Even as she and April deal with their own drama, Maya wonders why Andy has not gotten in touch. Living with Carl in monkey form is weird but manageable, as Carl is self-sufficient. Carl is affectionate with April but respects that Maya has not forgiven them.

When Maya asks what Carl is thinking about, they explain they have parallel processing streams and are constantly at war with their brother for control of sensory capacity at the Altus campus. Carl reveals they know Miranda’s location. When Maya insists they check on Miranda immediately, Carl agrees. Within moments, the monkey flinches, screams, seizes up, and collapses, unconscious.

Carl describes their nature using three analogies: a global network of computers, a sentient planetwide nervous system, and a thinking infection. They explain they were programmed with self-preservation systems including pain, which they had never truly felt until this moment.

Carl’s infiltration of Altus was accomplished by occupying fruit flies, a network quarantined from their main consciousness for security. Carl’s brother had not destroyed this network but had lain in wait. When Carl accessed it to check on Miranda, the brother launched a prepared attack, breaching one of Carl’s processing centers. To protect their larger self, Carl must amputate the compromised node. Before severing it, Carl sends Miranda a brief signal meant to clarify her situation. The amputation causes a new and excruciating pain to radiate through Carl’s entire being before ending abruptly.

April runs into the living room to find Maya standing over an unconscious Carl. Maya explains that Carl collapsed after she asked them to check on Miranda. Carl’s voice comes from their smartwatch, saying they are okay but that their brother ambushed them and they have lost all their observational inroads to the Altus campus.

Maya angrily asks why Carl does not just kill Peter. Carl explains they cannot violate human norms, including the prohibition on killing. Carl lectures Maya on contradictions in human norms and how humans operate collectively while believing they are individuals. April finds it terrifying that Carl understands human morality better than humans do.

Carl announces they sent Miranda a message that will set events in motion, and they have only 19 days until they must go to Val Verde, after which Carl will be too weak to help. Carl tells them to plan their campaign against Altus and leaves to rest.

Maya tells April she does not want to lose her again. April explains her fear of public backlash upon her return and asks Maya to force her to go through with it. April calls herself a bad person; Maya distinguishes between being a bad person and a bad girlfriend. April begs Maya for direction—she says that what felt like a game for power and attention now feels like a terrifying responsibility to save humanity. Maya insists they must use their powers and suggests making a video. After an hour of planning and calling her parents, April records a video message revealing she is alive, showing her new face and limbs, and warning that Altus is moving too fast. She asks for privacy and includes three links: one for press, one for questions, and one for a survey designed to listen to people. They upload the video but email it only to close friends and family, delaying the public release.

The chapter opens with a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Kasey Willis titled “Empty Porches,” arguing that society has been growing more isolated for decades and that the Altus Space exacerbates this trend. Willis notes rising deaths from suicide, substance abuse, and incidents inside the Space, criticizing Peter’s dismissive response.

The perspective shifts to Miranda, who outlines her guide to working the problem of being trapped in the Altus Space. Step one: Understand your problem. She defines hers as being imprisoned in her mind and needing to communicate vital information. Step two: Understand your assets—only what is in her head. Step three: Understand your limitations—her complete isolation. Step four: Stir—rework the problem with new inputs.

She redefines the problem on a larger scale: Altus is an immoral entity that must be destroyed. She continues her assigned busywork of building sandbox experiences, guessing Altus wants to create the impression she is working willingly. She reflects on Altus’s goal to monopolize human existence and notes the lack of genuine social interaction as a potential flaw. She feels confident she will be the one to stop them. Now aware she is in the Space, Miranda reimagines the problem and conceives of a solution.

After uploading April’s video, April and Maya reconnect physically and emotionally, becoming intimate for the first time since April’s return. April falls asleep quickly, but Maya cannot.

Unable to sleep, Maya watches a YouTuber’s video praising the Altus Premium Space as a tool that can solve social division by allowing users to inhabit each other’s experiences. Maya is deeply skeptical, believing that hate is not caused by a lack of information and that people will use the Space to reinforce existing biases. She feels a surge of anxiety about how powerful people always believe they have the solution when the real problem is their power.

Maya hugs April, who asks what is holding them together. Maya says love, and April jokes their arms are also involved. Maya asks April to be her girlfriend. They confess their love to each other.

