Helena floats in the artificial water bubble with Portia attached to her suit while the octopus envoy examines her at extremely close range. Helena watches the octopus’s shifting eye and skin-colours, aware that her improvised slate messages are being noticed but unsure whether communication is actually taking place. Despite Portia’s irritation with the physical closeness of the encounter, Helena feels calm and unthreatened.

The situation changes suddenly when the octopus displays colours Helena recognizes as agitation and fear. The octopus jets away toward its own ship, but Helena realizes the bubble has detached from its umbilical and is spinning among the alien vessels. Lightfoot personnel raise alarms, and Helena briefly glimpses the ship before an alien vessel blocks her view.

Portia reports that electromagnetic signals are fluctuating wildly. Helena first fears a weapon, then understands the real danger: electromagnetic fields maintain the bubble itself. As those fields destabilize, the membrane begins to fail, and the bubble’s outer layers crystallize into ice.

The freezing spreads inward in branching shards, turning the once-safe water sphere into a closing prison. Helena and Portia’s suit heaters struggle against the conductive cold of the water, and Portia clings to Helena in a futile effort to conserve heat. The terrified octopus also grips Helena’s legs, seeking warmth as the ice closes around them.

Helena’s suit heater fails, and the cold overwhelms her body with unnatural speed. Helena feels Portia shudder and then loses sensation as her heart slows. The chapter ends with Helena losing consciousness as the light goes out.