In this chap­ter, the dynam­ics of pow­er and fear are por­trayed as characters—Mickey, Nasha, and Eight—are marched down a cor­ri­dor by two goons. As they descend the cen­tral stairs, ten­sion builds; Nasha chal­lenges their cap­tors about the legal­i­ty of their actions, which leads to a hos­tile exchange where the big­ger goon dis­miss­es her threats. Instead of being tak­en to a cycler or a dun­geon, they find them­selves in a Secu­ri­ty ready room filled with weapons and snacks, an odd set­ting for pris­on­ers. The goons leave them, warn­ing them to stay away from the equip­ment, pro­vok­ing Nasha to attempt access­ing a lock­er unsuc­cess­ful­ly.

Amid the pre­car­i­ous sit­u­a­tion, the trio con­tem­plates their predica­ment. Nasha jests about their pos­si­ble demise while Eight reas­sures her that as a cru­cial atmos­pher­ic pilot, she is not in imme­di­ate dan­ger. The cama­raderie among them reveals their shared anx­i­ety and fatal­ism; Mick­ey reflects on the immutabil­i­ty of their situation—they are trapped in a dome that feels more like a cold jail than a safe haven on a harsh plan­et called Nifl­heim. Nasha’s attempt to joke about her fate reveals under­ly­ing ten­sion, as they all real­ize the pre­car­i­ous­ness of their lives.

As time pass­es, a new goon named Lucas appears, reveal­ing to Mick­ey and Eight the grav­i­ty of their situation—Marshall, the author­i­ty fig­ure, is upset about the emer­gence of two ver­sions of Mick­ey. This even­tu­al­ly leads to a con­fronta­tion in Mar­shal­l’s office, where Mar­shal­l’s anger is pal­pa­ble. He accus­es them of theft and mis­judg­ment regard­ing their exis­tence as mul­ti­ples. The chap­ter esca­lates as Mar­shall declares that both of them must go into the cycler, while also cast­ing sus­pi­cion on Nasha’s involve­ment.

The nar­ra­tive cul­mi­nates with Mar­shal­l’s omi­nous claim that their shared life might cost them their exis­tence, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant turn­ing point in their strug­gle for sur­vival. The char­ac­ters con­front the real­i­ty of their situation—a pos­si­ble and dis­turb­ing end, inter­twined with the notion of iden­ti­ty and what it means to be human in a bru­tal envi­ron­ment. Mick­ey’s reflec­tion about the cycli­cal nature of their lives encap­su­lates the exis­ten­tial dread hang­ing over them, lead­ing to uncer­tain fates ahead.