Fred had sent for him and then spent the first ten minutes after he’d arrived speaking on the phone. Whatever he was talking about, it sounded technical. Holden assumed it was related to the giant generation ship outside. It didn’t bother him to be ignored for a few minutes, since the wall behind Fred was entirely covered by a bleedingly high-definition screen pretending to be a window. It was showing a spectacular view of the Nauvoo moving past as the station spun. Fred spoiled the scene by putting the phone down.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “The atmosphere processing system has been a nightmare from day one. When you’re going a hundred plus years on only the air you can bring with you, the loss tolerances are… stricter than usual. Sometimes it’s difficult to impress the importance of fine details on the contractors.”
“I was enjoying the view,” Holden said, gesturing at the screen.
“I’m starting to wonder if we’ll be able to get it done on schedule.”
“Why?”
Fred sighed and leaned his chair back with a squeak.
“It’s the war between Mars and the Belt.”
“Material shortages, then?”
“Not just that. Pirate casts claiming to speak for the OPA are working into a frenzy. Belt prospectors with homemade torpedo launchers are firing on Martian warships. They get wiped out in response, but every now and then one of those torpedoes hits and kills a few Martians.”
“Which means Mars starts shooting first.”
Fred nodded and then got up and started pacing the room.
“And then even honest citizens on legitimate business start getting worried about going out of the house,” he said. “We’ve had over a dozen late shipments so far this month, and I’m worried it will stop being delays and start being cancellations.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking about the same thing,” Holden said.
Fred acted as though he hadn’t heard.
“I’ve been on that bridge,” Fred said. “Unidentified ship coming on you, and a decision to make? No one wants to press the button. I’ve watched a ship get bigger and bigger on the scope while my finger was on the trigger. I remember begging them to stop.”
Holden said nothing. He’d seen it too. There was nothing to say. Fred let silence hang in the air for a moment, then shook his head and straightened up.
“I need to ask you a favor,” Fred said.
“You can always ask, Fred. You’ve paid for that much,” Holden replied.
“I need to borrow your ship.”
“The Roci?” Holden said. “Why?”
“I need to have something picked up and delivered here, and I need a ship that can stay quiet and run past Martian picket ships if it needs to.”
“The Rocinante is definitely the right ship, then, but that didn’t answer my question. Why?”
Fred turned his back to Holden and looked at the view screen. The nose of the Nauvoo was just vanishing from sight. The view turned to the flat, star-speckled black of forever.
“I need to pick someone up on Eros,” he said. “Someone important. I’ve got people who can do it, but the only ships we’ve got are light freighters and a couple of small shuttles. Nothing that can make the trip quickly enough or have a hope of running away if trouble starts.”
“Does this person have a name? I mean, you keep saying you don’t want to fight, but the other unique thing about my ship is that it’s the only one here with guns. I’m sure the OPA has a whole list of things they’d like blown up.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“Nope.”
Fred turned back around and gripped the back of his chair. His knuckles were white. Holden wondered if he’d gone too far.
“Look,” Holden said, “you talk a good game about peace and trials and all that. You disavow the pirate casts. You have a nice station filled with nice people. I have every reason to believe you are what you say you are. But we’ve been here three days, and the first time you tell me about your plans, you ask to borrow my ship for a secret mission. Sorry. If I’m part of this, I get full access; no secrets. Even if I knew for a fact, which I don’t, that you had nothing but good intentions, I still wouldn’t go along with the cloak-and-dagger bullshit.”
Fred stared at him for a few seconds, then came around his chair and sat down. Holden found he was tapping his fingers on his thigh nervously and forced himself to stop. Fred’s eyes flicked down at Holden’s hand and then back up. He continued to stare.
Holden cleared his throat.
“Look, you’re the big dog here. Even if I didn’t know who you used to be, you’d scare the shit out of me, so don’t feel the need to prove it. But no matter how scared I am, I’m not backing down on this.”
Fred’s hoped-for laughter didn’t come. Holden tried to swallow without gulping.
“I bet every captain you ever flew under thought you were a gigantic pain in the ass,” Fred said finally.
“I believe my record reflects that,” Holden said, trying to hide his relief.
“I need to fly to Eros and find a man named Lionel Polanski, and then bring him back to Tycho.”
“That’s only a week out if we push,” Holden said, doing the math in his head.
“The fact that Lionel doesn’t actually exist complicates the mission.”
“Yeah, okay. Now I’m confused,” Holden agreed.
“You wanted in?” Fred said, the words taking on a quiet ferocity. “Now you’re in. Lionel Polanski exists only on paper, and owns things that Mr. Tycho doesn’t want to own. Including a courier ship called the Scopuli.”
Holden leaned forward in his chair, his face intense.
“You now have my undivided attention,” he said.
“The nonexistent owner of the Scopuli checked into a flophouse on one of the shit levels of Eros. We only just got the message. We have to work on the assumption that whoever got the room knows our operations intimately, needs help, and can’t ask for it openly.”
“We can leave in an hour,” Holden said breathlessly.
Fred held up his hands in a gesture that was surprisingly Belter for an Earth man.
“When,” Fred asked, “did this turn into you leaving?”
“I won’t loan my ship, but I’ll definitely rent it out. My crew and I were talking about getting jobs, actually. Hire us. Deduct whatever’s fair for services you’ve already rendered.”