Slow Meta

A class of hackers on drug watch find out their destiny may be creating worlds.

“slow meta” By JORDAN JONES

FAde In:

1

INT. LOFT. MORNING. Orange light from the windows spills out to illuminate a closet bedroom with bed and the kitchen, full of computer equipment. A front door with windows into digital worlds sits beside the dining island. These are locks. LISA and DAVID are in bed.

Lisa

Guns use magazines, but we read ‘zines.

David

(Mumbles something.)

Lisa

Me too.

david

Good morning.

lisa

I was thinking about starting a ‘zine.

david

You can do it. (Pushes head into pillow then stops.) What do you call them? Professionalmen? That’s brilliant really. You’ve really got society pinned down.

Lisa

Thanks.

David

Steve could help.

lisa

Steve isn’t a real professionalman.

DAVID

Or sov-bomb.

lisa

David, you know I was helping us.

DAVID ignores her.

lisa

Or sov-bomb, yes, David. Will you want to come to the grocer with me?

david

(Mumbles something about how he wasn’t a good candidate for surveillance)

lisa

You do whatever you want.

david

Okay. I’ll stay. Have a good time.

 

Lisa exits.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

2

A glowing blue sphere is superimposed by the glowing words, “World One.” Camera reflects an overhead angle, either through occasional fisheye lens or a high tripod.

INT. LOFT. AFTERNOON. Lisa is on the bed and David is in the kitchen.

Lisa

Already. A. Comic. (These sentences are spaced apart verbally.)

(Lisa moves to the table where she and David are moving about with ‘zines at arms’ length to discuss them.)

David

Do you want me to tell you my best joke?

Lisa

I had forgotten it.

david

What is the difference between f*****g in a pool … And f*****g a dolphin?

lisa

Oh, the news story about the scientists who were going to get us all off the planet but all died from STDs?

David, making large, airy movements, seems to stop himself.

david

(Continues the joke anyway.) Dolphin f*****g is pool rape! They’re the same thing!

Lisa

And it’s expected they caught the STDs from dolphins?

david

That’s not what happened.

lisa

Your joke, it’s so … (she awaits a reaction from David) So meta.

david

Speaking of meta, it’s our task to gather meta-data of DRM manager gov-zone Steve today.

Lisa

Very funny. By the way, did you take the DRMs last night?

david

Yes. I’m on an exponentially larger amount of the stuff.

(Lisa approaches the phone terminal on the island and rings STEVE.)

lisa

Steve. Can you help me out? (Pauses.) Can I have more ‘zines? No, I can’t distribute them. I’m not a professionalman like you. (She pauses to listen.) I mean med-dib. (Pause.) You’re already my number one guy. Thank you.

The flashing cell phone is returned to its hub. The two in the loft move around a bit as evening approaches.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

3

INT. GROCER. MORNING. Lisa is in the grocery store without David. People are shopping, and she is in the vegetable aisle bagging lettuce. A man with a hat (GROCER DRONE) is near her. He is everything but in uniform.

grocer drone

Remember when surveillance used to scare us? I know the guys who monitor this store.

lisa

We'll soon be afraid of rabbits-lettuce!

Grocer drone lifts his top-hat and ambles off. She checks out with oranges and lettuce.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

4

INT. LOFT. MORNING. Lisa is snipping magazines in the loft. David is in front of several screens hacking.

Lisa

You can thank Steve for the ‘zines.

david

Or you can.

lisa

(Holds her breath and speaks through her teeth.) Thank you, Steve, for the new supply of medicine.

David

What are you doing, anyway?

lisa  

Working on my novel. What are you doing?

david

Wishing I was famous.

The image freezes.

Lisa

(Voiceover.)

I wonder where the crush has gone. Down the throat with the DRMs, for sure. And the laziness was the mean-doc's ideal image of me, Lisa Drone. I gave them a fake name like all cyber-punks. When they found out our friends were just another group of cyber-punks, the meds went up, and the mean-docs started watching us with new surveillance systems. David knows. He thinks it was my fault. He has a sense of humor about it.

Video resumes.

David

I’m the most likely candidate for fame, after all!

(Laughter erupts from invisible speakers.)

In fact, I’m going to have five DRMs today. I’m feeling rather ill.

