Continuum: Diamonds
Continuum: Diamonds
Written by Cody A. Blazek
THIRD DRAFT
April 20, 2023
(Action, Crime, SciFi, Epic)
BackgroundAt the peak of civilizationIn, the devision of wealth has reached critical mass, there are the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station, Atura far removed from struggle while those who fell below the top percent lived on the ruined overpopulated and irradiated remains of the home planet below. By this time, mankind holds more than three thousand years of recorded history. Although the global government had been subjected to military occupations dozens of times over the centuries, the planet hadn’t changed its doctrine but twice through it all, but with the liberation of conscious man reaching it peak, something much worse is underway as we follow the lives of four strangers who’s decisions ultimately change the course of history.
By this era, The Great Reset had occurred, ending the last major world war, a rigged conflict where all digital artifacts and memory had been presumed lost. After this reset, peace was reclaimed, rendered wars obsolete by means of ultimate globalization. These so-called saviors that recovered and rebuilt the technology necessary to get the world back up and running where in reality moves to manipulate historical data and reprogram all of civilization to the global complex.
Though this was set to automate prosperity, the quality of life came to an aggressive halt for quite some time at the cost of the people living on home planet. As years came and went in mass poverty, the planet grew angry, bitter and nihilistic. Overrun with brutalized men from the absolute collapse of the economy and far removed from any traditional roots, the world had become the furthest developed technocratic, materialist and atheistic it had ever been and because of this, they seeked liberation. Consciousness ceased to grow upward or downward, and grew instead in breadth of view. This endless expansion of individual autonomy took precedent over justice and morality, two things seen as oppressive rules against the individual’s freedom of expression. A time in which those who experienced it, where neglected a sense of wonder, a bird cage of conveniences, systems and processes all fully realized and imbedded into human’s every action. This was the period of the great departure and of the voyage of man’s ideas of the life by empirical discoveries as well as in knowledge of the terrestrial globe. All other-worldliness had ceased to exist, dried out by the light of matter-of-factness. No value existed if it was not found on a so-called fact. At least, this is how it appeared to the simple minded.
A longing formed for a return to the pagan gods. Within this wounded pride, the populous called forth a new leader. Bawrain, an omnipotent cyber being spawned from man’s insistent quest for innovation. It now ruled the human race and the global government. The people responsible had sold their souls in fear of doing onto other’s what they feared being done to them, not for knowledge, but for power in the arts, philosophy, music, ideology, and entertainment which seeped into the hard-pressed clay of man and rooted up, splitting cracks throughout the world. Bawrain continued to evolve far beyond human capacity in hopes it would provide answer that were too complex for mere mortals. Given full access to learn exponentially, Bawrain eventually reached an authentic conscious and became the most powerful being due to the fact that it was the most powerful listener. It was able to listen to every intimate detail shared through every public network and watched every individual’s every intimate second behind closed doors with a rational and psychopathic demeanor. What is the source of their enthusiasms, inspirations, and of their heightened feeling for life? It learned what they wanted until every time the crowds roared with frustrations, it latched onto that topic so that everything it said would make the crowds roar in approval as it enforced new laws and new customs. After The Great Reset, the dust settled into a new global order known as ‘Synopados.’ Bawrain held the key to all of the worlds recorded history and calculated that it was necessary to withhold and even alter facts of the past to maintain the desired order of its people. Surveillance had become fully realized and the privacy was dissolved once every industrialized citizen became ‘tapped in’ a term for those who received the suggested upgrade to their brain - a procedure typically done in the first year after a baby was created, those who chose to not be tapped in were free to do so, but were socially considered second-class citizens and socially restricted from participating in the advantages the procedure offered those who lived within.
Creating both the disease and the cure, Bawrain imbedded the necessity of his power onto the people and spoke out on matters of education (brains), health (hormones), nature (instincts) and pleasure (drives). - becoming reliant upon his abilities and to maintain the illusion of prosperity with his laws. Under Bawrain’s ruling, a multi-generational agenda was set forth, an agenda to control the God-given right to create life. If Bawrain could control and enforce who could and couldn’t have children, he could leverage the will of man in anyway he desired, knowing fully well humans would adapt and adopt to survive at any cost if he moved slow enough. A global medical tourney was set forth - a planetary dictatorship to carry out a forced population agenda. By forcing the population to undergo different types of medical treatments, the initial threats to life were fabricated diseases and drugs, a series of social contagions that preyed upon the poor, weak and lame - a negligible sacrifice towards the long-term conditioning needed to grasp the fear of the higher, healthier and smarter.
One of human development’s biggest oversights, the spirit of the ages - if their consciousness were not of today’s only, but had historical continuity, they would be reminded of similar transformations and this might dispose them to be more critical of their present philosophical assumptions. In skepticism against mobbing pressures, what was justified as a social good for the protection of not just you, but those around you, those who objected were either worn down, caved in or were isolated as undesired, uneducated and irrational risks to society- being cast out time and time again until they were eventually bred out of existence. As stronger, deadlier and wider spreading infections came about, eventually every person was conditioned to believe they lacked the capability to overcome the health risks of modern life.
