The North Paw open house dazzles both Emergents and Qeng Ho, winning Tomas Nau fresh goodwill despite simmering resentment over Focus. The celebration drags late; Pham Trinli drinks heavily. Afterward, Nau shows strain even as Ezr reflects that Nau’s “not-tyranny” hinges on the lie of someday freeing the Focused.

Hours later Anne Reynolt is found unconscious. Rumors fly—brain death, a Brughel coup, hidden plots—while research teams deadlock without her. Hammerfest is suddenly off-limits. In Benny’s parlor, Trud Silipan, exhausted, explains Reynolt likely suffered an MRI control mishap: a retrox overdose, concussion, and expected patchy amnesia, but probable full recovery. He rejects sabotage claims as inconsistent with the evidence and says he and Bil will run things.

That day, Ezr meets Pham in the dark buffer space to force a reckoning about Focus. Ezr argues that Pham’s true aim is Focus-enabled control, and that Focus is slavery. Pham responds with threats, denying betrayal, and abruptly attacks—cutting Ezr’s localizer vision, grabbing his throat, and then deliberately blowing nearby localizers, risking their entire covert system.

Left briefly in darkness and near exposure, Ezr struggles to contain the damage. Alone, Pham confronts the collapse of his centuries-spanning dream to use Focus to unify Humankind. Remembering Anne’s resistance and its moral cost, he realizes the price is too high and decides to abandon the dream.

Pham returns to the net, takes over Ezr’s efforts, and crafts an effective patch, planning replacements and cover for the outages. He resolves to protect Anne Reynolt and the other Focused and to work with Ezr as true partners against Nau. As plans reform around this new purpose, Pham finds an unexpected peace.