Picture the Future

All scenes take place in the northwest corner office of the Freedom Engineering Research Group, East Douglas, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Wyatt. What the hell? That storm wasn't here yet!

Julie. Wasn't this office supposed to be a survivalist compound once?

Wyatt. Why, yes it was. That lightning would have had to take out the power lines and our generator at the same time.

Stephen. (from offstage) It did.

Julie. Stephen?

Stephen. (while moving) This was my only chance to talk with you.

Julie. You can talk to me any time.

Stephen. Phone calls are monitorable. As Internet. As public mail.

Julie. Well, what about telepathy?

Stephen. You have been denied that here.

Wyatt. Yes, she has. Your wife can go outside and mind-meld with you all she likes, but while she's on the job here, it's my responsibility to defend her from mind-spam. Fortunately the equipment was working 'til now.

Stephen. Wyatt Ferguson. In past you have saved my life, you have warped my plans, you have threatened all I love, you have fought alongside me against the destruction of mankind, you have given me the keys to the Omniverse.

Wyatt. (resignedly) Been there.

Stephen. And you have now swayed what I love against me.

Julie. I didn't desert to him!

Julie. Stop talking to me in my head! I want Wyatt to hear this too!

Stephen. You know I could talk in his head too... and so does he.

Julie. Out loud for once!

Stephen. Julie. I have an offer for you. I will depart this universe forever.

Julie. Huh?

Wyatt. He could.

Stephen. This world is a failed experiment. I know other universes which promise success.

Julie. What do you mean, success?

Stephen. We have worked toward a united world with local diversity. This means the deconstruction of the nation state.

Wyatt. I knew it!

Stephen. We chose the United Nations as the vessel for world unity. It had some legitimacy.

Wyatt. And it kicks some ass nowadays, thanks.

Stephen. I expected a backlash. It was part of the plan. But it now gets out of control.

Wyatt. No shit.

Stephen. The assassin of Governor Wolf has been dealt with.

Wyatt. Buh-bye, Doctor Lithium.

Julie. I still think that wasn't right.

Stephen. It is the whole concept of global power and local resposibility. The superhuman community must police our own.

Stephen. But the policing is too late here. The Redneck's Revenge movement now has swayed the election. The Super Savior movement cannot become powerful enough to compensate for that much influence that fast.

Wyatt. I always wondered where that Super Savior crap came from.

Stephen. This world has become a failed experiment. In other worlds, the backlash president will be much less popular. And he will lose his office for his crimes.

Wyatt. Just like President Bush?

Stephen. That is the intent.

Wyatt. Because if a president fights superhumans, he has to be removed from office?

Stephen. No, if a president starts to fight the world, he will be removed from office. Before the resultant world war.

Stephen. And Candidate Hatch has promised to fight the world to reverse United Nations sovereignty.

Wyatt. You've got to admit, he's got some popular support here.

Stephen. Popular support is modelling clay. In this world, the people have been swayed by the Redneck Rebellion. I declare this world failed.

Julie. So you want to destroy it?

Stephen. Destruction is counterproductive by definition. Instead, this world and its universe are now cut off from other universes.

Wyatt. Okay, I gotta ask, how do you cut off a universe?

Stephen. Wyatt Ferguson, since you introduced me to other universes, they are now my laboratory. And I have met technicians who deal with universes.

Wyatt. What do you mean, deal?

Stephen. This world of failure will shortly be cut off. In cosmological terms, you will become a black hole.

Wyatt. ... He can probably do that!

Stephen. This is our last chance, Julie. Will you come with me, before this universe is disposed?

Julie. What do you mean, come with you?

Stephen. I have a successful self there. I will merge with him. He will have my experience, and I will have his success. We both win. You can do the same. Many others will do likewise.

Wyatt. (tiredly) Been there. It didn't last.

Julie. Stephen, we're married! You'd really leave me, just because you lost an election?

Stephen. I do not leave you. You are already there. Will you join me and your true self?

Julie. What do you mean, true self?

Stephen. Julie... you are happy there.

Julie. I can't just say my life never happened! And I can't stop fighting for our world, just because you say so!

Stephen. So be it. We are on a timetable. This was our last chance...

Stephen. In my other land, I have recruited people who will cut this land off forever. I now claim that victory, even as I admit defeat in this land.

Stephen. Wyatt Ferguson, you once went home victorious against many universes, but powerless. I now retreat from one universe, powerful but defeated...

Stephen. ... I envy you.

Stephen. (spoken to nobody in particular) Extraction Solo!

Onslaught. Behold My Mighty Hand.

Julie. STEPHEN!

Wyatt. I can't say you don't cry...

Julie. I cry lots.