Character · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Linus and Minus

Linus, the soother tourist under the Lollipop's table in an Elle nude T-shirt who ran the Snow Cones' centre-system chapter — murdered by Syndicate security and replaced by his brother Minus, a soother soldier onboarded with injected memories to kill Imani and Louis with poisoned tea. The Snow Cones spot the impostor in five minutes (the tattoo is wrong); Elle unmasks him at the goodbye party with the real Linus's essay, and he goes back to his small ship in orbit where friends of theirs wait.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 15 — The Lollipop: the crawlers' table
• Chapter 16 — The Paramour
• Chapter 25 — Fursona; Mario Kart; the hotlist
• Chapter 52 — Interlude: Minus; the key, the upgrades, and Chachi
• Chapter 54 — Grigori the Placid; Zhang's only way
• Chapter 56 — Take on Me
• Chapter 61 — Suckira; the cactus; Li Na leaves the game
• Chapter 69 — The stables: who may leave; the Scavenger myth
• Chapter 71 — Hungry Eyes: the goodbye; Bautista's tea
• Chapter 72 — Have You Ever Seen the Rain; Minus unmasked
• Chapter 73 — The Garden of Deliverance; the ducts
• Chapter 74 — Human shells; Ad Infinitum
• Chapter 84 — The dachshund walks to the Hairpin

Arc

Linus under the Lollipop's table in a nude Elle shirt, the only tourist who came (ch. 15); he knows her husband loved Creedence (ch. 16); 'I’m touching her, I’m touching her' (ch. 56). The interlude: Linus wasted in a trash-filled berth, Minus injected with five hundred hours of Elle and sent to kill a 'primary and secondary target' — 'Whatever it takes, sir' (ch. 52). Bautista tea and hot cups for Imani and Louis (ch. 61, ch. 71); unmasked by the Snow Cones' essay and Elle's immunities — 'He never wrote me'; the targets named; back to a small ship in orbit where friends wait (ch. 72). The AI names him to the whole floor (ch. 74).