her, broke off his conversation with the secretary-general, and trundled over toward her. He was just the slightest bit bowlegged. Drummer felt an irrational twitch of betrayal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The man who'd destroyed and humiliated her should at least have been a bronzed Adonis, not a normal human being." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would have made it easier to swallow if she'd been beaten by a god.\n\n\"President Drummer,\" he said, putting out his hand. \"I'm glad we could finally meet in more settled circumstances.\"\n\n\"Just Drummer,\" she said, and found herself shaking his hand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think we can dispense with the 'president' part.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh, I hope not,\" Trejo said. \"Transitions like this are delicate times. And the more profound the changes that are coming, the more important that it appear to have continuity. Don't you think?\"\n\n\"If you say so,\" she said.\n\nA waiter slid by, and she took a glass." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't need the alcohol as much as the idea of it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But, Lord, she needed something.\n\n\"I'm sorry your husband couldn't be here,\" Trejo said. There was nothing in his voice that couldn't just be a pleasantry, except that Saba's name had been linked to the embarrassment on Medina. She'd heard that much before her detainment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt a thrill of fear now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Did Trejo know something? Was he about to tell her Saba had been caught? Been killed?\n\n\"I'm sorry too,\" she said. \"I miss him very much. But we have always had different careers.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I hope to meet him one day,\" Trejo said, and she relaxed a notch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wasn't dead. Trejo saw her response and smiled a soft, rueful smile. \"It would be useful, I think, if you could help to resolve things with him. Chaos is bad for everyone.\"\n\n\"I don't have any way to reach him,\" Drummer said. She didn't go on with And I don't know what I'd tell him if I did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fair enough,\" Trejo said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We'll have that conversation another time, yes? Right now, there's something else I wanted to speak with you about. High Consul Duarte wants to convene the important people in humanity's new endeavors on Laconia. A kind of permanent convocation of the best minds and most influential people. He's asked me to extend an invitation to you.\"\n\nThe politeness of it was foul. The pretense that she was still autonomous, the master of her own fate. Oh, she could probably refuse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Duarte seemed smart enough not to welcome people into his projects who were willing to openly oppose him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But there would be consequences. That they weren't even spelled out made them more ominous.\n\n\"This is like the colonies, isn't it?\" she said.\n\nTrejo lifted his eyebrows, answering her question with a wordless one of his own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're shifting everything to Laconia,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not just ships or money. The culture.\"\n\nTrejo smiled. \"Earth will always be the home from which humanity sprang, but yes. The high consul thinks that ... fetishizing Earth is bad for the long-term future of the species. We will also put in place an accelerated repopulation scheme. Try to adjust the balance so that Sol system isn't such an overwhelming majority of the population either.\"\n\n\"You can't put billions of people through the ring gates,\" Drummer said. \"It won't work.\"\n\n\"Not in our lifetimes,\" Trejo said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're talking about the work of generations. But ... well, I was Martian before I was Laconian. Thinking for the long term doesn't intimidate me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A woman in a white dress with gold at her throat and wrists sloped by, nodding to Trejo as she passed. He smiled back, glanced at her ass, and then back so quickly it might have passed for politeness.\n\n\"Your terraforming plan didn't work out too well,\" Drummer said more acidly than she should have. It just came out that way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It would have,\" Trejo said, \"if something bigger hadn't come along. Anyway, please do consider the invitation. The high consul is looking forward to meeting you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Trejo put a hand on her arm like they were old friends and made his way back out to some other conversation on his list. All around her, the eyes and attention of the crowd followed him and left her behind. She drank her champagne in a gulp and started looking for someplace to ditch the glass so she could get another one.\n\n\"Getting drunk, Camina? You think that's smart, or are you just past giving a fuck anymore?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Avasarala was in her wheelchair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her snow-white hair was pulled back in a bun, and her sari was a shimmer of green that almost hid the thinness of her body. She looked older than the last time Drummer had seen her. And she'd looked older than dirt then.\n\n\"I am taking the edge off the pain,\" Drummer said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because what else can I do?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Avasarala turned her chair and started off toward the podium and the seats. They were empty now, but the journalists were starting to filter in. The show would be starting soon.\n\n\"I'd join you, but they tell me I'm on my last liver these days,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No more liquor for me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You seem to be taking the conquest fairly well.\"\n\n\"The fuck option do I have?\" Avasarala said. \"I'm an old lady who spent her life trying to make peace between Earth and Mars. All this shit? It's like I missed a day at school, and everyone else learned to speak Mandarin while I was gone. I don't understand any of this.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Drummer said. \"I can see that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's the reward of old age,\" Avasarala said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You live long enough, and you can watch everything you worked for become irrelevant.\"\n\n\"You're not selling it,\" Drummer said.\n\n\"Fuck you, then. Die young. See if I care.\"\n\nDrummer laughed. Avasarala grinned, and for a moment, they understood each other perfectly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For a moment, Drummer didn't feel alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Are you going to his orgy pit or whatever the fuck it is Duarte's setting up?\" Avasarala asked.\n\nAcross the room, Vaughn caught Drummer's eyes and began walking toward the two women with purpose. Drummer didn't want to go with him. Didn't want to face the theater and falsehood of the next part." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She turned back to Avasarala." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know. I suppose I have to.\"\n\n\"Always a bad idea to ditch the emperor,\" Avasarala agreed. Then, \"Do you know why they're looking for Okoye?\"\n\n\"Who?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Elvi Okoye,\" Avasarala said, and Vaughn reached them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's time, ma'am,\" he said.\n\nDrummer nodded and handed him her glass. Avasarala's claw of a hand grabbed hers, held her for a moment. \"Chin up, Camina. These fuckers can smell blood. And this shit's not over, no matter what it looks like now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Drummer said, and pulled away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The seats for the journalists were full now. She recognized their faces. Sometimes even the way they sat, the way they moved. She'd done this for years." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd never done this before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Admiral Trejo made some brief opening remarks—thanked everyone for being there, expressed bright hopes for the future, extended the greeting of High Consul Duarte—and brought her up. The others would come later. The secretary-general. The speaker of the Martian parliament. Whoever else. But she was the last president of the Transport Union." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her dignity was first for the chopping block." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked out over the faces and remembered a time she'd enjoyed this.\n\n\"President Drummer?\" Her podium identified the woman. Monica Stuart. \"Is the Transport Union cooperating in the transfer of control?\"\n\nNo, it is not." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, I am not." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, we have been conquered, but we will fight to the last breath because living with someone else's hand on our necks is intolerable, has always been intolerable, will always be intolerable. 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." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text.\n\nAuthor style: James S.A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Freehold was pain. Some days that was a good thing. It gave her something to push against, something to fight. Other days it was just wearying.\n\nThe pencil-thin valley where they'd set the Roci down had steep, high mountains to the north, east, and southwest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A thin creek ran along the bottom with glacier meltwater." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pale-green treelike organisms clung to the stone with finger-thick roots and stretched out vines studded with pale-green bladders that floated into the open air as if Nature itself were putting up balloons for a party. A high breeze would shift the vines one way and then the other. Every now and then, one would break off and swirl away down the valley, maybe to die or maybe to find some new place to take root.\n\nShe understood it was all the product of evolutionary arms races." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Photosynthesizing structures had spent centuries, maybe millennia, trying to choke each other in darkness until one of them had figured out how to both be rooted and fly, how to both command the high air and drop everything below it into permanent twilight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "None of it had been created with the Rocinante in mind. It just worked out well.\n\nThe Roci itself huddled in a wide space where the creek curved around. The landing thrusters had scorched the landscape around it, but it didn't take more than a day or two before the local plants began growing back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fight for survival made everything either resilient or forgotten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The floating vines made a moving canopy fifteen meters above them that would help hide them from observation, if anything ever came into the system to look. As hiding places went, it was decent.\n\nThe colony itself—the only other three hundred people on the planet—was in an arid biome a six-hour hike down the valley. At least it was for her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The locals could make the trip in half the time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Houston lived down there, among his people, and sometimes she and Alex would stay there too. But most days, she was at the Roci—her real home. There was maintenance to be done, restocking. Distilling the creek water until it was pure enough to put in the Roci's tanks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The reactor could run for months without needing more fuel, but reaction mass was always a problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they wanted to go anywhere. If they just stayed put ... well, less of an issue, then.\n\nToday she'd spent half the daylight hours discouraging a cluster of very slow animals or possibly semimobile plants that were exploring whether the niches around the Roci's PDCs would be a good place to live. When the light faded, she stopped for lunch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The planet's sixteen-hours-and-change diurnal cycle meant that most of her workdays had at least half a night in them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Roci had been built to rest on its belly in a gravity well. All of her systems functioned, even at ninety degrees from what she'd become used to. That seemed right too. Being at home, but also in a space her body didn't understand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Being in control of her day, but not of her life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Being achingly alone, but not wanting people around. It was all of a piece. If she'd dreamed it, it would have meant something.\n\nAs soon as she crawled back into the ship, she showered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were compounds in the life cycle of Freehold that irritated her skin if she didn't wash them off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then she pulled on a fresh jumpsuit, went to the galley, made herself a bowl of white kibble, and sat. A message was waiting for her from Bobbie, and she set her hand terminal on the table when she played it so she could use both hands to eat. The kibble was warm and peppery; the mushroom squeaked against her teeth just the way it was supposed to.\n\nBobbie looked exhausted and excited at the same time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail the way she wore it when she was working on machinery, not the bun she had for workouts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her eyes were bright and the suggestion of a smile teased her mouth without ever quite appearing. She looked ten years younger. More than that, she looked happy.\n\n\"Hey, Naomi. Hope things are going well down there. I think we're making some real progress up here. I'm not positive, but I think I've found how the Storm manages its energy profiles. It's a little screwy, same as everything on this rig. I was wondering if I could get you to take a quick skim through the new dataset I pulled. Maybe you'll see something I didn't?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The embedded data was structured as environmental-control buffers, and it was half again the size of the Roci's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi popped it open and glanced at the gross index. A lot of familiar parts, yes, but some strangeness in the large-scale structure. If it was anything like the other bits of the Gathering Storm's operating code they'd harvested for analysis, it would get weirder the deeper in she went. She dropped it to a secure partition in the Roci and started unpacking it with her favorite tools, converting the language of the ships into something with handholds that her mind could brace on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She set her hand terminal to Record." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Dataset received and in process. It may take me a day or two, but I'll let you know what I think. In the meantime, all is well down here. No need for rescue.\"\n\nIt was the rule. Somewhere in the message she sent up the well, there was always the word rescue and always would be until she needed one. Bobbie's word was progress." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A message went back and forth every twenty-four hours at a minimum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not that there was any real risk that Naomi could see, but protocol was protocol. The locals on Freehold had been at least willing to listen when they'd arrived with Payne Houston in tow, and there had been nothing but cautious goodwill since. Not that Naomi trusted that to last. The colony of Freehold would support her in her guise as a refugee and freedom fighter as long as it was convenient for them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She understood that having the only gunship in the system and a ring gate far enough away that she'd have a free hand how to use it for weeks before help could arrive figured into the local council's calculus of the situation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bobbie's improvised crew of Belters were with her on a little moon circling one of Freehold's three gas giants, tucked in an ancient lava tube and showing no signs of mutiny. Bobbie as captain and Amos as acting XO would, Naomi thought, be more than enough to ensure discipline. It also gave Freehold another reason to play nice, and a spare set of eyes on the ring gate in case anything nasty came through.\n\nThe Storm was slow to give up its secrets, not because of the internal security—though that was an issue—as much as the profound unfamiliarity of some of its technology." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Its reliance on calcium, for instance, was an order of magnitude more than Naomi had ever seen, and the vacuum channels it used instead of wiring still made her head ache a little if she thought about them too much." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With enough time, though, she was certain they'd come to understand the ship. On her good days, she thought they'd be ready, even if she wasn't sure yet what they were getting ready for.\n\nWhile the Roci arranged the data for her and the kibble broke down pleasantly in her stomach, she lay back and let her eyes close for a few minutes. Her knees ached. Her spine ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't even the gravity of Freehold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This world was smaller than Mars, and only a little bit denser. She'd been on long burns worse than this. Part of the problem was that she wasn't doing her exercises. She was doing work, and there turned out to be a suite of small, neglected muscles that had atrophied over the years and weren't happy to be put into service clearing vegetation and crawling around the bottom of a gravity well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was also, she suspected, something of a placebo effect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd spent so many years equating life in free atmosphere on a planetary surface with a constant, grinding full g, that now even though the gravity was actually fairly mild, she was primed to notice the discomfort. She expected it, and so it was there.\n\nThe Rocinante chimed to announce the completion of the data run, and then again almost immediately to announce Alex's return. It was less than a minute before she heard him walking up the hallway that was usually the lift tube." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was singing to himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A light, lilting melody with words she didn't recognize.\n\n\"In here,\" she called as he came close.\n\nAlex poked his head into the galley. He was more comfortable going into town, and the combination of long walks and sunlight had darkened his skin and given him his cheekbones back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hola,\" he said. \"Good news from Freehold. We're a business!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He lifted his right arm. The satchel in it was heavy with batteries ready to be recharged. It was a minor convenience for the township to have Alex come by and collect batteries, recharge them from the Roci's reactor, and deliver them again full up instead of waiting for their turn at the solar array. So Freehold's poor foresight on solar energy was now their cottage industry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At least for now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex's grin widened. \"And ...\"\n\n\"And?\"\n\nHe lifted his left hand. A second satchel. \"They paid in beer and curried goat. I've got a little cook fire started outside. It's going to be great.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi started to say that she'd just eaten, but the joy in Alex's eyes was infectious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She swung herself up to sitting. \"On my way,\" she said.\n\nThe moons weren't shining in the valley when she reached the airlock, but Alex's little cook fire was glowing happily next to the landing strut, and the stars glittered between the floating vines above them. They burned dried-out vines and the shed carapaces of huge, slow-moving animals that lived in shallow caves all up and down the valley." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The smoke was pale and fragrant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The shards of carapace popped and cracked now and then, sending little sprays of spark up with the smoke to vanish as they cooled. The smoke kept away the night hoppers—tiny, nocturnal insect-like animals that usually found humans fascinating.\n\nAlex had two skewers of meat dripping grease and curry onto the flames, and Naomi had to admit that they smelled better than kibble. She sat with her back against the landing strut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Alex took a bottle from his satchel, opened its neck, and passed it over." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The beer was cold and rich and more biting than she'd expected.\n\n\"Robust,\" she said.\n\n\"Danielle likes a higher proof than some brewers,\" Alex said with a smile as he leaned back to look at the vines and the sky beyond them.\n\n\"Seems like you're getting along well with the locals.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're all right,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just don't get them talking about the nature of sovereignty and you're fine. Even then you're all right, it's just a conversation they've all had a lot. Tends to go along the ground they've already plowed.\"\n\nHe reached over and turned the skewers. High above them, something set off one of the vine bladders, and it glowed a pale yellow-green for a moment, then went dark again.\n\n\"Good to build rapport,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Freehold's going to have to look like a polite, compliant little colony for a while.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No trouble. The council's on board for an 'enemy-of-my-enemy, hail Laconia, down with the union' stance. For the time being anyway. I think they kind of like having us here, actually. The founding impulse of Freehold is sticking it to the government.\"\n\n\"Loses some of its shine after you get elected.\"\n\n\"Right?\" Alex tested the curried meat with his finger, pinching and releasing fast enough that he didn't get burned. He handed it over to Naomi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She waved it in the night air for a moment to let it cool, then took the first cube off the end and popped it in her mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The char on the meat was good. The spices that infused it were better. She chewed slowly, letting herself enjoy it.\n\n\"Do you think they'll sell us out?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Eventually, sure,\" Alex said cheerfully." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But not right away. And probably not for cheap, so long as they like us.\"\n\nHer plan was the long one. The only one, really, that made sense. Laconia's strength seemed overwhelming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A force without weakness that nothing could ever overcome." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was an illusion. Earth had seemed like that once, when she'd been a girl scraping together a life in the Belt. It hadn't been true then either.\n\nThey'd wait. They'd watch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd be small and quiet and aware." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sooner or later, Laconia would show them where it was weak. And between then and now, life. Charging batteries in exchange for beer. Making friends with the township." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Working to crack open the mysteries of the Gathering Storm with Bobbie and Amos." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Keeping the Rocinante in good trim, and keeping herself from falling into despair. It was enough to fill her days. It would have to be enough.\n\n\"Which one of those is Bobbie?\" Alex asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hmm?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With the second skewer, he pointed up at the night sky peeping through from behind the vines. \"One of those stars isn't a star, right? I mean, we can see her from here, can't we?\"\n\nNaomi looked up at the little slice of stars. The galactic disk looked the same as it had in Sol system, but the constellations not quite like her own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Parallax, she knew, was how they'd started mapping which systems were on the other sides of the gates." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd seen a map once—the splash of systems that the gates connected. Thirteen hundred stars in a galaxy with three hundred billion of them. They'd been clumped together, the gate-network stars. The two farthest systems were hardly more than a thousand light-years apart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A little more than one percent of the galaxy, and still unthinkably vast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Look just above the ridge there,\" she said, pointing. \"You see where the rock looks like a bent finger? The round knuckle?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I see it.\"\n\n\"Track just up from that, and to the right. There are three stars almost in a row. The middle one is Bobbie.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hmm,\" Alex said, then went quiet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wasn't singing anymore, but sometimes Naomi thought she heard a few hummed notes under his breath. It was maybe five minutes before he spoke again. \"I wonder which one's Mars.\"\n\n\"Sol system?\" she said. \"I don't know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think about Kit,\" Alex said and took another drink of his beer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And Giselle, I guess, but more about Kit. I have a son out there. He's just starting his own life. His adulthood. I won't be there for it. I don't even know that I'd be any use if I were. I mean, when I was his age, I was getting into the navy, and Earth and Mars were the biggest things in the universe. Now ... I don't know. Everything's different. He has to find his own way.\"\n\n\"That's always how it is,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"I know. Every kid has to find who they are without Mom and Dad, but—\"\n\n\"History too. Mars before Solomon Epstein. Earth before the seas came up. Before there were airplanes and then after. When we figured out how to grow our own food. Everything's always changed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But up to now it wasn't my problem,\" Alex said, with an affected disconsolate buzz in his voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They both laughed together. A half dozen of the vine bladders lit up and faded. She didn't know what made them do that, but it was pretty. She felt a pleasant warmth growing in her belly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The beer, probably. Or the meat, since she'd eaten almost all of it despite her expectations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or the sense of being in midnight under stars in the middle of an ocean of air that wouldn't run out or leak away. It really was reassuring in a way that even the best station atmosphere could never quite equal.\n\n\"I think about Jim the same way,\" she said. \"Not that he's beginning his adulthood, but he always wanted to take me back to Earth. To show me what living on a planet was like. Now I'm here, and I'm finding out, and he's not.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He'll be all right,\" Alex said. \"He always is.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know,\" she said aloud, but they both knew she meant Maybe.\n\nSomething crashed through the underbrush, made a high keening sound, and crashed away. They'd heard it before often enough that they both ignored it. Alex finished off the last of his beer and tucked the empty bottle back in his satchel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He levered himself up to standing and stretched his arms above him, looking like some ancient priest in the firelight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I should get these things hooked up,\" he said, hefting the dead batteries. \"I said I'd have them back tomorrow. I'll probably take a sleep shift in town after that, if you're all right solo?\"\n\n\"That's fine,\" she said. \"Bobbie sent me a new dataset. I'll be working on that. I wouldn't be much company anyway.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Should I douse the fire?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi shook her head. \"I'll do it when I go in. I think I overate. I need to just sit for a little while.\"\n\n\"Right,\" Alex said, and trudged over to the airlock. He lifted himself in, and she heard him starting to sing again until the door closed behind him. She lay back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything changed, and it went right on changing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A terrible thought when things were good, a comforting one now. Whatever happened, she could be certain that things wouldn't stay the way they were now. And if she stayed smart and clever and lucky, she'd be able to affect how the next change came. Or take advantage of it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S.A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Winston Duarte watched his daughter playing at the fountain's edge." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Teresa was ten now, and almost as tall as her mother had been. She was working with a clay boat, discovering the relationship between buoyancy and displacement for herself. Forming and re-forming the little craft of her own design. Finding not only what was the most efficient but also what was the most aesthetically pleasing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What would float and also steer and also be beautiful in its own right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her tutor, Colonel Ilich, sat on the edge of the fountain as well, talking with her. Guiding her thoughts through the process, and helping her to connect the work of her hands to the lessons in mathematics and history and art.\n\nHe didn't know whether she was aware how lonesome a childhood she'd had. The State Building had facilities for the children of the government to live and work and attend lessons while their parents saw to the mechanisms of the empire, but most of the classrooms—like the offices—were empty." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Prepared for a generation that was still just beginning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The timing was wrong for Teresa. Someday children would run and play together in the streets and parks of Laconia, but by then Teresa would be grown.\n\nShe leaned forward, lowered her latest design into the water. Ilich asked her something, and she replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Duarte couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, but he saw the change in the way she held the little boat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And more than that, he saw her mind change.\n\nThat had started more recently, and he wasn't certain what to make of it yet. A pattern of something around her head when she was thinking strongly. As she worked the clay, it infused her hands as well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ilich had it too, though not as intensely." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of all the ways his changes affected his senses, this new one was the most interesting. He had the suspicion that he was, in some sense, seeing thought.\n\nTeresa glanced over, and the whatever-it-was shifted just before she raised her hand. He waved back, returning her smile, then stepped away into the State Building to let her continue her studies undistracted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He loved his daughter profoundly, and the joy of watching her learn was better than anything else he had scheduled, but his presence wouldn't help her or the empire. Duty called." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He found Kelly waiting for him in his private office. The look on the man's face was enough to tell him that they had arrived. His heart sank. He had been dreading this moment since he'd heard that Natalia Singh had requested the personal meeting. It was her right, though. And his obligation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're in the east drawing room, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They?\"\n\n\"She brought her daughter.\"\n\nAnother little punch to the gut. But ...\"All right. Thank you, Kelly.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Natalia and Elsa Singh were dressed in matching clothes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dark blue with white accents. Not the full black of mourning, but somber. He sat across from them as Kelly served tea and cakes. Duarte felt the temptation to focus on the whatever-it-was, to see if grief and anger looked different from Teresa's lesson with the clay boats, but it seemed impolite, so he didn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kelly closed the door behind him as he left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte sipped his tea. Natalia Singh didn't touch hers, but the little girl ate some cake. The sweetness of sugar overcame everything for children. Even loss. There was something profound in that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Beautiful and sad both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Doctor Singh,\" Duarte said. \"I am so sorry for your loss.\"\n\nHer chin lifted a few degrees, proud and defiant. He hoped she wasn't going to do anything stupid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Grief was a terrible thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, sir,\" she said through a tight throat. The little one looked over, confused less by the words than by her mother's tone of voice. Elsa was a smart child, he could see that. Empathetic, which was more important really than other kinds of intelligence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shifted on the couch, scooted toward her mother." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte leaned forward, putting down his teacup. He laced his fingers together, and when he spoke, he tried to put as much warmth and care into his voice as the little girl had expressed in her movement.\n\n\"You asked to speak with me. How can I help you?\"\n\n\"I would like to request a copy of the formal inquiry into my husband's death,\" she said, then swallowed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Duarte slipped. His focus shifted, and the whatever-it-was—thought, consciousness, attention—became clear to him for a moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was tight in around Natalia Singh's head and chest, wrapping her like a shroud. The little one—Elsa—hers was diffused around her, thicker toward her mother, like something physical in her was reaching out. Longing to comfort and be comforted in a field effect that was something more, apparently, than just metaphor. He pulled his attention back to his more usual senses with a little echo of shame, as if he'd eavesdropped on something." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Of course,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll see that it's delivered to you.\"\n\nNatalia Singh nodded once and wiped a tear away like it was an insect that had landed on her cheek.\n\n\"He was a good man,\" Duarte said. \"I know that. You know that. In another time and another place, he would have been celebrated.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He wasn't a killer,\" she said, and her voice had pressed down to a whisper." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He was put into an extreme position, and he overreacted,\" Duarte said. \"Our place in humanity is special. The rules that apply to us are harsh. You and me and him. But there's a reason for that, and I want you to know how much I honor his sacrifice. And yours. Both of yours.\"\n\nElsa looked at him now as if she knew he was talking about her. He smiled at the girl, and after a moment, she smiled back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could see an echo of her mother's face in her small, soft features." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her father's too. He took Natalia's hand, and she didn't pull away.\n\n\"You will have the full support of the government,\" he said, \"if you want it. Your daughter has a guaranteed place in the academy. Your work is important to us. To me. I know this is hard, and you have my word that you will not face this alone. We're all with you, whatever you need.\"\n\nShe nodded more slowly this time. She didn't wipe the tears away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her daughter climbed into her lap, and Natalia put her free arm around her, rocked her slowly back and forth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was heartbreaking, but he'd made the decision. He wouldn't look away from the consequences of it. This was his duty too.\n\n\"Is there anything else I can do for you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shook her head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Speech was beyond her. While she wept, he poured her more tea, and sat, witnessing her sorrow and being present with her and her child. After a few minutes, she looked up at him, her eyes clearer, calmer. He took a deep breath, squeezed her hand gently, and released it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Natalia said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He made a little bow to her, a last gesture of respect, and withdrew. Anytime a Laconian died in the service of the empire, their family had the right to a private audience with the high consul. It was a tradition he'd begun when they first passed through the gate. It would have to be reconsidered as the empire expanded, but for now, it was still in his power to honor it, so he did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Kelly was waiting for him in his office, a look of sympathy in his eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't mention the widow or her daughter in the drawing room. Kelly was a man of perfect tact.\n\n\"A report from Doctor Cortazár, sir,\" he said.\n\nDuarte pulled up the new file, opening it with a gesture." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cumulative update on the debriefing of Prisoner 17." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Duarte spooled down the file, seeing Cortazár's questions, the prisoner's responses. They were only words. Designs of light drawn on air. After glimpsing the living thoughts of Dr. Singh and her daughter, mere language seemed sterile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked at Kelly, closed the file." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think,\" Duarte said, \"it may be time I met this Captain Holden.\"\n\nThe man sat on the floor, his back to the wall of the cell. His splayed legs and bright eyes made him seem younger than his graying hair. As Duarte came in, Holden's gaze shifted between him and his guard—back and forth—until it settled on him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Duarte sat on the bunk, hands on his thighs, and looked down at the man who had caused so much trouble over so many years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't look like anything more than an old ice bucker with a little too much curiosity and too little impulse control.\n\nDuarte had known people like him from his time in the service. Hotheads and gadflies. The ones who were always sure they knew better than anyone else. The truth was, they had their place." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like anyone else, they could be apt tools if they were well suited to the task at hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here he had no qualms about using his new senses. Holden was an enemy and an asset. He had no right to any privacy. And the pattern mind was ... fascinating." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he'd been a boy, Duarte had seen an optical illusion that changed one face into another as the viewer came near it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was like that. There was something about the way the pattern of his thoughts moved that reminded him of dry riverbeds. The traces of something that had been there and was now gone, but not without leaving the trail of its passage behind it. Patterns inside patterns.\n\n\"You're Winston Duarte,\" Holden said, snapping Duarte's attention back to his more usual ways of seeing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" Duarte said. \"I am.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden pulled his knees up, rested his arms on them. His eyes were wide, and even a little bit frightened. \"What the fuck happened to you?\"\n\nIt took Duarte a moment to understand, then he chuckled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes. I forget. I've been through some changes. Not everyone notices, but there have been some ... I don't know. Shifts?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're using that shit on yourself?\"\n\n\"I think we're getting off on the wrong foot, Captain. Let me try this again. I'm High Consul Duarte. You and I have a shared interest, I understand, in the origins and function of the protomolecule. Did I get that right?\"\n\n\"You have to listen to me. I saw what happened to them. To the things that made the protomolecule. There was a record on the ring station from before they got shut down.\"\n\n\"I read the report on that,\" Duarte said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Even before I came here. It was part of what inspired me to take the steps I've taken. Not just\"—he gestured at his own body—\"but all of it. An empire is a tool, just like everything else.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That brought Holden to a stop. The pattern around his head was shifting and vibrating like a hive of angry wasps. Again, he had the sense of seeing the remnants of something in Holden's mind. Traces of another pattern." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a term for this, but ..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Palimpsest,\" Duarte said aloud, then shook his head when Holden frowned. \"I was trying to remember a word. I just got it. Palimpsest.\"\n\n\"You came here because of the thing that killed the protomolecule?\"\n\nDuarte leaned back, considered James Holden and, now that he'd met him, how best to build rapport." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Radical honesty for radical honesty, maybe? Worth trying." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I was connected to the MCRN intelligence services when the gate opened. The first one. Sol gate. And when the other gates opened, I saw the probe data sets as they came in. The early surveys of all the systems as fast as we could get them. And I saw an opportunity here. The most clearly intact ruins. A set of orbiting structures with what appeared to be a ship or something like it halfway through being constructed. And I recognized that the protomolecule had the potential to act as a handle of sorts. A way to interact with the artifacts that had been left behind. So I got the sample that we still had, and the best minds I could find on the subject. And through discipline and commitment, we developed new technologies faster and better than all the other worlds put together. Laconia is Mars. The Martian ideal taken to the next level.\"\n\n\"That's all great,\" Holden said. \"Except for the part where something came and killed the shit out of all the things that made the artifacts. I saw whole systems going dark. They shut down the gates just to try to stop whatever was killing them, and it didn't work.\"\n\n\"I know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That thing that popped up on your ship? That's the same thing that killed the protomolecule. That wiped out the civilization that built all of this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know that too,\" Duarte said. \"Or I guessed, anyway. It seems the most promising hypothesis. And it's related, I believe, to the missing ships. Something deep, something profound, doesn't like anyone using these technologies and powers. Didn't like when the last ones did it, don't like it now that we've turned them back on. It's an interesting problem.\"\n\nHolden stood up. The guard stepped forward, but Duarte gestured for him to stay back.\n\n\"Interesting problem? Something fired a shot at you. At your ship. It turned off people's minds all throughout the system, and that's an interesting problem? That was an attack.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And it didn't work,\" Duarte said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We aren't the same thing that got wiped out before. What killed them affected us, but it didn't destroy us.\"\n\n\"You seem pretty sure it's not going to find some slightly different approach that's going to wipe us all out. You're not picking a fight with the things that made the protomolecule. You're picking a fight with whatever killed them. Orders of magnitude above the things that were orders of magnitude above us. You've got to know this is going to escalate if we keep using these technologies.\"\n\n\"We were always going to keep using these technologies. That was inevitable the moment we opened the gates,\" Duarte said. \"If you've studied any history at all, you know that. Never in human history have we discovered something useful and then chosen not to use it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden looked around the cell like there might be something there to help him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "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.\n\n\"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.\"\n\n\"I did,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I do. It's why I came here. To warn you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "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." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden's hands were open as if he were offering something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And he was, but it wasn't what he thought.\n\n\"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.\"\n\n\"To do what?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"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.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden laughed, but there was no mirth in it. Duarte knew he hadn't reached the man. That was disappointing.\n\n\"Prepare us for what?\" Holden asked. \"To poke gods with a sharp stick?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, Captain Holden. No sticks,\" Duarte said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When you fight gods, you storm heaven.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide 4 sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Manéo Jung-Espinoza—Néo to his friends back on Ceres Station—huddled in the cockpit of the little ship he'd christened the Y Que." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After almost three months, there were maybe fifty hours left before he made history. The food had run out two days before. The only water that was left to drink was half a liter of recycled piss that had already gone through him more times than he could count. Everything he could turn off, he'd turned off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The reactor was shut down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He still had passive monitors, but no active sensors. The only light in the cockpit came from the backsplash of the display terminals. The blanket he'd wrapped himself in, corners tucked into his restraints so it wouldn't float away, wasn't even powered. His broadcast and tightbeam transmitters were both shut off, and he'd slagged the transponder even before he'd painted the name on her hull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't flown this far just to have some kind of accidental blip alert the flotillas that he was coming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fifty hours—less than that—and the only thing he had to do was not be seen. And not run into anything, but that part was in las manos de Dios.\n\nHis cousin Evita had been the one who introduced him to the underground society of slingshots. That was three years ago, just before his fifteenth birthday." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been hanging at his family hole, his mother gone to work at the water treatment plant, his father at a meeting with the grid maintenance group that he oversaw, and Néo had stayed home, cutting school for the fourth time in a month." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the system announced someone waiting at the door, he'd figured it was school security busting him for being truant. Instead, Evita was there.\n\nShe was two years older, and his mother's sister's kid. A real Belter. They had the same long, thin bodies, but she was from there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd had a thing for Evita since the first time he saw her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd had dreams about what she'd look like with her clothes off. What it would feel like to kiss her. Now here she was, and the place to himself. His heart was going three times standard before he opened the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Esá, unokabátya,\" she said, smiling and shrugging with one hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hoy,\" he'd said, trying to act cool and calm. He'd grown up in the massive city in space that was Ceres Station just the way she had, but his father had the low, squat frame that marked him as an Earther. He had as much right to the cosmopolitan slang of the Belt as she had, but it sounded natural on her. When he said it, it was like he was putting on someone else's jacket." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Some coyos meeting down portside. Silvestari Campos back,\" she said, her hip cocked, her mouth soft as a pillow, and her lips shining. \"Mit?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Que no?\" he'd said. \"Got nothing better.\"\n\nHe'd figured out afterward that she'd brought him because Mila Sana, a horse-faced Martian girl a little younger than him, had a thing, and they all thought it was funny to watch the ugly inner girl padding around after the half-breed, but by then he didn't care. He'd met Silvestari Campos and he'd heard of slingshotting.\n\nWent like this: Some coyo put together a boat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe it was salvage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it was fabbed. Probably at least some of it was stolen. Didn't need to be much more than a torch drive, a crash couch, and enough air and water to get the job done. Then it was all about plotting the trajectory." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Without an Epstein, torch drive burned pellets too fast to get anyone anywhere." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least not without help. The trick was to plot it so that the burn—and the best only ever used one burn—would put the ship through a gravity assist, suck up the velocity of a planet or moon, and head out as deep as the push would take them. Then figure out how to get back without getting dead. Whole thing got tracked by a double-encrypted black net as hard to break as anything that the Loca Greiga or Golden Bough had on offer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe they ran it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was illegal as hell, and somebody was taking the bets. Dangerous, which was the point. And then when you got back, everyone knew who you were. You could lounge around in the warehouse party and drink whatever you wanted and talk however you wanted and drape your hand on Evita Jung's right tit and she wouldn't even move it off." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And just like that, Néo, who hadn't ever cared about anything very much, developed an ambition." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The thing people have to remember is that the Ring isn't magical,\" the Martian woman said. Néo had spent a lot of time in the past months watching the newsfeeds about the Ring, and so far he liked her the best. Pretty face. Nice accent. She wasn't as thick as an Earther, but she didn't belong to the Belt either. Like him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We don't understand it yet, and we may not for decades. But the last two years have given us some of the most interesting and exciting breakthroughs in materials technology since the wheel. Within the next ten or fifteen years, we're going to start seeing the applications of what we've learned from watching the protomolecule, and it will—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fruit. Of. A poisoned. Tree,\" the old, leathery-looking coyo beside her said. \"We cannot allow ourselves to forget that this was built from mass murder. The criminals and monsters at Protogen and Mao-Kwik released this weapon on a population of innocents. That slaughter began all of this, and profiting from it makes us all complicit.\"\n\nThe feed cut to the moderator, who smiled and shook his head at the leathery one.\n\n\"Rabbi Kimble,\" the moderator said, \"we've had contact with an undisputed alien artifact that took over Eros Station, spent a little over a year preparing itself in the vicious pressure cooker of Venus, then launched a massive complex of structures just outside the orbit of Uranus and built a thousand-kilometer-wide ring. You can't be suggesting that we are morally required to ignore those facts.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Himmler's hypothermia experiments at Dachau—\" the leathery coyo began, wagging his finger in the air, but now it was the pretty Martian's turn to interrupt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can we move past the 1940s, please?\" she said, smiling in a way that said, I'm being friendly but shut the fuck up. \"We're not talking about space Nazis here. This is the single most important event in human history. Protogen's role in it was terrible, and they've been punished for it. But now we have to—\"\n\n\"Not space Nazis!\" the old coyo yelled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Nazis aren't from space. They are right here among us. They are the beasts of our worst nature. By profiting from these discoveries, we legitimize the path by which we came to them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pretty one rolled her eyes and looked at the moderator like she wanted help. The moderator shrugged at her, which only made the old one angrier.\n\n\"The Ring is a temptation to sin,\" the old coyo shouted. There were little flecks of white at the corners of his mouth that the video editor had chosen to leave visible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We don't know what it is,\" the pretty one said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Given that it was intended to do its work on primordial Earth with single-celled organisms and wound up on Venus with an infinitely more complex substrate, it probably doesn't work at all, but I can say that temptation and sin have nothing to do with it.\"\n\n\"They are victims. Your 'complex substrate'? It is the corrupted bodies of the innocent!\"\n\nNéo turned down the feed volume and just watched them gesture at each other for a while.\n\nIt had taken him months to plan out the trajectory of the Y Que, finding the time when Jupiter, Europa, and Saturn were all in the right positions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The window was so narrow it had been like throwing a dart from a half klick away and pinning a fruit fly's wing with it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Europa had been the trick. A close pass on the Jovian moon, then down so close to the gas giant that there was almost drag. Then out again for the long trip past Saturn, sucking more juice out of its orbital velocity, and then farther out into the black, not accelerating again, but going faster than anyone would imagine a little converted rock hopper could manage. Through millions of klicks of vacuum to hit a bull's-eye smaller than a mosquito's asshole." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Néo imagined the expressions of all the science and military ships parked around the Ring when a little ship, no transponder and flying ballistic, appeared out of nowhere and shot straight through the Ring at a hundred and fifty thousand kilometers per hour." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After that, he'd have to move fast. He didn't have enough fuel left to kill all his velocity, but he'd slow down enough that they could get a rescue ship to him.\n\nHe'd do some time in slam, that was sure. Maybe two years, if the magistrates were being pissy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was worth it, though." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just the messages from the black net where all his friends were tracking him with the constant and rising chorus of holy shit it's going to work made it worth it. He was going down in history. In a hundred years, people were still going to be talking about the biggest-balled slingshot ever. He'd lost months building the Y Que, more than that in transit, then jail time after." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was worth it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was going to live forever.\n\nTwenty hours.\n\nThe biggest danger was the flotilla surrounding the Ring. Earth and Mars had kicked each other's navies into creaky old men months ago, but what was left was mostly around the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or else down in the inner planets, but Néo didn't care about them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were maybe twenty or thirty big military ships watching each other while every science vessel in the system peeked and listened and floated gently a couple thousand klicks from the Ring. All the navy muscle there to make sure no one touched. Scared, all of them. Even with all that metal and ceramic crammed into the same little corner of space, even with the relatively tiny thousand klicks across what was the inner face of the Ring, the chances that he'd run into anything were trivial." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a lot more nothing than something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And if he did hit one of the flotilla ships, he wasn't going to be around to worry about it, so he just gave it up to the Virgin and started setting up the high-speed camera. When it finally happened, it would be so fast, he wouldn't even know whether he'd made the mark until he analyzed the data. And he was making sure there was going to be a record. He turned his transmitters back on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hoy,\" he said into the camera, \"Néo here. Néo solo. Captain and crew of souverän Belt-racer Y Que. Mielista me. Got six hours until biggest slipper since God made man. Es pa mi mama, the sweet Sophia Brun, and Jesus our Lord and Savior. Watch close. Blink it and miss, que sa?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He watched the file. He looked like crap. He probably had time; he could shave the ratty little beard off and at least tie back his hair. He wished now he'd kept up with his daily exercises so he wouldn't look so chicken-shouldered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Too late now. Still, he could mess with the camera angle. He was ballistic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wasn't like there was any thrust gravity to worry about.\n\nHe tried again from two other angles until his vanity was satisfied, then switched to the external cameras. His introduction was a little over ten seconds long. He'd start the broadcast twenty seconds out, then switch to the exterior cameras." }, { "from": "human", "value": "More than a thousand frames per second, and it still might miss the Ring between images." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had to hope for the best. Wasn't like he could get another camera now, even if a better one existed.\n\nHe drank the rest of his water and wished that he'd packed just a little more food. A tube of protein slush would have gone down really well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It'd be done soon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd be in some Earther or Martian brig where there would be a decent toilet and water to drink and prisoner's rations. He was almost looking forward to it.\n\nHis sleeping comm array woke up and squawked about a tightbeam. He opened the connection." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The encryption meant it was from the black net, and sent long enough ago that it would reach him here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone besides him was showing off.\n\nEvita was still beautiful, but more like a woman now than she'd been when he'd started getting money and salvage to build the Y Que. Another five years, she'd be plain. He'd still have a thing for her, though." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Esá, unokabátya,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Eyes of the world. Toda auge. Mine too.\"\n\nShe smiled, and just for a second, he thought maybe she'd lift her shirt. For good luck. The tightbeam dropped.\n\nTwo hours." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I repeat, this is Martian frigate Lucien to the unidentified ship approaching the Ring. Respond immediately or we will open fire.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Three minutes. They'd seen him too soon. The Ring was still three minutes away, and they weren't supposed to see him until he had less than one.\n\nNéo cleared his throat.\n\n\"No need, que sa? No need. This is the Y Que, racer out sa Ceres Station.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Your transponder isn't on, Y Que.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Busted, yeah? Need some help with that.\"\n\n\"Your radio's working just fine, but I'm not hearing a distress beacon.\"\n\n\"Not distressed,\" he said, pulling the syllables out for every extra second. He could keep them talking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ballistic is all. Can fire up the reactor, but it's going to take a couple minutes. Maybe you can come give a hand, eh?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You are in restricted space, Y Que,\" the Martian said, and Néo felt the grin growing on his face.\n\n\"No harm,\" he said. \"No harm. Surrender. Just got to get slowed down a little. Firing it up in a few seconds. Hold your piss.\"\n\n\"You have ten seconds to change trajectory away from the Ring or we will open fire.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fear felt like victory." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was doing it. He was on target for the Ring and it was freaking them out. One minute. He started warming up the reactor. At this point, he wasn't even lying anymore." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The full suite of sensors started their boot sequence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Don't fire,\" he said, as he made a private jacking-off motion. \"Please, sir, please don't shoot me. I'm slowing down as fast as I can.\"\n\n\"You have five seconds, Y Que.\"\n\nHe had thirty seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The friend-or-foe screens popped up as soon as the full ship system was on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Lucien was going to pass close by. Maybe seven hundred klicks. No wonder they'd seen him. At that distance, the Y Que would light up the threat boards like it was Christmas." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just bad luck, that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can shoot if you want, but I'm stopping as fast as I can,\" he said.\n\nThe status alarm sounded. Two new dots appeared on the display. Hijo de puta had actually launched torpedoes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fifteen seconds. He was going to make it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He started broadcast and the exterior camera. The Ring was out there somewhere, its thousand-kilometer span still too small and dark to make out with the naked eye. There was only the vast spill of stars.\n\n\"Hold fire!\" he shouted at the Martian frigate. \"Hold fire!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Three seconds. The torpedoes were gaining fast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One second.\n\nAs one, the stars all blinked out.\n\nNéo tapped the monitor. Nothing. Friend-or-foe didn't show anything. No frigate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No torpedoes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing.\n\n\"Now that,\" he said to no one and nothing, \"is weird.\"\n\nOn the monitor, something glimmered blue and he pulled himself closer, as if being a few inches closer to the screen would make it all make sense.\n\nThe sensors that triggered the high-g alert took five hundredths of a second to trip." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The alert, hardwired, took another three hundredths of a second to react, pushing power to the red LED and the emergency Klaxon." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The little console telltale that pegged out with a ninety-nine-g deceleration warning took a glacial half second to excite its light-emitting diodes. But by that time Néo was already a red smear inside the cockpit, the ship's deceleration throwing him forward through the screen and into the far bulkhead in less time than it took a synapse to fire. For five long seconds, the ship creaked and strained, not just stopping, but being stopped.\n\nIn the unbroken darkness, the exterior high-speed camera kept up its broadcast, sending out a thousand frames per second of nothing.\n\nAnd then, of something else." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he'd been a boy back on Earth, living under the open blue of sky, one of his mothers had spent three years suffering uncontrolled migraines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Seeing her pale and sweating with pain had been hard, but the halo symptoms that led into it had almost been worse. She'd be cleaning the house or working through contracts for her law practice and then her left hand would start to clench, curling against itself until the veins and tendons seemed to creak with the strain. Next her eyes lost their focus, pupils dilating until her blue eyes had gone black. It was like watching someone having a seizure, and he always thought this time, she'd die from it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been six at the time, and he'd never told any of his parents how much the migraines unnerved him, or how much he dreaded them, even when things seemed good." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fear had become familiar. Almost expected. It should have taken the edge off the terror, and maybe it did, but what replaced it was a sense of being trapped. The assault could come at any time, and it could not be avoided.\n\nIt poisoned everything, even if it was only a little bit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It felt like being haunted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The house always wins,\" Holden shouted.\n\nHe and the crew—Alex, Amos, Naomi—sat at a private table in the VIP lounge of Ceres' most expensive hotel. Even there, the bells, whistles, and digitized voices of the slot machines were loud enough to drown out most casual conversation. The few frequencies they weren't dominating were neatly filled in by the high-pitched clatter of the pachinko machines and the low bass rumble of a band playing on one of the casino's three stages." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All of it added up to a wall of sound that left Holden's guts vibrating and his ears ringing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What?\" Amos yelled back at him.\n\n\"In the end, the house always wins!\"\n\nAmos stared down at an enormous pile of chips in front of him. He and Alex were counting and dividing them in preparation for their next foray out to the gaming tables." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At a glance, Holden guessed they'd won something like fifteen thousand Ceres new yen in just the last hour." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made an impressive stack. If they could quit now, they'd be ahead. But, of course, they wouldn't quit now.\n\n\"Okay,\" Amos said. \"What?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden smiled and shrugged. \"Nothing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If his crew wanted to lose a few thousand bucks blowing off steam at the blackjack tables, who was he to interfere? The truth was it wouldn't even put a dent in the payout from their most recent contract, and that was only one of three contracts they'd completed in the last four months. It was going to be a very flush year.\n\nHolden had made a lot of mistakes over the last three years." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Deciding to quit his job as the OPA's bagman and become an independent contractor wasn't one of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the months since he'd put up his shingle as a freelance courier and escort ship, the Rocinante had taken seven jobs, and all of them had been profitable. They'd spent money refitting the ship bow to stern. She'd had a tough couple of years, and she'd needed some love.\n\nWhen that was done and they still had more money in their general account than they knew what to do with, Holden had asked for a crew wish list." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi had paid to have a bulkhead in their quarters cut out to join the two rooms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They now had a bed large enough for two people and plenty of room to walk around it. Alex had pointed out the difficulty in buying new military-grade torpedoes for the ship, and had requested a keel-mounted rail gun for the Roci. It would give them more punch than the point defense cannons, and its only ammunition requirements were two-pound tungsten slugs. Amos had spent thirty grand during a stopover on Callisto, buying them some after-market engine upgrades." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When Holden pointed out that the Roci was already capable of accelerating fast enough to kill her crew and asked why they'd need to upgrade her, Amos had replied, \"Because this shit is awesome.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had just nodded and smiled and paid the bill.\n\nEven after the initial giddy rush of spending, they had enough to pay themselves salaries that were five times what they'd made on the Canterbury and keep the ship in water, air, and fuel pellets for the next decade.\n\nProbably, it was temporary. There would be dry times too when no work came their way and they'd have to economize and make do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That just wasn't today." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos and Alex had finished counting their chips and were shouting to Naomi about the finer points of blackjack, trying to get her to join them at the tables. Holden waved at the waiter, who darted over to take his order. No ordering from a table screen here in the VIP lounge.\n\n\"What do you have in a scotch that came from actual grain?\" Holden asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have several Ganymede distillations,\" the waiter said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd learned the trick of being heard over the racket without straining. He smiled at Holden. \"But for the discriminating gentleman from Earth, we also have a few bottles of sixteen-year Lagavulin we keep aside.\"\n\n\"You mean, like, actual scotch from Scotland?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"From the island of Islay, to be precise,\" the waiter replied." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's twelve hundred a bottle.\"\n\n\"I want that.\"\n\n\"Yes sir, and four glasses.\" The waiter tipped his head and headed off to the bar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're going to play blackjack now,\" Naomi said, laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos was pulling a stack of chips out of his tray and pushing them across the table to her. \"Want to come?\"\n\nThe band in the next room stopped playing, and the background noise dropped to an almost tolerable level for a few seconds before someone started piping Muzak across the casino PA.\n\n\"Guys, wait a few minutes,\" Holden said. \"I've bought a bottle of something nice, and I want to have one last toast before we go our separate ways for the night.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos looked impatient right up until the bottle arrived, and then spent several seconds cooing over the label." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, okay, this was worth waiting for.\"\n\nHolden poured out a shot for each of them, then held his glass up. \"To the best ship and crew anyone has ever had the privilege of serving with, and to getting paid.\"\n\n\"To getting paid!\" Amos echoed, and then the shots disappeared." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"God damn, Cap,\" Alex said, then picked up the bottle to look it over." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can we put some of this on the Roci? You can take it out of my salary.\"\n\n\"Seconded,\" Naomi said, then took the bottle and poured out four more shots.\n\nFor a few minutes, the stacks of chips and the lure of the card tables were forgotten. Which was all Holden had wanted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just to keep these people together for a few moments longer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On every other ship he'd ever served on, hitting port was a chance to get away from the same faces for a few days. Not anymore. Not with this crew. He stifled an urge to say a maudlin, I love you guys! by drinking another shot of scotch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"One last hit for the road,\" Amos said, picking up the bottle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Gonna hit the head,\" Holden replied, and pushed away from the table. He weaved a bit more than he expected on his walk to the restroom. The scotch had gone to his brain fast.\n\nThe restrooms in the VIP lounge were lush." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No rows of urinals and sinks here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead, half a dozen doors that led to private facilities with their own toilet and sink. Holden pushed his way into one and latched it behind him. The noise level dropped almost to nothing as soon as the door closed. A little like stepping outside the world." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was probably designed that way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was glad whoever built the casino had allowed for a place of relative calm. He wouldn't have been shocked to see a slot machine over the sink.\n\nHe put one hand on the wall to steady himself while he did his business. He was mid-stream when the room brightened for a moment and the chrome handle on the toilet reflected a faint blue light." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fear hit him in the gut." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Again.\n\n\"I swear to God,\" Holden said, pausing to finish and then zip up. \"Miller, you better not be there when I turn around.\"\n\nHe turned around." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller was there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey,\" the dead man started.\n\n\"'We need to talk,'\" Holden finished for him, then walked to the sink to wash his hands. A tiny blue firefly followed him and landed on the counter. Holden smashed it with his palm, but when he lifted his hand nothing was there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the mirror, Miller's reflection shrugged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he moved, it was with a sickening jerkiness, like a clockwork ticking through its motions. Human and inhuman both.\n\n\"Everyone's here at once,\" the dead man said. \"I don't want to talk about what happened to Julie.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden pulled a towel out of the basket next to the sink, then leaned against the counter facing Miller and slowly dried his hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was trembling, the same as he always did. The sense of threat and evil was crawling up his spine, just the same way it always did. Holden hated it.\n\nDetective Miller smiled, distracted by something Holden couldn't see.\n\nThe man had worked security on Ceres, been fired, and gone off hunting on his own, searching for a missing girl." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd saved Holden's life once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had watched when the asteroid station Miller and thousands of victims of the alien protomolecule had been trapped on crashed into Venus. Including Julie Mao, the girl Miller had searched for and then found too late. For a year, the alien artifact had suffered and worked its incomprehensible design under the clouds of Venus. When it rose, hauling massive structures up from the depths and flying out past the orbit of Neptune like some titanic sea creature translated to the void, Miller rose with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And now everything he said was madness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden,\" Miller said, not talking to him. Describing him. \"Yeah, that makes sense. You're not one of them. Hey, you have to listen to me.\"\n\n\"Then you have to say something. This shit is out of hand. You've been doing your random appearing act for almost a year now, and you've never said even one thing that made sense. Not one.\"\n\nMiller waved the comment away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old man was starting to breathe faster, panting like he'd run a race." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Beads of sweat glistened on his pale, gray-tinged skin.\n\n\"So there was this unlicensed brothel down in sector eighteen. We went in thinking we'd have fifteen, twenty in the box. More, maybe. Got there, and the place was stripped to the stone. I'm supposed to think about that. It means something.\"\n\n\"What do you want from me?\" Holden said. \"Just tell me what you want, all right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not crazy,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When I'm crazy, they kill me. God, did they kill me?\" Miller's mouth formed a small O, and he began to suck air in. His lips were darkening, the blood under the skin turning black. He put a hand on Holden's shoulder, and it felt too heavy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Too solid. Like Miller had been remade with iron instead of bones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's all gone pear-shaped. We got there, but it's empty. The whole sky's empty.\"\n\n\"I don't know what that means.\"\n\nMiller leaned close. His breath smelled like acetate fumes. His eyes locked on Holden, eyebrows raised, asking him if he understood." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've got to help me,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The blood vessels in his eyes were almost black. \"They know I find things. They know you help me.\"\n\n\"You're dead,\" Holden said, the words coming out of him without consideration or planning.\n\n\"Everyone's dead,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took his hand from Holden's shoulder and turned away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Confusion troubled his brow. \"Almost. Almost.\"\n\nHolden's terminal buzzed at him, and he took it out of his pocket. Naomi had sent DID YOU FALL IN? Holden began typing out a reply, then stopped when he realized he'd have no idea what to say." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When Miller spoke, his voice was small, almost childlike with wonder and amazement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck. It happened,\" Miller said.\n\n\"What happened?\" Holden said.\n\nA door banged as someone else went into a neighboring stall, and Miller was gone. The smell of ozone and some rich organic volatiles like a spice shop gone rancid were all the evidence that he had been there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that might only have been in Holden's imagination." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden stood for a moment, waiting for the coppery taste to leave his mouth. Waiting for his heartbeat to slow back down to normal. Doing what he always did in the aftermath. When the worst had passed, he rinsed his face with cold water and dried it with a soft towel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The distant, muffled sound of the gambling decks rose to a frenzy. A jackpot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wouldn't tell them. Naomi, Alex, Amos. They deserved to have their pleasure without the thing that had been Miller intruding on it. Holden recognized that the impulse to keep it from them was irrational, but it felt so powerfully like protecting them that he didn't question it much. Whatever Miller had become, Holden was going to stand between it and the Roci." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He studied his reflection until it was perfect." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The carefree, slightly drunk captain of a successful independent ship on shore leave. Easy. Happy. He went back out to the pandemonium of the casino.\n\nFor a moment, it was like stepping back in time. The casinos on Eros." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The death box. The lights felt a little too bright, the noises sounded a little too loud." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden made his way back to the table and poured himself another shot. He could nurse this one for a while. He'd enjoy the flavor and the night. Someone behind him shrieked their laughter. Only laughter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A few minutes later, Naomi appeared, stepping out of the bustle and chaos like serenity in a female form." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The half-drunken, expansive love he'd felt earlier came back as he watched her make her way toward him. They'd shipped together on the Canterbury for years before he'd found himself falling in love with her. Looking back, every morning he'd woken up with someone else had been a lost opportunity to breathe Naomi's air. He couldn't imagine what he'd been thinking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He shifted to the side, making room for her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They cleaned you out?\" he asked.\n\n\"Alex,\" she said. \"They cleaned Alex out. I gave him my chips.\"\n\n\"You are a woman of tremendous generosity,\" he said with a grin.\n\nNaomi's dark eyes softened into a sympathetic expression." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Miller showed up again?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she asked, leaning close to be heard over the noise.\n\n\"It's a little unsettling how easily you see through me.\"\n\n\"You're pretty legible. And this wouldn't be Miller's first bathroom ambush. Did he make any more sense this time?\"\n\n\"No,\" Holden said. \"He's like talking to an electrical problem. Half the time I'm not sure he even knows I'm there.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It can't really be Miller, can it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If it's the protomolecule wearing a Miller suit, I think that's actually creepier.\"\n\n\"Fair point,\" Naomi said. \"Did he say anything new, at least?\"\n\n\"A little bit, maybe. He said something happened.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know. He just said, 'It happened,' and blinked out.\"\n\nThey sat together for a few minutes, a private silence within the riot, her fingers interlaced with his. She leaned over, kissing his right eyebrow, and then pulled him up off the chair.\n\n\"Come on,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where are we going?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm going to teach you how to play poker,\" she said.\n\n\"I know how to play poker.\"\n\n\"You think you do,\" she said.\n\n\"Are you calling me a fish?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled and tugged at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden shook his head. \"If you want to, let's go back to the ship. We can get a few people together and have a private game. It doesn't make sense to do it here. The house always wins.\"\n\n\"We aren't here to win,\" Naomi said, and the seriousness in her voice made the words carry more than the obvious meaning. \"We're here to play.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The news came two days later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was in the galley, eating takeout from one of the dockside restaurants: garlic sauce over rice, three kinds of legumes, and something so similar to chicken, it might as well have been the real thing. Amos and Naomi were overseeing the loading of nutrients and filters for the air recycling systems. Alex, in the pilot's seat, was asleep. On the other ships Holden had served aboard, having the full crew back on ship before departure required it was almost unheard of, and they'd all spent a couple of nights in dockside hotels before they'd come home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But they were home now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden ran through the local feeds on his hand terminal, sipping news and entertainment from throughout the system. A security flaw in the new Bandao Solice game meant that financial and personal information from six million people had been captured on a pirate server orbiting Titan. Martian military experts were calling for increased spending to address the losses suffered in the battle around Ganymede. On Earth, an African farming coalition was defying the ban on a nitrogen-fixing strain of bacteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Protesters on both sides of the issue were taking to the streets in Cairo." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden was flipping back and forth, letting his mind float on the surface of the information, when a red band appeared on one of the newsfeeds. And then another. And then another. The image above the article chilled his blood. The Ring, they called it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gigantic alien structure that had left Venus and traveled to a point a little less than 2 AU outside Uranus' orbit, then stopped and assembled itself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden read the news carefully as dread pulled at his gut. When he looked up, Naomi and Amos were in the doorway. Amos had his own hand terminal out. Holden saw the same red bands on that display." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You seen this, Cap'n?\" Amos asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Some mad bastard tried to shoot the Ring.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\nEven with the distance between Ceres and the Ring, the vast empty ocean of space, the news that some idiot's cheapjack ship had gone in one side of the alien structure and hadn't come out the other should have only taken about five hours." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Carlos c de Baca—Bull to his friends—didn't like Captain Ashford. Never had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The captain was one of those guys who'd sneer without moving his mouth. Before Ashford joined up with the OPA full-time, he'd gotten a degree in math from the Lunar Campus of Boston University, and he never let anyone forget it. It was like because he had a degree from an Earth university, he was better than other Belters. Not that he wouldn't be happy to bad-mouth guys like Bull or Fred who really had grown up down the well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford wasn't one thing or another." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The way he latched on to whatever seemed like it made him the big man—education, association with Earth, growing up in the Belt—made it hard not to tease him.\n\nAnd Ashford was going to be in command of the mission.\n\n\"There's a time element too,\" Fred Johnson said.\n\nFred looked like crap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Too thin. Everyone looked too thin these days, but Fred's dark skin had taken on an ashy overtone that left Bull thinking about things like autoimmune disorders or untreated cancer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probably it was just stress, years, and malnutrition. Same thing that got everyone if nothing else did. Point of fact, Bull was looking a little gray around the temples too, and he didn't like the crap LEDs that were supposed to mimic sunlight. That he was still darker than an eggshell had more to do with a nut-brown Mexican mother than anything ultraviolet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been out in the dark since he was twenty-two." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was over forty now. And Fred, his superior officer under two different governments, was older than he was.\n\nThe construction gantry sloped out ahead of them, the flexible walls shining like snake scales. There was a constant low-level whine, the vibrations of the construction equipment carried along the flesh of the station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The spin gravity here was a little less than the standard one-third g on Tycho Station proper, and Ashford was making a little show of speeding up and then slowing down for the Earthers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull slowed his own steps down just a little to make the man wait longer.\n\n\"Time element? What's that look like, Colonel?\" Ashford asked.\n\n\"Not as bad as it could be,\" Fred said. \"The Ring hasn't made any apparent changes since the big one during the incident. No one else has gone through, and nothing's come out. People have backed down from filling their pants to just high alert. Mars is approaching this as a strictly military and scientific issue. They've got half a dozen science vessels on high burn already.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How much escort?\" Bull asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"One destroyer, three frigates,\" Fred said. \"Earth is moving slower, but larger. They've got elections coming up next year, and the secretary-general's been catching hell about turning a blind eye to rogue corporate entities.\"\n\n\"Wonder why,\" Bull said dryly. Even Ashford smiled. Between Protogen and Mao-Kwikowski, the order and stability of the solar system had pretty much been dropped in a blender." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eros Station was gone, taken over by an alien technology and crashed into Venus." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ganymede was producing less than a quarter of its previous food output, leaving every population center in the outer planets relying on backup agricultural sources. The Earth-Mars alliance was the kind of quaint memory someone's grandpa might talk about after too much beer. The good old days, before it all went to hell.\n\n\"He's putting on a show,\" Fred went on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Media. Religious leaders. Poets. Artists. They're hauling them all out to the Ring so that every feed he can reach is pointed away from him.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Typical,\" Ashford said, then didn't elaborate. Typical for a politician. Typical for an Earther. \"What are we looking at out there?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gantry sang for a moment, an accident of harmonics setting it ringing and shaking until industrial dampers kicked in and killed the vibration before it reached the point of doing damage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All we've confirmed is that some idiot flew through the Ring at high ballistic speeds and didn't come out the other side,\" Fred said, moving his hands in the physical shrug of a Belter. \"Now there's some kind of physical anomaly in the Ring. Could be that the idiot kid's ship got eaten by the Ring and converted into something. The ring sprayed a lot of gamma and X-rays, but not enough to account for the mass of the ship. Could be that he broke it. Could be that it opened a gate, and there's a bunch of little green men in saucers about to roll through and make the solar system into a truck stop.\"\n\n\"What—\" Bull began, but Ashford talked over him.\n\n\"Any response from Venus?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Nothing,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Venus was dead. For years after a corrupted Eros Station fell through its clouds, all human eyes had turned to that planet, watching as the alien protomolecule struggled in the violence and heat. Crystal towers kilometers high rose and fell away. Networks of carbon fibers laced the planet and degraded to nothing. The weapon had been meant to hijack simple life on Earth, billions of years before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Instead, it had the complex ecosystem of human bodies and the structures to sustain them in the toxic oven of Venus." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it had taken longer to carry out its plan. Maybe having complex life to work with had made things easier. Everything pointed to it being finished with Venus. And all that really mattered was it had launched a self-assembling ring in the emptiness outside the orbit of Uranus that sat there dead as a stone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Until now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What are we supposed to do about it?\" Bull asked. \"No offense, but we don't got the best science vessels. And Earth and Mars blew the crap out of each other over Ganymede.\"\n\n\"Be there,\" Fred said. \"If Earth and Mars send their ships, we send ours. If they put out a statement, we put out one of our own. If they lay a claim on the Ring, we counterclaim. What we've done to make the outer planets into a viable political force has reaped real benefits, but if we start letting them lead, it could all evaporate.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We planning to shoot anybody?\" Bull asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hopefully it won't come to that,\" Fred said.\n\nThe gantry's gentle upward slope brought them to a platform arch. In the star-strewn blackness, a great plain of steel and ceramic curved away above them, lit by a thousand lights. Looking out at it was like seeing a landscape—this was too big to be something humans had made." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was like a canyon or a mountain." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The meadow-filled caldera of some dead volcano. The scale alone made it impossible to see her as a ship. But she was. The construction mechs crawling along her side were bigger than the house Bull had lived in as a boy, but they looked like football players on a distant field. The long, thin line of the keel elevator stretched along the body of the drum to shuttle personnel from engineering at one end to ops at the other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The secondary car, stored on the exterior, could hold a dozen people." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It looked like a grain of salt. The soft curve was studded with turreted rail guns and the rough, angry extrusions of torpedo tubes.\n\nOnce, she'd been the Nauvoo. A generation ship headed to the stars carrying a load of devout Mormons with only an engineered ecosystem and an unshakable faith in God's grace to see them through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now she was the Behemoth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The biggest, baddest weapons platform in the solar system. Four Donnager-class battleships would fit in her belly and not touch the walls. She could accelerate magnetic rounds to a measurable fraction of c. She could hold more nuclear torpedoes than the Outer Planets Alliance actually had. Her communications laser was powerful enough to burn through steel if they gave it enough time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Apart from painting teeth on her and welding on an apartment building–sized sharkfin, nothing could have been more clearly or effectively built to intimidate." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which was good, because she was a retrofitted piece of crap, and if they ever got in a real fight, they were boned. Bull slid a glance at Ashford. The captain's chin was tilted high and his eyes were bright with pride. Bull sucked his teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The last threads of weight let go as the platform and gantry matched to the stillness of the Behemoth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of the distant construction mechs burst into a sun-white flare as the welding started.\n\n\"How long before we take her out?\" Ashford asked.\n\n\"Three days,\" Fred said.\n\n\"Engineering report said the ship'll be ready in about ten,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We planning to work on her while we're flying?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That was the intention,\" Fred said.\n\n\"Because we could wait another few days here, do the work in dock, and burn a little harder going out, get the same arrival.\"\n\nThe silence was uncomfortable. Bull had known it would be, but it had to be said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The crew's comfort and morale need as much support as the ship,\" Fred said, diplomacy changing the shapes of the words." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull had known him long enough to hear it. The Belters don't want a hard burn. \"Besides which, it's easier to get the in-transit work done in lower g. It's all been min-maxed, Bull. You ship out in three.\"\n\n\"Is that a problem?\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull pulled the goofy grin he used when he wanted to tell the truth and not get in trouble for it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're heading out to throw gang signs at Earth and Mars while the Ring does a bunch of scary alien mystery stuff. We've got a crew that's never worked together, a ship that's half salvage, and not enough time to shake it all down. Sure it's a problem, but it's not one we can fix, so we'll do it anyway. Worst can happen is we'll all die.\"\n\n\"Cheerful thought,\" Ashford said. The disapproval dripped off him. Bull's grin widened and he shrugged." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Going to happen sooner or later.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull's quarters on Tycho Station were luxurious. Four rooms, high ceilings, a private head with an actual water supply. Even as a kid back on Earth, he hadn't lived this well. He'd spent his childhood in a housing complex in the New Mexican Shared Interest Zone, living with his parents, grandmother, two uncles, three aunts, and about a thousand cousins, seemed like." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he turned sixteen and declined to go on basic, he'd headed south to Alamogordo and worked his two-year service stripping down ancient solar electricity stations from the bad old days before fusion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd shared a dorm with ten other guys. He could still picture them, the way they'd been back then, all skinny and muscled with their shirts off or tied around their heads. He could still feel the New Mexican sun pressing against his chest like a hand as he basked in the radiation and heat of an uncontrolled fusion reaction, protected only by distance and the wide blue sky.\n\nWhen his two-year stint was up, he tried tech school, but he'd gotten distracted by hormones and alcohol." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Once he'd dropped out, his choices were pretty much just the military or basic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd chosen the one that felt less like death. In the Marines, he'd never had a bunk larger than the front room of his Tycho Station quarters. He hadn't even had a place that was really his own until he mustered out. Ceres Station hadn't been a good place for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hole he'd taken had been up near the center of spin, low g and high Coriolis." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hadn't been much more than a place to go sleep off last night's drunk, but it had been his. The bare, polished-stone walls, the ship surplus bed with restraining straps for low g. Some previous owner had chiseled the words BESSO O NADIE into the wall. It was Belter cant for better or nothing. He hadn't known it was a political slogan at the time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The things he'd gotten since coming to Tycho Station—the frame cycling through a dozen good family pictures from Earth, the tin Santos candleholder that his ex-girlfriend hadn't taken when she left, the civilian clothes—would have filled his old place on Ceres and not left room for him to sleep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had too much stuff. He needed to pare it down.\n\nBut not for this assignment. The XO's suite on the Behemoth was bigger." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The system chimed, letting him know someone was at the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From long habit, Bull checked the video feed before he opened the door. Fred was shifting from one foot to the other. He was in civilian clothes. A white button-down and grandpa pants that tried to forgive the sag of his belly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a losing fight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fred wasn't out of shape any more than Bull was. They were just getting old.\n\n\"Hey,\" Bull said. \"Grab a chair anywhere. I'm just getting it all together.\"\n\n\"Heading over now?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Want to spend some time on the ship before we take her out,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Check for stray Mormons.\"\n\nFred looked pained.\n\n\"I'm pretty sure we got them all out the first time,\" he said, playing along. \"But it's a big place. You can look around if you want.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull opened his dresser, his fingers counting through T-shirts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had ten. There was a sign of decadence. Who needed ten T-shirts? He pulled out five and dropped them on the chair by his footlocker.\n\n\"It's going to be all kinds of hell if they get rights to the Nauvoo back,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All the changes we're making to her.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They won't,\" Fred said. \"Commandeering the ship was perfectly legal. It was an emergency. I could list you ten hours of precedent.\"\n\n\"Yeah, but then we salvaged it ourselves and called it ours,\" Bull said. \"That's like saying I've got to borrow your truck, but since I ran it into a ditch and hauled it back out, it's mine now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Law is a many-splendored thing, Bull,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He sounded tired. Something else was bothering him. Bull opened another drawer, threw half his socks into the recycler, and put the others on his T-shirts.\n\n\"Just if the judge doesn't see it that way, could be awkward,\" Bull said.\n\n\"The judges on Earth don't have jurisdiction,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And the ones in our court system are loyal to the OPA. They know the big picture. They're not going to take our biggest ship off the board and hand it back over. Worst case, they'll order compensation.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can we afford that?\"\n\n\"Not right now, no,\" Fred said.\n\nBull snorted out a little laugh. \"Ever wonder what we did wrong that got us here? You're driving one of the biggest desks in the OPA, and I'm XO to Ashford. That ain't a sign we've been living our lives right, man.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"About that,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We've had a little change of plan.\"\n\nBull opened his closet, his lips pressing thin. Fred hadn't just come to chew the fat. There was a problem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull took two suits out of the closet, both still wrapped in sticky preservative film." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He hadn't worn either one in years. They probably didn't fit.\n\n\"Ashford thought it would be better to have Michio Pa as the XO. We talked about it. I'm reassigning you as chief security officer.\"\n\n\"Third-in-command now,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What? Ashford think I was going to frag him and take his chair?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Fred leaned forward, his fingers laced. The gravity of his expression said he knew it was a crap situation but was making the best of it.\n\n\"It's all about how it looks,\" Fred said. \"This is the OPA's navy. The Behemoth is the Belt's answer to Mars' and Earth's heaviest hitters. Having an Earther on the bridge doesn't send the right message.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm in the same position. You know that. Even after all this time, I have to work twice as hard to command loyalty and respect because of where I'm from. Even the ones who like having me around because they think I make Earth look weak don't want to take orders from me. I've had to earn and re-earn every scrap of respect.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Bull said. Security officer was going to mean less time in uniform. With a sigh, he put both suits on the chair.\n\n\"I'm not saying that you haven't,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No one knows better than I do that you're the best of the best. There are just some constraints we have to live with. To get the job done.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. Fred looked up at him from under frost-colored brows.\n\n\"Sir, I been flying with you for a long time,\" Bull said. \"If you need to ask me something, you can just do it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need you to make this work,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's going on out there is the most important thing in the system, and we don't know what it is. If we embarrass ourselves or give the inner planets some critical advantage, we stand to lose a lot of ground. Ashford and Pa are good people, but they're Belters. They don't have the same experience working with Earth forces that you and I do.\"\n\n\"You think they're going to start something?\"\n\n\"No. Ashford will try his hardest to do the right thing, but he'll react like a Belter and be surprised when other people don't.\"\n\n\"Ashford has only ever done a right thing because he's afraid of being embarrassed. He's a pretty uniform surrounding vacuum. And you can't rely on that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm not,\" Fred agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sending you out there because I trust you to make it work.\"\n\n\"But you're not giving me command.\"\n\n\"But I'm not giving you command.\"\n\n\"How about a raise?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not that either,\" Fred said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, heck,\" Bull said. \"All the responsibility and none of the power? How can I turn down an offer like that?\"\n\n\"No joking. We're screwing you over, and the reasons are all optics and political bullshit. But I need you to take it.\"\n\n\"So I'll take it,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For a moment, the only sound was the quiet ticking of the air recycler." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately two sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull turned back to the task of putting his life in a footlocker again. Somewhere far above him, hidden by tons of steel and ceramic, raw stone and vacuum, Behemoth waited." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S. A. Corey would" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she walked into the gambling house, Melba felt eyes on her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The room was lit by the displays on the game decks, pink and blue and gold. Most of them were themed around sex or violence, or both. Press a button, spend your money, and watch the girls put foreign and offensive objects inside themselves while you waited to see whether you'd won. Slot machines, poker, real-time lotteries." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The men who played them exuded an atmosphere of stupidity, desperation, and an almost tangible hatred of women." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Darling,\" an immensely fat man said from behind the counter. \"Don't know where you think you come to, but you come in the wrong place. Maybe best you walk back out.\"\n\n\"I have an appointment,\" she said. \"Travin.\"\n\nThe fat man's eyes widened under their thick lids." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone in the gloom called out a vulgarity meant to unease her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It did, but she didn't let it show.\n\n\"Travin in the back, you want him, darling,\" the fat man said, nodding. At the far end of the room, through the gauntlet of leers and threat, a red metal door.\n\nAll of her instincts came from before, when she was Clarissa, and so they were all wrong now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From the time she'd been old enough to walk, she'd been trained in self-defense, but it had all been anti-kidnapping." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How to attract the attention of the authorities, how to deescalate situations with her captors. There had been other work, of course. Physical training had been part of it, but the goal had always been to break away. To run. To find help." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now that there was no one to help her, nothing quite applied." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it was what she had, so it was what she used. Melba—not Clarissa, Melba—nodded to the fat man and walked through the close-packed, dim room. The full gravity of Earth pulled on her like an illness. On one of the gambling decks, a cartoon woman was being sexually assaulted by three small gray aliens while a flying saucer floated above them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone had won a minor jackpot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba looked away. Behind her, an unseen man laughed, and she felt the skin at the back of her neck tighten.\n\nOf all her siblings, she had most enjoyed the physical training. When it ended, she began studying tai chi with the self-defense instructor. Then, when she was fourteen, her father had made a joke about it at a family gathering." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How learning to fight might make sense—he could respect that—but dancing while pretending to fight looked stupid and wasted time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd never trained again. That was ten years ago.\n\nShe opened the red door and walked through it. The office seemed almost bright." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A small desk with a built-in display tuned to a cheap accounting system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "White frosted glass that let in the sunlight but hid the streets of Baltimore. A formed plastic couch upholstered with the corporate logo of a cheap brand of beer that even people on basic could afford. Two hulking men sat on the couch. One had implanted sunglasses that made him look like an insect." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The other wore a T-shirt that strained at his steroidal shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd seen them before.\n\nTravin was at the desk, leaning his thigh against it. His hair was cut close to the scalp, a dusting of white at the temples. His beard was hardly longer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wore what passed for a good suit in his circles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Father wouldn't have worn it as a costume.\n\n\"Ah, look, the inimitable Melba.\"\n\n\"You knew I was here,\" she said. There were no chairs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No place to sit that wasn't already occupied. She stood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Course I did,\" Travin said. \"Soon as you came off the street.\"\n\n\"Are we doing business?\" she asked. Her voice cut the air. Travin grinned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His teeth were uncorrected and gray at the gums." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was an affectation of wealth, a statement that he was so powerful mere cosmesis was beneath him. She felt a hot rush of scorn. He was like an old cargo cultist; imitating the empty displays of power and no idea what they really meant. She was reduced to dealing with him, but at least she had the grace to be embarrassed by it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's all done, miss,\" Travin said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Melba Alzbeta Koh. Born on Luna to Alscie, Becca, and Sergio Koh, all deceased. No siblings. No taxation indenture. Licensed electrochemical technician. Your new self awaits, ah?\"\n\n\"And the contract?\"\n\n\"The Cerisier ships out, civilian support for the grand mission to the Ring. Our Miss Koh, she's on it. Senior class, even. Little staff to oversee, don't have to get your hands dirty.\"\n\nTravin pulled a white plastic envelope from his pocket." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The shadow of a cheap hand terminal showed through the tissue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All here, all ready,\" he said. \"You take it and walk through the door a new woman, ah?\"\n\nMelba took her own hand terminal out of her pocket. It was smaller than the one in Travin's hand, and better made." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd miss it. She thumbed in her code, authorized the transfer, and slid it back in her pocket." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" she said. \"The money's yours. I'll take delivery.\"\n\n\"Ah, there is still one problem,\" Travin said.\n\n\"We have an agreement,\" Melba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I did my part.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And it speaks well of you,\" Travin said. \"But doing business with you? I enjoy it, I think. Exciting discoveries to be made. Creating this new you, we have to put the DNA in the tables. We have to scrub out doubled records. I think you haven't been entirely honest with me.\"\n\nShe swallowed, trying to loosen the knot in her throat. The insect-eyed man on the couch shifted, his weight making the couch squeak." