Authors: Andrew Vachss
Tags: #Collections & Anthologies, #Mystery & Detective, #Fiction, #Suspense, #Thrillers, #General
CHARM
(interior monologue, as she works)
The trick in here is to keep your place without killing. If you kill anyone on the Farm, you never get to leave.
I’ve been here before. That was only a 4-cycle punishment, but I didn’t have my name then, so it was hard.
But now I have my name. Charm, Leader of the Dancing Girls. Dancing Girls don’t stand on platforms and take off our clothes for credits. “Dance” means fight. And I’m not charming.
None of the other crews want to dance with us. Even those crazy Game Boys, the ones with their little blasters, they step off. Their blasters aren’t that good; you have to be real close for them to work. And if you get close enough to us, you’re going to die. Razors never jam the way their blasters do. And they never miss, either.
Razors are better for scaring people, too. A lot of people don’t even know what blasters are, but everyone knows a razor. Everyone gets afraid when they see that thin blue edge. Everyone knows how easy it goes through flesh.
A giant misting machine releases a blanket of fine spray over the work field. The workers all stand still, waiting for it to pass
.
CHARM
(still interior monologue, almost musing)
That water; I don’t know how they make it. One time, an old man told us that, before the Terror, water just dropped down by itself. Nobody made the water; it just happened. Those real old men are insane—this one wouldn’t stop jabbering about this “rain” nonsense, not even when I told him we were going to take his tongue.
All boys are crazy. And the Game Boys are even crazier. But none of them are as mad as that Radioman. He tells everyone that I love him because he hears it in his head. That’s the most psycho thing I ever heard in my life. I don’t love anyone. I don’t even know what it means when people use that word. I know it doesn’t mean sex.
Some of the Dancing Girls work the Sex Tunnels, for credits. They all say the same thing: you never hear the word “love” in there.
Radioman is a Game Boy. They’re the ones who started the whole thing about the marks. You got a mark for every life you took. I had a lot of them. I’m a Dancing Girl, so I wore them on my thigh, since it was so fashionable.
(Charm gazes down at the drab uniform she now wears, as if she knows a secret, but her expression never changes, and she continues to work at the steady, measured pace of an experienced bracero.)
CHARM
(still interior, but tone almost regretful)
But then it all went bad. Word got around that if you killed someone who already had marks, then their marks belonged to you. So people stopped going after the easy kills and went after the ones who already had marks. It was harder, but you could get marks so much faster. A lot of people in crews got put Outside, because it’s against the Rules for crews to fight each other. The Rulers were all confused, but then the Book Boys straightened them out:
CUT TO:
A Wall-warning:
EVEN IN THE DARK
YOU CAN’T SHARE THE MARKS
WHEN YOU KILL JUST FOR YOU,
YOU KILL YOUR OWN CREW
CHARM
(interior voice, as she rotates her neck to loosen up)
By the time the Rulers figured out this wasn’t gang war, the bums had their
own
crew. That was a surprise. And I guess it made the Rulers very upset. You could tell because they changed the Rules, and they do that only when they get angry.
By then, most of the crews had already stopped wearing their costumes. And when they did, it was on the fringes, near the Uncharted Zone. That wasn’t much fun. People don’t recognize you’re moving all together in a fan unless you’re all dressed the same. Without the gear, it was lousy. What’s the good of being the boss of a crew if nobody even knows it
is
a crew?
And not everybody was into the marks thing, anyway. Radioman was a Game Boy, but he never got a signal inside his head to take a mark, so he never did. That made him the lowest in his crew, but he didn’t care.
Radioman doesn’t care about anything. One time, he just walked up and said he loved me. Right in front of everyone. It was so insane I couldn’t even get mad; I just laughed at him. One of the other Game Boys laughed at him, too.
That
one had a lot of marks, so I ripped him. The other
Game Boys were scared to shoot, because we all had our razors out. That was before it stopped being fashionable. Taking marks, I mean.
CUT TO:
Radioman is still walking, moving deeper into the tunnels. Still talking to himself
.
RADIOMAN
(not thinking; talking inside his head)
There has to be a way to get people to the HydroFarm. The Rulers must use a Conveyor. It’s too far to walk. The ones who come back always say it took a long time to make the trip. They couldn’t see anything, but they knew they were moving. And new ones come back every twenty-four.
Shots of Radioman pathetically trying to “interview” recently discharged inmates—all still wearing HyroFarm uniforms—as they depart the Conveyor
.
RADIOMAN
I am always polite, so I guess they don’t tell me because they don’t know. But it has to be somewhere inside the Charted Zone. All the power for Underground has to come from the HydroFarm. The Rulers could never risk losing it. Besides, the Conveyor runs only inside the Charted Zone.
RADIOMAN
(making it clear he is addressing the Voice)
I’m sorry. I apologize. I know I shouldn’t ask people questions. Only you.
You
know, don’t you? Just tell me, and I’ll do anything you want. I always do, don’t I?
Radioman resumes his walk through the tunnel until he fades from view. We come back in on …
CHARM
(grimly resigned, but not defeated)
It’s all a circle. You work here to make electricity. They use electricity to make you work. And
that
works. Nobody wants electricity on them. Being wet all the time, it doesn’t take much. All one of the Overseers has to do is tap you with the prod.…
It’s easy enough to get away, but not many even try. They never keep you more than twenty cycles, and you can have Zoners for free. Some of the people here, they don’t feel anything, they just smile. They can still work, though, so they never get jolted. Plus, if you escape, they double whatever time you had left.
And even if you could get away, where could you go? If you have a crew, it would a Betrayal to go back to them—Harboring, that’s breaking a Major Rule. If you ever want to go back as Leader, you can’t get the others in that kind of trouble. A leader has to protect her crew. Even if you’re the best dancer, that’s not enough.
