Windup Girl

by Bacigalupi, Paolo

  Never mind. It doesn’t matter. If he cannot find white shirts to do the job, he will drown himself. He will go to the river and dump himself in its offal. Floating on river currents to the sea appeals to him. He will end in the ocean like his scuttled clipper ships and the last of his heirs. He takes a swig of whiskey, loses his balance, and winds up on the ground once again, sobbing and cursing white shirts and green headbands, and wet machetes.

  Finally he drags himself into a doorway to rest, holding his miraculously unbroken whiskey bottle with one feeble hand. He cradles it to himself like a last bit of precious jade, smiling and laughing that it is not broken. He wouldn’t want to waste his life savings on the cobblestones.

  He takes another swig. Stares at the methane lamps flickering overhead. Despair is the color of approved-burn methane flickering green and gaseous, vinous in the dark. Green used to mean things like coriander and silk and jade and now all it means to him is bloodthirsty men with patriotic headbands and hungry scavenging nights. The lamps flicker. An entire green city. An entire city of despair.

  Across the street, a shape scuttles, keeping to the shadows. Hock Seng leans forward, eyes narrowed. At first he takes it for a white shirt. But no. It is too furtive. It’s a woman. A girl. A pretty creature, all made up. An enticement that moves with the stuttery jerky motion of…

  A windup girl.

  Hock Seng grins, a surprised skeleton rictus of delight at the sight of this unnatural creature stealing through the night. A windup girl. Ma Ping’s windup girl. The impossible made flesh.

  She slips from shadow to shadow, a creature even more terrified of white shirts than a yellow card geriatric. A waifish ghost-child ripped from her natural habitat and set down in a city which despises everything she represents: her genetic inheritance, her manufacturers, her unnatural competition—her ghostly lack of a soul. She has been here every night as he has pillaged through discarded melon spines. She has been here, tottering through the sweat heat darkness as he dodged white shirt patrols. And despite everything, she has been surviving.

  Hock Seng forces himself upright. He sways, drunken and unsteady, then follows, one hand clutching his whiskey bottle, the other touching walls, catching himself when his bad knee falters. It’s a foolish thing, a whimsy, but the windup girl has seized his inebriated imagination. He wants to stalk this unlikely Japanese creature, this interloper on foreign soil even more despised than himself. He wants to follow her. Perhaps steal kisses from her. Perhaps protect her from the hazards of the night. To pretend at least that he is not this drunken ribcage caricature of a man, but is in fact a tiger still.

  The windup girl travels through the blackest of back alleys, safe in darkness, hidden from the white shirts who would seize her and mulch her before she could protest. Devil cats yowl as she passes, scenting something as cynically engineered as themselves. The Kingdom is infested with plagues and beasts, besieged by so many bio-engineered monsters that it cannot keep up. As small as gray fa’ gan fringe and as large as megodonts, they come. And as the Kingdom struggles to adapt, Hock Seng slinks after a windup girl, both of them as invasive as blister rust on a durian and just as welcome.

  For all her irregular motion, the windup girl travels well enough. Hock Seng has difficulty keeping up with her. His knees creak and grind and he clenches his teeth against the pain. Sometimes he falls with a muffled grunt, but still he follows. Ahead of him, the windup girl ducks into new shadows, a wisp of tottering motion. Her herky-jerky gait announces her as a creature not human, no matter how beautiful she may be. No matter how intelligent, no matter how strong, no matter how supple her skin, she is a windup and meant to serve—and marked as such by a genetic specification that betrays her with every unnatural step.

  Finally, when Hock Seng thinks that his legs will give out for a final time and that he can continue no longer, the windup girl pauses. She stands in the black mouth of a crumbling highrise, a tower as tall and wretched as his own, another carcass of the old Expansion. From high above, music and laughter filter down. Shapes float in the tower’s upper-story windows, limned in red light, the silhouettes of women dancing. Calls of men and the throb of drums. The windup girl disappears inside.

  What would it be like to enter such a place? To spend baht like water while women danced and sang songs of lust? Hock Seng suddenly regrets spending his last baht on whiskey. This is where he should have died. Surrounded by fleshly pleasures that he has not known since he lost his country and his life. He purses his lips, considering. Perhaps he can bluff his way in. He still wears the raiment of the Hwang Brothers. He still appears a gentleman, perhaps. Yes. He will attempt it, and if he gathers the shame of ejection on his head, if he loses face one more time, what of it? He will be dead in a river soon anyway, floating to the sea to join his sons.

