Episode XXXIX – Gummo
Posted by The Bellman on July 20, 2010
Gummo goes to sleep in his cabin as night falls.
Some time later he awakens, back under the old Axia A-Point Condenser Supports, digging around in the discarded trash for salvage to take up to Lying Pete’s. It’s a crappy way to spend the hot, rainy afternoon but it beats the Undercity community center and at least he has a few friends to play hooky with. Pickings are thin today and Kyle keeps beating him to the decent stuff, so after a while Gummo decides to kick off and go check out that strange door in the K-V-13 strut. It’s always been there, of course — some kind of maintenance hatch — but today it’s tantalizingly ajar.
Gummo crosses the trash field under the condenser and yanks open the small hatch. Oddly, there is cool air coming from inside. It’s refreshing and inviting, and Gummo quickly slips into the hatch with little more than a glance behind him.
Beyond the hatch is not a tight, constricted maintenance ladder or access shaft, but rather a small, neat office. It is night time (suddenly), and the large back window of the office, which must be high in a tower somehow, reveals a sky full of stars. Hanging in the sky among the stars is a single, large, blue-green moon. None of this seems especially strange to Gummo. It is what it is.
At the back of the office, near the window, is a desk and at the desk sits a man. He’s not very remarkable. Middle-aged, in shirt-sleeves with his tie hanging loose, a worn suit jacket over the back of his chair. Fancy for the Undercity, sure, but this isn’t the Undercity anymore, Gummo figures, and this guy doesn’t look like much. His skin is pale, like that girl’s — what’s her name? — but he’s not tall like her. He’s just average. His desk is tidy; his terminal and datapads are dark. He gestures for Gummo to sit in on of the two chairs facing his desk.
Hello Gummo. I’m Jack. You going to work for me?
30 Responses to “Episode XXXIX – Gummo”
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Gummo said
Gummo sits down and looks around. Yeah, I guess so.
((Let me know if and when Gummo receives Kaz’s message.))
The Bellman said
Why? I mean, why me? You’re already half in bed with Exeter. Maybe more. What about that?
Gummo said
Why? Cause I don’t want to play your good cop-bad cop game. You’re all in the same gang. You’re not working against each other, or Saza wouldn’t of told me to join Exeter’s team.
I don’t want anything to do with any of you, but since you’re the one saying you’re gonna kill me if I don’t join a team, I might as well join yours. That way nobody’s pretending.
The Bellman said
Moons, you really are as dumb as you look. Look, you’d better get straight right now. I don’t give a hot messy fuck about Exeter. He has his thing and I have mine. If he doesn’t get in my way I don’t care what he does and he’s the same. Saza told you to fuck off to Exeter because — are you really too dumb to see this? — you’re already Exeter’s bitch. He pulled you out of jail. You did a run for him and he initiated you, which was quite a little trick. But then you did another run for him and you didn’t even know it. And then, you did another one and for that one you paid HIM. So it’s no big surprise Saza didn’t think you looked like a good pick for us, and it’s going to cost a fair bit to get you moved. It’s a game and there are rules. I’ll have to pay Exeter for your contract. So think about it. You’re going to have to trust someone. We’ll never lie to you Gummo, not even for your own good, but there’s nothing nice about what we do. We’re at war and we’re going to make you a soldier. If that means being the “bad cop” to Exeter’s “good” I am 110% A-fucking-okay with that. So you want to be a part of this? Are you hard? If not, go back to Exeter and his peace force and commence the next mission of mercy. If so, I have your first job, your first team, your first training and your first decent fucking paycheck.
((Episode X was a long time ago in real time, but not so long ago in game time. It’s worth going back and reading the first conversation between Saza and Gerry Kottin. Gummo would remember.))
Gummo said
No, I don’t want to be part of your army. I told Saza no the first time I met her. And the second time. The third time she stuck a gun to my head and that’s the only reason I’m here.
You can follow me wherever I go and kill me anytime you want. So if you tell me to join your army I have to do it. If you tell me to join Exeter’s team I have to do that. What I want doesn’t matter. So you tell me: which is it?
Gummo laughs. Am I hard? I’m a wall, Jack. You can’t beat me.
