In a dream, John recites his academic and research background as if the details are a ritual rather than a conversation. He describes studying and working in several places before returning to a facility outside Greytown, disguised as a freezing works, where he and a small team began their project.

John explains that the original team consisted of John, A—, and M—, later joined by C—. The group believed they were trying to save a desperately sick addressee and, by extension, everyone: their cryogenic evacuation system could hold eleven billion people, and John insists that their rule was that nobody would knowingly be left behind.

John then recounts how other ships were being built and how the team was told those ships were only support for a wider evacuation. M— suspected deception, but John dismissed M—’s fear and trusted that the wealthy would go where survival was possible. When the cryo project was suddenly canceled, M— simply understood that the powerful had already chosen to leave.

The dream shifts to John and Harrowhark sitting on a ruined beach beneath a tarpaulin, surrounded by ash, sickness, dim waves, and cut meat. Their bodies recover quickly from harm, and when hunger comes, they eat together and drink seawater.

John says the worst part was seeing M— and A— cry in terror while John could do nothing to help. Harrowhark asks what John did, and John answers that John did a damned thing. When Harrowhark asks when John hurts Harrowhark, John says it is coming soon; Harrowhark says she still loves John, and John replies that Harrowhark always says that.