Prax spends the flight from Ganymede in his cabin, physically recovering enough that grief finally catches up with him. To keep himself functional, he deliberately confronts the possibility that Mei is dead, repeating it until he can endure the thought while still holding on to the purpose of finding her if she is alive.

After a timed period of mourning, Prax goes to the galley and speaks with Alex. Alex’s questions lead Prax to restate that Mei and other immunocompromised children were taken shortly before the first incident on Ganymede, and Prax begins connecting their medical condition with the protomolecule work in the hidden lab.

Alex explains that Holden and the Rocinante crew were on Eros when the protomolecule outbreak began, helping Prax understand Holden’s fear and urgency in the lab. Holden then passes through with a footlocker, and Alex hints that a long-brewing problem among the crew is coming to a head, though it does not involve Prax.

The crew reviews damage from the escape. Amos has found a cracked seal, while Alex reports multiple problems, including damaged sensors, a navigation memory leak, a depressurized cargo bay, a failed radio array, disconnected hand terminals, and a malfunctioning medical pod. Holden refuses Amos’s suggestion of an exterior repair under thrust because the exhaust would be lethal.

Prax asks Holden for communications access so he can research the woman seen with the abducted children and investigate Dr. Strickland. Holden agrees to have Naomi set up network access and suggests using OPA facial-recognition resources when possible.

While inspecting the cargo bay video feed, Alex, Holden, and Prax discover a bent section of metal with dark handprints, toeprints, and smears. The trail leads to a black-and-red humanlike body curled against the bulkhead in hard vacuum. Holden asks whether it is dead, but Naomi says she does not think so, revealing that a dangerous protomolecule-related stowaway may be aboard the Rocinante.