Science Fiction
For this project we we were required to write a science fiction story that we could later on turn into a short film, trailer, podcast, or graphic novel. Since it was very open I did my story on Eardentification, which is a technology that you must use to use any and all other electronics. Since it is attached to you it makes people robotic except for one boy who has drifted a different direction. I really liked this project because it was a lot of fun to have your idea come to life and it made it more fun to film with friends.
Eardentification
Chapter 1
What Has Been Forgotten
“Cara, Cara. Come on honey. Please hold on. I love you. Don’t die on me, please. Just please don’t die. I know you can’t see me anymore, but just listen to my voice.”
“Marco, is that you? I can still remember how you looked when we first met. Your shaggy brown hair. Your green eyes that sparkled as you looked at me. You had the strength of a bear, but you’ve always been a teddy bear to me. I want you to give me one last thing. Just tell me the story of how we met from your eyes.”
“Alright, I’ll tell you a story, more like a fairytale. It may be hard to believe due to the circumstances we are in now, but at one point the earth was a thriving planet. We were just ordinary people that met and fell in love. Let me start from the beginning.”
It was in the year 2013 and I was just a teenager, 14 or 15 maybe. I lived in central Texas where it was very hot all the time. Even though we didn’t live in the city, technology was everything at the time. Everyone had an iPhone or laptop, and if you didn’t, your parents or someone close to you did. When you got in trouble the worst consequence would be to get it taken away. Being without it for a day, felt like part of you was missing. It was like a phantom limb, you would try to use it but it just wouldn’t be there. Perhaps, it was the recession when people started losing their minds. They put technology before everything, their homes, jobs, families, even themselves. Everyone seemed to become selfish. The only thing they cared about was the next upgrade.
There were a few people still grounded to something other than their phone.These people still sought experience with nature, and they still had a very emotional connection to the world around them. They were interested in the way the tides were formed or the simple architecture of a playground. However, they were the outcasts of society. I was one of those outcasts.
I worked a part time job in high school as I was trying to help provide for my family. We lived in an older apartment. It was just my mom, younger sister and I. Instead of blinds we used old sheets and jackets. My father had been in the army and died when I was very young. I can barely remember him now. Since I was the man of the house now, I had to put their well being before mine.I would sleep on the couch most nights and they would take the bedroom and share the bed. It was literally just a bedroom.. Nothing but a bed and a nightstand for my mom to rest the daily newspaper and her glasses. My mom decided when we were younger to teach us to read the newspaper. My sister and I were the brightest of the class because of it. Every night she would read it to us, almost as if it was a bedtime story. She wanted us to know the truth about the world and question it. Not just to let it be news and a problem.
From an early age, we were taught to be the best people we could possibly be. We also were the most respected students by our teachers, until they started to understand how to use smart phones and laptops. My mom made us promise that we would keep our morals and always question what was going on. If we questioned it, we wouldn’t be the kind of people that were pushovers and just did what we were told. The other thing was she wanted us to be respectful of others. The only way for us to get respected was to respect others. She wanted us to be our own person but she really wanted to have us fit in. The hardest thing was that we were just trying to afford rent. In other words, we weren’t financially stable. We could never afford things like cellphones or computers. We used computers at school and it was a privilege for me. But unlike other kids, I wasn’t part of the status quo. I questioned, “Why do people never look up to see the world around them? What is the big obsession with electronics? Why did it always have to be the easy way? Why can’t people just work hard and feel accomplishment for completing something?” I wanted to do well in school and life, so I took the initiative to distance myself from temptations. If I stayed focused now, I would be able to provide for my family and not have to worry about money in the future. I had teachers all the time telling me to stop bugging them and go listen to music or go on instagram or something. They wanted just as much to be on their iPhones as their students. I had so many inquires of the world and I wanted to be full of knowledge so I could succeed.
