This chapter opens on a dwarf planet called Pluto, which is 30 thousand miles per second and has a population of only 500 million people. The narrator tells us that he's worried that his friends won't come to rescue him. He's also worried that there's already been a wipeout of humankind, so he'll just drift around aimlessly for the rest of his life. He doesn't know how to survive. He begs someone to come and help him, since he can't even survive on his own. He says that he lived a good life with other people, but now he has nothing to show for it. He asks for help, and the narrator tells him to hold on to some fresh air, because the sun will help him reach a distance of 4.3 light-years away. He also tells him that the sun's "locally deployed distortion fields" will launch him there. He tells the narrator that he should start with the water, since the water will only cover a small portion of the distance. He wonders why the narrator would even ask him why he'd want to help him if he can just go back to his own world. He thinks that the narrator is just being nice to him, and that if he squeezes the oxygen out of him, he will slap him hard. He wants to prove to himself that he can still be a human being.