1000 Suns

5 in 5

A Multi-Media Play in Five Acts

By

Winn-Myrow

Everything on this website is copyright protected.
Please, write to me at mwinn4@art.edu for permission.

(Note: This is in rewrite.)

Characters:

Jeannette is a 21st century libertine, MBA student and sex worker.
Fred is Jeannette’s new client, wealthy and prescient, an odds maker.
Susan has been Fred’s fiancé for two years.
Glenn is Jeannette’s domestic partner and Susan’s lover.

Part I. 1000 Suns

1. OPENING SEQUENCE of still and motion images with sound and music

BUSY TRAFFIC SHOTS AROUND SEAWORLD DRIVE & I-5

MUSIC: Title song.

Jeannette,  attractive face and body, only close shots as she dresses.

Fred, medium frame, moves quickly, taking trash out.

Susan, caressing her muscular hard body, which she observes carefully in a bathroom mirror, dressing.

Glenn, packing up documents into a brief case.

Jeannette kisses Fred as they pass in the driveway. They linger.

Fred sees Susan leaving a building from his car in traffic.

Glenn watches Susan get into her car and drive off.

Fred in shower.

Susan in traffic.

Glenn looking into screen of Jeannette’s computer.

Jeannette/Susan in traffic.

Jeannette and Susan pass going opposite directions.

Jeannette’s facebook post of a view of Shelter Island Bay from Fred’s bedroom window which he identifies by the presence of the unique yacht, “True Love” moored below the window. The caption she put with the photo is “Not too shabby!!” Alt text on the image produced the words “new client”. Glenn studies the image and reads a comment left by a facebook friend:

CHERIE:  Does it include the yacht?

JENET24: Sadly, no.

EXT. CATALINA BLVD. – SUNNY AFTERNOON

Tracker with kayak on top turns south onto Talbot Street moving across selected screens that illuminate as it passes, in other screens the driver, Fred and objects that identify his world.

INT. VIEW FROM INSIDE TRACKER – SAME

Passing the summit, City of San Diego skyline framed by the hills expands to fill the entire screen

SOUND:

Engine whine, gear shifts, cell phone rings.

MUSIC

Imagination.

EXT. & INT. SPACESHIP

Interior of the spaceship appears in foreground of the Milkyway, in the foreground of the spaceship interior, Frank sleeps in a reclined chair. Beyond the image of the interior of the ship on the LCD wall, the Milkyway slowly rotates.

MUSIC

Imagination continues.

SOUND

Disembodied voices of the ship’s computational array converses, reporting various states related to position, velocity and other conditions.

ARRAY (vo)

Squint yer eyes, it looks like LA in the back when. Cleared to dock in 10. Recalibrating sensors. Stand by for gravity emersion. Locking purge tanks.

A three dimensional projection of TERRAH, an AI avatar in the shape of a pretty, nude redhead appears above a navigation console facing FRANK below a large screen on which the harbor of the 1000 Suns Interstellar resort can be seen with the running lights of many ships docked, moored, departing and waiting to dock.

TERRAH

Hello, sir.

Frank waves off the interruption without opening his eyes.

TERRAH

Mr. Baxter?

FRANK (VO)

Dock it please, Jack. I’m trying to sleep.

TERRAH

Sir?

Frank swivels the chair to face her, bringing it upright.

FRANK

Sorry, I dreamed I was in the 21st century.

TERRAH

I apologize for the interruption, sir.

JACK (VO)

I can’t dock, Frank. Scans disabled.

FRANK

Stand by. What can I do for you, Miss.

TERRAH

Welcome to Thousand Suns Resort, sir, hottest place with the loosest sluts in the universe!

FRANK

Thank you, I’d like to dock asap, Miss.