There were others like me but we were the new “nerds”. Society just couldn’t understand why we weren’t as obsessed with the electronics as they were. We had a different picture of life. We wanted to see people and our surroundings for who they were and how they felt. The problem with the internet was that people could photoshop or fake who they really were. You couldn’t trust them and there was no real connection besides the wifi. Even at restaurants instead of eating with your family, they had wireless internet that allowed people to be on their phones and computers while eating. I watched as some families wouldn’t even say two words to each other. Parents couldn’t control their impulses of being on the phone twenty four seven, and they didn’t control their kids. They couldn’t protect their kids from the dangers of the predators and the bullies on the internet.
That’s when everything seemed to turn. An enormous scientific corporation observed how fixated people were on technology and wanted to develop ways they could profit from this. They lobbied the lawmakers and got them to be a part of their new idea. The lawmakers passed a series of laws that made it only legal to use computers and smart phones if you had a special chip. To make sure people weren’t faking who they were, lawmakers “decided” to insert a chip in each human's brain. With the chip, people could only use electronics if they used their identification account which was embedded, located around each person's ear chip. It was almost like an earring and a bluetooth combined except you couldn’t take it off. Every computer and website could scan an individual's ear before allowing them access . People would get different colors with different designs. They all had the same purpose though. The other part of the law that really scared people the most, was that if they have the chip, their electronic devices would be confiscated by the government or would stop working. Like I said earlier, people went crazy without their devices. So the threat of confiscation saved its purpose. Wearing the chip seemed to be the most rational decision, and so they followed through with it. It was only $50 and many people got discounts for going as a family. Children, even as young as ages one to three, were getting it for free. I guess they thought they were getting a “head start” or something of that sort, a chance to get ahead in society and prepare for the future. Their slogan was “Prepare the next generation for a better tomorrow and make them the leaders with EARdentification.”
Chapter 2
Why I left
One day at school, I had the student counselor pull me aside. He questioned me, “Is there something we need to talk about? I noticed you are one of very few people that haven’t gotten the EARdentification. If it’s because of money, I can help you fundraise.”
“The thing is Mr. Siston, I just don’t have much interest in it. I don’t see a need for something like that when I could be learning out of books and the world around us.”
“Unfortunately Marco, we now require every student to have one. We are mandated by the law to assist every student in accessing a better learning environment and EARdentification would be helping you become a better student.”
“Sir, I would like to reject your offer in the most polite way possible.”
“You aren’t understanding, are you? If you don’t get one we will have to either forcibly insert it or you will be kicked out of school and will lose your job. I know your family doesn’t have the best financial situation but we will pay to insert it.”
“Fine. If this is how it must be then, thank you for the heads up. I appreciate your input on this device and helping me fit in but I have strong beliefs against it. Everyone has become obsessed. What would happen if we were to lose power? We wouldn’t know what to do with our lives or how survive. Technology isn’t the only thing in the world you know.”
“ I don’t want to think of a horrible thing like that. Even your statement regarding the loss of power could lead to your arrest and incarceration. People may think you are plotting a terrorist attack. We don’t take these threats lightly. You would have no hope of helping your family then, you would be a disgrace.”
“I am not meaning that as a threat. I am stating my opinion whether you agree or not. This country was started on the freedom of speech. I am being completely peaceful, you can’t force me to do anything!”
“Marco, you need to leave school. You are a great student but if you aren’t going to abide by these laws then leave. Since you won’t cooperate with us we will revoke your workers permit. Either get EARdentification or lose your job. It’s your choice.”
After that day, it was kind of a blur. I decided to run away, I didn’t want to let my family down, and I couldn’t even help provide for them anymore. I was a traveler, but the problem was people never would even look up to see me going by. Everyone was on their phones no matter where I went. I went to other high schools to find kids like me. Each day I would wander around like I was one of them but they didn’t even seem to notice me anymore. I wasn’t just an outcast, I was a nobody and I was searching around for other nobodies like me.
