From the triple‑window of the Friend’s Apartment, Klara watches the street while Josie reads on a leather sofa. She alerts Josie that the Father’s taxi is arriving; the Father, a tall man in a gray raincoat with a paper bag, steps out, embraces Josie, and hands her a small circular mirror, bragging that it was his “friend Benjamin’s” idea. Mother watches the scene silently, later addressing Klara as “honey” and demanding that she introduce herself to the Father. The Mother then tells Klara that Mr Capaldi will ask her some questions and that she must answer them. When they reach Mr Capaldi’s house, the Mother leads Klara to a balcony, opens a purple door, and Mr Capaldi assigns Klara a “survey” to complete while Josie is photographed. During the portrait session, Mr Capaldi reveals that he wants Klara to become the new Josie – to “inhabit” a future replica of Josie – and asks her to help train this new AF. Mother, increasingly anxious, repeats that they have a meeting with Mr Capaldi and that she needs Klara’s help.

After the portrait, the Mother, Paul and the others drive around the city looking for the Cootings Machine. Paul suggests that a PEG‑9 solution, which he believes is stored in Klara’s head, could be used to destroy the machine. They eventually find a second Cootings Machine in a fenced yard, note its three pollution‑emitting funnels, and discuss how to extract the solution with a screwdriver and a plastic bottle. Paul offers to give Klara the PEG‑9 but warns it may impair her abilities.

Later, at a sushi café, the group (Josie, Rick, Mother, Miss Helen, Paul, and Klara) meets Vance, a high‑rank man, together with a waitress named Cindy and a Diner Manager. The adults argue about Vance’s favor‑seeking for Rick’s college application, Miss Helen’s past relationship with Vance, and the Mother’s plan to stay with Josie permanently. Vance interrogates Rick about his drone project and his ambitions to attend Atlas Brookings. The conversation drifts into personal grievances, apologies, and the Mother’s insistence that she could give up her job to stay with Josie, which Josie rejects. Throughout, the Father continues to press Klara about the Cootings Machine, urging her to use the PEG‑9 to sabotage it, while the Mother vacillates between hope for the portrait and fear of the machine’s pollution. The chapter ends with the group leaving the café, driving back toward the Friend’s Apartment, still uncertain about the machine’s fate and the looming portrait deadline.