Sleep in a tomb
As the last surviving member of the old civilization, Doctor Avrana Kern is left wandering in her tomb-like capsule in space and time. Hopeless, she orders the computer to wake her up when her monkeys arrive with a spaceship for her rescue. The imagery of silence in this part is significant and represent the complete and utter loneliness of Avrana Kern.
Sleep for a long, lonely time. She would return to the tomb, and a simulacrum of herself would stand watch over a silent planet, in a silent universe, as the last outpost of the great spacefaring human civilization.
The founding parents of the future
After they discover a distress signal coming from a distant point in space, the crew of Gligamesh is deciding what to do. Holsten is in charge of translating the signal, a language of the old civilization. Together with Lain and Guyen they are considering that even if there are no survivors, there might be a technology they can use for the survival of the human race. The imagery of shepherds guiding a flock of sheep is present a few times in the novel, and in this case, the three of them are described as such - a statement which is not far from the truth.
They were three shepherds leading their human flock to a new, promised land. They were the founding parents of the future.
Portia steals the crystal of god
Secretly entering the ant-colony, Portia catches them performing a strange ritual surrounding a clear crystal on a pedestal. The crystal emits a radio signal that makes the ground vibrate, and Portia is fascinated by it, which is why she decides to steal it. The stealing of the crystal will mark a breakthrough point in the spider civilization - it will mark the creation of religion.
Her descendants will tell the story of how Portia entered the temple of the ants and stole the eye of their god.
Holsten meets the first children of the Gilgamesh
Awakened once again, Holsten is met with quite a surprising change on the ship. He notices the damage made on the ship, and the smell - a smell of human life. He is shocked when he sees the first humans on the ship - those who were apparently born on the ship, and has a moment of realization that the humanity is falling backwards.
They were all thin, malnourished, underdeveloped. They wore their hair long, very long, past the shoulders. The whole scene had a weirdly primal feel to it, a resurgence of the primitive days of mankind.
