“Welcome back folks. We hope you enjoyed those words from Real
Adventure Family Fun Park, one of our proud sponsors here on
CPTV--which, by the way, was rated #5 out of the 497 basic cable
channels in the latest viewer popularity poll. Thanks guys, we couldn’t
have done it without you! Really!”
“OK, we’re back now. You’re here live with me, Dan Kirkpatrick, and my
co-host Frank ‘Bad Boy’ Llewellyn.”
“Uh, thanks Dan. Yes, it’s a beautiful night here live at H. Stern
Memorial Auditorium. As usual the crowd is packed to capacity and it’s
standing room only.”
“As a matter of fact Frank, if you listen you can almost hear the
buzzing current of excitement flowing through the crowd as they await
tonight’s main event.”
“I tell you the suspense is almost palpable. But I’ve just gotten word
that tonight’s Guest is just leaving Preparations and will soon be on
his way upstairs and as you can see they’re finishing the stage checks
and seating the visitors’ box now so we shouldn’t have long to wait!”
“Now in the first half of the show, of course, we gave you the Guest’s
history and the background story in the opening dramatization. For those
of you who missed it, we are now running a brief written synopsis across
the bottom of the screen. But let me tell you if you tuned in late you
not only missed an amazing film but a special appearance by actress Kana
Raven.”
“She’s an Oscar contender this year isn’t she?”
“Yes, yes, I believe she is and she definitely gave another
award-winning performance tonight.”
“Now, Dan, about tonight’s main event…”
“Ahuh.”
“Is it true that they’ve recovered 3 chips!”
“Yes they have! It’s rather remarkable because of the unfortunate
recent trend of destroying the chips after with fire. But although that
was attempted in this case, the last two were some of the new SJX--like
the one magnified here, encased in its little flame and heat resistant
shell. So, the third and fourth were recovered and the first, of course,
was removed intact.”
“Fascinating. Now in cases like this they usually are able to link the
chips together and their combined output multiplies to produce such an
incredible effect that hardly any amplification is necessary at all.”
“Ahhh! Yes ladies and gentlemen, you can tell by that music that it’s
time for the main event. The forward sections of the audience are on
their feet and the rest are glued to their giant-screen monitors. The
seat lights are dimming, the stage lights are off, and the stagehands
are disappearing into the shadows. And we wait now watching the Portal
framed in the last remaining spotlight and . . . “
“There he is! Tonight’s Guest has arrived! An interesting looking man,
he seems pretty confident, self-assured. He is now being escorted to the
Podium where we may hear a few words from him.”
“Is there anything that you would like to say to the viewers at home,
Mr. Grissam?”
“Bastards.”
“Well . . . that seems to be it. Quite a poet, eh Frank?”
“Ohhh, definitely a man of few words Dan.”
“You know it always amazes me Frank how no matter what they’ve heard,
what they’ve seen, when the time comes they seem so sure. I mean look at
this guy! He’s a picture of steeled self-confidence. The cocky stride,
that devil-may-care grin. He’s sure he can beat it.”
“Yeah, they’re all so sure until. . .”
“Wait here it comes. He’s reached the end of the runway. A hush falls
over the crowd annnd . . . now!”
“Yep. The stage lights jump on, the crowd goes wild, and our Guest gets
his first look at . . . whoah just look at the color drain outta his
face . . .”
“Yeah and it seems to be taking that grin with it. Works every time.”
“I love that Dan.”
“I know you do Frank. You’re a sick little man.”
“Thanks ever so much.”
“You’re ever so welcome. Well he seems to have steeled himself up
again, looks ready.”
“He’s being led up to the stage and . . . what?! . . . oh my God he’s
making a break for it! He just knocked down the escorts and he’s headed
for the audience and . . . wait there’s some kinda struggle goin’ on
down there! I’m not sure what’s . . .”
“Look Dan! I think they got him!”
“Wait . . . yeah, you’re right. Whew! That was a close one!”
“Ain’t that just the way. An entire year without any major incidents
and we almost have a horror show on the week before our 100th episode.
And that reminds me, don’t forget our big two hour special 100th show
extravaganza next week at Madison Square Garden.”
“Yes, we’re going to have a lot of surprises for you next week
including a celebrity announcer that will join us here in the box,
special star cameo appearances throughout the show, interviews by some
of today’s best and brightest, and one or two surprise Guests that I’m
sure you’ve heard about but were probably not expecting see on our
little show. That’s next Thursday at 9!”
“Well, it looks like everything’s under control down there now.”
“Yeah, they’ve brought out an extra circle of Protectors around the
stage. Our Guest is ready now.”
“OK, here we go!”
“They’re double checking his Virtual Reality suit.”
“Now they’re fastening him into the apparatus.”
“The music’s building in the background.”
“They’re double-checking the straps. You know when the action gets
going that thing can really spin.”
“They’re on the edge of their seats, but for the music you could almost
hear a pin drop in the aisles.”
“Uh…huh.”
“The goggles are on and he’s ready to go!”
“They’re powered up. The monitors have gone to split screen with the
computer on Vid-2.”
“We’re ready!”
“And remember if those of you at home have any kids that you want to
shield from reality you can black-out screen 2 by selecting Par-Bloc on
your master remote.”
“This week we have one Starter, a volunteer, who has just entered the
booth.”
“I know she isn’t one of the first three.”
“Nope. Mother of the fourth.”
“Oh.”
“Well she’s at the controls now. All’s ready and all’s quiet. Listen
hard and you can almost hear the crickets.”
