Twenty-Nine

The Carryx begin evacuating resources from their ship in the Jurupe system as human prisoners, including Rickar, are loaded into evacuation pods. Rickar is contacted by a remnant of Else, who reveals she has placed a cyst—a weapon from the swarm that destroyed Anjiin—inside him. Rickar accepts his fate as the cyst activates and destroys the pod from within, broadcasting critical intelligence to the swarm's creators before his death. Meanwhile, the Sovran receives reports of the anomalous pod failure and orders investigation into the Anjiin human moiety.

The chapter opens with the subjugator-librarian of the Carryx fleet preparing for an incoming battle by accelerating evacuation of resources and data, calculating that forward evacuation serves strategic purposes whether they win or lose. Rickar awakens in his cell and is ordered to evacuate the ship along with other captives. He and fellow prisoner Dervan speculate about the evacuation's meaning as they are herded through the ship's corridors to an embarkation chamber where a Carryx soldier directs each prisoner down different corridors based on identification. Rickar is sent to a platform containing evacuation pods—organic-machine hybrids—and loads into one after a brief conversation with the red-headed man. While in the pod, Rickar experiences a dream where Else appears—a remnant copy of the woman he knew on Anjiin who has become part of the swarm intelligence. She apologizes and reveals she placed a cyst into his body before he left Anjiin, explaining it will harm the Carryx. Rickar accepts this fate and they share a final moment together. The cyst then activates, reconfiguring Rickar's body and broadcasting swarm intelligence on fifty frequencies before the energy of the broadcast incinerates him and causes the pod to fail catastrophically. In a parallel scene, Surur, a regulator-librarian, reports to the Sovran about system conquests and anomalies, including the strange pod failure at Jurupe. The Sovran orders investigation into whether the Anjiin human moiety represents a threat, given the anomalous death signature incompatible with normal Carryx systems.