FYYAH
(giving him an appraising look)
You’re doing pretty good so far.
PULL OUT TO:
Hexon and Fyyah talking. Sometimes earnestly, sometimes very serious, occasionally smiling. They are sitting close, but not touching. Clear impression that a great deal of time has passed, as different people keep walking back and forth in front of them. Everyone who passes draws a look from both of them—threat assessment—but nobody looks in their direction … they’re all there on business of one kind or another.
FYYAH
I … I wish I could keep … I wish I could just stay here. But I have to find a place to sleep. The cold is coming, and we’re out too deep to make it back across to the lights.
HEXON
I could—
FYYAH
(sharply, with a hint of disappointment)
I don’t trade, Hexon. I know some of the Dancing Girls work the Sex Tunnels, but we don’t have to, and I never would. I’m not trading sex for a night in one of the Stay-Overs.
HEXON
(angry and hurt)
I wasn’t going to say anything like that. I already knew you wouldn’t—
FYYAH
(turning to face him; seriously interested)
How? How could you know something like that?
HEXON
Like what?
FYYAH
That I wouldn’t …
HEXON
I just knew. I always know … things like that, I mean. I’m a Merchant Boy, but a Warlock named me. Maybe that’s why. Because I always do know, for real. That’s why I’m the top Merchant Boy—I never get cheated.
FYYAH
What’s that got to do with sex? I thought you weren’t even any good at talking to girls.
HEXON
Not sex things, trade things. I can always tell when somebody wants something, and what they’ll give for it.
FYYAH
(not sure what to make of this statement)
Oh.
HEXON
You could use my sleep-tube. It’s right in my pack; a 33-Z, the very best, one hundred percent Raytell. It’s even got a heat exchanger and a bubble visor. Sometimes I’m out here for a few cycles at a time, so I need to carry one.
FYYAH
(firmly)
I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair.
HEXON
It’s fair if I want you to.
They exchange a look. Then, as if by mutual agreement, they get up and start walking. When they come to a flat spot slightly off the ground, Hexon pops open his sleep-tube.
FYYAH
Are you sure you can …
HEXON
Sure. It’s easy. Give me your jacket.
As Fyyah is removing her waist-length jacket, Hexon takes off his much longer coat, which he doubles up and lays flat on the ground. Then he gently places her jacket on top of his and sits down.
FYYAH
(insistently)
Are you sure?
HEXON
I’ve been making trading trips out here a long time. It took forever to save enough for the 33-Z. So I slept on less than this plenty of times. The trick is to keep something between yourself and the ground. The more the better.
Fyyah gives him an unreadable look, then fastens the sleep-tube around her, and shifts her body so it’s right against Hexon’s.
HEXON
The heat-exchanger is—
FYYAH
I know how they work. If I turn it on, then the outside of the tube will get all cold, right? If I leave it off, it’ll be like I’m another blanket. And if I don’t pull the visor down, we can still talk. I’m not sleepy yet, anyway. Are you?
Hexon deliberately turns away from her, shifting his body to a guard-alert position.
HEXON
There’s … things out here. It takes a long time to learn how to sleep so any sound wakes you up. We’ll take turns staying awake. Pull up the visor and I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.
He lights a cigarette by inserting it into a flameless box, cups the tip, and takes a drag.
FYYAH
(ignoring him; not touching the visor)
Have you been out here that long?
HEXON
(not turning around)
Long enough.
FYYAH
Not out here, out. Away from your spray, I mean.
HEXON
(soberly, turning slightly to face her)
Almost twelve years.
FYYAH
You don’t look that old.
HEXON
I’ll have my Year 19 soon. You?
FYYAH
A little over two years.
HEXON
Did you run from …?
FYYAH
My spray, yeah. In my Year 13, they sold me on a three-year contract to the HydroFarm. I worked out the contract, but I never went back, even though my spray still owned me. But they never caught me, and I’m too old, now. Even if they found me, they couldn’t bring me back.
HEXON
Couldn’t they still snatch—?
FYYAH
(closing her eyes)
I’m a Dancing Girl. You come for one of us, you come for us all. When we used to take kill-marks, a Drover counted for ten regular ones.
Hexon lights another cigarette and looks into the darkness, as if he’s watching for intruders.
HEXON
(V/O)
It was like I was talking to her and thinking inside my mind at the same time. They used to have a different name for sprays once. Families, they were called. The Book Boys wrote that, in blue. Families were supposed to really want kids. To keep, not to sell. They were supposed to love children. And protect them. But after a while, they all stopped doing that. Or most of them, anyway. That was part of the Terror. I don’t really understand it all. The Book Boys wrote it in blue.
