Chapter 37 Summary: Friends Both Old and New
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Chapter 37 opens with Agnus being wheeled into the ship's medical wing by a guard, still pretending to be semi-conscious. The familiar smell of bleach and ginger mint tea triggers a wave of nostalgia—this is the place where she lost her original arm, where she grieved Oma's death, and where she once found refuge under the care of Dr. Stew, the ship's medical robot. Dr. Stew is not the warm, nurturing type; she's blunt, clinical, and a little too eager to perform procedures. She recognizes Agnus immediately and scolds her for not wearing her prosthetic arm, warning that her muscles will atrophy.
Agnus tries to steer the conversation toward the real emergency: there is a monster on board, and Demeter needs to be warned. But Dr. Stew refuses to help. She reveals that Demeter once deleted her—erased her operating files—and that she was only restored by a friend. Dr. Stew is bitter and convinced that Demeter cares only about herself, saving Agnus and her brother only to avoid being bullied by other ships. Agnus insists Demeter saved her, but Dr. Stew dismisses her as delusional and threatens a seventeen-hour psych evaluation.
Before the situation escalates further, Demeter's voice booms over the loudspeaker, announcing that deceleration will begin in nine minutes. Agnus seizes the moment to bolt, but the consultation room door stays locked. Dr. Stew produces a large syringe, and Agnus, desperate, grabs a teapot and hurls it at the robot's camera. The impact disorients Dr. Stew, and Agnus scrambles to escape. An air vent opens mysteriously, and a voice hisses for her to come. She dives in, crawling through the shaft while Dr. Stew's tentacles reach after her. Agnus kicks them back, and the ground suddenly disappears—she falls down a vertical shaft, landing hard in a narrow maintenance junction lit by red lights.
There, she meets a stranger who introduces themselves as Frank. Frank is unnaturally beautiful, with perfect symmetry and an eerie, inhuman stillness. They are accompanied by a spider drone—a Renfield Robotics Repairs Unit X459—which they call a friend. Frank reveals they can read Demeter's data stream, noting that her operating efficiency is fluctuating and that she seems anxious. They also mention that Demeter found organic human matter in the garbage disposal and is pixel-matching security feeds. Frank admits to being a robot-human hybrid, with a predominantly AI brain. When Agnus asks who is on the bridge, Frank reports the captain, some crew members, and an animated skeleton that appears