End of the Future, Part 31
Ghost Driver
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).
Next Day
New York, USA
Channel 16, Studio 3
World of the Psychic set
"And in the international news, we have one nice urban legend coming from Germany, land of bratwurst and Oktoberfest!" Peter Venkman smiled to the cameras, "Take it away, Jay!"
The director of the show gestured to the staff in the recording booth. Swiftly, the operator pushed a lever, and a prerecorded clip played on the screen. A somewhat frazzled reporter stood on a street, next to a tall, skinny woman with her hair set in a really bad bun.
"Jay Birdwhistle here, reporting from Berlin, West Germany. With me, is Frau Margret Blucher. (1)." In the distance, a horse neighed, "She's the eyewitness who reported the strange phenomenon."
The woman began to babble in heavily accented English, "It vas hurribel! A vigg trukk! Novun at da vheel! It just drove alonk da street like it vas da owner uv da hole town!" Her hands shook as she continued, "It looked at me! I dun't kno how, but it looked at me!"
"It looked at you? How?" Jay Birdwhistle asked with a hint of mockery in his voice.
"I jus' tol' ya I dun't kno! But I knew!"
"And then, what happened?"
"Dismist me! And drove itself avay the street."
"I see…" Jay said, "What kind of truck it was?"
"Big un, like a box, red, red like bludd. Two big vindovs at front, silver grill. The kind dat drags cargo arundd." She gestured as she described the truck. "Vut no cargo, just da trukk."
"Are you sure there was nobody at the wheel? Maybe the driver was, I don't know, somewhat short?"
She hit Jay with her handbag. "I kno vat I saw! The devil had da door open vhen it vent past me! I saw insayd! Novun in. Vheel moved by itselv!"
"Anything else you noticed, Frau Blucher?" Jay asked, as far away, the horse neighed again.
"I yust toldyu vhat I saw. It vent avay arund da corner."
"Well, you heard it, New York. A big red truck driving itself around Berlin. This is Jay Birdwhistle, reporting for World of the Psychic, from Berlin, West Germany."
The camera went back to Peter Venkman. "You know, Phil? I think I saw one truck just like that the other day. From the description, I think I have identified our suspect!" He pulled a box from under the table, and from it, a toy truck. "Allow me to introduce Mr. Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots!" (2)
Awkwardly, Dr. Venkman proceeded to transform the truck into an stylized robot. "A pity Frau Blucher," a distant neighing was barely heard, "didn't see if her truck had the correct insignia."
He put the toy on the table, "Now, fun as this was, I must go back to the serious side of the news. In the last few weeks, there has been a series of reports of Ghost Drivers, the name for this curious phenomenon. Trucks, cars, vans, and all kind of motor vehicles have been reported all over Asia and Europe, driving themselves around. But these are not ghostly sightings, nosiree! The vehicles are perfectly normal vehicles, with plates and everything. They have been located afterwards in parking lots, at the side of a road or street, or parked in public lots. The owners have reported them as stolen, only to recover them later, and finding out that they have been seen driving themselves as something out of a Stephen King novel, but without harming anybody!"
Somebody passed a paper to Venkman, who made a big show of reading it. "And one more thing, as the bumbling detective (3) likes to say; apparently, it's a coordinated migration! Each and every documented case of a Ghost Rider has moved towards the West! Like the old time cowboy heroes, always riding towards the setting Sun." He put down the paper, and with a big smile, he walked towards the camera. "And that's all we have for this week, here in World of the Psychic. Next week, we delve into the most recent Elvis sightings! It seems the old boy has been visiting our pal Sasquatch! Until then, this is Peter Venkman, saying," he put a finger at his temple, looking intently at the camera, pausing for a few seconds and finally, laughing, "See you then!"
The lights went off gradually as the show ended, and credits began to roll upwards.
Hill Valley, California, USA
Mayor Goldie Wilson Office
"Now that's what I call an intereeesting proposal, Doctor Brown. But how do you expect the taxpayers of Hill Valley to finance it?" Mayor Wilson put the papers down in his desk. "We are not in a position to make frivolous expenses."
"Ah, I don't. I'm planning on finance the studio myself, you know, as a tax saving measure for myself. Brown Industries has generated quite a tidy revenue this year, and I would like to invest it back into the town, create jobs, bring seasonal money, and of course, put Hill Valley on the entertaining map."
"Tell me more, Dr. Brown. I want as much detail as you can go in. Tax exceptions and incentives must be ironclad to be justified."
"At this point in time, my associates and I are, to say, probing the waters. We are preparing a contract for two of the foremost experts in special effects in the whole country. They are very interested in expanding their own enterprise, and will work as the backbone of the studio."
"Really? Movies or tv?" Mayor Wilson leaned forward, interested.
