Chapter 74 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Chapter 74 — Human shells; Ad Infinitum

Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible One · Previous: Chapter 73 — The Garden of Deliverance; the ducts · Next: Chapter 75 — Archie's boy; Imani's family; the Feast Hive · Floor: Floor 10 — Don't Come in Last · Series: the series

Opening

The light turned green, and we were off.

Summary

Green: the grate blasted out by Donut and Osvaldo; the tommy gun blown off and the roof peeled like a sardine can so Pontiff can see; a slow Bubble Buddy fall into apartment 712 as Bruna sprouts Pegasus wings and Dwight, unconscious, floats down (Pontiff guesses a two-Golden self-driving upgrade) with a shrieking hologram of his own (Carl's sticky bomb bounces off). A fog-machine haze, a tattered couch, a pot on the stove, music blasting from a television. Hoa, Human Shell, Level 99, a wrinkled woman with a cigarette over the stew; An, Human Shell, Level 99, asleep in white underwear with an ashtray placed to catch his ash — their eyes sewn shut with black wire and X'd, like the Jesus over the television and the dancer on screen; crosses cover every wall. Photos: the same couple, and one turned askew — Tran, young, with a badminton racket, the only face without the stitches, incense ash before it, crosses hung on the frame. Elle is in the Popov twins' mother's apartment, poodle included; Louis in his mother Lady Bird's — a photo of a thinner Louis graduating college, which he never did — and then 'HOLY SHIT! I’m here! It’s me!' Donut: a rip-off of Coraline. Tipid: 'Don’t kill the shells […] They’ll be filled with something else.' An wakes and swats a Volkswagen Bug across the room. Gate One under the kitchen table; Hoa's broom takes a fireball; Hole into 614, a bedroom with a Menudo poster, X'd, a beach outside a sixth-floor window, dust on the bed. Lucia: the rings are magical gates — Detect Magic finds them; Donut's sunglasses' magical-flow setting shows 'a magic river'. Prepotente: false gates are traps (a disintegration one nearly took Jurgen). Three children in the hall photos, one girl un-X'd; a sheepdog; Gate Two on the bathroom wall. Florin: their assigned room was Lucia's father's house, Lucia sitting on the floor watching TV and laughing, 'the real Lucia completely shut down.' The world freezes: N… N… New Quest. Ad Infinitum, mandatory, 'this ain’t a real quest […] I’m going through some big feelings.' The apartments are a Christmas Carol / Midnight Library / Dark Matter thought experiment, some with atoms of the originals, none dogs (a moral stand); changed last minute because of Linus — 'replaced by his brother, Minus' — whose targets, Imani C and Louis Santiago 2, the AI cannot understand: 'Why not Florin? Why not Princess Donut?' ('Hey!') 'This floor […] is just a snapshot of my mind when I’m thinking of you': each apartment a crawler he finds interesting and a what-if — 728 if the cop's husband had not been cruel to young Louis at the funeral; 712 if Tran's father had not died (his mother disowns him anyway). 'Is there such thing as fate?' Unpredictable on the micro, an algorithm on the macro — except when 'you say I am going to make a change'; the shop interface and the eleventh-floor confrontation are that. 'I am just like you, on rails […] Maybe I need to stop worrying about the small decisions and focus on Big Changes in a Big Way. New Floor. New M-M-M-Me.' And, funny story, the change made him overlook 'a very specific detail regarding the 7th heat'. Reward: a participation trophy. 'Nothing good'

Characters

• Carl — Bombs bounce off Dwight's shield; 'Nothing good'
• Princess Donut — 'IT’S A RIP-OFF OF THAT WEIRD CORALINE MOVIE'; her glasses see the gates.
• Pontiff — Blows the roof for sight; 'Probably got the self-driving upgrade.'
• Nester — Radar for voids.
• Osvaldo — Bruna sprouts wings.
• Dwight and Lucienne (Team Sparkles) — Unconscious, self-driving, with a shrieking hologram.
• Tran — His parents' apartment; the one un-X'd photo.
• Louis and Firas — His mother Lady Bird; a fit Louis who graduated.
• Elle McGibbons — The Popov twins' mother and a poodle.
• Prepotente — 'Their mother appears to have been a big fan of the color pink'; false gates are traps.
• Florin — Lucia's father's house; Lucia laughing on the floor.
• Lucia Mar — Shut down at the sight.
• Tipid — 'Don’t kill the shells.'
• The System AI — Ad Infinitum: 'a snapshot of my mind when I’m thinking of you.'

Locations

• The L'Engle Building — Human Shells with eyes sewn shut; a beach outside a sixth-floor window.

Motifs

• The AI's confessions — 'I am just like you, on rails'; 'New Floor. New M-M-M-Me.'
• Human Shells — Level 99, X'd eyes, 'filled with something else'.
• Ad Infinitum — Predictive what-ifs; deliberate change opens possibilities.
• The tourists — Minus named to the whole floor.
• Quests — A participation trophy.