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My money spends,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"As it should, as it should,\" Travin said. \"Clarissa Melpomene Mao, daughter to Jules-Pierre Mao of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile. Very interesting name.\"\n\n\"Mao-Kwikowski was nationalized when my father went to jail,\" Melba said. \"It doesn't exist anymore.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Corporate death sentence,\" Travin said as he put the envelope on the desk display." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Very sad. But not for you, ah? Rich men know money. They find ways to put it where little eyes can't find. Get it to their wives, maybe. Their daughters.\"\n\nShe crossed her arms, scowling. On the couch, the bodybuilder stifled a yawn. It might even have been genuine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She let the silence stretch not because she wanted to pressure Travin to speak next, but because she didn't know what to say." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was right, of course. Daddy had taken care of all of them as best he could. He always had. Even the persecution of the United Nations couldn't reach everything. Clarissa had had enough money to live a quiet, retiring life on Luna or Mars and die of old age before the capital ran out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But she wasn't Clarissa anymore, and Melba's situation was different." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I can give you another ten thousand,\" she said. \"That's all I've got.\"\n\nTravin smiled his gray smile.\n\n\"All that pretty money flown away, ah? And what takes you out into the darkness, eh? I wondered. So I looked. You are very, very good. Even knowing to squint, I didn't see more than shadows. Didn't hear more than echoes. But—\" He put the envelope on the desk before him, keeping one finger on it the way her brother Petyr did when he was almost sure of a chess move but hadn't brought himself to commit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a gesture of ownership." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have something no one else does. I know to look at the Ring.\"\n\n\"Ten thousand is all I have. Honestly. I've spent the rest.\"\n\n\"Would you need more, then?\" Travin asked. \"Investment capital, call it? Our little Melba can have ten thousand, if you want it. Fifty thousand if you need it. But I will want more back. Much more.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt her throat tighten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she tilted her head, the movement felt too fast, too tight. Birdlike. Scared.\n\n\"What are you talking about?\" she asked, willing her voice to sound solid. Formless threat hung in the air like bad cologne: masculine and cheap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he spoke again, false friendliness curved all of his vowels." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Partners. You are doing something big. Something with the Ring and the flotilla, ah? All these people heading out in the dark to face the monsters. And you are going with them. It seems to me that such a risk means you expect a very great return. The sort one expects from a Mao. You tell me what is your plan, I help you how I can help you, and what comes your way from this, we divide.\"\n\n\"No deal.\" The words were like a reflex. They came from her spine, the decision too obvious to require her brain.\n\nTravin pulled back the envelope, the plastic hissing against the table." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The soft tutting sound of tongue against teeth was as sympathetic as it was false." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You have moved heaven and earth,\" he said. \"You have bribed. You have bought. You have arranged. And when you say that you have held nothing in reserve, I believe you. So now you come to my table and tell me no deal? No deal is no deal.\"\n\n\"I paid you.\"\n\n\"I don't care. We are partners. Full partners. Whatever you are getting from this, I am getting too. Or else there are other people, I think, who would be very interested to hear about what the infamous Mao have been so quietly doing.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The two men on the couch were paying attention to her now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their gazes were on her. She turned to look over her shoulder. The door to the gamblers' den was metal, and it was locked. The window was wide." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security wire in it was the sort that retracted if you wanted the glass to open and let the filthy breeze of the city in to soil the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The insect-eyed one stood up.\n\nHer implants were triggered by rubbing her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Two circles, counterclockwise. It was a private movement, invisible. Internal. Oddly sensual." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was almost as easy as just thinking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The suite of manufactured glands tucked in her throat and head and abdomen squeezed their little bladders empty, pouring complex chemistry into her blood. She shuddered. It felt like orgasm without the pleasure. She could feel conscience and inhibition sliding away like bad dreams. She was fully awake and alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the sounds in the room—the roar of street traffic, the muffled cacophony of the gambling decks, Travin's nasty voice—went quieter, as if the cocktail flowing into her had stuffed foam in her ears." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her muscles grew tense and tight. The taste of copper filled her mouth. Time slowed.\n\nWhat to do? What to do?\n\nThe thugs by the couch were the first threat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She moved over to them, gravity's oppressive grip forgotten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She kicked the bodybuilder in the kneecap as he rose, the little beer coaster of bone ripping free of its tendons and sliding up his thigh. His face was a cartoon of surprise and alarm. As he began to crumple, she lifted her other knee, driving it up into his descending larynx. She'd been aiming for his face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Throat just as good, she thought as the cartilage collapsed against her knee." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The insect-eyed one lunged for her. He moved quickly, his own body modified somehow. Fused muscular neurons, probably. Something to streamline the long, slow gap when the neurotransmitters floated across the synapses." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something to give him an edge when he was fighting some other thug." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His hand fastened on her shoulder, wide, hard fingers grabbing at her. She turned in toward him, dropping to pull him down. Palm strike to the inside of the elbow to break his power, then both her hands around his wrist, bending it. None of her attacks were conscious or intentional." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The movements came flowing out of a hindbrain that had been freed of restraint and given the time to plan its mayhem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was no more a martial art than a crocodile taking down a water buffalo was; just speed, strength, and a couple billion years of survival instinct unleashed. Her tai chi instructor would have looked away in embarrassment.\n\nThe bodybuilder sloped down to the floor, blood pouring from his mouth. The insect-eyed man pulled away from her, which was the wrong thing to do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hugged his locked joints close to her body and swung from her hips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was bigger than she was, had lived in the gravity well all his life. He buffed up with steroids and his own cheap augmentations. She didn't need to be stronger than him, though. Just stronger than the little bones in his wrist and elbow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He broke, dropping to his knee." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba—not Clarissa—swung around him, sliding her right arm around his neck, then locking it with the left, protecting her own head from the thrashing that was about to come. She didn't need to be stronger than him, just stronger than the soft arteries that carried blood to his brain.\n\nTravin's gun fired, gouging a hole in the couch. The little puff of foam was like a sponge exploding." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No time. She shrieked, pulling the power of the scream into her arms, her shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt the insect-eyed man's neck snap. Travin fired again. If he hit her, she'd die. She felt no fear, though. It had been locked away where she couldn't experience it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That would come soon. Very soon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had to be done quickly.\n\nHe should have tried for a third bullet. It was the smart thing. The wise one. He was neither smart nor wise." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He did what his body told him to and tried to get away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was a monkey, and millions of years of evolution told him to flee from the predator. He didn't have time for another mistake. She felt another scream growing in her throat.\n\nTime skipped. Her fingers were wrapped around Travin's neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been driving his skull into the corner of his desk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was blood and scalp adhering to it. She pushed again, but he was heavy. There was no force behind her blow. She dropped him, and he fell to the floor moaning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Moaning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alive, she thought. The fear was back now, and the first presentiment of nausea. He was still alive. He couldn't still be alive when the crash came. He'd had a gun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had to find what had happened to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With fingers quickly growing numb, she pulled the little pistol from under him.\n\n\"Partners,\" she said, and fired two rounds into his head. Even over the gambling decks, they had to have heard it. She forced herself to the metal door and checked the lock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was bolted. Unless someone had a key or cut through it, she was all right. She could rest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They wouldn't call the police. She hoped they wouldn't call the police.\n\nShe slid to the floor. Sweat poured down her face and she began shaking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It seemed unfair that she'd lose time during the glorious and redemptive violence and have to fight to stay conscious through the physiological crash that followed, but she couldn't afford to sleep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not here. She hugged her knees to her chest, sobbing not because she felt sorrow or fear, but because it was what her flesh did when she was coming down. Someone was knocking at the door, but the sound was uncertain. Tentative. Just a few minutes, and she'd be... not all right. Not that. But good enough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just a few minutes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This was why glandular modification had never taken root in the military culture. A squad of soldiers without hesitation or doubt, so full of adrenaline they could tear their own muscles and not care, might win battles. But the same fighters curled up and mewling for five minutes afterward would lose them again. It was a failed technology, but not an unavailable one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Enough money, enough favors to call in, and enough men of science who had been cured of conscience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was easy. The easiest part of her plan, really.\n\nHer sobs intensified, shifted. The vomiting started. She knew from experience that it wouldn't last long. Between retching, she watched the bodybuilder's chest heaving for air through his ruined throat, but he was already gone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The smell of blood and puke thickened the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba caught her breath, wiping the back of her hand against her lips. Her sinuses ached, and she didn't know if it was from the retching or the false glands that lay in that tender flesh. It didn't matter.\n\nThe knocking at the door was more desperate now. She could make out the voice of the fat man by the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No more time. She took the plastic envelope and shoved it in her pocket." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba Alzbeta Koh crawled out the window and dropped to the street. She stank. There was blood on her hands. She was trembling with every step. The dim sunlight hurt, and she used the shadows of her hands to hide from it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In this part of Baltimore, a thousand people could see her and not have seen anything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The blanket of anonymity that the drug dealers and pimps and slavers arranged and enforced also protected her.\n\nShe'd be okay. She'd made it. The last tool was in place, and all she had to do was get to her hotel, drink something to put her electrolytes back in balance, and sleep a little. And then, in a few days, report for duty on the Cerisier and begin her long journey out to the edge of the solar system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holding her spine straight, walking down the street, avoiding people's eyes, the dozen blocks to her room seemed longer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But she would do it. She would do whatever had to be done.\n\nShe had been Clarissa Melpomene Mao. Her family had controlled the fates of cities, colonies, and planets." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And now Father sat in an anonymous prison, barred from speaking with anyone besides his lawyer, living out his days in disgrace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her mother lived in a private compound on Luna slowly medicating herself to death. The siblings—the ones that were still alive—had scattered to whatever shelter they could find from the hatred of two worlds. Once, her family's name had been written in starlight and blood, and now they'd been made to seem like villains. They'd been destroyed.\n\nShe could make it right, though." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with 4 sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Annushka Volovodov, Pastor Anna to her congregation on Europa—or Reverend Doctor Volovodov to people she didn't like—was sitting in the high-backed leather chair in her office when the wife beater arrived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nicholas,\" she said, trying to put as much warmth into her voice as she could manage. \"Thank you for taking the time.\"\n\n\"Nick,\" he said, then sat on one of the metal chairs in front of her desk. The metal chairs were lower than her own, which gave the room a vaguely courtroom-like setting, with her in the position of judge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was why she never sat behind the desk when meeting with one of her parishioners." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a comfortable couch along the back wall that was much better for personal conversations and counseling. But every now and then, the air of authority the big chair and heavy desk gave her was useful.\n\nLike now.\n\n\"Nick,\" she said, then pressed her fingertips together and rested her chin on them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sophia came to see me this morning.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nick shrugged, looking away like a schoolboy caught cheating on an exam. He was a tall man, with the narrow, raw-boned look outer planets types got from hard physical labor. Anna knew he worked in surface construction. Here on Europa, that meant long days in a heavy vacuum suit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The people who did that job were as tough as nails." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nick had the attitude of a man who knew how he looked to others, and used his air of physical competence to intimidate.\n\nAnna smiled at him. It won't work on me.\n\n\"She wouldn't tell me what happened at first,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It took a while to get her to lift her shirt. I didn't need to see the bruises, I knew they'd be there. But I did need pictures.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she said pictures, he leaned forward, his eyes narrowing and shifting from side to side. He probably thought it made him look tough, threatening. Instead it made him look like a rodent.\n\n\"She fell—\" he started." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"In the kitchen,\" Anna finished for him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know, she told me. And then she cried for a very long time. And then she told me you'd started hitting her again. Do you remember what I said would happen if you hit her again?\"\n\nNick shifted in his chair, his long legs bouncing in front of him with nervous energy. His large, bony hands squeezing each other until the knuckles turned white. He wouldn't look directly at her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I didn't mean to,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It just happened. I could try the counseling again, I guess.\"\n\nAnna cleared her throat, and when he looked at her she stared back until his legs stopped bouncing. \"No, too late. We gave you the anger counseling. The church paid for you to go right up until you quit. We did that part. That part is done.\"\n\nHis expression went hard." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Gonna give me one of those Jesus speeches? I am sick right up to here\"—Nick held his hand under his chin—\"with that shit. Sophia won't shut up about it. 'Pastor Anna says!' You know what? Fuck what Pastor fucking Anna says.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Anna said. \"No Jesus speeches. We're done with that too.\"\n\n\"Then what are we doing here?\"\n\n\"Do you,\" she said, drawing the words out, \"remember what I said would happen if you hit her again?\"\n\nHe shrugged again, then pushed up out of the chair and walked away, putting his back to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "While pretending to stare at one of the diplomas hanging on the wall he said, \"Why should I give a fuck what you say, Pastor Anna?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Preparing for this meeting, she'd been unsure if she'd actually be able to do what was needed. She had a strong, visceral dislike of dishonesty, and she was about to destroy someone by lying. Or if not lying, at least deceit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She justified it to herself by believing that the real purpose was to save someone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But she knew that wouldn't be enough. She'd pay for what she was about to do for a long time in sleepless nights and second-guessing. At least his anger would make it easy in the short term.\n\nAnna offered a quick prayer: Please help me save Sophia from this man who's going to kill her if I don't stop him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I said,\" Anna continued at Nick's back, \"that I would make sure you went to jail for it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nick turned around at that, a rodent's low cunning back on his face. \"Oh yeah?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nHe moved toward her in the low-gravity version of a saunter. It was intended to look threatening, but to Anna, who'd grown up down the well on Earth, it just looked silly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She suppressed a laugh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sophia won't say shit,\" Nick said, walking up to her desk to stare down at her. \"She knows better. She fell down in the kitchen, and she'll say it to the magistrates.\"\n\n\"That's true,\" Anna said, then opened the drawer of her desk and took the taser out. She held it in her lap where Nick couldn't see it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She's terrified of you. But I'm not. I don't care about you at all anymore.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is that right?\" Nick said, leaning forward, trying to frighten her by pushing into her personal space. Anna leaned toward him.\n\n\"But Sophia is a member of this congregation, and she is my friend. Her children play with my daughter. I love them. And if I don't do something, you're going to kill her.\"\n\n\"Like what?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm going to call the police and tell them you threatened me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She reached for her desk terminal with her left hand. It was a gesture meant to provoke. She might as well have said, Stop me.\n\nHe gave her a feral grin and grabbed her arm, squeezing the bones in her wrist together hard enough to ache." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hard enough to bruise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She pointed the taser at him with her other hand.\n\n\"What's that?\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" she said, \"for making this easier.\"\n\nShe shot him, and he drifted to the ground spasming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt a faint echo of the shock through his hand on her arm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made her hair stand up. She pulled up her desk terminal and called Sophia.\n\n\"Sophia, honey, this is Pastor Anna. Please listen to me. The police are going to be coming to your house soon to ask about Nick. You need to show them the bruises. You need to tell them what happened. Nick will already be in jail. You'll be safe. But Nick confronted me when I asked him about what happened to you, and if you want to keep us both safe, you need to be honest with them.\"\n\nAfter a few minutes of coaxing, she finally got Sophia to say she would talk to the police when they came." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nick was starting to move his arms and legs feebly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Don't move,\" Anna said to him. \"We're almost done here.\"\n\nShe called the New Dolinsk Police Department. The Earth corporation that had once had the contract was gone, but there still seemed to be police in the tunnels, so someone had picked it up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe a Belter company." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or the OPA itself. It didn't matter.\n\n\"Hello, my name is Reverend Doctor Annushka Volovodov. I'm the pastor at St. John's United. I'm calling to report an assault on my person. A man named Nicholas Trubachev tried to attack me when I confronted him about beating his wife. No, he didn't hurt me, just a few bruises on my wrist. I had a taser in my desk and used it before he could do anything worse. Yes, I'd be happy to give a statement when you arrive. Thank you.\"\n\n\"Bitch,\" Nick spat, trying to get off the floor on shaky limbs.\n\nAnna shot him again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Tough day?\" Nono asked when Anna finally got home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nono was dandling their daughter on her lap, and little Nami gave a squeal and reached for Anna as soon as she closed the door behind her.\n\n\"How's my girl?\" Anna said, and dropped onto the couch next to them with a long sigh. Nono handed the baby to her, and Nami immediately set about undoing Anna's bun and trying to pull her hair. Anna squeezed her daughter and took a long sniff off the top of her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The subtle and powerful scent Nami had given off when they'd first brought her home had faded, but a faint trace of it was still there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scientists might claim that humans lacked the ability to interact at the pheromonal level, but Anna knew that was baloney. Whatever chemicals Nami had been pumping out as a newborn were the most powerful drug Anna had ever experienced. It made her want to have another child just to smell it again.\n\n\"Namono, no hair pulling,\" Nono said, trying to untwist Anna's long red hair from the baby's fist." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't want to talk about it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she said to Anna.\n\nNono's full name was Namono too. But she'd been Nono ever since her older twin had been able to speak. When Anna and Nono named their daughter after her, the name had somehow morphed into Nami." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Most people probably had no idea the baby was named after one of her mothers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Eventually, yes,\" Anna said. \"But I need baby time first.\"\n\nShe kissed Nami on her pug nose. The same broad flat nose as Nono, just below Anna's own bright green eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had Nono's coffee-colored skin, but Anna's sharp chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna could sit and stare at Nami for hours at a time, drinking in the astonishing melding of herself and the woman she loved. The experience was so powerful it bordered on the sacred. Nami stuck a lock of Anna's hair in her mouth, and Anna gently pulled it back out again, then blew a raspberry at her. \"No eating the hair!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "she said, and Nami laughed as though this was the funniest thing ever spoken." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nono took Anna's hand and held it tightly. They didn't move for a long time.\n\nNono was cooking mushrooms and rice. She'd put some reconstituted onion in with it, and the strong scent filled the kitchen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna cut up apples at the table for a salad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The apples were small and not very crisp. Not good for munching, but they'd be fine in a Waldorf with enough other flavors and textures to hide their imperfections. And they were lucky to have them at all. The fruit was part of the first harvest to come off of Ganymede since the troubles there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna didn't like to think how hungry everyone would be without that moon's remarkable recovery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nami will be asleep for at least another hour,\" Nono said. \"Are you ready to talk about your day?\"\n\n\"I hurt someone and I lied to the police today,\" Anna said. She pushed too hard on the knife and it slipped through the soft apple and scored her thumb." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't deep enough to bleed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well... okay, you'll have to explain that,\" Nono said, stirring a small bowl of broth into her rice and mushroom mix.\n\n\"No, I really can't. Some of what I know was told in confidence.\"\n\n\"This lie you told, it was to help someone?\"\n\n\"I think so. I hope so,\" Anna said, putting the last bits of apple in the bowl, then adding nuts and raisins." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She stirred in the dressing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nono stopped and turned to stare at her. \"What will you do if you get caught in the lie?\"\n\n\"Apologize,\" Anna said.\n\nNono nodded, then turned back to the pot of rice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I turned on your desk terminal today to check my mail. You were still logged in. There was a message from the United Nations about the secretary-general's humanitarian committee project. All those people who they're sending out to the Ring.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt the sharp twist of guilt. Of having been caught out at something.\n\n\"Shit,\" she said. She didn't like profanity, but some occasions demanded it. \"I haven't responded yet.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It felt like another lie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Were we going to talk about it before you decided?\"\n\n\"Of course, I—\"\n\n\"Nami is almost two,\" Nono said. \"We've been here two years. At some point, deciding to stay is deciding who Nami is going to be for the rest of her life. She has family in Russia and Uganda who've never seen her. If she stays here much longer, they never will.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nami was being fed the same drug cocktail all newborns in the outer planets received." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It encouraged bone growth and fought off the worst of the effects low-gravity environments had on childhood development. But Nono was right. If they stayed much longer, Nami would begin to develop the long, thin frame that came with life out there. To life in low gravity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna would be sentencing her to a life outside her home world forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Europa was always supposed to be temporary,\" Anna said. \"It was a good posting. I speak Russian, the congregation here is small and fragile...\"\n\nNono turned off the stove and came to sit by her, holding her hand on the table. For the first time, the faux wood tabletop looked cheap to Anna." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tacky. She saw with startling clarity a future in which Nami never lived anywhere with real wood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It felt like a punch to the stomach.\n\n\"I'm not mad at you for coming here,\" Nono said. \"This was our dream. Coming to places like this. But when you asked for the transfer out here, you were three months pregnant.\"\n\n\"I was so unlikely to be chosen,\" Anna said, and she could hear the defensiveness in her own voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nono nodded. \"But you were chosen. And this thing for the UN. Flying out to the Ring as part of the secretary-general's advisory group. And our baby not even two.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I think two hundred people signed up for the same slot,\" Anna said.\n\n\"They chose you. They want you to go.\"\n\n\"It was so unlikely—\" Anna started.\n\n\"They always choose you,\" Nono interrupted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because you are very special. Everyone can see it. I can see it. I saw it the first time I met you, giving your speech at the faith conference in Uganda. So nervous you dropped your notes, but I could've heard a pin drop in that auditorium. You couldn't help but shine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I stole you from your country,\" Anna said. It was what she always said when Nono brought up how they met. \"The Ugandan church could have used a young minister like you.\"\n\n\"I stole you,\" Nono said, like she always said, only this time it had a disconcertingly pro forma feel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As though it were an annoying ritual to be rushed through." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But you always say this. 'There were so many others. I was so unlikely to be picked.'\"\n\n\"It's true.\"\n\n\"It's the excuse you use. You've always been one to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.\"\n\n\"I won't go,\" Anna said, pushing her hand against her eyes and the tears that threatened there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her elbow banged into the salad bowl, nearly knocking it off the table." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I haven't said yes to them. I'll tell them it was a mistake.\"\n\n\"Annushka,\" Nono said, squeezing her hand. \"You will go. But I am taking Nami back to Moscow with me. She can meet her grandparents. Grow up in real gravity.\"\n\nAnna felt a white-hot spike of fear shoot through her stomach. \"You're leaving me?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nono's smile was a mix of exasperation and love." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No. You're leaving us. For a little while. And when you come back, we will be waiting for you in Moscow. Your family. I will find us a nice place to live there, and Nami and I will make it a home. A place where we can be happy. But we will not go with you.\"\n\n\"Why?\" was all Anna could think to say.\n\nNono got up and took two plates out of the cupboard, then dished up dinner and put it on the table. As she spooned Waldorf salad onto her plate she said, \"I'm very afraid of that thing. The thing from Venus. I'm afraid of what it will mean for everything we care about. Humanity, God, our place in His universe. I'm afraid of what it will do, of course, but much more afraid of what it means.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am too,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the truth. In fact, it was part of the reason she'd asked to join the expedition when she heard it was being assembled. That same fear Nono was talking about. Anna wanted to look it in the eye." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Give God a chance to help her understand it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Only then could she help anyone else with it.\n\n\"So go find the answers,\" Nono said. \"Your family will be waiting for you when you get back.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Anna said, a little awed by what Nono was offering her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think,\" Nono said around a mouthful of mushrooms and rice, \"that maybe they will need people like you out there.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately two sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Like me?\"\n\n\"People who don't ask permission.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like James S. A. Corey and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It's not in the budget,\" Michio Pa, executive officer of the Behemoth, said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she'd been an Earther, she would have been a small woman, but a lifetime in microgravity had changed her the way it did all of them. Her arms, legs, and spine were all slightly elongated—not thin exactly. Just put together differently. Her head was larger than it would have been, and walking in the mild one-third-g thrust gravity, she stood as tall as Bull but still seemed perversely childlike." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It made him feel shorter than he was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We might need to adjust that,\" he said. \"When they put in the rail gun, they were treating it like we had standard bulkheads and supports. Thing is, the Mormons were really trying to cut back on mass. They used a lot of ceramics and silicates where the metals usually go. Directional stuff. We fire a round right now, we could shear the skin off.\"\n\nPa walked down the long, curving corridor. The ceiling arched above her, white and easily twice as high as required, an aesthetic gesture by designers who hadn't known they were building a warship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her stride a little wider than his, moving a little more comfortably in the low g and making him trot slightly to keep up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was one of a thousand small ways Belters reminded earthborn men and women that they didn't belong here. The XO shook her head.\n\n\"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.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Privately, Bull thought the same thing, but with a different inflection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he'd been XO, the operational plan would have been called a suggested guideline and only opened when he wanted a good laugh. Pa probably knew that. They reached the transit ramp, a softly sloping curve that led from the command and control levels at the head of the Behemoth down to the massive drum of her body. From Pa's domain to his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Look,\" Pa said, her mouth twitching into a conciliatory smile, \"I'll make note of it for the refit, but I'm not going to start reallocating until I have an idea of the big picture. I mean, if I start pulling resources out of environmental control to cover this, and next week we find something that needs doing there, I'll just be pushing it back, right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull looked down the ramp. Soft lights recessed in the walls filled the air with a shadowless glow like a cheesy vision of heaven. Pa put her hand on his shoulder. She probably meant it to be sympathetic, but it felt like condescension." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, okay,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It'll be all right, chief,\" she said, giving his trapezius a little squeeze. He nodded and walked down the ramp to the transfer platform. Her footsteps vanished behind him, submerging in the hum of air recyclers. Bull fought the urge to spit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Behemoth, back when she'd been the Nauvoo, had been built with a different life in mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Most ships built for travel between the planets were like massive buildings, one floor above another with the thrust of the Epstein drive at the bottom providing the feeling of weight for whole voyages apart from a few hours in the middle when the ship flipped around to change from acceleration to slowing down. But Epstein or not, no ship could afford the power requirements or the heat generated by accelerating forever. Plus, Einstein had a thing or two to say about trying to move mass at relativistic speeds. The Nauvoo had been a generation ship, its journey measured in light-years rather than light-minutes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The percentage of its life span it could afford to spend under thrust was tiny by comparison." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The command and control at the top of the ship and the main engines and the associated parts of engineering at the bottom could almost have belonged to a standard craft connected by a pair of kilometers-long shafts, one for a keel elevator to move people and another that gave access to the skin of the drum.\n\nEverything else was built to spin.\n\nFor the centuries out to Tau Ceti, the body of the Nauvoo was meant to turn. Ten levels of environmental engineering, crew quarters, temples, schools, wastewater treatment, machine shops, and forges, and at the center, the vast interior." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would have been a piece of Earth curved back on itself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Soil and farmland and the illusion of open air with a central core of fusion-driven light and heat as gentle and warm as a summer day.\n\nAll the rooms and corridors in the body section—the vast majority of the ship—were built with that long, slow, endless season in mind. The brief periods of acceleration and deceleration at the journey's ends hardly mattered. Except that they were all the ship had now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Those places that should have been floors were all walls, and would be forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The vast reinforced decks meant to carry a tiny world's worth of soil were the sides of a nearly unusable well. Someone slipping from the connection where the command and control levels met the great chamber could fall for nearly two full kilometers. Water systems built to take advantage of spin gravity and Coriolis stood on their sides, useless. The Nauvoo had been a marvel of human optimism and engineering, a statement of faith in the twinned powers of God and rigorous engineering." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Behemoth was a salvage job with mass accelerators strapped to her side that would do more damage to herself than to an enemy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And Bull wasn't even allowed to fix the problems he knew about.\n\nHe passed through the transfer station and down toward his office. The rooms and corridors here were all built aslant, waiting for the spin gravity that would never come. Stretches of bare metal and exposed ducting spoke of the rush to finish it, and then to salvage and remake it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just walking past them left Bull depressed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Samara Rosenberg, longtime repair honcho on Tycho Station and now chief engineer on the Behemoth, was waiting in the anteroom, talking with Bull's new deputy. Serge, his name was, and Bull wasn't sure what he thought of the man. Serge had been part of the OPA before that was a safe thing to be. He had the traditional split circle insignia tattooed on his neck and wore it proudly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But like the rest of the security force, he'd been recruited by Michio Pa, and Bull didn't know exactly how things stood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't trust the man yet, and distrust kept him from thinking all that well of him.\n\nSam, on the other hand, he liked.\n\n\"Hey, Bull,\" she said as he dropped onto the foam-core couch. \"Did you get a chance to talk to the XO?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We talked,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's the plan?\" Sam said, folding her arms in a way that meant she already knew.\n\nBull ran a hand through his hair. When he'd been younger, his hair had been soft. Now it was like he could feel each strand individually against his fingertips." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He pulled out his hand terminal and scrolled through." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were five reports waiting, three routine security reports and two occasionals—an injury report and a larceny complaint. Nothing that couldn't wait.\n\n\"Hey, Serge,\" Bull said. \"You hold the fort here for an hour?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Anything you want, chief,\" Serge said with a grin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was probably just paranoia that left Bull hearing contempt in the words.\n\n\"All right, then. Come on, Sam. I'll buy you a drink.\"\n\nIn a Coalition ship, back when there'd been an Earth-Mars Coalition, there would have been a commissary. In the OPA, there was a bar and a couple mom-and-pop restaurants along with a bare-bones keep-you-alive supply of prepack meals that anyone could get for the asking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The bar was in a wide space that might have been meant for a gymnasium or a ball court, big enough for a hundred people but Bull hadn't seen it with more than a couple dozen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lighting had been swapped out for blue-and-white LEDs set behind sand-textured plastic. The tables were flat black and magnetized to hold the bulbs of beer and liquor to them. Nothing was served in glasses.\n\n\"Che-che!\" the bartender called as Bull and Sam stepped through the door. \"Moergen! Alles-mesa, you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Meh-ya,\" Sam replied, as comfortable with the mishmash Belter patois as Bull was with Spanish or English." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was her native tongue.\n\n\"What're you having?\" Bull asked as he slid into one of the booths. He liked the ones where he could see the door. It was an old habit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm on duty,\" she said, sitting across from him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull leaned forward, catching the barkeep's eye, and held up two fingers.\n\n\"Lemonades,\" he said.\n\n\"Sa sa!\" the barkeep replied, lifting a fist in the equivalent of a nod. Bull sat back and looked at Sam." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was a pretty enough woman." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cute, with pixie-cut hair and a quick smile. There had been about a minute when they'd first met that Bull had seriously considered whether he found her attractive. But if he'd seen the same calculus in her, they'd gotten past it.\n\n\"Didn't go so good?\" Sam asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam lifted her eyebrows and leaned her elbows against the tabletop. He sketched out Pa's objections and rationale, and Sam's expression shifted slowly into a fatalistic amusement.\n\n\"Waiting for the refit's all well and good,\" she said when he was done, \"but if we try and test-fire that bad boy, it's going to make an awfully big owie.\"\n\n\"You're sure about that?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not a hundred percent,\" she said. \"High eighties, though.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull sighed out a tired obscenity as the barkeep brought the bulbs of lemonade. They were about the size of Bull's balled fists, citrus yellow with printed on the side in bright red script.\n\n\"Maybe I should talk to her,\" Sam said. \"If it came straight from me...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It came straight from you, probably it would work,\" he said, \"and they get to tell me no on everything from now on. 'Bull asked for it? Well, if it was important, he'd have sent the Belter.' Right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You really think it's about you not getting born up here?\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"Well... you're probably right,\" Sam said. \"Sorry about that.\"\n\n\"Comes with the territory,\" Bull said, pretending that it didn't bother him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sam plucked her lemonade off the table and took a long, thoughtful drink." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bulb clicked when the magnet readhered to the tabletop. \"I've got nothing against inners. Worked with a lot of you guys, and didn't run into a higher percentage of assholes than when I'm dealing with Belters. But I have to get that rail gun's mounts reinforced. If there's a way to do that without undercutting you, I'm all for it.\"\n\n\"But if it's that or mess up the ship,\" Bull said, nodding. \"Gimme a little time. I'll think of something.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Start when you want to shoot someone and count back eighteen days,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's my deadline. Even if everyone's sober and working balls-out, my crew can't get it done faster than that.\"\n\n\"I'll think of something,\" Bull said.\n\nThe larceny complaint turned out to be from a repair and maintenance crew who couldn't agree how to store their tools. The injury report was a kid who got caught between a stretch of deck plating and someone driving a salvage mech." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cartilage in the kid's knee had gotten ground into about a dozen different bits of custard; the medic said a good clean bone break would have been better." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The injured man would be fine, but he was off active duty for at least a month while all his pieces got glued back together.\n\nThe security reports were boilerplate, which either meant that things were going well or that the problems were getting glossed over, but probably they were going well. The trip out to the Ring was a shakedown cruise, and that always meant there'd be a little honeymoon period when the crew were all figuratively standing shoulder to shoulder and taking on the work. Everyone expected there'd be problems, so there was a grace period when morale didn't start heading down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Chief security officer on an OPA ship was a half-assed kind of position, one part cop, one part efficiency expert, and pretty much all den mother to a crew of a thousand people with their own agendas and petty power struggles and opinions on how he should be doing his job better." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A good security chief kept bullshit off the captain's plate as a full-time job.\n\nThe worst part, though, was that all Bull's formal duties were focused inward, on the ship. Right now, a flotilla of Earth ships was burning out into the deep night. A matching force of Martian war vessels—the remnants of the navy that had survived two let's-not-call-them-wars—was burning out on a converging path." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Behemoth was lumbering along too with a head start that came from being farther from the sun and the hobble of low-g acceleration to keep her slow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And all of it was focused on the Ring.\n\nReports would be filling Captain Ashford's queue, and as his XO, Pa would be reading them too. Bull had whatever scraps they let him have or else the same mix of pabulum and panic that filled the newsfeeds. Ashford and Pa would be in conference for most of their shifts, working over strategies and options and playing through scenarios for how things might go down when they reached the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull was going to worry about all the trivial stuff so that they didn't have to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And somehow, he was going to make the mission work. Because Fred had asked him to.\n\n\"Hey, chief,\" Serge said. Bull looked up from the terminal feed in his desk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Serge stood in the office doorway." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Shift's up, and I'm out.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Bull said. \"I still got some stuff. I can lock up when I'm done.\"\n\n\"Bien alles,\" Serge said with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His light, shuffling footsteps hissed through the front room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the corridor, Gutmansdottir stroked his white beard and Casimir said something that made them both chuckle. Corin lifted her chin to Serge as he stepped out. The door closed behind him. When he was sure he was alone, Bull pulled up the operational plan and started hunting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't have authority to change it, but that didn't mean he couldn't change anything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two hours later, when he was done, he turned off the screen and stood. The office was dark and colder than he liked it. The hum of the ventilation system comforted him. If it were ever completely silent, that would be the time to worry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He stretched, the vertebrae between his shoulder blades crunching like gravel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They would still be in the bar, most likely. Serge and Corin and Casimir. Macondo and Garza, so similar they could have been brothers. Jojo. His people, to the degree that they were his. He should go." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Be with them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Make friends.\n\nHe should go to his bunk.\n\n\"Come on, old man,\" he said. \"Time to get some rest.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had closed and locked the office door before Sam's voice came to him in his memory." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even if everyone's sober and working balls-out, my crew can't get it done faster than that. He hesitated, his wide fingers over the keypad. It was late. He needed food and sleep and an hour or so checking in with the family aggregator his cousin had set up three years before to help everyone keep track of who was living where. He had a container of flash-frozen green chile from Hatch, back on Earth, waiting for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was all going to be there in the morning, and more besides." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't need to make more work for himself. No one was going to thank him for it.\n\nHe went back in, turned his desk back on, and reread the injury report.\n\nSam had a good laugh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One that came from the gut." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It filled the machining bay, echoing off ceiling and walls until it sounded like there was a crowd of her. Two of the techs on the far side turned to look toward her, smiling without knowing what they were smiling about.\n\n\"Technical support?\" she said. \"You've got to be kidding.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Rail gun's a pretty technical piece of equipment,\" Bull said. \"It needs support.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So you redefined what I do as technical support.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"That's never going to fly,\" she said.\n\n\"Then get the job done quick,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ashford will pull you up for disciplinary action,\" she said, the amusement fading but not quite gone yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He has that right. But there's this other thing I wanted to talk about. You said something yesterday about how long it would take to do the job if everyone on your crew was sober?\"\n\nIt was like turning off a light. The smile left Sam's face as if it had never been there. She crossed her arms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tiny half-moon shapes dented in at the corners of her mouth, making her look older than she was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull nodded to her like she'd said something.\n\n\"You've got techs coming to work high,\" he said.\n\n\"Sometimes,\" she said. And then, reluctantly, \"Some of it's alcohol, but mostly it's pixie dust to make up for lack of sleep.\"\n\n\"I got a report about a kid got his knee blown out. His blood was clean, but it doesn't look like anyone tested the guy who was driving the mech. Driver isn't even named in the report. Weird, eh?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you say so,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull looked down at his feet. The gray-and-black service utility boots. The spotless floor.\n\n\"I need a name, Sam.\"\n\n\"You know I can't do that,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"These assholes are my crew. If I lose their respect, we're done here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I won't bust your guys unless they're dealing.\"\n\n\"You can't ask me to pick sides. And sorry for saying this, but you already don't have a lot of friends around here. You should be careful how you alienate people.\"\n\nAcross the bay, the two technicians lifted a broken mech onto a steel repair hoist. The murmur of their conversation was just the sound of words without the words themselves." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he couldn't hear them, Bull figured they couldn't hear him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah. So Sam?\"\n\n\"Bull.\"\n\n\"I'm gonna need you to pick sides.\"\n\nHe watched her vacillate." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It only took a few seconds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then he looked across the bay. The technicians had the mech open, pulling an electric motor out of its spine. It was smaller than a six-pack of beer and built to put out enough torque to rip steel. Not the sort of thing to play with drunk." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write four sentences sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Uranus is really far away,\" Naomi said as they walked along the corridor to the docking bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the third objection to the contract that she'd listed so far, and something in her voice told Holden there were a lot more points on her list. Under other circumstances, he would have thought she was just angry that he'd accepted the job. She was angry. But not just.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said. \"It is.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And Titania is a shitty little moon with one tiny little science base on it,\" Naomi continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes.\"\n\n\"We could buy Titania for what it cost these people to hire us to fly out there,\" Naomi said.\n\nHolden shrugged. This part of Ceres was a maze of cheap warehouse tunnels and even cheaper office space. The walls were the grungy off-white of spray-on insulation foam." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone with a pocketknife and a few minutes to kill could reach the bedrock of Ceres without much effort." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From the ratty look of the corridor, there were a lot of people with knives and idle time.\n\nA small forklift came down the corridor toward them with an electric whine and a constant high-pitched beep. Holden backed up against the wall and pulled Naomi to him to get her out of its way. The driver gave Holden a tiny nod of thanks as she drove by." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So why are they hiring us?\" she asked. Demanded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because we're awesome?\"\n\n\"Titania has, what, a couple hundred people living at the science base?\" Naomi said. \"You know how they usually send supplies out there? They load them into a single-use braking rocket, and fling them at Uranus' orbit with a rail gun.\"\n\n\"Usually,\" Holden agreed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And the company? Outer Fringe Exports? If I was making a cheap, disposable shell corporation, you know what I'd call it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Outer Fringe Exports?\"\n\n\"Outer Fringe Exports,\" she said.\n\nNaomi stopped at the entry hatch that opened to the rental docking bay and the Rocinante. The sign overhead listed the present user: Outer Fringe Exports." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden started to reach for the controls to cycle the pressure doors open, but Naomi put a hand on his arm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"These people are hiring a warship to transport something to Titania,\" she said, lowering her voice as though afraid someone might be listening. \"How can they possibly afford to do that? Our cargo hold is the size of a hatbox.\"\n\n\"We gave them a good rate?\" Holden said, trying for funny and failing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What would someone be sending to Titania that requires a fast, stealthy, and heavily armed ship? Have you asked what's in those crates we signed up to carry?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Holden said. \"No, I haven't. And I normally would, but I'm trying really hard not to find out.\"\n\nNaomi frowned at him, her face shifting between angry and concerned. \"Why?\"\n\nHolden pulled out his hand terminal and called up an orbital map of the solar system. \"See this, all the way on this edge? This is the Ring.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He scrolled the display to the other edge of the solar system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And this is Uranus. They are literally the two spots furthest from each other in the universe that have humans near them.\"\n\n\"And?\" Naomi said.\n\nHolden took a deep breath. He could feel a surge of the anxiety he always tried to deny leaping up in him, and he pushed it back down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And I know I don't talk about it much, but something really unpleasant and really big with a really high body count knows my name, and it's connected to the Ring.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Miller,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"The Ring opened, and he knew when it happened. It was the closest thing to making sense he's done since...\"\n\nSince he rose from the dead. The words didn't fit in his throat, and Naomi didn't make him say them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her nod was enough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She understood. In an act of legendary cowardice, he was running away to the other side of the solar system to avoid Miller and the Ring and everything that had to do with them. If they had to transport black market human organs or drugs or sexbots or whatever was in those crates, he'd do it. Because he was scared.\n\nHer eyes were unreadable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After all this time, she could still keep her thoughts out of her expression when she wanted to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay,\" Naomi said, and pushed the entry door open for him.\n\nAt the outer edge of Ceres where the spin gravity was greatest, Holden almost felt like he could have been on Luna or Mars. Loading gantries fed into the skin of the station like thick veins, waiting for the mechs to load in the cargo. Poorly patched scars marked the walls where accidents had marred them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air smelled of coolant and the kind of cheap air filters that reminded Holden of urinal cakes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos lounged on a small electric power lift, his eyes closed.\n\n\"We get the job?\"\n\n\"We did,\" Naomi said.\n\nAmos cracked an eye open as they came near." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A single frown line drew itself on his broad forehead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We happy about that?\" he asked.\n\n\"We're fine with it,\" Naomi said. \"Let's get the lift warmed up. Cargo's due in ten minutes and we probably want to get it off station as quickly as we can without raising suspicion.\"\n\nThere was a beauty in the efficiency that came from a crew that had flown together as long as they had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A fluidity and intimacy and grace that grew from long experience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eight minutes after Holden and Naomi had come in, the Roci was ready to take on cargo. Ten minutes later, nothing happened. Then twenty. Then an hour. Holden paced the gantry nearest the entry hatch with an uncomfortable tingling crawling up the back of his neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You sure we got this job?\" Amos asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"These guys seemed really sketchy to me,\" Naomi said over the comm from her station in ops. \"I'd think we've been scammed, except we haven't given anyone our account numbers.\"\n\n\"We're on the clock here, boss,\" Alex said from the cockpit. \"These loading docks charge by the minute.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden bit back his irritation and said, \"I'll call again.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pulled out his terminal and connected to the export company's office. Their messaging system responded, as it had the last three times he'd requested a connection. He waited for the beep that would let him leave another message. Before he could, his display lit up with an incoming connection request from the same office." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He switched to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden here.\"\n\n\"This is a courtesy call, Captain Holden,\" the voice on the other end said. The video feed was the Outer Fringe Exports logo on a gray background. \"We're withdrawing the contract, and you might want to consider leaving that dock very, very soon.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can't back out now,\" Holden said, trying to keep his voice calm and professional against the rising panic he felt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We've signed the deal. We've got your deposit. It's non-refundable.\"\n\n\"Keep it,\" his caller said. \"But we consider your failure to inform us of your current situation as a prior breach.\"\n\nSituation? Holden thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They couldn't know about Miller." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't think they could. \"I don't—\"\n\n\"The party that's tracking you left our offices about five minutes ago, so you should probably get off Ceres in a hurry. Goodbye, Mr. Holden—\"\n\n\"Wait!\" Holden said. \"Who was there? What's going on?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The call ended." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos was rubbing his pale, stubble-covered scalp with both hands. He sighed and said, \"We got a problem, right?\"\n\n\"Yep.\"\n\n\"Be right back,\" Amos replied, and climbed off the forklift." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Alex? How long till we can clear this dock?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden asked. He loped across the bay to the entry hatch. There didn't seem to be any way to lock it from his side. Why would there be? The bays were temporary rental space for loading and unloading cargo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No need for security." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's warmed up,\" Alex replied, not asking the obvious question. Holden was grateful for that. \"Gimme ten to run the decouplin' sequence, that should do it.\"\n\n\"Start now,\" Holden said, hurrying back toward the airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Leave the 'lock open till the last minute. Amos and I will be out here making sure no one interferes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Roger that, Cap,\" Alex replied, and dropped the connection.\n\n\"Interferes?\" Naomi said. \"What's going on... Okay, why is Amos going out there with a shotgun?\"\n\n\"Those sketchy, scary gangster types we just signed on with?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They just dropped us. And whatever scared them into doing it is coming here right now. I don't think guns are an overreaction.\"\n\nAmos ran down the ramp, holding his auto-shotgun in his right hand and an assault rifle in his left. He tossed the rifle to Holden, then took up a cover position behind the forklift and aimed at the bay's entry hatch. Like Alex, he didn't ask why." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Want me to come out?\" Naomi asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, but prepare to defend the ship if they get past me and Amos,\" Holden replied, then moved over to the forklift's recharging station. It was the only other cover in the otherwise empty bay.\n\nIn a conversational tone, Amos said, \"Any idea what we're expecting here?\"\n\n\"Nope,\" Holden said. He clicked the rifle to autofire and felt a faint nausea rising in his throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right, then,\" Amos said cheerfully." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Eight minutes,\" Naomi said from his hand terminal. Not a long time, but if they were trying to hold the bay under hostile fire, it would seem like an eternity.\n\nThe entry warning light at the cargo bay entrance flashed yellow three times, and the hatch slid open.\n\n\"Don't shoot unless I do,\" Holden said quietly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos grunted back at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A tall blond woman walked into the bay. She had an Earther's build, a video star's face, and couldn't have been more than twenty. When she saw the two guns pointed at her, she raised her hands and wiggled her fingers. \"Not armed,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her cheeks dimpled into a grin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden tried to imagine why a supermodel would be looking for him.\n\n\"Hi,\" Amos said. He was grinning back at her.\n\n\"Who are you?\" Holden said, keeping his gun trained on her.\n\n\"My name's Adri. Are you James Holden?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I can be,\" Amos said, \"if you want.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She smiled. Amos smiled back, but his weapon was still in a carefully neutral position.\n\n\"What've we got down there?\" Naomi asked, her voice tense in his ear. \"Do we have a threat?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't know yet,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You are, though, right? You're James Holden,\" Adri said, walking toward him. The assault rifle in his hands didn't seem to bother her at all. Up close, she smelled like strawberries and vanilla. \"Captain James Holden, of the Rocinante?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She held out a slim, throwaway hand terminal. He took it automatically. The terminal displayed a picture of him, along with his name and his UN citizen and UN naval ID numbers.\n\n\"You've been served,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sorry. It was nice meeting you, though.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She turned back to the door and walked away.\n\n\"What the fuck?\" Amos said to no one, dropping the muzzle of his gun to the floor and rubbing his scalp again.\n\n\"Jim?\" Naomi said.\n\n\"Give me a minute.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He paged through the summons, jumping past seven pages of legalese to get to the point: The Martians wanted their ship back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Official proceedings had been started against him in both Earth and Martian courts challenging the salvage claim to the Rocinante. Only they were calling it the Tachi. The ship was under an order of impound pending adjudication, effective immediately.\n\nHis short conversation with Outer Fringe Exports suddenly made a lot more sense." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Cap?\" Alex said through the connection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm getting a red light on the docking clamp release. I'm puttin' a query in. Once I get that cleared, we can pop the cork.\"\n\n\"What's going on out there?\" Naomi asked. \"Are we still leaving?\"\n\nHolden took a long, deep breath, sighed, and said something obscene." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The longest layover the Rocinante had taken since Holden and the others had gone independent had been five and a half weeks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The twelve days that the Roci spent in lockup seemed longer. Naomi and Alex were on the ship most of the time, putting inquiries through to lawyers and legal aid societies around the system. With every letter and conversation, the consensus grew. Mars had been smart to begin legal proceedings in Earth courts as well as their own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even if Holden and the Roci slipped the leash at Ceres, all major ports would be denied them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd have to skulk from one gray-market Belter port to the next. Even if there was enough work, they might not be able to find supplies to keep them flying.\n\nIf they took the case before a magistrate, they might or might not lose the ship, but it would be expensive to find out. Accounts that Holden had thought of as comfortably full suddenly looked an order of magnitude too small." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Staying on Ceres Station made him antsy; being on the Roci left him sad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There had been any number of times in his travels on the Roci that he'd imagined—even expected—it all to come to a tragic end. But those scenarios had involved firefights or alien monstrosities or desperate dives into some planetary atmosphere. He'd imagined with a sick thrill of dread what it would be like if Alex died, or Amos. Or Naomi. He'd wondered whether the three of them would go on without him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't considered that the end might find all of them perfectly fine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That the Rocinante might be the one to go.\n\nHope, when it came, was a documentary streamcast team from UN Public Broadcasting. Monica Stuart, the team lead, was an auburn-haired freckled woman with a professionally sculpted beauty that made her seem vaguely familiar when he saw her on the screen of the pilot's deck. She hadn't come in person." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How many people are we talking about?\" Holden asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Four,\" she said. \"Two camera jockeys, my sound guy, and me.\"\n\nHolden ran a hand across eight days' worth of patchy beard. The sense of inevitability sat in his gut like a stone.\n\n\"To the Ring,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"To the Ring,\" she agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We need to make it a hard burn to get there before the Martians, the Earth flotilla, and the Behemoth. And we'd like some measure of safety once we're out there, which the Rocinante would be able to give us.\"\n\nNaomi cleared her throat, and the documentarian shifted her attention to her.\n\n\"You're sure you can get the hold taken off the Roci?\" Naomi asked.\n\n\"I am protected by the Freedom of Journalism Act. I have the right to the reasonable use of hired materials and personnel in the pursuit of a story. Otherwise, anyone could stop any story they didn't like by malicious use of injunctions like the one on the Roci. I have a backdated contract that says I hired you a month ago, before I arrived at Ceres. I have a team of lawyers ten benches deep who can drown anyone that objects in enough paperwork to last a lifetime.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So we've been working for you all along,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Only if you want to get that docking lock rescinded. But it's more than just a ride I'm looking for. That's what makes it reasonable that I can't just hire a different ship.\"\n\n\"I knew there was a but,\" Holden said.\n\n\"I want to interview the crew too. While there are a half dozen ships I could get for the trip out, yours is the one that comes with the survivors of Eros.\"\n\nNaomi looked across at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her eyes were carefully neutral." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Was it better to be here, trapped on Ceres while the Roci was pulled away from him by centimeters, or flying straight into the abyss with his crew? And the Ring.\n\n\"I have to think about it,\" he said. \"I'll be in touch.\"\n\n\"I respect that,\" Monica said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But please don't take long. If we're not going with you, we've still got to go with someone.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He dropped the connection. In the silence, the deck seemed larger than it was.\n\n\"This isn't coincidence,\" Holden said. \"We just happen to get locked down by Mars, and the only thing that can get us out of the docking clamps just happens to be heading for the Ring? No way. We're being manipulated. Someone's planning this. It's him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jim—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's him. It's Miller.\"\n\n\"It's not Miller. He can barely string together a coherent sentence,\" Naomi said. \"How is he going to engineer something like this?\"\n\nHolden leaned forward and the seat under him shifted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His head felt like it was stuffed with wool." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If we leave, they can still take her away from us,\" he said. \"Once this story is done, we won't be in any better position than we are right now.\"\n\n\"Except that we wouldn't be locked on Ceres,\" Naomi said. \"And it's a long way out there. A long way back. A lot could change.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That wasn't as comforting as you meant it to be.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi's smile was thin but not bitter.\n\n\"Fair point,\" she said.\n\nThe Rocinante hummed around them, the systems running through their automatic maintenance checks, the air cycling gently through the ducts. The ship breathing and dreaming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their home, at rest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden reached out a hand, lacing his fingers with Naomi's.\n\n\"We still have some money. We can take out a loan,\" she said. \"We could buy a different ship. Not a good one, but... It wouldn't have to be the end of it all.\"\n\n\"It would be, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Probably.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No choice, then,\" Holden said. \"Let's go to Nineveh.\"\n\nMonica and her team arrived in the early hours of the morning, loading a few small crates of equipment that they carried themselves. In person, Monica was thinner than she seemed on screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her camera crew were a sturdy Earth woman named Okju and a brown-skinned Martian man who went by Clip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The cameras they carried looked like shoulder-mounted weapons, alloy casings that could telescope out to almost two meters or retract to fit around the tightest corner in the ship.\n\nThe soundman was blind. He had a dusting of short white hair and opaque black glasses. His teeth were yellowed like old ivory, and his smile was gentle and humane." }, { "from": "human", "value": "According to the paperwork, his name was Elio Casti, but for some reason the documentary team all called him Cohen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They assembled in the galley, Holden's four people and Monica's. He could see each group quietly considering the other. They'd be living in one another's laps for months. Strangers trapped in a metal-and-ceramic box in the vast ocean of the vacuum." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden cleared his throat." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Welcome aboard,\" he said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the Earth-Mars alliance hadn't collapsed, if there hadn't been a war—or two wars depending on how the line between battles was marked—civilian ships like the Cerisier would have had no place in the great convoy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ships lost at Ganymede and in the Belt, the skirmishes to control those asteroids best placed to push down a gravity well. Hundreds of ships had been lost, from massive engines of war like the Donnager, the Agatha King, and the Hyperion to countless small three- and four-person support ships.\n\nNor, Melba knew, were those the only scars. Phobos with its listening station had become a thin, nearly invisible ring around Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eros was gone. Phoebe had been subjected to a sustained nuclear hell and pushed into Saturn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The farms at Ganymede had collapsed. Venus had been used and abandoned by the alien protomolecule. Protogen and the Mao-Kwikowski empire, once one of the great shipping and transport companies in the system, had been gutted, stolen, and sold.\n\nThe Cerisier began her life as an exploration vessel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now she was a flying toolshed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bays of scientific equipment were machine shops now. What had once been sealed labs were stacked from deck to deck with the mundane necessities of environmental control networks—scrubbers, ducting, sealants, and alarm arrays. She lumbered through the uncaring vacuum on the fusion plume of her Epstein drive. The crew of a hundred and six souls was made of a small elite of ship command—no more than a dozen, all told—and a vast body of technicians, machinists, and industrial chemists." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Once, Melba thought, this ship had been on the bleeding edge of human exploration." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once it had burned through the skies of Jovian moons, seeing things humanity had never seen before. Now it was the handservant of the government, discovering nothing more exotic than what had been flushed into the water reclamation tanks. The degradation gave Melba a sense of kinship with the ship's narrow halls and gray plastic ladders. Once, Clarissa Melpomene Mao had been the light of her school." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Popular and beautiful, and suffused with the power and influence of her father's name." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now her father was a numbered prisoner in a nameless prison, allowed only a few minutes of external connection every day, and those to his lawyer, not his wife or children.\n\nAnd she was Melba Koh, sleeping on a gel couch that smelled of someone else's body in a cabin smaller than a closet. She commanded a team of four electrochemical technicians: Stanni, Ren, Bob, and Soledad. Stanni and Bob were decades older than her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Soledad, three years younger, had been on two sixteen-month tours." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren, her official second, was a Belter and, like all Belters, passionate about environmental control systems the way normal people were with sex or religion. She didn't ask how he'd ended up on an Earth ship, and he didn't volunteer the information.\n\nShe had known the months going out to the Ring would be hard, but she'd misunderstood what the worst parts would be.\n\n\"She's a fucking bitch, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stanni said. It was a private channel between him and Ren." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she'd been who she pretended to be, she wouldn't have been able to hear it. \"She doesn't know dick.\"\n\nRen grunted, neither defending her nor joining the attack.\n\n\"If you hadn't caught that brownout buffer wrong way on the Macedon last week, it would have been another cascade failure, si no? Would have had to throw off the whole schedule to go back and fix it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Might've,\" Ren said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was a level above them. The destroyer Seung Un muttered around her. The crew was on a maintenance run. Scheduled, routine, predictable. They'd left the Cerisier ten hours earlier in one of the dozen transports that clung to the maintenance ship's skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They would be here for another fifteen hours, changing out the high-yield scrubbers and checking the air supply continuity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The greatest danger, she'd learned, was condensation degrading the seals.\n\nIt was the kind of detail she should have known.\n\nShe pulled herself through the access shaft. Her tool kit hung heavy on her front in the full-g thrust gravity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She imagined it was what being pregnant would feel like." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Unless something strange had happened, Soledad and Bob were sleeping in the boat. Ren and Stanni were a level down, and going lower with every hour. They were expecting her to make the final inspection of their work. And, it seemed, they were expecting her to do it poorly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was true, of course." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't know why a real electrochemical technician seeing her inexperience should embarrass her as deeply as it did. She'd read a few manuals, run through a few tutorials. All that mattered was that they think she was an authentic semicompetent overseer. It didn't matter whether they respected her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They weren't her friends." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She should have switched to the private frequencies for Soledad and Bob to be certain neither had woken unexpectedly and might come looking for her. This part of the plan was important. She couldn't let any of them find her. But somehow, she couldn't bring herself to shift away from Ren and Stanni." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She don't do anything is all. Keeps to her cabin, don't help on the project. She just come out the end, look up, look down, sign off, and go back to her cabin.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"True.\"\n\nThe junction was hard to miss. The bulkhead was reinforced and clearly marked with bright orange safety warnings in five languages. She paused before it, her hands on her hips, and waited to feel some sense of accomplishment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And she did, only it wasn't as pure as she'd hoped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked up and down the passageway, though the chances of being interrupted here were minimal.\n\nThe explosive was strapped against her belly, the heat of her skin keeping it malleable and bright green. As it cooled to ambient, the putty would harden and fade to gray. It surprised her again with its density." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pressing it along the seams of the junction, she felt like she was forming lead with her bare hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The effort left her knuckles aching before she was halfway done. She'd budgeted half an hour, but it took her almost twice that. The detonator was a black dot four millimeters across with ten black ceramic contacts that pressed into the already stiffening putty. It looked like a tick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she was done, she wiped her hands down with cleaning towelettes twice, making sure none of the explosive was caught under her fingernails or on her clothes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd expected to skip her inspection of just the one level, but Ren and Stanni had made good time, and she took the lift down two levels instead. They were still talking, but not about her now. Stanni was considering getting a crush on Soledad. In laconic Belt-inflected half phrases, Ren was advising against it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Smart man, her second." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lift paused and three soldiers got on it, all men. Melba pressed herself back to make room for them, and the nearest nodded his polite gratitude. His uniform identified him as Marcos. She nodded back, then stared hard at her feet, willing them not to look at her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her uniform felt like a costume." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even though she knew better, it felt like they would see through her disguise if they looked too close. Like her past was written on her skin.\n\nMy name is Melba Koh, she thought. I've never been anyone else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lift stopped at her level and the three soldiers made way for her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wondered, when the time came, whether Marcos would die.\n\nShe had never been to her father's prison, and even if he'd been allowed visitors, the visit would have been in a prescribed room, monitored, transcribed. Any real human emotion would have been pressed out of it by the weight of official attention. She would never have been permitted to see the hallways he walked down or the cell where he slept, but after his incarceration by the United Nations, she'd researched prison design." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her room was three centimeters narrower, a centimeter and a half longer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The crash couch she slept in was gimbaled to allow for changes in acceleration, while his would be welded to the floor. She could squeeze out whenever she wanted and go to the gang showers or the mess. Her door locked from the inside, and there were no cameras or microphones in her room.\n\nIn every way that mattered, she had more freedom than her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That she likely spent as much time in isolation was a matter of choice for her, and that made all the difference." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tomorrow would be a fresh rotation out. Another ship, another round of maintenance that she could pretend to oversee. Tonight she could lie in her couch dressed in the simple cotton underclothes that she'd bought as the kind of thing Melba would wear. Her hand terminal had fifteen tutorials in local memory and dozens more on the ship's shared storage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They covered everything from microorganic nutrient reclamation to coolant system specifications to management policies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She should have been reading them through. Or if not that, at least she shouldn't have been reviewing her own secret files.\n\nOn the screen, Jim Holden looked like a zealot. The composite was built from dozens of hours of broadcast footage of the man taken over the previous years, with weight given to the most recent images and stills." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The software she'd used to make a perfect visual simulacrum of the man cost more than her Melba persona had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fake Holden had to be good enough to fool both people and computers, at least for a little while. On the screen, his brown eyes squinted with an idiot's earnestness. His jaw had the first presentiment of jowls, only half hidden by the microgravity. The smarmy half smile told her everything she needed to know about the man who had destroyed her family." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is Captain James Holden,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What you've just seen is a demonstration of the danger you are in. My associates have placed similar devices on every ship presently in proximity to the Ring. You will all stand down as I am assuming sole and absolute control over the Ring in the name of the Outer Planets Alliance. Any ship that approaches the Ring without my personal permission will be destroyed without—\"\n\nShe paused it, freezing her small, artificial Holden in mid-gesture. Her fingertip traced the outline of his shoulder, across his cheek, and then stabbed at his eyes. She wished now that she'd picked a more inflammatory script." }, { "from": "human", "value": "On Earth, making her preparations, it had seemed enough to have him take unilateral control of the Ring." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now each time she watched it, it seemed tamer.\n\nKilling Holden would have been easier. Assassinations were cheap by comparison, but she knew enough about image control and social dynamics to see where it would have led. Martyrdom, canonization, love. A host of conspiracy theories that implicated anyone from the OPA to her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That was precisely not the point." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had to be humiliated in a way that passed backward in time. Someone coming to his legacy had to be able to look back at all the things Holden had done, all the pronouncements he'd given, all the high-handed, self-righteous decisions made on behalf of others while never leaving his control and see that of course it had all led to this. His name put in with the great traitors, con men, and self-aggrandizing egomaniacs of history. When she was done, everything Holden had touched would be tainted by association, including the destruction of her family. Her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Somewhere deep in the structure of the Cerisier, one of the navigators started a minor correction burn and gravity shifted a half a degree." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The couch moved under her, and she tried not to notice it. She preferred the times when she could pretend that she was in a gravity well to the little reminders that she was the puppet of acceleration and inertia.\n\nHer hand terminal chimed once, announcing the arrival of a message. To anyone who didn't look carefully, it would seem like just another advertisement." }, { "from": "human", "value": "An investment opportunity she would be a fool to ignore with a video presentation attached that would seem like corrupted data to anyone who didn't have the decryption key." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch, and leaned close to the hand terminal.\n\nThe man who appeared on her screen wore black glasses dark enough to be opaque. His hair was cropped close to his skull, but she could see from the way it moved that he was under heavy burn. The soundman cleared his throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The package is delivered and ready for testing. I'd appreciate the balance transfer as soon as you've confirmed. I've got some bills coming due, and I'm a little under the wire.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something in the background hissed, and a distant voice started laughing. A woman. The file ended.\n\nShe replayed it four more times. Her heart was racing and her fingers felt like little electric currents were running through them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd need to confirm, of course." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But this was the last, most dangerous step. The Rocinante had been cutting-edge military hardware when it had fallen into Holden's hands. There could also have been any number of changes made to the security systems in the years since. She set up a simple remote connection looped through a disposable commercial account on Ceres Station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It might take days for the Rocinante's acknowledgment to come back to her saying that the back door was installed and functioning, that the ship was hers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But if it did...\n\nIt was the last piece. Everything in place. A sense of almost religious well-being washed over her. The thin room with its scratched walls and too-bright LEDs had never seemed so benign." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She levered herself up out of the couch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted to celebrate, though of course there was no one she could tell. Talk to might be enough.\n\nThe halls of the Cerisier were so narrow that it was impossible to walk abreast or to pass someone coming the opposite way without turning sideways. The mess would fit twenty people sitting with their hips touching." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The nearest thing to an open area was the fitness center off the medical bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The treadmills and exercise machines required enough room that no one would be caught in the joints and belts. Safety regulations made it the widest, freest air in the ship, and so a good place to be around people.\n\nOf her team, only Ren was present. In the usual microgravity, he would probably have been neck deep in a tank of resistance gel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With the full-g burn, he was on a regular treadmill." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His pale skin was bright with sweat, his carrot-orange hair pulled back in a frizzed ponytail. It was strange watching him. His large head was made larger by his hair, and the thinness of his body made him seem more like something from a children's program than an actual man.\n\nHe nodded to her as she came in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ren,\" she said, walking to the front of his machine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt the gazes of other crewmen on her, but on the Cerisier she didn't feel as exposed. Or maybe it was the good news that carried her. \"Do you have a minute?\"\n\n\"Chief,\" he said instead of yes, but he thumbed down the treadmill to a cool-down walk. \"Que sa?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I heard some of the things Stanni was saying about me,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren's expression closed down. \"I just wanted...\"\n\nShe frowned, looked down, and then gave in to the impulse welling up in her.\n\n\"He's right,\" she said. \"I'm in over my head with this job. I got it because of some political favors. I'm not qualified to do what I'm doing.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He blinked rapidly. He shot a glance around her, checking to see if anyone had overheard them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't particularly care, but she thought it was sweet that he did.\n\n\"Not so bad, you,\" he said. \"I mean, little off here, little off there. But I've been under worse.\"\n\n\"I need help,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"To do all the work the way it should be done, I need help. I need someone I can trust. Someone I can count on.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren nodded, but his forehead roughened. He blew out his breath and stepped off the treadmill.\n\n\"I want to get the work done right,\" she said. \"Not miss anything. And I want the team to respect me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay, sure.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know you should have had this job.\"\n\nRen blew out another breath, his cheeks ballooning. It was more expressive than she'd ever seen him before. He leaned against the wall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he met her gaze, it was like he was seeing her for the first time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Appreciate you saying it, chief, but we're both of us outsiders here,\" he said. \"Stick together, bien?\"\n\n\"Good,\" she said, leaning against the wall next to him. \"So. The brownout buffers? What did I get wrong?\"\n\nRen sighed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The buffers are smart, but the design's stupid,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They talk to each other, so they're also a separate network, yah? Thing is, you put one in the wrong way? Works okay. But next time it resets, the signal down the line looks wrong. Triggers a diagnostic run in the next one down, and then the next one down. Whole network starts blinking like Christmas. Too many errors on the network and it fails closed, takes down the whole grid. And then you got us going through checking each one by hand. With flashlights and the supervisor chewing our nuts.\"\n\n\"That's... that can't be right,\" she said. \"Seriously? It could have shut down the grid?\"\n\n\"I know, right?\" Ren said, smiling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And all it would take is change the design so it don't fit in if you got it wrong. But they never do. A lot of what we do is like that, boss. We try to catch the little ones before they get big. Some things, you get them wrong, it's nothing. Some things, and it's a big mess.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The words felt like a church bell being struck. They resonated. She was that fault, that error. She didn't know what she was doing, not really, and she'd get away with it. She'd pass. Until she didn't, and then everything would fall apart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her throat felt tighter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She almost wished she hadn't said anything.\n\nShe was a brownout buffer pointed the wrong way. A flaw that was easy to overlook, with the potential to wreck everything.\n\n\"For the others... don't take them harsh. Blowing off steam, mostly. Not you so much as it's anything. Fear-biting.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fear?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sure,\" he said. \"Everyone on this boat's scared dry. Try not to show it, do the work, but we all getting nightmares. Natural, right?\"\n\n\"What are they afraid of?\" she asked.\n\nBehind her the door cycled open and shut. A man said something in a language she didn't know." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren tilted his head, and she had the sick, sinking feeling that she'd done something wrong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hadn't acted normal, and she didn't know what her misstep was.\n\n\"Ring,\" he said at last. \"It's what killed Eros. Could have killed Mars. All that weird stuff it did on Venus, no one knows what it was. Deaded that slingshot kid who went through. Half everyone thinks we should be pitching nukes at it, other half thinks we'd only piss it off. We're going out as deep as anyone ever has just so we can look in the devil's eye, and Stanni and Solé and Bob? They're all scared as shit of what we see in it. Me too.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" she said. \"All right. I understand that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren tried on a smile." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You? It don't scare you?\"\n\n\"It's not something I think about.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding 4 sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nami and Nono left for Earth a week before Anna's shuttle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Those last days living alone in those rooms, knowing that she would never be back—that they would never be back—was like a gentle presentiment of death: profoundly melancholy and, shamefully, a little exhilarating.\n\nThe shuttle from Europa was one of the last to join the flotilla, and it meant eighteen hours of hard burn. By the time she set foot on the deck of the UNN Thomas Prince, all she wanted was a bunk and twelve hours' sleep. The young yeoman who'd been sent to greet and escort her had other plans, though, and the effort it would have taken to be rude about it was more than she could muster." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Prince is a Xerxes-class battleship, or what we sometimes refer to as a third-generation dreadnought,\" he said, gesturing to the white ceramic-over-gel of the hangar's interior walls." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The shuttle she'd arrived on nestled in its bay looking small under the cathedral-huge arch. \"We call it a third-generation battleship because it is the third redesign since the buildup during the first Earth-Mars conflict.\"\n\nNot that it had been much of a conflict, Anna thought. The Martians had made noises about independence, the UN had built a lot of ships, Mars had built a few." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then Solomon Epstein had gone from being a Martian yachting hobbyist to the inventor of the first fusion drive that solved the heat buildup and rapid fuel consumption problems of constant thrust." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Suddenly Mars had a few ships that went really, really fast. They'd said, Hey, we're about to go colonize the rest of the solar system. Want to stay mad at us, or want to come with? The UN had made the sensible choice, and most people would agree: Giving up Mars in exchange for half of the solar system had probably been a pretty good deal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It didn't mean that both sides hadn't kept on designing new ways to kill each other. Just in case." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"...just over half a kilometer long, and two hundred meters wide at its broadest point,\" the yeoman was saying.\n\n\"Impressive,\" Anna replied, trying to bring her wandering attention back.\n\nThe yeoman pulled her luggage on a small rolling cart to a bank of elevator lifts.\n\n\"These elevators run the length of the ship,\" he said as he punched a button on the control panel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We call them the keel elevators—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because they run along the belly of the ship?\" Anna said.\n\n\"Yes! That's what the bottom of seagoing vessels was called, and space-based navies have kept the nomenclature.\"\n\nAnna nodded. His enthusiasm was exhausting and charming at the same time. He wanted to impress her, so she resolved to be impressed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a small enough thing to give someone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Of course, the belly of the ship is largely an arbitrary distinction,\" he continued as the elevator climbed. \"Because we use thrust gravity, the deck is always in the direction thrust is coming from, the aft of the ship. Up is always away from the engines. There's not really much to distinguish the other four directions from each other. Some smaller ships can land on planetary surfaces, and in those ships the belly of the ship contains landing gear and thrusters for liftoff.\"\n\n\"I imagine the Prince is too large for that,\" Anna said.\n\n\"By quite a lot, actually! But our shuttles and corvettes are capable of surface landings, though it doesn't happen very often.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The elevator doors opened with another ding, and the yeoman pushed her luggage out into the hall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"After we drop off your baggage at your stateroom, we can continue the tour.\"\n\n\"Yeoman?\" Anna said. \"Is that the right way to address you?\"\n\n\"Certainly. Or Mister Ichigawa. Or even Jin, since you're a civilian.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jin,\" Anna continued. \"Would it be all right if I just stayed in my room for a while? I'm very tired.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He stopped pulling her baggage and blinked twice. \"But the captain said all of the VIP guests should get a complete tour. Including the bridge, which is usually off-limits to non-duty personnel.\"\n\nAnna put a hand on the boy's arm. \"I understand that's quite a privilege, but I'd rather see it when I can keep my eyes open. You understand, don't you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She gave his arm a squeeze and smiled her best smile at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Certainly,\" he said, smiling back. \"Come this way, ma'am.\"\n\nLooking around her, Anna wasn't sure if she actually wanted to see the rest of the ship. Every corridor looked the same: Slick gray material with something spongy underneath covered most walls." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna supposed it was some sort of protective surface, to keep sailors from injury if they banged into it during maneuvers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And anything that wasn't gray fabric was gray metal. The things that would be impressive to most people about the ship would be its various mechanisms for killing other ships. Those were the parts of the ship she was least interested in.\n\n\"Is that okay?\" Ichigawa said after a moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna had no idea what he was talking about." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Calling you ma'am, I mean. Some of the VIPs have titles. Pastor, or Reverend, or Minister. I don't want to offend.\"\n\n\"Well, if I didn't like you I'd ask you to call me Reverend Doctor, but I do like you very much, so please don't,\" she said.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Jin said, and the back of his neck blushed.\n\n\"And if you were a member of my congregation, I'd have you call me Pastor Anna. Buddhist?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Only when I'm at my grandmother's house,\" Jin said with a wink." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The rest of the time I'm a navy man.\"\n\n\"Is that a religion now?\" Anna asked with a laugh.\n\n\"The navy thinks so.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay.\" She laughed again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So why don't you just call me Anna?\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" Jin said. He stopped at a gray door marked OQ 297-11 and handed her a small metal card. \"This is your room. Just having the card on you unlocks the door. It will stay locked when you're inside unless you press the yellow button on the wall panel.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sounds very safe,\" Anna said, taking the key from Jin and shaking his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is the battleship Thomas Prince, ma'am. It's the safest place in the solar system.\"\n\nHer stateroom was three meters wide by four meters long. Luxurious by navy standards, normal for a poor Europan, coffinlike to an Earther. Anna felt a brief moment of vertigo as the two different Annas she'd been reacted to the space in three different ways." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd felt the same sense of disconnection when she'd first boarded the Prince and felt the full gravity pressing her down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Earther she'd been most of her life felt euphoric as, for the first time in years, her weight felt right. The Europan in her just felt tired, drained by the excessive pull on her bones.\n\nShe wondered how long it would take Nono to get her Earth legs back. How long it would take before Nami could walk there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were both spending the entire trip back pumped full of muscle and bone growth stimulators, but drugs can only take a person so far." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There would still be the agonizing weeks or months as their bodies adapted to the new gravity. Anna could almost see little Nami struggling to get up onto her hands and knees like she did on Europa. Could almost hear her cries of frustration while she built up the strength to move on her own again. She was such a determined little thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would infuriate her to lose the hard-won physical skills she'd developed over the last two years." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Thinking about it made Anna's chest ache, just behind her breastbone.\n\nShe tapped the shiny black surface of the console in her room, and the room's terminal came on. She spent a moment learning the user interface. It was limited to browsing the ship's library and to sending and receiving text or audio/video messages." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She tapped the button to record a message and said, \"Hi Nono, hi Nami!\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She waved at the camera. \"I'm on the ship, and we're on our way. I—\" She stopped and looked around the room, at the sterile gray walls and spartan bed. She grabbed a pillow off of it and turned back to the camera. \"I miss you both already.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hugged the pillow to her chest, tight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is you. This is both of you.\"\n\nShe turned the recording off before she got teary. She was washing her face when the console buzzed a new-message alert. Even though it didn't seem possible Nami could have gotten the message and replied already, her heart gave a little leap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She rushed over and opened the message." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a simple text message reminding her of the VIP \"meet and greet\" in the officers' mess at 1900 hours. The clock said it was currently 1300.\n\nAnna tapped the button to RSVP to the event and then climbed under the covers of her bed with her clothes on and cried herself to sleep.\n\n\"Reverend Doctor Volovodov,\" a booming male voice said as soon as she walked into the officers' mess." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The room was laid out for a party, with tables covered in food ringing the room, and a hundred or more people talking in loose clumps in the center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In one corner, an ad hoc bar with four bartenders was doing brisk business. A tall, dark-skinned man with perfectly coiffed white hair and an immaculate gray suit walked out of the crowd like Venus rising from the waves. Anna wondered how he managed the effect. He reached out and took her hand with his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm so happy to have you with us. I've heard so much about the powerful work you're doing on Europa, and I don't see how the Methodist World Council could have chosen anyone else for this important trip.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna shook his hand, then carefully extricated herself from his grasp. Doctor Hector Cortez, Father Hank on his live streamcasts that went out to over a hundred million people each week, and close personal friend and spiritual advisor to the secretary-general himself. She couldn't imagine how he knew anything about her. Her tiny congregation of less than a hundred people on Europa wouldn't even be a rounding error to his solar system–wide audience." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She found herself caught between feeling flattered, uncomfortable, and vaguely suspicious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Doctor Cortez,\" Anna said. \"So nice to meet you. I've seen your show before, of course.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" he said, smiling vaguely and already looking around the room for someone else to talk to. She had the sense that he'd come to greet her less out of the pleasure of her arrival than as a chance to extricate himself from whatever conversation he'd been having before, and she didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She settled on amused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like a smaller object dragged into some larger gravity well, an elderly man in formal Roman Catholic garb pulled away from the central crowd and drifted in Doctor Cortez's direction.\n\nShe started to introduce herself when Doctor Cortez cut in with that booming voice and said, \"Father Michel. Say hello to my friend Reverend Doctor Annushka Volovodov, a worker for God's glory with the Europa congregation of Methodists.\"\n\n\"Reverend Volovodov,\" the Catholic man said. \"I'm Father Michel, with the Archdiocese of Rome.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh, very nice to meet—\" Anna started." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Don't let him fool you with that humble old country priest act,\" Cortez boomed over the top of her. \"He's a bishop on the short list for cardinal.\"\n\n\"Congratulations,\" Anna said.\n\n\"Oh, it's nothing. All exaggeration and smoke.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The old man beamed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing will happen until it fits with God's plan.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't be here if that were true,\" Cortez said.\n\nThe bishop chuckled.\n\nA woman in an expensive blue dress followed one of the uniformed waiters with his tray of champagne." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She and Father Michel reached for a glass at the same moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna smiled a no at the offered champagne, and the waiter vanished into the crowd at the center of the room.\n\n\"Please,\" the woman said to Anna. \"Don't leave me to drink alone with a Catholic. My liver can't take it.\"\n\n\"Thank you, but—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What about you, Hank? I've heard you can put down a few drinks.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She punctuated this with a swig from her glass. Cortez's smile could have meant anything.\n\n\"I'm Anna,\" Anna said, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. \"I love your dress.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you. I am Mrs. Robert Fagan,\" the woman replied with mock formality." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tilly if you aren't asking for money.\"\n\n\"Nice to meet you, Tilly,\" Anna said. \"I'm sorry, but I don't drink.\"\n\n\"God, save me from temperance,\" Tilly said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You haven't seen a party till you get a group of Anglicans and Catholics trying to beat each other to the bottom of a bottle.