Rewired_ The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology - James Patrick Kelly [35]
Under each of the suits was a light metal frame, sort of like a bicycle with a seat but no wheels, but with a headrest too. Around the web they were setting up the televisions in an arc facing the seats. The suits each had a number on the back, and the televisions had numbers on top that matched.
When Gloria turned up she didn’t say anything to me but she handed me some donuts and coffee.
“This is just the start,” she said, when she saw my eyes get big. “We’re in for three squares a day as long as this thing lasts. As long as we last, anyway.”
We sat and ate outside where we could listen to Fearing. He went on and on. Some people were lined up like he said. I didn’t blame them since Fearing was such a talker. Others listened and just got nervous or excited and went away, but I could tell they were coming back later, at least to watch. When we finished the donuts Fearing came over and told us to get on line too.
“We don’t have to,” said Gloria.
“Yes, you do,” said Fearing.
On line we met Lane. She said she was twenty like Gloria but she looked younger. She could have been sixteen, like me.
“You ever do this before?” asked Gloria.
Lane shook her head. “You?”
“Sure,” said Gloria. “You ever been out of this town?”
“A couple of times,” said Lane. “When I was a kid. I’d like to now.”
“Why?”
“I broke up with my boyfriend.”
Gloria stuck out her lip, and said, “But you’re scared to leave town, so you’re doing this instead.”
Lane shrugged.
I liked her, but Gloria didn’t.
The doctor turned out to be Gilmartin the advance man. I don’t think he was a real doctor, but he listened to my heart. Nobody ever did that before, and it gave me a good feeling.
Registration was a joke, though. It was for show. They asked a lot of questions but they only sent a couple of women and one guy away, Gloria said for being too old. Everyone else was okay, despite how some of them looked pretty hungry, just like me and Gloria. This was a hungry town. Later I figured out that’s part of why Fearing and Kromer picked it. You’d think they’d want to go where the money was, but you’d be wrong.
After registration they told us to get lost for the afternoon. Everything started at eight o’clock.
We walked around downtown but almost all the shops were closed. All the good stuff was in the shopping center and you had to show a town ID card to get in and me and Gloria didn’t have those.
So, like Gloria always says, we killed time since time was what we had.
The place looked different. They had spotlights pointed from on top of the vans and Fearing was talking through a microphone. There was a banner up over the doors. I asked Gloria and she said, “Scape-Athon.” Ed was selling beer out of a cooler and some people were buying, even though he must have just bought it right there in town for half the price he was selling at. It was a hot night. They were selling tickets but they weren’t letting anybody in yet. Fearing told us to get inside.
Most of the contestants were there already. Anne, the woman from the van, was there, acting like any other contestant. Lane was there too and we waved at each other. Gilmartin was helping everybody put on the suits. You had to get naked but nobody seemed to mind. Just being contestants made it all right, like we were invisible to each other.
“Can we be next to each other?” I said to Gloria.
“Sure, except it doesn’t matter,” she said. “We won’t be able to see each other inside.”
“Inside where?” I said.
“The scapes,” she said. “You’ll see.”
Gloria got me into my suit. It was plastic with wiring everywhere and padding at my knees and wrists and elbows and under my arms and in my crotch. I tried on the mask but it was heavy and I saw nobody else was wearing theirs so I kept it off until I had to. Then Gilmartin tried to help Gloria but she said she could do it herself.
So there we were, standing around half naked and dripping with