Heat 6 of 7

The survivors count the cost: eighteen of sixty teams finish the heat, and Prepotente's is the only other team from their group to live. Osvaldo relays Jasha's account of the winning unicorn, who never entered the factory at all but rode up the outside wall to the roof and dropped onto the finish line; Louis's crew has gained an upgrade-thief engineer, Britney tore the head off a skeleton-astronaut, and Florin, Tran, Zhang and Chris all came through. Dr. Metcalf posts the limited details for the last two heats: one two-part race on a single track, the L'Engle Building, the interior of a seven-floor human apartment block that the racers will be shrunk to fit, top floor to bottom and then back up, with Black Lung Smog, a two-hour limit and no safe-room access once it begins. The System AI closes the quest Half a prayer, half a song, reminds Carl the Emberus business is due before the eleventh floor ends, and admits it no longer understands parts of its own dungeon: the Cabaret, Sheol, the minds of gods, and the Scavenger's Daughter storyline it seeded itself. The prize is the right to bring two beings from inside its sphere of influence into the eleventh-floor arena, with the choice deliberately held back until Carl is standing in it. Mordecai then reports a single flower on the cactus, the code meaning Li Na has reached the Pineapple Cabaret and it is safe to send the rest.

First appearances (1)

• The L'Engle Building (Place) — Track · heats six and seven

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