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10/24/00: Welcome to the Fold "WELCOME TO THE FOLD" by Serdar Yegulalp PREFACE This is going to be something of an experiment, for both the ‘Zine
and me. Since the ‘Zine is open-format, I asked Piet if that included
works of fiction, which could be serialized. He said yes. Idiot that
I was, I took him up on it. To be scrupulously honest, I wasn’t planning on rushing out and writing
a whole new something for the zine. That would have been 1) a mistake;
and 2) very difficult. I planned instead to dip into one of the several
projects I had unfolding concurrently, and feed those to Piet a piece
at a time. WELCOME TO THE FOLD was the most natural choice to me – a story that
deals, in a broad way, with the notion that society is little more than
a LARP of unbounded dimensions. This script started over two years ago, when I read several (wholly
illiterate) news clippings about role-playing games being blamed for
everything from Satanism to suicide. Obviously, no game is going to
have that kind of effect on people -- unless they’re already primed
for it. That inspired a question: "What if these games really were as
dangerous as everyone would like to think they are?" Not dangerous in
the sense that they are lethal -- but dangerous in the sense that they
really do have great power to move the world. Perhaps they do, and we
simply do not sense it yet. This was one of the most difficult pieces of work I ever put my mind
to. I didn’t want to make it a simplistic morality story or a cheap
shot at easy targets, like the above- mentioned fuddy-duddies on both
Left and Right who target everything that looks remotely like "fun"
as being a problem. Don’t get me wrong -- I think they’re a perfectly
legitimate enemy. But in the bigger picture, they’re strawmen. What you are reading will probably not be the final draft, but it is
certainly representative of what I wanted this story to be. One more thing: American media expert Ben Bagdikian has estimated that fewer than two
dozen international companies control more than half the world’s media. With the merger of Time-Warner and AOL, that number dropped. How long before that number is reduced to one? --s.y. FADE IN: Silhouetted against the dawn. Slow SUNRISE outlines the huge building at dead center: it’s the EMPIRE
STATE BUILDING. The sun’s shining THROUGH huge, ragged holes in its
shape. The whole city is in RUINS. ELIAS’S VOICE Huge, bleak monoliths standing at attention, row after row. The light
is dim, dusty. One of the buildings TIPS OVER and SLAMS into its neighbor... BOOM! The whole row goes over in slow-motion, like dominoes on a shelf. Clouds
of DUST rise and filter the light. The dust THICKENS, slowly. The titles of books are obscured by a growing
patina of dust, like in time-lapse photography... We’re not looking at a cityscape. It’s the STACKS OF A LIBRARY. The
"buildings" are shelf after shelf of books, and the light in the distance
is a single, naked LIGHT BULB. The bulb hangs at the end of a wire, swinging back and forth slightly.
Something odd about its shape: it’s somehow "futuristic" and sleek.
SHADOWS swing back and forth with every oscillation of the bulb. A HAND reaches up and stills the bulb -- a hand belonging to ELIAS
MARLOWE, 35. Dirty blond hair, handsome, but with blue eyes that betray
great intelligence and wit. ELIAS The library is a mess -- books splattered across the floor, books hanging
half-open on the shelves... Bindings broken, pages loose -- it looks
like a bunch of second-grade kids who disdain reading were set free
in here. Elias drops to his knees, grumbling, and starts trying to restore order.
From outside, behind a door, the sounds of FOOTFALLS; the door opens.
In comes HALDEMAN -- plump, graying, gravel-voiced. HALDEMAN ELIAS He lifts a volume with its spine almost completely separated. ELIAS HALDEMAN Elias smirks and points to a dim corner, where neither of them have
gone yet. The dust has been very recently disturbed. ELIAS Also dark, high-ceilinged, and intermittently lit. Like a warehouse,
which isn’t far from the truth: a warehouse for old thoughts. Elias and Haldeman emerge with a CART piled with about twenty books
that seem to be in reasonably good condition. ELIAS HALDEMAN ELIAS HALDEMAN They both laugh with each other. Elias yanks the cage shut and punches
for the ground floor. Elias lugs the bookcart from the elevator cage across to a large,
beautiful CAR that’s parked off to one side. He snaps open the trunk
and starts placing his finds inside. Among them is a longish BOX SET. Elias finishes loading and jumps into the driver’s seat. HALDEMAN ELIAS HALDEMAN ELIAS Elias slams the door and waves to Haldeman. ELIAS (TO HIMSELF) The car whizzes through the wired electric maze of the city. The city around him is a beauty -- a vision of what every bygone World’s
Fair of the first half of the 20th century thought the world would look
like by the year 1990. Proud, tall buildings, skyways, a pulsing grid
of beauty. The afternoon sun bathes the city in deep orange. Elias is mumbling into a recorder. ELIAS The word DENKER’S glow along its outside surfaces. Elias peeks through
the buildings at it expectantly. The car corners tight and pulls to a stop at the ticket booth. Elias steps out and is about to head downstairs when he stops on a
whim, pops the trunk... after a moment of indecision he grabs one of
the books (we don’t see it) and stuffs it in his jacket. ELIAS One of the many subsections of the cavernlike Denker’s department
store. The somber elegance of the reading room of a national library.
