At the Senate’s Heath Cliff Disaster Hearings three months after Tamaya and her friends are rescued, Senators Wright and Foote interview Dr. June Lee, a research scientist from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lee testifies that the organisms they analyzed are mutated ergonyms from Biolene: Their DNA is a near-perfect match. The organisms couldn’t have evolved from natural, undiscovered organisms, as those would’ve adapted to cold. Dr. Lee doesn’t know how the mutation occurred but adds that with large numbers of cell divisions, mutations are bound to happen. The mutated ergonym could have arrived in Heath Cliff on the wind or have been carried by another organism. Dr. Lee notes that the ergonyms in Biolene aren’t dangerous because they’re contained but that mutations will continue to happen. The senators thank her for finding a cure for the disease, but she credits Dr. Crumbly, a veterinarian in Heath Cliff who found the cure. The disease affects animals equally—except turtles. Dr. Lee suggests that had Dr. Crumbly not found his cure, only turtles would exist on Earth.