Part One: Chapters VIII through XI Summary

The next day, Pavel Syerov summons Kira to the office of the Communist Cell and asks her for the name and address of the man she was talking to at the gate. She says she doesn't know his name and that he'd merely asked for directions. Pavel is becoming heated in the questioning when Andrei walks in. When Andrei dismisses Kira, he tells Pavel that he's not to take on the duties of the GPU again.

The soap business fails, but Galina finds another enterprise and the family is soon packing saccharine tablets and crystals for resale. The man who hires them has them putting eighty-seven tablets into boxes labeled "one hundred". Kira has to leave her evening studies to help and notes that the sharp taste of saccharine burns her throat when...