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Now, that's not nice, Mrs. Fagan,\" Father Michel said. \"I've never met an Anglican that could keep up with me.\"\n\n\"Hank, why is Esteban letting you out of his sight?\" It took Anna a moment to realize that Tilly was talking about the secretary-general of the United Nations." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez shook his head and feigned a wounded look without losing his ever-present toothy grin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mrs. Fagan, I'm humbled by the secretary-general's faith and trust in me, as we speed off toward the single most important event in human history since the death of our Lord.\"\n\nTilly snorted. \"You mean his faith and trust in the hundred million voters you can throw his way in June.\"\n\n\"Ma'am,\" Cortez said, turning to look at Tilly's face for the first time. His grin never changed, but something chilled the air between them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe you've had a bit too much champagne.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh, not nearly enough.\"\n\nFather Michel charged in to the rescue, taking Tilly's hand and saying, \"I think our dear secretary-general is probably even more grateful for your husband's many campaign contributions. Though that does make this the most expensive cruise in history, for you.\"\n\nTilly snorted and looked away from Cortez. \"Robert can fucking afford it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The obscenity created an awkward silence for a few moments, and Father Michel gave Anna an apologetic smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She smiled back, so far out of her depth that she'd abandoned trying to keep up.\n\n\"What's he getting with them, I wonder?\" Tilly said, pointing attention at anyone other than herself. \"These artists and writers and actors. How many votes does a performance artist bring to the table? Do they even vote?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's symbolic,\" Father Michel said, his face taking on a well-practiced expression of thoughtfulness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We are all of humanity coming together to explore the great question of our time. The secular and the divine come to stand together before that overwhelming mystery: What is the Ring?\"\n\n\"Nice,\" Tilly said. \"Rehearsal pays off.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" the bishop said.\n\n\"What is the Ring?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna said with a frown." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's a wormhole gate. There's no question, right? We've been talking about these on a theoretical basis for centuries. They look just like this. Something goes through it and the place on the other side isn't here. We get the transmission signals bleeding back out and attenuating. It's a wormhole.\"\n\n\"That's certainly a possibility,\" Father Michel said. Tilly smiled at the sourness in his voice. \"How do you see our mission here, Anna?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It isn't what it is that's at issue,\" she said, glad to be back in a conversation she understood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's what it means. This changes everything, and even if it's something wonderful, it'll be displacing. People will need to understand how to fit this in with their understanding of the universe. Of what this means about God, what this new thing tells us about Him. By being here, we can offer comfort that we couldn't otherwise.\"\n\n\"I agree,\" Cortez said. \"Our work is to help people come to grips with the great mysteries, and this one's a doozy.\"\n\n\"No,\" Anna started, \"explaining isn't what I—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Play your cards right, and it might get Esteban another four years,\" Tilly said over the top of her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Then we can call it a miracle.\"\n\nCortez grinned a white grin at someone across the room. A man in a small group of men and women in loose orange robes raised his hand, waving at them.\n\n\"Can you believe those people?\" Tilly asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I believe those are delegates from the Church of Humanity Ascendant,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly shook her head. \"Humanity Ascendant. I mean, really. Let's just make up our own religion and pretend we're the gods.\"\n\n\"Careful,\" Cortez said. \"They're not the only ones.\"\n\nSeeing Anna's discomfort, Father Michel attempted to rescue her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Doctor Volovodov, I know the elder of that group. Wonderful woman. I'd love to introduce you. If you all would excuse us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Excuse me,\" Anna started, then stopped when the room suddenly went silent. Father Michel and Cortez were both looking toward something at the center of the gathering near the bar, and Anna moved around Tilly to get a better view. It was hard to see at first, because everyone in the room was moving away toward the walls. But eventually, a young man dressed in a hideous bright red suit was revealed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd poured something all over himself; his hair and the shoulders of his jacket were dripping a clear fluid onto the floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A strong alcohol scent filled the room.\n\n\"This is for the people's Ashtun Collective!\" the young man yelled out in a voice that trembled with fear and excitement. \"Free Etienne Barbara! And free the Afghan people!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh dear God,\" Father Michel said. \"He's going to—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna never saw what started the fire, but suddenly the young man was engulfed in flames. Tilly screamed. Anna's shocked brain only registered annoyance at the sound. Really, when had someone screaming ever solved a problem? She recognized her fixation on this irritation as her own way of avoiding the horror in front of her, but only in a distant and dreamy sort of way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was about to tell Tilly to just shut up when the fire-suppression system activated and five streams of foam shot out of hidden turrets in the walls and ceiling." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fiery man was covered in white bubbles and extinguished in seconds. The smell of burnt hair competed with the alcohol stench for dominance.\n\nBefore anyone else could react, naval personnel were streaming into the room. Stern-faced young men and women with holstered sidearms calmly told everyone to remain still while emergency crews worked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Medical technicians came in and scraped foam off the would-be suicide." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He seemed more surprised than hurt. They handcuffed him and loaded him onto a stretcher. He was out of the room in less than a minute. Once he was gone, the people with guns seemed to relax a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They certainly put him out fast,\" Anna said to the armed young woman closest to her. \"That's good.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The young woman, looking hardly older than a schoolgirl, laughed. \"This is a battleship, ma'am. Our fire-suppression systems are robust.\"\n\nCortez had darted across the room and was speaking to the ranking naval officer in a booming voice. He sounded upset. Father Michel seemed to be quietly praying, and Anna felt a strong urge to join him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well,\" Tilly said, waving at the room with her empty champagne glass." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately one sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face was pale apart from two bright red dots on her cheeks \"Maybe this trip won't be boring after all.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S. A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S. A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S. A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would have gone faster if Bull had asked for more help, but until he knew who was doing what, he didn't want to trust too many people. Or anyone.\n\nA thousand people in the crew more or less made things a little muddier than they would have been in some ways. With a crew that big, the security chief could look for things like crew members from unlikely departments meeting up at odd times. Deviations from the pattern that every ship had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Since this was the shakedown voyage, the Behemoth didn't have any patterns yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was still in a state of chaos, crew and ship getting to know one another. Making decisions, forming habits and customs and culture. Nothing was normal yet, and so nothing was strange.\n\nOn the other hand, it was only a thousand people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Every ship had a black economy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone on the Behemoth would be trading sex for favors. Someone would run a card game or set up a pachinko parlor or start a little protection racket. People would be bribed to do things or not do things. It was what happened when you put people together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull's job wasn't to stamp it all out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His job was to keep it at a level that kept the ship moving and safe. And to set boundaries.\n\nAlexi Myerson-Freud was a nutritionist. He'd worked mid-level jobs on Tycho, mostly in the yeast vats, tuning the bioengineering to produce the right mix of chemicals, minerals, and salts for keeping humans alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been married twice, had a kid he hadn't seen in five years, was part of a network war-gaming group that simulated ancient battles, pitting themselves against the great generals of history." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was eight years younger than Bull. He had mouse-ass brown hair, an awkward smile, and a side business selling a combination stimulant and euphoric the Belters called pixie dust. Bull had worked it all until he was certain.\n\nAnd even once he knew, he'd waited a few days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not long. Just enough that he could follow Alexi around on the security system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He needed to make sure there wasn't a bigger fish above him, a partner who was keeping a lower profile, or a connection to Bull's own team—or else, God forbid, Ashford's. There wasn't.\n\nTruth was, he didn't want to do it. He knew what had to happen, and it was always easier to put it off for another fifteen minutes, or until after lunch, or until tomorrow. Only every time he did, it meant someone else was going on shift stoned, maybe making a stupid mistake, breaking the ship, getting injured, or getting killed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The moment came in the middle of second shift." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull turned down his console, stood up, took a couple of guns from the armory, and made a connection on his hand terminal.\n\n\"Serge?\"\n\n\"Boss.\"\n\n\"I'm gonna need you and one other. We're going to go bust a drug dealer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The silence on the line sounded like surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull waited. This would tell him something too.\n\n\"You got it,\" Serge said. \"Be right there.\"\n\nSerge came into the office ten minutes later with another security grunt, a broad-shouldered, grim-faced woman named Corin. She was a good choice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull made a mental note in Serge's favor, and handed them both guns." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Corin checked the magazine, holstered it, and waited. Serge flipped his from hand to hand, judging the weight and feel, then shrugged.\n\n\"What's the plan?\" he asked.\n\n\"Come with me,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Someone tries to keep me from doing my job, warn them once, then shoot them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Straightforward,\" Serge said, and there was a sense of approval in the word.\n\nThe food processing complex was deep inside the ship, close to the massive, empty inner surface. In the long voyage to the stars, it would have been next to the farmlands of the small internal world of the Nauvoo. In the Behemoth, it wasn't anywhere in particular." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What had been logical became dumb, and all it took was changing the context." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull drove them, the little electric cart's foam wheels buzzing against the ramps. In the halls and corridors, people stopped, watched. Some stared. It said something that three armed security agents traveling together stood out. Bull wasn't sure it was something good." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Near the vats, the air smelled different." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were more volatiles and unfiltered particulates. The processing complex itself was a network of tubs and vats and distilling columns. Half of the place was shut down, the extra capacity mothballed and waiting for a larger population to feed. Or else waiting to be torn out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They found Alexi knee deep in one of the water treatment baths, orange rubber waders clinging to his legs and his hands full of thick green kelp." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull pointed to him, and then to the catwalk on which he, Serge, and Corin stood. There might have been a flicker of unease in Alexi's expression. It was hard to say.\n\n\"I can't get out right now,\" the dealer said, holding up a broad wet leaf." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm in the middle of something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull nodded and turned to Serge.\n\n\"You two stay here. Don't let him go anywhere. I'll be right back.\"\n\n\"Sa sa, boss,\" Serge said.\n\nThe locker room was down a ladder and through a hall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The bank of pea-green private storage bins had been pulled out of the wall, turned ninety degrees, and put back in to match the direction of thrust." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blobs and filaments of caulk still showed at the edges where it failed to sit quite flush. Two other water processing techs were sitting on the bench in different levels of undress, talking and flirting. They went silent when Bull walked in. He smiled at them, nodded, and walked past to a locker on the far end." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he reached it, he turned back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This belong to anyone?\" he asked.\n\nThe two techs looked at each other.\n\n\"No, sir,\" the woman said, pulling her jumpsuit a little more closed. \"Most of these are just empty.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay, then,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He thumbed in his override code and pulled the door open. The duffel bag inside was green and gray, the kind of thing he'd have put his clothes in when he went to work out. He ran a finger along the seal. About a hundred vials of yellow-white powder, a little more grainy than powdered milk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He closed the bag, put it on his shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is there a problem?\" the male tech asked. His voice was tentative, but not scared. Curious, more. Excited. Well, God loved rubberneckers, and so did Bull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Myerson-Freud just stopped selling pixie dust on the side,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Should go tell all your friends, eh?\"\n\nThe techs looked at each other, eyebrows raised, as Bull headed out. Back at the kelp tank, he dropped the bag, then pointed to Alexi and to the catwalk beside him, the same motions he'd used before. This time Alexi's face went grim." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull waited while the tech slogged through the deep water and pulled himself up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's the problem?\" Alexi said. \"What's in the bag?\"\n\nBull shook his head slowly, and only once. The chagrin on Alexi's face was like a confession." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not that Bull had needed one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, ese,\" Bull said. \"Just want you to know, I'm sorry about this.\"\n\nHe punched Alexi in the nose. Cartilage and bone gave way under his knuckle and a bright red fountain of blood spilled slowly past the tech's startled mouth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Put him on the back of the cart,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Where folks can see him.\"\n\nSerge and Corin exchanged a look that was a lot like the pair in the locker room.\n\n\"We heading to the brig, boss?\" Serge asked, and his tone of voice meant he already knew the answer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have a brig?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull asked as he scooped up the duffel bag.\n\n\"Pretty don't.\"\n\n\"Then we're not going there.\"\n\nBull had planned the route to pass through all the most populated public areas between the innermost areas of the ship and its skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Word was already going around, and there were spectators all along the way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alexi was making a high keening sound when he wasn't shouting or begging or demanding to see the captain. Bull had the sudden, visceral memory of seeing a pig carried to the slaughter when he'd been younger. He didn't know when it had happened; the memory was just there, floating unconnected from the rest of his life.\n\nIt took almost half an hour to reach the airlock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A crowd had gathered, a small sea of faces, most of them on wide heads and thin bodies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belters watching the Earther kill one of their own. Bull ignored them. He keyed in his passcode, opened the inner door of the lock, walked back to the cart, and hefted Alexi with one arm. In the low gravity it should have been easy, but Bull felt himself getting winded before he got back to the lock. It didn't help that Alexi was thrashing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull pushed him in, closed the inner door, put in the override code, and opened the exterior door without evacuating the air first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The pop rang through the metal deck like a distant bell. The monitor showed that the lock was empty. Bull closed the exterior door. While the lock refilled, he walked back to the cart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He stood on the back of the cart where Alexi had been, the duffel bag over his head in both hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blood stained his sleeve and his left knee.\n\n\"This is pixie dust, right?\" he said to the crowd. He didn't use his terminal to amplify his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't need to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm gonna leave this in the airlock for sixteen hours, then I'm spacing it. Any other dust comes in to join it before then, well, it just happened. No big deal. Any of this goes away, and that's a problem. So everybody go tell everybody. And the next pendejo signs on shift high comes and talks to me.\"\n\nHe walked back to the airlock slowly, letting everyone see him. He opened the inner door, slung the bag through, and turned away, leaving the door open behind him. Climbing back behind the wheel of the cart, he could feel the tension in the crowd, and it didn't bother him at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Other things did. What he'd just done was the easy part." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What came next was harder, because he had less control over it.\n\n\"You want to set a guard on that, boss?\" Serge asked.\n\n\"Think we need to?\" Bull asked. He didn't expect an answer, and he didn't get one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cart lurched forward, the spectators parting before it like a herd of antelope before a lion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull aimed them back toward the ramps that would take him to the security offices.\n\n\"Hardcore,\" Corin said. She made it sound like a good thing.\n\nReligious art decorated the captain's office. Angels in blue and gold held the parabolas of the archways that rose overhead to meet at the image of a calm and bearded God." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A beneficent Christ looked down from the wall behind Ashford's desk, Caucasian features calm and serene." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't look anything like the bloody, bent, crucified man Bull was familiar with. Arrayed at the Savior's side were images of plenty: wheat, corn, goats, cows, and stars. Captain Ashford paced back and forth by Jesus' knees, his face dark with blood and fury. Michio Pa was seated in the other guest chair, carefully not looking at Ashford or at Bull." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Whatever the situation was with the Martian science ships and their military escort, with the massive Earth flotilla, it was forgotten for the moment." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull didn't let the anxiety show in his face.\n\n\"This is unacceptable, Mister Baca.\"\n\n\"Why do you think that, sir?\"\n\nAshford stopped, put his wide hands on the desk, and leaned forward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull looked into his bloodshot eyes and wondered whether the captain was getting enough sleep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You killed a member of my crew,\" Ashford said. \"You did it with clear premeditation. You did it in front of a hundred witnesses.\"\n\n\"Shit, you want witnesses, there's surveillance footage,\" Bull said. It wasn't the right thing to do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You are relieved of duty, Mister Baca. And confined to quarters until we return to Tycho Station, where you will stand trial for murder.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He was selling drugs to the crew.\"\n\n\"Then he should have been arrested!\"\n\nBull took a deep breath, exhaling slowly through his nose.\n\n\"You think we're more running a warship or a space station, sir?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he asked. Ashford's brow furrowed, and he shook his head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To Bull's right, Pa shifted in her seat. When neither of them spoke, Bull went on. \"Reason I ask is if I'm a cop, then yeah, I should have taken him to the brig, if we had a brig. He should have gotten a lawyer. We could have done that whole thing. Me? I don't think this is a station. I think it's a battleship. I'm here to maintain military discipline in a potential combat zone. Not Earth navy discipline. Not Martian navy discipline. OPA discipline. The Belter way.\"\n\nAshford stood up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We aren't anarchists,\" he said, his voice dripping with scorn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"OPA tradition, maybe I'm wrong, is that someone does something that intentionally endangers the ship, they get to hitchhike back to wherever there's air,\" Bull said.\n\n\"You hauled him out of a water vat. How was he endangering the ship? Was he going to throw kelp at it?\" Pa said, her voice brittle.\n\n\"People been coming on shift high,\" Bull said, lacing his fingers together on one knee." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't trust me. Ask around. And, c'mon. Of course they are, right? We've got three times as much work needs to get done as we can do. Pixie dust, and they don't feel tired. Don't take breaks. Don't slow down. Get more done. Thing about bad judgment? You got to have good judgment to notice you've got it. We already got people hurt. Matter of time before someone died. Or worse.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're saying this man was responsible for all those other people performing badly at their work, so you killed him?\" Ashford said, but the wind was out of his sails. He was going to fold like wet cardboard. Bull recognized that Ashford's weakness was going to work to his advantage this time, but he still hated it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm saying he was putting the ship at risk for his own financial gain, just like he was stealing air filters. And sure he did. There was a demand, he filled it. If I lock him up, that makes it so that the risk is higher. Prices are higher. Get caught, you maybe go to jail when we get back to Tycho.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And you made it so that the risk is death.\"\n\n\"No,\" Bull said. \"I mean, yeah, but I don't shoot him. I do what you do to people who risk the ship. Belters know what getting spaced means, right? It frames the issue.\"\n\n\"This was a mistake.\"\n\n\"I've got a list of fifty people he sold to,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Some of them are skilled technicians. A couple are mid-level overseers. We could lock 'em all up, but then we've got less people to do the work. And anyway, they won't be doing it anymore. Supply's gone. But if you want I could talk to them. Let 'em know I'm keeping an eye open.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pa's chuckle was mirthless.\n\n\"That would be difficult if you're in the brig on charges,\" she said.\n\n\"We don't have a brig,\" Bull said. \"Plan was the church elders were just gonna talk everything out.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He kept his tone carefully free of sarcasm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford waffled. It was like watching a cat trying to decide whether to jump from one tree limb to another. His expression was calculating, internal, uncertain. Bull waited.\n\n\"This never happens again,\" Ashford said. \"You decide someone needs to go out the airlock, you come to me. I'll be the one that pushes the button.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right, what?\" Ashford bit the words. Bull lowered his head, looking at the deck. He'd gotten what he came for. He could let Ashford feel like he'd gotten a little win too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I mean, yes, sir, Captain. Solid copy. I understand and will comply.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're damn right you will,\" Ashford said. \"Now get the hell back to work.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\nWhen the door closed behind him, Bull leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was intensely aware of the sound of the ship—low hum of the air recyclers, the distant murmur of voices, the chimes and beeps of a thousand different system alerts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The air smelled of plastic and ozone. He'd taken his calculated risk, and he'd pulled it off.\n\nWalking back down, level by level, he felt the attention on him. In the lift, a man tried not to stare at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the hall outside the security office, a woman smiled at him and nodded, nervous as a mouse that smells cat. Bull smiled back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the security office, Serge and another man from the team—a Europan named Casimir—lifted their fists, greeting him in the physical idiom of the Belt. Bull returned the gesture and ambled over.\n\n\"What we got?\" Bull asked.\n\n\"A couple dozen people came to pay respects,\" Serge said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I figure about half a kilo more dust just appeared out of nowhere.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay, then.\"\n\n\"I've got a file of everyone who went in. You want me to flag them in the system?\"\n\n\"Nope,\" Bull said. \"I told them it was no big deal. It's no big deal. You can kill the file.\"\n\n\"You got it, boss.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be in my office,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Let me know if something comes up. And somebody start a pot of coffee.\"\n\nHe sat down on the desk, his feet resting on the seat of his chair, and leaned forward. He was suddenly exhausted. It had been a long, bad day, and losing the dread he'd been carrying for the weeks leading up to it was like being released from prison." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took a minute or two to notice he had a message waiting from Michio Pa." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The XO hadn't requested a connection. She didn't want to talk to him, then. She just wanted to say something.\n\nIn the recording, her face was lit from below with the backsplash of her hand terminal screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her smile was thin and tight and sort of faded away somewhere around her cheekbones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I saw what you did there. That was very nice. Very clever. Wrapping yourself in the OPA flag, making the old man wonder if the crew wouldn't take your side. More-Belter-than-thou. It was graceful.\"\n\nBull scratched his chin. The stubble that had grown in since morning made his fingernails sound like a rasp. It was probably too much to ask that he not make any enemies with this, but he was sorry it was Pa." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with 4 sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante was not a small ship. Her normal crew complement was over a dozen navy personnel and officers, and on many missions she'd also carry six marines. Running the Roci with four people meant each of them did several jobs, and that didn't leave a lot of downtime. It also meant that it was pretty easy at first to avoid the four strangers living on the ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With the documentary crew restricted from entering ops, the airlock deck, the machine shop, or engineering, they were stuck on the two crew decks with access only to their quarters, the head, the galley, and sick bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Monica was a lovely person. Calm, friendly, charismatic. If even a part of her charm translated to the other side of the camera, it was easy to see how she'd succeeded. The others—Okju, Clip, Cohen—made clear overtures of friendship, cracking jokes with the Rocinante's crew, making dinners. Reaching out, but it wasn't clear to Holden whether it was the usual honeymoon period that came when any crew first came together for a long voyage or something more calculated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe a little of both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What he did see was his own crew drawing back. After two days of the documentary team being on board, Naomi simply retreated to the ops deck where she couldn't be found. Amos had made a halfhearted pass at Monica, and a slightly more serious attempt with Okju. When both failed, he began spending most of his time in the machine shop." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Of them all, only Alex took time to socialize with their passengers, and him not all that often." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd taken to sometimes sleeping in the pilot's couch.\n\nThey'd agreed to being interviewed, and Holden knew they couldn't avoid it forever. They hadn't been out for a full week yet, and even on a fairly high burn it would be months to their destination. Besides, it was in their contract." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The discomfort of it was almost enough to distract him from the fact that every day brought them closer to the Ring and whatever it was that Miller wanted him out there for. Almost." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's Saturday,\" Naomi said. She was lounging in a crash couch near the comm station. She hadn't cut her hair for a while, and it was getting long enough to become an annoyance to her. For the last ten minutes, she'd been trying to braid it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The thick black curls resisted her efforts, seeming to move with a will of their own." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Based on past experience, Holden knew this was the precursor to cutting half of it off in exasperation. Naomi liked the idea of growing her hair very long, but not the reality. Holden sat at the combat ops panel watching her struggle with it and letting his mind drift.\n\n\"Did you hear me?\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's Saturday.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Are we inviting our guests to dinner?\"\n\nIt had become custom on the ship that no matter what else was going on, the crew tried to have dinner as a group once a week. By unspoken agreement it was usually Saturday. Which day of the week it happened to be didn't really matter much on a ship, but by holding their dinner on Saturday, Holden thought they were doing some small bit to celebrate the passing of a week, the beginning of another." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A gentle reminder that there was still a solar system outside of the four of them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he hadn't considered inviting the documentary crew to join them. It felt like an invasion. The Saturday dinner was for crew.\n\n\"We can't keep them out of it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He sighed. \"Can we?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not unless we want to eat up here. You did give them the run of the galley.\"\n\n\"Dammit,\" he said. \"Should have confined them to quarters.\"\n\n\"For four months?\"\n\n\"We could have shoved ration bars and catheter bags under the door to them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled and said, \"It's Amos' turn to cook.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Right, I'll call and let him know it's dinner for eight.\"\n\nAmos made pasta and mushrooms, heavy on the garlic, heavy on the Parmesan. It was his favorite, and he always splurged to buy real cloves of garlic and actual Parmesan cheese to grate. Another small luxury they wouldn't be able to afford if they wound up in a courtroom battle with Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "While Amos finished sautéing the mushrooms and garlic, Alex set the table and took drink orders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden sat next to Naomi on one side of the table, while the documentary crew sat together on the other. The banter was polite and friendly, and if there was an uncomfortable undercurrent to it all, he still wasn't quite sure why.\n\nHolden had asked them not to bring cameras or recording equipment to the dinner table, and Monica had agreed. Clip, the Martian, was talking about sports history with Alex." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Okju and Cohen, sitting across from Naomi, were telling stories about the last assignment they'd been on, covering a new scientific station that was in stationary orbit around Mercury." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It should have been almost pleasant, and it just wasn't.\n\nHolden said, \"We don't usually eat this well while flying, but we try to do something nice for our weekly dinner together.\"\n\nOkju smiled and said, \"Smells lovely.\" She was wearing half a dozen rings, a blouse with buttons on it, a silver pendant, and an ivory-colored comb holding back her frizzy brown hair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The soundman gazed serenely at nothing, his black glasses hiding the top of his face, his expression calm and open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Monica watched him look over her crew, saying nothing, a faint smile on her lips.\n\n\"Chow,\" Amos said, then began putting bowls of food on the table. While the meal was handed around in a slow circuit, Okju bowed her head and mumbled something. It took Holden a moment to realize she was praying." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't seen anyone do it for years, not since he'd left home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of his fathers, Caesar, had sometimes prayed before meals. Holden waited for her to finish before he started eating.\n\n\"This is very nice,\" Monica said. \"Thank you.\"\n\n\"You're welcome,\" said Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're a week out of Ceres,\" she said, \"and I think we're all settled in. Was wondering if we could start scheduling some preliminary interviews? It's mostly so we can test out the equipment.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can interview me,\" Amos said, not quite hiding his leer.\n\nMonica smiled at him and speared a mushroom with her fork, then stared at him while she popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly.\n\n\"Okay,\" she said. \"We can start with background work. Baltimore?\"\n\nThe silence was suddenly brittle." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos started to stand, but a gentle hand on his arm from Naomi stopped him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He opened his mouth, closed it, then looked down at his plate while the pale skin on his scalp and neck turned bright red. Monica looked down at her plate, her expression at the friction point between embarrassed and annoyed.\n\n\"That's not a good idea,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Captain, I'm sensitive to privacy issues for you and your crew, but we have an agreement. And with all respect, you've been treating me and mine like we're unwelcome.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Around the table, the food was starting to cool off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had hardly been touched. \"I get it. You held up your end of the deal,\" Holden said. \"You got me out of Ceres, and you put money in our pockets. We haven't been holding up our end. I get it. I'll set aside an hour tomorrow for starters, does that work?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" she said. \"Let's eat.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Baltimore, huh?\" Clip said to Amos. \"Football fan?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos said nothing, and Clip didn't press it.\n\nAfter the uncomfortable dinner, Holden wanted nothing more than to climb into bed. But while he was in the head brushing his teeth, Alex pretended to casually wander in and said, \"Come on up to ops, Cap. Got something to talk about.\"\n\nWhen Holden followed him up, he found Amos and Naomi already waiting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi was leaning back with her hands behind her head, but Amos sat on the edge of a crash couch, both feet on the floor and his hands clenched into a doubled fist in front of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His expression was still dark with anger.\n\n\"So, Jim,\" Alex said, walking over to another crash couch and dropping into it, \"this ain't a good start.\"\n\n\"She's looking stuff up about us,\" Amos said to no one in particular, his gaze still on the floor. \"Stuff she shouldn't know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden knew what Amos meant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Monica's reference to Baltimore was an allusion to Amos' childhood as the product of a particularly nasty brand of unlicensed prostitution. But Holden couldn't admit he knew it. He himself only knew because of an overheard conversation. He had no interest in humiliating Amos further." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She's a journalist, they do background research,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's more than that,\" Naomi said. \"She's a nice person. She's charming and she's friendly, and every one of us on this ship wants to like her.\"\n\n\"That's a problem?\" Holden said.\n\n\"That's a big fucking problem,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was on the Canterbury for a reason, Jim,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His Mariner Valley drawl had stopped sounding silly, and just seemed sad instead. \"I don't need someone diggin' up my skeletons to air them out.\"\n\nThe Canterbury, the ice hauler they'd all worked on together before the Eros incident, was a bottom-of-the-barrel job for those who flew for a living. It attracted people who'd failed down to the level of their incompetence, or those who couldn't pass the background checks a better job might require." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or, in his own case, those who had a dishonorable military discharge staining their record." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After having served with his small crew for years, Holden knew it wasn't incompetence that had put any of them on that ship.\n\n\"I know,\" he started.\n\n\"Same here, Cap'n,\" Amos said. \"I got a lot of past in my past.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So do I,\" Naomi said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden started to reply, then stopped when the import of her words hit him. Naomi was hiding something that had driven her to take a glorified mechanic's job on the Canterbury. Well, of course she was. Holden hadn't wanted to think about it, but it was obvious." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was about the most talented engineer he'd ever met." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He knew she had degrees from two universities, and had completed her three-year flight officer training in two. She'd started her career on an obvious command track. Something had happened, but she'd never talked about what it had been. He frowned a question at her, but she stopped him with a tiny shake of her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The fragility of their little family struck him full force." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The paths that had pulled them all together had been so diverse, as improbable and unlikely as those kinds of things ever were. And the universe could just as easily take them apart. It left him feeling small and vulnerable and a little defensive.\n\n\"Everyone remembers why we did this, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden asked. \"The lockdown? Mars coming after the Rocinante?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We didn't have a choice,\" Naomi replied. \"We know. We all agreed to take this job.\"\n\nAmos nodded in agreement. Alex said, \"No one's sayin' we shouldn't have taken the job. What we're sayin' is that you're the frontman for this band.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" Naomi said. \"You need to be so interesting that this documentary crew forgets all about the rest of us. That's your job for the rest of this flight. That's the only way this works.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Amos said, still not looking up. \"There is another way, but I've never tossed a blind man out an airlock. Don't know how I'd feel about that. Might not be fun.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Holden said, patting the air with his hands in a calming motion. \"I get it. I'll keep the cameras out of your faces as much as I can, but this is a long trip. Be patient. When we get to the Ring, maybe they'll be tired of us and we can pawn them off on some other ship.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were silent for a moment, then Alex shook his head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" he said, \"I think we just found the only thing that'll make me look forward to getting there.\"\n\nHolden woke with a start, rubbing furiously at an itch on his nose. He had a half-remembered feeling of something trying to climb inside it. No bugs on the ship, so it had to have been a dream." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The itch was real, though." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As he scratched, he said, \"Sorry, bad dream or something,\" and patted the bed next to him. It was empty. Naomi must have gone to the bathroom. He inhaled and exhaled loudly through his nose several times, trying to get rid of the itchy sensation inside. On the third exhale, a blue firefly popped out and flew away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden became aware of a faint scent of acetate in the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We need to talk,\" said a familiar voice in the darkness.\n\nHolden's throat went tight. His heart began to pound. He pulled a pillow over his face and suppressed an urge to scream as much from frustration and rage as the old familiar fear that tightened his chest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So. There was this rookie,\" Miller started." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good kid, you'd have hated him.\"\n\n\"I can't take this shit,\" Holden said, yanking the pillow away from his face and throwing it in the direction of Miller's voice. He slapped the panel by the bed and the room's lights came on. Miller was standing by the door, the pillow behind him, wearing the same rumpled gray suit and porkpie hat, fidgeting like he had a rash." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He never really learned to clear a room, you know?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miller continued. His lips were black. \"Corners and doorways. I tried to tell him. It's always corners and doorways.\"\n\nHolden reached for the comm panel to call Naomi, then stopped. He wanted her to be there, to make the ghost vanish the way it always had before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And he was also afraid that this time, it wouldn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Listen, you've gotta clear the room,\" Miller said, his face twisted with confusion and intensity, like a drugged man trying to remember something important. \"If you don't clear the room, the room eats you.\"\n\n\"What do you want from me?\" Holden said. \"Why are you making me go out there?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A thick exasperation twisted Miller's expression." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What the hell are you hearing me say? You see a room full of bones, only thing you know is something got killed. You're the predator right up until you're prey.\" He stopped, staring at Holden. Waiting for an answer. When Holden didn't respond, Miller moved a step closer to the bed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something on his face made Holden think of the times he'd watched the cop shoot people." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He opened a cabinet by the bed and took out his sidearm.\n\n\"Don't get any closer,\" Holden said, not pointing the gun at Miller yet. \"But be honest, if I shot you, would you even die?\"\n\nMiller laughed. His expression became almost human. \"Depends.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The door opened and Miller blinked out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi came in wearing a robe and carrying a bulb of water.\n\n\"You awake?\"\n\nHolden nodded, then opened the cabinet and put the gun away. His expression must have told Naomi everything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you all right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah. He vanished when you opened the door.\"\n\n\"You look terrified,\" Naomi said, putting her water down and sliding under the covers next to him.\n\n\"He's scarier now. Before, I thought... I don't know what I thought. But ever since he knew about the gate, I keep trying to figure out what he really means. It was easier when I could think it was some kind of static. That it didn't... that it didn't mean anything.\"\n\nNaomi curled up against his side, putting her arms around him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt his muscles relaxing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can't let Monica and her crew ever know about this,\" he said. Naomi's smile was half sorrow. \"What?\"\n\n\"James Holden not telling everyone everything,\" she said.\n\n\"This is different.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I know.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What did he say?\" Naomi asked. \"Did it make sense?\"\n\n\"No. But it was all about death. Everything he says is about death.\"\n\nOver the course of the following weeks, the ship fell into a routine that, while not comfortable, was at least collegial." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden spent time with the documentary crew, being filmed, showing them the ship, answering questions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What was his childhood like? Loving and complex and bittersweet. Had he really saved Earth by talking the half-aware girl who'd been the protomolecule's seed crystal into rerouting to Venus? No, mostly that had just worked out well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Did he have any regrets?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He smiled and took it and pretended he wasn't holding anything back. That the only thing leading him out to the Ring was his contract with them. That he hadn't been chosen by the protomolecule for something else that he hadn't yet begun to understand.\n\nSometimes, Monica turned to the others, but Alex and Naomi kept their answers friendly, polite, and shallow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos laced his responses with cheerful and explicit profanity until it was almost impossible to edit into something for a civilized audience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cohen turned out to be more than a sound engineer. The dark glasses he wore were a sonar feedback system that allowed him to create a three-dimensional model of any space he occupied. When Amos asked why he didn't have prosthetics instead, Cohen had told them that the accident that claimed his eyes also burned the optic nerves away. The attempted nerve regrowth therapy had failed and almost killed him with an out-of-control brain tumor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But the interface that allowed his brain to translate sonar data into a working 3D landscape also made him an extraordinary visual effects modeler." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While Monica spun a narrative of Holden's life following the destruction of his ship the Canterbury, Cohen created beautiful visual renderings of the scenes. At one point, he showed the crew a short clip of Holden speaking, describing the escape from Eros after the initial protomolecule infection, all while he appeared to be moving down perfectly rendered Erosian corridors filled with bodies.\n\nPart of Holden had almost come to enjoy the interviews, but he could only watch the Eros graphics for a few seconds before he asked Cohen to turn it off. He'd been sure that seeing it would somehow invoke Miller, but it hadn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden didn't like the memories that came with their story." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The documentary crew made accommodations, not forcing him further than he was willing to go. Their being nice about it somehow only made him feel worse.\n\nA week out from the Ring, they caught up to the Behemoth. Monica was sitting on the ops deck with the crew when the massive OPA ship finally got close enough for the Roci's telescopes to get a good view of her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden had allowed the restrictions on where the documentary crew were permitted to just sort of fade away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were doing a slow pan of the Behemoth's hull when Alex whistled and pointed at a protrusion on the side. \"Damn, boss, the Mormons are better armed than I remember. That's a rail gun turret right there. And I'd bet a week's desserts those things are torpedo tubes.\"\n\n\"I liked her better when she was a generation ship,\" Holden replied. He called up combat ops and told the Rocinante to classify the new hull as the Behemoth-class dreadnought and add all the hardpoints and weapons to her threat profile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's the kind of stealing only governments can get away with,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I guess the OPA is a real thing now.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Alex replied with a laugh.\n\n\"Mars is making a similar claim against us,\" Holden said.\n\n\"And if we'd been the ones to blow up their battleship before we flew off in this boat, they'd have an argument to make,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Last I checked, that was the bad guys, though.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi didn't chime in. She was working at something on the comm panel. Holden could tell it was a complex problem because she was quietly humming to herself.\n\n\"You've been on the Nauvoo before, right?\" Monica asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Holden said. The Rocinante began rapidly throwing data onto his screen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship's calculations of the Behemoth's actual combat strength. \"They were still working on it the first time I was on Tycho Station. By the time I started working for Fred Johnson, they'd already shot the Nauvoo at Eros, and she was on her way out of the solar system. I did get to walk through the ship they sent to catch her, once.\"\n\nThe Rocinante was displaying puzzling projections at him. The ship seemed to think that the Behemoth didn't have the structural strength to support the number and size of weapon hardpoints she currently sported." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In fact, she seemed to think that if the OPA battleship ever actually fired two of its six capital-ship-class rail guns at the same time, there was a 34 percent chance the hull would rip apart." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just to have something to do, Holden told the Roci to create a tactical package for fighting the Behemoth and send it to Alex and Naomi. Probably, they'd never need it.\n\n\"You didn't like working for the OPA?\" Monica asked. She had the little smile she got when she asked a question she already knew the answer to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden suspected the documentarian was also a terrible poker player, but so far he hadn't been able to get her into a game." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was a mixed bag,\" he said, forcing himself to smile. To be the James Holden that Monica wanted and expected. To sacrifice himself to her attention so she'd leave the others be.\n\n\"Jim?\" Naomi said, finally looking up from her panel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know that memory leak in comms that I've been hunting for a month? It's getting worse. It's driving me nuts.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How bad?\" Alex asked.\n\n\"Fluctuating between .0021 and .033 percent,\" she said. \"I'm having to flush and reboot every couple of days now.\"\n\nAmos laughed. \"Do we care about that? Because I'll raise you a power leak in the head that's almost a whole percent.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi turned to look at him with a frown." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You didn't tell me?\"\n\n\"I'll bet you a month's pay it's a worn lead to the lights. I'll yank the fucker out when I get a chance.\"\n\n\"Do those things happen a lot?\" Monica asked.\n\n\"Hell no,\" Alex replied before Holden could." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Roci is solid.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Amos chimed in. \"She's so well put together, we gotta obsess over bullshit like crusty memory bubbles and shitty light bulbs just to have something to do.\" The smile he aimed at Monica was indistinguishable from the real thing.\n\n\"So you didn't really answer my question about the OPA,\" Monica said, swiveling her chair to face Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pointed at the threat map the Roci had created of the Behemoth, the weapon hardpoints like angry red blisters dotting her skin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Everything okay between you?\"\n\n\"Yeah, everyone's still friends,\" Holden said. \"Nothing to worry about.\"\n\nA proximity light flashed as the Behemoth bounced a ranging laser off the Roci's hull." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Stanni stood just behind Melba's left shoulder, looking at the display." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His palm rubbed against the slick fabric of his work trousers like he was trying to sooth a cramped quadriceps. Melba had learned to read it as a sign the man was nervous. The narrow architecture of the Cerisier put him so close to her, she could feel the subtle warmth of his body against the back of her neck. In any other context, being this close to a man would have meant they were sharing an intimate moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here, it meant nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't even find it annoying.\n\n\"Mira,\" Stanni said, flapping his hand. \"La. Right there.\"\n\nThe monitor was old, a constant green pixel burning in the lower left corner where some steady glitch had been irreparable and not worth replacing. The definition was still better than a hand terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To the untrained eye, the power demand profile for the UNN Thomas Prince could have been the readout of an EEG or a seismological reading or the visual representation of a bhangra recording." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But over the course of weeks—months now—Melba's eye wasn't untrained.\n\n\"I see it,\" she said, putting her finger on the spike. \"And we can't tell where it came from?\"\n\n\"Fucks me,\" Stanni said, rubbing his thigh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm seeing it, but I don't know what I'm looking at.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba ran her tongue against the back of her teeth, concentrating, trying to remember what the tutorials had shown about tracking power spikes. In an odd way, her inexperience had shifted into an asset for the team. Stanni and Ren, Bob and Soledad all had more hands-on experience than she did, but she'd only just learned the basics. Sometimes she would know some simple thing that all of them had known once, and only she hadn't forgotten." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her analysis was slower, but it didn't skip steps, because she didn't know which steps could be skipped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did it start at the deceleration flip?\" she asked.\n\nStanni grunted like a man struck by a sudden pain.\n\n\"They hit null g and one of the regulators reset,\" he said. \"Least it's nothing serious. Embarrassing to blow up all they preachers y sa. We'll need to get back over there and check them, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba nodded and made a mental note to read through what that process required." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All she'd known was the truism repeated in three of her tutorials that when a ship cut thrust halfway through a journey, flipped, and began accelerating in the opposite direction it was a time for especial care.\n\n\"I'll put it on the rotation,\" she said, and pulled up her team's schedule. There was a slot in ten days when there would be enough time to revisit the big ship. She blocked out the time, marked it, and posted it to the full group." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All of it felt easy and natural, like the sort of thing she had been doing her whole life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Which in a sense, she had.\n\nThe flotilla was coming to the last leg of its journey. They had passed the orbit of Uranus weeks ago, and the sun was a bright star in an overwhelming abyss of night sky. All the plumes of fire were pointed toward the Ring now, bleeding off their velocity with every passing minute." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even though it was the standard pattern for Epstein drive ships, Melba couldn't quite shake the feeling that they were all trying to flee from their destination and being pulled in against their will." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Unless they were discussing work, the only conversation—in the mess hall, on the exercise machines, on the shuttles to and from the ships they maintained—was about the Ring. The Martian science ships and their escort were already there, peering through the void. There had been no official reports given, so instead rumors sprang up like weeds. Every beam of light that passed through the Ring and hit something bounced back, just like in normal space." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But a few troubling constants varied as you got close to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The microwave background from inside the Ring was older than the big bang. People said if you listened carefully to the static from the other side of the Ring, you could hear the voices of the dead of Eros, or of the damned. Melba heard the dread in other people's voices, saw Soledad crossing herself when she thought no one was looking, felt the oppressive weight of the object. She understood their growing fear not because she felt it herself but because her own private crisis point was coming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The OPA's monstrous battleship was on course to arrive soon, almost at the same time as the Earth flotilla." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't a matter of days yet, but it would be soon. The Rocinante had already passed the slower Behemoth. She and Holden were rising up out of the sun's domain, and soon their paths would converge. Then there would be the attack, and the public humiliation of James Holden, and with it, his death. And after that..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was strange to think of an afterward." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The more she imagined it, the more she could see herself relaxing back into Melba's life. There was no reason not to. Clarissa Mao had nothing, commanded nothing, was nothing. Melba Koh had work, at least." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A history. It was a pretty thought, made prettier by being impossible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She would go home, become Clarissa again, and do whatever else she could to restore her family's name. Honor required it. If she'd stayed, it would have meant being like Julie.\n\nGrowing up, Clarissa had admired and resented her older sister. Julie the pretty one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The smart one. The champion yacht racer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Julie who could make Father laugh. Julie who could do no wrong. Petyr was younger than Clarissa and so would always be less. The twins Michael and Anthea had always been a world unto themselves, sharing jokes and comments that only they understood, and so seemed at times more like long-term guests of the family than part of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Julie was the oldest, the one Clarissa longed to be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The one to beat. Clarissa hadn't been the only one to see Julie that way. Their mother felt it too. It was the thing that made Clarissa and her mother most alike." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then something happened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Julie had walked away from them all, cut her hair, dropped out of school, and disappeared up into the darkness. She remembered her father hearing the news over dinner. They'd been having kaju murgh kari in the informal dining room that overlooked the park. She'd just come back from her riding lesson and still smelled a little of horse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Petyr had been talking about mathematics again, boring everyone, when her mother looked up from her plate with a smile and announced that Julie had written a letter to say she'd quit the family." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa's mouth had dropped open. It was like saying that the sun had decided to become a politician or that four had decided to be eight. It wasn't quite incomprehensible, but it lived on the edge.\n\nHer father had laughed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd said it was a phase." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Julie'd gone to live like the common people and sow a few wild oats, and once she'd had her fill, she'd come home. But she'd seen in his eyes that he didn't believe it. His perfect girl was gone. She'd rejected not only him, but the family." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their name. Forever after, cashews and curry had tasted like victory." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And so Melba would have to be folded up when she was done here. Put back in a box and buried or burned. Clarissa could go live with one of her siblings. Petyr had his own ship now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could work on it as an electrochemical engineer, she thought with a smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or, in the worst case, stay with Mother. If she told them what she'd done, how she'd saved the family name, then Clarissa could start to rebuild the company. Remake their empire in her own name. Possibly even free her father from imprisonment and exile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The thought left her feeling both hopeful and tired." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A loud clang and the distant sound of laughter brought her back to herself. She reviewed the maintenance schedule for the next ten-day cycle—maintenance on the electrical systems of three of the minor warships and a physical inventory of the electrical cards—marked the ship's time, and shut down her terminal. The mess hall was half full when she got there, members of half a dozen other teams eating together and talking and watching the newsfeeds about the Ring, about themselves going to meet it. Soledad was sitting by herself, gaze fixed on her hand terminal while she ate a green-brown paste that looked like feces but smelled like the finest-cooked beef in the world." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba told herself to think of it as pâté, and then it wasn't so bad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba got herself a plate and a bulb of lemon water and slid in across from Soledad. The other woman's eyes flicked up with a small but genuine smile.\n\n\"Hoy, boss,\" she said. \"How's it go?\"\n\n\"Everything's copacetic.\" Melba smiled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled more than Clarissa did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was an interesting thought. \"What did I miss?\"\n\n\"Report from Mars. Data, this time. The ship that went through? Not on the drift.\"\n\n\"Really?\" Melba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After they'd picked up the faint transmission from the little cobbled-together ship that had started all this, the assumption had been that it had been crippled by something that lived on the other side of the Ring." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That it was floating free. \"It's under power?\"\n\n\"Maybe,\" Soledad said. \"Data shows it's moving, and a lot slower than it went in. And the probes they sent in? One of them got grabbed too. Normal burn, and then boom, stopped. The signal's all fucked up, but it looks like the same course that the ship's on. Like they're being... taken to the same place. Or something.\"\n\n\"Weird,\" Melba said. \"But I guess weird is kind of what we expect. After Eros.\"\n\n\"My dad was on Eros,\" Soledad said, and Melba felt a strange tightening in her throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He worked one of the casinos. Security to make sure no one hacked the games, right? Been there fifteen years. Said he was going to retire there, get a little hole up where he didn't weigh so much and just live off his retirement.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm sorry.\"\n\nSoledad shrugged.\n\n\"Everyone dies,\" she said gruffly, then wiped the back of her hand against her eyes and turned back to the screen.\n\n\"My sister was there,\" Melba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was truth, and more than truth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My sister was one of the first ones it took.\"\n\n\"Shit,\" Soledad said, looking up at her now, terminal forgotten.\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\nThe two were quiet for a long moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At another table, a Belter man no more than twenty barked his knees against the edge of the table and started cursing squat little Earth designers, to the amusement of his friends." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You think they're still there?\" Soledad said softly, nodding at her terminal. \"There were those voices. The transmissions that came off Eros. You know. After. It was people, right?\"\n\n\"They're dead,\" Melba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Everyone on Eros died.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Changed, anyway,\" Soledad said. \"Some guy said it took the patterns off them, right? Their bodies. Their brains. I think about maybe they never really died. Just got remade, you know? What if their brains never stopped working and just got...\"\n\nShe shrugged, looking for a word, but Melba knew what she meant. Change, even profound change, wasn't the same as death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was proof enough of that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Does it matter?\"\n\n\"What if their souls never got loose?\" Soledad said, with real pain in her voice. \"What if it caught them all, right? Your sister. My dad. What if they aren't dead, and Ring's got all their souls still?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "There are no souls, Melba thought with a touch of pity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We are bags of meat with a little electricity running through them. No ghosts, no spirits, no souls. The only thing that survives is the story people tell about you. The only thing that matters is your name." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the kind of thing Clarissa would think." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The kind of thing her father would have said. She didn't say it aloud.\n\n\"Maybe that's why Earth's bringing all those priests,\" Soledad said and took a scoop of her food. \"To put them all to rest.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Someone should,\" Melba agreed, and then she turned to her meal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hand terminal chimed: Ren requesting a private conversation. Melba frowned and accepted the connection.\n\n\"What's up?\" she said.\n\nHis voice, when it came, was strained." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I got something I was wondering if you could look at. An anomaly.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"On my way,\" Melba said. She dropped the connection and downed her remaining meat paste in two huge swallows, then dropped the plate into the recycler on her way out. Ren was at a workstation in one of the storage bays. It was one of the new spaces he could work in that had a ceiling high enough that he wouldn't have to hunch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Around him, blue plastic crates stood fixed to the floor or one another with powerful electromagnets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her footsteps were the only sound.\n\n\"What've you got?\" she asked.\n\nHe stood back and nodded at the monitor.\n\n\"Air filter data from the Seung Un,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her blood went cold." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why?\" she said too sharply, too quickly.\n\n\"It's catching a lot of outliers. Raised a flag. I'm looking at the profile, and it's all high-energy ganga. Nitroethenes y sa.\"\n\nShe hadn't thought of this. She'd known that the ships did passive gas monitoring, but it had never occurred to her that stray molecules of her explosive would get caught in the filters, or that anyone would check." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren took her silence as confusion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Built a profile,\" he said. \"Ninety percent fit with a moldable explosive.\"\n\n\"So they've got explosives on board,\" Melba said. \"It's a warship. Explosives is what they do, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Despair and embarrassment warred in her chest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd screwed up. She just wanted Ren to be quiet, to not say the things he was saying. That he was going to say.\n\n\"This is more like what they'd use for mining and excavation,\" he said. \"You inspected that deck. You remember seeing anything funny? Might have been hard to see. This stuff's putty until it hits air.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You think it's a bomb?\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren shrugged.\n\n\"Inners hauling full load of gekke. A guy tried to light himself on fire. Hunger strike lady. The one coyo did that thing with the camera.\"\n\n\"That wasn't political,\" she said. \"He's a performance artist.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All I mean, we put together a lot of different kinds of people think a lot of different kinds of things. Doesn't bring out the best in people. I was a kid, I watched me eltern end a marriage over whether the madhi was going to be a Belter. And everybody know everybody back down the well's watching. That kind of attention changes people, and it don't make them better. Maybe someone's planning to make a statement, si no?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Did you alert their security?\" she asked.\n\n\"Check with you first. But something like this, shikata ga nai. We got to.\"\n\nI have to kill him, she thought like someone whispering in her ear. She saw how to do it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Get him to look at his screen, hunch over it just a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Enough to bare the back of his neck. Then she would press her tongue against the roof of her mouth, the rough of the tastebuds tickling her palate a little, and the strength would come. She'd break him here and then... take him back to her quarters. She could clear out her locker, fit him in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And there was packing sealant that would keep the smell of the body from getting out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd file a report, say he was missing. She could act as confused as anyone. By the time she gave up the room and they found him, Melba would already be gone. Even if they worked out that she'd also planted the bomb, they'd just assume she was one of Holden's agents." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren was looking at her, his brown eyes mild, his carrot-orange hair back in a wiry ponytail that left the skin of his neck exposed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She thought of him explaining about the brownout buffers. The gentleness in his expression. The kindness.\n\nI'm sorry, she thought. This isn't my fault. I have to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Let's check the data again,\" she said, angling her body toward the monitor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Show me where the anomalies are.\"\n\nHe nodded, turning with her. Like everything on the Cerisier, the controls were built for someone a little shorter than Ren. He had to bend a little to reach them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A thickness rose up at the back of her neck, filled her throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Dread felt like drowning. Ren's ponytail shifted, pulled to the side. There was a mole, brown and ovoid, just where his spine met his skull, like a target.\n\n\"So I'm looking on this report here,\" he said, tapping the screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What about Soledad? She'd been there when Ren called her. She knew Melba had gone to see him. She might have to kill her too. Where would she put that body?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "There would have to be an accident. Something plausible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She couldn't let them stop her. She was so close.\n\n\"It's not going up, though,\" he said. \"Steady levels.\"\n\nShe circled her tongue counterclockwise once, then paused." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt light-headed. Short of breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of the artificial glands leaking out, maybe, in preparation for the flood. Ren was speaking, but she couldn't hear him. The sounds of her own breath and the blood in her ears was too loud.\n\nI have to kill him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her fingers were jittering." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her heart raced. He turned to her, blew a breath out his nostrils. He wasn't a person. He was just a sack of meat with a little electricity. She could do this. For her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For her family." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It needed to be done.\n\nWhen Ren spoke, his voice seemed to come from a distance.\n\n\"Was denkt tu? You want to make the call, you want me to?\"\n\nHer mind moved too quickly and too slowly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was asking if they should alert the Seung Un about the bomb." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was what he meant.\n\n\"Ren?\" she said. Her voice sounded small, querulous. It was the voice of someone much younger than she was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone who was very frightened, or very sad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Concern bloomed in his expression, drew his brows together.\n\n\"Hey? You all right, boss?\"\n\nShe touched the screen with the tip of her finger.\n\n\"Look again,\" she said softly. \"Look close.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He turned, bending toward the data as if there were something there to discover." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked at his bent neck like she might have looked at a statue in a museum: an object. Nothing more. She circled her tongue against the roof of her mouth twice, and calm descended on her.\n\nHis neck popped when it broke, the cartilaginous disks ripping free, the bundle of nerves and connective tissue that his life had run through coming apart. She kept striking the base of his skull until she felt the bone give way beneath her palm, and then it was time to move the body." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Quickly. Before anyone walked in on them." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Before the crash came.\n\nFortunately, there was only a little blood." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write four sentences sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two hours into an interfaith prayer meeting, and for the very first time in her life, Anna was tired of prayer. She'd always found a deep comfort in praying. A profound sense of connection to something infinitely larger than herself. Her atheist friends called it awe in the face of an infinite cosmos." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She called it God." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That they might be talking about the same thing didn't bother her at all. It was possible she was hurling her prayers at a cold and unfeeling universe that didn't hear them, but that wasn't how it felt. Science had given mankind many gifts, and she valued it. But the one important thing it had taken away was the value of subjective, personal experience." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That had been replaced with the idea that only measurable and testable concepts had value." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But humans didn't work that way, and Anna suspected the universe didn't either. In God's image, after all, being a tenet of her faith.\n\nAt first, the meeting had been pleasant. Father Michel had a lovely deep voice that had mellowed with age like fine wine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His lengthy and heartfelt prayer for God's guidance to be upon those who would study the Ring had sent shivers down her spine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was followed by an elder of the Church of Humanity Ascendent who led the group through several meditations and breathing exercises that left Anna feeling energized and refreshed. She made a note in her hand terminal to download a copy of their book on meditation and give it a read. Not all of the faiths and traditions represented on board took a turn, of course. The imam would not pray in front of non-Muslims, though he did give a short speech in Arabic that someone translated for her through her earbud." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he ended with Allah hu akbar, several people in the audience repeated it back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna was one of them. Why not? It seemed polite, and it was a sentiment she agreed with.\n\nBut after two hours, even the most heartfelt and poetic of the prayers had begun to wear on her. She began counting the little plastic domes that hid fire-suppression turrets." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd gotten good at spotting them since the attempted suicide at the first party." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She found her mind wandering off to think about the message she'd send to Nono later. The chair she sat in had a very faint vibration that she could almost hear if she remained very still. It must have been the ship's massive drive, and as Anna listened for it, it began to develop a rhythmic pulse. The pulse turned into music, and she began humming under her breath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She stopped when an Episcopalian in the seat next to her pointedly cleared his throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hank Cortez was, of course, scheduled to go last. In the weeks and months Anna had been on the Prince, it had become apparent that while no one was officially in charge of the interfaith portion of the Ring expedition, Doctor Hank was treated as a sort of \"first among equals.\" Anna suspected this was because of his close ties to the secretary-general, who'd made the whole mission possible. He also seemed to be on a first-name basis with many of the important artists, politicians, and economic consultants in the civilian contingent of the group." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It didn't really bother her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No matter how egalitarian a group might start out, someone always wound up taking a leadership role. Better Doctor Hank than herself.\n\nWhen the Neo-Wiccan priestess currently at the podium finally finished her rites, Doctor Hank was nowhere to be seen. Anna felt a little surge of hope that the prayer service would end early." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But no. Doctor Hank made his entrance into the auditorium trailed by a camera crew and bulled his way up to the podium like an actor taking the stage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He flashed his gleaming smile across the audience, making sure to end with the section the camera people had set up in.\n\n\"Brothers and sisters,\" he said, \"let us bow our heads and offer thanks to the Almighty and seek His counsel and guidance as we draw ever closer to the end of this historic journey.\"\n\nHe managed to rattle on that way for another twenty minutes.\n\nAnna started humming again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After, Anna met Tilly for lunch at the officers' mess that had been set aside for civilian use." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna wasn't exactly sure how she'd wound up being Tilly's best and only friend on the trip, but the woman had latched on to her after their first meeting and burrowed in like a tick. No, that wasn't really fair. Even though the only thing she and Tilly had in common was their carbon base, it wasn't like Anna had a lot of friends on the ship either. And while Tilly could appear flighty and exasperating, Anna had gradually seen through the mask to the deeply lonely woman underneath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her husband's obscene contributions to the secretary-general's reelection campaign had bought her way onto the flight as a civilian consultant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had no purpose on the mission other than to be seen, an extended reminder of her husband's enormous wealth and power. That she had nothing else to offer the group only made the real point clearer. She knew it, and everyone else knew it too. Most of the other civilians on the flight treated her with barely concealed contempt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "While they waited for their food to arrive, Tilly popped a lozenge in her mouth and chewed it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The faint smell of nicotine and mint filled the air. No smoking on military ships, of course.\n\n\"How'd your thing go?\" Tilly asked, playing with her silver-inlaid lozenge box and looking around the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was wearing a pants and blouse combination that probably cost more than Anna's house on Europa had." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the kind of thing she wore when she wanted to appear casual.\n\n\"The prayer meeting?\" Anna said. \"Good. And then not as good. Long. Very, very long.\"\n\nTilly looked at her, the honesty getting her attention." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"God, don't I know it. No one can blather on like a holy man with a trapped audience. Well, maybe a politician.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Their food arrived, a navy boy acting as waiter for the VIP civilians. Anna wondered what he thought of that. The UN military was all volunteer. He'd probably had a vision of what his military life would be like, and she doubted this was it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He carefully placed their food in front of them with the ease of long practice, gave them both a smile, and vanished back into the kitchen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Galley. They called it a galley on ships.\n\nTilly picked halfheartedly at a farm-grown tomato and real mozzarella salad that Anna could have afforded on Europa by selling a kidney, and said, \"Have you heard from Namono?\"\n\nAnna nodded while she finished chewing a piece of fried tofu. \"I got another video last night. Nami gets bigger in every one. She's getting used to the gravity, but the drugs make her cranky. We're thinking about taking her off of them early, even if it means more physical therapy.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Awww,\" Tilly said. It had a pro forma feel to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna waited for her to change the subject.\n\n\"Robert hasn't checked in for a week now,\" Tilly said. She seemed resigned rather than sad.\n\n\"You don't think he—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Cheating?\" Tilly said with a laugh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wish. That would at least be interesting. When he locks himself away in his office at 2 a.m., you know what I catch him looking at? Business reports, stock values, spreadsheets. Robert is the least sexual creature I've ever met. At least until they invent a way to fuck money.\"\n\nTilly's casual obscenity had very quickly stopped bothering Anna. There was no anger in it. Like most of the things Tilly did, it struck her as another way to be noticed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To get people to pay attention to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How's the campaign coming?\" Anna said.\n\n\"Esteban? Who knows? Robert's job is to be rich and have rich friends. I'm sure that part is coming along just fine.\"\n\nThey ate in silence for a while, then without planning to, Anna said, \"I don't think I should have come.\"\n\nTilly nodded gravely, as though Anna had just quoted gospel at her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"None of us should have.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We pray, and we get photographed, and we have meetings about interfaith cooperation,\" Anna continued. \"You know what we never talk about?\"\n\n\"The Ring?\"\n\n\"No. I mean yes. I mean we talk about the Ring all the time. What is it, what's it for, why did the protomolecule make it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly pushed her salad away and chewed another lozenge. \"Then what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What I thought we came here to do. To talk about what it means. Nearly a hundred spiritual leaders and theologians on this ship. And none of us is talking about what the Ring means.\"\n\n\"For God?\"\n\n\"Well, at least about God. Theological anthropology is a lot simpler when humans are the only ones with souls.\"\n\nTilly waved at the waiter and ordered a cocktail Anna had never heard of." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The waiter seemed to know, though, and darted off to get it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This seems like the kind of thing I'll need a drink for,\" she said. \"Go on.\"\n\n\"But how does the protomolecule fit into that? Is it alive? It murders us, but it also builds amazing structures that are astonishingly advanced. Is it a tool used by someone more like us, only smarter? And if so, are they creatures with a sense of the divine? Do they have faith? What does that look like?\"\n\n\"If they're even from the same God,\" Tilly said, using a short straw to mix her drink, then taking a sip.\n\n\"Well, for some of us there's only one,\" Anna replied, then asked the waiter for tea." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he'd left again, she said, \"It calls into question the entire concept of Grace. Well, not entirely, but it complicates it at the very least. The things that made the protomolecule are intelligent. Does that mean they have souls? They invade our solar system, kill us indiscriminately, steal our resources. All things we would consider sins if we were doing them. Does that mean they're fallen? Did Christ die for them too? Or are they intelligent but soulless, and everything the protomolecule's done is just like a virus doing what it's programmed for?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A group of workers in civilian jumpsuits came into the dining area and sat down. They ordered food from the waiter and talked noisily among themselves. Anna let them distract her while her mind chewed over the worries she hadn't let herself articulate before today.\n\n\"And, really, it's all pretty theoretical, even to me,\" she continued." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Maybe none of that should matter to our faith at all, except that I have this feeling it will. That to most people, it will matter.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly was sipping her drink, which Anna knew from experience meant she was taking the conversation seriously. \"Have you mentioned this to anyone?\" Tilly said, prompting her to continue.\n\n\"Cortez acts like he's in charge,\" Anna replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her tea arrived and she blew on it for a while to cool it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I guess I should talk to him.\"\n\n\"Cortez is a politician,\" Tilly said with a condescending smirk. \"Don't let his folksy Father Hank bullshit snow you. He's here because as long as Esteban is in office, Cortez is a powerful man. This dog and pony show? This is all about votes.\"\n\n\"I hate that,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I believe you. You understand this all better than I do. But I hate that you're right. What a waste.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What would you ask Cortez for?\"\n\n\"I'd like to organize some groups. Have the conversation.\"\n\n\"Do you need his permission?\" Tilly asked.\n\nAnna thought of her last conversation with Nono and laughed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she spoke, her voice sounded thoughtful even to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" she said. \"I guess I don't.\"\n\nThat night Anna was awakened from a dream about taking Nami to Earth and watching her bones break as the gravity crushed her, to a blaring alarm. It lasted only a few seconds, then stopped. A voice from her comm panel said, \"All hands to action stations.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna assumed this didn't mean her, as she had no idea what an action station was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There were no more alarms, and the voice from the comm panel didn't return with more dire pronouncements, but being startled out of her nightmare left her feeling wide awake and jumpy. She climbed out of her bunk, sent a short video message to Nono and Nami, and then put on some clothes.\n\nThere was very little traffic in the corridor and lifts. The military people she did see looked tense, though to her relief, not particularly frightened. Just aware. Vigilant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Having nowhere else to go, she wandered into the officers' mess and ordered a glass of milk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When it arrived, she was stunned to discover it was actual milk that had at some point come out of a cow. How much was the UN spending on this civilian \"dog and pony show\"?\n\nThe only other people in the mess hall were a few military people with officers' uniforms, and a small knot of the civilian contractors drinking coffee and slumping in their seats like workers in the middle of an all-nighter. A dozen metal tables were bolted to the floor with magnetic chairs at their sides." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wall displays scrolled information for the ship's officers, all of it gibberish to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A row of cutouts opened into the galley, letting through plates of food and the sounds of industrial dishwashers and the smell of floor cleaner. It was like sitting too near the kitchen in a very, very clean restaurant.\n\nAnna drank her milk slowly, savoring the rich texture and ridiculous luxury of it. A bell chimed on someone's hand terminal, and two of the civilian workers got up and left." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One stayed, a beautiful but sad-faced woman who looked down at a terminal on the table with a vacant, thousand-yard stare." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Excuse me, ma'am,\" said a voice behind her, almost making Anna jump out of her chair. A young man in a naval officer's uniform moved into her field of view and gestured awkwardly at the chair next to her. \"Mind if I sit?\"\n\nAnna recovered enough to smile at him, and he took it as assent, stiffly folding himself into the seat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was very tall for an Earther, with short blond hair and the thick shoulders and narrow waist all of the young officers seemed to have regardless of gender." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna reached across the table to shake his hand and said, \"Anna Volovodov.\"\n\n\"Chris Williams,\" the young officer replied, giving her hand a short but firm shake. \"And yes, ma'am, I know who you are.\"\n\n\"You do?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, ma'am. My people in Minnesota are Methodists, going back as far as we can trace them. When I saw you listed on the civilian roster, I made sure to remember the name.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna nodded and sipped her milk. If the boy had singled her out because she was a minister of his faith, then he wanted to talk to her as a member of the congregation. She mentally shifted gears to become Pastor Anna and said, \"What can I do for you, Chris?\"\n\n\"Love your accent, ma'am,\" Chris replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He needed time to build up to whatever it was that he'd approached her about, so Anna gave it to him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I grew up in Moscow,\" she replied. \"Though after two years on Europa I can almost do Belter now, sa sa?\"\n\nChris laughed, some of the tension draining out of his face. \"That's not bad, ma'am. But you get those guys going at full speed, I can't understand a word the skinnies say.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna chose to ignore the slur." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please, no more 'ma'am.' Makes me feel a hundred years old. Anna, please, or Pastor Anna if you have to.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Chris said. \"Pastor Anna.\"\n\nThey sat together in companionable silence for a few moments while Anna watched Chris work up to whatever he needed to say.\n\n\"You heard the alarm, right?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "he finally said. \"Bet it woke you up.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's why I'm here,\" Anna replied.\n\n\"Yeah. Action stations. It's because of the dusters—I mean, Martians, you know.\"\n\n\"Martians?\" Anna found herself wanting another glass of the delicious milk, but thought it might distract Chris, so she didn't wave at the waiter.\n\n\"We're in weapons range of their fleet now,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So we go on alert. We can't share sky with the dusters anymore without going on alert. Not since, you know, Ganymede.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna nodded and waited for him to continue.\n\n\"And that Ring, you know, it's already killed somebody. I mean, just a dumb as sand skinny slingshotter, but still. Somebody.\"\n\nAnna took his hand. He flinched a bit, but relaxed when she smiled at him. \"That scares you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sure. Of course. But that ain't it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna waited, keeping her face carefully neutral. The pretty civilian girl across the room got up suddenly, as though leaving. Her lips moved, talking to herself, then she sat back down, put her arms on the table, and leaned her head on them. Someone else scared, waiting out the long watches of the night, all alone in a room full of people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I mean,\" Chris said, breaking into her reverie, \"that ain't all of it anyway.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What else?\" Anna said.\n\n\"The Ring didn't put us on alert,\" he said. \"It's the Martians. Even with that thing out there, we're still thinking about shooting each other. That's pretty fucked up. Sorry. Messed up.\"\n\n\"It seems like we should be able to see past our human differences when we're confronted with something like this, doesn't it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Chris nodded and squeezed her hand tighter, but said nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Chris, would you like to pray with me?\"\n\nHe nodded and lowered his head, closing his eyes. When she'd finished, he said, \"I know I'm not the only Methodist on the ship. Do you, you know, hold services?\"\n\nI do now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sunday, at 10 a.m., in conference room 41,\" she said, making a mental note to ask someone if she could use conference room 41 on Sunday mornings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll see if I can get the time off,\" Chris said with a smile. \"Thank you, ma'am. Pastor Anna.\"\n\n\"It was nice talking to you, Chris.\" You just gave me a reason to be here." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When Chris left, Anna found herself very tired, ready to return to her bed, but the pretty girl across the room hadn't moved." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her head was still buried in her arms. Anna walked over to her and gently touched her on the shoulder. The girl's head jerked up, her eyes wild, almost panicked.\n\n\"Hi,\" Anna said. \"I'm Anna. What's your name?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The girl stared up, as if the question were a difficult one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna sat down across from her.\n\n\"I saw you sitting here,\" Anna said. \"It looked like you could use some company. It's okay to be afraid. I understand.\"\n\nThe girl jerked to her feet like a malfunctioning machine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her eyes were flat, and her head tilted a degree." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt suddenly afraid. It was like she'd gone to pet a dog and found herself with her hand on a lion. Something in the back of her head told her, This is a bad one. This one will hurt you." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sorry,\" Anna said, standing up with her hands half raised." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I didn't mean to disturb you.\"\n\n\"You don't know me,\" the girl replied. \"You don't know anything.\" Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, the tendons in her neck quivering like plucked guitar strings." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're right,\" Anna said, still backing up and patting the air with her hands. \"I apologize.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Other people in the room were staring at them now, and Anna felt a surge of relief that she wasn't alone with the girl. The girl stared at her, trembling, for a few more seconds, then darted out of the room.\n\n\"What the fuck was that all about?\" someone behind Anna said in a quiet voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe the girl had woken up from a nightmare too, Anna thought." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or maybe she hadn't." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Arriving at the Ring was a political fiction, but that didn't keep it from being real. There was no physical boundary to say that this was within the realm of the object. There was no port to dock at. The Behemoth's sensory arrays had been sucking in data from the Ring since before they'd left Tycho." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Martian science ships and Earth military forces that had been there before the doomed Belter kid had become its first casualty were still there, where they had been, but resupplied now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The new Martian ships had joined them, matched orbit, and were hanging quietly in the sky. The Earth flotilla, like the Behemoth, was in the last part of the burn, pulling up to whatever range they'd chosen to stop at. To say, We have come across the vast abyss to float at this distance and now we are here. We've arrived.\n\nAs far as anyone could tell, the Ring didn't give a damn." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The structure itself was eerie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The surface was a series of twisting ridges that spiraled around its body. At first they appeared uneven, almost messy. The mathematicians, architects, and physicists assured them all that there was a deep regularity there: the height of the ridges in a complex harmony with the width and the spacing between the peaks and valleys. The reports were breathless, finding one layer of complexity after another, the intimations of intention and design all laid bare without any hint of what it all might mean." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The official Martian reports have been very conservative,\" the science officer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His name was Chan Bao-Zhi, and on Earth, he'd have been Chinese. Here, he was a Belter from Pallas Station. \"They've given a lot of summary and maybe a tenth of the data they've collected. Fortunately, we've been able to observe most of their experiments and make our own analysis.\"\n\n\"Which Earth will have been doing too,\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Without doubt, sir,\" Chan said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like any ritual, the staff meeting carried more significance than information. The heads of all the major branches of the Behemoth's structural tree were present: Sam for engineering, Bull for security, Chan for the research teams, Bennie Cortland-Mapu for health services, Anamarie Ruiz for infrastructure, and so on, filling the two dozen seats around the great conference table. Ashford sat in the place of honor, another beneficent Christ painted on the wall behind him. Pa sat at his right hand, and Bull—by tradition—at his left." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What have we got?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford said. \"Short form.\"\n\n\"It's fucking weird, sir,\" Chan said, and everyone chuckled. \"Our best analysis is that the Ring is an artificially sustained Einstein-Rosen bridge. You go through the Ring, you don't come out the other side here.\"\n\n\"So it's a gate,\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir. It appears that the protomolecule or Phoebe bug or whatever you want to call it was launched at the solar system several billion years ago, aiming for Earth with the intention of hijacking primitive life to build a gateway. We're positing that whoever created the protomolecule did it as a first step toward making travel to the solar system more convenient and practical later.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was what everyone had been thinking, but hearing it spoken in this official setting made it seem more real. The Ring was a way for something to get here. Not just a gateway. A beachhead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When the Y Que went through it, the mass and velocity of the ship triggered some mechanism in the Ring,\" Chan said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Martians have a good dataset from the moment it happened, and there was a massive outpouring of energy within the Ring structure and a whole cascade of microlevel conformation changes. The entire object went up to about five thousand degrees Kelvin, and it has been cooling regularly ever since. So it took a lot of effort to get that thing running, but it looks like not much to maintain.\"\n\n\"What do we know about what's on the other side?\" Pa asked. Her expression was neutral, her voice pleasant and unemotional. She could have been asking him to justify a line item in his budget." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's hard to know much,\" Chan said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're peeking through a keyhole, and the Ring itself seems to be generating interference and radiation that makes getting consistent readings difficult. We know the Y Que wasn't destroyed. We're still getting the video feed that the kid was spewing when he went through, it's just not showing us much.\"\n\n\"Stars?\" Ashford said. \"Something we can start to navigate from?\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" Chan said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The far side of the Ring doesn't have any stars, and the background microwave radiation is significantly different from what we'd expect.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Meaning what?\" Ashford said.\n\n\"Meaning, 'Huh, that's weird,'\" Chan said. \"Sir.\"\n\nAshford's smile was cool as he motioned the science officer to continue. Chan coughed before he went on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have a couple of other anomalies that we aren't quite sure what to make of. It looks like there's a maximum speed on the other side.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can you unpack that, please?\" Pa said.\n\n\"The Y Que went through the Ring going very fast,\" Chan said. \"About seven-tenths of a second after it reached the other side, it started a massive deceleration. Bled off almost all its speed in about five seconds. It looks like the nearly instant deceleration was what killed the pilot. Since then, it seems as if the ship is being moved out away from the Ring and deeper into whatever's on the other side.\"\n\n\"We know that when the protomolecule's active, it's been able to... alter what we'd expect from inertia,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is that how it stopped the ship?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's entirely possible,\" Chan said. \"Mars has been pitching probes through the Ring, and it looks like we start seeing the effect right around six hundred meters per second. Under that, mass behaves just the way we expect it to. Over that, it stops dead and then moves off in approximately the same direction that the Y Que is going.\"\n\nSam whistled under her breath.\n\n\"That's really slow,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The main drives would be almost useless.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's slower than a rifle shot,\" Chan said. \"The good news is it only affects mass above the quantum level. The electromagnetic spectrum seems to behave normally, including visible light.\"\n\n\"Thank God for small favors,\" Sam said.\n\n\"What else are the probes telling us?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There's something out there,\" Chan said, and for the first time a sense of dread leaked into his voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The probes are seeing objects. Large ones. But there's not much light except what we're shining through the Ring or mounting on the probes. And, as I said, the Ring has always given inconsistent returns. If whatever's in there is made of the same stuff, who knows?\"\n\n\"Ships?\" Ashford said.\n\n\"Maybe.\"\n\n\"How many?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Over a hundred, under a hundred thousand. Probably.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull leaned forward, his elbows on the table. Ashford and Pa were looking around the table at the graying faces. They'd known before, because they weren't going to wait for a staff meeting to get their information. Now they were judging the reactions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So he'd give them a reaction. Control the fall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Be weirder if there wasn't anything there. If it was an attack fleet, they'd have attacked by now.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Ruiz said, latching on to the words.\n\nAshford opened the floor for questions. How many probes had Mars fired through?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "How long would it take something going at six hundred meters per second to reach one of the structures?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Had they tried sending small probes in? Had there been any contact from the protomolecule itself, the stolen voices of humans, the way there had been with Eros? Chan did his best to be reassuring without actually having anything more that he could say. Bull assumed there was a deeper report that Ashford and Pa were getting, and he wondered what was in it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Being kept out chafed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right. This is all interesting, but it's not our focus,\" Ashford said, bringing the Q-and-A session to a halt. \"We're not here to send probes through the Ring. We're not here to start a fight. We're just making sure that whatever the inner planets do, we're at the table. If something comes out of the Ring, we'll worry about it then.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Bull said, throwing his own weight behind Ashford's. It wasn't like there was another strategy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Better that the crew see them all unified." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People were watching how this all came down, and not just the crew.\n\n\"Mister Pa?\" Ashford said. The XO nodded and glanced at Bull. Instinct dropped a weight in his gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There have been some irregularities in the ship's accounting structure,\" Pa said. \"Chief Engineer Rosenberg?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam nodded, surprise on her face. \"XO?\" she said.\n\n\"I'm afraid I'm going to have to restrict you to quarters and revoke your access privileges until this is all clarified. Chief Watanabe will relieve you. Mister Baca, you'll see to it.\"\n\nThe room was just as silent, but the meaning behind it was different now. Sam's eyes were wide with disbelief and rising fury." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Excuse me?\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pa met her gaze coolly, and Bull understood all of it in an instant.\n\n\"Records show you've been drawing resources from work and materials budgets that weren't appropriate,\" Pa said, \"and until the matter is resolved—\"\n\n\"If this is about the tech support thing, that's on me,\" Bull said. \"I authorized that. It's got nothing to do with Sam.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm conducting a full audit, Mister Baca. If I find you've been drawing resources inappropriately, I'll take the actions I deem appropriate. As your executive officer, I am informing you that Samara Rosenberg is to be confined to quarters and her access to ship's systems blocked. Do you have any questions about that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd waited until they'd made the trip, until they'd gotten where they were going, and now it was time to establish that she was in control. To get back at him for the drug dealer he'd spaced and punish Sam for being his ally. Would have been stupid to do until their shakedown run was over. But now it was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull laced his fingers together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The refusal was on the back of his tongue, waiting. It would have been insubordination, and it would have been easy as breathing out. There were years—decades even—when he'd have done it, and taken the consequences as a badge of honor. It had been his call, and standing by while Sam was punished for it was more than dishonorable, it was disloyal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa knew that. Anyone who'd read his service records would know it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If it had just been his mission, his career on the line, he'd have done it, but Fred Johnson had asked him to make this work. So there was only one play to make.\n\n\"No questions,\" he said, rising from his chair. \"Sam. You should come with me now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The others were silent as he led her out of the conference room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They all looked stunned and confused, except Ashford and Pa. Pa wore a poker face, and Ashford had a little shadow of smugness in the corners of his mouth. Sam's breath shook. Outrage and adrenaline left her skin pale. He helped her into the side seat of his security cart, then got behind the controls. They lurched into motion, four small engines whirring and whining." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were almost at the elevators when Sam laughed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A short, mirthless sound as much like a cry of pain as anything.\n\n\"Holy shit,\" Sam said.\n\nBull couldn't think of anything to say that would pull the punch, so he only nodded and took the cart into the wide elevator car. Sam wept, but there was nothing that looked like sorrow in her expression." