say it’s all a lie:
The whisper-stream says the Terror was just what those people do—the ones who want sex with children and don’t want to pay the credits. The best way to do that is to breed your own. The whisper-stream says some do that. It is not sanctioned, and, sometimes, there are Bad Babies born that way. If the Rulers find one, it goes into the Sex Tunnels. So it isn’t wasted.
I wonder if there are any Rulers at all. The whisper-stream says there aren’t. It says there was a computer program. Outside, before the Terror. Because Underground had to be built
before
the Terror. It had to be ready for people a long, long time before anyone came down here. At least the life-support systems had to be in place. Some say it was prisoners who built it, the way prisoners on the HydroFarm work to make the power that drives everything here. Some say it was the children, the used children.
Nobody really cares what the truth is—people just like to talk.
Some say the Rulers don’t ever put you Outside at all. That’s supposed to be the ultimate punishment, but some say it never happens. They just kill you. Because some people, they
want
to go Outside, and they can’t get there. I know this one guy, Horto, he wanted to go Outside. But there is no Rule about going Outside except that’s where you go if you
break
certain Rules. So Horto broke one of those, and they came and took him. The thing is, Horto said he would contact me from there. From Outside. And everybody knows there are transmissions from Outside. In the Uncharted Zone. But nobody knows if they are real, or just from some people Underground themselves. Horto never contacted me. I wish I knew what that meant.
I know secrets. Secrets even the Book Boys don’t know. I was one of them. One of the children. They took me into the Uncharted Zone. They said it was love.
Here are my secrets: I grew up and I came out. There are others like me. Children, grown now. Some became just like the ones who took me into the Uncharted Zone. Now they say they love children, too.
But some are like me.
And those like me, we are the only ones who really know the ones who say they love children.
And we don’t love them.
for Bror
CHARMED LIFE
I know she’s in there. It was on the InfoBoard. Not her name, they never do that . . . her ID number.
I know her ID number, even though it’s a secret. I know a lot about her. When she is with me, I will know everything about her. Now I have to find out. Where it is, I mean—where they are keeping her. And then I have to take her away. I know she wants me to do that. I can hear it in my head, telling me. All the time. It never stops.
The trick in here is to stay alive without doing anything to make anyone dead. Because, if you do that, you never get to leave. I know more about the HydroFarm from the whisper-stream than ever I knew from being here before. I was, once. Twelve cycles, that’s what you get for what I did.
My name is Charm, and I’m Leader of the Dancing Girls. I got my name because I had none. Not name, charm. I was not charming. But I could dance the best. Everybody knew that. Even those crazy Game Boys, the ones with the little pistols, they stepped aside for us. The pistols aren’t that good. You have to be real close for them to work. And if
we
get close enough to dance, you’re going to die. Razors never miss.
They’re better for scaring people, too. A lot of people, they didn’t know what the pistols were, or what they could do. But everyone knows a razor. Everyone gets afraid when they see the thin blue edge. Everyone knows how easy it goes through flesh. Everyone who knows me knows how much I like that.
A thick, heavy blanket of water comes down from above where we have to work. I don’t know how they make it. One of the old men told us once that Outside, before the Terror brought everything Underground, the water came from above too, but nobody made it, it just came. Those old men are
The whisper-stream says the Terror was just what those people do—the ones who want sex with children and don’t want to pay the credits. The best way to do that is to breed your own. The whisper-stream says some do that. It is not sanctioned, and, sometimes, there are Bad Babies born that way. If the Rulers find one, it goes into the Sex Tunnels. So it isn’t wasted.
I wonder if there are any Rulers at all. The whisper-stream says there aren’t. It says there was a computer program. Outside, before the Terror. Because Underground had to be built
before
the Terror. It had to be ready for people a long, long time before anyone came down here. At least the life-support systems had to be in place. Some say it was prisoners who built it, the way prisoners on the HydroFarm work to make the power that drives everything here. Some say it was the children, the used children.
Nobody really cares what the truth is—people just like to talk.
Some say the Rulers don’t ever put you Outside at all. That’s supposed to be the ultimate punishment, but some say it never happens. They just kill you. Because some people, they
want
to go Outside, and they can’t get there. I know this one guy, Horto, he wanted to go Outside. But there is no Rule about going Outside except that’s where you go if you
break
certain Rules. So Horto broke one of those, and they came and took him. The thing is, Horto said he would contact me from there. From Outside. And everybody knows there are transmissions from Outside. In the Uncharted Zone. But nobody knows if they are real, or just from some people Underground themselves. Horto never contacted me. I wish I knew what that meant.
I know secrets. Secrets even the Book Boys don’t know. I was one of them. One of the children. They took me into the Uncharted Zone. They said it was love.
Here are my secrets: I grew up and I came out. There are others like me. Children, grown now. Some became just like the ones who took me into the Uncharted Zone. Now they say they love children, too.
But some are like me.
And those like me, we are the only ones who really know the ones who say they love children.
And we don’t love them.
for Bror
CHARMED LIFE
I know she’s in there. It was on the InfoBoard. Not her name, they never do that . . . her ID number.
I know her ID number, even though it’s a secret. I know a lot about her. When she is with me, I will know everything about her. Now I have to find out. Where it is, I mean—where they are keeping her. And then I have to take her away. I know she wants me to do that. I can hear it in my head, telling me. All the time. It never stops.
The trick in here is to stay alive without doing anything to make anyone dead. Because, if you do that, you never get to leave. I know more about the HydroFarm from the whisper-stream than ever I knew from being here before. I was, once. Twelve cycles, that’s what you get for what I did.
My name is Charm, and I’m Leader of the Dancing Girls. I got my name because I had none. Not name, charm. I was not charming. But I could dance the best. Everybody knew that. Even those crazy Game Boys, the ones with the little pistols, they stepped aside for us. The pistols aren’t that good. You have to be real close for them to work. And if
we
get close enough to dance, you’re going to die. Razors never miss.
They’re better for scaring people, too. A lot of people, they didn’t know what the pistols were, or what they could do. But everyone knows a razor. Everyone gets afraid when they see the thin blue edge. Everyone knows how easy it goes through flesh. Everyone who knows me knows how much I like that.
A thick, heavy blanket of water comes down from above where we have to work. I don’t know how they make it. One of the old men told us once that Outside, before the Terror brought everything Underground, the water came from above too, but nobody made it, it just came. Those old men are
Similar Books
