Chapter Seven: Melba

Melba, posing as an electrochemical supervisor aboard the Cerisier, reflects on the system’s wartime scars and her family’s fall. While her team services the destroyer Seung Un’s life-support systems, she secretly plants a malleable explosive and detonator at a reinforced junction, masking her actions beneath routine inspections.

Back in her cramped cabin, Melba reviews a sophisticated deepfake of Holden claiming OPA control of the Ring—part of a plan to humiliate him rather than martyr him. A covert message arrives: the hired hacker reports delivery of a software backdoor to the Rocinante. Melba sets up a remote confirmation route, elated that her final piece may be in place.

Craving human contact, Melba goes to the fitness area and approaches her second, Ren. She admits she is unqualified and received her post through favors, asking for his help to do the work right and earn respect. Ren, also an outsider, agrees to stick together and begins mentoring her.

Ren explains how a misinstalled brownout buffer can cascade through a network and collapse a grid, a metaphor that strikes Melba’s fear of being an unseen flaw. He also voices the crew’s deeper anxiety: traveling to confront the Ring that destroyed Eros and defied understanding. Melba, focused on her mission, claims she doesn’t think about it.