The Bellman said
Mudder, I’m going to try to explain this to you one more time. No one is holding a gun to your head. I don’t want anyone working for me because he thinks I’ll kill him if he doesn’t — no percentage in it. You don’t want to work for me? Don’t. You don’t want to work for Exeter? Don’t — and stop letting him trick you into doing it. I don’t care.
Here’s what Saza was trying to ‘splain you: if you continue to fuck with things you don’t understand, someone will eventually put a bullet in your head. Might be me or her; might not. She doesn’t like you much, so there’s a pretty good chance it’s her. But you want to fuck off to a farm and play with yourself? Fine by me and I won’t touch you. Only thing is, if that’s your choice you gotta get comfortable with that choice and do it. The Thirteenth City is like one giant . . . I don’t know . . . animal. If you start to mess around with it without knowing what you’re doing, it’s going to bite you. As long as you leave it alone, it’ll leave you alone. You getting this, boy? If you wander around blowing shit up and stirring up the natives people are going to get upset. Myself included ‘cuz if there’s one thing that fucks up my business it’s a certain kind of chaos — don’t ask why — and you happen to make that kind of chaos when you pull your psycho routine.
Am I making myself clear here? So if you want to continue to play superhero, you gotta get some guidance. Mine or someone else’s. If you want to go play gentleman farmer, by all means do. Right now the wandering around thing is getting old, it’s fucking with my Seers, and it’s pissing me off. That’s why we’re here. So can you please just make a fucking decision?
Gummo said
STOP PLAYING GAMES! I already told Saza I’m never giving up my powers. And I already told her I don’t want anything to do with any of you, and if you leave me alone I’ll leave you alone. So what do you want from me? You want me not to use my powers? To stop traveling? To start farming? What?
And don’t give me that bullshit about how you might kill me or you might not. If you’re gonna kill me for something, tell me straight out and tell me what it is. Otherwise I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
Jesu Ahura, between you and Saza and Exeter, none of you ever said one fucking thing clearly in all the time I known you.
The Bellman said
I don’t know what you think it means to leave someone alone, but randomly blowing up people’s shit is not leaving anyone alone. If you think you can get over your urge to do that, I recommend you do so. Shit, I really wouldn’t have believed someone with your power was too fucking broken to use, but I guess I was wrong. You can be Exeter’s problem now. Get out of here. Enjoy what’s left of your life.
Jack gestures at the door of his office. Somewhere, Gummo can hear the beat of a what sounds like a marching army, very far away.
Gummo said
You got a psychological problem, Jack. You ought to see a therapist and get your head on straight. Gummo walks out the door.
The Bellman said
Gummo leaves the office and walks out into the cold desert night. He picks his way gingerly along the winding, cliff-side path into the narrow cave mouth. There, he washes up in the metal sink and rejoins the others eating dinner in the prison commissary. He sits quietly, poking at his food until the sounds of the approaching army are too loud to ignore, at which point he gets up to open the window and slips off the edge of the metal catwalk into the dark abyss. Luckily, before he falls too far, the noon whistle blows. It’s time for lunch and Gummo leaves the classroom to go eat, only to find himself in his bunk listening to the thump of the train wheels and watching out the window as the sun breaks over the horizon.
Gummo said
Gummo orders breakfast in his cabin and continues passing the time by watching out the window.
((Let me know if I get Kaz’s message. Also let me know whatever Gummo knows about how secure Link or voice communcations are. Is there anything special Gummo can do to get a secure connection?))
The Bellman said
((For story purposes, you may assume Gummo gets the Link from Kaz when he’s on the train. The timelines have gotten a bit screwy but I’m okay with that. Gummo assumes his voice and Link communications are secure, but he could ask the Hive. He probably knows that the Hive knows a lot about things like that and he knows how to contact the Hive if he needs to.))
Gummo said
Gummo looks for info about Ainsley Falls. He wants to know if there’s an actual waterfall there, if there are any other scenic attractions, how large the city is and what kind of industry/jobs there might be.
