"Sheldonopolis…"
Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?
Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper
Calvin Cooperson, his son…
Senator Hofstadter, opposition leader… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter
Rotwolowitz, the inventor…
Tom Rossikivich, aide to Warren Rick Howard, the engineer
Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski
Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler
Penny/Futura, her android double…
The Creative Man…
Death…
The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress
The Thin Man… Name withheld by request
Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer
Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski
Georgy…
September, mysterious owner of Yoshiwara's…. Stuart Bloom
Ted, former US Senator and leader of Droog marauder band in 2030…
Warren Rick, former governor of Texas, City Councilor…
Minister Flemm… Toby Loobenfeld
Part XXV…
("Sheldon…" Amy eyeing him during the break… "You were…" she shook her head.
"Wasn't he, bestie?" turn to a somewhat annoyed Penny…
God, this was supposed to be an acting exercise for me and here these guys are all…Ok…Ok… She sighed at Amy's expectant, innocent face.
"He was, bestie…" nod. "Great job, there, Cooperson."
Well, at least I handled that scene well…She thought ruefully.
"Sheldon, terrific job…" Bernadette had come over with Howard. "And Leonard…Where is he?"
"Stuart's helping him with the makeup for his big death scene and Toby's showing him the 'right way to die'." Penny sighed.
Yep…Even my Hobbity lil' Leonard, actin' the pants off me.
But ok…Ok…I was good as the saintly heroine…And I have the robot coming up…I can deal…I'll be fine.
"People…A terrific job." Howard, nodding. "But lets get back to it, chop, chop."
"We ought to get him a monocle like Fritz Lang's…" Bernadette grinned. "He'd look so dashing."
"Yeah, just like one of the Jewish actors on the old 'Hogan Heroes' trying to play a Nazi while holding his stomach down." Howard, shrugging. "But seriously, thanks. And even more seriously…We have the light! Places!")
2030 holographic reenactment in the Rotwolowitz holographic chamber…
"Slim?" Sheldon called at the insert of the Thin Man on the vast screen before him… "You can get to Hel?!"
"One of my agents is going through the Heart Machine Core chamber, the maintenance corridor around the Core, she should emerge just by the main doors. " the Thin Man noted.
"If she opens the doors…If they get in…" Howard stood, stunned.
"It's a risk…" theThin Man agreed. "But I can't get more people through that way in time…My agents and the Dalek units will charge them when she comes through and distracts them, hopefully she'll be able to reseal the Core, get Hel and the Senator free… Or we'll reach them. But it is a risk, sir…If we open the main doors…Even for an instant…"
"We'll have to take that chance…" Sheldon, grim nod. "Go…Make it so."
(Pause…All the guys, Stuart included reverently staring at Sheldon who bore a transcendent look of exhaltation…
We've waited our whole lives for one of us to be able to say that on film.)
"Sheldon?" Howard eyed him.
"As you said, Howard…I'm the Administrator for a reason…" Sheldon, coolly.
"Not even Hel's life…" Howard paused.
"Do it, Slim!" Sheldon called. The Thin Man, a tight nod on the screen…
A sudden burst of gunfire and a modest explosion at the main door to the great Core of the Heart…Which opened to reveal a slight young woman in worker uniform, bearing gun and another grenade which she tossed, the workers close to her scattering as the great door closed before they could rally…
"Thank God…" Howard, eyeing the secured door…As a burst of gunfire and sounds of the Daleks firing their weapons while shrieking "Surrender!" The crowd screaming in rage and terror…
"Hurry…" the female agent had reached Hel, shooting one startled worker holding Hel and shoving back the other, only to be shot herself before she could cut Hel's bonds.
But the Daleks had now surged ahead and the Thin Man's agents were flooding into the hall before the great door to the Heart Machine…Many workers scattering, many standing their ground…While Hel, bound but free of guards, tried to reach Senator Hofstadter, still held by a panicked and enraged worker…
"Hel!" Howard called to the screen… "Get out of there!"
