nother quick review out of the Memory’s Legion collection of Expanse tales. This one concerns Fred Johnson, Soldier for Earth who ended up as levelheaded spokesman for the Belt, running Tycho Station and repurposing the Mormon’s generation ship out from under them (and, good for that since it turns out they would have been literally wasting the time of generations). So there is a side story about Johnson, how he was involved in a massacre on a belter station. As I remember, the show has the belters attempting to surrender and Fred ordering them in. Well, it wasn’t quite like that, no.

Actually, in an interesting twist, the tale does not occur during the ill-fated mission, but after that. Evidently Fred knows a truth that he was the fall guy, awarded for an action that was set up to shock and awe the belters. So now he’s wandering the OPA bars, ordering drinks and hoping someone will kill him. Well, the OPA does notice him but they don’t kill him. No, they kidnap him and then Anderson Dawes, station administrator and terrorist coddler, sits down with Fred to hear his side of it. Of course, Fred, trained in the ways of interrogation, rightfully figures that Dawes is doing precisely that, but Dawes keeps up at it anyway, eventually getting to the bottom of Fred’s horror, what really happened out in the expanse.

Another great short story from the team that brought so much hard scifi to the masses (including spaceships that do deceleration burns). Well worth a read – and hey, if you are thinking of reading the entire eight-book Expanse series, this would be a good way to try it for a low-gee spin. You might find that, amongst all these backstories, you want to find out more.

Enjoyed it. Max stars as always. Check it out!

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