WESTWORLD FANFICTION
COPWORLD
by Tom Cavanaugh
"Good Morning, allow me to thank you publicly for the honor that you have bestowed on me. I graduated from the Mulholland City Police Academy over thirty years ago and I have much to be proud of today. These Police Academy grounds are truly hallowed grounds. Every Mulholland City Police Officer Since 1931 has graduated here at this Academy. To you family, friends and loved ones of these graduating recruits…a very special welcome to this Academy on this most special day in the lives of the graduating officers," Police Chief Barstow said as he stood behind the podium, looking over the graduating class, the Academy Staff and the invited guests of family, friends and… others.
Angela Rosas, sits on her folding chair and looks out over the crowd. This wasn't the path she thought she'd take. She always wanted to be a Cop, but the Physical Agility Test always got in the way. She just couldn't get over that wall and make the time! That no longer matters! Today, Rosas is graduating and in a few minutes, she will be a policewoman.
The Chief goes on to explain, "It is to these recruit officers that I wish to speak. As I stand here at the end of my career and you at the beginning of yours, I want to congratulate and encourage you in your commitment to law enforcement, the MCPD and our allied agencies. You are embarking on a journey of work few others have the chance, or even the ability to take. And my hope for you is that 35 years from now, you will know as much pride, satisfaction and fulfillment in your lives in law enforcement as I've known in mine with the Mulholland City Police Department."
A few seats down, a face sticks out in the crowd of graduates. A face that fits in and at the same time… doesn't fit in! Keith Jackson, barely made the height requirement, wears glasses and was also a victim of the dreaded wall and Physical Agility Test, just coming in fifteen seconds under the required time. Had Jackson come in one second over the required time, he wouldn't be a cop, but he was the last one in and his time was fifteen seconds under! That's why Jackson tells people, "I might have just made it by fifteen seconds, buy they're a very important fifteen seconds.
Jackson fiddles with his white gloves as the hot sun beats down on all the uniforms on the Parade Grounds. Rosas looks over at Jackson and smiles. She and Jackson made it through the class together, Rosas being one of only six women in the class. Jackson got her through the book stuff, but it was Rosas who pushed Jackson to run faster and jump higher after class was over and on the weekends when they would self-train. Rosas smiles at Jackson and he nods towards the crowd.
There is a little girl sitting in the front row of the visitors section. She is seven years old, wearing a white dress with pink flowers around the hem and a pink ribbon around her waist, her feet dangling and not touching the ground. Daniella Rosas is Angela's daughter. Daniella smiles at her mother and waves at Mom when no one is looking. All Rosas can do is give a tight lipped smile and a wink, but that's all Daniella needs. Danielle lights up, smiles and yells, "MOMMY!" and blows a kiss to Rosas.
"Police work is work full of challenge and opportunity. The Mulholland City Police Department is an organization of almost unlimited opportunities for you personally to go after whatever challenges you want to take on! You are soon going to be exposed to almost all of it. Take it all in and look for the challenge that fires you up. What will you want to do…work gangs, narcotics, vice? Befriend a neighborhood; help solve everyday problems? Handle dogs, work traffic, ride motorcycles, ride bicycles; sleep days work nights, fly helicopters? Investigate murders, or robberies; work property, white collar or computer crimes? The question is one you will ponder your entire time here… WHAT WILL YOU DO!
"Kick a lot of ass and tap a lot of ass is what I'm a do!" Nicky Vincennes says under his breath, but just loud enough for the graduate sitting next to him to laugh! One seat next to Nick sits Jimmy Sorvino, but two street smart guys that made their way from New York City looking for "fun in the sun" of Southern California.
"Holy shit," Sorvino spits out, "Is this ever gonna end?"
Nicky smirks and says through his teeth, "Easy now…"
"I know, but it's fuckin' hot out here!" Sorvino fires back.
"Whatever your challenge is, look for the opportunities and prepare yourself. At every step along the way, work at doing the task you're in, perform it to the best of your ability and demand that it be done well!" Chief Barstow speaks with conviction as he looks out over the green field that is filled with dark blue uniforms.
"All right, enough of this shit! When do we get to shoot somebody?" Sorvino asks.
"Sssssshhhh before you get us in trouble!" Vincennes blurts out while trying to keep his Academy face.
"We can't get in trouble. Can we?" Sorvino says as he leans into Vincennes.
