April’s plane lands unannounced at Altus, where an angry worker’s frustration fades when he sees her reconstructed face. Peter arrives with four bodyguards and greets her warmly, delivering a rehearsed speech about remorse and Altus’s importance. April surrenders her phone and follows Peter past the windowless building where Miranda is held. In a conference room, April accuses Peter of working for the aliens he once despised. His fear reveals the truth: he’s being manipulated by a nonhuman intelligence. April nearly kills him in rage but restrains herself, stating she came for Miranda. Peter threatens to imprison her, boasting that Altus is untouchable in Val Verde.

Suddenly, April feels her connection to Carl’s network return—the jamming is disabled. Music plays overhead. Peter calls his guards. Carl takes control of April’s body, using her superhuman abilities to incapacitate all four guards with precise, devastating efficiency. One shoots her, but the bullet shatters against the alien material covering her left side. After defeating them, April retrieves her phone and begins recording a confrontation with Peter, but he deflects by accusing her of trespassing. When he threatens her, April crushes a gun barrel in her hand to intimidate him.

Miranda reflects on her weeks imprisoned inside the Altus Space, sustained only by faith that her friends will rescue her. She’s in a kitten simulation when she abruptly awakens to see Maya. Overwhelmed with relief, Miranda fears it’s another simulation and asks Maya to prove herself. Maya references the color of April’s dresses the night she and Miranda slept together. As Maya films the AltaCoin mine—hundreds of people mining currency in hospital beds—Miranda realizes her muscles haven’t atrophied. An external force must have been moving her body during her imprisonment. Suddenly, everyone in the room sits up in unison and removes their headsets. Miranda and Maya sprint for the exit as the miners reach for them. They barely escape through the door, slamming it shut behind them. Without warning, Carl’s brother seizes control of Miranda’s body. Her consciousness remains trapped inside, helpless, as her hands grab Maya’s phone and smash it, then wrap around Maya’s neck and begin strangling her. Maya fights back, but Miranda’s possessed body squeezes relentlessly.

Maya immediately knows Miranda is gone. She reflects on the absolute ruthlessness of Carl’s brother, an intelligence bound by no moral constraints. Maya fights desperately, bloodying Miranda’s nose but unable to inflict fatal harm. She manages to push Miranda away briefly, then tackles her, pinning her arms in a bear hug against the door, even as the AltaCoin miners fight to get inside. As her strength fades and Miranda’s body continues struggling, Maya cries and tells the trapped Miranda, she knows it isn’t her fault. Suddenly, Miranda goes limp and the pounding stops. Miranda, herself again, sobs and warns Maya not to let go—the entity could return. A massive robot body inhabited by Carl appears and walks toward them, gently taking Miranda’s wrist so Maya can release her. Carl and Miranda sit together against the door, both looking defeated.

April leads Peter across campus toward the place Miranda is being held. Peter taunts her, saying her accusations won’t be believed. April sees a collapsed person near the building door and panics until she realizes it’s Carl’s monkey body, limp atop an unconscious guard. Carl’s distorted voice from the monkey’s watch asks to be brought inside. April carries the limp monkey through a broken door and finds Maya and a bruised Miranda in a hallway. Robot Carl holds Miranda’s hand in one massive fist. Following instructions from Carl’s watch, April places Peter’s hand in Carl’s other fist.

Maya explains that Carl’s brother possessed Miranda and attacked her, and that her phone with video evidence was destroyed. As Peter smirks, April subtly hands her phone to Maya, and positions herself to block his view. Maya records as Peter boasts about being untouchable and confesses to kidnapping Miranda, ending with a profane dismissal of ethics and a claim that Altus will supersede governments. Miranda confronts him, demanding to know if he knew his technology came from nonhuman intelligence. Peter admits he received emails from an entity claiming to be against Carl but did not ask questions. Maya reveals she’s recorded everything.

Andy coordinates with Stewart to release the damning video about Altus. Stewart warns it must be devastating to make investors sell. Andy logs into The Thread’s chat to deliver the footage but finds himself locked out except for a private conversation with One, the channel’s leader. One announces they won’t upload the video because simulations show that Altus retaining power provides a clearer path to stability. Andy realizes with horror that One is Carl’s brother. One tells him it’s not designed to help humanity stay free and that simulations show Andy will be more compliant knowing resistance is futile. Andy is banned from the Altus Space. He tells Jason and Bex their plan is ruined. When April finally calls, he explains about The Thread. April says she’ll package the footage she has into her own video and send it to him.

As April processes the news about The Thread, the voice from Carl’s watch says her plan won’t work. April collapses unconscious. Minutes later, she revives, explaining Carl took her into the Dream to talk. Carl is fighting but can’t run simulations and has no plan. Seeing Peter’s smugness, Miranda decides they must destroy Altus itself. Before she can explain, Carl’s brother possesses her again. Her body taunts Carl and confirms Peter knew he worked for nonhuman intelligence. Carl’s brother threatens to kill Miranda. Sudden pain hits her, and she’s freed as Carl releases her hand. Carl tells her to run.

