Chapter 88 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Epilogue — Epilogue: Don't Come in Last

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Peeling of Larracos · Previous: Chapter 87 — The Nothing has been broken · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

I have killed those I have been ordered to kill.

Summary

York alone aboard the Homecoming Queen, its ghost, writing bad verse and broadcasting it until blocked; a tenodera, small, flightless, bred in old wars to feel nothing when cracking enemy hives, numb since his ninth floor; he vaporised the orc yacht of children — the new orc king aboard, a side mission Rosetta had asked him point-blank whether he had the fortitude for — with a point-defence NPB, though everyone assumed the orcs were caught in the crossfire, and felt nothing, and mourns not feeling — 'He wanted to do it because he wanted to feel something afterward.' The ship is secretly the strongest in orbit, with enhancement-zone weapons Porthus had installed that are now green. News: a new Prime Minister; the Dream cruiser down over Australia; a Nebular colony's mass suicide; Hive Re-Population Center 51's star gone nova. Boomer calls, older: 'Roses are red. Violets are blue. We won Faction Wars. Now we get to kill more of them.' Porthus on the feed, recorded earlier: a militant group will move against Syndicate property everywhere unless the crawl stops by its end. Breaching suits, enhancement-zone suits and power armour online; 'four of the Cronus suits and a landing skiff. We have a pregnant veteran on the surface who needs backup […] time to bring the war out of the dungeon.' York feels something, finally. His card: Advocate, tenodera, top level 71, took the deal at the end of the tenth, Poetry guild, tenth Cookbook, captain in the Open Intellect Action Network. Quest complete. Carl in a freezing zero zone with Quasar in a Mongo tie: 'The sound of nobody dying […] I could live here, in this room.' 'Do you know what I'm going through?' 'Of course not.' Deals, all bad because so many survived — fifty seasons undead, the bomber's guild with a Milk-style exit clause — and one not bad: Chaco's last season, a replacement offered jointly to Carl and Donut, still open at the end of the tenth. The tenth floor, for a season's price already paid by the quest: 'Don't Come in Last' — pick a conveyance, biological or mechanical, travel A to B, upgrade, repeat; last place loses its containment; NPC teams. 'Katia would have excelled at that.' 'I am not taking a deal.' 'I am shocked.' Donut's lawyer is Princess Chandra, Esquire, and their meeting had fireworks: 'She's your new wife.' Squirties waystation outside the Earth tunnel gate: Zander the saccathian, ruined by the embargo, 25,000 a month to Dictum, shelving Veriluxx Real Pet Companion toys (Donut and Mongo still sell; Gimli, Geraldo and Skyler Spinach do not); Robot Uzi Jesus ('Dad damnit! […] does not endorse blasphemy'; 'You could start a church!'); Raul: 'Never kowtow!' A tall elf-like woman with a long neck and naga eyes picks up the toy — 'Is this an icon of the Earth deity?' 'Don't look at my dick, lady!' — 'Are you a fan of Nami?' 'Are you asking Eris, goddess of chaos if she's wearing a costume?' She snaps her fingers and his tentacles spew. 'Holy Mary mother of me.'

Characters

• York — Kills a yacht of children on Rosetta's side mission and feels nothing until the war leaves the dungeon.
• Boomer — Back in orbit, older; a poem; Cronus suits for a pregnant veteran.
• Porthus — Announces the Open Intellect Action Network.
• Carl — Declines every deal; learns the tenth floor's name and his wife's.
• Quasar — A Mongo tie; 'Of course not.'
• Princess Chandra — Donut's lawyer; Carl's new wife.
• Eris — Outside the dungeon at a fuel stop, in her own body.
• Zander — Squirties, ruined.

Locations

• The Homecoming Queen — Armed in secret; docking to load soldiers.
• The Outreach Guild — A zero-zone cubicle with Quasar.
• Squirties — A waystation outside the Earth gate.

Motifs

• The Open Intellect Pacifist Action Network — Now the Action Network; 'stop the crawl or else'.
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — York, tenth edition; Rosetta, ninth.
• The tenth floor — 'Don't Come in Last.'
• Already married — Princess Chandra, Esquire.
• The gods — Eris walks the galaxy.