Caliban's War

Gunnery Sergeant Bobbie Draper is with her squad of Martian Marines, guarding a dome on Ganymede that grows food while watching the United Nations squad guarding their own dome some distance away. Ganymede is an important site of food production for the Jovian system; Mars and Earth have been in a tense stand-off for the past 18 months. Bobbi pauses to fix a leak in her suit, which is custom made to fit her larger frame. The UN soldiers start running toward their dome, as Bobbie sees an enormous, malformed humanoid chasing them. The monster rips through both Marine squads and no weapons can stop it. Its eyes are blue, and she sees it grow a new set of limbs. Then it explodes, and Bobbie is knocked out.

The crew of the spaceship Rocinante is chasing down a pirate ship. Alex is piloting while Amos does repairs. Holden reflects on recent events, including his brief partnership with Detective Joe Miller, with whom he collaborated to destroy the alien virus infecting Eros Station. Eros crashed into Venus, killing Miller and over a million other people. Holden and his crew now work for the Outer Planet Alliance (OPA). The pirates they are following surrender quickly, and Fred Johnson, leader of the OPA, tells Holden to return due to trouble on Ganymede.

As Ganymede botanist Prax tries to rescue one of the soybeans he’s cultivated, a large orbital mirror is shot down in an exchange of fire between Martian and UN ships. The mirror crashes into the colony’s dome, destroying it, while Prax and others flee below the surface. Prax is astonished by the fighting, since Ganymede “is the center of everything that made human expansion into the solar system possible. Their work was as precious as it was fragile, and the people in charge would never let the war come here” (27). Everything is on lockdown. Prax struggles to reach the school that his daughter, Mei, attends. Shocked to hear Mei’s teacher say her mother came for her, Prax is worried that Mei will not get her dose of medicine.

Bobbie is taken to a medical unit and given care. Captain Thorsson, an intelligence officer, questions her about the fight between the Marines, which has caused massive destruction to Ganymede. Bobbie is stunned to realize her entire platoon has been killed. Thorsson doesn’t believe her report of a monstrous creature until they are able to download video from her suit, which is an older model of powered armor. Bobbie is introduced to Captain Martens, a chaplain and grief counselor. She is being sent to Earth on a diplomatic mission.

Chrisjen Avasarala is assistant to the undersecretary of executive administration of the UN, but she is a powerful and astute political player. She snacks on pistachio nuts while assembled UN generals discuss how to receive the diplomatic envoy from Mars. She thinks Admiral Nguyen is young, hawkish, and impressed with himself. Avasarala leaves the meeting and asks her assistant, Soren, for a report on the situation on Venus. She also asks him to monitor Admiral Nguyen’s correspondence.

Avasarala works at The Hague, Earth’s capital and the seat of the UN, which is Earth’s government. The planet currently has 30 billion inhabitants. Earth and Mars were once allies and humanity had once been alone in the universe, but now “the thing that had been meant to reshape the primitive biosphere of Earth had instead ridden a rogue asteroid down into the clouds of Venus and started doing no one knew what” (50). Avasarala and Errinwright, the second-in-command at the UN, discuss how to control the secretary-general, whom she calls the bobblehead. Avasarala is worried about where this monster on Ganymede came from and confides in her husband, Arjun.

Naomi alerts Holden that ships attempting to land on Ganymede are being searched; authorities are looking for the Rocinante crew. He reflects that Earth wants him for stealing nuclear missiles and handing them over to OPA, and Mars wants him for stealing one of their ships. Fred Johnson of the OPA has asked Holden to travel to Ganymede in disguise and investigate what’s going on. Amos notes that Holden is terrible at pretending to be someone else. They learn that most of the food produced on Ganymede is farmed and owned by corporations that ship it elsewhere. Holden reflects on humans “with their great creativity and industriousness in the domain of destruction” (65). When a customs officer boards and makes demands, Holden suspects a shakedown and challenges him.

Prax is searching for Mei but has no leads beyond realizing that other children who share Mei’s immune system disorder are also all missing. He visits his friend Basia, whose son, Katoa, was also taken. Basia is taking the rest of his family off Ganymede; Prax is upset that he is giving up the search. Prax considers how systems failure turns into a cascade as he notes that life support systems on Ganymede are breaking down. He wants only to find Mei.

Bobbie exercises during her flight to Earth, trying to acclimate to the Earth’s stronger gravity before landing. She reflects on the Martian propaganda that people on Earth are all lazy and that half of them live off government welfare. Bobbie is called into a conference with Thorsson and has to revisit the attack. She learns that the attacking creature jammed their radio communication. The others theorize that the UN Marines ran away when the creature got loose, but Bobbie disagrees: She knows how Marines think and says the UN soldiers were enlisting the Martian Marines to help fight the humanoid. Martens, the chaplain, thinks Bobbie has post-traumatic stress disorder and invites her to talk. Bobbie tells him that she’s going to find who murdered her friends, and she’s going to kill them.

Avasarala reads a report of strange and inexplicable occurrences on Venus. A spike in energy was recorded at the same time as the attack on Ganymede. She meets with Jules-Pierre Mao, of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile. Mao is the man behind Protogen, the company that caused the Eros incident that killed Mao’s daughter; Julie Mao was patient zero for human experimentation with the protomolecule. Avasarala lost her 15-year-old son in a skiing accident, so she can relate to losing a child. She asks if there’s anything Mao can tell her. He swears there isn’t. Avasarala learns that Jim Holden has been spotted on Ganymede.

Prax meets with a hacker who gets him footage from security video of Mei being kidnapped. He sees her leaving with Strickland and another woman. Prax asks for more information, and the hacker wants chicken as a trade. Prax realizes that he, too, is starving. All 16 of Strickland’s patients, children with the same immune system disorder, are missing. Prax overhears the beginning of a riot as the starving residents of Ganymede try to gain access to a ship that is shipping out food. Prax recognizes Holden and asks for help.

Holden speaks with missionaries who tell him not enough food and supplies are being delivered to Ganymede. He and the crew witness the developing food riot. Holden threatens the Mao-Kwik security guarding the food to hand it over. When the guard refuses, Naomi radios Alex to capture and scuttle the ship if it takes off. Naomi thinks Holden is far too quick to wave his gun around, just like Detective Miller. Prax approaches Holden.