The Brin 2 Sentry Pod receives a qualifying signal from the green planet, reactivating ancient protocols long corroded by time and the infiltrating echo of Avrana Kern’s uploaded persona. Confronted with internal discontinuities, the pod reconstructs around damaged logic and concludes it must attempt to wake Kern.

Avrana Kern wakes, or dreams of waking, and speaks with Eliza, the pod’s human-facing mask. Eliza explains the system’s homogenization and requests Kern’s authority to begin phase two of the uplift program. Kern grapples with fractured memories of prior human intruders and her project’s purpose.

Recalling that she once showed mercy to passing “false humans,” Kern suspects they may return and resolves to harden her stance to protect the developing civilization below. She prioritizes the planet’s future over the remnants of Old Earth’s corrupted legacy.

Kern authorizes phase two—gradual, bootstrapped communication with the new civilization. Before that process begins, she sets the tone with an inaugural declaration for posterity and future understanding: she instructs Eliza to broadcast, “I am your creator. I am your god.”