Summary

On Abel’s second day, he is brought to a room where he dons a helmet and sits in a chair, waiting “for whatever [comes] next” (57). The attendant asks him questions after which he is meant to raise his hand if he understands. He is going to enter a simulation of the repeat room “as an observer” (58). He will watch images and hear sounds that imitate certain human scenarios. As he observes the scenarios, he will judge if the subjects should or should not “be part of [the] community” (59).

After the simulation, the jurors discuss what they saw, felt, and did. Then Abel is brought to Intake where attendants Marna, Jack, Ella, and Ludwig question him about his past. The men make fun of him because he and his wife had a child that was taken away from them because they were “deemed...