CHAPTER 14
Hiss poured himself another drink as the limousine left the curb. He swished it down in one gulp, grinning at the end. Locke pulled the cash and WPS out of his pocket.
“Oh, almost forgot about those. I got caught up in punching Robert.” Hiss made no effort to take them from Locke.
“What do you think these Pyramids mean?” The words escaped before Locke could stop them.
“You mean that triangle? Who knows? Decorative I suppose.” Hiss shrugged, picking at dirt still attached to his suit.
“That’s all they are? Just artwork to make these bills look nice?”
Hiss’ head swiveled like a slammed door. “Bills? You are learning fast. I did not know you knew what these were called.”
“I’ve heard it around.” Whispering, the words came out as if through a peephole. He didn’t need Hiss thinking Locke knew more than he did.
Hiss studied Locke then he eyed the bills. Locke’s hands played with them, his fingers causing the paper to flutter against his silk pants. How many times now had his tongue gotten him close to trouble?
After several seconds, Hiss seemed to lose interest in what Locke said. He poured himself another drink. Locke guessed Hiss would have to fill out additional paperwork if he continued to drink at this pace.
Locke’s hands steadied. He rubbed the bills amazed the OWG could get so upset by such delicate pieces of paper. He understood why the OWG hated them but could they be an actual threat to the OWG?
He thought not. Cash could be burned. Cut into little pieces. Crumpled up in a ball and thrown away. They could be lost or left behind.
The OWG Credit Bureaucracy was better. It disbursed the credits monthly to the Masses and kept track of them with the System. Every subject in the OWG, except Govicide workers, received the same amount: 500. Locke’s credits would increase to 1000 at the start of next month.
These credits couldn’t be taken or destroyed like this cash, unless the OWG subtracted them. And if they were, the goal was to help the OWG. If a subject didn’t use the credits during the course of a month, the OWG took what was left back. There was no way for a subject to save credits. As a result, no subject ever had more credits than anyone else. Everybody started each month the same, and they all ended the same--at zero.
“You might find this interesting, Govicide Agent Locke.” Hiss cleared his throat. “I passed the Govicide test on my eighteenth birthday. After training, one of my first captures was my uncle who was secretly trading food with a comrade for years.”
Listening, Locke rubbed the cash.
Hiss continued, “I was proud of my devotion to the OWG. And I felt even better when my uncle left prison ten years later.”
“What happened?”
“Well, my uncle thanked me for my devotion to the OWG. It filled me with joy that I got my uncle to behave like an obedient subject. My uncle lived out the rest of his years with total loyalty to the OWG by being a spy for Govicide. He died at the age of sixty-one because the System calculated he was too expensive to keep alive.”
Locke noticed tears running down Hiss’ face. “You miss him.”
Hiss shook his head. “Oh, no. I hated him. I am just so happy for myself I could get someone to love the OWG again.”
“Oh.” Locke paused, feeling the need to reciprocate with a story. “My mother died when I was young, having succumbed to the flu at the age of twenty-eight. My father raised me, along with the OWG. But, he died when I was nineteen. He’d worked as an OWG bus driver and got killed when the brakes failed. The bus went through an intersection and smashed into a light pole. My father got ejected from the bus because his safety belt failed, too.”
Hiss nodded, his eyes still red.
Locke continued, “The OWG investigated the crash, in the end saying the bus crashed due to subjects using cash. Not enough credits were available to fix the bus properly. The bus had been used, even though it was defective, because the OWG calculated there were too many subjects in that area of town anyway. If a few died in a bus crash, more Goods and Services would be available for other subjects.”
“That is true. Cash kills,” Hiss responded.
The new Agent rubbed the cash hard enough to feel his fingertips start to go numb. This paper killed his father. Though, he had a difficult time hating it. Yes, it was mandated that he should, but something about it left him fascinated instead.
“In fact, the OWG was happy my father died, since my father’s death allowed other subjects to get more Goods and Services. I received fifty credits good for an entire year instead of the usual month. The subjects on the bus who lived got ten credits deducted per month for a year since they should’ve died.”
“Too bad for the OWG. Those deaths could have saved even more credits.” Hiss shook his head.
The two Govicide Agents told war stories on the way back to the Hotel. As they did, Locke wondered what Hiss would do with a girlcomrade pregnant under un-mandated circumstances? If he was a new Agent, and she got an abortion, he’d be disciplined for withholding vital information. If his girlcomrade had the fetus, he’d experience the same consequences.
They would put Hiss away like anyone else. His OWG devotion wouldn’t save him.
Locke enjoyed thinking about Hiss painting himself into a corner. However, this all pre-supposed a female would use her sex credits with Hiss. Locke didn’t think even being an Agent helped Hiss’ chances with the opposite sex.
By the time the limousine pulled up in front of the hotel, they were famished, choosing the OWG Restaurant in the Hotel. Since they were Govicide Agents, they got to order “off the menu.” If they’d been regular subjects, the choices would consist of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and ham sandwiches.
