Prax, sitting in his cabin on the Rocinante, contemplates the immensity of space and tries to come to terms with the likelihood that Mei is dead. He remembers doing experiments on the lodgepole pine in graduate school: “To survive, the plant had to embrace the unsurvivable” (259).

Amos is fixing the ship, and when Alex pulls up a camera, they see a hole in the wall of the cargo bay. They realize the hybrid being that escaped the lab on Ganymede has made its way onto their ship.

Bobbie, in her quarters at the UN, tells herself she isn’t a traitor. At the office, Soren and Avasarala instruct Bobbie on how the political game is played. Bobbie hates it. Bobbie is also annoyed by Soren, so when he leaves the office, she follows. She tracks him to a pool hall and sees him give the memory stick Avasarala wanted Soren to give to Foster to a military man Bobbie thinks is on Nguyen’s staff.

Holden knows the creature curled up in his cargo bay is a person infected with the protomolecule. He tells Alex to lock himself in the cockpit and blow up the ship if any part of the protomolecule gets loose. As he and Amos suit up to attack the creature, Holden feels claustrophobic. He admits to Amos that he is freaked out about any of them getting hurt: “All of this is really fragile […] This little family we have” (286). They enter the cargo bay, where the monstrous hybrid is awake, watching them. When Amos shoots, it attacks. The rounds leave holes but don’t kill it. The creature throws a heavy crate at them, trapping Holden, who has injured his knee. They don’t know how to get rid of it.

Prax watched footage of the destruction on Eros wanting to understand how the protomolecule works. Now, he deduces that the creature in the Rocinante’s hold is a different application of the protomolecule, one working under the constraints of the human body. He realizes the hybrid being is clawing through the bulkheads of the ship because it is trying to get to a source of radiation—the reactor that runs the engine.

They come up with a plan for Prax to deliver a case of radioactive bait to lure the creature out of the bay into space. Prax notices that the creature’s presence has jammed their radios and wonders how. Prax is stunned by the enormity of space and the seeming fragility of the ship when he goes outside it: “The Rocinante was a raft of metal and paint on an ocean. More than an ocean” (298). He pushes the crate of bait into the void, and the creature exits the ship to follow. Prax struggles to get back in through the airlock. Amos spots an explosive charge the creature left behind. Prax is knocked out when the ship suddenly moves.

When Soren reports that Bobbie is a spy, Avasarala realizes he is lying. She quickly deduces that Soren is working for Nguyen, which is why he didn’t report what Nguyen was doing. From there, she realizes Errinwright must be behind the monstrous creature on Ganymede: “This wasn’t a shard of Venus that had escaped; it was a military project. A weapon that Earth wanted in order to break its rivals before the alien project on Venus finished whatever it was doing” (307). She guesses that Mao-Kwik had kept another sample of the protomolecule and took bids on it.

Errinwright orders Avasarala to travel to Ganymede as a diplomatic envoy on Mao’s ship. She realizes she is being taken out of the game because Errinwright knows she will try to stop him. Bobbie enters the office and tells Avasarala that Soren has double-crossed her. Avasarala tells Bobbie they are going to Ganymede: It’s a trap, but one Avasarala has to step into. Soren brings her tea, and Avasarala wonders, “How many people had this boy killed just by lying to her? She would never know for certain, and neither would he. The best she could do was not another” (313). She fires Soren. Aside from Arjun, Bobbie is the only person Avasarala can trust right now. Bobbie asks to bring her powered Marine suit aboard ship.

When Alex started the Roci’s engine to torch the creature in their exhaust, the charge in the cargo bay went off, damaging the hull and engineering. Holden, injured, works with Amos to repair what they can. Then, Prax and Holden are sent to the medical bay to get patched up. Holden overhears Naomi telling Amos she’s frightened of how everyone is falling apart. Amos wants to find Mei, and to kill whoever took her.

Bobbie is stunned by the ostentatious wealth of Jules-Pierre Mao. His daughter Julie, who ran away to be an OPA rebel, had once owned her own racing ship. Bobbie thinks Mao’s extreme wealth makes him dangerous: “He was a man without boundaries” (330). She fears Mao might try to kill Avasarala, but Avasarala insists that’s not how the game works at their level. Bobbie is glad she has her suit in a crate marked Formal Wear. She feels more reassured when she meets Cotyar, the head of Avasarala’s security detail. When Avasarala asks Bobbie to chat up the crew, Bobbie retorts, “I don’t use sex as a weapon […] I use weapons as weapons” (335). They dine with Mao, who reveals he will be leaving the ship and returning to his private space station. Avasarala, Bobbie, and Cotyar come up with a plan in case Errinwright tries to double-cross them.

Prax contacts a security consultant firm to ask what it would cost to hire someone to find Mei. He joins Alex in the cockpit as they approach Tycho, and Prax is impressed by the construction going on. Naomi is packed and ready to depart. Amos offers to let Prax stay with him on the station. Prax sends a message to his wife, Nicola, asking her for help finding Mei. He sends a message to his friend Basia telling him that Katoa is dead. Nicola responds to his message and sends some money, but it isn’t enough for Prax to pay the security firm to find Mei.

Holden puts in a request for repairs. Sam, who will supervise the work, mentions Naomi is staying with her. Alex points out that the crew don’t get salaries, which means they aren’t a normal crew. Instead, “We believe in the cause, and we want to be part of what you’re doing” (355).

Holden visits Fred Johnson, head of the Outer Planets Alliance, which has gone from a terrorist organization to a de facto government. Fred is angry that Holden is asking if he used the protomolecule to strengthen his control over the outer planets. Fred says he is tired of putting up with Holden’s righteous attitude and fires him. He also tells Holden he wasn’t responsible. Holden realizes he’s in control of his own fate now, and it feels great.