  He starts to cross the street but his knee gives out and he falls flat instead. He saves his whiskey bottle more by luck than by dexterity. The last of its amber liquid glints in the methane light. He grimaces and pulls himself into a sitting position, then drags himself back into a doorway. He will rest, first. And finish the bottle. The windup girl will be there for a long time, likely. He has time to recover himself. And if he falls again, at least he won’t have wasted his liquor. He tilts the bottle to his lips then lets his tired head rest against the building. He’ll just catch his breath.

  Laughter issues from the highrise. Hock Seng jerks awake. A man stumbles from its shadow portal: drunk, laughing. More men spill out after him. They laugh and shove one another. Drag tittering women out with them. Motion to cycle rickshaws that wait in the alleys for easy drunken patrons. Slowly, they disperse. Hock Seng tilts his whiskey bottle. Finds it empty.

  Another pair of men emerges from the highrise’s maw. One of them is Ma Ping. The other a farang who can only be Ma’s boss. The farang waves for a cycle rickshaw. He climbs in and waves his farewells. Ma raises his own hand in return and his gold and diamond wristwatch glints in the methane light. Hock Seng’s wristwatch. Hock Seng’s history. Hock Seng’s heirloom flashing bright in the darkness. Hock Seng scowls. Wishes he could rip it off young Ma’s wrist.

  The farang’s rickshaw starts forward with a screech of unoiled bicycle chains and drunken laughter, leaving Ma Ping standing alone in the middle of the street. Ma laughs to himself, seems to consider returning to the bars, then laughs again and turns away, heading across the street, toward Hock Seng.

  Hock Seng shies into the shadows, unwilling to let Ma catch him in such a state. Unwilling to endure more humiliation. He crouches deeper in his doorway as Ma stumbles about the street in search of rickshaws. But all the rickshaws have been taken for the moment. No more lurk below the bars.

  Ma’s gold wristwatch glints again in the methane light.

  Pale forms glazed green materialize on the street, three men walking, their mahogany skin almost black in the darkness, contrasting sharply against the creased whites of their uniforms. Their black batons twirl casually at their wrists. Ma doesn’t seem to notice them at first. The white shirts converge, casual. Their voices carry easily in the quiet night.

  “You’re out late.”

  Ma shrugs, grins queasily. “Not really. Not so late.”

  The three white shirts gather close. “Late for a yellow card. You should be home by now. Bad luck to be out after yellow card curfew. Especially with all that yellow gold on your wrist.”

  Ma holds up his hands, defensive. “I’m not a yellow card.”

  “Your accent says differently.”

  Ma reaches for his pockets, fumbles in them. “Really. You’ll see. Look.”

  A white shirt steps close. “Did I say you could move?”

  “My papers. Look—”

  “Get your hands out!”

  “Look at my stamps!”

  “Out!” A black baton flashes. Ma yelps, clutches his elbow. More blows rain down. Ma crouches, trying to shield himself. He curses, “Nimade bi!”

  The white shirts laugh. “Tha
t’s yellow card talk.” One of them swings his baton, low and fast, and Ma collapses, crying out, curling around a damaged leg. The white shirts gather close. One of them jabs Ma in the face, making him uncurl, then runs the baton down Ma’s chest, dragging blood.

  “He’s got nicer clothes than you, Thongchai.”

  “Probably snuck across the border with an assful of jade.”

  One of them squats, studies Ma’s face. “Is it true? Do you shit jade?”

  Ma shakes his head frantically. He rolls over and starts to crawl away. A black runnel of blood spills from his mouth. One leg drags behind him, useless. A white shirt follows, pushes him over with his shoe and puts his foot on Ma’s face. The other two suck in their breath and step back, shocked. To beat a man is one thing… “Suttipong, no.”

  The man called Suttipong glances back at his peers. “It’s nothing. These yellow cards are as bad as blister rust. This is nothing. They all come begging, taking food when we’ve got little enough for our own, and look.” He kicks Ma’s wrist. “Gold.”

  Ma gasps, tries to strip the watch from his wrist. “Take it. Here. Please. Take it.”

