Alex took deep breaths, to try and calm the panic he knew was rising. For all he'd improved, and become a stronger person over the last few months, deep down, there was the shy, quiet, reserved Alex who could panic easily when pushed. "Alex Kamal, of the Rocinante," he said after a moment, because it seemed like half the damn system had heard of the Rocinante. Holden's doing, but if it gave him a modicum of protection right now, he'd take it. Only a fool would annoy Holden given all that had happened.

"Earth?" How the hell could he be on Earth without anyone noticing? It was a goddamn long way from where they had stopped following Eros to Earth, it would have taken days to get there, even at a high burn. But being on Earth... that explained at lot about how he was feeling, like something was sitting on his chest, and making it hard to breath. "No, no, no. That can't be right." Things like that didn't just happen.