Chapter 20

chapter twenty My Cosmic Hand pulses again, and for a second, I feel strangely... alone. He's dead. He's really dead. I'm not sad that Ghazt is gone... but a part of me feels—weirdly empty? Like something's missing. I wouldn't have the hand without him—and the hand is filling me with monstrous fear. But I wouldn't be able to command my Zombie Squad without him, either— and I do love those guys. My insides are totally mixed up right now. "I find myself strangely sympathetic," Quint whispers, breaking the quiet. Dirk scowls. "Uh, breaking news? He's evil." "Was," I point out.

A loud SNAP brings our attention back to Wracksaw. He's putting surgical gloves—or, like, surgical mitts?—on his four armacles. Most of the oil-goop has finished dripping from Ghazt's fur now. The tips of Wracksaw's armacles rub together like evil, twisty hands. One armacle ensnares Ghazt's head, then tugs, wrenching the body upward. Wracksaw hums as he forces open Ghazt's eyes and mouth. Finally, Wracksaw releases Ghazt, and the massive body crashes back down to the slab. "No more tests," Wracksaw announces. "The subject is ready for knowledge-extraction."

Th will be so pleased. My leader. Oh la Deborah. I know he's gonna be pleased. Anyone else want to escape? The really obvious Wracksaw swirls back toward the nurses. Colors flash across Wracksaw's face, blending and flickering. They finally settle on an expression: horrible pleasure. "Now," Wracksaw says. "It is time for Aaodu to fully awaken." "Ooh, I love this part!" Debra squeaks. "I think he's talking about the fortress," Quint whispers. Wracksaw looks upward to the laboratory's jagged, curved ceiling. His body expands like a marshmallow in a microwave, filling up the space around Ghazt's body. "Lying on this slab is Ghazt the General, a Cosmic Terror from the Cosmic Beyond! Which means... I

HAVE A GOD ON MY TABLE! And this night... I operate on a GOD!" Wracksaw says as his armacles extend outward, stiffening. "And that makes ME a GOD! Sorta." His armacles suddenly jab upward, stabbing into four glowing holes that dot the laboratory's ceiling. The armacles enter with a schlurp, then twist, locking into place. The morgueatory trembles in response. Wracksaw's body begins to glow. His eyes shut, his head sinks into his body, and then— why? I right from your slumber together we will retrieve the tower schematic from the grain of the disgrace general.

A harsh, grinding groan comes from all around us. The morgueatory's trembling builds to a rumbling. Bursts of warm, putrid air blow from cracks and fissures. Eye-Bulb elbows Debra excitedly. Colors and patterns flare across Wracksaw's skin as, finally, he extracts his armacles from the morgueatory ceiling. The fortress trembles hard once more—then settles into a soft, steady shuddering. "By nightfall, Aäödii will be fully awake." Wracksaw says. "Then I will perform the knowledge- extraction." We gotta please the fortress breakers soon. Like now the map is changing. New pathways, lighting up as blood and oxygen pump faster. That map tell us where the bathroom is. I think ruler's gotto go.

Wracksaw suddenly whirls around. "Now... retrieve my revitalizing smoothie from the shared refrigerator, posthaste!" Debra trembles. "Oh, um... I didn't realize that was yours, sir. And I was so very parched that I—" Wracksaw cracks an armacle against a tank, jostling the floating corpse inside. "It sure sounds like someone—Debra—wants to take a trip to the carcass pit. Is that right, Debra? Do you want to take a trip to the carcass pit?" "No, my leader," Debra says, avoiding Wracksaw's gaze. Wracksaw runs an armacle across his bulbous head. "I'm at a high stress level right now, OK?! Which means I must have my revitalizing smoothies! Is that so much to—" Wracksaw suddenly goes silent. "And would someone tell me—"