"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…
Councilor Firme, 2031 Councilor 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 Person…
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….
Councilor Layton, 2031 Councilor
Bruce Stuart Wayne, 2056 Councilor Stuart Bloom (you want me to do this for a free lunch, I'm Bruce Wayne)
Ted, former US Senator and leader of Droog marauder band in 2030…
Warren Rick, former governor of Texas, City Councilor…
Minister Flemm…
Councilor Romney, 2031 Councilor
Brent Adelsen Kocher, 2056 Opposition Leader/Councilor Toby Loobenfeld
Part XXXV…
Shuffling along wearily, a long line of exhausted workers from Calvin's shift trudged into what Calvin, lifting head for a moment from his view of the ground before him, saw was a vast cavern chamber, lit by hundreds of candles. The chamber, crudely expanded from an enormous old city cistern into a sort of amphitheater, had been whitewashed and gleamed in the light of the candles. At its wide rear, a sort of stage had been carved out of the rock beyond the old cistern tank, with several stands set up bearing various religiously themed items…A Christian cross and open New Testament on, a Jewish six-pointed star and Torah scroll in fine antique gilded box, a beautifully bound Koran on stand on fine blue and gold cloth, Buddhist figures around a Pali Canon and various Sutra manuscripts, figures of Hindu gods about a collection of Vedas. But his attention for these curiosities, rarely seen in Sheldonopolis outside of museums and the very few religiously consecrated buildings like the Mary Cooperson Temple for the Terminally Christian, vanished like mist as the angelic figure for whom he'd hunted for so many days now appeared, alone, on the stage, climbing up with the assistance of an elderly female worker. Calvin hastily took the first open seat on a long slab of rock filling with other workers, ignoring everything the vision before him.
"PENNY!" a chorus from the workers collected around the stage. An eager, if deferential cry…
Whoa…I knew she must be quite a girl, but…Calvin thought. So, I've been chasing a worker superstar…
Wonder if that would kill some of the whammy for Dad of loving a worker clone?
"My brothers and sisters…" she raised hands. "Today I shall tell you another tale common in all the world's religions…"
("She ought to say…'Worlds'…We should reach out to aliens as well…" Sheldon noted. "Sheldon…" Leonard sighed. "I tried to include everyone, can't we just assume alien faiths are represented?" "We could…If you'd written 'worlds' in the script." "Assume it's a typo and remove the apostrophe, Sheldon." Howard glared. "Roll 'em…" sigh.)
"…the story of the Tower of Babel."
Above the workers, in one side tunnel leading to the upper section of the vast chamber, Rotwolowitz and Cooperson had found their goal and an opening in the rock, allowing them to peer out, to see and hear the remarkable young woman who seemed to hold the workers in thrall with her words…
"Isn't that the place where the sacred Administrator lives in the sky?" a worker hissed to Calvin, seated next to him.
"I think she means the old Tower of Babel…" Calvin, kindly.
"That's the woman Slim's had reports of…" Sheldon frowned…
Howard unable to take his eyes off her…
Such purity of soul, shining in her eyes…There's only one soul in the universe capable of…
"…Born, not invitro from parents of new line clones…He's said she's been leading unauthorized worker teaching groups, taking workers on visits to the upper city. This smells like subversion to me…" glare.
Rotwolowitz eyeing him…
The kid's sweetly preaching a few religious tales not ranting for violent revolt. Still…Nothing like making use of a little paranoia to accomplish one's ends…
And yet…He looked back…
At last…I have found her again…
Hel's soul, reborn…
And that fool Cooperson hasn't a clue…So…He loved Hel, eh? He wouldn't know the meaning of the word…
Except in the case of the two things I mean to take from him…His City and his son…
The Story of the Tower of Babel…
(Bernadette lowered the elegantly drawn title card… "Cut!.. and Lunch!" Howard called.
"Leonard…Do we have to call the designer the 'Creative…Man'?" Penny, still in her angelic Penny costume…Another of Leonard's remarkable eBay finds, a perfect match to Brigitte Helm's Maria costume.
"What…" Leonard, eyeing the loosened lace bindings on Penny's chest from her dress. So virginal, yet so… "Hmmn, what? The who the what?"
"I'm up here, Leonard." She frowned.
"I know that…I was just…Fascinated by how authentic that dress is…"
"Right…" Bernadette, smirking… "Howard?" she glared.
"Just wondering how you'd look in that, dear." He noted, hastily.
"Smokin'…See if you can get one in my size from Leonard's eBay supplier." She eyed him.
"I could get one, Sheldon…" Amy, eagerly.
"Why would you want that?" he blinked at her.
