real sad when I said that. She asked me, did I ever actually
read
the stuff the Book Boys write on the walls. I told her my job is to take it off, not read it.
We talked a lot. It was almost four cycles later when I asked her if she would be with me. My cell isn’t even as good as hers, but if we each sold ours, we could get one big enough for the two of us.
“I love you, Jamal,” she told me. “But you’re not ready to be with me.”
“I can get more credits,” I told her. “All I have to do is—”
Cassandra slapped me. Real hard. Then she started crying. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen. I knew I did something wrong. And I knew I couldn’t come back until I figured out what it was.
I thought about it every time I was at the wall. With my horde. By myself. All the time.
This morning, I got to the tunnels during the shift change, a few minutes early. Nobody was there. I saw . . . I saw a Book Boy. Writing on the wall. In that special blue. All alone.
And then I saw how I could fix what I did wrong. How I could prove to Cassandra that I was ready to be with her.
I never knew Book Boys could be girls.
for Dawn Bailey
SAFE SEX
T he safest place in all Underground is the Sex Tunnels. A long time ago, the way I heard it, everything was different, and the Sex Tunnels were the most dangerous. They scared people, just being there. Nothing is forbidden in the Sex Tunnels. But that doesn’t mean there are no Rules. The Book Boys wrote it on the wall. In their special blue.
What that means is the one Rule. You have to pay. You can buy anything in the Sex Tunnels. Any skin/shade, any age, anything you want to do or have done.
The Rulers keep count. It goes on your encoder, so they always know. I mean, you don’t even have to ask anyone. As soon as you go inside, the scanner tells the truth about you, and you follow the arrows to the subtunnel where they have what you want. After you see the cashier.
The only thing you need to know is that you can buy anything. That’s what the Sex Tunnels are for. Nothing is for free.
Kill-sex costs the most credits, because they can only use the product once.
But nobody is afraid to go into the Sex Tunnels anymore, because the Rulers made it safe for everyone.
Only the Book Boys scare anyone. The Rulers say they are terrorists, and there is a reward for naming any of them. I heard some of them got captured once. It was on the InfoBoard. But the very next turn, the Book Boys wrote on the walls again:
So nobody ever knew what really happened. Everybody knows the Book Boys never lie. But did they mean the Rulers were lying about capturing some of them, or just . . . lying?
Nobody knows that. And there is nobody to ask.
People have sex outside the Sex Tunnels, but that has to be sanctioned—and only approved sex is sanctioned. So, if people want to have unsanctioned sex, but they don’t want to pay for it, they have to go into the Uncharted Zone.
Some of those who wanted to have sex with children, that’s where they went. They took the children with them. They said this was different. What they were doing was love. You shouldn’t have to pay for love, just for sex. So they went where they could do what they wanted without paying.
But they never came out. They made their speeches and they went into the Uncharted Zone and nobody ever saw them again.
The Book Boys wrote:
That one was tricky to understand. A debit is a death. Everyone knows that. But . . . who died? And why?
It didn’t stop anything. The people who say they love children go into the Uncharted Zone. They even sell maps of how to get to certain places where it is safe to have that kind of sex.
But nobody knows if the maps work, because none of them ever come back.
The whisper-stream says maybe they don’t go to the Uncharted Zone at all. Maybe they go Outside. It’s okay to do that to children Outside without paying. Here, you can only do it if you pay.
But the Book Boys
read
the stuff the Book Boys write on the walls. I told her my job is to take it off, not read it.
We talked a lot. It was almost four cycles later when I asked her if she would be with me. My cell isn’t even as good as hers, but if we each sold ours, we could get one big enough for the two of us.
“I love you, Jamal,” she told me. “But you’re not ready to be with me.”
“I can get more credits,” I told her. “All I have to do is—”
Cassandra slapped me. Real hard. Then she started crying. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen. I knew I did something wrong. And I knew I couldn’t come back until I figured out what it was.
I thought about it every time I was at the wall. With my horde. By myself. All the time.
This morning, I got to the tunnels during the shift change, a few minutes early. Nobody was there. I saw . . . I saw a Book Boy. Writing on the wall. In that special blue. All alone.
And then I saw how I could fix what I did wrong. How I could prove to Cassandra that I was ready to be with her.
I never knew Book Boys could be girls.
for Dawn Bailey
SAFE SEX
T he safest place in all Underground is the Sex Tunnels. A long time ago, the way I heard it, everything was different, and the Sex Tunnels were the most dangerous. They scared people, just being there. Nothing is forbidden in the Sex Tunnels. But that doesn’t mean there are no Rules. The Book Boys wrote it on the wall. In their special blue.
What that means is the one Rule. You have to pay. You can buy anything in the Sex Tunnels. Any skin/shade, any age, anything you want to do or have done.
The Rulers keep count. It goes on your encoder, so they always know. I mean, you don’t even have to ask anyone. As soon as you go inside, the scanner tells the truth about you, and you follow the arrows to the subtunnel where they have what you want. After you see the cashier.
The only thing you need to know is that you can buy anything. That’s what the Sex Tunnels are for. Nothing is for free.
Kill-sex costs the most credits, because they can only use the product once.
But nobody is afraid to go into the Sex Tunnels anymore, because the Rulers made it safe for everyone.
Only the Book Boys scare anyone. The Rulers say they are terrorists, and there is a reward for naming any of them. I heard some of them got captured once. It was on the InfoBoard. But the very next turn, the Book Boys wrote on the walls again:
So nobody ever knew what really happened. Everybody knows the Book Boys never lie. But did they mean the Rulers were lying about capturing some of them, or just . . . lying?
Nobody knows that. And there is nobody to ask.
People have sex outside the Sex Tunnels, but that has to be sanctioned—and only approved sex is sanctioned. So, if people want to have unsanctioned sex, but they don’t want to pay for it, they have to go into the Uncharted Zone.
Some of those who wanted to have sex with children, that’s where they went. They took the children with them. They said this was different. What they were doing was love. You shouldn’t have to pay for love, just for sex. So they went where they could do what they wanted without paying.
But they never came out. They made their speeches and they went into the Uncharted Zone and nobody ever saw them again.
The Book Boys wrote:
That one was tricky to understand. A debit is a death. Everyone knows that. But . . . who died? And why?
It didn’t stop anything. The people who say they love children go into the Uncharted Zone. They even sell maps of how to get to certain places where it is safe to have that kind of sex.
But nobody knows if the maps work, because none of them ever come back.
The whisper-stream says maybe they don’t go to the Uncharted Zone at all. Maybe they go Outside. It’s okay to do that to children Outside without paying. Here, you can only do it if you pay.
But the Book Boys
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