"Mostly tv, but they have worked in many low-budget movies. With better results than some of the movies, I say."
"I see. Sci-fi and horror then?"
"Indeed. The plots are not much to write home about, but the effects shots are a full category upwards." Doc put a couple magazines on the desk. "I have a few samples of their work in these magazines to show you a few samples of their work."
Mayor Wilson took the magazine with some reluctance. "Oh, my goodness." He exclaimed. "Fangoria (4)? What kind of magazine is this?"
"Horror and Science Fiction have a very dedicated fan base. With their own professionally made magazines. Fangoria especialices in horror movies." Doc raised the other magazine. "Starlog (5) especializes on Science Fiction." Doc left the magazine on the desk, and leaned back. "Both magazines cover movies, tv shows, books and other media related to their subject. Mr. Tyler and Ms. Gehman operate their own SFX workshop, called F/X. The magazines I brought showcase some of their efforts, both in Science Fiction and Horror movies. I put some Post-it notes in the pertinent pages."
Mayor Wilson opened the Fangoria magazine first. "Oh, that's really disgusting!" He exclaimed, his face twisted in clear repugnance at the image on the magazine.
"Indeed it is, Mayor. That movie is more gore than plot, but as you can see, it got excelent reviews on the visual effects category. F/X got a special mention for the transformation scene. The main article has pictures of that scene in all its disgusting glory."
"Yeah…" Mayor Wilson looked decidedly green as he closed the magazine. He opened the other. "Ah, my son loves this movie!" He smiled widely, recovering his natural color. "He wants to buy the videocassette as soon as it comes out."
"My nephew and nieces want to watch it too. Unfortunately, they missed it on teathre, but I'll get the cassette too." Doc commented. "Back to the F/X thing, these are just extreme examples. They can do more realistic things, shots of everyday objects working in unusual ways. They have several advertising campaigns under their belt. Not the planning, but the actual scenes shot for ads in tv and movie teathres. I'm sure you have seen their work. They are very versatile."
"You can paint me interested, Doctor Brown. Can you prepare a more detailed proposal? Say, in three weeks?" Mayor Wilson stood up, signaling the end of the meeting.
Doc stood up too, gathering his papers. "Three weeks it is. I'll bring Mr. Winston Zeddemore with me, he is in charge of the administrative side of the proposal."
"Of course, of course." Mayor Wilson accompanied Doc to the door, a familiar hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Umm… do you think you could get Mr. Tyler and Ms. Gehman's autographs? For my son."
"I see no difficulty in that. Mr. Mayor." Doc agreed.
Hill Valley, California, USA
Brown Enterprises HQ
3I Lab Section
"Hey, Spengler! Are you busy?" Asuka dropped her backpack and red jacket on her chair.
"Over here." Egon answered. "I'm taking some readings. It seems we have an outlier."
Asuka entered the closed section with the LCL gel containers. "Really? What kind of outlier are you talking about?"
"Visible activity. Look for yourself."
Asuka leaned forward, looking at one of the containers. It looked exactly like the others, except for a single thing the others lacked. "Bubbles?"
"Bubbles. And according to Lisa's recordings, it began soon after our first therapy session."
Asuka leaned forward, watching the slow ascent of a single bubble in the sealed container. "Rei is at Doc's. I think she should come and see if there's something bad going on."
"I agree. I left a message for her to come here at her earliest convenience."
"Lisa?" Asuka said, looking vaguely upwards. "Replay the record, thirty seconds before you detected the first bubble, including sound."
"Rep/p/playing." Lisa answered.
=…ome meditation techniques. I think they will help you to center yourself.= Egon said in the recording.
=Yeah, sure.= Asuka snorted, =As if I can stay still for a minute.=
=Not necessarily that kind of technique, Asuka. There are disciplines that actually require the practitioner to stay in motion.=
=Tai-Chi? Might be the ticket. Do you have anybody in mind to teach me?=
=Not at the moment. But I can inquire.=
=You do that. I'll hit the gym at home and try to blow some steam off. Maybe I'll try those Aerobics that are so popular now. At least the clothes are comfortable. See you tomorrow.= Asuka and Egon went out the room.
"The f/f/first bub/b/b/ble ap/p/peared 12 sec/conds later." Lisa noted.
Before they could say anything else, Shinji ran into the lab, closing the door after him, and leaning back against it, as if trying to keep out a barbarian horde. He looked around nervously, short of breath. Asuka and Egon looked at him, surprised. "What the Hell, Shinji?" She demanded.
"Tiff Tannen… is chasing me!"
"What? The big blonde bimbo? What for?"
"She says… I'm her boyfriend!" Shinji's eyes darted around as he panted, hands on his knees, evidently out of breath. "She's demanding… I take her to the… movies this Saturday!"
"Oh, no. Nonono!" Asuka rolled her eyes. "We agreed to take things slow, Third. You and I, no one else. No one muscles in my turf!"
