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First Playlet
Characters in order of appearance: Time & Place: Much of the action takes place inside and just outside the Listener’s House, on the outskirts of Junk City, where Listener lives and works. The Listener’s House is a specially built hut, reinforced inside with beams and supports of salvaged metal and wood, rough and unadorned. The central feature is the Machine. It is a kind of two-way shortwave radio, a device for calling out and for listening. It is ancient and has been repaired 200-some times, cobbled and welded and jimmied together out of salvaged parts and becoming stranger in appearance in the process. There is a separate microphone, hand-held or sitting on the table. The Machine is a sacred object but unadorned and pure in its utility. It towers over Listener on a specially reinforced table. Next to it is something for Listener to sit on while listening, and nearby is a narrow bed or pallet for sleeping. A bucket of water, a cup. Not much else. Beyond Junk City: vast wilderness. Note:
THE LISTENER Part Two: The Stranger Comes Home
(Lights back up. Listener is still, listening. Outside, Smak & Jelly lead John in. He is even more the worse for wear. Smak & Jelly may be wearing some elements of his clothing now. Jelly approaches the door, makes a small sound against it like Namer did earlier, stands back. Listener opens the door.)
JELLY Brought it back, Listener.
LISTENER Leave it with me.
(They hesitate. She gives them a look. They hand her the end of the rope, exit reluctantly.)
JELLY Oky, Listener, we come back for it later.
SMAK (low grumble, exiting) What Listener want with a lunie, that ain’t right.
JELLY (exiting) That her biz, come on, time we did some more finding, can’t rest on our lunie forever.
SMAK And our prink!
(They’re gone. Listener has been looking at John, who is slumped and listless. She removes his gag.)
LISTENER Had water? Food?
(He shakes his head. She hesitates.)
Lunatics know honor?
JOHN Honor?
LISTENER Know what means to give your word?
JOHN Yes. LISTENER No one is allowed to come in. Only me. But you are no one, in a way. I bring you in, you give your word, your honor, to be harmless? Quiet if told? Stay away from the Machine?
JOHN Yes.
(She leads him inside, gestures for him to sit on the floor. She brings him water, and a bit of the food Jelly had brought earlier, which is maybe some coarse bread.)
LISTENER Remember word?
(He nods. She unbinds him, and moves away, back to the Machine, but watching him. He drinks, rubs himself where he’d been tied, stretches cautiously, stays down and slow-moving, not to alarm her. He begins to eat.)
They should have fed you.
JOHN (shaky humor) You’ll have to tell them, if they don’t take care of their lunies they don’t deserve to have them…
(Listener doesn’t get that, ignores it. Sits back and looks at him.)
Thank you. Thank you… I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.
LISTENER (surprised) I’m Listener.
JOHN Oh. Oh, I thought that was your, your title.
LISTENER It’s what I am. I have no other name now.
JOHN Oh. that’s… that seems sad.
LISTENER That is ignorance.
JOHN I’m sorry.
LISTENER You can’t help being ignorant. Have to remember that.
JOHN Well, help me not to be ignorant. Explain things. What’s a Listener? What do you listen to?
LISTENER Really don’t know?
(He shakes his head. She gestures to the Machine.)
JOHN What is it—?
(She holds up a hand for him to be silent and he obeys. She turns to the Machine.)
LISTENER Calling anyone repeat anyone is anyone out there this is Junk City calling repeat this is Junk City do you read me repeat do you read me come in please repeat come in please repeat come in please over.
(She listens for a moment. Then turns back to him.)
JOHN May I speak again?
(She nods.)
Who are you calling? Who are you listening for?
LISTENER The others.
JOHN The others?
LISTENER The lost Sons of Sam.
JOHN The lost… Oh. Oh.
(Pause. Looking around, taking in the signs of habitation.)
So you live here? (She nods.)
JOHN cont’d. And you, you listen, all the time?
(She nods.)
Do you ever leave?
LISTENER Not been farther from the Machine than doorway since I came here. When small.
JOHN Oh, I… Well, I guess it would be ignorant to say… But don’t you ever get…lonely?
LISTENER Honor to be Listener. Only ever one at a time, one for a lifetime. When older I’ll chose child to take my place, train her for when I die.
JOHN Her? Is it always a girl?
LISTENER Not always. More often.
JOHN Still… I’m sorry, but I don’t know how you do it. How you don’t go stir crazy.
LISTENER (unfamiliar phrase) Stir, crazy… Of course, sometimes it’s… But there are Listener ways. Things we do.
