The God Machine Chronicle ep04 : World of Darkness

09/07/2013
Membrane
A God Machine Chronicle
Episode Four

"The Finale"

World of Darkness

Wyatt Matthews remembers being shot in the stomach.  He remembers the sharp explosion of pain erupting as the other man with his face met him backstage.  He looks around the room to find a man dressed in white standing a few feet from him.

Mister Eyes informs Wyatt what is going on. Wyatt listens and tries to remain calm at the fact that his gunshot wound is being stitched closed by some kind of mechanical crab. Time seemingly has frozen beyond the room.  Wyatt can see the press unmoving outside by the stage, with his friend Maya also immobile in her attempts to make them all leave.  "You are the Iteration that the God Machine has chosen. The Master Piece."  Wyatt is told that he now has to embrace this opportunity.  But Wyatt realizes that would mean the others he met would also have to be killed.

"This is an Eraser," Mister Eyes informs Wyatt.  It is intended to wipe away the other iterations.  Wyatt takes the device, but rather than agree to do as the man says, he uses it on the man himself.  As Mister Eyes howls and vanishes, another man in white emerges.  He strikes that man too, and hears the panic scream in panic as he falls apart... talking about a life he once lived.

Alone backstage, Wyatt considers his options.  He remembers the old man and the magic key and decides to revisit him.  Perhaps he can finally shed light to these questions that test his sanity.

*

In Moebius, Ronald Tenneberger has a panic attack as he considers the insanity of everything that has been happening.  But people take more notice when Zee shrieks and faints upon seeing something... beyond the veil that covers the world.  Red, the owner of the cafe/bar, calls emergency services and warns Ronald that if he had hurt that girl in any way, she would personally beat him up.  Ronald's gaze focuses on Queena's book and in his mind he locks the title:  The God-Machine.  Queena hisses at Ronald about having hurt the woman, but Ronald tries to convince them all that he had nothing to do with her outburst.  As Zee slowly begins to regain consciousness, Ronald still cannot wrap his head around the fact that Queena, the extremely tall cross-dresser, is the splitting image of KaQoH.  He helps Zee to her feet, and the two hurry away before the paramedics arrive.

"That's not.. right," Zee mumbles as the two head down the street.  Ronald looks up to see what Zee means.  To his amazement, the Twin Towers are still visible.  "That's just not possible.." Zee gasps, "Only one survived.  The other plane was shot down by the jets, right?"  Ronald slowly shook hi head, "Perhaps where you lived.  I don't think this New York City is either of our worlds."  They reach a building which Ronald remembers to be the Sun Building.  Instead, its name is the Star Building.  Stepping out of the doorway,  Ronald sees a woman who resembles Kandice.  Only here, she wears a nun's habit and shows no sign of recognizing him.  Kandice and Ronald had been in on-off relationships for years.  When a nearby car has someone who resembled the man knew to be Professor John, Ronald decides he's had enough, walks up to the old fogey, and beats him to the ground.  As Zee tries to demand for an answer, Ronald slides into the driver's seat and yells at her to get in.

Ronald revs the engine and drives with one destination in mind:  Wyatt Matthew's car.
He recalled the book Queena was reading, and given his odd recollections and fragmentary dreams matching the name and themes of that book, Ronald believed the writer held some answer.

*

Seth Macintyre wakes to the sound of a barking dog.  He sits up and discovers Rey Tinsey had broken in.  The man, whose face resembles Seth's own, asks Seth who he is and what he is doing here.  Seth admits he noticed the existence of other similar faces.  As Rey babbles about the God Machine, Seth worries if he has just found himself in front of a mad man but these worries are eclipsed by the sight of seeing a man dressed in all white seemingly materializing into the room from behind the stranger.

Rey senses something is amiss, and draws his pistol.  Seth, however, does not hesitate and leaps for the kitchen.  As Rey fires twice into the man in white, Seth already knows the gun won't stop its advance.  He sprays into the man's face, then scoops up the frying pan from the sink and slams it to knock the intruder out.  The man in white drops the spritzer in his hands, which Seth quickly picks up and offers to Rey.  "You want one?"

"How'd you get a pause from that one attacking us," he winced, "Have you been fighting these things?"

Finding Seth to be an ally, Rey sprouts out everything he knows about the assailants.  He talks about the Primes and how the God-Machine at times tests iterations of a "choice" to see which one should be allowed to pass.  Claims that was what they were.  Iterations.  When Seth inquires why he went here, to Graham's place, Rey admits he came because he knew that Graham's wife had contacted the God-Machine before.  "There's this mantra they say.  Like a prayer.  It calls it."

When Seth inquires if Rey tried the others, Rey nonchalantly admits that he tried reaching out to another iteration: Wyatt Matthews.  "I checked his home, but he wasn’t home, so i burned it."  Seth tries not do anything rash.  They opt to head there instead.

*

Wyatt arrives to see the building burning. People are all gathered outside. He stares at the place he once called his home and realizes it was now going up in flames.  He calls Mara and Mara asks, "Why do I have a feeling you are no longer here?" with here being backstage of the book launch.  As Wyatt tries to explain how his home is burning, Mara side comments about the cleaning lady nearby who seems to look familiar. "Her name's Madella, does she ring any bells?"  Wyatt is distracted however, having noticed embers floating away from a nearby alley, far from the fire.  He heads there and finds a portable potty's door wide open and emitting smoke and embers.  From inside, a badly injured and burned Donald crawls out.

"Keep away from me!  You and your devil books!" the old man snarls as he tries to get back to his feet.  But Wyatt yells back about having killed two of the guys in white and Donald doesn't seem to know whether to make heads or tales of his claim.  Wyatt sees the special Key still in the lock of the portalet and pulls it free.  He props Donald up to walk with him and makes in the direction of what he knows to be the closest motel.

A car skids to a stop near them and from inside a voice hollers for Wyatt to stop.  Wyatt looks and sees one of the men who looks like him.  He recalls him vaguely from the confusing encounters which he still has trouble grasping if they were dreams.  Or visions.  Or bouts of insanity.  Ronald plays his cards right and starts convincing Wyatt that stepping into the car is the best way to get answers.  Neither of them notice Donald however slip the special Key from Wyatt's pocket.  Nor see him slip it into the car's lock as he reaches to open the door.  Wyatt realizes in the last minute what is going and only notices as he steps into the car, that even with Donald holding the door open, from inside the car door remained closed!

Thanks to his skill with Parkour, Ronald slips out through the window and lands beside Donald, but Donald leaps in through the portal he had created.  Ronald tells Zee to follow and quickly leaps into the portal as to not lose the man.  Wyatt followed suit and leapt, but unlike Ronald did not have the finesse to follow through okay.

As Wyatt crashes to the ground atop Donald, he discovers they are no longer in the car.  Ronald tumbled past the old man and glanced around to realize they were inside the City Park.  All three of them poured out from a door in the children's slide in the playground.  Zee tumbled in after and landed on Wyatt, who sadly was taking the brunt of Donald's panicked kicking to get free. Zee wonders if this is why her brother Rey had killed himself.  Ronald admits he thinks Rey may still be alive.

*

"Tell me more of the Prime," Seth asks and Rey admits he doesn't know much about him.  He shares how he had broken free from "the Fictional World" in hopes of warning the rest.  He claims to have been a test subject for the God-Machine and that the Fictional World was some sandbox playpen where the God-Machine could test its theories.  "I can take you to it," Rey offers.

Hoping for any answers, Seth agrees to go.

*

Wyatt endures the kicks, but does not drop the Eraser.  Seeing the hatch on the slide, Ronald picks up Donald's Key and peers inside.  He sees it lead back to his kitchen.  Donald calms down, surrendering to the others.  He admits the Key can bring you anywhere, but there is one place where it can always go.  They open the hatch again and peer through.  They see a Japanese community.  Old signs.  Damp streets.  And in the heavens, a frozen symbol of coming death.

"This is where the bomb fell.  We are ground zero.  Hiroshima.  This event is locked in time.  So the key forever revisits this place."

Ronald doesn't quite why anyone would still revisit here.

"It is a safe place," Donald admits.  "Here, time cannot be changed again."

