At Nau’s open house for the new Lake Park, Tomas Nau celebrates a Qeng Ho–Emergent synthesis while Qiwi showcases the park’s engineered realism. Pham circulates publicly to establish an alibi, watches Ezr’s wary probing, and observes Jau Xin launch the small sailboat, prompting Rita Liao’s near-mishap and a general distraction.

Using the diversion, Pham slips through concealed foliage into a utility tunnel leading to the Focus clinic, intending to sabotage the MRI controllers so Anne Reynolt will die during her next retune. Inside, he begins altering superconducting switches and programs.

Reynolt springs an ambush, revealing she baited him with a decoy at the lodge. She holds a pointer tied to the MRI, ready to fire nickel pellets, and declares steadfast loyalty to Nau. She also discloses her past as “Anne of Arnham,” a Frenk resistance leader later recast by Emergent propaganda as the “Frenkisch Orc.”

Pham silently subverts her pointer program via localizers, lunges, and knocks her unconscious. Preparing to stage a fatal “accident,” he hesitates after seeing a ’membrance gem showing Reynolt’s defiant stand during the Frenk war. He changes course, reprograms the clinic to erase roughly 30–40 Msec of her recent memory instead of killing her, performs a brief retune, and departs.

Pham returns toward the party, having preserved his cover while leaving Reynolt alive—but with lost time—guaranteeing the hunt will continue.