The bridge of the Hammer of Truth had become a fleshy greenhouse. Valkyria's scorpion-tail merged with the captain's chair, forming a tree-like structure, with the crew's crystallized hearts hanging from its branches. Her head was split into petals, each "petal" containing the eyes of different races.
"What a beautiful concert…" The inquisitor's new vocal cords were woven from twenty mechanical tendrils, playing a variation of Aiseline's requiem. The navigator's remains had been turned into an organ, its intestines vibrating under air pressure, producing profane notes.
The remaining consciousness of the mechanical sage, Ptolemy, suddenly awakened—his brain had been transplanted into the main cannon's control system, and his fingers uncontrollably input coordinates. As the energy signals from Haken's location were locked by the light spear array, he used his last bit of humanity to warn Carlisle: "North Pole… Core… must…"
Valkyria's scorpion-tail pierced Ptolemy's brain, turning his scream into the climax of the symphony.