Sin Angels Version Two: Angels or Zombies?
After discussing the basic plot and worldview of Sin Angels, it occurred to me that the 'optimization explosion' caused by Perfect Man and Perfect Woman would be much more interesting if it had an inherent flaw: it optimizes all human flesh (previously programmed to human DNA), whether living or dead. Living produces Angels--the perfection of the human form. Dead produces Zombies--the nano-beings labouring in vain to create a living creature, and using all their problem-solving skills amiss. What they create is a creature that can live for no more than 48 hours, and requires fresh human flesh to rebuild necrotic tissues. So...rather than just a gnawing hunger, there is a purpose to it. And they need to drink copius amounts of water to keep the process going. The nano-beings are designed to maintain life in a nearly dead body. When our Serena kills the two johns, their bodies are fresh. They are in coma, and are nano-repaired in the morgue. Since the nano-beings were there so quickly, the johns still have functioning eyes and brains. They get up and walk out of the morgue, looking for fresh human flesh. They are awake at night, and in coma/rebuild during the day.
Now, onto the details of the Optimization: Serena Nicotine is losing her second set of teeth, and her jaw is being re-aligned. Rowena, our Native policewoman, is convinced that this is a result of a severe beating by the two johns. The medical report--prepared after she escapes--says this not so; these appear to be natural changes. Also, her larnyx is being rebuilt, along with the nerve bundles in her spinal cord. This would require that the skeleton is being rebuilt. I intend to make all this rebuilding extremely conscious and painful. (This is one of the argument between Perfect Man and Perfect Woman. One wishes to push Serena under, and have her awaken completed. The other wins the argument that it is better for Serena to be fully conscious during her ordeal, so as to develop the necessary super-conscious intellect she will need.) This is fun also, because Serena can only communicate by crude sign language. Rowena concludes that Serena may be a deaf mute, and uses AmSlan to communicate. (Rowena has been an FAS worker before she became a policewoman). Serena masters AmSlan in a single hour, and this leads Brian to wonder is she isn't just faking all this trauma, which of course infuriates Rowena.
It is Brian who is trying to put all the odd puzzle pieces together. When we meet him, he is anxious to be promoted to Detective, but it looks like Rowena is on the fast track, not him.
Serena's change in larnyx gives her a voice that is unrecognizable to her mother, when at last Mary Nicotine--a devout and sober Catholic--arrives from the reserve to free her daughter. The larynx is now an organic maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). She can use various consonant and vowel combinations as physical tools and weapons. For example kayKAY is a punch, capable of knocking a man over.
Here's the story in structure:
Act One: Encounter On The Stroll
- act 1 scene 1: the silent 5th wheel
- act 1 scene 2: breakdown at the station
- act 1 scene 3: the morgue is a busy place
- act 2 scene 1: this is not my daughter
- act 2 scene 2: this is not my girlfriend
- act 2 scene 3: the escape
- act 3 scene 1: perfect man, perfect woman
- act 3 scene 2: policewoman's dilemna
- act 3 scene 3: contagion
All three acts occur in a 12-hour period:
- Serena is rescued at 1o p.m.
- Serena is captured at 5 a.m.
- Serena is released at 10 a.m.
- Serena Nicotine, the Optimized One
- Rowena Eagle Feather, the Native Policewoman
- Brian Hastings, the White Policeman
- KayKay, a Native child prostitute
- Bob, a john
- Ned, a john
- Emergency room doctor
- Jimmy Starling, a Native wannabe pimp
- Perfect Man, a trans-dimensional
- Perfect Woman, a trans-dimensional
posted by Zinc Chameleon @ 7:06 AM
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