Toba returns to the ship and demands to know who destroyed the Quark. Balan is killed for refusing to answer, and the Doctor is selected to die next. Rago returns and sends Toba to complete the drilling and prepare the bore rockets, using the Quarks and the Doctor, Zoe, Teel and Kando as slaves. Rago focuses on a precious seed device to be dropped down the central borehole. He also hears from the Fleet Leader that no Dulcian slave force is to be assembled: all the Dulcians are now to stay on the planet to die when it is destroyed.