After the tunnel crisis, the refugees are loaded back into a single megatruck. Nona, exhausted and increasingly numb, longs for her bedroom and bed while Pyrrha places her in Camilla’s former wheeled chair. The new fused person, formerly Camilla and Palamedes, moves with new energy and authority, checking and treating the wounded evacuees while Nona and Pyrrha struggle to understand what this new person has become.

The Angel, Pash, and Noodle arrive with bags and leashes. Although Pyrrha assumes they will not come, Pash says she will follow the Angel, and the Angel explains that remaining with Blood of Eden makes them a dangerous liability. When Nona asks who the Angel is, the Angel reveals that she is the Messenger, called Aim, and that she carries one of the remaining parts of a Message too simple for ordinary people to understand.

Pyrrha carries Nona into the megatruck’s cockpit, where Kiriona is already seated, silent and withdrawn. Crown arrives with the Captain, followed by We Suffer and the fused Camilla-Palamedes person. The new person takes the driver’s seat and asks We Suffer how to start the truck, horrifying We Suffer but forcing her to hand over control because every hope now depends on this escape.

We Suffer explains Protocol One to Crown: unlike a retreat order, it means “Live.” She gives good-luck farewells to Crown, Pyrrha, Nona, and the fused person, who offers the name Paul. We Suffer accepts the name, retrieves her wallet from her coat, and leaves to give final orders to Aim and Pash and to say goodbye to Juno Zeta.

Once the cockpit is sealed, Paul insists on being called simply Paul, while Kiriona mockingly offers distorted name suggestions. We Suffer radios that Troia cell is clear, and Paul starts the megatruck. The vehicle rolls into the darkness; Paul accelerates with complete calm, the cabin grows unnaturally cold, condensation forms and runs upward, and the escape attempt begins.