Seth recovers aboard ART, formally introduces the secret transport to Mensah, and resumes captaincy over a crew turning rescue into alliance.
Seth returns from the surface too injured to remain in the retrieval, but reaches ART’s Medical care and survives. His marital partner Martyn also escapes the explorer, reuniting both of Iris’s parents aboard the transport.
When Preservation’s responder arrives, Seth acts as captain and formally introduces Mensah and Pin-Lee to Perihelion as a sentient person, explaining that the crew normally cannot reveal more than a bot pilot inside Corporation Rim. The introduction places ART’s secret within a trusted political alliance.
Seth recovers in the galley lounge while the crew and Preservation plan legal and medical support for the colony. His command has shifted from survival under occupation to managing a dangerous expansion of trust.
Seth is a tall adult man with very dark skin and a mostly hairless head. He wears clean dark-blue crew clothing with medical stabilizing packs supporting his injuries.
Seth is Perihelion’s captain and one of Iris’s parents. His formal introduction makes Preservation a keeper of ART’s most important secret.