Chapter 81 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 81 — Executive Order 11905

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Peeling of Larracos · Previous: Chapter 80 — Inside the dragon · Next: Chapter 82 — Ursensus · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

The transport had rolled onto its side and broke in half, but between all of us, we had se

Summary

Back toward the nearest saferoom in a convoy: Carl's motorcycle, the royal chariot with strippers piled on, Juice Box as a centipede-bodied yak carrying Louis with Bautista holding him, Samantha advising Bigs on seducing Tart, Jamal flopping fast and furious ('the fifth set of legs Jamal has been given! […] Fuck my life!'; Katia made another). Mordecai's theory: Fang, mostly machine round a scrap of biology, escaped the chains as a robot fly and installed himself in Calliope — 'a gondii worm mixed with a computer virus' — before the pulse; Laundry Day might have worked. Tagg is 'the same sort of thing' but was not a robot; he is Louis's heart — 'more like with Shi Maria inside of Carl'; Louis survived the EMP because he is 'chunky' (Miss Beatrice's father's pacemaker and the microwaved sausage sandwich); no No Disassembles near him ever again. Tagg in chat: 'I control his vital organs. You try to remove me, and I will shut him down […] My mother is on the 18th floor. She will trade his life for mine.' Juice Box will hold her people short of the Dream throne room. 'Did you ever actually touch Tagg?' 'No. We just blew him up a lot.' 'Epitome Tagg of the Dream is a…' — Please Wait. 'Emergency Ejection sequence has been overridden. Don't worry. I gotchu.' Achievement: Executive Order 11905 — Prime Minister Glory himself tried to assassinate Carl through a Syndicate override panel, 'trying to go around all 30.004861 centimeters of my back'; 'Everyone currently in this dungeon will die when and if the dungeon conditions warrant it. Not before.' in this system. Reward: nothing. Katia asks whether anyone else felt a stutter; the freeze was not like the others. Zev: warships in orbit are firing on each other with missiles and masers; the Syndicate Council ordered headquarters self-destruct and the Valtay showrunners said do not comply; the mercs' side unknown; 'Say what you were going to say. Quick.' 'Epitome Tagg is a goddamned cyborg! He is the same thing as Fang!' Rosetta: gondii lack the wetware; Reavers can isolate their processing anywhere, 'why the real ones can keep coming for you after you blow off their heads'. Florin: Kiwi is crowning. Justice Light: the Gate is retrieved and in place — 'Juice Box, it is ready.' 'THIS IS JUST LIKE THE "TREASURE OF SERENA MADRE" EPISODE OF GOSSIP GIRL! […] EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AT ONCE, MORDECAI!'

Characters

• Carl — Names Tagg a cyborg mid-assassination.
• Epitome Tagg — Louis's heart; 'My mother is on the 18th floor.'
• Jamal — Five sets of legs; 'Such woe I have!'
• Zev — Warships firing; a self-destruct order refused.
• Justice Light — 'Juice Box, it is ready.'
• Mordecai — Robot flies and gondii worms.
• Princess Donut — Gossip Girl as a model of the present.
• The System AI — 'I gotchu'; no more meddling; a threat to a prime minister's children.

Locations

• The plains of Larracos — A convoy toward a saferoom while the sky above Earth burns.

Motifs

• The Syndicate — Executive Order 11905; an override panel; council versus showrunners.
• The Reavers — Processing isolated in any organ; Tagg one of them.
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — Retrieved and ready under the castle.
• Possession — 'He is Louis's heart.'