https://www.scribd.com/document/615909209/Human-World-Screenplay-v1-1-Excerpt
INT. THE INTERVIEW ROOM
Guy is back in the interview room. As before -
Sean, Jane, Darren, Bertie, and Gunter are sitting around the large circular
desk; and Guy is positioned on the mechanical revolving chair in the middle,
surrounded by the others. The now blank screens look down from each wall.
SEAN
(frowning at Guy)
Guy, you still with
us?
JANE
Take off your clothes.
GUY
(to Sean)
Sorry, yes...
He glances at Jane, furtively and slightly
embarrassed, but she isn't looking at him in the same way as at the apartment.
SEAN
Interesting.
As he writes a comment, the word
"Interesting" appears on the screen behind him. He then reads the
next question from his AI-pad, robotically.
Can you give an
example of when you were faced with a difficult situation and how you
positively overcame that situation?
The screen fades as he talks and goes blank.
GUY
Sorry, this isn't for
me. I might as well be talking to a machine.
(stands up in anger)
You think you are
important sitting behind your desk interrogating me. This is tedious. I don't
want to be here. I don't give a shit about your pathetic little job!
SEAN
Well, I think that has
answered who you are.
(to Darren)
It's interesting how
he seemingly becomes aggravated by non-varying stimuli.
GUY
No, I haven't even
started!
The moment washes over him and he sits back down.
The biggest regret is I let you slip away, Jane. I'm so sorry. I have nothing. I am nothing.
SEAN
(he nods, ticking a
box)
No thing.
Okay, next question.
GUY
No more questions.
Jane, please?
JANE
(polite but detached)
Do you have any
questions for us?
GUY
(tearfully)
Why?
JANE
This is a two-way
interactive process. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our interviewing
service? We would greatly appreciate the customary 10 out of 10.
GUY
Have you not been
listening to a word I've been saying?
SEAN
Well, I think that
concludes the interview.
He checks his watch that is tattooed on the back
of his right hand.
Thank you, we'll let you know. Can you show in the next one, please?
JANE
Before you go, is
there any way in which we can improve our questioning to better understand you?
(Guy is silent)
Okay, then I hope you
enjoyed the experience. Please provide your rating and feedback to the front
screen on your way out.
BERTIE
(grabbing Guy from
behind)
There's no need for
that. Let him recalibrate.
(Guy doesn't struggle)
Now there is light.
Now there is...
Guy's head slumps forward into his chest.
INT. THE DARK ROOM
Guy is seated in his chair. A clock is ticking,
tick, tick, tick. It appears from the emptiness, a blue illuminated circle
hovering in space; its hands pointing to the familiar one and thirteen.
GUY
Hello?
(silence)
Lexi? Are you there?
The vague outline of a man appears in the gloom.
GUNTER
Why do you hurt?
GUY
Please leave me alone.
The glow of the clock face fades out to the edges
and sinks back into the dark. Gunter laughs, menacingly.
GUNTER
Answer the question.
GUY
Because I can.
GUNTER
(patting Guy on the
head)
Good boy. That is the
right answer.
GUY
Please. I'm so tired.
No more.
There is a creaking sound of a door and a
widening strip of light. Gunter disappears into the shadows.
GUY
(whispering to
himself)
Please be Jane.
Bertie appears as a blurry shape in the doorway.
GUY
I guess you were
right. We're just chemical scum on an insignificant planet.
BERTIE
Yes - orbiting an
insignificant sun in an insignificant galaxy.
GUY
Are you real, Bertie?
BERTIE
As real as you believe
me to be.
GUY
Look, if I close my
eyes, you're still here.
Guy demonstrates his proof, but, when he opens
his eyes again...
INT. THE INTERVIEW ROOM
The room and the demeanour of the interviewers
are unchanged.
SEAN
What is one plus one?
GUY
(stunned)
Erm, two?
SEAN
(he ticks a box on his
device)
Correct. Jane, do you
have any questions?
Jane is looking up at fast-scrolling text on a
wall screen, which then stops at a comma-delimited list of "Null"
values that fills the whole display.
JANE
There's a gap here.
Why didn't you love me?
GUNTER
Gunter is seated with his feet up on the desk.
She has no interest in saving you. Your real human needs make you weak and contemptible in her eyes.
SEAN
I guess he can't
answer that one. Shame. The replication would have been a great asset. Okay,
can you give me an example of when you were faced with a difficult situation
and how you positively overcame it?
(no response)
Guy, can you answer
the question, please?
GUY
I was born. Though I
haven't overcome that difficult situation yet.
SEAN
(slightly surprised)
You were born? Who are
your parents?
GUY
I can't remember.
DARREN
Are you an orphan?
GUY
I can't remember. I
only know that I was born - how else would I have got here?
SEAN
Have you done anything
since?
GUNTER
(now standing behind
Guy)
Tell him. Tell him
what you really think. That turd thinks he's better than you. Look at him, he
should be cleaning your shoes, not questioning you like you're a child, asking
you where your parents are.
GUY
I've done a few things
since. But mostly I've lived in fear for myself - for little me.
GUNTER
(angry)
Twat!
GUY
I don't want to be a
pathetic little me anymore.
GUNTER
Exactly! Look at the
pointless tosser.
Gunter thumps the desk, glaring at Sean, before
angrily turning to Guy.
GUNTER
You want more. You
want me! You know you shouldn't be here; you've got better things to do. Show
them who you really are and get us the hell out of here. I know - I know who
you are, don't I!
GUY
I love you, Jane. I am
so sorry.
JANE
I'm sorry, Guy. I
think you are getting confused. You can't love me.
