A história (e morte) de Zlepe dá o toque definitivo, que quem informou a Cultura da trama para destruir o Hub não era Zlepe, mas era de fato ...
...Huyler, inside Quilan's head.
"They showed me all there was to be shown about my society and theirs and, in the end, I preferred theirs. Essentially I became a Culture citizen and at the same time an agent of Special Circumstances, which is the uncharacteristically coy name they employ for their combined intelligence, espionage and counter-espionage organization."
Dizem-nos que o Hub sabia do plano antes da chegada de Quilan.
~ How long have you known? he [Quilan] asked.
~ I have known since a day before you arrived. I can’t speak for Special Circumstances.
Mas na próxima página, ficamos sabendo que Zlepe falhou em sua missão de informá-los (!)
Failed. Failed to get back. Failed to warn. Failed to be the hero. It was not supposed to end this way, dying a lonely, painful death, conscious only of betrayal, fear and hopelessness.
Então, quem disse a eles? Como diabos eles descobriram? Descobrimos isso no epílogo;
I [Huyler] went along with everything else to keep Masaq’ and its people safe, not to ensure its destruction. I was SC’s insurance policy, their get-out clause, their parachute (I heard many colorful analogies). If I had been told to do so, I would have prevented Quilan from making his Displacements, not taken over and done them for him had he demurred. In the end it was decided that sufficient other safeguards had been put in place for the Displacements to go ahead, with the aim of back-tracking along the attempted wormhole link to discover and even attack the Involveds behind the attack (this failed and to the best of my knowledge it is still not known who those mysterious allies were, though I’m sure SC has its suspicions).