Eating out cost more credits than staying in, so the Masses ate out infrequently.
Govicide Agents had the choices of steak, lobster, and prime rib.
This was Locke’s first time seeing the “other menu.” He thought it was a joke when the OWG Waitress brought it.
Hiss recommended ordering a steak cooked ‘medium’. It came with something called a baked potato. Locke had eaten potatoes before, but in raw or boiled form. The foil-wrapped potato looked foreign to him. He sliced the potato, exposing the soft and flaky insides. The steam invaded his nostrils. With butter and pepper added, once again with Hiss’ recommendation. Locke savored his first bite. He loved it. Boiled potatoes would never be part of his food choices again.
Hiss inhaled his food, chewing with his mouth open. Locke imagined subjects walking outside could hear Hiss devouring his food. In between bites, Hiss regaled him with stories of catching Offenders, beating males and even females.
Throughout the meal, Hiss treated the waitress like an Offender, too. Though he ate everything, he complained about all of it. The cook under-prepared the potato. The napkins were not big enough. The steak had too much fat. The temperature of the room needed lowered.
The waitress put up with it, smiling as if she recently received five extra credits. What choice did she have? Hiss was a Govicide Agent.
When Hiss left to go to the bathroom, Locke apologized to the young female for Hiss’ behavior. She responded saying Agents were allowed to behave the way they wanted since they provided everything for everyone. It was only right.
Right. That word again. His thoughts whirled between the cash and Hamilton until Hiss returned to the table.
Darkness eclipsed Dale City by the time they finished. Hiss made arrangements for them to take a train to Cornville the next day at seven in the morning. The Masses taking the train arrived several hours early. Govicide Agents, on the other hand, could get there at the last second and get seats. Hiss told Locke to meet him out front at 6:32.
Locke sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. Dust still covered them from the Wolf meeting two hours ago. He wiped them off with a bathroom towel, trying to make them sparkle. His feet didn’t hurt after a day of wearing them, so Hiss must have done a good job picking them out.
After one more shine, he placed them at the foot of his bed.
How many times had he cleaned blood, and other bodily fluids, off of his old Homicide shoes? Fortunately, Jade never found out he washed them in their living quarters’ sink.
Thinking of Jade, Locke called her with his new phone. She’d just gotten home from her work and she sounded glad to hear from him. He told her about the flight, the Hotel, and the dinner. She asked about his day but he reminded her there were restrictions on what he could say about ongoing Govicide investigations. The sooner she realized that, the better. This wasn’t Homicide, where he could tell her everything.
Plus, all phone conversations went through the System. It wasn’t common knowledge to all subjects, but Locke knew on good authority the System scanned for certain words during all phone conversations. Cash, Offender, un-mandated, and a bunch of other words caused a yellow flag to show on the System’s big screens.
She told him about her day. There were no secrets in the OWG Transportation Department. There were still problems with the air and rail system in the northern part of the Fifth Continent and the west part of the Fourth Continent. The track sensors went out occasionally, sometimes for hours at a time, for no apparent reason. Upon landing, OWG Pilots reported their instruments went haywire near the area. More and more, the OWG was ordering them to avoid the area. It was just a fly-over area any way, she added, since no one could live there.
“How are you feeling?” He had to be vague, since anyone could be listening.
“I feel fine,” she answered.
“Head, feet . . . stomach?” Locke didn’t think naming body parts would set off any warnings. Still, the words came out as a whisper.
“Stomach feels fine. No queasiness. No throwing up.” Jade connected the dots.
“Good.”
“Any fix, yet?”
“Uh. No. Still researching.” What else could he tell her?
“So, what time are you coming back tomorrow?”
And this conversation had been going so well. “We’re not going back to Gambling City tomorrow.”
“Why not?” Locke heard her vocal cords stiffen.
“You know I can’t tell you that. OWG work,” Locke answered, glad he could avoid the blame by putting it off on Govicide.
“I thought—“
“Jade . . .” He couldn’t allow her emotions to get the best of her and set off the System. “We can’t talk about this now.”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in Gambling City in no time.”
“You think so?”
He doubted it but the hope would calm her down. “Very possible. I’m going to bed now. The OWG allows me to love you.”
“The OWG allows me to love you too.”
They hung up and he set his phone on the nightstand. Out of habit, he opened the drawer to the stand. The OWG Manual sat there. This one had been used, its edges somewhat cracked, but its cover still possessed the unmistakable blackness. He thought about thumbing through it then decided against it. The studying from a few days ago refreshed his knowledge plenty.
Shutting the drawer, he lay down studying the ceiling. He felt like he had forgotten to do something. He sat up, remembering Hiss told him the phone needed “charged”--was that what Hiss called it?--every night.
Locke grabbed the phone again and popped open the back, flipping out two prongs that could be connected to an electrical outlet. He plugged the phone into a socket by his bed, and stretched out on the mattress again.
Before long, his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep, not bothering to undress or pull down the covers. He didn’t even shut off the lights the drowsiness came upon him so quickly.