ellauri082.html on line 127: JOI’s wraith is responsible for the strange disturbances around ETA — tripods in the forest, moving Ortho’s bed, ceiling tiles on the floor. He knocks the ceiling tiles down in an attempt to find the DMZ. Pemulis is too distracted with getting expelled to have Hal take it, so JOI needs to get it to Hal some other way.
ellauri082.html on line 129: Described as coming from a kind of mold that “grows on other molds,” DMZ is an incredibly powerful and mysterious hallucinogen. It can have many different effects but often seems to transform a person’s ability to communicate. It is also nicknamed “Madame Psychosis,” after Joelle’s radio persona. Michael Pemulis manages to acquire some, but it is stolen before he and Hal can take it. It’s suggested that Hal has been affected by DMZ by the time of the Year of Glad, but it’s unclear how—whether from eating a piece of mold as a child and then withdrawing from marijuana, or having his toothbrush laced with Pemulis’s drugs (possibly by James’s wraith). As a result of this presumed DMZ consumption, Hal is able to feel strong emotions (which was impossible for him before) but unable to communicate.
ellauri082.html on line 131: JOI also created DMZ as part of an attempt to undo the effects of Hal’s eating mold as a child (recall: DMZ is a mold that grows on a mold). He left it along with the Entertainment (recall: ETA kids find JOI’s personal effects (670: “a bulky old doorless microwave…a load of old TP cartridges…mostly unlabelled”); the tapes and the DMZ are delivered together to the FLQ) which is about this goal (it stars a woman named Madame Psychosis (a street name for DMZ; another is 1st Av.) explaining that the thing that killed you in your last life will give birth to you in the next). The DMZ and the Entertainment were meant to go together for Hal. Now that the Entertainment has escaped, he needs to get Hal the DMZ.
ellauri082.html on line 133: Hal never leaves leaves his toothbrush unattended (870), but that’s no problem for a wraith. He places the DMZ on Hal’s brush and Hal brushes his teeth (860) and immediately begins experiencing symptoms: Ortho thinks Hal’s crying when Hal thinks he’s speaking in a neutral tone (862).
ellauri082.html on line 151: Thanks to Jeff Halley and Joe Giacona for help with the part about the DMZ.
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