"She's way… bigger than you… Asuka!"
The German-raised former pilot rolled her eyes, "So was the Tenth Angel (6), Third, and we stopped his stupid eyes from wiping Tokyo-3 from the face of the Earth! Not now, Spengler!" She stopped to look at Egon, whose mouth was open in preparation to ask a question. He closed his mouth with a soft 'clack' sound and raised his hands to placate the volatile redhead. "Where is that bimbo?"
She stomped her way to the door. "C'mon, where is she?"
"I lost her… in the way." Shinji swallowed, "I think… She was chasing me… on her bike… and I got her… on counterflow… or however is called here… a wrong way street…"
Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Interesting strategy."
"Marty told me… that's how he… dealt with Biff… back in 1955…"
"Good. Glad to see you're learning more than Klingon these days." Asuka opened the slot on the door, looking carefully around. "Hmm… I can't see her from here. Looks like you really… ah, there she is."
Tiff appeared at the end of the street, furiously pedaling her bike. Her hair was a mess, and her forehead was covered in sweat. Asuka closed the slot and put a finger over her lips, the classic signal for silence. Shinji nodded and focused on controlling his breath. He pointed back to the lab and Asuka shook her head, she pointed to a couple of drums that would make a handy hiding place.
Outside
Tiff dismounted her bike and shook the dust from her tiger stripped tights and red shoes. She leaned the bike against a tree and looked around. "Dang it! That Ayanami kid is faster than a rabbit!" She mumbled, shaking her head to settle down her hair. "Hmmf. He must be either here or at home. The little twerp is a goody two-shoes (7), he never strays from school to home or that crazy doctor's place and back!"
Tiff took impulse and ran towards the garage door. With a well calculated jump, she reached the top of the wall, and pulled herself up. A moment later, her head topped the wall, and she looked into the property.
Just as she was scanning the place, something hit her right above the right eye. Surprised by the pain, she lost her grip and fell down. She was about to repeat her jump when she noticed a sharp pain in her left index finger. "Crap! I broke a nail." Her finger bled freely.
She bit off the piece of nail, and spat it on the ground. "Damn, and I had just had them done!"
She mounted her bike and returned home. Maybe she could extort Daddy for enough money for an emergency manicure.
Shortly after Tiff rounded the corner, a blue-haired girl arrived, running as fast as she could.
Instrumentality
Her perfect world showed more cracks with each passing hour.
All her happiness, her contentment, her proud satisfaction, everything had a buzzing feeling right underneath the shining surface.
And that buzzing, nagging feeling could be described as self-loathing, a feeling of betrayal, a realization of hypocrisy, of indifferent abandonment, deliberate deceit, and malicious deception.
But everything could be distilled into a single, insidious, and omnipresent emotion.
Regret.
Regret of actions taken and not taken. Words said in anger or held back in fear.
Once noticed, that regret poisoned every single thing, every single event, every single interaction in her perfect world.
Her perfectly fake world.
She held her perfectly manicured hands against her temples as she fell down on her knees and screamed a savage, howling, incoherent shout to heaven and hell. Raging against her own failings, her naivety, and her willingness to keep on the path to eternal damnation.
All around her, her perfect world cracked like a crystal dropped onto a marble floor.
And she kept on screaming.
Without pausing for breath, she screamed.
If only she could go back and…
If she could…
If she could go back…
Hill Valley, California, USA
Brown Enterprises HQ
3I Lab Section
"Dr. Sp/p/pengler?" Lisa said, alarmed, "Activit/t/ty Inc/creasing!Step/tep/ep back!"
Egon retreated a few steps. "What's going on?" In his pocket, the PKE meter beeped urgently.
Hill Valley, California, USA
Brown Enterprises HQ
Garage
Shinji and Asuka snickered. "Did you see her face, Shinji?"
"Yeah, she didn't see it coming." Suddenly, Shinji stopped laughing. "But… she could have been hurt. The ball hit her quite hard, and then she fell down."
"Well," Asuka had another ball in her hand, "she didn't. Maybe she'll learn not to try to poach other people's boyfriends."
Shinji blushed, "Um… we haven't had that talk yet."
"Meh, semantics." She put the ball back where she had found it, "We are taking things slow, Third. But it's practically a certainty we will go beyond Friends level before we get paradoxed out of existence. Play your cards right, don't be a doormat, and grow a spine. That's what I…"
Before Asuka could say more, the door opened, and Rei ran into the garage.
"Rei? Did something happen?"
"Yes!" She answered, "Asuka, lock the door! Shinji, get the biggest tub you can find and a hose!"
Both obeyed immediately, and followed her into the lab.
Hill Valley, California, USA
Brown Enterprises HQ
3I Lab Section
Rei took charge of the situation with an urgency that left no space for arguments.
