Leviathan Wakes

Naomi has found the comm logs. There are lots of coded statements, but the last communication was in plain English. Captain Higgins reported to Thoth Station on the extreme contamination on his ship. He was letting his people know where to find it, except Julie had taken charge and flown it elsewhere.

As they continue to explore the Anubis, they find a wall safe. As Naomi tries to open it, Holden tells Amos they need to scuttle the ship. Amos says he’ll set up the reactor to blow. Naomi can’t open the safe, but Holden really wants the contents. He thinks it holds a sample of the Protomolecule. He directs Naomi to cut away part of the wall with the safe in it.

Miller says Mars would give them their lives back for the safe, but Holden says they have a contract with Fred. Naomi wonders if they want to be OPA heroes or Mars billionaires. Holden doesn’t know. Naomi cuts the safe out of the wall, and Amos rigs the reactor to explode. Back on the Roci, they find out Earth has destroyed Deimos, a Martian station built on one of the planet’s two moons. With Earth in the mix, the war has escalated. Miller says this is Holden’s fault—and that if the bad guys wanted a distraction from Eros, they just got it.

Miller watches war coverage for 10 hours. He feels some level of relief that it hasn’t progressed to the surface of either Mars or Earth. Humanity is not yet dead.

Holden decides Mars should get the information they’ve discovered about Protogen’s engineering of the war. He wants to broadcast the data, insisting that Earth hates Mars and knows it can only win a war with Mars by striking first. He argues that the current war started because the combatants have imperfect information. Miller counters that you have to know what information means before throwing it at people. He asks Holden what he thinks will happen if he tells all. Holden says the war will stop, but Miller disagrees, arguing that they’ll go after the Phoebe bug and fight over that. Holden may have started the war, but that doesn’t mean he can stop it. Still, Holden feels obligated to try.

Later, Miller notices a course change. Holden has his decision. He joins Miller and says he decided not to make a broadcast. If he announces what they have in the safe—presumably a sample of the Phoebe bug—they’ll all be dead in short order. Holden doesn’t trust anyone with it, but there’s someone on Tycho Station he distrusts less than the rest, so that’s where they’re going. Miller would send the safe on a long collision course with the sun and make sure no one ever goes to Eros or Phoebe Station again. Holden wonders why they’re not doing that then. Miller responds, “How do you throw away the holy grail?” (365).

The Rocinante crew gathers in the galley to share a meal of fake lasagna and bread. They aren’t listening to war news. Alex tells a joke, and then Miller tells a long, crazy tale about a bust he once made that makes Naomi laugh so hard she drools. Holden feels the tension dissipating. Holden and Amos are Earthers. Alex is from Mars. One misstep could result in both planets being radioactive rubble before their meal is finished.

They discuss the Protomolecule. It seems like an overly complicated way to kill people. Naomi speculates it was designed to do something specific, but maybe it’s not smart enough yet. Maybe Protogen infected all those people to give it more biomass and accelerate its development. Holden struggles to believe there are that many truly evil people to orchestrate such a plan.

They reach Tycho Station. Fred reads Holden’s notes on what has transpired, Miller studies Fred, and Holden observes the Nauvoo—a truly massive generation ship. Fred can’t believe what they’re telling him about the Protomolecule. Miller observes genocide is nothing new—and Eros happened. Holden says they know where the creators of the Eros experiment are, and they want to give the OPA something appropriate to shoot at.

Fred wants what’s in the safe. Holden refuses; he doesn’t trust anyone with it.

Miller realizes his old partner, Havelock, who now works for Protogen, could be useful. When they connect, Havelock gives Miller the coordinates for Thoth Station, and Miller warns him about Protogen, urging him to quit.

If Fred can convince Miller he has the firepower to carry out a successful assault on Thoth Station, then Miller will tell him where it is. He doesn’t want a lot of people to die in a botched assault, and the OPA doesn’t have a great reputation for running big operations. Chagrined, Holden and Naomi ask Miller if he knows who Fred Johnson is. When Miller realizes he’s talking to the notorious Butcher of Anderson Station, he feels embarrassed at questioning his military abilities. Miller wants to be on the ground when they make the attack. Fred agrees, and Miller gives him the coordinates.

Miller wonders what he’ll do after Thoth. He realizes he’ll miss the Rocinante and its crew. He says goodbye to Holden, only for Holden to ask where they should meet up after. He wants the whole crew together in case they have to get out in a hurry. As he leaves for the cargo ship that will carry the ground troops to the assault, Miller weeps—an emotional reaction to Holden including him as a member of the Roci crew.

The Roci and the cargo ship approach Thoth. There are signs of a stealth ship above the station. They continue on their course to take out the comm array, then realize there are two stealth ships, not one. The Roci takes a hit. Holden tells Alex not to engage with the ships and to go for the target instead. Alex flies skillfully, and the Roci takes out the comm array. The crew then focus on the fighters pursuing them, firing torpedoes and taking some hits that leave the Roci badly damaged. Alex reports that they killed the fighter that hit them. They call Fred, who is on the cargo ship, and tell him to proceed with the assault.

Miller talks with a Belter kid, Diogo, who appears to be about 15. He reflects on how many kids like that he’s seen dead. Still feeling the effects of the radiation exposure, Miller knows he’s in no shape for battle, but he’s more experienced in corridor fighting than most of the OPA.