((We can wait for Gummo to get the Link if that makes it easier. Just to let you know, Gummo plans to continue to Ainsley Falls and check out the town a bit, see the sights if there are any and see what he might do there, maybe even work for a bit there or in the surrounding towns. But if nothing else happens, at some point he’ll get curious about what Jack said and contact the Hive or Oz. At whatever point he gets Kaz’s message, he’ll respond to that.))
The Bellman said
((Gummo can go to Ainsley Falls and set up a life there and never be heard from again — that’s up to him. It’s a small, backwater town surrounded by mid-sized farms and ranches. Its not like the Old West: the buildings are modern and well-built and there seem to be all the modern utilitarian conveniences and stores in the town, but there are few luxuries. The population is small, there is a waterfall, in fact, but it’s really not a tourist destination. Gummo could get a room in town or board at a farm or ranch and get work as a hand if he wanted to.
Given the timelines he probably got Kaz’s message before he got on the train, when he was working as a waiter, but for story purposes I think we can have it arrive while he’s on his way. He can contact Oz or the Hive any time he wants to. There’s no sign of Saza when he wakes up, but a few people do ride all the way out to Ainsley Falls, so who knows.))
Gummo said
Gummo replies to Kaz: Good luck to you too. I haven’t had much trying to stay scarce.
Gummo said
Gummo sends a message to Oz. Did you want us to do what we did to that place? If you could’ve stopped us, would you have?
The Bellman said
Oz responds immediatly. Do you mean Bugtown? I would have liked you to have rescued Piper. If you had asked me I would have suggested that you not destroy her holding facility, but I wouldn’t have forbidden it even if I could have. I’m not sorry it happened, but I wish I had known it was going to happen.
Gummo said
I wanted to rescue Piper too. But she wanted to stay behind to make sure the place blew up. You saying you didn’t care one way or the other whether it got destroyed?
The Bellman said
I’m not sorry it’s gone, but I wouldn’t have told you to do it. Lot of people died there. That’s a lot to carry around with you. Plus it’s just not how we work. There are plenty of buildings in Axia full of bad people doing ugly things, but we don’t just go around blowing them up. Some folks do, but not us. So I guess the answer is my feelings about it are complicated.
By then way I have some good news for you and AC and Kaz. I can’t put it in a message but next time I see you I’ll tell you about it.
Gummo said
So how do you work? And what are you trying to do?
The Bellman said
We’ve talked about this, Gummo. I try to make sure that the rich and powerful — particularly governments — don’t abuse their power over the people they are supposed to serve. When they do, I try to help those people out. I do it, mostly, by looking for specific opportunities to help people in need and prevent those in power from further consolidating their gains. I try to minimize loss of life when I can, and I ask those who work for me to do the same, though I’m realistic. There’s more, of course. I build up my own power and my resources toward a day when I can do something bigger, but for now that’s about all I’d want to say. It’s not complicated. There are good guys and bad guys. We try to be the good guys. Why do you ask now? What’s up?
Gummo said
I talked to Jack. He said we did a job for you without knowing it. Is that true? Did you get us to do something for you without telling us?
The Bellman said
No.
Gummo said
Yeah, well, he’s a player, so I figured he was just playing games.
You play games sometimes too, but at least sometimes when I ask you a straight question you give me a straight answer, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate you talking to me now.
But I don’t think you’re that good a guy. You say you’re helping people, but I never saw you help anybody except when you got something out of it. Like when you busted us out of jail or got us to try to rescue Piper, you just did it so we’d work for you. There’s a lotta other people in jail or worse for stuff they never did, but if they don’t have super powers I don’t think you care.
The Bellman said
OK.
Gummo said
Gummo rides the train into Ainsley Falls and looks for a job as a ranch hand there.
The Bellman said
Gummo goes to Ainsley Falls and gets a place to stay. He begins looking for work at a few outlying ranches.
Gummo said
He looks for a place that’s as “off-the-grid” as he can find: if possible, where he doesn’t have to show ID and that will pay him in local scrip.
The Bellman said
Gummo has no real trouble finding such a place. The pay is minimal, but they give him room and board and don’t ask questions. The other hands seem to be, like him, people looking to disappear.
The Bellman said
Gummo gets himself a job, fades into the landscape, and is never heard from again — or so it appears.