JOHN Things?
LISTENER Yes. Like…
(She briefly does a slow gestural series of movements. Dignified, precise.)
For example.
JOHN That was beautiful.
LISTENER Shouldn’t have shown you. Listener mystery. No one else can know.
JOHN But I’m no one, remember?
LISTENER Yes.
JOHN So that’s all right.
It’s so quiet here. I’ve never been anywhere so quiet.
LISTENER Noisy, where you lived?
JOHN I guess so. I never thought about it but, yes, very noisy, compared to here. And crowded. I’m never alone, really. I can’t imagine being alone all the time, like you are.
Can I ask you a question?
(She nods.)
Did you believe me?
About who I am. About why I’m here. About Nerth?
I think Namer didn’t. I don’t think he understood. But I think maybe you…
LISTENER Namer already has a story. Like you.
JOHN Like me?
LISTENER He can’t understand anything new.
JOHN But, you…
LISTENER I’m Listener. I want to hear. Don’t care about stories, don’t care about past. Listening for future. Maybe your story is as true as Namer’s. Maybe more true. Maybe same story.
JOHN But, but that doesn’t help me. Do you believe...?
(She shrugs an assent.)
So, so why…why did you..?
LISTENER Because I believed you.
JOHN But, but that’s, I don’t understand.
(Listener makes a dismissive gesture, She goes to the Machine.)
LISTENER Calling anyone repeat anyone is anyone out there this is Junk City calling repeat this is Junk City do you read me repeat do you read me come in please repeat come in please repeat come in please over.
(She listens for a moment. Then turns back to John.)
LISTENER I guess…I guess there’s a lot of tek on Nerth.
JOHN Technology? Sure.
LISTENER I guess…I guess there are people who make tek. Who work with. Who make new tek.
JOHN Yes, sure, there are. People like you.
LISTENER (quickly) I don’t make new tek.
JOHN No.
LISTENER Not allowed.
JOHN Right.
LISTENER Only keep it running. That’s all.
JOHN I understand.
(Listener hears something and gestures for John to be quiet. Namer has entered outside. He stands and stares at Listener’s house. All three stand in silence for a moment. Listener gestures for John to stand back out of sight. She goes to the door, opens it. Namer and Listener stare at each other for a long moment.)
NAMER Listener. Listener.
(Listener closes the door, stands listening tensely for him to go. Namer backs away slowly. Finally turns and goes off. Listener turns and looks at John.)
JOHN What was that about?
LISTENER Did you tell Namer there are no others?
JOHN Not exactly. I said we hadn’t seen any.
LISTENER He wants to take on that one part of your story.
JOHN But, why?
LISTENER Because…because then there would be no need to Listen. Because, if there were no Listener, I would—he could— (She stops.)
JOHN Oh. Because he’s in love with you.
LISTENER In what?
JOHN Because he wants you.
And if it was true? If there were no other sons of Sam? LISTENER Then I wouldn’t be Listener anymore.
JOHN You could be just a person.
LISTENER No. I couldn’t be.
JOHN Do you want him?
LISTENER I don’t. Wouldn’t, even if… But it doesn’t matter. You are both wrong. There are others, and I will listen for them.
JOHN But if you’re wrong—
LISTENER You don’t understand anything, you are an ignorant Lunatic, learn to listen. JOHN I’m sorry.
(Pause.)
LISTENER Very strange. Someone here. Talking.
JOHN But I’m not someone. I’m no one.
LISTENER (a concession) You’re someone.
(Pause. She gestures to her bed.)
You’re tired. Go rest.
(John hesitates, then goes and lies down. She tends to her machine. Outside, Smak & Jelly come back, look around, surprised not to see John and Listener. Jelly makes a quiet sound against the door. Listener goes to the door, opens it. They can’t see in.)
JELLY Came back to see if you done with the lunie.
SMAK It get away?
JELLY We’ll find it again.
SMAK We’ll fruggin find it all right.
(Inside, John has sat up tensely, expecting to be given back to them.)
LISTENER No, I have him. He, it’s here.
(Smak & Jelly are stunned.)
It’s all right. You can go.
(Smak & Jelly exchange glances.)
SMAK Uh, Listener—
JELLY Hey, Listener, don’tcha think—
SMAK Don’tcha think we’d better take it?
JELLY Get it outa yuh way—
SMAK Outa yuh house?
LISTENER I said it’s all right. Go.
