In this chap­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist reflects on the cir­cum­stances that led him to become an Expend­able, reveal­ing that he vol­un­tar­i­ly chose this per­ilous posi­tion under the guise of becom­ing an “Immor­tal.” He recalls his recruit­ment expe­ri­ence on the colony ship **Drakkar**, specif­i­cal­ly his meet­ing with Gwen Johansen, a no-non­sense recruiter who out­lined the var­i­ous dan­ger­ous tasks he would face, all of which would like­ly result in his death. Despite the risks, he felt des­per­ate to leave his home plan­et, **Midgard**, and saw sign­ing up as an Expend­able as his sole option to gain pas­sage.

Dur­ing the recruit­ment ses­sion, Gwen informs him of spe­cif­ic jobs—external repairs dur­ing inter­stel­lar tran­sit, expo­sure to local flo­ra and fau­na, nec­es­sary med­ical exper­i­ments, and poten­tial com­bat sit­u­a­tions. The pro­tag­o­nist acknowl­edges his lack of prac­ti­cal skills and under­stands that, although he would often find him­self in life-threat­en­ing sit­u­a­tions, he signed the con­tract to escape Midgard quick­ly.

As Gwen explains the real­i­ty of being an Expend­able, the pro­tag­o­nist learns the grim truth: most Expend­ables often do not end their own suf­fer­ing when fac­ing death, con­trary to his ini­tial belief that he could sim­ply reset his exis­tence through a back­up mech­a­nism. Fur­ther­more, Gwen reveals that he is the only appli­cant for the posi­tion of Expend­able, despite thou­sands of appli­ca­tions for oth­er roles on board the **Drakkar**.

Gwen chal­lenges him on what makes him feel suit­ed for the role, con­sid­er­ing his back­ground as a his­to­ri­an in a soci­ety where knowl­edge is read­i­ly acces­si­ble to every­one. With the absence of low-lev­el aca­d­e­m­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties, fac­to­ries, or mil­i­tary posi­tions, the pro­tag­o­nist express­es frus­tra­tion at the lack of pur­pose in Midgard that dri­ves many young indi­vid­u­als to seek riski­er paths, con­clud­ing that he responds to this ennui by grav­i­tat­ing toward trou­ble. This chap­ter sets the stage for under­stand­ing the moti­va­tions behind his choice and the bleak envi­ron­ment of Midgard that he des­per­ate­ly wished to escape.