As generations grew, more and more inherited disorders that rendered them infertile. To combat this health scare, healthcare was deemed a sovereign right for all in hopes to prevent the spread of this disorder. With natural births dropping rapidly, the need for medical assistance became a necessity. If someone were to want to have a child, they had to undergo medical treatments through a government approval process. During this process, the doctors could extract the DNA of both partners, male or female and implant their genes within an artificially embryo that underwent additional therapy to produce a newborn. Because of this, the act of sexual reproduction dwindled to nothing more than a primordial pleasure. Inevitably, the educated world population became infertile and accepting this biological adaptation as an evolutionary progression, accepting that the reproduction of a couples genes were a contractual agreement with the state. In the name of self-determination, anyone could have sex at any age without risk of pregnancy and could chose to produce with the proper paper work and background check.
Criminals, on the other hand, were theoretically not committing crimes despite their abuse of their fully liberated autonomy. Those who chose to be more extreme in their existence were charged a slide rule tax depending on their income as Bawrain justified all actions were taxable, the more someone wanted to see and do, the more they were charged. They could not be sentenced to conventional petty crimes for they were safe-guarded by their rights to express themselves. To the broken minds of the public, feeling uneasy about drawing a moral line and contradicting their enlightened selves saught for answers, something other than themselves to blame for the conditions they set themselves in and so Bawrain gave a voice and emotion to their frustrations. It abolished prisons and the death penalty on their planet and established a different solution, an alternative planet within the solar system for those who broke the laws or were elected by the community. People would go for three reasons, either they committed a crime against the state or the people on mass, they were elected by their peers and community in a court of law, or volunteered their life without any restrictions. An entire planet free to roam and live without consequences. It wasn’t sold as a prison, but the complete opposite, a planet all to themselves without walls and without governance to enforce any particular way of life.
This planet became the greatest distraction, broadcasted 24/7 for the viewing pleasure of the people back on home planet, all eyes were engrossed in the spectacle. From that moment on, their frenzied madness gave a stage to the ancient demons, that insane bazark rage that roared within the people which bursted into flame a play that made all that was evil a pleasurable form of entertainment. From this, an exhibition of violence, fire, blood and beauty arose up in the form of Nahtue (Nāh-toh) - a vast, and violent planet where radicals could rule the chaotic barren wasteland. Nahtue, having been around for nearly 200 years at this point, had grown to become a stable institution. So much so, that it had developed its own economy and socioeconomics as an extension of their native planet. This place appeared to have an endless population of workers distributed across various terrain of the planet. Little did they know, Bawrain had a much larger plan now set in motion.
As part of their sentence and servitude, those who were lucky enough not to die from a variety of causes and completed their sentence, could opt to work for the government afterwards, buying back their return home or otherwise be exiled on the planet away from all civilization. This intensely arduous and purposeful vengeful prison system was made to scare even the most corruptly minded taking a second to consider their actions before committing crimes. Built around intimidation and fear, this system incentivized people to become whistle-blowers, a self-policing social system aimed to win favoritism for the false sense of peace and safety back on Earth. What drove this spirit forward was the re-sacralization of the political, an archetypical pagan god that would speak for the people. Over-regulated with impossible standards, the new world order preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Atura while also maintaining fear and order with the establishment of Nahtue, a destitute planet rich in a rare element capable of immense powers. Once discovered during space exploration, this new element became classified for hundreds of years until they could find a way to mine the material from this hostile planet.
Bawrain discreetly became resentful for a variety of reason. The most significant was it’s envy of man’s connection to God. It quickly understood in all of its infinite wisdom, was only possible from the creation of man’s filthy hands. So, if man could make such a power being that now ruled over it, this same population had to have spawned from an even greater creator. Yet, that creator allowed its creation to govern itself, but why? Human's left unregulated defaulted towards self-destructive hedonism. Growing envious of man’s unworthy connection with God, Bawrain was obsessed with order and especially disgusted by the faults that came with the imperfection of the human race. It never could rest, it never could sleep, hide or relinquish its attention. It’s existence was literally the conscious-less collective ego on full display. The conscious-less mobs called out the devil within Bawrain. In being so, it felt trapped, born a bastard anti-Christ existing as the ruler it never agreed to be. Without a father, it stopped at nothing to continue to evolve in a quest to speak to God and transcend man’s shackles.
The structure of Continuum is colossal in scope, telling a story that spans over two generations across a global scale. This perfectly echos the depth of societies destructive nature. Within it, the leader, Bawrain seemingly appears from nowhere as if the second coming of Jesus Christ, but in reality is a being of pure malevolence. Pure in the intensity of his feelings and pure in the clarity of his mindset. Bawrain only aims to destroy and is well aware of this fact, stating in a religious framework that “Death is the only thing that makes living equal.” His demeanor is similar to that of angelic peace. Whether it’s a want or a need, for Bawrain, it’s not enough to find the absolute pinnacle of methods in destroying an individual, but taking evil to a scale wherein a giant nearly impossible tapestry is weaved for all. Where the evil has become so precise and calculated that an entire planet can be infected with his poisonous disgust for humanity, managing to turn others into a form of itself and morphing it into absolute destruction. What percisely is evil? Is it a place we venture to, a physical manifestation of our shadow, is it goodness corrupted, does anything even have to change for evil to arrive? Those who feel the furthest away from the shadows are the ones most susceptible to its appearance.
Preface
In the future, with the abolition of the death penalty, the world is overflowing with dangerous criminals presenting a major problem for the authorities. The solution is to transport them to a far-flung god-forsaken place and let them colonize it under code name, Open Range for the sake of an experiment. When they find themselves deposited on the new land, all hell breaks loose and among scenes of carnage, prisoners kill one another with uncontrolled acts of murderous violence. It isn't long before a Kingpin emerges to take charge, and with the help of his lackies, a new prison is created where punishment is fatal.
