The Big O and all of its settings and characters are owned by Cartoon Network, Sunrise, and Bandai Visual.
THE BIG O:
ACT 28
SCAPEGOAT
Chapter Nine: No Business Like Show Business
Who am I? Who is Roger Smith? Is that my real name?
After shock therapy, Roger had a hard time remembering anything. He couldn't remember where he was or what he was doing there. He didn't even know why he was in Rosewater's office and why Rosewater was talking to him.
He looked out the window at a city without domes. A city that was perfectly intact. Was this city so awful? A newer, cleaner city than the one he remembered. Only one thing was wrong with it. It was a city that had no place for him. No place for the actor who called himself Roger Smith.
"It almost seems like the thought of continuing to live in this city makes you feel like a prisoner," Doctor Rosewater said as he watched Roger look out the window. "You don't know what sort of being you really are. That's why you're frustrated. Do you intend to spend the rest of your life living that way, Negotiator?"
"What?" Roger grunted in surprise. Did Doctor Rosewater just call him 'Negotiator'? That was impossible, for in this world Roger was just a wanderer. Was Rosewater mocking him, or was that the only way the doctor could get his attention? "Yeah, I guess…" he mumbled noncommittally.
"It looks like our session is done for today," Rosewater said with disappointment. "I really don't think that we're going to accomplish anything else right now. Why don't we try again tomorrow and see if we get anywhere then? Would that be alright?"
Roger nodded helplessly and then rose and shambled out the door.
"Be seeing you," Rosewater called after him.
Who was the man named Roger Smith? Did he have any reason to exist, or was he just fooling himself? If he didn't have a reason to live, could he find one or was he simply doomed to be a cipher?
Once again he wandered into the cafeteria. How much time had passed since the last time he was here? What had happened to his short-term memory? Who were these people? The patients and orderlies were familiar, indicating that his subconscious was translating them into his dream world.
The patient who looked like Beck was there, ordering Dorothy around. "Shine my shoes, Dorothy-bot," he said.
"Yes, Mister Beck," she said as she before the sitting criminal and started rubbing his slippers with a paper towel.
"Dorothy? What are you doing?" Roger asked, sounding more like the black clad man from his dream world.
"I am obeying the human order, Roger," she replied. "As an android, I am programmed to obey."
"Well stop doing what he says," Roger said angrily. "You are your own person and you don't have to do what he says!" He looked at Beck, murder in his eye.
The blonde crook put up his hands in a placating gesture, but his stupid grin never left his face. "Hey-hey! I'm just having a little fun, crow-boy! Besides, she likes it. She needs to be ordered around or she just sits in the corner and never does anything."
"Well, knock it off!" Roger growled. "You're taking advantage of her, and I don't like it!"
"I don't like it either," Beck drawled as he leaned back and smiled at the ceiling. "Problem is, I don't understand the consequences of my actions so I can't be held accountable." He grinned sarcastically at Roger. "I really can't tell right from wrong. Not my fault."
"Shut up," Roger frowned as Beck laughed at him. "Come on Dorothy," he said as he led her to a table by the window. "Dorothy, what are you doing in this place?" He frowned when he noticed the pale skin clinging to her bones. "Have you eaten anything today?"
"Robots do not eat or drink," she said listlessly.
"Um…" Roger racked his brain for an answer to that one. "That's not true. You're an advanced model that runs on sugars and proteins. Uh… you've been upgraded to appear more human. Trouble is, your engine doesn't run on regular fuels anymore. You have to eat or you'll shut down, and your program is so complex that we may never be able to turn you on again."
"Very well, Roger, I will eat something and test my upgrades," she said.
"Feeding time," an effeminate voice sang. Roger looked up at the mocking face of Alan Gabriel. Correction, the orderly that resembled Alan Gabriel.
"I can feed her," Roger told him.
"Nonsense," Alan smirked. "I'm a trained professional and you're a violent mental patient. I wouldn't trust you to feed a doll, let alone a girl."
Roger clenched his fist. "Must be the shock treatment, but I can't remember. Have I ever been violent towards anyone but you?"
"Does it matter?" Alan leered.
"I'll feed her," Roger repeated. "She trusts me. Whatever is wrong with her, having you around only makes her worse."
"Oh, and you would know, wouldn't you?" Alan sniggered. "You act like what you say matters. But it doesn't. Dorothy would rather have me feed her than you, wouldn't you my dear?"
"No I would not," Dorothy said.
"You see?" Roger took the bowl of baby food away from Alan. "Go away."