  “It’s not yours to give, yellow card.”

  “Not… yellow card,” Ma gasps. “Please. Not your Ministry.” His hands fumble for his pockets, frantic under the white shirt’s gaze. He pulls out his papers and waves them in the hot night air.

  Suttipong takes the papers, glances at them. Leans close. “You think our countrymen don’t fear us, too?”

  He throws the papers on the ground, then quick as a cobra he strikes. One, two, three, the blows rain down. He is very fast. Very methodical. Ma curls into a ball, trying to ward off the blows. Suttipong steps back, breathing heavily. He waves at the other two. “Teach him respect.” The other two glance at each other doubtfully, but under Suttipong’s urging, they are soon beating Ma, shouting encouragement to one another.

  A few men come down from the pleasure bars and stumble into the streets, but when they see white uniforms they flee back inside. The white shirts are alone. And if there are other watching eyes, they do not show themselves. Finally, Suttipong seems satisfied. He kneels and strips the antique Rolex from Ma’s wrist, spits on Ma’s face, and motions his peers to join him. They turn away, striding close past Hock Seng’s hiding place.

  The one called Thongchai looks back. “He might complain.”

  Suttipong shakes his head, his attention on the Rolex in his hand. “He’s learned his lesson.”

  Their footsteps fade into the darkness. Music filters down from the highrise clubs. The street itself is silent. Hock Seng watches for a long time, looking for other hunters. Nothing moves. It is as if the entire city has turned its back on the broken Malay-Chinese lying in the street. Finally, Hock Seng limps out of the shadows and approaches Ma Ping.

  Ma catches sight of him and holds up a weak hand. “Help.” He tries the words in Thai, again in farang English, finally in Malay, as though he has returned to his childhood. Then he seems to recognize Hock Seng. His eyes widen. He smiles weakly, through split bloody lips. Speaks Mandarin, their trade language of brotherhood. “Lao pengyou. What are you doing here?”

  Hock Seng squats beside him, studying his cracked face. “I saw your windup girl.”

  Ma closes his eyes, tries to smile. “You believe me, then?” His eyes are nearly swollen shut, blood runs down from a cut in his brow, trickling freely.

  “Yes.”

  “I think they broke my leg.” He tries to pull himself upright, gasps and collapses. He probes his ribs, runs his hand down to his shin. “I can’t walk.” He sucks air as he prods another broken bone. “You were right about the white shirts.”

  “A nail that stands up gets pounded down.”

  Something in Hock Seng’s tone makes Ma look up. He studies Hock Seng’s face. “Please. I gave you food. Find me a rickshaw.” One hand strays to his wrist, fumbling for the timepiece that is no longer his, trying to offer it. Trying to bargain.

  Is this fate? Hock Seng wonders. Or luck? Hock Seng purses his lips, considering. Was it fate that his own shiny wristwatch drew the white shirts and their wicked black batons? Was it luck that he arrived to see Ma fall? Do he and Ma Ping still have some larger karmic business?

  Hock Seng watches Ma beg and remembers firing a young clerk so many lifetimes ago, sending him packing with a thrashing and a warning never to return. But that was when he was a great man. And now he is such a small one. As small as the clerk he thrashed so long ago. Perhaps smaller. He slides his hands under Ma’s back, lifts.

  “Thank you,” Ma gasps. “Thank you.”

  Hock Seng runs his fingers into Ma’s pockets, working through them methodically, checking for baht the white shirts have left. Ma groans, forces out a curse as Hock Seng jostles him. Hock Seng counts his scavenge, the dregs of Ma’s pockets that still look like wealth to him. He stuffs the coins into his own pocket.

  Ma’s breathing comes in short panting gasps. “Please. A rickshaw. That’s all.” He barely manages to exhale the words.

  Hock Seng cocks his head, considering, his instincts warring with themselves. He sighs and shakes his head. “A man makes his own luck, isn’t that what you told me?” He smiles tightly. “My own arrogant words, coming from a brash young mouth.” He shakes his head again, astounded at his previously fat ego, and smashes his whiskey bottle on the cobbles. Glass sprays. Shards glint green in the methane light.