(David approaches the DRM dispensary.)

(Continues in monotone.) I just want to get high, really.

Lisa

Oh, I’m sure you’re just saying that for the security systems. You don’t have to act like an addict. You don’t feel well, and that’s all there is to it.

David

But dear, I’ve been classified as a Type 1 Addict. The motivations unknown by me will surely be understood by the… (He pauses and gives a strange look to Lisa.) What do you call them?

Image freezes.

lisa

(Voiceover.) My sense of humor, however, is non-functional.

Video resumes.

Mean-docs.

david

Yes, the mean-docs. Perhaps you’re feeling ill? Will you take five too, hun?

Lisa

Yes. I think I’ll take six.

David

But your limit is seven!

lisa

Seven then.

david

Well, my limit is five. My personal limit.

They both take their DRMs and continue the activity.

lisa

I’m proud of you, David. I don’t have a limit because I’m not a Class 1 addict. But it is good you care so much about the mean-doc’s plans for… (She lets David finish her sentence.

David

Us.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

5

INT. LOFT. AFTERNOON. David is at the two screens behind the island in the kitchen. He’s fetching a movie for them to both watch. David is eating eggs with an explanation of what’s on the screen ready. Lisa is sitting in a stool for eating at the island and making comments.

david

The ninth installment of the revolution nobody saw. Sequel after sequel filmed in the same Nicaraguan platform; only a few hackers saw this one. Of course, every federal government on the South American continent saw, and had a good laugh. We can't even sell this one to med-dibs for plot ideas. (He pauses and holds his breath.) Truly a desperate situation.

lisa

Wasn’t this one a farce?

david

Yes. They knew the med-dibs quit buying their shows, and had a laugh. A hateful, rebellious laugh, still. It's quite complex, really. They all were. Nicaraguan Rule 9 was sketched as a comedy, however.

lisa

A comedy with shooting?

david

It's one of the most brilliant I've ever seen. Just very dangerous to distribute.

lisa

What were the other ones like?

david

In Nicaraguan Rule 1, fifty people lined up to get shot by the same person voluntarily. The last one died five hours into it, because the shooter was telling the story of his country from as far back as modern history could reach. And when he killed the last one, identified as no more important than the 49 citizens behind him, the leader shouted 'I am president-elect!’

lisa

(Lisa frowns then touches her face.)

david

He's the star of each new episode. It's hard to keep him alive but they have some mafiosos organizing the whole thing, now. Very pissed off mafiosos.

lisa

Were they mad because they weren’t making any money?

david

Yes. And what do mafiosos do?

lisa

Protect fed-govs?

 david

Yes, in America. Not in Nicaragua. The mafiosos hired the fashionista for the rebellion. It's looking like the fed-govs are giving in, and Nicaragua is going to become fashion capital of the South American continent. And then we'll have entire neighborhoods in America looking like Mexican gangsters. I’d say it was a better governmental system if… (He waits for a response.)

Lisa

If we weren’t so high right now?

Invisible speakers are triggered again with laughter.

David

It's all a ruse. The mafiosos will get so angry that any of these sequels could be a real coup. They'll replace the current fed-govs in Nicaragua with fashionistas.

lisa

That sounds very entertaining.

david

It is. Or it was until the govzone-fedmen in America started censoring the data. It's some of the most expensive entertainment in the world, and the Nicaraguan rebels know it. It's like their gold, except it's essentially priceless. The first one was a core-dump of governmental history and drama. Americans could be watching and reading about the history of Nicaragua in 'zines and movs for a long time. It will be Americanized, and, we're guessing from Nicaraguan Rule 9, hilarious. Now shut up b***h! The mov’s about to start.

The speakers are triggered again.

 

FAde Out:

FAde In:

6

INT. LOFT. EVENING. The two are on the couch together.

David

Keep in mind, it's been predicted these movies will make Nicaragua one of the richest countries in the world when it all blows over. Like I said, this information is extremely valuable.

lisa

Okay, commander.

david

C-Commander?

She kisses him. He goes for it.

lisa

Yes, baby. You're the best govzone-fedman ever. Why can't we just watch it?

david

Because I hacked millions of dollars’ worth of software just to download these movs illegally.

