Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen
"Tell me how to stop this," Dahl told Jenkins.
Jenkins, apparently anticipating Dahl's visit to his secret lair, looked at Dahl and said, "You look healed, that's great. I'm sorry for your friend Finn."
"Did you anticipate what happened to him later?" Dahl asked.
"No," Jenkins said, "whoever wrote this shit didn't send me the script in advance. It's just that the script is uncharacteristically bad. Jay Weston's been living with a biobomb in his head for four years." , waiting for an opportunity to confront Captain Abernathy, wanting to avenge his father who died on a mission twenty years ago, so took advantage of this unrelated diplomatic incident. Crude work."
"Then tell me how to stop it," Dahl said.
"You can't stop it," Jenkins said. "There's no way to stop it, you can only avoid it."
"Avoiding is not an option," Dahl said.
"Of course it is," Jenkins said, opening his arms as if to say, look at me.
"Nobody can do that but you," Dahl said. "We're all ducks to hide on a spaceship."
"There are other ways to dodge it," Jenkins said. "Ask your former boss, Collins."
"She's only safe while you're watching," Dahl said. "You can't tell when you're in the bathroom."
"Then figure out a way to get off this ship," Jenkins said, "with your friends."
"That won't help," Dahl said. "Jay Weston killed eighteen of the Nantes' crew with his armed cargo truck. They're nowhere safe compared to what happened on the Dreadnought." , right? And an entire planet was hit by the plague, allowing us to develop a vaccine for Kerensky at the last minute. So it's not safe on other planets. Even you, Jenkins."
"I'm pretty safe," Jenkins said.
"You're safe because your wife is the dead character and you're just being used as part of her backstory," Dahl said, "but then one day a writer on this so-called show suddenly takes an interest in you, What will happen to you?"
"They won't," Jenkins said.
"Are you sure?" Dahl said. "On the Nantes, Jay Weston was hiding in the cargo bay like you. That's where we found him; The writer conceived the last episode, and now he has a setting in his mind where he can hide in the cargo lane, when do you think he will start thinking of you?"
Jenkins was silent, and Dahl didn't know if it was because he was starting to think about the possibility of being a screenwriting target or because he had mentioned his wife.
"None of us could have played it safe," Dahl said. "You lost your wife for it, I lost my friend for it. You said me and all my friends were going to die for some dramatic purpose. I want to say , what happened to us will happen to you. It won't help if you hide, Jenkins. It's just a reprieve. And in the meantime, you'll have to live like a mouse in a hole."
Jenkins looked around. "I don't agree with the rats," he said.
"Are you happy living this way?" Dahl asked.
"I haven't had any joy since my wife died," Jenkins said. "Anyway, she's gone and I'm living the way I'm doing now. Watching the death report on the ship every day, looking at everything on the ship. How it happened, the most logical conclusion to come to is that we are just part of a TV series. I realized my wife died just to whet my appetite before inserting commercials. In this series, she is a minor character, An extra. She's only there for about ten seconds. Maybe no one in the audience remembers her now, doesn't know her name is Marguerite, doesn't know she prefers white wine to red wine, doesn't Knowing that I proposed to her at a family reunion in her parents' front yard, wouldn't have known that we were married for seven years before some jerk decided to kill her. But I'll remember her."
"Do you think she'll be happy to see you live the way you live?" Dahl asked.
"I think she will understand what I did," Jenkins said. "What I did saved the lives of the people on board."
"It's just saving someone's life," Dahl said. "It's a zero-sum game. Someone has to die. Your alarm system keeps the old crew safe, but makes it more likely that the new guy will die."
"I admit, it's a risk," Jenkins said.
"Jenkins, how long did you live with your wife on the Intrepid before she died?" Dahl asked.
Jenkins opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it, as if the question was a trap.
"Not long, right?" Dahl asked.
Jenkins shook his head to indicate that it was not long before looking away.
