Murderbot arrives for the rendezvous with Tlacey’s colleague. It isn’t a trap, and after Murderbot proves that he is there on behalf of Tapan, the colleague hands over a memory clip containing the research team’s data. Once it has the data, Murderbot swiftly concludes the meeting, suspecting that the real trap must be someplace different.

Murderbot heads to the dock but reviews security footage that shows Tapan’s shuttle never took off. The sexbot, still under Tlacey’s control, approaches Murderbot and says that Tapan is now aboard Tlacey’s private shuttle. The sexbot leads Murderbot to the shuttle but says that Murderbot can’t go aboard unless it lets the sexbot insert a combat override module into Murderbot’s data port. Luckily, ART altered Murderbot’s data port during the surgery, so Murderbot accepts the combat override module knowing it won’t be effective.

Wrongly thinking that Murderbot is now under their control, Tlacey and her allies allow it to board the shuttle, which then takes off. Murderbot finds Tlacey surrounded by a half-dozen guards, one of whom has a weapon to Tapan’s head. That guard takes Tapan to a different part of the ship as Tlacey tries to find out who sent it to RaviHyral.