Volyova pilots the shuttle Melancholia of Departure out of the Nostalgia for Infinity’s hangar after activating the Palsy program to temporarily disable Sun Stealer’s control. She blasts through the hull to escape. Khouri and Pascale, in the spider-room, feel the shudder and interpret it as Volyova’s signal. Khouri releases the spider-room from the hull. Volyova’s shuttle retrieves the spider-room, loading it into the cargo bay. Once pressurized, the three women convene on the flight deck. Volyova confirms Sun Stealer has been hurt by Palsy but warns they must quickly put distance between themselves and the lighthugger.

Sylveste enters below the surface of Cerebus and finds strange alien structures. He speaks to Calvin and Sajaki, who comment on the vastness of the alien space making him feel insignificant. They reach the ground.

Sylveste and Sajaki are two days into Cerberus’s second interior layer, a densely packed crystalline zone they must navigate in narrow gaps. Progress is slow. They periodically extract heavy elements to replenish reaction mass. After 40 hours, they discover 10 wide vertical shafts, each approximately two kilometers across and 200 kilometers deep, which dramatically accelerate descent. Coriolis force pushes them toward the shaft walls. After descending 100 kilometers into the shafts, they are attacked.