Chapter 1 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 1 — The Ghosts of Earth

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Prologue — Prologue · Next: Chapter 2 — Hills Cyclops · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

» Welcome, Crawler to the eighth floor.

Summary

Eighth floor: 21 days, 13 septillion views, a bounty of two million, 38,532 crawlers, 'It is December 10th', a squad with six open slots — and El Capitolio in Havana, empty, marble and tile under Christmas ribbons, black smoke past every window. Donut, number two now, chose Cuba because the Bahamas book was 'quite obviously a trap'; Mordecai has skipped a floor with them ('By his left tit, what did you guys do?'). Ten minutes to choose: Donut refuses Agony Urchin ('I WILL NEVER PICK A CLASS THAT CHANGES THE WAY I LOOK') and takes Master Telephone Psychic — Venom Spitter kept at level 3, a map that sees the whole building, Brain Freeze, Bad Attitude, Why Are You Hitting Yourself?, five intelligence. Check-ins: Imani and Elle in separate squads at a Great Wolf Lodge in the western United States, Katia in Iceland, Li Na's team with Chris among hundreds in Beijing's Galaxy Soho, Florin in Ecuador, Prepotente gone to the Bahamas. Cascadia, unchipper, explains: 293 regions, 205 occupied, two stairwells each; three phases, phase two in fourteen days, no exit key before; unbreakable squads of up to five with six extra slots to fill or be filled at random; a 99-kilometre circle; an exact replica of Earth on the recorded date, its people intangible ghosts going about their lives, everything else tangible with mass and momentum until a crawler touches it — onions, cars, a military base whose loot turns to dust at the collapse; folklore mobs by region ('Those of you in Japan are just plain fucked'); twenty squad flags that turn a dying creature into a T'Ghee totem, a card, a minion, tradeable and stealable, one to keep at the end. Carl knows the word from Allister's 13th edition, where it was a religion; Mordecai knows them as reusable tarot cards, like Bautista's stuffed animals. Carl's arithmetic: Bea's flight was the 26th, so, he has no doubt, they will angle to make them watch her in phase two. Carl explains it to Donut by that Pokémon game on the Nintendo: 'I think it might be a little like that.' Prepotente wants the lore book read to him; Carl wants half his Size-Up potions. A saferoom door appears.

Characters

• Carl — Reads the floor as a trap built around Bea; prices the lore book.
• Princess Donut — Master Telephone Psychic; picked Cuba; number two.
• Mordecai — Skipped a floor with them; advises on classes and totems.
• Cascadia — The floor announcement, without the chipper.
• Imani — A water park in the western United States.
• Elle McGibbons — Split from Imani; 'Are you looking for cigars?'
• Katia Grim — Iceland, a locked stairwell.
• Li Na — Beijing, with hundreds of crawlers and Chris.
• Florin — Ecuador; left the party before the break.
• Prepotente — In the Bahamas, wanting the book read to him.

Locations

• Havana — El Capitolio's rotunda; December 10th; 99 kilometres to explore.

Motifs

• The ghosts of Earth — A memory of Earth: intangible people, tangible things; loot that turns to dust.
• T'Ghee totems — Twenty flags, a card per dying creature, a squad to fill.
• Race and class — Master Telephone Psychic over Agony Urchin.
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Allister's T'Ghee, a religion.
• Bea — A trap in the Bahamas; the 26th.