The one who arrives with nothing

I go down, grab a needle and leave before dark.

Synopsis

He lands crooked on a tiled square. They call him by a name that is not his and nobody doubts it.

Plot

The rule of that world, shown whole: a name is worn, on a black grooved plate on a cord round the neck, and it is paid by shaving a syllable off it with a needle. Whoever says somebody else's name out loud switches off. And how to undo it is shown here too, long before it matters: over a turning platter the needle eats whatever is said. What he wants, out loud before the forty eighth second: to get out, steal a needle and leave before dark. He has spent four years building his machine and that is the one part missing.

Tag

After the credits, a secondary character from this episode, later and somewhere else.

The porter, alone in a small tiled hut at night, the board leaning against the wall. He turns his own plate over and over under his chin, finding the three new grooves that are not his each time. He opens his mouth and says something with no sound coming out, twice. On the floor a record turns on a small deck with a needle riding it, and nothing comes out but the groove noise.

Trivia and continuity

The price is paid by the porter, who wears his brother's name and apologises for wearing it. And what the cat works out and does not say: with no plate he does not exist, and with no name he cannot leave.