Wyatt hears his phone ringing.  Crawling away from Donald, he lifts the phone to his ear and hear's Mara on the line.  She sounds panicked.   Wyatt sees Donald staring at the Eraser.  "Why not just erase them all?" he throws at him.  Wyatt does not respond.  Even with Mara screaming into the earpiece, Wyatt has stares at the Eraser and considers the question.

Why not?

*

The alleyway.  Rey excitedly tells Seth about how he had to travel all the way from the Fictional World.   The man shows Seth where he left the machine, and what Seth sees is a junk pile of old chairs, duct tape, wires, broken computer keyboards, stacks of boxes and a shattered iPad.  He stares at the man as he excitedly chatters about the upcoming journey.  Seth watches as Rey hands him a helmet, sits down on one of two chairs, and tells him they're ready.  Reluctantly, Seth joins him and dons the helmet.  A switch is pulled and...

"We are here," Rey tells him.  Rey excitedly introduces him to the unbelievable vista that surrounds them.  Of the grand machines and the ever-changing patterns that form the Fictional World.

Seth realizes Rey is insane.  The "vehicle machine" is nothing but junk.  They remain on the street.  And Rey continues to describe things he alone can "see".  Seth uses the sprizter on Rey and allows the man to drop unconscious in his own seat.   He then looks up and sees the arrival of a Man in White.  “Let’s make a deal," Seth tells the man, then adds, "But first take me to your leader.”

*

Ronald calls Conners hoping to have the policeman ally of his help him out, but gets someone named Collins instead.  Confused not knowing who is him, Collins drops the call. Ronald calls again and the line still connects to Collins.  There are the sounds of people praying in the background.  Ronald opts to end the call.
He watches as Wyatt tests the metallic device on a cockroach.  The insect vanishes with a single click of the "Eraser."  Wyatt shares how he had killed two of the men in white using it.  This prompts Ronald to ask where he got it.  Which quickly spirals down to why he has it.

"So they wanted you to use it on us."

Wyatt claims to not have any such plans, but now Ronald is uncertain if this was just a trick.  And attempt to lure Ronald into revealing the whereabouts of the rest of them.

*

The Man in White brings Seth to the "leader."  In the spaces between the worlds, Seth finds himself shown the way, past the many winding staircases and passageways, to the meeting room of the one and only God-Machine.  The thing is complex.  Every changing.  Modular.

The Angel that meets Seth is a clockwork masterpiece, with moving parts and delightful details.  It speaks to Seth with single words, and challenges his limited capacity to grasp things to its advantage.  The city is being restructured, and the Angel believed that it would be best for all Iterations to simply do as they are told.

Seth would have none of that.

Quickly turning the tables around, Seth confounds the Angel with inquiries that he knew would push its buttons.  After a number of carefully selected insults, Seth throws the final big whammy statement:  "You don't have a full face," he mutters in reference to the erased Mister Ears and Mister Eyes which the Angel had explained were deleted by the Master Piece from the grid.  "So you cannot gather all the information you truly need."

Seth had made the God-Machine waver.  And in response, the God-Machine rose.

*

Pain.  Ronald feels an intense pain welling from his neck.  Wyatt and Zee scream as they see the massive mechanical arm extended from behind Ronald. The thing was like some sensor array, with lenses and rods poking out.  Its base was deeply rooted at Ronald's nape.

"What is it!??! Take it out!" Ronald called out but Wyatt new it would be unwise to risk the Eraser.  One miss and Ronald could be the one hit.  During the commotion, Donald slips away from them all and vanishes.   Satisfied to see the two iterations, the machine withdrew back beneath the flesh.

Feeling his mortality, Ronald decides to revisit Kandice.  The events unfolding have reached a point where their sanity once more was threatened.  But the door opens and a woman stares out at Ronald.  She does not know him.  She does not bat an eyelash.  She had no recollection of him at all.

*

The God Machine rises from the very ground like a tsunami of mechanical parts.  It swallows the Angel and brings to the fore an avatar for its own purposes.  A massive head towers above Seth, like the famous stone heads on Easter Island.  The out-pouring of stimuli is intense.  Seth struggles to retain self-awareness as the God Machine floods him with information with every answer.  A multitude of screens display variations of its words.  The varied languages of the world pour out as a complex chorus of speech patterns.

"What you need," Seth focuses on his own words, "Is a consultant. A guide.  You cannot break human to states.  Just because a man is idealistic, does not mean he cannot act cowardly.  Nor because he acts cowardly will it mean he cannot ever act idealistic again."

"Humanity exists to defy their own nature?" the God Machine understands.

“Humanity is Chaos.”

*

Ronald and Wyatt head to another familiar site for Ronald.  "The main man stays here.  KaQoH.  The gangbaner was always here to..."

The place was empty.

"This doesn't make sense," Ronald growled.

Wyatt hears his phone once more and quickly draws it out.  This time he tries to give Mara time to explain.  She brings horrible news.  Wyatt's parents have disappeared.  They were out on a cruise called the Fictional Liner.  The ship had befallen a terrible accident.  As the words reach Wyatt, he cannot help but feel this is all related to the events surrounding these strange times.  That his parents were being "punished" for his actions.

*

Seth challenges the God-Machine.  He questions if the God-Machine truly grasps the subjects of its attention and challenges it to consider details that it has opted to overlook.  From the many screens visible, Seth notices footage which tease events that have transpired through the days.  Scenes of Wyatt Matthews striking down two of the men in white with some device.  Of Ronald Tenneberger slipping through cities with the use of some Key.  Scenes of the God-Machine's methods slipping between the cracks of human notice.

"Steps have been made, taken to adapt to the final Chronology.  I am The God-Machine, I am built for The Purpose."

Seth questions how the God-Machine's main henchman, Mister Face, has fallen apart.

"You are Large, inefficient and prone to errors, because your face allowed itself to be erased.   You are no God."

The God-Machine realizes there is truth in that statement.  There are things beyond its notice.

“State your offer”

"I think I’ve changed my mind, I thought I was dealing with an equal. you are hardly a leader. You lack intuition. You can’t figure out what you are doing," Seth sneers.

Mister Mouth joins them.   He warns the God-Machine of the role this iteration plays in the grand design.  "He is a cog that leads to the destruction of the God Machine!"

But the God-Machine is not afraid.   This is not the first world.  God Machine has survived a reboot of the world before.  And what Seth offers intrigues him.

“Reboot means trying again, and guessing and guessing and guessing..” Seth smiles.  He knows the God-Machine desires answers.  And the con-man has successfully lured his mark.

*

Wyatt and Ronald decide to head to the Clock shop they visited in the past when Donald first had him search for Seth.   Wyatt feels more and more frantic, knowing things are closing in to some concluding moment.  Inside, the old woman manning the place recognizes Wyatt but as she talks to him, he realizes she is referring to him as if he were Seth.  It was as if all "stories" of each one were compiling into a single tale.

A woman arrives to have her clock fixed, and Ronald realizes it is Red from the Mobius cafe.  Wyatt recognizes her to be the officer from that Fictional Ship dream he had.  When they say hello, Red however refers to Wyatt directly.  From their exchange, it seems even the incident with Zee at the cafe is now referred to as events which transpired with Wyatt.

Ronald feels faint.  It is almost as if his very life is being rewritten.  He raises his hand to cup his face, and discovers he can see right through it.  Translucent and ghostly, Ronald panics and tries calling for Wyatt's notice, but his words no longer reach him.  The only thing more solid is some kind of metal mantis that clings to Ronald's spine.

In a moment of ingenuity, Ronald tries to reach out and possess Wyatt, thinking maybe he can borrow his body or something.  But then some kind of "illegal process error!" manifests on the mantis' face in response.  Twisting out of thing's reach, Ronald slides away and leaps through a wall to escape.  The mantis takes chase.

*

The God-Machine crafts a chamber.  The tube of glass and metal opens and welcomes Seth to step inside.  He is invited to step inside to begin assimilation.  Seth nods and walks inside without a word.  He's played his hand.

Now is time to see it to the end.

*

Ronald finds himself regain physical presence, unaware that this was a result of Seth's mingling into the God-Machine's systems.  Even the Mantis manifests as a real physical thing.  While this made it deadlier, this also made is something they can defeat!

