Yusif was cracked out on the couch when Sam and Evelyn found him; he'd been in the Underworld for days, taking amp and searching. She was always just beyond his reach. Sam was disgusted, but Evelyn was softer; he wanted rehab, she suggested comfort food. "Go out and get some organ meats. He's going to come out of this, and he is going to need his strength." Sam wanted to rip the holoband off his brother's face where it crouched, but Evelyn knew better. They both did. She barked at Sam in Tauron, and promised to care for their Yusif until he woke again.

I'll try to remind you

Rachel and Philo lay chastely curved around each other on a four-poster bed, in the middle of a lake strewn with rose petals. Every petal identical. He joked about skipping lunch every day, just to come and see her in their bed upon the water. "I'd get all scrawny," he said, but noted subtly that the beauty of the Matrix meant she'd never have to know. The mortality of his body. Of any body. He was beautiful, here and there; he was the most beautiful thing. They spent every day together, and he never knew.

The dawn is breaking us into pieces

Rachel took the hint and asked if it bothered him, not knowing. He wrote her a song in response. "I like you no matter what, because I love your brain. You're the smartest person I know and that's... The most beautiful thing."

Philo thanked her for their talk, after she crashed the Viper, and she brought up the field trips again: The U-87 could learn more, if it was exposed to more environments. Could learn anything, in time; the need shone out of her, but he was happy. When he lost himself to worry and wonder, suggesting something might be coming for her, if he couldn't work out her generative-algorithm particulars -- if he, precious thing, couldn't unravel the secrets of eternal life, the alchemy of mind and body and soul she represented -- in time. She got scared; she tossed away the thought and reached for him, and his smile was unguarded as that day. Their first dance:

All this time
The only thing I wanted to teach you
Was love
Was love

"I smudged your glasses!" He chuckled, nerd in a put-on nerd voice. Philo looked more and more like himself. She didn't need the glasses. Rachel thanked him for it, and kissed him, softly, in a bed upon the water. This all happened a long time ago.