It was at Jefferson High School when I first saw someone without the chip. She was eating a ham and cheese sandwich and sitting by herself. The world seemed to be moving by so quickly around her but she seemed like she was dreaming. Her beautiful long black hair was blowing in the wind. It seemed to wrap around her petite body like a cape. Her deep brown eyes kept looking up like someone was calling her name, but there was no sound around her besides the pitter patter of keyboards and the beat of music from earbuds that were being played too loud. I walked up to her and said hi. She seemed so confused that someone was speaking to her. I showed her that I didn’t have EARdentification either and she instantly hugged me. She started shooting questions at me like a cannon. They all seemed to be about who I was and why didn’t I have an EARdentification. As I was explaining that I was one of those people that just wasn’t interested with the use of technology but with the Earth around me, she interrupted me asking if I had seen that slowly people with EARdentification were starting to become robotic and they would answer everything the same. They would all twitch at the same time, they would all do and say the exact same things. She seemed to think that they had become over run by EARdentification.
Summary of the end
As the story goes on, Marco, the main character, will learn that Cara wasn't lying. They start to travel around the United States finding others like them. As they do, they encounter the law enforcement a few times and decide to come up with a device that looks like EARdentification but isn't. Their devices are just walkie talkies, so they have to make sure they won’t ever be in a situation where they will have to be scanned. The things they noticed was that everyone would do things in sync. They decide that the only way to help them is to destroy the main system that controls EARdentification. They travel all over the US to find it but once they do they must get past all the security. Each time Marco thinks he has found the plug, he realizes that there is more back up controls. Cara thinks that the only way to shut it off is to end power completely. Cara becomes hurt in the process and loses vision. Once they destroy all plants that create power, they finally get people to snap out of it and cease to act like robots. The only thing people with EARdentification can remember, is that Marco and Cara have ended power and that people must try and survive without it. Since the EARdentification was connected to their brains, they have short term memory loss and only thing they remember is before EARdentification with their other electronics. Marco and Cara go into hiding because they are the most hated people in the world. Since they were the leaders everyone else thinks that anyone that helped them died in the mission. Now everyone who did help them, must pretend they are like everyone else. Cara and Marco grow old together and realize that they were meant for each other. They are the only ones left for each other. Marco must take care of Cara and himself because they must not be seen by society. Marco tells this story just as Cara is dying from infections. She can’t be brought to a doctor and wants to remember their lives together.
What Has Been Forgotten
“Cara, Cara. Come on honey. Please hold on. I love you. Don’t die on me, please. Just please don’t die. I know you can’t see me anymore, but just listen to my voice.”
“Marco, is that you? I can still remember how you looked when we first met. Your shaggy brown hair. Your green eyes that sparkled as you looked at me. You had the strength of a bear, but you’ve always been a teddy bear to me. I want you to give me one last thing. Just tell me the story of how we met from your eyes.”
“Alright, I’ll tell you a story, more like a fairytale. It may be hard to believe due to the circumstances we are in now, but at one point the earth was a thriving planet. We were just ordinary people that met and fell in love. Let me start from the beginning.”
It was in the year 2013 and I was just a teenager, 14 or 15 maybe. I lived in central Texas where it was very hot all the time. Even though we didn’t live in the city, technology was everything at the time. Everyone had an iPhone or laptop, and if you didn’t, your parents or someone close to you did. When you got in trouble the worst consequence would be to get it taken away. Being without it for a day, felt like part of you was missing. It was like a phantom limb, you would try to use it but it just wouldn’t be there. Perhaps, it was the recession when people started losing their minds. They put technology before everything, their homes, jobs, families, even themselves. Everyone seemed to become selfish. The only thing they cared about was the next upgrade.
There were a few people still grounded to something other than their phone.These people still sought experience with nature, and they still had a very emotional connection to the world around them. They were interested in the way the tides were formed or the simple architecture of a playground. However, they were the outcasts of society. I was one of those outcasts.
