Continuum

Continuum



Year:
2012/I
2,370 Views

[last lines]

Kiera Cameron:
[as young Alec walks away] What are you up to, old man?

[the POV moves past behind her as the path she stands on is flooded. The tree dies, is cut to a stump, then it too vanishes. A crane in the distance starts building a barrier. Another joins it. Deforestation creeps up the hill across the water. The city sprouts new, taller skyscrapers as dusk and night fall. A CPS aircraft hoves into view, then veers off to reveal a floating advertising platform, the same as Keira's husband looked at at the start. The older Alec Sadler is at its center, looking down. He pulls up his sleeves, then goes to his desk to record a message. On a virtual screen, his words appear in all-caps. It's the computer taking dictation, but with minor punctuation omitted]

Older Alec Sadler:
I speak to you, not as who you'll become, but as an old man who knows you best. You and I were given a gift from our father. He died young, but he imparted in us a passion for technology and innovation. What you need to know, what I tried to do... Listen to me carefully, Alec: I have gone down a dangerous path and I have taken the world with me. Only you can prevent this future from happening.

[Mr. Sadler turns around to the other half of his desk and accesses the CPS database, it rising as a cylinder of photos. He scrolls through a list of agents in the air, stopping on the record for "Cameron Kiera". A virtual "Transfer Data" button appears on the desk's surface, which he presses. A line shoots forward, makes a 90-degree turn right, then another 90 degrees upward to the record. Vectorized blocks of data rise from the desk along the line as her CMR interface accepts the upload]

Kiera Cameron:
[waking from the nightmare, touching her temples] *NO*!

[On Mr. Sadler's display appears the words "Upload Complete"]

Manager Duncan:
Sadler, do you have any idea why all of the network passwords aren't working?

Alec Sadler:
Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you about that. Um, I had to flash the router with OpenWRT in order to put up a new firewall.

Manager Duncan:
And, why did you do that?

Alec Sadler:
Well, um, actually you'll be happy to know that I recalibrated the network so that 46% of the customers can now use the automated checkout system. That'll save on labor costs by 15% and decrease customer wait times by a minute and 30 seconds on average.

Manager Duncan:
Is that right.

Alec Sadler:
Yeah, and you don't have to do sales reports anymore; it's all automated now.

Manager Duncan:
No... sales reports.

Alec Sadler:
Nope, poof, gone! Straight to head office. In fact, the efficiency of the system as a whole is nearly tripled; it's 256% to be exact.

Manager Duncan:
Okay. Sadler, here's what's gonna happen: first, you're gonna get me a coffee; then you're going to undo all this mumbo jumbo. None of this was even approved by head office.

Alec Sadler:
This'll save the company money!

Manager Duncan:
[patronizing] Look, I know what it's like to be young and ambitious and think I have the answers to everything, but you can't go messing with the system because you think you have a better way of doing things.

Alec Sadler:
But I'm telling you...

Manager Duncan:
[firmly] No look, I'm telling you to reset the network to the way that it was and do the job that I hired you to do! I can un-hire you just as easily. Oh, and that coffee? Make it black.

Matthew Kellog:
Incredible.

Alec Sadler:
What do you want?

Matthew Kellog:
You know who I am? Right. Well, believe it or not, I know a little bit about who you are as well. Maybe even more than you know about yourself.

Alec Sadler:
Look, if Kiera sent you here to talk me into whatever...

Matthew Kellog:
No, Kiera didn't send me. You know I- I had a job like this, once, way back - or is that "way forward"? - mopping floors and cleaning toilets. Good, honest work my father called it. I hated that job but I guess it did teach me something.

Alec Sadler:
What's that?

Matthew Kellog:
Well, first off, money and power doesn't mean your sh*t doesn't stink. More importantly, the only thing separating me and the future I wanted was will. I had the talent and the ambition, all I needed was a chance. The problem is, of course, you're rarely given that chance; more often than not you've got to take it. So one day, on my knees cleaning up where some idiot had missed with his piss, I did.

Alec Sadler:
And what did you do?

Matthew Kellog:
I quit. I scratched and clawed and willed myself into my own business. I put all that hard work into Kellog Incorporated.

Alec Sadler:
And here you are today... you've come a long way.

Matthew Kellog:
That's one way to put it.

Alec Sadler:
Look, what does any of this have to do with me?

Matthew Kellog:
Oh, I don't know. Let's just say that both of our futures rely on your own will. All you have to do is, is look down and realize...

Matthew Kellog:
[whispering] that you're on your knees too.

Matthew Kellog:
Only difference is, you're... a... genius. Anyway, listen, I'm uh, I'm lookin' to set up a new venture, cutting edge stuff. Also looking for talented visionaries to do visionary work. You know, mold the future, all that jazz. Hey, money is no object.

Manager Duncan:
Uh, are you being taken care of, sir?

Matthew Kellog:
Why yes, thank you. Alec here is taking very good care of me. He knows his stuff! You know something, I'd be careful if I were you. 'Cause someone might just, uh, just come along and... and poach him away.

Manager Duncan:
Wonderful. Uh, have a... good day sir. Um, Alec, uh, when you're done with this customer, can you drop by my office? My printer's jammed.

Matthew Kellog:
Printer jams. How novel. You know there's no paper in the future? Or should I say, "no future in paper"?

[Kellog offers Alec a business card. Alec takes it]

Matthew Kellog:
Drop by for a chat unless you've made up your mind. In-credible.


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