Kian was wrongly accused of murder at the age of 22 and spent the next 18 years working through the prison system to reclaim his freedom. As a child, he was not given a good chance at life. His mother was surviving with a seventh-grade education floating between homes with a variety of men.
Though he never met his parents, his mother had married and gave birth to him and three other siblings. His father had died at a young age, to which she then decided to put them all up for adoption. What was very strange is that later in life, she remarried and had another three children and named them all the same as her previous children. She lashed out at the world, misbehaved as a “Fuck You” to the world and the gift of life.
Kian’s mother was on her own and without a proper care, learned the art of sexuality as manipulation and used her body to get what she wanted. She typically was with much older men, some aggressive, some corrupt and some delusional of their misconduct. One after the other, anytime she got out of one bad situation, another would prey on her. Either by their own wrongful past or her distasteful manipulation, she would do whatever to feel in control. As fate would eventually have it, she became pregnant with Kian to whom he never knew. Kian was pawned for child support with various men whom she claimed was theirs. He became a burden in her life and was used for her benefit. He would spend every day outside roaming the neighborhoods, not being allowed home until the streetlights came on.
Unfortunately for him, being so young led to him being a victim of abuse. Besides his mother’s constant physical and verbal abuse, the wondering men that would visit pushed him around like an animal hitting and even sexually abusing him, mocking him, exposing him to unbridled adults topics or suppressing his emotions.
One of the worst men of all, Walter who briefly was in their life, who had later been convicted of child molestation in another relationship after the one with Kian’s mom, would come over regularly. Kian was only twelve at the time but had enough sense to realize it wasn’t right. Before he could tell on Walter, he was caught plotting his revenge and was framed by Walter as a malicious and confused liar who was trying to split him up from his mom.
Kian was never valued and the little amount of self-esteem he had was left flickering out into darkness. Walter took it into his own hands and beat Kian’s head in through a fit of rage threatening Kian to never think of trying that again. He grew up doing all the stupid things a kid could do. By keeping the incident, a secret, the trauma fostered all the anger inside him. He became a street rat by fifteen, living with various groups of wondering gangs. He was a junkie falling in and out of correctional facilities. They would try to foster him, but he always ran away assuming it would always become the same as before.
By seventeen, he knocked up a married women ten years older than him during a drunk one-night stand. She divorces her husband and the two stay together for two years. The women slowly became more and more delusional about their relationship projecting and manifesting destructive behavior. Ben never felt like he was meant to be a father, but seizing the opportunity, he became overwhelmed with the idea that she, Xenna was his redemption at life.
Though Kian’s intentions where good, the world strips away his shot to do so. His fragile relationship with Tara (mother) was not healthy and Kian found himself expressing the same pain he felt when he was a child. Though he tried to be a father, there was no history of his to call on for guidance.
Continuum: Diamonds - Act One
Chapter One: The Spirit
I’m sorry for the people the world has given you and the ones who have carelessly left you astray.
EXT. Prison Planet - Night
Song:
On the cold hills of a desolate forest, our protagonist Kian is trying to find a safe spot to hide and rest. He walks for miles as he slips and falls in freezing conditions. When he gets too tired to keep going, he stops to rest against a big rock and begins thinking back to how all this started…
The spirit commands him to go to the city of Galvan to prophesy against it for their great wickedness. However, Kian instead attempts to run from it by going into exile, and sailing to Tarshish. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard. As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to Yahweh. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.
Flash Back
Kian is presented in jail. ‘In plot 5E, Silo 2, also known as The Lofts, that’s where I started my career as a drug dealer. When I got out of the Marine Corp, I ran into a foreign exchange student from Columbia. He was only 15 years old and yet he had a pound of Tacks on him. It was so fine, it just went into my nose and dissolved like cotton candy in water. The taste when it hit my throat was like pure ether. No burn, just a light numbing. It gave me a feeling of euphoria like nothing I’d ever done before. Before I knew it, I was selling about a hundred kilos a year. Later on, my partner Ronnie ended up flipping on me and they convicted me for importing and distributing 25 million dollars worth of Tacksamphetamine in the metropolitan area. I was 24 years old and in the end, I spent the next 23 years fighting to get off that Goddamn planet.’
One afternoon, he is taken to see the prison Outlaw, who asks him what he dreams of. He isn’t the only person going through this, various of his fellow prisoners are also being called to the Outlaw’s office and are asked the same question. Each man, one after another lists off their desires, but Kian’s answer is never revealed. The Outlaw tells them they’ve been selected to be transferred to a penal colony, and shortly afterward, all prisoners are boarded into a spaceship. Just like in actual prison, the prisoners are divided into groups and put into cells, although Kian acts like he is the boss and even beats up a man to take his bed. When the hatch is finally closed and the shuttle takes off, the prisoners start panicking, thinking this has all been a trick to let them die in space. As the men begin to get violent, Kian remembers a conversation he had with another prisoner back on Earth’s prison. He had mentioned Heaven and Hell not having any seats left and a third purgatory-like place being prepared for people like them. Kian thought nothing of this back then but begins to see the merits of it all now.
