Risa’s chapter jumps back and forth between more cheery evil stupid adult chatter and her talking about the place. Mostly, it’s about how special Connor is. She’s advised not to stay friends with the so-called Akron AWOL because surely the more we tell kids he’s a big deal the less they’ll think he’s a big deal, and she goes on about how upset she was about what happened to him.

Physically, he was not harmed in any way. It would not do to damage the merchandise. Psychologically, however, that’s a different story. They paraded him through the grounds for nearly twenty minutes. Then they took off his shackles and just left him there by the flagpole. No trip to the “welcome center,” no orientation, nothing.

Oh no, no welcome center!

Risa knew the point wasn’t to challenge him, or even to punish him. It was to give him every opportunity to do the wrong thing. That way, they could justify any punishment they gave.

The point wasn’t to punish him, it was to be able to justify punishing him! Thanks for explaining, before it didn’t make much sense.

This is sort of like admiral-guy needing ironclad proof to move against Roland even though he’s dictator for life. Plus, they’re going to chop him up as soon as possible, so when will they have time to punish him?

It had worried Risa, but only for a moment—because she knows Connor all too well. He will only do the wrong thing when it’s the right thing to do.

And that’s why Connor is such an annoying sue, it’s never just one bit of sueishness but a whole rolling wave. Risa has come here to be killed, but all she can think of is that Connor was singled out and how upset she is on his behalf, and also he’ll do fine anyway because he’s perfect.

Cheery voice also says Risa did above average on the tests and seems surprised, but I don’t know why since as I said, you’d expect the state home kids who get murdered for budget reasons to be doing better than the ones who get murdered because their parents are sick of them.

Risa than wangsts that the cheery happy everything is worse than if they were all abused and malnourished. No, Risa, it actually isn’t, and the author should have maybe reconsidered describing a concentration camp and then saying that no, the middle class suffering of this place is so much worse.

Risa explains that mostly the kids spend their days in exercise, and it takes her a while to realize that this isn’t just to keep them busy but because someone, somewhere, was studying each of the Unwinds in that game, taking notes on eyehand coordination, gauging the strengths of various muscle groups. Risa had quickly realized that the basketball game wasn’t to keep the Unwinds entertained, but to help put a cash value on their parts.

Because Risa is dumb.

I’m just surprised they don’t try to give the kids crash courses in various things so their magic muscle memory will give the recipients new skills.

The woman talking to her finally gets a description – she’s wearing pink, because girly things are the most hatable. Also, she’s assuming Risa isn’t following, probably because Risa is totally zoned out, which Risa resents intensely.

The harvest counselor who interviews her seems to assume that, in spite of aptitude scores, every Unwind must be an imbecile.

No, she just thinks you aren’t processing what she’s saying, which incidentally, you weren’t. And that’s probably true for a lot of the kids what with the whole upcoming death, so it’s probably true for all unwinds. There’s no suggestion she thinks you’re an idiot.

Risa goes on to contemplate attacking the woman, not because she is a terrible person for participating in this, but because she’s doing so while wearing stupid pink.

Risa finally asks the appendix question.

“Well,” says the counselor with near infinite patience, “a deaf ear is better
than no ear at all, and sometimes it’s all people can afford.

The author thinks your outer ear does the hearing.

The author seriously thinks your outer ear does the hearing.

Despite the fact they’re transplanting nonfunctional cochlea on the basis that it’s better than none (how are people even losing these?) the appendix itself is just thrown away, because nobody really needs that anyway unlike deaf ears, even though the appendix actually does have some degree of function and you’re healthier with one. But that’s something it’s actually understandable to not know, as opposed to DEAF EARS WHAT THE FUCK.

Doesn’t the law specify that you have to keep 100 percent of an Unwind alive?”
The smile has begun to fade from the counselor’s face. “Well, actually it’s 99.44 percent, which takes into account things like the appendix.”

Why is this a big deal? Shouldn’t this be a standard question? I guess the author thinks he’s being clever by pointing out they aren’t really telling the truth but only something that’s functionally exactly the same so who cares, but if you’re concerned about that why is no one concerned about what happens if a bunch of you gets transplanted into some old guy who dies next week? That’s certainly not keeping the kid alive.

Then she’s asked about if she has any skills, and unlike the evil tribunal back at the scrapyard, she actually answers, although at least she bitches nearly as much in her head while listing off current medical skill and former baby care. Then she mentions she played piano, despite the fact that should already be in her file, and that’s a big deal, probably because it triples the worth of her hands.

Then it’s Connor again. He explains he totally wants to cause trouble but won’t because they want him to and also his waifu will be sad, as if as long as he doesn’t cause a scene he’ll be left alone, so instead we get to hear all the other kids worshiping him.

you didn’t really take on an entire squad of Juvey-cops with their own tranq guns.”
“No! It’s not true,” Connor tells him, but denying it just makes the kid believe it even more.

Yes, his brilliant plan of not explaining what happened leads to kids not knowing what happened and believing the rumors. It’s so hard being Connor, accidentally saying exactly what will make them just worship you even more.

At least Roland is trying to do something, telling the kids their helicopter was stolen and used to rescue a hundred unwinds (I guess educational standards have continued to slide and no one understands how much a standard helicopter can carry). Maybe Roland will realize they might actually have a chance if they can get a full scale riot going.

Connor doesn’t tell anyone the truth there because there doesn’t seem any point when they’re all going to die soon. That’s reasonable in a general sense but bears no resemblance to Connor’s own personality.

