The marionettes are crushed by Otaru's sudden, unannounced departure. Not knowing why he chose to abandon them, they begin to doubt their own value as people and whether or not they will be forever separated from humanity because of their machine bodies. Doctor Hess appears to them in a dream and promises them that he can make them human, if they are willing to give him what he wants in return. Lime, convinced that becoming human will finally allow her to fulfill her dream of marrying Otaru, goes to meet Hess, while Cherry and Bloodberry follow her to try to convince her that Hess cannot be trusted. Lime is shocked when Doctor Hess admits that he never had the intention of making her human, and that all he really wanted was to get the three girls together so that he could finish copying their data. It turns out that only the marionettes have the power to communicate with the Mesopotamia's computer systems, which he needs in order to gain access to the wormhole charts in its memory that will allow him to return to Earth on board his new ship, The Neo-Mesopotamia.