Chapter 73 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Chapter 73 — The Garden of Deliverance; the ducts

Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible One · Previous: Chapter 72 — Have You Ever Seen the Rain; Minus unmasked · Next: Chapter 74 — Human shells; Ad Infinitum · Floor: Floor 10 — Don't Come in Last · Series: the series

Opening

» Imani: It went smoothly.

Summary

Imani: 227 sent to the Cabaret besides Na — Carl's bot took forty, Bobby Montague the Illusionist's 105; Zhang, Tran, Daniel, Archie, Randall 3 gone; every bot bought at once. Mordecai: the cactus steady with one bloom; the druid Ronit tied a small plant to each crawler, two-hundred-odd pots in a glass terrarium in the common room (sluggalos were eyeing them) — wilt or dust is death, flowers are escape, 'the only way we’ll know. Even the showrunners can’t see what’s going on in there.' Donut: THE GARDEN OF DELIVERANCE. 'Don’t you dare die this heat.' At the line: Pontiff driving, horns against the windshield, Donut on Dorota, Carl in the bloodstained chair that smells of Dong. He is rattled at being among the last to notice Linus; the AI stopped Harbinger and ignored Linus because they clearly knew; what else waits — Osvaldo, and Agatha, vanished. The new mercenary: Nester, a blue-skinned Zebani, level 65 Cartographer with gravity spells and Radar — and the memory of Burcu accusing Carl of killing her father, presumably Emir, a Zebani. Dwight arrives drunk again — 'Good.' 'If he was clever before, he will be clever again. Maybe.' The start is chrome and bouncy — 'a 1950s version of the future' — until Louis: 'Anybody else’s starting block inside of a giant AC duct?' Florin in a sewer pipe; Prepotente on physics ('My mass feels like normal […] be careful with falls'), LEGO® at 15.8 mm ('How did you type the registered-mark thing?' 'AND WHY?'); Elle 'inside of a goddamned waterless shitter lined up like turds', a very pink room. Dr. Metcalf's fan-voted 'improvement' is a hologram in a pantsuit and big red glasses — Bea's therapist, eerily — plus diagnostics of nonessential systems ('Your freezer is running too cold'), slower than before. Donut: Bea took her to a session for a cleansing crystal circle before the Pussy Willow Cat Club regional in Portland, $800 on Carl's card for the chakra and crystal fees; 'I SMELLED LIKE FRANKINCENSE FOR A MONTH.' The hologram balloons Samantha-style — 'I can talk about you, too' — and puts Dorota into diagnostics, mute for hours; she restores the belts but keeps the voice off. Apartment 712, seventh floor; the lobby is the finish; elevator stuck between five and six; stairwell, sewer pipes, wall paths. Osvaldo proposes the elevator shaft with Donut's Hole — 'we’re working together, but we ain’t friends'; his game guide said never take a deal on the tenth, 'It’s better to die'; 'Only if I come in last place.' 'You goddamn bullheaded idiot.' 'Hey.' Nester to call every void. A last-minute rule: a hidden ring in every apartment, seven to pass, one mandatory per team — theirs apartment 231. 'Shields up.'

Characters

• Carl — Rattled at being among the last to see Linus; 'You goddamn bullheaded idiot.'
• Princess Donut — Bea's therapist, $800, frankincense.
• Pontiff — Horns against the windshield; 'If he was clever before, he will be clever again. Maybe.'
• Nester — A Zebani Cartographer with gravity spells and Radar.
• Imani — 227 to the Cabaret; 'Don’t you dare die this heat.'
• Mordecai — Ronit's plants; the terrarium.
• Elle McGibbons — 'Lined up like turds.'
• Louis and Firas — 'Inside of a giant AC duct?'; 'like in Ant-Man!'
• Prepotente — LEGO® at 15.8 mm; be careful with falls.
• Florin — In a sewer pipe.
• Osvaldo — 'We ain’t friends'; 'It’s better to die.'
• Dwight and Lucienne (Team Sparkles) — Drunk at the line again.
• Bea — Took Donut to a cleansing crystal circle.
• Agatha — Vanished, and that makes Carl nervous.

Locations

• The L'Engle Building — Apartment 712, seventh floor; the lobby is the finish; a ring per floor.
• The Royal Palace of Princess Donut — The Garden of Deliverance under glass.

Motifs

• The Garden of Deliverance — A plant per crawler: wilt is death, flowers are escape.
• Dr. Metcalf (the Navitron 1000) — A hologram of Bea's therapist that mutes Dorota.
• Dorota — Put into diagnostics.
• The tourists — Who else waits to pounce.
• The deal — Osvaldo's guide said never on the tenth.