At a renowned scientific convention, Morgan, a well-respected scientist, prepares to reveal to his peers the shocking information that he's recently discovered: telescopic evidence suggests that humanity was not born on Earth by the Increate, as they all thought, but rather it was imported here via a spaceship looming in the atmosphere. When he introduces the externalist idea he is met with silence and scattered laughs. Saying such a thing is heretical—discounting their dogmatic belief in the Increate's theory of creation that posits that an all-powerful being touched the Earth in eight places, causing life to grow there. Morgan is swiftly removed from the stage by forceful soldiers and brought to a courthouse that typically tries treason. Meeting with the prominent judge named Goins, Morgan argues his hypothesis and evidence based on the spaceship they once thought to be a cloud of spacial dust; not only does this spaceship exist, but it is approaching Earth. After listening and arguing with some of Morgan's points, Goins surprisingly appoints Morgan to a much higher rank; though the information he found is heretical, the high-ranking Thalassocretes have been privy to it for some time, thus Goins rewards Morgan for discovering this on his own. Together, they speculate on what to do with this information; though Morgan's scientific mind wanted to share the information freely, Goins knows that this is dangerous information that could lead to a complete upheaval in their country, since it contradicts the belief system that practically everyone wholeheartedly believes. Meanwhile, news of this heretical discovery has made its way to a leader in a different, much more religious country. Quinx boards a warship with several soldiers and hired mercenaries and makes his way towards Thalassocrete lands. Once they arrive, they confront a watership holding Goins and Morgan and ease them into meeting with Quinx near the docks. Being old acquaintances, Quinx and Goins are cordial and quickly get down to business. Quinx tells Morgan that evidence can be misinterpreted and lists the dangers that this information presents to society. Before an agreement can be made, Quinx sets off a flare, alerting his ship to begin their attack. Suddenly, it is a free-for-all, as everyone fights to preserve their worldview and personal stakes. Freeing a hidden ship from vines and shrubbery, Goins tells Morgan that this is one of eight ships that appear to have come from the mothership Morgan discovered; this is how humanity was imported to Earth, not through the touch of the Increate. Morgan and Goins board the ship and ascend towards their mothership, anxious to uncover all that scientific inquiry has to show them.