Julie Mao is held captive in a locker on the spaceship Scopuli. She put up a good fight before armed invaders locked her in. She stays silent, not wanting to draw attention. She finds water and a bag to store her urine in an old environment suit. After four days, she considers communicating with her captors. She hears noises outside the door: A man begs, and then the airlock opens and closes. Julie stays silent.

By day seven, her water is gone. By day eight, she’s ready to be shot. Julie kicks her way out of the locker, but no one is there. The ship is empty. The engineering hatch is locked from the inside, so she breaks in. There’s a strange smell, and something coats the reactor core. It looks like mud, but closer examination reveals it’s more like veiny, pulsing flesh. There’s something curious at its center—the captain’s head. “Help me,” it says (6).

One hundred fifty years earlier, Earth and Mars were on the verge of war, and the Belt was inaccessible. The Epstein drive changed everything, allowing much faster space travel. Now, humanity has colonized the broader solar system, and the Belt is home to 50 to 100 million people.