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Holsten is now in the briefing room as the newly thawed Key Crew members discuss the plan to land on Kern’s World. Vitas explains that although the engineering staff have kept the ship functional, it is inevitably falling apart, and this is its last voyage. Holsten learns that there are quiet transmissions coming from the planet itself. The messages are essentially requests to be left in peace. Karst has deployed drones to take images of the planet’s surface, and the images reveal that the planet is surrounded by “a whole orbiting network” (507) of webs. Karst orders Lain to be awakened from stasis.
The spiders have been preparing for the arrival of The Gilgamesh for generations under Kern’s direction. Bianca, the general in charge of tactics for the encounter, travels to the Great Star Nest to organize the response. Portia, the fighter, prepares for Bianca’s arrival and tries to wrap her mind around the coming fight. Portia and Bianca know that their success or failure will determine the fate of their entire species.
Holsten is shocked that Lain is still alive. When she is revived, she is clearly physically old and frail, but her personality is largely unchanged, and she is frustrated by this new obstacle. Holsten sends a message to the location that they believe is the satellite, informing Kern that they have nowhere else to go. Initially, the response is incomprehensible, but the humans realize that the satellite is sending them the same math questions from eons before. When they send the correct answers, the satellite sends a new set of questions. Holsten loosely translates the next response as a possible invitation to approach. The crew argues over what to do; they are in a prisoner’s dilemma and must decide whether to advance with openness or with aggression. They also touch on the possibility that the spiders are sentient beings. However, Lain decides to attack the satellite, reasoning that the risk to the human race is otherwise too high. Their more advanced lasers hit their target, and the satellite plummets to the planet below.
Although the spiders have largely abandoned religiosity, the destruction of Kern’s satellite sends a wave of grief through the entire culture. Fabian talks with Kern’s consciousness, which has been transplanted into a living colony of ants and spider technology. Fabian lives underground in the center of that colony, maintaining Kern. They agree that the failure of the spiders’ attempt to seek a connection with the human ship was inevitable, and Kern points out that it’s a good thing that the spiders can now see the aggression of the humans. As the ark ship draws closer, Portia readies herself for battle, and Bianca reiterates the importance of adhering to the plan. The Gilgamesh fires its asteroid-destroying weapons, but although the attack disrupts the web and kills some spiders, it has no lasting effect on the structure. The spiders in the web return fire with many rocks that are designed to distract the huge ship. Portia and her warrior companions launch into space, attaching to the outer hull of the ship.
Karst is surprised by the barrage of rocks. Some damage is done to the sensors and systems that maintain the human cargo in stasis. They work to reposition the ship to prepare for another attack. Vitas argues that mere firepower will be insufficient and goes to the lab to try to manufacture a poison to kill the spiders. Holsten is morally shaken by the genocidal plan and looks again at the transmissions. He has a short exchange with Kern, who tells him that they should never have come back. He pleads with her for the human race, but she says that humans are overrated. When he tries to engage Eliza, Kern cuts the transmission. Karst sends a drone to survey the exterior of the ship, and they see that spiders are trying to break in.
Portia works to find an entrance to the ship. Bianca communicates with Kern, who is now an advisor rather than a god. They decide that Portia should locate a hatch. On the hull, Portia feels the EMP from the ship as a soft wind, but it only briefly disrupts the radio because their technology is biological in nature. Portia envisions what she is facing, and while her companions are using acid to cut into the airlock doors, she readies herself to encounter the humans.
When the humans disrupt the spiders’ radio, this allows Holsten to argue that they should consider the possibility that the spiders are indeed sentient. However, Vitas insists that the spiders are merely a kind of computer following Kern’s programming. Karst rises to lead soldiers outside the ship to free it of the spiders. Holsten tells Lain that the spiders are transmitting on the open channel. He argues in favor of recognizing the spiders as sentient, but Lain points out that it doesn’t matter—the prisoner’s dilemma stands. Karst fights the spiders on the hull but is unsuccessful. The spiders breach the cargo hold and begin to pick off the humans inside the ship.
`Portia and her warriors enter the ship, shooting their enemies with glass projectiles that inject a chemical agent designed to affect the humans’ brains. The spiders move to the air system to enact their primary plan: to mix the ship’s air with the chemical agent. They travel through the ship, seeing the effects of their plan take hold.
Lain and Holsten listen to Karst screaming as he is overcome by spiders. Suddenly, the air is thinner, and Vitas radios to tell them about the agent spreading through the ship. Lain works feverishly to keep the unaffected areas sealed off, while Holsten broadcasts a warning throughout the ship, telling the crew to use masks. Vitas is sealed off while trying to finish her spider poison, but the spiders breach the area, and she screams an apology as she realizes that the spiders are sentient. Lain and Holsten are left alone as the spiders cut into their compartment. Holsten embraces Lain rather than attacking the spiders. Suddenly, Karst’s voice, which sounds profoundly changed, suddenly comes on over the radio, telling everyone that it’s going to be okay because “they are like us” (586). The spiders come into the room, and Holsten meets their gaze before losing consciousness.
The spiders wait for the landing of a shuttle from The Gilgamesh. Kern watches, still believing that the spiders should have listened to her and eradicated the humans. Instead, they decided to use the chemical agent to infect the humans with the nanovirus, creating an innate and inheritable bond between humans and spiders. Lain is carried out of the shuttle and laid on the ground. Although she is dying, she is able to see the new home of the human race.
Three human generations later, Holsten and Lain’s great-great-granddaughter, Helena Holsten Lain, fly into space with Portia, the spider leader of the interstellar mission to discover the source of a transmission. The spiders and humans have shared knowledge and have grown in technology and understanding, benefitting from each other’s perspectives.
In the novel’s climactic chapters, Holsten has two opportunities to use violence, and on the surface, violence appears to be the only viable option. However, in both cases, he uses diplomacy first, choosing connection over conflict. While Vitas and Karst both jump straight to violence and even Lain opts to attack the spiders to protect humanity’s last remnants, Holsten demonstrates the ability to choose understanding over violence. However, Kern assumes that humans are all inherently violent and ironically shows her human origins when she advocates for using violence against them. As the narrative states, “We should have destroyed them is her persistent thought, but then, and despite the dispersed form she currently inhabits, she is only human” (588-589). However, the spiders’ decision to meet the human threat with a spirit of empathy and connection rather than violence demonstrates the fact that humanity’s creation has transcended humanity itself. Thus, Holsten’s understanding and respect for language and the spiders’ success in integrating with humanity both highlight the importance of Promoting Coexistence through Mutual Understanding.
The novel’s ending argues unequivocally that science and progress can result in prosperity for multiple species. By this point, the spiders have advanced beyond viewing Kern as an authority, and as a result, they rely on their own hard-earned knowledge and experience to chart their path forward. As the narrative states, “They have seen the way of destruction, but they have seen the way the ants made use of the world, too. Everything can be a tool” (589). Because the spiders rely on understanding and knowledge to succeed as a species, they can extend that understanding to solving a problem peacefully rather than attacking and destroying its source. The conclusion also suggests that although humans are prone to violence, they too can adapt and change when given other options. The novel’s ending therefore offers an optimistic view of progress that allows for peaceful coexistence and only requires a willingness to translate and understand other perspectives.