I worked a part time job in high school as I was trying to help provide for my family. We lived in an older apartment. It was just my mom, younger sister and I. Instead of blinds we used old sheets and jackets. My father had been in the army and died when I was very young. I can barely remember him now. Since I was the man of the house now, I had to put their well being before mine.I would sleep on the couch most nights and they would take the bedroom and share the bed. It was literally just a bedroom.. Nothing but a bed and a nightstand for my mom to rest the daily newspaper and her glasses. My mom decided when we were younger to teach us to read the newspaper. My sister and I were the brightest of the class because of it. Every night she would read it to us, almost as if it was a bedtime story. She wanted us to know the truth about the world and question it. Not just to let it be news and a problem.
From an early age, we were taught to be the best people we could possibly be. We also were the most respected students by our teachers, until they started to understand how to use smart phones and laptops. My mom made us promise that we would keep our morals and always question what was going on. If we questioned it, we wouldn’t be the kind of people that were pushovers and just did what we were told. The other thing was she wanted us to be respectful of others. The only way for us to get respected was to respect others. She wanted us to be our own person but she really wanted to have us fit in. The hardest thing was that we were just trying to afford rent. In other words, we weren’t financially stable. We could never afford things like cellphones or computers. We used computers at school and it was a privilege for me. But unlike other kids, I wasn’t part of the status quo. I questioned, “Why do people never look up to see the world around them? What is the big obsession with electronics? Why did it always have to be the easy way? Why can’t people just work hard and feel accomplishment for completing something?” I wanted to do well in school and life, so I took the initiative to distance myself from temptations. If I stayed focused now, I would be able to provide for my family and not have to worry about money in the future. I had teachers all the time telling me to stop bugging them and go listen to music or go on instagram or something. They wanted just as much to be on their iPhones as their students. I had so many inquires of the world and I wanted to be full of knowledge so I could succeed.
There were others like me but we were the new “nerds”. Society just couldn’t understand why we weren’t as obsessed with the electronics as they were. We had a different picture of life. We wanted to see people and our surroundings for who they were and how they felt. The problem with the internet was that people could photoshop or fake who they really were. You couldn’t trust them and there was no real connection besides the wifi. Even at restaurants instead of eating with your family, they had wireless internet that allowed people to be on their phones and computers while eating. I watched as some families wouldn’t even say two words to each other. Parents couldn’t control their impulses of being on the phone twenty four seven, and they didn’t control their kids. They couldn’t protect their kids from the dangers of the predators and the bullies on the internet.
That’s when everything seemed to turn. An enormous scientific corporation observed how fixated people were on technology and wanted to develop ways they could profit from this. They lobbied the lawmakers and got them to be a part of their new idea. The lawmakers passed a series of laws that made it only legal to use computers and smart phones if you had a special chip. To make sure people weren’t faking who they were, lawmakers “decided” to insert a chip in each human's brain. With the chip, people could only use electronics if they used their identification account which was embedded, located around each person's ear chip. It was almost like an earring and a bluetooth combined except you couldn’t take it off. Every computer and website could scan an individual's ear before allowing them access . People would get different colors with different designs. They all had the same purpose though. The other part of the law that really scared people the most, was that if they have the chip, their electronic devices would be confiscated by the government or would stop working. Like I said earlier, people went crazy without their devices. So the threat of confiscation saved its purpose. Wearing the chip seemed to be the most rational decision, and so they followed through with it. It was only $50 and many people got discounts for going as a family. Children, even as young as ages one to three, were getting it for free. I guess they thought they were getting a “head start” or something of that sort, a chance to get ahead in society and prepare for the future. Their slogan was “Prepare the next generation for a better tomorrow and make them the leaders with EARdentification.”
Chapter 2
Why I left
One day at school, I had the student counselor pull me aside. He questioned me, “Is there something we need to talk about? I noticed you are one of very few people that haven’t gotten the EARdentification. If it’s because of money, I can help you fundraise.”
“The thing is Mr. Siston, I just don’t have much interest in it. I don’t see a need for something like that when I could be learning out of books and the world around us.”
“Unfortunately Marco, we now require every student to have one. We are mandated by the law to assist every student in accessing a better learning environment and EARdentification would be helping you become a better student.”
