The epilogue opens away from the dungeon, where Dr. Hu and a skeptical woman argue over the enormous cost and risk of backing Carl. She calls Carl unstable, warns that the AI may go primal, and points to mounting political chaos involving the Valtay, the Kua-Tin, and King Rust's family. Dr. Hu insists they are already committed, arguing that Carl has disrupted the system and is drawing more supporters to their cause every time he appears on Odette's show.

The scene shifts to Earth, where the null bounty hunter Sadir and his saccathian partner Gennrik search a ruined, rain-soaked Seattle for Gravy Boat. Their mission is part of the illegal “Walk-On List,” a system in which outsiders sneak onto crawl worlds to kidnap surviving natives the producers want to use later. After checking the wrong cat, discussing stale records caused by Borant starting the crawl early, and reflecting on how the Syndicate exploits both natives and desperate workers like himself, Sadir locates another cat signal inside a survivor camp and agrees to risk a raid for the huge payout.

The point of view then moves to Brad inside the camp called New Queen Anne. Unable to sleep, Brad resents Bea, regrets not entering the dungeon, and broods over how their group survived the collapse and slowly built a settlement while the invaders ignored them. Brad recalls how Bea insisted on returning to her ruined apartment, where they found the starving orange stray she calls Ferdinand but knows is really Gravy Boat; since then, Bea has treated the cat like a guilty replacement for the life she lost. When Sadir and Gennrik cut into the tent, Gennrik is suddenly shot through the chest before he can fire, Gravy Boat bolts, and Sadir freezes when he recognizes Bea.

Lexis, an armed operative working for Odette, steps into the tent and announces that Syndicate security is coming and that Beatrice is being hunted. Brad, fixated on seizing an alien weapon, is shot when he makes his move. In the final scene, Lexis reports to Odette that she has secured Beatrice, killed one pirate, and subdued the settlement and the cat. Odette orders her to let Brad die, leave Sadir alive but frame him for the killing, put Gravy Boat in a bounty cube so Borant can claim the cat, and reassure Beatrice that Odette has a different plan for her, ending the chapter with a cold reminder that not everyone gets a happy ending.