Minus

Type: Alien (Soother) First Appearance: Book 8, Chapter 67 (interlude)

Overview

Minus is a soother alien, brother of Linus, recruited by Syndicate security (Captain Fresh) after Linus was killed. He was sent on a suicide mission to infiltrate Floor 10 — posing as his dead brother — and perform a targeted crawler kill to destabilize Carl's group.

The Mission

After Linus's death, Syndicate Captain Fresh recruited Minus with a dire pitch: the Syndicate was "losing" against the dungeon AI and its consequences, and a "surgical crawler kill" of someone from Carl's group would destabilize the whole alliance, causing a systemic collapse and allowing Syndicate assets to react.

To build his cover, Minus was injected with approximately 500 hours of footage of Elle McGibbons plus all of Linus's posts about her — enough to pass as Linus among the crawlers. He also had to watch substantial footage at normal speed, as the AI would be suspicious of too much brain-recall from rapid injection.

Outcome

The "fuck-Linus party" mentioned by Elle in Chapter 102 implies his cover was eventually discovered by Carl's group. His ultimate fate on Floor 10 is not confirmed in the text.

Known Relationships

Character	Relationship
Linus	Brother (deceased; his death led to this mission)

Appearances

• Book 8: Chapter 67 interlude