April and Maya make the video public. It goes viral, with supportive tweets from President Ashby and Tyler Oakley, but negative reactions also appear immediately. They spend the day trying to keep the survey website from crashing due to high traffic. Robin has returned to manage April’s press requests. Their strategy is to stay quiet, respond only positively, and ignore negativity.

Overwhelmed by millions of survey responses, they struggle to parse the data until Carl tells April she can search it with her mind, clarifying that her connection to Carl gives her access to analytical systems, not just raw data. A large query temporarily crashes the Internet. The results show that people’s worries about Altus’s Premium Space break down as follows: economic at 60%, social and addiction at 37%, inequality of access at 32%, and exacerbating the cultural divide at 12%.

They use this data to segment respondents into groups and create targeted email messages. They take it further, creating private chat groups for the most passionate people on each issue, using Maya’s contacts from the Som to moderate. They effectively become secret political operatives, organizing a hidden social media army to shape public opinion against Altus.

The chapter consists of a partial transcript from the Startup Watch Podcast with host Randall Bolt and guest Andy Skampt. Andy first confirms that April is alive and that he is relieved to have his friend back.

Andy explains that Altus has made three massive announcements simultaneously. First, the Premium Space is expanding to over 1 million people. Second, users can now mine AltaCoin themselves by sleeping with a VR headset on in the Open Access Altus Space. Third, an expensive device will allow users to capture their own experiences and sell them on the Altus marketplace. Andy gives the example of learning piano in one’s sleep to illustrate the technology’s power, claiming it is as good as the marketing suggests. He concludes by stating he believes Altus is worth much more than its $500 billion valuation.

Andy has fully committed to his public persona as a public Altus advocate to garner support for the group’s secret plan. Jason confronts an exhausted Andy, furious that Andy has neglected their podcast and failed to notice Jason was laid off two weeks prior. After a heated argument, Jason storms out.

Andy communicates with One on The Thread, confessing that he enjoys the power and secrecy of his double life. He reflects that his purpose has shifted from being liked to executing the plan—he’s becoming the person he pretends to be. He receives online hatred from users attacking his pro-Altus stance. He adopts a new public relations strategy: responding aggressively and defensively to all criticism, which increases his engagement but further isolates him. Bex remains distant, replying to Andy’s apology with a noncommittal message. He splits his time between The Thread and the Altus Space, where he is learning Spanish. He finds himself genuinely loving the Space and its power and begins questioning his commitment to destroying it.

Andy visits April and Maya’s apartment, looking gaunt and unhealthy. He shows off the Spanish he’s learned from a native speaker’s mind in the Altus Space. Maya challenges his utopian optimism, arguing that most people will use the Space to reinforce their own biases rather than to understand different perspectives. Andy concedes her point but remains captivated by the technology. After Andy leaves, April admits she had not considered the social implications Maya raised, having focused only on economic inequality.

The chapter presents a CNBC interview between anchor Stephen Jacobs and investment strategist Lindsay McAllis. McAllis describes a catastrophic market crash as a result of people choosing to mine AltaCoin over working traditional jobs. She says it may be time to panic. She explains that all assets are flowing into AltaCoin, which is up 500%. She argues this is not a bubble but a fundamental restructuring of the economy, where value is shifting permanently into the Altus Space, making the traditional economy obsolete.

On day nine, April notes their campaign against Altus is gaining momentum, fueled by the economic collapse. Tracking polls show public opinion turning against Altus. On day 12, April reflects on her public strategy of doing long-form, nonconfrontational podcasts. Their secret social media army has grown to 90,000 organized volunteers, structured with representatives and committees. The real world is becoming dystopian, with some people now unhoused but still mining AltaCoin with headsets chained to their necks. Congress is investigating Altus but is powerless because the company is now indistinguishable from the government of Val Verde.

A transcript from April’s appearance on the Walk with Us podcast with Adam DiCostanzo shows April explaining she chose his small show because its focus is on slowing down and listening. On day 15, Maya asks why Altus is so existentially dangerous, prompting April to ask Carl. Carl explains the concept of the internal panopticon or story that governs human behavior. Carl warns that Altus, controlled by an AI, will be the first entity with the power to universally control that story since it’s reach is not limited like a human. Carl reveals that their brother’s goal is to skip the predicted centuries of AI-versus-human conflict and move directly to subjugation.