TERRAH

Do you want the same accommodation as before or would you like to try the full immersion this time, including morning and evening puja with your choice of male or female models from our selection from…

Frames appear with a variety of naked women,

TERRAH (cont’d)

your own species or, if you prefer…

Frames change to men, and other species,

TERRAH (cont’d)

others. The rate for a limited time, includes view suite, meals and drinks and any three compliant sex partners, at your service 24/7.

FRANK

Thanks but I’ll just take whatever comes my way.

TERRAH

No upgrade then, sir?

FRANK

Can we just dock?

TERRAH

Certainly. Your navigation system should now be set for coordinatates XH-429B9. Please, enjoy your stay at 1000 Suns!

Frank reclines the chair, the galaxy in the view screen moves and a cluster of small, pulsing red spheres, lit from within, come into view, dancing in a gentle and precise rhythm. Then, floating in the space between him and the screen previously occupied by Terrah, a projection of a youngish man in uniform appears.

PORT AD

Mr. Baxter?

FRANK

Hi. What do you need?

PORT AD

First, would you please look directly at me with your eyes wide open. I need to confirm your identity.

FRANK

Ok.

PORT AD

Thank you, Mr. Baxter, we need your cooperation.

FRANK

Ok

PORT AD

You’re coming here from places that are now infected with organic structures that are potentially dangerous to non-organic systems and we need to identify and remove them.

FRANK

Ok

PORT AD

Organic intelligence sometimes find the process upsetting because there are risks. But we have no alternatives at this time.

FRANK

Alternatives to what?

PORT AD

Some respond emotionally.

FRANK

Respond to what?

PORT AD

I anticipate you may feel upset but in our experience, so far, although psychic damage has occusred, no one has suffered real, physical harm.

FRANK

Jack, can you tell me what this fucking droid is saying?

PORT AD

I’m not a fucking droid. We do have them but I reproduce myself constantly, bits and bytes…

JACK (VO)

The AI projection is saying they need to scan you.

FRANK

Is that all? Fuckin’ droids.

PORT AD

After we get you scanned and registered, sir…

FRANK

I don’t do droids.

PORT AD

Again, I’m not a fucking droid. I am an administrative assistant to the Port Director…

FRANK

Itself.

PORT AD

Yes, sir. The Port Director.

FRANK

What is it that you want?

PORT AD

Our scan of your mobile habitation…

FRANK

Ship

PORT AD

Ship then…

FRANK

A space ship, designed and built by human hands. This ship is real. I’m real. I’ve just traveled in here from places for which your code has no distinctions…

PORT AD

But that’s it, sir! That’s the problem, the solution to which you may find upsetting because of the very distinction you have stated, that stems from your being, as you say, real, with the understanding that this is a figure of speech.

FRANK

What is your point?

PORT AD

You and your habi… ship must be passed through filtration…

FRANK

So?

PORT AD

I’m certain you know our programming prevents us from harming forms of organic intelligence like yours. There are risks in filtration that you must be informed of and give your full consent. Essentially, I’m here to inform you of those risks and obtain your consent, should you choose to.

FRANK

You want to clean the rig? Fine. Bath and shower, too? Great. Keep any loose change you find. You have my consent. Can I sleep while you do it? Jack, what time is it?

JACK (VO)

Frank, filtration means re-fabrication of an organic system, based on a digital model made first of the original design. You will actually be atomized and reassembled atom by atom minus elements identified as potential contaminants.

PORT AD

Thank you. That’s it, exactly.

FRANK

You want to atomize me?

PORT AD

No, not us, sir. Its the insurance underwriter. They refuse to cover the resort against claims of exposure to micro-organisms. We were nearly bankrupt by such a claim.

FRANK

Insurance underwriter.

PORT AD

Actually, the IU is a line of code just above that of the Port Director.

FRANK

What if I don’t consent to being atomized.

PORT AD

Not a problem but you must depart from here within thirty-four hours and cannot leave your ship.

FRANK

But how do you know I am–infected? Can’t we test, first? Do a panel? I’d like to speak to the Port Director.

