SecUnit, Iris, Tarik, Ratthi, and ART-drone reach the underground hangar entrance. Scout drones map the dark space, finding a damaged overhead hatch, dust-covered flooring, and a large Pre-Corporation Rim installation hatch on the far wall. Because the site may contain alien-contaminated humans, SecUnit orders Iris and Tarik back to the shuttle while Ratthi remains aboard and ART-drone helps move them to safety.

SecUnit sends its remaining two drones through the installation hatch, frustrated that SecUnit refused Three’s earlier offers of armor and extra drones. The drones struggle in the darkness but eventually regain limited scans under the shielding rock. While the humans joke nervously about ominous round hatches, ScoutDrone1 detects artificial battery lighting, suggesting the site may be occupied. Iris warns SecUnit to retreat if there are signs of compulsive construction, and SecUnit decides to enter while ART-drone stays near the entrance as backup.

Inside, SecUnit moves through a large foyer and down a ramp into a multilevel Pre-CR space, using partial drone data and limited scans to navigate. SecUnit finds signs that later colonists or terraforming crews modified parts of the site, including a non-Pre-CR safety screen and unreadable metal inscriptions. As SecUnit approaches the corridor where the light was found, ART-drone detects a nonstandard transmission, and SecUnit freezes briefly.

The narrative shifts to explain the earlier redacted incident: after the Barish-Estranza explorer arrived, SecUnit suffered a sudden shutdown caused by an anomalous false memory of the infected corpse under the previous Pre-CR habitat. ART and the others determined it was not a hack or renewed viral contamination but something like a trauma flashback in SecUnit’s construct mind, which embarrassed and unsettled SecUnit because many people witnessed it.

Back in the installation, ART-drone blocks the transmission from the shuttle and confirms SecUnit experienced a short version of the same reliability failure. The transmission proves to be an active system attempting contact in LanguageBasic. With Iris’s authorization, SecUnit and ART-drone isolate themselves under containment protocol, and SecUnit answers. The system identifies itself as AdaCol2, asks about AdaCol1, and SecUnit reports that AdaCol1 is offline after a contamination incident, sending a data file that explains what happened.

AdaCol2 then asks why SecUnit is there. SecUnit explains that AdaCol1 requested help, that PSUMNT is trying to assist, that Barish-Estranza is a serious threat, and that SecUnit wants a connection between their humans. AdaCol2 accepts and opens a camera view showing at least twenty-two apparently uncontaminated humans, including children and people in patched Adamantine suits. The relief collapses when SecUnit and ART-drone see those humans facing five Barish-Estranza personnel and a SecUnit, meaning Barish-Estranza has already reached the separatist colony.