In this chap­ter, the char­ac­ters Sev­en and Eight nav­i­gate the chal­lenges of rationing dur­ing a time of extreme hunger and ten­sion. Eight express­es his frus­tra­tion about the dras­tic cuts to their food sup­ply, reflect­ing on his strug­gles since wak­ing from a tank. Despite his despair, Sev­en remains prag­mat­ic, attempt­ing to man­age their dwin­dling rations while show­ing empa­thy towards Eight’s state. Their con­ver­sa­tion reveals Eight’s des­per­a­tion, humor, and the kin­ship that devel­ops from shared hard­ship, even as he jok­ing­ly threat­ens to con­sume Sev­en in a moment of hunger-induced mad­ness.

Amidst the com­e­dy and ten­sion, Sev­en receives a ping from Black Hor­net, a fel­low crew mem­ber, who announces a change in fly­ing duties and express­es a desire to meet up. Eight insists that Sev­en should go, need­ing a break from their dire sit­u­a­tion. As Sev­en leaves, the nar­ra­tive shifts to a reflec­tion on the his­tor­i­cal chal­lenges of star­va­tion faced dur­ing the first col­o­niza­tion efforts. The tale of the *Ching Shih*, a ship that suf­fered a failed mis­sion decades ago, par­al­lels the cur­rent exis­ten­tial strug­gles, detail­ing the slow death of its crew as they were trapped in space fac­ing resource deple­tion.

The scene shifts as Sev­en seeks refuge in the small, inhos­pitable dome lack­ing com­mon leisure spaces, final­ly set­tling in the cafe­te­ria. Amid the empti­ness, he encoun­ters High­smith, a his­to­ry enthu­si­ast. Rather than engag­ing, Sev­en retreats into his thoughts and con­sid­ers the grim fate of the past colonists, draw­ing a painful con­nec­tion to their cur­rent predica­ment.

Resolved to alle­vi­ate Eight’s suf­fer­ing, he decides to act. He acti­vates a com­mu­ni­ca­tion with Mickey8, con­firm­ing where they are and cal­cu­lat­ing their time­line. As ten­sion builds, he knows he needs to avoid con­fronta­tion over his hunger with his friends. Ulti­mate­ly, he makes his way to the gym, a space ded­i­cat­ed to phys­i­cal fit­ness but devoid of occu­pants dur­ing the famine, only to unex­pect­ed­ly find Cat there, which leads to an hon­est con­ver­sa­tion about grief, loss, and sur­vival.

Cat shares her own pain over a bunk­mate lost in the recent sor­tie, illus­trat­ing the emo­tion­al and psy­cho­log­i­cal strain on the crew. Their devel­op­ing cama­raderie brings Sev­en com­fort, as he reflects on his own rela­tion­al tur­moil with Nasha, sug­gest­ing every char­ac­ter is grap­pling with their per­son­al demons amid the broad­er cri­sis of sur­vival. The chap­ter con­cludes with a hint of poten­tial con­nec­tion as Cat offers a space to Sev­en, acknowl­edg­ing their shared iso­la­tion.