In the dream, Harrow and John stand on a hill overlooking a swept, ruined plain. Harrow asks whether the shutdown of John’s cryogenic project ended everything, and John says the real disaster did not begin for another year.

John explains that after the project was shut down, paperwork claimed the authorities were reconsidering, but John suspected funding had gone elsewhere. A leak made the project public, which forced people to recognize that Earth’s crisis was near its endgame. Panic spread, the economy faltered, and John’s colleagues feared for their futures: A worried their payout would become worthless, C feared being recalled to England and separated from N, and M faced officials demanding a shutdown plan for the experimental corpses.

John was most distressed by the bodies. Because the cryogenic tests had made them unsafe for ordinary burial or cremation, officials wanted them disposed of in concrete, but John had come to know them by name and felt they deserved respect. Meanwhile, a police contact, P, helped keep public pressure off the team. John believed his career was ruined, but M, A, and the others refused to abandon him.

As the wider world argued about failing evacuation options, John continued refining the cryogenic canisters without backing. He believed the cans could still move humanity to Tau Ceti and buy Earth time to recover. Instead of panicking, John experienced repeated breakthroughs and an eerie sense of recognition when looking at the bodies, which alarmed A and M, though G insisted John was fine.

Officials finally cut the project’s electricity and ordered the vats shut down at once. John walked among the bodies, especially his favorites, trying to reassure them before the power failed. When the vats were turned off, most bodies decayed as expected, with their brains liquefying. But John reveals to Harrow that the bodies John had touched and loved did not decay, suggesting the first manifestation of John’s necromantic power.