All quoted text is Maya's narration unless otherwise noted.

Panel 1, 2, 3

Maya crouches down.

She tears apart the casing with her hands.

"I chose to have my body broken and battered"

The pod's innards glow with orange light.

Panel 4

Maya looks down into the pod. Within is a creature of flowing liquid from which the tendrils sprout. Its form is oddly humanoid. At its center is a gelatinous orb.

"To have my mind torn asunder"

Panel 5

Maya plunges her arms into the pod.

"To have acid tear at my flesh"

Panel 6

Her hand grasps the core of it. Small tendrils curl around her as a last defense.

"Because,"

Panel 7

Maya wrenches the core out of the probe, tearing it away from the probe.

"It was the only choice I could make."

Panel 8

Maya looks down at the probe's core in her hands. The probe's tendrils begin to fall.

Panel 9

She presses it to her chest. The tendrils collapse.

Panel 10

Maya curls up, cradling the core on the probe's carcass.