Atomization (Part Seven)

INT. MED CYLINDER-MORNING

Nathaniel steps inside his MED cylinder. A feedback sound screeches, and Logan clears his throat over the P.A.

NATHANIEL

Set up yet, Logan?

LOGAN

Ready out here.

NATHANIEL

Okay, I flipped the manual to the page that you need. It'll explain eeverything that you, and we have to do before we're imported. Just read it out.

LOGAN

All right, er... 'All subjects must stand with their legs at least a foot and a half apart. They should bend their knees slightly, and stand up straight. For proper Upload Targeting, they must stand with the outsides of their elbows and wrists facing the door of the MED cylinder. Type in the Upload Targeting code, and ask your subjects if they are prepared for import.' Uh, are you guys ready?

NATHANIEL

Yes.

INT. MED ROOM-MORNING

Logan sits in front of the table, wearing a headset and watching the computer monitors carefully.

LOGAN

All right.

Logan types in a code on the computer and hits enter.

INT. MED CYLINDER-MORNING

Laser beams shoot out from certain areas on the walls of Nathaniel's MED cylinder. These beams the outside of both his elbows and wrists, one hits his heart, two hit both of his temples, one on the back of his head, one on his forehead, and two on both of his submaxillary traingles. Nathaniel swallows hard, and looks around nervously.

INT. MED ROOM-MORNING

Logan moves his hand over to the 'Insert' key.

LOGAN

All right, hold perfectly still, everyone, and prepare for upload.

He hits the insert key, and we--

CUT TO:

INT. MED CYLINDER-MORNING

The beams on Nathaniel's body begin flashing, and turning brighter and brighter. After they turn perfectly white, small bolts of electricity begin leaping out of the beams. The whole room begins to increase in brightness.

NATHANIEL

(Nervously)

Oh, god.

Nathaniel darts his eyes down to his left hand. The fingers begin to turn into small ones and zeroes. The hand dissapates further and further up his arm, until both of his arms have completely turned into binary code. He begins to slightly hyperventilate as the code begins to spread up his neck. It reaches his chin, and the room becomes too bright to see. The light slowly fades away, and as it does, we--

CUT TO:

EXT. CITY STREET-NIGHT

The light fades away to reveal Alan, Cassidy, Nathaniel, and Sandra, floating in air above a dimly lit city street. After a second of floating, they are dropped to the ground. They get up, groaning in pain.

NATHANIEL

All right. This is a little training session for all of you. Now unfortunately, we only have about a half an hour to get this done, so--

CASSIDY

I thought you said it was 15 minutes.

NATHANIEL

The longer the movie, the less time we have. This is about half the time of your average movie.

ALAN

So what is this place?

NATHANIEL

I designed it. I took ordinary movie or video clips, and edited them to make out one intense video to get your blood boiling.

SANDRA

So that we could be prepared to stop our blood from boiling?

NATHANIEL

Precisley. Now then. Let's take the first step.

The setting around them fades, and we--

CUT TO:

EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK-DAY

The group looks around, amazed at the snow and the clouds below them. The icy cold wind blows around, and they begin shivering. Nathaniel, though he appears freezing, keepsa very calm expression.

SANDRA

Jesus, it's cold!

ALAN

(To Nathaniel)

I thought you said it was just a movie.

NATHANIEL

It is. But since we're characters in that movie, we feel all the same emotions that they do. Whatever affects our data in this world will appear to affect us physically, though it doesn't in reality.

SANDRA

So if we get killed in MR, we--

NATHANIEL

No. Remember that thing I said about the heart rate going too high?

SANDRA

Yes.

NATHANIEL

The same principle applies to a dead or very slow heart.

ALAN

You didn't think that was worth mentioning when you were explaining everything?

NATHANIEL

There's a time and a place for everything, Alan.

The setting changes once more and we--

CUT TO:

EXT. BRIDGE OVER CITY-MORNING

The team appears on a bridge that is above an entire city. This bridge spans across the metropolis below them. Once the others see what is going on around them, they obviously become stricken with fear.

