In this chap­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist grap­ples with the impli­ca­tions of being a “mul­ti­ple,” an unfor­tu­nate cir­cum­stance that com­pli­cates his already pre­car­i­ous posi­tion with­in the colony. As he tries to evade con­fronta­tion with Cat, who has become sus­pi­cious due to their past inter­ac­tions, she ini­ti­ates con­tact late at night. Despite his reluc­tance, he acknowl­edges the neces­si­ty of meet­ing her, lead­ing to an awk­ward exchange at the gym, a place deemed dis­creet enough for a seri­ous con­ver­sa­tion.

Dur­ing their meet­ing, Cat reveals her aware­ness of his unusu­al sit­u­a­tion — that there are two ver­sions of him, both exist­ing simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. This rev­e­la­tion unset­tles him, espe­cial­ly when she indi­cates a seri­ous con­cern for his safe­ty, hint­ing at the legal ram­i­fi­ca­tions tied to his con­di­tion. Their con­ver­sa­tion turns philo­soph­i­cal when Cat ques­tions whether he con­sid­ers him­self the same per­son since board­ing the shut­tle from Midgard. The pro­tag­o­nist reflects on his past iden­ti­ty and expe­ri­ences, ulti­mate­ly express­ing uncer­tain­ty about his cur­rent exis­tence ver­sus his pre­vi­ous self.

Their dia­logue shifts toward mor­tal­i­ty and the risks asso­ci­at­ed with their lives on the colony, with Cat con­fess­ing that mor­tal­i­ty has been weigh­ing heav­i­ly on her thoughts. Their con­nec­tion deep­ens, yet it is over­shad­owed by the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion. The chap­ter con­cludes with a tem­pes­tu­ous return to his quar­ters, where he finds Eight and Nasha togeth­er in bed, spark­ing con­fu­sion, jeal­ousy, and the threat of a con­fronta­tion over estab­lished bound­aries. The play­ful ban­ter about their rela­tion­ships pro­vides relief from the ten­sion but quick­ly fades when Cat unex­pect­ed­ly inter­rupts, cre­at­ing a pan­ic as the tri­ad attempts to cov­er up their unortho­dox arrange­ment. As secu­ri­ty forces break into the room, it becomes clear that the pre­car­i­ous bal­ance of their rela­tion­ships and safe­ty hangs in the bal­ance.

This chap­ter encap­su­lates the ten­sion and uncer­tain­ty inher­ent in the protagonist’s dual exis­tence and the fraught dynam­ics with Cat, Eight, and Nasha, envelop­ing the read­er in a tumul­tuous emo­tion­al land­scape.