(They exchange another glance, exit reluctantly, disturbed. Listener goes back in.)
JOHN (for not giving him back) Thank you.
(She shrugs it off. Pause.)
LISTENER It must be very different here, for you.
JOHN Oh, yes.
LISTENER Different from Nerth.
JOHN Yes…and…different from what I expected.
I’ve seen film of old Earth. And I’ve seen the comp sims of what it would be like now. I thought I knew. But it’s, it’s hard to explain….
The sky is higher. And the blue, it’s different from Nerth sky blue. It’s paler. And more changeable. And, I don’t know, higher. Deeper. When I saw it, I felt as though I recognized it. It looked absolutely unexpected but at the same time it looked familiar. Isn’t that strange?
And the air…I know it’s still contaminated, it has to be. But it doesn’t smell bad. It smells…it’s the same thing, it smells familiar.
And, the mountains of, of junk. The way they’re partly greened over. There’s grass growing over them. I thought it would be so much bleaker, harsher. But in a way it’s almost….
And the way the weather is so unpredictable. It was windy earlier, it made a sound in the grass. And it rained a little. And no one made it rain. It just happened… And you. I never imagined…I didn’t expect… You’re… Even though you’re my…. You’re…
(Pause.)
LISTENER Go back to sleep.
(He lies back down. She returns to her work on the machine. She makes an adjustment, then calls out again, even more quietly than usual.)
Calling anyone repeat anyone is anyone out there this is Junk City calling repeat this is Junk City do you read me repeat do you read me come in please repeat come in please repeat come in please over. (whispering:) Prove them wrong.
(Lights shift to Smak & Jelly elsewhere. They are amid parts from John’s ship. Jelly is examining them. Smak is brooding.)
JELLY This one tweaked lunie-mobile. All be useful I bet. Lookit this, what you think? Huh? Yow, Smak, wakey wakey!
SMAK What she want with a lunie?
JELLY Oh, man!
SMAK Well, what?
JELLY Don’t know, don’t needta know!
SMAK I don’t like it.
JELLY How’s it yours to like don’t like? Huh?
(Smak retreats. Jelly goes back to looking at parts. Pause.)
SMAK But what she want with a fruggin lunie?
JELLY URGH! You really urghin tweakin me, you know that, Smak? DANK!
SMAK But—
JELLY You ever think what it like to be Listener? She alone. All the time alone.
SMAK So? That the gig. That’s Listener. She don’t mind.
JELLY How you know what anybody mind? Okra, El Vis an Donna, you know what I screepin mind?
SMAK Yuh, I know what you mind, Jelly, you dank sure let me know.
Don’t yuh?
JELLY You got about a clue and a half, maybe.
Listener’s a human bean too. Maybe once she want someone listen to her.
(Smak thinks about this. He thinks hard. But:)
SMAK What she want to bring a Lunie into her House? That tweaked, Jel, you know it.
Don’t look like that. You know it ain’t oky, It don’t belong in there, it ain’t right.
It our lunie.
JELLY Dank, Smak, you a dog with a bone? Shut!
Oky, I give you that, maybe it ain’t right. Wanna de-obsess a frugging minute? No screep.
SMAK Nuh, nuh, nuh.
JELLY Huh?
SMAK Why it don’t bothuh you? Why you all the queen serene?
JELLY I got bigger worries.
SMAK Bigger worries. Than Listener changing the rules? Than a screepin lunatic run amok among the Listener’s house? Than our lunie being done who know what by someone else than us? Than—
JELLY Smak, so help me Okra, shut shut shut shut shut!
SMAK WHAT? 48 JELLY I’m—I’m—Dank, Smak, I’m pigged.
SMAK Huh?
JELLY Preggo, preggo, leggo my eggo. Bun in ovum, zygote aboard, knocked over and screepin tweaked about it. Dank, I’m screepin fuggin tweaked. Dank.
SMAK Nuh uh,.
JELLY Yuh fuggin huh.
SMAK Fug, Jelly.
JELLY I know.
SMAK When it comin out?
JELLY How the fug I know?
SMAK Fug, Jelly.
JELLY I know, Smak, I know.
SMAK Last Junk City girl get pigged, she don’t make it.
JELLY Dank, Smak, think I don’t know that? What I say? I’m screepin fuggin tweaked!
SMAK Oky. Oky, Jell. But hey. Hey Jelly. What if you do make it?
(New idea. They stare wide-eyed.)
Fug, Smak.
