Motif · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The Valtay Corporation

A name Carl finds in his inventory's history tab attached to a pulse pistol, a personal shield and an illegal communications relay that passed through his hands inside Agatha's shopping cart. Odette says they are a parasitic corporate government with a fleet parked outside the Borant system, and the next season will be theirs.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 2 — Hills Cyclops
• Chapter 12 — Shadow Boxer
• Chapter 13 — Milk and potatoes
• Chapter 21 — The warlords' table
• Chapter 36 — Nekhebit
• Chapter 37 — The eye of the Bedlam Bride
• Chapter 48 — Mass Layoffs
• Chapter 51 — Residuals
• Chapter 52 — Two of five
• Epilogue — Homecoming Queen

Progression

Likely irritated with Borant's engineers, and likely ramping up the difficulty, by Mordecai's reckoning (ch. 2); Valtay rules require a liaison whenever a crawler is alone with a sponsor (ch. 12); dozens of staff lost in the changeover, and no micro AI assistants allowed (ch. 13); ships that fire on each other, manual routing, and stepping back for investor confidence (ch. 21); Drick, a worm head with a Valtay life extension, refused as adjutant (ch. 36, ch. 37); the Valtay solution: extinction by mercenary (epilogue).