Who returns to Beth?
The real Nick Danson is restored to his Earth life. Lors does not permanently steal the man's marriage.
What happens to Lors?
He leaves Earth and returns to his own people and to Jela after choosing mission responsibility over the human identity he briefly desired.
Does the public learn about the aliens?
No. The agents use substitutions and a controlled crash narrative to keep first contact secret.
Themes and What the Ending Means
Identity without memory: Lors must perform a life whose emotional history he does not possess.
Desire versus duty: His attachment to Beth conflicts with obligations to Nick, Jela, and the mission.
The ethics of infiltration: The plot repeatedly tests whether a strategic deception can avoid becoming personal exploitation.
Secrecy and first contact: Both sides prefer a contained lie to the destabilizing truth of alien presence.