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He guessed that she'd never suffered that kind of disciplinary humiliation before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or if she had, it hadn't been often enough to build up a callus. The dishonor of letting her take the hit was like he'd swallowed something before he'd chewed it enough, and now it wouldn't go down.\n\nBack at the security office, Serge was at the main desk. The man's eyebrows rose as Bull came in the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hoy, bossman,\" the duty officer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A hardcore OPA bruiser named Jojo. \"Que pasa?\"\n\n\"Nothing good. What did I miss?\"\n\n\"Complaint from a carnicería down by engineering about a missing goat. Got a note from one of the Earth ships lost one of their crew, wondering if we'd come up with an extra. A couple coyos got shit-faced and we locked 'em in quarters, told 'em we'd sic the Bull on 'em.\"\n\n\"How'd they take that?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We had them mop up after.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull chuckled before he sighed.\n\n\"So. I've got Samara Rosenberg in the cart outside,\" he said. \"XO wants her confined to quarters for unauthorized use of resources.\"\n\n\"I want a pony in a wetsuit.\" Jojo grinned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"XO gave an order,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I want you to take her to her quarters. I'll get her access pulled. We'll need to set a guard while we're at it. She's pissed.\"\n\nJojo scratched at his neck. \"We're doing it?\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\nJojo's face closed. Bull nodded toward the door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jojo left, and Bull took his place at the desk, identifying himself to the system and starting the process of locking Sam out of her own ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While the security system ran its check against each of the Behemoth's subsystems, he leaned on his elbows and watched.\n\nThe first time Fred Johnson saved Bull's life, he'd done it with a rifle and a mobile medical unit. The second time, he'd done it with a credit chip. Bull had mustered out at thirty and took his pension to Ceres." }, { "from": "human", "value": "For three years, he'd just lived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ate cheap, drank too much, slept in his own bed not knowing if he was sick from the alcohol or the spin. Not caring much. He got into a few fights, had a few disagreements with the local law. He didn't see that he had a problem until it was unmistakable, and by then it was a hell of a problem.\n\nDepression ran in his family." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Self-medicating did too. His grandfather had died of the pair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His mother had been in therapy a couple times. His brother had graduated to heroin and lived five years in a treatment center in Roswell. None of it had seemed to have anything to do with Bull. He was a marine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd turned away from a life on basic to live in the stars, or if not the stars, at least the rocks that floated free in the night sky. He'd killed men." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bottle couldn't beat him. But it almost had.\n\nThe day Fred Johnson had appeared at his door, it had been stranger than a dream. His former commanding officer looked different." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Older, stronger. Truth was, their birthdays weren't all that far apart, but Johnson had always been the Old Man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull had followed the news about the fallout from Anderson Station, and Fred's changing sides. Some of the other marines he knew on Ceres had been angry about it. He'd just figured the Old Man knew what he was doing. He wouldn't have done it without a reason." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull, Fred had said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just that, at first. He could still remember Fred's dark eyes meeting his. The shame had made Bull try to stand straighter, to suck in his gut a little. In that moment, he saw how far he'd fallen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two seconds of seeing himself through Fred Johnson's eyes was all it took for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sir, Bull had replied, then stood back and let Johnson into the hole. The place stank of yeast and old tofu. And flop sweat. Fred ignored it all. I need you back on duty, soldier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Okay, Bull had said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the secret he carried with him, the one he'd take to his grave, was this: He hadn't meant it. In that moment, all he'd wanted was for Fred Johnson to go away and let Bull forget him again. Lying to his old commanding officer, to the man who'd kept him from bleeding out under fire, came as naturally as breathing. It didn't have anything to do with Earth or the Belt or Anderson Station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't some greater loyalty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He just wasn't done destroying himself. And even now, sitting alone at the security desk betraying Sam, he thought that Fred had known. Or guessed.\n\nFred had pressed a credit chip into his palm. It was one of the cheap, vaguely opalescent ones that the OPA had used to keep its funds untraceable, back in the bad old days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Get yourself a new uniform." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull had saluted, already thinking about the booze he could buy.\n\nThe chit carried six months' wages at his old pay grade. If it had been less, Bull wouldn't have gone. Instead, he shaved for the first time in days, got a new suit, packed a valise, and threw out anything that didn't fit in it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't had a drink since, even on the nights he'd wanted one more than oxygen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The security system chimed that the lockout was finished. Bull noted it and leaned back in the chair, reading the be-on-alert notice from the Cerisier and letting his mind wander. When Gathoni arrived to take the next shift, he walked two corridors down to a little mom-and-pop bodega, bought a blister-pack with four bulbs of beer, and headed over to Sam's quarters. The guard on duty nodded to him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Legally, Bull didn't have to knock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As head of security, he could have walked into Sam's rooms at any time, with or without being welcome. He knocked.\n\nSam was wearing a simple sweater and black workpants with magnetic strips down the sides. Bull held up the beer. For a long moment, Sam glared at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She stepped back and to the side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He followed her in.\n\nHer rooms were clean, neat, and cluttered. The air smelled like industrial lubricant and old laundry. She leaned against the arm of a foam couch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Peace offering?\" she said bitterly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Pretty much,\" Bull said. \"Pa's pissed off at me, and she's taking it out on you. She figured either I do it and I lose my best ally or I don't and I'm the one confined to quarters, right? No way to lose for her.\"\n\n\"This is bullshit.\"\n\n\"It is,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And I'm sorry as hell about the whole damn thing.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam's breath rattled with anger. Bull accepted it. He had it coming. She walked across to him, grabbing the four-pack out of his hand, twisting it to shatter the plastic, and plucking one of the bulbs free.\n\n\"You want one?\" she asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Just water for me,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What chafes me,\" Sam said, \"is the way Ashford just sits there like he's so happy about the whole thing. He knows the score. He's as much a part of it as Pa. Or you. Don't think you can buy me off with a few cheap brews. You're just as much at fault as they are.\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"I got into engineering because I didn't want all the petty social birdshit. And now look at me.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sam dropped to the couch with a sigh and said something obscene and colorful." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull sat down across from her.\n\n\"Okay, stop that,\" she said.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"That looking repentant thing. I feel like I'm supposed to genuflect or something. It's creepy.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took a long pull at the bulb, the soft plastic collapsing under the suction, then expanding out a little as the beer outgassed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Look, you and Pa are both doing what you think you ought to, and I'm getting screwed. I get it. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. Thing is, you're right. She wants you to lose allies. So no matter how much I want to tell you to go put your dick in a vise? I'm not going to, just because it would mean Pa won.\"\n\n\"Thank you for that, Sam.\"\n\n\"Go put your dick in a vise, Bull.\"\n\nBull's hand terminal chimed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mister Baca?\" Gathoni's voice said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You should come back to the office, maybe.\"\n\nSam's expression sobered and she put down the bulb. Bull's belly tightened.\n\n\"What's going on?\" he asked. When Gathoni answered, her voice was controlled and calm as a medic calling for more pressure.\n\n\"Earth destroyer Seung-Un? It just blew up.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text.\n\nAuthor style: James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she'd thought about it, planning the final, closing stages of her vengeance, she'd pictured herself as the conductor of a private symphony, moving her baton to the orchestrated chaos." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't happen that way at all. The morning she went to the Thomas Prince, she didn't know that the day had finally come.\n\n\"Active hands to stations,\" a man's voice announced over the general channel.\n\n\"Wish to fuck they'd stop doing that,\" Melba said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Always makes me feel like I should be doing something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Savvy, boss. When they start paying me navy wages, I'll start jumping for their drills,\" Soledad said, her voice pressed thin by the hand terminal's speaker. \"I've got nothing on this couple. Unless Stanni's got it, we got to move down a level, try again.\"\n\n\"Copy that,\" Melba said. \"Stanni, what are you seeing?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The channel went silent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba looked around the service corridor at a half kilometer of nothing: conduit and pipes and the access grating that could shift to accommodate any direction of thrust. The only sounds were the creaking, hissing, and muttering of the Thomas Prince. The seconds stretched.\n\n\"Stanni?\" Soledad said, dread in her voice, and the channel crackled.\n\n\"Perdón,\" Stanni said. \"Looking at some weird wiring, but it's not the goose we're hunting. Lost in my head, me. I'm fine. I'm here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Soledad said something obscene under her breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sorry,\" Stanni said again.\n\n\"It's okay,\" Melba said. \"Did you check the brownout buffers?\"\n\n\"Did.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Then let's just keep moving. Next level.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The thing that surprised her, the one she hadn't seen coming, was how everyone on the Cerisier was ready to put Ren's disappearance at the foot of the Ring. It was rare for people to go missing on a ship. The Cerisier, like any other long-haul vessel, was a closed system. There was nowhere to go." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd assumed there would be the usual, human suspicions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren had crossed someone, stolen something, slept with the wrong person, and he'd been disposed of. Thrown out an airlock, maybe. Fed into the recycling and reduced to his basic nutrients, then passed into the water or food supply. It wasn't that there were no ways to hide or dispose of a body, it was that there were so few ways for it to go unnoticed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Traveling between the planets had never eliminated murder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So many highly evolved primates in the same box for months on end, a certain death rate had to be expected.\n\nThis time, though, it was different. It made sense to people that someone would go missing, vanish, as they approached the Ring. It felt right. The voyage itself was ill-omened, and strange things were supposed to happen when people drew too near the uncanny, the dangerous, the haunted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The others were all on edge, and that gave her cover too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she started weeping, they'd think they understood why. They'd think it was fear.\n\nMelba packed her diagnostic array back in its sleeve, stood, and headed down to the lift. The internal service lifts were tiny, with hardly enough room for one person and the gear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Traveling between decks here was like stepping into a coffin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As she shifted down to the next level, she imagined the power failing. Being trapped there. Her mind flickered, and for a moment, she saw her own storage locker. The one in her quarters. The one filled with sealant foam and Ren." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shuddered and forced her mind elsewhere." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Thomas Prince was one of the larger ships in the Earth flotilla, the home of the civilian horde that the UN had put together. Artists, poets, philosophers, priests. Even without changing the physical structures of the ship, it gave her the feeling of being less a military vessel and more a poorly appointed, uncomfortable cruise liner. Clarissa had been on yachts and luxury ships most of the times she'd traveled outside Earth's gravity well, and she could imagine the thousand complaints the ship's captain would suffer about the halls not being wide enough and the screens on the walls too low a quality." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the sort of thing she would have been concerned with, in her previous life." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now it was less than nothing.\n\nIt shouldn't have bothered her. One more death, more or less. It shouldn't have mattered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But it was Ren." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"In position,\" Stanni said.\n\n\"Give me a second,\" Melba said, stepping out of the lift. The new corridor was nearly identical to the one above it. These decks were all quarters and storage, with very little of the variation that she'd see when they reached the lowest levels—engineering, machine shops, hangar bays." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tracking down the electrical anomaly, they'd started here because it was easy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The longer it took, the harder it would get. Like everything.\n\nShe found the junction, took the diagnostic array out of its sleeve, and plugged it in.\n\n\"Solé?\"\n\n\"In place,\" Soledad said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" Melba said. \"Start the trace.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When it had happened, she'd gotten Ren to her quarters and laid him out on the floor. She'd already felt the crash coming on, so she'd lain down on her bunk and let it come. It might only have been her imagination that made that one seem worse than the ones before. For a long horrified moment at the end, she thought that she'd voided herself, but her uniform was clean." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd gone then, Ren still on her floor, gotten a bulb of coffee, put Ren's hand terminal in a stall of the group head, and found the security officer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was a thin Martian named Andre Commenhi, and he'd listened to her informal report with half an ear. Ren had called her and asked her to consult with him. When she'd gone to see him at his usual workstation, he wasn't there. She'd been through the ship, but she hadn't found him, and he wasn't answering connection requests." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was starting to get concerned." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "While they'd done a sweep of the ship, she'd gotten the tubes of sealant foam, gone back to her quarters, and entombed him. His hair had seemed brighter, the orange like something from a coral reef. His skin was pale as sunlight where the blood had drained away from it. Purple as a bruise where it had pooled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rigor hadn't set in, so she was able to fold him together, curled like a fetus, and fill the spaces around him with foam." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had taken minutes to harden. The foam was engineered to be airtight and pressure-resistant. If she'd done it right, the corpse smell would never leak out.\n\n\"Nadie,\" Soledad said, sounding resigned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You guys got anything?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey!\" Stanni said. \"Think I do. I've got a ten percent fluctuation on this box.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Melba said. \"Let's reset it and see if that clears the issue.\"\n\n\"On it,\" Stanni said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Grab some lunch while it run?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll meet you in the galley,\" Melba said. Her voice seemed almost normal. She sounded like someone else.\n\nThe galley was nearly empty." }, { "from": "human", "value": "By the ship's clock, it was the middle of the night, and only a few officers lurked at their tables watching the civilians as they passed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The terms of the service contract meant they got to use the officers' mess. She'd heard there was a certain level of distrust among the navy crews for civilians like her and her team. She would have resented it more if she hadn't been the living example of why their suspicions were justified. Soledad and Stanni were already at a table, drinking coffee from bulbs and sharing a plate of sweet rolls." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm gonna miss these when we cut thrust,\" Stanni said, holding one of the rolls up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Best cook flying can't bake right without thrust. How long you think we're going to be on the float?\"\n\n\"As long as it takes,\" Melba said. \"They're planning for two months.\"\n\n\"Two months at null g,\" Soledad said, but her voice and the grayness of her face were clear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Two months at the Ring." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Stanni said. \"Any word on Bob?\"\n\nThe fifth of the team—fourth now—was still back on the Cerisier. It turned out he and Ren had both been having a relationship with a man on the medical team, and security were rounding up the usual suspects. Most times someone went missing, it was domestic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba felt her throat going thick again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing yet,\" she said. \"They'll clear him. He wouldn't have done anything.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Soledad said. \"Bob wouldn't hurt anyone. He's a good man. Everyone knew about everything, and he loved Ren.\"\n\n\"Could stop the passato,\" Stanni said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We don't know he's dead.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"With esse coisa out there, dead's the best thing he could be,\" Soledad said. \"I've been having bad dreams since we flipped. I don't think we're making it back from this run. Not any of us.\"\n\n\"Talking like that won't help,\" Stanni said.\n\nA woman walked into the galley." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Middle-aged, thick red hair pulled into a severe-looking bun that competed with her smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba looked at her to try not to be at the table, then looked away.\n\n\"Whatever happened to Ren,\" she said, \"we've got our job to do. And we'll do it.\"\n\n\"Damn right,\" Stanni said, and then again with a catch in his voice. \"Damn right.\"\n\nThey sat together quietly for a moment while the older man wept." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Solé put a hand on his arm, and Stanni's shuddering breath slowed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He nodded, swallowed. He looked like an icon of grief and courage. He looked noble. It struck Melba for the first time that Stanni was probably her father's age, and she had never seen her father weep for anyone.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" she said. She hadn't planned to speak the words, but there they were, coughed up on the table. They seemed obscene." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's okay,\" Stanni said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm all right. Here, boss, have a roll.\"\n\nMelba reached out, fighting herself not to weep again. Not to speak. She didn't know what she'd say, and she was afraid of herself. The alert chimed on her hand terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The diagnostic was finished." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It only took a second to see that the spike was still there. Stanni said something profane, then shrugged.\n\n\"No rest for the wicked, no peace for the good,\" he said, standing.\n\n\"Go ahead,\" Melba said. \"I'll catch up.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Pas problema,\" Soledad said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You hardly got to drink your coffee, sa sa?\"\n\nShe watched them go, relieved that they wouldn't be there and wanting to call them back, both at the same time. The thickness in her throat had traveled to her chest. The sweet rolls looked delicious and nauseating." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She forced herself to take a few deep breaths." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was almost over. The fleets were there. The Rocinante was there. Everything was going according to her plan, or if not quite that, at least near enough to it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren shouldn't have mattered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd killed men before him. It was almost inevitable that people would die when the bomb went off. Vengeance called forth blood, because it always did. That was its nature, and she had made herself its instrument." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ren wasn't her fault, he was Holden's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden had killed him by making her presence necessary. If he had respected the honor of her family, none of this would have happened. She stood up, squared herself, prepared to get back to the job of fixing the Thomas Prince, just the way the real Melba would have.\n\n\"I'm sorry, Ren,\" she said, thinking it would be the last time, and the sorrow that shook her made her sit back down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something was wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her control was slipping. She wondered if after all she'd done, she simply wasn't strong enough. Or if there was something else. Maybe the artificial glands had begun to leak their toxins into her bloodstream without being summoned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was getting more emotionally labile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It could be a symptom. She rested her head on her arms and tried to catch her breath.\n\nHe'd been kind to her. He'd been nothing but kind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd helped her, and she'd killed him for it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could still feel his skull giving way under her hand; crisp and soft, like standing at the bank of a river and feeling the ground fall away. Her fingers smelled like sealant foam.\n\nRen touched her shoulder, and her head snapped up.\n\n\"Hi,\" someone said. \"I'm Anna. What's your name?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the redhead who'd been talking to the naval officer a moment ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I saw you sitting here,\" she said, sitting down. \"It looked like you could use some company. It's okay to be afraid. I understand.\"\n\nShe knows.\n\nThe thought ran through Melba's body like a sheet of lightning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even without her tongue touching her palate, she felt the glands and bladders hidden in her flesh engorging." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face and hands felt cold. Before the woman's eyes could widen, Melba's sorrow and guilt turned to a cold rage. She knew, and she would expose everything, and then all of it would have been wasted.\n\nShe didn't remember rising to her feet, but she was there now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman stood and took a step back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I have to kill her.\n\n\"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you.\"\n\nThe woman's hands were half raised, as if that were enough to ward off a blow. It would be simple." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't look strong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't know how to fight. Kick her in the gut until she bled out. Nothing simpler.\n\nA small voice in the back of Melba's mind said, She's one of those idiot priests looking for someone to save. She doesn't know anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You're in public. If you attack her, they'll catch you." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You don't know me,\" Melba said, struggling to keep her voice calm. \"You don't know anything.\"\n\nAt one of the tables nearest the door, a young officer stood up and took two steps toward them, ready to interfere. If this woman got her thrown in the brig, they'd look into Melba's identity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd find Ren's body." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd find out who she was. She had to keep it together.\n\n\"You're right. I apologize,\" the woman said.\n\nHatred surged up in Melba's mind, pure and black where it wasn't red." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A swamp of obscenities rose in her throat, ready to pour out on the idiot priest who was putting everything—everything—in jeopardy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba swallowed it all and walked quickly away.\n\nThe corridors of the Thomas Prince were a vague presence in the unquiet of her mind. She'd let the thing with Ren throw her. It stole her focus and led her into risks she didn't need to take." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hadn't been thinking straight, but now she was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She got into the elevator and selected the level where Stanni and Soledad were checking the electrical system, chasing down the failing component. Then she deselected it and picked the hangar.\n\n\"Stanni? Solé?\" she said into her hand terminal. \"Hold it together for me here. I've got a thing I need to do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She waited for the inevitable questioning, the prying and suspicion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay,\" Soledad said. And that was all.\n\nAt the hangar, Melba authorized the flight of her shuttle, waited ten minutes for clearance, and launched out the side of the Thomas Prince and into the black. The shuttle monitors were cheap and small, the vastness of space compressed into fifty centimeters by fifty centimeters. She had the computer figure the fastest burn for the Cerisier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was less than an hour." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She leaned into the thrust like she was riding a roller coaster and let the torch engines burn. The Cerisier appeared in the dusting of stars as a small gray dot that hurtled toward her. The ship, like all the others in the flotilla, was in the last of the deceleration burn to put them at the Ring. Somewhere out past all the glowing drive plumes, it waited." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba pushed the thought from her mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It made her think of Stanni and Soledad and their quiet fears. She couldn't think of them now.\n\nImpatience to arrive made it hard to start the flip and the deceleration burn. She wanted to get there, to be there already." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wanted to speed into the Cerisier like a witch on a broom, screaming in at speeds that wouldn't have been possible in atmosphere." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She waited too long, and did the last half of the jump at almost two g. When she docked, she had a headache and her jaw felt like someone had punched her.\n\nNo one asked why she was back early and alone. She listed personal reasons in the log. Walking through the cramped corridors, squeezing past the other crewmen, felt oppressive, familiar, and comforting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took coming back to recognize how much the wider spaces of the Thomas Prince had bothered her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It felt too much like freedom, and she was all about necessity.\n\nHer cell was a mess. All of her things—clothes, terminal jack, tampons, communications deck, toothbrush—were scattered on the floor. She'd have to find a way to secure them all before the burn stopped, or they'd be floating out into the corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People would wonder why they weren't packed away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She let herself glance at the metal door under her crash couch. A tiny golden curl of sealant foam stuck out from one corner. She'd get some kind of mesh bag and some magnets. That would do. It didn't matter. That was later." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nothing later mattered." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She picked up the comm deck, turned it on. Ping times to the Rocinante were under thirty seconds. Melba loaded the sequence she'd been waiting to load for months. Years. It was a short script." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It didn't take a second to prompt her to confirm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fear was gone. The hatred was too. For a moment, the tiny room was filled with a sense of having just woken from a dream, and her body felt relaxed. Almost light. She'd come so far and worked so hard, and despite all of the mistakes and screwups and last-minute improvisations, she'd done it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything in her life had been aiming toward this moment, and now that she was here, it was almost hard to let it all go." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt like she was graduating from university or getting married. This moment, this action that fulfilled all the things she'd fought for, and then her world would never be the same.\n\nCarefully, savoring each keystroke, she put in the confirmation code—JULES-PIERRE MAO—and thumbed the send button. The comm deck LED glowed amber." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the speed of light, a tiny packet of information was pulsing out, hardly more than a bit of background static." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the software on the Rocinante would recognize it. The communications array on Holden's ship would be slaved to the virtual machine already installed and impossible to stop without scraping the whole system clean. The Rocinante would send a clearly recognizable trigger code to the Seung Un, wait fifty-three seconds, and announce Holden's responsibility and his demands. And then the virtual machine would power up the weapons and targeting systems." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And nothing, no power in the universe, could stop it from happening." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately one sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The comm deck got the confirmation response, and the amber LED shifted to red." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text.\n\nAuthor style: James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull's hand terminal sat on the cart's thin plastic dashboard, jiggling with every bump in the corridor floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The siren blatted its standard two-tone, scattering people from his path and calling them out behind him. If they didn't know yet, they all would in minutes. The death of the Seung Un wasn't the sort of thing you could overlook.\n\nOn the small, jittering screen, the destroyer exploded again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At first it was only a flicker of orange light amidships, something that could have been electrical discharge or a gauss gun finishing its maintenance regimen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Half a second later, sparkles of yellow radiated out from the site. Two seconds after, the major detonation. Between one frame and the next, the destroyer's side bloomed open. Then nothing for ten full seconds before the fusion reactor core emerged slowly from the back, brighter than the sun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull watched the intense white gases begin to diffuse out and fade into a massive golden aurora, a drop of gold losing cohesion in the oceanic black." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked up to make the turn onto the ramp that would take him back to the office. A young man ambled slowly out of his path, and Bull leaned on the cart's horn.\n\n\"There's a siren,\" Bull yelled as he passed the young man, and got an insolent nod in reply.\n\n\"Okay,\" Serge said from the terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're getting the first security analysis. Best guess, something blew out in one of the power conduits, fused the safety systems so they couldn't shut it down. Would have taken about that long to turn the whole starboard main circuit to molten slag.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What blew?\" Bull demanded.\n\n\"Probably a maneuvering thruster. About the right place for one. Get it hot enough, water skips steam and just goes straight to plasma. Cuts right through the bulkheads around it.\"\n\nBull turned the cart around a tight corner and slowed to let a half dozen pedestrians get out of his way.\n\n\"Why'd they dump core?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't know, but probably they thought they'd lose containment. They got six ships diverting now to keep from plowing into that mierda.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If they'd lost containment it'd be worse. They'd be diverting to avoid bodies and shrapnel. Are there survivors?\"\n\n\"Yeah. They're putting out the distress request. Medical and evacuation. Sounds pretty fucked up, que no?\"\n\n\"What about trace data. Can we tell who shot 'em?\"\n\n\"No one shot 'em. Either it was a straight accident, or...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Or?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or it wasn't.\"\n\nBull bit his lip. An accident would be bad enough. People on all sides of the system's power structure were on edge, and a reminder that Earth's fleet was aging and poorly maintained wouldn't make anything easier." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sabotage would be worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The closest thing to good news was that everyone had seen it and there wouldn't be any accusations of enemy action. If there'd been a gauss round or a lucky missile that had slipped through the Seung Un's defenses undetected, the scientific mission could turn into a shooting war faster than Bull wanted to think about.\n\n\"Are we offering assistance?\" Bull asked.\n\n\"Give us a breath, boss,\" Serge said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ashford ain't hearing any of this faster than us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull leaned forward, his hands wrapping the steering controls until his knuckles went white. Serge was right. What happened outside the ship was Ashford's problem. And Pa's. He was security chief, and he needed to think about what needed doing inside the Behemoth. People would be scared, and it was his job to make sure that fear didn't turn into hysteria." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Watching a ship blow out—even an enemy ship—reminded everyone how tenuous life was with only a thin skin of steel and ceramic to keep the vacuum at bay. It reminded him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The cart hit a larger bump than usual, and his hand terminal slipped onto its side.\n\n\"Okay,\" Bull said. \"Look, we're going to need to get relief supplies ready in case the captain decides to offer assistance. How many survivors can we take on?\"\n\nSerge's laughter rasped.\n\n\"All of them. We're the pinche Behemoth. We got enough room for a city, us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" Bull said, smiling a little despite himself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was a stupid question.\"\n\n\"The only thing we got to worry about is—\"\n\nThe line went dead.\n\n\"Serge? Not funny,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, \"Talk to me, mister.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We got something. Broadcast coming from a private corvette called the Rocinante.\"\n\n\"Why do I know that name?\" Bull asked.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Serge said. \"I'm putting it to you.\"\n\nThe handset screen blacked out, jumped, and then a familiar face appeared." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull let the cart slow as James Holden, the man whose announcement about the death of the ice hauler Canterbury started the first war between Earth and Mars, once again made things worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"...ship that approaches the Ring without my personal permission will be destroyed without warning. Do not test my resolve.\"\n\n\"Oh no,\" Bull said. \"Oh shit no.\"\n\n\"It has always been a personal mission of mine to assure that information and resources remain free to all people. The efforts of individuals and corporate entities may have helped us to colonize the planets of our solar system and make life possible where it was inconceivable before, but the danger of someone unscrupulous taking control of the Ring is too great. I have proven myself worthy of the trust of the people of the Belt. It is a moral imperative that this shining artifact be protected, and I will spill as much blood as I have to in order to do so.\"\n\nBull scooped up the hand terminal and tried to connect to Ashford." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The red trefoil of command block blinked on the screen and shunted him to a menu that let him record a message for later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried Pa and got the same thing. Holden's message was looping now, the replayed words just as idiotic and toxic the second time through. Bull said something obscene through clenched teeth. He pulled on the cart, turning the wheels as far as they would go, and stamped on the accelerator." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The central lifts were only a minute or two away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could get there. Just please God let Ashford not do anything stupid before he got to the bridge.\n\n\"That true, boss?\" Serge said. \"Did Holden just claim us all the Ring?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I want everyone on security mobilized right now,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Enemy action protocols. Corridors clear and bulkheads closed. Anyone on a weapons or damage control team, wake 'em up and get 'em dressed. You're in charge of that.\"\n\n\"You got it, boss,\" Serge said. \"Someone asks, where are you?\"\n\n\"Trying to keep from needing them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bien.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The familiar corridors seemed longer than usual, the awkwardness of floors built to be walls and walls intended as ceilings more surreal. If he'd been on a real battleship, there would have been a simple, direct path. If the Behemoth's great belly had been spinning, it would have been better than this. He willed the cart faster, pushing the engine past what it could do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The alert Klaxon sounded: Serge calling everyone to brace for battle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A crowd had formed at the lift: men and women trying to get back to their stations. Bull pushed through them, the shortest person there. An Earther, like Holden. At the lift, he activated the security override, called the first car, and stepped in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A tall, dark-skinned man tried to follow him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull put a hand on the man's chest, stopping him.\n\n\"Take the next one,\" Bull said. \"I'm not going where you want to be.\"\n\nAs the lift rose toward the bridge like it was ascending to heaven, Bull used his hand terminal to grasp for any information." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't have access to the secure channels—only the captain and the XO had those—but there was more than enough public chatter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He ran through the open feeds, grasping for a sense of the situation, watching for a few seconds here, a few seconds there.\n\nThe Martian science team and their escort were raging at Holden on every feed, calling him a terrorist and a criminal. The Earth flotilla's reaction was quieter. Most of the public conversation was coordinating the rescue efforts on the Seung Un." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The high-energy gas from the core dump was confusing some of the relief crew's comms, and someone fairly smart had started using the public feeds to coordinate them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had the grim efficiency of a military operation, and it gave Bull hope for the Earth navy crew still alive on the Seung Un as much as it scared him about what was going to come after.\n\nHolden's message was repeating, spilling out over the public feeds. At first it just came from the Rocinante, but soon it was being relayed on other feeds along with commentary. Once the signal got back to the Belt and the inner planets, it was going to be the only thing anyone talked about." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull could already imagine the negotiations between Earth and Mars, could practically hear them reaching the conclusion that the OPA had gotten too confident and needed to be taken down a notch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone on the Behemoth put out a copy of Holden's message with the split circle emblem over it and a commentary track saying that it was about time that the Belt take its place and demand the respect it deserved. Bull told Serge to find the feed and shut it down.\n\nAfter what felt like hours and probably wasn't more than four minutes, the lift reached the bridge, the doors opening silently before him, and let Bull out.\n\nThe bridge wasn't designed for battle." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Instead of a real war machine's system of multiple stations and controlled lines of command, the Behemoth's bridge was built like the largest tugboat ever made, only with angels blowing golden trumpets adorning the walls." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The stations—single stations with a rotating backup scheme—were manned by Belters looking at each other and chatting. The security station was through a separate door and stood unmanned. The bridge crew were acting like children or civilians, their expressions were bright and excited. People who didn't recognize danger when they saw it and assumed that whatever the crisis was, it would all work out in the end." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford and Pa were at the command station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford was speaking into a camera, talking with someone on one of the other ships. Pa, scowling, strode toward Bull. Her eyes were narrow and her lips bloodless.\n\n\"What the hell are you doing here, Mister Baca?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I've got to talk to the captain,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Captain Ashford's busy right now,\" Pa said. \"You might have noticed we have a situation on our hands. I would have expected you to be at your duty station.\"\n\n\"Yes, XO, but—\"\n\n\"Your station isn't on the bridge. You should leave now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull clenched his jaw." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wanted to shout at her, but this wasn't the time for it. He was here to make it work, and that wasn't going to help.\n\n\"We've got to shoot him, ma'am,\" Bull said. \"We've got to fire on the Rocinante, and we've got to do it now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "All heads had turned toward them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford ended his transmission and stepped toward them. Uncertainty made him look haughty. The captain's eyes flickered toward the crew members at their stations and back again. Bull could see how aware Ashford was that he was being watched." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It deformed all his decisions, but there wasn't time for privacy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have this under control, Mister Baca,\" Ashford said.\n\n\"All respect, Captain,\" Bull said, \"but we've got to shoot down Holden, and we have to do it before anyone else does.\"\n\n\"We're not going to do a damn thing until we know what's going on, mister,\" Ashford said, his voice taking a dangerous buzz. \"I've sent back a request for clarification to Ceres to see whether the higher-ups authorized Holden's action, and I am monitoring the activity of the Earther fleet.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The slip was telling. Not UN. Earther." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull felt the blood in his neck. Ashford's casual racism and incompetence was about to get them all killed. He gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and raised his voice.\n\n\"Sir, there's a calculation happening right now with Earth and Mars both—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is a potentially volatile situation, Mister Baca—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"—where they have to decide whether to take direct response or let Holden win—\"\n\n\"—and I am not going to be the one to throw gas on the fire. Escalating to violence at this point—\"\n\n\"—and once they start shooting at him, they're going to start shooting at us.\"\n\nPa's voice cut through the air like a single flute in a bass symphony." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He's right, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull and Ashford turned toward her. Ashford's surprise was a mirror of his own. The man at the sensor station muttered something to the woman next to him, the hiss of his voice carrying in the sudden silence.\n\n\"Mister Baca's right,\" Pa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Holden's identified himself as a representative of the OPA. He's taken violent action against the Earth forces. The opposing commanders will have to look on us as his backup.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden isn't a representative of the OPA,\" Ashford said. The bluster made him sound unsure.\n\n\"You called Ceres,\" Bull said. \"If you're not sure, they're not either.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford's face flushed red." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Holden hasn't had any official status with the OPA since Fred Johnson fired him over his handling of Ganymede. If there's a question, I can clarify with the other commanders that Holden doesn't speak for us, but no one's taking any action. The best thing is to wait and let things cool down.\"\n\nPa looked down, then up again. It didn't matter that she'd humiliated Bull and Sam in front of the command staff. All that counted was doing this next part right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull wanted to reach out, touch her arm, lend her the courage to stand up to Ashford." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It turned out she didn't need it.\n\n\"Sir, if we don't take the initiative, someone else will, and then it's going to be too late for clarifications. Denials are fine if they're believed, but Holden and his crew were known to be working with us previously and they're claiming to represent us now. We're four hours' lag to Ceres. We can't wait for answers. We have to make the division between us and Holden unequivocal. Mister Baca's right. We need to engage the Rocinante.\"\n\nAshford's face was gray.\n\n\"I'm not going to start a shooting war,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You listening to the same feeds as me, Captain?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull asked. \"Everyone already thinks we did.\"\n\n\"The Rocinante's one ship. We can take her out,\" Pa said. \"If we fight Earth or Mars, we'll lose.\"\n\nThe truth lay on the floor between them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford put a hand to his chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His eyes were flickering back and forth like he was reading something that wasn't there. Every second he didn't respond, his cowardice showed through, and Bull could see that the man knew it. Resented it. Ashford was responsible, and didn't want the responsibility. He was more afraid of looking bad than of losing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mister Chen,\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get a tightbeam to the Rocinante. Tell Captain Holden that it's an urgent matter.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" the communications officer said, and then a moment later, \"The Rocinante isn't accepting the connection, sir.\"\n\n\"Captain?\" the man at the sensor array said. \"The Rocinante's changing course.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Where's she going?\" Ashford demanded, his gaze still locked on Bull." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Um. Toward us? Sir?\"\n\nAshford closed his eyes.\n\n\"Mister Corley,\" he growled. \"Power up the port missile array. Mister Chen, I want tightbeam connections to the Earth and Mars command ships, and I want them now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull let himself sag back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The sense of urgency giving way to relief and a kind of melancholy. One more time, Colonel Johnson. We dodged the bullet one more time.\n\n\"Weapons board is green, sir,\" the weapons officer said, her voice crisp and excited as a kid at an arcade." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Lock target,\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do I have those tightbeams yet?\"\n\n\"We're acknowledged and pending, sir,\" Chen said. \"They know we want to talk.\"\n\n\"That'll do,\" Ashford said, and began pacing the bridge like an old-time captain on a wooden quarterdeck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His hands were clasped behind his back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have lock,\" the weapons officer said. Then, \"The Rocinante's weapons systems are powering up.\"\n\nAshford sank into his couch. His expression was sour." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been hoping, Bull realized, that it might be true." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That the OPA might be making a play to control the Ring.\n\nThe man was an idiot.\n\n\"Should we fire, sir?\" the weapons officer asked, the strain in her voice like a dog on a leash." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wanted to. Badly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull didn't think better of her for it. He glanced at Pa, but she was making a point of not looking at him.\n\n\"Yes,\" Ashford said. \"Go ahead. Fire.\"\n\n\"One away, sir,\" the weapons officer said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm getting an error code,\" the operations officer said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're getting feedback from the launcher.\"\n\nBull's mouth tasted like a penny. If Holden had put a bomb on the Behemoth too, their problems might only be starting.\n\n\"Is the missile out?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa snapped. \"Tell me we don't have an armed torpedo stuck in the tube.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" the weapons officer said. \"The missile is away. We have confirmation.\"\n\n\"The Rocinante is taking evasive maneuvers.\"\n\n\"Is she returning fire?\" Ashford said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, sir. Not yet, sir.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm getting errors in the electrical grid, sir. I think something's shorted out. We might—\"\n\nThe bridge went dark.\n\n\"—lose power. Sir.\"\n\nThe monitors were black." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lights were off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The only sound was the hum of the air recyclers, running, Bull imagined, off the battery backups. Ashford's voice came out of the darkness.\n\n\"Mister Pa, did we ever test-fire the missile systems?\"\n\n\"I believe it's on the schedule for next week, sir,\" the XO said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull tuned his hand terminal screen to its brightest, lifting it like a torch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He glanced up at the emergency lighting set into the walls all around the room, sitting there as dark as everything else. Another system that hadn't been tested yet.\n\nA few seconds later, half of the bridge crew pulled flashlights out of recessed emergency lockers. The light level came up as beams played across the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No one spoke. No one needed to." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the Rocinante fired back, they were a dead target, but the chances were that they wouldn't lose the whole ship. If they'd waited until they were in pitched battle against Earth or Mars or both, the Behemoth would have died. Instead, they'd just shown the whole system how unprepared they were. It was the first time Bull was really glad to be just the security officer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"XO?\" Bull said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately five sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Permission to release the chief engineer from house arrest?\"\n\nPa's face was monochrome gray in the dim light, and solemn as the grave. Still, he thought he saw a glint of bleak amusement in her eyes.\n\n\"Permission granted,\" she said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well,\" Amos said. \"That's just fucking peculiar.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The message began to repeat.\n\n\"This is Captain James Holden. What you've just seen is a demonstration of the danger you are in...\"\n\nThe ops deck was in a stunned silence, then Naomi began working the ship ops panel with a quiet fury. In Holden's peripheral vision, Monica motioned to her crew and Okju lifted a camera." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tacit decision to let the \"no civilians on the ops deck\" rule slide suddenly seemed like it might have been a mistake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's a fake,\" Holden said. \"I never recorded that. That's not me.\"\n\n\"Sort of sounds like you, though,\" Amos said.\n\n\"Jim,\" Naomi said, panic beginning to distort her voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That broadcast is coming from us. It's coming from the Roci right now.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden shook his head, denying the assertion outright. The only thing more ridiculous than the message itself was the idea that it was coming from his ship.\n\n\"That broadcast is coming from us,\" Naomi said, slamming her hand against her screen. \"And I can't stop it!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything seemed to recede from Holden, the noises in the room coming from far away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He recognized it as a panic reaction, but he gave in to it, accepted the short moment of peace it brought. Monica was shouting questions at him he could barely hear. Naomi was furiously pounding on her workstation, flipping through menu screens faster than he could follow. Over the ship's comm, Alex was shouting demands for orders." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From across the room, Amos was staring at him with a look of almost comical puzzlement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The two camera operators, equipment still clutched in one hand, were trying to belt themselves into crash couches with the other. Cohen floated in the middle of the room, lips pursed in a faint frown.\n\n\"This was the setup,\" Holden said. \"This is what it was for.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything: the Martian lawsuit, the loss of his Titania job, the camera crew going to the Ring, all leading to this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The only thing he couldn't imagine was why.\n\n\"What do you mean?\" Monica asked, pushing close to get into the shot with him. \"What setup?\"\n\nAmos put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head once." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Naomi,\" Holden said, \"is the only system you've lost control of comms?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know. I think so.\"\n\n\"Then kill it. If you can't, help Amos isolate the entire comm system from the power grid. Cut it out of the damn ship if you have to.\"\n\nShe nodded again and then turned to Amos.\n\n\"Alex,\" Holden said. Monica started to say something to him, but he held up one finger to silence her, and she closed her mouth with a snap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Get us burning toward the Behemoth. We're not really claiming the Ring for the OPA, but as long as everyone thinks we are, they're the team least likely to shoot us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What can you tell me about what's going on?\" Monica said. \"Are we in danger here? Is this dangerous?\" Her usual smirk was gone. Open fear had replaced it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Strap in,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All of you. Do it now.\"\n\nOkju and Clip were already belted into crash couches, and Monica and Cohen quickly followed suit. The entire documentary crew had the good sense to stay quiet.\n\n\"Cap,\" Alex said. His voice had taken on the almost sleepy tone he got when in a high-stress situation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Behemoth just lit us up with their targeting laser.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden belted himself into the combat ops station and warmed it up. The Roci began counting ships within their threat radius. It turned out to be all of them. The ship asked him if any should be marked as hostiles." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Your guess is as good as mine, honey.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Huh?\" Naomi asked.\n\n\"Um,\" Alex said. \"Are you guys warming up the weapons?\"\n\n\"No,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Weapons systems are coming online.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Are we shooting at anyone?\"\n\n\"Not yet?\"\n\nHolden told the Roci to mark anything that hit them with a targeting system as hostile and was relieved when the system actually responded. The Behemoth shifted to red on the display." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then, after a moment's thought, he told the ship to lump all the Martians and Earth ships into two groups." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they wound up fighting with one ship in a group, they'd be fighting them all.\n\nThere were too many. The Roci was caught between Fred Johnson's two-kilometer-long OPA overcompensation and most of the remaining Martian navy. And beyond the Martians, the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" he said, desperately trying to think of what to do now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were as far from a hiding spot as it was possible to be in the solar system. It was a two-month trip just to the nearest rock bigger than their ship. He doubted he could outrun three fleets and all their torpedoes for two months. Or two minutes, really, if it came to that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How's that radio coming?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Down,\" Amos said. \"Easy enough to just pull the plug.\"\n\n\"Do we have any way to tell everyone that the broadcast wasn't us? I will happily signal full and complete surrender at this point,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Not without turning it back on,\" Amos replied.\n\n\"Everyone out there is probably trying to contact us,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The longer we don't answer, the worse this will look. What about the weapons?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Warmed up, not shooting,\" Amos said. \"And not responding to us.\"\n\n\"Can we pull power on those too?\"\n\n\"We can,\" Amos said, looking pained." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But damn, I sure don't want to.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fast mover!\" Naomi yelled.\n\n\"Holy shit,\" Alex said. \"The OPA just fired a torpedo at us.\"\n\nOn Holden's panel, a yellow dot separated from the Behemoth and shifted to orange as it took off at high g." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Go evasive!\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Naomi, can you blind it?\"\n\n\"No. No laser,\" she replied, her voice surprisingly calm now. \"And no radio. Countermeasures aren't responding.\"\n\n\"Fuck me,\" Amos said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why did someone drag us all the way out here just to kill us? Coulda done that at Ceres, saved us the trip.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Alex, here's your course.\" Holden sent the pilot a vector that would take them right through the heart of the Martian fleet. As far as he knew, the Martians only wanted to arrest him. That sounded okay. \"Has the Behemoth fired again?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Naomi replied. \"They've gone dark. No active sensors, no drives.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kinda big and kinda close to be trying for sneaky,\" Alex said without any real humor. \"Here comes the juice.\"\n\nWhile the couches pumped them full of drugs to keep the high g from killing them, apropos of nothing Cohen said, \"Fucking bitch.\"\n\nBefore Holden could ask what he meant, Alex opened up the Roci's throttle and the ship took off like a racehorse feeling the spurs." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sudden acceleration slammed Holden into his couch hard enough to daze him for a second." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship buzzed him back to his senses when a missile proximity alarm warned him the Behemoth's torpedo was getting closer. Helpless to do anything about it, Holden watched the orange dot that meant all their deaths creeping ever closer to the fleeing Rocinante. He looked up at Naomi, and she was looking back, as helpless as he was, all her best tricks taken away when the comm array was powered down.\n\nThe gravity dropped suddenly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Got an idea,\" Alex said over the comm, then the ship jerked through several sharp maneuvers, and the gravity went away again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante had added a new alarm to her song. A collision warning was sounding. Holden realized he'd never actually heard a collision alarm outside of drills. When do spaceships run into each other?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He turned on the exterior cameras to a field of uniform black." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For a second, he thought they were broken, but then Alex took control of them, panning out along the vast expanse of a Martian cruiser's skin. The target lock buzzer cut out, the missile losing them.\n\n\"Put this Martian heavy between us and the missile,\" Alex said, almost whispering it, as though the missile might hear if he spoke too loud.\n\n\"How close are we to them?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden asked, his voice matching Alex's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"'Bout ten meters,\" Alex said, pride in his voice. \"More or less.\"\n\n\"This is really going to piss them off if the missile keeps coming,\" Amos said. Then, almost meditatively, \"I don't even know what a point defense cannon does at a range like this.\"\n\nAs if in answer, the cruiser hit them with a targeting laser." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then all of the other Martian ships did as well, adding a few dozen more alarms to the cacophony." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Shit,\" Alex said, and the gravity came back like a boulder rolled onto Holden's chest. None of the Martian ships fired, but the original missile shot back into view on the scope. The Martians were guiding it in, now that the Behemoth seemed to be out of action. Holden marveled that he'd lived just long enough to finally see real Martian-OPA cooperation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't as gratifying as he'd hoped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Martian ships whipped past on both sides as the Rocinante accelerated through the main cluster of their fleet. Holden could imagine the targeting arrays and point defense cannons swiveling to track them as they went by. Once past them, there was nothing but the Ring and infinite star-speckled black all around it.\n\nThe plan came to mind with the sick, sinking feeling of something horrible he'd always known and tried to forget." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The missile was coming, and even if they avoided it, there would be others." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He couldn't dodge forever. He couldn't surrender. For all he knew, his weapons might start firing at any second. For a moment, the ops deck seemed to go still, time slowing the way it did when something catastrophic was happening. He was intensely aware of Naomi, pressed back in her couch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Monica and Okju, their eyes wide with fear and thrust." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clip, his hand pressed awkwardly into the gel by his side. Cohen's slack jaw and pale face.\n\n\"Huh,\" Holden gurgled to himself, the g forces crushing his throat when he vocalized. He signaled Alex to cut thrust, and the gravity dropped away again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The Ring,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Aim for the Ring. Go.\"\n\nThe gravity came back with a slap, and Holden rotated his chair to his workstation and brought up the navigational console. Watching the rapidly approaching orange dot out of the corner of his eye, he built a navigational package for Alex that would take them at high speed to the Ring, then spin them for a massive and almost suicidally dangerous deceleration burn just before they went in. He could slide them in under the velocity cap that had stopped the Y Que and all the fast-moving probes since." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With any luck, the missile would be caught by whatever was on the other side, and the Roci, going slower, wouldn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship warned him that such high-g forces had a 3 percent chance to kill one of the crew members even during a short burn.\n\nThe missile would kill them all.\n\nHolden sent the nav package to Alex, half expecting him to refuse. Hoping. Instead, the Roci accelerated for an endless twenty-seven minutes, followed by a nauseating zero-g spin that lasted less than four seconds, and a deceleration burn that lasted four and a half minutes and knocked every single person on the ship unconscious." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Wake up,\" Miller said in the darkness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ship was in free fall. Holden began coughing furiously as his lungs attempted to find their normal shape again after the punishing deceleration burn. Miller floated beside him. No one else seemed to be awake yet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi wasn't moving at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden watched her until he could see the gentle rise and fall of her rib cage. She was alive.\n\n\"Doors and corners,\" Miller said. His voice was soft and rough. \"I tell you check your doors and corners, and you blow into the middle of the room with your dick hanging out. Lucky sonofabitch. Give you this, though, you're consistent.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something about the way he spoke seemed saner than usual." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More controlled. As if guessing his thoughts, the detective turned to look at him. Smiled.\n\n\"Are you here?\" Holden asked. His mind was still fuzzy, his brain abused by thrust and oxygen loss. \"Are you real?\"\n\n\"You're not thinking straight. Take your time. Catch up. There's no hurry.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden pulled up the exterior cameras and blew out one long exhale that almost ended in a sob." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The OPA missile was floating outside the ship, just over a hundred meters from the nose of the Roci. The torpedo's drive was still firing, its tail a furious white torch stretching nearly a kilometer behind it. But the missile hung in space, motionless.\n\nHolden didn't know if the missile had been that close when they went through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He suspected not. More likely, they'd just wound up that close once they'd both stopped moving." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even so, the sight of the massive weapon, engine burning as it still fought to reach him, made a shiver go down his spine and his balls creep up into his belly. Ten meters closer and they'd have been in proximity. It would have detonated.\n\nAs he watched, the missile was slowly pulled away, dragged off to who knew where by whatever power set the speed limit on this side of the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We made it,\" he said. \"We're through.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Miller said.\n\n\"This is what you wanted, isn't it? This is why you did it.\"\n\n\"You're giving me too much credit.\"\n\nAmos and Naomi both groaned as they started to wake." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The documentary crew was motionless." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They might even be dead. Holden couldn't tell without unstrapping, and his body wouldn't allow that yet. Miller leaned close to the screen, squinting at it like he was searching for something. Holden pulled up the sensor data." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A host of information flooded in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Numerous objects, clustered within a million kilometers, close as seeds in a pod. And past them, nothing. Not even starlight.\n\n\"What are they?\" Holden asked. \"What's out there?\"\n\nMiller glanced down at the display." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His face was expressionless." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately two sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing,\" the dead man said. And then, \"It scares the shit out of me.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Today you will be acting as a writing assistant, your partner will send something and you will write the next four sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The hell are we?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Serge said, floating gently by the security desk. \"Security or fucking babysitters?\"\n\n\"We're whatever gets the job done,\" Bull said, but he couldn't put much force behind the words.\n\nIt was thirty hours since the Behemoth had gone dark, and he had slept for six of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Serge, Casimir, Jojo, and Corin had been trading off duty at the desk, coordinating the recovery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The rest of the security staff had been in ad hoc teams, putting down two little panic riots, coordinating the physical resources to free a dozen people trapped in storage bays where the air recycler hadn't booted back up, arresting a couple of mech jockeys who'd taken the chaos as opportunity to settle a personal score.\n\nThe lights were on all across the ship now. The damage control systems, woken from their coma, were working double time to catch up. The crews were exhausted and frightened and on edge, and James fucking Holden had escaped through the Ring into whatever was on the other side." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security office smelled like old sweat and the bean curd masala that Casimir had brought in yesterday." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the first day, there had been an unconscious effort to keep a consistent physical orientation—feet toward the floor, head toward the ceiling. Now they all floated in whatever direction they happened to fall into. It seemed almost natural to the Belters. Bull still suffered the occasional bout of vertigo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Amen alles amen,\" Serge said with a laugh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Lube for the machine, us.\"\n\n\"Least fun I've ever had with lube,\" Corin said. Bull noted that when Corin got tired, she got raunchy. In his experience, everyone dealt with pushing too hard differently." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Some got angry and irritable, some got sad." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At a guess, it was all loss of inhibition. Wear down the façade with too much work or fear or both, and whoever was waiting underneath came out.\n\n\"All right,\" Bull said. \"You two go take a rest. I'll watch the shop until the others get back. You two have done more than—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security desk chimed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The connection request was from Sam. Bull lifted a finger to Serge and Corin, and pulled himself over to the desk.\n\n\"Sam?\" he said.\n\n\"Bull,\" she replied, and the single syllable, short and sharp, carried a weight of annoyance and anger that verged on rage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need you to come down here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can call whoever you want,\" a man's voice said in the background. \"I don't care, you hear? I don't care anymore. You do whatever you want.\"\n\nBull checked the connection location. She was down near the machine shops." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't too far." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I need to bring a sidearm?\" Bull asked.\n\n\"I won't stop you, sweetie,\" Sam said.\n\n\"On my way,\" he said, and dropped the connection.\n\n\"Gehst du,\" Corin said to Serge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've been up longer. I'll keep the place from burning.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You going to be all right?\" Serge asked, and it took Bull a second to realize the man was talking to him.\n\n\"Unstoppable,\" Bull said, trying to mean it.\n\nBeing exhausted in zero gravity wasn't the same as it was under thrust or down a gravity well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Growing up, Bull had been dead tired pretty often, and the sense of weight, of his muscles falling off the bone like overcooked chicken, was what desperate fatigue meant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd been off of Earth for more years now than he'd been on it, and it still confused him on an almost cellular level to be worn to the point of collapse and not feel it in his joints. Intellectually, he knew it left him feeling that he could do more than he actually could. There were other signs: the grit against his eyes, the headache that bloomed slowly out from the center of his skull, the mild nausea. None of them had the same power, and none of them convinced." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The corridors weren't empty, but they weren't crowded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even at full alert, with every team working double shifts and busting ass, the Behemoth was mostly empty. He moved through the ship, launching himself handhold to handhold, sailing down each long straightaway like he was in a dream. He was tempted to speed up, slapping at the handholds and ladders as they passed and adding just a touch of kinetic energy to his float the way he and his men had back in his days as a marine. More than one concussion had come out of the game, and he didn't have time for it now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wasn't young anymore either." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He found Sam and her crew in a massive service bay. Four men in welding rigs floated near the wall, fixing lengths of conduit to the bulkhead with showers of sparks and lights brighter than staring at the sun. Sam floated nearby, her body at a forty-five-degree angle from the work. A young Belter floated near her, his body at an angle that pointed his feet toward her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull understood it was an insult." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bull,\" Sam said. The young man's face was a pale mask of rage. \"This is Gareth. He's decided laying conduit's icky.\"\n\n\"I'm an engineer,\" Gareth said, spitting out the word so violently it gave him a degree of spin. \"Did eight years on Tycho Station! I'm not going to get used like a fucking technician.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The other welders didn't turn from their work, but Bull could see them all listening." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked at Sam, and her face was closed. Bull couldn't tell if calling him in for help had been hard for her or if it was part of how she expected him to make things right to her after the thing with Pa. That it had been the shortest detention on record didn't pull the sting of being caught up in his political struggles. Either way, she'd escalated the problem to him, and so it was his now.\n\nBull took a deep breath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So what are we working on here?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "he asked, less because he cared than that it would give him a few extra seconds to think and his brain wasn't at its best.\n\n\"I've got a major line faulting out,\" Sam said. \"I can take three days and diagnose the whole thing or I can take twenty hours and put up a workaround.\"\n\n\"And the conduit's for the workaround?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull lifted his fist in the Belter's equivalent of a nod and then turned his attention to the boy. Gareth was young and he was tired and he was an OPA Belter, which meant he'd never been through any kind of real military indoctrination. Bull had to figure Sam had yelled at him enough before she'd called for backup.\n\n\"All right, then,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Está-hey bullshit is,\" the man said, his educated grammar fracturing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I understand,\" Bull said. \"You can go. Just help me get your rig on first.\"\n\nGareth blinked. Bull thought he saw the ghost of a smile in the corners of Sam's bloodshot eyes, but that could have meant anything. Pleasure at the weariness in Bull's voice or at Gareth's confusion, or maybe she'd understood what Bull was doing and she thought he was really clever." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I talk to the guys on the other ships some,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Earth or Mars. Someone'll be sending a ship back. I'll see if I can't get you a ride as far as Ceres anyway.\"\n\nGareth's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. Sam pushed off, hooking the welder's rig with one hand, pulling it close to speed up the turn and then extending her arm to slow it. Bull took it from her and started pulling on the straps." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know how to do this?\" Sam asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good enough to hang conduit,\" Bull said.\n\n\"Security can lose you?\"\n\n\"Shift's done,\" Bull said. \"I was just heading for my bunk, but this needs doing, I can do it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right, then,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Take the length at the end, and I'll have someone join it up with Marca's. I'll come check your work in a minute.\"\n\n\"Sounds good,\" Bull said. He was spinning just a few degrees each second and he let the momentum carry him around to face the boy. The rage was still there, but it was sinking under a layer of embarrassment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All his arguments and bluster about not doing something because it was beneath him, and now the head of security was using his off-shift to do the same work." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull could feel the attention of the other welders on them. Bull lit his torch, just testing it out, and the air between them went white for a second. \"Okay, then. I got this. You can go if you want.\"\n\nThe boy shifted, getting ready to launch himself back across the bay and out into the ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull tried to remember the last time he'd actually welded something with no gravity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was pretty sure he could do it, but he'd have to start slow. Then Gareth's shoulders cupped forward, and he knew he wouldn't have to. Bull started taking off the straps, and Gareth moved forward to help him.\n\n\"You're tired,\" Bull said, his voice low enough not to carry to the others." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You been working too hard, and it got to you a little. Happens to everyone.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bien.\"\n\nHe put the torch in the boy's hand and squeezed it there.\n\n\"This is a privilege,\" Bull said. \"Being out here, doing this bullshit, working our asses off for no one to give a shit? It's a privilege. Next time you undermine Chief Engineer Rosenberg's authority, I will ship your ass home with a note that says you couldn't handle it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy muttered something Bull couldn't make out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The flare from the other torches made the boy's face dance white and brown and white again. Bull put a hand on his arm.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Gareth said. Bull let go, and the boy pushed off to the wall, situating himself over the length of pipe that was waiting there for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sam appeared at Bull's elbow, sliding down from the blind spot above and behind him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That worked,\" she said.\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"Didn't hurt that you're an Earther.\"\n\n\"Didn't. How's it all coming?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Apart,\" Sam said. \"But we'll stick it back together with bubblegum if we have to.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Least no one was shooting at us.\"\n\nSam's laugh had some warmth in it.\n\n\"They wouldn't have had to do it twice.\"\n\nThe alert tone came from all their hand terminals at once, simultaneous with the ship address system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull felt his lips press thin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, that timing's a little ominous,\" Sam said before Captain Ashford's voice rang out through the ship. The openness of the spaces and the different speakers made the words echo like the voice of God.\n\n\"This is your captain speaking. I have just received confirmation from the OPA central authority that the actions undertaken by the criminal James Holden were unauthorized by any part of the Outer Planets Alliance. His actions put not only this ship but the reputation and good standing of the alliance in threat. I have informed the central authority that we took swift and decisive action against Holden, and that he escaped from us only by retreating through the Ring.\"\n\n\"Thanks for that, by the way,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"De nada.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have requested and received,\" Ashford continued, \"the authority to continue action to address this insult as I deem fit. The evidence of our own sensors and of the Martian and Earth feeds to which we have access all show that the Rocinante has passed through the Ring in good condition and appears to have sustained no damage despite the physical anomalies on the other side.\n\n\"In light of that, I have made the decision to follow Holden through the Ring and take him and his crew into custody. I will be sending out specific instructions to all department heads outlining what preparations we will need to complete before we begin our burn, but I expect to be in pursuit within the next six hours." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It is imperative for the pride, dignity, and honor of the OPA that this insult not go unanswered and that the hands that bring Holden to justice be ours." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I want you all to know that I am honored to serve with such a valiant crew, and that together we will make history. Take these next hours, all of you, to rest and prepare. God bless each and every one of you, and the Outer Planets Alliance.\"\n\nWith a resounding click from a hundred speakers, Ashford dropped the connection. The flashing white light of the welding torches was gone, and the bay was darker. Laughter warred against despair in Bull's gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is he drunk, do you think?\" Sam said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Worse. Embarrassed. He's trying to save face,\" Bull said.\n\n\"The Behemoth filled its diddies in front of God and everyone, so now we're going to be the biggest badass in the system to make up for it?\"\n\n\"Pretty much.\"\n\n\"Gonna talk him out of it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Gonna try.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam scratched her cheek.\n\n\"Could be hard to back down after that little once-more-into-the-breach thing.\"\n\n\"He won't,\" Bull said. \"But I've got to try.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The inner planets came out to the black with an understanding that they were soldiers sent to a foreign land." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull remembered the feeling from when he'd first shipped out: the sense that his home was behind him. For the inners, the expansion out into the solar system had always had the military at its core.\n\nThe Belters didn't have that. They were the natives here." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The forces that had brought their ancestors out to the Belt had roots in trade, commerce, and the overwhelming promise of freedom." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The OPA had begun its life more like a labor union than a nation. The difference was subtle but powerful, and it showed in strange ways.\n\nIf they had been in any of the Earth or Mars ships that floated now in the darkness near the Ring, Bull would have come from his thorough and profound dressing down by the captain to seek out XO Pa in a galley or mess hall. But this was the Behemoth, so he found her in a bar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a small place with bulbs of alcohol, chocolate, coffee, and tea all set with temperature controls in the nipple, so the uniformly tepid drinks could come out anywhere from almost boiling to just this side of ice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The décor was cheap nightclub, with colored lights and cheap graphic films to hide the walls. Half a dozen people floated on handholds or tethers, and Pa was one of them.\n\nHis first thought as he pulled himself toward her was that she needed a haircut. With the false gravity of acceleration gone, her hair floated around her, too short to tie back but still long enough to interfere with her vision and creep into her mouth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His second thought was that she looked as tired as he was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mister Baca,\" Pa said.\n\n\"XO. You mind if I join you?\"\n\n\"I was expecting you. You've been to see the captain?\"\n\nBull wished he could sit down, not for any actual reason so much as the small physical punctuation it would have given their conversation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have. He wasn't happy to see me. Showed me the proposal you'd built up on how to remove me from my position.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was a contingency plan,\" she said.\n\n\"Yeah. So this idea where we take the Behemoth through the Ring? We can't do that. We start any kind of serious burn, we're going to have two navies on our butts. And we don't know what's on the other side except that it's way more powerful than we are.\"\n\n\"Do you want an alien civilization taking its ideas of humanity from Jim Holden?\"\n\nAshford had said the same thing, word for word." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had been his most cogent argument, and now Bull knew where he'd borrowed it from." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd had the long trip down in the lift to let his sleep-deprived brain come up with its counterargument.\n\n\"That's not even going to come into play if they shoot our nuts off before we get there,\" he said. \"You really think Earth and Mars are going to go for the whole 'we're just playing sheriff' line? There's going to be a bunch of them who still think whatever Holden was up to, we were in on it. But even if they don't, the part where they stand to the side and let us take the lead isn't going to happen. You can bet your ass the head of the Mars force is asking his XO if they want an alien civilization taking its ideas of humanity from Ashford.\"\n\n\"That was nice,\" Pa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The reversal thing? That was good.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The inner planets may not be making threats yet,\" Bull said, \"but—\"\n\n\"They are. Mars has threatened to open fire on us if we get within a hundred thousand kilometers of the Ring.\"\n\nBull put his hand to his mouth. He could feel his mind struggling to make sense of the words." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Martian navy had already laid down an ultimatum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford hadn't even mentioned it.\n\n\"So what the hell are we doing?\"\n\n\"We're preparing for burn in four and three-quarter hours, Mister Baca,\" Pa said. \"Because that's what we've been ordered to do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The bitterness wasn't only in her voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was in her eyes and the angle of her mouth. Sympathy and outrage battled in Bull's mind, and underneath them a rising panic. He was too tired to be having this conversation. Too tired to be doing what had to get done." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had stripped away all the protections that would have made him hesitate to speak." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he could have gotten just one good cycle's rest, maybe he could have found another way, but this was the hand he'd been dealt, so it was the hand he'd play.\n\n\"You don't agree with him,\" Bull said. \"If it was your call, you wouldn't do it.\"\n\nPa took a long pull at her bulb, the flexible foil buckling under the suction." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull was pretty sure she wasn't drinking for the taste, and the urge to get some whiskey for himself came on him like an unexpected blow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It doesn't matter what I would or wouldn't do,\" Pa said. \"It's not my command, so it's not my decision.\"\n\n\"Unless something happens to the captain,\" Bull said. \"Then it would be.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa went still. The sound of the music, the shifting patterns of lights, all of it seemed to recede." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were in their own small universe together. Pa thumbed on the bulb's magnet and stuck it to the wall beside her.\n\n\"There are still hours before the burn starts. And then travel time. The situation may change, but I won't take part in mutiny,\" she said.\n\n\"Maybe you wouldn't have to. Doesn't have to have anything to do with you. But unless you're going to specifically order me not to—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I am specifically ordering you, Mister Baca. I am ordering you not to take any action against the captain. I am ordering you to respect the chain of command. And if that means I have to commit to following through on Ashford's orders, then I'll make that commitment. Do you understand me?\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately two sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Bull said slowly. \"Either we're all going to die, or we're going through the Ring.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\nfour sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eleven people showed up for Anna's first worship service. The contrast with her congregation on Europa was unsettling at first. On Europa, she'd have had twenty or so families straggling in over the half hour before the service began, and a few drifting in late. They'd have been all ages, from grandparents rolling in on personal mobility devices to screaming children and infants." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Some would come in their Sunday best formal wear, others in ratty casual clothes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The buzz of conversation prior to the service would be in mixed Russian, English, and outer planets polyglot. By the end of the worship meeting, a few might be snoring in their pews.\n\nHer UNN congregation showed up in a single group at exactly 9:55 a.m. Instead of walking in and taking seats, they floated in as a loose clump and then just hovered in a disconcerting cloud in front of her podium." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They wore spotless dress uniforms so crisply pressed they looked sharp enough to cut skin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They didn't speak, they just stared at her expectantly. And they were all so young. The oldest couldn't have been more than twenty-five.\n\nThe unusual circumstances rendered her standard worship service inappropriate—no need for a children's message or church announcements—so Anna launched directly into a prayer, followed by a scripture reading and a short sermon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd considered doing a sermon on duty and sacrifice; it seemed appropriate in the martial setting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But she had instead decided to speak mostly on God's love. Given the fear Chris had expressed a few days prior, it felt like the better choice.\n\nWhen she'd finished, she closed with another prayer, then served communion. The gentle ritual seemed to ease the tension she felt in the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Each of her eleven young soldiers came up to her makeshift table, took a bulb of grape juice and a wafer, and returned to their prior position floating nearby." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She read the familiar words in Matthew and Luke, then spoke the blessing. They ate the bread and drank from the bulb. And, as had always happened since the very first church service she could remember, Anna felt something vast and quiet settle on her. She also felt the shiver that tried to crawl up her spine competing with a threatening belly laugh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had a sudden vision of Jesus, who'd asked His disciples to keep doing this in remembrance of Him, watching her little congregation as they floated in microgravity and drank reconstituted grape beverage out of suction bulbs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It seemed to stretch the boundaries of what He'd meant by this.\n\nA final prayer and the service was over. Not one of her congregation pushed toward the door to leave. Eleven young faces stared at her, waiting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The oppressive aura of fear she'd managed to push away during the communion crept back into the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna pulled herself around the podium and joined their loose cloud. \"Should I expect anyone next week? You guys are making me nervous.\"\n\nChris spoke first. \"No, it was real nice.\" He seemed to want to say more, but stopped and looked down at his hands instead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Back on Europa, people would have brought snacks and coffee for after the service,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We could do that next time, if you want.\"\n\nA few halfhearted nods. A muscular young woman in a marine uniform pulled her hand terminal halfway out of her pocket to check the time. Anna felt herself losing them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They needed something else from her, but they weren't going to ask for it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And it definitely wasn't coffee and snacks.\n\n\"I had a whole sermon on David,\" she said, keeping her tone casual. Conversational. \"On the burden we place on our soldiers. The sacrifices we ask you to make for the rest of us.\"\n\nChris looked up from his hands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The young marine put her hand terminal away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With her podium behind her, the meeting room was just a featureless gray box. The little knot of soldiers floated in front of her, and suddenly the perspective shifted and she was above them, falling toward them. She blinked rapidly to break up the scene and swallowed to get the lemony taste of nausea out of her throat.\n\n\"David?\" a young man with brown hair and dark skin said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had an accent that she thought might be Australian." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"King of Israel,\" another young man said.\n\n\"That's just the nice version,\" the marine countered. \"He's the guy who killed one of his own men so he could sleep with his wife.\"\n\n\"He fought for his country and his faith,\" Anna cut in, using the teacher's voice she used in Bible classes for teenagers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The one that made sure everyone knew she was the voice of authority." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's the part I care about right now. Before he was a king, he was a soldier. Often unappreciated by those he served. He put his body over and over again between danger and those he'd sworn to protect, even when his leaders were unworthy of him.\"\n\nA few more nods. No one looking at hand terminals. She felt herself getting them all back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And we've been asking that of our soldiers since the beginning of time,\" she continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Everyone here gave up something to be here. Often we're unworthy of you and you do it anyway.\"\n\n\"So why didn't you?\" Chris asked. \"You know, do the David sermon?\"\n\n\"Because I'm scared,\" Anna said, taking Chris' hand with her left, and the hand of the Australian boy with her right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Without anyone saying anything, the loose cloud became a circle of held hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm so afraid. And I don't want to talk about soldiers and sacrifice. I want to talk about God watching me. Caring about what happens to me. And I thought maybe other people would too.\"\n\nMore nods. Chris said, \"When the skinnies blew that ship, I thought we were all dead.\"\n\n\"No shit,\" the marine said. She gave Anna an embarrassed look. \"Sorry, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's okay.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They say they didn't,\" another woman said. \"They shot at Holden.\"\n\n\"Yeah, and then their whole ship mysteriously turned off. If the dusters hadn't pinged Holden, he'd have flown off scot free.\"\n\n\"They're gonna follow him,\" the young marine said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Dusters say they'll smoke them if they go in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck the dusters,\" the Australian said. \"We'll grease every one of them if they start anything.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Anna cut in, keeping her voice gentle. \"Dusters are Martians. They prefer Martians. And calling people from the outer planets skinnies is also rude. Epithets like that are an attempt to dehumanize a group so that you won't feel as bad about killing them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The marine snorted and looked away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And,\" Anna continued, \"fighting out here is the last thing we should be doing. Am I right?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Chris said. \"If we fight out here, we'll all die. No support, no reinforcements, nothing to hide behind. Three armed fleets and nothing bigger than a stray hydrogen atom for cover. This is what we call the kill box.\"\n\nThe silence stretched for a moment, then the Australian sighed and said, \"Yeah.\"\n\n\"And something may come out of the Ring.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Saying the thing out loud and then acknowledging it drained the tension out of the air." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With everyone floating in microgravity, no one could slump. But shoulders and foreheads relaxed. There were a few sad smiles. Even her angry young marine ran a hand through her blond crew cut and nodded without looking at anyone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Let's do this again next week,\" Anna said while she still had them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can celebrate communion, then maybe just chat for a while. And in the meantime, my door is always open. Please call me if you need to talk.\"\n\nThe group began to break up, heading for the door. Anna kept hold of Chris' hand. \"Could you wait a moment? I need to ask you about something.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Chris,\" the marine said with a mocking singsong voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Gonna get a little preacher action.\"\n\n\"That's not funny,\" Anna said, using the full weight of her teacher voice. The marine had the grace to blush.\n\n\"Sorry, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You may leave,\" Anna said, and her marine did." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Chris, do you remember the young woman who was in the officers' mess that first time we met?\"\n\nHe shrugged. \"There were lots of people coming and going.\"\n\n\"This one had long dark hair. She looked very sad. She was wearing civilian clothes.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Chris said with a grin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The cute one. Yeah, I remember her.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Do you know her?\"\n\n\"No. Just a civvy contractor fixing the plumbing, I'd guess. We have a couple ships full of them in the fleet. Why?\"\n\nThat was a good question. She honestly wasn't sure why the angry young woman weighed on her mind so much over the last few days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But something about her stuck in Anna's memory like a burr in her clothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd feel irritated and antsy and suddenly the girl's face would pop into her mind. The anger, the sense of threat she'd radiated. The proximity of that encounter to the sudden hostilities and damaged ships and people shooting at each other. There was nothing that tied them all together, but Anna couldn't shake the feeling that they were connected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm worried about her?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna finally said. At least it wasn't a lie.\n\nChris was tinkering with his hand terminal. After a few seconds, he said, \"Melba Koh. Electrochemical engineer. She'll probably be on and off the ship here and all the way home. Maybe you'll run into her.\"\n\n\"Great,\" Anna said, wondering if she actually wanted that to happen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know what sucks?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly asked. Before Anna could say anything, Tilly said, \"This sucks.\"\n\nShe didn't have to elaborate. They were floating together near a table in the civilian commissary. A small plastic box was attached to the table with magnetic feet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Inside it was a variety of tubes filled with protein and carbohydrate pastes in an array of colors and flavors." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Next to the box sat two bulbs. Anna's held tea. Tilly's coffee. The officers' mess, with its polite waiters, custom-cooked meals, and open bar, was a distant memory. Tilly hadn't had an alcoholic drink in several days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Neither of them had eaten anything that required chewing in as long." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The oat and raisin isn't bad. I think it might actually have real honey in it,\" Anna said, holding up one of the white plastic squeeze packs. Tilly was no stranger to space travel. Her husband owned estates on every major rock in the solar system. But Anna suspected she'd never eaten food out of a plastic tube in her entire life before this." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Any pilot who had the poor planning to put Tilly's ship at null g during one of her meals was probably fired at the next port." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly picked up a packet of the oat mush, wrinkled her lip at it, and flicked it away with her fingers. It sat spinning next to her head like a miniature helicopter.\n\n\"Annie,\" Tilly said. \"If I wanted to suck vile fluids out of a flaccid and indifferent tube, I'd have stayed on Earth with my husband.\"\n\nAt some point Anna had become Annie to Tilly, and her objection to this nickname hadn't fazed Tilly at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You have to eat, eventually. Who knows how long we'll be out here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not much longer, if I have anything to say about it,\" said a booming voice from behind Anna.\n\nIf she'd been touching the floor, she would have jumped. But floating in the air, all she managed was an undignified jerk and squeak.\n\n\"Sorry to startle you,\" Cortez continued, sliding into her field of view." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But I had hoped we might speak.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was scuffing across the floor wearing the magnetic booties the navy had handed out. Anna had tried them, but drifting free while your feet remained pinned to the floor had given her an uncomfortable underwater sensation that made her even sicker than just floating around did. She never used them.\n\nCortez nodded to Tilly, his too-white smile beaming at her in his nut-brown face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Without asking if he could join them, he used the menu screen on the table to order himself a soda water." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly smiled back. It was the fake I don't really see you smile she used on people who carried her luggage or waited on her table. Their mutual contempt established, Tilly sipped her coffee and ignored his presence. Cortez placed one large hand on Anna's shoulder and said, \"Doctor Volovodov, I am putting together a coalition of the important civilian counselors on this ship to make a request of the captain, and I'd like your support.\"\n\nAnna admired the absolute sincerity Cortez managed to pack into a sentence that was almost entirely composed of flattery." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez was here because he was the spiritual advisor to the UN secretary-general." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna was here because the United Methodist Council could spare her, and her home happened to be on the way. If she was on any list of important counselors, then the bar was set pretty low.\n\n\"I'm happy to talk about it, Doctor Cortez,\" Anna said, then reached for her tea bulb. It gave her an excuse to extricate her arm from his grip." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How can I help?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"First, I have to commend you on your initiative in arranging worship services for the women and men on the ship. I'm ashamed I didn't think of it first, but I'm happy to follow your lead. We're already arranging for similar meetings with leaders of the various faiths on board.\"\n\nAnna felt a blush come up, even though she suspected that everything Cortez said was manipulative. He was so good, he could get the response he wanted even when you knew exactly what he was up to. Anna couldn't help but admire it a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sure the sailors appreciate it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But there is other work we can be doing,\" Cortez said. \"Greater work. And that's what I came to ask you about.\"\n\nTilly turned back to the table and gave Cortez a sharp look. \"What are you up to, Hank?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez ignored her. \"Anna, may I call you Anna?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Here it comes, Annie,\" Tilly said.\n\n\"Annie?\"\n\n\"No,\" Anna cut in. \"Anna is fine. Please call me Anna.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez nodded his big white-and-brown head at her, blinding her with his smile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, Anna. What I want to ask you to do is sign a petition I'm circulating, and add your voice to ours.\"\n\n\"Ours?\"\n\n\"You know that the Behemoth has begun to burn toward the Ring?\"\n\n\"I'd heard.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're asking the captain to accompany it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna blinked twice, then opened her mouth to speak and found nothing to say. She closed it with a snap when she realized both Cortez and Tilly were staring at her. Go into the Ring? Holden had made it inside, and it looked like he was still alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But actually entering the Ring had never been part of the mission plan, at least not for the civilian contingent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No one had any idea what the structures were that waited beyond the Ring, or what changes passing through the wormhole might make on humans. Or even if the Ring would stay open. It might have a preset mass limit, or a limited power supply, or anything. It might just slam shut after enough ships had gone through." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It might slam shut with half a ship going through." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna pictured the Prince cut in half, the two pieces drifting in space a billion light-years apart, humans spilling into vacuum from both sides.\n\n\"We're also asking the Martians to come with us,\" Cortez continued. \"Now hear me out. If we join together in this—\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Anna said before she knew she was going to say it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't know why Cortez was pushing for it, and she didn't care." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it was to get votes in the Earth elections. Maybe it was a way for Cortez to exert control over the military commanders. Maybe he felt it was his calling. They hadn't come here as explorers, not really." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd come here to be seen by the people back at home who were watching." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was why they'd had so many protests and dramas on the way out. Once, this had been about the spectacle, but now things had changed, and this was the answer to the fear she'd seen at church.\n\nThe immediate danger wasn't the Ring. At least not right now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was humans taking their anxiety out on the nearest enemy they could actually see: each other." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the OPA went ahead with its plan to follow Holden into the Ring, and the UN and Martian forces joined together to follow, no one would have any reason to shoot anyone else. They'd be what they'd started out as again. They'd be a joint task force exploring the most important discovery in human history. If they stayed, they were three angry fleets trying to keep one another from getting an advantage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The whole thing spilled into Anna's mind feeling very much like relief." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes,\" she said again. \"I'll sign it. The things we need to know, the things we need to learn and take back with us to all those frightened people back home. That's where we'll learn them. Not here. On the other side. Thank you for asking me, Doctor Cortez.\"\n\n\"Hank, Anna. Please call me Hank.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Tilly said, her coffee bulb floating forgotten in the air in front of her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We are so fucked.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hi Nono,\" Anna said to the video camera in her room's communication panel. \"Hi Nami! Mom loves you. She loves you so much.