As Skipper prepares for interstellar transit, Gothi and Gethli continue dismantling and rebuilding ship systems. The crew is anxious because the Corvids might interfere with vital components, and Miranda remains responsible for understanding them. Kern observes that the Corvids never dismantle the same thing twice and have begun keeping technical records in the ship systems.

Kern tells Miranda to stop simply questioning the Corvids and instead explain herself, because Kern wants to be sure the birds understand hibernation before taking them away from Rourke. Miranda speaks about the original Miranda, her choice to become part of a greater exploratory collective, and the importance of seeking new life. The Corvids respond by adapting Miranda’s words, suggesting more than simple repetition.

Gothi and Gethli reveal that Renee Pepper, one of Rourke’s terraformers, made them and valued them as something new. Miranda then shifts her communication style through her inner Portia, telling them the history of Kern’s World and the meeting of humans and spiders. The Corvids respond in the same borrowed modes, convincing Miranda that something genuine is speaking through their mimicry.

Miranda tells Kern that the Corvids probably understand enough to choose transit, though not enough for Miranda to discuss her own true nature and the immortality she could offer. Miranda briefly confronts old memories of revulsion toward the collective organism she now is, but the fear passes. Meanwhile, Kern shows the Corvids their sleep pod, which they promptly dismantle.

Instead of merely destroying the pod, Gothi and Gethli design and build an improved two-bay suspension pod suited to their biology, using technical ideas not supplied by Rourke or Skipper. Kern reluctantly admits the design is functional and better than her own. Miranda insists the Corvids think, though not like the rest of the crew.

With the Corvids finally settled in their new pod, Miranda asks Kern to wake her early and to prepare Rourke’s terraforming data for direct incorporation through Portiid Understanding. Miranda reflects on the resemblance between such encoded knowledge and her own distributed nature, then bids farewell to Rourke. She enters her pod last, leaves the Miranda body empty, and carries her true self as a compact library of minds and knowledge.