In the medica aboard Demetri Arello’s ship, Hadrian sees twelve fugue crèches lined like tombs, reminding him of his family mausoleum beneath Devil’s Rest. Demetri explains that the ship will jump to warp once clear of Delos, travel five years to Obatala, two more to Siena, and then continue to Teukros. Because the crew cannot carry food for the thirteen-year voyage, everyone will enter fugue sleep; Hadrian will next wake in the Imperial year 16149.

Hadrian is shaken by the reality of “slipping,” losing thirteen years without experiencing them. He notices two occupied crèches, and Demetri identifies the sleepers as Norman migrants bound for Siena who have already been aboard for twenty-one years. Their suspended bodies intensify Hadrian’s fear, but Hadrian steadies himself with Gibson’s lesson that fear is death to reason and says he is ready.

Juno enters with Doctor Sarric, a tattooed Tavrosi physician, and the homunculus Saltus. Saltus mocks Hadrian about being put “back in the bottle,” but Juno physically silences and removes him. Sarric orders Hadrian to undress, and Demetri directs Hadrian to store his belongings in a locker.

While putting away his coat, Hadrian accidentally drops the universal bank card taken from the Mining Guild factionarius. Demetri sees it, and Hadrian promises it to the captain once they reach Teukros. Hadrian then enters the crèche naked, but refuses Sarric’s warning to remove his palatine ring, explaining that keeping it matters to him; the ring also contains Hadrian’s documents, identification, and copies of his Mining Guild contract.

Sarric attaches sensors and injects Hadrian with the fugue agent. Cold spreads through Hadrian’s body as the crèche seals over him, and preservative gel rises around him like black water. Hadrian panics as his breathing stops and the fluid floods him, then loses consciousness in darkness and cold, ending with the ominous realization that when Hadrian awoke, Hadrian’s world had ended.