Watch Me

James sits with his friends Kenji and Winston and his brother Adam in the New Republic. They eat snacks and lecture James for being so reckless, telling him that he should never have left on his own, much less bring back a girl from the Reestablishment. James insists there is something different about Rosa. He feels that she could be useful, but the others think he just likes her because she’s beautiful. He is relieved to hear she’s in stable condition but is irritated to learn that he won’t be allowed to see her. In addition, several of his security clearances have been removed, and his oldest brother, Warner, ruler of the New Republic, is angry.

Warner arrives looking stern, angry, and impatient. He takes James to see Rosa, who is in the hospital recovering. On the way, Warner tells James he will need to do more than apologize to make up for what he did, and tells him that he may never leave unannounced again. Warner is impressed by James’s resourcefulness in retrieving the chip from the squirrel but sees almost everything else he did as reckless and dangerous.