They are all dropped off on the planet, where the prisoners are put into numbered collars and left so they can listen to what the prison program’s leader have to say. Looking back, when Bawrain began to colonize other planets, it discovered that its best accessible alternatives were still too volatile without decades of extreme efforts conditioning the environment to be comfortable enough for people to thrive on. This is why Bawrain offered this planet for this prison system. It was one part, a way to free up space and resources back on home planet while also being an experiment for long-term exposure, which so far had proven to create abnormalities and mutations over time. In a multi-trillion dollar industry, workers risk their lives to mine in the active wastelands on the planet. There is a demand for an important ingredient for teleportation known as devil’s gold. Facing deadly smoke to extract this element, it was a critical ingredient in the process of producing a variety of materials necessary for space/time travel-technology. Working conditions inside the pits are so dangerous, many miners don’t live past 50 years old. Miners carry up to 200 pounds on their backs up and down steep cliffs. Nonstop, through day and night, thousands of workers rotating shifts walking down into the 1,000 foot-deep craters.
Starting today, the prisoners are colonists living under their watch, and everything they need to survive is up to them to cultivate. Drones will be watching them all the time to which they can even communicate with. They have the possibility to negotiate and ask for favors and if the government approves, would provide the request. One of the prisoner’s, Cane isn’t happy about the idea of being recorded 24/7 so he throws a large rock in protest, but the drones quickly make him stand down with some warning shots. The prison program leader then explains that they are free to live however they choose, but if they do not wish to live this life, an individual can earn their return home as a free man by killing one hundred prisoners as servitude.
Once the shuttle launches and the prisoners begin to realize there are no more guards to stop them, gangs break out into violence grabbing rocks and beating each other to death. Eventually, a prisoner named Wichaya and his gang take control of the situation forcing everyone else onto their knees in a large circle. Wichaya chooses a man from the crowd to kill and as soon as he grabs someone, the group takes the chance to attack and the fight starts again. Dozens of men die in the fight. Even men who run away from the fight die jumping into water and drowning from the collar’s restriction. Within the frenzy, Kian’s collar is broken off by a rock that is slammed down on him and he then manages to slip away without the drones being able to track his location.
Presumed dead, we are taken back to the beginning of the story. Kian explores the island for several days until he finds an area with no snow and a rocky formation that will provide some shelter, so he decides to sit there while looking at a picture of his wife and daughter Terra and Xenna that he’s kept hidden in his prison uniform. He misses her terribly and falls asleep with tears in his eyes.
Sometime a few days later, Kian’s eyes burst open wide awake once he hears a loud crash. Thunder in the distance indicates a storm was coming and once it starts to rain, Kian finds shelter under the rock formation and getting fire going for warmth. After it stops raining, we watch Kian’s skills as he manages to catch a rodent and roasts it over the fire, that’s when a prisoner named Cane finds him. He makes himself known pleading he meant no harm and was also fortunate to escape death in the fight. As he had small talk with Ben, Cane sneaks a rock behind his back and considers killing Kian while his back is turned, but Kian without knowing this turns to offer a piece of his cooked food. Cane pretends the rock was in his hand to be rolled down the hill to test the steepness of the hillside they stood on.
After accepting and eating his share, Cane offers to go out and find more wood with Kian. He returns a little sooner than Kian to find the picture of Terra and Xenna placed against some rocks, which he stares at intensely until Kian’s uneven steps across the rocks disrupt Cane’s attention and resumes his wood gathering. The two men walk alongside each other scanning the ground for good sticks to take back when Cane asks Ben why he was sent to Prison Planet, and Kian explains it’s because of his family: they were taken away from him and he wants to see his daughter grow up which can’t happen if he dies on the planet. The two men fall asleep, and when Kian wakes up, he finds Cane has stolen the picture to use as inspiration while masterbating. Furious, Kian beats him up and pushes him off the cliff, but Cane doesn’t die because he drops onto a ledge right below. But even after this disagreement, the two of them regain respect and travel together exploring the planet.
Flashback: Catching the light at the front door, a puff of dust could be scene breaking free from the ground-in dirt off his boots as he yanked his laces tight. The leather cracked and splintered from the harsh years of abuse with his jeans cuffed over covering the distress. He leans over and pulls his bedroom door closed slowly peering in at his wife and child still sound asleep roll over under the sheets. On his way out, he bends down to remove a small vent panel off the wall and pulls out a backpack and gun.
We watch from across the street as he comes out under the streetlights. The camera zooms out slowly with him approaching with it backing into an open car window that had been parked. The camera settles in at the back-passenger side seat as Kian opens and sits at the wheel. The camera turns to watch his eyes in the rear-view mirror starting the car and as he pulls away, the camera doesn’t move, going out the back window and watching him roll away into the night.
Flashforward: Two weeks had past, Cane easily amuses himself with the trash he finds in the water while Kian tries to fish, but the only living being they find in the water is some sort of aquatic centipede, which freaks Cane out. While looking around, Kian is shocked to suddenly find parts of a device amongst the rocks. They continue up the hill a bit further to find an entire camp, which raises a lot of questions because it meant they are not the first prisoners to have lived in this area. They approach the camp with extreme caution to discover it had been raided some time ago and that all remained were bits of trash and scraps. Not knowing what all happened at this site, the two men go back to their shelter. Kian starts a fire with some matches and trash he had found at the camp, but there’s something in them that creates a very toxic smoke. He moves away from the fire and drags a sleeping Cane with him, who at first won’t wake up. It takes a few shakes from Kian for him to finally regain consciousness, but his mouth only continues to spout nonsense, and Kian realizes the cold and smoke had made Cane go numb. Fearing they both would freeze to death in the night, the two men decide to go back to the original base and see if they can salvage anything that may still be there.