\" She hugged her pillow to her chest, squeezing it tight. \"This is you. This is both of you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She put the pillow down, taking a moment to compose herself." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nono, I'm calling to apologize again.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Today you will be acting as a writing assistant, your partner will send something and you will write the next 4 sentences." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The injustice of it shrieked in the back of her skull; it wouldn't let her sleep. It had come so close to working. So much of it had worked. But then Holden dove into the Ring, and something had saved him, and Melba felt a huge invisible fist drive itself into her gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And it was still there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd watched the whole thing unfold in her quarters, sitting cross-legged on her crash couch, her hand terminal seeking information from any feed. The network had been so swamped with other people doing the same thing, her own signal wouldn't stand out. No one would wonder why she was watching when everyone else was doing the same. When the OPA had opened fire, she'd heard the Earth forces bracing for a wave of sabotage explosions that never came." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The anger at Holden, the condemnations and recriminations had been like pouring cool water on a burn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her team had been called up on an emergency run to the Seung Un, repairing the damage she'd done, but she'd checked in whenever there was a free moment. When Mars had turned its targeting lasers on the Rocinante, guiding the missile to him, she'd laughed out loud. Holden had stopped her outgoing message, but at the expense of killing his whole communications array. There was no way he could send out a retraction in time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When he'd passed through the Ring, she'd been in three conversations simultaneously and watching an electrical meter for dangerous fluctuations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't find out until they were being rotated back to the Cerisier that Holden hadn't died. That he wasn't going to. The missile had been stopped and the enemy had been spared.\n\nBack on her ship, she'd gone straight to her bunk, curled up on the crash couch, and tried not to panic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her brain felt like it had come untied; her thoughts ran in random directions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the Martians had just launched a few missiles of their own instead of waiting for the OPA's to do the job, Holden would be dead. If the Rocinante had been a few thousand kilometers closer to the Behemoth when it fired, Holden would be dead. The gimbaling under her couch hushed back and forth in the last of the deceleration burn, and she realized she was shaking her body, banging her back against the gel. If the thing that made the protomolecule—the nameless, evil thing that was hunched in the abyssal black on the other side of the Ring—hadn't changed the laws of physics, Holden would be dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden was alive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd always known that the destruction of James Holden was a fragile thing. Discrepancies would be there if anyone looked closely. She couldn't match her announcement to the exact burn that the Rocinante would be on when she sprang her trap. There would be artifacts in the video that a sufficiently close analysis would detect." }, { "from": "human", "value": "By the time that happened, though, it would have been too late." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The story of James Holden would have been set. New evidence could be dismissed as crackpots and conspiracy theorists. But it required that Holden and his crew be dead. It was something she'd always heard her father say." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the other man's dead, the judge only has one story to follow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he put his communication array back together, the investigation would begin. She'd be caught. They'd find out it was her.\n\nAnd—the thought had the copper taste of fear—they'd find Ren. They'd know she killed him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her father would know." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Word would reach him in his cell that she had beaten Ren to death, and that would be worse than anything. Not that she'd done it, Melba thought. That she'd been caught doing it.\n\nThe sound came from her door, three hard thumps, and she screamed despite herself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her heart was racing, the blood tapping at the inside of her throat, banging at her ribs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Miss Koh?\" Soledad's voice came. \"You in there? Can I... I need to talk if you've...\"\n\nHearing fear in someone else's voice felt like vertigo. Melba got to her feet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either the pilot was repositioning the ship or she was just unsteady." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She couldn't tell which. She looked in her mirror, and the woman looking out could almost have been a normal person woken from a deep sleep.\n\n\"Just a minute,\" she said, running her fingers through her hair, pressing the dark locks against her scalp. Her face felt clammy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nothing to be done." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She opened the door.\n\nSoledad stood in the thin, cramped corridor. The muscles in her jaw worked like she was chewing something. Her wide eyes skittered over Melba, away and back, away and back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm sorry, Miss Koh, but I can't... I can't do it. I can't go there. They can fire me, but I can't go.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba reached out and put her hand on the woman's arm. The touch seemed to startle them both.\n\n\"All right,\" she said. \"It'll be all right. Where can't you go?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The ship shifted. That one wasn't her imagination, because Solé moved too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The Prince,\" she said. \"I don't want... I don't want to volunteer.\"\n\n\"Volunteer for what?\" Melba asked. She felt like she was coaxing the girl back from some sort of mental break." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was enough self-awareness left in her to appreciate the irony." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Didn't you get the message? It's from the contracts supervisor.\"\n\nMelba looked back over her shoulder. Her hand terminal was on the crash couch, a green-and-red band on the screen showing that there was a priority message waiting. She raised a finger, keeping Soledad out of the room and away from the locker, and grabbed the terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The message had come through ten hours before, marked URGENT AND MUST REPLY." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba wondered how long she'd been lying in her couch, lost in her panic fugue. She thumbed the message accept. A stream of tight legal script poured onto the screen, brash as a shout.\n\nDanis General Contracting, owners and operators of half the civilian support craft in the fleet, including the Cerisier, was invoking the exceptional actions clause of the standard contract." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Each functional team would choose a designated volunteer for temporary duty on the UNN Thomas Prince." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The remuneration would remain at the standard level until completion of the contract, when any hazard bonuses or exemptions would be assessed.\n\nMelba had to read the words three times to understand them.\n\n\"I can't go in there,\" Soledad was saying, somewhere away to her left. The voice had taken on an irritating whine." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My father. I told you about him. You understand. Your sister was there too. You have to tell Bob or Stanni to do it. I can't.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were going after Holden. They were going through the Ring after Holden. Her panic didn't fall away so much as click into focus.\n\n\"None of you are going,\" Melba said. \"This one's mine.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The official transfer was the easiest thing she'd done since she came aboard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She sent a message to the contracts officer with her ID number and a short message saying that she'd accept transfer to the Prince. Two minutes later, she had her orders. Three hours to finish her affairs on the Cerisier, then into the transport and gone. It was intended, she knew, as a time to meet with her team, make the transition easy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had other fish to fry." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Filling a locker with industrial sealant was one thing. The foam was made to apply quickly and remain malleable for a few seconds before the yellow mush dimmed to gold and set. The excess could be cut away with a sharp knife for the next hour. After that, nothing would move it except the right kind of solvent, and even that was an ugly, arduous process." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But leaving the body where it could be found wasn't an option." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone would be assigned to her bunk, and they'd want to use the locker. Besides which, leaving Ren behind seemed somehow wrong. And so with two and a half hours before she left the ship, Melba took a pair of shoulder-length latex gloves, three cans of solvent, a roll of absorbent towels, and a vacuum-rated large personal tool case into her room and locked the door behind her.\n\nThe locker door didn't want to open at first, fixed in place by a drop of sealant she hadn't noticed, but a few sprays of solvent degraded it until she could pull it open with her fingers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sealant was a single rough-textured face of gold, like a cliff made small." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She opened the tool case, took a deep breath, and faced the grave.\n\n\"I'm sorry about this,\" she said. \"I'm really, really sorry.\"\n\nAt first the solvent spray didn't seem to do anything beyond a sharp smell, but then the sealant began ticking, like a thousand insects walking over stone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Gouges and crevasses formed in the sealant wall, then a small runnel of slime." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She rolled up a few of the towels, setting them on the floor to catch the flow.\n\nRen's knee was the first part to appear, the round cap of the bone and death-blackened skin emerging from the melting foam like a fossil. The fabric of his uniform was soaked with fluid rot. The smell hit her, but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd imagined herself retching and weeping, but it was gentler than that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she took his legs to draw him out, they fell away from his pelvis, so she cut the trousers, wrapped the legs in towels, and put them in the toolbox. Her mind was quiet and still, like an archaeologist pulling the dead of centuries before out into the light. Here was his spine. This was the vile slush where the hydrochloric acid in his gut, no longer held in check by the mechanisms of life, had digested his stomach, his liver, his intestines." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She drew out his head last, the bright red hair darkened and flecked with matter like an overused kitchen mop." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She lifted the bones into the toolbox, packed them with the gore- and corruption-soaked towels, then closed his new coffin, triggered the seal, and set the lock combination. She had forty minutes left.\n\nShe spent another ten minutes cleaning out the locker where Ren had spent his death, then stripped off the gloves and threw them in the recycler. She bathed, trying to scrub off the stink, and noticed distantly that she was sobbing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She ignored the fact, and by the time she'd changed into her new uniform, the crying seemed to have stopped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She picked up the last of her things, threw them in a pack, put her still-wet hair in a ponytail, and hauled Ren to the loading bay where the other supplies would be taken across to the Prince. It didn't allow her time to say her goodbyes to Soledad or Stanni or Bob. She was sorry for that, but it was a burden she could bear.\n\nThere were about thirty of them, all told." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Men and women she'd seen around the ship, heard their names once or twice, nodded to in the galley or on the exercise machines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once they reached the Prince, they were all brought into a small white conference room with benches that bolted to the floor like pews. They were already under thrust, already moving for the Ring and whatever was on the other side. While the overly enthusiastic yeoman prattled on about the Thomas Prince, she glanced at the faces around her. An old man with a scruffy white beard and ice-blue eyes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A stocky blond woman who was probably younger than she was with poorly applied eyeliner and a grim look about the jowls." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd all come here of their own free will. Or free will as bounded by the terms of their work contracts. They were all going through the Ring, into the mouth of whatever was on the other side. She wondered what would motivate them to do it, what kinds of secrets they'd hidden in their tool chests." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You will need to keep your identification cards with you at all times,\" the yeoman was saying, holding up a white plastic card on a lanyard." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not only are these the keys to get into your quarters, they'll also get you food in the civilian commissary. And they'll let you know if you're where you're supposed to be.\"\n\nThe blond woman turned toward Melba and glared. Melba looked away, blushing. She hadn't intended to stare." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Never be rude unintentionally, her father had always said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The yeoman's white card turned a deep, bloody red.\n\n\"If you see this,\" he said, \"it means you're in a restricted area and need to leave immediately. Don't worry too much. She's a big ship, and we all get a little turned around sometimes. I got buzzed four times the first week I was here. No one's going to get bent out of shape over an honest mistake, but security will be following up on them, so be prepared.\"\n\nMelba looked at her own white card. It had her name, a picture of her unsmiling face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The yeoman was talking about how much they were appreciated, and how their service was an honor to the ship and to themselves." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All in this together, one big team. The first stirring of hatred for the man shifted in her gut, and she tried to distract herself.\n\nShe didn't know what she'd do once they were all on the other side, but she had to find Holden. She had to destroy him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The soundman too. Anything that led back to her had to be destroyed or discredited." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wondered if there was a way to get a fake card, or one that belonged to someone with a lot more clearance than Melba Koh would have. Maybe one that could check out a shuttle. She'd need to look into it. She was improvising now, and getting the best tools she could manage would be critical." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Around her, people began standing up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "From the bored looks and the quiet, she figured they were beginning the walking tour. She'd been through the Thomas Prince before. She was already familiar with the high ceilings and wide corridors where three people could walk abreast. She might not know where everything was, but she could fake it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She fell in line with the others." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"In case of emergency, all you'll have to do is get back to your quarters and strap in,\" the yeoman said, walking backward so that he could keep lecturing them while they all moved, bumping against each other like cattle. Someone behind her made a soft mooing sound, and someone else chuckled. The joke had gone out to the darkness of space even where cows hadn't.\n\n\"Now, through here is the civilian commissary,\" the yeoman said as they passed through a pair of sliding steel doors." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Those of you who were working here before might be used to getting your food and coffee from the officers' mess, but now that we're on a military operation, this is going to be the place to go.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The civilian commissary was a low gray box of a room with tables and chairs bolted to the floor, and a dozen people of all ages and dress sat scattered around. A thin man with improbably pale hair leaned against a crash-padded wall, drinking something from a bulb. Two older men in black robes and clerical collars sat huddled together like the unpopular kids at a cafeteria. Melba was already beginning to turn inward again, ignoring them all, when something caught her. A familiar voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Twenty feet away, Tilly Fagan leaned in toward an older man who looked like he was struggling between annoyance and flirtation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hair was up and her laughter caustic in a way that recalled long, uncomfortable dinner parties with both of their families. Melba felt a sudden atavistic shame at being so underdressed. For a sickening moment, her false self slipped away and she was Clarissa again.\n\nForcing herself to move slowly, calmly, she drifted to the back of the crowd, making herself as small and difficult to notice as she could." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly glanced over at the nattering yeoman and his herd of technicians with undisguised annoyance, but didn't notice Melba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not this time. The yeoman led them all back out of the commissary, down the long hallway to their new quarters. Melba took her ponytail down and brushed her hair in close around her face. She'd known, of course, that the Prince had the delegation from Earth, but she'd discounted them. Now she wondered how many other people here knew Clarissa Mao." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had the horrible image of turning a corner and seeing Micha Krauss or Steven Comer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could see their eyes going wide with surprise, and she wondered whether she could bring herself to kill them too. If she couldn't, the brig and the newsfeeds and a prison cell like her father's would follow.\n\nThe yeoman was talking about their quarters, assigning them out one by one to all the volunteer technicians. They were tiny, but the need for each person to have a crash couch in case of emergency meant they wouldn't be hot-bunking." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could stay in there, bribe one of the others to bring her food." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Except, holed up like a rat, tracking and killing Holden became exponentially more difficult. There had to be a way...\n\nThe yeoman called her name, and she realized it wasn't the first time.\n\n\"Here,\" she said. \"Sorry.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 4 sentences sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead of putting him at ease, the weeks and months of interviews had given Holden a new persona. A version of himself that stood in front of a camera and answered questions. That explained things and told stories in ways entertaining enough to keep the focus on himself. It wasn't the sort of thing that he'd have expected to have any practical application." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One more surprise among many." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This,\" Holden said, gesturing to the large video monitor behind him on the operations deck, \"is what we are calling the slow zone.\"\n\n\"That's a terrible name,\" Naomi said. She was at the ship operations panel, just out of view of the documentary crew's cameras. \"Slow zone? Really?\"\n\n\"You have a better name?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Monica asked. She whispered something to Clip and he shifted a few degrees to his left, camera moving with him in a slow pan." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The burst blood vessel in his eye was starting to fade. The high-g burn through the Ring had been hard on all of them.\n\n\"I still like Alex's name,\" Naomi replied.\n\n\"Dandelion sky?\" Monica said with a snort." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"First of all, only people from Earth and Mars have even the slightest idea what a dandelion is. And second of all, no, it sounds stupid.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden knew he was still on camera, so he just smiled and let the two of them hash it out. The truth was, he'd been partial to Alex's name. Where they sat, looking out, it did sort of look like being at the center of a dandelion, the sky filled with fragile-looking structures in an enormous sphere around them.\n\n\"Can we finish this?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Monica asked, shooting the comment at Naomi without looking at her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sorry I interrupted,\" Naomi replied, not looking sorry at all. She winked at Holden and he grinned back.\n\n\"And, three... two...\" Monica pointed at him.\n\n\"The slow zone, based on the sensor data we're able to get, is approximately one million kilometers across.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden pointed at the 3D representation on the screen behind him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There are no visible stars, so the location of the zone is impossible to determine. The boundary is made up of one thousand three hundred and seventy-three individual rings evenly spaced into a sphere. So far, the only one we've been able to find that's 'open' is the one we came through. The fleets we traveled out with are still visible on the other side, though the Ring seems to distort visual and sensor data, making readings through it unreliable.\"\n\nHolden tapped on the monitor, and the center of the image enlarged rapidly.\n\n\"We're calling this Ring Station, for lack of a better term. It appears to be a solid sphere of a metallic substance, measuring about five kilometers in diameter. Around it is a slow-moving ring of other objects, including all of the probes we've fired into the slow zone, and the Belter ship Y Que. The torpedo that chased us through the Ring is headed toward the station in a trajectory that seems to indicate it will become part of the garbage ring too.\"\n\nAnother tap and the central sphere took up the entire screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're calling it a station pretty much only because it sits at the center of the slow zone, and we're making the entirely unfounded assumption that some sort of control station for the gates would be located there. The station has no visible breaks in its surface. Nothing that looks like an airlock, or an antenna, or a sensor array, or anything. Just that big silvery blue glowing ball.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden turned off the monitor and both of the camera operators swiveled to put him at the center of their shots.\n\n\"But the most intriguing factor of the slow zone, and the one that gives it its name, is the absolute speed limit of six hundred meters per second. Any object above the quantum level traveling faster than that is locked down by what seems to be an inertial dampening field, and then dragged off to join the garbage circling the central station. At a guess, this is some sort of defensive system that protects the Ring Station and the gates themselves. Light and radar still work normally, but radiation made up of larger particles like alpha and beta radiation does not exist inside the slow zone. At least outside the ship, that is. Whatever controls the speeds here only seems concerned by the exterior of the objects, not the interior. We've done radiation and object speed tests inside the ship, and so far everything works as normal. But the last probe we fired was immediately grabbed by the field and is now making its way down to the garbage ring. The lack of alpha and beta radiation leads me to believe that there's a thin cloud of loose electrons and helium nuclei orbiting that station as part of the garbage ring.\"\n\n\"Can you tell us what your plan is now?\" Monica said from off camera." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cohen pointed his mic at her, then back at Holden." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Our plan now is to remain motionless, avoid attracting the Ring Station's attention, and keep studying the slow zone using what instruments we have. We can't leave until we repair the comm array and let everyone outside know that we aren't psychotic murderers bent on claiming the Ring for ourselves.\"\n\n\"Great!\" Monica said, giving him the thumbs-up. Clip and Okju moved around the room getting shots to cut in later. They shot the instrument panels, the monitor behind Holden, even Naomi lounging in her ops station crash couch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She smiled sweetly and flipped them off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How's everyone doing after the burn?\" Holden asked, Clip's blood-pinked eye still drawing his attention.\n\nCohen touched his side and grimaced. \"Got a rib that I think just slid back into place this morning. I've never been on a ship doing maneuvers that violent before. It gave me a little more respect for the navy.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden pushed off the bulkhead and drifted over to Naomi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In a low voice he said, \"Speaking of the navy, how's that comm array coming along? I'd really love to start protesting my innocence before someone figures out a way to lob a slow-moving torpedo in here after us.\"\n\nShe blew out an exasperated breath at him and started tugging on her hair like she did when she was lost in a complex problem. \"That little Trojan horse that keeps grabbing control? Every time I wipe and reboot, it finds its way back in. I've got comms totally isolated from the other systems, and it's still getting in.\"\n\n\"And the weapons?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They keep on powering up, but they never fire.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So there has to be some connection.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Naomi said, and waited. Holden felt a self-conscious discomfort.\n\n\"That doesn't tell you anything you didn't know.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden pulled himself down into the crash couch next to hers and buckled in. He was trying to play it cool, but the truth was the longer they went without presenting a defense or at least a denial to the fleets outside, the more risk there was that someone would find a way to destroy the Roci, slow zone or not. The fact that Naomi couldn't figure it out only added to the worry. If whoever was doing this was clever enough to outsmart Naomi with an engineering problem, they were in a lot of trouble." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's the next plan?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "he asked, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. Naomi heard it anyway.\n\n\"We're taking a break from it,\" she said. \"I've got Alex doing ladar sweeps of all the other rings that make up the boundary of the slow zone. Just to see if one is different in some way. And I've got Amos fixing that light bulb in the head. There's nothing else to do, and I wanted him out of my hair while I come up with another way to attack this comm problem.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What can I do to help?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden asked. He'd already gone through every other system on the ship three times looking for malicious and hidden programs. He hadn't found any, and he couldn't think of anything else that might be useful.\n\n\"You're doing it,\" Naomi said, subtly moving her head toward Monica without actually looking at her.\n\n\"I feel like I've got the shit job here.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh, please,\" Naomi said with a grin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You love the attention.\"\n\nThe deck hatch slid open with a bang, and Amos came up the crew ladder. \"Motherfucker!\" he yelled as the hatch closed behind him.\n\n\"What?\" Holden started, but Amos kept yelling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When I peeled that twitchy power circuit open in the head, I found this little bastard hiding in the LED housing, sucking off our juice.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amos threw something, and Holden barely managed to catch it before it hit him in the face. It looked like a small transmitter with power leads coming off one end. He held it up to Naomi, and her face darkened.\n\n\"That's it,\" she said, reaching out to take it from Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're fucking right that's it,\" Amos bellowed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Someone hid that in the head, and it's been loading the software hijacker onto our system every time we boot up.\"\n\n\"Someone with access to the ship's head,\" Naomi said, looking at Holden, but he'd already gone past that and was unbuckling his restraints.\n\n\"Are you armed?\" Holden asked Amos. The big mechanic pulled a large-caliber pistol out of his pocket and held it against his thigh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "In the microgravity it would shove Amos around if he fired it, but surrounded by bulkheads that wouldn't be too much of a problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey,\" Monica said, her face shifting from confusion to fear.\n\n\"One of you hijacked my comm array,\" Holden said. \"One of you is working for whoever is doing this to us. Whoever it is should really just tell me now.\"\n\n\"You forgot to threaten us,\" Cohen said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He sounded almost ill." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No. I didn't.\"\n\nNaomi had unbuckled her harness as well, and was floating next to him now. She tapped a wall panel and said, \"Alex, get down here.\"\n\n\"Look,\" Monica said, patting the air with her hands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're making a mistake blaming us for this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clip and Okju moved behind her, pulling Cohen to them. The documentary crew formed a small circle facing outward, unconsciously creating a defensive perimeter. More Pleistocene-age behavior that humans still carried with them. Alex drifted down from the cockpit; his usually jolly face had a hard expression on it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was carrying a heavy wrench." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tell me who did it,\" Holden repeated. \"I swear by everything holy that I will space the whole damn lot of you to protect this ship if I have to.\"\n\n\"It wasn't us,\" Monica said, the fear on her face draining the bland video star prettiness away, making her look older, gaunt.\n\n\"Fuck this,\" Amos said, pointing the gun at them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Let me drag one of 'em down to the airlock and space them right now. Even if only one of them did it, I got me a twenty-five percent chance to get the right one. Got a thirty-three percent chance with the second one I toss. Fifty-fifty by the third, and those are odds I'll take any day.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden didn't acknowledge the threat, but he didn't argue with it either. Let them sweat.\n\n\"Shit,\" Cohen said. \"I don't suppose it will matter that I got set up just as bad as you guys, will it?\"\n\nMonica's eyes went wide. Okju and Clip turned to stare at the blind man." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You?\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't make any sense not to, not really, but he honestly hadn't suspected the blind guy. It made him feel betrayed and guilty of his prejudices at the same time.\n\n\"I got paid to stick that rig on the ship,\" Cohen said, moving out of the defensive circle and floating a half meter closer to Holden. Pulling himself out of the group, so that if anything happened, they wouldn't get hurt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden respected him for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I had no idea what it would do. I figured someone was spying on your comms, is all. When that broadcast went out and the missiles started flying, I was just as surprised as you guys. And my ass was just as much on the line.\"\n\n\"Motherfucker,\" Amos said again, this time without the heat. Holden knew him well enough to know that angry Amos was not nearly as dangerous as cold Amos. \"I was thinking I'd have a tough time spacing a blind guy, but turns out I'm gonna be just fine with it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not yet,\" Holden said, waving Amos off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Who paid you to do this. Lie to me and I let Amos have his way.\"\n\nCohen held up both hands in surrender. \"Hey, you got me, boss. I know my ass is hanging by a thread right now. I got no reason not to come clean.\"\n\n\"Then do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I only met her once,\" Cohen continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Young woman. Nice voice. Had lots of money. Asked me to plant this thing. I said, 'Sure, get me on that ship and I plant whatever you want.' Next thing I know Monica's got a gig doing this doc about you and the Ring. Damned if I know how she swung that.\"\n\n\"Son of a bitch,\" Monica said, clearly as surprised by this revelation as anyone else. That actually made Holden feel a little better.\n\n\"Who was this young woman with all the money?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden asked. Amos hadn't moved, but he wasn't pointing the gun at anyone anymore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cohen's tone didn't have a hint of deception in it. He sounded like a man who knew that his life hung on every word.\n\n\"Never got a name, but I can sculpt her pretty easy.\"\n\n\"Do that,\" Holden said, then watched as Cohen plugged his modeling software into the big monitor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Over the next several minutes, the image of a woman slowly formed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was all one color, of course, and the hair was a sculpted lump, not individual strands. But when Cohen had finished, Holden had no doubt about who it was. She was changed, but not so much that he couldn't recognize the dead girl.\n\nJulie Mao." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The ship was quiet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Monica and her two camera operators had been confined to the crew decks again, and last time Holden had checked they were together in the galley, not talking. Cohen's betrayal had taken them by surprise as well, and they were still working through it. Cohen himself was in the airlock. It was the closest thing they had to a brig." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden had to assume the man was quietly panicking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Alex was back in the cockpit. After Amos had thrown Cohen into the airlock he'd disappeared back down to his machine shop to brood. Holden had let him go. Of them all, Amos took betrayal the hardest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden knew that Cohen's life was hanging on whether Amos could get past it or not." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he decided to take action, Holden wouldn't be able to stop him, and didn't even know if he'd want to try.\n\nSo he and Naomi sat alone together on the ops deck as she made the last few adjustments to get the comm array back up and running. With Cohen's device disabled, they'd been able to reboot it without being hijacked.\n\nNaomi was waiting for him to speak." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could feel the tension in her shoulders from across the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But he had no idea what to say. For a year, Miller had been a confused phantasm that appeared randomly and spouted nonsense. Now everything Miller had said over the last year took on the weight of dark portents. Prophetic riddles whose meaning must be teased out or risk catastrophe." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And Miller wasn't the only ghost haunting Holden." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Julie Mao had joined the game.\n\nSomehow, while Miller had followed Holden around the solar system, the protomolecule had been using Julie, working on its own secret plans. Julie had arranged for the Martian lawsuit that stripped him of safe ports and employment. She'd arranged to have a documentary crew placed on his ship to send him to the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And now it appeared she'd engineered an elaborate betrayal that forced him to actually go through the Ring to stay alive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ghost Julie didn't resemble his Miller at all. It was working with very specific purpose. It had access to money and powerful connections. The only thing it had in common with Miller was that it seemed to be focused on him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And if this was all true, then everything it had done had been with a single purpose in mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To bring him here. To force him to go through the Ring.\n\nA shiver crawled its way up his spine, sending all the hairs on his arms and neck standing straight up. He turned on the closest workstation and brought up the external telescopes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nothing at all in this starless void except a lot of inactive rings and the massive blue ball at its center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As he watched, the missile that had chased them through the gate drifted into view and joined the slowly circling ring of flotsam that orbited the station.\n\nEverything comes to me, eventually, the station seemed to be saying.\n\n\"I have to go there,\" he said out loud even as the thought popped into his head.\n\n\"Where?\" Naomi asked, turning away from her work on the comm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The relief he could see on her face now that he'd finally said something wouldn't last long." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He felt a pang of guilt for that.\n\n\"The station. Or whatever it is. I have to go there.\"\n\n\"No you don't,\" she said.\n\n\"Everything that's happened over the last year has been to bring me here, now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden rubbed his face with both hands, itching his eyes and hiding from Naomi's scrutiny at the same time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And that thing is the only place in here. There's nothing else. No other open gates, no planets, no other ships. Nothing.\"\n\n\"Jim,\" Naomi said, a warning in her voice. \"This thing where you always have to be the guy who goes...\"\n\n\"I'll never know why the protomolecule is talking to me until I get there, face-to-face.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Eros, Ganymede, the Agatha King,\" Naomi continued." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You always think you have to go.\"\n\nHolden stopped rubbing his face and looked at her. She stared back, beautiful and angry and sad. He felt his throat threaten to close up, so he said, \"Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong and we'll think of something else. Tell me how all of what's happened means something else and I'm just not seeing it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" she said again, meaning something else this time." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay.\" He sighed. \"Okay then.\"\n\n\"It's getting old being the one who stays behind.\"\n\n\"You're not staying behind,\" Holden said. \"You're keeping the crew alive while I do something really stupid. It's why we're an awesome team. You're the captain now.\"\n\n\"That's a shit job and you know it.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Provide four sentences as a continuation." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the last hours before they shot the Ring, a kind of calm descended on the Behemoth. In the halls and galleries, people talked, but their voices were controlled, quiet, brittle. The independent feeds, always a problem, were pretty subdued. The complaints coming to the security desk fell to nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull kept an eye on the places people could get liquored up and stupid, but there were no flare-ups." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The traffic going through the comm laser back toward Tycho Station and all points sunward spiked to six times its usual bandwidth. A lot of people on the ship wanted to say something to someone—a kid, a sister, a dad, a lover—before they passed through the signal-warping circumference and into whatever was on the other side.\n\nBull had thought about doing it too. He'd logged into the family group feed for the first time in months, and let the minutiae of the extended Baca family wash over him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One cousin was engaged, another one was divorcing, and they were trading notes and worldviews." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His aunt on Earth was having trouble with her hip, but since she was on basic, she was on a waiting list to get a doctor to look at it. His brother had dropped a note to say that he'd gotten a job on Luna, but he didn't say what it was or anything about it. Bull listened to the voices of the family he never saw except on a screen, the lives that didn't intersect his own. The love he felt for them surprised him, and kept him from putting his own report in among them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would only scare them, and they wouldn't understand it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could already hear his cousins telling him to jump ship, get on something that wasn't going through. By the time the message got there, he'd already have gone anyway.\n\nInstead, he recorded a private video for Fred Johnson, and all he said in it was, \"After this, you owe me one.\"\n\nWith an hour to go before they passed through, Bull put the whole ship on battle-ready status." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everyone in their couches, one per." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No sharing. All tools and personal items secured, all carts in their stations and locked down, the bulkheads closed between major sections so that if something happened, they'd only lose air one deck at a time. He got a few complaints, but they were mostly just grousing.\n\nThey made the transit slowly, the thrust gravity hardly more than a tendency for things to drift toward the floor. Bull couldn't say whether that was a technical decision on Sam's part meant to keep them from moving too quickly in the uncanny reduced speed beyond the ring, or Ashford giving the Earth and Mars ships the time to catch up so that they'd all be passing through at more or less the same time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Only if it was that, it wouldn't have been Ashford." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That kind of diplomatic thinking was Pa.\n\nProbably it was just that the main drive couldn't go slow enough, and this was as fast as the maneuvering thrusters could move them.\n\nBull wasn't that worried about the Earth forces. They'd been the ones to broker the deal, and they had civilians on board." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mars, on the other hand, might call itself a science mission, but its escort was explicitly military, and until Earth stepped in they'd been willing to poke holes in the Behemoth until the air ran out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Too many people with too many agendas, and everyone was worried that the other guy would shoot them in the back. Of all the ways to go and meet the God-like alien whatever-they-were that built the protomolecule, this was the stupidest, the most dangerous, and—for Bull's money—the most human.\n\nThe transit actually took a measurable amount of time, the great bulk of the Behemoth sulking through the Ring in a few seconds. An eerie fluting groan passed through the ship, and Bull, in his crash couch at the security office waiting for the next disaster, felt the gooseflesh on his arms and neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He flipped through the security monitors like a dad walking through the house to see if the windows were all locked, all the kids safely in their beds." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Memories of the Eros feed tugged at the back of his mind: black whorls of filament covering the corridors; the bodies of the innocent and the guilty alike warping, falling apart, and becoming something else without actually dying in between; the blue firefly glow that no one had yet explained. With every new monitor, he expected to see the Behemoth in that same light, and every time he didn't, his dread moved on to the one still to come.\n\nHe moved to the external sensor feed. The luminous blue object in the center of a sphere of anomalies that the computers interpreted as being approximately the same size as the Ring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Gates to God knew where." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't know what the hell we're doing here,\" he said under his breath.\n\n\"A-chatté-men, brother,\" Serge said, pale-faced, from his desk.\n\nA connect request popped on Bull's hand terminal, the alert-red of senior staff. With dread growing at the back of his throat, Bull accepted it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sam appeared on the screen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey,\" she said. \"This whole act-like-we're-in-a-battle thing where we aren't supposed to get out of our crash couches? I'd really appreciate it if you could ease up enough to let us make sure the ship isn't falling apart.\"\n\n\"You getting alerts?\"\n\n\"No,\" Sam admitted. \"But we just sailed the Behemoth into a region of space with different, y'know, laws of physics and stuff? Makes me want to take a peek.\"\n\n\"We got eight ships coming in right behind us,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hold tight until we see how that shakes down.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam smiled in a way that expressed her annoyance with him perfectly.\n\n\"You can get the teensiest bit paternalistic sometimes, Bull. You know that?\"\n\nA new alert popped up by Sam's face. A high-priority message was coming into the comm array. From the Rocinante." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sam, I got something here. I'll get back to you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll be sitting here in my couch doing nothing,\" she said.\n\nHe flipped over to the incoming message. It was a broadcast. A Belter woman, with black hair pulled back from her face in a style that gave Bull the impression she'd been welding something before she'd begun the broadcast and would be again as soon as she was finished, looked into the camera." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"... Nagata, executive officer of the Rocinante. I want to make it very clear that the previous broadcast claiming our ownership of the Ring was a fake. Our communications array was hijacked, and we were locked out of it. The saboteur on board has confessed, and I am including a datafile at the end of this transmission with all the evidence we have about the real perpetrator of these crimes. I am also including a short documentary presentation on what we've discovered in the time we've been here that Monica Stuart and her team produced. I want to reiterate here, Captain Holden had no mandate from anyone to claim the Ring, he had no intention of doing so, and none of us had any participation in or knowledge of the bomb on the Seung Un or on any other ship. We were here solely as transport and support for a documentary team, and pose no intentional threat whatsoever to any other vessel.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Serge grunted, unconvinced. \"You think they fragged him?\"\n\n\"Keep Jim Holden from grabbing the camera? Fragged him or tied him up,\" Bull said. It was a joke, but there was something in it. Why wasn't the Rocinante's captain the one making the announcement?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We will not surrender our ship,\" the Belter said, \"but we will invite inspectors aboard to verify what we've reported, with the following conditions. First, the inspectors will have to comply with basic safety—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Five more communication alerts popped up, all from different ships. All broadcast. If they were flying into the teeth of a vast and malefic alien intelligence, by God, they we're going to go down squabbling.\n\n\"—unacceptable. We demand the immediate surrender of the Tachi and all accompanying—\"\n\n\"—what confirmation you can provide that—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"—James Holden at once for interrogation. If your claims are verified, we will—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"—Message repeats. Please confirm and clarify EVA activity, Rocinante. Who've you got out there, and where are they going?\"\n\nBull pulled up the sensor array and began a careful sweep of the area around Holden's ship. It took him half a minute to find it. A single EVA suit, burning away from the ship and heading for the blue-glowing structure in the center of the sphere." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He said something obscene." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Five minutes later, the XO of the Rocinante spoke again to confirm Bull's worst suspicions.\n\n\"This is Naomi Nagata,\" she said, \"executive officer and acting captain of the Rocinante. Captain Holden is not presently available to take questions, meet with any representatives, or surrender himself into anybody's custody. He is...\" She looked down. Bull couldn't tell if it was fear or embarrassment or a little of both. The Belter took a deep breath and continued, \"He is conducting an EVA approach of the base at the middle of the slow zone. We have reason to believe he was... called there.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull's laughter pulled Serge's attention." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Serge lifted his hand, the physical Belter idiom for asking a question. Bull shook his head.\n\n\"Just trying to think of a way we could be doing this worse,\" he said.\n\nAshford insisted that they meet in person, so even though Bull had ordered that all crew members not performing essential functions remain in their couches, he himself floated to the lift and headed to the bridge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The crew was a muted cacophony." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every station was juggling telemetry and signal switching and sensor data, even though basically nothing was going on. It was just that the excitement demanded that everything be busy and serious and fraught. The excitement or else the fear. The monitors were set to a tactical display, Earth in blue, Mars in red, the Behemoth in orange, and the artifact at the center of the sphere in a deep forest green." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The debris ring was marked in white." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And two dots of gold: one for the Rocinante, well ahead of the other ships, and another for her captain. The scale was so small, Bull could see the shapes of the larger ships, boxy and awkward in the way that structures built for vacuum could be. The universe, shrunk down to a knot smaller than the sun and still unthinkably vast.\n\nAnd in that bubble of darkness, mystery, and dread, two matched dots—one blue, the other red—moving steadily toward the little gold Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Marine skiffs, hardly more than a wide couch strapped on the end of a fusion drive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull had ridden on boats like them so long ago it seemed like a different lifetime, but if he closed his eyes, he could still feel the rattle of the thrusters transferred through the shell of his armor. Some things he would never forget.\n\n\"How long,\" Ashford said, \"until you can put together a matching force?\"\n\nBull rubbed his palm against his chin, shrugged." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How long'd it take to get back to Tycho?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford's face went red.\n\n\"I'm not interested in your sense of humor, Mister Baca. Earth and Mars have both launched interception teams against the outlaw James Holden. If we don't have a force of our own out there, we look weak. We're here to make sure the OPA remains the equal of the inner planets, and we're going to do that, whatever it takes. Am I clear?\"\n\n\"You're clear, sir.\"\n\n\"So how long would it take?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull looked at Pa." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her face was carefully blank. She knew the answer as well as he did, but she wasn't going to say it. Leaving the shit job for the Earther. Well, all right.\n\n\"It can't be done,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Each one of those skiffs is carrying half a dozen marines in full battle dress. Powered armor. Maybe Goliath class for the Martians, Reaver class for the Earthers. Either way, I don't have anything in that league. And the soldiers inside those suits have trained for exactly this kind of combat every day for years. I've got a bunch of plumbers with rifles I could put on a shuttle.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bridge went quiet. Ashford crossed his arms.\n\n\"Plumbers. With rifles. Is that how you see us, Mister Baca?\"\n\n\"I don't question the bravery or commitment of anyone on this crew,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I believe that any team we sent over there would be willing to lay down their lives for the cause. Of course, that would only take about fifteen seconds, and I won't send our people into that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The implication floated in the air as gently as they did. You're the captain. You can make the order, but you'll own the consequences. And they'll know the Earther told you what would happen. Pa's eyes were narrow and looked away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank you, Mister Baca,\" Ashford said. \"You're dismissed.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull saluted, turned, and launched himself for the lift. Behind him, the bridge crew started talking again, but not as loud. Probably they'd all get reamed once Bull was gone just because they'd been in the room when Ashford got embarrassed. The chances were slim that they'd be sending anyone to the thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nucleus, base, whatever it was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull couldn't think of a way to do any better than that, so that would count for a win.\n\nOn the way back to his station, he looked over the datafile the Rocinante had sent out. The saboteur seemed legitimate enough. Bull had seen enough faked confessions to recognize the signs, and this didn't have them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After that, though, the whole damn thing turned into a fairy tale." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A mysterious woman who manipulated governments and civilians, who was willing to kill dozens of people and risk thousands in order to... do what? Put James Holden through the Ring, where he was going now?\n\nThe image the prisoner had built looked like it had been carved from ice. No one had added color." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull put on an even olive flesh tone and brown hair, and the face didn't look familiar." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Juliette Mao, they said. She hadn't been the first person infected with the protomolecule, but everyone before her had gotten thrown in an autoclave one way or the other. She'd been the seed crystal that Eros had used to make itself, to make the Ring. So who was to say she couldn't be wandering around hiring traitors and placing bombs?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The problem with living with miracles was that they made everything seem plausible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An alien weapon had been lurking in orbit around Saturn for billions of years. It had eaten thousands of people, hijacking the mechanisms of their bodies for its own ends. It had built a wormhole gate into a kind of haunted sphere. So why not the rest?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "If all that was possible, everything was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull didn't buy it.\n\nBack at the security desk, he checked the status. The skiff of Earth marines had gone too fast, trying to race ahead of the Martian force. The slow zone had caught them, and the skiff was drifting off toward the ring of debris." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Chances were that all the men in it were dead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Martian skiff was still on track, but Holden would reach the structure before they got to him. It was too bad, in a way. The Martians had been the trigger-happy ones all along. Chances of someone getting to question Holden were looking pretty long." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull sucked his teeth, half-formed ideas shifting in the back of his mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden wasn't getting interrogated, but that didn't mean no one would. He checked his security codes. Ashford hadn't blocked him from using the comm laser. Protocol would have been to discuss this with Ashford or at least Pa, but they had their hands full right now anyway." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And if it worked, it would be hard for them to object." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd have a bargaining chip.\n\nThe Rocinante's XO appeared on the screen.\n\n\"What can I do for you, Behemoth?\"\n\n\"Carlos Baca here. I'm security chief. Wanted to talk about maybe taking a problem off your hands.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hoisted her eyebrows, her head shaking like she was trying to stay awake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had a smart face.\n\n\"I've got a lot of problems right now,\" she said. \"Which one were you thinking about?\"\n\n\"You got a bunch of civvies on your ship. One of 'em under arrest. Mars is still saying you're flying their ship. Earth is wondering whether you blew the shit out of one of theirs. I can take custody of your prisoner and give the rest of them a safer place than you can.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Last I checked, the OPA was the only one that's actually shot at us so far,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had a good smile. Too young for him, but ten years ago he'd have been asking her if he could make her dinner around now. \"Doesn't put you at the top of my list.\"\n\n\"That was me,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I won't do it this time.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It got him a chuckle, but it was the bleak kind. The one that came from someone wading through hell. \"Look, you got a lot going on, and you've got a bunch of people on there who aren't your crew. You got to keep them safe, and it's a distraction. You send 'em over here, and everyone'll see you aren't trying to control access to them. Makes this whole thing about how it wasn't you that blew the shit out of the Seung Un that much easier for people to believe.\"\n\n\"I think we're past goodwill gestures,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I think goodwill gestures are the only chance you have to avoid a field promotion,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're sending killers after your captain. Good ones. No one's thinking straight here. You and me, we can start cooling things down. Acting like grown-ups. And if we do, maybe they do too. No one else needs to get killed.\"\n\n\"Thin hope,\" she said.\n\n\"It's all the hope I got. You got nothing to hide, then show them that. Show everyone.\"\n\nIt took her twenty seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" she said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can have them.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Mode:\nCo-writing\n\nLength:\n4 sentences\n\nStyle:\nJames S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Wow,\" Holden said to himself, \"I really don't want to do this.\"\n\nThe sound echoed in his helmet, competing only with the faint hiss of his radio.\n\n\"I tried to talk you out of it,\" Naomi replied, her voice somehow managing to be intimate even flattened and distorted by his suit's small speakers.\n\n\"Sorry, I didn't think you were listening.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ah,\" she said. \"Irony.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden tore his eyes way from the slowly growing sphere that was his destination and spun around to look for the Rocinante behind him. She wasn't visible until Alex fired a maneuvering thruster and a gossamer cone of steam reflected some of the sphere's blue glow. His suit told him that the Roci was over thirty thousand kilometers away—more than twice as far as any two people on Earth could ever be from each other—and receding. And here he was, in a suit of vacuum armor, wearing a disposable EVA pack that had about five minutes of thrust in it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd burned one minute accelerating toward the sphere." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd burn another slowing down when he got there. That left enough to fly back to the Roci when he was done.\n\nOptimism expressed as conservation of delta V.\n\nShips from the three fleets had begun coming through the gate even before he'd started his trip." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Roci was now protected from them only by the absolute speed limit of the slow zone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was drifting off at just under that limit to put as much space between her and the fleets as possible. They had a sphere a million kilometers in diameter to play with, even without going beyond the area marked by the gates. The gates had close to fifty thousand kilometers of empty space between them, but the idea of flying out of the slow zone and into that starless void beyond made Holden's skin crawl. He and Naomi had agreed it would be a maneuver of last resort." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As long as no one could fire a ballistic weapon, the Roci should be plenty safe with five hundred quadrillion square kilometers to move around in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden spun back around, using two quarter-second blasts from his EVA pack, and took a range reading to the sphere. He was still hours away. The minute-long burst he'd fired from the pack to start his journey had accelerated him to a slow crawl, astronomically speaking, and the Roci had come to a relative stop before releasing him. He'd never have had enough juice in the EVA pack to stop himself if the ship had flung him out at the slow zone's maximum speed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ahead in the middle of all that starless black, the blue sphere waited." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had waited for two billion years for someone to come through his particular gate, if the researchers were right about how long ago Phoebe had been captured by Saturn. But lately the strangeness surrounding the protomolecule and the Ring left Holden with the disquieting feeling that maybe all of the assumptions they'd made about its origins and purpose were wrong.\n\nProtogen had named the protomolecule and decided it was a tool that could redefine what it meant to be human. Jules-Pierre Mao had treated it like a weapon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It killed humans, therefore it was a weapon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But radiation killed humans, and a medical X-ray machine wasn't intended as a weapon. Holden was starting to feel like they were all monkeys playing with a microwave. Push a button, a light comes on inside, so it's a light. Push a different button and stick your hand inside, it burns you, so it's a weapon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Learn to open and close the door, it's a place to hide things." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Never grasping what it actually did, and maybe not even having the framework necessary to figure it out. No monkey ever reheated a frozen burrito.\n\nSo here the monkeys were, poking the shiny box and making guesses about what it did. Holden could tell himself that in his case the box was asking to be poked, but even that was making a lot of assumptions." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller looked human, had been human once, so it was easy to think of him as having human motivations." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miller wanted to communicate. He wanted Holden to know or do something. But it was just as likely—more likely, maybe—that Holden was anthropomorphizing something far stranger.\n\nHe imagined himself landing on the station, and Miller saying, James Holden, you and only you in the universe have the correct chemical composition to make a perfect wormhole fuel!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "then stuffing him into a machine to be processed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Everything okay?\" Naomi asked in response to his chuckle.\n\n\"Still just thinking about how incredibly stupid this is. Why didn't I let you talk me out of it?\"\n\n\"It looks like you did, but it took a couple of hours for it to process. Want us to come get you?\"\n\n\"No. If I bail out now, I'll never have the balls to try it again,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How's it look out there?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The fleets came through with about two dozen ships, mostly heavies. Alex has figured out the math on doing short torpedo burns to get one up to the speed limit but not over. Which means everyone on those other ships are doing the same thing. So far no one has fired at us.\"\n\n\"Maybe your protestations of my innocence worked?\"\n\n\"Maybe,\" she said. \"There were a couple of small ships detaching from the fleet on an intercept course with you. The Roci is calling them landing skiffs.\"\n\n\"Shit, they're sending the Marines after me?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They've burned up to the speed limit, but the Roci says you make stationfall before they catch you. But just before.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Damn,\" Holden said. \"I really hope there's a door.\"\n\n\"They lost the UN ship. The other is Martian. So maybe they brought Bobbie. She can make sure the others are nice to you.\"\n\n\"No,\" Holden said with a sigh. \"No, these will be the ones that are still mad at me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Knowing the marines were following made the back of his neck itch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Being in a space suit just added that to his already lengthy list of insoluble problems.\n\n\"On the good news level, Monica's team is getting evacuated to the Behemoth.\"\n\n\"You never did like her.\"\n\n\"Not much, no.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why not?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Her job is digging up old things,\" Naomi said, the lightness of her tone almost covering her anxieties. \"And digging up old things leads to messes like this one.\"\n\nWhen Holden was nine, Rufus the family Labrador died. He'd already been an adult dog when Holden was born, so Holden had only ever known Rufus as a big black slobbering bundle of love." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd taken some of his first steps clutching the dog's fur in one stubby fist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd run around their Montana farm not much bigger than a toddler with Rufus as his only babysitter. Holden had loved the dog with the simple intensity only children and dogs share.\n\nBut when he was nine, Rufus was fifteen, and old for such a big dog. He slowed down. He stopped running with Holden, barely managing a trot to catch up, then gradually only a slow walk. He stopped eating." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And one night he flopped onto his side next to a heater vent and started panting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mother Elise had told him that Rufus probably wouldn't last the night, and even if he did they'd have to call the vet in the morning. Holden had tearfully sworn to stay by the dog's side. For the first couple of hours, he held Rufus' head on his lap and cried, as Rufus struggled to breathe and occasionally gave one halfhearted thump of his tail.\n\nBy the third, against his will and every good thought he'd had about himself, Holden was bored." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a lesson he'd never forgotten." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "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.\n\nFor the first hours drifting toward the glowing blue station, Holden had felt awe at the immensity of empty starless space around him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd felt fear of what the protomolecule might want from him, fear of the marines following him, fear that he'd made the wrong choice and that he'd arrive at the station to find nothing at all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Most of all fear that he'd never see Naomi or his crew again.\n\nBut after four hours of being alone in his space suit, even the fear burned out. He just wanted it all to be over with.\n\nWith the infinite and unbroken black all around him, and the only visible spot of light coming from the blue sphere directly ahead, it was easy to feel like he was in some vast tunnel, slowly moving toward the exit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The human mind didn't do well with infinite spaces." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wanted walls, horizons, limits. It would create them if it had to.\n\nHis suit beeped at him to let him know it was time to replenish his O2 supply. He pulled a spare bottle out of the webbing clipped to his EVA pack and attached it to the suit's nipple." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gauge on his HUD climbed back up to four hours and stopped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The next time he had to refill, he'd be on the station or in Marine custody.\n\nOne way or the other, he wouldn't be alone anymore, and that was a relief. He wondered what his mothers would have thought about all this, whether they would have approved of the choices he'd made, how he could arrange to have a dog for their children since Naomi wouldn't be able to live at the bottom of the gravity well. His attention wandered, and then his mind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He awoke to a harsh buzzing sound, and for a few seconds slapped his hand at empty space trying to turn his alarm off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When he finally opened sleep-gummed eyes, he saw his HUD flashing a proximity warning. He'd somehow managed to fall asleep until the station was only a few kilometers away.\n\nAt that distance, it loomed like a gently curving wall of metallic blue, glowing with its own inner light. No radiation alarms were flashing, so whatever made it glow wasn't anything his suit thought was dangerous to him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The flight program Alex had written for him was spooling out on the HUD, counting down to the moment when he'd need to do his minute-long deceleration burn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Waving his hand around when he first woke up had put him into a gentle rotation, and the flight program was prompting him to allow it to make course corrections. Since he trusted Alex completely on matters of navigation, Holden authorized the suit to handle the descent automatically.\n\nA few quick bursts of compressed gas later, he was facing out into the black, the sphere at his back. Then came a minute-long burn from the pack to slow him to a gentle half meter per second for landing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He kicked on his boot magnets, not knowing if they'd actually help or not—the sphere looked like metal, but that didn't mean much—and turned around." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The wall of glowing blue was less than five meters away. Holden bent his knees, bracing for the impact of hitting the surface, and hoping to absorb enough energy that he didn't just bounce off. The half meters ticked away, each second taking too long and passing too quickly. With only a meter before impact, he realized he'd been holding his breath and let out a long exhale." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Here we go,\" he said to no one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, boss?\" Alex said in a burst of radio static.\n\nBefore Holden could reply, the surface of the sphere irised open and swallowed him up.\n\nAfter Holden passed through the portal into the interior of the sphere he landed on the gently curving floor of a room shaped like an inverted dome. The walls were the metallic blue of the sphere's exterior." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The surfaces were textured almost like moss, and tiny lights seemed to flicker in and out of existence like fireflies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His suit reported a thin atmosphere made mostly of benzene compounds and neon. The ceiling irised closed again, its flat unbroken surface showing no sign that there had ever been an opening.\n\nMiller stood a few meters from where Holden landed, his rumpled gray suit and porkpie hat made both mundane and exotic by the alien setting. The lack of breathable air didn't seem to bother him at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden straightened his knees, and was surprised to feel something like gravity's resistance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd felt the weight of spin and of thrust, and the natural deep pull of a gravity well. The EVA pack was heavy on his back, but the quality of it was different. He almost felt like something was pushing down on him from above instead of the ground coming up to meet him.\n\n\"Hey, boss?\" Alex repeated, a note of worry in his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller held up a hand in a don't-mind-me gesture." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wordless permission for Holden to answer.\n\n\"Receiving, Alex. Go ahead.\"\n\n\"The sphere just swallowed you,\" Alex said. \"You okay in there?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yep, five by five. But you called before I went in. What's up?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just wanted to warn you that company's comin' pretty close on. You can expect them in about five minutes at best guess.\"\n\n\"Thanks for the report. I'm hoping Miller won't let them in.\"\n\n\"Miller?\" Alex and Naomi said at the same time. She must have been monitoring the exchange." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll call when I know more,\" Holden said with a grunt as he finished getting the EVA pack off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It fell to the floor with a thud.\n\nThat was odd.\n\nHolden turned on the suit's external speakers and said, \"Miller?\" He heard the sound of his own voice echoing off of the walls and around the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The atmosphere shouldn't have been thick enough for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey,\" Miller replied, his voice unmuffled by the space suit, as if they were standing together on the deck of the Roci. He nodded slowly, his sad basset hound face twisting into something resembling a smile. \"There are others coming. They yours?\"\n\n\"Not mine, no,\" Holden replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That would be the skiff full of Martian recon marines that are coming to arrest me. Or maybe just shoot me. It's complicated.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You've been making friends without me,\" Miller said, his tone sardonic and amused.\n\n\"How are you doing?\" Holden asked. \"You seem more coherent than usual.\"\n\nMiller gave a short Belter shrug." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How do you mean?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Usually when we talk, it's like only half the signal's getting through.\"\n\nThe old detective's eyebrows rose in surprise.\n\n\"You've seen me before?\"\n\n\"On and off for the last year or so.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, that's pretty disturbing,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If they're planning to shoot you, we'd better get going.\"\n\nMiller seemed to flicker out of existence, reappearing at the edge of the mosslike walls. Holden followed, his body fighting with the nauseating sense of being weightless and heavy at the same time. When he drew close, he could see the spirals within the moss on the walls." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd seen something like this before where the protomolecule had been, but this was lush by comparison." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Complex and rich and deep. A vast ripple seemed to pass over the wall like a stone thrown in a pond, and despite having his own isolated air supply, Holden smelled something like orange peels and rain.\n\n\"Hey,\" Miller said.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Holden said. \"What?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We better get going?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "the dead man said. He gestured toward what looked like a fold of the strange moss, but when Holden came close, he saw a fissure behind it. The hole looked soft as flesh at the edges, and it glistened with something. It wept.\n\n\"Where are we going?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Deeper,\" Miller said. \"Since we're here, there's something we should probably do. I have to tell you, though, you got a lot of balls.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"For what?\" Holden said, and his hand slid against the wall. A layer of slime stuck to the fingers of his suit.\n\n\"Coming here.\"\n\n\"You told me to,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You brought me. Julie brought me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't want to talk about what happened to Julie,\" the dead man said.\n\nHolden followed him into the narrow tunnel. Its walls were slick and organic. It was like crawling through a deep cave or down the throat of a vast animal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're definitely making more sense than usual.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There are tools here,\" Miller said. \"They're not... they're not right, but they're here at least.\"\n\n\"Does this mean you might still say something enigmatic and vanish in a puff of blue fireflies?\"\n\n\"Probably.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller didn't expand on this, so Holden followed him for several dozen meters through the tunnel until it turned again and Miller led him into a much larger room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Uh, wow,\" he managed to say.\n\nBecause the floor of the first room and the tunnel that led out of it had both had a consistent \"down,\" Holden had thought he was moving laterally just under the skin of the station. That couldn't have been right, because the room the tunnel opened into had a much higher ceiling than was possible if that were true. The space stretched out from the tunnel into a cathedral-vast opening, hundreds of meters across." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The walls slanted inward into a domed ceiling that was twenty meters off the floor in the center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scattered across the room in seemingly random places were two-meter-thick columns of something that looked like blue glass with black, branching veins shooting through it. The columns pulsed with light, and each pulse was accompanied by a subsonic throb that Holden could feel in his bones and teeth. It felt like enormous power, carefully restrained. A giant, whispering.\n\n\"Holy shit,\" he finally said when his breath came back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Miller said. \"You should not have come.\"\n\nMiller walked off across the room, and Holden hurried to catch up. \"Wait, what?\" he said. \"I thought you wanted me here!\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller walked around something that from a distance had looked like a blue statue of an insect, but up close was a massive confusion of metallic limbs and protrusions, like a construction mech folded up on itself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden tried to guess at its purpose and failed.\n\n\"Why would you think that?\" Miller said as he walked. \"You don't know what's in here. Doors and corners. Never walk into a crime scene until you know there's not someone there waiting to put you down. You've got to clear the room first. But maybe we got lucky. For now. Wouldn't recommend doing it again, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't understand.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They came to a place in the floor that was covered in what looked like cilia or plant stalks, gently rippling in a nonexistent wind. Miller walked around it. Holden was careful to do the same. As they passed, a swarm of blue fireflies burst out of the ground cover and flew up to a vent in the ceiling where they vanished." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"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,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It wasn't that they'd gotten wind of us, though. The Loca Greiga had heard about the place, sent their guys to clean it up. Took about a week to find the bodies. According to forensics, they'd all been shot twice in the head pretty much while we were getting one last cup of coffee. If we'd been a little bit faster, we'd have walked in on it. Nothing says fucked like opening the door on a bunch of kids who thought they'd make a quick buck off the sex trade and having an organized kill squad there for the meet and greet instead.\"\n\n\"What has that got to do with anything?\"\n\n\"This place is the same,\" Miller said. \"There was supposed to be something. A lot of something. There was supposed to be... shit, I don't have the right words. An empire. A civilization. A home. More than a home, a master. Instead, there's a bunch of locked doors and the lights on a timer. I don't want you charging into the middle of that. You'll get your ass killed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What the hell do you mean?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden said. \"You, or the protomolecule, or Julie Mao, or whatever, you set this whole thing up. The job, the attack, all of it.\"\n\nThat stopped Miller. He turned around with a frown on his face. \"Julie's dead, kid. Miller's dead. I'm just the machine for finding lost things.\"\n\n\"I don't understand,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you didn't do this, then who did?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"See now, that's a good question, on several levels. Depending on what you mean by 'this.'\" Miller's head lifted like a dog catching an unfamiliar scent on the wind. \"Your friends are here. We should go.\" He moved off at a faster walk toward the far wall of the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The marines,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Could you stop them?\"\n\n\"No,\" Miller said. \"I don't protect anything. I can tell the station they're a threat. There'd be consequences, though.\"\n\nHolden felt a punch of dread in his gut.\n\n\"That sounds bad.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It wouldn't be good. Come on. If we're going to do this, we need to stay ahead of them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The halls and passages widened and narrowed, meeting and falling away from each other like blood vessels of some massive organism. Holden's suit lights seemed almost lost in the vast darkness, and the blue firefly flickers came in waves and vanished again. Along the way they passed more of the metallic blue insectlike constructs.\n\n\"What are these?\" Holden asked, pointing to an especially large and dangerous-looking model as they passed it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Whatever they need to be,\" Miller replied without turning around." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh, great, so we're back to inscrutable, are we?\"\n\nMiller spun around, a worried look on his face, and blinked out of existence. Holden turned.\n\nFar across the huge room, a form was coming out of the tunnel. Holden had seen similar armor before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A Martian marine's powered armor was made of equal parts efficiency and threat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was no escaping it. Anyone in those suits could run him down without trying. Holden switched his suit to an open frequency.\n\n\"Hey! I'm right here. Let's talk about this,\" he said, then started to walk toward the group." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As one, all eight marines raised their right arms and opened fire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden braced himself for death even while part of his mind knew that he shouldn't have time to brace for death. At the distance they were, the rounds from their high-velocity guns would be hitting in a fraction of a second. He'd be dead long before the sound of the shots reached him.\n\nHe heard the rapid and deafening buzzsaw sound of the guns firing, but nothing hit him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A diffuse cloud of gray formed in front of the marines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the firing finally stopped, the cloud drifted away toward the walls of the room. Bullets. They'd stopped centimeters from the gun barrels, and were now being drawn away just like the objects outside the station.\n\nThe marines broke into a fast run across the room, and Holden tried to scramble away. They were beautiful in their way, the lethal power of the suits harnessed by years of training to make their movements seem like a dance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even without their weapons, they could tear him limb from limb." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One punch from that armor would break all the bones he had and change his viscera to a thin slurry. His only chance was to outrun them, and he couldn't outrun them.\n\nHe almost didn't see the movement when it came. His focus was locked on the Martians, on the danger he knew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't consciously notice that one of the insectlike things had started moving until the marines turned to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The alien thing's movements were fast and jagged, like a clockwork mechanism that only had full speed and full stop. It clicked toward the marines, jerking with each step, and it loomed larger than the tallest of them by almost half a meter.\n\nThey panicked in the way that people trained to expect violence panic. Two started firing, with the same results as before." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another marine's suit shifted something in its arm, and a larger barrel appeared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden scooted away from the confrontation. He was sure there was shouting going on in those armored suits, but it wasn't a frequency he had access to. The large barrel went white with muzzle flash, and a slow-arcing slug of metal the size of Holden's fist took to the strange air.\n\nA grenade." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The ticking monster ignored it, stepping closer to the marines, and the grenade detonated at its insectile feet where it landed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The alien thing jerked back, its appendages flailing and dust falling from its severed limbs like a smoke of fungal spores. The complex carpet of moss glowed with orange embers where the blast had burned it.\n\nAnd all around the marines, a dozen other alien statues came to life. They moved faster this time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Before the marines could begin to react, the one who'd launched the grenade was lifted gently up and ripped apart." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blood sprayed up into the air, hanging, Holden thought numbly, too long before it drifted back to the ground. The surviving marines began to fall back, their guns pointing to the alien creatures that were swarming the dead man. While Holden watched, the marines retreated into the far tunnel, falling back. Regrouping.\n\nThe alien things fell on their own injured fellow, ripping and clawing, slaughtering it as if it were the enemy as much as the marines had been." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, when it was gone, five of the monsters gathered together in the burned spot where the explosion had been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They shuddered, went still, shuddered again, and then from all five of them, a thin stream of opaque yellow goo spattered out onto the scar. Holden felt fascination and revulsion as the moss grabbed on to the stuff, regrowing like it had never been damaged. Like the attack hadn't even existed.\n\n\"Consequences,\" Miller said at his side. He sounded tired." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Did they... did they just turn that poor bastard into spackle?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They did,\" Miller said. \"He had it coming, though. That guy got happy with his grenade launcher? Just killed a lot of people.\"\n\n\"What? How?\"\n\n\"He taught the station that something moving as fast as a good baseball pitch might still be a threat.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is it going to take revenge?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Miller said. \"It's just going to protect itself. Reevaluate what counts as dangerous. Take control of all the ships that might be a problem.\"\n\n\"What does that even mean?\"\n\n\"Means a really bad day for a whole lot of people. When it slows you down, it ain't gentle.\"\n\nHolden felt a cold hand close on his heart." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with four sentences, emulating the writing style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Julie saved her. There was no other way to look at it.\n\nTrue to style, Holden's proxy had given everything away. Cohen, discovered, told everything he knew, and put the image he'd stolen along with it. Melba had it on her hand terminal: a portrait of the young woman as ice sculpture." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hadn't known the soundman had taken the data when she'd met with him, but she should have guessed he would." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The mistake was obvious in retrospect.\n\nIt ought to have ended the chase. The people in power should have seen it, shrugged, and thrown her out an airlock. Except that it came with its own misinterpretation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here, Holden said, is Julie Mao, and that's what everyone saw." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The differences that were obvious to her became invisible to others. They expected to see the protomolecule infiltrating and threatening and raising the dead, and so they saw it.\n\nShe did what she could to keep anyone from noticing the similarities. She'd met Cohen on Earth with a full g pulling down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With the Thomas Prince already close to the Ring's velocity limit, there was no acceleration thrust." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her cheeks looked fuller, her face round. She'd had her hair down then, so now she pulled it back in a braid. The image had no color, so she wore a little makeup to alter the shape of her eyes and lips. Doing something radical would only call attention, so she went small." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She might not even have needed to do that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her schedule in the Thomas Prince was full. They were going to work her—work all of them—like dogs. She didn't care. The service gantries and accessways would be safe. No one who knew Clarissa Mao would be there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She would stay away from the public parts of the ship as much as she could, and more often than not she could get one of the other techs to grab a tube of something from the commissary and bring it to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the off-shifts, she would build her arsenal.\n\nHolden was beyond her reach for the time being. It was almost funny. She'd gone to so much effort to make him seem like an unrepentant megalomaniac, and then left to his own devices, he named himself de facto ambassador of the whole human race." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Julie had fooled him too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With any luck at all, he'd die in a firefight or get killed by the protomolecule. Her work had narrowed to destroying the evidence of Holden's innocence. It wouldn't be hard.\n\nThe Rocinante had begun its life as an escort corvette on the battleship Donnager." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was well designed and well constructed, but also now years past its last upgrade." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The weaknesses in its defense were simple: The cargo doors nearest the reactor had been damaged and repaired, and would almost certainly be weaker than the original. The forward airlock had been built with a software glitch vulnerable to hacking; real Martian naval ships would have been updated as a matter of course, but Holden might have been sloppy.\n\nHer first hope was the airlock. A short-range access transmitter built for troubleshooting malfunctioning airlocks had found its way in among her things." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If that failed, getting through the cargo door was harder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She hoped for something explosive, but the Thomas Prince took its munitions very seriously. The equipment manifests did include a half-suit exoskeleton mech. It would fit over her chest and arms—it wasn't designed for legs—and with a cutting torch to make the initial breach, it could probably bend the plating enough to let her through. It was also small and lightweight enough to carry, and her access card was a high enough grade for the system to let her take one away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Once she was on, it would be simple." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kill everyone, overload the reactor, and blow the ship to atoms. With any luck at all, it would reignite suspicions about the bomb on the Seung Un. If she got out, fine. If she didn't, she didn't." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The only tricks now were getting there, and waiting like everyone else to hear what happened on the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was dreaming when catastrophe came.\n\nIn it, she was walking through a field outside a schoolhouse. She knew that it was on fire, that she had to find a way in. She heard fire engine sirens, but their dark shapes never appeared in the sky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were people trapped inside and she was supposed to get to them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To free them or to keep them from escaping or both.\n\nShe was on the roof, going down through a hole. Smoke billowed out around her, but she could still breathe because she'd been immunized against flames. She stretched down, fingertips brushing against low-g handholds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She realized someone was holding her wrist, supporting her as she strained in toward the darkness and fire." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren. She couldn't look at him. Sorrow and guilt welled up in her like a flood and she collapsed into a blue-lit bar with crash couches where all the tables should have been. Couples ate dinner and talked and screwed in the dim around her. The man across from her was both Holden and her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She tried to speak, to say that she didn't want to do this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The man took her by the shoulders, pressing her into the soft gel. She was afraid for a moment that he'd crawl on top of her, but he brought his fists down on her chest with a killing impact and she woke up to the sound of Klaxons and droplets of blood floating in the air.\n\nThe pain in her body was so profound and inexplicable that it didn't feel like pain; it was only the sense that something was wrong. She coughed, launching a spray of blood across the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She thought that somehow she'd triggered her false glands in her sleep, that what was wrong was only her, but the ship alarms argued that it was something worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She reached for her hand terminal, but it wasn't in its holder. She found it floating half a meter from the door, rotating in the air. A star-shaped fracture in the resin case showed where it had hit something hard enough to break. The network access displayed a bright red bar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No status. System down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba pulled herself to the door and cycled it open.\n\nThe dead woman floating in the corridor had her arms out before her, her hair splayed around her like someone drowned. The left side of her face was oddly shaped, softer and rounder and bluer than it should have been. Her eyes were half open, the whites the bright red of burst vessels." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba pushed past the corpse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Farther down the corridor, a sphere of blood the size of a soccer ball floated slowly toward the air intake with no sign where it had come from.\n\nIn the wider corridors toward the middle of the ship, things were worse. Bodies floated at every door, in every passageway. Everything not bolted down floated now by the walls, thrown toward the bow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The soft gray walls were covered with dents where hand terminals and tools and heads had struck them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The air smelled like blood and something else, deeper and more intimate.\n\nOutside the commissary, three soldiers were using sealant foam to stick the dead to the walls, keeping them out of the way. In gravity, they would have been stacking bodies like cordwood.\n\n\"You all right?\" one of them said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took Melba a second to realize that the woman was speaking to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm okay,\" Melba said. \"What happened?\"\n\n\"Who the fuck knows? You're one of the maintenance techs, yes?\" the woman said sharply.\n\n\"I am,\" Melba said. \"Melba Koh. Electrochemical.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well, you can get your ass to environmental, Koh,\" the woman said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm guessing they need you there.\"\n\nMelba nodded, the motion sending her spinning a little until the woman put out a hand to steady her.\n\nShe'd never been in a battle or at the scene of a natural disaster. The nearest had been a hurricane that hit São Paulo when she was eight, and her father had hidden the family in the corporate shelters until the flooding was gone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd seen more of that damage on the newsfeeds than in person." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Thomas Prince was a scene from hell. She passed knots of people working frantically, but the dead and dying were everywhere. Droplets of blood and chips of shattered plastic formed clouds where the eddies of the recyclers pushed them together. In zero g, blood pooled in the wounds and wouldn't clear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Inflammation was worse. Lungs filled with fluid more easily." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "However many had died already, more would. Soon. If she hadn't been in her crash couch, she'd have been thrown into a wall at six hundred meters per second, just like all the others. No, that couldn't be right. No one would have survived that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hadn't spent much of her time on environmental decks." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Most of her work before with Stanni and Soledad had been with power routing. The air and water systems had technicians of their own, specialists at a higher pay grade than hers. The architecture of the rooms kept everything close without being as cramped as the Cerisier. She floated in with a sense of relief, as if reaching her goal accomplished something in itself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As if it gave her some measure of control." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The air smelled of ozone and burned hair. A young man, face covered with blue-black bruises, was stuck to the bulkhead with a rope and two electromagnets. He waved something similar to a broom with a massive mesh of fabric on the end like a gigantic fly swatter. Clearing blood from the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His damaged face was impassive, shocked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A thickening layer of tears encased his eyes, blinding him.\n\n\"You! Who the hell are you?\"\n\nMelba turned. The new man wore a navy uniform. His right leg was in an inflatable pressure cast." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The foot sticking out the end was a bluish purple, and his breath was labored in a way that made her think of pneumonia, of internal bleeding." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Melba Koh. Civilian electrochemical tech off the Cerisier.\"\n\n\"Who do you answer to?\"\n\n\"Mikelson's my group supervisor,\" she said, struggling to remember the man's name. She had only met him once, and he hadn't left much of an impression on her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My name's Nikos,\" the broken-legged man said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You work for me now. Come on.\"\n\nHe pushed off more gracefully than should have been possible. She followed him a little too fast and had to grab a handhold to keep from running into his back. He led her through a long passageway into engineering." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A huge array of thin metal and ceramic sheets stood at one wall, warnings in eight languages printed along its side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Scorch marks drew circles on the outermost plate, and the air stank of burnt plastic and something else. A hole two feet across had been punched through the center. A human body was still in it, held in place by shards of metal.\n\n\"You know what that is, Koh?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Air processing,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's the primary atmosphere processing unit,\" he said as if she hadn't spoken. \"And it's a big damn problem. Secondary processor's still on fire just at the moment, and the tertiary backups will get us through for about seven hours. Everyone on my team is busted or dead, so you're about to rebuild this one. Understand?\"\n\nI can't do that, she thought. I'm not really an electrochemical technician." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't know how to do this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll... get my tools.\"\n\n\"Don't let me stop you,\" he said. \"If I find someone can help out, I'll send 'em your way.\"\n\n\"That would be good,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What about you? Are you all right? Can you help?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"At a guess? Crushed pelvis, maybe something worse going on in my gut. Keep passing out a little,\" he said with a grin. \"But I'm high as a kite on the emergency speed, and there's work. So hop to.\"\n\nShe pushed off. Her throat was tight, and she could feel her mind starting to shut down. Overstimulation. Shock." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She made her way through the carnage and wreckage to the storage bay where the toolboxes from the Cerisier were." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her card unlocked them. One had shattered, the remains of a testing deck floating in the air, green ceramic shards and bits of gold wire. Ren was there, his coffin toolbox shifted in place despite the electromagnetic clamps. For a moment, the dream of the fire washed over her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wondered if she might still be sleeping, the wave of death just part of the same blackness in her own brain." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She put her hand on Ren's box, half expecting to feel him knocking back. A sudden vertigo washed through her, and the sense that she and the ship were falling, that it would land on her. Crush her. All the blood and all the terror, every dead person held in place to keep the corpses from floating, they all began here. Every sin she'd committed, backward and forward in time, had its center in the bones beneath her hand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Stop,\" she said. \"Just stop.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She took her tool chest, the real one, and sped back to engineering and the shattered air processing controller. Nikos had found two other people, a man in civilian dress and an older woman in naval uniform.\n\n\"You're Koh?\" the woman said. \"Good, grab his legs.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba set her toolbox against the deck and activated the magnets, then pushed over to the hole in the atmosphere processor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The machine had been loosened from its housing, giving the body a little more room to move. Melba put her hands on the dead man's thighs, wadding the cloth of his trousers in her fists. She braced herself against the metal siding of the unit.\n\n\"Ready?\" the man asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ready.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The woman counted down from three, and Melba pulled. For a long moment, she thought the corpse wouldn't come out, but then something tore, the vibrations of it transferring through to her hands. The body slid free.\n\n\"Score one for the good guys,\" Nikos said from across the bay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His face was developing an ashy gray tone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like he was dying. She wished he would go to the medical bays, but they were probably swamped. He could die here doing his work, or there waiting for an open bay. \"Clear him away. Got him out, we don't need him drifting back.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba nodded, took a firm grip, and pushed off on a trajectory that would land them on the far bulkhead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The back of the corpse's head had been crushed almost flat, but death had come so swiftly, there was very little blood. At the wall, she secured him with a spray of foam and held him for a moment while it set. The dead man's face was close to hers. She could see the whiskers he'd missed when he'd shaved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The brown of his empty eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt a sudden urge to kiss him and then pushed the impulse away, disgusted.\n\nFrom his uniform, he'd been an officer. Lieutenant, maybe. The white identity card on the lanyard around his neck had a picture of him looking solemn. She took it in her fingers. Not lieutenant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lieutenant commander." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lieutenant Commander Stepan Arsenau, who would never have come through the Ring if it weren't for her. Who wouldn't have died here. She tried to feel guilt, but there wasn't room for him inside of her. She had too much blood already." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was reaching out to tuck his card back in place when the small voice in the back of her mind said, I bet he could get an EVA pack with this." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba blinked. Her mind seemed to click back into focus, and she looked around her, the last wisps of dream or delirium leaving her mind. She had access to the equipment she needed. The ship was in chaos. This was it. This was the opportunity she'd been waiting for." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She plucked the card off its lanyard and slipped it in her pocket, then looked around nervously." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No one had noticed.\n\nShe licked her lips.\n\n\"I'm going to need something to crack this,\" the young man was saying. \"The bolt head's sheared round. I can't get it out.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The older woman swore and turned to her." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Got anything that'll do the trick?\"\n\n\"Not here,\" Melba said. \"I have an idea where I could get something to drill it out, though.\"\n\n\"Move fast. We don't want this place gettin' stuffy.\"\n\n\"Okay. You guys do what you can. I'll be right back,\" Melba lied." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Expand the story by adding four sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Eschatology had always been Anna's least favorite study of theology." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When asked about Armageddon, she'd tell her parishioners that God Himself had been pretty circumspect on the topic, so it didn't do much good to worry about it. Have faith that God will do what's best, and avoiding His vengeance against the wicked should be the least compelling reason for worship.\n\nBut the truth was that she'd always had a deeply held disagreement with most futurist and millennialist interpretations. Not the theology itself, necessarily, since their guess at what the end times prophecies really meant was as good as anyone else's." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her disagreement was primarily with the level of glee over the destruction of the wicked that sometimes crept into the teachings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This was especially true in some millennialist sects that filled their literature with paintings of Armageddon. Pictures of terrified people running away from some formless fiery doom that burned their world down behind them, while smug worshipers—of the correct religion, of course—watched from safety as God got with the smiting. Anna couldn't understand how anyone could see such a depiction as anything but tragic.\n\nShe wished she could show them the Thomas Prince." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been reading when it happened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hand terminal had been propped on her chest with a pillow behind it, her hands behind her head. A three-tone alarm had sounded a high-g alert, but it was late to the party. She was already being mashed into her crash couch so hard that she could feel the plastic of the base right through twenty centimeters of impact gel. It seemed to last forever, but it was probably just a few seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her hand terminal had skidded down her chest, suddenly heavier than Nami the last time she'd picked her daughter up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It left a black-and-blue trail of bruises up her breastbone and slammed into her chin hard enough to split the skin. The pillow mashed into her abdomen like a ten-kilo sandbag, filling her mouth with the taste of stomach acid.\n\nBut worst of all was the pain in her shoulders. Both arms had snapped back flat against the bed, temporarily dislocating them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When the endless seconds of deceleration were over, both joints popped back into place with a pain even worse than when they'd come out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The gel of the couch, stressed beyond its design specifications, hadn't gripped her the way it was meant to. Instead, it rebounded back into its prior shape and launched her in slow motion toward the ceiling of her cabin. Trying to put her hands in front of her sent bolts of agony through her shoulders, so she drifted up and hit the ceiling with her face. Her chin left a smear of blood on the fabric-covered foam." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna was a gentle person." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd never in her life been in a fight. She'd never been in a major accident. The worst pain she'd ever felt before was childbirth, and the endorphins that had followed had mostly erased it from her memory. To suddenly be so hurt in so many different places at once left her dazed and with a sort of directionless anger." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't fair that a person could be hurt so much." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wanted to yell at the crash couch that had betrayed her by letting this happen, and she wanted to punch the ceiling for hitting her in the face, even though she'd never thrown a punch in her life and could barely move her arms.\n\nWhen she could finally move without feeling light-headed she went looking for help and found that the corridor outside her room was worse.\n\nJust a few meters from her door, a young man had been crushed. He looked as though a malevolent giant had stomped on him and then ground him under its heel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The boy was not only smashed, but torn and twisted in ways that barely left him recognizable as a human." