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We return to Meyer’s familiar first person writing style. Our protagonist has no given name yet, but she obviously has some trouble mentally taking on her new host; “Not these eyes. My eyes. Mine. This was me now.”
As the soul prepares to relive her host’s last memories, we learn a little about humans versus the other species the souls have inhabited: “These human emotions would be stronger, more vital than the feelings of any other species I had been.”
The host’s last thoughts are I’ve failed, and with that we are thrown full-force in the host’s memories which are a harrowing account of fear, pain, and desperation in her final minutes. The description is sometimes frighteningly vivid. It seared with sharp color and ringing sound. Cold on her skin, pain gripping her limbs, burning them.This was clearly not a pleasant way to go.
The host obviously shares Fords Deep Water’s distaste of the Seekers (but perhaps her violent hatred is a little stronger than distaste). Still, it’s hard to figure out if these mysterious “Seeker” beings are truly evil. In the memory, one of them pleads, “Don’t hurt yourself,” in a deep voice full of concern.
As we continue to relive the memory, the host realizes that there is no way to survive, but perhaps a way to win. She jumps down an abandoned elevator shaft (with the Seekers trying to stop her) in hopes of ending her life. The fall is not long enough to kill her, however, and as the host feels herself slipping toward death, the soul is happy to feel herself being freed from the overwhelmingly horrible memory.
Her actual last thought, though, is of a face. Although all human faces seem almost identical to our alien, she observes that she would be able to recognize this face among millions. The soul realizes that though she knows nothing of her new species, that this face would be considered beautiful and she wants to keep looking at it.
As soon as she thinks this, the image of the face is snatched away. “Mine, spoke the alien that should not have existed.” The soul is pretty freaked out that she’s hearing voices and even more disturbed that she feels compelled to answer them. The chapter concludes with host and soul squabbling over who is the true owner of the body and of its memories.