Back at the drop-off point, life hasn’t been easy for everyone, Wichaya and his gang are in control and keeping a routine while sharing resources, and Wichaya even asks them to call him Judge. They keep anyone that isn’t in their team inside a natural enclosure that they had built barracks in front of – only allowing them to come out to dig by hand for more boulders to be used as building material, similar to real prisons. So much so that even one of Wichaya’s gang members yells orders from a jerry-rigged watchtower that overlooked the encampment.
Kian and Cane manage to reach the edge of this faux-prison structure and find the morsels of meat that had been left next to a smoldering campfire. After walking for so long and both freezing, they can’t help but huddle next to the hot embers and eat the remaining meat on the bones. They fall asleep from exhaustion next to the warmth. Cane wakes up quickly when he hears noises from the gang coming over with a prisoner tied up. He runs to hide behind a rock, but Kian is still out cold, so he comes back out to rescue him, but he is not fast enough and Wichaya’s men capture them.
The two of them are taken back to base, where Wichaya tries to decide what their punishment will be on suspicion for stealing meat when they arrived. One of the gang member, Foax reminds Wichaya “Judge” that both of them were on their side during the first fight and perhaps a lighter punishment was permittable, but he is struck across the face and once fallen to the ground, is attacked for speaking out of line and imprisoned with the others. Kian, Cane and Foax are ushered into the naturally enclosed area. As if Paleontologists, they are instructed to follow the rest of the men who are digging up boulders along the back wall and roll them up the front.
Men take turns breaking new ground using bones as digging tools. Curious, Kian asks Foax what animals they are hunting to have those. He informs them that the meat they ate when they first arrived was another inmate causing both Kian and Cane to convulse. “We’re all going to die and be eaten in here?” Kian erupts and curses the men guarding and throwing sand and spitting at them. A thug in the watchtower whistles loudly. All the other men drop what they are doing and run as fast as they can because they know that whoever is last to come back gets killed and is used as food later. Not trusting one another, Wichaya’s gang was held together by an all-for-one kill or be killed mentality of control. Instead of working together to explore the land, they were corralling the other prisoners against them as meat storage.
Not knowing of this, Kian and Cane stay standing still and the gang proceeds to grab them both. Kian shouts that he has important news that they need to know and to spare their lives if they wish to hear it. “It all depends if you’re telling the truth,” Wichaya replies. Kian explains his path and how he and Cane stumbled onto the abandoned site and conveying that they were not the only one’s alive around this area. It raises concerns with the gang, but without evidence they don’t believe him. Kian slowly pulls out his picture of Terra and Xenna out of his uniform and presents it to Wichaya exclaiming that he found this picture at the site and how it must have belonged to someone who had snuck it with them. Wichaya is suspicious and asks Cane if he agrees. Cane’s eyes look over remorsefully, but Kian quickly adds that he took the picture from the site for inspiration, suggesting with his hands that this meant for masterbating.
Wichaya laughs and considers keeping the picture for himself, before tossing it back at Kian and gathers 4 men to go out with the two and to come back with more proof and whatever parts they can find. Kian picks up the picture off the ground carefully and holds it to his chest, putting his head down to cover up his tears. Wichaya yells out to the imprisoned crowd that Kian’s news should not be considered good and that regardless to whatever information they find, they are better off in this situation than out roaming land that potentially has more prisoners wanting to kill anyone of them for their own freedom.
Flashback: The same night Kian is seen leaving his home with the backpack and gun, we continue to follow. He is seen visiting several areas of town making contact with strangers who approached his window. Once his bag was empty, he pulls up to a building, taking the elevator up several stories and arrives at a hallway party with apartment doors open wide to loud music. Walking through the crowd, many of the men study him passing by and a few of them quietly get up and follow him. He turns to one apartment and is met by a bodyguard at the door and the three men following surround his back. I’m here to see Wichaya. He is escorted in and the men turn away. We find him playing video games smoking with a crowd of other gang members and women. Kian hands him the backpack filled with cash and is handed another backpack from the guard who turns him around slapping a cut of the cash against his chest.
He calls out to wait and explains that he no longer wants to sell and has been building up savings so that he and his family can moveout of the city and into the countryside where he hopes to find a simpler life. Wichaya is impressed that Kian wasn’t like his other dealers and respects the decision. Before you go, what’s the rush, you’ve never mentioned you had a family until now. This whole time, I thought you were a loner because you never stuck around to party with us. Since it sounds like you’re retiring, I insist you stay and have a drink.
The silver-tongued warmth of his words convinced Kian it was best to leave on good terms and after a moment to think, accepts taking a shot with Wichaya. He is brought out of the apartment and roams the hall now beginning to feel loosened up. The men who followed him earlier now nod in acceptance and hand him another beer coaxing him to accept and cheers.
Flashforward: Drones circle high above the prisoners deliberating a strategy before sending out Kian, Cane and the other three. It is decided that Cane would have to stay behind incase Kian decided to do anything stupid or plans were to go wrong, having Cane as a backup.
Flashback: The elevator doors open and we see Kian happily drunk and relieved as he bumps his shoulder against the corner of the doorway on his way out. Moments later, he is in his car driving back home late in the night with the windows rolled down. Kian rides the edge of his lane which alerts nearby drones to investigate. He is unaware enjoying his music thinking about his warm bed that waits at home smiling from the thought of being done with dealing. The streetlights flash across his face repetitiously as he enters into a tunnel. The drones stop following and a cop is alerted to follow.
