Chapter 18

Carl undergoes an intense interview with crawler Rosetta about his traumatic past, revealing details about his mother's suicide, father's abandonment, and time at the Anacortes Boys' Ranch. The interview is abruptly terminated by Harbinger, who accuses Rosetta and Carl of communicating in code and bans Rosetta from future crawler interviews. Carl realizes Rosetta was a former cookbook owner trying to convey important information about the toraline root vegetable through coded references to potatoes and milk.

Carl sits for an interview with Rosetta, a crawler journalist, along with Donut, Zev (his liaison), and Quasar (his attorney) present. Rosetta probes Carl's personal history, forcing him to discuss his mother's suicide on his fifteenth birthday and his father's subsequent abandonment. Carl reluctantly recounts how he was left alone in the family home for months before social services intervened, enduring a police interrogation where detectives treated him with false kindness while suspecting him of killing his father. He reveals his father was eventually found alive in Wisconsin. Carl is then placed in state custody and sent to the Anacortes Boys' Ranch, where he spends two years in relative stability with food, shelter, and medical care, working maintenance jobs. At the ranch, Carl cooked a stew made with milk and potatoes for the other residents on stew nights. As the interview progresses, Rosetta references details about Carl's cooking and asks leading questions about root vegetables. Harbinger, the liaison protecting the crawl's integrity, interrupts and accuses Rosetta and Carl of communicating in code, immediately dismissing Rosetta and her attorney Quasar from the interview and banning Rosetta from all future crawler interviews. Zev is furious about the disruption and financial consequences. After returning to the green room, Carl realizes that Rosetta was deliberately sending him a message through their exchange about potatoes and milk—coded references to the toraline root vegetable. He deduces that Rosetta is a former cookbook owner employed by the Open Intellect Pacifist Network, and that whatever task they want him to perform involving the toraline root is of critical importance. Donut attempts to comfort Carl about his traumatic past, and Zev informs them that a special about Carl's crawl has already aired and that Donut will have her own special airing tonight.