The crew studies a faint, strange transmission buried in cosmic background noise and local human radio chatter. The Corvids first notice it, and after repeated attempts to disprove it, the crew accepts that it is a real signal, nonhuman in character, sporadic, patterned, and apparently originating within or near the human colony below.

Fabian becomes preoccupied with a separate anomaly: the drone he used to frighten the locals has disappeared after being ordered back from orbit. Its telemetry becomes confused with echoes and background interference, leaving Fabian unable to determine where or when it went astray. Most of the crew gives the loss little attention because the alien signal seems more important, but Fabian is unsettled by something vanishing in a way that should not happen.

While others continue failing to interpret the alien signal, Miranda turns to the human transmissions from the colony. She pieces together a picture of Landfall, its isolated farms, scarce resources, inheritance disputes, dialect, machinery, and social habits. She also discovers repeated warnings about outsiders, which predate Fabian’s drone and suggest that the colonists already believe in threatening strangers somewhere beyond their own settlements.

Miranda consults Portia about the outsider references, and Portia wonders whether the colonists might retain some memory of the alien signal. Miranda doubts the current colony has the technology to detect it, but the idea of contact becomes unavoidable. With help from the Corvids, Miranda builds an extensive cultural guide from intercepted data and realizes that the colony’s scattered farms might allow someone human-looking to enter unnoticed.

Miranda approaches Avrana Kern with a plan for a limited expedition, promising that there will be none of the parasitic or invasive behavior associated with her species’ past. Kern is wary but intrigued, and Miranda correctly appeals to Kern’s interest in seeing what Earth-descended humans have become. With Fabian’s help, another drone is placed in orbit to gather images, and Miranda studies the colony closely, practices its dialect, and has Kern make suitable clothing.

Miranda formally proposes an undercover ground mission rather than an open alien visitation, arguing that infiltration would reduce social shock and exploit the colony’s own isolated structure. Miranda expects objections from Bianca, Jodry, and the rest, but none come; the entire mixed crew shares the same powerful curiosity. The chapter ends by noting their dangerous complacency: they are always surprised when things go wrong.