In this chap­ter, a vivid atmos­phere of ten­sion and uncer­tain­ty per­me­ates the ship. The pro­tag­o­nist, roused from sleep by the sounds of hur­ried foot­steps and clam­or­ing, wit­ness­es a pecu­liar moment that hints at both tragedy and sur­vival. The morn­ing rusk brought by Ivar serves to under­score a grim real­i­ty; reports arise that some of the twelve indi­vid­u­als pre­sumed dead are still alive. The crew, tasked with paint­ing a hall­way, dis­cov­ers that this mun­dane assign­ment becomes a back­drop to the unfold­ing dra­ma.

Harriet’s defi­ant refusal to paint a pris­tine cor­ri­dor hints at the dis­so­nance between rou­tine tasks and the pro­found human expe­ri­ences occur­ring just beyond their periph­er­al vision. As the crew works, they receive news of move­ment from the infa­mous raft. Tove, uti­liz­ing binoc­u­lars, announces signs of life, ignit­ing a flick­er of hope among the paint crew. The arrival of a pel­i­can near the raft sym­bol­izes a con­nec­tion to life and vital­i­ty, jux­ta­posed against the human strug­gle for sur­vival expressed through the awak­en­ing of the twelve.

When Ver­lyn brave­ly ven­tures to see what lies beyond, fol­lowed by Har­ri­et and Didi­er, Burke reluc­tant­ly leads them to a van­tage point where they can observe the twelve as they begin to revive. This sight of limbs slow­ly stretch­ing, inter­spersed with laugh­ter and pain, stirs a com­plex range of emo­tions among the observers—joy min­gled with unease, hope taint­ed by skep­ti­cism. Amidst this spec­ta­cle, char­ac­ters like Wer­ryck and Skint show­case a con­flict­ing atti­tude, unable to ful­ly embrace the mirac­u­lous sur­vival of the twelve.

As the day pro­gress­es, the pro­tag­o­nist reflects on the new pos­si­bil­i­ties that have emerged from this moment. The future, once obscured, now feels tan­gi­ble and promis­ing, ignit­ing ideas of life beyond their con­fines. Yet, this fleet­ing hope clash­es with the harsh real­i­ties of their exis­tence aboard the ship—mechanical rou­tines per­sist despite the glim­mers of life and laugh­ter. Amidst their strug­gles, there remains a sense of antic­i­pa­tion, a promise of what might be, encap­su­lat­ing a long­ing for a future rich with expe­ri­ences yet to come. The chap­ter clos­es with an over­all sense of trans­for­ma­tion, as the mun­dane is inter­twined with a new­found per­spec­tive on life and sur­vival with­in their con­strained envi­ron­ment.