Zelu walks the Hollywood red carpet for the Rusted Robots film premiere, dressed in a custom Ankara pantsuit patterned with cogs and processor chips, with matching fabric integrated into her exos. The media has dubbed her the "African cyborg." She poses for photographers, accompanied by Msizi in matching attire, who playfully presents her as "the Queen of Robots." Despite her unease, she has agreed to attend at her agent's insistence.

Once the film begins, Zelu's worst fears are confirmed. The movie has stripped away all Nigerian cultural elements central to her novel, renamed Ankara to Yankee and Ijele to Dot, and relocated the story entirely to the United States. She views it as a gutting of her work rather than an adaptation, reduced to a clichéd, hollow imitation of what she wrote.

The audience, however, gives a standing ovation and enthusiastically congratulates Zelu, treating the film as her accomplishment. Overwhelmed, she begins to sink in her seat until Msizi notices and pulls her toward the exit, shielding her from well-wishers and worrying about audience expectations for her second book.

On the way out, Jack Preston, the wealthiest man in the world and CEO of a vast corporate empire including a private spaceflight company, intercepts her. When he reads her displeasure, Zelu admits she hated the film. He laughs and warns her that this movie is now what people will associate with her until she does something bigger. Msizi steers her away as Zelu internally feels she has been deleted and erased from her own story.