Second Shift
by Hugh Howey
Contents
22
Overview
Donald makes Thurman and Dr. Henson take him to Charlotte’s cryopod before he explains why the memory drugs fail on him. At Charlotte’s pod, Donald reveals that he secretly took Charlotte’s PTSD medication, Propra, after reading the Order, which likely altered the intended effects of the program’s psychological controls. The discovery gives Henson a new medical problem to solve and leads Thurman to suspect that Victor’s real interest was not Donald’s report on Silo 18, but Donald himself.
Summary
Donald refuses to explain his missing memories until Thurman and Dr. Henson let him see Charlotte first. Thurman agrees to take Donald to her cryopod but makes clear that Charlotte will not be awakened. The three men leave Henson’s office, walk past the standard cryo rooms, and enter a separate area marked for emergency personnel.
Inside the smaller frozen chamber, Donald finds Charlotte preserved in her pod. Seeing her unchanged while he has aged and weakened makes the loss feel immediate again. Donald remembers how his family had imagined Charlotte safely flying planes by remote control, only to learn later that she had really been killing people from a distance. Donald recalls Charlotte describing the disorienting routine of being woken to strike a target, then returning to sleep haunted by the final missile footage.
When Henson asks about Charlotte’s doctor and medication, Donald explains that he had been taking Charlotte’s prescription for Propra. Helen had feared political damage if the public learned Donald needed medication for his darker thoughts, so Donald used Charlotte’s diagnosis and insurance instead. Donald says the pills dulled fear and let him read the Order without fully absorbing its horror, while Charlotte had refused the medication because she felt fear was necessary. Donald realizes that he had been taking the drug for years before orientation and likely lost his pills the day he fell on the hill.
Henson concludes that Donald’s medication history could explain the unexpected memory problem, and he wants to tell Erskine so they can attempt a new formulation. Thurman admits Donald was not properly screened because of a last-minute switch and because Thurman personally vouched for him, leaving no record of the drug in Donald’s file. After Donald says he wants to return to visit Charlotte, Thurman leads him away and praises what Donald has revealed. Thurman then reframes Victor’s obsession with Donald’s report, suggesting Victor may never have cared about the report itself and was really studying Donald.