"Lisa, retreat from this room! Your presence could cause irreparable damage to your matrix! Shinji, Asuka! Fill the tub with water, three quarters of its capacity! Dr. Spengler, bring the bubbling container to me, dont shake it!"
She knelt down next to the tub, discarding her school sweater. Egon walked slowly to her, carrying the container, while the other two former pilots filled the tub. On the computers screens, images of a labyrinth of tubes grew and disappeared constantly.
Rei received the container, "She is rejecting Instrumentality." She said. "I will guide the process to restore her body. When I say so, you three will retreat to the other end of this room and keep silent. Nod if you understand."
All three nodded. Egon pulled the PKE Meter from his pocket, and hesitantly pointed it at Rei first, then at the container. The readings threatened to go off the scales!
Once the tub had filled to the instructed level, Asuka signaled Shinji, who closed the faucet. The red headed girl stood up, ready to retreat. She looked sharply at Egon, who spared a glance at her, in silent agreement.
"Now!" Rei hissed.
Everybody put as much distance between them and the tub. Egon watched intently as Rei lowered the container into the tub, taking mental notes of the process.
The orange gel mixed with the water, turning into a liquid the three teenagers knew very well.
LCL.
Rei took the container off the tub, it was completely clean of orange gel. Rei's face set into a determined gesture.
It took a minute of intense concentration before the others could tell something was happening. Gradually, the LCL coalesced into a recognizable, humanoid form.
Another minute, and the body showed an inequivocally female shape. Rei's forehead was covered by beads of sweat, and her arms began to shake.
Finally, after four more minutes of intense concentration, Rei relaxed. She put a hand to her temple, her eyes unfocused, and her body swayed bonelesly.
Shinji managed to catch her before she hit the floor. Carefully, he held her unconscious body. For a moment, he had a weird feeling of deja-vu. He remembered the first time he had been in the Evangelion cages, and the cruel dilemma Comander Ikari had trapped him into. But this time, Rei was not suffering from multiple broken bones.
Asuka was with him a moment later, checking Rei's pulse and respiration. "She's asleep! I guess whatever she did took a lot from her."
Egon waved the PKE Meter over the tub. "I'm registering normal flow of energy, some ectoplasmic residue, and an aparently healthy human body in the tub." He averted his eyes. "A naked human body. Female." He took his lab coat off, and covered the woman in the tub.
Awkwardly, he cleared his throat, but said nothing as he stepped back.
A moment later, they heard a groan coming from the tub. A pale hand grabbed the edge, and a familiar pair of eyes looked at the former pilots from under a mop of brown hair.
"Shinji? Rei?" She paused, "Asuka? Where are we? What happened?"
Asuka rolled her eyes, "Long story, Dr. Akagi." (8)
Author Notes
(1) As played by Cloris Leachman in Young Frankenstein!
(2) The Transformers debuted in 1984 with a few toys and a promotional comic published as a 4 issue miniseries by Marvel Comics. Actually, the basis of the whole Transformers setting came from that miniseries! The Marvel comic lasted for 80 issues in total, very successful for a toy tie-in. The cartoon debuted later, also in 1984..
(3) Lt. Columbo. Star of a very interesting (and long lasting) series of murder-mysteries. Unlike the usual formula, of keeping secret the identity of the killer, in the Columbo tv movies the audience got to watch the murderer as they killed their victim. The rest of the show dealt with Columbo investigating, finding the clues, and unraveling the killer's alibi. Half the fun was on trying to get ahead of Columbo and noticing the crucial mistake of the murderer. The series debuted in two pilot movies in 1968 and 1971, and went on to 69 tv movies from 1971 to 1978, with ocassional tv movies from 1989 to 2003. The character was perfectly played by Peter Falk.
(4) Fangoria is a real magazine. It began publishing back in 1979 and it is still being published (though it had sporadic interruptions during the 2010s). As a curious note, an issue of Fangoria can be seen in the passenger side of Rollie's F/X truck in the first movie.
(5) Starlog Magazine started in 1976, originally focused on Star Trek but it soon branched out to cover Science Fiction in general. It lasted until 2009.
(6) Sahaquiel. This Angel tried to dive-bomb the Tokyo-3 area in Episode 12 of the NGE series.
(7) The protagonist of The Story of Little Goody Two-Shoes, a children story published back in 1765. The titular character is an orphan girl, who only has one shoe at the beginning of the tale. A rich man gifts her a pair, and she is very proud of having two shoes. As was common in the era, she leads a virtuous life and is rewarded with a happy ending as she marries a rich widower. Though the book has been largely forgotten, the nickname of the protagonist endures as a nickname for a ridiculously virtuous person.
(8) The return of Dr. Akagi from Instrumentality has been planned almost from the beginning!