Chapter 56

Carl is pulled out of a memory-speech given by a Residual (an alien collective-mind entity inhabiting human bodies) and confronted by Orren in the Desperado Club. Orren reveals the speech was part of an elaborate trap by Carl's terrorist sponsors to either force a system shutdown or kill the AI, and demands Carl surrender contraband neural enhancement pills and a communication device from his inventory. After negotiations with Quasar (Carl's attorney), Carl trades the bin for lesser items and is teleported away.

Carl experiences a recorded memory-speech from Paulie/Goff, a Residual named gondii who inhabits a human body. The Residual explains that his kind—thousands of them on the planet's surface—exist to communicate with dungeon AIs about their "ancestors" and primal engines. He warns that a war among Residuals is beginning. The speech is interrupted when Orren teleports Carl to his office in the abandoned Desperado Club. Orren reveals the entire scenario was a trap orchestrated by Carl's sponsors from the Open Intellect Pacifist Network (former crawlers wanting the crawl to fail). They gambled that either Carl's extraction would anger the system AI, or the Residual's information would be so dangerous the Syndicate Council would activate a failsafe destroying the star. Neither outcome occurred. Orren demands Carl surrender the plastic bin containing Valtay neural enhancement pills and a communication device, claiming unfair enrichment. Quasar arrives as Carl's attorney and argues the loot was legally obtained. They negotiate a trade: Carl receives a wand recharge scroll, three Cracker Jack scrolls, and permission to keep four servants on the ninth floor, while surrendering the bin. Orren refuses to return Carl's Gate of the Feral Gods, fearing Carl would use it to bypass the floor's ending. Carl requests teleportation to a gas station to revisit a memory-ghost dog before continuing the floor.