A Life in the Future

By
Carl V. Rossi
14 Caddy Rock Road, Apt B WGA: Registration Pending
North Kingstown, RI 02852
401-294-4421
INT. OFFICE. - DAY
HOWARD hands a pen to CHRISTOPHER and MELANIE.
HOWARD
Just sign on the bottom and were
all set.
Christopher quickly signs the form and hands the pen to his
wife. She doesnt take it.
CHRISTOPHER
Dont you want it?
MELANIE
I dont know.
CHRISTOPHER
I thought we talked about it. I
thought you wanted this too.
MELANIE
I didnt say that. I never said
that.
CHRISTOPHER
Then why are you here? We made up
our minds.
MELANIE
You did.
HOWARD
Christopher, Cryonics is an issue
with which each person needs to
come to terms.
He turns to her.
HOWARD (CONTD)
Melanie, if you like, we can go
over the program again.
MELANIE
We dont need to. This one wont
shut up about it.
HOWARD
Imagine waking up in the future. A
future where theyve beat death. A
place where the people and the
technology cant be predicted.
Imagine, Mel...
MELANIE
(To Howard.)
See?
CHRISTOPHER
I dont understand what your issue
is. Youre going to die anyway.
Why not be frozen until the people
of the future can reverse the
process and wake you up?
MELANIE
Maybe I dont want to see the
future? Maybe I dont give a shit.
(To Howard.)
Excuse me.
Howard waves his hand to say he doesnt mind.
MELANIE (CONTD)
(Back to Christopher.)
You ever consider the idea that if
you plan on waking up five hundred
years in the future, that maybe
youll waste this life? This life
will lose significance and youll
waste it.
CHRISTOPHER
You dont see it. Its all one
life. But with an extension. In
another world.
MELANIE
Its the same world with the same
people.
CHRISTOPHER
But to see it. Imagine.
MELANIE
Maybe when I die, I want to be in a
box in the ground, not frozen and
on my head...
Howard perks up.
MELANIE (CONTD)
Waiting to be woken up-
HOWARD
Excuse me?
2.
Christopher and Melanie are quiet.
HOWARD (CONTD)
I think youve had a bit of
misconception. It is one of our
competitors that stores clients on
their heads. They place their
client in a container head first.
Then they fill the container with
liquid nitrogen. The idea is that
if the nitrogen spills or
evaporates, the head and brain will
be saved because its at the
bottom. They then top-off the
client every few months.
Melanie doesnt see the difference.
MELANIE
Yeah?
HOWARD
Their service is subject to any
Earthbound disturbance.
Earthquakes, war, demolition, and
anything else that can affect the
storage containers. Our service is
a little more premium. Every
client is stored in liquid nitrogen
and once we have twenty clients we
launch them into space.
CHRISTOPHER
See how safe it is?
HOWARD
Exactly. Space phenomena is very
unlikely in Earth orbit and the
container cant leak liquid
nitrogen. Its full-proof and
clients rest comfortably in
weightlessness.
MELANIE
But theyre dead.
HOWARD
There is that.
MELANIE
Im not signing.
Christopher rolls his eyes.
3.
INT. CAR. - DAY
CHRISTOPHER and MELANIE on the ride home.
CHRISTOPHER
You could have just signed it.
MELANIE
I dont want it.
CHRISTOPHER
Like its a big deal.
MELANIE
It is a big deal. Think about why
youre doing it. Youre afraid of
death.
CHRISTOPHER
Isnt everybody?
MELANIE
No.
CHRISTOPHER
They are.
MELANIE
Theyre not, but you are. Youre
so afraid that youll go to any
lengths to avoid it.
CHRISTOPHER
Where does this come from? Did you
get a psyche degree while I was
sleeping?
MELANIE
This isnt about the future. You
can say it is, but what is really
going on is that youre afraid of
death. You want to live forever.
CHRISTOPHER
Fine. Sure. Whatever. But I want
you there with me. Thats why I
want you to sign the paperwork.
MELANIE
Im not signing it. Ever.
4.
INT. SPACECRAFT STORAGE SHIP. - DAY
Its the far future and inside the ship are twenty storage
containers and some of them are open and some of them are
closed.
A container marked, CHRISTOPHER DREYFUS is open. Blob-
like, disgusting aliens made of tentacles and teeth eat
CHRISTOPHERS frozen body.
They scoop out frozen organs and stuff them into their
drooling mouths all the while making smacking, hungry noises.
Pull back to reveal that theyve eaten all the frozen people
in the ship.
FADE OUT:
5.