In this chap­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist wakes up to find that Nasha has left a mes­sage, indi­cat­ing she has to leave for the day. This news brings a smile to their face as they expe­ri­ence an unfa­mil­iar feel­ing of light­ness and free­dom from fear. How­ev­er, this sense of calm is inter­rupt­ed by a com­mand from Mar­shall, requir­ing them to report to his office imme­di­ate­ly.

Upon enter­ing Mar­shal­l’s office, the pro­tag­o­nist is sur­prised by Mar­shal­l’s unex­pect­ed demeanor, which is more relaxed than antic­i­pat­ed. The con­ver­sa­tion begins with Mar­shall offer­ing an apol­o­gy for mis­judg­ing the sit­u­a­tion regard­ing the device the pro­tag­o­nist had relin­quished to some crea­tures. Despite hav­ing antic­i­pat­ed a rep­ri­mand, the pro­tag­o­nist finds them­selves in an unusu­al posi­tion of accept­ing Marshall’s apol­o­gy. The dis­cus­sion soon shifts to the press­ing issue of fuel for their colony, as half of their anti­mat­ter sup­ply has been lost.

Mar­shall explains that the device brought back con­tains crit­i­cal fuel that needs to be rein­sert­ed into the colony’s core. The task is daunt­ing and dan­ger­ous, requir­ing man­u­al inter­ven­tion due to the way it was extract­ed. Upon hear­ing this, the pro­tag­o­nist’s con­cerns grow, recall­ing the dan­gers asso­ci­at­ed with the anti­mat­ter core. How­ev­er, when Mar­shall express­es admi­ra­tion for their pre­vi­ous sav­ing of the colony, all gen­uine feel­ings quick­ly dis­solve into frus­tra­tion and anger.

In a bold move, the pro­tag­o­nist refus­es to com­ply with Marshall’s order to han­dle the fuel sit­u­a­tion. They resign as the colony’s Expend­able and threat­en to dis­rupt the new­found peace with the crea­tures if Mar­shall attempts to harm them. Marshall’s tem­per flares after this asser­tion, but instead of fear, the pro­tag­o­nist feels lib­er­at­ed from the weight of their pre­vi­ous roles and expec­ta­tions. Mock­ing Marshall’s author­i­ty, they assert their pow­er over the sit­u­a­tion.

After this con­fronta­tion, the scene shifts to a casu­al din­ing moment with Berto, where awk­ward silence pre­vails. Berto acknowl­edges the pro­tag­o­nist’s res­ig­na­tion, and despite their ear­li­er ten­sion, the pro­tag­o­nist reestab­lish­es ground by play­ful­ly punch­ing Berto. This act fos­ters a new dynam­ic in their rela­tion­ship, and with the chap­ter clos­ing on a now-defi­ant stance, the pro­tag­o­nist rec­og­nizes this as the begin­ning of a fresh chap­ter in their life.