"Dorothy, I order you to tell him that you want me to feed you," Alan said mockingly. "I order you to tell him that you are madly in love with me and can't wait to get me alone."
"Why you!" Roger reached out to seize the grinning scarecrow, but stopped himself. He took a deep breath and sat back down. "Well played. I almost fell for that one." He turned to Dorothy, who looked at him helplessly. "Well it won't work. Dorothy has received an upgrade that gives her free will. She doesn't have to do what you say unless she chooses to. Isn't that right, Dorothy?"
"Yes, that is correct," she replied in a monotone. "I am now able to make my own choices."
"No you aren't you stupid puppet!" Alan growled as he reached out to seize her by the collar. "You are just an empty doll and you do what I say!"
Dorothy let out a scream and closed her eyes, but other than that offered no resistance.
"Alan!" Angel's voice called out. In the doorway was the nurse who appeared to be Angel, staring at the drama with steely eyes. "That's it, Alan! I've suspected you of abusing the patients for a long time, but now I've caught you in the act! You are deliberately sabotaging Miss Wayneright's treatment! When I tell Doctor Rosewater what I just witnessed you are out of here!"
"What? You can't do that you little traitor!" the skinny blond orderly hissed at the blonde bombshell.
"I can and I have to you sadistic pervert!" Angel shot back. "For crying out loud, Roger Smith thinks he pilots giant robots and he makes a better orderly than you do! You've had this coming for a long time, Alan. I'm just sorry it took so long!" With that she turned on her heel and left the cafeteria.
Alan Gabriel ran out of the cafeteria and followed her. "Nurse! Wait!"
She turned and scowled at him. "What?"
"You don't understand," he smiled menacingly. "Mr. Smith is a dangerous psychopath. He's very dangerous."
"You're describing yourself, Alan," she sneered.
"You don't understand," he repeated as his hands gripped her throat. "He could do anything," he grinned as Angel choked and seized his wrists in a futile attempt to free herself. "He could even kill a sweet, innocent nurse like yourself. It really is a shame, because we'll have to give him a frontal lobotomy and I know that you like him so much… Hurk!"
Alan gasped as Roger put his arm around his neck to place him in a headlock. "Let her go, or I'll break your neck," the scruffy patient growled. "I like her too, but I don't like you!"
The order was unnecessary because Alan had already released the nurse to pull against Roger's arm. Angel staggered back, hands clutching at her throat. Roger released Alan and wasn't surprised when Alan turned to strike him. Before Alan could finish his swing, Roger had already punched him in the stomach. Dorothy, who was nearly unnoticed during all of this, put her hands over her mouth and staggered over to lean against Roger's chest when it was clear that Alan wasn't ready to get back up again.
Angel clutched at her neck, but recovered quickly. She smiled at the heroic patient. "Are you going to stop running?"
"I'm ready to face whatever awaits me," Roger answered confidently.
"Even when you don't know what's real?" the nurse asked as darkness enveloped them.
One by one spotlights turned on, illuminating the darkness but completely blinding Roger. He put a black-gloved hand before his face and staggered backwards, bumping something behind him. He was wearing his black suit again! He examined the wood and plaster half wall behind him, only to discover it was made to resemble the stone railing on his rooftop patio atop his home. A painted backdrop resembling Paradigm City was behind it.
"Shame on you, Negotiator," Alex Rosewater's voice scolded. "You've damaged the scenery. Sometimes I think that you and Big O do more to damage the backdrop than all of the other giant robots combined."
"You've got a lot of guts saying that, when you've nearly destroyed the city all by yourself!" Roger retorted. He was on a stage in a theatre, but the lights made it hard to see the audience. He could almost make out the broad shouldered white suited figure of Alex Rosewater in the front row. "How dare you make me a scapegoat for your own folly!"
"The only folly here is yours," Rosewater replied calmly. "Your purpose is to be the domineus of your megadeus. The city's only function is to be the backdrop for your battles. If you can't or won't live up to your role, I'll just have to close the curtain on this show and produce another one."
"You're talking crazy!" Roger protested. "I'm not an actor and Paradigm City isn't a stage!"
"All the world's a stage," Alex smirked, "and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts. Do you know who said that? No, I don't suppose you do…"
"Where's Dorothy?" Roger demanded. "She was right with me a minute ago!"
"Oh, so you've decided to play the hero have you?" Alex's voice seemed amused. "She's right beside you, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."
