The fil is safe and warm in the city, and the conditions to acquire his citizenship are relaxed. He is able to walk through the empire, thanks to the forged chips and the imperial detection device. He hears the voices of koffs, and he has learned who they are. They have been sent out to search for etherow, and they are difficult to find. They will need two ambs, he says, to defeat nicosek. He feels like he has seen them before, but they have left most of their placenta behind. The fil says that they have been following the emperors orders to retrieve the ambs. He says that if the empire killed him, it would be a "simple wished thing" .