SMAK (harking back to the earlier argument) See? This no time to fug around. Got to keep Junk City way it’s always always been.
JELLY (lost in this new vision, not listening to him) Fuuugg…
(Smak hesitates, then offers Jelly a clumsy embrace. She stiffens, accepts it. They are still tense, unresolved. Lights shift back to Listener. She is Listening, or working on the Machine. She sees that John’s awake.)
LISTENER Do you still want your face cover back? I could ask them to bring it back.
JOHN Oh. Yes. I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter.
I mean, either I’m going to stay here for the rest of my life, in which case the filter won’t last anyway. Or, or those others are going to, I guess maybe they might kill me.
I thought I was going home. I thought we were all going home.
LISTENER Will someone come looking for you? Someone from Nerth?
JOHN Probably not. I’ve been thinking about it. I think…probably this will be an opportunity. My disappearance. Or my death.
I told you, I belong to a faction. The side that wanted to, to rescue you. But, but of course, there are other sides. One in particular. The ones in power. This might be an opportunity, for them.
LISTENER They want to leave us alone?
JOHN They want to wipe you out.
They’re thinking ahead. They want to move on from Nerth, colonize the outer planets. But Nerth is so close, too close, to Earth. They say it’s too dangerous, to leave at our backs a population of de-evolved, inhuman savages, that might someday figure out how JOHN cont’d to make that little jump, and be at our back gate. It’s insane, I know it is. It doesn’t even make any logical sense. But they don’t trade in logic.
We don’t have any enemies, you know? The cina-sims are full of scary aliens, but that’s fiction. Monsters of old Earth can be made to sound more real, a real threat. And power needs monsters, to keep people distracted, to justify their plans, to unify Nerth behind them.
That’s why I came alone. We’re the minority, we just managed to ram it through, the contact mission, and I volunteered. I thought we won because we managed to convince enough people. But now…I’ve been thinking and—Oh, Christ, I’ve been so stupid—it finally occurred to me that they thought this would happen. That I’d disappear. And they can use that. They can stir up outrage. And fear. A Nerther torn apart by barbarians. Barbarians at our very gate. They can whip up a little war fever.
There has been some dissent lately. A small but growing counter culture. They don’t like that. It’s part of the Starting Over story, that on Nerth politics and dissent are unnecessary, that unlike horrible violent old Earth, Nerth is a utopia of abundance and contentment. But they know, they know, in the absence of a common enemy, people will begin to turn on each other. So, they have to create that common enemy.
Do you get what I’m talking about? I mean, I know you don’t have the context.
LISTENER Your people are coming to kill us?
JOHN No. They don’t have to come here. They’ll do it from a distance. From above.
Listener, why? Why wouldn’t you let me rescue you?
LISTENER How can you not know? How can you listen so badly?
What you want to rescue us from is our world.
You left it. You left it to us. We made something. Are making something. And when lost sons reply, when we find other cities, we will reunite, we will remake the human world you threw away.
JOHN But, but, I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. Even if your lost tribes are out there this is a junked world, there are no resources, there is no knowledge, there is nothing to use to build a civilization!
LISTENER You say that because you can only imagine what you already know. Future is unimaginable. Our new world will be unlike the old, and will use resources and knowledge you can’t recognize. It will be a new-made thing. New trees will burrow new roots, new land will come out from the waters, new creatures will walk and swim and fly. Cities will rise up, higher than junk hills, high bright cities filled with people, people talking, and we will bring all our far-flung know-how together and make a world even I can’t imagine now. All lost sons everywhere will bring what they have, all gifts, we will unearth all lost relics of all ages and find new uses, O glory. Will sound like wind through thousand thousand blades of grass. Will be the music of all the world talking. Will be the third great age of Earth.
JOHN Jesus. You almost convince me.
You have so little time left, though. Don’t you? I mean, even apart from (gesturing toward Nerth). How many children are born each year? Compared to the number of people that die? You’re running out of…
You’re really sure they’re out there. The lost ones.
I understand… that it would make your whole life meaningless, if they weren’t.
(Pause. Listener goes to the machine.)
LISTENER Calling anyone repeat anyone is anyone out there this is Junk City calling repeat this is Junk City do you read me repeat do you read me come in please repeat come in please repeat come in please over.
(She turns back to him, steely new mood.)
What are you, on Nerth?
JOHN What am I?
LISTENER What is your use?
JOHN My use. Oh, well, I’m a scanner analyst. I analyze data, for the Department. And I did my required two years, as a pilot in the O.S. Orbital Service. That’s where I learned to fly.
