Bolaji and Kotto have followed their friend Marius out onto the harsh, cold surface of Europa, where they live in a human settlement. Marius dies in the cold, experiencing a strange, brilliant hallucination of sorts where he is carried below the ocean, Europa's frozen ocean, to a place teeming with alien life. Bolaji and Kotto are trekking across the ice trying to, now, just get back to the closest human settlement, Thrace terminal.
On a break, they find Bolaji's suit has torn, and his skin underneath is bright white, his veins an unnatural deep blue. Though Kotto patches it, wondering all the while why he isn't dead yet (the conditions are such that any exposure should bring near instant death), Bolaji does eventually die, turning, strangely, into nothing but a puddle of water. Kotto makes into communication range of Thrace Terminal and calls for a team to rescue her, but is thrown by a geyser of water underfoot and lands with a torn suit, her skin turned white like Bolaji's did. She will likely not make it.