Zelu wakes early, dresses carefully, and wheels herself through cold morning air to the Eisner Building's physical therapy gym, treating the day as a sacred milestone. Inside, she meets Hugo's two assistants: Marcy, an experienced physical therapist, and Uchenna, an Igbo MIT student who skeptically admits he and his father read her novel and dismissed her engineering credibility. Their banter loosens her nerves, especially when Uchenna reveals a bootleg Nollywood film, Game of Robots, has been pirated from her book.

Hugo confirms they'll record the session for research and funder justification only, easing Zelu's worry about public exposure. Zelu transfers herself onto the table without help and activates her cyan exos, which assemble around her legs. As Hugo tilts the table upright, she relives the trauma of her childhood post-accident vertical therapy and confronts memories of her able-bodied twelve-year-old self, nearly panicking from the gravitational pull on her paralyzed body.

Reaching vertical, the exos engage fully, balancing her and announcing her name. Hugo releases the straps, and Zelu stands for the first time in over two decades. By flexing her weak abdominals, she commands the exos to take steps. Long-dormant muscles cramp painfully in her back; Uchenna massages them out as she pushes through fifteen minutes of walking before calling it quits.

Afterward, while the exos process her data, the team watches the absurd Nollywood adaptation together. Hugo drives her back to the hotel, urging her to always be honest about how strange this experience is. Alone in bed, Zelu reflects that she has found her answer and her path, barely sleeping from eagerness to return to the exos tomorrow.