Arriving as digital signals downloaded to Alpha Centauri, they were confronted by jungle and a wasteland made by previous probes from the Corps. The rogue AI returns changed, the land seems to conspire against them, and all of it is pushing them toward earning their home on the planet. They aren't alone, however, and the various communities of apes and robots around them might be competitors or friends.

The last decision facing them, as they come to terms with wondering if they were in command of their own lives, is how they're going to live. Facing the same existential question as those they left behind on Earth, they debate returning to the meat bodies by way of the ape analogues, downloading permanently into a long-lasting robotic drone which can explore the oceans, sky, and jungle, or infecting the solar system with a multitude of digital forms.