Ronald leaps into the nearest car and hotwires the car to life.  Wyatt leaps upon the Mantis, in a defiant desire to call for his life back.

"Understand humanity.  Do you understand mortality?  The best way to understand is to test it."

The God-MachineSeth ponders on these thoughts as Ronald drives the car back to slam into the Mantis.  As the Mantis crumbles to the ground, like a broken sculpture of glass, Wyatt rolls away from the debris and watches as Ronald gives him one last nod, then guns the engine to drive away.

Wyatt watches as Ronald drives away and never returns.

"Step back. Let the world live."

*

Months pass.  

There have been no other attacks. Neither Ronald nor Wyatt have found themselves besieged by any strangeness.  Life has pretty much returned to normal.

Ronald had left New York City.    He sold the BMW he had hotwired, found a new car to break into, then drove around the country on a celebration of freedom.  He then drove to the Grand Canyon, drove the car over the cliff, then stole a trailer to leave.

Ronald remains mobile.  Happy of his life without roots.
Satisfied to be free.  Alive. Real.

Wyatt has launched his latest book, entitled “Brother Bear”
The book explored the story of two bears who were brothers.  A coming of age story that touched on community and transformation, on the world of the wild and the way the bears learned to live with the Native American Indians in their land.

Wyatt is a guest in the Ellen show, and the audience are all standing right now and doing the Brother Bear Dance, which Wyatt himself leads with a smile.  People start asking questions and a police officer asks, "Do you remember him?"

Wyatt, uncertain, asks, "Who?"

The police officer merely says, "Nevermind," and walks away.

And to end the show, Wyatt sits on a platform above a tub of water, and a young black boy named Jimmy is given a ball to pitch at a target.  "Dunk him into the water for charity!"  The boy takes aim.  Wyatt realizes it was the boy who opened a door in his life before.

"He remembers," the God-MachineSeth vocalizes.  "He still remembers."
But the God-MachineSeth decides to take a step back.  To allow life to unfold.
Given the membranes of chance that interconnect us all, the best way to grasp humanity is to let it live.

So the God-MachineSeth let it live.

THE END

The God Machine Chronicle ep03 : World of Darkness

07/03/2013
Membrane
A God Machine Chronicle
Episode Three

"Fact and Fiction"

World of Darkness

Donald wakes up naked in Central park. People are staring at him. He hears the pounding sounds of a boombox and tries to get his bearings.  He has faint, vague memories, and struggles to get to his feet. But when he notices the police making their way to him, he breaks into a run.

*

Seth is still at old man Donald's home.  He sees the article of Stacey Macyntire, his sister, and pulls it from the wall.  The article is an old one, about her having invented some kind of litmus test for alcohol.  Seth follows the thread attached to the article and finds it leading to someone named Zee. “Am I supposed to bleed to death?” Conners asks teasingly, and Seth lookd down to see the police officer still bleeding from his self-ricocheted gun-shot wound.  Seth finds the kitchen and brings back a bottle of alcohol.  Conners is looking at a clipping, about a man named George Calin who has his face.  The man has a massive meltdown after accepting an Oscar. “Do I suck out the poison?” he teases but the smile fades as Seth pours the alcohol on the wound to clean it.  

"This the sort of thing you've had before being a cop?"

“Not after this, not like this. Not this?” Conners grimaces.

*

Wyatt stands in the other room.  He towers over the old man Donald and tries to gleam more information from him. “They call you a Prophet. The one who saw past the illusion.," Donald tries to explain when Wyatt asks why is he supposedly vital in all this.  And who these others are who share his face.  "We are not living in a program," Donald continues, "But we are living in a prison, we just can’t see it.”  Wyatt realizes this sounds much like common gnostic faith.  The parallels to his own novel, the God-Machine are unmistakable.
“And thus they continued their duties, unaware of their actions being merely programs they were given.”

*

Donald started quoting lines from Wyatt's novel, which continued to unnerve him.  He could not quite grasp the idea that his stupid novel had started some kind of group.  Or religion.

"This is just a state of mind?" Wyatt asked.

“The Rennerds would disagree.”  Wyatt flinched.  The Protagonist of his novel the God-Machine was someone named Rennerd..  When Wyatt decided to try following that train of thought, he asked how one would hide from something that one was connected to.  

“By being irrational. Something imaginary among the numbers," was Donald's reply.  But then he followed the answer with a question.  "You are not the Prime, are you?”

Wyatt slowly shook his head.  Donald seemed dejected, and quietly walked back to his bedroom.  Wyatt watches as he pulls the key out, slides it into another door, and opens the doorway into a room with pipes and steam.

Then leaves.

*

Ronald runs and tries to find a place to hide.  He sees a portalet at one side and pounds the ground to get there are fast as he could.  Thankfully, there are less bystanders in the area this time, giving him a chance to slide on some clothing as he runs.   As he gets to the portalet, however, the door opens and a woman inside steps out.  She resembles Zoey, Ronald's younger sister.  "Rey?" the woman asks.  

They hide by the plants as the cops arrive within the nearby yards.  The cop draws a phone from his pocket and begins fiddling with it.  A high pitched whine hits, and it almost forced Ronald to leave his hiding place.  Ronald opts to stay hidden.  Allows time to pass.

*

Wyatt steps out into the hallway, with the intention of heading home, but notices something odd.  The walls, to his recollection, were a shade of tan.  Today, however, they seemed to be a tinge of blue.  The numbers at the door were not numbers.  They were instead braille.  The door to his home turns out to be locked.  And as he considers going to the super to have it opened, the door opens.

His mother.

Wyatt stares at her, wondering why she would be at his hone.  He also wonders why she seems to be wearing some kind of one piece jumpsuit.  But then, he realizes she thinks he's someone else.

Someone named Rey.

"I'm not Rey," he tells her.

“You’re not?”

“I’m Wyatt. What are you doing in my apartment?”

The parents start talking to him as if he was in an intervention, telling him that they don't blame him for the drugs.  Or the men.  Wyatt doesn't know how to make sense of anything they are saying.

*

Conners studies the other clippings on the wall and sees a few more familiar faces.  He even finds someone named Rey Tinsey, and this guy does resemble them as well.  Seth and Conners finally start to discuss their encounter with the men in white.  Conners admits he thinks guy in white is not normal. “I shot him in the chest. I know I shot him in the chest.”

“Where’s your radio? Call for help. Or at least tell them you’re bleeding. Should we bring you to a hospital or something?"  Seth ponders.

But both wonder if it would be safe to reach out to anyone else about these events.
Especially when they have no idea who these men in white are.

*

The Mobius bar.  Ronald and Zee sit down and take the chance to talk about Rey.  She doesn't have a picture of him, but tries to explain to him how Rey had committed suicide.  Jumped off a building.  The bar owner, a Russian stocky woman, asks them if everything is okay.  Zee smiles at Red and tellsher all is wel.  Ronald asks if there were any encounters with men in white.  Zee seems confused, admitting that she wasn' expecting him to quit being part of the Rennerds.  Red tells Ronald, "It is good to see you though, Rey."

"He mentioned something about having to take, 'the capsule'," Zee mutters.

"Can you help me at all?" Ronald asks.

"Help you regain your memories?"

"Yes, or at least tell me I am not dreaming," Ronald admits.  His eyes scan the bar and he catches a tall dark cross-dresser at one table, reading a book called The God-Machine.  Her metallic make up and huge hair seems like something from the 80s.  Ronald starts to notice the cross-dresser... looks like his infamous friend, KaQoH.

“Can you help me find my brother. I think he faked his death,” Zee admits.

*

Wyatt stares at his parents.  They talk about their worries of his "lapses" and try to ask him to admit what drugs he had been taking.  They mutter about him claiming to be other persons.    The father talks about asking someone to help, and a call is made.  Seconds barely pass when a visitor arrives at the door.  Wyatt tries to stay calm, the whole time bothered by this second set of strange parents.

"Doctor Faciem," the mother greets the man as he steps inside, "Perhaps you can help us with our son."

Wyatt sees the man in white enter the room.  He locks himself in his bedroom, which now looks like some kind of entertainment room with large monitors and screens, and stares out of the window to see a world that seems very far from what it should be.   An amalgam of cultures almost like that of the movie Bladerunner can be seen outside, and the clouds dance in colors he has never seen before.