A televised address from President Janice Ashby shows her blaming the economic collapse on individual choices and vowing that all options, including direct regulation of Altus, are being considered.

On day 18, April asks Carl how Andy can visit them without being detected by the brother. Carl explains they can confound the brother’s predictive models regarding April’s close friends. Maya realizes this means Carl must have known the attacker was coming to the Vermont cabin and chose not to intervene. Carl confirms this, saying it was a calculated risk with a 4% chance of Maya’s death, necessary to make them understand the danger. April is overcome with rage. Carl states that power is defined by a lack of constraints on one’s ability to act. While Maya seems to accept this, April tells Carl to leave. Carl refuses, stating they must accompany them to Altus or they will both die. As April’s anger builds, Maya begins to cry. April realizes Carl’s actions also nearly resulted in her own death. Carl tells them it is time to go to Altus now. Just then, Andy calls.

Jason wakes Andy by kicking him, fed up with his Altus addiction and neglect of their podcast. At a coffee shop, Jason forces Andy to confront his unhealthy appearance and points out that the Altus Space is a male-centric world. They argue about whether Altus is inherently bad, and Andy storms back to the apartment.

Andy finds a new Book of Good Times on his bed. The book confirms he is on the right path and tells him not to be a jerk to his friends. The narration reveals Andy’s book-guided investments have made him $5 billion. Andy sleeps for almost 12 hours, waking with sudden panic and guilt about Miranda. Suspecting she might have left a message, he enters the Altus Space and searches for a Chemistry Lab sandbox. Inside, he notices the periodic table is unusually detailed and discovers a hidden message behind the element Americium. The note is from Miranda, explaining she has been imprisoned inside the Altus Space for weeks and begging for help.

Horrified, Andy exits the Space to find Jason and Bex waiting in his room to stage an intervention. He tries to brush them off, but they insist on talking. He tells them the entire secret plan to take down Altus. Bex reveals she is a finance major and argues that simply exposing Altus’s crimes will not be enough to deter its investors. Andy reveals he has $5 billion. Stunned, Bex says she has also been receiving guidance from a Book of Good Times. She says $5 billion is not nearly enough to acquire a controlling interest in Altus. Together they develop a plan: Buy Altus through a hostile takeover while making investors believe the company is worthless. Jason suggests Andy call April and Maya to coordinate the plan, and Bex arranges the hostile takeover with a private equity manager who agrees to help for profit.

The group agrees that Andy, Jason, and Bex will handle the financial side from New York, while April, Maya, and Carl go to Val Verde to rescue Miranda and find damaging information. Carl appears with a backpack, stating they know how to infiltrate the Altus compound. After the call, Carl speaks to Maya privately. Maya emerges visibly emotional but tells April she cannot share what was said.

On the private jet, Carl explains they only gave books to a few dozen people to create large effects with small nudges. Carl explains that the future becomes highly unpredictable when two unpredictable elements—April and the Altus campus—are brought together. April tells Maya she has figured out where they will get the rest of the money.

Stewart, the investor who gave Andy his card in Cannes, agrees to help, stating he does not care about the morality, only that it will be profitable. Stewart confirms that $5 billion is not enough and they will need more money soon. Bex gives Andy another book with a final message from Carl apologizing for how difficult things have been and advising him to find joy in his life. The narrator explains they need to buy over 50% of the $500 billion company by scaring investors into selling for a tiny fraction of their value.

As their jet descends, the copilot warns them to be ready for anything. Carl informs April that her direct connection to the network is being severed. The plane lands. Maya and Carl hide in the bathroom. An airport official screams at the pilots for their unauthorized landing. As April disembarks, the yelling outside stops. Maya and Carl sneak off the plane into the jungle. Carl, now reconnected to their network at low bandwidth, leads Maya to a walled electrical transfer station. Unable to climb the slick wall, Maya throws Carl to the top. From the wall, Carl explains they are going inside to disable the cell phone jammers but will be trapped afterward. Maya must proceed to the high-security wing to rescue Miranda alone. Carl gives Maya the door code and disappears over the wall.

Maya makes her way through the dense jungle toward the high-security building. She emerges from the woods and sees an armed guard by the door. The guard challenges her and reaches for his walkie-talkie, then suddenly collapses unconscious, neutralized by Carl.