Grace fabricates a new aluminum Taumoeba farm but loses sight of the Blip-A’s engine flare, concluding Taumoeba infiltrated xenonite fuel bays and consumed Rocky’s Astrophage. He faces a stark choice: return to Earth as a hero or send beetles home and turn back to save Rocky, a path that dooms him to starve. He chooses sacrifice, launches four beetles with mini-farms and data toward Earth, and heads back toward Rocky’s last known course.

Confronted with a vast search volume, Grace devises a solution: use the spin drives as a colossal IR emitter and the Petrovascope as a detector, sweeping a 3D grid. A reflected flash confirms a contact about 4 million kilometers away. He cleans the ship, then closes the distance using attitude thrusters to illuminate space while keeping the scope active, repeatedly checking range until radar finally tags the object as the Blip-A on an escape trajectory.

At close quarters, communications fail. Fearing Rocky is dead, Grace performs an EVA, lassos a xenonite protrusion, and hammers the hull. Rocky answers by radio. They reattach the airlock tunnel, and Grace boards. Rocky is injured and covered in residue after failed attempts to halt the infestation; Grace explains Taumoeba evolved to permeate xenonite to evade nitrogen, dooming Rocky’s fuel.

Grace still has two million kilograms of Astrophage and will ferry Rocky to Erid, while Earth’s beetles carry the cure. He admits he lacks food for a return to Earth and expects to die after reaching Erid. Rocky refuses to accept this and proposes a solution: Grace might eat Taumoeba. Realizing Taumoeba biology could be compatible and free of Eridian heavy-metal toxins, Grace sees a real chance at survival. Rocky has vast Taumoeba reserves, and the two seal the renewed partnership with a fist-bump.