the unconscious patema and eiji awaken as they continue to fly up. as they make it through the clouds, they find that the "sky" is a mechanical ceiling that manufactures aiga's atmosphere and projects the "stars." they discover eiji's father's flying machine there. eiji reads his father's notes, and discovers that he had befriended lagos and that they both created the floating vehicle. there, patema and eiji profess their love and release the inverted weights levitating the craft, allowing it to float steadily back to aiga.