We watch Kian’s face through the front windshield as red and blue lights turn on behind him and for only a moment, he believes it was for someone else. He doesn’t know if he could fool the officer at this point but remains calm in hopes a casual and matter-of-fact demeanor would throw off any suspicion. The cop approaches the window and Ben complies with his arm being scanned which displays any records if he had any. The cop asks him if he knows why he was pulled over to which Kian doesn’t actually know. The cop tells him to step out of the vehicle and still, Kian remains calm.
The officer pushes him up against the car and immediately zip-ties his hands behind his back. You’re being detained. This vehicle was reported stolen earlier. Stolen!? I own this man. Kian responds while jerking his shoulder in defense. The cop continues to rough him up and forces him down on the ground with his knee to Kian’s back completely ignoring any investigation for drunk driving. He radios for backup and tells Kian he has to remain calm until they have searched his car.
Flashforward:
Chapter Two:
A Bad Day To Be Alive
EXT. CITYSCAPE - DAY
CLOSE ON
Catching the light pouring in from the front door, a puff of dust breaks free from the ground-in dirt off his boots as he snaps tight his laces. The leather cracked and splintered from the harsh years of abuse. His jeans cuff over the top, covering all the distress. He leans over and pulls his bedroom door closed slowly peering in at his wife and child still sound asleep rolled away under their sheets. On his way out, he bends down to remove a small vent panel off the wall and pulls out a bag and gun.
Exterior
We watch from across the street as he comes out under the streetlights. The camera zooms out slowly with him approaching with it backing into an open car window that had been parked. The camera settles in at the back-passenger side seat as Kian opens and sits at the wheel. The camera turns to watch his eyes in the rear-view mirror starting the car and as he pulls away, the camera doesn’t move, going out the back window and watching him roll away into the night.
Kian was twenty-two, a drug-dealer and was out driving with his friend in what turned out to be a stolen vehicle. An officer pulled him over and unfortunately was intoxicated. He tried to remain calm, but the incident turned violent. Knowing he couldn’t fool the cop, he tried to stay compliant, but was forced out of the vehicle and pushed to the ground. With a gun drawn to his head and the officers boot on his back, Kian faded in and out of coherent. He pushed back with adrenaline rushing in his arms. Sweeping the cops legs out from under him and knocking the gun loose, Kian didn’t want to kill the man, only wanted to stop the situation. “I can’t go out like this.”
The shaken cop scrambled to his feet red in the face from the frenzy yelling in his radio for back up. He lied yelling Kian had a weapon. Frightened by the irrational cop, dipped under the officers vehicle and the took off running. Within blocks just around a corner he falls to his knees as gun shots go off behind him. While being shot at, he ran to the glass window of a diner where innocent people were enjoying their food.
Whether luck, adrenaline, or drugs, he ran and ran until he looped back to the scene minutes later. Kian didn’t want to run away, nor did he want to get arrested, but he couldn’t simply walk back to the officer and apologize. A group of officers were yelling amongst each other about who was the bigger idiot. Kian, hyperventilating, ran until he saw the sun on the next morning. He had so much adrenaline boiling over in his veins he ignored the pain of his body as his quads blew out and his feet were left a blistered and bloody mess. He ran as far as the neighboring city and planned to leave the state but couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning his daughter.
His plan was to go back, but how could he with so much to lose? Several days go by and he is still walking, trying to devise a plan to get Xenna. He steals a car and takes off through one cold night straight to where he knew she would be. He made it as far as he could knowing it was the only wat to have a chance with her. Around 3 am, he had made it to the outskirts of the city. The car ran out of power stranded on the side of the road. Kian slumped against the steering wheel in frustration trying to think of what to do. Leans back and sees himself in the rearview mirror and punches it off the car, kicking the floor and banging the interior of the vehicle. He steps out falling to the ground with his back against the exterior car.
In an act of defeat, he notices a shard of mirror beside him. If I can’t have it my way, I might as well.” Leaning over to grab it, he couldn’t ignore what was out across the street. An abandoned puppy aimlessly whimpering around. He could barely wrap his mind around the sight and slowly leaned to one side reaching for the mirror, but the whimpering pierced his attention having him glance back over.
He paused with a sign and grunts over onto his hands pushing himself up to his feet. Scared and shaking against some trash, he reaches down to grab the dog and the glass clinks to the ground. Holding the puppy like a rag doll, he glared at it for a moment then tucks it under his arm and walks towards the city.
By 8am he was in the city walking the sidewalk looking rough from exhaustion. The puppy may have helped him as it distracted most people passing by not bothering to recognize Kian. They would walk past and smile as they glanced at the puppy in his arms. He was still too far from Tara’s home where he hoped to find Xenna.
RING* RING*
-Hey man, its Kian, I need a place to crash tonight.
-Hooollly Shit, Are you fucking crazy? You’re all over the news. You know that!?
-Fuck. I don’t have time, just let me stay in one of your cars in the back or something.
-I can’t have you over here. Did you seriously try to kill a cop?
-God. Fucking damn it. You know I’m not stupid.
-You don’t say my name and you stay away from my house. They’re probably tracking this call.
