Speeding towards Space Tunnel 438, the "Zeus" is confronted by a Faller cruiser, and detaches from the artifact, which continues on at over 4,000 kilometers per second. The engagement is largely inconclusive until Orbital Object #7 actually enters the tunnel. Just prior to this, Dr. Johnson receives a transmission from the diplomatic team containing Gruber's theories on the probability field, and realizes that this could explain the Fallers' new shield. However, her speculation is short-lived; when Orbital Object #7 enters the tunnel and is subsequently destroyed by it, it fires off a destabilizing wave at its maximum setting (revealed in the sequel "Probability Sun" to have a range of about 6 billion kilometers, and to somehow be not susceptible to the inverse square law), which destroys the "Zeus" as well as all Faller craft, irradiates an outer planet in the World system, and then proceeds onward to World itself.