About a hundred people in attendance. Everyone in this world, Elias included, dress at the very least with
great and understated elegance. Elias sits at a large desk, dressed with advertising for VALIS’S SLEEP:
THE LAST OF THE VALIS CYCLE. ELIAS One of the audience members sticks up her hand. FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER Elias looks at her for a moment. ELIAS Laughter from the audience. The woman looks flustered. FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER ELIAS He shrugs, trying to look guileless. On him, it works. ELIAS Elias picks another hand out of the crowd; this one belongs to a tall,
pale man as lean as a hound. TALL MAN ELIAS TALL MAN ELIAS I’m saying I don’t know. The future’s quite empty for me now.
It’s a wonderful feeling, I have to say. ... but he doesn’t look or sound all that happy about it. TALL MAN He sits back down, but Elias and the Tall man do not lose eye contact.
The book signing is well under way. Elias signs many printed copies
of the book, but a young woman brings up what appears to be a large,
flat SLATE as well, with the cover of Elias’s book glowing on it. ELIAS YOUNG WOMAN ELIAS Elias turns the electronic book over and scribbles his name, in felt-tip
indelible ink, on the smooth bone-colored plastic. ELIAS YOUNG WOMAN ELIAS He hands her back the slate with a smile. At that moment there’s a
COMMOTION at the front door of the Book Pavilion; everyone’s heads turn. Dressed in a sleek outfit that looks like a high-tech version of a
Charles II "fop" outfit, is wielding a WEAPON that looks like a cross
between a fencing foil and an electronic prod. Next to him, a WOMAN,
similarly dressed, but with appropriate adjustment for the female physique
-- and she’s carrying a high-tech variation of a flintlock pistol! COSTUME MAN COSTUME WOMAN The crowd OOHS and BURSTS INTO APPLAUSE. The two "costume players" make their way up to the front, where Elias
can’t control himself; he’s grinning and laughing. ELIAS COSTUME MAN COSTUME WOMAN ELIAS COSTUME MAN ELIAS COSTUME WOMAN The costume man looks at her as if to say: "Don’t go there." Elias
looks slightly bewildered, but shrugs it off. They present him with two "collector’s edition" copies of his book.
He flips open to the front flyleaf and starts inking, shaking his head
with amazement and wonder. The rest of the mall can be seen from here, layer upon layer of glass
and steel and merchandise and people, people, people... Elias thanks the store crew and the two "costume players", then turns
away and massages his cramped hand. Flexes the fingers. ELIAS A TALL, WILLOWY woman, pushing chestnut-brown hair out of her face,
walks over to Elias. This is SASHA WALLER. SASHA ELIAS An energetic handshake. SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS Elias and Sasha step away together. Behind them, in the window of the
bookstore, two workmen TEAR AWAY the paper sign advertising Elias’s
appearance. In all its sparkling glory... and with our attention focused on a
single CAR moving through traffic. And as we get LOWER and CLOSER we
can see more clearly that it’s SPEEDING. The car runs right through a RED LIGHT, almost causing a pileup. The car is being driven by a HARRIED-LOOKING YOUNG MAN. His face and
hands are bathed in sweat. On the seat next to him is a GUN, SEALED
IN PLASTIC. The car SCREECHES into the lot, scraping its undercarriage. The Harried Man ditches it in an empty space. Climbs out and works
off the gun wrapper with his TEETH. Digs out change and feeds the meter. Another car SCREECHES down the ramp. Harried Man ducks down behind his car. Moves low, toting the gun. Elias and Sasha are in the middle of their soup course. ELIAS SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS You’re never going to get more than what’s allowed by Anti-Sedition.
FLASH SHOT of copies of a book being police-taped together: "ANTI-SEDITION
CONFIDENTIAL! NOT FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION!" SASHA ELIAS Sasha grins conspiratorially. SASHA Elias just blinks and looks at her. SASHA FLASH SHOT of Elias, disheveled, at his desk, with a blank screen in
front of him reading only "CHAPTER ONE". SASHA (V.O.) ELIAS (V.O.) Elias sweeps papers and articles off his desk in disgust. SASHA She doesn’t make any connections that we can see. And Elias is very
good at hiding them, judging from his smile. ELIAS Before she can answer, something catches his eye -- the "costume" couple
from the book signing are at the door with the maitre d’! Elias waves
to them; they wave back. ELIAS SASHA Quite happy with themselves as they are shown a seat. SASHA Sasha turns back to Elias. SASHA ELIAS Sasha just smirks. SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS SASHA ELIAS Sasha looks at him curiously. SASHA Elias shakes his head vigorously. ELIAS Just that it may be a while before I come up with another idea.
I just retired a long-running character of mine, and I’m not about to
bring him back. SASHA Deep inside we can see Elias and Sasha still eating and talking. In the foreground: the Costume Couple, paying and walking out. MOVING with them as they walk along the esplanade... and The Harried-Looking
Man we saw before falls into step behind them. Almost too fast to see: He takes out his gun and PUTS IT TO THE BACKS
OF THEIR HEADS. BAM! BAM! Both of them slump to the ground, their brains
blown out. People SCREAM AND STARE. Exhausted, Harried-Looking Man leans against a nearby wall. And puts
the gun into his own mouth. BANG!! The restaurant empties out. Elias and Sasha are swept along with the
flood of people and see the CORPSES on the floor. The BLOOD soaks into
the fancy costumes and DYES them. The Black Man has hia hand in his pocket, his arm tense... but he
relaxes and withdraws it. The Asian woman takes his arm and leads him
out. ASIAN WOMAN He puts on a HAT, adjusts it, and the two walk OFF CAMERA. BLACK MAN Let's close here for now. Always leave 'em begging for more! Join
us next month for part two.. |
