[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
where you needed empathizing or negotiation skills changed the
basic facts.
Instead I said, Poor Phyllis, noticing she wasn t on the bus.
Bitch, said Mo.
Oh come on, I said, surprised. They d have given her a ter-
rible time. You can t blame her for breaking under pressure.
Mo looked at me like slantwise. Haven t you heard?
Heard what?
Phyllis was a plant. She works for Safe n Sound Security.
She was an inWltrator, a mole. Her job was to give us away in time
for the election.
Oh, I said, then said nothing for quite a while.
BAGGED N TAGGED 161
Once we could freak around with the wire, Mo went on,
what were we going to do? Broadcast programs about whales
and dolphins? Run meditation workshops? Tell people the gov-
ernment were liars? We d not decided. We tried to cast a spell
without visualizing the result.
Just beyond Chiswick, I realized I fancied Mo. It was no big
deal; I used to fall in love at least twice a week (as I was only too
painfully aware). Every time I felt it would be diTerent.
This time I felt it would be diTerent. Mo had strength and sense
and, with all that witchstuT, she had an aura of serenity and mys-
tery. I closed my eyes and in rushed this weird idea of her and me
having babies. And I liked that.
This was very odd. At the time, I simply put it down to the
stresses of events.
So I told her what I d been thinking. It was clumsy, but there was
no time for the usual etiquette. Besides, I d tried this ploy before.
( Hi, my name s Brian and I ve chosen you to have my babies. )
Sometimes they hit me, or whistled up Wfteen stone of muscle-
bound drongo boyfriend. Usually they just laughed and ignored me.
Mo put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her, and
we said nothing.
An hour later the bus was still bowling along the guide lane when
a guy at the front, a tall, nervy bloke with a beard, stood up and
speeched.
Okay folks, listen up. My name is Daniel Organ, and I m your
probation oUcer. I m not supposed to do this, but it s only fair to
let you know what s going to happen . . .
Everyone looked up.
Southern Cable has accepted custody of you all. They ll be
sacking some of their cleaning staT and junior technicians and
replacing them with some of you . . . Most of you, though, will be
assigned to the homes of individual members of the Board and to
some senior managers.
We took this in silence. Sounds like a roll of the dice to me,
I said to Mo at last. You might end up with a good family, or a
bad one.
162 WITPUNK
She snorted. This isn t justice.
Tagging was the Law and Order magic bullet of the moment, a
cost-eTective way of dealing with convicts. If someone had
mugged you, or burgled your house, they became your property
for the term of sentence. You could use their labor to make some
kind of restitution. A lot of people liked the idea because victim
and perpetrator looked each other in the face; it helped them deal
with it. In tests, it usually turned criminals into more useful peo-
ple than being locked in a prison cell twenty-three hours a day.
And if people didn t want their own personal criminal, the taggie
could be sold to some Wrm as a laborer for the term of sentence
and his pay would go to the victim. Not that the pay ever
amounted to much.
But this was wrong; we were being handed over like a basket
of party favors to people we had not harmed directly.
You want to put the big pink ribbons round our necks now or
later? said someone behind us.
Daniel Organ produced a small box with a keypad, like the
remote control for a Drudge or a Hent System. This is colloqui-
ally known as the Bastard Box, the Pain Pack, and several other
things. This particular handset can control all of you, which is
why there are no guards on this bus. I m not going to demonstrate
even the minimum extent of pain which can be inXicted via your
implants, but what I will do is show you how it can be used to
immobilize you. Please brace yourselves . . .
He squeezed his thumb against the keypad, and everyone
stiTened. Some of the others even stood to attention.
I couldn t move. No matter how much I told my arms and legs
to do something, anything dammit, they would not obey.
Daniel Organ squeezed the pad again. Instantly, my limbs
resumed obeying orders.
You are supposed to have certain rights, but forget them. We
don t have enough people to visit you even once during your
term. If you re lucky, you might get a visitor from the Howard
League for Penal Reform, or a nice old lady from some charita-
ble organization. If they do visit, and you have a problem with
your owner, don t bother complaining. You ll only make things
BAGGED N TAGGED 163
harder for yourself. You are the property of the person into whose
custody you are transferred, and that s that. On the plus side, most
of you are being assigned to private individuals. You re not being
given to a hazardous waste cleaning company, or a quarrying
Wrm. And I don t imagine any of these nice folks are going to try
setting up gladiatorial combats between pairs of you . . .
You are not permitted visits from family and friends. You can
write to them once a month via the Probation Service. Your let-
ters will be read by the censor, and any attempt to disclose your
whereabouts will be removed from the letter . . .
The censor needn t have worried about me. My mother died
years ago, and I never got on with the old man. I hadn t seen him
for years anyhow. And I didn t have any friends who d be the sort
to risk springing me.