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His blood splashed the floor and walls and drifted around his corpse in red balls like grisly Christmas ornaments.\n\nAnna yelled for help. Someone yelled back in a voice filled with liquid and pain. Someone from farther down the corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna carefully pushed off the doorjamb of her room and drifted toward the voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Two rooms down, another man was half in and half out of his crash couch. He must have been in the process of getting out of bed when the deceleration happened, and everything from his pelvis down was twisted and broken. His upper torso still lay on the bed, arms waving feebly at her, his face a mask of pain.\n\n\"Help me,\" he said, and then coughed up a glob of blood and mucus that drifted away in a red-and-green ball." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna drifted up high enough to push the comm panel on the wall without using her shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was dead. All the lights were the ones she'd been told came on in emergency power failures. Nothing else seemed to be working.\n\n\"Help me,\" the man said again. His voice was weaker and filled with even more of a liquid rasp." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna recognized him as Alonzo Guzman, a famous poet from the UN's South American region." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A favorite of the secretary-general, someone had told her.\n\n\"I will,\" Anna said, not even trying to stop the tears that suddenly blinded her. She wiped her eyes on her shoulder and said, \"Let me find someone. I've hurt my arms, but I'll find someone.\"\n\nThe man began weeping softly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna pushed back into the corridor with her toes, drifting past the carnage to find someone who wasn't hurt." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This was the part the millennialists never put in their paintings.\n\nThey loved scenes of righteous Godly vengeance on sinful mankind. They loved to show God's chosen people safe from harm, watching with happy faces as they were proved right to the world. But they never showed the aftermath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They never showed weeping humans, crushed and dying in pools of their own fluids." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Young men smashed into piles of red flesh. A young woman cut in half because she was passing through a hatchway when catastrophe hit.\n\nThis was Armageddon. This is what it looked like. Blood and torn flesh and cries for help." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna reached an intersection of corridors and ran out of strength." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her body hurt too badly to continue. And in all four directions, the corridor floors and walls were covered with the aftermath of violent death. It was too much. Anna drifted in the empty space for a few minutes, and then she gently floated to the wall and stuck to it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Movement. The ship was moving now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Very slow, but enough to push her to the wall. She pushed away from it and floated again. Not still accelerating, then.\n\nShe recognized that her interest in the relative movements of the ship was just her mind trying to find a distraction from the scene around her, and started crying again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The idea that she might never come home from this trip crashed in on her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the first time since coming to the Ring, she saw a future in which she never held Nami again. Never smelled her hair. Never kissed Nono, or climbed into a warm bed beside her and held her close. The pain of those things being ripped away from her was worse than anything physical she'd suffered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't wipe away the tears that came, and they blinded her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That was fine. There was nothing here she wanted to see.\n\nWhen something grabbed her from behind and spun her around, she tensed, waiting for some new horror to reveal itself.\n\nIt was Tilly.\n\n\"Oh, thank God,\" the woman said, hugging Anna tight enough to send new waves of pain through her shoulders." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I went to your room and there was blood on the walls and you weren't there and someone was dead right outside your door...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Unable to hug back, Anna just put her cheek against Tilly's for a moment. Tilly pushed her out to arm's length, but didn't let go. \"Are you okay?\" She was looking at the gash on Anna's chin.\n\n\"My face is fine. Just a little cut. But my arms are hurt. I can barely move them. We need to get help. Alonzo Guzman's in his room, and he's hurt. Really hurt. Do you know what happened?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I haven't met anyone yet who knows,\" Tilly said, rotating Anna first one way, then the other, looking her over critically." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Move your hands. Okay. Bend your elbows.\" She felt Anna's shoulders. \"They're not dislocated.\"\n\n\"I think they were for a second,\" Anna said after the gasp of pain Tilly's touch brought. \"And everything else hurts. But we have to hurry.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly nodded and pulled a red-and-white backpack off one shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she opened it, it was filled with dozens of plastic packages with tiny black text on them. Tilly pulled a few out, read them, put them back. After several tries, she stripped the packaging off of three small injection ampules.\n\n\"What is that?\" Anna said, but Tilly just jabbed her with all three in answer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna felt a rush of euphoria wash over her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her shoulders stopped hurting. Everything stopped hurting. Even her fear about never seeing her family again seemed a distant and minor problem.\n\n\"I was sleeping when it happened,\" Tilly said, tossing the empty ampules into the first aid pack. \"But I woke up feeling like a forklift had run over me. I think my ribs were popped out of place. I could barely breathe. So I dug up this pack from the emergency closet in my room.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I didn't think to look there,\" Anna said, surprised she hadn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had a vague memory of being disoriented by pain, but now she felt great. Better than ever before. And sharp. Hyper-aware. Stupid not to think of the emergency supplies. This being, after all, an emergency." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wanted to slap herself on the forehead for being so stupid." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly was holding her arms again. Why was she doing that? They had work to do. They had to find the medics and send them after the poet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, kiddo,\" Tilly said, \"takes a second for that first rush to ease down a bit. I spent a full minute trying to resuscitate a pile of red paste before I realized how wired I was.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What is this?\" Anna asked, moving her head from side to side, which made the edges of Tilly's face blurry.\n\nTilly shrugged. \"Military-grade amphetamines and painkillers, I'm guessing. I gave you an anti-inflammatory too. Because what the hell.\"\n\n\"Are you a doctor?\" Anna asked, marveling at how smart Tilly was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, but I can read the directions on the package.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay.\" Anna nodded, her face serious. \"Okay.\"\n\n\"Let's go find someone who knows what's going on,\" Tilly said, pulling Anna down the corridor with her.\n\n\"And after, I need to find my people,\" Anna said, letting herself be pulled.\n\n\"I may have given you too much. Nono and Nami are at home, in Moscow.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, my people. My congregation. Chris and that other guy and the marine. She's angry, but I think I can talk to her. I need to find them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Tilly said. \"May have overdosed you a bit. But we'll find them. Let's find help first.\"\n\nAnna thought of the poet and felt her tears threatening to return. If she was sad, maybe the initial rush of the drugs was wearing off a little. She found herself regretting that for a moment." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly stopped at a printed deck map on the wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was right next to a black and unresponsive network panel. Of course military ships would have both, Anna thought. They were built with the expectation that things would stop working when the ship got shot. That thought made Anna sad too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Some distant part of her consciousness recognized the drug-fueled emotional roller coaster she was on, but was powerless to do anything about." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She started weeping again.\n\n\"Security station.\" Tilly tapped on a spot on the map, then yanked Anna down the corridor after her. They made two turns and wound up at a small room filled with people, guns, and computers that seemed to still be working. A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair and a grim expression on his face pointedly ignored them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The other four people in the room were younger, but equally uninterested in their arrival." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Get 35C open first,\" the older man said to the two young men floating to his left. He pointed at something on a map. \"There were a dozen civvies in there.\"\n\n\"EMT?\" one of the young men asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't have them to spare, and that galley doesn't have crash couches. Everyone in there is pasta sauce, but the El Tee says look anyway.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Roger that,\" the young man replied, and he and his partner pushed out of the room past Anna and Tilly, barely glancing at them as they went.\n\n\"You two do a corridor sweep,\" the older man said to the other two young sailors in the room. \"Tags if you can find them, pictures and swabs if you can't. Everything sent to OPCOM on red two one, got me?\"\n\n\"Aye-aye,\" one of them said, and they floated out of the room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The man in 295 needs help,\" Anna said to the security officer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He's hurt badly. He's a poet.\"\n\nHe tapped something onto his desk terminal and said, \"Okay, he's in the queue. EMTs will get there as soon as they can. We're setting up a temporary emergency area in the officers' mess. I suggest you two ladies get there double time.\"\n\n\"What happened?\" Tilly asked, and gripped a handhold on the wall like she meant to stay a while. Anna grabbed on to the nearest thing she could find, which turned out to be a rack of weapons." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security officer looked Tilly up and down once, and seemed to come to the conclusion that giving her what she wanted was the easiest solution." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hell if I know. We decelerated to a dead stop in just a shade under five seconds. The damage and injuries are all high-g trauma. Whatever grabbed us only grabbed the skin of the ship and didn't give a shit about the stuff inside.\"\n\n\"So the slow zone changed?\" Tilly was asking. Anna looked over the guns in the rack, her emotions more under control, but her mind was still racing. The rack was full of pistols of various kinds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Big blocky ones with large barrels and fat magazines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Smaller ones that looked like the kind you saw on cop shows. And in a special rack all their own, tasers like the one she'd had on Europa. Well, not really like it. These were military models." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Gray and sleek and efficient-looking, with a much bigger power pack than hers." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In spite of their non-lethal purpose, they managed to appear dangerous. Her old taser at home had looked like a small hair dryer.\n\n\"Don't touch those,\" the security officer said. Anna hadn't even realized she was reaching for one until he said it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That could mean a damn lot of casualties,\" Tilly said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna had the feeling she was reentering the conversation after having missed a lot of it.\n\n\"Hundreds on the Prince,\" the security officer said. \"And we weren't going anywhere near the old speed limit. Some of the ships were. We get no broadcasts from those now.\"\n\nAnna looked at the various terminals working in the office around her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Damage reports and security feeds and orders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna couldn't understand much of them. They used a lot of acronyms and numbers for things. Military jargon. One small monitor was displaying pictures of people. Anna recognized James Holden in one, then another version of him with a patchy beard. Wanted posters?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But she didn't recognize any of the other people until the sculpture of the girl that Naomi, Holden's second-in-command, had blamed for the attack." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe it was the space girl,\" Anna said before she'd realized she was going to. She still felt stoned, and suppressed an urge to giggle.\n\nThe security officer and Tilly were both staring at her.\n\nAnna pointed at the screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Julie Mao, the girl from Eros. The one the Rocinante blamed. Maybe she did this.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Both the security officer and Tilly turned to look at the screen. A few seconds later the image of Julie the space girl disappeared and was replaced by someone Anna didn't recognize.\n\n\"Someone's going to get James Holden in an interrogation room for a few hours, and then we'll have a much better idea of where to put the blame.\"\n\nTilly just laughed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is that who they blamed?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she said when she'd finished. \"That isn't Julie Mao. And there's no way Claire's out here.\"\n\n\"Claire?\" Anna and the officer said at the same time.\n\n\"That's Claire. Clarissa Mao. Julie's little sister. She's living on Luna with her mother, last I heard. But that's definitely not Julie.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you sure?\" Anna said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because the executive officer from the Rocinante said—\"\n\n\"I dandled both those girls on my knee back in the day. The Maos used to be regular guests at our house in Baja. Brought the kids out during the summers to swim and eat fish tacos. And that one is Claire, not Julie.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Anna as her drug-enhanced mind ran out the entire plot. The angry girl she'd seen in the galley, the explosion of the UN ship, the ridiculous message from Holden's ship, followed by the protestations of innocence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It was her. She blew up the ship.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Which ship?\" the officer asked.\n\n\"The UN ship that blew up. The one that made the Belter ship shoot at Holden. And then we all went through the Ring and she's here! She's on this ship right now! I saw her in the galley and I knew there was something wrong with her. She scared me but I should have said something but I didn't because why would I?\"\n\nTilly and the security man were both staring at her. She could feel her mind running away with her, and her mouth seemed to be working all on its own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were looking at her like she'd gone insane." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's here,\" Anna said, clamping her mouth shut with an effort.\n\n\"Claire?\" Tilly asked with a frown.\n\n\"I saw her in the galley. She threatened me. She was on this ship.\"\n\nThe security man scowled and tapped something on his terminal, swore, then tapped something else." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be a sonofabitch. Shipwide face recognition says we've got a match in hangar B right now.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You have to go arrest her,\" Anna shouted.\n\n\"Hangar B is a designated emergency area,\" the officer said. \"She's probably there with the other survivors and broken in five different places. If it's even her. Shitty reproduction like that makes for a lot of false positives.\"\n\n\"You have software that could have found her at any time?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly asked in disbelief. \"You didn't check?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ma'am, we don't ask 'how high' when James fucking Holden says jump,\" the officer growled back.\n\n\"There's an airlock in there,\" Anna said, stabbing her hand at the display. \"She could leave. She could go anywhere.\"\n\n\"Like where?\" the officer replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As if on cue, a green airlock cycling alarm appeared on the display." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We have to go get her,\" Anna said, pulling on Tilly's arm.\n\n\"You have to go to the officers' mess,\" the security man said. \"I'll send people to pick her up for questioning as soon as we stop bleeding. Don't worry about it. We've got plenty enough to sort out now. That one'll wait.\"\n\n\"But—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A young man floated into the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The left half of his face was covered in blood.\n\n\"Need the EMTs to six-alpha, sir. We've got ten civvies.\"\n\n\"I'll see who I can pry free,\" the officer said. \"Do we know anything about the condition of the injured?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bones sticking out, but they're not dead.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna pulled Tilly into the corridor.\n\n\"We can't wait. She's dangerous. She's already killed people when she blew up the other ship.\"\n\n\"You're stoned,\" Tilly said, pulling her arm free and drifting across the corridor to bump into the wall. \"You're not acting rationally. What are you going to do even if Claire Mao is on this ship and has become some sort of terrorist? She blew up a ship. Gonna hit her with your Bible?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna pulled the taser halfway out of her pocket." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tilly sucked in a whistling breath through her teeth. \"You stole that? Are you insane?\" she asked in a loud whisper.\n\n\"I'm going to go find her,\" Anna replied, the drugs singing in her blood having focused down to a fine point." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt like if she could stop this Claire person, she could save herself from losing her family forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She recognized this idea as utterly irrational, and gave in to its power anyway. \"I have to talk to her.\"\n\n\"You're going to get killed,\" Tilly said. She looked like she might start crying." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "expand on the story like James S. A. Corey would" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Naomi,\" Holden said again. \"Come in. Please. Please respond.\"\n\nThe silent radio felt like a threat. Miller had paused, his face bleak and apologetic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden wondered how many other people had looked at that exact expression on Miller's face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It seemed designed to go with words like There's been an accident and The DNA matches your son's. Holden could feel his hands trembling. It didn't matter.\n\n\"Rocinante. Naomi, come in.\"\n\n\"Doesn't mean anything,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She could be just fine, but the comm array went down. Or maybe she's busy fixing something.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or maybe she's dying by centimeters,\" Holden said. \"I've got to go. I have to get back to her.\"\n\nMiller shook his head.\n\n\"It's a longer trip back out than it was getting here. You can't go as fast anymore. By the time you get back, she'll have figured out whatever needed figuring.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or she'll be dead, Miller didn't say." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden wondered what it meant that the protomolecule could put Miller on its hand like a puppet and the detective could still be thoughtful enough to leave out the possibility that everyone on the Roci was gone.\n\n\"I have to try.\"\n\nMiller sighed. For a moment, his pupils flickered blue, like there were tiny bathypelagic fish swimming in the deep trenches of his eyeballs.\n\n\"You want to help her? You want to help all of them? Come with me. Now. You run back home, we won't get to find out what happened. And you may not get the chance to come back here. Plus, you can bet your friends are regrouping back there, and they can still gently rip your arms off if they catch you.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden felt like there were two versions of himself pulling at his mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi might be hurt. Might be dead. Alex and Amos too. He had to be there for them. But there was also a small, quiet part of himself that knew Miller was right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was too late." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can tell the station that there are people on those ships,\" he said. \"You can ask it to help them.\"\n\n\"I can tell a rock that it ought to be secretary-general. Doesn't mean it's gonna listen. All this?\" Miller waved his hands at the dark walls." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's dumb. Utilitarian. No creativity or complex analysis.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Really?\" Holden said, his curiosity peeking through the panic and anger and fear. \"Why not?\"\n\n\"Some things, it's better if they're predictable. No one wants the station coming up with its own bad ideas. We should hurry.\"\n\n\"Where are we going?\" Holden said, pausing for a few deep breaths." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd been at low g for too long without taking the time for exercise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His cardio had suffered. The dangers of growing rich and lazy.\n\n\"I'm going to need you to do something for me,\" Miller replied. \"I need access to the... shit, I don't know. Call 'em records.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden finished his panting, then straightened and nodded for Miller to resume their walk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As they moved down the gently sloping corridor he said, \"Aren't you already plugged in?\"\n\n\"I'm aware. The station is in lockdown, and they didn't exactly give me the root password. I need you to open it up for me.\"\n\n\"Not sure what I can do that you can't,\" Holden said. \"Other than be a charming dinner guest.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller stopped at another seeming dead end, touched the wall, and a portal irised open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He gestured Holden through, then followed and closed the door behind them. They were in another large chamber, vaguely octagonal and easily fifty meters long on each face. More of the insectile mechs littered the space, but the glass pillars were not in evidence. Instead, at the center of the chamber stood a massive construct of glowing blue metal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was octagonal, a smaller version of the dimensions of the room, but only a few meters wide on each face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't glow any brighter than the rest of the room, but Holden could feel something coming off of it, an almost physical pressure that made walking toward it difficult. His suit said that the atmosphere had changed, that it was rich with complex organic chemicals and nitrogen.\n\n\"Sometimes, having a body at all means you've got a certain level of status. If you aren't pretty damn trusted, you don't get to walk around in the fallen world.\"\n\n\"The fallen world?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller shuddered and leaned his hand out against the wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a profoundly human gesture of distress. The glowing moss of the wall didn't respond at all. Miller's lips were beginning to turn black.\n\n\"Fallen world. The substrate. Matter.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Are you all right?\" Holden asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miller nodded, but he looked like he was about to vomit. \"There's time's I start knowing things that are too big for my head. It's better in here, but there're going to be some questions that don't fit in me. Just thinking with all this crap connected to the back of my head is a full contact sport, and if I get too much, I'm pretty sure they'll... ah... call it reboot me. I mean, sure, consciousness is an illusion and blah blah blah, but I'd rather not go there if we can help it. I don't know how much the next one would remember.\"\n\nHolden stopped walking, then turned and gave Miller a hard shove. Both of them staggered backward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You seem pretty real to me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miller held up his finger. \"Seem. Good verb. You ever wondered why I leave as soon as anyone else shows up?\"\n\n\"I'm special?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I wouldn't go that far.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Fine,\" Holden said. \"I'll bite. Why doesn't anyone else see you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm not sure we've got time for this, but...\" Miller took off his hat and scratched his head. \"So your brain has a hundred billion brain cells and about five hundred trillion synapses.\"\n\n\"Will this be on the test?\"\n\n\"Don't be an asshole,\" Miller said conversationally, and put his hat back on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And that shit is custom grown. No two brains are exactly alike. Guess how much processing power it takes to really model even one human brain? More than every human computer ever built put together, and that's before we even start getting to the crap that goes on inside the cells.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay.\"\n\n\"Now picture those synapses as buttons on a keyboard. Five hundred trillion buttons. And say that a brain looking at something and thinking, 'That's a flower' punches a couple billion of those keys in just the right pattern. Except it ain't near that easy. It isn't just a flower, it's a pile of associations. Smells, the way a stem feels in your fingers, the flower you gave your mom once, the flower you gave your girl. A flower you stepped on by accident and it made you sad. And being sad brings on a whole pile of other associations.\"\n\n\"I get it,\" Holden said, holding up his hands in surrender. \"It's complicated.\"\n\n\"Now picture you need to push exactly the right buttons to make someone think of a person, hear them speaking, remember the clothes they wore and the way they smelled and how they would sometimes take off their hat to scratch their head.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Wait,\" Holden said. \"Are there bits of protomolecule in my brain?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not exactly. You may have noticed I'm non-local.\"\n\n\"What the hell does that even mean?\"\n\n\"Well,\" Miller said. \"Now you're asking me to explain microwaves to a monkey.\"\n\n\"That's a metaphor I've never actually spoken aloud. If you're aiming for not creeping me the hell out, you need more practice.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So, yeah. The most complex simulation in the history of your solar system is running right now so that we can pretend I'm here in the same room with you. The correct response is being flattered. Also, doing what the fuck I need you to do.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That would be?\"\n\n\"Touching that big thing in the middle of the room.\"\n\nHolden looked at the construct again, felt the almost subliminal pressure coming off of it. \"Why?\"\n\n\"Because,\" said Miller, lecturing to a stupid child." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The place is in lockdown. It's not accepting remote connections without a level of authorization I don't have.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And I do?\"\n\n\"You're not making a remote connection. You're actually here. In the substrate. In some quarters, that's kind of a big deal.\"\n\n\"But I just walked in here.\"\n\n\"You had some help. I calmed some of the security down to get you this far.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So you let the marines in too?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Unlocked is unlocked. C'mon.\"\n\nThe closer Holden got to the octagon, the harder it was to approach. It wasn't just fear, though the dread swam at the back of his throat and all down his spine. It was physically difficult, like pushing against a magnetic field." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The shape was chipped at the edges, marked with hair-thin lines in patterns that might have been ideograms or patterns of fungal growth or both." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He reached out his hand, and his teeth itched.\n\n\"What will happen?\" he asked.\n\n\"How much do you know about quantum mechanics?\"\n\n\"How much do you?\" Holden replied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"A lot, turns out,\" Miller said with a lopsided grin. \"Do now, anyway.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm not going to burst into flames or something, right?\"\n\nMiller gave a small Belter shrug with his hands. \"Don't think so. I'm not up on all the defense systems. But I don't think so.\"\n\n\"So,\" Holden said. \"Maybe?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Okay.\" Holden sighed and started to reach for the surface. He paused. \"You didn't really answer the question, you know.\"\n\n\"You're stalling,\" Miller said. And then, \"Which question was that?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I get why no one else sees you. But the real question is 'why me' at all? I mean, okay, you're screwing with my brain and that's hard work, and if there's other people for me to interact with it's too hard and all like that. But why me? Why not Naomi or the UN secretary-general or something?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miller nodded, understanding the question. He frowned, sighed.\n\n\"Miller kind of liked you. Thought you were a decent guy.\"\n\n\"That's it?\"\n\n\"You need more?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden placed his palm flat against the closest surface." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't burst into flames. Through the gloves of his EVA suit, he felt a short electric tingle and then nothing, because he was floating in space. He tried to scream and failed.\n\nSorry, a voice said in his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It sounded like Miller." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Didn't mean to drag you in here. Just try and relax, all right?\n\nHolden tried to nod, but failed at that too. He didn't have a head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His sense of his own body had changed, shifted, expanded past anything he'd imagined before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The simple extent of it was numbing. He felt the stars within him, the vast expanses of space contained by him. With a thought, he could pull his attention to a sun surrounded by unfamiliar planets like he was attending to his finger or the back of his neck. The lights all tasted different, smelled different." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He wanted to close his eyes against the flood of sensation, but he couldn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't have anything so simple as eyes. He had become immeasurably large, and rich, and strange. Thousands of voices, millions, billions, lifted in chorus and he was their song. And at his center, a place where all the threads of his being came together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He recognized the station not by how it looked, but by the deep throb of its heartbeat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The power of a million suns contained, channeled. Here was the nexus that sat between the worlds, the miracle of knowledge and power that gave him heaven. His Babel.\n\nAnd a star went out.\n\nIt wasn't especially unique." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't beautiful. A few voices out of quadrillions went silent, and if the great chorus of his being was lessened by them, it wasn't perceptible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Still, a ripple passed through him. The colors of his consciousness swirled and darkened. Concern, curiosity, alarm. Even delight. Something new had happened for the first time in millennia." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Another star flickered and failed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another few voices went silent. Now, slowly and instantly both, everything changed. He felt the great debate raging in him as a fever, an illness. He had been beyond anything like a threat for so long that all the reflexes of survival had weakened, atrophied." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden felt a fear that he knew belonged to him—the man trapped within the machine—because his larger self couldn't remember to feel it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The vast parliament swirled, thoughts and opinions, analysis and poetry blending together and breaking apart. It was beautiful as sunlight on oil, and terrifying.\n\nThree suns failed, and now Holden felt himself growing smaller. It was still very little, almost nothing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A white spot on the back of his hand, a sore that wouldn't heal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The plague was still only a symptom, but it was one his vast self couldn't ignore.\n\nFrom the station at his core, he reached out into the places he had been, the darkened systems that were lost to him, and he reached out through the gates with fire. The fallen stars, mere matter now, empty and dead, bloated. Filled their systems in a rage of radiation and heat, sheared the electrons from every atom, and detonated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Their final deaths echoed, and Holden felt a sense of mourning and of peace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The cancer had struck, and been burned away. The loss of the minds that had been would never be redeemed. Mortality had returned from exile, but it had been cleansed with fire.\n\nA hundred stars failed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What had been a song became a shriek." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden felt his body shifting against itself, furious as a swarm of bees trapped and dying. In despair, the hundred suns were burned away, the station hurling destruction through the gates as fast as the darkness appeared, but the growing shadow could not be stopped. All through his flesh, stars were going out, voices were falling into silence. Death rode the vacuum, faster than light and implacable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt the decision like a seed crystal giving form to the chaos around it, solid, hard, resolute." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Desperation, mourning, and a million farewells, one to the other. The word quarantine came to him, and with the logic of dreams, it carried an unsupportable weight of horror. But within it, like the last voice in Pandora's box, the promise of reunion. One day, when the solution was found, everything that had been lost would be regained." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The gates reopened. The vast mind restored." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The moment of dissolution came, sudden and expected, and Holden blew apart.\n\nHe was in darkness. Empty and tiny and lost, waiting for the promise to be fulfilled, waiting for the silent chorus to whisper again that Armageddon had been stopped, that all was not lost. And the silence reigned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Huh, Miller thought at him. That was weird." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like being pulled backward through an infinitely long tunnel of light, Holden was returned to his body. For one vertiginous moment he felt too small, like the tiny wrapping of skin and meat would explode trying to contain him.\n\nThen he just felt tired, and sat down on the floor with a thump.\n\n\"Okay,\" Miller said, rubbing his cheek with an open palm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I guess that's a start. Sort of explains everything, sort of nothing. Pain in the ass.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden flopped onto his back. He felt like someone had run him through a shredder and then badly welded him back together. Trying to remember what it felt like to be the size of a galaxy gave him a splitting headache, so he stopped.\n\n\"Tell me everything it explains,\" he said when he could remember how to speak." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Being forced to move moist flaps of meat in order to form the words felt sensual and obscene." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They quarantined the systems. Shut down the network to stop whatever was capping the locals.\"\n\n\"So, behind each of those gates is a solar system full of whatever made the protomolecule?\"\n\nMiller laughed. Something in the sound of it sent a shiver down Holden's spine. \"That seems pretty fucking unlikely.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This station has been waiting for the all-clear signal to open the network back up for about two billion years. If they'd found a solve, they wouldn't still be waiting. Whatever it was, I think it got them all.\"\n\n\"All of them but you,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Nah, kid. I'm one of them like the Rocinante is one of you. The Roci's smart for a machine. It knows a lot about you. It could probably gin up a rough simulation of you if someone told it to. Those things? The ones you felt like? Compared to them, I'm a fancy kind of hand terminal.\"\n\n\"And the nothing it explains,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You mean what killed them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, if we're gonna be fair, it's not really nothing,\" Miller said, crossing his arms. \"We know it ate a galaxy spanning hive consciousness like it was popcorn, so that's something. And we know it survived a sterilization that was a couple hundred solar systems wide.\"\n\nHolden had a powerfully vivid memory of watching the station hurl fire through the ring gates, of the stars on the other side blowing up like balloons, of the gates themselves abandoned to the fire and disappearing. Even just the echo of it nearly blinded him with remembered pain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Seriously, did they blow up those stars to stop it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden's image of Miller patted the column at the center of the room, though he knew now that Miller wasn't really touching it. Something was pressing the right buttons on his synaptic keyboard to make him think Miller was.\n\n\"Yup. Autoclaved the whole joint. Fed a bunch of extra energy in and popped 'em like balloons.\"\n\n\"They can't still do that, though, right? I mean, if the things that ran this are all gone, no one to pull that trigger. It won't do that to us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller's grim smile chilled Holden's blood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I keep telling you. This station is in war mode, kid. It's playing for keeps.\"\n\n\"Is there a way we can make it feel better about things?\"\n\n\"Sure. Now I'm in here, I can take off the lockdown,\" Miller said, \"but you're going to have to—\"\n\nMiller vanished." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"To what?\" Holden shouted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm going to have to what?\"\n\nFrom behind came an electronically amplified voice. \"James Holden, by authority of the Martian Congressional Republic, you are placed under arrest. Get down on your knees and place your hands on your head. Any attempt to resist will be met with lethal response.\"\n\nHolden did as he was told, but turned his head to look behind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Seven marines in recon armor had come into the room." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They weren't bothering to point their guns at him, but Holden knew they could catch him and tear him to pieces just using the strength of their suits.\n\n\"Guys, seriously, you couldn't have given me five more minutes?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce 4 sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Voices. Light. A sense of wrongness deep in places he couldn't identify. Bull tried to grit his teeth and found his jaw already clenched hard enough to ache. Someone cried out, but he didn't know where from." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The light caught his attention." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Simple white LED with a sanded backsplash to diffuse it. An emergency light. The kind that came on when power was down. It hurt to look at, but he did, using it to focus. If he could make that make sense, everything else would come." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A chiming alarm kept tugging at his attention, coming from outside. In the corridor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull's mind tried to slide that way, going into the corridor, out into the wide, formless chaos, and he pulled it back to the light. It was like trying to wake up except he was already awake.\n\nSlowly, he recognized the alarm as something he'd hear in the medical bay. He was in the medical bay, strapped onto a bed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The tugging sensation at his arm was a forced IV." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With a moment of nauseating vertigo, his perception of the world shifted—he wasn't standing, he was lying down. Meaningless distinctions without gravity, but human brains couldn't seem to help trying to assert direction on the directionless. His neck ached. His head ached. Something else felt wrong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were other people in the bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Men and women on every bed, most with their eyes closed. A new alarm sounded, the woman in the bay across from him losing blood pressure. Crashing. Dying. He shouted, and a man in a nurse's uniform came floating past. He adjusted something on her bed's control board, then pushed off and away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull tried to grab him as he went by, but he couldn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd been in his office. Serge had already gone for the night. A few minor incidents were piled up from the day, the constant friction of a large, poorly disciplined crew. Like everyone else, he'd been waiting to see whether Holden and the Martians came back out of the station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or if something else would." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fear had made sleep unlikely. He started watching the presentation that the Rocinante had sent, James Holden looking surprisingly young and charming saying, This is what we're calling the slow zone. He remembered noticing that everyone had accepted Holden's name for the place, and wondered whether it was just that the man had gotten there first or if there was something about charisma that translated across the void.\n\nAnd then he'd been here." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone had attacked, then." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A torpedo had gotten past their defenses or else sabotage. Maybe the whole damn ship was just coming apart.\n\nThere was a comm interface on the bed. He pulled it over, logged in, and used his security override to open its range to the full ship and not just the nurses' station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He requested a connection to Sam, and a few heartbeats later she appeared on the screen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hair was floating around her head. Null g always made him think of drowned people. The sclera of her left eye was the bright red of fresh blood.\n\n\"Bull,\" she said with a grin that looked like relief." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jesus Christ with a side of chips, but I never thought I'd be glad to hear from you.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Need a status report.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" she said. \"I better come by for this one. You in your office?\"\n\n\"Medical bay,\" Bull said.\n\n\"Be there in a jiff,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sam. What happened?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You remember that asshole who shot the Ring and got turned into a thin paste when his ship hit the slow zone? Same thing.\"\n\n\"We went too fast?\" Bull said.\n\n\"We didn't. Something changed the rules on us. I've got a couple techs doing some quick-and-dirty tests to figure out what the new top speed is, but we're captured and floating into that big ring of ships. Along with everybody else.\"\n\n\"The whole flotilla?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Everybody and their sisters,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A sense of grim despair undercut the lightness of her words. \"No one's under their own power now except the shuttles that were inside the bays when it happened, and no one's willing to send them going too fast either. The Behemoth was probably going the slowest when it happened. Other ships, it's worse.\"\n\nHow bad floated in his mind, but something about the words refused to be asked. His mind skated over them, flickering." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The deep sense of wrongness welled up in him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"First convenience,\" he said.\n\n\"On my way,\" Sam said, and the connection dropped. He wanted to sag back into a pillow, wanted to feel the comforting hand of gravity pressing him down. He wanted the New Mexican sun streaming in through a glass window and the open air and blue sky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "None of it was there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "None of it ever would be.\n\nRest when you're dead, he thought, and thumbed the comm terminal on again. Ashford and Pa weren't accepting connections, but they both took messages. He was in the process of connecting to the security office when a doctor came by and started talking with him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mihn Sterling, her name was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bennie Cortland-Mapu's second. He listened to her with half his attention. A third of the crew had been in their rest cycle, safely in their crash couches. The other two-thirds—him included—had slammed into walls or decks, the hand terminals they'd been looking at accelerating into projectiles. Something about network regrowth and zero gravity and spinal fluid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull wondered where Pa was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she was dead and Ashford alive, it would be a problem.\n\nDisaster recovery could only go two ways. Either everyone pulled together and people lived, or they kept on with their tribal differences and fear, and more people died.\n\nHe had to find a way to coordinate with Earth and Mars." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everyone was going to be stressed for medical supplies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he was going to make this work, he had to bring people together. He needed to see if Monica Stuart and her team—or anyway the part of her team that wasn't going to be charged with sabotage and executed—were still alive. If he could start putting out his own broadcasts, something along the lines of what she'd done with Holden...\n\nThe doctor was getting agitated about something." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't notice when Sam came into the room; she was just floating there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her left leg was in an improvised splint of nylon tape and packing foam. Bull put his palm out to the doctor, motioning for silence, and turned his attention to Sam.\n\n\"You've got the report?\" he asked.\n\n\"I do,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And you can have it as soon as you start listening to what she's saying.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What?\"\n\nSam pointed to Doctor Sterling.\n\n\"You have to listen to her, Bull. You have to hear what she's saying. It's important.\"\n\n\"I don't have time or patience—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bull!\" Sam snapped." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Can you feel anything—I mean anything—lower than your tits?\"\n\nThe sense of wrongness flooded over him, and with it a visceral, profound fear. Vertigo passed through him again, and he closed his eyes. All the words the doctor had been saying—crushed spinal cord, diffuse blood pooling, paraplegic—finally reached his brain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To his shame, tears welled up in his eyes, blurring the women's faces." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If the fibers grow back wrong,\" the doctor said, \"the damage will be permanent. Our bodies weren't designed to heal in zero g. We're built to let things drain. You have a bolus of blood and spinal fluid putting pressure on the wound. We have to drain that, and we have to get the bone shards out of the way. We could start the regrowth now, but there are about a dozen people who need the nootropics just to stay alive.\"\n\n\"I understand,\" Bull said around the lump in his throat, hoping she'd stop talking, but her inertia kept her going on.\n\n\"If we can stabilize the damage and get the pressure off and get you under at least one-third g, we have a good chance of getting you back to some level of function.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The background of medical alerts and voices and the hum of the emergency air recyclers stood in for real silence. \"What's your recommendation?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Medical coma,\" the doctor said without hesitating. \"We can slow down your system. Stabilize you until we can evacuate.\"\n\nBull closed his eyes, squeezing the tears between the lids. All he had to say was yes, and it was all someone else's problem." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would all go away, and he'd wake up somewhere under thrust with his body coming back together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or he wouldn't wake up at all. The moment lasted. He remembered walking among the defunct solar collectors. Climbing them. Bracing a ceramic beam with his knees while one of the other men on his team cut it. Running. He remembered a woman he'd been seeing on Tycho Station, and the way his body had felt against her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could get it back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or some part of it. It wasn't gone.\n\n\"Thank you for your recommendation,\" he said. \"Sam, I'll have that damage report now.\"\n\n\"Bull, no,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know what happens when one of my networks grows back wrong? I burn it out and start over. This is biology. We can't just yank out your wiring and reboot you. And you can't macho your way through it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is that what I'm doing?\" Bull said, and he almost sounded like himself.\n\n\"I'm serious,\" Sam said. \"I don't care what you promised Fred Johnson or how tough you think you are. You're going to be a big boy and take your nasty medicine and get better. You got it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was on the edge of crying now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blood was darkening her face. Some of her team were surely dead. People she'd known for years. Maybe her whole life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People she'd worked with every day." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With a clarity that felt almost spiritual, he saw the depth of her grief and felt it resonate within him. Everyone was going to be there now. Everyone who'd lived on every ship would have seen people they cared about broken or dead. And when people were grieving, they did things they wouldn't do sober." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Look where we are, Sam,\" Bull said gently." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Look what we're doing here. Some things don't go back to normal.\" Sam wiped her eyes with a sleeve cuff, and Bull turned to the doctor. \"I understand and respect your medical advice, but I can't take it right now. Once the ship and crew are out of danger, we'll revisit this, but until then staying on duty is more important. Can you keep me cognitively functioning?\"\n\n\"For a while, I can,\" the doctor said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But you'll pay for it later.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you,\" Bull said, his voice soft and warm as flannel. \"Now, Chief Engineer Rosenberg, give me the damage report.\"\n\nIt wasn't good.\n\nThe best thing Bull could say after reading Sam's report and consulting with the doctors and his own remaining security forces was that the Behemoth had weathered the storm better than some of the other ships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Being designed and constructed as a generation ship meant that the joints and environmental systems had been built with an eye for long-term wear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd been cruising at under 10 percent the slow zone's previous maximum speed when the change came.\n\nThe massive deceleration had happened to all the ships at the same time, slowing them from their previous velocity to the barely perceptible drifting toward the station's captive ring in just under five seconds. If it had been instantaneous, no one would have lived through it. Even with the braking spread out, it had approached the edge of the survivable for many of them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People asleep or at workstations with crash couches had stood a chance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anyone in an open corridor or getting up for a bulb of coffee at the wrong moment was simply dead. The count stood at two hundred dead and twice that many wounded. Three of the Martian ships that had been significantly faster than the Behemoth weren't responding, and the rest reported heavy casualties. The big Earth ships were marginally better." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To make matters worse, the radio and laser signals going back out of the Ring to what was left of the flotilla were bent enough that communication was just about impossible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not that it would have mattered. The slow zone—shit, now he was thinking of it that way too—was doing everything it could to remind them how vast the distances were within it. At the velocities they had available to them now, getting to the Ring would take as long as it had to reach it from the Belt. Months at least, and that in shuttles." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the ships were captured." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "However many of them were left, they were on their own.\n\nThe station's grip was pulling them into rough orbit around the glowing blue structure, and no amount of burn was able to affect their paths one way or the other. They couldn't speed up and they couldn't stop. No one was under thrust, and it was making the medical crisis worse as zero g complicated the injuries." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Behemoth's power grid, already weakened and patched after the torpedo launch debacle, had suffered a cascading shipwide failure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam's team was trekking through the ship, resetting the tripped safeties, adding new patches to the mess. One of the Earth ships had come close to losing core containment and gone through an automatic shutdown that left it running off batteries, another was battling an environmental systems breakdown with the air recylers. The Martian navy ships might be fine or they might be in ruins, but the Martian commander wasn't sharing.\n\nIf it had been a battle, it would have been a humbling defeat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It hadn't even been an attack." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Then what would you call it?\" Pa asked from the screen of his hand terminal. She and Ashford had both survived. Ashford was riding roughshod over the recovery efforts, trying—Bull thought—to micromanage the crisis out of existence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That left Pa at the helm to coordinate with all the other ships." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was better suited for it anyway. There was a chance, at least, that she would listen.\n\n\"If I were doing it, I'd call it progressive restraint,\" Bull said. \"That asshole who shot the Ring came through doing something fierce and he got locked down. There's rules about how fast you can go. Then Holden and those marines go to the station, something happens. Whatever's running the station gets its jock in a twist, and things lock down harder. I don't know the mechanism of how they do it, but the logic's basic training stuff. It's allowing us as much freedom as it can, but the more we screw it up, the tighter the choke.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" Pa said, running a hand through her hair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked tired. \"I can see that. So as long as it doesn't feel threatened, maybe things don't get worse.\"\n\n\"But if someone gets pissed,\" Bull said. \"I don't know. Some Martian pendejo just lost all his friends or something? He decides to arm a nuke, walk it to the station, and set it off, maybe things get a lot worse.\"\n\n\"All right.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We've got to get everyone acting together,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Earth, Mars, us. Everyone. Because if this was me, I'd escalate from a restraint, to a coercive restraint, to shooting someone. We don't want to get this thing to follow the same—\"\n\n\"I said all right, Mister Baca!\" Pa shouted. \"That means I understood your point. You can stop making it. Because the one thing I don't need right now is another self-righteous male telling me how high the stakes are and that I'd better not fuck things up. I got it. Thank you.\"\n\nBull blinked, opened his mouth, and closed it again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "On his screen, Pa pinched the bridge of her nose." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He heard echoes of Ashford in her frustration.\n\n\"Sorry, XO,\" he said. \"You're right. I was out of line.\"\n\n\"Don't worry about it, Mister Baca,\" she said, each syllable pulling a weight behind it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you have any concrete, specific recommendations, my door is always open.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I appreciate that,\" Bull said. \"So the captain...?\"\n\n\"Captain Ashford's doing his best to keep the ship in condition and responsive. He feels that letting the crew see him will improve morale.\"\n\nAnd how's that going, Bull didn't ask. Didn't have to. Pa could see him restraining himself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Believe it or not, we are all on the same team,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'll keep it in mind.\"\n\nHer expression clouded and she leaned in toward her screen, a gesture of intimacy totally artificial in the floating world of zero g and video connections and still impossible to entirely escape.\n\n\"I heard about your condition. I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"It's all right,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If I ordered you to accept the medical coma?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He laughed. Even that felt wrong. Truncated.\n\n\"I'll go when I'm ready,\" he said, only realizing after the fact that the phrase could mean two different things. \"We get out of the woods, the docs can take over.\"\n\n\"All right, then,\" she said and her terminal chimed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She cursed quietly. \"I have to go. I'll touch base with you later.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You got it,\" Bull said and let the connection drop.\n\nThe wise thing would have been to sleep. He'd been awake for fourteen hours, checking in with the security staff who were still alive, remaking a duty roster, doing all the things he could do from the medical bay that would make the ship work. Fourteen hours wasn't all that long a shift in the middle of a crisis, except that he'd been crippled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Crippled." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With a sick feeling, he walked his fingertips down his throat, to his chest, and to the invisible line where the skin stopped feeling like his own and turned into something else. Meat. His mind skittered off the thought. He'd been hurt before and gotten back from it. He'd damn near died four or five different times." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something always happened that got him back on his feet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He always got lucky. This time would be the same. Somehow, somehow he'd get back. Have another story to tell and no one to tell it to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He knew he was lying to himself, but what else could he do?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Apart from stand aside. And maybe he should. Let Pa take care of it. Give Ashford his shot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No one would give him any shit if he took the medical coma." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not even Fred. Hell, Fred would probably have told him to do it. Ordered him.\n\nBull closed his eyes. He'd sleep or he wouldn't. Or he'd drift into some half-lucid place that wasn't either." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One of the doctors was weeping in the corridor, a slow, autonomic sound, more like being sick than expressing sorrow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone coughed wetly. Pneumonia was the worst danger now. Null g messed with the sensors that triggered the kinds of coughing that actually cleared lungs until it was too late. After that, strokes and embolisms as the blood that gravity should have helped to drain pooled and clotted instead. On all the other ships, it was the same." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Survivable injuries made deadly just by floating." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they could just get under thrust. Get some gravity...\n\nWe're all on the same team, Pa said in his half drowse, and Bull was suddenly completely awake. He scooped up his hand terminal, but Ashford and Pa were both refusing connections. It was the middle of their night." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He considered putting through an emergency override, but didn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not yet. First, he tried Sam.\n\n\"Bull?\" she said. Her skin looked grayish, and there were lines at the corners of her mouth that hadn't been there before. Her one blood-red eye seemed like an omen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey, Sam. Look, we need to get all the other crews from all the other ships onto the Behemoth. Bring everyone together so no one does anything stupid.\"" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You want a pony too?\"\n\n\"Sure,\" Bull said. \"Thing is, we got to give them a reason to come here. Something they need and they can't get anyplace else.\"\n\n\"Sounds great,\" Sam said, shaking her head. \"Maybe I'm not at my cognitive best here, sweetie, but are you asking me for something?\"\n\n\"They've all got casualties. They all need gravity. I'm asking you how long it would take you to spin up the drum.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The darkness was beautiful and surreal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ships of the flotilla, drawn together by the uncanny power of the station, hugged closer to each other than they ever would have under human control. The only lights came from the occasional exterior maintenance array and the eerie glow of the station. It was like walking through a graveyard in the moonlight. The ring of ships and debris glittered in a rising arc before her and behind, as if any direction she chose would lead up from where she was now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The EVA suit had limited propellant, and she wanted to conserve it for her retreat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She scuttled through the vacuum, magnetic boots clicking against the hull of the Prince until she reached its edge and launched herself into the gap between vessels, aiming toward a Martian supply ship. The half mech and emergency airlock folded on her back massed almost fifty kilos, but with their courses matched, they were as weightless as she was. It was an illusion, she knew, but in the timeless reach between the Thomas Prince and hated Rocinante, all her burdens seemed light.\n\nThe EVA suit had a simple heads-up display that outlined the Rocinante with a thin green line." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't the nearest ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The trip out to it would take hours, but she didn't mind. It was as trapped as all the others. It couldn't go anyplace.\n\nShe hummed to herself as she imagined her arrival." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Rehearsed it. She let herself daydream that he would be there: Jim Holden returned from the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She imagined him raging at her as she destroyed his ship. She imagined him weeping and begging her forgiveness, and seeing the despair in his eyes when she refused. They were beautiful dreams, and folded safely inside them, she could forget the blood and horror behind her. Not just the catastrophe on the Prince, but all of it—Ren, her father, Julie, everything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The dim blue light of the not-moon felt like home, and the impending violence like a promise about to be kept." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If there was another part of her, a sliver of Clarissa that hadn't quite been crushed yet that felt differently, it was small enough to ignore.\n\nOf course it was just as likely they'd all be dead when she got there. The catastrophe would have hit them as hard as the Thomas Prince or any of the other ships. Holden's crew might be nothing but cooling meat already, only waiting for her to come and light their funeral pyre." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was, she thought, a beauty in that too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She ran across the skins of the ships, leaped from one to the next like a nerve impulse crossing a synapse. Like a bad idea being thought by a massive, moonlit brain.\n\nThe air in the suit smelled like old plastic and her own sweat. The impact of the magnetic boots pulling her to the ships and then releasing her again translated up her leg, tug and release, tug and release." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And before her, as slowly as the hour hand of an analog clock, the ghost-green Rocinante grew larger and nearer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She knew the ship's specs by heart. She'd studied them for weeks. Martian corvette, originally assigned to the doomed Donnager. The entry points were the crew airlock just aft of the ops deck, the aft cargo bay doors, and a maintenance port that ran along beneath the reactor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the reactor was live, the maintenance access wouldn't work." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fore airlock had almost certainly had its security profile changed once the ship fell into Holden's control. Only a stupid man wouldn't change it, and Melba refused to believe a stupid man could bring down her father. The service records she'd gleaned suggested that the cargo bay had been breached once already. Repairs were always weaker than the original structure." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The choice was easy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The attitude of the ship put the cargo bay on the far side of the ship, the body of the Rocinante hiding its flaw from the light. Melba stepped into shadow, shivering as if it could actually be colder in the darkness. She fastened the mech to the ship's skin and assembled it for use under the glare of the EVA suit's work lamps. The mech was the yellow of fresh lemons and police tape." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The cautions printed in three alphabets were like little Rosetta stones." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt an inexplicable fondness for the machine as she strapped it across her back, fitting her hands into the waldoes. The mech hadn't been designed for violence, but it was suited for it. That made her and it the same.\n\nShe lit the cutting torch and the EVA suit's mask went dark." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba clung to the ship and began her slow invasion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sparks and tiny asteroids of melted steel flew off into the darkness around her. The repair work where the bay doors had been bent out and refitted was almost invisible. If she hadn't known to look, she wouldn't have seen the weaknesses. She wondered if they knew she was coming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She imagined them hunched over their security displays, eyes wide with fear at what was digging its way under the Rocinante's skin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She found herself singing softly, snatches of popular songs and old holiday tunes, whatever came to mind. Bits of lyrics and melody matched to the hum of the torch's vibration.\n\nShe breached the Rocinante, a patch of glowing steel no wider than her finger popping out. No air vented through the gap into the vacuum." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They didn't keep the cargo bay pressurized." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That meant the atmosphere wasn't dropping inside, and the ship alarms weren't blaring. One problem solved even without her help. It felt like fate. She killed the torch and unfolded the emergency airlock, sealing it against the hatch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She unzipped the outer layer, closed it, unzipped the inner one, and stepped into the small additional room she'd created." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't know how much damage she'd have to do to get into the inner areas of the ship. She didn't want an accidental loss of atmosphere to rob her of her vengeance. Holden needed to know who'd done this to him, not gasp out his last breaths thinking his ship had merely broken.\n\nGently, she slipped the mech's hand into the hole, braced, and peeled back the cargo door, long strips of steel blooming like an iris blossom." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When it was wide enough, she took the sides of the hole in her mechanical hands and pulled herself into the cargo bay." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Supply crates lined the walls and floors, held in place by electromagnets. One had shattered, a victim of the catastrophe. A cloud of textured protein packets floated in the air. The LED on the panel beside the interior airlock door was green; the bay hadn't been locked down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why would it? She punched the button to enter the airlock and begin the cycle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once the green pressure light came on, she slipped her hands out of the mech and lifted off the helmet. No Klaxons were ringing. No voices shouted or threatened. She'd made it on without alarming anyone. Her grin ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Back in the mech, she opened the airlock into the interior of the ship and paused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Still no alarms. Melba pulled herself gently, silently into enemy territory.\n\nThe Rocinante was built floor by floor from the reactor up to the engineering deck, to the machine shop, then the galley and crew cabins and medical bays, storage deck containing the crew airlock, then on up to the command deck and pilot's station farthest forward. Under thrust, it would be like a narrow building. Without thrust, the ship was directionless." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had choices to make now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The cargo bay was close enough to give her access to engineering and the reactor. She could sneak in there and start the reactor on its overload. Or she could go up, try taking the crew by surprise, and set the ship to self-destruct from the command deck.\n\nShe took a deep breath." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Rocinante had four regular crew including Holden, and she didn't know whether the documentary crew were still on board." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least two of the regular crew had military training and experience. She might be able to take them in a fight if she got the drop on them or came across them one at a time.\n\nThe risk was too high. The reactor was nearest, it was easiest, and she could get out through the cargo bay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pulled herself along the corridors she knew only from simulations, toward the reactor and the death of the ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she opened the hatch to engineering, a woman floated above an opened control panel, a soldering iron in one hand and a spool of wire in the other. She had the elongated frame and slightly oversized head of someone who'd grown up under low g. Brown skin and dark hair pulled back in a utilitarian knot. Naomi Nagata. Holden's lover.\n\nMelba felt a sudden urge to tear off the mech suit, swirl her tongue across the roof of her mouth, feel the chemical rush." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To grab the narrow Belter's neck in her bare hands and feel the bones snap." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would be a yearlong dream of revenge made tactile and perfect. But two other crew members were on the ship, and she didn't know where they were. The terror she'd felt in that sleazy Baltimore casino came rushing back. Crawling helplessly on the floor in the post-drug collapse while people banged at the door to get in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't risk a crash until she knew where everyone was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi looked up at the sound of the door, pleasure in the woman's dark eyes as if the interruption were a happy surprise, and then shock, and then a cold fury.\n\nFor a moment, neither one moved.\n\nWith a yell, the woman launched herself at Melba, spinning the spool of wire in front of her. Melba tried to dodge, but the bulk of the mech and its slow response made it impossible." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The wire hit her left cheek with a sound like a brick falling to earth, and for a moment her head rang." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She brought up the mech's arm in a rough block, taking the Belter solidly in the ribs and sending them both spinning. Melba grabbed at a handhold, missed it, and then tried for another. The mech's hand latched on, crushing the metal flat and almost pulling it from the wall, but the Belter was ahead of her, skimming through the air at Melba, teeth bared like a shark. Melba tried to get the mech's free arm up to bat her away, but the Belter was already too close." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She grabbed the front of Melba's jumpsuit, balling it in a fist, and used the leverage to swing a hard knee into her ribs, punctuating each blow with a word." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You. Don't. Get. To hurt. My. Ship.\"\n\nMelba felt a rib give way. She reached her tongue for the roof of her mouth, but again she didn't make the small private circles that would flush her blood with fire. She had to be awake and functional when the fight was over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She gritted her teeth and curled the mech's free arm in, bending it against itself, and then snapped her hand closed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belter screamed. The mech's claw had her by the shoulder. Melba squeezed again and heard the muffled, wet sound of bone breaking.\n\nShe threw the Belter across the room as hard as the motors let her. Where the woman bounced off the far wall, a smear of blood marked it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba waited, watching the Belter rotate in the air, directionless and loose as a rag doll sinking to the bottom of a swimming pool." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A growing sphere of blood adhered to the woman's shoulder and neck.\n\n\"I do what I want,\" Melba said, and the voice sounded like someone else's.\n\nCarefully, she pulled herself to the control panel. The panel was off, fixed to the deck with a length of adhesive tape." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The guts within were a mess of wires and plates." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante had taken some damage in the catastrophe, but not so much that Melba couldn't do what was needed. She shrugged out of the mech, cracked her knuckles, traced the major control nodes, and plugged them back into the panel. The local memory check took only a few seconds, and she overrode the full system check. It was nothing she could have done before she left Earth, but Melba Koh had spent months learning about the guts of military ships." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was just the sort of thing Soledad, Stanni, and Bob would have checked on if they'd been working maintenance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was something Ren would have taught her.\n\nHer fingers curled, stumbling over the keyboard for a moment, but she got it back.\n\nThe control specs of the reactor came up. Releasing the magnetic bottle that kept the core from melting through the ship was deliberately designed to be difficult." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Changing the limits on the reaction itself until it would eventually outstrip the bottle's ability to contain it was also hard, but less so." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And it would give her a little time to tell Holden what she'd done, then get out of the ship and back toward the Thomas Prince. In the chaos of the day, no one might even know that someone had survived the death of the Rocinante.\n\nA flicker in her peripheral vision was the only warning she had, but it was enough. Melba twisted out of the way, the Belter's massive wrench hissing through the air where her temple had been." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba pushed back with her legs, struggling frantically to worm back into the mech." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She tensed against the coming attack, but no blows came. She shrugged into the metal and jammed her hands into the waldoes, grabbing the wall and spinning back to the fight just as the Belter looked up from the control panel. Blood was crawling up the woman's neck, held to her by surface tension, and her smile was triumphant. The control panel flashed red and a screen of code crawled over it too fast to read." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lights in the room went off, and the emergency LEDs flickered on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Melba felt her throat go tight.\n\nThe Belter had dumped core. The reaction Melba had come to overload was dissipating in a cloud of gas behind the ship. The Belter's smile was feral and triumphant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Doesn't change anything,\" Melba said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It hurt to talk. \"You have torpedoes. I'll overload one of those.\"\n\n\"Not in my lifetime,\" the Belter said, and attacked again.\n\nHer swing was lopsided, though." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clumsy. The wrench clanged against the mech's joint, but it didn't do any damage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belter launched herself out of reach just as Melba swung an arm at her. The Belter wasn't using her injured arm at all, and she left spinning droplets of blood whenever she changed direction.\n\nMelba wondered why the woman didn't call for help. On little ships like this, opening a communications channel was often as simple as saying it out loud." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Either the computer was down, the rest of the crew dead or incapacitated, or it simply hadn't occurred to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It didn't matter. It didn't change what Melba had to do. She shifted to her right, sliding through the air, moving handhold to handhold, never giving the other woman the chance to catch her unmoored and spin her into the open air at the center of the room. The Belter perched on the wall, her dark eyes darting one way, then other, searching for advantage. There was no fear in them, no sentimentality." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba had no doubt that if the opportunity came, Naomi would kill her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She reached the hatch, setting the mech's claw to grip a handhold, and then slipping one arm free to reach for the door's controls. It was a provocation, and it worked. The Belter jumped, not straight at Melba, but to the deck above her, then turned, kicked, off, and drove down, her heels aiming for Melba's head.\n\nMelba drove her arm back into the mech and snapped the free arm up, catching the Belter in mid-flight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her handhold broke free of the wall, and the pair of them floated together into the open air of the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belter's injured arm was caught in the mech's clamp, and she kicked savagely with her heels. One blow connected, and Melba's vision narrowed for a moment. She pulled the Belter through the air, worrying at her like a terrier with a rat, and then managed to swing the free arm up and catch the woman by the neck.\n\nThe Belter's hand flew up to the clamp, panic in her expression." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her eyes went wide and bright." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would take a twitch of Melba's fingers to crush the woman's throat, and they both knew it. A sense of triumph and overwhelming joy washed through her. Holden might not be here, but she had his lover. She would take someone he loved from him just the way he'd taken her own father from her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This wasn't even fighting anymore. This was justice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Belter's face was flushing red, her breath constricted and rough. Melba grinned, enjoying the moment.\n\n\"This is his fault,\" she said. \"All of this is what he had coming.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Belter scratched at the mech's claw." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The blood that came away might have been from the old wound, or the mech's grip might already have broken the skin. Melba closed her fingers a fraction, the pressure feather light. The mech's servos buzzed as it closed a millimeter more. The Belter tried to say something, pushing the word out past her failing windpipe, and Melba knew she couldn't let her speak." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't let her beg or weep and cry mercy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If she did, Melba suddenly wasn't sure she could go through with it, and it had to be done. Sympathy is for the weak, her father's voice whispered in her ear.\n\n\"You're Naomi Nagata,\" Melba said. \"My name is Clarissa Melpomene Mao. You and your people attacked my family. Everything that's happened here? Everything that's going to happen. It's your fault.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The light was fading from the Belter's eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her breath came in ragged gasps. All it would take was a squeeze. All she had to do was make a fist and snap the woman's neck.\n\nWith the last of her strength, the Belter woman lifted her free hand in a gesture of obscenity and defiance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Melba's body buzzed like she'd stepped into the blast from a firehose." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her head bent back, her spine arching against itself. Her hands flexed open, her toes curled back until it seemed like they had to break. She heard herself scream. The mech spread its arms to the side and froze, leaving her crucified in the metal form." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The buzzing stopped, but she couldn't move." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No matter how much she willed it, her muscles would not respond.\n\nNaomi came to rest against the opposite wall, a knot of panting and blood.\n\n\"Who are you?\" the Belter croaked.\n\nI am vengeance, Melba thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I am your death made flesh." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the voice that answered came from behind her.\n\n\"Anna. My name's Anna. Are you all right?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Continue with the same vibes as James S. A. Corey" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The woman—Naomi Nagata—replied by coughing up a red glob of blood.\n\n\"I'm an idiot, of course you're not all right,\" Anna said, then floated over to her, pausing to push the still-twitching Melba to the other side of the compartment. Girl and mech drifted across the room, bounced off a bulkhead, and came to a stop several meters away.\n\n\"Emergency locker,\" Naomi croaked, and pointed at a red panel on one wall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna opened it to find flashlights, tools, and a red-and-white bag not too different from the one Tilly had been carrying on the Prince." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She grabbed it. While Anna extracted a package of gauze and a can of coagulant spray for the nasty wound on Naomi's shoulder, the Belter pulled out several hypo ampules and began injecting herself with them one at a time, her movements efficient and businesslike. Anna felt like something was tearing in her shoulders every time she wrapped the gauze around Naomi's upper torso, and she almost asked for another shot for herself.\n\nYears before, Anna had taken a seminar on ministering to people with drug addictions. The instructor, a mental health nurse named Andrew Smoot, had made the point over and over that the drugs didn't only give pleasure and pain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They changed cognition, stripped away the inhibitions, and more often than not, someone's worst habits or tendencies—what he called their \"pathological move\"—got exaggerated." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "An introvert would often withdraw, an aggressive person would grow violent. Someone impulsive would become even more so.\n\nAnna had understood the idea intellectually. Almost three hours into her spacewalk, the amphetamines Tilly had given her began to fade and a clarity she hadn't known she lacked began to return to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt she had a deeper, more personal insight into what her own pathological move might be." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna had spent only a few years living among Belters and outer planets inhabitants. But that was long enough to know that their philosophy boiled down to \"what you don't know kills you.\" No one growing up on Earth ever really understood that, no matter how much time they later spent in space. No Belter would have thrown on a space suit and EVA pack and rushed out the airlock without first knowing exactly what the environment on the other side was like." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wouldn't even occur to them to do so." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Worse, she'd run out that airlock without stopping to send a message to Nono. You don't ask for permission, you ask for forgiveness echoed in her head. If she died doing this, Nono would have it carved as her epitaph. She'd never get that last chance to say she was sorry." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The brightly colored display, which always seemed to float at the edge of her vision no matter which way her face was pointed, had said that she had 83 percent of her air supply remaining." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not knowing how long a full tank would last robbed that information of some much-needed context.\n\nAs she'd tried to slow her breathing back down and keep from panicking, the gauge ticked to 82 percent. How long had it been at 83 percent before it did? She couldn't remember. A vague feeling of nausea made her think about how bad throwing up in her space suit would be, which only made the feeling worse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The girl, Melba, or Claire now, was far ahead and gaining, moving with the easy grace of long practice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Someone for whom walking in a space suit with magnetic boots was normal. Anna tried to hurry and only managed to kick her boot with her other foot and turn the magnet up high enough to lock it to the hull of the ship. The momentum of her step tugged against the powerful magnetic clamp. After several lost seconds figuring out how to fix that problem, she'd found the controls and slid the grip back down to a normal human range." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After that, she gave up on haste and aimed for a safe, consistent pace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Slow and steady, but she wasn't winning the race. She lost sight of the girl, but she'd told herself it didn't matter. She guessed well enough where Clarissa Mao was going. Or Melba Koh. Whoever this woman was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had seen images of the Rocinante on newsfeeds before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was probably as famous as a ship could be. James Holden's central role in the Eros and Ganymede incidents along with a peppering of dogfights and antipiracy actions had kept his little corvette mentioned in the media on and off for years. As long as there weren't two Martian corvettes parked next to each other, Anna felt confident she'd be able to spot it.\n\nFifteen long minutes later, she did." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Rocinante was shaped like a stubby black wedge of metal; a fat chisel laid on its side." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The flat surface of the hull was occasionally broken up by a domed projection. Anna didn't know enough about ships to know what they were. It was a warship, so sensors or guns, maybe, but definitely not doors. The tail of the ship had been facing her, and the only obvious opening in it was at the center of the massive drive cone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She walked to the edge of the ship she was on and then from side to side trying to get a better look at the rest of the Rocinante before jumping over to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The irony of looking before she leapt at this late stage of the game made her laugh, and she felt some of the tension and nausea fading.\n\nJust to the right of the drive cone was a bubble of plastic attached to the ship, pale as a blister. A moment later she was through the wound in the ship's cargo doors and inside. It had occurred to her, as she looked at the maze of crates locked against the hull with magnets much like the ones on her own feet, that she hadn't thought her plan through past this." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Did this room connect to the rest of the ship?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The doors behind her didn't have an airlock, which probably meant that this space was usually kept in vacuum. She had no idea where anyone would be in relation to that room, and more worrisome, she had no idea if the girl she was chasing was still in there, hiding behind one of the boxes.\n\nAnna carefully pulled herself from crate to crate to the other end of the long, narrow compartment. Bits of plastic and freeze-dried food drifted around her like a cloud of oddly shaped insects." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The broken crates might have been relics of a fight or debris created by the speed change; she had no way to know." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She reached into the small bag tethered to her EVA pack and pulled out the taser. She'd never fired one in microgravity or in vacuum. She hoped neither thing affected it. Another gamble no Belter would ever take." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To her great relief, she found an airlock at the other end of the room, and it opened at a touch of the panel." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cycling it took several minutes, while Anna pulled the heavy EVA pack off her back and played with the taser to make sure she knew how to turn the safety off. The military design was intuitive, but less clearly labeled than the civilian models she was accustomed to. The panel flashed green and the inner doors opened.\n\nNo one was in sight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just a deck that looked like a machine shop with tool lockers and workbenches and a ladder set into one wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bookending the ladder were two hatches, one going toward the front of the ship, the other toward the back. Anna was thinking that she was most likely to run into crewmembers by going toward the front of the ship when there was a loud bang from the back and the lights went out.\n\nYellow LEDs set into the walls came on a moment later, and a genderless voice said, \"Core dump, emergency power only,\" and repeated it several times. Her helmet muffled the sound, but there was clearly still air in the ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pulled the helmet off and hung it from her harness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna was fairly certain you only ejected the core in emergencies related to the engine room, so she moved to that hatch instead. With the constant rumble of the ship gone and her helmet removed she could hear faint noises coming through the hatch. It took her several long moments to figure out how to access it, and when she finally did the hatch snapped open so suddenly it made her almost yelp with surprise.\n\nInside, Melba was murdering someone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A Belter woman with long dark hair and a greasy coverall was having her throat crushed by the mechanical arms Melba wore." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The woman—Anna could see now that it was James Holden's second-in-command, Naomi Nagata—looked like Melba had beaten her badly. Her arm and shoulder were covered in blood, and her face was a mass of scrapes and contusions.\n\nAnna drifted down into the vaulted chamber. The reactor room's walls curving inward like a church, the cathedrals of the fusion age." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt an almost overwhelming need to hurry, but she knew she'd only get one shot with the taser, and she didn't trust herself to fire on the move." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi's face was turning a dark, bruised purple. Her breath the occasional wet rasp. Somehow, the Belter managed to raise one hand and flip Melba off. Anna's feet hit the decking, and her boots stuck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was less than three meters behind Melba when her finger pressed the firing stud, aiming for the area of her back not covered by the skeletal frame of the mech, hoping the taser would work through a vacuum suit." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She missed, but the results were impressive anyway.\n\nInstead of hitting the fabric of Melba's suit, the taser's two microdarts hit the mech dead center. The trailing wires immediately turned bright red and began to fall apart like burning string. The taser got so hot Anna could feel it through her glove, so she let go just before it melted into a glob of gooey gray plastic." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The mech arced and popped and the arms snapped straight out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The room smelled like burning electrical cables. All of Melba's hair was standing straight up, and even after the taser had died her fingers and legs continued to twitch and jerk. A small screen on the mech's arm had a flashing red error code.\n\n\"Who are you?\" Naomi Nagata asked, drifting in a way that told Anna she'd be slumping to the floor at the first hint of gravity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Anna. My name's Anna,\" she had said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Are you all right?\"\n\nAfter the third injection, Naomi took a long, shuddering breath and said, \"Who's Anna?\"\n\n\"Anna is me,\" she said, then chuckled at herself. \"You mean who am I? I'm a passenger on the Thomas Prince.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"UN? You don't look like navy.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, a passenger. I'm a member of the advisory group the secretary-general sent.\"\n\n\"The dog and pony show,\" Naomi said, then hissed with pain as Anna tightened the bandage and activated the charge that would keep it from unwinding.\n\n\"Everyone keeps calling it that,\" Anna said as she felt the bandage. She wished she'd paid more attention in the church first aid class." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clear the airway, stop the bleeding, immobilize the injury was about the limit of what she knew." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's because it is,\" Naomi said, then reached up with her good hand to grab a rung of the nearby ladder. \"It's all political bullsh—\"\n\nShe was cut off by a mechanical-sounding voice saying, \"Reboot complete.\"\n\nAnna turned around. Melba was staring at them both, her hair still standing straight out from her head, but her hands no longer twitching uncontrollably." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She moved her arms experimentally, and the half mech whined, hesitated, and then moved with her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck me,\" Naomi said. She sounded annoyed but unsurprised.\n\nAnna reached for her taser before she remembered it had melted. Melba bared her teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This way,\" Naomi said as the hatch slid open above them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna darted through it, with Naomi close behind using her one good arm to pull herself along. Melba surged after them, reaching out with one foot to push off the reactor housing.\n\nNaomi pulled her leg through just in time to avoid being grabbed by the mech's claw, then tapped the locking mechanism with her toe and the hatch slammed shut on the mech's wrist. The hatch whined as it tried to close, crushing the claw in a spray of sparks and broken parts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna waited for the scream of pain that didn't come, then realized that the gloves Melba used to control the machine were in the mech's forearms, several centimeters behind the point of damage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They hadn't hurt her, and she'd sacrificed the use of one of the mech's claws in order to keep the hatch open. The other claw appeared in the gap, gripping at the metal, bending it.\n\n\"Go,\" Naomi said, her voice tight with pain, her good hand pointing at the next hatch up the ladder. After they were both through, Anna took a moment to look around at the new deck they were on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It looked like crew areas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Small compartments with flimsy-looking doors. Not a good place to hole up. Naomi flew through the empty air and the dim shadows cast by the emergency lights, and Anna followed as best she could, the feeling of nightmare crawling up her throat.\n\nAfter they'd passed through the hatch into the next level, Naomi stopped to tap on the small control screen for several seconds." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The emergency lights shifted to red, and the panel on the hatch read SECURITY LOCKDOWN." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's not trapped down there,\" Anna said. \"She can get out through the cargo bay. There's a hole in the doors.\"\n\n\"That's twice now someone has done that,\" Naomi replied, pulling herself up the ladder. \"Anyway, she's wearing a salvage mech rig, and she's in the machine shop. Half the stuff in there is made to cut through ships. She's not trapped. We are.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "This took Anna by surprise." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd gotten away. They'd locked a door behind them. That was supposed to end it. The monster isn't allowed to open doors. It was fuzzy, juvenile thinking, and Anna became less sure that all the drugs had actually passed through her system." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So what do we do?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Medical bay,\" Naomi said, pointing down a short corridor. \"That way.\"\n\nThat made sense. The frail-looking Belter woman was getting a gray tone to her dark skin that made Anna think of massive blood loss, and the bandage on her shoulder had already soaked through and was throwing off tiny crimson spheres. She took Naomi by the hand and pulled her down the corridor to the medical bay door. It was closed, and the panel next to it flashed the security lockdown message like the deck hatches had." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi started pressing it, and Anna waited for the door to slide open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead, another, heavier-looking door slid into place over the first, and the panel Naomi was working on went dark.\n\n\"Pressure doors,\" Naomi said. \"Harder to get through.\"\n\n\"But we're on this side of them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is there another way in?\" Anna asked.\n\n\"No. Let's go.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" Anna said. \"We need to get you in there. You're very badly hurt.\"\n\nNaomi turned to look at her, frowned as if she'd only really seen Anna for the first time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a speculative frown." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt she was being sized up.\n\n\"I have two injured men in there. My crew. They're helpless,\" Naomi finally said. \"Now they're as safe as I can make them. So you and I are going to go up to the next deck, get a gun, and make sure she follows us. When she shows up, we're going to kill her.\"\n\n\"I don't—\" Anna started." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Kill. Her. Can you do that?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kill? No. I can't,\" Anna said. It was the truth.\n\nNaomi stared at her for a second longer, then just shrugged with her good hand. \"Okay, then, come with me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "They moved through the next hatch to the deck above." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Most of the space was taken up by an airlock and storage lockers. Some of the lockers were large enough to hold vacuum suits and EVA packs. Others were smaller. Naomi opened one of the smaller lockers and pulled out a thick black handgun.\n\n\"I've never shot anyone either,\" she said, pulling the slide back and loading a round." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To Anna's eye the bullet looked like a tiny rocket." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But those two in the med bay are my family, and this is my home.\"\n\n\"I understand,\" Anna said.\n\n\"Good, because I can't have you—\" Naomi started, then her eyes rolled up in her head and her body went limp. The gun drifted away from her relaxed hand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No no no,\" Anna repeated in a sudden wash of panic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She floated over to Naomi and held her wrist. There was still a pulse, but it was faint. She dug through the first aid pack, looking for something to help. One ampule said it was for keeping people from going into shock, so Anna jabbed Naomi with it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't wake up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The air in the room began to smell different. Hot, and with the melted plastic odor her damaged taser had given off when it died. A spot of red appeared on the deck hatch, then shifted to yellow, then to white. The girl in the mech, coming for them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hatch above them, the one that led forward on the ship, was closed and flashing the lockdown message." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Naomi hadn't told her what the override code was. The airlock was on their level, but it was locked down too.\n\nThe deck hatch began to open in lurching increments. Anna could hear Melba panting and cursing as she forced it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And Naomi's lockdown code hadn't kept the insane woman out, it had only locked them in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna pulled Naomi's limp body over to one of the large vacuum suit storage lockers and put her inside, climbing in after her. There was no lock on the door. Between the unconscious woman and the suit, there was hardly enough room for her to close it. She set both of her feet at the corner where the door of the locker met the deck and set the magnets up to full." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt the suit lock onto the metal, clamping her legs into place and pulling her up close against the locker door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On the far side, metal shrieked. Something wet brushed against the back of Anna's neck. Naomi's hand, limp and bloody. Anna tried not to move, tried not to breathe loudly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The prayer she offered up was hardly more than a confusion of fear and hope." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A locker door slammed open off to her left. Then another one, closer. And then another. Anna wondered where Naomi's gun had gotten to. It was in the locker somewhere, but there was no light, and she'd have to unlock the magnets on her boots to look for it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She hoped they hadn't left it outside with the crazy woman. Another locker opened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The door centimeters from Anna's face shifted, but didn't open. The vents and the cracks in the locker door flared the white of a cutting torch, then went dark. A mechanical voice said, \"Backup power depleted.\" The curse from the other side was pure frustration." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was followed by a series of grunts and thumps: Melba taking the mech rig off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt a surge of hope.\n\n\"Open it,\" Melba said. Her voice was low, rough, and bestial.\n\n\"No.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Open it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You... I can hear that you're feeling upset,\" Anna said, horrified by the words even as she spoke them. \"I think we should talk about this if you—\"\n\nMelba's scream was unlike anything Anna had heard before, deep and vicious and wild. If the id had a throat, it would have sounded like that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If the devil spoke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something struck the metal door and Anna flinched back. Then another blow. And another. The metal began to bow in, and droplets of blood clung to the vent slits. Her fists, Anna thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She's doing this with her hands." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The screaming was wild now, obscene where it wasn't wordless, and inhuman as a hurricane. The thick metal of the door bent in, the hinges starting to shudder and bend with each new assault. Anna closed her eyes.\n\nThe top hinge gave way, shattering." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, without warning, silence fell." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna waited, sure she was being lulled into a trap. No sound came except a small animal gurgle. She could smell the stomach-turning acid stench of fresh vomit. After what felt like hours, she turned off the magnets and pushed the warped and abused door open.\n\nMelba floated curled against the wall, her hands pressed to her belly and her body shuddering." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Let's engage in a collaborative writing exercise. I'll provide a starting point, and You'll continue with four sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The truth was, distance was always measured in time. It wasn't the sort of thing Bull usually thought about, but his enforced physical stillness was doing strange things with his awareness. Even in the middle of the constant press of events, the calls and coordination, the scolding from his doctor, he felt some part of his mind coming loose. And strange ideas kept floating in, like the way that distance got measured in time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Centuries before, a trip across the Atlantic Ocean could take months." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a town near New Mexico named Wheeless where the story was some ancient travelers of the dust and caliche had a wagon break down and decided that it was easier to put down roots than go on. Technologies had come, each building on the ones before, and months became weeks and then hours. And outside the gravity well, where machines were freed from the tyranny of air resistance and gravity, the effect was even more profound. When the orbits were right, the journey from Luna to Mars could take as little as twelve days." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The trek from Saturn to Ceres, a few months." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And because they were out there with their primate brains, evolved on the plains of prehistoric Africa, everyone had a sense of how far it was. Saturn to Ceres was a few months. Luna to Mars was a few days. Distance was time, and so they didn't get overwhelmed by it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The slow zone had changed that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Looking at a readout, the ships from Earth and Mars were clustered together like a handful of dried peas thrown in the same bowl. They were drifting now, coming together and spreading apart, taking their places in the captured ring around the eerie station. Compared to the volume of ring-bordered sphere, they seemed huddled close. But the distance between them and the Ring was time, and time meant death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From the farthest of the ships to the Behemoth was two days' travel in a shuttle, assuming that the maximum speed didn't ratchet down again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The closest, he could have jumped to. The human universe had contracted, and was contracting more. With every connection, every stark, frightened voice he heard in the long, frantic hours, Bull grew more convinced that his plan could work. The vastness and strangeness and unreasonable danger of the universe had traumatized everyone it hadn't killed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a hunger to go home, to huddle together, back in the village." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The instinct was the opposite of war, and as long as he could see it cultivated, as long as the response to the tragedies of the lockdown were to get one another's backs and see that everyone who needed care got it, the grief and fear might not turn to more violence.\n\nThe feed went to green, then blue, and then Monica Stuart was smiling professionally into the camera. She looked tired, sober, but human. A face people knew." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One they could recognize and feel comfortable with." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ladies and gentlemen,\" she said. \"Welcome to the first broadcast of Radio Free Slow Zone, coming to you from our temporary offices here on board the OPA battleship Behemoth. I am a citizen of Earth and a civilian, but it's my hope that this program can be of some use to all of us in this time of crisis. In addition to bringing whatever unclassified news and information we can, we will also be conducting interviews with the command crews of the ships, civilian leaders on the Thomas Prince, and live musical performances.\n\n\"It's an honor to welcome our first guest, the Reverend Father Hector Cortez.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A graphic window opened, and the priest appeared." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To Bull's eyes, the man looked pretty ragged. The too-bright teeth seemed false and the blazing white hair had a greasy look to it.\n\n\"Father Cortez,\" Monica Stuart said. \"You have been helping with the relief effort on the Thomas Prince?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "For a moment, the man seemed not to have heard her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A smile jerked into place.\n\n\"I have,\" the old man said. \"I have, and it has been... Monica, I'm humbled. I am... humbled.