  “If I were still a great man…” Hock Seng grimaces. “But then, I suppose we’re both past such illusions. I’m very sorry about this.” With one last glance around the darkened street, he drives the broken bottle into Ma’s throat. Ma jerks and blood spills out around Hock Seng’s hand. Hock Seng scuttles back, keeping this new welling of blood off his Hwang Brothers fabrics. Ma’s lungs bubble and his hands reach up for the bottle lodged in his neck, then fall away. His wet breathing stops.

  Hock Seng is trembling. His hands shake with an electric palsy. He has seen so much death, and dealt so little. And now Ma lies before him, another Malay-Chinese dead, with only himself to blame. Again. He stifles an urge to be sick.

  He turns and crawls into the protective shadows of the alley and pulls himself upright. He tests his weak leg. It seems to hold him. Beyond the shadows, the street is silent. Ma’s body lies like a heap of garbage in its center. Nothing moves.

  Hock Seng turns and limps down the street, keeping to the walls, bracing himself when his knee threatens to give way. After a few blocks, the methane lamps start to go out. One by one, as though a great hand is moving down the street snuffing them, they gutter into silence as the Public Works Ministry cuts off the gas. The street settles into complete darkness.

  When Hock Seng finally arrives at Surawong Road, its wide black thoroughfare is nearly empty of traffic. A pair of ancient water buffalo placidly haul a rubber-wheeled wagon under starlight. A shadow farmer rides behind them, muttering softly. The yowls of mating devil cats scrape the hot night air, but that is all.

  And then, from behind, the creak of bicycle chains. The rattle of wheels on cobbles. Hock Seng turns, half-expecting avenging white shirts, but it is only a cycle rickshaw, chattering down the darkened street. Hock Seng raises a hand, flashing newfound baht. The rickshaw slows. A man’s ropey limbs gleam with moonlit sweat. Twin earrings decorate his lobes, gobs of silver in the night. “Where you going?”

  Hock Seng scans the rickshaw man’s broad face for hints of betrayal, for hints that he is a hunter, but the man is only looking at the baht in Hock Seng’s hand. Hock Seng forces down his paranoia and climbs into the rickshaw’s seat. “The farang factories. By the river.”

  The rickshaw man glances over his shoulder, surprised. “All the factories will be closed. Too much energy to run at night. It’s all black night down there.”

  “It doesn’t matter. There’s a job opening. There will be interviews.”

  The man stands on his pedals. “At night?”

  “Tomorrow.” Hock
Seng settles deeper into his seat. “I don’t want to be late.”

  EXTRAPOLATIONS: A CONVERSATION WITH PAOLO BACIGALUPI

  WHEN WAS THE FIRST SEED PLANTED FOR THE WORLD OF THE WINDUP GIRL AND WHAT WAS IT? HOW DIFFERENT WAS THE ORIGINAL IDEA FROM WHAT ENDED UP IN THE FINAL NOVEL?

  It’s always difficult to say what makes a story come into existence. Many images, news stories, events, and your own personal experiences all seem to come together, and at the beginning, it can be quite muddy. It’s probably less of a seed than an accidental tangling of interesting ideas and images.

  In once sense, the novel started from my memory of a Japanese flight attendant on a flight from Bangkok to Tokyo. I had been travelling from Hong Kong, across southern China, and then down through Laos into Thailand. I lived and worked in China for several years, and it was an opportunity to see how the country had changed, and then to see some new places as well. As it turned, out SARS broke out in Hong Kong and Guangzhou while I was there, and it spread rapidly. China was censoring the news of the outbreak within the country, and the pandemic was largely mysterious, so it felt as if you were on the edge of an unknown future where we might very well be hurtling toward disaster, and it was hard to tell how rapidly it was moving. So you started listening to how people coughed, and wondering who was sick and who was healthy.

  At the same time, this was during the hot season, and I’ve never been very good at surviving humidity, so for some reason, my hands started breaking out in rather horrifying pustulous rash. I remember being fooled by the heat. Thinking I could walk a mile in Bangkok and not overheat, and in reality, I just couldn’t. My body was smashing up against a distinct heat limit, and that meant everything I did had to be slower and more careful than I was used to. So you can see some of those elements in the book. The pandemics, the heat, Emiko’s own physical limitations, but the true seed of the story—the image that got me writing when I went back to my home—was a flight attendant on the flight out to Tokyo.