“Good, good, good,” the man said, then lifted a finger. “But first.”

He sat down at the table, and an oddly mild scowl came over his face. Alex felt like they were about to be gently chided by the head of school. “Sergeant Draper, I was wanting to ask you why the government of Earth is demanding to speak with you. Have you been in contact with them?”

Bobbie’s face went gray and pale. Her hand went to her mouth. “Oh, I am so sorry,” she said. “You look so different on video. I didn’t recognize you, sir. Alex, this is Prime Minister Smith.”

Alex hopped to his feet. “Oh! I’m sorry, sir. With everything going on out on Ilus and such, I didn’t follow the elections last time.”

One of the guards coughed in a way that might have hidden laughter. Prime Minister Smith’s scowl shifted to something slightly more authentic and nonplussed. He motioned Alex to sit back down. “Yes, well. No harm, of course. But, to the question. Have you been working with the government of Earth?”

“No,” Bobbie said. “I’ve had some conversations and I have a personal familiarity with one person. Chrisjen Avasarala. But that’s all.”

The prime minister nodded, his brows knitting. “Yes, I see. With the passing of the secretary-general and disarray of the assembly, Chrisjen Avasarala is the de facto legitimate government of Earth. And she has offered to… I believe the phrase was massage my balls with a paint scraper if anything happened to you.”

“That sounds like her,” Alex said.

“Yes, she is quite colorful. And she is also insisting that she be allowed to speak with you. I wonder what exactly it is you would tell her?”

“Nothing I wouldn’t say in front of you, sir,” Bobbie said. “I’m not a spy. She brought up some questions and concerns that seemed legitimate and interesting, and I followed up for my own sake. If you’d like, I’d be happy to walk you through everything I did and what I found.”

“You are close friends with Chrisjen Avasarala. You are flying with the crew of the Rocinante. You seem to have many contacts with Earth and the Belt, Sergeant.”

“Yessir,” Bobbie said, her gaze forward and slightly down. “Good that we’re all on the same side, then.”

The silence was longer than Alex liked. The prime minister laced his fingers across his knee. “I suppose it is at that,” he said. “So, why don’t we all go over what exactly you’ve found and how we can productively include our mutual friend Chrisjen in all of this.”