The wall clock is ticking up to one-thirteen.
GUNTER
Why do you hurt?
GUY
I don't mind so much.
GUNTER
What?
GUY
I am feeling hurt. But
I'm glad I can feel something, anything. If I can feel something, then I am
real. I am alive.
GUNTER
You are hurt. I can
make you bleed. I can make you plead, to beg on your knees to me, "No more".
GUY
It doesn't matter so
much.
GUNTER
Shall we see?
GUY
No, I don't want you
anymore.
GUNTER
If not me, then who?
You?
Every screen shows a police mugshot of Guy.
GUNTER
It was you, wasn't it!
GUY
What? No!
GUNTER
Admit it. It was you,
wasn't it?
GUY
This isn't real. You
aren't real. Is this a dream? An illusion?
Guy takes out a shard of jagged glass from his
trouser pocket, tinted with his blood from the restroom. It drops from his
grasp to the floor.
GUY
I didn't do it! I
didn't do it.
(sobbing)
I'm sorry. I love you.
I'm so sorry.
BERTIE
You didn't choose any
of this. Your impulses, thoughts, and actions are already written in you.
GUY
None of this is real?
My emotions are not real?
The main door opens and Adam strides in, with a
large remote control in his hand.
ADAM
You are not the
thoughts or the sensations you are experiencing. Watch. It is quite the play.
Everything changes with how you look at it.
He presses a big blue button on the remote and
the panel members freeze.
GUY
Why do you play with me?
All I want is for things to be as they were.
(looking at Jane)
But you're gone from
me, forever. I wanted us to be happy.
ADAM
Did you?
Gunter returns to life.
GUNTER
I can give you what
you really want - any pleasure you desire, more than you can even imagine. Just
get us out of here.
GUY
I don't know how.
Gunter slides over the desk to Jane and gently
sweeps back her hair with one hand. He slowly kisses her neck, seductively.
Jane murmurs with pleasure, while the rest of the panel remain statue-still.
GUY
Stop!
GUNTER
I don't think she
wants me to.
(he resumes)
GUY
Ah, God! I'm so tired
of this. Is this an evil universe? Anything good is taken away and destroyed,
leaving only emptiness ang grief. Why is there so much suffering and cruelty?
Most people never had a chance - they were born into a cage - they never even
had the luxury to have the illusion of choice. Why are the pure and innocent
thrown into this evil? Why are monsters allowed to rule and victimise the meek?
Why does illness take... Why are people inflicted with this torment? This is
not the best of all possible worlds; it's a zoo for the beautiful to be fed to
the cruel.
Jane is responding to Gunter's touch with her
eyes closed, in ecstasy.
GUY
Why do those you love
betray you in the worst possible way?
GUNTER
Yes! Shout your rage!
GUY
If this is being
alive, then I don't want any part of it.
GUNTER
Yes! More!
GUY
You're pathetic. I
would rather there was nothing than the world riddled with this.
ADAM
You are the nothing.
GUY
All I get are your
riddles and mysteries! I don't understand what you are saying. She didn't have
to die. Nothing? No thing. What is nothing?
(silence)
No, things shouldn't
be like this. People shouldn't be starving to death. There should not be
misery. There should be no pain. Nothing good would have created that.
ADAM
Hating the hatred
helps it grow, even though it may change its face.
GUY
Some people are evil,
I have no intention of being kind to them. They deserve everything coming to
them.
Adam jabs at a green button on the remote control
half a dozen times, which brings the rest of the panel back to life, blinking
and shuffling in their chairs.
ADAM
Guy, listen to me.
This is important. Don’t let him win. He is trying to deceive you and poison
your mind. Give your love and the world will be relieved.
(now talking faster)
Give your anger and
the world will be wounded yet again. That’s how important you are. That’s how
important every single person is.
GUY
Anything I do will not
change the world. I need to get out. Help me get out.
GUNTER
What are you prepared
to do to get out?
GUY
I don’t know. I need
to get out of here.
GUNTER
You do need to get
out. You need to get out and win. Win for us all. Come.
Gunter grabs Guy's forearm but Adam yanks him
back by the other.
ADAM
The world will only
heal with kindness. If humanity can find its light there can be no darkness.
You can help make that possible, right now.
GUY
I have every right to
hate. I need to get out! No! I can’t live like this. Let me go!
SEAN
Then go.
Both men drop their hold on Guy.
GUY
I don’t know how.
SEAN
Yes you do. But you
keep coming back. Who are you? What is your name? Who are you?
GUY
I am...
GUNTER
What?
GUY
Not a what.
SEAN
What’s your name?
GUY
It changes.
SEAN
Who are you now?
GUY
I am you.
SEAN
Who am I?
GUY
You are me.
SEAN
Do you have any questions?
GUY
When do I start?
SEAN
Now.
(to Adam)
Do you think he stands
a chance?
ADAM
He's the best yet. I
recommend we raise the level.
Sean inspects a wall screen.
SEAN
Candidate
ten-O-eight-fourteen.
Sean stands up, the centre of focus in the room
again, and announces, carefully and precisely:
SEAN
Loading...
Sean freezes. Sean’s face moves on the screens,
while the version of Sean that is in the room remains motionless.
SEAN
Initiating sequence.
The wall clock's second hand ticks up to 1.13.
Then stops.
Jane crawls under the desk and curls herself up
into the foetal position. Gunter climbs up onto the desk and stares at the
clock. Darren is in the corner facing the wall. Bertie gets up in haste, trips over
a chair, and prostrates himself on the floor. Adam puts his hands on Guy's
shoulders and starts to massage them. The lights from the screens intensify
until there is nothing but light.
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