Show next monologue as a v/o to a “silent movie”
The Love Boys leader was Cameo. He was huge. And a great fighter, too. But when the Police Squad came, and one of the Love Boys twisted his ankle, Cameo didn’t go back for him. The Love Boys beat Cameo to death. They put his body on the Conveyor, so everyone could see it.
If I just wait until my time is done, I can go back and be Leader again. There’ll be a new girl who wants to keep her place, so we’ll have to dance. I can’t wait. That’s the worst punishment of all—you can’t dance here.
Charm squats, as if having difficulty with a stubborn root. The camera shows us she just wants an excuse to look at a tiny slice of metal glued to the underside of her thumbnail
.
CHARM
(twisting her lips ever so slightly)
I had to buy that tiny little slice of nuim. Not with credits, they don’t have any in here. If you’re caught with credits, they think you’re getting ready to escape … and then you get jolted. Nobody can take too many of those; it makes you like you’re on Zoners all the time: always smiling, but you can’t even eat. They have to feed you with tubes so you can work. So I paid with sex. I didn’t even have to look at the Overseer while he did it.
They all like to sex me, because I have a reputation. They all know how I get so excited and wet and make the noises they like. It’s easy: I just
close my eyes and think I’m slicing on them. That always works.
CUT TO:
Artificial darkness
Charm is alone in her dorm. That is, others are present, but they are resolutely looking away as …
Charm sits naked on her bunk, and uses the nuim to cut a thin, straight line across the front of her left thigh. Her touch is practiced; the blood is so faint that it looks as if she drew a red line with a fine-point marker
.
CHARM
(inside her own head, watching the blood dry)
I have to be careful not to go too deep. Blood dries quick here, and the moisture keeps it clean. By tomorrow, it’ll look like a tattoo. Besides, even the Scanners know—you can’t work the fields without getting cuts on you every so often.
FADE TO:
Radioman talking to a Merchant Boy, gesturing frantically. Finally, he hands over a bone-handled knife. As the Merchant Boy speaks, he listens intently, then walks off
.
RADIOMAN
(aloud, as if speaking to someone next to him)
Now
I know where it is. I’m going there.
Now
.
FADE TO:
Charm is on her bunk, wearing a regulation sleep-suit. But she is wideawake, her slitted eyes sweeping the dorm
.
CHARM
(inner voice)
There’s other Dancing Girls here. But even talking to a member of your own crew means you get a jolt. Everything is on video. Even in the dark, they have infra and thermal. There’s no way to connect.
Marking myself is all I have. The Rulers know the Overseers are going to want sex, so they make them take pills. But they don’t work—they don’t erase things, they just bury them. You have to know how to dig down deep. The nuim helps me do that.
I can do it anytime I want now. And I have only three cycles left.
She closes her eyes and fades into a peaceful sleep as the camera comes in on Radioman, checking the map he bought from the Merchant Boy
.
RADIOMAN
(to the voice in his head)
Why are you lying? Charm
will
come with me. What she said that time, she only did that to fool the others. The only thing that scares me is how the HydroFarm changes people. I remember when Ithar got off the Discharge Conveyor; he was like a different person. Maybe it’s the jolts. That’s when I first started hearing you. When I was there myself before, I mean.
CUT TO:
Charm, back to working in the fields. She drops to her knees and puts her head down, pulling at a stubborn root. She cants her head to one side
,
sweeping the area. When she picks up on an Overseer watching her, she twitches her bottom subtly. Her mouth is an ugly slash in her face
.
CUT TO:
Radioman, now standing on the far perimeter of the HydroFarm:
RADIOMAN
(to the voice)
I can see Charm now, but I have to make sure she sees me before I take her away. I have to be quiet until then. No moving!
CUT TO:
Charm, still in the same position, still eye-sweeping the area. She knows the show she’s putting on will keep the Overseer from ordering her back to work
.
CHARM
(inner voice)
That crazy Radioman has been here for three turns now, just standing outside the perimeter. He came for me because I have what he needs. I have what they all need. And I can’t wait anymore.
She stands up, holds up two fingers. Looking at the Overseer. She licks her lips
.
The Overseer nods, pointing at his wrist
.
Charm takes off
.
RADIOMAN
(to the voice)
Here she comes. She wants to be with me. I
told
you!
FADE TO BLACK
COME IN ON CHARM
She is working in the fields, really moving her way down the row, picking expertly. Energized
.
CHARM
(inner voice, still excited)
Radioman even brought my razor. Now I can keep the feeling inside me for a long time. Long enough to finish my cycles and get back to where I belong. Radioman was so good to me. He knew what I really needed. Maybe that’s what love is—giving someone what they need … no matter what.
FADE OUT TO RED/BLACK
FADE IN
ZAK
The Book of the Mind teaches that some can be transformed through revelation. Helped and healed. But it also teaches that understanding is not transformation. Some are beyond our reach. We must learn to know such people, because they cannot be allowed to walk among us.
FADE OUT
Humming noise on emerging screen
FADE IN
INT: Gathering hall
At the podium stands a man in his late forties/early fifties. His long hair is gray-streaked, his face is craggy, and his voice has a preacher’s carrying power
.
MAN AT PODIUM
My name is of no consequence; I am my father’s father’s father’s son. I will not be staying among you. It takes many, many spans to learn the Book of the Path, and I must use the time left to me to teach it.
FADE OUT on the man gesturing, accompanying a speech we don’t hear …
FADE IN
INT: A murky dive that could be a bar or a café or a diner, depending on viewing angle. There is no uniformity to the place—the furnishings were all randomly assembled from scrap and salvage
.