Chapter 11 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles
Chapter 11 — The second cleaner bot
Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible One · Previous: Chapter 10 — Carl's boxes; Rishi's junk · Next: Chapter 12 — The Team Roundabout; the Wild Hunt · Floor: Floor 10 — Don't Come in Last · Series: the series
Opening
“ ‘Neon Blue’?” Donut exclaimed as she continued to examine the bootleg makeup palette.
Summary
Donut audits the bootleg palette ('You can’t even make a good smoky eye with any of this') and complains to Zev; Samantha surfaces with a used lipstick called Pussy Lips and keeps it. Carl hands Mordecai the white cleaner bot — an old model, still bloody from Architect Houston's operating theatre — to reset and put to work on the pile without disintegrating anything useful. In the garage, Splash Zone, Dong, Mongo and Rend watch Hedy balance a wrench while a crew of gremlins Carl has never seen crawl the truck, flipping him off and dragging the tommy gun back onto the roof: Hedy says they do the bulk of the repairs for a few hours after each race, do not talk, and are probably not real gremlins. Dong helps Mongo into the nemes. 'Gotta know which ones to trust.' 'We don’t trust anyone, Hedy.' 'I think we’s gon get along just fine, yessir.'
Characters
- Carl — Hands Mordecai the white cleaner bot from Architect Houston's theatre.
- Princess Donut — Audits the bootleg palette: 'You can’t even make a good smoky eye.'
- Samantha — Keeps a used lipstick called Pussy Lips.
- Mordecai — Resets the bot to sort the pile.
- Hedy — Balances a wrench; the silent repair gremlins 'Don’t think thems real gremlins'; 'We don’t trust anyone.'
- Splash Zone — In the circle watching Hedy.
- Dong Quixote — Helps Mongo into the nemes.
- Mongo — Into his hat.
- Garret — Rend bounces for his headband.
- Zev — Complained to in chat.
Locations
- Safe rooms — The sorting.
- The garage and the cul-de-sac — Gremlins crawl the truck, dragging the tommy gun back on.
Motifs
- Rishi's junk — The pile to be sorted without disintegrating anything useful.
- The cleaner bots — Two now; they beep at each other.
- The Princess Posse — The palette complaint to Zev.