Outing

To go out into this City, one must be comfortable and invisible. My tattoos must not show, as the few who recognize these symbols would be quick to ascertain the incongruity of my presence. This is easy to do: the City is cold, windy, damp. A crewneck sweater, hems unwinding stitch by stitch, over a long sleeved shirt, dark colors, not rich. Perhaps light grey, in order to show stains. Pockets will be necessary on the pants, and everything, from shoes to cap, must fit very well - the most basic requirement of this outfit is to be able to break into a sustained run at any time without leaving any trace, anything from which dna or other traces might be collected.

So it is in this uniform that I leave the house, lacing up well-worn black shoes, which show rings of salt from the City's many polluted rivulets which trickle through the streets, pulling a loosely woven cap over the hair which I have been growing out for some time.. the general attention to hygiene in this City is not what it is in the desert, though we all are perhaps more fastidious than the others in the presence of our community. With me I have technology so old I have had to spend days reacquainting myself with it: a folding computer, with individual keys assigned to letters, and a rollscreen. I have outfitted a more modern transmission device, so as to be able to reach the relay towers and therefore to commit my communications to the archives in the desert.. I cannot rely upon more contingent systems, as they may easily become corrupted should interest focus on my person or should something as simple as inclement weather render them unreliable.

Additionally I am taking with me, and hope to keep with me generally, supplies to ensure strength and health if deprived of home: nutrient bars, a small supply of compressed hydrogenate, a toothbrush but no razor. I have already become, at first glance, completely unrecognizable as one of the prophetics. But to let anyone see my body would ruin the illusion, even if they did not understand the meaning of the tattooed symbols: no one in the City bears tattoos, as conditions render proper sterilization impossible. For this reason as well there are no doctors, or what doctors there are to be found are those who would practice, either out of necessity and moral obligation or from unsolicited malice, out of the dankest cesspool.

Here I go - it will be some time before I see my cubicle again, as students (I am still registering, even as a cover for my increased forays into the nullfilms) are expected to commit at least eighteen hours of each day to either study or service to others. It is my hope that I can secure some form of income, as the supply so generously granted to me by those in the desert who had so long ago fled is becoming spare. Additionally, too much use of such old bills indicates that one has been in some sort of isolation, which here is quite suspicious: just as we patrol the Outer Township for soldiers of the City they keep careful watch against outsiders in general, though residents of the Outer Township are not suspected in particular.

Eie Whoam, Am Whoeie? Ameie, Eieam!

Adabeie