"Our organization has so many opportunities for women who seek power. Part of what I like about it."

"I had noticed that my boss is a lady, and I hear the top boss is a lady too, though I haven't met her. If you don't mind, what do you do?"

"I'm a researcher with the Emporium of Bangkok Antiquities. I'm-- the face?"

"You do the talking?"

"Yes. Get us our visas, get us into places we're probably not technically supposed to be..."

"To research antiquities?"

"To research our God."

"To find out more about how He was worshipped in the past so we can understand better how to please Him in the future."

"Huh. How do we know the people in the past did it right?"

"We can observe whether he destroyed all of them for their insolence or their blasphemy."

"Which is difficult to observe ourselves until the part where we're destroyed."

"Miss Sirikhan is very concerned about this."

"I guess if the bar for pleasing him is whether or not he destroys you then that works. Is Miss Sirikhan's... method of worship... risky? Compared to anyone else's? Or is she just more prudent?"

"She is more prudent."

"Miss Sirikhan is a very cautious woman."

(She's wearing very heavy makeup, like she's covering something up.)

Maybe there's some bizarre ritual mutilation that fucks up your face. Seems in line with everything else.

"She seems like a good woman to work for, then."

"Does the God not make it clear what he wants? What happens when you ask him?"

"Our God is the Liar."

"He is not, perhaps, the most credible source on. Subjects."

Zoe does her level best to suppress a giggle. It would be unbecoming of a guard.

"But Miss Sirikhan thinks he's... consistent? About how he likes to be worshipped? And he only destroys you when you do things he doesn't like?"

"That is her hope, at any rate."

"If He is unpredictable then we will die whether we investigate it or not. If there are rules..."

Zoe thinks of Lacie. The others say she thought she would be the God's queen. Maybe whatever she did, he liked it. Or maybe he was just lying, again.

"If there are rules then that's a fairer shot than most men I've met."

Mariam laughs.

"True enough."

"Are there other gods, too? Or is it just him? Not too long ago, I didn't know any gods were real."

"Dozens. Perhaps hundreds or thousands."

"It's difficult to know because they all have hundreds of names."

"And one deity, Nyarlathotep, has thousands of Masks."

"Masks?"

"Different forms He takes."

"One of them is a math proof. One of them is a nice Egyptian gentleman, one of them is a thing with entirely too many tentacles--"

Zoe thinks she's met the nice Egyptian gentleman. She hopes she doesn't meet the thing with entirely too many tentacles.

"Is he the same god or a different god from the God our organization worships?"

"Mr. Brooks and the late Mr. Trammel believed he was. Miss Sirikhan believes he is not."

"Wow. I'm starting to see why they have smart people like you doing research on it."

"I don't do the research. I just. Talk to people." Smile smile smile.