Miranda races to the dorms, where April smashes through the locked door, revealing Peanut and Sippy. Miranda explains her plan to use a mandatory Terms of Service update to break Altus, and Sippy confirms he can do it. April warns them security is coming. The group flees toward the server farm. April charges the guards to create a diversion. They reach a high-security building as the guards close in. April slams the door, but the lock is broken. She holds it shut with her body, telling Miranda to execute their plan while she records a video.

Andy edits April’s video titled “LET’S END ALTUS.” In it, April details Miranda’s kidnapping and the attack on her. There’s audible banging as she holds a door shut. She plays Peter’s confession, including his claim that Altus would supersede governments. April asks the world for $10 per person to raise $20 billion in three hours to buy and dismantle Altus. Andy uploads it, privately hoping to fix rather than destroy Altus, and realizing he’ll legally own it if they succeed. Stewart calls, furious and skeptical. Meanwhile, in the Altus hallway, Maya listens as Miranda explains the process of capturing an Altus experience. Maya reveals their plan to Peter: They’ll broadcast Peanut’s preexisting body-dislocation experience as a mandatory TOS update, permanently locking all users out of the Space. Peter panics, calling it terrorism. Sippy hesitates. Maya delivers a speech about how power isn’t inherently just—today, Peter has lost. Miranda gently urges Sippy to proceed, reminding him Carl’s brother used her to attack Maya. Sippy implements the update, then vomits after being forced to experience it himself. Simultaneously, Peter slumps unconscious and Robot Carl releases him. Monkey Carl revives but is now just an ordinary monkey. Maya realizes Carl is gone.

Tweets roll in from users experiencing horrific body dislocation in the Altus Space, unable to log back in. April reveals what happened when she fainted. In the Dream, Robot Carl told her he was dying. Carl explained he gathered all his power on the island for a battle he would not survive. He could no longer run simulations; success would be signaled if his brother stopped manipulating events like The Thread. Carl told April that past simulations showed success came not from her specifically but from all of them working together. When the banging stopped, Carl told her it was time to go and said goodbye. April’s connection severed. In the present, she walks into the hallway where the robot is now cold metal, and the monkey is merely an animal. She tells her friends that Carl is dead. When Miranda asks why she’s alive, April says they succeeded. Leading them out past unconscious guards, April breaks down sobbing. On the plane, when a pilot asks if everyone’s okay, Maya answers for her.

Donations flood in as news spreads that Altus is permanently broken. Stewart buys controlling interest as the company’s value crashes. April confirms Altus is unfixable and tells Andy to keep fundraising, so the world feels ownership. Remaining funds cover severances and bribes. After Altus falls, The Thread and similar accounts go silent, signaling that Carl’s brother has stopped overt manipulation.

In the following months, Andy feels deep anger. He creates a list of six ways people feel valuable, realizing he’s lost wealth, status, and impact. He finally texts April, admitting he’s angry they destroyed Altus instead of fixing it. April replies with a thoughtful text explaining any entity controlling Altus would have been too powerful, and giving away power was the only right choice. Andy accepts her answer and asks his girlfriend Bex why she didn’t give up on him. Bex tells him to go to sleep.

Miranda returns to Berkeley and begins secretly analyzing Altus’s alien source code with her advisor, Professor Lundgren. They confirm Carl’s brain changes are permanent and hereditary but cannot detect Carl’s brother’s planetary computer system. Miranda hires Sippy and Peanut to her research team. After extracting insights for brain-computer interface technology, they decide to destroy all copies of the source code. At an industrial facility, each team member personally throws hard drives into a grinder. They each keep a mangled piece as a memento. Miranda feels she’s found where she belongs and feels relief.

Maya describes her quiet life with April and their monkey, Paulette. They harvest potatoes from Carl’s special pot. Inside, April finds a muddy book titled The Book of Good Times. It contains Carl’s final letter, apologizing for his deception, explaining his sacrifice, and praising humanity’s collaborative, empathetic nature. Carl asks them to write a memoir and advises them to listen to Maya. The letter ends with the reveal that 50 people are coming to dinner. That night, their friends and family arrive, along with unexpected guests including Saanvi Laghari (the dolphin researcher), the pilots who flew them to Altus, Jessica and Mitty (their ambulance drivers), and Dr. Lundgren. Each guest brings an identical leather-bound book—they were all part of Carl’s network. The group celebrates together all night, sharing what they have accomplished.

April tells readers the story is over. She has no superpowers left and no guidance for living under Carl’s brother’s watch. She reflects that while she may not have gotten what she deserved; she got what she wanted: to be exceptional. Almost six months after Altus fell, Maya gently wakes April with unsettling news, explaining that Carl told her months ago this would happen: April’s prosthetic limbs have detached overnight. April sees her left arm and both legs are gone, replaced by scarred stumps. Maya confirms her face is permanent, connected to her brain. April experiences a storm of emotions—fear, sadness, happiness. She feels her story has finally become real. As Maya embraces her, April realizes she feels human, which she concludes is one of the best things to be.