Lante brings Lortisse into the isolation lab and explains that alien material is encysted in his brain. Lortisse reacts with unnatural calm, insisting he feels fine, while Lante warns that even if the organism cannot metabolically interact with human tissue, it could still grow, hatch, or cause traumatic damage.

Lante has prepared treatments meant to attack the organism while suppressing Lortisse's immune response, but Lortisse becomes increasingly resistant. His speech shifts toward plural language, his perceptions expand into a euphoric sense of vast spaces and new modes of being, and he begins altering or trying to delete Lante's treatment plans from the shared system.

As Lante approaches with a syringe, the alien intelligence increasingly directs Lortisse's body. Lortisse configures an empty syringe to extract a sample, drives it through his tear duct into his brain, and withdraws material containing the entity. The controlled Lortisse then advances on Lante, intending to inject her and announcing that they are going on an adventure.

Lante manages to jab Lortisse with her syringe, but not enough to stop the takeover. Baltiel and Rani enter and try to restrain him, briefly disrupting the alien's control as Lortisse becomes aware of pain and confusion. Lante prepares another syringe, but the alien reasserts control, contorting Lortisse's body beyond normal limits.

Lortisse bites Lante's hand, escapes Baltiel and Rani's hold, and seizes Rani by the throat. The alien treats Lortisse's body as expendable, preserving its experience while using him to force blood into Rani's wound. Lante then uses a cutting tool to carve into Lortisse's body, causing catastrophic damage; the entity withdraws, and Lortisse is left screaming alone before falling still.