After hearing of the Thonaris massacre, Ptolemy sees Manford Torondo's movement as proof that superstition and violence are overtaking rational civilization. The destruction of his laboratory, the murder of his partner, the rejection of his prosthetic gift to Manford, the purge on Tlulax, and the Landsraad's new support for the Butlerians convince Ptolemy that humanity is sliding toward a new Dark Age.

Directeur Josef Venport sends an urgent message to Denali, asking the exiled scientists to intensify their efforts against Manford's assault. Galvanized by this, Ptolemy decides that ordinary research is no longer enough and requests a private meeting with Administrator Noffe in the brain-preservation lab, where enhanced brains from failed Navigators are kept alive in tanks.

Ptolemy tells Noffe that an extreme threat requires extreme action. He then leads Noffe to an airtight hangar and reveals three refurbished, fully functional cymek walkers, a project Ptolemy has completed largely without Noffe's knowledge. Noffe is awed and frightened by the machines.

Ptolemy explains that he has found and studied hundreds of old cymek artifacts and believes Denali's scientists can build new, improved walkers with stronger armor and weapons. Drawing on records from the Time of Titans, Ptolemy argues that the original Titans acted from ambition but also from a desire to break human stagnation, and that a wiser new generation could avoid their failures.

Ptolemy proposes using the enhanced brains and improved technology to create new cymeks, led perhaps by Josef Venport if he accepts the surgery, or by Ptolemy and Noffe themselves. Noffe, considering the devastation caused by Manford's followers, embraces the possibility of a new Time of Titans as a way to defeat the Butlerians and prevent humanity's decline.