Carl, Donut, and Mongo are moved into a well-appointed production trailer before appearing on Danger Zone with Ripper Wonton. A robot attendant named D-0NAH forces Carl and Donut to clean up for the show, and Donut negotiates to have Mongo cleaned and then stored in his carrier. While getting ready, Carl looks out at the ocean and worries that the humans who stayed out of the dungeon may still be suffering under alien occupation despite official promises.

In the studio, the director Evo introduces the panelists and gives Carl and Donut a quick sense of the broader alien world. The guests include Princess D’nadia, the host Ripper Wonton, the singer Manasa, the comedian Tucker, and fellow crawler Hekla. Hekla privately asks Carl and Donut to help one of her scattered teammates level if they can, and Carl cautiously agrees to meet the woman later without promising to slow down their own dangerous mission.

Once the show begins, Donut quickly steals the spotlight by humiliating Tucker after he insults her presence on the panel. Much of the discussion concerns galactic politics, bankruptcy, the Valtay, and unrest in the Skull Empire, but Carl, Donut, and Hekla mostly avoid saying anything reckless. When Ripper asks Carl about the Skull Empire’s turmoil, Carl deliberately speaks against tyranny, argues that people should resist governments that exploit them, and openly insults King Rust and his family, turning the audience strongly in his favor.

Almost immediately after Carl’s speech, the broadcast is violently interrupted. The trailer rocks, the set glitches apart, and Carl’s HUD briefly returns as Zev checks on them. When the studio stabilizes, Manasa is gone, and the panel learns that her trailer was struck by a pulse attack while she was participating from Earth’s surface. The program awkwardly continues into a live audience-question segment, where Hekla is pressed about abandoning her husband, Carl is asked about killing, Donut jokes that Ferdinand was her forbidden cat lover, and an uncomfortable question about Bea briefly exposes unresolved tension between Carl and Donut.

Ripper then breaks in with confirmation that Manasa died in the attack and reveals that Prince Stalwart of the Skull Empire publicly claimed responsibility, saying Carl and Donut were the real targets and that their execution was justified because Carl advocated sedition. The group realizes Manasa died only because she had switched trailers with Carl and Donut. D’nadia condemns the Skull Empire, Ripper reports that a Valtay dreadnaught has already destroyed Stalwart’s yacht in retaliation, and Donut is stunned by the possible death of Maestro. As the political fallout spreads, Hekla dryly observes that chaos seems to follow Carl and Donut everywhere.