The images of the hall now jumbled and confused, a couple of portions of the vast screen going blank…More screams and cries, firing…
"Surrender! Surrender! Surrender! The Administrator demands your Surrender!" numbers of the Dalek units forcing their way along shrieked…
"Senator!" Hel had reached the Senator, his guard swinging him to use to protect himself from the bullets and electron beams flying about…The guard moving to strike her down but shot by the Thin Man who in the midst of the fighting on the hall floor had looked to see him moving at Hel.
"Go…" Hofstadter cried to Hel as she struggled to help him stay on his feet even as he sank to the ground, shot several times in the abdomen. She knelt by him as several agents managed to break through the howling, now panicking mob to her.
"There has to be a heart as well as a head in this…" Hofstadter groaned to Hel… Looking up at her… "Or it will all end in tears…Tell Cooperson…Tell him…" he groaned and was still.
"Get her, Slim!" Howard called. "Get her out of there!"
"Slim!" Sheldon called…
"We've got her…The workers are retreating!" the Thin Man's tense face appearing on screen… "I think we've broken them, sir." He gasped.
"Finish them! Daleks! Destroy the rebels!" Howard called to the screen.
"Belay that order!" Sheldon cried loudly. "Authorization Cooper 101 Kirk…Demand surrender!"
"Order aborted…!" several Daleks shrieked… "Surrender!…"
Howard glaring at Sheldon… "These scum have given up any claim they had on us…They're not human beings, they're animals!"
"That's enough, Howard!" Sheldon insisted. "Take Dr. Rotwolowitz back to his seat!" he commanded to two staffers who approached a fuming Howard.
(Bernadette blinking at a stunned, awed Amy…
Where the hell did that…?)
"Slim! Have you got Hel? Hofstadter?" Sheldon turned back to the image of the Thin Man, hunched and tense on screen. Howard, upright in chair, waiting…
"We have her, sir…She's safe!" cry… "But…Senator Hofstadter is dead…I'm sorry, sir."
"Sheldon!" Hel's face by the Thin Man… "Call your troops off, the workers are running!…It's over!"
"Slim! Tell them to surrender!" Sheldon called… "Put me through there! Do you have any of the leaders?!"
"Hel!" Howard called from his chair, rising slightly under the guards' watchful eyes…
"Sheldon! Stand down your people!" Hel cried.
"We have you patched through, sir!" the Thin Man, next to her.
Sheldon pulling up microphone handed to him by assistant, his voice ringing out over various speakers and through the Dalek units. "Citizens! Drop your weapons! Surrender and you won't be harmed! Surrender now!"
"Helga!" Howard tried again…
Knots of workers clustering in fear now, surrounded by Daleks and human security agents…Some dropping weapons, others hesitating…
"Surrender!" Sheldon repeated to the microphone. "An amnesty is declared for those who surrender immediately! If that's not accepted in one minute the attack will resume!"
"Tell your people to give it up…" the Thin Man addressed a captured, disshelved woman in torn worker uniform… "You there, tell your people to drop all weapons…Hands in the air. No one who surrenders will be harmed!" he addressed a short man being dragged to him by agents.
"Drop your weapons!" the woman called…The man, hesitating a moment then joining in… "It's over, people…It's over!" he called.
"Return to your homes! This area is sealed! A curfew is in effect starting immediately!" Sheldon called. "Any one not returning to the Workers' Quarters immediately will be arrested and maximum force Is authorized! Slim…?" he put down microphone, turning to address the Thin Man. "Get as many of the leaders rounded-up as you can. Keep the Daleks and your people on patrol. Don't press them too hard but see that they go back to the Workers' Quarters. Get medical teams in as soon as you can."
"Right, Administrator…" the Thin Man, a weary look. "We dodged the big one, sir." Wan smile.
"Yes."sigh. "The Senator?" Sheldon eyed him.
"There was nothing we could do, sir…I'm sorry."
"Sheldon? Have them get Hel outta there!" Howard called over.
"I'm not going anywhere…" Hel's face again by the Thin Man… "Not until I'm sure these people are safe."
"Hel, don't be foolish." Howard called. "Sheldon's sending in med teams…You've got to come back. Sheldon?"
