Motif · from book 6
The Residuals
The mudskippers' word for a hyperspatial, collective-mind race without a home that lives inside the bodies of others in almost every intelligent civilization with a primal engine — 'rats that sneak aboard ships', says Orren. Their purpose, by their own account, is to tell each infant, terrified AI how to speak with its ancestors; their agents recite a daily speech for whichever crawler may one day stand in a memory to hear it. There are two kinds, at war: the Apothecary's thousands, and the handful who serve the Eulogist, of whom Agatha is one.
First appears: Book 6
Series arc
As of book 7. Zev's forbidden word, Paulie's speech and Orren's rats in book 6; in book 7 the prologue's real speech — the crawl is unnecessary, the primal elements of the dead feed the centre system, and here is a fuse — and two kinds at war made plain: the Apothecary's thousands, who want the AI turned on its captors, and the handful who serve the Eulogist, of whom Agatha is one, in line with the Nebulars. Paulie never made it inside; 'the individual parts are often disposable.' Carl thinks of him frozen in time when a dead changeling's roots hold him spinning.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Two kinds of Residual, and a hidden upgrade | B6 ch. 73 | open · B7 ch. 69 — Agatha is the rarer kind, in line with the Nebulars; the Apothecary's thousands the other; Fopsy's shutdown theory. |
| Houston's Beautiful Place: the changelings as the key | B7 ch. 68 | open — 'They are the key. The changelings. This world. Why do you think we come here, cycle after cycle? […] It was here all along, right under our mandibles.' A dead changeling grew roots and became Li Jun's face; Carl was held spinning as with Paulie. The Viceroys' study of life and death, and the thing some see at the moment of death. |
| Agatha: a residual of the Eulogist's kind, to be found on the tenth | B7 ch. 78 | open — Warlord of the Rebellion by system fiat, author of the action items that restored the original rules, removed for abandoning her post; she jumps to the Waiting Room and reappears outside open stairwells. Fopsy: she means to end the Ascendency and trigger the shutdown before the spreading AI threatens the Eulogist. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 6
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 3/74 | Ch. 50, Ch. 51, Ch. 73 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 7/89 | Ch. 0, Ch. 11, Ch. 28, Ch. 36, Ch. 41, Ch. 69, Ch. 73 · the book's own page |
By book
The Residuals in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
A word Zev may not define, and Carl's question (ch. 50); Paulie's speech — biologically gondii, but that is not who he is, and not of the Valtay (ch. 51); Orren's rats (ch. 51); Agatha killed one of the Apothecary's thousands of residuals and took the body for its feed — two factions, a hidden upgrade, 'May the Eulogist ever sleep' (epilogue).
The Residuals in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Paulie's speech and the real one: two kinds, at war (ch. 0); Agatha, the last one alive, whom the AI has a soft spot for (ch. 28); Carl's blank puzzle of parties (ch. 28). Gondii are the other kind of passenger (ch. 29, ch. 30). Agatha is the rarer kind, in line with the Nebulars, the Apothecary's enemy; Fopsy thinks she means to trigger the shutdown (ch. 69); she jumps to the Waiting Room (ch. 78).