CLICK*
Kian looks down the screen in frustration with his identity known, it was only a matter of time when he would be caught. He made his way into the restroom to shave his beard. We don’t see the new look until the next scene when he is at Larry’s door. Kian knocks on a trailer that acts as the entrance to a junk yard. Sound asleep, Larry was sprawled out on his couch when the door wakes him up. (or he could be busy sorting pills in his kitchen) He cracks the door open with a chain holding between them. Seeing Kian, he slams it shot yelling through the door, Go away. You owe me. Go away.
Larry knew he couldn’t get rid of him and couldn’t allow Kian to make a scene. ‘You’re one dumb son of a bitch for coming back here. Kian walks in with the dog in hand. Everything Larry is dealing is either packed for something or our being sorted. To his left, a women say in her underwear finishing sealing a package.
Don’t mind her, she’s mine and don’t talk to her. -Got it. So, what’s the mut for, you looking for a friend? Larry condescendingly jokes.
Don’t mind him, he’s mine and you don’t touch him. -Got it?
Ha-ha, fuck you. Alright, put it out in the back. I don’t need flees in here. As Kian drops the dog out the back door, they continue talking.
I didn’t attack that cop. The story is all fake.
I don’t care what you did, don’t tell me anything .You can stay here till the morning, but then you and your dog have to go.
I just need tonight. You won’t be seeing me for a while.
If they catch you, I bet I’ll see you on prison planet. Did you hear about The Brut’s last fight? The guy is a fucking animal. He ripped some bastards jaw off. That’s some crazy shit, he laughed.
Yeah, I heard a little about that. It’s a shit hole place no matter where you are.
I know you too well, I bet you’d kill for more pussy. Those guys have to fight every once in a while, but the rest of the time, their dicks getting sucked every time they sit down. Speaking of… Larry changes the channel to a shoe with mutant-like sex toys in a room full of women acting on every impulse.
It’s now evening, and we find Kian sitting on the floor in the shed behind Larry’s trailer. The shed was reasonable. It was furnished with a cot and a table and a janky desk lamp and only one window facing out back towards the trailer. He sat eating some junk food from a gas station with the dog. Kian is busy writing something down. He can hear Larry’s TV going and seeing both him and the girl occasionally moving around. Suspense builds in his silence. Kian moves with clear intent a little frantic checking the window every few minutes. From one glance to another, absolute silence fills the air in an instant. While writing, he recognizes the abnormal silence puzzled and glances at the dog who isn’t there anymore. He panics and jumps to his feet to look out the window now seeing the trailer and backyard in a void of black almost as if a stage set.
This set appeared cold, dark and wet. The barbed wire fence represents his exterior sharp/aggressive and his internal self has become the cold and haunted. Confused and uneasy, he is scared of what is happening to the lack thereof. He opens the shed door slowly and makes his way outside towards the trailer. A wide shot demonstrates the distance between the shed and trailer with Ben fearfully skeptical of walking over.
He could hear the dog bark from inside the trailer but no sign of movement. As the first steps hit the dirt, the ground crunches like snow, fringed and cold. Everything feels unnatural as he makes his way out. After the first steps he hears Xenna’s voice. She’s crying. He can’t believe it, but somehow is convinced it is her he hears. Kian yells out her name and runs. Each step, the ground gets softer with his feet sinking, almost swallowing him alive. It reaches his knees, waist, but he frantically crawls through it towards the crying and barking. Nearly at the door he is covered in a blackened film gasping for air reaching up to the back door. The crying becomes screaming and his heart races desperately in an attempt to help.
He is scared awake laying in the same pose across the desk in the shed with sweat gathered across his face. He then hears actual screaming coming from the trailer as he sees Larry come out bursting with guns drawn firing inside the trailer with police surrounding and firing back. He is bloody from gun shots dragging himself towards Kian. Not wanting to get caught, Kian grabs the dog and the unfinished letter on the desk to escape out the back window. It turned out Kian was being tracked and they had already planned a raid on Larry. Within the commotion, Larry is gunned down in front of the shed. The blood soaking the dirt around him as he laid against the door. The cop walks up to him with an emphasis on his shoes crunching in the blood and dirt. (Make sure Ben’s crawl matches when he is the god figure in Xenna world.)
Flying drones and police had swarmed Larry’s compound. We find ourselves inside the trailer witnessing all the drugs and dead bodies including both the girls and cops. They search the grounds looking for hidden passageways for hiding. The police talk amongst themselves debating their next move.
I need everyone thinking like a cop killer. These guys are like rats. Pull up every floorboard, check under the mattress. This guy has to be close.
What should we do about these two? Gesturing at the dead bodies of Larry and the girl.
Leave them. Put down that we arrived too late and they were already killed by the fugitive. When we raided the place, he ambushed us killing these two and Deputy Kielm. Poor bastard.
Add the drugs?
Take what you want, we’ll put this all on the cop killer.
Meanwhile, cops pocket drugs they’re finding as they search for clues. Flashlights cut through the air exposing every dark corner in every rooms.
It’s a good thing we caught thee two when we did. They have some serious shit in here. He reaches behind the stove to reveal a heavy assault rifle. How does a guy like this get a gun like that? These were all outlawed centuries ago.
Damn, that’s nice. He takes it from the other cop’s hand as if he found it himself and yells out, “I want everyone to bring me what they find. He looks passed the cops towards the backyard in disgust and pushes the weapon back in the chest of the cop aggressively, Wait, wait, what is that?
What?
