At Coldhaven’s command row, technicians watch their interceptors achieve near-total success against the Kindred barrage; only about thirty warheads remain. General Coldhaven leans on Rhapsa Lighthill’s updates while Victory Lighthill conducts a laggy exchange with offworld allies. She reports that a cooperative “Critter Number Five” is behaving as promised, then momentarily loses contact with her father, underscoring the fragility of their links.

Meanwhile, Rachner Thract rides with Sherkaner Underhill in a helicopter that ends its evasive course and lands on a barren, freezing plateau. Underhill, suffering spreading eye blisters from a killer beam and nearly blind, sets aside his game helmet and insists they have won. He asks Thract to describe the sky as sheets of antimissile fire fade and reentry streaks appear.

Thract reports dozens of incoming traces. Underhill maintains that their alien partners have already killed the warheads, reducing them to falling radioactive junk. When Thract questions trust, Underhill reflects on the humans’ vast experience and constrained imagination. The expected distant flashes never come; the sky remains dark, confirming the warheads are inert.

As cold air floods the cabin, Underhill’s guide-bug opens the door and coaxes him outside. Thract tries to intervene, but the helicopter’s autopilot spins up and lifts off. In the frigid wash and darkness, Thract loses sight of Underhill and the guide-bug as they limp away across the ice, their survival in grave doubt.