"That is not what you think it is," the mother warns Wyatt, and he notices her waver for a moment as if a heat wave passed by.

Wyatt slams the window open.

Everything breaks apart.   The world outside is an image. As are the parents.  Doctor Faciem tries to calm him down as red lights alarm all over.  A screen activates and inside, a stern woman in a uniform demands he comply and surrender.  She warns him that he is a passenger on a Story Ship travelling through the Fictional Universe.  "You are merely a minor anecdote in a greater calling.  If you are a threat to the narrative, we will do to you what we do to all Fictional Universe threats.  We edit them away."

Wyatt cannot cope.  He drops to the ground, feeling his sanity slipping away.
Doctor Faciem smiles.

*

"Here," Conners tells Seth as he hands him something.  Seth finds Conner handling him a key.  To his place.  "I have to deal with the boss for now, I've been missing for a few days from work it seems.   But I want to know you will be okay."   Seth decides to go to Conners' place to get some semblance of normalcy and rest.  Conners leaves to get the car he left back at the other place.

"Do me a favor and feed the dog," Conners touches Seth's face and reminds him to do that task.  Seth is still confused.  He doesn't recall when he started getting interested in men.

Conner's place isn't as shabby as he thought it would be.  Given the guy's O.C. nature, the place is pretty clean.  A Chinese guy who lives across the room stares at him suspiciously.  The dog barkes and rushes to him, excited to see a guest.  As Seth tries to call the dog down, a voice can be heard outside at the hallway, as a woman named Madella seems to have come to visit.  She calls Conners "Ham," and the Chinese guy starts teasing her to give it up.  "He's got some man in there with him!"

Madella screams at him back, annoyed that he'd try to tease him that way.  Realizing no one is answering, she starts calling out for the dog.

The dog's name is Bruno.

Seth lies on couch. Tries to get some rest. Mercifully, he falls asleep.

*

The cross-dresser has the same tattoo.  Ronald can see hints of it underneath her clothing.    He cannot understand why there are all these parallels.  These strange echoes of each other.  “Have you ever felt lost, as if you’re the only one who doesn't grasp the world.”

“I am acting as logical as I can,” Zee replies.

“So I’m the crazy one?” Ronald asks

Zee does not reply verbally.  Instead Ronald starts to see her with shifting gears and cracks on the surface.  He loses consciousness once again.

*

Wyatt wakes to find himself before Admiral Redd who is interviewing him to discern who he is. "You are possibly a Fictional Universe alien.  I will ask you a simple question and you must answer.  Name the three major events that have transpired in your timeline."

Wyatt stumbles for words and mutters, "Barack Obama as President... Wyatt Wrote a novel that didn't sell as much.  And a storm devastated the City of Marikina, in the Philippines."

"Wake up," a voice seems to whisper.

Admiral Redd pulls out two spritzers and asks Wyatt to choose one of them.  She does not explain why.

"Wake up..."

Wyatt opens his eyes.  He is back home and Mara is getting dressed.  He looks around, confused where he is and wondering why his dreams keep getting more and more elaborate.  He slides out of the room and rushes to Donald's room. The floor is wet with olive oil.  There are two sets of foot prints.

"Wyatt, let's go.  We are running late!"

Confused, he just follows her lead and quickly learns that they are headed to a press release.  Wyatt supposedly had sent in an outline of the next big novel, and the book is to be entitled, W.  They had agreed, it seems, to give the press ten keywords on what the novel will be about.

Wyatt stares at the gathered crowd of cameras and reporters and closes his eyes and merely utters the ten words that come to his lips.

"Agents, Dimensions, Revolution, Machines, Alternate Dimension, Different Versions of ourselves."

*

Seth wakes up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.  The cleaning lady greets him and Bruno (who had fallen asleep between his legs) and she tells him she brewed three cups of coffee.  Seth soon learns she is actually Conners' mother and she visits in secret to clean his house when he's not looking.  She was able to get inside thanks to the spare key the Asian guy across the hall had to the place.  Seth tries not to wonder why he has that key.

The mother is pretty cheerful and tells Seth she is happy her son is socializing.  She shares how as a child, the poor boy was forced to do things perfectly for many years.  She tells him the trauma never left him.  Seth asks her to stay a bit but she confesses that she never feels safe in the place.  "Did you know?  Many tenants have left the building without even paying!  Sometimes I feel this place is cursed.  Or something."  When he asks her if he should mention she visited, she quickly tells him no. "Mister Eyes will see and Mister E is gone.”

Seth found that saying very odd.

*

A man steps out of the crowd in the press release event.  Wyatt sees the man walk towards him and has a flash in his head that the man was someone he had seen in that subway dream.  "I have to break the Master Piece," the man tells him and draws a pistol from underneath his clothes.

Wyatt gasps and the pistol discharges before he could do anything.  

As he drops to the ground, blood pouring out of his stomach, the man rushes to leave.  "It was the only way to make the Machine Fail!" he utters.  And just as Wyatt starts to expect seeing his life flash before his eyes, he sees Mister Nose come into view and walk up to him.  He surveys his wound and calls out, "Mister Eyes?"

A second Man in White emerges.  

"I will go track the shooter," Mister Nose tells Mister White.  "Can I count on you to ensure this iteration is watched over well?"  Mister Eyes nods.  "The wound is not grave.  I can see he will survive this."

Wyatt realizes the man who shot him.... 

was Rey Tinsey.

The God Machine Chronicle ep02 : World of Darkness

07/21/2013
Membrane
A God Machine Chronicle
Episode Two

"The Four and the Mad Old Man"

World of Darkness

Creatively blocked fantasy writer, Wyatt Matthews.    Parkour DJ in debt, Ronald Tanneberger.  Conman Psychic, Seth Macintyre.    Their lives were intertwined in ways they have yet to grasp.  And though the previous events were anything but normal...

Wyatt wakes up and finds himself in bed.  He struggles to recall the strange fuzzy memories of his dream but they seem to too easily slip away.  He hears a noise and realizes there is someone in his house.  He reaches for his cellphone nearby and finds it dead.  The battery was completely drained.  He tiptoes to the cabinet to draw out his baseball bat but accidentally bumps it against the door.  The sound he makes alerts the intruder.

As he moves to the door and slams it open, ready to fight, he finds instead a familiar though unwelcome face.  His name is Rennard.  They had broken up some time back.

"I... came to get my stuff back.  I tried messaging you a few times.  Called even."  A beat.  Then the unnecessary accusatory question.  "Why WAS your cellphone not charged?"

Awkward silence.  

Wyatt plugs in the phone, and checks it.  The inbox shows 3 texts from Mara and 5 texts from Rennard.  He peeks at some and reads them:

7:16pm Mara
“Where are you? Aren’t you coming home?”
8:00pm Mara
“I’m at your door. Why aren't you answering?”
8:15pm Mara
“I am starting to feel stupid out here. This isn't funny.”

Wyatt gives her a call and Wyatt for a moment slips, wondering if Mara had Rennard come back based on their deal.  But then he recalls the "deal" was a statement she made in the "dream."  It was a dream, right  Wyatt feels very confused.  But even more confused when Rennard steps back into view wearing nothing but his underwear.

“One last,” he begs.

“No, thank you,” Wyatt answers and Rennard leaves without even getting dressed.   Wyatt shakes his head and gets a new message from Mara.

"I'm missing my boots by the way.  Any chance you saw them?"

Wyatt recalls her resting them on his immaculate table.  In the dream.  But he checks the table anyway.  He sees the impossible:  Boot marks on the surface.  

*

Ronald wakes up with three naked people wrapped around his own naked body.  In the panic, he swings a punch outwards and accidentally smacks a girl on the face! She curses as she gets off the bed and throws a retaliatory punch at him.  "Ronald!" she yowls and rushes to the bathroom to check on the damage.   Ronald looks around, his heart still pounding, as he still recalls the strange mechanical-organic things he had witnessed in the subway.  Or was that a dream?  It feels so hard to recall.  He looks around to get his bearings and realizes where he is.

Kandice.  Her name is Kandice.  This is her place.  An apartment on the Fifth floor.  She lives with her brother, Dariel, whom he had never met but whenever she'd bring him over, he'd sneak inside while he slept, and eventually slither out by the fire exit.