There’s one kid Connor speaks to who actually listens and can tell the truth from the fabrications. His name is Dalton. He’s seventeen but short and stocky, with hair that has a mind of its own. Connor tells him exactly what happened on that day he went AWOL.

Maybe the other kids would figure it out if you told them the story, Connor.

Also, this kid is just Hayden again because the author needed some secondary sycophant for Connor but had enough of a brain to realize it’d be too contrived for Hayden to somehow show up here (and/or has some plan for Hayden back at the camp). Hayden2 explains that even still, Connor is so awesome.

“it’s still pretty impressive. It’s what the rest of us wish we could have done.”
Connor has to admit that he’s right.

Yes, he grudgingly admits that he is super great.

“You’re, like, king of the Unwinds here,”

I GET IT ENOUGH ALREADY

“but guys like you get unwound real quick—so watch yourself.”

I have no idea what Connor could actually do that would matter. He’s already doomed on the basis of everything he did. Honestly, he could punch the next adult in the face and it probably wouldn’t speed things up because he’s already at the top of the list.

Finally, Hayden2 gives us some interesting info, which is that he’s been there six months because he’s in the band, used to play on the roof of the building where they kill kids. That’s where Risa is now, because we wouldn’t want anyone distracted from special Connor’s special plot about how he’s so special he’s in special danger by concerning ourselves with her.

That morning he’s brought out to play volleyball.

The intensity of play can only be matched by an undercurrent of fear that runs beneath even tap of the ball. Both teams play as if the losers will be immediately unwound. Dalton had told Connor that it doesn’t work that way, but losing can’t help, either. It reminds Connor of the Mayan game of pokatok—something he learned about in history class. The game was a lot like basketball, except that the losers were sacrificed to the Mayan gods.

THAT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE!

The better you do, the more desirable your parts and the more likely they hack you up now. If you look fat and out of shape, they’re more likely to keep you and hope you improve so you’re worth more.

But I suppose that would bring up the insanity of the kids doing their best instead of recognizing that showing off is just helping people attach price tags.

Roland then hits the ball into one of the staffers and grins, because I guess Roland is stupid now? Then some tithes walk by, all dressed in white, and we get a little lecture about how the staff treats the tithes better. Probably because none of them spike balls into the staff’s faces. I’m not saying it isn’t justified, just that it makes no sense to be presenting this as evil prejudice and not some obvious cause and effect.

Then Risa, playing.

her music carries across the fields to the ears of more than a thousand souls waiting to go under the knife.

Okay, but more importantly, what’s the ratio to adults? There seem to be an awful lot, what with staff members all following the kids around as they play games, but I’d like to know the specifics. They’re putting a lot of effort into keeping the kids calm. In the event of a riot, how much damage could the kids do?

From her vantage point on the roof she sees them brought down the maroon flagstone path that all the kids call “the red carpet.”

Except a few chapters ago it was explained that there was almost no red used anywhere because it makes people think of blood, and now there’s an entire path leading into the deathshop that’s red?

Because dramatic, I guess.

Risa says this is horrible, but then her whining gets more baseless.

“I can’t be an accomplice to what they’re doing!”
“Hey,” says Dalton, getting annoyed. “This is survival here, and we do what we have to do to survive!

Huh, maybe Hayden2 isn’t actually a Hayden. The book seems to be seriously floating the idea that doing something because you’re ordered to that doesn’t actually hurt anyone is still wrong, because it’s getting defended the way people normally defend killing other people. But she’s not actually helping kids get unwound. The most she’s doing is drowning out sounds, and while sanitizing it may have some moral issues, it doesn’t seem like the adults actually give a fuck so she’s just keeping it from upsetting the rest of the kids, and it’s not like they’d know to fight back if only they heard, she’s just reducing their stress a little.

Risa asks if not playing along is where their last keyboard player went, because obviously they must have always had one, but anyway no, the last one was a week away from eighteen so they cut him up.

“That’s it?” says Risa. “They just took him?”

I don’t understand why it’s surprising they did exactly what they do to everyone.

Hayden2 says his plan is to jump off the roof when he’s near eighteen.

I’ll sure get busted up real bad. See, they can’t unwind you like that; they have to wait until you heal. By then I’ll be eighteen and they will be screwed!”

So why aren’t the kids injuring themselves all the time? Even if they likely wouldn’t be able to perfectly run out the clock, it’d still mean they live a little while longer.

Also, why aren’t all the girls pregnant? They obviously aren’t doing anything to segregate the sexes since Risa is hanging out here entirely unsupervised.

The lead singer is much dumber, with the brilliant plan of hoping the legal adulthood age will be lowered to seventeen, as absolutely no current voter is motivated to do, and that the staff won’t just make sure to unwind all the seventeen year olds as soon as they hear the bill is being presented.

“This one’s for Jack,” he says, and begins playing the opening chords to the prewar classic “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”

So a song that’s more than a hundred years old is being played by current teenagers who all recognize it. Because, dammit, because.
The terribles hate the tithes the way peasants despise royalty.

The saner analogy would probably be something about class traitors, since they’re both getting killed but one of them is getting nicer food first.

Connor thinks he recognizes one but decides he didn’t, but actually it’s Lev!

He does not see Connor on the volleyball court because the tithes are strictly instructed not to look at the terribles. Why should they? They have been told from birth they are of a different caste and have a higher calling.

This is the stuff the book really should have focused more on back in the beginning. It’s actually kind of cool, but it’s too little too late.

Then there’s some quick ominous hinting that while he seems like his old self, it’s only skin-deep. And then the chapter’s done.