A hull blowout nearly kills Tomas Nau, but Qiwi Lin pulls Ali Lin and then Nau through the L1‑A lock to safety. Nau immediately seals the hatch and jettisons the taxi, intending to kill Qiwi and his guards; Tung dies, Marli is likely dead, and Rei Ciret is badly injured. In the security vault, Nau readies a tactical nuclear torpedo against the Peddlers’ temp and boasts of Podmaster resolve while cutting off Pham Nuwen’s attempt to talk him down.

Amid clattering servo noise from the lake-bed machinery, Nau searches for small arms. Ezr Vinh appears, weak and bloodied, carrying the semiconscious Ali Lin. Nau positions himself between Ezr and a cabinet of wire guns, aiming to finish Ezr and proceed with the strike.

Qiwi unexpectedly returns; the jettison jammed with the taxi still in place, letting her claw back in. She sets Ciret down and, seeing Ezr and Ali, hesitates. Ezr warns that Nau plans to nuke the temp and has erased Qiwi’s memory for decades. Nau counters with practiced lies, trying to distract her while grabbing a weapon.

Ezr appeals to Qiwi to remember. Recognition and horror break through; Qiwi elbows Nau away from the cabinet, snatches the floating wire gun, and confronts him. Rejecting Nau’s control at last, she fires a sustained burst, killing Nau and ending his immediate nuclear threat.