 

lisa

But what are the mean-docs going to care…?

david

It sounds like you're cheating with them by that tone of voice, anyway. Do you know each other outside of surveillance deals?

lisa

Maybe we do.

david

Do they care if you have sex with young hackers in your free time?

(She launches into his lap. He stand up to get her off of him but she grabs on.)

lisa

The mean-docs want us to!

david

You sound seriously desperate!

lisa

(She steps back down.) I was trying to be funny.

david 

(Brushes his shirt like a mime.) You’re just high.

lisa

Do you think DRMs make men funny and women horny?

david

We shouldn’t exert ourselves before Sean comes, anyway. I thought we could cook some food for him. After all, we want to make a good impression for the … (He waits to make sure she’s paying attention.) CEO publisher.

LISA snaps her head toward DAVID.

lisa

Why didn’t you tell me he was a big-eater?

david

I didn’t want you to get too nervous. You have finished the novel, haven’t you?

lisa

We're meeting a big-eater? Do you understand the power of big-eaters?

DAVID surreptitiously walks into the kitchen.

  david

What did I say about making a good impression? I know this is important. It's for you, hun. You could�"“(Lisa interrupts him.)

lisa

(Whispering.) What will the mean-docs think?

david

That I'm selling him a dangerous and illegal mov? I'm not going to show him what is contained in Nicaraguan Rule 9. However, I've told him its security level, and his head almost exploded over the phone. That's the main reason he's coming over. He had never heard of Nicaraguan Rule 9 but was very pleased I had it. It's worthless to him, by the way.

lisa

How could it be worthless to a publisher?

david

He can’t sell it. It’s for his own med subscription. It’s entertainment to… big-eaters.

Video freezes with DAVID looking at the door screens.

  lisa

(Voiceover.) David was lying. The big-eater would, yes, find the mov worthless. However, high-security movs were nothing out-of-the-ordinary for a real big-eater, if that’s who Sean was. We were very used to mean-doc security.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

7

INT. LOFT. EVENING. Three actors are present at the table. Lisa, David and SEAN are looking over a magazine silently.

lisa

(Voiceover.) The magazine models were parents and their children. The parents were the ones who loomed larger than the kids disproportionately and out of perspective. I would have been frightened by parents that huge.  I noticed their faces were smiling more than the children's, and it was ill-comforting. It wasn't hard to imagine the parents as robots, and the children as calculating knockdowners-of-blocks. Parents never know that their children have minds. Mind-hack was impossible on children. Who was the magazine designed by; mind-hackers, cyber-punks, big-eaters, professionalmen, govzone-fedmen, fashionistas, mafiosos, South Americans, East Asians, Europeans, or sov-bombs? It actually seemed to be a contemporary mind-hacker making more jokes about autonomous parents. Or a warning from govzone-fedmen on the dangers of children and how to keep them good.

david

We need a copy of “Con Defeat.”

sean

I can get you 20 free copies, if you agree to distribute the extras.

david

You know I can’t do that. Anyway, Lisa views med-dibbing with disdain.

lisa

Professionalmen are puppets.

david

You know the fed-govs want to call them med-dibs. What about fash-stars, Lisa?

lisa

The children are the stars, not the parents. It’s awful.

david

Yes, the children. What do you call them?

(Sean is watching them closely.)

lisa

The children? Children.

david

You get me.

lisa

I get you? Sean, Can you print copies of my novels?"

sean

(Seems surprised.)

lisa

Can you?

sean

What?

lisa

Can you make copies of my graphic novels for all of us?

sean

Only if it's cyber-fi. I am a cyber-fi publisher. Is it cyber-fi?

lisa

(LISA c***s her head very slowly.) No.

sean

Then I can't. But show me a cyber-fi and I’ll print it. We love new authors. Are you writing?

lisa

Yes.

(The conversation is over. Sean eats two plates full. After eating, David is an animated waiter, cleaning the table and seeing Sean out the door.)

FAde Out:

FAde In:

8

INT. LOFT. MORNING. The next morning, DAVID and LISA are time-lapsed, in their loft, kidding around for the duration of the voiceover.

(Time-lapse.)

Sean

(Voiceover.) David and Lisa's escape had been on account of talent. Lisa’s mean-docs actually freed the two themselves.

