Chapter 21 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 21 — The warlords' table

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Chapter 20 — Ruby · Next: Chapter 22 — Uzi Jesus · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

<Note added by Crawler Herot, 16th Edition>

Summary

'Tea that steeps too long tends to take on an unexpected flavor.' (Herot, 16th Edition, on his worn-path method and longer floors) — The production facility at the bottom of the ocean, no gnoll check, the training-studio wall now blank. Zev by hologram: thousands of ships arriving early because of Prepotente's stunt, the Valtay insisting on manual routing, the Plenty charging for unreserved tunnel gates. Mordecai's 'stealing' is prime drama — the AI would not let viewers watch him with the children, so the story is licensed to Titan as a vid with virtual characters (Mongo is in it; Donut cost too much). Then an official secure sponsor conversation: an Adjutant is a neutral third-party referee-cum-colour-commentator, one per team, physically on the field, probably under a hidden invulnerability rule; Zev advises against Odette — she was Mordecai's manager once, he threw a chair at Chaco and will attack her, lose his contract and half the fostered kids. Carl must pick Odette anyway and needs a plausible reason. The Valtay have stepped back since Prepotente to protect investor confidence for the next crawl they also run; the seventh floor 'was Cascadia's baby'; Borant will be liquefied regardless; Carl and Donut earn at the sponsors' expense. 'Just don't pick Odette […] it would hurt him.' The fifth preproduction meeting: a Mexx robot U56KL ('Urkel'), ten seats, Larracos's boardroom still underwater. Cascadia, the kill-kill-kill lady, aged and clipped, 'one crisis shy of pulling the failsafe, which would kill us all' — Donut recommends moisturiser, cucumber slices and hot yoga; Carl hopes she looks after herself better than Loita; she pops in physically with a rebreather: 'Try it. There are no protections […] I would godsdamned welcome it.' Carl's gauntlet starts to form; 'Quiet, quiet. Don't be so loud.' The warlords: Crown Prince Stalwart ('I don't announce myself'; the codpiece threat; 'Captain Enormous' rejected by the system); Voting Admin Cell Mass Number Three of the Operatic Collective, three merged including Hortense ('Green Jiggly'); Princess Donut, GC BWR NW, of the Princess Posse; Rishi, a four-armed naga representative of the Blood Sultanate, not royal but married into it — 'honor-bound to follow you. Or your companion, Katia' (Carl commits the name); Empress D'Nadia of the Prism Kingdom Clan, newly onboarded; Epitome Tagg of the Dream, one of the richest men in the galaxy, food patents and digestion licences; surfer-voiced Luke of the Lemig Sortion, whose 80%-to-undo democracy cannot leave; a masked viceroy of the Madness, necromancers and cheap surgery; Warlord Fangs of the Reavers, a diesel-shaking 60s robot for Carl's benefit, brains-only cousins of the Nebulars living on a Dyson sphere. The viceroy's head rolls off like a billiard ball — tusked, red-streaked under the mask ('Not again'); Epitome Noflex takes his chair, feet on the table, twirling the mask: 'Hello again, boys.' Tagg, from bored to red-hot: 'My men told me they found you and killed you'; to Carl, 'Your team isn't allowed to kill until the games start. I am filing another appeal'; 'They're becoming self-aware. All of them.' She is an NPC; the AI will not let Cascadia touch it; he regenerates at sunset until the games. Luke: 'We shoulda bugged out when the mantids did […] They left the second we filed that second appeal. We all gonna die here.' Carl: 'Hello, Juice Box. I see you've been busy.'

Characters

• Carl — Told not to pick Odette; nearly squashes Cascadia; recognises Juice Box.
• Princess Donut — Negotiator: Captain Enormous, Green Jiggly, cucumber slices.
• Zev — Secure sponsor talk; 'it would hurt him.'
• Cascadia — Aged, unprotected, daring Carl to end them both.
• Juice Box — Wearing Epitome Noflex, beheading warlords, 'Gotta catch me first.'
• Epitome Tagg — Bored billionaire until his mother's face walks in.
• Prince Stalwart — 'I don't announce myself'; a codpiece threat.
• Rishi — The Blood Sultanate's man at the table; honour-bound to whoever wins the crown.
• Princess D'nadia — Empress now; loved the song; lunch in Larracos.
• Luke — Lemig Sortion, surfer voice, expecting to die.
• Warlord Fangs — The Reavers' robot in a retro shape.
• Mordecai — A Titan vid about his foster children; the reason not to pick Odette.

Locations

• The production facility — Under the ocean; a round table of ten with most seats holographic.

Motifs

• Faction Wars — Nine teams at a table of ten; the Adjutant defined; Larracos still drowned.
• The Valtay Corporation — Stepping back to protect the next crawl; Cascadia's seventh floor.
• The show — Mordecai licensed to Titan; asking the AI is fine, demanding is not.
• The river in Carl's head — 'Quiet, quiet. Don't be so loud.'
• The Blood Sultanate — Rishi, and 'Or your companion, Katia.'
• The Nebulars — The Reavers as their brains-only kin.
• The Dream — Noflex's face as an NPC weapon; 'self-aware. All of them.'
• Borant — To be liquefied no matter what.
• Secrets — Carl needs an excuse to ignore Zev.