“Sir, I would like to reject your offer in the most polite way possible.”
“You aren’t understanding, are you? If you don’t get one we will have to either forcibly insert it or you will be kicked out of school and will lose your job. I know your family doesn’t have the best financial situation but we will pay to insert it.”
“Fine. If this is how it must be then, thank you for the heads up. I appreciate your input on this device and helping me fit in but I have strong beliefs against it. Everyone has become obsessed. What would happen if we were to lose power? We wouldn’t know what to do with our lives or how survive. Technology isn’t the only thing in the world you know.”
“ I don’t want to think of a horrible thing like that. Even your statement regarding the loss of power could lead to your arrest and incarceration. People may think you are plotting a terrorist attack. We don’t take these threats lightly. You would have no hope of helping your family then, you would be a disgrace.”
“I am not meaning that as a threat. I am stating my opinion whether you agree or not. This country was started on the freedom of speech. I am being completely peaceful, you can’t force me to do anything!”
“Marco, you need to leave school. You are a great student but if you aren’t going to abide by these laws then leave. Since you won’t cooperate with us we will revoke your workers permit. Either get EARdentification or lose your job. It’s your choice.”
After that day, it was kind of a blur. I decided to run away, I didn’t want to let my family down, and I couldn’t even help provide for them anymore. I was a traveler, but the problem was people never would even look up to see me going by. Everyone was on their phones no matter where I went. I went to other high schools to find kids like me. Each day I would wander around like I was one of them but they didn’t even seem to notice me anymore. I wasn’t just an outcast, I was a nobody and I was searching around for other nobodies like me.
It was at Jefferson High School when I first saw someone without the chip. She was eating a ham and cheese sandwich and sitting by herself. The world seemed to be moving by so quickly around her but she seemed like she was dreaming. Her beautiful long black hair was blowing in the wind. It seemed to wrap around her petite body like a cape. Her deep brown eyes kept looking up like someone was calling her name, but there was no sound around her besides the pitter patter of keyboards and the beat of music from earbuds that were being played too loud. I walked up to her and said hi. She seemed so confused that someone was speaking to her. I showed her that I didn’t have EARdentification either and she instantly hugged me. She started shooting questions at me like a cannon. They all seemed to be about who I was and why didn’t I have an EARdentification. As I was explaining that I was one of those people that just wasn’t interested with the use of technology but with the Earth around me, she interrupted me asking if I had seen that slowly people with EARdentification were starting to become robotic and they would answer everything the same. They would all twitch at the same time, they would all do and say the exact same things. She seemed to think that they had become over run by EARdentification.
Summary of the end
As the story goes on, Marco, the main character, will learn that Cara wasn't lying. They start to travel around the United States finding others like them. As they do, they encounter the law enforcement a few times and decide to come up with a device that looks like EARdentification but isn't. Their devices are just walkie talkies, so they have to make sure they won’t ever be in a situation where they will have to be scanned. The things they noticed was that everyone would do things in sync. They decide that the only way to help them is to destroy the main system that controls EARdentification. They travel all over the US to find it but once they do they must get past all the security. Each time Marco thinks he has found the plug, he realizes that there is more back up controls. Cara thinks that the only way to shut it off is to end power completely. Cara becomes hurt in the process and loses vision. Once they destroy all plants that create power, they finally get people to snap out of it and cease to act like robots. The only thing people with EARdentification can remember, is that Marco and Cara have ended power and that people must try and survive without it. Since the EARdentification was connected to their brains, they have short term memory loss and only thing they remember is before EARdentification with their other electronics. Marco and Cara go into hiding because they are the most hated people in the world. Since they were the leaders everyone else thinks that anyone that helped them died in the mission. Now everyone who did help them, must pretend they are like everyone else. Cara and Marco grow old together and realize that they were meant for each other. They are the only ones left for each other. Marco must take care of Cara and himself because they must not be seen by society. Marco tells this story just as Cara is dying from infections. She can’t be brought to a doctor and wants to remember their lives together.