After waking up from a nap, Amelia begins to prepare dinner while Zahnrad decides to go and take some measurements where the swamp has begun to flood the long underground roadway. On the way back, he begins to feel ill, especially near the opening to the heliostat tower. The feeling fades slightly once he returns to the amphitheater though.

Amelia is studying a bowl of water, in which a series of ripples rises and falls rhythmically. Zahn figures it is from a low-frequency vibration, and that it might also be making them feel sick. They go to investigate the heliostat tower again, thinking it may be the source of the disturbance, but once inside they feel fine.

While looking around, they hear and see the wall of the roadway opposite the tower entrance start to open up, and hurry back to the amphitheater to hide in the rubber trees. Several furless, Skeek-like creatures arrive to drink from the flooded part of the chamber. Another, larger creature arrives after them, with glowing eyes and metal-coated talons. This one actually examines the campsite and douses the fire, and seems to see the Kadies' hiding place. It gnashes its teeth and leaves.

Deciding they've seen enough, and hearing the wall closing up again, the Kadies hurry back to the Blacktail compound to spend the rest of the night in Amelia's cabin, but Zahn feels they may have been followed…