Character · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Harbinger

A caprid Syndicate liaison whose virtual avatar is taller than any room he attends, who promised Maggie My help if she killed Carl and vows on the eighth floor to have him disposed of; he insists on observing Odette's show and vanishes from it mid-interview.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 3 — Heat one; Prepotente's warning
• Chapter 14 — Hungry Eyes; the Hairpin and the Lollipop
• Chapter 27 — Plenty of Plenty: Lexis in the greenroom
• Chapter 28 — The interlocution; the question Orren wanted asked
• Chapter 29 — The stampede; Harbinger
• Chapter 30 — Heat three: Gluteus Maxx and the Sugar Hermits
• Chapter 73 — The Garden of Deliverance; the ducts

Arc

Lexis calls him 'an anomaly amongst the caprids' (ch. 27). He teleports into the studio with a pulse rifle and calls the Plenty's matriarch Mother — expelled, alone, 'I will exert myself now' — and the AI turns him inside out (ch. 29). The AI stopped him and ignored Linus, Carl decides, because the crawlers clearly knew (ch. 73).