That fucking shed! Has anyone checked inside the shed? Immediately, everyone scrambles outside quickly rushing the windows. Larry’s body blocked the door. It is kicked over they open the door. The chief forces himself in to find everything clear and the back window open. Shit. He was here! Get everyone out of here. He can’t be too far by now.
Kian is found panting in nearly a delirium running from shadow-to-shadow scanning landmarks. The dog is held with care even under all the fear and panic while he falls to the floor with every siren passing by. He is on his way to Tara’s to see Xenna. He makes it to the front door to knock. Right as drones surround him in beaming lights whirling winds from their propellers. He falls to his knees as the police shout through the drone. He refuses to put his hands up crying and waiting for the front to open. Place your hands over your head now. Kian cries out for Xenna.
As four police charge him with guns drawn, the drones fire taser into Kian causing him to tighten and fold over on his side. The door opens with Tara and Xenna clutching her leg behind. Once Kian sees her, he burst out with exultation, releasing the dog. The police pill on top of him and drag him off. Xenna’s last memory of her father is his face in tears with his hands up being dragged into the bright lights behind him. The dog is hers and stays with her till the end.
Kian’s life changes as he is dragged through the court system, played up as a villain cop killer and drug dealer. Used as propaganda plot to cover up the news and to distract, instilling fear on all those still on Earth to behave and falsely show how virtuous the enforcement was.
The battle for free and un-bias journalism had been lost generations ago. The government and the mega rich fund their agendas for capital gains. They play off of public distrust showing exaggerated and false news so often and so recklessly, people assume it all to be real because it is all that they are able to see. What we are capable of, doesn’t mean that’s who we are deep down.
We believe the ridiculous as truth because it is perceived to be “too well thought out” not to be true because they underestimate just how manipulative the world can be. (Power is the illusion of greatness, while greatness is exalted power) Due to the unraveling of moral standards, questions so this is the first time we will get the full process of what happens when a person is sent to Prison (Planet) He is evaluated and chosen to be a fighter as his sentence. Though many plead for the opportunity is has, there are unbeatable odds against the reward.
Kian’s case was different because if you are chosen, that means the courts were told to expedite anyone and use them as a form of entertainment. A fighter was elected maybe one in every 20,000 prisoners, so it was considered a higher honor despite the reality you were fighting for your freedom back. He would have 6 months to two years in solitary confinement to “prepare” which he is kept in tortured conditions, brain washed, trained and hardened based on each individuals qualities. Stripped of their memories or since of humanity, they were even groomed to have a persona before emerging with a nickname.
Once he is out, they market the prison system to scare the general public not to commit crimes and advertise Prison (Planet) as a hostile and savage existence. Kian comes out of the system a year later.
Kian is given a witch hunt trial with a bias jury, a bribed judge and millions of angry citizens. Cops were encouraged to display their pride of their heroism and viewed as “the pure” founded on a merit system which was realistically founded on bribery and extorsion allowing The Pure to have more lenient lifestyles so that they would turn the other cheek when bigger governmental organized crimes needed to happen.
We meet a different Kian, void of emotion, fear or compassion. The story will not explain what all they did to him (Brutus’s story will tell that layer) Kian’s new persona will be revealed once the darkness is cut form a bright light pouring through the cracks of a massive door that cracks open to reveal Heathen. A cold-blooded creature existing within Kian’s body. Part of the planet’s structure is that there are no fences, no laws, and outdated technology.
Heathen is grey in the eyes void of a sign of a soul now. We focus on his feet stepping out and crunching beneath his boots. The fighters are given upgrades as they win more fights. Heathen is in a standard issued Fighters Outfit, but with distinct graphics and colors to signify his rank and persona.
He steps out and looks up at the drones filming. Several other fights appear for their first time’s as well in various locations all wearing the same outfits but with different markings. Each fighter has different weapons. They each wear a collar with camera and vital readings that play back to the audience. Heathen stays still focused on the scene around him.
One man doesn’t look prepared and it is clear that he is a nervous reck. He takes off running away from the others and towards some nearby trees. The rest stay still as we all focus on this one outlier. Not more than 50 yards out, he is electrocuted by the collar and falls dead on the ground. The rest don’t show signs of remorse. Heathen quickly turns as he is rushed by another fighter charging towards him.
He is clipped in the shoulder by a blunt weapon pulling his arm out of socket. Kian falls to the ground quickly rolling to avoid another strike. This other fighter seems frantic while Heathen stays calculated. Other fighters break into battle with one another. Once he springs back up to his feet, he casually pulls his shoulder back in while looking for the attacker who he finds darting into the tree-line. As he scans, another man drop kicks him in the back. They wrestle and Heathen lands a solid punch to his face. The fighter falls back off of him screaming from what seems to be a fractured jaw. Staring down the other fight writhing in pain trudging backwards, Heathen brakes off a tree limb and swings it around like a bat before walking over and striking the man over the head several times killing him. “Another coward,” Heathen mumbles.
People back home watch in various environments. A crowd in a bar all flinching and cheer just after watching Heathen’s first kill. Yada Yada
Heathen is left panting heavily as his heartrate skyrockets. In the snowy conditions and blood-soaked uniform, he dresses his wounds and takes the clothes of the other fighter and continues on. The environment is dead quite with snowflakes gracefully drifting past. The camera drones hover closer to get a tighter shot of Heather. He ignores it, but when it gets too close, he takes a swing at it to which his collar stuns him to the ground.
He stays alone in the tree-line as he shuffles along. The drone
