Chap­ter 20 begins with a pal­pa­ble sense of ten­sion as Mick­ey, Nasha, and Eight are escort­ed through a cold, des­o­late cor­ri­dor by two intim­i­dat­ing goons. The oppres­sive atmos­phere only grows as they descend a flight of stairs, the harsh steps echo­ing through the oth­er­wise silent space. Nasha, ever defi­ant, chal­lenges the legal­i­ty of their treat­ment, but the larg­er goon dis­miss­es her chal­lenge with a cold, hos­tile response, show­ing no regard for her words. The group expects to be tak­en to a prison cell or a dun­geon, but instead, they are led into a Secu­ri­ty ready room—an odd choice for pris­on­ers. This room, filled with var­i­ous weapons and snacks, offers an unset­tling con­trast to the seri­ous­ness of their sit­u­a­tion. As the goons leave, they stern­ly warn the group to stay away from the equip­ment, but Nasha, ever curi­ous and rebel­lious, attempts to access a near­by lock­er. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, her efforts are futile, leav­ing the trio to stew in the uncer­tain­ty of their cir­cum­stances.

As the group con­tem­plates their cur­rent posi­tion, they share fleet­ing moments of cama­raderie in the face of their dire sit­u­a­tion. Nasha, try­ing to cope with the grav­i­ty of the moment, jests about the pos­si­bil­i­ty of their impend­ing demise, a ner­vous attempt to light­en the mood. How­ev­er, Eight, ever prag­mat­ic and calm, reas­sures her that, as a key atmos­pher­ic pilot, her role makes her vital to the mission’s suc­cess, thus ensur­ing she is not in imme­di­ate dan­ger. This small com­fort, how­ev­er, does lit­tle to ease the under­ly­ing anx­i­ety that all three feel. Mick­ey, more reflec­tive, con­sid­ers the immutabil­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion, real­iz­ing the cold real­i­ty that they are stuck in a dome that has become less a safe haven and more a prison. This dome, sit­u­at­ed on the unfor­giv­ing plan­et of Nifl­heim, is meant to pro­tect them, yet it now feels like a trap, with no escape in sight. Nasha’s attempts to joke about her fate reveal the ten­sion that hangs heav­i­ly over them, a con­stant reminder of how pre­car­i­ous their lives are and how lit­tle con­trol they have over their des­tiny.

As time pass­es, the arrival of a new fig­ure, a goon named Lucas, deep­ens the ten­sion. Lucas deliv­ers grim news, reveal­ing the full scope of the group’s predicament—Marshall, the head author­i­ty fig­ure, is furi­ous about the exis­tence of two ver­sions of Mick­ey. This unset­tling rev­e­la­tion leads to a con­fronta­tion in Marshall’s office, where his anger is pal­pa­ble. Mar­shall accus­es the group of theft and of mak­ing seri­ous mis­cal­cu­la­tions regard­ing their exis­tence as mul­ti­ples. His harsh words and accu­sa­tions under­score the grave nature of their sit­u­a­tion. The con­ver­sa­tion grows even more tense as Mar­shall demands that both ver­sions of Mick­ey be sent to the cycler, a fate that none of them want to face. His dec­la­ra­tion hangs heav­i­ly in the air, con­firm­ing that their lives remain at the mer­cy of Marshall’s deci­sions. At the same time, sus­pi­cion begins to grow around Nasha, sug­gest­ing that her role in their sit­u­a­tion may not be as clear-cut as it first appeared. The mount­ing sus­pi­cion and ten­sion add a new lay­er of com­plex­i­ty to their already fraught predica­ment.

The chap­ter esca­lates fur­ther as Marshall’s cold com­mand and the threat of death loom over the group. The real­i­ty of their exis­tence, inter­twined with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of being erased for the sake of order and con­trol, becomes all too appar­ent. Mickey’s reflec­tion on their lives reveals the cycli­cal nature of their existence—constantly in per­il, yet always fight­ing for sur­vival. This real­iza­tion deep­ens the exis­ten­tial dread that has been build­ing, as Mick­ey and the oth­ers face the pos­si­bil­i­ty of their lives end­ing abrupt­ly and vio­lent­ly. They are not mere­ly fight­ing for sur­vival in the phys­i­cal sense but also con­fronting the moral impli­ca­tions of their iden­ti­ties and the mean­ing of their exis­tence. As Mick­ey con­sid­ers the grav­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion, the ques­tion of what it means to be human becomes increas­ing­ly urgent. Their strug­gle is not just one of sur­vival but also a fight to retain their auton­o­my in a world that seems intent on eras­ing them. With their fate hang­ing in the bal­ance, the chap­ter clos­es on a note of uncer­tain­ty, leav­ing the group to face an uncer­tain and dan­ger­ous future, where the very nature of their exis­tence may be the ulti­mate obsta­cle they must over­come. This chap­ter paints a grim pic­ture of their sur­vival, marked by con­stant fear and the loom­ing pres­ence of author­i­ty, leav­ing the read­er to won­der what, if any­thing, can be done to alter the course of their lives.