Drawbacks? DRMs and government surveillance. It wasn't that bad for her and David until the DRM stacks overtook their senses, and their talents became useless. If this ever happened, they would be transferred to a pris-zone, because the DRMs and their lifestyle was essentially illegal. During the times when they became too drugged to function, they had to fake that they were taking the medication but not take the medication. She hated the harsh dive into reality then super-reality. Reality she could handle. It reminded her of how sov-bombs must live. Peacefully. After a few days, the crystal clear perception wore off and the world became a very big mess.

They would make that dive this day. David had already mentioned issues with his focus.

Slipping out of the DRM headspace was like having a swollen brain, or a distended sense of time and space. The brain compensates by becoming overactive when on DRMs, and if they're taken out of the psychotropic valley, it's like having too much coolant in the skull. The stuff freezes and comes out of the ears like old metroid stalactites, and in their stead are cold holes filled with anxiety and hyperactivity. She thought of the consciousness manipulation with real fear, because what was she after all but a consciousness?

Predicting a bad bout of DRM “suffocation” when they would quit taking them (because the DRMs were easy to kill, like brain cells,) David was loading up on jazz and other complicated types of music to keep his brain active. Lisa liked to listen to this music when off the DRMs because it occasionally seemed to give her a glimpse of a world before mean-docs and fashionistas. In this world she could fly and swim and be happy, even if she was a little oversensitive.

Food helped but they couldn't eat much more than normal or the mean-docs would get suspicious. Today was going to be a big day; I would be back tomorrow.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

9

INT. LOFT. MORNING. David and Lisa are in the kitchen not interacting. Everything is back to normal speed. The DRMs come through the dispensary. The DRMs are shaped like food.

lisa

Multi-vitamins?

david

No, bento DRMs.

lisa  

Ah.

(Neither of them take it. There is a knock at the door. Cut to a large man in red attire speaking with David in the loft. The MEAN-DOC is holding a clipboard and grumbles very officially that he needs to be let in.)

 lisa

(Voiceover.) We were being tested by the mean-docs. We were enormously lucky to have not taken the bento DRMs this morning, because we wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on our answers.

david

(Speaking loudly.)Orange.

mean-doc

How many wars have been initiated by other countries since 2020?

 

(David looks directly at Lisa as if cheating.)

David

Four.

CUT TO LISA

Mean-doc

If I were to tell you I was a news reporter, what news story would you want me to report?

LISA

How formal yet spontaneous was the occasion.

mean-doc

If a publisher came to your house, would you ask them to leave?

(Quick answer yes from David and Lisa.)

The man left with his clipboard after thanking them.

 

David

Boy, I felt like I was in high school again.

lisa

What do you mean?

david

Filling out answers, giving my responses. I sounded like an expert when I answered the last few. 

Lisa

I was confident in both of our answers. Did you like high school?

david

Tough to answer. Is this part of the test? Not that my answer would have changed.

Lisa

No.

david

Yes, I did like high school.

The phone rings.

(On the phone.) We’re sorry. Oh, really now? In the morning? (To Lisa.) This better be worth it.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

10

INT. LOFT. MORNING. David is at the table with Lisa and Sean.

sean

So you two haven’t been taking the DRMs?

david

(Jumps.) Jesus Christ! What the hell are you talking about?

Sean

You’ve been taking medication supplied to you by the government called DRMs and you’ve recently decided to quit taking them?

david

Medicine? From the government?

lisa

He means the mean-docs.

DAVID looks slowly at LISA.

david

Oh, the mean-docs?

Lisa

Yes, and the professionalmen. (Voiceover.) Gotcha!

sean

David, sit. If you’re getting off the DRMs, you might die. Did you know that?

lisa

If you're a mean-doc, we have to tell you everything. Are you a mean-doc?

(SEAN shakes his head.)

Sean

No.

Lisa

Then please leave.

Sean

I would feel obligated to leave if you asked me to. However I have a mushroom-cap of a chemical very similar to the DRMs that can help you with the consequences of quitting your stack.

david

As if we would take any drug you gave to us!

 sean

I'm going to mail you the substance. It should come in the same tube the DRMs come in, and you shouldn't receive any of your normal DRMs tomorrow. Trust me on this. Take the medication. I'm worried for your health. (He rises from his own chair.) And Lisa, I trust you're still working on the book for me?

lisa

I’m going to ask you to leave.

sean

Okay.

