Wren reflects on her parents—an unnamed Mod mother who was a Command colonel and a Prime father who was a soldier, both stationed at Tin Block—and on Uncle Jim’s distinction between bravery and recklessness. Resolving to be strategic rather than impulsive, she decides that a proper escape must begin with scouting the base for weaknesses.

Moving through Silver Block at night, Wren notes omnipresent cameras and guards who do not stop her. She reaches the massive wall and its two open gates leading to a dark tunnel. Passing through, she emerges into the South Plaza, recognizes the execution platform where Julian Ash was killed, and is overcome by grief. She climbs the wall to its ledge to view both the city beyond and the platform below, recalling Jim’s final moments.

Captain Cross Redden appears, having silently followed. He sits beside her, sets his holstered gun between them, and tells her she could not have left the barracks without his leave; the security team had alerted him the moment she stepped out, as they had during her earlier motorcycle theft. He says he let her go to see where she would head and asks if she witnessed the “incitement” at the execution. Wren admits she was focused on trying to reach the platform to save Jim.

They argue over the morality of the executions. Wren calls the practice barbaric; Cross deflects responsibility to Tin Block and frames the squad as serving a necessary purpose in a resource-scarce society that can no longer sustain long incarcerations. He asserts that Julian Ash was a deserter, Aberrant, and a threat to the Company, aligning with his father the General’s prioritization of order. Cross expresses a bleak view of humanity as self-destructive across eras and hierarchies.

Cross confronts Wren about her deliberate underperformance, stating that failing tests and sabotaging herself will not get her cut; it is the Program or the stockade. He challenges where she belongs now that Jim is dead and says his trust can be earned, including privileges like a leisure pass. He frames her options as rising above pride and resentment to seize an opportunity within Silver Block or suffering consequences.

Before leaving, Cross gives Wren one hour to return to the barracks or be dragged back by sentries. Alone again, Wren rejects the idea of accepting “fate.” She accepts that her parents and Jim are dead and that her mind is dangerous to reveal, but she refuses to accept a destiny as a Command prisoner and renews her resolve to plan a careful escape.