Naked Lunch Page #5

This is insubordination!

Ooh,you're all gonna pay for this!

Heads are gonna roll!

Your days in

Interzone are numbered, Lee.

I suggest you give up

the writing game.

- Make tracks for another part of the world.

- You guys are gonna-

F*** 'em all.

Squares on both sides.

I am the only complete man in the industry.

- Bill.

- Bill?

I must be hallucinating.

What are you cats doing here?

We're here to see you, Bill.

Come on.

Yeah, man. It's probably the first time

you haven't been hallucinating in a long time.

What are you talking about?

What are you saying?

Naturally, I've had a few odd moments.

Everybody blacks out in Interzone.

- Wouldn't you?

- Definitely.

Sure.

What's in the pillowcase, Bill?

These are the remains

of my last writing machine.

It's been a big problem for me.

- Mind if I take a look?

- Go ahead.

Wait a minute.

Where are we going?

Oh, man.

- How about back to your place?

- Nope.

Why not?

I'm not safe there.

I'm a dead duck there.

We'll protect you.

You boys are kidding yourselves.

You're babes in the woods here.

Well, what do you suggest?

We thought it was important for us

to help you get your book together.

Yeah, I've sent sections of it

to my publisher, and they're interested.

- All you gotta do is finish it, man.

- You've already done the hard part.

Book. My book?

Yeah. The one

you've been calling Naked Lunch.

Where did you put

that Bradley the Buyer routine?

Did you find it all?

Yeah. It's on the sofa

right next to the Hassan's Rumpus Room riff.

- It's all right there.

- I'm telling you, boys...

I never saw those pages before.

I truly do suspect

some sort of colossal con.

Oh, someone's planted

these pages in your room, right?

Somebody sent all those letters to me

and signed them with your name, right?

A well-orchestrated cabal

could easily manage...

all of these simple things, children.

When will you learn?

They've done you a favor, 'cause this

stuff's gonna get published...

under your name...

and you'll have a career.

Yeah, you'll probably

get into print before we will.

For God's sake, Bill,

play ball with this conspiracy.

You're patronizing me, boys...

but I don't mind,

'cause you're so sweet to me, too.

Hey, Martin, listen to this.

"So we start for New Orleans past

iridescent lakes and orange gas flares...

"and swamps and garbage heaps...

"alligators crawling around

in broken bottles and tin cans...

"neon arabesques of motels...

"marooned pimps scream obscenities

at passing cars from islands of rubbish.

New Orleans is a dead museum."

So nice.

Sound familiar, Bill?

First time I ever heard it. Read on.

I think it's time to discuss your, uh...

philosophy of drug use

as it relates to artistic endeavor.

I think it's time

to bring this meeting to order.

I think it's time for you boys

to share my last taste...

of the true black meat.

The flesh of the giant

aquatic Brazilian centipede.

So we're still here

in Interzone with Bill, right?

That's right, Hank.

And now we're gonna travel

back to the city, right?

- That's right, Hank.

- I think Bill's on top of things here, don't you?

He has a grip on a certain, uh,

unique reality principle, yes.

I think you both should consider

staying here for a few months.

Everything you could want

is cheap and-and plentiful here.

That reality principle thing

could work for you, too.

Well, my mother's all alone,

and she's kind of sick, Bill.

And besides, my book's

as all-American as football.

- Couldn't finish it here.

- America is not a young land.

It is old...

and dirty and evil.

Before the settlers,

before the Indians.

The evil is there waiting.

What about you, Martin?

Maybe you can, uh, move into my place.

What do you think?

Stay until you finish the book...

but then come back to us.

You'll be okay?

Yeah. Don't worry about me.

The Zone is full of surprises.

The Zone takes care of its own.

William?

You look terrible.

What are you doing here?

I don't - I don't know.

I just -

My only fr-

My only friends in the -

in the world.

I- I'm afraid I-

I'll never see 'em again.

I feel - feel so -

Oh. Severed.

Come with me.

- Take me home.

- I can't go home.

I can't go home.

Is that your typing machine there?

Foutu.

Broken... beyond repair.

If we fix the typing machine...

we also fix the life.

There. You see?

There's no cause for despair.

In this shop,

anything can be fixed that is broken.

I don't know, Kiki.

They don't seem to be capable

of delicate work here.

You must have faith, William.

Look.

We have your new writing machine.

Not bad. Not bad.

Not bad. Not bad.

I feel very comfortable

working with you.

I like that sense of camaraderie in an agent.

You must be progressing.

My predecessor felt you had

an ambivalent relationship with him.

- You mean Clark Nova.

- Yes.

How is he?

He's still in the hands of our enemies.

Such are the hazards of our trade.

A hazardous trade, yes.

Your report on the subversive

activities ofJoan Frost...

was a model of its type.

If you continue to develop

your skills as an operative...

I think a top position

with the C.I.A. is not out of reach.

The C.I.A.?

You really think so?

You have the demeanor.

That's something you can't buy.

The C.I.A.

The C.I.A.

Now, that's a career

you can really sink your teeth into.

It has...

resonance.

But giving yourself over

to being a writer-

Ah, well.

This stuff is very potent.

The two are very closely related.

So you boys keep telling me.

Well, what's my next assignment?

I'm hungry for adventure.

Excellent.

You know the Swiss dandy Cloquet?

- Yes.

- And?

I think he's a faggito and won't admit it.

That ought to make it all easier.

You will seduce

or otherwise compromise Cloquet.

We have it on good authority

that he's our conduit to Benway.

Dr. Benway, M.D., Ph.D.?

Self-styled. He never actually

made it through medical school.

He runs an interesting little show here

which he calls Interzone, Inc.

Pretentious, if you ask me.

Benway's behind Interzone, Inc.?

The base of his pyramid

is a drug called the black meat.

- The pyramid's tip -

- Is?

Ah. Well, we'd like to know.

Dr. Benway.

- Of course.

- Yes.

- Yes.

- And he's obviously got sensational cover.

He's floated in and out

of the Zone for years...

without anybody actually

ever seeing him.

But now the pressure's on

to place an agent close to him.

Me.

Assessments are being made.

- You're working away, William?

- Yes, Kiki.

The machine turns out

to be a very good one.

Muy simpatico.

And I have you to thank for it...

and so I will.

Thank you.

I'm very proud

to be your friend, you know.

I'm very proud

that I can help you to be a writer.

You have done that, Kiki.

You really have.

Would you like some tea?

That would be lovely, William.

Kiki.

- Hmm?

- Do you know Cloquet?

The Swiss man with the big house

on the Old Valley Road?

Cloquet?

Oh, yes, yes.

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