Lyria awakens in a rotating, lavish room within an asteroid habitat, her severed hand restored and wounds patched. She follows a path through trees to a rose grove floating in space, where Matteo Sun awaits. He confirms Fel is dead and disarms Lyria with empathy, inviting a frank exchange despite her suspicion.

They agree to trade answers. Matteo discloses the place is a vast, self-contained ecosystem inside an asteroid. Pressed on why she came, Lyria admits the parasite led her and that she seeks strength to stop being small. Matteo identifies the implant as a psyche, created by Agala si Ken to let a mind control machines and fight while remaining present, a power that could enable tyranny.

Matteo recounts that after realizing the danger, Agala released six prototypes and killed herself. He offers to repair Lyria’s degraded prototype and even grant her sentinels, but warns full integration could alter her hippocampus, neocortex, and amygdala—causing gaps or emotional detachment from personal memories. He also reveals they spoofed her tracker to mislead Pax.

Lyria rejects the offer of power, unwilling to risk losing her memories of family. Matteo admires her conviction and agrees to schedule surgical removal of the psyche, promising to release her with what she needs once the habitat’s secrecy is secure.

In pre-op, a sentinel orb named Charlotte prepares Lyria, shaving her head. Matteo holds her hand, thanking her for reminding him that past pain shapes identity. He confides he forwarded her previously blocked message to the coms relay so Pax and the Sovereign will learn of this place, and hints that one man—possibly Darrow—might sway his husband to return, suggesting the Reaper may yet live.