Don t imagine that you or any expert can tamper with either [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
where you needed empathizing or negotiation skills changed the
basic facts.
Instead I said, Poor Phyllis, noticing she wasn t on the bus.
Bitch, said Mo.
Oh come on, I said, surprised. They d have given her a ter-
rible time. You can t blame her for breaking under pressure.
Mo looked at me like slantwise. Haven t you heard?
Heard what?
Phyllis was a plant. She works for Safe n Sound Security.
She was an inWltrator, a mole. Her job was to give us away in time
for the election.
Oh, I said, then said nothing for quite a while.
BAGGED N TAGGED 161
Once we could freak around with the wire, Mo went on,
what were we going to do? Broadcast programs about whales
and dolphins? Run meditation workshops? Tell people the gov-
ernment were liars? We d not decided. We tried to cast a spell
without visualizing the result.
Just beyond Chiswick, I realized I fancied Mo. It was no big
deal; I used to fall in love at least twice a week (as I was only too
painfully aware). Every time I felt it would be diTerent.
This time I felt it would be diTerent. Mo had strength and sense
and, with all that witchstuT, she had an aura of serenity and mys-
tery. I closed my eyes and in rushed this weird idea of her and me
having babies. And I liked that.
This was very odd. At the time, I simply put it down to the
stresses of events.
So I told her what I d been thinking. It was clumsy, but there was
no time for the usual etiquette. Besides, I d tried this ploy before.
( Hi, my name s Brian and I ve chosen you to have my babies. )
Sometimes they hit me, or whistled up Wfteen stone of muscle-
bound drongo boyfriend. Usually they just laughed and ignored me.
Mo put her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her, and
we said nothing.
An hour later the bus was still bowling along the guide lane when
a guy at the front, a tall, nervy bloke with a beard, stood up and
speeched.
Okay folks, listen up. My name is Daniel Organ, and I m your
probation oUcer. I m not supposed to do this, but it s only fair to
let you know what s going to happen . . .
Everyone looked up.
Southern Cable has accepted custody of you all. They ll be
sacking some of their cleaning staT and junior technicians and
replacing them with some of you . . . Most of you, though, will be
assigned to the homes of individual members of the Board and to
some senior managers.
We took this in silence. Sounds like a roll of the dice to me,
I said to Mo at last. You might end up with a good family, or a
bad one.
162 WITPUNK
She snorted. This isn t justice.
Tagging was the Law and Order magic bullet of the moment, a
cost-eTective way of dealing with convicts. If someone had
mugged you, or burgled your house, they became your property
for the term of sentence. You could use their labor to make some
kind of restitution. A lot of people liked the idea because victim
and perpetrator looked each other in the face; it helped them deal
with it. In tests, it usually turned criminals into more useful peo-
ple than being locked in a prison cell twenty-three hours a day.
And if people didn t want their own personal criminal, the taggie
could be sold to some Wrm as a laborer for the term of sentence
and his pay would go to the victim. Not that the pay ever
amounted to much.
But this was wrong; we were being handed over like a basket
of party favors to people we had not harmed directly.
You want to put the big pink ribbons round our necks now or
later? said someone behind us.
Daniel Organ produced a small box with a keypad, like the
remote control for a Drudge or a Hent System. This is colloqui-
ally known as the Bastard Box, the Pain Pack, and several other
things. This particular handset can control all of you, which is
why there are no guards on this bus. I m not going to demonstrate
even the minimum extent of pain which can be inXicted via your
implants, but what I will do is show you how it can be used to
immobilize you. Please brace yourselves . . .
He squeezed his thumb against the keypad, and everyone
stiTened. Some of the others even stood to attention.
I couldn t move. No matter how much I told my arms and legs
to do something, anything dammit, they would not obey.
Daniel Organ squeezed the pad again. Instantly, my limbs
resumed obeying orders.
You are supposed to have certain rights, but forget them. We
don t have enough people to visit you even once during your
term. If you re lucky, you might get a visitor from the Howard
League for Penal Reform, or a nice old lady from some charita-
ble organization. If they do visit, and you have a problem with
your owner, don t bother complaining. You ll only make things
BAGGED N TAGGED 163
harder for yourself. You are the property of the person into whose
custody you are transferred, and that s that. On the plus side, most
of you are being assigned to private individuals. You re not being
given to a hazardous waste cleaning company, or a quarrying
Wrm. And I don t imagine any of these nice folks are going to try
setting up gladiatorial combats between pairs of you . . .
You are not permitted visits from family and friends. You can
write to them once a month via the Probation Service. Your let-
ters will be read by the censor, and any attempt to disclose your
whereabouts will be removed from the letter . . .
The censor needn t have worried about me. My mother died
years ago, and I never got on with the old man. I hadn t seen him
for years anyhow. And I didn t have any friends who d be the sort
to risk springing me.
Don t imagine that you or any expert can tamper with either [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]