Part 8 — Chapter 5

Summary

• The chapter is set in a farm run by an old couple - Clara and Mariam. They were happy to have the protagonist as a paying boarder and respected his privacy.
• The protagonist was given identity paperwork by his sister, allowing him to go by the name Gaspery. He had no need for these for the first few years as he stayed on the farm.
• Gaspery feared he would need to leave the farm after observing the age and ill-health of the couple, and remarked on a past case at the 'Institute' involving a doppelgänger which made him worry about facial recognition technology spotting him in different timelines.
• He decided to undergo a process of facial resculpting and iris recoloring to avoid detection in case he had to leave. The procedure left him looking noticeably different, but still recognizable to himself.