Roger glanced to his right and gasped when he saw Dorothy standing right as still as a mannequin. "Dorothy?" he passed his hand before her glassy eyes. "Dorothy, speak to me," he murmured as he grasped her shoulder to shake her. Something was wrong. She was way too light! She couldn't have weighed more than thirty pounds. "What? This isn't Dorothy!" Roger found out why she was as still as a mannequin. The figure before him wasn't an android, it was a department store mannequin sculpted to look like her and dressed in her clothes! Was nothing real?
"That was a cheap trick, Rosewater!" Roger shouted.
"More feeling, please," murmured a familiar feminine voice.
"Wha?" he squinted to look out into the theatre past the blinding stage lights. He could make out a blonde woman sitting a few seats away from Alex's brawny form. "Angel! What are you doing there?"
"You know my father made her the director," Rosewater drawled. "You better listen to her. It would be a shame to end this production and plan another one."
"Paradigm City isn't a stage, and Angel isn't a director," Roger insisted. "You aren't a producer and I'm not an actor!"
"How do you know that?" Alex asked him calmly. "How do you know that Paradigm City isn't just a sham? Nobody in it has any memories past forty years ago. Your memories don't support your own argument. Didn't my father reveal the truth to you?"
"Your father wouldn't know the truth if it beat him with a stick!" Roger spat. He glanced at the replica of Dorothy for inspiration. "I can prove that Paradigm City isn't a sham by virtue of my intelligence. According to Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is usually correct. This farce your subjecting me to explains nothing. If this is a show, who is it for? Who's watching it all? You aren't making any sense."
Roger took a step forward but stopped when Rosewater said, "Careful, Negotiator. Leave the stage and you forfiet your place in the pagent. The show must go on you know."
Roger's heart was racing so fast it was hard for him to think. It was becoming too easy to be lost in this imaginary world. It was imaginary, wasn't it? Was he really here, or was he in Big O fighting Alex Rosewater and Big Fau? Or was he really not in either place, but a third location like an insane asylum? Nothing was real… Was there any point going on?
Roger closed his eyes and took a breath. "Okay, I'll play along," he announced. "Angel, you're the director. What is my role in all this? Who is Roger Smith supposed to be?"
"Aren't you supposed to say 'what's my motivation'?" Angel teased.
"Okay, what's my motivation?" Roger conceded. "What is this all about? Why the elaborate charade? What do you want out of me?"
"That's up to you, Roger," Angel replied. Was it his imagination or was she now wearing a military uniform instead of her little black dress and pink jacket? It was hard to tell with the spotlights blinding him. "Are you going to face your responsibilities or are going to run away again by telling yourself that it's all in your mind?"
"It is all in my mind isn't it?" Roger said ruefully. "I understand now. The reason why a megaduce only accepts those who believe in one truth is because after a while a domineus can't tell what's real anymore, is that it?" He crossed his arms and put a finger to his mouth while he considered his statement. "Or does Big Fau have some sort of device on it that causes hallucinations? Everytime I've lost touch with reality I've been in Big O fighting Big Fau or megadeus' that have Big Fau's pieces in them. And just before each fight I've spoken to either Gordon or Alex Rosewater. You're doing something to me aren't you?"
"You can't blame me for your own shortcomings, Negotiator," Rosewater sneered. "If you can't handle your own doubts, it doesn't help to blame them on me. You don't know what sort of being you really are, and that's why you're frustrated." The same words he had used as Doctor Rosewater, but the Alex Rosewater Roger knew was no doctor.
"Why are you frustrated?" Roger snapped. "Tell me, why does a man who rules the city feel the need to destroy it? What's the deal with that huh?" When Rosewater didn't answer, he unfolded his arms, clenched his fists and said, "As for what sort of being I am, that depends on my choices, and right now I choose to be the thing between you and the destruction of the city!"
"You really believe that you can make a difference, don't you?" Alex retorted. "You've cast me in the role of the villian. Well now, how do you know I'm not the hero?"
"You've betrayed everyone who ever had the poor judgement to trust you!" Roger replied. "In a fair deal, everyone places their cards on the table."
"If everybody did that, there would be no need for professional negotiators," Alex responded with wry amusement. "Don't expect me to do your job for you, Negotiator."
"That's what you've always wanted, haven't you?" Roger pointed an accusing finger at Rosewater's shadowy form. "You've always wanted to be a domineus! It was even more important than running the city!"
"How can you second guess me when you can't even determine your own motives?" Rosewater sparred. "If you refuse to play your role, someone else will have to."
"The only role I'm willing to play is the part I choose for myself!" Roger declared. He put his watch to his lips. "BIG O! SHOW…TIME!"
Next: Take the Shot
