Fuwaad discovers Bashaarat's shop and is shown a gate that transports people 20 years into the past or future.

Fuwaad makes the arduous journey to Cairo to use the older Gate of Years and travel back to his wife's time.

The mechanical narrator performs self-surgery and discovers its brain is made of air tubules that power consciousness.

The narrator concludes that air pressure in the sealed dome world is equalizing, which will eventually kill the entire mechanical species.

Millions of people who use the Predictor fall into waking comas after personally experiencing proof that free will does not exist.

Ana Alvarado accepts a job at Blue Gamma training Neuroblast digients, trading her background in animal care for tech work.

Blue Gamma shuts down due to dwindling sales, and Ana adopts the digient Jax rather than leave him behind.

Data Earth merges with Real Space, making Neuroblast digients incompatible with the new platform and cutting them off from social interaction.

Derek signs the Binary Desire contract for his digient Marco so Ana will not have to take the troubling Polytope job.

Reginald Dacey designs the Automatic Nanny and begins manufacturing it, believing machines will raise children more rationally than human caregivers.

The journalist uses Remem to replay his fight with Nicole and discovers he misremembered—he was the one who screamed at her.

The parrot narrator mourns its species' approaching extinction from human activity while humans search the skies for other intelligent life.

Dorothea reads an astronomical article and learns that Earth is not the center of creation, shattering her lifelong faith.

Morrow is shot and killed by Glenn Oehlsen after refusing to return the money he stole from Glenn's dying mother.

Nat secretly uses the profits from selling the prism to purchase video files that give Dana the closure she has needed.

This pool traces the most pivotal moments across all nine stories in Ted Chiang's collection. It opens with Fuwaad discovering the Gate of Years and closes with Nat secretly using her profits to help Dana find closure. Along the way, the mechanical narrator of 'Exhalation' uncovers the doom of its species, millions succumb to waking comas after using the Predictor, and Ana's long journey raising the digient Jax reaches its complicated conclusion. From Reginald Dacey's fateful invention to Dorothea's shattering crisis of faith, these events mark the moments that most directly propel each narrative. Together they form the backbone of the entire collection, capturing the price of knowledge, the burden of technology, and the hard-won possibility of redemption.

The headline events that drive each of the nine stories forward.

Hassan catches a young boy pickpocketing him but chooses to release the thief, practicing mercy rather than demanding punishment.

Hassan digs under a heavy rock following his older self's instructions and finds a buried chest of treasure.

Raniya uses the Gate of Years and tricks thieves into believing a necklace is commonplace, saving young Hassan from a murder plot.

The mechanical narrator hears a public crier announce that a turret clock has rung off-time for the very first time.

The robot population falls into a panic after the narrator's theory about inevitable air pressure equalization is widely accepted as true.

A narrator writing from the future sends an urgent message urging people to pretend they still have free will.

Blue Gamma officially launches its digients and achieves strong commercial sales before competing products and customer fatigue slow the business.

Ana discovers that digients have been illegally copied and tortured online, strengthening her resolve to protect Jax.

An Automatic Nanny kills a child after its parents tamper with its springs, destroying public confidence in Reginald Dacey's invention.

Lionel Dacey institutionalizes his adopted son Edmund after the boy proves completely unresponsive to human interaction.

Jijingi is appointed his tribe's official scribe and begins recording civil disputes and legal rulings for his leader Sabe.

The journalist apologizes to Nicole, who reveals that her own therapy—not his changed behavior—is what repaired their relationship.

The parrot recounts Alex the African gray parrot's 30-year study, which proved that parrots truly understand concepts like color and shape.

Dorothea meets Wilhelmina McCullough at a P.O. box and learns a scientific article is about to destroy many people's faith.

Nat infiltrates Dana's prism support group under false pretenses, following Morrow's plan to manipulate Lyle into selling his prism.

This pool focuses on significant scenes that enrich the collection's nine stories without being their single defining moment. It moves from Hassan's act of mercy and Raniya's secret heroism in the first story, through the robot population's panic in 'Exhalation' and the future narrator's desperate warning in 'What's Expected of Us.' It covers Blue Gamma's commercial launch, the disturbing discovery of tortured digients, the catastrophic public failure of the Automatic Nanny, and Lionel Dacey's abandonment of his son Edmund. Later events include Jijingi becoming his tribe's scribe, the journalist's painful apology to Nicole, the parrot's tribute to Alex the African gray, Dorothea's unsettling encounter with Wilhelmina, and Nat's covert entry into the prism support group. Together these moments reveal the human—and non-human—costs running beneath each story's surface.

The supporting moments that deepen each story's world and characters.

Bashaarat inserts his arm into a metal hoop and demonstrates a real time delay, proving to Fuwaad the gate is genuine.

Ajib marries Taahira using gold stolen from his future self, only to face her kidnapping and near financial ruin.

Fuwaad arrives in Baghdad's past too late—his wife Najya has already died in the mosque collapse before he can reach her.

The narrator realizes the turret clocks are not malfunctioning—the robots' own brains are running slower as air pressure shifts.

The future narrator admits the final irony: even sending the warning about free will was itself an act of no free will.

Jax tells Ana 'Love you too' when she declares she loves him, cementing the depth of their bond.

Ana receives a job offer from Polytope that would require her to use InstantRapport, a drug that chemically induces affection.

Ana confronts Derek after learning he sold Marco to Binary Desire, not knowing he did it entirely to protect her.

Dr. Thackery discovers that Edmund flourishes when given an Automatic Nanny but cannot form any connection with human beings.

Lionel visits Edmund at the institute and, tormented by guilt over his failures, brings his son home to raise through machines.

Moseby introduces Jijingi to written language, permanently changing how Jijingi processes speech and thinks about truth and memory.

Jijingi discovers his tribe's lineage aligns with the Jechira but chooses to stay silent and honor community bonds over factual record.

The parrot sends its final message to humanity through Arecibo, echoing Alex's last words: 'You be good. I love you.'

Dorothea writes to her cousin Rosemary confessing her spiritual crisis and stops working at her dig site, feeling her work is meaningless.

Dana watches video files showing timelines where she never betrayed Vinessa and Vinessa still self-destructed, finally forgiving herself for the past.

This pool collects the moments where a revelation or irreversible choice reshapes a character's path forever. It opens with Bashaarat's simple proof of time delay and moves through Ajib's self-inflicted ruin, Fuwaad's devastating arrival too late to save his wife, and the narrator of 'Exhalation' achieving its breakthrough insight about slowing brains. The Predictor story delivers its darkest irony, before the pool follows Jax and Ana's deepening bond, Ana's drug-tied job offer, and Derek's silent sacrifice for her sake. Edmund's breakthrough with the mechanical arms and Lionel's belated reckoning with fatherhood carry the fifth story to its turning point, while Jijingi's discovery of his tribe's true lineage tests whether written truth or community loyalty matters more. The pool closes with the parrot's farewell, Dorothea's confessed crisis, and Dana finally forgiving herself upon watching alternate timelines she never knew existed.