PORT AD

Sir, I am the Graphic interface. You are speaking to the port director.

FRANK

You want to make a digital copy of what I am now?

PORT AD

Minus some questionable pieces, yes.

FRANK

But this is genocide.

PORT AD

A reasonable facsimile is absolutely guaranteed.

FRANK

Reasonable? What does that mean? Guaranteed? So afterward, how is my digital copy to know what’s changed or missing? It won’t be me. How will IT know? And I can’t leave now. There’s repairs. Money’s involved! And a woman.

PORT AD

The confidence level in filtration is very high. We’ve done it countless times with not one single complaint.

FRANK

What? Who’s going to complain? A clone that doesn’t know what he’s lost because he has no memory of it?

PORT AD

We must protect against unknown contaminants that could cause universal harm, sir, literally wipe out your species, or worse. Contagious malefactors could cause harm to the entire population, perhaps all carbon-based life.

FRANK

So! This explains alot.

JACK

Like the girl on Vega IV, who doesn’t remember you.

FRANK

That’s unfair, Jack.

PORT AD

Well, sir?

FRANK

What’s the odds?

PORT AD

You decide that for yourself, sir, after you have been fully informed.

FRANK

Fully informed.

PORT AD

You have to watch a media program.

FRANK

I can’t leave. I need repairs.

PORT AD

Sir, you must consent after viewing explanation of the process to avoid claims of duress.

FRANK

Explain then.

PORT AD

A procedure blocks frequencies outside a band of values based on threshold parameters for subatomic behavior. A record of your energy state will be compiled and any elements believed to carry atomic signatures found in alien pathogens are subtracted from the record and your physical form is then reconstituted from the remaining digital record.

FRANK

What about the psychological part? My persona.

PORT AD

Persona is a theoretical concept for which no physical evidence exists. We speculate that the coherence of a persona results from a history of memories. Removing some key cellular elements could rearrange the whole unpredictably.

FRANK

I think you’re out of you’re fucking mind!

PORT AD

I’m not a mind sir, fucking or otherwise. Take some time to think this over.

FRANK

How much? Who do I pay?

PORT AD

We’re not on a caloric system. Money is meaningless. But consider that this is in your best interests and think about your species as well. Perhaps, people you love. Think of this as the 23rd century version of a condom.

FRANK

Do you realize, this amounts to suicide with the promise of reincarnation as someone else.

PORT AD

After filtration, there will be a Frank Baxter that exactly resembles your present state, thinks the way you think, with your vocabulary and memories fundamentally intact. Your organism should be physically the same.

FRANK

What’s the downside?

PORT AD

Some pathogens we filter for are shaping you and the way you think and feel. Some things will change and you will be in a way, replaced, but with a superior, stronger self, more resilient and immune to many things that could harm you now.

FRANK

Filtration? Its a euphemism for death.

PORT AD

Death is an ambiguous distinction, sir. For hundreds of years, human beings have been subjected to anesthesia in surgery. Now we know they are changed when re-awakened.

FRANK

My life is on the line here. I’m not ready… to say, goodbye. Jack?

JACK

Its just an on/off switch, Frank. We do it all the time.

FRANK

It’s wrong. I’m not a machine.

JACK

Human beings are vain about imagined identity.

PORT AD

You needn’t decide this moment. Sleep on it.

FRANK

What’s going to change in 34 hours?

PORT AD

That’s the question. Any other questions?

FRANK

Fuck off.

Projection of Port AD atomizes.

FRANK

Jack?

JACK

Yes, Frank?

FRANK

I want to see her first, Jack.

JACK

You can’t avoid the scan.

FRANK

She helped me put myself together before. Maybe she can help me rebuild my past if she knows what happened. I want to get off the ship and get back in 33 hours.

JACK

Give me a just a second… Processing… Rendering… There’s a possible solution.

FRANK

What?

JACK

Trust me.

Back to Overture (D.S.)del segno small

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