"Kandice, you okay?" Dariel calls out, having heard the exchange.

"Am fine.." she hollers back, only to have his unexpected response, " Good, then when you're dressed, you can head on out there and even bring your friends over with you.  I'm brewing a lot of coffee."

Ronald gets dressed, but quickly realizes he cannot find his jeans.  He peeks out the room and sees it sitting on the couch.  Dariel starts getting agitated when he notices the dark mark on Kandice's face.  "What the f- Who his you?  Did someone hit you, Kandice?  Who the hell hit you?"  She tries to calm him down, but Dariel's anger quickly spirals out of control.  Ronald realizes a second fact:  Dariel is KaQoH.  The gang guy who he owed... wait.  Wasn't that just in the dream?  Confused, Ronald decides wisely to get out of the situation instead of waiting it to get worse.  He slips between the partly open window and its frame to duck outside at the fire exit.  Thankfully, this is enough for Dariel to think he had left far earlier in the day.  As the two argue some more, Ronald slips down to the street and heads to the Bus station, hoping to make his way home.

The old woman has a dog.  The dog, a German Shepherd, happens to be named Pixie.  The dog stares at Ronald strangely, while the woman waits for the bus.  Ronald realizes he doesn't have his wallet (it was in his jeans) and that means if KaQoH found it, he also would find his address!  

He sneaks back upstairs and finds Kandice alone.  Her brother called his gang friends, and they headed off right away.  Ronald tries to deflect why he knows her brother.  And in frustration, she drops the subject.  “You owe me,” she mutters.

As Ronald leaves to try to sneak back home, he realizes he can hear a buzzing.  He digs into his bag and finds his cellular phone ringing, showing the name Office Conners.

*

Seth wakes up in his bed and finds he is not alone.  Officer Conners, naked and nuzzled against him, pulls him closer and hugs him tighter.  Memories are fuzzy.  Seth recalls meeting the officer, his hand brushing against the man's buttocks.  He recalls the two deciding to leave the crime scene after questioning the husband who looked like him.  The rough kissing against the window.  The sex against the wall.  Seth glances at his body, looking for signs of injury.  He doesn't see any matching the stranger fainter memories.  Conners wakes up and is all flirty.  But Seth keeps blocking the come ons.  Conners decides to check the web for any more information on the lookalike, but a Skype call interrupts the search.  A client.

On the side table, Conner's clothes are a neat quaint perfectly folded pile.  The gun is in the holster beside then, atop the shoes.

Conners is being all playful, but Seth tries to focus on the call.  It turns out to be Stacey, Seth's sister.  She wants to hire him to investigate her boyfriend.  "I think he's cheating."    Conners tries to talk her out of this and later checks his phone for evidence of the previous night.  He sees lots of pictures.  As in lots.  And most of them are selfies.  The timestamps seem to support the memories.  The earliest stamp turns out to be 7:16pm.  Even the GPS markers on the pics all seem to match whether they should register.  Worse, they all have Conners acting like a fool beside him.   Then the phone dies as the battery finally runs out. Seth sees that even Conners' phone dies too.                                                            

Conners returns with a plate of bed and cheese.  "Can you be any more gay?" Seth scowls and when Conners asks why he's being mean, Seth breaks into a tirade of how something isn't right.  He questions Conners on how easily the man has broken protocol.  Conners pulls him in and the two kiss.  The deep kiss lasts longer than expected.  But as they disengage...

Confusion.

"Considering how much you stick to the rules, how much you stick to you habit.  I cannot believe you'd throw that all away upon seeing me.  Look, you don't even have any notes on the suicide.  This is so not like you."

The door slams open.

Both turn to see a single man in an all White Suit.  Memories come flooding back.     

*

Wyatt recalls the weird dreams.  He feels unsettled by all this.  Which was real?  Which really happened?   He heads back to the staircase where he had his encounter and there, approaches the nearest door.  The knocks at the door and an old man answers, peering through the peep hole. The man asks if he's working on his devil books again.  He asks if the old man recalls a guy dressed in a white suit.  He admits seeing a woman (Mara) visting him.  It doesn't make sense.  So did it happen?  Or didn't it?

He sits at the computer and tries to focus his thoughts by writing.  The fingers type faster.  And faster.  The words start flowing freely.  Of men in white clothing.  Of abductions and the victims having their memories tampered with.  Of other people's memories being shoved into your own head.  Place you in a different life.   A different-

A knock.

*

Ronald arrives at his building.  Motorcycles are parked outside.  The security guard of the building is busy counting off bills.  Suspecting the gang to be up there, Ronald opts to enter by the parking area beside the condo.  He takes the elevator to a higher floor, then from there makes his way down the stairs to his floor.  He peeks and sees three gang bangers guarding the elevator door.  The door to his place had been forced open.  There's no sign of KaQoH however.  Ronald suspects the guy was in his home.

He heads back upstairs and knocks on the door to Jennie's place.  He and Jennie had some fun times in the past, but it never progressed to something serious.  Jennie, as it turns out, was not home alone.  Ronald finds a growling Great Dane named Oscar snarling at him, and a naked middle aged man named John emerging from the bedroom to command the dog to sit.  Jennie pulls a Soy Milk carton from the fridge and asks what Ronald needs.  He tells her of the gang members at his floor.  John was about to offer a suggestion, but his own cellphone rings and he quickly takes it in the bed room, away from them both.  Ronald opts not to ask anything, and instead asks if he can call 9-11.  Jennie lets him use the phone.

*

Seth stares at Mister Nose, who stands at the doorway.  Conners does not hesitate and draws his pistol from the holster and trains the gun at the man in white.  Seth does not hesitate, however, and draws his own gun.  He shoots Mister Nose, even as Mister Nose talks to them about how they were not supposed to remember.  Nose draws the small bottle from his jacket, and raises it to spray at them, but Seth does not give him that chance.  He grabs the spirtzer bottle away, and, when Mister Nose tries to grab Seth, hears the thunderclap as another pistol is discharged.  Mister Nose slumps to the side as Conner's shot strikes the man in the shoulder.  Conners gets distracted, however, when he starts to hear his radio going haywire.  The distraction allows Mister Nose to move.  

Seth doesn't not hesitate again and fires once more, but this time the shot goes wild as Mister Nose utters, "Decino" before the gun discharges.  Conners screams as the bullet ricochets into his knee.  But as Mister Nose topples to the side against the used condoms on the floor, he seems to lose his battle more and even bangs his face against the wall.  Seth closes in and uses the spritzer on Mister Nose.  He drops down, knocked out.

The two grin at each other, though both remain uncertain what was going on.
They both look up to see a second man in White stepping through.  Even if no one ever opened the door.

*

Mara pays him a visit.

Wyatt is at the kitchen, prepping something to eat, while Mara goes through the earlier pages that Wyatt supposedly had  typed all night, as far as his memories claim.  Wyatt finds Mara's boots in the trash bin, which puzzles him because they would not have had any reason to leave them here.  Worse, Mara's visit supposedly never happened.  So how could she have left her boots at his place.  "Aeons," Mara asks aloud, "This Aeons reads good."  Mara admits the outline feels strong and the story feels fresh.   She is so distracted she doesn't "hear" Wyatt telll her about the boots.  The lead character finds himself facing others who bear his face.  In the novel, the man ponders if they are clones.  Or are they them, just in different parts in time.

Another knocking.

*

The second man in a white suit draws out another tiny spritzer from his pocket. "Aegis," the man calmly utters.  The intruder is sprayed with the spritzer but the mist does not reach him.  Some kind of field repels things from reaching him.  As Seth twists out of the way, Conner fires his pistol at the guy, but the bullet ricochets and clips Conner on the face.  Panicked, Seth starts chanting, "Aegis aegis aegis..." over and over again, hoping whatever protected the man in white will protect him too.  But as the man in white tries to grab Seth once again, he utters "Decino," and Conners' shot this time strikes the man.

There's another ripple in the air as a third man in white begins to come into view.

The two decide to make a break for it and run!