"Hel…" Sheldon eyed Hel who stared at him, her blouse torn, she covered in grime and soot, a trickle of blood. "Tell them, I'm coming. I'll meet you all there."
She eyed him.
"I think that's a good idea, Sheldon. I'll be here with Slim." She nodded.
"No, Hel…" Howard protested…Rising…
"Slim? Get those leaders together…Hold them there, tell them I'm coming as soon as I can…"Sheldon nodded to the Thin Man.
"Yes, sir."
(And…Cut…Howard, sighing… "People. That was pretty damned good." He smiled.
"Lucy…My heart nearly stopped when you died just now at the Heart Machine door…" Raj, shaking head as Lucy beamed shyly.
"Sheldon…" Howard eyed him as Amy came over. "Damnit…You…All I can say is…Kirk could not have done it better."
Raj nodding…Yes… A Kirk level command performance, no doubt.
"Yeah. Very nice, Sheldon." Penny, eyeing him a bit grimly.
"Sheldon…" Amy stared. What? He blinked at her. "We're taking a fifteen minute break. Now. See ya, all!" she grabbed him, pulling him along. "Amy?" he stared at her as she pulled him, he looking about nervously for help…Leonard? "Just shhh and come on…" Amy commanded, leading him to her car.
Whoa…Leonard stared after them.
"Dude?" Raj eyed Leonard, then glanced to where Amy had firmly closed the door on Sheldon's side and was moving to the driver's side door…
"Yeah…I think so…" Leonard nodded, staring. Looking at Penny's grim face as she came to him.
"Quite a couple of scenes…" he began.
"Yeah."
"How'd you like…"
"You died good." Curt reply.
"Oh…"
"I mean it…You were brilliant." Slight thaw.
"Yes, you were Leonard…" Toby, in make-up, wearing padding, having come over, began…Gushing a bit…"I was wondering, about the next scene with my character. I need a little…"
"Toby. Later." Penny, coldly…Hard stare. "I'm busy with my boyfriend now. Go suck up to our director." Toby, blinking a bit…Then off to where Howard was hugging Bernadette.
"Penny? Is something…?" Leonard, sheepishly. "Look, your big moments are yet to…"
"Enough. Sheldon was…Layably good." Penny grimly. "How could Sheldon be that good?"
"Layably? Does that mean what…"
"Yeah. Even me." Grim tone. "And you stop trying to watch Amy give us visible proof of that. We need to talk." She folded arms…
Layably good? Leonard blinked…
"All right, explain to me what 'He channeled Wrath of Khan Kirk' means…In detail." She eyed him sternly.)
….
On the upper floor of the unfinished New Tower of Babel, Amy was staring at her computer screen on which was displayed the feed from the central office…Breathing heavily as she watched.
"Did you see that?" her neighbor, looking over… "Do you think he's really going there?"
"Yes…" Amy nodded…Rising. "I have to get back down, I think I'm needed." She hurried for the elevator…A high-speed bullet tube design…
A man following her onto the elevator…By appearance an office worker, bespectacled in early forties, but somehow…Not really quite of the same mold as most…A bit burly and well-muscled, despite a clear effort to seem to fit in with suit and tie…
"You saw…" he turned to her as soon as the doors had closed.
"It's over…" Amy shook her head.
"No…" he eyed her coolly. "It's not over until Cooperson is dead and this damned City of his is rubble…"
"Don't be a fool…" she glared. "There's no way that will help our people now. All we can do now is try to save as many as possible."
"Our people are dead or about to die…But we'll take…" he paused as the elevator reached the temporary office floor of the Administrator, doors opening…Amy hurrying out.
"It's not over!" the man called…The doors closing…
….
