In which I_O, C_C and Blondie plot the escape of a Fairco-Employee
warning: Mention of graphic violence, mention of gut injury, mention of dog attacks
*In the darkened Projection Room, two figures stand. The room is tight and the film shutters and rattles on the reels. It is warm and airless. C_C has I_O clasped to his chest, his throat in the crux of his elbow. With his vinyled thumbnail, he idly saws a little cross onto the boy’s upper cheek. The man’s dark lips are close to the other’s curled hair and he whispers, as soft as smoke. [C_C] What were you before you were nothing, Unbrother?
*I_O trembles in the other man’s grasp, his eyes closed tightly as his face is scratched, his breathing quick and panicked.
[I_O] A surgeon, Brother. I am now nothing more than a courier.
[C_C] What is it like to take a person apart?
[I_O] I - I do not know Functionary, I was not a mortician - I only put people back together.
*C_C twists up the boy’s head to stare passively at the new little X on his cheek. He strokes it with a fingertip.
[C_C] There will be no rehabilitation for you. No one to set your pieces in order. There is -
*C_C places his hand tightly over I_O’s mouth and hesitates, listening.
*There are footsteps, steadily getting louder, until the door opens and Blondie steps in briefly illuminated by light until he closes it behind him.
[Blondie] Er...
*Blondie glances between them for a moment.
[Blondie] Good afternoon, chaps?
*C_C regards the other man neutrally. He does not remove his hand from I_O’s mouth. [C_C] Mr. Samuel Hawkins. How gladdened we are that you are here.
*C_C reaches for I_O’s wrist, raising it and offering the other man a wooden, doll-like wave from the Unward in his grip.
[C_C] My Unbrother offers his salutations also.
*C_C’s green eyes flash to Blondie.
[C_C] Your Functionary is utilising humour.
[Blondie] Ah, of course! Indeed. However, I’m sure I_O will be needing his hands in the near future so it would be best to let him use them for the time being.
*C_C’s grip slackens.
*I_O pulls his arm away from the grip, bringing his other free arm up to fix his cuff.
[I_O] A master puppeteer Brother, humorous and entertaining. Good day, Mr. Hawkins, Sir!
*Blondie smiles, a little more genuinely than before.
[Blondie] If we’re all happy that we’re not going to be disturbed then there’s probably no need for small talk, hm?
*C_C turns in the dark room. He runs his fingers across the spinning reel of film and regards the images flickering below, behind the glass, in the theatre.
[C_C] The Mothermen are leaving soon. That is when we will arrange her exit. The dogs will chase her down in the access tunnel of course. Princess is capable of running 32 miles per hour and has 600 lbs of bite pressure afforded by her long muzzle. Your Functionary hopes Sir mourns. I like it when the Facility is full of flowers.
[Blondie] There’s no need for mourning, we just need to make sure the dogs don’t get her. I mean, they like me but I don’t know if like me enough to not try and kill me if I’m in the way and I don’t really feel like finding out for sure. And at any rate I need to be with the helicopter. Trying to fix it, of course.
[C_C] If she must live, let the Unward interest the dogs. Cut him across and his insides will spill. He was a surgeon. He will show you where to incise.
[Blondie] I… don’t think there’s any need for that either. But I think you’re right in that I_O could help with the dogs. Any thoughts, I_O?
[I_O] Th…the dogs. I - I’m not sure how I could keep them occupied for long enough Mr. Hawkins, if I was the bait C_C intended they’d make quick work of it.
*I_O stares at the floor whilst fidgeting with a button on his shirt nervously, he looks up.
[I_O] Isn’t the facility so much prettier when there are flowers?
[C_C] .... And Sir is wearing black.
[Blondie] No no, I just don’t think it’s the most effective way… If Mister Fairfax is mourning her death then he’ll be just as distracted as if she were still here. She’s got to get out, preferably unharmed. There must be a better way of doing it.
*Blondie thinks for a moment, before glancing back at the Wards
[Blondie] If the stairs become blocked then the dogs won’t be able to get out after her. Perhaps if there were to be a Human Accident the area would be barricaded? It wouldn’t have to be genuine. Perhaps you could play the part of the Human having an Accident on the stairs, I_O?
[I_O] I think that has a more desirable outcome for each party, although I’m afraid the accident must be believable - If the Facilitator was to find out I had faked an injury and Echo had escaped…
*C_C sighs. He clamps his fingers shut on the spinning reel and it stops with a grinding of inner parts. The image on the screen below is static. There are cries from the theatre, and he releases the reel to spin once again.
[C_C] … Mr. Laurence Fairfax will be preoccupied.
[Blondie] And you could easily fake something that’d be hard to prove. A fainting fit, perhaps, or a seizure. Just to be on the safe side.
*Blondie hesitates and suddenly frowns
[Blondie] Wait, how do you know Mister Fairfax will be busy? Do you already have a plan for getting Echo away from him?
*C_C turns to the other man.
[C_C] Yes. It will be efficacious. That is all that concerns you.
[Blondie] I… see. Of course.
[I_O] Well then, If the Facilitator is pre-occupied then I am willing to take the risk, a flight of stairs should do the trick.
[C_C] See to it, Unbrother.
*C_C moves past the other men. His uniform glisters like wet plastic in the stuttering light of the theatre.
[C_C] Or when you lie broken on stairwell zero it will be no act.
*C_C casts a look at both of the men, his hand on the door.
[C_C] And the man you call Physician will be.
*C_C pauses.
[C_C] Elsewhere.
*C_C leaves. He pulls open the door to a spill of white fluorescent, and the dull sounds of laughter and table tennis below.
*I_O looks down to the floor, frowning and then back up to Blondie.
[I_O] It would seem we both have tasks to attend to Mr. Hawkins. I must be on my way.
*I_O bows and rushes for the door, clutching his bag tightly he lingers with his other hand on the door and takes a deep breath before joining the sea of light and noise himself.















