The Pequeninos are worried that the humans will kill both the descolada and the Pequeninos. The hive queen tells Human that she is impacted by the virus, too, for she must create and pass antibodies on to her drones. However, the descolada will eventually evolve faster than she can adapt her antibodies. She also says that Lusitania belongs to the Pequeninos, and they will be the species to survive if the other species cannot all be saved. Human agrees that the descolada virus should not be spread to other planets, and the hive queen says it will be up to the Pequeninos to decide what to do with the spaceships she provides them.

Contact is restored between Congress and the Lusitania fleet. Han Fei-tzu refuses to meet with people coming to honor him, and Qing-jao attends in his stead. Wang-mu cannot stand the boasting and requests to skip the meetings, and Qing-jao fires her. Han Fei-tzu asks Wang-mu to be his student so he won’t be alone in his knowledge of the truth. Han Fei-tzu does not want Wang-mu to act like a servant, but she says that she is compelled to perform her “rituals of humiliation” (244) just as Han Fei-tzu must perform his purifying rituals.