The main character finishes preparation for Jason Sanders' trial, and Marius visits her to see if there's any way he can assist. She asks him what distasteful method he was going to use before she refused to give up on Jason, and he responds that he was going to let Jason take over the "Z" identity so that his works could no longer be considered counterfeits. In the process, he admits for the first time that he's the real Z, and he discusses his motivations both for creating the identity and for being willing to give it up.