Avasarala spends a Sunday morning at home with Arjun and their grandchildren, Suri and Kiki. The domestic calm highlights what Avasarala is trying to protect, though even family life is shaped by her position: her relatives travel with security because anyone close to Avasarala could be kidnapped.

Gloria Tannenbaum interrupts Avasarala’s time with the children by passing along unofficial intelligence: the ship Mikhaylov is being pulled from patrol and sent quietly toward Ganymede under Admiral Nguyen. Avasarala immediately understands the secrecy as an attempt to bypass her, and concludes Nguyen believes Mars is behind the Ganymede attack and may strike again.

After the family leaves, Avasarala explains her concern to Arjun: Nguyen is reinforcing Ganymede despite the peace talks because he does not trust Mars and thinks he has nothing to lose. Avasarala then works methodically through the list of ten ships meant for the reinforcement convoy, using recalls, promotions, staffing requirements, and logistical justifications to strip the force down to three relatively weak vessels.

Avasarala reports the result to Errinwright, who asks whether Nguyen will see through the interference. Avasarala does not care if Nguyen recognizes her hand, because his remaining ships are too minor to provoke Mars unless Mars wants a pretext. Errinwright also asks about Venus, and Avasarala explains that the protomolecule structures there are changing in ways no one understands, possibly involving high-temperature superconductors and an orientation toward the whole solar system.

The discussion turns from intelligence to fear. Avasarala says Venus has affected humanity psychologically, increasing religious extremism and making everyone act sane while living under the gaze of something incomprehensible. Errinwright tries to frame any human use of related technology as part of the normal history of weapons, but Avasarala remains disturbed by the possibility that the Ganymede attacker is connected to the protomolecule.

Alone afterward, Avasarala replays the footage of the Ganymede Marines being killed and studies the attacker, convinced that another attack will eventually happen because the protomolecule cannot be contained again. Soren then arrives to report that Nguyen has protested Avasarala’s interference to Errinwright but not to the secretary-general, meaning it is only a complaint. Soren also tells Avasarala the Martians have arrived, and Avasarala prepares to go try to stop the war.