"So…?" Penny eyed Leonard. Ya wanna chance to redeem yourself with my angelic self, Calvin, boy? "Could you make the change? Howard, no biggie, right?"
"Well, it does go against our efforts to stay true to Lang…" he began.
"Like that huge backstory on Hel was part of the original movie…" Sheldon chortled.
Wow. Saved by Sheldon…Penny beamed. "Thanks, Sheldon. I'll see to it my worker rebels don't kill you for that." Grin.
"Were they going to?" Sheldon stared. "Leonard?!"
"No…Sheldon…Penny, it's ok by me…Creative Person is fine. Howard?"
"I guess…" shrug…
The artistic vision just keeps slipping away as the philistines keep gnawing. Well, Fritz…I tried…
"Can Rajesh's Thin Man argue his sensible plan for his security to crush the rebellion?" Lucy, suddenly, startling the group. "I mean if Penny and Bernadette can get their changes in…Rajesh should be able to show his character was competent and ready to take decisive action against the rebel scum." Firm stare…
"Yeah, fine…Why not?" Howard sighed. "We'll fit it in…"
"Thanks, honey…" Raj beamed.
"Lets be clear here…" Bernadette frowned. "Howard and Leonard thought Hel should have a back story, I didn't use my influence with the director to get more screen time. Though God knows if I had wanted to…" innocent look, raise of eye brows…Howard bowing…
Madam.)
Ancient Mesopotamia…Several thousand years before that nice Jewish rabbi appeared...
A group of elite yet creatively productive types sit in discussion…
"Surplus crop this year…" one notes.
"No war with the cannibals and marauders of the east…Life is good." Another leans back.
"Amen to whatever gods we're worshipping now as to that." A third beams.
"We oughta do something useful with the surplus…" a fourth voice intones…That of the Creative Person, in polka dot robes. Famed…Uh…Creative person.
"Like what? Another statue of the four of us…?" the third speaker, eagerly.
"A giant catapult to shoot a boulder to the Moon?" the first speaker, suggestively.
Just an idea, guys…We ought to be bold in exploration…To their various frowns…
"What do you think, Creative Person?" the second speaker, appreciatively.
Third, first persons rolling eyes…
Guess who's sleeping with Creative Person…
"Well…I was thinkin' about giving it back to our people, the peasant types who do all the work, since they've been starving this year despite the excellent harvest…?"
Uh…The other three eye each other…
Sounds Communist to me, even if we've no idea what Communism is and won't for about 5000 years…The third speaker thinks.
"Or…We could build a tower that will reach to the heavens and on it enscribe, 'Great is the World and its Creator…And Great is Man.'"
Hmmn…Nods all around.
Now you're talkin'…
"But…" Penny noted to the multitude before her… "Those who dreamed the dream could not build the Tower themselves…"
(God knows…The Creative Person thought, eyeing her comrades among the ancient Mesopotamian gang of four…)
"So they hired others to build it, from all over the world…That small part known then to Mesopotamia…For wages."
"Wages? Most of these guys were taken as slaves…" the third speaker notes happily… "What need to pay wages…?"
"Sounds good to me…" "No wages, no taxes..Yay!" the first and second speakers, respectively.
"Guys? I see potential for trouble here…" the Creative Person, sighing.
"Oh, please…" the third speaker shrugs. "The proles will never revolt…"
Cut to shot of groaning workers hauling huge blocks…
"Those who did the labor knew nothing of the dreams of the builders…" Penny noted to the rapt workers hanging on her words…
"While the dreamers did not concern themselves with the sufferings of the workers…Even when they spoke the same language neither under stood the other."
Cut to shot of the designers sitting happily around a model of the great Tower…
Cut to shot of sweating workers falling, being crushed under the huge blocks…
("Cut…!" Howard cried. "Bernie? You ok?" "Oh, sure, this thing's Styrofoam…" Bernadette shoving fake giant block away. "Raj? Leonard? You guys ok?"
"Oh…Sure…" Leonard groaning…
Damned heavy styrofoam, Raj, struggling with a block…
"Don't see why Rajesh couldn't be a supervisor…" Lucy, frowning to Howard. "This seems a bit stereotypical to me."
"Leonard and Howard are haulin' ass, too, Lucy…" Penny noted, a bit miffed. "And Leonard's even wearin' his Picard bald wig for authenticity."
So what's happened to Miss Wallflower…? Whisper…
"Love, I guess…" Leonard noted, dreamily beaming…
"Oh, shut up…" Penny frowned… "We're losin' that thing by the way after this…" She hissed to Leonard.
My Picard wig? Penny…
"This Tower won't build itself, people…Chop, chop…." Sheldon in Egyptian style headdress of a foreman.
