Mortal Lock (37 page)

ROSE

Esau! I told you—

ESAU

(rock-determined)

I know what you told me. You told me you loved me. And you told me I wasn’t ready to be with you. But you told me something else … I was just too hurt to listen.

ROSE

You don’t—

ESAU

You’ve
been
telling me all along, haven’t you? But I couldn’t figure it out. I tried and tried, but I never understood.

ROSE

Esau, if you don’t—

ESAU

I spent all that time trying to understand what the Book Boys were saying. And you even told me yourself that people who have sex with kids, that’s wrong. Even if there’s a Rule that allows it, it’s wrong. But I never put it together. I never understood it. Because …

ROSE

(seeing his distress, stepping in close to him)

Because what, Esau?

ESAU

Because I was one of those kids, Rose. They only let me leave the Sex Tunnel when I got too old.

ROSE

(first stunned, then she reaches for Esau)

(as if appealing to God)

Oh Blue be True!

ESAU

I tried to find a kill-crew to join. I figured there had to be one that hunted the … people who used the Sex Tunnel for kids. The whisper-stream is always talking about the Children of the Secret, like they’re a crew. But I never found them.

HUNTER

(interior voice, as he moves)

The safest place in all Underground is the Sex Tunnels. A long time ago, 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.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE CREDITS
YOU DON’T GET IT

What they were talking about was First Rule: you
always
have to pay. You can buy anything in the Sex Tunnels. Any skin/shade, any age. Do anything you want to do … so long as you have the credits.

The Rulers keep count. It goes on your encoder, so they always know. As soon as you go inside, the scanner tells the truth about you, and the arrows point you to the subtunnel where they have what you want. After you see the cashier.

You can buy anything. That’s what the Sex Tunnels are for. You just have to remember that nothing is for free. That’s why kill-sex costs the most credits, because they can only use the product once.

Nobody is supposed to be afraid to go into the
Sex Tunnels anymore, because the Rulers made it safe for everyone.

But the Book Boys still scare some people off. The Rulers say they are terrorists—there’s a reward for naming any of them. The whisper-stream always flows when one of them is caught, but that never changes anything.

THE RULERS LIE
THE TRUTH CAN’T DIE

HUNTER

(still on the prowl)

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 and 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 from the Sex Tunnels—what they were doing was love. They said you shouldn’t have to pay for love, just for sex. So they went where they could do what they wanted without paying.

But none of them ever came out.

YOU PAY IN CREDITS
AND WE COLLECT YOUR DEBITS

HUNTER

That one was tricky. A debit is a death. Everyone knows that. But … who died? And why?

Whatever it meant, it didn’t stop anything. The people who say they love children still go into the Uncharted Zone. You can even buy maps of how to get to the places where the children are kept. But nobody knows if the maps work, because the people who sell them keep disappearing.

Maybe they never go into the Uncharted Zone at all. Maybe they go Outside. Maybe that’s what the Book Boys are telling us.

WE ARE NOT THE TERRORISTS
THE TERROR WAS OUTSIDE
THEN, NOT NOW

HUNTER

(sits down, unwraps a bar, chews slowly)

(interior monologue)

Sometimes, I wonder if there are any Rulers at all. The whisper-stream says there was a computer program. It was built Outside, because Underground had to be built before the Terror took over. 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 the tunnels were all dug by prisoners, like the people sent to the HydroFarm work to make the power that drives everything here. And some say it was mostly children, the used-up children.

Everybody says. Nobody knows.

Some say the Rulers don’t ever put you Outside at all—they just kill you. That part could be true. My friend, Horto, he wanted to go Outside. You can’t buy something like that—it’s supposed to be a punishment. So Horto broke a Major Rule, and they came and took him.

Horto promised to contact me. Everybody says there are transmissions from Outside; they come into the Uncharted Zone. If you’re in there, you can pick them up. Merchant Boys bring them back, and sell them to the people they’re meant for. And you can even hire a Messenger to look for you, if you expect one. But nobody knows if the messages are real, or just made up. Made up in Underground, I mean. I think, if Horto ever contacted me, I’d know. We were true friends. But he never did.

HUNTER

(interior monologue, as he moves)

I know secrets even the Book Boys don’t. The man who took me into the Uncharted Zone when I was a child told me it was the only place where we could share our love.

After a while, he shared me.

When I got too old, they walked me far away and left me there. I found my way out, just stumbling along. I didn’t have anything to trade so I had to do other things.

Later, I joined a kill-crew. The initiation was easy. The only rule they had was that you couldn’t kill anyone for a reason, like getting even or something. You had to kill for the killing. We covered all the tunnels.

That’s how I found out that other kids like me had made it out, too. They never said anything, but I could see it on them like a sign. Some of them had grown into the ones who took me into the Uncharted Zone—now they say they love children, too.

After I killed the first four of those, my crew realized I was doing it for a personal reason, so they kicked me out.

That’s when I discovered not all the other kids who got kicked out turned into the ones who took me. They hated them, too. Just like I did.

HUNTER

(interior monologue, as he walks off … deeper)

I shouldn’t say, “Just like me.” I can always tell who they are, but that’s the only thing we share. Some of us turn into the men who love boys; some of us turn into men who hate those men. But most of us, we just … blend in, I guess. We’ll never be a crew. Never be together. All we share is the Secret.

But that doesn’t matter. I learned one thing from those men who loved me: I don’t need love. I don’t need a crew. I don’t need any friends. I don’t need anything. I don’t even need to keep doing this.

HUNTER

(unseen; we are hearing his thoughts as V/O)

No, I don’t need it; I just like it. I like it a lot. Maybe this is my love.

ESAU

(still talking)

Or maybe I did, and I never knew. So I ended up … where you found me. Scrubbing the truth off the walls.

ROSE

(reacting to Esau’s self-loathing tone)

Maybe you were just—

ESAU

I was just … nothing. Look, Rose, I never realized that Book Boys could be girls. I know I’m not good enough to be a Book Boy myself. I couldn’t be a Guardian, either—they wouldn’t have someone like me. But I could be
your
guardian, Rose. If you’ll have me, you can have my life, too.

ESAU

I’d never let you down, Rose. Never, I swear. I don’t just love you; I love that you stand for something. I’d be proud to die for you, Rose. At least then I wouldn’t be a nothing anymore.

ROSE

(sets her jaw)

You were never a nothing, Esau.

ALL FOUR WOMEN

(in unison)

The Book of Revelations and Transformation is proof of the power of true knowledge. And the danger of false knowledge.

ZAK

We are many colors, but we are
all
the People. How we appear has no meaning; how we act is where the truth is always found. The Book of the Mind explains the teachings of the Book of Transformations, and clarifies the Book of Obligations. Inside, we are
not
all alike. My name is Zak; I am an Insighter. Our work is to see the inside of people, and to decide. Some we can help; some we can heal. And some we must expel.

RADIOMAN

(as if addressing another person)

I know she’s on the HydroFarm—it was on the Info-Board. Not her name; they never do that. But I know her ID! And when she is finally with me, I’ll know
everything
about her. All I have to do is take her away. She wants me to do that. I don’t care what you say;
I
know she does.