At the same time on the other side of the graduating class, Angela smiles and has never felt more proud. In her mind, she thinks back to important moments of her life, graduating high school, winning a track meet, getting married, having a baby and holding her daughter for the first time and showering the baby with kisses. Those moments, those thoughts make Rosas smile bigger when she hears the Chief say "Graduating class! All rise!"
Rosas snaps out of her thoughts as her and the entire class stand up as a unit.
"Drill Instructor!" Chief Barstow yells as he stands at attention behind the podium, "Dismiss Class One-Four-Six for the last time!"
The Drill Instructor steps out in front of the class, stands at attention and barks out, "Class One-Four-Six!"
The Drill instructor is about to bark out his final order for the class when a loud explosion goes off to the rear of the visitors seating and shatters the most important moment of tradition for the graduates.
"What the hell?" yells Vincennes.
Sorvino pulls his weapon with his left hand, kneels and smiles as he yells, "This it! Let's get it on!"
Jackson is on the other side of the class formation with Rosas and he does what instinct dictates... he drops to the ground, face down in the grass and covering his head with his hands.
Machine gun fire rings out to the back of the stadium as a dozen men in black clothing with black ski masks and body armor storm the stadium. The visitors, the civilians try to run. Cops in the crowd regroup and start to fire back, but out on the Parade Field, Rosas can only see one thing, one person, her daughter, Daniella who is screaming while she covers her ears with both hands and cries at the same time.
Rosas pulls her service weapon and does what any mom would do out of instinct, she starts to run towards her daughter. She wants to grab Daniella, scoop her up in her arms and protect the both of them, but the armed attackers are deep into the stadium. Bullets fly every where, people are running and screaming for help as police officers try to regroup from the surprise attack on their most sacred ground.
Rosas runs across the Parade Grounds and heads straight towards Daniella when the leader of the armed men, a six foot, muscular man, all dressed in black armed with a Kalashnikov machine gun lets loose a burst of machine gun fire into the thickest part of the civilian crowd. Bodies fall to the ground and scatter everywhere! Rosas can see Daniella on one side of the crowd and the machine gun shooting leader of the attackers on the other side. Rosas raises her pistol and draws down on the large man in body armor. Rosas aims for his head, she has the headshot and is about to fire when…
A machine gun blast hits Daniella in the chest. Her tiny body flies through the air and lands on the green grass. Her white and pink dress is splattered with dark red blood as her face stares up at the sky and blood starts to trickle out of the left side of her mouth.
Rosas yells "NOOOOOOOO!"
Rosas collapses to her knees and looks up at the sky still yelling when….
There is a strange silence.
Everything in the stadium seems to freeze.
Rosas is sitting in a police car. Jackson is sitting behind the wheel of the car and is sipping a cup of coffee and talking to her at the same time.
"Soooooo?" he looks for answer, but is only met with silence.
"Rosas, what do you think?" he raises his voice.
"I huh… I huh… I don't know,"
Jackson starts the car and puts it in drive, "Yeah, well… I'm thinking we get sushi!"
The car slowly drives up San Dimas Street and they make their way through the darkest, most dangerous streets in Mulholland City. Rosas looks out the passenger side window and looks extremely confused.
"Exotic, Exhilarating and Exclusive", Lee says with a smile, "That's the promo and theme for our main park. That's Westworld."
Lee Sizemore is seated in a chair and talking in front of a camera, "Enticing, Extraordinary and Everyone's" That's the promo and theme for our expansion park, Copworld. Now at an affordable price, you too can live without limits. We wanted to open up the Westworld experience to everyone. Copworld is a meticulously crafted and affordable park offering an immersive contemporary world where not only do you have the freedom to become who you've always wanted to be or who you never knew you were, but now, you don't have to be mega-rich to afford the experience of a vacation destination where "No impulse is taboo."
The host looks at Sizemore and asks, "Are you saying this is a poor man's Westworld?"
"There's nothing poor about a Delos production," a slightly annoyed Sizemore answers, "Why not open amazing narratives and exciting adventures to a wider audience? The ticket price of five hundred dollars a day, allows hard working moderate income guests to experience not just a once in a life time ride, but opens up the chances of repeat visits to the park. A returning customer is a happy customer! If Westworld proves anything, it proves that, eighty-five percent of Westworld guests return to the park and that Delos must be doing something right! We believe at an affordable price, returning guests will force the Delos Team to work harder with new and exciting advancements in Host technology and greater adventures in narratives! In other words, by lowering the price… we've just made our jobs harder!"
