From the professor who first passed him the illicit gold UNI cards, Gilles learns that he's been targeted from the start. Gilles visits one of the pioneers of the Ambit in a digital hospice and learns how AIs were initially confined to the Third Ambits. He suspects they might have gotten loose.

The head of the Corporate Consortium tells Gilles that this information could start a panic if it were to get out. He threatens to incarcerate Gilles. Gilles, however, goes offline completely and heads for the Arctic.