“Ready…”
“And…”
“5.”
“4.”
“3.”
“2.”
“1.”
“She’s hit it! The program has begun!”
******
“Hey. Hey. Where am I? Where am I?”
“Don’t you know?”
“Who was that? Where the hell are you? Show yourself!”
“I am here. Behind you. In the shadows.”
“What the hell is going on here! Where the hell am I?”
“Wet, cold, dark and empty. Shadows and whispers, but no eyes, no
hands…”
“Where am I?”
“Just a long, silent alley in the dead of night, don’t you remember?
Where you hunted her--and where I will hunt you.”
“Remember? But how? Who are you?”
“I am the Avenger.”
“Oh God. That damn game . . .”
“…and I will follow you…”
“The game! It can’t be . . . it seems so…”
“…chase you…”
“…so real.”
“…haunt you just beyond the electrified edges of your reaching senses.
I will do as you have done. Run. Run away down the street into the maize
of dank, filthy alleys where you tracked the second, down the hill into
the rain-soaked, mud-clogged little park…”
“No.”
“…where you stalked the first. Down to the thunderous, crashing waves
whose roars drowned the screams of number four. Run faster, faster to
keep ahead of me. Your heart will beat, pound, smash as you feel me
closing in on you--just behind you always on your heels. Your muscles
will throb, your throat will close, and your head will pulse with the
rush of ice cold blood. You will grow blind in watery fear and the
rivulets of tears will strew back across your face, splattering and
draining into your wet, matted hair. And I will always be there,
hounding you, engulfing you, swallowing you alive from the shadows,
filling your mind with fires of dread and horror and pain. I will drive
myself into your soul and shred you apart from the inside out! I am the
Avenger!”
“No. This isn't happening to me! It can't be happening to me! Turn it
off! Turn it off! What’s that? Where are you? Please God! No! No, I’m
sorry, oh God, I’m so sorry!”
*****
“Wow what a show!”
“Listen to that crowd! They sure got their money’s worth! That was one
of the best events I’ve ever seen!”
“7 minutes, 35 seconds! Amazing! That’s just 15 seconds short of the
all-time record Dan!”
“Did you see that Gyro whirl? It was practically out of control. And
check the damage! Sensor suit: ripped, goggles: thrown clear, although
by that time he was so far under the program that the neural implants
were enough anyway. Remember that glazed look in his eyes? His right arm
strap was torn free and it looks like he took half the flesh off his
wrist in the process.”
“The medical examiner is checking him out now and . . . yes, the game
is officially over! Vengeance is ours!”
“Naturally. Official cause of death?”
“Incredible. Apparently his heart literally exploded!”
“Well that would explain the blood, not to mention those shuddering
jerky contortions he managed to twist himself through.”
“Intense. But, you know, what I wanna know is who was that woman?”
“Which woman?”
“Look I’ll show you. Run the tape back, will ya Hal? OK, now
look--right there in the audience, just behind the visitors’ box. There,
you see, that woman in red, trembling, with the scar on her lip! She
stood up right after the mother of the fourth threw the switch. The rest
of the section didn’t stand until the action really heated up a minute
or so into the program. Now, fast forward, Hal. See! She’s standing
there the whole time. Then, as soon as it's over, she vanishes.”
“Well I’ve seen this kinda thing a couple of times before you joined
us. Sometimes, especially in the case of multiples, there are surviving
victims that don’t want to come forward but feel inexorably drawn here
to the final event, to see it with their own eyes. You notice she stood
right behind the visitors’ box where the survivors and family members
always are. Well, usually survivors. Sometimes, accomplices.”
“It’s a first for me. Pretty creepy.”
“Let me just take a second here to answer tonight’s trivia question
while you folks at home watch the Avenger’s victory program on the
screen. Here it is: When did the G-7 chip first go into mass
production? Whadaya think Franky Boy?”
“Don’t know Dan.”
“Well it originally went into limited release around the turn of the
century. In those days, it was used mainly as a tracking device to keep
an eye on known criminals in and out of prison. As crime got more and
more out of control, they got implanted in nearly everyone at 2 years of
age--in case of abduction or disappearance. Harmless. Embedded in a
different location in each person’s brain, and only removable by laser
surgery, they were perfect.
Then, the engineers discovered that they could incorporate neural
implant and virtual imaging technology into the chips so that they could
actually record a user’s experiences and use them later to, among other
things, bring criminals to trial. But of course by then it was usually
too late--at least for the user. It was only after the Dark Years that
the provisional government gave the green light to start using the data
recorded on a victim’s chip in criminal executions.”
“Let the punishment fit the crime, eh Dan?”
“That’s the idea.”
“And so our little show was born. And, as you can tell from the
numbers, televising it all has proven to be one hell of a deterrent.”
“Well the victory program is ending, our Guest has been removed from
the stage and the crowd is dispersing. So that’s about it for us on
Crime and Punishment TV. Don’t forget next week’s two hour special 100th
episode of ‘The Avenger’. The lead-in event will be a surgeon convicted
of 5 counts of fatal malpractice, so brace yourself for a pretty graphic
little opener, but the rest is all top secret so my lips are sealed.
Until next week this is Dan Kirkpatrick. ”
“And this is Frank ‘good to his mother’ Llewellyn, signing off. And
remember for the first time in history true justice is done . . . here
only on CPTV!”
“Stay tuned for your local news after these messages.”
x x x
With the recent trend toward Reality TV, can a program like this one
be long in coming? Let's hope so--or perhaps not. What do you
think?
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