In the wreck’s aftermath, an automated voice reports a catastrophic collision as Ephraim lies pinned under twisted hull, bleeding from a chest wound and a shattered arm. Scavengers in ragged radiation gear cut into the wreck, check his body for legion marks, and, while freeing him, sever his trapped leg. The stench of roasting flesh makes him realize the limb is gone, and he calls for Volga.

Ephraim later wakes strapped to a table, naked and cold, as a multi‑eyed surgeon knits a synthetic replacement from hip to foot. The graft spasms and rejects as voices argue and someone orders him kept alive “by your Queen’s will.” Sedatives drag him through fevered dreams before he surfaces again.

He comes to under the gaze of a hostile girl with a scalpel who cannot bring herself to cut his throat. Panicking and in withdrawal, Ephraim searches for his missing zoladone valve and ring, fears Volga and his team are dead, and demands relief. A boy appears alive, shows Ephraim’s engagement ring on a chain, and confirms they are on Mars. Ephraim tries to manipulate him into fetching zoladone from a nearby med-bank.

The boy refuses and cites a notorious zoladone atrocity, arguing the drug strips empathy and responsibility. When Ephraim rages, the boy says the ring belongs to Ephraim ti Horn and will be returned when Ephraim asks for it as himself, not as an addict. He also rebukes Ephraim for asking for Z before asking about Volga. Left alone, Ephraim screams until exhausted, then slips into sleep, whispering a brutal legion marching chant.