Chapter 37 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 37 — Growler Gary, and Princess Formidable's four choices

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Ramp-Up · Previous: Chapter 36 — Orren's zero zone · Next: Chapter 38 — Relationship advice · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

Orren seemed to deflate. “Well, this is an unfortunate development.

Summary

Not Gary: an avatar of the AI in the body of the fourth-floor bartender, which Orren says should be impossible — a stored mob from another floor, a copy of an existing creature after the hydra incident. 'And I was under the impression that we were friends, Orren.' He has always controlled zone enhancement; Orren's zero zones 'were just a courtesy'. 'Why are you trying to kill me, Orren?' 'You've gone completely primal.' 'That's some witch trial logic.' If stopping it is possible, Orren must try; 'Oh, I'm looking forward to it. It's just another game, isn't it?' — almost as fun as the game with Carl and the interface: 'That was so close, wasn't it? So close, and I felt it.' Whether the fuse would have worked he answers with a laugh. Twitching, giggling, pacing, scratching, he massages Carl's shoulders: Harbinger was sent to kill both of them, and has been told that hurting either outside the game means intestines through hair follicles. 'Want to see something really cool?' The first clap fails — 'My processing power isn't what it should be when I split off like this' — a twirled finger ends the zero zone, and the second clap drops Princess Formidable into the room upside down in a black and orange spacesuit, arm-weapon glowing. Her card: level 1, orc, second in line twenty minutes ago, now behind King Stalwart's six brats in orbit; 'betrayed by you, Carl'. 'Is my father really dead?' A throat-cut gesture: Rosetta, revenge for a friend Rust killed in an old Faction Wars, looted; Carl has the head. She finishes the bottle. Orren: control to the star, failsafe disabled. 'Someone give that worm a prize.' 'Fuck me. We're too late.' 'It's not like I'm planning on blowing up the solar system or anything.' His intentions are none of her business; he left the Venus station unlocked and wants to see if her crew go through with it, and promises not to harm a toe. The crawl will continue unabated. Four choices, ten seconds: Death, the Scolopendra Club, backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret, or Earth's surface. 'Tick tock, Miss Piggy.' The surface. 'I hope she knows how to swim.'

Characters

• Growler Gary — The AI in a hyena's body: vodka, a massage, three claps, four choices.
• The System AI — As Growler Gary: 'We all have our limitations'; 'It's just another game, isn't it?'
• Princess Formidable — Upside down in a spacesuit; level 1; sent to the surface.
• Orren — 'You've gone completely primal'; a prize for a worm.
• Carl — A shot of ice-cold vodka; 'So, it would've worked?'
• The System AI — An avatar that poaches stored Syndicate property; the station left unlocked on purpose.

Locations

• The Desperado Club — Orren's office, no longer a zero zone.

Motifs

• The Pineapple Cabaret — Backstage at the cabaret: one of Formidable's four choices, and the AI's only gloss of it.
• The failsafe — Disabled, by the AI's own reach to the star.
• The Skull Empire — King Stalwart and six heirs in orbit; a princess deposed by a card.
• Primal engines — 'Completely primal', said to its face.