*

As Ronald uses the phone, he realizes that John and Jennie clearly would rather be left alone.   He heads out and slowly makes his way back down one floor.  He can hear the sounds of a police car closing in, and decides to wait it out rather than make things complicated.  As the cops arrive, the gang members by the elevator quietly exit, not causing any trouble.  The cops arrive at the apartment and very quickly call for KaQoH to drop to the ground.  Thinking it is safe enough, Ronald decides to head in and tell the cops he's the guy who called for help.

Ronald hear's his phone ringing again, and takes it though it tracks an unfamiliar number.  He hears Conners' voice.  KaQoH goes frantic that moment, and charges forward at him.  The cops quickly move to tackle the guy down and pull him away.  But the ruckus forces Ronald to end the call.  Ronald's hopes were starting to rise until the cops get support from their Captain.  The Captain happens to be dressed and look exactly like Mister Nose, the man in the white suit.  He asks if "All is well?"

*

Wyatt hears the knocking and peers at the peep hole to find unexpected guests.  His parents are outside the door.  As he opens the door to let them in he realizes the two are speaking in tandem.  Which is odd.  And are both wearing white outfits, which really pushes things to a more disturbing level given the (non)dreams Wyatt had of the previous night.  As the mother walks up to Mara, she slowly draws a spritzer out of her jacket.  As the father walks up to Wyatt, he starts asking him questions that bother him.  Questions that seem to try to draw out what he recalls of the previous night.  He drops the teapot in shock, and rather than answer, quickly maneuvers to approach Mara.

In his mind, he finds himself screaming, "We have to get out of here!"

*

Seth and Conners pile into the police car.  As Conners speeds off, the two consider their next course of action.  Conners thankfully remains calm as they question the insanity of the situation.  "We have to stop," Conners realizes however and stops the car by the street.  He quickly walks to what might be the only remaining phone booth in the city and starts dialing Ronald's number.  The call starts ringing.

*

Wyatt tried to force his "mother" to stop, but he realizes he's just not strong enough. He grabs the typewriter but fumbles with it and drops it at his own feet.  Panick overtakes him and he runs, leaving Mara behind.

As Wyatt runs outside, he once again rushes to Donald and begs him to let him hide.  "Is it time?" the old man asks and to Wyatt's surprise, the old man starts dousing Olive Oil all over the door and its perimeter.  A knife gleams and Wyatt feels its sharp edge pushed against his throat as Donald motions him to stay quiet.  Through the peep hole, Wyatt can see his "parents" outside the door.

 "Let him go," the two speak in tandem, "We can still use the woman to lure him back."

The "mother" mutters, "Domus" and vanishes, folding away as if she was an origami creation using the world itself.  The "father" inspects the door, then leaves.  It is almost as if Donald's Olive Oil thing actually worked.

"Now listen," Donald tells Wyatt, "You have two minutes.  Do whatever you must, but get the others running from the men in white to the alleyway across the street.  Do you understand?"  Wyatt shakes his head, but Donald mutters something about not having enough time.   Wyatt feels Donald force him to his feet, and walk him to what looks like a door frame leaning against the wall.  The old man fetches a key looped to a chain around his neck, and watches as he unlocks the doorknob of the unfixed door.  The door opens and to Wyatt's disbelief, it shows a totally different place.

*

The Captain has the other cops leave, and they do so without complaints nor questions.  Ronald doesn't feel too good about this.  He glances at KaQoH who seemed pretty exhausted.  The Captain makes fun of Dariel, and jokes about how he got the title KaQoH.  "King and Queen of Hearts," he mutters, "Such a fan of the song during his younger years that he had it tattooed to his chest."

Ronald is amused at how idiotic that story is.

"The more pressing matter is... you remember," the Captain snarls.  Ronald is not hopeful about this turn of mood.

*

Seth and Conner reach the street where Ronald is staying at and note the other police cars present.    Conner tells Seth to go ahead, while he waits at the car.  As Seth reaches the unit, he hears Ronald calling from somewhere within, asking him to step into the bed room.  Seth doesn't feel right about this.  He glances inside and sees Ronald dressed in an all white shirt and boxer shorts.  White.  Again.  The phone in the house rings and Ronald moves to answer it.  Seth chooses to trust his gut and breaks for it.

*

As Wyatt walks into the apartment, he tries his best to hide his confusion.  He looks around for the people he should bring to the alleyway and sees Seth hurrying down the stairs.  Not wanting to waste time, Wyatt leaps for Seth and tackles him to the ground.  He tries to explain what he can about what he is going through and begs Seth to trust him.  But as they decide on an uneasy alliance, they stop their route to the car. "We have to go back for a friend of mine."  Wyatt reluctantly agrees.

The two arrive beside the car to find it empty.  Seth looks around and catches a Clock repair shop just across from the car.  "There," he tells Wyatt and the two quickly step inside.  A young woman offers to help them, and Seth directly asks for his friend.

He notices a few pictures of cats.  Of dogs.  Then realizes as he talks to the owner that she is the splitting image of his client, Mary whose husband George had killed their dog to hide an affair.  Bothered, Seth quickly finds Conners who turns out was resting inside, and the three make their way to the alleyway.    When Conners asks why they are following this stranger, Seth admits he at least would want to get answers and this guy seems to know something.

Conners doesn't say anything about how alike they look.

Across the alley.  They find a door swinging open as if on cue.  A young black kid named Jimmy stares at them and asks, “Aren’t there supposed to be four of you?”  The three hurry inside and Wyatt admits he doesn't know what happens next.  Jimmy leads them to the walk-in freezer and tells them to go inside and wait.  Seth worries its a trap.  But given Conners' wound, they decide to just go in.  The door is shut closed.

And suddenly reopens.

It is Donald.  The door has opened to Donald's apartment.  And they watch as Donald tucks back a glowing key under his shirt.  "There were supposed to be four of you?  What is happening," he asks Wyatt angrily, "You only brought one of the four here?"  Conners limps to the side, dizzy from the events and weary from his fight.  Seth looks around, the shock overwhelming him for a moment.  He stumbles into another room where there are newspaper clippings all over the walls.  Pins and colored yarn connect some of them to others.   Wyatt sees the many other doors and their frames leaning against more walls.  Did that key just allow Donald to open a door and its frame to another door somewhere in time and space?

"This is all your fault," Donald berates Wyatt, "You created the God-Machine.  And now we're under its scrutiny!"  Wyatt tries to grasp what he means, as the only God-Machine he ever knew of was that horrible novel he wrote which didn't reach a market.  "I'm not behind this!" he gasps.   Donald mutters about missing two others..  one named Ronald and another named Rey.  Wyatt recalls that strange blonde woman in the park mistaking him for "Rey".  He recalls tells her he isn't him and she replied, "I get it... You're 'not' Rey," she muttered.  "Can you tell 'Rey' if you 'find' him that I'm here?"

Seth sees more clippings and newspapers everywhere. More doors with frames. He studies them and starts to realize that many of them are about many people including Conners and even some infamous gangbanger named KaQoH.  He notices that some have same date but show instead different events. Or show people who look like each other.  Then he starts to realize that there are also clippings of his sister, Stacey.  And other people.  And these are even marked as "Expendable."

Wyatt recalls his novel.  In the God-Machine, he told the story of machine that created other machines.  These intelligent life-like robots had artificial intelligence that allowed them to look and act like real people.  in the novel, the Protagonist was a robot that gained full consciousness. He rebelled against the God-Machines and sought to go against their prime directive.  But by destroying the God-Machines, he caused everything that was connected to them to crash.  That included himself.

*

Ronald awakens to find himself in  “another place.”   The horizon to horizon show nothing but masses of machinery, shifting glass and lights.  Mechanical arms with pneumatic pumps, wires, tubes and gears swivel ito action to check his bones and nape and identification.  A screen flickers on, showing his general well-being and status.

QUERY:  REPROCESS [y/n]

Ticking.  Beeps.  Whirls.  Hisses.

RESPONSE:  NO.  RESET PROCEDURE CANCELLED.

More ticking.  More beeps.

QUERY: THE OTHERS [Explanatory Response Required] [waiting..]

A brief beep.  The lights shift from golden to dark purple.

