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Nomad remotely tests a prototype steam-jet engine on a hovercycle; it explodes, confirming his expectation that the first iteration would fail. With less than seven hours before reaching the highlands, he turns to Beacon’s engineers for rapid refinement. Solemnity Divine and her team immediately identify likely fixes and believe a workable version is possible, though water propellant will limit flight time to about two hours—just enough to crest the mountains if Beacon’s mass is reduced.

Nomad proposes drastic measures: select the ten largest ships by air volume, seal them airtight, and jettison the rest. He explains the near-vacuum conditions atop the peaks and volunteers to pilot the linked ships himself, revealing he can survive without breathing. Solemnity Divine mobilizes crews and asks Nomad to secure the Greater Good’s approval for abandoning most of the fleet.

Nomad briefs the leaders. Despite the emotional cost, they accept the plan, agreeing to include one prospector for scanning and to prioritize halls, dining spaces, cargo holds, and places of worship in the reduced convoy. Confidence underscores the stakes but commits, while Compassion and Contemplation voice the pain and risks of the choice.

As Nomad departs, Confidence thanks him for rejecting the Cinder King’s coercive offers, promising gratitude if they survive. The exchange steadies Nomad, even as he maintains blunt realism with the group. He then inquires about transferring “heat” to sunhearts and learns a key constraint: soul-giving works only on living or charged sunhearts, not drained ones.

Realizing his earlier test failed because he used a dead, drained core, Nomad resolves to attempt the process with Elegy’s charged sunheart, seeking a safer, controlled source of Investiture to power the escape plan.