"Someone noticed something was wrong before you came on board," Dahl said. "Maybe they didn't come to the same conclusion as you, but they also saw what happened and guessed their chances of survival. Now you just But provide them with more advanced means. You do to the new crew as they did to your wife."
"I think you'd better get out of here now," Jenkins said, still not looking Dahl in the eye.
"Jenkins, listen to me." Dahl moved closer to him. "There is no way to hide, and there is no way to escape. There is no way to avoid fate. If it is really the plot that manipulates it-and you and I know it is Facts—then we can't do what we want until the last moment. Sooner or later the drama will come to you and me, and it will have us at our whim, and we'll die because of it, like Finn, like Margaret. Unless We stop it."
Jenkins looked at Dahl, tears welling in his eyes. "You're a man of faith, aren't you, Dahl?" he said.
"You know my past," Dahl said, "you know I am."
"It hasn't changed by now?" Jenkins said.
"What do you mean?" Dahl asked.
"I mean we all know that in this universe, God is just a mediocre writer," he said, "and he wrote a bad sci-fi TV series, and he couldn't make it work. It was full of holes. You Is it possible to keep the faith knowing all this?"
"Because I don't think that writer is God," Dahl said.
"So you think God is a TV show producer?" Jenkins said, "or the head of a TV station?"
"I think there's a difference between our definition of God," Dahl said, "but I don't think what we're going through is God or anything. If it's a show, it's made by people. Whatever they want What they do to us, how they do it, they're human beings like us. That means we can stop them. We just have to find a way. You need to find a way, Jenkins."
"Why me?" Jenkins asked.
"Because you know more about this show that's stuck with us than anyone else," Dahl said. "If there's a solution or a breakthrough, only you can find it. And as soon as possible. I don't want my friends to Died because of this crap script. Including you."
"We could just blow up the Intrepid," Hurst said. "It doesn't work," Hansen said. "Of course it works," said Hurst. "Boom-pop! Bye bye the Dreadnought, and bye bye the show!" "It's not the Dreadnought that's the main character of the show," Hanson said, "but the characters on it. Captain Abernathy and his crew." "Part of the crew, more precisely," Duval said. "There are five main characters," Hanson corrected him, "and even if you blow up the Intrepid, they'll go to another ship, a better one. They'll call it the Intrepid A or something like that .And then another sci-fi show hits." "Have you researched it?" Hurst said mockingly. "I did research," Hansen said seriously. "After what happened to Finn, I researched every sci-fi TV show I could find." "Have you reached any conclusions?" Dahl asked.He had just briefed everyone on his most recent meeting with Jenkins. "I think Jenkins is right," Hanson said. "Are we doing a TV show or something?" Duvall asked. “No, we’re doing a bad movie,” Hanson said. “All I can say at this point is that we’re doing a show that’s a blatant rip-off of the one Jenkins mentioned.” "Star Wars?" Hirst said. "Yes." Hansen said, "Of course there is also a movie called "Star Wars", which talks about other things." "Whatever," Hearst said, "so the show we're doing is not only bad, it's a copy. So now my life seems even more meaningless than it was before." "Why do you say it's a plagiarism?" Duvall asked. "It was hugely successful in its time," Hanson says, "so a lot of people just kind of jumped in and just reused the basics of it. It worked because it worked before. People bought more or less. accounts with the same settings.” "Did you find this movie we're doing?" Dahl asked. "No," Hansen said, "I didn't think I'd find one. When you conceive a sci-fi show, you create a whole new alternate timeline, slightly before production begins. The show 'Past' is not written into the show." “Otherwise there would be a paradox of circular citations,” Duvall said. "Yeah, but I don't think they thought much of it," Hansen said. Definitely don't want to believe it." "The kind of conversation we're having right now doesn't sit well with me," Hirst said. "I don't think anyone likes it," Dahl said. "I'm not sure, I think it's interesting," Duvall said. "It's fun if it's a booze talk in a dorm room," Hurst said, "but it's not any fun talking about it seriously after our