In the lab, Campar tries to lighten the mood, but Tonner presents a breakthrough: the sandy silicate pulp inside the red “berries” isn’t a single organ or organism but a managed farm of many micro-organisms. Tonner, Campar, and Else quickly pivot from debating berry metabolism to discussing how they might exploit the farm—either by selecting a useful resident species or introducing an outside “cuckoo” organism—while Dafyd cleans equipment and struggles to keep up with their rapid leaps in reasoning.

They also note an unsettling problem: their Carryx “librarian” hasn’t appeared, making it hard to request tools or resources. Campar suggests the Carryx have odd blind spots about human behavior and objects. When Tonner wants to return to quarters, Dafyd asks to walk instead, partly to avoid the crush of returning to the group and the lab’s relentless focus; Else checks on him with a brief touch that leaves Dafyd flustered and preoccupied.

Alone in the vast “cathedral” space, Dafyd forces himself to watch the alien ecosystem rather than hide from it, recalling how he overcame childhood fear by direct exposure. He observes Carryx and other species moving through the hall, including a scar-banded Carryx confronting a “hallway crow” creature that collapses and tantrums under pressure. Dafyd realizes that the beings he can identify by name tend to be the ones with translator squares, and he connects this to the idea that the Carryx allow certain access pathways but may limit others.

Acting on the insight, Dafyd approaches the scar-banded Carryx and asks about permitted areas. The Carryx clarifies that permission is location-specific. Dafyd then claims he has made a mistake and needs help finding his own moiety’s librarian; the Carryx clicks to the hallway crow and leads Dafyd, escorted by Soft Lothark, through descending passages into a busy Carryx complex filled with overlapping voices and many translator-wearing aliens.

Dafyd is directed down a ramp to a cramped room where his moiety’s librarian manipulates glowing cubes. Dafyd reminds the librarian of its instruction to request what they need for their work. Hours later he returns to quarters to Tonner’s fury and the group’s relief, carrying a metal crate containing paper-like pages, pots of thick black ink, and metal styluses—finally securing tools for reliable note-taking and communication in their forced research.