\"\n\nBull turned off the feed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was something. It was better than nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Martian frigate Cavalier, now under the command of a second lieutenant named Scupski, was shutting down its reactors and transferring all its remaining crew and supplies to the Behemoth. The Thomas Prince had agreed to move its wounded, its medical team, and all the remaining civilians—poets, priests, and politicians. Including the dead-eyed Hector Cortez. It was a beginning, but it wasn't all he could do." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they were to keep coming, if the Behemoth was to become the symbol of calm and stability and certainty that he needed it to be, there had to be more." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The broadcast channel could give a voice and a face to the growing consolidation. He'd need to talk to Monica Stuart about it some more. Maybe there could be some sort of organized mourning of the dead. A council with representatives from all sides that could make an evacuation plan and start getting people back through the Ring and home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Except that when the lockdown came, they'd lost all their long-distance ships to it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the Ring itself had retreated, because they had to move so slowly, and because distance was measured in time.\n\nHis hand terminal chirped, and he came back to wakefulness with a start. Outside his room a woman shouted and a man's tense voice replied. Bull recognized the sound of the crash team rushing to try and revive some poor bastard from collapsing into death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He felt for the team of medics." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was doing the same kind of work, just on a different scale. He shifted his arms, scooped up the terminal, and accepted the connection. Serge appeared on the screen.\n\n\"Bist?\" he asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm doing great,\" Bull said dryly. \"What's up?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mars. They got him. Hauling the cabron back alive.\"\n\nInstinctively, uselessly, Bull tried to sit up. He couldn't sit and up was a polite abstraction.\n\n\"Holden?\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Who else, right? He's on a skiff puttering slow for the MCRN Hammurabi. Should be there in a few hours.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Bull said. \"They've got to bring him here.\"\n\nSerge raised his hand in a Belter's nod, but his expression was skeptical.\n\n\"Asi dulcie si, but I don't see them doing it.\"\n\nSomewhere far away down below Bull's chest, the compression sleeves hissed and chuffed and expanded, massaging the blood and lymph around his body now that movement wouldn't keep his fluids from pooling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He couldn't feel it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they'd caught fire, he wouldn't feel it. Something deep and atavistic shifted in fear and disgust as his hindbrain rediscovered his injuries for the thousandth time. Bull ground the heel of his palm against the bridge of his nose.\n\n\"Okay,\" he said. \"I'll see what I can do. What does Sam say about the project?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She got the rail guns off and they're working on cutting back the extra torpedo tubes, but the captain found out and he's throwing grand mal.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, that had to happen sometime,\" Bull said. \"Guess I'll take care of that too. Anything else?\"\n\n\"Unless tu láve mis yannis, I think you got plenty. Take a breath, we'll take a turn, sa sa? You don't have to do it all yourself.\"\n\n\"I've got to do something,\" Bull said as the compression sleeves relaxed with a sigh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be in touch.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tense, low voices drifted in with the burned-moth stink of cauterized flesh. Bull let his gaze focus on the blue-white ceiling above the bed he was strapped to.\n\nHolden was back. They hadn't killed him. If there was one thing that had the potential to destroy the fragile cooperation he was building, it would be the fight over who got to hold James Holden's nuts to a Bunsen burner." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull scratched his shoulder more for the sensation than because it itched and considered the consequences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Protocol was that they'd question him, hold him in detention, and start negotiating extradition with whoever on the Earth side was investigating the Seung Un. Bull's guess was they'd beat him bloody and drop him outside. The man was in custody, but he was responsible for too many deaths to assume he'd be safe there.\n\nIt was time to try hailing the Rocinante again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe this time they'd answer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Since the catastrophe, they'd been silent. Their communications array might have been damaged, they might be staying silent as some sort of political tactic, or they might all be dying or dead. He requested a connection again and waited with no particular hope of being answered.\n\nLater, when they were outside the Ring, people could wrestle for jurisdiction as much as they wanted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Right now, Bull needed them to work together. Maybe if he—" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Against all expectation, the connection to the Rocinante opened. A woman Bull didn't recognize appeared. Pale skin, unrestrained red hair haloing her face. The smudge on her cheek might have been grease or blood." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes,\" the woman said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hello? Who is this? Can you help us?\"\n\n\"My name's Carlos Baca,\" Bull said, swallowing shock and confusion before they could get to his voice. \"I'm chief security officer on the Behemoth. And yes, I can help you.\"\n\n\"Oh, thank God,\" the woman said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So how about you tell me who you are and what the situation is over there.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My name is Anna Volovodov, and I have a woman who tried to kill the crew of the Rocinante in... um... custody? I used all the sedatives in the emergency pack because I can't get into the actual medical bay. I taped her to a chair. Also, I think she may have blown up the Seung Un.\"\n\nBull folded his hands together.\n\n\"Why don't you tell me about that?\" he said.\n\nCaptain Jakande was an older woman, silver-haired with a take-no-shit military attitude that Bull respected, even though he didn't like it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I still don't have orders to release the prisoner,\" Captain Jakande said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't see that it's likely that I'll get them. So for the foreseeable future, no.\"\n\n\"I have a shuttle already going to collect his crew and the woman he accused of being the real saboteur,\" Bull said. \"And last time I looked, I have two dozen of your people slated to come over once we have the drum spun up.\"\n\nJakande nodded once, confirming everything he'd said without being moved by any of it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull knotted his fingers together and squeezed until the knuckles were white, but he did it out of range of the communication deck's cameras." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's going to be better for all of us if we can get everyone together,\" Bull said. \"Pool resources and plan the evacuation. If you don't have shuttles, I can arrange transportation for you and your crew. There's plenty of space here.\"\n\n\"I agree that it would be better to be under a single command,\" Jakande said. \"If you are offering to turn over the Behemoth, I'm willing to accept control and responsibility.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not where I was taking that, no,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I didn't think so.\"\n\n\"Mister Baca,\" Ashford barked from the doorway. Bull held out a hand in a just-a-minute gesture.\n\n\"This is something we're going to have to revisit,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I've got a lot of respect for you and your position, and I'm sure we can find a way to get this done right.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her expression made it clear she didn't see anything wrong.\n\n\"I'll be in touch,\" Bull said, and dropped the connection. So much for the pleasant part of his day. Ashford pulled himself through the door, coming to rest against the wall nearest the foot of Bull's bed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He looked angry, but it was a different kind of angry." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull was used to seeing Ashford cautious, even tentative. This man wasn't either. Everything about him spoke of barely restrained rage. Grief makes people crazy, Bull thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Grief and guilt and embarrassment all together maybe did worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe it broke people.\n\nPa floated in behind him, her eyes cast down. Her face had the odd waxy look that came from exhaustion. The doctor followed her, and then Serge and Macondo looking anyplace but at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The crowd filled the little room past its capacity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mister Baca,\" Ashford said, biting at each syllable. \"I understand you gave the order to disarm the ship. Is that true?\"\n\n\"Disarm the ship?\" Bull said, and looked at Doctor Sterling. Her gaze was straight on and unreadable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I had Sam take the rail guns off so we could spin up the drum.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And you did this without my permission.\"\n\n\"Permission for what?\"\n\nBlood darkened Ashford's face, and rage roughened his voice.\n\n\"The rail guns are a central component of this ship's defensive capabilities.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Not if they don't work,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I had her take apart the thrust-gravity water reclamation system too. Rebuild it at ninety degrees so it'll use the spin. You want me to run through all the stuff I'm having her repurpose because it doesn't work anymore, or are we just caring about the guns?\"\n\n\"I also understand that you have authorized non-OPA personnel to have access to the communications channels of the ship? Earthers. Martians. All the people we came out here to keep in line.\"\n\n\"Is that why we came out here?\" Bull said. It wasn't a denial, and that seemed to be close enough to a confession for Ashford." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Besides which, it wasn't like Bull had been hiding it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And enemy military personnel? You're bringing them aboard my ship as well?\"\n\nPa had agreed to everything Ashford was listing off. But she stood behind the captain, not speaking up, expression unreadable. Bull wasn't sure what was going on between the captain and his XO, but if they were working out some internal power struggle, Bull knew which side he'd want to end up on." }, { "from": "human", "value": "So he bit the bullet and didn't mention Pa's involvement." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes, I'm bringing in everyone I can get. Humanitarian outreach and consolidation of control. It's textbook. A second-year would know to do it.\" Pa winced at that.\n\n\"Mister Baca, you have exceeded your authority. You have ignored the chain of command. All orders given by you, all permissions granted by you, are hereby revoked. I am relieving you of duty and instructing that you be placed in a medical coma until such time as you can be evacuated.\"\n\n\"Like fuck you are,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't intended to, but the words came out like a reflex." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They seemed to float in the air between them, and Bull discovered that he'd meant them.\n\n\"This isn't open for debate,\" Ashford said coldly.\n\n\"Damn right it's not,\" Bull said. \"The reason you're in charge of this mission and not me is that Fred Johnson didn't think the crew would be comfortable with an Earther running a Belter ship. You got the job because you kissed all the right political asses. You know what? Good for you. Hope your career takes off like a fucking rocket. Pa's here for the same reason. She's got the right-sized head, though at least hers doesn't seem to be empty.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's a racist insult,\" Ashford said, trying to interrupt, \"and I won't have—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm here because they needed someone who could get the job done and they knew we were screwed. And you know what? We're still screwed. But I'm going to get us out of here, and I'm going to keep Fred from being embarrassed by what we did here, and you are going to stay out of my way while I do it, you pinche motherfucker.\"\n\n\"That's enough, Mister Baca. I will—\"\n\n\"You know it's true,\" Bull said, shifting to face Pa. Her expression was closed, empty." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If he's in charge of this, he's going to get it wrong. You've seen it. You know—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You will stop addressing the XO, Mister Baca.\"\n\n\"—what kind of decisions he makes. He'll send them back to their ships, even if it means people die because—\"\n\n\"You are relieved. You will be—\"\n\n\"—he wasn't the one that invited them. It's going to—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"—quiet. I do not give you permission—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"—make all of this more dangerous, and if someone—\"\n\n\"—to speak to my staff. You will be—\"\n\n\"—else pisses that thing off, we could all—\"\n\n\"—quiet!\" Ashford shouted, and he pushed forward, his mouth in a square gape of rage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hit the medical bed too hard, pressing into Bull, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him hard enough to snap his teeth shut." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I told you to shut up!\"\n\nThe restraints opened under Ashford's attack, the Velcro ripping. Pain lanced through Bull's neck like someone was pushing a screwdriver into his back. He tried to push the captain away, but there was nothing to grab hold of." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His knuckles cracked against something hard: the table, the wall, something else." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He couldn't say what. People around him were shouting. His balance felt profoundly wrong, the dead weight of his body flowing limp and useless in the empty air, but tugged at by the tubes and the catheters.\n\nWhen the world made sense again, he was at a forty-degree angle above the table, his head pointing down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa and Macondo were gripping Ashford's arms, the captain's hands bent into claws." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Serge was bunched against the wall, ready to launch but not sure what direction he should go.\n\nDoctor Sterling appeared at his side, gathering his legs and drawing him quickly and professionally back toward the bed.\n\n\"Could we please not assault the patient with the crushed spinal cord,\" she said as she did, \"because this makes me very uncomfortable.\"\n\nAnother vicious flare of pain, hot and sharp and evil, ran through Bull's neck and upper back as she strapped him down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One of the tubes was floating free, blood and a bit of flesh adhering to its end." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't know what part of his body it had come out of. Pa was looking at him, and he kept his voice calm.\n\n\"We've already screwed up twice. We came through the Ring, and we let soldiers go on the station. We won't get a third. We can get everyone together, and we can get them out of here.\"\n\n\"That's dangerous talk, mister,\" Ashford spat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I can't be captain,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Even if I wasn't stuck in this bed, I'm an Earther. There has to be a Belter in charge. Fred was right about that.\"\n\nAshford pulled his arms free of Pa and Macondo, plucked his sleeves back into trim, and steadied himself against the wall.\n\n\"Doctor, place Mister Baca in a medical coma. That is a direct order.\"\n\n\"Serge,\" Bull said. \"I need you to take Captain Ashford into custody, and I need you to do it now.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No one moved. Serge scratched his neck, the sounds of fingernails against stubble louder than anything in the room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pa's gaze locked in the middle distance, her face sour and angry. Ashford's eyes narrowed, cutting over toward her. When she spoke, her voice was dead and joyless.\n\n\"Serge. You heard what the chief said.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford gathered himself to launch for Pa, but Serge already had a restraining hand on the captain's shoulder." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is mutiny,\" Ashford said. \"There'll be a reckoning for this.\"\n\n\"You need to come with us now,\" Serge said. Macondo took Ashford's other arm and put it in an escort hold, and the three of them left together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa stayed against the wall, held steady by a strap, while the doctor, tutting and muttering under her breath, replaced the catheters and checked the monitors and tubes attached to his skin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the most part, he didn't feel it.\n\nWhen she was done, the doctor left the room. The door slid closed behind her. For almost a minute, neither of them spoke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Guess your opinion on mutiny changed,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Apparently,\" Pa said, and sighed. \"He's not thinking straight. And he's drinking too much.\"\n\n\"He made the decision that brought us all here. He can sign his name to all the corpses on all those ships.\"\n\n\"I don't think he sees it that way,\" Pa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, \"But I think he's putting a lot of effort into not seeing it that way. And he's slipping. I don't think... I don't think he's well.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It'd be easier if he had an accident,\" Bull said.\n\nPa managed a smile. \"I haven't changed that much, Mister Baca.\"\n\n\"Didn't figure. But I had to say it,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Let's focus on getting everyone safe, and then getting everyone home,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It was a nice career while it lasted. I'm sorry it's ending this way.\"\n\n\"Maybe it is,\" Bull said. \"But did you come out here to win medals or to do the right thing?\"\n\nPa's smile was thin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'd hoped for both,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing wrong with a little optimism, long as it doesn't set policy,\" he said. \"I'm going to keep on getting everyone on the Behemoth.\"\n\n\"No weapons but ours,\" she said. \"We keep taking all comers, but not if it means having an armed force on the ship.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Already done,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Pa closed her eyes. It was easy to forget how much younger than him she was. This wasn't her first tour, but it could have been her second. Bull tried to imagine what he'd have felt like, still half a kid, throwing his commanding officer into the brig." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Scared as hell, probably." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You did the right thing,\" he said.\n\n\"You'd have to say that. I backed your play.\"\n\nBull nodded. \"I did the right thing. Thank you for supporting me, Captain. Please know that I'll be returning that favor as long as you sit in the big chair.\"\n\n\"We aren't friends,\" she said\n\n\"Don't have to be, so long as we get the job done.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like James S. A. Corey and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The marines weren't gentle, but they were professional. Holden had seen Martian powered armor used by a recon marine before. As they moved back through the caverns and tunnels of the station, Holden in thick foam restraints slung across one soldier's back like a piece of equipment, he was aware of how much danger he was in. The men and women in the suits had just watched one of their own be killed and eaten by an alien, they were deep within territory as threatening and unfamiliar as anything he could imagine, and the odds were better than even that they were all blaming him for it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That he wasn't dead already spoke to discipline, training, and a professionalism he would have respected even if his life hadn't depended on it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whatever frequencies they were speaking on he didn't have access to, so the furtive journey from the display chamber or whatever it had been back to the surface all happened in eerie silence as far as he was concerned. He kept hoping to catch a glimpse of Miller. Instead, they passed by the insectile machines, now as still as statues, and over the complex turf. He thought he could see something like a pattern in the waves and ripples that passed along the walls and floor, complicated and beautiful as raindrops falling on the surface of a lake, or music." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It didn't comfort him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried to get through to the Rocinante, to Naomi, but the marine he was strapped to had either disabled his suit radio when they were restraining him or something had jammed the signal. One way or another, he couldn't get anything. Not from the Roci, not from the marines, not from anywhere. There was only the gentle loping and an almost unbearable dread." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His suit gave him a low air warning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't have any sense of where they were or how far they'd gone. The surface of the station might be through the next tunnel or they might not have reached the halfway point. Or, for that matter, the station could be changing around them, and the way they'd come in might not exist. The suit said he had another twenty minutes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Hey!\" he shouted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried to swing his legs against the armor of the person carrying him. \"Hey! I'm going to need air!\"\n\nThe marine didn't respond. No matter how hard Holden tried to thrash, his strength and leverage were a rounding error compared to the abilities of the powered armor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All he could do was hope that he wasn't about to die from an oversight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Worrying about that was actually better than wondering about Naomi and Alex and Amos.\n\nThe air gauge was down to three minutes and Holden had shouted himself hoarse when the marine carrying him crouched slightly, hopped up, and the station fell away beneath them. The luminescent surface irised closed behind them, automatic and unthinking. The skiff hung in the vacuum not more than five hundred meters away, its exterior lights making it the brightest thing in the eerie starless sky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They found their way into the mass airlock quickly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden's suit was blaring its emergency, the carbon dioxide levels crept up toward the critical level, and he had to fight to catch his breath.\n\nThe marine flipped him into a wall-mounted holding bar and strapped him in.\n\n\"I'm out of air!\" Holden screamed. \"Please!\"\n\nThe marine reached out and cracked the seal on Holden's suit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The rush of air smelled like old plastic and poorly recycled urine." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden sucked it in like it was roses. The marine popped off his own helmet. His real head looked perversely small in the bulk of the combat armor.\n\n\"Sergeant Verbinski!\" a woman's voice snapped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes, sir,\" the marine who'd been carrying him said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"There something wrong with the prisoner?\"\n\n\"He ran out of air a few minutes back.\"\n\nThe woman grunted. Nothing more was said about it.\n\nThe acceleration burn, when it came, was almost subliminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A tiny sensation of weight settling Holden into his suit, gone as soon as it came." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The marines murmured among themselves and ignored him. It was all the confirmation he needed. What Miller had said was true. The slow zone's top speed had changed again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And from the expressions on their faces, he guessed that the casualties had been terrible." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I need to check in with my ship,\" he said. \"Can someone contact the Rocinante, please?\" No one answered him. He pressed his luck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My crew may be hurt. If we could just—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Someone shut the prisoner up,\" the woman who'd spoken before said. He still couldn't see her. The nearest marine, a thick-jawed man with skin so black it seemed blue turned toward him. Holden braced himself for a threat or violence." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"There's nothing you could do,\" the man said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please be quiet now.\"\n\nHis cell in the brig of the Hammurabi was a little over a meter and a half wide and three meters deep. The crash couch was a dirty blue and the walls and floor a uniform white that gleamed in the harsh light of the overhead LED. The jumpsuit he'd been issued felt like thick paper and crackled when he moved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When the guards came for him, they didn't bother putting the restraints back on his arms and legs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The captain floated near a desk, her close-cropped silver hair making her look like an ancient Roman emperor. Holden was strapped into a crash couch that was canted slightly forward, so that he had to look up at her, even without the convenience of an up.\n\n\"I am Captain Jakande,\" she said. \"You are a military prisoner. Do you understand what that means?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was in the navy,\" Holden said. \"I understand.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good. That'll cut about half an hour of legal bullshit.\"\n\n\"I'll happily tell you everything I know,\" Holden said. \"No need for the rough stuff.\"\n\nThe captain smiled like winter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you were anyone else, I'd think that was a figure of speech,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What is your relationship to the structure at the center of the slow zone? What were you doing there?\"\n\nHe had spent so many months trying not to talk about Miller, trying not to tell anyone anything. Except Naomi, and even then he'd felt guilty putting the burden of the mystery on her. On one hand, the chance to unburden himself pulled at him like gravity. On the other..." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He took a deep breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This is going to sound a little strange,\" he said.\n\n\"All right.\"\n\n\"Shortly after the protomolecule construct lifted off from Venus and headed out to start assembling the Ring? I was... contacted by Detective Josephus Miller. The one who rode Eros down onto Venus. Or at least something that looked and talked like him. He's shown up every few weeks since then, and I came to the conclusion that the protomolecule was using him. Well, him and Julie Mao, who was the first one to be infected, to drive me out through the Ring. I thought that they... it wanted me to come here.\"\n\nThe captain's expression didn't change." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden felt a strange lump in his throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He didn't want to be having this conversation here. He wanted to be talking with Naomi in their bedroom on the Rocinante. Or at a bar on Ceres. It didn't matter where. Only who." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Was she dead? Had the station killed her?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Go on,\" the captain said.\n\n\"Apparently I was mistaken,\" Holden said.\n\nHe began with the journey out, with the protomolecule's vision of Miller waiting for him at the station. The attack by her marine, and the consequences as Miller explained them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The visions of the vast empire and the darkness that flowed over it, the death of suns." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He relaxed as he went along, the words coming easier, faster. He sounded insane even to himself. Visions no one else could see. Vast secrets revealed only to him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Except it had all been a mistake." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd thought he was important. That he was special and chosen, and that what had happened to him and his crew had been dictated by a vast and mysterious power. He'd misunderstood everything. Doors and corners, Miller had said, and because he hadn't puzzled out what the dead man meant by it, they'd all come through the Ring. And to the station." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His relief and his growing self-disgust mingled with every phrase." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd been a fool dancing at the edge of the cliff, because he'd been sure that he couldn't fall. Not him.\n\n\"And then I was here, talking to you,\" he said dryly. \"I don't know what happens next.\"\n\n\"All right,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her expression gave away nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You'll want a full medical workup to see if there's anything organically wrong with my brain,\" Holden said.\n\n\"Probably,\" the captain said. \"My medical staff has its hands full at the moment. You will be kept in administrative detention for the time being.\"\n\n\"I understand,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But I need to get in contact with my crew. You can monitor the connection. I don't care. I just need to know they're okay.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The angle of the captain's mouth asked why he thought they were.\n\n\"I'll try to get a report to you,\" she said. \"Everyone's scrambling right now, and the situation could get worse quickly.\"\n\n\"Is it bad, then?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It is.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Time in his cell passed slowly. A guard brought tubes of rations: protein, oil, water, and vegetable paste. Sometimes it had a nearly homeopathic dose of curry. It was food meant to keep you alive." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything after that was your own problem." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden ate it because he had to stay alive. He had to find his crew, his ship. He had to get out of there.\n\nHe had seen a massive alien empire fall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd seen suns blown apart." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd watched a man overwhelmed and slaughtered by nightmare mechanisms on a space station that human hands hadn't built. All he could think about was Naomi and Amos and Alex. How they were going to keep their ship. How they were going to get home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And home meant anyplace but here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not for the first time, he wished they were all transporting sketchy boxes of unknown cargo to Titania. He floated in the coffin-sized cell and tried not to go crazy from the toxic combination of inaction and mind-bending fear.\n\nEven if the whole crew was well, he was in custody of Mars now. He hadn't harmed the Seung Un, and everyone would know that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He hadn't made the false broadcast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All the things they were accusing him of could fall away, and there would still be the fact that Mars would take away his ship. He tried to focus on that despair, because as bad as it would be, if he kept the ship and lost his crew, that would feel worse.\n\n\"You've got lousy taste in friends,\" Miller said.\n\n\"Where the hell have you been?\" Holden snapped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The dead man shrugged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the cramped quarters, Holden could smell the man's breath. A firefly flicker of blue sped around Miller's head like a low-slung halo and vanished.\n\n\"Time's hard,\" he said, as if the comment carried its own context. \"Anyway, we were talking about something.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The station. The lockdown.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Right,\" Miller said, nodding. He plucked off his ridiculous hat and scratched his temple. \"That. So the thing is, as long as there's a shitload of high energy floating around, the station's not going to get comfortable. You guys have, what? Twenty big ships?\"\n\n\"About that, I guess.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They've all got fusion reactions. They've all got massive internal power grids. Not a big deal by themselves, but the station's been spooked a couple times. It's jumpy. You're going to have to give it a little massage. Show that you're not a threat. Do that, and I'm pretty sure I can get you moving again. That or it'll break you all down to your component atoms.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It'll what?\"\n\nMiller's smile was apologetic.\n\n\"Sorry,\" he said. \"Joke. Just get the reactors off-line and the internal grids off. It'll get you below threshold, and I can take it from there. I mean, if that's what you decide you want to do.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, if?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden shifted. The ceiling brushed against his shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He couldn't stretch in here. There wasn't room for two people.\n\nThere wasn't room for two people.\n\nFor a fraction of a second, his brain tried to fit two images—Miller floating beside him and the too-small cell—together and failed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The flesh on his back felt like there were insects crawling all over it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The two things couldn't both be true, and his brain shuddered and recoiled from the fact that they were. Miller coughed.\n\n\"Don't do that,\" he said. \"This is hard enough the way it is. What I mean by if is that lockdown's lockdown. I don't get to pick what part of the trap gets unsprung. If I take off the dampening and you all start burning for home or shooting at each other or whatever, that means I also open the gates. All of them.\"\n\n\"Including the ones with the burned-up stars?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Miller said. \"Those gates are gone. Only real star systems on the other side of the ones that are left.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is that a problem?\"\n\n\"Depends on what comes through,\" Miller said. \"That's a lot of doors to kick down all at once.\" The only sound was the hiss of the air recyclers." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miller nodded as if Holden had said something." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The other option is figure out a way to sneak back home with your tails between your legs and try and pretend this all never happened.\"\n\n\"You think we should do that?\"\n\n\"I think there was an empire once that touched thousands of stars. The Eros bug? That's one of their tools. It's a wrench. And something was big enough to put a bullet in them. Whatever it is could be waiting behind one of those gates, waiting for someone to do something stupid. So maybe you'd rather set up shop here. Make little doomed babies. Live and die in the darkness. But at least whatever's out there stays out there.\"\n\nHolden put his hand on the crash couch to steady himself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His heart was beating a mile a minute, and his hands were clammy and pale." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He felt like he might throw up, and wondered whether he could get the vacuum commode working in time. In his memory, stars died.\n\n\"You think that's what we should do?\" he asked. \"Be quiet and get the hell out of here?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, I want to open 'em. I've learned everything I can get from here, especially in lockdown. I want to figure out what happened, and that means going and taking a look at the scene.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're the machine that finds things.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Miller said. \"Consider the source, right? You might want to talk about it with someone who's not dead. You people have more to lose than I do.\"\n\nHolden thought for a moment, then smiled. Then laughed.\n\n\"I'm not sure it matters. I'm not in much of a position to set policy,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That's true,\" Miller said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Nothing personal, but you've got lousy taste in friends.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Write 4 sentences sentences in the style of James S. A. Corey spawning from what the user wrote." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was in her prison cell when they spun up the drum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In its previous life, the cell had been some sort of veterinary ward for large animals. Horses, maybe. Or cows. A dozen stalls, six to a side, with brushed steel walls and bars. Real bars, just like all the old videos, except with a little swinging door at the top where they could shovel in hay." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everything else was antiseptic white. Everything was locked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her clothes were gone, replaced by a simple pale pink jumpsuit. Her hand terminal was gone. She didn't miss it. She floated in the center of the space, the walls just out of reach of her fingers and toes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had taken a dozen attempts, reaching the wall and pushing back more and more gently, to find just the right thrust for the air resistance to stop her out where nothing could touch or be touched." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Where she could float and be trapped by floating.\n\nThe man in the other cell bounced off his walls. He laughed and he shouted, but mostly he sulked. She ignored him. He was easy to ignore." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air surrounding her had a slight breeze, the way everything did in a ship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd heard a story once on the way out about a ship whose circulation failed in the middle of a night shift. The whole crew had died from the zone of exhausted gas that bubbled around them, drowning in their own recycled air. She didn't think the story was true, because they would have woken up. They would have gasped and thrashed around and gotten up out of their couches, and so they would have lived." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People who wanted to live did that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "People who wanted to die, on the other hand, just floated.\n\nThe Klaxons sounded through the whole ship, the blatting tone resonating through the decks, taking on a voice like a vast trumpet. First, a warning. Then another. Then another. Then, silently, the bars retreated from her, falling away, and the back wall touched her shoulder like it wanted her attention but hesitated to ask." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Inch by inch, her skin came to rest against the wall." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For almost half a minute, the wall touched her, its energy and her inertia pressing them together like praying hands. The drum's acceleration was invisible to her. She only felt the spin sweeping her forward, and then because forward, down. Her body slid inch by inch, moving down the wall toward the deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her body began to take on weight; the joints in her knees and spine shifting, bearing load." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She remembered reading somewhere that a woman coming back from a long time at null g could have grown almost two inches just from the disks in her spine never having the fluid pushed out of them. Between that and the muscle atrophy, coming back to weight—spin, thrust, or gravity—was the occasion for the most injury. Spinal disks were supposed to be pushed on, supposed to have the fluids go into them and back out. Without that, they turned into water balloons, and sometimes, they popped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her knee brushed the floor, then pressed into it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had to have been an hour or more since the Klaxons. Up and down existed again, and she let down take her. She folded against herself, empty as damp paper. There was a drain in the floor, white ceramic unstained by any animal's blood or piss." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lights overhead flickered and grew steady again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The other prisoner was shouting for something. Food, maybe. Water. A guard to escort him to the head.\n\nIt was natural to think of it as the head now. Not the restroom. Not the water closet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't call for anyone to help her, she just felt her body grow heavier, being pulled down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And because down, out. It wasn't real gravity, so it wasn't real weight. It was her mass trying to fly off into the dark and being restrained. Someone came for the other prisoner." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She watched the thick plastic boots flicker across her line of sight. Then voices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Words like loyal and mutiny. Phrases like When the time's right and Restore order. They washed over her and she let them go. Her head hurt a little where her temple pushed against the floor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wanted to sleep, but she was afraid to dream." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "More footsteps, the same boots going the other way, passing her. More voices. The boots coming back. The deep metallic clank of the shackle being taken off the stall's door. Her body didn't move, but her attention focused." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The guard was different." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A woman with broad shoulders and a gun in her hand. She looked at Melba, shrugged, and put a hand terminal into her field of vision.\n\nThe man on the screen didn't look like a cop. His skin was pale brown, like cookie dough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was something strange about the shape of his face—broad chin, dark eyes, wrinkles in his forehead and the corners of his mouth—that she couldn't place until he spoke and she saw him in motion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then it was clear he was lying down and looking up at the camera.\n\n\"My name's Carlos Baca,\" the lying-down man said. \"I'm in charge of security on the Behemoth. So this prison you're in? It's mine.\"\n\nAll right, Melba thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You, now. I'm thinking you got a story to tell. The UN records of your DNA says you're Melba Koh. A bunch of people I've got no reason to disbelieve say you're Clarissa Mao. The XO of the Rocinante says you tried to kill her, and this Russian priest lady's backing her story. And then there's this sound engineer who says you hired him to place interruption electronics on the Rocinante.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He went quiet for a moment. \"Any of that ringing a bell?\"\n\nThe case on the hand terminal was green ceramic. Or maybe enameled metal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not plastic. A hairline scratch in the screen made an extra mark across the man's cheek, like a pirate's dueling scar in a kid's book." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right, how about this,\" he said. \"Doctor says you've got a modified endocrine bundle. The kind of things terrorists use when they need to do something showy and hard to detect. And, you know, they don't give a shit if it turns their nervous system into soup in a few years. Not the kind of thing a maintenance tech could afford. Or have much reason to get.\"\n\nIt felt strange, the weight of her head pressing against the floor and looking down from the camera into the man's face both at the same time. Partly, she supposed that was from being weightless for so long." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her brain was still getting used to the spin gravity after relying on visual clues, and now here was this anomalous visual cue." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She knew intellectually what it was, but the special analysis part of her brain still gnawed at it.\n\nThe man on the screen—he'd said his name, but she didn't remember it—pressed his lips together, then coughed once. It was a wet sound, like he was fighting off pneumonia.\n\n\"I don't think you understand how much trouble you're in,\" he said. \"There's people accusing you of blowing up an Earth military vessel, and the case they're building is pretty goddamn good." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You can take it from me, the UN has no sense of humor about that kind of thing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They will kill you. You understand that? They'll put you in front of a military tribunal, listen to a couple lawyers for maybe fifteen, twenty minutes. Then they'll blow your brains out. I can help you avoid that, but you have to talk to me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know what I think? I don't think you're a professional. I think you're an amateur. You made a bunch of amateur mistakes, and things got away from you. You tell me if I'm right, and we'll go from there. But you keep playing this catatonia shit, and you're going to get killed. Do you understand what I'm saying?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had a good voice. It had what her singing coach would have called a thorough range. Deep as gravel, but with reedy overtones. It was the kind of voice she'd expect in a man who'd been well bruised by the world." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her singing voice had always been a little reedy too, like her father's." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Petyr, poor thing, had never been able to hold a melody. The others—Michael, Anthea, Julie, Mother—had all had very pure voices. Like flutes. The problem with a flute was that it couldn't help being pure. Even sorrow sounded posed and over-lovely when the flute was expressing it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Reeds had that deeper buzz, that dirtiness, and it gave the sound authenticity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She and her father were reeds.\n\n\"Corin?\" the man on the screen said. \"Does she understand what I'm saying?\"\n\nThe woman with the gun picked up the hand terminal, looked down at Melba, and then into the screen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't think so, chief.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The doctor said there wasn't any brain damage.\"\n\n\"Did,\" the woman agreed. \"That don't make her right, though.\"\n\nThe sigh carried." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay,\" the man's voice said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're going to have to go from a different angle. I got an idea, but you should come back in first.\"\n\n\"Sa sa,\" the woman said. She stepped out of the cell. The bars closed again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were narrow enough to keep a horse's hoof from passing through." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could imagine a horse trying to kick, getting its leg stuck, panicking. That would be bad. Better to avoid the problem. Wiser. Easier to stay out than to get out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone had said that to her once, but she didn't know who." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey. Hey,\" the other prisoner said. He wasn't shouting, just talking loud enough that his voice carried. \"Was that true? You have glandular implants? Can you break the door? I'm the captain of this ship. If you can get me out of here, I can help you.\"\n\nJulie had been the best singer, except that she wouldn't do it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Didn't like performing. Father had been the performer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He'd always been the one to lead when there were songs to be sung. He was always the one to direct the poses when the family pictures were taken. He was a man who knew what he wanted and how to get it. Only he was in prison now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not even a name, only a number." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wondered whether his cell was like hers. It would be nice if it was. Only his would be under a full g, of course. The spin gravity wasn't even up to a half g. Maybe a third, maybe even less." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Like Mars or Ceres." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Funny that of all the places humans lived, the Earth was always the highest gravity. It was like if you could escape from home, you could escape from anything.\n\n\"Are you there? Are you awake? I saw them bring you in. Help me, and I'll help you. Amnesty. I can get you amnesty. And protection. They can't extradite from Ceres.\"\n\nThat wasn't true, and she knew it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Annoyance almost moved her to speak." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Moved her to move. But not quite. The floor was a single sheet of polymer plating, formed to slant down to the drain. With her head against the floor like this, the drain was hardly more than a black line in a field of white. A crow on a frozen lake." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I have been taken prisoner in an illegal mutiny,\" the man said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We can help each other.\"\n\nShe wasn't entirely sure that she could be helped. Or if she could, what she would be helped to do. She remembered wanting something once." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden. That was right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd wanted him dead and worse than dead. Her fantasies of it were so strong, they were like memories. But no, she had done it. Everyone had hated him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They'd tried to kill him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But something else had gone wrong, and they'd thought that Julie did it.\n\nShe'd been so close. If she could have killed the Rocinante, they would never have found her. If she'd died on it, they'd never have been sure, and Holden would have gone down in history as the smug, self-righteous bastard that he was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But her father would have known." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All that way away, he'd have heard what happened, and he would have guessed that she'd done it. His daughter. The one he could finally be proud of.\n\nIt occurred to her that the other prisoner had gone quiet. That was fine. He was annoying. Her knees ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her temple hurt where it pressed against the floor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They called bedsores pressure sores. She wondered how long it took for skin to macerate just from not moving. Probably a pretty long time, and she was basically healthy. She wondered how long it had been since she'd moved." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had been a long time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She found she was oddly proud of that.\n\nThe footsteps came again. More of them, this time. The plastic boots made a satisfying clump-clump, but there were other ones now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "High, clicking footsteps, like a dog's claws on tile." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt a tiny flicker of curiosity, like a candle in a cathedral. The boots came, and with them, little blue pumps. An older woman's ankles. The bars clanked and swung open." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The pumps hesitated at the threshold, and then came in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Once they were in motion, the steps were confident. Sure.\n\nThe woman in the pumps sat, her back against the wall. Tilly Fagan looked down at her. Her hair was dyed, and her lipstick the same improbable red that made her lips look fuller than they were." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Claire, honey?\" The words were soft and uncomfortable. \"It's me.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tension crawled up her back and into her cheeks. Tension, and resentment at the tension. Aunt Tilly didn't have any right to be here. She shouldn't have been." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly put a hand out, reaching down and stroking her head like it was a cat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The first human touch she could remember since she'd come to. The first gentle one she could remember at all. When Tilly spoke, her voice was low and soft and full of regret.\n\n\"They found your friend.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't have a friend, she thought, and then something deep under her sternum shifted and went hollow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ren. They'd found Ren. She pulled her arm out from under her body, pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. The tears were warm and unwelcome and thick as a flood. They'd found Ren. They'd opened her tool chest and found his bones and now Soledad would know." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And Bob and Stanni." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd know what she'd done. The first sob was like a cough, and then the one after it and the one after, and Tilly's arms were around her. And God help her, she was screaming and crying into Tilly Fagan's thighs while the woman stroked her hair and made little hushing sounds.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" she shrieked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The words ripped at her throat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They had hooks on them. \"I'm sorry. I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"I know, honey. I know.\"\n\nShe had her arms around Tilly's waist now, burying her face against her side, holding on to her like Tilly's body could keep her from sinking down." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From drowning. The guard said something, and she felt Tilly shaking her head no, the motion translated through their bodies." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I did it,\" she said. \"I killed him. I thought I had to. I told him to look at the readout so that he'd bend, so that he'd bend his neck, and he did. And I—and I—and I—Oh, God, I'm going to puke.\"\n\n\"Trashy people puke,\" Tilly said. \"Ladies are unwell.\"\n\nIt made her laugh." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Despite everything, Clarissa laughed, and then she put her head down again and cried." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her chest hurt so badly she was sure something really was breaking. Aortic aneurysm, pulmonary embolism, something. Sorrow couldn't really feel like a heart breaking, could it? That was just a phrase." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It went on forever." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then past that, and then it slowed. Her body was as limp as a rag. Tilly's blouse was soaked with tears and snot and saliva, but she was still sitting just as she'd been. Her hand still ran through Clarissa's hair." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her fingernails traced the curve of her ear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You put the bomb on the Seung Un,\" Tilly said, \"and framed Jim Holden for it.\"\n\nIt wasn't a question or an accusation. She didn't want Clarissa to confess, just to confirm. Clarissa nodded against Tilly's lap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she spoke, her voice clicked and her throat felt thick and raw." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He hurt Daddy. Had to do something.\"\n\nTilly sighed.\n\n\"Your father is a first-class shit,\" she said, and because it was her saying it, it didn't hurt to hear.\n\n\"I've got to tell the chief,\" the guard said, apology in her voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I mean about what happened. He wants me to report in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm not stopping you,\" Tilly said.\n\n\"You need to come with me,\" the guard said. \"I can't leave you there with her. It's not safe.\"\n\nA flash of panic lit her mind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't be alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not now. They couldn't leave her locked up and alone.\n\n\"Don't be ridiculous,\" Tilly said. \"You go do whatever it is you need to do. I'll be here with Claire.\"\n\n\"Ah. That girl killed a lot of people, ma'am.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The silence was just a beat, and without shifting her head, Clarissa knew what look was on Tilly's face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The guard cleared her throat.\n\n\"I'll have to lock the door, ma'am.\"\n\n\"Do what you need to, Officer,\" Tilly said.\n\nThe bars shifted and crashed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lock clacked home." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The footsteps retreated. Clarissa wept for Ren. Maybe the others would come later. The dead soldiers on the Seung Un. Holden's lover whom she'd beaten and brutalized." }, { "from": "human", "value": "All the men and women who'd died because they'd followed Holden through the Ring." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Now write approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She might have tears for them, but now it was only Ren, and she didn't think she would stop in her lifetime.\n\n\"I deserve to die,\" she said. \"I've become a very bad person.\"\n\nTilly didn't disagree, but she didn't stop cradling her either.\n\n\"There's someone I'd like you to talk to,\" she said." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Hey can you write like James S. A. Corey and use whatever i write as a jumping off point?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security force had come first, three soldiers in a shuttle with guns and restraints for Melba." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or Clarissa. Whoever she was. Then, much later, a medical evacuation had come, taking the Rocinante's crew.\n\nAnna's own ride arrived almost a day later, not an afterthought, but not a priority. The way things had all come about, she thought not being a priority was probably a sign things were going well for her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she arrived on the Behemoth, she had expected to see someone from that ship's security team." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or, if they were well enough, maybe Naomi and the other two crewmen from the Rocinante.\n\nHector Cortez stood in the shuttle bay. He smiled when he saw her and raised his hand in a little wave of greeting. The motion reminded her of her grandfather in his failing days: careful and a little awkward." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She thought Cortez had aged a decade in a few days, then realized he must have been injured in the catastrophe." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Anna,\" he said. \"I am so glad to see you.\"\n\nThe Behemoth's massive drum section was spinning now, creating a vertigo-inducing false gravity. Anna's feet told her that she was standing on solid ground. Her inner ear argued that she was falling over sideways, and kept trying to get her to tilt her body the other direction." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't enough to make her steps unsteady, but it did make everything feel a little surreal." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Having Hector Cortez, celebrity and minister to the powerful, kiss her cheek didn't make things any less dreamlike.\n\n\"It's good to see you too,\" she said. \"I didn't know you were on the Behemoth.\"\n\n\"We've all come,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They've left the smallest of crews on the Thomas Prince, and we've all come here. All of us that are left. We've lost so many. I attended services yesterday for the fallen. Father Michel. Rabbi Black. Paolo Sedon.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt a little twinge of dread.\n\n\"Alonzo Guzman?\"\n\nCortez shook his head.\n\n\"Neither alive nor dead,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They have him in a medical coma, but he's not expected to survive.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna remembered the man's pleading eyes. If she'd only found help for him sooner...\n\n\"I'm sorry to have missed that service,\" she said.\n\n\"I know,\" Cortez said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's why I wanted to meet you. May I walk with you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Of course,\" Anna said. \"But I don't know where I'm going.\"\n\n\"Then I will give you the basic orientation,\" the old man said, turning a degree and sweeping his hand toward the shuttle bay. \"Come with me, and I will bring you to the glory of the lift system.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna chuckled and let him lead the way." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He walked carefully too. Not mincing, but not striding. He seemed like a different person than the one who'd called the three factions of humanity together to pass through the Ring and into the unknown. It was more than just how he held his body too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I thought it was important that those of us who were part of the petition speak at the service,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wanted our regret to have a voice.\"\n\n\"Our regret?\"\n\nHe nodded.\n\n\"Yours. Mine. All of us who advised that we come to this darkness. It was hubris, and the innocent have suffered because of it. Died for listening to our bad advice. God has humbled me.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "His voice still had the richness of a lifetime's practice, but there was a new note in it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A high, childlike whine underneath the grandeur. Sympathy for his distress and an uncharitable annoyance sprang up in her.\n\n\"I don't know that I see it that way,\" she said. \"We didn't come here to glorify ourselves. We did it to keep people from fighting. To remind ourselves and each other that we're all together in this. I can't think that's an evil impulse. And I can't see what happened to us as punishment. Time and chance—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Befall all men,\" Hector said. \"Yes.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Behind them, a shuttle's attitude rocket roared for a moment, then cut off. A pair of Belters in gray jumpsuits sauntered toward it, toolboxes in their hands. Cortez was scowling.\n\n\"But even given what grew from that seed? You still don't think we were punished? The decision was not made out of arrogance?\"\n\n\"History is made up of people recovering from the last disaster,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What happened was terrible. Is terrible. But I still can't see God's punishment in it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I do,\" Cortez said. \"I believe we have fallen into a realm of evil. And more, Doctor Volovodov, I fear we have been tainted by it.\"\n\n\"I don't see—\"\n\n\"The devil is here,\" Cortez said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He shook his head at Anna's protesting frown." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not some cartoon demon. I'm not a fool. But the devil has always lived in men when they reach too far, when they fail to ask if they should do something just because they can do it. We have—I have fallen into his trap. And worse, we have blazed the trail to him. History will not remember us kindly for what we have done.\"\n\nAnna knew quite a few members of the Latter-day Saints church. They agreed with the Methodists on a few minor things like not drinking alcohol, which gave them a sense of solidarity at interfaith conventions. They disagreed on some important things, like the nature of God and His plan for the universe, which didn't seem to matter as much as Anna would have thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They tended to be happy, family-oriented, and unassuming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Standing in the belly of the Behemoth, Anna would never have guessed they would build something like the massive generation ship. It was so big, so extravagant. It was like a rebellious shout at the emptiness of space. The universe is too big for our ship to move through it in a reasonable time?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fine, we'll stuff all the bits of the universe we need inside of our ship and then go at our own pace." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The inner walls of the rotating drum curved up in the distance, Coriolis effect masquerading as mass, metal ribbing and plates pretending to be substrate, just waiting for soil and plants and farm animals. Through the center of the drum, half a kilometer over Anna's head, a narrow thread of bright yellow light shone down on them all. The sun, stretched into a line in the sky. The entire idea of it was arrogant and defiant and grandiose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna loved it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As she walked across a wide empty plain of steel that should have been covered in topsoil and crops, she thought that this audaciousness was exactly what humanity had lost somewhere in the last couple of centuries. When ancient maritime explorers had climbed into their creaking wooden ships and tried to find ways to cross the great oceans of Earth, had their voyage been any less dangerous than the one the Mormons had been planning to attempt? The end point any less mysterious? But in both cases, they'd been driven to find out what was on the other side of the long trip." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Driven by a need to see shores no one else had ever seen before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Show a human a closed door, and no matter how many open doors she finds, she'll be haunted by what might be behind it.\n\nA few people liked to paint this drive as a weakness. A failing of the species. Humanity as the virus." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The creature that never stops filling up its available living space." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hector seemed to be moving over to that view, based on their last conversation. But Anna rejected that idea. If humanity were capable of being satisfied, then they'd all still be living in trees and eating bugs out of one another's fur. Anna had walked on a moon of Jupiter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd looked up through a dome-covered sky at the great red spot, close enough to see the swirls and eddies of a storm larger than her home world." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd tasted water thawed from ice as old as the solar system itself. And it was that human dissatisfaction, that human audacity, that had put her there.\n\nLooking at the tiny world spinning around her, she knew one day it would give them the stars as well.\n\nThe refugee camp was a network of tents and prefabricated temporary structures set on the inner face of the drum, the long thin line of sun-bright light pressing down onto them all like a spring afternoon on Earth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It took her almost half an hour to find Chris Williams' tent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The liaison from the Thomas Prince let her know that the young naval officer had survived the catastrophe, but had suffered terrible injuries in the process. Anna wanted to find him, and maybe through him the rest of the little congregation she'd formed during the trip out.\n\nA few questions of helpful refugees later, and she found his tent. There was no way to knock or buzz, so she just scratched at the tent flap and said, \"Chris? You in there?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That you, Pastor? Come on in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The liaison hadn't been specific in her descriptions of Chris' injuries, so Anna braced herself for the worst when she entered. The young lieutenant was lying in a military-style cot, propped up by a number of pillows. He had a small terminal on his lap that he set aside as she came in. His left arm and left leg both ended at the middle joint." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh, Chris, I'm—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If your next word is 'sorry,'\" he said, \"I'm going to hop over there and kick your ass.\"\n\nAnna started laughing even as the tears filled her eyes. \"I am sorry, but now I'm sorry for being sorry.\" She sat by the edge of his cot and took his right hand." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How are you, Chris?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"With a few obvious exceptions\"—he waved his shortened left arm around—\"I came through the disaster better than most. I didn't even have a bad bruise.\"\n\n\"I don't know how the navy health plan works,\" Anna started, but Chris waved her off.\n\n\"Full regrowth therapy. We ever get out of here and back to civilization, and a few painful and itchy months later I'll have bright pink replacements.\"\n\n\"Well, that's good,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd been about to offer to pay for his treatment, not knowing how she'd actually do that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She felt a moment of relief and shame. \"Have you heard from anyone else who was in our group? I haven't had time to find them yet.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Chris said with a chuckle, \"I heard. You've been doing commando raids while I've been laid up. If I'd known they trained you guys to take down souped-up terrorists, I'd have paid more attention in church as a kid.\"\n\n\"I ran away from her until she had a seizure, and then I taped her to a chair. Not very heroic.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"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.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna laughed at that. \"I've been thinking a lot about that exact thing recently.\" Chris relaxed back into his pile of pillows and nodded for her to continue.\n\n\"Labels, I mean. People are calling the aliens evil, because they hurt us. And without context, how do we know?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Chris said. \"I lose a couple limbs getting drunk and falling into a harvesting combine, I'm an idiot. I lose the same limbs because I happened to be standing next to the right door when the ship was damaged, I'm a hero.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe it's as simple as that. I don't know. I feel like something really important is about to happen, and we're all making up our minds ahead of time what it will be.\"\n\nChris absentmindedly scratched at the stump of his left leg, then grimaced. \"Like?\"\n\n\"We came through the Ring to stop James Holden from talking to the aliens first. But this is the same man that helped send Eros to Venus instead of letting it destroy the Earth. Why did we assume he'd do a bad job of being the first human the aliens met? And now something has slapped us down, taken all our guns away, but not killed us. That should mean something. Certainly anything this powerful could kill us as easily as it declawed us. But it didn't. Instead of trying to figure out what it means, we're hurting so we call it evil. I feel like we're children who've been punished and we think it's because our parents are mean.\"\n\n\"They stopped our ships to... what? Pacify us?\" Chris asked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Who knows?\" Anna said, shrugging." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"But I know we're not asking those questions. Humans do bad things when they're afraid, and we're all very afraid right now.\"\n\n\"Tara died,\" Chris said.\n\nAnna racked her brain trying to remember who Tara was. Chris saw her confusion and added, \"Short blond hair? She was a marine?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh no,\" Anna replied, feeling the tears well up again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her angry marine had died. A whole future in which she'd worked with Tara to find out the source of her anger vanished. Conversations she'd already had in her head, lines of questioning, the anticipation of satisfaction she'd get from having the marine open up to her. Gone, as if someone had flicked a switch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was hard not to sympathize with Cortez's view a little." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After all, the aliens had killed one of her congregation now.\n\nBut maybe not on purpose, and intent mattered. The universe made no sense to her otherwise.\n\nShe managed to finish off her visit without, she hoped, seeming too distracted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Afterward, she went to find her own assigned tent and try to rest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had no reason to think that sleep would come. After she found her place, Tilly Fagan appeared. Anna lifted her arm in greeting, but before she could get a word out, Tilly threw both arms around her and was squeezing until she could hear her ribs pop. Tilly was surprisingly strong for such a thin woman." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was furious with myself for letting you leave,\" Tilly said, squeezing even tighter and leaning her weight against Anna." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was heavy. They both were in the spinning drum. It took some getting used to.\n\nWhen Tilly finally let up the pressure a bit, Anna said, \"I think I was... altered.\"\n\n\"That was my fault, too,\" Tilly said, followed by more squeezing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna realized the only thing to do was ride it out, and patted Tilly on the lower back until her friend got it out of her system." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After a few moments, Tilly released Anna and stepped back, her eyes shiny but a smile on her face. \"I'm glad you didn't die. Everyone else from the Prince is a pod.\" Anna decided not to ask what a pod was. \"The Behemoth has become the place to be,\" Tilly continued." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If we never figure out how to escape this trap, it's the place it will take us the longest to die. That makes it the high-rent district of the slow zone.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well, that's... important.\"\n\nTilly laughed. She pulled a cigarette out and lit it as they walked. At Anna's shocked look she said, \"They let you do it here. Lots of the Belters do. They obsess over air filters and then suck poisonous particulates into their lungs recreationally. It's a fabulous culture.\"\n\nAnna smiled and waved the smoke away from her face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So,\" Tilly said, pretending not to notice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I demanded they let me go on the first shuttle over. Did you manage to retrieve Holden?\"\n\n\"I didn't find him,\" Anna said. \"Just his crew. But I think I might have saved their lives.\"\n\nAt first, she thought Tilly's expression had cooled, but that wasn't quite right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It wasn't coldness. It was pain." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna put her hand on Tilly's arm.\n\n\"I have someone I need you to talk to,\" Tilly said. \"And you probably aren't going to like it, but you're going to do it for me. I'll never ask you for anything again, and you're buying a lifetime of expensive markers to trade in with this.\"\n\n\"Whatever I can do.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're going to help Claire.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt like the air had gone out of the room. For a moment, she heard the throat-scarring screams again and felt the blows transferred through the buckling locker door. She heard Chris tell her that Tara had died. She saw Cortez, and heard the buzzsaw despair in his voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She took a breath." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Your next one should be approximately 1 sentence." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes,\" she said. \"Of course I am.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You need to get up,\" Doctor Sterling said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Spin changed the shape of her face, pulling down her cheeks and hair. She looked older and more familiar.\n\n\"I thought I wasn't supposed to move around,\" Bull said, and coughed.\n\n\"That was when I was worried about your spinal cord. Now I'm worried about your lungs. You're having enough trouble clearing secretions, I'm about ready to call it mild pneumonia.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'll be fine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Spin gravity's not going to do you much good if you're flat on your back,\" she said, tapping his shoulder for emphasis. \"You have to sit up more.\"\n\nBull gritted his teeth.\n\n\"I can't sit up,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't have abdominal muscles. I can't do anything.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You have an adjustable bed,\" the doctor said, unfazed. \"Adjust it. Stay upright as much as you can.\"\n\n\"Isn't that going to screw up my spine even worse?\"\n\n\"We can brace you,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Anyway, you can live without functioning legs. You can't live without functioning lungs.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The medical wards had changed. Spinning up the drum had meant stripping away as many of the alterations that had changed the generation ship into a weapon of war as they could. The medical stations and emergency showers had all been turned ninety degrees in the refit, prepared to use under thrust or not at all. What had been designed back in what seemed like ancient times to be floors had become walls, and now they were floors again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The whole thing was a hesitation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A stutter-step in industrial steel and ceramic. It was like something that had been broken and grew back wrong.\n\n\"I'll do what I can,\" Bull said, his teeth clenched against another cough. \"If I've got to sit up, can I at least get something that travels a little? I'm getting pretty tired of being in the same room all the time.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't recommend it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You gonna stop me?\"\n\n\"I am not.\"\n\nThey paused. Frustration and animosity hung in the air between them. Neither one had slept enough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Both were pushing themselves too hard trying to keep people alive." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And they weren't going to make each other happy.\n\n\"I'll do what I can, doc,\" Bull said. \"How's it going out there?\"\n\n\"People are dying. It's slowing down, though. At this point, almost all of the emergent cases are stabilized or dead. Right now it's pretty much the same for everyone. Wound care and support. Keep an eye out for people who had some sort of internal injury we didn't see at the time and try to catch them before they crash. Rest, fluid, light exercise, and prayer.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"All right,\" he said as his hand terminal chimed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another connection request. From the Hammurabi, the Martian frigate where Captain Jim Holden was being held.\n\n\"And how's it going on your end?\" Doctor Sterling said. Her lips were pressed thin. She knew the answer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull used the controls on his bed, shifting himself up to something approaching a seated position." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He could feel a difference in his breath, but if anything it made it harder to keep from coughing.\n\n\"Let you know in a minute,\" he said and accepted the connection. Captain Jakande appeared on the screen.\n\n\"Captain,\" Bull said, making the title a greeting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Mister Baca,\" she said in return." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I got your last message.\"\n\n\"I don't suppose you're calling to arrange the transfer of the prisoner and your remaining crew?\"\n\nShe didn't smile.\n\n\"I wanted to thank you for the staging area you've provided for our medical staff. We will not, however, be transferring any further personnel to your vessel or remanding the prisoner to your custody.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You don't have a sufficient complement left on your ship to run it. Not even as a skeleton crew. Between the injured and the medics and the injured medics, I've got two-thirds of your people here right now.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And I thank you for that.\"\n\n\"My point is you have a third or less of your crew left standing. You're pulling double, maybe triple shifts. Earth is still making noise about transferring Holden to them until he's answered charges for the Seung Un.\" He hadn't mentioned Clarissa Mao's confession. That was a card he could play another time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He lifted his hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All of us have watched someone we cared about die because of something we don't understand. All of us are grieving and scared. If we don't all come together, someone's going to do something we'll all regret.\"\n\n\"The Martian military code requires—\"\n\n\"I've got an open investigation here. I'll share all the information we've gathered. Some of it's pretty damn interesting.\"\n\nSomething moved in his chest, and he was coughing so hard he couldn't speak or listen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Phlegm filled his mouth, and he leaned over, supporting himself with his arms, to spit it out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe there was something to this sitting-up thing.\n\n\"The Martian military code prohibits the surrender of prisoners except in cases of trades authorized by the government. We can't talk to the MCR, so nothing's getting authorized.\"\n\n\"You could surrender to me.\"\n\nShe laughed that time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The façade of military propriety cracked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wish. I'd be able get a full shift's sleep. But that tin can you're in couldn't take us, even if we could fight.\"\n\n\"Which we can't, so we're pretty much down to angry letters at twenty paces. I appreciate the call,\" he said. \"I'll let the captain know it's no-go. But hey, lemme ask you. What are you guys gonna do when Earth sends a couple dozen marines with cutting torches and kitchen knives?\"\n\n\"Fight with cutting torches and knives,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is the Hammurabi signing off.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull watched the dull standby screen for half a minute before he put it down. He'd have to tell Pa, but he wasn't looking forward to that. She had enough on her plate coordinating all the things he couldn't because he was trapped in the medical ward.\n\nNo matter what Holden's criminal status with Earth and Mars was, no matter how many people took the blame for the things he was accused of, it didn't matter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was a pretext." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was the only person not covered by military treaty who could be debriefed about whatever was on the alien station. Earth wanted him. The OPA wanted him. Mars had him, and wouldn't give him up just for the joy of having something other people wanted.\n\nAnd sooner or later some Martian with too much stress and not enough sleep who thought Holden was responsible for drawing them all through the Ring was going to take revenge for a lover or friend who'd died." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull scratched at his neck, the stubble rough against his fingertips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His body, empty, splayed out before him in the one-third g.\n\n\"Bull?\"\n\nHe looked up. The nurse seemed, if anything, more tired than the doctor had been.\n\n\"You've got a couple visitors, if you're up for it,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Depends. Who you got?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Priest,\" he said. It took a moment to realize it wasn't a name but a job description.\n\n\"The Russian from the Rocinante?\"\n\nThe nurse shook his head. \"The politician. Cortez.\"\n\n\"What does he want?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"As far as I can tell? Save your soul. He's talking about protecting humanity from the devil. I think he wants you to help with that.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Tell him to talk to Serge at the security office. Who else wants a piece of me?\"\n\nThe nurse's expression changed. For a moment, Bull couldn't say what was strange about it, then he realized it was the first time in his memory he'd seen the nurse smile.\n\n\"Someone's got a little prezzie for you,\" the nurse said, then leaned back out into the corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay. Come on in.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull coughed again, bringing up more phlegm. Sam appeared in the doorway, grinning. Behind her, two techs were carrying a blue plastic crate so big he could have put Sam inside it.\n\n\"Rosenberg? You been wasting time when you should be fixing my ship?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You've still got one more mutiny before it's your ship,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And yeah, when the crew heard about what happened with you and Ashford, some of us wanted to put together a little present.\"\n\nBull shifted, then caught himself. He was so used to having the muscles in his trunk to hold himself up that every time he began to fall, it was a little surprising. It was one of the things he missed about null g. Sam didn't notice, or pretended not to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She shifted to the side and took hold of the crate's release bar like a stage magician about to reveal an illusion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Doctor Sterling appeared in the doorway, a sly smile haunting her lips. Bull had the uncomfortable feeling of walking in on his own surprise party.\n\n\"You're making me nervous,\" he said.\n\n\"You're getting smarter,\" she said. \"Ready?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah, I don't think so.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The crate slid open. The mech inside looked complicated, blocky, and thick. Bull laughed for lack of anything he could think to say.\n\n\"It's a standard lifting mech,\" Sam said, \"but we carved a bunch of the reinforcing out of its tummy and put in a TLS orthosis the medics gave me. We swapped out the leg actuation with a simple joystick control. It won't take you dancing, and you're still going to need help going potty, but you're not stuck in bed. It's not as comfortable as a top-end wheelchair, but it will get you anywhere in the ship you want to go, whether it was built for accessibility or not.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull thought he was about to cough again until he felt the tears welling up in his eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Aw shit, Sam.\"\n\n\"None of that, you big baby. Let's just get you in and adjust the support plates.\"\n\nSam took one shoulder, the nurse the other. The sensation of being carried was strange." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull didn't know the last time anyone had picked him up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The brace in the guts of the mech was like a girdle, and Sam had put straps along the mech's struts to keep his legs from flapping around. It was an inversion of the usual; instead of using his legs to move the mech, he was using the mech to move his legs. For the first time since the catastrophe, Bull walked down the short hall and into the general ward. Sam kept pace, her gaze on the mechanism like a mother duck taking her ducklings for their first swim." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His sense of wrongness didn't leave, but it lessened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The worst of the injured from all three sides were here, men and women, Belter and Earther and Martian. A bald man with skin an unhealthy yellow struggled to breathe; a woman so young-looking Bull could hardly believe she wasn't a child lay almost naked in a bed, her skin mostly burned away and a distant look in her eyes; a thick-bodied man with an Old Testament prophet's beard and body hair like a chimp moaned and shifted through his sedation. In the disposable plastic medical gowns, there was nothing to show who belonged to what side. They were people, and they were on his ship, so they were his people." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the end of the corridor, Corin stood in front of a doorway, a pistol on her hip." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her salute was on the edge between serious and mocking.\n\n\"Macht sly, chief,\" she said. \"Suits.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Bull said.\n\n\"Here to see the prisoners?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sure,\" Bull said. He hadn't meant to go anywhere in particular, but since he could, he could." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The lockdown ward was smaller, but other than one of his security staff at the door, there weren't any signs that the patients here were different. Prisoners was a strong word. None of them were legally bound. They ranged from high-value civilians from Earth to the highest-ranking Martian wounded." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anyone whom Bull thought might be particularly useful, now or later." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All of the dozen beds were full.\n\n\"How's it feeling?\" Sam asked.\n\n\"Seems like it lists to the right a little,\" Bull said.\n\n\"Yeah, I was thinking maybe—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The new voice came from the farthest bed, weak and confused but unmistakable:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Sam?\"\n\nSam's attention snapped to the back, and she took a couple tentative steps toward the woman who had spoken.\n\n\"Naomi? Oh holy crap, sweetie. What happened to you?\"\n\n\"Got in a fight,\" the XO of the Rocinante said through bruised and broken lips. \"Whipped her ass.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You know Nagata?\" Bull asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"From the bad old days,\" Sam said, taking her hand. \"We were roommates for about six days while she and Jim Holden were having a fight.\"\n\n\"Where,\" Naomi said. \"Where's my crew?\"\n\n\"They're here,\" Bull said, maneuvering his mech closer to her. \"All but Holden.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're all right?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've felt better,\" a balding, slightly pudgy man with skin the color of toast said. He had the drawl of Mariner Valley on Mars or West Texas on Earth. It was hard to tell the difference.\n\n\"Alex,\" Naomi said. \"Where's Amos?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Next bed over,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He's been sleepin' a lot. What happened, anyway? We get arrested?\"\n\n\"There was an accident,\" Bull said. \"A lot of people got hurt.\"\n\n\"But we ain't arrested,\" Alex said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well that's all right, then.\"\n\nOn her bed, Naomi Nagata had visibly relaxed. Knowing her crew were alive and with her carried a lot of weight. Bull filed the information away in case it was useful later." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The woman who attacked you is under arrest,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's the one. The bomb,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"We're looking into that,\" he said, trying to keep his tone reassuring. Another coughing fit spoiled the effect.\n\nNaomi frowned, remembering something." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull wished he could take her other hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Build some rapport. The mech was a fine way to walk around, but there were other ways it was limiting.\n\n\"Jim?\" she said.\n\n\"Captain Holden has been taken into custody by the Martian navy,\" Bull said. \"I'm trying to negotiate his release into our custody, but it's not going very well so far.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi smiled as if he'd given her good news and nodded. Her eyes closed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What 'bout Miller?\"\n\n\"Who?\" Bull asked, but she was already asleep. Sam shifted to Alex's bed and Bull stepped over to look down on the Rocinante's sleeping mechanic. Amos Burton. They were a pretty sad bunch, and far too small a crew to run a ship like theirs safely." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe Jakande could get some pointers from them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Until he got Holden, they were going to be at a disadvantage. The man was a professional symbol, and creating calm when there was no reason for it was all about symbols. Captain Jakande wouldn't bend, because if she did, she'd be court-martialed when they got back. If they got back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull didn't like it, but he understood it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they'd been anywhere but the slow zone, they'd all have been rattling sabers and baring teeth. Instead, all they could do was talk...\n\nBull's mouth went dry. Sam was still looking at Naomi Nagata's bed, her face angry and despairing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sam,\" Bull said. \"Got a minute?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She looked up and nodded. Bull flicked the little joystick, and the mech trod awkwardly around. He steered it back out through the door and back to his own private room. By the time they got there, Sam's expression had shifted to curious." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull closed the door, coughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He felt a little light-headed and his heart was racing. Fear, excitement, or being vertical for the first time since they'd passed through the Ring, he didn't know.\n\n\"What's up, boss?\"\n\n\"The comm laser,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Say I wanted to make it into a weapon. What's the most power we could put through it?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam's frown was more than an engineer making mental calculations. The spin gravity made her seem older. Or maybe bathing in death and fear just did that to people.\n\n\"I can make it about as hot as the middle of a star for a fraction of a second,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It'd burn that side of the ship down to a bad smell, though.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's the most we could do and get, say, three shots out of it? And not melt our ship?\"\n\n\"It can already carve through a ship's hull if you've got time to spare. I can probably pare that time down a bit.\"\n\n\"Get that going, will you?\"\n\nSam shook her head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What?\" Bull asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That big glowy ball out there can turn off inertia when it feels threatened. I don't feel comfortable making light into a weapon. Seriously, what if it decides to stop all the photons or something?\"\n\n\"If we have it, we won't need to use it.\"\n\nSam shook her head again.\n\n\"I can't do that for you, Bull.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What about the captain? Would you do it for a Belter?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam's cheeks flushed. It might have been embarrassment or anger.\n\n\"Cheap shot.\"\n\n\"Sorry, but would you take a direct order from Captain Pa?\"\n\n\"From her, yes. But not because she's a Belter. Because she's the captain and I trust her judgment.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"More than mine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam held up her hands in a Belter shrug.\n\n\"Last time I just did whatever you told me to, I wound up under house arrest.\"\n\nBull had to give her the point. He fumbled to extricate his arm from the mech, scooped up his hand terminal, and put in a priority connection request to Pa. She took it almost immediately." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She looked older too, worn, solid, certain. Crisis suited her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Mister Baca,\" she said. \"Where do we stand?\"\n\n\"Captain Jakande isn't going to bring her people over, even though they all know it would be better. And she won't give up Holden.\"\n\n\"All right,\" Pa said. \"Well, we tried.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S. A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S. A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S. A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The guards came, brought thinly rationed food-grade protein and measured bottles of water, led the prisoners to the head with pistols drawn, and then took them back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "For the most part, Clarissa lay on the floor or stretched, hummed old songs to herself or drew on the skin of her arms—white fingernail scratches. The boredom would have been crushing if she'd felt it, but she seemed to have unconnected from time.\n\nThe only times she cried were when she thought of killing Ren and when she remembered her father. The only things she anticipated at all were another visit from Tilly or her mysterious friend, and death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman came first, and when she did, Clarissa recognized her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "With her red hair pulled down by spin, her face looked softer, but the eyes were unforgettable. The woman from the galley on the Thomas Prince. And then, later, from the Rocinante. Anna. She'd told Naomi that her name was Anna." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Just one more person Clarissa had tried to kill once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have permission to speak with her,\" Anna said. The guard—a broad-faced man with a scarred arm that he wore like a decoration—crossed his arms.\n\n\"She's here, si no? Talk away.\"\n\n\"Absolutely not,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is a private conversation. I can't have it in front of the others.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can't have it anywhere else,\" the guard said. \"You know how many people this coya killed? She's got implants. Dangerous.\"\n\n\"She knows,\" Clarissa said, and Anna flashed a smile at her like they'd shared a joke. A feeling of unease cooled Clarissa's gut." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was something threatening about a woman who could take being attacked and treat it like it was a shared intimacy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa wondered whether she wanted to talk with her after all.\n\n\"It's the risk I came here to take,\" Anna said. \"You can find us a place. An... an interview room. You have those, don't you?\"\n\nThe guard's stance settled deeper into his knees and hips, immovable." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Can stay here until the sun burns out,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That door's staying closed.\"\n\n\"It's all right,\" Clarissa said.\n\n\"No it isn't,\" Anna said. \"I'm her priest, and the things we need to talk about are private. Please open the door and take us someplace we can talk.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jojo,\" the captain at the far end of the hall said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford. That was his name. \"It's all right. You can put them in the meat freezer. It's not in use and it locks from the outside.\"\n\n\"Then I get a dead preacher, ano sa?\"\n\n\"I believe that you won't,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Then you believe in vacuum fairies,\" the guard said, but he unlocked the cell door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The bars swung open. Clarissa hesitated. Behind guard and priest, the disgraced Captain Ashford watched her, peering through his bars to get a look. He needed to shave and he looked like he'd been crying. For a moment, Clarissa gripped the cold steel bars of her door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The urge to pull them closed, to retreat, was almost overwhelming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It's all right,\" Anna said.\n\nClarissa let go of the door and stepped out. The guard drew his sidearm and pressed it against the back of her neck. Anna looked pained. Ashford's expression didn't shift a millimeter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is that necessary?\" Anna asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Implants,\" the guard said and prodded Clarissa to move forward. She walked.\n\nThe freezer was warm and larger than the galley back on the Cerisier. Strips of metal ran along floor and ceiling and both walls with notches every few centimeters to allow the Mormon colonists who never were to lock walls and partitions into place. It made sense that the veterinary stalls that had been pressed into service as her prison would be near the slaughterhouse." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Harsh white light spilled from LEDs set into the walls, unsoftened and directional, casting hard shadows." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm back in fifteen minutes,\" the guard said as he pushed Clarissa through the doorway. \"Anything looks funny, I'll shoot you.\"\n\n\"Thank you for giving us privacy,\" Anna said, stepping through after her. The door closed. The latch sounded like the gates of hell, closing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The lights flickered, and the first thought that flashed across Clarissa's mind, rich with disapproval, was, Shouldn't tie the locking magnet to the same circuit as the control board." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was like a relic from another life.\n\nAnna gathered herself, smiled, and put out her hand.\n\n\"We've met before,\" she said, \"but we haven't really been introduced. My name's Anna.\"\n\nA lifetime's etiquette accepted the offered hand on Clarissa's behalf." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman's fingers were very warm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"My priest?\" Clarissa said.\n\n\"Sorry about that,\" Anna said. \"I didn't mean to presume. I was getting angry, and I tried to pull rank.\"\n\n\"I know people who do worse. When they're angry.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa released the woman's hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm a friend of Tilly's. She helped me after the ship crashed. I was hurt and not thinking very straight, and she helped me,\" she said.\n\n\"She's good that way.\"\n\n\"She knew your sister too. Your father. The whole family,\" Anna said, then pressed her lips together impatiently. \"I wish they'd given us chairs. I feel like we're standing around at a bus terminal.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna took a deep breath, sighing out her nose, then sat there in the middle of the room with her legs crossed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She patted the metal decking at her side. Clarissa hesitated, then lowered herself to sit. She had the overwhelming memory of being five years old, sitting on a rug in kindergarten.\n\n\"That's better,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"So, Tilly's told me a lot about you. She's worried.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa tilted her head. From just the form, it seemed like the place where she would reply. She felt the urge to speak, and she couldn't imagine what she would say. After a moment, Anna went on, trying again without seeming to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm worried about you too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Why?\"\n\nAnna's eyes clouded. For a moment, she seemed to be having some internal conversation. But only for a moment. She leaned forward, her hands clasped." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I didn't help you before. I saw you just before the Seung Un blew up,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just before you set off the bomb.\"\n\n\"It was too late by then,\" Clarissa said. Ren had already been dead. \"You couldn't have stopped it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You're right,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's not the only reason I'm here. I also... I lost someone. When all the ships stopped, I lost someone.\"\n\n\"Someone you cared about,\" Clarissa said. \"Someone you loved.\"\n\n\"Someone I hardly knew, but it was a real loss. And also I was scared of you. I am scared of you. But Tilly told me a lot about you, and it's helped me to get past some of my fear.\"\n\n\"Not all of it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No. Not all of it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Something deep in the structure of the ship thumped, the whole structure around them ringing for a moment like a gigantic bell tolling far, far away.\n\n\"I could kill you,\" Clarissa said. \"Before they got the door open.\"\n\n\"I know. I saw.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa put her hand out, her palm against the notched runner." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The finish was smooth and the metal cool.\n\n\"You want a confession, then?\" she said.\n\n\"If you want to offer one.\"\n\n\"I did it,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I sabotaged the Rocinante and the Seung Un. I killed Ren. I killed some people back on Earth. I lied about who I was. All of it. I'm guilty.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right.\"\n\n\"Are we done, then?\"\n\nAnna scratched her nose and sighed. \"I came out to the Ring even though it upset my wife. Even though it meant not seeing my baby for months. I told myself that I wanted to come see it. To help people make sense of it and, whatever it was, to not be afraid. You came out here to... save your father. To redeem him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Is that what Tilly says?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"She's not as polite about it.\"\n\nClarissa coughed out a laugh. Everything she could say felt trite. Worse, it felt naive and stupid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jim Holden destroyed my family and I wanted my father to be proud of me and I was wrong." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I did what I did,\" Clarissa said. \"You can tell them that. The security people. You can tell them I confessed to it all.\"\n\n\"If you'd like. I'll tell them.\"\n\n\"I would. I want that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why did you try to kill Naomi?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I wanted to kill all of them,\" Clarissa said, and each word was hard to speak, as though they were too large to fit through her throat. \"They were part of him, and I wanted him not to be. Just not to exist at all anymore. I wanted everyone to know he is a bad man.\"\n\n\"Do you still want that?\"\n\n\"I don't care,\" Clarissa said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can tell them.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And Naomi? I'm going to see her. Is there anything you'd want me to tell her in particular?\"\n\nClarissa remembered the woman's face, bruised and bleeding. She flexed her hand, feeling the mech's glove against her fingers. It would have taken nothing to snap the woman's neck, a feather's weight of pressure." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wondered why she hadn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The difference between savoring the moment and hesitating warred at the back of her mind, and her memory supported both. Or neither.\n\n\"Tell her I hope she gets well soon.\"\n\n\"Do you hope that?\"\n\n\"Or am I just being polite, you mean?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa said. \"Tell her whatever you want. I don't care.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right,\" Anna said. \"Can I ask a question?\"\n\n\"Can I stop you?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The silence was no more than three long breaths together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You can ask me a question.\"\n\n\"Do you want to be redeemed?\"\n\n\"I don't believe in God.\"\n\n\"Do you want to be redeemed by something other than God, then? If there was forgiveness for you, could you accept it?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sense of outrage began in Clarissa's stomach and bloomed out through her chest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It curled her lips and furrowed her brow. For the first time since she'd lost consciousness trying to beat her way through the locker on the Rocinante, she remembered what anger felt like. How large it was.\n\n\"Why should I be forgiven for anything? I did it. That's all.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But if—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What kind of justice would that be? 'Oh, you killed Ren, but you're sorry now so it's okay'? Fuck that. And if that's how your God works, then fuck Him too.\"\n\nThe freezer door clanked. Clarissa looked up at it, resenting the accident of timing and then realizing they'd heard her yelling. They were coming to save the preacher." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She balled her hands into fists and looked down at them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were going to take her back to her cell. She felt in her gut and her throat how little she wanted that.\n\n\"It's all right,\" Anna said as the guard stepped into the freezer, his sidearm trained on Clarissa. \"We're okay.\"\n\n\"Yeah, no,\" the guard said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His gaze was sharp and focused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Frightened. \"Time's passed. Meeting's over.\"\n\nAnna looked at Clarissa with something like frustration in her expression. Not with her, but with the situation. With not getting everything to be just the way she wanted it." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull wasn't in his office when she arrived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A muscular young woman with a large gun on her hip shrugged when Anna asked if she could wait for him, then ignored her and continued working. A wall screen was set to the Radio Free Slow Zone feed, where a young Earther man was leaning in toward Monica Stuart and speaking earnestly. His skin was a bright pink that didn't seem to be his natural color. Anna thought he looked peeled." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I haven't changed my commitment to autonomy for the Brazilian shared interest zones,\" he said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If anything I feel like I've broadened it.\"\n\n\"Broadened it how?\" Monica asked. She seemed genuinely interested. It was a gift." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The peeled man tapped at the air with his fingertips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt sure she'd seen him on the Thomas Prince, but she couldn't for the life of her remember his name. She had the vague sense he was a painter. Some kind of artist, certainly.\n\n\"We've all changed,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"By coming here. By going through the trials that we're all going through, we've all been changed. When we go back, none of us will be the people we were before. The tragedy and the loss and the sense of wonder changes what it means to be human. Do you know what I mean?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oddly, Anna thought she did.\n\nBeing a minister meant being in the middle of people's lives. Anna had counseled dating congregation members, presided over their weddings, baptized their babies, and in one heartbreaking case presided over the infant's funeral a year later. Members of the congregation included her in most of the important events of their lives." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was used to it, and mostly enjoyed the deep connection to people it brought." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Charting the course of a life was making a map of the ways each event changed the person, leaving someone different on the other side. Passing through the Ring and the tragedies it had brought wouldn't leave any of them the same.\n\nThe exodus from the rest of the fleet to the Behemoth was in full swing. The tent cities spread across the curved inner surface of the habitation drum like wildflowers on a field of flat, ceramic steel–colored earth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna saw tall gangly Belters helping offload wounded Earthers from emergency carts, plugging in IVs and other medical equipment, fluffing pillows and mopping brows." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Inners and outers offloaded crates in mixed groups without comment. Anna couldn't help but be warmed by that, even in the face of their recent disaster. Maybe it took real tragedy to get them all working together, but it did. They did. There was hope in that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now if they could just figure out how to do it without the blood and screaming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Your work has been criticized,\" Monica Stuart said, \"as advocating violence.\"\n\nThe peeled man nodded.\n\n\"I used to reject that,\" he said. \"I've come to the conclusion that it may be valid, though. I think when we come home, there will be some readjustment.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Because of the Ring?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And the slow zone. And what's happened here.\"\n\n\"Do you think you would encourage other political artists to come out here?\"\n\n\"Absolutely.\"\n\nChris, her young officer, had asked about organizing mixed-group church services on the Behemoth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd assumed he meant mixed religions at first, but it turned out he meant a church group with Earthers and Martians and Belters." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mixed, as if God categorized people based on the gravity they'd grown up in. It had occurred to Anna then that there really wasn't any such thing as a \"mixed\" church group. No matter what they looked like, or what they chose to call Him, when a group of people called out to God together, they were one. Even if there was no God, or one God, or many gods, it didn't matter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Faith, hope, and love, Paul had written, but the greatest of these is love." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Faith and hope were very important to Anna. But she could see Paul's point in a way she hadn't before. Love didn't need anything else. It didn't need a common belief, or a common identity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna thought of her child and felt a rush of longing and loneliness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She could almost feel Nami in her arms, almost smell the intoxicating new-baby scent on her head. Nono the Ugandan and Anna the Russian had blended themselves together and made Nami. Not a mix, nothing so crude as that. More than just the sum of her parts and origins." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A new thing, individual and unique." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No mixed group, then. Just a group. A new thing, perfect and unique. She couldn't imagine God would see it any other way. Anna was pretty sure she had her first sermon too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She was about halfway through typing up an outline for her \"no mixed groups in God's eyes\" sermon on her handset when Bull came through the door, his mechanical legs whining and thumping with each step." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna thought it gave Bull even more gravitas than he'd had before. He moved with a deliberateness caused by mechanical necessity, but easily mistaken for formality and stateliness. The electric whine of the machine and the heavy thump of his tread were a sort of herald calling out his arrival.\n\nAnna imagined the annoyance Bull would feel if she told him this, and giggled a little to herself." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull was in the middle of speaking to a subordinate and didn't even notice her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I don't care how they feel about it, Serge. The agreement was no armed military personnel on the ship. Even if there weren't a shitload of guns built in, those suits would still be weapons. Confiscate their gear or throw them off the damn ship.\"\n\n\"Si, jefe,\" the other man with him replied. \"Take it how, sa sa? Can opener?\"\n\n\"Charm the bastards. If we can't make them do anything now, while we're all friends, what do we do when they decide we aren't friends? Four marines in recon armor decide they own this ship, they fucking own it. So we take the armor away before they do. I don't even want that stuff in the drum. Lock it in the bridge armory.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Serge looked deeply unhappy at this task. \"Some help, maybe?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Take as many as you want, but if you don't need them it's only gonna piss the marines off, and if you do, they won't actually help.\"\n\nSerge paused, mouth open, then closed it with a snap and left. Bull noticed Anna for the first time and said, \"What can I do for you, Preacher?\"\n\n\"Anna, please. I came to talk about Clarissa Mao,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you're not her lawyer or her union representative—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm her priest. What happens to her now?\"\n\nBull sighed again. \"She confessed to blowing up a ship. Nothing much good comes after that.\"\n\n\"People say you spaced a man for selling drugs. They say you're hard. Cold.\"\n\n\"Do they?\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna couldn't tell if the surprise in his voice was genuine or mocking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please don't kill her,\" she said, leaning closer and looking him in the eye. \"Don't you let anyone else kill her either.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" The way he said it wasn't a challenge or a threat. It was as if he just didn't know that answer, and sort of wondered." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna swallowed her dread." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I can't help her if she's dead.\"\n\n\"No offense, but that's not really my concern.\"\n\n\"I thought you were the law and order here.\"\n\n\"I'm aiming for order, mostly.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She deserves a trial, and if everyone knows what you know about her, she won't get one. They'll riot. They'll kill her. At least help me get her a trial.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The large man sighed. \"So are you looking for a trial, or just a way to stall for time?\"\n\n\"Stall for time,\" Anna said.\n\nBull nodded, weighing something in his mind, then gestured for her to precede him into his office." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After she sat down next to his battered desk, he clumped around the small space making a pot of coffee." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It seemed an extravagance considering the newly implemented water rationing, but then Anna remembered Bull was now the second most powerful person in the slow zone. The privileges of rank.\n\nShe didn't want coffee, but accepted the offered cup to allow Bull a moment of generosity. Generosity now might lead to more later, when she was asking for something she really wanted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When Holden starts telling people who actually sabotaged the Seung Un—and he's Jim Holden, so he will—the UN people are going to ask for Clarissa. And if they give me enough that I can get everyone here, together, and safe until we can get out of this trap, I'm going to give her to them. Not off the ship, but in here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What will they do?\" Anna took a companionable sip of her coffee. It burned her tongue and tasted like acid.\n\n\"Probably, they'll put together a tribunal of flag officers, have a short trial, and throw her in a recycler. I'd say space her, normally, but that seems wasteful considering our predicament. Supplies sent from home will take as long to fly through the slow zone to us as they'll take to get to the Ring.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "His voice was flat, emotionless." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He was discussing logistics, not a young woman's life. Anna suppressed a shudder and said, \"Mister Baca, do you believe in God?\"\n\nTo his credit, he tried not to roll his eyes. He almost succeeded.\n\n\"I believe in whatever gets you through the night.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Don't be flip,\" Anna said, and was gratified when Bull straightened a little in his walker." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In her experience, most strong-willed men had equally strong-willed mothers, and she knew how to hit some of the same buttons.\n\n\"Look,\" Bull said, trying to reclaim the initiative. Anna spoke over the top of him.\n\n\"Forget God for a moment,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Do you believe in the concept of forgiveness? In the possibility of redemption? In the value of every human life, no matter how tainted or corrupted?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Fuck no,\" Bull said. \"I think it is entirely possible to go so far into the red you can't ever balance the books.\"\n\n\"Sounds like the voice of experience. How far have you been?\"\n\n\"Far enough to know there's a too damn far.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And you're comfortable being the judge of where that line is?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull pulled on the frame of his walker, shifting his weight in the straps that held him. He looked wistfully at the office chair he could no longer use. Anna felt bad for him, broken at the worst possible time. Trying to keep his tiny world in order, and burning through the last reserves of his strength with reckless abandon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The bruised eyes and yellow skin suddenly seemed like a flashing battery indicator, warning that the power was almost gone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna felt a pang of guilt for adding to his burden.\n\n\"I don't want to kill that girl,\" he said, taking another sip of the terrible coffee. \"In fact, I don't give a shit about her one way or the other, as long as she's locked up and isn't a danger to my ship. The one you should talk to is Holden. He's the one who's gonna get the torches-and-pitchforks crowd wound up.\"\n\n\"But the Martians...\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Surrendered twenty hours ago.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna blinked.\n\n\"They've been wanting to for days,\" Bull said. \"We just had to find a way to let 'em save face.\"\n\n\"Save face?\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around four sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce four sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When the Martians came for him—two men and two women, all in uniform and all armed—Holden's isolation-drunk mind had spun out in a dozen directions at once. The captain had found room for him in the medical clinic and she wanted to grill him again about what happened on the station and they were going to throw him out an airlock and they'd had news that Naomi was dead and they'd had news that she wasn't. It felt like every neuron he had from his brain down to his toes was on the edge of firing. It was all he could do not to launch himself off the cell's wall and into the narrow corridor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The prisoner will please identify himself,\" one of the men said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"James Holden. I mean, it's not like you have very many prisoners here, right? Because I've been trying to find someone to talk with for it feels like about a decade since I got here, and I'm pretty sure there isn't so much as a dust mite in this place besides me.\"\n\nHe bit his lips to stop talking. He'd been alone and scared for too long. He hadn't understood how much it was affecting him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even if he hadn't been mentally ill when he came to the Hammurabi, he was going to be real soon now if nothing changed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Record shows prisoner identified himself as James Holden,\" the man said. \"Come along.\"\n\nThe corridor outside the cells was so narrow that two guards ahead and two behind was effectively a wall. The low Martian gravity made their bodies more akin to Belters than to him, and all four of them hunched slightly, bending in over him. Holden had never felt so relieved to be in a tiny, cramped hallway in his life." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But even the relief was pushed aside by his anxiety." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The guards didn't actually push him so much as start to move with an authority that suggested that he really should match them. The hatch was only five meters away, but after being in his cell, it seemed like a huge distance.\n\n\"Was there any word from the Roci?\"\n\nNo one spoke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What's... ah... what's going on?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're being evacuated,\" the man said.\n\n\"Evacuated?\"\n\n\"Part of the surrender agreement.\"\n\n\"Surrender agreement? You're surrendering? Why are you surrendering?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We lost the politics,\" one of the women behind him said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If the skiff they loaded him onto wasn't the same one that had taken him back from the station, it was close enough that he couldn't tell the difference. There were only four soldiers this time, all of them in full combat armor. The rest of the spaces were taken up by men and women in standard naval uniform. Holden thought at first they were the wounded, but when he looked closer, none of them seemed to have anything worse than minor injuries." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was the exhaustion in their faces and bodies that made them seem broken." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The acceleration burn wasn't even announced. The thrust barely shifted the crash couches. All around him, the Martians slept or brooded. Holden scratched at the hard, flexible plastic restraints on his wrists and ankles, and no one told him to stop." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Maybe that was a good sign." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried to do the math in his head. If the new top speed was about as fast as a launched grenade, then every hour, they'd travel... As tired as he was, he couldn't make the numbers add up to anything. If he'd had his hand terminal, it would have been a few seconds' work. Still, he couldn't see asking to have it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And it didn't matter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He slept and woke and slept again. The proximity Klaxon woke him from a dream about making bread with someone who was his father Caesar and also Fred Johnson and trying to find the salt. It took him a moment to remember where he was.\n\nThe skiff was small enough that when the other ship's crew banged against the airlock, Holden could hear it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "From his seat, he couldn't see the airlock open." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The first thing he knew was a slightly different scent in the air. Something rich and oddly humid. And then four new people stepped into his view. They were Belters. A broad-faced woman, a thick man with a startling white beard, and two shaven-headed men so similar they might have been twins." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The twins had the split circle of the OPA tattooed on their arms." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All four wore sidearms.\n\nThe Behemoth, Holden thought. They'd surrendered to the Behemoth. That was weird.\n\nOne of the marines, still in battle armor, floated over to them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Belters didn't show any sign of fear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden gave them credit for that.\n\n\"I am Sergeant Alexander Verbinski,\" the Martian said. \"I have been ordered to hand over this skiff and her crew and company in accordance with the agreement of surrender.\"\n\nThe woman and white-bearded man looked at each other." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden thought he could see the question—You gonna tell them they can't take their suits in?—pass between them. The woman shrugged." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bien alles,\" she said. \"Welcome aboard. Bring them through in sixpacks and we'll get you sorted, sa sa?\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am,\" Verbinski said.\n\n\"Corin,\" one of the twins said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman turned to see him gesture toward Holden with his chin." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Pa con esá parlan, si?\"\n\nThe woman's nod was curt.\n\n\"We'll take Holden out now,\" she said.\n\n\"Your show,\" the marine said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden thought from his tone he'd have been as happy to shoot him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That might have been paranoia, though.\n\nThe Belters escorted him through the airlock and a long Mylar tube to the engineering deck of the Behemoth. A dozen people were waiting with hand terminals at the ready, prepared for the slow, slogging administrative work of dealing with a defeated enemy. Holden got to skip the line, and he wasn't sure it was an honor." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The woman floating near the massive doors at the transition point where the engineering section met the drum looked too young for her captain's insignia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Her hair, pulled back in a severe bun, reminded him of a teacher he'd had once when he'd still been on Earth.\n\n\"Captain Pa,\" the security woman—Corin, one of the twins had called her—said. \"You wanted to talk with this one.\"\n\n\"Captain Holden,\" Captain Pa said with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Welcome aboard the Behemoth. I'm giving you liberty of the ship, but I want you to understand that there are some conditions.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden blinked. He'd expected another brig at least. Freedom of the ship was pretty much the same as freedom period. It wasn't like there were a lot of places he could go.\n\n\"Ah. All right,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You are to make yourself available for debriefing whenever you are called upon. No exceptions. You are not to discuss what happened or didn't happen on the station with anyone besides myself or the security chief.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I know how to shut it off,\" Holden said.\n\nThe younger captain's expression shifted.\n\n\"You what?\"\n\n\"I know how to get the protomolecule to take us all off of lockdown,\" he said, and went on to explain all of what he'd told Captain Jakande again—seeing Miller, the plan to lull the station into a lower alert level so that the dead man could shut it down—fighting to sound calm, rational, and sane as he did it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't go so far as the massive civilization-destroying invasion that had wiped out the protomolecule's creators." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It all sounded bad enough without that.\n\nPa listened carefully, her face a mask. She wasn't someone he'd want to play poker against. He had the powerful, painful memory of Naomi telling him that she'd teach him how to play poker, and his throat closed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security man with the white beard floated up, two angry-looking Martians matching vector behind him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Captain?\" the Belter said, barely restrained rage in his voice.\n\n\"Just a minute, Mister Gutmansdottir,\" she said, then turned back to Holden. She had to be overwhelmed, but it was only a tightness in her jaw, if it was even that much. \"I'll... take that under advisement, but for the immediate future—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My crew?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They're in the civilian medical bay,\" Pa said, and the white-bearded man cleared his throat in a way that meant he hadn't needed to. \"There are directions posted. If you'll excuse me.\"\n\n\"Captain, there's a load of contraband among the new prisoners,\" Gutmansdottir said, hitting the last word hard. \"Thought you'd want to address that before it got to Bull.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa took a deep breath and pushed off after her security man." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A few seconds later, Holden realized he hadn't been dismissed so much as forgotten. Fallen down the list of things that the young captain had to do right now, and so fuck him. He moved out past the transition point and to the platforms where the axis of the little world spun. There was a long ramp for carts, and he shuffled down it, the spin slowly shifting from pure Coriolis to the sensation of weight." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He could feel in his knees how long he'd been on the float and hoped that the medical bays weren't too far away." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If they'd been on the far side of the system, though, he'd have grabbed an EVA suit, as much spare air as he could haul, and started out, though. The idea that he was breathing the same air as Naomi and Alex and Amos was like a drug.\n\nOnly Captain Pa hadn't actually said that. All she'd said was that his crew was there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The \"remaining\" might have been implied." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried to jog, but got winded after only a couple of minutes and had to pause to catch his breath.\n\nThe great body of the drum stretched out before him, a world wrapped into a tube. The long strip of the false sun glowed white above him, now that there was a clear \"above,\" and reached out across two kilometers to a swirling ramp at the other end, the mirror of the one he was on. Thin clouds drifted in tori around the unbearable brightness." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The air clung to him, the heat pressing at his skin, but he could imagine the bare metal of the drum's surface covered in green, the air sweet with the scent of apple blossoms, the cycle of evaporation and condensation cooling it all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or if not, at least making it into a long, permanent summer afternoon.\n\nIt was a dream. Someone else's and doomed now to failure, but worthy. Beautiful, even in ruins." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Captain Holden? Can I speak with you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was a small woman with bright red hair pulled into tight braids, and wearing a plain brown suit. She was the sort of very comfortable middle-aged that always made him think of his mothers.\n\n\"My name is Annushka Volovodov,\" she said with a smile. \"But you can call me Anna if you like.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You can call me Jim,\" he said, holding out a hand." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He almost had his wind back. Anna shook his hand without a hint of fear. His \"most dangerous man in the solar system\" reputation must not have reached her yet. \"Eastern European?\"\n\n\"Russian,\" she replied with a nod." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Born in Kimry. But a Muscovite for most of my adult life. North American?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Montana. Farming collective.\"\n\n\"I hear Montana is nice.\"\n\n\"Population density is good. Still more cows than people.\"\n\nAnna nodded and plucked at her suit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden got the sense that she actually had something she wanted to say but was having a hard time getting to the point." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Kimry was like that. It's a tourist place you know, the lakes—\" Anna started.\n\n\"Anna,\" Holden cut her off gently. \"Do you need to say something to me?\"\n\n\"I do,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need to ask you not to tell anyone about Clarissa, and what she did.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden nodded.\n\n\"Okay,\" he said. \"Who's Clarissa and what did she do?\"\n\nThe woman tilted her head.\n\n\"They didn't tell you?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I don't think they liked me much,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Is there something I should know?\"\n\n\"Well, this is awkward. Just after the catastrophe, a girl calling herself Melba attacked your ship,\" Anna said. \"It's a long story, but I followed her and tried to help. Your first officer? Naomi? She was hurt in the attack. Badly.\"\n\nHolden felt the universe contract." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi was hurt while he'd been dicking around with Miller on the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His hands were shaking.\n\n\"Where is she?\" he asked, not sure if he meant Naomi or the woman who'd hurt her.\n\n\"Naomi's here. They brought her over to the Behemoth,\" Anna said. \"She's in the medical bay right now receiving treatment. They assure me she'll recover. The rest of your crew is here too. They were hurt earlier. When the speed limit changed.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They're alive?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes,\" Anna said. \"They are.\"\n\nThe mix of relief and sorrow and anger and guilt made the ship seem to spin a little beneath him. Anna put a hand on his arm to steady him.\n\n\"Who is this Melba and why did she attack my crew?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"It's not her real name. My friend knows her, knows her family. Apparently she has something of an obsession with you. Her name is Clarissa Mao.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mao.\n\nThe mysterious and powerful Julie. The Julie rebuilt by the protomolecule like his ghostly Miller. The Julie who had hired Cohen the soundman to hack their ship, the Julie he'd sculpted for them later who'd never looked quite right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The Julie who'd been manipulating every detail of his life for the last year just to get them through the gate and down to the station." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It wasn't Julie at all.\n\n\"She's not well,\" Anna was saying, \"but I believe that she can be reached. If there's time. But if they kill her—\"\n\n\"Where's Naomi? Do you know where she is?\"\n\n\"I do,\" Anna said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And then, \"I'm sorry. I may have been a little wrapped up in my own issue. Can I take you there?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Please,\" Holden said.\n\nFifteen minutes later, Holden stepped into a small room in the medical ward that his little family had to themselves. Naomi lay on a gurney, one arm in an inflatable cast. Her face was mottled with half-healed bruises." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tears stung his eyes, and for a moment he couldn't speak." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A killing rage burned in him. This wasn't a disaster. It wasn't an accident. Someone had done this to her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she saw him, her smile was gentle and amused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey,\" she said. In a moment, he was at her side, holding her good hand, his throat too thick for speech. There were tears in Naomi's eyes too, but no anger. He was amazed how grateful he was for that.\n\n\"Anna,\" Naomi said. She looked genuinely pleased to see her, which was a good start." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Jim, you met Anna? She saved me from the psycho with the demolition mech.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Saved us too, I guess,\" Amos said. \"So thanks for that, Red. I guess I owe you one.\"\n\nIt took Holden a moment to realize that \"Red\" meant Anna. She seemed surprised by it too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I'm happy I was able to help. I'm afraid I was very stoned on pain medication at the time. It could have easily gone the other way.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Just take the marker,\" Alex said. \"Soon as you figure out what Amos is good for, you can trade it in.\"\n\n\"Asshole,\" Amos said, and threw a pillow at him\n\n\"Thank you,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If you saved them, I owe you everything.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm happy I was able to help,\" she repeated. To Naomi she said, \"You look better than the last time I saw you.\"\n\n\"Getting better,\" Naomi replied, then tested her injured arm with a grimace. \"We'll see how mobile it is once the bones knit up.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna nodded and smiled at her, and then the smile faded." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jim? I'm sorry, but I still need to speak to you,\" she said to him. \"Maybe privately?\"\n\n\"No. I never thought I'd see these people again. I'm staying right here. If you want to talk to me, go ahead and do it.\"\n\nThe woman's eyes shifted between the crewmen. Her expression could have been hope or polite resignation." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I need something,\" she finally said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Anything,\" Amos answered instantly, sitting up in bed a bit. Holden knew Anna wouldn't understand how literally Amos meant that. Hopefully a preacher didn't need anyone murdered.\n\n\"If we got it,\" Alex added, \"it's yours.\" Amos nodded agreement." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna directed her answer at Holden." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I've talked to the head of security and he's agreed to keep quiet about Clarissa's confession. All that she's done. I need you to keep quiet too.\"\n\nHolden frowned, but didn't reply. Naomi said, \"Why?\"\n\n\"Well,\" Anna said. \"It's James Holden. He has a reputation for announcing things—\"\n\n\"Not why ask us?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Naomi said. \"Why don't you want people to know?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna nodded. \"If it gets out, given our current situation, they'll probably execute her.\"\n\n\"Good,\" Holden said.\n\n\"She does kind of have it coming,\" Amos added.\n\nAnna held her hands tight in front of her and nodded." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't mean that she agreed, only that she heard them. That she understood." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I need you to forgive her,\" she said. \"If nothing else, as a favor to me. You said I could have anything. That's what I want.\"\n\nIn the pause, Amos let out a long breath. Alex's eyebrows were climbing up his forehead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why?\" Naomi said again, her voice calm." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna pressed her lips thin. \"She's not evil. I believe that Clarissa did what she did out of a love. A sick love, but love. And if she's dead, there won't be any hope for her. And I have to hope.\"\n\nHolden saw the words wash over Naomi, a sudden pain in her eyes that he didn't understand. She pulled back her lips, baring her teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Her whisper was obscene and so quiet that no one but him could hear it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He squeezed her hand, feeling the bones of her fingers against his own.\n\n\"Okay,\" Naomi said. \"We'll keep quiet.\"\n\nThe rage flared in his breast. Speaking was suddenly easy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I won't,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're talking about an insane member of the Mao clan, the people who've twice tried to kill everyone in the solar system, who followed us all the way to the Ring, tried to kill us. To kill you. She blew up a spaceship full of innocent people just to try and make me look bad. Who knows how many other people she's killed? If the UN wants to space her, I'll push the damn button myself.\"\n\nThere was a long moment of silence. Holden watched Anna's face fall as he crushed her hopes. Alex started chuckling, and everyone turned to look at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yeah,\" Alex said in his drawling voice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I mean, Naomi only got beat half to death. She can cut this Clarissa slack, it's no big deal. But the captain's girlfriend got hurt. He's the real victim here.\"\n\nThe room got quiet again as everyone stopped breathing. Blood flushed into Holden's face, rushing like a river in his ears. It was hatred and pain and outrage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His mind seemed to flicker, and the urge to strike out at Alex for the insult was almost too much to resist." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then he understood Alex's words, saw Naomi's eyes on his, and it all drained away. Why, he wanted to ask, but it didn't matter. It was Naomi, and she'd made her decision. It wasn't his revenge to take." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He was spent. Exhausted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He wanted to curl up on the floor there with his people around him and sleep for days. He tried out a smile.\n\n\"Wow,\" he finally said. \"Sometimes I am just a gigantic asshole.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Task: Cooperative storytelling\nMy role: Provide a brief opening\nYour role: Expand upon my opening with 4 sentences, emulating the writing style of James S. A. Corey." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She didn't know at first what the change was." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It presented in little things. The decking she'd been able to sleep on like she was dead suddenly wasn't comfortable. She found herself wondering more what her father did in his cell, five billion kilometers away and, for all she knew, in another universe. She tapped her hands against the bars just to hear the subtle differences in tone that the different bars made when struck. And she hated." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hatred was nothing new." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She'd lived with it for long enough that the memories of the times before all carried the same colors of rage and righteousness. Only before, she'd hated Jim Holden, and now she hated Clarissa Mao. Hating herself had a kind of purity that she found appealing. Cathartic. Jim Holden had shifted out from under her thirst for vengeance, refusing to be consumed by it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could live in the flames and know she deserved to burn." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was like playing a game on easy.\n\nShe tapped the bars. There wasn't enough variation between them to play a melody. If there had been she would have, just for something to distract her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She wondered whether her extra glands would be enough to bend the bars or lift the door off its hinges." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not that it would matter. At best, leaving her cell would have meant being gunned down by an OPA guard. At worst, it would have meant freedom.\n\nThe captain had stopped talking to her, at least." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She watched the stream of visitors coming to him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She had a pretty clear idea which of the guards answered to him. And there were a couple of Martians in military uniforms who came, and a few UN officers too. They came and met with Captain Ashford, speaking in the low voices of people who took themselves and each other very seriously. She recognized the sound from eavesdropping on her father." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She remembered that she had been impressed by it once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now it made her want to laugh.\n\nShe paced her tiny world. She did push-ups and lunges and all the pointless exercises that the light gravity allowed. And she waited for punishment or for the end of the world." }, { "from": "human", "value": "When she slept, Ren was there, so she tried not to sleep much." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And slowly, with a sense of growing horror, she understood that the change was her coming back to herself. Falling awake. After her failure on the Rocinante, there had been a kind of peace. A disconnection from everything. But even before that, she'd been in a sort of a dream." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She couldn't tell if it had started with the day she'd killed Ren or when she'd taken the identification to become Melba Koh. Or earlier, even." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When she'd heard her father had been arrested. Whenever she'd lost herself, she was coming back now, and it was like her whole consciousness was suffering pins and needles. It was worse than pain, and it drove her in circles.\n\nThe more she thought about it, the clearer the mind games that the red-haired priest had played on her were." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The priest and, in her way, Tilly Fagan too." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Maybe Anna had come thinking that the promise of forgiveness would need to be dangled in front of her in order to get the confession. If so, the woman was double stupid: first because she'd thought Clarissa wouldn't admit to what she'd done, and second because she'd thought forgiveness was something Clarissa wanted. Or would accept.\n\nI'd like to speak with you again, she'd said, and at the time it had seemed so sincere. So real. Only she hadn't come back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A small rational part of Clarissa's mind knew that it hadn't really been that long." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Being in the cell changed the experience of time and made her feel isolated. That was the point of cells. Still, Anna hadn't come back. And neither had Holden." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Or Naomi, whom Clarissa hadn't quite killed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were done with her, and why shouldn't they be? Clarissa didn't have anything else to offer them. Except maybe a warning that the power on the ship was about to change hands again, as if that would even matter. Who got to sit in the doomed ship's captain's chair seemed like a terribly petty thing to worry about." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was like arguing about who was the prettiest girl in the prison camp." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Still, it was the only show playing, so she watched.\n\nThe voices from the other cell had taken on a new tone. An urgency. Even before the well-dressed man came down toward her, she knew that their little drama was about to play out. He stood at her door, looking in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His white hair, brilliant and perfectly coiffed, just made him look old." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was a darkness in his professionally avuncular eyes. When he put his hands around the bars, it looked like he was the one imprisoned.\n\n\"I'm guessing that you don't remember me,\" he said. His voice was sad and sweet both." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Father Cortez,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I remember who you are. You used to play golf with my father.\"\n\nHe chuckled ruefully, stepping his feet back from the bars in a way that brought his forehead closer to them.\n\n\"I did, but that was a long time ago. You wouldn't have been more than... what? Seven?\"\n\n\"I've seen you in the newsfeeds since.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ah,\" he said. His eyes focused on nothing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That feels like it was a long time ago too. I was just now talking with the captain. He said he's been trying to convince you to join us, only he hasn't had much success.\"\n\nTwo guards came in, walking down the rows of stalls. She recognized them both as Ashford's allies. Cortez didn't take notice of them at all." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, he hasn't,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And then, \"He lies a lot.\"\n\nCortez's eyebrows rose.\n\n\"Lies?\"\n\n\"He said he could get me amnesty. When we get back home, he could take me to Ceres and put me under OPA protection. Only he can't do that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez took a long breath and let it out again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No. No, he can't. May I be honest with you?\"\n\n\"I don't see that I'm in a position to stop you,\" Clarissa said.\n\n\"I think that you and I have a great deal in common. You have blood on your hands. The blood of innocents.\"\n\nShe tried to sneer, tried to retreat into a dismissive pose, but it only left her feeling exposed and adolescent." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cortez went on as if he hadn't noticed. Maybe he hadn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I was... instrumental in bringing us through the gate. The combined force, representing all three divisions of humanity, joined gloriously together.\" Bitterness darkened the words, but then he smiled and she thought maybe there was something as wounded in him as there was in her. \"Vainglory is an occupational hazard for men in my profession. It's one I've battled with limited success, I'm afraid.\"\n\n\"I was the one who drove Holden through the Ring,\" Clarissa said, unsure whether she was confessing a crime or offering Cortez an out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yes. And I led all the others in after him. And so when they died, it was because I had blinded them to the dangers they faced. I led my flock to the slaughterhouse. I thought I was putting my faith in providence, but...\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Tears filled his eyes, and his expression went empty.\n\n\"Father?\" she said.\n\n\"When I was a child,\" Cortez said, \"my cousin found a dead man. The body was in an arroyo out behind our land. She dared me to go and look at it. I was desperately afraid, but I went and I held my head high and I pretended that I wasn't in order not to be. When the medics arrived, we found out the man had died from one of the old hemorrhagic fevers. They put me on prophylactic antivirals for the rest of the summer. So perhaps I've always done this. I thought I was putting my faith in providence, but perhaps I was only covering my own fears. And my own fears led a great many people to die.\"\n\n\"It's not your fault.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"But it is my problem. And perhaps my failings were in the service of a greater good. You were right, my dear. There will be no amnesty for you or for me either. But not for the reason you imagine.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Clarissa stood. Cortez's gaze was on her like a weight. The intimacy of the old man's confession and the fear and grief carried with such dignity made her respect him even though she'd never particularly liked him.\n\n\"The dangers that the aliens pose are too great. To think that we could harness them or treat them as equals was hubris, and the deaths we have seen already will be like a raindrop in the ocean. We've delivered ourselves into the hands of the devil. Not everyone understands that, but I think perhaps you do.\"\n\nTo her surprise, she felt dread welling up in her throat." }, { "from": "human", "value": "At the far end of the hall, metal clanked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford's stall door swung open. One of the guards said something, but Cortez's full attention was on her and it felt like pouring cool water on a burn.\n\n\"I think I do,\" she said softly.\n\n\"Captain Ashford's freedom is my doing because he and I have come to a meeting of the minds that I could not manage with the present captain. When they began to bring the crews of the various ships together here, they did it in part by creating a weapon.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Weapons don't work here.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Light does, and they have made a weapon out of it. The communications laser has been made strong enough to cut through hulls. And it can be made stronger. Enough so, we believe, that it will destroy the Ring and close the gate.\"\n\n\"We'll be on the wrong side of it,\" Clarissa said.\n\n\"Yes. But if we wait, others will come. They'll be tempted. 'If we can manipulate the gates,' they'll say, 'what glories would come to us.' I can already hear them.\"\n\n\"You were saying that. You were one of them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I was, and I've learned a terrible lesson. And you were driven here by hatred. Have you?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ashford laughed. One of the guards said, \"Welcome back, Captain.\" Clarissa tapped her fingertips against the bars, and they chimed.\n\n\"We were wrong,\" Cortez said. \"But now we have a chance to make it right. We can protect all of humanity from making the mistakes we've made. We can protect them. But there will be a sacrifice.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Us. All of us.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yes. We will die here in the darkness, cut off from all of those we have preserved. And among those who are with us here, we will be reviled. We may be punished. Even put to death.\" He shifted his hand to touch hers. The contact, skin to skin, was electric. \"I'm not lying to you, Clarissa. The things I am asking of you will have no reward in this life.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What are you asking?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "she said. \"What do you want me to do about any of this?\"\n\n\"People will try to stop us. They may try to kill the captain. I understand that the modifications made to your body have the potential to elevate your natural abilities to something exceptional. Come with us. See to it that the captain isn't hurt, and that he isn't stopped. It may be you need do nothing but stand witness. Or you may be the difference between success and failure.\"\n\n\"Either way, I'm dead.\"\n\n\"Yes. But one will only be a death. The other will have meaning.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Captain Ashford and his guards began walking toward them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The click of their heels against the deck was like the soft sounds of a mechanical clock. The moment drew toward its end, and resentment burned a little. She didn't want Ashford to come. She wanted to stay here, talking with the reverend about sacrifice and death." }, { "from": "human", "value": "About the burden of having done something so wrong the scales couldn't be balanced while she lived." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even though his mouth was set, Cortez's pale blue eyes smiled at her. He didn't look like her father at all. His face was too doughy, his jaw was too wide. He was all sincerity where her father always had a sense of laughing at the world from behind a mask." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But at that moment, she saw Jules-Pierre Mao in him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The people we killed,\" she said. \"If we do this, all of them will have died for a reason too.\"\n\n\"For the noblest of reasons,\" Cortez agreed.\n\n\"We have to get going,\" Ashford said, and Cortez stepped back from the doorway, folding his hands together." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ashford turned to her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His too-large head and thin Belter's frame made him seem like something from a bad dream. \"Last chance,\" he said.\n\n\"I'll go,\" Clarissa said.\n\nAshford's eyebrows rose and he glanced from her to Cortez and back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A slow smile stretched his lips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You're sure?\" he asked, but the pleasure in his voice made it clear he wasn't really looking for her thoughts or justifications.\n\n\"I'll make sure no one stops you,\" she said.\n\nAshford looked at Cortez for a moment, and his expression showed that he was impressed. He saluted her, and—awkwardly—she saluted back." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She felt a moment's disorientation stepping out of her cell that didn't come from a change in gravity or Coriolis." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was the first free step she'd taken since the Rocinante. Ashford walked ahead of her, his two guards talking about action groups and locking down the Behemoth. Engineering and command weren't in the rotating drum, and so they would take control of the transfer points at the far north and south of the drum and the exterior elevator that passed between them. How to maintain calm in the drum until they could lock it all down, who was tracking the enemy, who was already a loyalist and who would need persuasion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa didn't pay much attention." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She was more aware of Cortez walking at her side and the sense of having left some kind of burden behind in the cell. She was going to die, and it was going to make all the things she'd done wrong before make sense. Every child born on Earth or Mars or the stations of the Belt would be safe from the protomolecule because of what they were about to do. And Soledad and Bob and Stanni, her father and her mother and her siblings, they would all know she was dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Everyone who'd known and loved Ren would be able to sleep a little better knowing that his killer had come to justice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Even she'd sleep better, if she got any sleep.\n\n\"And she has combat implants,\" Ashford was saying as he pointed his fist back toward her. One of the guards looked back toward her. The one with off-colored eyes and the scar on his chin. Jojo." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You sure she's one of us, Captain?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"The enemy of my enemy, Jojo,\" Ashford said.\n\n\"I will vouch for her,\" Cortez said.\n\nYou shouldn't, Clarissa thought, but didn't say.\n\n\"Claro,\" Jojo said with a Belter gesture equivalent to a shrug." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She's on command deck with tu alles tu.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That'll be fine,\" Ashford said.\n\nThe hall opened into a larger corridor. White LEDs left the walls looking pale and antiseptic. A dozen people armed with slug throwers, men and women both, sat in electric carts or stood beside them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Clarissa wanted the air itself to smell different, but it didn't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It was all just plastic and heat. Captain Ashford and three armed men jostled in the cart just ahead.\n\n\"It will take some time before the ship is fully secured,\" Cortez said. \"We'll have to gather what allies we can. Suppress the resistance. Once we assemble everything we need and get off the drum, they won't be able to stop us.\"" } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "The user will write a bit then you need to write around 4 sentences continuing directly from the user's text. Try to mimic the style of James S. A. Corey.Produce 4 sentences using the prose and structure of James S. A. Corey every time its your turn using what the user wrote as a seed." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull tried not to cough. The doctor listened to his breath, moved the stethoscope a few inches, listened some more. He couldn't tell if the little silver disk was cold. He couldn't feel it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He coughed up a hard knob of mucus and accepted a bit of tissue from the doctor to spit it into." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She tapped a few notes into her hand terminal. The light from its screen showed how tired she looked.\n\n\"Well, you're clearing a little,\" the doctor said. \"Your white count is still through the roof, though.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"And the spine?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Your spine is a mess, and it's getting worse. By which I mean it's getting harder to make it better.\"\n\n\"That's a sacrifice.\"\n\n\"When's it going to be enough?\" she asked.\n\n\"Depends on what you mean by 'it,'\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You wanted to get everyone together. They're together.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Still got crews on half the ships.\"\n\n\"Skeleton crews,\" the doctor said. \"I know how many people you have on this ship. I treat them. You wanted to bring everyone together. They're together. Is that enough?\"\n\n\"Be nice to make sure everyone doesn't just start shooting at each other,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The doctor lifted her hands, exasperated." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"So as soon as humans aren't humans anymore, then you'll let me do my job.\"\n\nBull laughed, which was a mistake. His cough was deeper now, rattling in the caverns of his chest, but it wasn't violent. Before he could really work up a good gut-wrencher, he'd need abdominal muscles that fired." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The doctor handed him another tissue. He used it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We get everything under control,\" he said, \"you can knock me out, all right?\"\n\n\"Is that going to happen?\" she asked. It was the thing everyone wanted to know, whether they came right out and said it or not. The truth was, he didn't like the plan." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Part of that was because it came from Jim Holden, part was that it came from the protomolecule, and part was that he badly wanted it to be true." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The fallback was that he'd start evacuating who he could with the shuttles he had, except that shuttles weren't built for long-haul work. It wasn't viable.\n\nThey had to start making food. Generating soil to fill the interior of the drum. Growing crops under the false strip of sun that ran along the Behemoth's axis." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And getting the goddamned heat under control." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had to see to it that they made it, whatever that meant. Medical comas could last a pretty long time when ships slower than a decent fastball made a voyage across emptiness wider than Earth's oceans.\n\nAll of the reasons they'd come out—Earth, Mars, the OPA; all of them—seemed almost impossibly distant. Worrying about the OPA's place in the political calculus of the system was like trying to remember whether he'd paid back a guy who bought him a beer when he was twenty." }, { "from": "human", "value": "After a certain point, the past becomes irrelevant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing that happened outside the slow zone mattered. All that counted now was keeping things civilized until they found out if Holden's mad plan was more than a pipe dream.\n\nAnd in order to do that, he had to keep breathing.\n\n\"Might pull it off. Captain Pa's got a plan she's looking at might get us burning again. Maybe,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"While we're waiting, though, you think you could hook me up?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She scowled, but she got an inhaler from the pack beside the bed and tossed it to him. His arms still worked. He shook the thing twice, then put the formed ceramics to his lips and breathed. The steroids smelled like the ocean, and they burned a little." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He tried not to cough." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"That's not going to fix anything,\" she said. \"All we're doing is masking the symptoms.\"\n\n\"It's just got to get me through,\" Bull said, trying out a smile. The truth was he felt like crap." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He didn't hurt, he just felt tired." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And sick. And desperate.\n\nWith the inhaler stowed, he angled the walker back out toward the corridor. The medical bays were still full. The growing heat gave everything the sick, close feeling of a tropical summer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The smell of bodies and illness, blood and corruption and fake floral antiseptics made the rooms feel smaller than they were." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Practice had made him more graceful with the mechanism. He used the two joysticks to shift out of the way of the nurses and therapists, making himself as unobtrusive as the rig allowed as he made his way back toward the security office.\n\nHis hand terminal chimed. He drove to a turn in the corridor, snugging himself into the corner to stay out of the way, then dropped the joysticks and took up the terminal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Corin requesting a connection." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He thumbed to accept.\n\n\"Corin,\" he said. \"What you got?\"\n\n\"Boss?\" she said. The tension in her voice brought his head up a degree." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You running a drill?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"What's going on?\"\n\n\"Jojo and Gutmansdottir just came by and said they were taking over the security office. When I told them they could have it when my shift was up, they drew down on me.\"\n\nBull felt a black dread descending upon him. He gripped the terminal and kept his voice low." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"They what?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He pulled up his security interface, but the red border refused him. He was locked out of the command systems. They'd been moving fast.\n\n\"Was hoping it was some kind of test. Way they were talking, I got the feeling they were looking to find you there. I'm heading over to Serge's. He's trying to figure out what the hell's going on,\" she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"If it was the wrong call—\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It wasn't. You walked away, you did the right thing. Where were they supposed to be?\"\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"They were on shift. Where were they supposed to be?\"\n\nFor a moment, Corin's wide face was a mask of confusion." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He watched her understand, a calm and deadly focus coming into her eyes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She didn't need to say it. Jojo and Gutmansdottir had been guarding the prisoners. Meaning Ashford.\n\nPa should have let him kill the bastard.\n\n\"Okay. Find Serge and anyone you trust. We've got to get this shit contained.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bien.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They'd be going for the armory. If they had security, the guns and gear were already theirs. Bull let a thin trickle of conversational obscenities fall from his lips while he tried to think. If he knew how many of his people had turned back to Ashford, he'd know what he had to work with." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We can't let him get to Monica and the broadcast center,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"It gets out that we've got fighting in the drum, we'll get a dozen half-assed rescue missions trying to get their people out.\"\n\n\"You want us to concentrate there?\" Corin asked.\n\n\"Don't concentrate anywhere,\" Bull said. \"Not until we know what we're looking at. Just get as many people and guns as you can and stay in touch.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He had to get a plan." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had to have one now, only his brain wasn't working the way it should. He was sick. Hell, he was dying. It seemed deeply unfair that he should have to improvise at the same time.\n\n\"Get to Serge,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We'll worry about it from there. I've got some people I've got to talk to.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Bien, boss,\" Corin repeated, and dropped the connection.\n\nA nurse pushed a rolling table around the corner, and Bull had to put his terminal away in order to step out of the man's path. He wished like hell he could walk and hold his terminal at the same damn time. He requested a priority connection to Pa. For a long moment, he was sure she wouldn't pick up, that Ashford had gotten to her already." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The screen flickered, and she was there." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He couldn't see what room she was in, but there were voices speaking in the background.\n\n\"Mister Baca,\" Pa said.\n\n\"Ashford's loose,\" he said. \"I don't know how many people he's got or what he's doing, but a couple of my people just drew weapons and took over the security station.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Pa blinked. To her credit, she didn't show even a moment's fear, only the mental shifting of gears." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Thank you, Mister Baca,\" Pa said. He could tell from the movement of her image on the screen that she was already walking away from wherever she'd been. Getting someplace unpredictable. That was what he needed to be doing too.\n\n\"I'll try to get in touch when I have a better idea what I'm looking at,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I appreciate that,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I have a few people nearby that I trust. I'm going there now.\"\n\n\"I figure he's going to try to take over the broadcast station.\"\n\n\"Then we'll try to reinforce them,\" Pa said.\n\n\"Maybe it's just a few assholes,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Ashford may be trying to keep his head low too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Or he may be getting ready to throw us both into a soil recycler,\" Pa said. \"Which way do you want to bet?\"\n\nBull smiled. He almost meant it.\n\n\"Take care of yourself, Captain.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You too, Mister Baca.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"And hey,\" he said. \"I'm sorry I got you into this.\"\n\nNow it was Pa's turn to smile. She looked tired. She looked old." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"You didn't make any decisions for me,\" she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If I'm paying for my sins, at least give me that they're mine.\"\n\nHer gaze jumped up from the terminal's camera toward something off the screen. Her lips pressed thin and the connection dropped. Bull had to fight not to request another connection, just so he could know what happened." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But there wasn't time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He had to hurry. He tried connections to Ruiz in infrastructure and Chen without getting replies. He wondered how many supporters Ashford had gotten from the upper ranks of the staff. He cursed himself for having let Ashford pass under his radar." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But he'd been so busy..." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He tried Sam, and almost as soon as he put in the request, she was there.\n\n\"We got a problem,\" he said. \"Ashford's trying to take back the ship. He's got security already.\"\n\n\"And engineering,\" Sam said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull licked his lips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Where are you, Sam?\"\n\n\"Right now? Funny you should ask. Engineering. Ashford left about five minutes ago. Had a little wish list of things he'd like me to do and about two dozen fellas with guns and scowls. That man's lost his shit, Bull. Seriously. He used to be a prick, but... He wants me to take out the Ring. Your comm laser trick? He wants it overclocked.\"\n\n\"You got to be kidding me.\"\n\n\"Not.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He's looking to nuke the way home?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Calls it saving humanity from the alien threat,\" Sam said sweetly. Her eyes were hard.\n\n\"All right,\" Bull said, even though nothing about this was all right.\n\n\"And he's not at all happy with you. Are you someplace safe?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bull looked up and down the corridor." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There wasn't cover. And even if there was, he was one man in a modified lifting mech and no spinal cord past the middle of his back.\n\n\"No,\" he said. \"I don't think I am.\"\n\n\"Might want to get moving.\"\n\n\"I've got no place safe to go,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Someone on the other end of the connection shouted and Sam looked up at them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm trying to scramble up all the technicians I can,\" she shouted back. \"Things have been a tiny bit disorganized. Had a little trouble with the rules of physics changing on us. Maybe you noticed.\"\n\nThe first voice shouted again. Bull couldn't hear the words, but he knew the timbre of the voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Garza. The guy who'd always gotten bulbs of coffee for whoever was stuck in the security office." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Garza was one of theirs. Bull wished he'd gotten to know the man better. Especially after the catastrophe, he should have been checking in with his staff more. He should have seen this all coming." }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was his fault." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All of this was his fault.\n\nSam looked back down at the screen. At him.\n\n\"Okay, sweetie,\" she said. \"You should get scarce. Head for the second level, section M. There's a bunch of empty storage there. The door codes are all on default. Straight zeros.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why are they on default?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Because there's nothing in them, bossypants, and changing the locks on all the empties never made the top of my to-do list. Is this really the time?\"\n\n\"Sorry,\" Bull said.\n\n\"Don't worry,\" she said. \"Both of us under a little stress right now. Just get your head down before someone knocks it off. And Pa—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Pa knows. She's heading for safety too.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"All right, then. I'll try to get you some help.\"\n\n\"No,\" Bull said. \"You don't know who you can trust.\"\n\n\"Yes, I do,\" Sam said. \"Let's don't argue in front of the children.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "A voice brought him back to the corridor, the medical center." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not the groans of the wounded, not the professional calm of the nurses. Someone was excited and aggressive. Angry. Someone answered in a lower voice, and the first one came back with Do I look like I care? It was trouble, and despite everything, his first impulse was to turn toward it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "His job was to get in the middle of things, to make sure that no one got hurt, and if anyone did, it was him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Him first, then the bad guys.\n\n\"I got to go,\" he said, and dropped the connection. It only took a second to stow his hand terminal and get his palms back on the mech's controls. Long enough for him to fight back his instincts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He shifted the mech to head down the corridor, away from the voices." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They were Ashford's people. Ashford and whoever was backing him. If he got caught now, he wouldn't be any use to anybody. Chances were they'd just kill him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Might not even get as far as the airlock first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The mech's legs moved slowly. Even full-out, it didn't go more than a modest walk. The voices behind him shifted. Something crashed. He heard his doctor shouting now and waited for the report of gunfire." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they started shooting, he'd have to go back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The mech inched toward the farther door, toward the exit and what passed for safety. Bull pressed the joystick forward so hard his fingers ached, as if the force would make the machine understand the danger.\n\nThe voices got louder, coming close. Bull shifted the mech so that it was walking along the wall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If someone came around the corner behind him, it would give him an extra fraction of a second before he was seen." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The thick metal legs slid forward, shifted weight, shifted again.\n\nThe doorway was six feet away. Four. Three. He let go of the controls and reached out for the door a little too soon and had to inch the mech forward before he tried again. He was sweating, and he hoped it was only fear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If something in his guts had given way, he wouldn't have known." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probably it was just fear.\n\nThe door opened, and he slammed the little joystick forward again. The mech took him through, and he closed the door behind him. He didn't have time to wait or think." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He angled the mech down another hall toward the internal lifts and the long trip to second level, section M." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The great interior halls and passageways of the Behemoth had never seemed less like home. As he descended, the spin gravity grew almost imperceptibly stronger. His numb flesh sat a little heavier in its harness. He was going to have to get someone to change out his piss bag soon unless he could figure out some way to get his arms inside the mech's frame, but his elbows only bent one direction, so that seemed unlikely." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And if his spine didn't grow back, if they didn't get the Behemoth and everyone else back out of the trap the protomolecule had caught them in, he'd live like this until he died." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Don't think about it, he told himself. Too far ahead. Don't think about it. Just do your job.\n\nHe didn't take one of the main internal lifts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Chances were too good that Ashford's men would be watching for that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Instead, he found one of the long, spiraling maintenance passages and set the mech to walking on its own. If it drifted too near one wall or the other, he could correct it, but it gave him a few seconds. He pulled out the hand terminal. He was shaking and his skin looked gray under the brown." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Serge answered almost immediately." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ganne nacht, boss,\" the tattooed Belter said. \"Was wondering when you were going to check in.\"\n\n\"Ashford,\" Bull said.\n\n\"On top of it,\" Serge said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Looks like he's got about a third of our boys and a bunch of crazy-ass coyos from other ships. Right now they got the transition points off the drum north to command and south to engineering, the security office and the armory, y some little wolf packs going through the drum stirring up trouble.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How well armed?\"\n\n\"Nicht so bien sa moi,\" Serge said, grinning. \"They savvy they got us locked out of the communications too, but I got back door open.\"\n\n\"You what?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Always ready for merde mal, me. Bust me down later,\" Serge said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"I'm putting together squads, clean up the drum. We'll get this all smashed flat by bedtime.\"\n\n\"You have to be careful with these guys, Serge.\"\n\n\"Will, boss. Know what we're doing. Know the ship better than anyone. You get safe, let us take care.\"\n\nBull swallowed. Giving over control ached." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We been trying to get the captain, us,\" Serge said.\n\n\"I warned her. She may be refusing connections until she knows more who she can trust,\" Bull said. He didn't add, Or they may have found her.\n\n\"Check,\" Serge said, and Bull heard in the man's voice that he'd had the same thought." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"When we track Ashford?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We don't have permission to kill him,\" Bull said.\n\n\"A finger slips, think we can get forgiveness?\"\n\n\"Probably.\"\n\nSerge grinned. \"Got to go, boss. Just when es se cerrado, and they make you XO, keep me in mind for your chair, no?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Screw that,\" Bull said." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 2 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"When this shit's done, you can be XO.\"\n\n\"Hold you to, boss,\" Serge said, and the connection went dead." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "Today you will be acting as a writing assistant, your partner will send something and you will write the next 4 sentences." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The first sermon Anna had delivered in front of a congregation, fresh out of seminary and filled with zeal, was seventeen pages of single-spaced notes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It had been a lengthy dissection of the first chapter of Malachi, focusing on the prophet's exhortation not to deliver substandard sacrifices to God, and how that related to modern worship. It had been detailed, backed by all of the evidence and argument Anna's studious nature and seven years of graduate school could bring to bear. By the end of it, Anna was pretty sure not one member of the audience was still awake.\n\nShe'd learned some important lessons from that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There was a place for detailed Bible scholarship." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There was even a place for it in front of the congregation. But it wasn't what people came to church for. Learning a bit more about God was part of feeling closer and more connected to Him, and the closeness was what mattered. So Anna's sermons now tended to be just a page or two of notes, and a lot more speaking from the heart." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She'd delivered her message on \"mixed\" churches in God's eyes without looking at the notes once, and it seemed to go over very well." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After she concluded with a short prayer and began the sacrament, Belters and Martians and Earthers got into line together in companionable silence. A few shook hands or clapped each other on the back. Anna felt like it might be the most important message she'd ever delivered.\n\n\"Well, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever heard,\" Tilly said once the service was over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She had the twitchy look she got when she wanted a cigarette, but Anna had asked her not to smoke in the meeting tent and she'd agreed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Though, admittedly, my tolerance for lovey togetherness is low.\"\n\n\"That's very flattering,\" Anna whispered, then paused to shake hands with a Belter woman who tearfully thanked her for organizing the meeting. Tilly gave the woman her most insincere smile but managed not to roll her eyes.\n\n\"I need a drink,\" Tilly said once the woman had left." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Come with. I'll buy you a lemonade.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"They closed the bar. Rationing.\"\n\nTilly laughed. \"I have a supplier. The guy running the rationing sold me a bottle of their best Ganymede hooch for the low price of a thousand dollars. He tossed in the lemonade for free.\"\n\n\"A thousand—\"\n\n\"One of two things will happen,\" Tilly said, taking out a cigarette and putting it in her mouth but leaving it unlit." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We'll get out of here, back into the solar system where I'm rich and a thousand bucks doesn't matter, or we won't get out and nothing will matter.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna nodded because she didn't know what else to say. As much as she'd come to enjoy and rely on Tilly's friendship, she was occasionally reminded how utterly different their worlds were. If she and Nono had an extra thousand UN dollars lying around, it would have immediately gone into Nami's college fund. Tilly had never in her life had to sacrifice a luxury to get a necessity." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there was any actual mixing in the congregation, it was that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The one thing the Belters and inner planet naval people had in common was that none of them would be drinking thousand-dollar alcohol that night, but Tilly would.\n\nGod might not care about financial standing, but He was the only one.\n\n\"I admit, lemonade sounds nice,\" Anna said, fanning her face with her hand terminal. The Behemoth's big habitat drum was built to house a lot more people than it currently held, but they'd stripped a lot of the environmental systems out of it when they converted it to a warship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was starting to seem like they were reaching the atmosphere processing limits." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or maybe just the air conditioning. The temperature was generally higher now than a girl raised in Russia and most recently living on one of Jupiter's icy moons enjoyed.\n\nAfter one more tour of the tent to say goodbye to the last lingering remnants of her congregation, Anna followed Tilly out. It wasn't much cooler outside the tent, but the spin of the drum and the air recycling system did combine to create a gentle breeze." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly looked over her flushed red face and sweat-plastered hair with a critical eye and said, \"Don't worry, everyone who's coming over is here. I heard Cortez talking to some OPA bigwig a couple days ago. This is as hot as it's going to be. And as soon as they find a way to cool us down that doesn't involve venting our atmosphere into space, they'll do it.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna couldn't help but laugh. When Tilly raised an eyebrow, Anna explained, \"We flew across the entire solar system, almost to the orbit of Neptune, a world so cold and distant from the sun we didn't even know it was there until Bouvard noticed that something was bumping Uranus around.\"\n\nTilly's eyebrow crept higher. \"Okay.\"\n\n\"And when we get here, who knows how far from the sun and with billions of kilometers of empty space in every direction? We somehow manage to be hot and crowded.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Thank God the Belters thought to bring this rattletrap with them,\" Tilly said, ducking to enter her tent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She flopped down into a folding chair and started rummaging in a plastic cooler next to it. \"Can you imagine trying to stuff everyone onto the Prince? We'd be twelve to a bunk there. Lovely culture, these Belters.\"\n\nAnna pulled her cassock off and laid it over the edge of Tilly's cot. Underneath she was wearing a white blouse and a knee-length skirt that was much less stifling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly pulled a plastic bulb of lemonade out of the cooler and handed it to her, then poured herself a glass of something as clear as water that smelled like hospital cleanser." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Anna took the bulb she was surprised to find it cold. Small drops of condensation were already forming on its surface. She put the cool bottle against the back of her neck and felt a delightful chill run down her spine.\n\n\"How did you manage ice?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Dry ice,\" Tilly said around a lit cigarette, then paused to down her first shot." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Apparently it's easy for the people in atmosphere processing to make. Lots of carbon dioxide just lying around.\"\n\nIf Tilly was spending a thousand dollars a bottle for the antiseptic she was drinking, Anna didn't want to know what a steady supply of ice was costing her. They drank in companionable silence for a while, the cool lemonade doing wonders for Anna's heat exhaustion. Tilly brought up the idea of finding something to eat, and they wandered out of her tent in search of a supply kiosk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There were people walking through the crowded tent city carrying guns." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"This looks bad,\" Tilly said. It did. These weren't bored security officers with holstered sidearms. These were grim-faced Belter men and women with assault rifles and shotguns carried in white-knuckled grips. The group moving between the tents was at least a dozen strong, and they were looking for something. Or someone." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna tugged at Tilly's sleeve." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe we should try to get people to go back to the church tent to wait this out.\"\n\n\"Annie, if the bullets start flying in here, even God can't make that tent a safe place to hide. I want to know what's going on.\"\n\nAnna reluctantly followed her in a path that paralleled the armed group, which moved with purpose, occasionally stopping to look in tents or quietly question people. Anna began to feel very frightened without being sure why." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Oh,\" Tilly said. \"Here we go.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bull's second-in-command—Serge was his name, Anna thought—rounded one of the larger tents trailing half a dozen security people behind him. They were all armed as well, though only with handguns. Even to Anna's untrained eye, the difference between six people with pistols and twelve people with rifles was dramatic. Serge had a faint smile on his face as though he hadn't noticed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna saw the muscular young woman from the security office standing behind him, though her face was a worried scowl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oddly enough, seeing someone else look worried made Anna feel better.\n\n\"No guns in the drum, sa sa?\" Serge said to the armed Belter group, though the volume of his voice made it clear he was speaking to the onlookers as well. \"Drop 'em.\"\n\n\"You have guns,\" a Belter woman said with a sneer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She held a rifle at the ready." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We're the cops,\" Serge said, placing one hand on the butt of his gun and grinning back at her.\n\n\"Not anymore,\" she replied and in one quick movement shifted her rifle and shot him in the head. A tiny hole appeared in his forehead, and a cloud of pink mist sprayed into the air behind him. He sank slowly to the floor, an expression of vague puzzlement on his face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna felt her gorge rise, and had to double over and pant to keep from vomiting." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jesus Christ,\" Tilly said in a strangled whisper. The speed with which the situation had gone from unsettling to terrifying took Anna's breath away. I've just seen a man have his brains blown out. Even after the horrors of the slow zone catastrophe, it was the worst thing she'd ever seen." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The security man hadn't thought the woman would shoot him, hadn't suspected the true nature of the threat, and the price he'd paid for it was everything." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At that thought, Anna threw up all over her shoes and then sank to her knees, gagging. Tilly dropped down next to her, not even noticing that the knees of her pants were in a pool of vomit. Tilly hugged her for a second then whispered, \"We need to go.\" Anna nodded back because she couldn't open her mouth without fear of losing control again." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A few dozen meters away, the Belters were disarming the security team and tying their arms behind their backs with plastic strips." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At least they weren't shooting anyone else.\n\nTilly pulled her to her feet, and they hurried back to her tent, all thought of food forgotten. \"Something very bad is happening on this ship,\" Tilly said. Anna had to suppress a manic giggle." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Given their current circumstances, things would have to be very bad indeed for Tilly to think the situation had gotten worse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sure, they were all trapped in orbit around an alien space station that periodically changed the rules of physics and had killed a bunch of them, but now they'd decided to start shooting each other too.\n\nYes, very bad.\n\nHector Cortez came to Tilly's tent about an hour after the shooting. Anna and Tilly had spent the time staying as close to the floor of the tent as possible, arranging Tilly's few bits of furniture into barricades around them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It had the feeling of performing ritual magic." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing in the room would actually stop a bullet, but they arranged it anyway. A blanket fort to keep the monsters at bay.\n\nMercifully, there hadn't been any further sounds of gunfire.\n\nThe few times they peeked out of the tent, they saw smaller groups of no more than two or three armed Belters patrolling the civilian spaces." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Anna avoided meeting their eyes, and they ignored her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When Cortez arrived, he cleared his throat loudly outside the tent, then asked if he could enter. They were both afraid to answer, but he came in anyway. Several people waited for him outside, though Anna couldn't see who.\n\nHe glanced once around the inside of the gloomy space, looking over their flimsy barricade, then pulled a chair away from it and sat down without commenting on it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"The shooting is over. It's safe to sit,\" he said, gesturing at the other chairs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He looked better than he had in a while. His suit had been cleaned and somehow he'd found a way to wash his thick white hair. But that wasn't all of it. Some of his self-assurance had returned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He seemed confident and in charge again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna climbed up off the floor and took a chair. After a moment, Tilly did the same.\n\n\"I'm sorry you were frightened,\" Cortez said with a smile that didn't seem sorry at all.\n\n\"What's going on, Hank?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tilly asked, her eyes narrowing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She took out a cigarette and began playing with it without lighting it. \"What are you up to?\"\n\n\"I'm not up to anything, Matilda,\" Cortez said. \"What's happening is that the rightful authority on this ship has been restored, and Captain Ashford is once more in command.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Okay, Hector,\" Tilly replied, \"but how are you involved? Seems like internal OPA politics to me. What's your play?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Cortez ignored her and said to Anna, \"Doctor Volovodov, may we speak privately?\"\n\n\"Tilly can hear anything—\" Anna started, but Tilly waved her off.\n\n\"I think I'll go outside for a smoke.\"\n\nWhen she'd left the tent, Cortez pulled his chair close enough that his knees were almost touching Anna's." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He leaned forward, taking her hands in his own." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna had never had the sense that Hector was interested in her sexually, and still didn't, but somehow the closeness felt uncomfortably intimate. Invasive.\n\n\"Anna,\" he said, giving her hands a squeeze. \"Things are about to change dramatically on this ship, and in our calling here. I've been fortunate in that Captain Ashford trusts me and has sought my counsel, so I've had some input on the direction these changes take.\"\n\nThe forced intimacy, combined with the bitter taste still in her mouth from having seen a man murdered, brought up an anger she hadn't expected." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She pulled her hands away from him with more violence than she intended, then couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction at the hurt and surprise on his face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"How nice for you,\" she said, carefully keeping her tone neutral.\n\n\"Doctor Volovodov... Anna, I would like your support.\" Anna couldn't stop the snort of disbelief in time, but he pressed on. \"You have a way with people. I'm fine in front of a camera, but I'm not as good one-on-one, and that's where you shine. That's your gift. And we are about to face terrible personal challenges. Things people will have a hard time understanding. I would like your voice there with me to reassure them.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"What are you talking about?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Anna said, barely squeezing the words past a growing lump in her throat. She had the sense of a terrible secret about to be revealed. Cortez shone with the invincible certainty of the true believer.\n\n\"We are going to close the gate,\" he said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We have a weapon in our possession that we believe will work.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No,\" Anna said more in disbelief than in denying his claims.\n\n\"Yes. Even now engineers work to refit this vessel's communications laser to make it powerful enough to destroy the Ring.\"\n\n\"I don't mean that,\" Anna started, but Cortez just continued speaking.\n\n\"We are lost, but we can protect those we've left behind. We can end the greatest threat the human race has ever known. All it requires is that we sacrifice any hope of return. A small price to pay for—\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Anna said again, more forcefully." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No, you don't get to decide that for all of these people.\" For me, she thought. You don't get to take my wife and daughter away like that. Just because you're afraid." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"In times of great danger and sacrifice such as this, some will step forward to make the difficult decisions. Ashford has done that, and I support him. Now it is our role to make sure the people understand and cooperate. They need to know that their sacrifice will protect the billions of people we've left behind.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We don't know that,\" Anna said.\n\n\"This station has already claimed hundreds of lives, maybe thousands.\"\n\n\"Because we keep making decisions without knowing what the consequences are. We chased Holden's ship through the Ring, we sent soldiers to the station to hunt him, we keep acting without information and then being angry when it hurts us.\"\n\n\"It didn't hurt us. It killed us. A lot of us.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"We're like children,\" Anna said, pushing herself to her feet and lecturing down at him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Who burn their hands on a hot stove and then think the solution is to blow up all the stoves.\"\n\n\"Eros,\" Cortez started.\n\n\"We did that! And Ganymede, and Phoebe, all the rest! We did it. We keep acting without thinking and you think the solution is to do it one more time. You have allied yourself with stupid, violent men, and you are trying to convince yourself that being stupid and violent will work. That makes you stupid too. I will never help you. I'll fight you now.\"\n\nCortez stood up and called to the people waiting outside." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A Belter with protective chest armor and a rifle came into the tent." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Will you shoot me too?\" Anna said, putting as much contempt into the words as she could.\n\nCortez turned his back on her and left with the gunman.\n\nAnna sank down into her chair, her legs suddenly too shaky to support her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She doubled over, rocking back and forth and taking long shuddering breaths to calm herself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Somehow, she didn't black out.\n\n\"Did he hurt you?\" Tilly said from behind her. Her friend put a gentle hand on the back of her neck as she rocked." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" Anna said. It wasn't technically a lie." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Oh, Annie. They have Claire. They wouldn't let me talk to her. I don't know if she's a hostage or—\"\n\nBefore she knew she was going to do it, Anna had jumped to her feet and run out of the tent. They'd be going to the elevator that ran up the side of the drum and connected with the passages to the command decks and engineering. They'd be going to the bridge." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Men like Cortez and Ashford, men who wanted to be in charge, they'd be on the bridge." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She ran toward the elevator as fast as her legs would carry her. She hadn't actually run in years. Living in a small station tunneled into the ice of Europa, it just hadn't come up. She was out of breath in moments, but pushed on, ignoring the nausea and the stitch in her ribs." } ]

[ { "from": "system", "value": "I'll be your writing partner today. I will set the scene, and you will continue the story with four sentences, channeling the voice and techniques of James S. A. Corey.i'll kick things off by writing a bit, then you'll take over and write the next four sentences in the distinctive voice of James S. A. Corey.Ive got a bit of writers block, im gonna send you something then keep it going four sentences at a time, also im going for a James S. A. Corey sorta thing." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Produce a starting prompt please." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Hey, Cap?\" Amos said from his bed. \"That was the third armed patrol that's gone past this room in about three hours. Some shit is going down.\"\n\n\"I know,\" Holden said quietly. It was obvious that the situation on the Behemoth had changed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "People with guns were moving through the corridors with hard expressions." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Some of them had pulled a doctor aside, had a short but loud argument with her, then taken a patient away in restraints. It felt like a coup in progress, but according to Naomi the security chief Bull had already mutinied and taken the ship from the original Belter captain. And nothing had happened that would explain why he'd suddenly need to put a lot more boots on the ground or begin making arrests.\n\nIt felt like a civil war was brewing, or being squashed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Should we do something?\" Amos asked." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, Holden thought. We should do something. We should get back to the Rocinante and hide until Miller gets done doing whatever he was doing and releases the ships in the slow zone. Then they should burn like hell out of this place and never look back. Unfortunately, his crew was still laid up and he didn't exactly have a ride waiting to take him to his ship." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No,\" he said instead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Not until we understand what's happening. I just got out of jail. Not in a hurry to go back.\"\n\nAlex sat up in bed, and then moaned at the effort. The top of his head was swathed in bloodstained bandages, and the left side of his face had a mushy, pulpy look to it. The speed limit change had thrown him face first into one of the cockpit's viewscreens." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If he hadn't been at least partially belted into his chair, he'd probably be dead." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Maybe we should find a quieter place than this to hole up,\" he said. \"They don't seem opposed to arresting patients so far.\"\n\nHolden nodded with his fist. He was starting to pick up Naomi's Belter-style gestures, but whenever he caught himself using one he felt awkward, like a kid pretending to be an adult." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"My time on this ship has been limited to the docking bay and this room. I don't have any idea where a quieter place would be.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Well,\" Naomi said. \"That puts you one up on us. None of us were conscious when they brought us here.\"\n\nHolden hopped off the edge of her bed and moved to the door, closing it as quietly as possible. He looked around for something to jam it shut with, but quickly decided it was hopeless. The habitation spaces in the Behemoth's drum were built for low weight, not durability." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The walls and door of the hospital room were paper-thin layers of epoxy and woven carbon fiber." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A good kick would probably bring the entire structure down. Barricading the door would only signal patrols that something was wrong, and then delay them half a second while they broke it.\n\n\"Maybe that preacher can help us,\" Alex said.\n\n\"Yeah.\" Amos nodded." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Red seems like good people.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No hitting on the preacher,\" Holden said, pointing at Amos with an accusing finger.\n\n\"I just—\"\n\n\"But it doesn't matter, because if she has even half a brain—and I suspect she has a lot more than that—she'll be busily hiding herself. And she's not from here. We need an insider.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" Naomi said, just as Holden was thinking the same name." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"She's chief engineer on this boat. No one will know it like she does.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Does she owe you any favors?\" Holden asked.\n\nNaomi gave him a sour look and pulled his hand terminal off his belt. \"No. I owe her about a thousand,\" she said as she opened a connection request to Sam. \"But she's a friend. Favors don't matter.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "She laid the terminal on the bed with the speaker on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The triple beep of an unanswered voice request sounding once a second. Alex and Amos were staring at it intensely, eyes wide. As though it were a bomb that might go off at any moment. In a way, Holden thought, it was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were about as helpless right now as he could ever remember them being." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden found himself wishing that Miller would appear and fix everything with alien magic.\n\n\"Yo,\" a voice said from the terminal. \"Knuckles.\"\n\nAt some point over the last year, Sam had given Naomi the nickname Knuckles. Holden had never been able to figure out why, and Naomi had never offered to explain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Sammy,\" Naomi replied, the relief in her voice obvious." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"We really, really need your help.\"\n\n\"Funny,\" Sam said. \"I was just thinking of coming by to ask for your help. Coincidence? Or something more?\"\n\n\"We were calling you to find a hiding spot,\" Amos yelled out. \"If you were calling us for the same thing, you're fucked.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"No, that's a good idea. I've got a spot you can hole up for a while, and I'll come meet you there. Knuckles, you'll have the layout in just a second. Just follow the map. I'll be there as soon as I can. You kids take care of yourselves.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"You do the same, Sammy,\" Naomi said, then killed the connection. She worked the terminal for a few seconds. \"Okay, I see it. Looks like unused storage just a couple hundred meters aft and spinward.\"\n\n\"You get to navigate,\" Holden said to her, then added, \"Can everyone walk?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos and Alex both nodded, but Naomi said, \"Alex's skull is being held together with glue right now. If he gets dizzy and falls, he's not getting up again.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Now XO,\" Alex objected. \"I can—\"\n\n\"Naomi can't walk,\" Amos said. \"So you put her on a rolling bed with Alex and push them. I'll take point. Gimme that map.\"\n\nHolden didn't argue. He picked Naomi up from her bed, trying to jostle her as little as possible, then set her next to Alex on his." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Why am I pushing instead of walking point?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"He broke his left arm,\" Naomi said, scooting as close to Alex as possible and then securing the lap restraint across them both. When Amos began to protest she added, \"And all the ribs on his left side.\"\n\n\"Right,\" Holden said, grabbing the push bars at the head of the bed and kicking off the wheel locks. \"Lead the way.\"\n\nAmos led them through the makeshift hospital corridors, smiling at everyone he passed, moving with an easy stride that made him look like a man with a destination but no hurry to get there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Even the armed patrol they passed barely gave him a glance." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When they looked curiously at Holden, pushing two injured people on the same bed, he said, \"Two to a bed now. That's how crowded we're getting.\" They just nodded him past, their expressions both sullen and bored.\n\nHolden hadn't had much chance to look around the rest of the hospital. After leaving the docks he'd hurried straight to his crew's room and hadn't left since." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But now, as he moved through the halls and intersections toward the exit, he had a chance to look over the full extent of the damage the catastrophic speed limit change had caused." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Every bed in every room was filled with injured people, and sometimes the benches and chairs in the waiting areas. Most of the injuries were contusions or broken bones, but some were more severe. He saw more than one amputation, and quite a few people hanging in traction with serious spinal injuries. But more than the physical damage, there was the stunned look of shock on every face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sort of expression Holden associated with the recent victims or witnesses of violent crime." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rocinante had tracked and disabled a pirate slaver ship a few months back, and the beaten and starving prisoners pulled from her hold had looked like this. Not just hurt, but robbed of hope.\n\nSomeone with a doctor's uniform watched Holden push the bed past, his eyes following their progress, but exhaustion robbing him of curiosity. From a small room to his right, Holden heard the electric popping sound of a cauterizing gun, and the smell of cooking meat filled the air." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"This is horrifying,\" he whispered to Naomi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She nodded but said nothing.\n\n\"None of us shoulda come here,\" Alex said.\n\nDoors and corners, Miller had warned him. The places where you got killed if you weren't paying attention." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Where the ambushes happened." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Could have been a little more explicit, Holden thought, and then imagined Miller shrugging apologetically and bursting into a cloud of blue gnats.\n\nAmos, half a dozen meters ahead, came to a four-way junction in the corridor and turned right. Before Holden could cross half the distance to the turn, a pair of OPA goons walked into the intersection from the left.\n\nThey paused, looking over Naomi and Alex snuggled up in the rolling bed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One of them smirked and half turned to his companion." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden could almost hear the joke he was about to make about two people to a bed. In preparation, he smiled and readied a laugh. But before the jokester could speak, his companion said, \"That's James Holden.\"\n\nEverything after that happened quickly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The pair of OPA thugs scrambled to get at the shotguns slung over their shoulders." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden shoved the rolling gurney into their thighs, knocking them back, and gave the corridor a frantic glance looking for a weapon. One of the thugs managed to fumble his shotgun down off his shoulder and rack it, but Naomi scooted forward on the bed and drove her heel into his groin. His partner stepped back, finished getting his hands on his shotgun, and pointed it at her. Holden started to run forward, knowing he was too slow, knowing he'd watch Naomi blown apart long before he could reach the gunman." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then both gunmen turned toward each other and slammed their faces together." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They slumped to the floor, guns falling from nerveless fingers. Amos stood behind them, grimacing and massaging his left shoulder.\n\n\"Sorry, Cap,\" he said. \"Got a little too far ahead there.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Holden leaned against the corridor wall, legs barely able to support him even in the light gravity." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"No apologies. Nice save.\" He nodded toward the shoulder that Amos continued to rub with a pained look. \"Thought that was broken.\"\n\nAmos snorted. \"It didn't fall off. Plenty left in here for a couple of idiots like this.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "He bent down and stripped the two fallen men of their weapons and ammunition." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A nurse walked up behind Holden, a plastic case in her hands and a question on her face.\n\n\"Nothing to see here,\" Holden said. \"We'll be gone in a minute.\"\n\nShe pointed at a nearby door." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Supply closet. No one will notice them in there for a while.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then she turned and went back the way she came.\n\n\"You have a fan,\" Naomi said from the bed.\n\n\"Not everyone in the OPA hates us,\" Holden replied, moving around the gurney to help Amos drag the unconscious men into the closet. \"We did good work for them for over a year. People know that.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos handed Holden a compact black pistol and a pair of extra magazines." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants and pulled his shirt down over it. Amos did the same with a second gun, then put the two shotguns onto the gurney next to Naomi and covered them with the sheet.\n\n\"We don't want to get in a gunfight,\" Holden warned Amos as they began moving again.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Amos said. \"But if we're in one anyway, it'll be nice to have guns.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The hospital exit was a short distance down the right-hand hallway, and suddenly they were outside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Or as outside as you could get in the Behemoth's massive habitation drum. From outside, the hospital structure looked cheap and hastily assembled. A football-field-sized shanty made of epoxied carbon and fiberglass. A few hundred meters away, the edge of a city of tents spread out like acne on the drum's smooth skin." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"That way,\" Naomi said, pointing toward a more permanent-looking steel structure." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden pushed the gurney, and Amos walked a few meters ahead, smiling and nodding at anyone who looked at them. Something in Amos' face making them scurry away and not look back.\n\nAs they approached the squat metal structure, a door opened in the side and Sam's pixie face appeared, waving a hand at them impatiently. A few minutes and some twisty corridors later, they were in a small, empty metal-walled room." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos immediately dropped to the floor, laying his left arm and back flat against it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Ow,\" he said.\n\n\"You hurt?\" Sam asked, locking the door behind them with a small metal keycard, and then tossing the card to Naomi.\n\n\"Everyone's hurt,\" Holden said. \"So what the hell is going on?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sam blew her lips out and ran one greasy hand through her red hair." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The streaks of black already in it told Holden she'd been doing a lot of that. \"Ashford retook the ship. He's got some sort of coalition of bigwigs from the UN Navy, the Martians, and some of the important civilians.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Holden said, realizing that his lack of context made most of that sentence pretty meaningless, but not wanting to waste time with explanations. \"So the people roaming the halls with guns are Ashford's?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Yep. He's taking out anyone who helped Bull or Pa with the original mutiny, or, y'know, anyone he thinks is a threat.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"From the way they tried to shoot us, we're on that list,\" Naomi said.\n\n\"Definitely.\" Sam nodded. \"I haven't been able to track down Pa, but Bull called me, so I know he's okay.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" Holden said, patting the air in a calming gesture." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Keep in mind I have no idea who these people are or why they are important, and we don't have time for a who's who. Just tell us the important bits.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Sam started to object, then shrugged and briefly explained the plan to use the comm laser. \"If I do what he's asking me to do, we'll be able to get a pulse out of it that'll be hotter than a star for about three-quarters of a second. It will melt that entire side of the ship in the process.\"\n\n\"Does he know that?\" Naomi asked, incredulity in her voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"He doesn't care. Whether it works on the Ring or not, we have to stop him. There are thousands of people on this ship right now, and they'll all die if he gets his way.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Holden sank down onto the edge of the gurney with a long exhale. \"Oh, we're the least of the problem,\" he said. \"This is suddenly much, much bigger than that.\"\n\nSam cocked her head at him, frowning a question." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"I've seen what this station does to threats,\" Holden said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Miller showed me, when I was there. All this slow zone stuff is non-lethal deterrent as far as it's concerned. If that big blue ball out there decides us monkeys are an actual threat, it will autoclave our solar system.\"\n\n\"Who's Miller?\" Sam asked.\n\n\"Dead guy,\" Amos said.\n\n\"And he was on the station?\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Apparently,\" Amos said with a lopsided shrug." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Jim?\" Naomi said, putting her hand on his arm. This was the first she'd heard him speak of his experiences on the station, and he felt a pang of guilt for not telling her before.\n\n\"Something was attacking them, the protomolecule masters or whatever they were. Their defense was causing the star in any... infected solar system to go supernova." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That station has the power to blow up stars, Naomi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"If Ashford does this, it will kill every human there is. Everyone.\"\n\nThere was a long silence. Amos had stopped rubbing his arm and grunting. Naomi stared up at him from the bed, eyes wide, the fear on her face mirroring his own." }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Well,\" Sam finally said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Good thing I'm not gonna let him, then, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Say again?\" Amos said from the floor.\n\n\"I didn't know about this other thing with ghosts and aliens,\" Sam said in a tone of voice that made it clear she wasn't totally buying Holden's story. \"But I've been sabotaging the laser upgrades. Delaying the process while I build in short points. Weaknesses that will blow every time he tries to fire it. It should be easy enough to explain away because of course the system was never designed for this, and the ship is a flying hunk of cobbled-together junk at this point anyway.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"How long can you get us?\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Day. Maybe a day and a half.\"\n\n\"I think I love you,\" Alex said, the words coming out in a pain- and medication-induced mumble.\n\n\"We all do, Sam,\" Holden said to cover for him. \"That's brilliant, but there aren't very many of us, and it's a big, complicated ship. The question is how we get control of it.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "\"Bull,\" she replied. \"That's why I called you. Bull's kind of messed up right now and he needs help and I don't know anyone else on this ship I trust.\"" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This last part she directed at Naomi.\n\n\"We'll do whatever we can,\" Naomi replied, holding up her hand. Sam crossed the room and took it. \"Anything you need, Sammy. Tell us where Bull is, and I'll send my boys to go collect him.\"" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amos pushed himself up off the floor with a grunt and moved to the gurney." }, { "from": "system", "value": "Next message should be approximately 5 sentences." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "\"Yeah, whatever you need, Sam. We owe you about a million at this point, and this Ashford guy sounds like an asshole.\"\n\nSam gave a relieved smile and squeezed Naomi's fingers. \"I really appreciate it. But be careful. Ashford loyalists are everywhere, and they've already killed some people. If you run into any more of them, there'll be trouble.\"\n\nAmos pulled one of the shotguns out from under the sheet and laid it casually across his shoulder.\n\n\"Man can hope.\"" } ]