- Mannie wakes up in the cramped quarters of the barge.
- He believes Prof might be dead but gives him heart stimulant to help deal with the acceleration just in case. He decides against drugging himself, though—if these are his last moments, he wants to experience them.
- Mannie wonders if he made the wrong decision when experiencing six gees of descent.
- The barge splashes down and is towed into port. Mannie and Prof are taken to a hospital to help them recover from the trip and Earth's extra gravity.
- Stu visits Mannie in the hospital to tell him that they rigged things so Chad (the nation) claims them as citizens (i.e. no illegal immigration).
- They leave for Agra and present their case to the Federated Nations' Investigating Committee; Prof makes the case for Luna being recognized as a free state.
- But the committee decides the "Lunar Authority cannot surrender its trust" (16.87).
- Prof wonders who they'll exile to be the next Warden, and in the argument that follows, he collapses from exhaustion.