Zev

Introduced at the end of ch. 35 by a warning that weapons may not be wielded in the presence of Admins, Zev is two feet of kua-tin in a bubbling 1950s water suit she cannot move in, on her first trip into a dungeon that has eaten twelve site-prep workers. She is there to tell Carl and Donut that she is their PR agent now. Carl's temper gets the book's clearest statement of what the game is from the other side: her family will be wiped out if she says the wrong thing to a Party boss; everyone here is afraid; 'we are all parts of the same, inexorable machine' (ch. 36). Then Donut mentions Chuck and Blair and Zev has a friend.

She is suspended for warning of the Rage Elemental a half-second before Jack's stream hit the wall (ch. 37, ch. 44), cleared on appeal, and returns knowing the AI has noticed her. She tells Carl to stop using the slingshot because it is boring (ch. 47), that the Meadow Lark storyline has completed, that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and that the Party is delighted with a sex tape she cannot quite bring herself to describe (ch. 44).

Morning check-ins by chat (ch. 4); a request from Carl that she says is impossible and tries anyway (ch. 8, ch. 9); the messenger for the Vengeance of the Daughter deal, signing on Carl's behalf ('That's terrifying, Zev') (ch. 11); the booking of Danger Zone (ch. 12); the fan-box vote she cannot reveal (ch. 17). She thinks they are dead when the trailer is pulsed and meets them in the saferoom with her HUD-off rule glitched (ch. 20). Donut is writing an intergalactic Gossip Girl with her.

Still in the suit — Hinter refused Borant the cores for the pocket system (ch. 25). She relays the audience's verdict on Katia (ch. 6), books Planet Beautiful (ch. 13), delays it herself when Frank Q and a lap dance are the top two feeds (ch. 20), and wants Carl's private moments out loud (ch. 21). Then she appears in person, tired, to say Loita may take the account, something has happened at home, and chats go public tomorrow: 'I believe in you' (ch. 25). By the epilogue she is at 'a temporary reeducation retreat' (epilogue). Donut: 'she is my friend. We're going to write a tv show together.'

Back as 'just your social media manager', in a Stepford voice, unable to be messaged (ch. 12); relays the audience's notes (less anger, more Mongo) (ch. 12); asked to name the doll, says 'Ivy', and Donut gasps (ch. 15). Made redundant by the social board and not allowed down to say goodbye (ch. 17). Loita's account of how she was brought 'back into the fold' — unspeakable things to her mother and aunts (ch. 18) — leaves Carl's hands shaking; he had already decided to act (ch. 17). Temporary PR agent again after that; asks Carl to reword a conversation; and at the end her outrage over Larracos is an act, relaying what Borant knows, while she and Donut talk by some channel Carl does not ask about (ch. 34). Her legal updates: an injunction beaten with the Valtay's help, and a politburo's warning (ch. 34).