A reporter in the back of the room pops up and asks, "Why Copworld? Why Cops?"
"Every kid wants to play Cowboys and Indians. Every kid wants to play Cops and Robbers. Now you can do both," says Sizemore.
"You said there are new Host Technologies," asks another reporter, "What are they?"
"A guest will not be able to tell the difference between the host and another guest." Sizemore stands as he speaks and uses a remote to change the images on the screen behind him, "In the past, the hosts were always the background player and attendant of the guests needs. Our new hosts will be able to make choices that will change the narrative. Before the guest made all the decisions, now hosts can too! This will make the world more realistic and at the same time give us more control of the narrative."
"What kind of narratives are available?" asks a reporter.
"That my friend… you will have to experience to find out!" Sizemore smiles and leaves the stage with his team. The reporters all yelling and clamoring to get one last question in, but Sizemore and company rush out as fast as they can and never look back.
Rosas and Jackson are sitting in their police car. Rosas is driving and pulls up to their favorite breakfast spot, JOHN'S COFFEE SHOP is well lit, thanks to it's famous neon on sign and more famous for being known as a Mulholland City P.D. hang out. Mostly, because of it being a close two blocks from the cities Communications Center and even more so for having the best breakfast burrito in downtown Mulholland City. Everybody connected to the city, eats at John's!
"There's no parking!" Rosas complains as she looks for a vacant spot.
"Use your P.D. privilege, park right there!" Jackson lets out.
"That's a Red Zone!" Rosas fires back!
"Who cares? We're crime fighters. We deserve a little parking violation bend every once in a while!" Jackson explains with a smile.
"You can't park a police car in a NO PARKING ZONE!" Rosas says as she slows the car down in front of the space.
"Are you kidding me?" Jackson snarls, "I want to eat breakfast before it's time for lunch! Just park it."
Rosas shakes her head "No", but parallel parks the cop car anyway. They gear up and head into the coffee shop.
Cross town, a beat up, green, '75 Chevy Impala speeds over the Sixth Street Bridge.
One block before the bridge, Vincennes and Sorvino sit in their police car as the green Impala speeds past. "What are you waiting for?" yells Vincennes!
Sorvino hits the gas and the police car peels out, chirping the tires as they make the right turn on to the bridge. "Light 'em up!" Sorvino yells as he leans harder on the gas pedal and weaves the car in and out of traffic trying to catch up to the Chevy! Vincennes hits the lights and sirens as they fall in behind the green car.
Sorvino yells, "Radio! Radio! Radio!"
Vincennes picks up the microphone and click the button, "Six-A-Eighteen. We're in pursuit! Adam, Charles, David, eight-one-eight, east bound on the Sixth Street Bridge!"
The dispatcher's voice rings out over all department radios, "All units, all frequencies, Six-A-Eighteen is in pursuit on Adam, Charles, David, eight-one-eight, Adam, Charles, David, eight-one-eight, a nineteen-seventy-five, Chevrolet Impala, color green, east bound on the sixth street bridge!"
Rosas and Jackson are sitting at the counter inside John's when they hear the call go out, Jackson looks at Rosas, "Let's go!"
Rosas yells out, "John, keep these warm for us!" as they grab their hats and run out the door.
Rosas takes two steps out of John's and notices a white male in a blue suit taking video of both her and Jackson as they run out of the coffee shop and get into their squad car.
"What the hell is that about?" Rosas yells as she jumps behind the wheel.
"Who gives a shit! Let's roll, baby!" Jackson yells, "This is what I'm paying, five-hundred a day for!" as he leans over and hits the lights and sirens. Rosas slams the car into drive and with her right foot, punches the gas pedal! The police car bolts down the street.
Jackson picks up the microphone and yells, "Six-A-Twelve, enroot!"
Sorvino and Vincennes are on top of the green Chevy! "He's good this one, he is good!" Sorvino yells as he movies the car through the streets of the warehouse district.
"We're off the bridge now! We're headed for South San Pedro Street!" Vincennes yells into the radio as Sorvino drives!
Rosas & Jackson pull out on to San Pedro Street, nearly hitting Sorvino and Vincennes, "Too close, damn it!" Sorvino yells as he pulls the wheel to the right so the police cars don't hit.
