Motif · from book 5
The kinder facility
Where the children and the pregnant women of Earth are kept, physically, above the dungeon: Jurgen's Heidi, the 120,000 bound to Lucia, and, at the end, Katia, who chooses pregnancy to get there. Eileithyia senses her daughters there and cannot reach them.
First appears: Book 5 · Seen for what it is: Book 7
Series arc
In hindsight, after book 7
Zev, at the end of the sixth floor: children and pregnant crawlers 'transferred to the kinder facility on the surface. They're free' (B5 ch. 77). A boon's warning names it — 'the Kinder Facility located in the former city of Mumbai, India' (B6 ch. 19) — and from orbit the surface's only fires are humans trying to break into it (B6 ch. 73). Book 7 says who is inside: 120,000 children in one wing, whom Zev now thinks bound to Lucia Mar — 'if she goes, they all go' (B7 ch. 73); Jurgen's pregnant wife (B7 ch. 78); and, at the end, Katia, who chooses pregnancy to reach them (B7 ch. 86).
As of book 7. One wing of it holds about 120,000 children, physically on the surface and, Zev now thinks, bound to Lucia Mar so that if she goes they all go; Jurgen's pregnant wife is inside; Eileithyia senses her daughters there, alone and afraid, and cannot reach them. Katia chose pregnancy to go to them and is there now, human, short an arm, two legs and an ear; Boomer has four Cronus suits and a skiff set aside for her. The humans who burned a continent trying to break in have not got in.
Through book 5
Zev: children and pregnant crawlers are not allowed; the Popovs 'transferred to the kinder facility on the surface. They're free' (B5 ch. 77).
Through book 6
Through book 7
Zev: 120,000 children in one wing of it, physically on the surface, bound to Lucia (B7 ch. 73); Jurgen's pregnant wife among the kept (B7 ch. 78); Katia chooses pregnancy to reach them, and Eileithyia senses her daughters there and cannot (B7 ch. 86); Cronus suits for a veteran on the surface (B7 ch. 88).
Trace
The thread line by line, in reading order: its presence before anyone could see it, and the lines that made it legible. Each line is verbatim from the cited book.
| Where | The line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Book 5, Ch. 77 | » Zev: Relax. Children and pregnant crawlers aren’t allowed. They’ve escaped. […] They’ve been transferred to the kinder facility on the surface. They’re free. | The Popovs' way out; 'free' is Zev's word. |
| Book 6, Ch. 19 | » Warning: Due to the current season’s ruleset, receiving this boon will render you ineligible to continue within the game. […] exported to the Kinder Facility located in the former city of Mumbai, India | Where the pregnancy boon sends a crawler; Katia takes it in book 7. |
| Book 6, Ch. 73 | The only thing marring the surface was the fires spreading across that one continent, where the humans were constantly battling the security forces, attempting to break into the kinder facility. | Seen from orbit; book 7 says who is inside and ties their fate to Lucia Mar. |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 1/78 | Ch. 77 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 2/74 | Ch. 19, Ch. 73 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 2/89 | Ch. 73, Ch. 78 · the book's own page |
By book
The kinder facility in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
Zev: children and pregnant crawlers are not allowed; the Popovs: 'They’ve been transferred to the kinder facility on the surface. They’re free' (ch. 77).
The kinder facility in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
The kinder facility in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Zev explains that it is not all the children, just the ones who tried to get into the dungeon, and only half of those — one wing — and that they are on the surface in the kinder facility, at least physically (ch. 73). It is where the kids and the pregnant women are kept: a crawler who came in with his pregnant wife, Heidi, and lost her will die protecting Lucia if her fate is tied to it (ch. 78). It is Katia's reason to be made pregnant, and a goddess senses her daughters there and cannot reach them (ch. 86); Cronus suits are for a veteran on the surface (epilogue).