Mickey8 is also Mickey Barnes, but he is a multiple, printed while Mickey7 was unexpectedly still alive. Mickey8 adds complication to Mickey7’s existence, as Mickey7 comes literally face to face with himself in unexpected ways. Mickey7 does not know what to do when it comes to splitting a life with another version of himself, especially as they share a room. Mickey7 states, “It’s a little weird sharing a bed with myself, but I guess we’ll have to get used to it” (86). Though Mickey7 finds the situation difficult, he has open-mindedness toward Mickey8, viewing him as a permanent fixture that he must become accustomed to.

Mickey8 reciprocates Mickey7’s feelings, as he expresses empathy for Mickey7, saying, “I know you’re hurting too, and I do appreciate the offer. You’re a good guy, Seven” (174). However, he continues, “I’m gonna feel terrible when I finally wind up strangling you in your sleep and eating your corpse” (174). With this comment, Mickey8 illustrates that he possesses the same sarcastic sense of humor as Mickey7, but there is a grain of truth in his joke. His plan to kill Mickey7 and take over their life, even their relationship with Nasha, highlights that, unlike Mickey7, he possesses a violent instinct when it comes to his own survival. 

This comfort with violence also manifests in Mickey8’s attitude toward the creepers. When Mickey7 states he doesn’t want to use antimatter bombs on the creepers, Mickey8 says, “It doesn’t matter. You heard what Marshall said. If we don’t do this, we go into the cycler, and we don’t get to come back out” (262). Mickey8 only cares about the continuing cycle of death and regeneration, while Mickey7 seeks to break the cycle. In this way, Mickey7 and Mickey8 are foils. Mickey7 seeks to break the cycle of colonial violence, while Mickey8 wants to perpetuate the cycle for his own gain.

Nasha Adjaya is Mickey Barnes’ love interest and one of the combat pilots on Niflheim. Nasha’s parents were refugees from the failed colony New Hope, a colony that collapsed due to civil war. Her parents fled to Midgard, where Nasha grew up. Because of the prejudice against New Hope colonists on Midgard, Nasha sought a new future in a new, ideally unbiased place. With her decision to learn to fly so she could obtain a job as a combat pilot, Nasha illustrates her determination and intelligence. 

Nasha is the only person Mickey trusts, as she’s been with him since he was Mickey3 and appreciates and loves him for who he truly is. Nasha also shows great compassion for Mickey’s situation, comforting him through his most horrific deaths, including the death of Mickey3. As he coughed up his own lung tissue, Nasha held him and talked to him, which Mickey remembers clearly: “It was awful, what she did then, and it was beautiful, and if I live another thousand years I will never stop being grateful for it” (225). Nasha’s treatment of Mickey as an individual helps him see himself as a human and makes him feel loved and valued even as he experiences agony.

Nasha is tough; she tells Mickey7 and Mickey8 that Cat won’t tell Command about the “multiples” situation as there will be blowback; when Mickey7 asks what the blowback is, Nasha says, “Me…I’m the blowback” (218). However, Nasha’s character becomes more complex with the gentler elements of her personality. Mickey7 loves Nasha’s giggle, which is “soft and delicate, and when she giggles she has a tendency to look to the side and cover her mouth with her hand. The effect is so at odds with her whole badass-combat-pilot thing that it’s almost like she becomes a different person” (54). Nasha’s softness is so different from her external toughness that Mickey7 almost doesn’t recognize her, and this dual nature of her personality makes her and Mickey even closer, as he understands how someone’s personality can change depending on their current role. This closeness illustrates the importance of their relationship in both the text and Mickey’s life.

Berto Gomez is Mickey Barnes’s friend and another combat pilot on Niflheim. Mickey states that Berto “looks an awful lot like a pasty-pale, redheaded stick bug” (32), as he is taller and more muscular than other colonists on the colony. At the start of the narrative, Mickey7 thinks he and Berto are close—in fact, Mickey followed Berto on the Drakkar expedition. However, after Berto fails to rescue Mickey7 from the crevice, their relationship is changed, especially after Berto lies that creepers ate Mickey7, who thinks, “I get that he doesn’t want to admit that he left me to die down there. That’s the kind of thing that could definitely crimp a friendship. I’m wondering now, though, about what really happened to Six. Did Berto lie to me about that too?” (34). Berto broke Mickey7’s trust without realizing that he was talking to Mickey7, and deceit became a part of their friendship, a friendship that Mickey7 notes “only ever went so far, and no farther” (45).

Berto’s lies did not stem from pure selfishness but instead from fear: He failed to rescue Mickey6 and Mickey7 because he was afraid of the creepers. Mickey7 responded with incredulity, saying, “You risked actually getting cycled because you couldn’t admit to me, to Marshall … to yourself? You couldn’t let anyone know that there was something out there that frightened you?” (261). Berto let two Mickeys die (or at least thought he did) because of his ego, a unique blend of fear and selfishness that worked together to motivate him not only to leave Mickey behind, but to also lie about it repeatedly, illustrating his self-centered nature and view of Mickey as expendable.

Cat Chen is a security guard on Niflheim. At the start of the narrative, she doesn’t know much about Mickey other than he’s an Expendable. However, she befriends Mickey7 during the creeper hunt. This friendship leads Marshall to accuse Cat of being romantic with Mickey7, saying, “Chen, I really don’t know what to make of you at this point. I’m beginning to suspect that you may have had some preexisting relationship with Barnes, which you should have disclosed prior to the sortie” (127). Cat is understandably upset that Marshall falsely accused her of having romance distract her from her mission, as he did not accuse Mickey7 of the same indiscretion, illustrating Marshall’s sexist attitude.

Despite this issue, she keeps her friendship with Mickey7, becoming so loyal to him that she refuses to turn in Mickey7 and Mickey8, saying, “You sort of saved my life two days ago, and yesterday I saved yours. You slept in my bed. After all that, do you really think I’d just turn you in without talking first?” (212). Cat displays empathy for Mickey7 and attempts to understand his perception of immortality. However, her questions about immortality make Mickey7 doubt her intentions when Marshall names her as a replacement Expendable. Mickey7 says to her, “The good of the colony. Right. This is what you were on about the other night, isn’t it? Do I think I’m immortal? I guess you’ve got your answer to that now, huh?” (251). Mickey7 doubts Cat’s intentions, but after he returns from the creepers’ tunnels, he accepts Cat’s apology and realizes that, like him, Cat was also trapped under Marshall’s colonially controlling thumb.