LISTENER You know tek? JOHN Up to a point.
LISTENER Is this (the Machine) familiar to you?
JOHN I’m familiar with the basic principals, sure.
LISTENER Can you… Can you show me… Can you help me make it stronger?
JOHN Isn’t that a bit like making new tech?
LISTENER Maybe. Maybe. Can you?
JOHN Maybe.
Oh. Is this why you brought me in? Is this why you fed me, and—?
LISTENER I need the Machine to be more powerful. What do you need?
JOHN Is this a negotiation? OK. Fine. I want to be set free. I want what’s left of my ship. If my comm is busted I want to use your machine to contact Nerth. I want * to get the hell out of here.
LISTENER (*overlapping) Machine isn’t that strong.
JOHN Well, maybe when I’m done with it, it will be. Do we have a deal?
LISTENER You work with me first. You help make the Machine stronger. Then you go.
JOHN OK. OK, shake.
Don’t you guys shake? Here. Like this. It means we give our word.
LISTENER You gave word before. We didn’t shake.
JOHN Oh, yeah, well, it’s not… absolutely… (necessary)
(They are shaking hands. First touch. It’s an oddly charged moment. Then John turns to the Machine.)
OK. Let’s see what we’ve got here.
LISTENER (getting between him and the machine) Wait.
JOHN What?
LISTENER Don’t—You don’t.
JOHN I have to be able to—If you want me to crank it up—
LISTENER No. No. You tell me. I’ll do it.
JOHN Look but don’t touch, huh?
LISTENER Yes. Yes.
JOHN Well, that’s going to be a lot… (harder) But OK, all right. I’ll try.
(Listeners looks at him to be sure he means it. She opens the works, stands so he can see in.)
JOHN OK. Talk me through this.
(Lights shift to Namer. Smak is with him.)
NAMER (quietly) What?
SMAK Yuh, Namer. Listener kept it.
NAMER She took it inside the House?
SMAK Yuh, Namer, it’s inside the House, yuh.
NAMER Why?
SMAK Don’t know, Namer. She don’t say. She just say, all right, you can go.
(Pause. Namer stares at Smak.)
It tweaked. Don’t seem right. No one go in Listener House. Now she take our lunie on in? Huh? Screepin tweaked. Now more an ever, got to keep stats quoed.
NAMER All right. All right. You told me. You can go. (as he starts to go:) Don’t tell anyone else.
SMAK Oky, Namer. (to self, exiting:) Go, go, go, everybody say go.
(He’s off. Namer is still. Then he takes a CD, breaks it into a sharp point. He feels the edge.
NAMER Don’t name her? I don’t name her? Is she letting it name her? Him, him, the Lunatic is him, that can’t be argued. There is an old, old name for that. Is that her new name? (He puts the CD-blade to his chest.) I will cut it out of me. I will cut her name out of me, all her names. But why should I bleed for her? Why should I be the one to bleed? I will cut open the Lunatic. I will find his real name. Is that Sam’s will? What should I do? What should I do? The Lunatic isn’t in the story, he doesn’t belong, I can make no sense of it, it is an aberration. He is an abomination. I will cut him out of the story again. Is that Sam’s will? It feels…right. Yes. I will cut him out. And then I will smash the Machine. The Machine isn’t in the story, it is only custom. I will smash it and Listener will listen only to me. I will give her back her true name, I will name her. And she will listen only to me. It’s Sam’s will. I am his servant. He have Named me, as he Names us all.
(Lights shift back to Listener’s House. They are working together, quietly and intently. John is looking over Listener’s shoulder.)
JOHN That’s right. And you connect—
LISTENER There?
JOHN Right, just don’t—
LISTENER Yes, I see, like—
JOHN Yes, that should—
LISTENER I see, yes, that will—
JOHN And if we, if you just take that—
LISTENER This?
JOHN Well—
LISTENER No, I think, I see, if those are brought together then—
JOHN Yes, yes—
LISTENER And then that’ll—
JOHN Exactly, yes—
LISTENER Like… that…
JOHN Yes, and, and, I don’t know how to explain it, ah…
(She gestures for him to be quiet, looks at him in silence for a moment. Then she gestures for him to come closer to the machine, hands him a tool. They work side by side in silence for a minute or two, both concentrating.
Then they finish and step back, quietly elated. They look at each other without speaking for a moment.)
LISTENER Thank you.
