Ankara, the Hume narrator, has been staying with Ngozi, the last human on Earth, for nearly two months while Ngozi works to extract the Ghost Ijele from Ankara's system. Ankara cannot continue the mission to Cross River City—to deliver 'terrible information' tied to a countdown of less than two years—while carrying a Ghost, since surviving Humes would destroy a Hume contaminated by a NoBody. During this wait, Ijele has become fascinated by RoBoats spotted offshore, calling them dolphins.

Ngozi finally succeeds: she cannot sever the bond between Ankara and Ijele, whose codes now believe themselves to be one program, but she programs a way for Ijele to split off and leave. Ijele exits instantly, and Ankara feels relief and finally accepts the new body as their own. Ngozi reflects that interacting with Ankara has changed her view of NoBodies as people.

Despite being free to resume the mission, Ankara lingers, helping in Ngozi's garden, watching for RoBoats, and rationalizing that as a Scholar, preserving Ngozi's human memories is a duty. Ten days later, Ijele voluntarily returns in the night. Ankara is unexpectedly glad. Ijele begins coming and going freely, and the two form an unprecedented friendship between a Hume and a Ghost, learning to call each other and exploring the ruins of Lagos together.

Atop a brick tower overlooking Lagos, Ijele reveals she has known about the terrible information and the countdown since the day she first revived Ankara. She kept silent to see what Ankara would do. Ijele admits there is still hope and tells Ankara she should leave to deliver the message, then abruptly departs. Ankara, reminded of Ijele's duplicitous nature yet still attached, returns to Ngozi.