00:07Musik
00:30. . .
00:49I once knew her spines are your spine.
00:54She was brilliant, erotic, cursed.
00:58An antipersonal mind in human form.
01:02Her friends called her Herschel, but to her controllers, she was Cascade.
01:09Your name and your cryptonym, a dead limb twitches.
01:17The Abandoning Kind.
01:20One by one, she watched her friends go out like distant lights.
01:26Portofiro 91.
01:28The whole sick crew.
01:30A disaster untold.
01:32A black page in the official records.
01:36None at all.
01:38Yet here we are, standing over the smashed and leaking world.
01:45Some fool dropped it.
01:47One of ours, probably.
01:50She was recalled.
01:52They put her in the freezer.
01:55Forever.
01:57Even in those dark days, there were whispers among the lower sublevels, where they keep the true believers.
02:05Don't count Cascade out.
02:36Five years passed.
02:38In the state of Portofiro.
02:40No one special.
02:41Just an arm-like sack of cytoplasm.
02:44A special move unique to single-cell organisms.
02:48But before that, I was like you.
02:52A spy for the People's Republics.
02:54One of the varieties of mankind.
02:57This is a dangerous place, Cascade.
03:00I should never have come.
03:02I got caught with my pants down.
03:06On the plastic side.
03:08I no longer have to worry about independent thought or movement.
03:14This was the human game.
03:16And he played it poorly.
03:19Time to give up his C.
03:22Too late, Operant.
03:25I'm smashed and leaking.
03:28Whatever happens has already happened.
03:39I'm sure it's around.
03:39Stop.
03:44Exchange worker Ye
03:50Switches in aub.atori.
03:51D,
03:52Major.
04:05Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017
04:22Approximately mid-thirties
04:24His chest rises and falls in steady rhythm
04:27As he stares beyond you, unblinking
04:32His eyes are fixed glassily on the ceiling
04:37He's been like this since you walked in
04:39Anything to the contrary should be marked down as a grip on reality type problem
04:45Cream paint, peeling slightly
04:47A small room in a city past its prime
04:50Nothing to suggest why the man is so interested in it
04:54No response, no jolt, no tremor
04:59All posts deserted
05:30The film is monochrome and silent
05:31And nothing below the waist but a pair of red briefs
05:35As your eyes reach his feet, you notice that the man is also wearing three layers of socks
05:41Each slightly shorter than the one beneath it
05:45There is no smell of alcohol, nor any open containers
05:48No drug paraphernalia either
05:51Just a loose cord trailing to the stereo system
05:54Like a cosmonaut's safety tether
06:10Your fingers detect a faint, steady pulse within the base of his wrist
06:14Elevated, but not critical
06:18No vomit, no discoloration on the skin
06:21No bruising or signs of struggle
06:23And if it's poison, it's a bizarre strain
06:26None of which precludes professional assassination
06:32The man's eyes glisten
06:34Bright red veins blossom around their edges
06:38He could be cursing your name or chanting absolution
06:41It's impossible to tell
06:44However he ended up like this
06:46The result is the same
06:48Operant lost
06:50You wonder briefly how much or how little you owe him
06:56A snail's trail of dried saliva glints on the side of his chin
07:15The people, spies, will not be caught shirking
07:29You grab him by his skinny shoulders and heave him upright
07:32His head lolling backwards as he rises
07:38This non-reaction is alarmingly reactionary
07:41If keeping him is no gain, then losing him is no deficit
07:56He lands in an awkward position
07:59A cut-string puppet
08:00Bony hips raised to the air like antennas
08:05There's your brief, Operant
08:09Flaunt in a reactionary pose
08:12Fervor in soul
08:13Leave the brief hog where he lies
08:18He does not respond
08:20Though if you didn't know any better
08:22His deserted eyes seem to be urging you towards the bathroom
08:26Out of his chair he looks smaller
08:29More fragile
08:30And deeply lost
08:33Thousands of miles away
08:35His mother flinches in her sleep
08:49Saliva leaks from the corner of the man's mouth
08:51Saliva leaks from the corner of the man's mouth
08:52And pools on the floor
08:57Your double didn't notice your arrival
08:59He doesn't notice your departure either
09:09The small table has been turned into a makeshift desk
09:13The startlingly red folder stands out against the clutter
09:17The small label in the top left corner is printed with one word
09:22Your cryptonym
09:23Cascade
09:24The color reminds you of pomegranate
09:31The folder opens with a whoosh
09:34Before you in neat monospace type
09:37Your life is condensed to its barest elements
09:41Name, Will Kershaw
09:43Cryptonym, Cascade
09:45Born, Landau
09:46Former Republic of Mercia
09:48Dependents, none
09:50Pay class, D2
09:51Years of service, 14
09:54All true
09:55None of it useful, just now
09:57Childhood
09:58Bourgeois, typical
10:00History of student radicalism led to persecution by monotheist reactionaries
10:06Fled to People's Republic of Kohila
10:08Embraced post-historical materialism
10:14In short, born capitalist, reborn communist
10:21Medical record
10:23History of dissociative episodes and reckless action
10:26Gunshot chest
10:28Retained bullet
10:29Ten millimetres pre-service
10:31Sexuality
10:34Homosexual tendencies
10:36Unconfirmed
10:39Suicide risk minimal
10:40Ideation only
10:42End of list
10:44According to this file
10:46That's all there is to you
10:48There's another page behind this one
10:52It's labelled service history
10:54A tingle in your fingers
10:56Your head grows lighter as you approach the crash site
11:09Your head grinds to a halt above the page
11:13And remains
11:14A full minute passes
11:16Or never
11:18That works too
11:20As you turn away
11:22A phone begins to ring
11:24I'm happy to meet you
11:26I'm happy to meet you
11:27Do you want me to play this
11:28I got to play this
11:28I got to play this
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