Holden sees black protomolecule-like filaments spreading from the shattered cube in the hidden Ganymede lab and panics, reliving Eros and imagining the infection taking the whole moon. Holden orders Naomi to prepare the Somnambulist and summon Alex with the Rocinante, but Holden’s fear makes Holden briefly willing to abandon a gut-shot Pinkwater man.

Amos challenges Holden’s panic, reminding Holden that this is not yet Eros and that they are not leaving the wounded man behind. Holden regains enough control to direct the retreat, gives Wendell the Somnambulist’s mag-key as payment, and orders Alex to land in the Somnambulist’s berth while the group carries the wounded Pinkwater fighter out.

As the group retraces its path through the base, Holden forces Prax past Katoa’s corpse and makes clear that finding Mei is no longer the priority. Holden’s fear expands into strategic horror: if the protomolecule reaches Ganymede, Jupiter’s radiation, the moon’s mass, and its population could give the alien substance far more to work with than Eros ever had.

Once outside the base, Holden reasons that Protogen is gone and concludes that Fred Johnson, who received the last known protomolecule sample from Holden, must be responsible for the Ganymede outbreak. Naomi refuses to accept the accusation, but Holden orders Naomi to avoid Tycho if the team does not return, blaming Fred and himself for what may be happening.

The retreat through Ganymede’s deteriorating corridors shows further social collapse: armed locals celebrate around burning bodies, and Amos clears a path with gunfire rather than negotiation. Holden, increasingly hardened, worries that everyone on Ganymede may already be doomed if the protomolecule is loose, yet he also notices that the full Eros-style infection has not visibly begun.

At the Somnambulist’s airlock, Naomi’s transmission cuts out. Before the group can board, gray-armored Earther soldiers ambush them; Holden and Amos kill several, but a second team surrounds the Pinkwater guards. Amos is shot in the back of the head, Holden is wounded and disarmed, and the surviving members of the party are hooded and captured.