Helena tries to communicate the danger of the infection to the octopus ambassador, but the topic triggers fear and avoidance because Nod is central to the octopuses’ deepest taboo. The warship and the science faction argue in visible waves of colour: the warship is furious that aliens and scientists have disturbed the forbidden world, while the scientists are equally passionate about freedom to investigate.

Portia continues monitoring the exchange with the Lightfoot and the Profundity of Depth, which is orbiting Nod’s moon and preparing targeting solutions for the Lightfoot crash site. Portia has urged Viola and Fabian to leave the wreck, but both fear exposure to Nod’s biosphere, especially because the Lante records cannot fully reassure them. Viola, however, grows increasingly convinced that the infection is not simply a disease.

The ambassador finally pieces together Helena’s warnings and asks how humans intend to deal with the plague the octopuses associate with Nod, Baltiel, and human catastrophe. Portia suggests that the octopuses’ superior technology might design a cure, but Kern unexpectedly speaks through Helena’s and Portia’s implants. Kern explains that the organism is self-evolving, able to adapt from alien animal parasite to human infection to meaningful brain interface, so no simple cure or control is likely to hold.

Helena fears the octopuses may be right to destroy the crash site as a firebreak, but Kern rejects that conclusion. Kern says she and infected Meshner are confronting the Lante-parasite entity and need time; Kern promises to save Meshner and everyone else, adding that she wants to make things right. Helena realizes that delaying the warship is now the crucial task.

To buy time, Helena and Portia decide not to present the octopuses with dry scientific data, which would translate poorly into their emotional, narrative mode of thought. Instead, Helena tells a hopeful story: humanity’s expansion, Senkovi’s love of octopuses, the first alien life on Nod, Lante’s discovery, and the tragedy of the organism’s evolution. Viola supplies details, Portia translates data where possible, and Helena frames the account as a legend whose ending remains unwritten.

Paul receives Helena’s account and passes it to his scientist captors, who use it in negotiations with the warship. As Paul becomes the relay between humans, prisoners, scientists, and soldiers, he feels awe at serving as one node in a vast network of minds. The narration compares Paul’s role to both an octopus Reach and the parasite’s blending with Meshner’s brain, emphasizing the blurred boundaries between individuals and systems.