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Story so far

Cibola Burn · the whole book

Been away from the book? Here's where things stand — and nothing past your current chapter.

Story so far

Cibola Burn is the first Expanse novel set beyond the rings: through one gate lies Ilus/New Terra, where Belter refugees of First Landing squat on lithium the corporation Royal Charter Energy holds by charter. When settlers led in part by Basia Merton bomb the RCE landing pad — killing Governor Trying and downing the heavy shuttle — security chief Adolphus Murtry answers with executions, and Avasarala and Fred Johnson send Holden (haunted by the protomolecule ghost of Miller) to mediate. Exobiologist Elvi Okoye and her team study a world that proves to be an ancient machine. Then the planet's two-billion-year-old defense grid, roused by a mine blast, damps fusion across orbit: the Rocinante, the Edward Israel (with Naomi jailed under Havelock), and the ore freighter Barbapiccola all begin falling, while a storm-borne organism blinds nearly everyone below and death-slugs infest the ruins. The back half is a race against three deaths — starvation, blindness, and reentry. Elvi discovers the cure: Holden's chronic cancer meds kill the fast-dividing organism, and he gives up his supply. Havelock breaks with Murtry, freeing Naomi, and Basia's raid brings her home; when the Barbapiccola is knocked tumbling, Basia's invention of paired-airlock 'life-support bubbles' saves its whole crew before it burns, and he finally reckons with the grief that made him a killer. Holden rides Miller's buried alien transit north to a lethal 'dead spot' — the weapon that once killed the world's builders. Murtry pursues, ambushing Holden's party: he sacrifices his own agent Wei as bait and guns down Amos and Fayez (both survive). Holden outdraws and captures Murtry rather than kill him, while Elvi — the only one who can see the dead spot — guides Miller's final sacrifice, carrying his core bodily through the darkness to switch off the defenses. The reactors restart; everyone lives. The Rocinante repairs on the surface as former enemies rebuild First Landing together; Holden frees Basia, fires Miller's last protomolecule remnant into the sun in a Viking funeral, and hauls Murtry off to a forgotten UN cell on Luna. In the epilogue, Avasarala grasps the true cost: New Terra is the feel-good precedent for a thousand-world land rush that will hollow out and kill Mars, leaving only its vast navy — the seed of interstellar war. She recruits Bobbie Draper back onto the board. Humanity has crossed a threshold it can't uncross.

Who matters now

Captain of the [[Rocinante]], haunted by the [[Miller]] ghost, drafted by Fred and Avasarala to mediate the [[Ilus]] crisis.

Lately — Facing Murtry across a chasm, Holden hears his frontier gospel, learns Amos and Fayez live, then outdraws and shoots him three times — but hauls him up alive, to destroy him not with a bullet but in public. Lifting off at last, Holden frees Basia, gives Miller a Viking funeral by firing the ship's last protomolecule polyp into the sun, reunites with Naomi, and promises Murtry a quiet grave on Luna.

RCE exobiologist thrilled to study the first alien biosphere, who survives the shuttle crash to find herself among the very squatters blamed for it.

Lately — Triangulating Holden's position from network lag, Elvi finds him and the Miller-bot, is sent to shut off the defenses — and discovers she alone can see the dead spot: 'the eye of an angry God.' Elvi guides the dying Miller into the dead spot, fights off waking machines, then carries a 90-kilo blue unit into the darkness — unmade and reassembled atom by atom — and switches the planet off. 'We won.'

Adolphus Murtry

RCE's hard, laconic security chief who inherits command after the governor's death and means to make the squatters pay 'by the book.'

Lately — Preaching that empires are built on blood, Murtry admits Amos and Fayez aren't dead, refuses to yield the artifacts, then is outdrawn and shot three times by Holden — spared, captured, and promised public ruin. Shattered arm handcuffed to a med couch aboard the Roci, Murtry insists he broke no law even as Holden promises to bury him at the UN on Luna — and Amos privately vows a reckoning for Wei.

Gentle Ganymede refugee turned reluctant bomber, whose sabotage of [[Ilus]]'s landing pad kills as a shuttle drops early.

Lately — Refusing to let Felcia burn, Basia invents seal-to-seal life-support bubbles to evacuate the whole Barb crew — then, watching his saved daughter tow to safety, finally confesses to himself why he blew up the shuttle. Expecting to be hauled off for trial, Basia is instead quietly set free by Holden — told only to work hard so there's decent coffee next time — and left on Ilus with Lucia, Felcia, and Jacek.

Left in command of the [[Edward Israel]], Havelock talks a terrified colleague through the siege and, on Murtry's order, quietly turns a shuttle into a bomb.

Lately — Havelock defends Basia under fire, kills attackers he begged to stop, breaks with Koenen entirely, and — hearing Basia's guilt-wracked breakdown — offers only 'You did good out there.' Alive weeks past his expected death, Havelock helps rebuild First Landing, is hailed a hero for the Barb rescue while facing a wrongful-death suit, and decides he wants nothing but to go home.

The protomolecule's self-aware construct of the dead detective — 'the Investigator' — reaching out forever, and haunting [[Holden]] toward the gates.

Lately — An interlude inside Miller's end: he becomes the whole planet, comforts its frightened trapped minds — 'We're gonna be fine' — remembers Julie, holds Elvi's hand, and the network at last reaches out and stops. Miller's earthly anchor is laid to rest: Holden finds the last protomolecule polyp aboard the Roci, seals it, and fires it into Ilus's sun — a Viking funeral for the detective who saved a second world.

The [[Rocinante]]'s engineer and Holden's partner, who reads him instantly and tells him he'll take the Ilus mediation.

Lately — Naomi runs the ship's defense through the missile attack, orders the shredded tether cut when the Barb is knocked tumbling — only for the release to jam and Basia to refuse, launching to save it himself. Safe aboard the lifted-off Roci, Naomi reunites with Holden, reveals Havelock was Miller's old Ceres partner, and gently helps him lay Miller to rest before falling back into each other.

The [[Rocinante]]'s blunt mechanic and enforcer, angling for shore leave and never forgetting that the money's good.

Lately — Alive after all, Amos is up on the scaffold planning the Roci's repairs with a maimed hand — needing new fingers grown — proving Holden right that if everyone else lives, so does he. Aboard the departing Roci, a maimed Amos loads gear, then follows Holden to the captive Murtry — telling him plainly he'll be back to finish it, and this time Murtry 'won't be helpless.'

The world

The first settled world beyond the gates — the colonists' 'Ilus,' the corporation's 'New Terra' — a heavy, dark planet strewn with alien ruins.

The ramshackle squatter township on [[Ilus]] — two rows of prefab buildings the Ganymede refugees built and never bothered to rename.

The great generation ship — once Nauvoo, then Behemoth — now parked at the Ring as humanity's gateway and choke point to the thousand new worlds.

Royal Charter Energy

The UN-chartered corporation ('RCE') holding legal title to New Terra, arriving to claim the world the squatters call [[Ilus]].