SHOW:
YOU KILLED THOSE WHO TRIED TO WARN
THE FABRIC WAS TORN
FAMILY WAS DEAD——SPRAY WAS BORN
HEXON
(V/O)
Spray means DNA connection. When people have sex, sometimes a baby comes. The Rulers can always tell your spray. From your blood, that’s how they tell.
He sneaks a glance at Fyyah, almost as if to reassure himself she’s still there. She seems to be sleeping peacefully.
HEXON
(V/O)
It felt good to look at her. Rats can’t get into the sleep-tube, not with the visor down. But she had the visor up. I had to keep watch, so nothing would hurt her.
It felt funny, doing that. No, wait. That isn’t what felt so strange. She was probably real good with her razor and all, but, going to sleep like she did, she was … trusting me. Why should she do that?
I talked to her. Real soft, so it wouldn’t wake her up. I told her about the stuff I had to do when I ran off from the work site. The first two times, they caught me. They know how to hurt you without crippling you … because they need you to go back to work when they’re done hurting you. The last time, I finally made it.
I had to do a lot of things after that. Bad things. But it got easier to do them, after a while. And once I found a crew that would have me, once I became a Merchant Boy, I knew they would never get me back into a work site again. It was like she said for her crew—if anyone came after one of us, it was the same as coming after us all.
FYYAH
(in a voice that indicates she was never asleep)
You didn’t have any choice, Hexon.
HEXON
(startled)
When did you wake up?
FYYAH
I never really went to sleep. I was just lying here with my eyes closed. Feeling safe. I loved that feeling. I didn’t go to sleep because I didn’t want it to end.
But I know we have to sleep. We’ll do it like you said, okay? You watch me for a while, then wake me up and I’ll watch for you.
HEXON
I’m not sleepy.
FYYAH
Me neither. What were you looking for out here?
HEXON
I’m … looking for someone who wants to buy Bad Babies.
FYYAH
(on the verge of a terrible sadness)
The Merchant Boys are going to—?
HEXON
(disgusted)
We never did that. And this isn’t for the Merchant Boys, anyway; it’s for me. I heard on the whisper-stream that somebody wanted the Bad Babies. I had to see if it was true.
FYYAH
(opening the sleep-tube, sitting up, intense)
It is true! That’s why I came … to find them.
HEXON
How can you know it’s really true? Why would anyone want to—
FYYAH
It’s a crew that takes the babies. It has to be. You heard about them, too, didn’t you?
HEXON
Them? You mean the ones who used to—
FYYAH
Not them. They only bought the Bad Babies to sell. You’re only allowed to sell babies from your own spray, but there’s no market for the … parts from the Bad Babies anymore. And the Rulers know how to test the … organs. So whoever’s taking the babies, they’re not taking them to sell; they’re taking them to keep.
HEXON
The Book Boys never wrote—
FYYAH
(with absolute assurance)
Not yet. But they will.
HEXON
Do you know where—?
FYYAH
Nobody does. But it has to be somewhere here in the Uncharted Zone. That’s the only place the Rulers don’t have sensors.
HEXON
(warningly)
The deeper you go, the worse it gets. All kinds of things that you never—
FYYAH
(thoughtfully)
You’re not just talking, the way some boys do when they’re trying to make themselves big. You’ve been out there yourself, haven’t you, Hexon? Out real deep?
HEXON
A few times, but …
FYYAH
(calmly urgent)
I have to find them, Hexon. I think they have my little sister.
HEXON
Your sister-for-real? From your own spray?
FYYAH
(excitedly)
Yes! After I worked off my contract, I never went back to my spray. I knew they’d just sell me again, so I went on my own. Once the Dancing Girls chose me, I learned a lot of tricks. When I got good at stalking, I snuck back to see what was happening in my spray. My baby sister, Fiona, she was still with them; the only one left. I knew, as soon as she got old enough, my mother would—
HEXON
(Hexon is all business, now; calculating trade value. Cutting her off—)
How old is she?
FYYAH
Almost Year 6. Next cycle, she turns.
HEXON
(matter-of-factly)
That’s too young to sell to a work site.
FYYAH
But not for the Sex Tunnels. You know where they list kids gone missing on the Info-Board? They don’t do that if the kid is sold. The Rulers know where the kid is, so that doesn’t count as missing.
HEXON
Why not try your … mother, first. If she was going to sell her, couldn’t we negotiate with—?
FYYAH
(flatly, just the facts)
She’s dead. My father, too. That’s happening all the time now. First, someone steals a kid from the kid’s spray. Then, after a while, the kid’s owners end up getting killed themselves. How could a little kid kill grown people? And not just one kid; this is like a regular thing, so it has to be a crew at work. Some call them the Spray-Slayers, but that’s just talk—the Book Boys never wrote anything on the walls. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what they’re called; Fiona’s with them, whoever they are. I know that, even if I can’t explain it. She’s with them. And I’m going to find her.