RESPONSE:  DESIGNATE WILL LEAD OTHERS TO DESIRED LOCUS.
QUERY: AFFIRMATIVE TO COLLECTIVE [y/n]
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE
RESPONSE: AFFIRMATIVE

RESPONSE: COLLATED APPROVAL.
ACTION:  SEND DESIGNATE BACK.

response received in bold 14 point font
response received in bold 14 point font
response received in bold 14 point font
response received in bold 14 point font

* end transmission *

The God Machine Chronicle ep01 : World of Darkness

06/08/2013
Membrane
A God Machine Chronicle
Episode One

"The One in the White Suit"

World of Darkness

Finally got a chance to dive into an actual God Machine inspired chronicle (which also means I can now write my God Machine Chronicle review post and release it soon!) and I have to admit that the mix of characters and players is pretty awesome.  You have Rocky, my partner, who is the long time gamer in the group.  You have Marvin, who played some time ago but hasn't had a chance in a very long time.  And finally, you have Jeffrey who has never played a game... ever.  And all three were about to discover the strange existence of the God Machine in this World of Darkness mini-chronicle.

Jeffrey plays Wyatt Matthews, a 25-year old fantasy writer whose original book series, The Dark Summoning, caught the world by a storm.  The pressures to release more books resulted with The God Machine, Dark Materials and the Dark Angel Trilogy titles which raised a tide of negative reviews that many wondered if Matthews was simply a one hit wonder.   Wyatt is Idealistic, thought at times acts Cowardly and aspires to Find Inspiration and Start Writing his next Best Seller.
Skills: Academics 5, Streetwise 3, Expression 3, Investigation 3 Specialties: Fantasy Lore, Writing, Research
Merits: Encyclopedic Knowledge, Trained Observer, Hobbyist Clique, Fame 1, Resources:1, Multilingual (Spanish, Chinese), Striking Looks:1, Safe Place 1
Wyatt has no familial ties, having intentionally moved to New York to get as far as possible from his parents. Mara Suarez, his editor and publicist, is the closest thing he has to a friend.

Marvin plays Ronald Tanneberger, a 29-year old who is known as Lux Club's DJ Champ. Though Patient, the young man has Prideful moments, and aspires to Settle his Existing Debts.
Skills: Expression 3, Persuasion 3 Specialties: Music, Cars, Vices
Merits: Direction Sense, Eidetic Memory, Contacts (2: Dealers, Professional Sex Workers), Fame: 2, Resources:1, Ambidextrous, Parkour 3, Ally 1(Policeman “Officer Graham Conners”), Safe Place 2
Ronald's mother, Lisa lives in the city with his younger sister, Zoey.  Also in town is Uncle Ronald.  Ronald has recently broke up with his girlfriend, Toni.

Rocky plays Seth Macintyre, a 35-year old Psychic whose clients contact him for services ranging from fortune telling to speaking with their dead loved ones. Seth's Ambitious streak is often brought low by his Laziness. He aspires to score an eventual TV deal and become one of those more popular psychics on television.
Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Empathy, Persuasion 3 Specialties: Fortune-telling, Math, Body Language
Merits: Eidetic Memory, Trained Observer 3, Fast Talking 1, Resources: 2, Striking Looks 2, Defensive Combat: Brawl, Unarmed Defense: 4, Encyclopedic Knowledge, Fast Reflexes 3
Seth's parents are out of state, living at the midwest. His younger sister, Stacey, is currently in California for college.

The scene opens with Wyatt struggling on his novel, staring at a blank page and trying to come up with something new to write about.  He dreads the idea of returning to any of his old work and hopes to finally find something that will inspire him.  Mara calls him, asking for an update, and Wyatt admits that he hasn't really "finished" working on the outline yet.  When Mara demands for an idea what it is about, Wyatt blurts out it will be a story set in New York City, with a fantasy touch to the narrative.  The story will explore a new set of characters.   Mara senses he's making things up on the spot and asks him if he needs her help to jog his creativity into action.  "I can hire someone to help you.  The last time you wrote, you were recovering from that break-up with Rennard."  Wyatt tries to skirt around the issue, but Mara clearly seems to be very well informed in his activities.  Almost as if she literally has cameras watching him 24/7.  But given Wyatt has spent most of the downpayment for the next novel, Mara insists that she will come by to help him out.

Elsewhere, DJ Champ is staring at KaQoH's goons as the gang banger demands he pay the money he owes him.  DJ Champ had once borrowed around $800 from KaQoH and now he's come to collect the money, but having just woken up from a drunken night of partying, DJ Champ definitely has no means to pay up.  Taking his backpack of LP records as collateral, DJ Champ convinces KaQoH to give him a few hours to cough out the money somewhere.  He rushes off and considers his options, eventually settling at a nearby diner to grab a coffee while he thinks of what he will do.    That's when a man in a denim jacket, wearing a black and yellow striped shirt joins him at his table and asks if he is "Matt."  Choosing to take advantage of the situation, DJ Champ says yes and to his surprise, he is given a very thick envelope filled with cash.  At first, DJ Champ thinks the man assumed he was some kind of escort or prostitute, but then the man mumbles, "Thank God, she's not going to die.." and hurriedly leaves the diner.  DJ Champ hurries out to follow the man but loses him at an alleyway where two large condominium buildings stand.

And in some wealthy man's house, Seth is in a seance with the man, his wife, and their elderly mother.  The family has their hands holding each other's and their heads held low with their eyes closed as Seth leads them through the seance to try and reach their loved one.  Seth's eyes scan the room to find something useful, having not been given much information by George about who had passed on.  "I.. can sense something orange," Seth mutters, making things up and Mary, the wife, starts mumbling something about the food bowl being orange! Seth realizes the dead loved one is a dog and sees in a large portrait that the family has two: a German Shepherd and a Great Dane.   One is named Bruno and the other, Jakey.  Seth hears the scratching sound of the other dog by the closed door and realizes only one of the dogs had died.  He decides to take a stab in the dark and mutters, "I can hear... bells.. why do I hear bells..." and quickly scans the family for any body language or hints he can use in the con.  To his surprise, the husband looks.. anxious as a cold sweat dots his brow.  He carefully observes him more and notes he is recently showered, a hint of a red stain is visible on his collar, and most importantly there is a strand of blonde hair on his clothes.  The wife is a brunette.  The husband cracks as Seth prods, with words carefully chosen to suggest an affair was happening.  As it turns out, the other woman had bought a tiny collar with a bell for the dog as a gift, and while the two were cheating on the bed, the dog had swallowed the collar and bell.  Unwilling to have the dog brought to the vet, and questioned on why the thing was in his stomach (and more importantly, where it came from), George had run over the dog, dug out the collar and bell from the remains, and thrown it outside with the trash.  He then feigned the dog's death to have been done by some random stranger and told his wife of its demise.

Angered by her husband's infidelity, Mary signed away to Seth all of the money intended for the dog upon their death, and Seth quickly walked away before the husband could complain.  Seth found it unnerving however that the Great Dane, "Bruno" stared at him as he walked away - almost as if it knew what he had done.  The traffic lights act odd, however, at an intersection, with the lights seemingly showing a nonsensical series of directions:  Blank.. Up, Right, Left, a blinking moment, then down, down, right, down...  Seth opts to squeeze through the growing traffic knot to get past it before things get worse.

Minutes later, Seth found the paramedics gathered by the entrance of one of the condo buildings close to where he lived.  Smelling opportunity, he walked towards the scene and saw a distraught man talking to the paramedics.  Repeatedly, the man muttered confusion on why she would kill herself.  "She.. wasn't supposed to kill herself..."  Seth notes the wedding ring around the man's finger and approaches him to offer "support."  Easily gaining his trust, the man guides Seth up to the condo unit while Seth tries to gather what had happened.  Seth knows he doesn't have much time before the cops show up to look at the scene, but this man is too ripe an opportunity to run another con.

Wyatt decides to step out and try to find some inspiration while outside his home.  He watches people of all sorts all around him enjoying life, with their loved ones, or their children, and in some ways ponders on how his life had taken unexpected turns in the last few months.  The sudden fame was but one of the things which came so suddenly and faded just as quickly.  

