As Billy continues his mysterious encounter with the ship's powerful core, known as Mother, he begins to form a strange connection with her. Mother has generated the Remnants' surroundings and she is lonely after centuries of isolation. But when Mother delves into the depths of Yago's sinister mind, a strange computor-generated battle pits Yago and an army of Civil War soldiers against the Blue Meanies. Will Yago sell the Remnants out to Mother? And when the Baby's true indentity is revealed, can the possibility of a new Earth be far off?