Jackson screams in the radio, "We can pit him, we can pit him!"
Vincennes fires back over the radio, "Take him!"
Rosas slams the pedal to the floor and the squad car flies past the green Chevelle. Soon as she gets into position she nudges the wheel to the left and her squad car slides into the path of the passenger side, front corner of the Chevy Chevelle. Two large "thuds" are heard as Rosas fights to control the squad car as the Chevelle makes contact on the initial hit and then bounces around after the second hit.
Sorvino pulls his car up to the rear of the Chevelle, both Sorvino and Vincennes open their car doors with guns drawn as Sorvino yells, "Put your hand where we can see them and do not move!"
The passengers of the car both slowly stick their hands out the windows. Rosas and Jackson are on the passenger side of the car with their guns drawn. "Now, slowly, turn off your car, take the keys out of the ignition and drop them out the window!"
The driver does so exactly and as soon as the keys hit the ground, all four cops rush the car. "Yank em out!" Rosas yells as she runs towards the cars.
Both teams of cops move in on the green Chevelle with their guns drawn and as Vincennes gets closer on their side of the vehicle, Jackson on his side.
Jackson yells, "We clear?"
"Take em!" Rosas yells and with that Vincennes & Jackson holster their weapons, rip open the car doors and go hands on the two suspects.
They grab both suspects by their shirts and toss them down on the ground as Rosas and Sorvino move with their guns drawn. Jackson and Sorvino pull the suspects arms behind their backs and slap hand cuffs on them.
Jackson yells "Secure!" and the others holster their weapons.
Sorvino steps up to the two suspects that cuffed and face down on the ground and asks, "Driving a little fast now, won't you boys? Where you going in such a hurry? WAIT! More important, what's in that car that we should know about that's making you drive in such a hurry?"
Vincennes smirks as Sorvino paces around the suspects. Vincennes grabs his walkie and clicks the transmit button, "Six-A-Eighteen, all units are code four, suspects in custody."
"Now, let's toss this sucker!" Sorvino says with a smirk on his face.
Vincennes, Rosas and Jackson move on the car. Rosas starts on the driver side front seat, Jackson on the passenger side back seat and Vincennes goes right for the trunk.
"Rosas, keys!" yells Vincennes.
Rosas grabs the keys out of the ignition and walks to the back of the car. She sticks the key into the trunk of the 1972 Chevelle and when it pumps open, Rosas lets out a calm, but awestruck, "Oh shit..."
The other cops move to the back of the car and look into the trunk. There are bags of money, hundred dollar bills in stacks and a few loose all inside black, plastic, garbage bags.
Sorvino just shakes his head and lets out, "Daaaaamn…."
The Map Room is under going significant changes as a team of technicians installs a long platform along the wall on the south side of the room. Control Room Technicians on one end where the platform is completed are installing a long desk that can sit seven supervisors with terminals built into the console.
Charlotte Hale watches every move that each technician makes. Step by step she follows them with her eyes and watches as the console goes from a desk into a governing, electronic, command center to monitor the room, the 3D-map and the staff that monitors the map. Since the creation of the expansion park, COPWORLD, there are three circular, 3D-maps in the room. Charlotte smiles as the technicians work and the half the room lighting changes color, WESTWORLD is cloaked in red light, whole COPWORLD is lit what else, but blue light. A bright shaft of white light enters the room through the wall that is in the middle of both maps and a voice, Charlotte knows too well is heard.
"Putting in a Salad Bar, are we?" sarcastically asks Lee Sizemore as he enters the Map Room.
"I said you could write the narrative of anything that you liked," Charlotte snaps back, "I didn't say you'd have autonomous control over it!"
"Thanks, love, but..." Sizemore stops walking and looks down on the COPWORLD map as he speaks, "What do you think the narratives do? NOT keep control?" Sizemore smirks.
"All Map Techs, including Narrative Creators will now be monitored from The Bridge." Charlotte says without looking at Sizemore.
"The Bridge?" Sizemore asks, "Couldn't get a more obvious lift from a Star Trek episode, could you?"
"Not at all," Charlotte says as she turns and faces Sizemore, "The Bridge between Delos Upper Management and Delos Park Management. Park Management will no longer be allowed to control the decision making process in scenario that arises in the parks."
"Any scenario?" Sizemore snarks.
