Nine Perfect Strangers

Frances accepts a damp towel from Tony and assures him that she’s fine. Tony admits that he has mild claustrophobia, so Frances tries to take his mind off their predicament by talking about the end of his sports career. Readjusting to life after sports was like dealing with the end of a drug addiction, he says. After retiring, he set up a successful sports-marketing consultancy and—despite a mild cancer scare—he’s now healthy. The scare shook him up enough that he decided to improve himself. When Frances mentions therapy, however, he tells her to drop the subject. He asks to hear about the man who scammed her.

Yao watches the guests on CCTV and worries about his life decisions. When he mentions the possibility of Frances’s menopause, Masha seems reluctant to discuss the subject. He notices a mosquito bite on her neck. Masha tells Yao that Delilah is gone, and she offers to take full responsibility for the events at the spa. As the resident medical professional, however, he believes himself responsible for the micro-dosing incident. Yao, who treated people with drug addiction as a paramedic, allowed Masha to convince him about the possible therapeutic benefits of micro-dosing. His own experience of micro-dosing was transformational. Yao watches the CCTV, wondering why the guests haven’t solved the puzzle that should only have taken them an hour. Masha points at the screen, suggesting that she sees signs of progress.

Frances sits next to Tony in “companionable silence” (216). She realizes that all the music that they’ve heard and repeated to one another is related to the stars or the moon, encouraging them to look up. They search around the room for clues and spot a brown package up among the rafters. Tony wants to use his sports skills to leap and knock it down.

Masha is shocked. The guests aren’t reaching the “obvious” solution: that they should build a human pyramid. She decides that the problem with the treatment is that the guests aren’t smart enough.

Frances watches as Napoleon and Ben bend forward, allowing Tony to use their backs as a platform to leap up to the rafters. Tony leaps, almost reaches the package, and then crashes to the floor. He dislocates his shoulder and then jerks it back into place with “an audible pop” (219). Frances faints.

Zoe comforts her father, still hurting from Tony’s attempt, while Tony revives Frances. Zoe knocks the package down by throwing a water bottle. It lands in Ben’s hands, but he hands it to Zoe, who unwraps it. Inside is a Russian nesting doll. Zoe opens the progressively smaller dolls but finds nothing inside.

Masha reveals to Yao that she’s changed the plan. Rather than place the door code inside the doll, she decided that the code should be a philosophical paradox. She explains that “the solution is no solution” (222). Masha, fasting and sleep deprived, is annoyed that Yao can’t understand her genius—and that the guests, with their “sunny Australian lives” (223), have never experienced deprivation as she did in Russia. She believes that she must terrify the guests in the name of rapid spiritual progress. She knows that Yao loves and respects her too much to defy her. She approaches him, holding a syringe.

After close to 30 hours in the room, the guests’ patience and well-being are wearing thin. Frances is beginning to feel the effects of the prolonged period of fasting, wondering whether she’s more clear-minded or delusional. The guests vote to keep the lights on all the time. Frances talks to Carmel, who explains that she worked in private equity before retiring to become a “housewife” and mother. Their conversation is interrupted as the room plunges into darkness.

Napoleon is infuriated that someone has turned the lights off. He follows the guests’ conversation in the dark, trying to recognize voices. Lars and Carmel begin to sing together. As they sing, Napoleon reflects on the previous evening and struggles with the revelations. He doesn’t know whether he should be angry with Heather or Zoe for withholding information from him. He wonders whether Zach ever felt as lost and confused as he does in this moment. In a flash, he begins to understand why Zach might have felt that he had no other choice but to kill himself. His thoughts are interrupted when a screen above them flickers into life. Masha’s voice greets the imprisoned guests.

Frances now believes that Masha has lost her mind. She listens as Masha congratulates the guests on their progress, but Jessica points out that the doll was empty. Masha debates back and forth with the guests, each of them trying a different way to convince her to let them out. Lars tries charm, Heather tries flattery, and Frances tries praise. Tony notices Yao behind Masha, slumped unconscious in a chair. Masha assures the guests that Yao is fine and promises them that they’ll face their own mortality soon. Masha wants the guests to play a game called Death Sentence. The guests must imagine that they’re sentenced to death, and they’ll be defended by another randomly selected guest, who will argue why they should live. She reads out the list of who will be defending whom. Each person will have five minutes to present an argument, and Masha will act as the judge. Masha refuses to answer what will happen to guests who aren’t successfully defended. The lights are turned back on. Masha says that the guests have until dawn to prepare their arguments.

The guests discuss their predicament. Lars tells them that they should pretend as though they’re proceeding with “the madness” but find a way out as soon as they can. Frances will defend Lars; he wants her to lie about or exaggerate his good deeds. Frances worries that Masha will detect lies, so she asks to know everything about Lars. He explains his job, his relationship with Ray, and his reluctance to have a child, an issue that seemed to surface frequently while he was hallucinating. He can’t stop thinking about the little boy who appeared to him in his visions.

Jessica is set to defend Heather, but first she talks to her own representative, Zoe. They discuss their situation. Jessica worries that she should have more of a reason to live other than being pregnant. They discuss Jessica’s reaction to winning the lottery. Jessica struggles to remember who she was before she was rich. She has no idea what will happen next.