They enter the station and manage to overcome a riot barrier. The OPA forces further penetrate the station, making it to the Ops Center, where a dozen or so people are working. Miller orders their hands up. He recognizes Dresden from the tape on the Anubis. Miller believes him to be the mastermind behind the Eros incident.

Dresden warns Fred that he’ll face reprisals for the attack. Fred says he knows what Protogen did on Eros. Dresden tries to negotiate, offering money, weapons, medical supplies, whatever Fred wants. He tosses in amnesty too. Fred laughs. He compares Dresden’s offer to Satan trying to tempt Jesus, but Dresden doesn’t understand the biblical reference.

The battered Roci lands on Thoth Station. As they walk through the corridors, Holden sees bodies on the floor—more Protogen than Belters. He notices a dead guy in a lab coat and has to restrain himself from spitting on him. The scientist was willing to kill 1.5 million people just to make observations.

They join Fred and Miller, and Holden confronts Dresden about Eros. Dresden defends Protogen, calling the loss of life on Eros was a rounding error compared to the scale of loss Genghis Khan caused—and that was in pursuit of a brief reign of power, nothing like the Protomolecule’s scale of importance. The Protomolecule is evidence of intelligence elsewhere in the universe. Protogen’s scientists wanted to watch it work, study its intent, and perhaps change its course. Dresden believes the Protomolecule will free humans from their physical limitations, and he considers it humanity’s only hope of surviving the far superior intelligence that created the Protomolecule.

Naomi asks how Protogen got the cooperation of all the scientists needed to carry out the mass murder on Eros. Dresden reveals they altered the scientists’ ethical limitations, removing their sense of empathy and morality. He reasons that they can’t save Eros, but they can learn from the data. If they destroy the data, then all those people died for nothing.

Dresden doesn’t register the danger when Miller raises his gun and unloads five rounds. Holden feels fury, outrage, despair. Fred doesn’t flinch. Miller thinks shooting Dresden was the obvious thing to do. Holden tells Miller to find his own ride home. Fred says he’ll take him as far as Tycho Station.

Miller thinks about what it means to be “post-human” and whether it represents the loss of humanity. He thinks maybe he’s been post-human for years.

Back on Tycho, Miller is sharing Diogo’s tiny apartment but knows he has to make new arrangements soon. Miller meets a friend of Diogo’s in a bar, a kid of about 20. The kid picks up Miller’s terminal and punches in something. Miller sees a bunch of feeds from Eros—the data has been decrypted. Now everyone can watch the horror of the Protomolecule devastation live. The kid tells him the Protomolecule is building something. He says everyone thinks Miller is a hero for killing Dresden.

Miller approaches Naomi and Amos in a bar. Naomi leaves after a couple minutes, but Amos sticks around. He tells Miller that as far as the captain is concerned, Miller is “dipped in shit” right now (430). Killing people without talking it over first doesn’t work for Holden. Amos says none of them want Miller around. He finishes the beer and leaves. Miller’s ghostly Julie appears and tells him it’s just the two of them now.

Holden’s quarters on Tycho are comfortable and spacious. He reflects on the danger of complacency as the war between Earth and Mars continues. The OPA thinks whichever power wins will go after the Belt next. And then there are the godlike aliens who created the Protomolecule and apparently tried to take over Earth eons earlier.

The door chimes; it’s Miller. Holden greets him rudely but lets him in. Holden criticizes Miller for acting as judge, jury, and executioner. Miller says Dresden was going to get away with it—that’s why he had to kill him. It wasn’t revenge, he insists. Miller killed him because Dresden was talking them into believing Eros was justifiable. Holden says he can’t trust Miller around the people he cares about. Miller leaves.

Holden feels guilty about sending Miller away, aware that he would never have gotten off Eros without Miller’s help. He calls Naomi and they meet at the bar. Naomi thinks Miller wants absolution from him. Holden sarcastically says it’s because Miller’s righteous. “You are,” Naomi replies. Holden says he’s fucked everything up. He needs to make a difference. Naomi asks if he wants to go home with her. She’s tired of waiting for him to get his nerve up. Stunned, Holden says yes.

Miller sits in a bar, mulling his bleak situation. He sees the Roci out past the Nauvoo, and it looks like home. His Julie hallucination says he doesn’t belong with Holden and the others—he belongs with her. Miller knows he needs to remake himself, start over, and be something different than he was before. He recalls the Protomolecule sample on the Roci, which disturbs him. He wants the crew to be alright.

Meanwhile, Eros has started talking. The station is broadcasting electric squeals, static, music, and even words. Listening in, Miller hears one voice, and then another, and another. He falls asleep serenaded by Eros.

Later, Miller goes to Fred, who tells him it’s a problem that he killed Dresden, a defenseless man. Fred won’t protect him. Miller has no regrets—and he’s looking for a job, not protection. Acknowledging that Miller has valuable information, Fred hires him as a consultant. Miller advises Fred that his biggest problem is containment. The story will come out, especially since Holden knows it. Fred has two choices: defend Eros or get rid of it. Nuking it would be like blowing dandelion fluff in a breeze, scattering Protomolecule seeds across the system. Instead, Miller suggests driving Eros into the sun with the Nauvoo, which is large enough to knock Eros into a sunward trajectory.