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Nomad warns Elegy that opening the door will vent air, apologizes, and promises to close it quickly. He steps into near-vacuum, slams the door to preserve Elegy’s remaining air, and focuses on saving Beacon. Reaching the jammed water vessel, he discovers ice has frozen the release mechanisms, including critical underside latches.

With his cycle’s towline and Auxiliary shaped as hooks and anchors, Nomad rappels under Beacon amid thin air and muted engine thunder. He inches past searing steam jets, mindful that Beaconites are growing hypoxic, and locates the iced locks holding the deadweight ship to the city’s underside.

A slip nearly sends Nomad falling, prompting Auxiliary to urge a desperate burn that would consume Aux’s remaining essence to grant flight. Nomad refuses, haunted by past harm to his friend, and claws back to a secure hold. Tying himself off, he tries prying the locks open, but the geometry and friction work against him as Beacon drifts closer to the mountain.

Pressed by time and looming collision, Nomad reframes his toolmaking: not a weapon to harm, but a tool to protect. He hardens Auxiliary’s edge into a cutting blade and slices through the frozen mechanisms. The water ship tears free and crashes down the slope, lightening Beacon. The primary engine surges, the city shudders, and ascent improves.

Nomad climbs back onto the deck as Beacon grinds against rock, then barely clears the ridge. Instead of lethal dawn, warm and ordinary sunlight washes over him as the ship exits the planet’s shadow, revealing an unexpected reality about the light above.