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).

Back on the account with new security protocols (ch. 6); interrupting at the exact moment, which is the message (ch. 12); out of the suit, thin, on a rebreather, in a room where it is safe to talk — 'About this subject' (ch. 17). She tells the parts Odette leaves out (ch. 18), is named beside the Borant Emancipation Front as a recipient of Donut's smuggled agents (ch. 20), and on the Valtay ship, small and tired, chooses every word (ch. 30): her family slaughtered over a pin (ch. 32). Promoted (ch. 40). Through the party she is a chorus — a warning not to smuggle Signet in, 'They're going to be pissed', 'Godsdamnit, Carl', 'It's complicated' (ch. 66, ch. 67, ch. 68, ch. 71) — and she tells him mid-speech that he has been muted: 'You're crazy, Carl.' 'And you're still in a job' (ch. 77).

Thousands of ships early because of Prepotente; the Plenty charging for gates (ch. 21). A secure sponsor conversation begging Carl not to pick Odette, for Mordecai's sake (ch. 21); locked out of her controls (ch. 46, ch. 47); 'Just be careful. Okay?' and, at the door, who is trapped in the system (ch. 49). Residuals: 'I am forbidden from telling you' (ch. 50).

'Well, that was a first' at Louis's wedding (ch. 10); a direct order from the Prime Minister about Agatha (ch. 28); Formidable's crew pressing a button and Aryl going dark (ch. 41). He explains more than he should about Lucia — 120,000 children, one wing, the Eulogist another name for the centre's AI (ch. 73) — and, as warships fire on each other in orbit, tells Carl to say what he was going to say, quick (ch. 81).

She takes the microphone from the bubbling AI to announce the floor (ch. 2) and reads a script the AI changes as she reads (ch. 23). Lexis, stuck in system and on loan to Borant, steps in as her assistant (ch. 27), explains containment (ch. 40) and the track shuffle (ch. 47), and is locked down when Cascadia overdoses and a goddess appears in the submerged wings (ch. 78). In chat she says Odette's husband was the first to buy the rights to every show Donut has mentioned (ch. 88).