The Vital Abyss: An Expanse Novella (The Expanse) (10 page)
Read The Vital Abyss: An Expanse Novella (The Expanse) Online
Authors: James S.A. Corey
Then Jenkins was gone. Her flamer was a beacon and her own blood a fountain among the alien bodies. It was difficult to focus on much except for the pain in my chest. My suit reported catastrophic damage in too many places. My heart began a slower, staccato beat.
Six … Five … Four …
My rifle bucked in protest. Even through reinforced gloves, the barrel was burning hot.
Three … Two … One …
The demo-charges activated.
Breached, the anti-matter core destabilised. The reaction was instantaneous: uncontrolled white and blue energy spilled out. A series of explosions rippled along the ship’s spine. She became a white-hot smudge across the blackness of space.
Then she was gone, along with everything inside her.
The Krell did not pause.
They did not even comprehend what had happened.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck
Excerpt from
The Lazarus War: Artefact
copyright © 2015 by Jamie Sawyer
Cover art and design by Kirk Benshoff
Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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First eBook edition: October 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-21756-9