Chapter 26 of 35 · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

Chapter 26 — Lusca

Book: The Gate of the Feral Gods · Previous: Chapter 25 — The Akula · Next: Chapter 27 — Leatherface · Floor: Floor 5 — The Bubbles · Series: the series

Opening

I clambered toward the door of the bridge as the music started to pulse.

Summary

Dubstep whale-song boss music with nothing frozen yet. Six of the seven bodies on the bridge are changeling principals, Henrik among them — the fish in the watch's mirror was Henrik on his way to the Akula on a plan B that failed; 'Killed by a very pissed-off Quetzalcoatlus.' The bridge is a Victorian Enterprise: a rusted chandelier, a mural of a bugbear knighted by an elf, a brass throne with an empty minibar, and a twenty-five-foot brass-framed porthole against which a sucker the size of half the window presses. The sub is wrenched off the tomb and dragged down: 550 metres, then settled at 1,500, the very bottom of the bubble, in green light, turned around. Katia could not get clear and is inside, coming through the airlock. Carl loots Henrik's whole body — the second Mysterious Watch, the Gate's last piece, and a Torn Book Page — and the world freezes for a moment — 'Please Wait', the second such glitch — then an administrative lock on three items pending a Syndicate court appeal, then 'Court determination: Lack of Standing for all plaintiffs.' Someone sued to keep the Gate from him. The torn page, from a cleric's journal (the other side a love poem to his aunt): the Wailing Shrieker, a ghost formed when a widow dies of grief in the dark on hallowed ground beside her lover's rotting corpse, bred deliberately by paranoid kings to guard their tombs; killed by exorcism, banishment, the destruction of the lover's corpse, or electric shock; neutralised by any flesh-giving spell. Carl gives Gwen a set of instructions for the storm.

A mountain-sized glowing shark with tentacles behind it — a sharktopus — turns sideways to eat the sub like a taco, and only then does the world freeze: 'This Special Event boss battle is being streamed to all special event subscribers'; a beta-test format with a survey after. The recap host, Kevin, and an orc sportscaster in a tie, Magnificent Troy, commentate live over the lowered music, regretting that Donut is not there. Carl, in chat, orders every depth charge set to maximum depth and dropped, and everyone he knows into a saferoom. 'It's Lusca!' — Octo-Shark Brood Mother Queen, level 82 City Boss, from the water moon Hayes 17: a mouthbrooding single mother whose card calls her a whore who trades 'that sweet tentacle booty' for food dropped on her plate by males — 'Just like your real daddy!' — and the party is the food. She bites the Akula in half, and a football-play diagram explains: the babies get ten minutes to eat, then mama swallows the rest, through three stomachs, out the other end as a skeleton in heart boxers, with a cartoon Donut weeping. The commentators fall about laughing. A ten-minute timer. 'Goddamnit, not this shit again.'

Characters

• Carl — Henrik's body and the last watch; a court case in his inventory; depth charges ordered; eaten.
• Katia Grim — Fled into the sub instead of up; asked to grab the map.
• Princess Donut — 'WON'T THE DEATH CHARGES HIT YOU, TOO?'
• Tran — 'Hey,' at 'underperforming.'
• Vadim Zbar — Staring out the porthole.
• Henrik — Dead on the Akula's bridge with five of his kind; the second watch on him.
• Gwendolyn Duet — Two and a half hours to the storm; instructions received.
• Louis and Firas — Told to drop the charges and land.
• Kevin and Magnificent Troy — The recap host and an orc sportscaster, commentating live.
• Quetzalcoatlus — A Wailing Shrieker: how she was made, how she dies.
• Shamus Chaindrive — A head in a jar on spider legs, broken on the bridge floor.

Locations

• The Akula — The bridge: chandelier, mural, throne, porthole; bitten in half at 1,500 metres.
• The water quadrant — The bottom of the bubble, green-lit.

Motifs

• Lusca — A level-82 city boss; a mouthbrooder; ten minutes.
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — All three pieces in one inventory; a lawsuit with no standing.
• The Syndicate — A court freezes the world over three items.
• The show — A Special Event, live-commentated, beta-tested, with a survey.
• The System AI — 'Just like your real daddy!'
• The changelings — Dead on the bridge; plan B failed.
• The gods — How to neutralise a ghost: give her flesh.