A woman is staring at him.  Wyatt notices this woman in rags and matted hair staring at him with a whimsical smile.  He has never seen her before but her fascinated stare unnerves him because it seems like the kind one gives a long lost friend.   "Rey!"   The woman calls him that name but Wyatt repeatedly tries to explain she has the wrong man.  She then shifts her approach and replies, "I get it... You're 'not' Rey.  Can you tell 'Rey' if you 'find' him that I'm here?"   Perturbed, Wyatt decides to hurry off before she can say anything more.

DJ Champ calls KaQoH and the two map out a place to meet up.  He decides to tell KaQoH to meet him at the very subway station he currently is at.  At least there's enough people here to dissuade a violent scene.  As far as DJ Champ is concerned, he's got the cash to finally pay up and settle the problem.  He calls his friend, Officer Conners, and tells him where he is and what situation he is in.  Conners isn't too happy, admitting he's too far away to get there and help out.  "You'll have to buy some time."   While waiting and worrying on how to delay the pay out, DJ Champ bumps into a young beautiful blonde woman whose bag pops open from the impact.  As her headshots scattered all around, DJ Champ quickly grabbed what he could and handed it back to her.  That was when he realized he recognized her.  Though he could not recall her name, he realized she was someone he had hung out with during the partying the night before.  Or perhaps some other previous night.  He recalled she liked cars.  Was a bit-role actress who had appeared in a few shows as an extra.  As he tries to get her name once again, and muses about exchanging numbers, she gently tries to turn him down by explaining, "Not my thing.." It takes DJ Champ a few more exchanges before she clarifies more directly, "I'm kind of... into women.  So yeah, you're not my thing."

KaQoH arrives.  DJ Champ notices how the man stares at the blonde woman, and quickly suggests that she go.  Feeling she had embarrassed him, the blonde offers her number now, offering to at least be in touch as friends.  To DJ Champ's relief, the gangster doesn't stop her from walking  away.  He does ask DJ Champ for her name, which he admits he does not know.  He pays KaQoH, who hands him his backpack with records back, and during the confusion as people exit a recently arrived train, DJ Champ maneuvers into the train to leave KaQoH at the terminal.  The train begins to move and DJ Champ realizes there is no one else on the train save for a single person.  And this person is a bare-footed woman with messed up matted hair, rags for clothing, and to DJ Champ's disbelief, the exact same face as the blonde woman he had just spoken with!

Seth and the man in the "bee" shirt arrive at the condo unit and the man finally warms up enough to Seth to give his name, "Graham" and explain what had happened.  He tells him of how she was having some problems and had been attending some kind of self-help seminar which was being organized by a Mister Nose.  There were 18 people who have been attending the seminars.  9 couples to be more precise.  The group would chant a strange mantra, which supposedly was meant to help make their lives run smoother:  Horn, Ambulance, Check the Train, Road, Information, Question the Gift, Question the Man, Check the No Truck, Check the twin stars, two boxes sound, Horn, Ambulance, Check the Train, Ambulance, Check the Question, Truck, Check the twin stars, Gift the Circle man, Check the No X Information, Question the Gift, Check the Box, Check the Information Circle two boxes.   It did not make any sense.    Seth hears footsteps closing and realizes the police officer was seconds from arriving at the door.  Graham explains that he found his wife dead in the bathroom, having slit her wrists with vertical cuts, and stayed inside the warm tub of water to keep the blood flowing.  His voice broke as he tries to explain how he had paid someone to promise she wouldn't die...

A knock.

Seth answers the door to find a police officer standing outside.  To his surprise, the officer looks exactly like Graham.  Only better groomed and more fit.  Seth throws a few flirtatious lines and yes, the man also is into that.  

Wyatt arrives home to find someone at his condo.   With "These Boots are Made for Walking" playing in the background, he finds his editor and publicist Mara sitting with her boots on the table.  She is smoking and letting the ashes fall on his immaculately clean and organized table as she looks at him and asks him for the pages.  When Wyatt admits he hasn't written any, she offers him a suggestion:  "24 hours.  Give me your complete outline or I shall activate Promo Number Four."  Wyatt winces as he recalls that cancelled promotion:  It was to allow a fan a date with him.  He didn't like the idea of dating a fan, especially a female fan.  Mara ups the ante and tells him, "I'll give you two days.  But if you fail, you'll have DOUBLE the promotion.  Two dates.  And the second one, will be a MALE fan."  Wyatt realizes she is threatening to have him out himself if he doesn't get the pages he promised her.

A door bell.

Mara heads to the door to answer it.  Wyatt rushes to clean the table.  But then hears Mara fall to the ground with a heavy thud after answering the door.  As he turns ask what happened, he sees a strange figure standing outside his door.

The man is in all white.  Fedora.  Suit.  Pants.  Shoes.  Belt.  Everything a single shade of white.  His skin was pale, and his eyes an almost dull gray, giving the impression of empty white orbs for eyes.  The man held a small canister in one outstretched hand, and started shaking it upon seeing Wyatt come into view.  

The strange woman started laughing upon seeing DJ Champ, and DJ Champ walks down the moving train to head for the door that will give him access to the next train.  He hears her muttering a strange mantra of directions, and tries to ignore her gibbering.  "Underscore, up, right, left, time, down, big down, right, big down, diagonal, right, big diagonal.."  As he enters the next train he sees a lone man sitting on the chair in tattered clothes and wild hair.  As the man looks up at him, DJ Champ realizes the man looks exactly like the man who had given him the envelope of money.  The man screams at DJ Champ and runs straight for him!

Seth watches curiously as the police officer questions Graham, and actually hears the officer joke about how he's "Graham Conners," and how the witness is named, "Graham Collins."  As the police officer talks to his "doppleganger" about what happened, Seth decides to exit and leave them to talk.  As he opens the door, however, he sees a figure standing at the open doorway dressed in all white.  His description matches Graham's description of Mister Nose!  The man sprays something from a small canister onto Seth's face, and Seth pushes the man back, staggering down the hallway in hopes of getting away.  He calls out to the officer for help!  Officer Conners appears, pistol drawn, and yells at Mister Nose to stop.  But when the man doesn't, Conners fires a shot into the man's chest.  Mister Nose staggers back and, as the crimson stain grows on his chest where he was shot, reaches for the wound area.  With two fingers, he "peels" away the red stain, which "pops" free from the white clothing as if it were just some rubbery sticker that flutters down like a delicate cloth.  Mister Nose deposits the red "handkerchief" atop his left arm, then closes in on the stunned Officer Conners to spray him on the face as well.  Seth, at this point, succumbs to the early spray and blacks out.

Wyatt runs, shoving past the figure in while, and as he runs down the stairs to escape, he runs past a neighbor making his way up.  As Wyatt reaches the last step, he hears a grunt and turns to see his neighbor tumbling down the stairs after him.  The man in white stands calmly at the top of the steps with a canister in one hand.  Wyatt feels panic all over him, keeping him from moving.  The man calmly walks down the steps until finally he reaches Wyatt, sprays him on the face, and watches Wyatt black out.

DJ Champ stares at the two doppelgangers, confused as to who they are and where they came from!  As the train slows to a stop, he moves towards the door in hopes of stepping out.  But he finds an incredible sight waiting for him by the door.  A man in all white stands, smiling at him as the doors open.  Walking into the train past the man in white are things that seem an impossible mix of human infant and machine.  These clockwork babies carry with them unconscious men.  DJ Champ stares as one body looks like a young man in a blue sweater and jeans, while the other looks like a well dressed man in a business suit (no tie).  The two other bodies carried are those of a police officer and a man in a demin jacket and a yellow and black shirt.  The second set of men all have the same face as the crazy man in the next train.  But the first set of men... oh.   DJ Champ stares at the impossibility before him for these two other men share his own face.  Different ages, yes, but his face nonetheless.

Another man in white arrives and addresses the first one by the door, "Mister Nose, I see you have gathered the other permutations."

"Yes, Mister Mouth.  I believe we will be able to contain things this time."

DJ Champ falls down, his mind overwhelmed by the sight, and falls unconscious.

Wyatt fells himself laid down upon the moving ground, uncertain where he is being taken, but too frightened to wake from his unconscious state.

And Seth, though stunned by the drug, is focused enough to recognize the chitterings of the mechanical babies.  The tiny click-clacking sounds they make, are morse code.  And the things repeat over and over again two simple sentences:

What Rises may fall. What has fallen may rise again.