After pulling the mummified Silent One off of Tasha, the body is identified as belonging to First Technician, who Gabriel and Eli remember working on the interlinks between MOTHER and the computers of Fenris.

They find several data crystals on her, and a slate with her final words. In it, she explains how Master of Artifacts – the Silent Ones priest in charge of the Star Drop artifact – had had her switch out the code crystals for MOTHER on the Fenris. After the ship crashed, she discovered the hidden codes that may have been responsible, but could do not defy Master of Artifacts or report it for fear of having the other factions declare war on the Silent Ones.

When told to destroy the core of the MOTHER system on Bellerophon, she instead removed Directive Zero and any other hidden code and made a new crystal, which she held and could be used to start MOTHER safely. She apologized for her role in it all, and resigned herself to stay behind on Sheol until she was forgiven.

Everyone is moved by the confession, especially Tasha who has had a low opinion of the Silent Ones so far. They decide to give her a burial in Terran territory as she requested, and preserve her body.

MOTHER is started up safely, and brought up to speed on things as the Fenris data is loaded into it. It decides to create a special protected buffer to handle the interface to the Sifran artifacts this time. Layth helps move the connections and hook up the artifacts. After a cacophony of light and noise, the artifacts produce a physical version of Gabriel's PersoCom.