Chapter 42 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 42 — Warrants

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Unhinged Child · Previous: Chapter 41 — The Society for the Eradication of Cocker Spaniels · Next: Chapter 43 — The Midnight Epicure · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

I wasn’t given the opportunity to say goodbye to the Popovs.

Summary

Twenty gnoll guards take the pens; one laughs at 'that was pretty awesome' and is growled quiet. Zev: Nihit is healed and pressing assault charges — off system, outside Borant's jurisdiction, a full citizen against a non-citizen. How Syndicate justice works: no long-term prisons; a conviction gives a sentence in cycles and a warrant in credits, shelved until a crawler leaves the dungeon; the lighter the crime the higher the warrant, and after several offences the warrant drops low enough that a system government or mega-corporation can buy it out, paying a franchise fee of some five times the warrant per cycle, the warrant itself, feeding, housing, transport, a death tax and the wages paid on release — franchisees sent to frontier colonies, factories and mines. 'That's still slavery.' 'They're criminals.' Odette had a warrant and married the president of the corporation that bought her out; Prince Maestro is franchised to a subsidiary of a subsidiary the Skull Empire later acquired, a loophole for the ultra-rich. Carl's likely sentence: 30,000 credits and three cycles, and 'someone like the Skull Empire will buy you out.' Why Nihit rages: nagas cannot control their emotions, and his brother married into the Blood Sultanate and fights in Faction Wars; he wants Carl and Donut out of the dungeon before the ninth floor, and belongs to a small, growing conspiracy that thinks the two of them are antichrists sent to bring the apocalypse. Carl recites the Crown of the Sepsis Whore from memory: Donut must kill the Sultan and every royal, the royals always survive to the end, and if someone else has put the regenerated crown on, that person must die too. 'You might want to worry about surviving the sixth floor first, Carl.'

Characters

• Carl — Charged with assault; learns how prisoners are franchised; recites the crown.
• Zev — Explains warrants and Nihit's brother in the Blood Sultanate.
• Nihit — Healed, pressing charges, and part of an antichrist conspiracy.
• Odette — Had a warrant; married the man who bought it.
• Prince Maestro — Franchised to a Skull Empire shell company.

Locations

• The Valtay landing vessel — An empty production room and a wet green room.

Motifs

• The Syndicate — Warrants, franchises, frontier labour: prison as a market.
• The Blood Sultanate — The crown's clause again; Nihit's brother; royals always reach the end.
• Entertainment as machinery — 'It pays to be wealthy.'