Seriously considering Neman's offer, Koenig and Bergman investigate the feasibility of co-existing with the Darians. The professor soon makes an unsettling discovery. The Darians are practically human and have the same nutritional requirements. A study of their food production system shows no inventory of raw materials on the ship—yet the recycling plants are stocked with a steady supply of all the essential elements. Bergman concludes the only possible source of these elements could be living human bodies. Appalled, Koenig confronts Kara with these findings.