HEXON
(V/O, hearing his thoughts)
Dancing Girls are all tough. They have to be—when they say “dance,” they mean fight. All Dancing Girls carry razors. Some of them work in the Sex Tunnels, but most of them don’t work. They steal, mostly. But going outside the Charted Zone takes more than being tough. I know. A few of the Merchant Boys have gone out but not come back. Me, I’ve come back every time. So far.
HEXON
(aloud)
We both need to find that crew, if that’s what it is.
If they have your sister, we’ll get her back.
Fyyah reaches out, takes Hexon’s hand, places it on her breast, over her heart, and closes her eyes.
HEXON
(V/O)
A Merchant Boy isn’t allowed to do anything unless he gets something back. Dancing Girls aren’t supposed to have anything to do with their own spray. In Underground, every crew has its own rules.
But none of that counts in the Uncharted Zone.
FADE OUT
FADE IN
Hexon and Fyyah, working their way through the tunnels. Hexon trades for the provisions they need. During one of the trades, two men suddenly jump out of the shadows. Fyyah slashes expertly with her razor. Both men are bleeding out as they stagger away. The man Hexon was trading with is staring open-mouthed.
HEXON
(to the man he had been trading with)
That’s two mistakes.
MAN
Hey! I didn’t—
HEXON
(not listening)
That’s what happens to people who live out here. You lose touch. You thought Merchant Boys would be easy, because all we do is talk. And you never even heard of Dancing Girls, did you?
MAN
I don’t know what you’re—
HEXON
The deal is off. Give me back my barter. The Man hands it over, says …
MAN
What about mine?
HEXON
(taking a small blaster out of his coat)
Here’s what’s yours.
FADE OUT
FADE IN
INT: Side-tunnel
Rats squeaking madly. Hexon and Fyyah stand side by side. Fyyah has a razor in each hand, Hexon is holding his blaster.
A pack of dogs—ranging in size, shape, color, of no known breed—suddenly burst into view, plowing through the rats like elephants through grass.
Hexon tries to step in front of Fyyah, but she hip-slams him to one side, flicks her razors closed, and pockets them. In almost the same motion, she squats down and holds out her hands, palms facing down.
The lead dog sniffs Fyyah’s hands, then looks up at Hexon. A near-mechanical sound resonates deep within his chest, as if “threat” could be a physical thing.
FYYAH
Put your blaster away and get down here with me, Hexon! Do what I’m doing. Quick!
Hexon hesitates for a split second, then follows her command.
Everyone stays frozen for a long second.
Then a male child steps out of the shadows.
FYYAH
(to the child)
I want Fiona. I want my sister.
The child runs away. Seconds pass before he is replaced by a tall, broad-shouldered man, with a prizefighter’s face. He speaks some unrecognizable word. The dogs part like a gate opening.
He then turns and walks away wordlessly.
Fyyah follows without hesitation. Hexon is a step behind her. Unlike Fyyah, he keeps looking back over his shoulder, and sees:
The dogs close in behind them, like cage doors slamming shut.
The man keeps walking until they come to a honeycomb of caves. There is plenty of light, but its source is not obvious. The caves are full of children, one of which is the boy who had first approached them. They range in age; the youngest are tiny infants.
The man steps aside. Fyyah carefully approaches the children, examining them one by one. Suddenly, she kneels and scoops up a chubby
little girl, hugging the child to her chest.
FYYAH
Fiona!
Fyyah backs away toward Hexon. She holds the child with one arm, uses the other to pull one of her razors free. Hexon immediately draws his blaster.
FYYAH
(to the tall man)
We’re going. Don’t try to stop us.
FIONA
(struggling in Fyyah’s arm, screaming like a baby)
No! No go!
FYYAH
It’s okay, baby. We’re going to take you out of here.
FIONA
(frantically, waving her arms)
No! No! No!
Hexon turns and finds himself facing a solid blockade of dogs. They are completely calm. And clearly ready to kill.
TALL MAN
(to Fiona)
Be still, child.
Fiona immediately stops crying and struggling
TALL MAN
(to Fyyah)
You can take her. But you have to pay.
HEXON
(stepping forward confidently—bargaining is his turf)
Credits, barter, or task?
TALL MAN
(his voice is completely neutral)
Tasks.
HEXON
(nodding)
Time tasks, or results tasks?
TALL MAN
Time tasks. One full cycle.
Mortal Lock Page 23