NATHANIEL

First lesson.

CASSIDY

You call this a lesson? It's more like a--

Sandra looks over the edge of the bridge, and sees the drop to the city below.

CASSIDY

--A suicide attempt.

NATHANIEL

No, it's more like a way to teach about keeping your cool in a situation like that. Cassidy, your heart rate right now is...

Nathaniel pulls a small device from his pocket, and pushes a button on it.

NATHANIEL

143 beats per minute. You're slowly heading towards the danger zone. Only 32 more BPM and you're out of this movie, and this lesson.

CASSIDY

Well, you would expect as much from this!

NATHANIEL

Come on. You're not used to change or excitement apparentally, and I can't use someone like that on my team. You can be easily replaced.

CASSIDY

No! I'll... I'll-I'll be okay.

NATHANIEL

Good.

Nathaniel glances at his pocket device and pushes a different button on it.

NATHANIEL

Now here's something that interests me. Sandra's BPM is only 115.

Nathaniel turns and looks at Sandra.

NATHANIEL

And why would that be?

SANDRA

I've always been a bit of a daring spirit. This is nothing compared to skydiving.

NATHANIEL

Interesting.

Nathaniel once again looks at his device and pushes a button on it. He looks over at Alan, who is sitting on the bridge with his eyes closed.

NATHANIEL

Alan, you're out of the danger zone altogether. 97 BPM. Are you a thrill-seeker, too?

ALAN

Nope. Meditating helps, though.

NATHANIEL

We'll have to remember that. But keep in mind that sometimes we won't have time to meditate. You'll have to find some other quick method. I have to say, you're all doing a fine job for your first try. Now let's watch a little to see what we'll be doing.

The setting again changes, and we--

CUT TO:

EXT. BANK-DAY

A van pulls up in front of the bank the team has just arrived at, then men with guns and masks leap out of the vehicle, and rush inside. The team follows them into the building, and sees that they are robbing the bank.

ROBBER #1

Get on the ground, everyone! Nobody move!

The team strolls into the safe room, where they see a robber working with a large drill. He drills into the safe, and after a moment, he pulls out the drill, and turns the lock, opening the large steel door.He walks inside, and starts piling the money into bags.

NATHANIEL

You see, we're going to pick out movies that involve the stealing of money in some way. Unfortuneatley, since most of these movies are copy-protected, I can't edit them so that we're right on the scene involving the money. Therfore, we'll have to pick out movies where they have that scene right at some point in the beginning. We do whatever we have to to get to this point, without running out of time. We get in, we get to the money, and--

ALAN

--we get out.

NATHANIEL

That's the thing I'm looking for, anyway.

Nathaniel's watch beeps, and he looks at it.

ALAN

What's that?

NATHANIEL

Five-minute mark. That means we have that much time to get out.

CASSIDY

So how do we get out, anyway?

NATHANIEL

When the machine puts us in, it also allows the person outside to put in something called an exit point. It's a small metal cube on a stand. On the cube is a red sphere, it's on the top. When one of the subjects touches their hand to the sphere, it scans the data of your hand, and detects you as that special kind of data that is not an actual part of the movie. Once it's verified you, it can succesfully export you.

Nathaniel leads the group to the outside of the bank. Next to a potted plant is the exit point that Nathaniel described.

NATHANIEL

(To Sandra)

Try it out.

Sandra walks over to the sphere and puts her hand on it.

NATHANIEL

Wait for ten seconds. It'll beep, and then you'll be exported.

She waits for a moment, and suddenly, her image becomes pixelated and distorted. After a few seconds of this, the entire setting around them becomes too bright to see. Once the light disappates, she is gone.

NATHANIEL

One at a time.

Alan puts his hand on the sphere, and we--

CUT TO:

INT. MED ROOM-MORNING

A beep sounds from the speakers of the computer interface, and Logan types in something on the keyboard, and presses enter. All of the cylinders open, and the rest of the team steps out.

LOGAN

Did you have fun?

SANDRA

Hell yes.

NATHANIEL

(In agreement)

Hell... yes.