JOHN We don’t even know yet if.
LISTENER Still.
JOHN You’re welcome.
I wonder if it will feel different. When you…
(Listener sits at the Machine. When she speaks, there’s something a little different about the way her voice sounds going into it, slightly magnified.)
LISTENER Calling anyone repeat anyone is anyone out there this is Junk City calling repeat this is Junk City do you read me repeat do you read me come in please repeat come in please repeat come in please over.
(She listens. Then she smiles at John.)
Felt different. Think I felt it go farther.
JOHN Sounded like that to me too.
(They look at each other in silence. He starts to move toward her. She gets up and steps back.)
LISTENER Will it reach Nerth?
JOHN Oh. Oh, no. I don’t think so. You were right. Not the right kind of…
LISTENER Not like your, your comm.
JOHN Yes.
LISTENER You kept word. Go look. Maybe they didn’t finish. Maybe comm still works.
(John doesn’t move. He’s just listening.)
It’s all right. You go.
(He still doesn’t go.)
You have to go. Try to talk to Nearth. Stay safe.
JOHN (not moving) I know.
LISTENER John.
(The first time she has said his name. He is still, listening.
A moment. Then she looks out the door, sees it’s clear. They look at each other in silence for a moment. He goes.
She’s alone again. She puts the tools away carefully. Puts her hands on the Machine tenderly. Sits to it. Leans forward gradually, almost embracing the Machine. Namer enters, crosses straight to the door, opens it. Listener hears it open, begins speaking before she finishes turning:)
You came back, you—
(She sees Namer, who enters.)
Stop, you can’t * come into—
NAMER (*overlapping) But he can? Where is he?
LISTENER Go.
NAMER Where is he?
LISTENER Go, get out.
NAMER I, get out, where he got in?
LISTENER What do you—
NAMER HE GOT IN.
LISTENER You’ve lost your mind, you’ll be cast out—
NAMER No, Jennavere.
No. I will find the Lunatic and cut him apart and I will break your machine* and you will—
LISTENER *overlapping No.
NAMER No which? What do you want most, your whore of a Lunatic or this monstrous object? Maybe I’ll spare one of them for you, if you choose.
LISTENER Choose? Can’t choose, that’s—
NAMER Never mind, I didn’t mean it, I’ll kill them both, then you’ll be mine.
LISTENER There’s nothing you can kill to make me yours. Kill Lunatic, kill Machine, kill every Finder and Jimmy in Junk City and kill yourself too, I’ll be yours when seas recede again, when Junk hills are flat again, when birds fly again and frogs come back, when sun explodes and takes everything with it, then I’ll be yours. No. I lie. Not even then.
NAMER Listener, you talk too much.
(He pushes her out of the way and advances on the Machine.)
LISTENER NO.
(She grabs him, jerks him around, and he stabs her with the CD-blade.)
NAMER There! There! Are you mine now? * Are you mine now?
LISTENER (holding her wound, falling, overlapping.) No, no, no, no…
(She has fallen. Namer stares at her, drops the blade, goes out and off. John enters outside, stops and hides to watch Namer exit, looks after him warily. Listener huddles up, trying to stop the bleeding. She is barely audible.)
Calling… anyone repeat…anyone is….anyone out there this… Junk City… repeat this is…
(She’s still. John enters. He doesn’t see her at first.)
JOHN Listener? I came back to tell you, I got through, there’ll be no strike, you’re safe.
(sees her, goes to her.)
Listener?
(He finds that she’s dead.
A shocked pause.
Then slowly he picks up the blade, looks after Namer. Stands and moves toward the door. Suddenly a sound comes from the Machine. Static. John stops, startled, stares at it. Then a voice is heard.)
VOICE Junk City, come in, come in, Junk City, can you hear us? We received your transmission. Come in please, over.
(John stares at the Machine.)
Junk City, come in, please. Where are you? What is your location? This is New Eastland calling. Repeat, this is New Eastland. We’re very excited here. Come in, Junk City, please come in. Over.
(John goes to the Machine. He looks at Listener, looks at the Machine. He puts down the blade, picks up the microphone.)
JOHN (hoarsely) I read you, New Eastland. This is Junk City. This is Junk City. Over.
VOICE Who is speaking? Over.
Junk City, come in. Who is speaking, please? Over.
(John looks at Listener’s body. He slowly sits to the machine, in Listener’s posture.)
JOHN This is Listener.
Repeat, this is the Listener of Junk City. END OF PLAY
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