Rock Bottom story
On Ceres, Miller is interrogated by Dawes, demanding to know what he has learned about Julie. Dawes' operatives attempt to kill Miller but he is saved by fellow Star Helix officer Octavia Muss. Miller and Muss investigate the data cube recovered from Mao's apartment. Miller brings the data cube to his boss at Star Helix and confides his suspicions about the Mao case. She promptly fires him and removes all his clearances. Avasarala wants a spy on Tycho Station to keep an eye on Fred Johnson and resorts to extortion to get her way. Holden and crew arrive at Tycho Station, and Fred Johnson reveals his plan to exploit Holden and crew's testimony for legitimacy with the UN Security Council. Holden makes an uneasy alliance, sharing everything he knows about the destruction of the Canterbury and the MCRN Donnager. Johnson seems fairly convinced neither Earth nor Mars was behind the attacks. After disguising the Rocinante as a simple gas hauler, Holden and crew set out for Eros to pick up the potential sole survivor of the Scopuli, codenamed "Lionel Polanski", at Johnson's request.
5 total · 3 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| corruption in society | major | Detective Miller was fired because his findings were inconvenient to higher-ups that consequently wanted to silence him. |
| law enforcement | major | In one storyline, Detective Miller continued his investigation into the disappearance of the heiress Julie Mao. The story concluded with Miller getting fired on the spot for having revealed himself to have gotten in too deep into the case. |
| trust in a potential foe | major | In one storyline, Holden his fellow crewmates struggled with their decision to cooperate with Fred Johnson, the notorious "the Butcher of Anderson Station", who had lead a massacre of civilians some years prior. |
| getting fired from one's job | minor | Detective Miller was fired on the spot after revealing to a superior that he'd uncovered some inconvenient truths about the Julie Mao disappearance case. He was summarily escorted out of the building by security. |
| stranded in outer space | minor | In one storyline, two asteroid miners, Mateo and Diogo, were boarded by what passed for space police and callously forced on a circuitous return course that meant they would run out of fuel and die. Diogo was ultimately set adrift in a spacesuit by Mateo who subsequently went on a suicide mission. |