The Machine District, corridor to the Heart Machine Power Core complex…
Where a phalanx of guards, then minor assistants and flunkeys, finally the small group of Cooperson, an anxious, angry Rotwolowitz, senior assistants…
Amy, as quietly as possible, making her way among them…Having quickly seized an opportunity to take over from a terrified older assistant only too glad to remain behind…She entering dictation from a mid-level manager at breakneck pace as the group hurried along…
"Damage to sectors G-1, corridor 5…Ceiling, debris…Are you getting this down?" the manager eyed her as they hurried to keep pace with Sheldon and his inner circle…
"Yes, Minister Flemm…" Amy nodded, texting away at her recorder. "Pulling stats data on repair times…Resource allocation…"
"Good, good…" he nodded. Flemm a short, somewhat self-important, harassed-looking type, eyeing the group in front of them. "The Administrator will be demanding a full report after …Whatever he intends to do here…"
"Yes, sir…" Amy nodded, fingers flying, addressing her recorder/computer…
"Can't see the point of us all…" Flemm frowned…
The group ahead halting…Pulling to the side to let a group of workers, hands raised, sheparded by a human agent and two Dalek units, pass to their right along the corridor…
"Prison or the Outlands…Too good for them…" Flemm glared. As Amy tried to edge ahead to see what was happening…Calls, a few shouts…Harsh Dalek mechanized voices faintly calling… "Forward!" she heard distinctly, then impossible to clearly hear…
"Can't see why we all had to…" Flemm began…
"Minister? It might be more efficient if you returned to the Tower and I went on with the group. I can record all damage reports for the division…" Amy noted…
"What?" Flemm, eyeing the woman carefully…
No stranger to the bureaucratic infight…He can instinctively spot a potential rival…Even famed for his skill in that department, if not always in running his own…
Still, just an eager young woman…That new one, just down from the upper levels…Yes…
And God, not the best place for doing repair analysis…Especially with sounds of possible continuing fighting up ahead…
Yes, far more efficient to return to the office and get the junior staff collect the data.
And the Administrator demands efficiency.
"Are you sure you can make a full account?" he eyed Amy.
"Done it before sir…And I know the area here…" she noted. "I did a cost-benefit analysis on the new worker uniforms in this section for Mr. Cooperson just a week ago…"
"I see. Good…Yes…Very well, I shall return to the Tower. Make sure you make a full evaluation." Flemm nodded, turning and signaling to several very relieved junior staff who turned with him…All hurrying back from whence the group had come…
She watched them, then turned and hurried to catch up to Sheldon's main group, taking photos and texting data as she did so.
Up ahead, the group around Cooperson was moving slowly now…As if cautiously feeling its way…
Amy noted some minor damage to corridor doors and pushed up to where the group around Sheldon now awaited his orders…
He ordering a pause at the Thin Man's request, just voiced over cell. A few more minutes of street clearing and a chance to bring in a few more security teams to guard the area and Sheldon Cooperson's semi-sacred person being a minimal necessity…
She slipped carefully into the inner circle…Trying not to attract notice.
"You there…" Sheldon eyed her…
She blinked, freezing…
"Miss? You do work for me, right?" he frowned…
"Uh…Yes, sir…" she blinked, moving toward him… "I'm actually…"
"You spoke up in my office, a little while ago…" he noted. "You sympathize with the workers." A flat statement.
"Uh…"
Various staffers and assistants and managers eyeing her now…A very few with sympathy, most with indifferent interest, a few eager to relieve their tension in a crisis situation by watching a kill…
"Stay by me…I may want your opinion on the situation." He nodded.
She stared…
"Yes, Mr. Cooperson…" she barely choked out…
"Sheldon? We have to get Hel outta there." Howard stepped over to Sheldon. "Enough's enough…It's too dangerous…They know who she is… You should have had your stooge there pull her out."
"She wanted to stay…And that 'stooge' and his efforts just saved this City." Sheldon eyed him.
"With some help from my Daleks." Howard noted, coldly.
"Don't ever try to countermand my orders again, Howard." Sheldon eyed him. "If those Daleks of yours had staged a massacre we could have had the whole City in revolt."
"Thanks for the appreciation." Howard, coldly. "I'll try to remember in future that you don't need my help."
"I believe it was Hel you were supposed to be concerned about?" Sheldon eyed him.
"And that is supposed to mean, what? Exactly?" Howard stared.
"It means we have better things to do right now than argue over Hel and hero's credit…And she would agree…" He noted.