David unlocks the door for Sean to make an exit. David and Lisa are panicking in the loft.

david

That was fun! He should come over more often. Do you like him?

lisa

(Voiceover.) We couldn't mention what he said about the DRMs because of the mean-docs and we had no idea what would be coming in the mail the next day. (Spoken.) Yes, very much.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

11

INT. LOFT. MORNING. David and Lisa gather around the DRM machine.

lisa

They’re blue.

David

We should take them.

Lisa and David swallow the medicine and a smile creeps on their lips.

lisa

We will fashion a new world.

david

One out of sync with the old world.

lisa

Closer to the normal way of being. Like when we were children.

david

Aren’t you going to the grocer?

 

FAde Out:

FAde In:

12

EXT. GROCER. MORNING. Lisa enters the grocery store with cameras looming above the entrance. She shops down the vegetable aisle. No grocer drone today. Lisa is on Sean’s DRMs and seems extremely nervous.

lisa

(Voiceover.) I heard from a book that someone once said in the future everyone will be famous. How could anyone be famous with so many drones walking around? Grocer-drones, skater-drones, family-drones, truckdriver-drones, office-drones. They don’t notice me, yet I knew I should stand out being alone. The effect is that they are so absorbed in their own lives they can’t let anything penetrate them. Is that how people became famous: to themselves?

Lisa bows to a woman pushing a cart.

(Voiceover.) The color of the sky should be blue. But it is orange. And David had answered orange. And I am terrified of that.

Lisa returns to her car with two sacks of lettuce.

FAde Out:

FAde In:

13

EXT. HIGHWAY. MORNING. Lisa is driving back to the loft.

strange voice

It is a curve-ball. Loaded. Ready to tear into your gut. It's a machine, trudging along.

Lisa checks her mirrors and pulls over, grabbing her cell.

strange voice

It's astronomical. Brain. Heart. Bone. Forget those things, you're watching life unfold.

She jumps out of the car and begins dialing David.

strange voice

Reach for the stars, feel the dust on your fingers. I can feel the dust right now, falling from my hands as I push into a school of pillow-fish in the aquarian sky. The stars are that fish's eggs, strewn about by my hand. We're taking you to the base, Lisa.

Definitely panicking, she puts herself back in the car and pulls back on the highway.

strange voice

Answer one question, Lisa. What's the one way to get out of your life in the loft with David? The answer is to play God.

Lisa slams on her brakes and curses. She touches her face nervously, then unbuckles herself. She falls out of the car. A truck pulls up that was behind her. It’s Sean. He carries her to the bed of his truck, which is pulled over, and splashes water on her face.

sean

Wake up! We’re taking you to our base, Lisa.

She is dazed.

Lisa

Was it your voice through the speakers?

sean

There weren't any speakers. We were communicating telepathically to you.

Lisa

What the hell were you thinking coming to our house talking about the government? Who the hell are you? Are you one of David's friends playing tricks on us like mean-docs? Are you a mean-doc?

sean

If you're referring to the government officials who monitor your daily life, then no. I am not a mean-doc. I am CEO of a nearby publishing house. We want you to write stories for us. We've seen the footage. You're classifiably a social expert. We need you.

lisa

You really are a big-eater… Why us?

sean

It's really just you, Lisa. David can be useful, if you decide to use him. However, you don't have to go back to him if you don't want to. You have a lot of decisions to make. We're creating another world, Lisa, with people like you at the center. The only freedom we've managed to achieve is in our own minds, and so the government has been drugging us. The mushroom-caps I sent you put your mind into a normal place. The hallucinations you were experiencing will subside. You must come with me.

Lisa stands on her own now.

lisa

O.K.

 strange voice

Take it slow, Meta. You might be God, now. Have mercy on us all. Nation-breaker out.

lisa

(Voiceover.) I am a sov-bomb!

 

FAde Out:

 

 

The End

Reviews

[SquinklaPsyOps]

I really enjoyed reading this, it was very funny and interesting.