Location from The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
Belt asteroid station and site of the protomolecule outbreak that killed over a hundred thousand people. Protogen deliberately infected the population as an experiment. The asteroid later moved under its own power and crashed into Venus.
Eros was a second-tier Belt station — not as large as Ceres, not as sophisticated as Tycho, but home to over a hundred thousand people living ordinary lives in carved rock. Protogen chose it precisely because nobody important would notice in time. The Eros incident was genocide disguised as science. Protogen's researchers, led by Antony Dresden, deliberately released the protomolecule on the station's population to study how the alien technology processed biomass. They watched through hidden cameras as people died, dissolved, and were rebuilt into something inhuman. The data they collected was meant to give humanity control over the protomolecule. Instead, it proved that the protomolecule was far beyond human understanding. Miller was on Eros during the outbreak, trying to find Julie Mao. He found her — transformed, integrated into the protomolecule network, somehow still present enough to change the asteroid's course. When Eros moved under its own power, Miller convinced Julie to steer it into Venus instead of Earth. He died there, merging with the protomolecule alongside the woman he'd been trying to save.
Before the outbreak, Eros was a typical Belt station — tunnels carved through a potato-shaped asteroid, casinos and flophouses catering to ship crews, recycled air and rationed water. After infection, the station became something else entirely. Protomolecule growth covered surfaces in luminescent blue-green tendrils, restructuring rock and metal and human bodies into alien architecture. The sounds changed — rhythmic pulses, almost like breathing, transmitted through the asteroid's structure. Radiation levels climbed to instantly lethal.
Also known as: Eros, Eros Station