"We're not recording dialogue for this bit, Sheldon…" Howard pointed out. "No need for the Capt Bligh bit…"
"He's just setting the mood." Amy insisted, setting down her block gently. "It's important for the integrity of the scene."
Jesus…Penny rolled eyes, sighing…
I think ours must be heavier…Leonard hissed to Rajesh.)
"The hymns of the few became drowned out by the cries of the many…Head and Hands did not speak to each other." Penny, shaking head…Eyeing the workers…
Cut to shot of angry workers screaming at the half-constructed Tower, shaking fists… The designers on the topmost completed level, led by the Creative Person, ignoring them to give hymns of praise…
Until…
Uh-oh…The designers looked to see the mob charging up the Tower stairs, tearing at the huge blocks…Clearly out for blood…
Cut to shot of the Tower model in ruins…The motto "Great is theWorld and its Creator-And Great is Man" a cruel mockery above it.
"Head and Hands cannot work alone, in isolation, unable to speak to each other…" Penny, somberly. "Between the Head and Hands there must be a Mediator…And that must be the Human Heart."
Hmmn…Calvin pondered …
Is that a ray of light mysteriously penetrating from above to shine upon me?
"Hey, buddy? Watch out for that torch chandelier above you…" a worker nudged him. "One of the torches fell out on Rollo, #32134 last time. He's still recovering from the burns."
"Oh…Thanks." Calvin moved slightly.
"Idiot thought God was choosing him to be Penny's mediator…Can you believe…?" the worker went on…
"Shhhh…!" cry …
Well, still…Divine choice or no, I do fit the mediator bill, Calvin thought. As the workers sadly pondered Penny's words. One speaking up…
"But where is our Mediator, Penny?"
"Don't worry…." She stretched out her hands, soulful look. "I believe He is among us even now…"
Oh, yeah…Oh, yeah…Calvin, beating breast…One mediator, comin' up…
If I can get Dad to listen, that is…
"…He will come. Be patient and wait for Him." She eyed the workers, several of whom showed anything on their faces but patience.
"We'll wait, Penny!" the William Dafoe-ish worker who'd guided Calvin cried. "But not for long!"
"Yeah!" cries…
Ungrateful wretches…After all I've done for them…Sheldon glaring angrily as he and Rotwolowitz watched from their opening…
Not killing them all yet and all…Despite the hard lessons learned from the human workers…Despite my poor Hel…
Well…They'd best learn they're clones and clones are useful only so long as they stay where they belong, follow orders religiously, and make no waves. They think they've got it bad now? Let them pull their little revolt…I'll show them what repression is once I get that goddamn foolish bunch of opposition Councilors good and panicked. We just need a little terrifying mob violence and I'll once again have a free hand to do as I will to save my City…
But this girl…This remarkable girl…Has them eating out of the palm of her hand…He pondered. And so long as she chooses to keep them quiet…Their cause will gain support in the Council. The dratted non-violent protest thing…
Well…Miss Eleanor Roosevelt Gandhi King…We will have to take charge of that message of yours…And twist it to our benefit…
"Rotwolowitz." He eyed Howard. "Give your robot the face and voice of this girl…" his eyes gleaming.
Hmmn…? Howard eyed him.
"She will lead the workers under my direction, sow discord, and destroy their faith in her. They'll see there Is no hope for them and revolt, allowing us to go forward with a final culling of living workers…Our City will be free of them at last, Howard. Hel will be avenged."
And they say I'm crazy? Howard blinked…
Oh, this couldn't be this easy…He repressed grin…
The workers were now filing out of the cavern…Penny speaking to a few in turn, bestowing gracious farewells to all…
Calvin alone staying in his place…Rotwolowitz now catching sight of him, recognizing him with a start…
And seeing his adoring look to Penny….
Ah, huh…I know that look of adoration…I've bestowed it on Hel enough times…He moved to cover the opening from Cooperson who was lost in his thoughts for the moment.
So…Calvin Cooperson and the Madonna of the Workers' City..
How nice…
How very nice…
And…Convenient…
"Cooperson? Sheldon? Leave me here now…You can find your way back." Howard eyed Sheldon sternly.
"Oh?" Cooperson eyed him… "You got this?"
"Worker leader, grab her, paste the face and voice on Futura…Have her deceive the workers and take charge of their movement, leading it to violence and destruction, yeah I got it…" nod.
Well…Cooperson shrugged… Ok, then… "I'll check in on progress later." He headed off…
"You fool…" Rotwolowitz gloated after him, looking back to gaze upon Calvin, staring up to where Penny was straightening things up prior to leaving and Penny, who suddenly gasped, catching sight of Calvin…
"Now you will lose the one thing you have left from my Hel! Your son!"