"No longer does it matter if it is a Real Time Scenario or a Narrative Scenario, if it happens in a Delos Park, Delos Upper Management will have final say on everything," Charlotte announces with an authority that Sizemore has never seen.
"Interesting… and how will Upper Management know what it is real and what.. it is… that I have created?" Sizemore stares Charlotte in the eyes as he finishes his sentence.
"We know what we're thinking, we know what you are thinking and…" Charlotte places her hand on Sizemore's cheek, "We know what we want you to be thinking."
Sizemore says nothing, but looks into Charlotte's eyes.
A small beeping alarm sounds as a white light shines down from the ceiling and on to a section of the COPLAND map. Mulholland City is in 3D as the light comes down and Map Manager Deveroe announce, "We have an Ethics Alert in Mulholland Narrative twenty-one-twelve!"
"Bring it up in Real Time, please." Charlotte says as she is still looking Sizemore in the eye.
Deveroe clicks on his IPad controller and the map rises into a 3D version of the scene on the street. Rosas, Sorvino, Vincennes and Jackson are staring down into the trunk of the car with all the money in the back.
"What's the big deal?" Sizemore asks, "Where did that alert come from?"
"New Fail-Safe mode, Charlotte smiles, "No narrative changing decisions will be made unless they are monitored by a Delos Upper Management Supervisor."
"That's what the desk is for?" asks Sizemore.
"Welcome to COPWORLD, a division of Delos, "Charlotte's smile vanishes from her face.
"This isn't what I negotiated," Sizemore announces.
"It is and will stay in place in all further contracts, what Ford created will never rear it's ugly head again," Charlotte explains as she leans into Sizemore and kisses him on the lips.
"And what's that?" asks Sizemore in a hushed, seduced voice.
"Autonomy," Charlotte whispers, "Autonomy."
The two Hispanic men are now seated on the burb with their hands behind their back and their hands cuffed. Sorvino, Rosas and Vincennes are off to one side of the cuffed men and are arguing. Jackson watches the two men with his hand on his sidearm. He watches them closely with the occasional glance at his fellow officers. The trunk on the green Chevelle is still wide open. The sound of traffic from the nearby freeway is heard and occasionally a raised voice from the three arguing cops is heard.
"Man, you got nothing on us. Why you doing this?" asks the driver of the Chevelle.
"Keep your mouth shut!" Jackson blurts back.
Jackson is staring at the cops as the two cuffed men start talking in Spanish.
"Hey!" Jackson yells, "Knock off that Latino shit! Shut it!"
Both men stop speaking, but look at each other. They both look scared, but not scared at the same time. Jackson notices this and cocks his head as he stares at the cuff men. Sorvino steps up behind him.
"Nice work, cowboy!" Sorvino smiles as he talks.
"Thanks," Jackson says, "But, there's something not right about these two."
Sorvino puts his hand on Jackson's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. I know what to do with these two."
"Really?" Jackson asks, "What?"
"Don't worry about it." Sorvino says as he stares at the two cuffed men, "Head back to the car and make sure they know it's all Code Four. I'll handle the rest."
Jackson does what he is told as Sorvino approaches the two cuffed men and as he walks towards them he motions Vincennes and Rosas to join him.
"Boys," Sorvino smirks as he speaks, "Do you understand English?"
Rosas and Vincennes are now standing behind the two cuffed men.
The driver answers, "Yeah, sure."
"Good!" Sorvino says and looks at the cops, "Stand 'em up!"
Rosas and Vincennes lifts the Hispanic men up by their arms and remain standing behind them.
"Follow me!" Sorvino yells as they cross back to the green Chevelle. They all stand around the car, looking down on the money in the trunk.
Sorvino pushes the driver's shoulder, just enough so that he didn't fall, but enough to grab his attention, "You got two choices, either go to jail and we impound the car and the money. I'm sure your bosses down in Columbia or Caracas or whatever shithole you crawled out of won't like that or…" he steps closer to both men and gets in their faces, "Or we let you keep the car, we don't arrest you and we let you go… of course we keep the money."
The driver looks Sorvino in the eye, "This is bullshit, man. I want to talk to a lawyer!"
"We could do that. We really could do that," Sorvino says, "Now, I want option number two, but there is also option number three."
"Three?" asks the driver, "What's number three?"
There's a loud "BOOM" heard from the car, the trunk is slammed! Sorvino stares the driver in the eye.
END OF CHAPTER 1
10