friends die. " "Are you still mad at Finn?" Hansen said. "Of course," Hester spat. "Aren't you angry?" "I remember that the relationship between you two was not very good when you first came to the Intrepid," Dahl said. "I never said I liked him," Hurst said, "but since we got here, it seems to be less rigid, and he's become part of our circle. I'm mad at what happened to him." .” "I'm still upset that he put me down with that pill," Duvall said, "but I also feel guilty that if he hadn't done that, maybe he'd be alive now." "And you may be the one who died." Dahl said bluntly. "That's not necessarily the case, maybe the writer didn't have me die in this episode," Duvall said. "But Finn does have a part in this episode," Hanson said, "and he's bound to be there, in that room when the bomb goes off." "Remember when I said I absolutely hated the conversation we've had these days?" Hurst said. "Just now? That's exactly the kind of conversation I was talking about." "Sorry," Duvall said. "Jimmy, you just said that no matter when the episode starts, a new timeline will be created," Dahl ignored Hearst, who was waving his hands helplessly. "Then do we know when our show started?" "You think that will help?" Hansen asked. "I'm just curious," Dahl says, "that we're in an alternate timeline, whatever time it is, that's different from 'reality.' I want to know when the plot branch happens." "I don't think we'll know," Hanson said. "There's no obvious sign of a timeline warp, because there's no pause from our perspective. We don't have another timeline to reference, We can only see the one we're on." “Maybe we can find out when all this nonsense started happening in our world,” Hirst said. "But what's the definition of 'something that's absurd'?" Duvall said. "Space travel? Contact with aliens? Quantum physics? Because I don't know what quantum physics is talking about myself, so In my opinion, quantum physics must have been invented by a bad writer." "The earliest sci-fi show I could find was TV Ranger, which was in 1949," Hansen said, "and the first episode aired 20 years later. So maybe from 20 Sometime between the late '60s and the end of television in 2105, someone made this show we're in." "That's a huge time span," Dahl said. "Assuming it does exist," Hirst said, "there are all kinds of entertainment that exist only in our timeline. It's a big deal that our timeline goes way back before birth, but exists in our timeline." irony." "Look, the circular citation starts," Duvall said. "I think that's the crux," Hirst said, "that we're all convinced that the guy who wrote the play is an asshole. That's what an asshole writer seems to do." "I told you that a long time ago," Duvall said. "That's a fucking timeline," Hearst said. "Andy." Hansen pointed not far away.A delivery truck was coming towards the table where the group was sitting, and there was a note in the car.Dahl picked up the note, and the truck drove away. "Jenkins news?" Duvall said. "Yeah." Darl replied. "What's written on it?" Duvall said. "He said he found some leads that might be of use," Dahl said. "He wanted to talk to us, everybody."
"We could just blow up the Intrepid," Hurst said. "It doesn't work," Hansen said. "Of course it works," said Hurst. "Boom-pop! Bye bye the Dreadnought, and bye bye the show!" "It's not the Dreadnought that's the main character of the show," Hanson said, "but the characters on it. Captain Abernathy and his crew." "Part of the crew, more precisely," Duval said. "There are five main characters," Hanson corrected him, "and even if you blow up the Intrepid, they'll go to another ship, a better one. They'll call it the Intrepid A or something like that .And then another sci-fi show hits." "Have you researched it?" Hurst said mockingly. "I did research," Hansen said seriously. "After what happened to Finn, I researched every sci-fi TV show I could find." "Have you reached any conclusions?" Dahl asked.He had just briefed everyone on his most recent meeting with Jenkins. "I think Jenkins is right," Hanson said. "Are we doing a TV show or something?" Duvall asked. “No, we’re doing a bad movie,” Hanson said. “All I can say at this point is that we’re doing a show that’s a blatant rip-off of the one Jenkins mentioned.” "Star Wars?" Hirst said. "Yes." Hansen said, "Of course there is also a movie called "Star Wars", which talks about other things." "Whatever," Hearst said, "so the show we're doing is not only bad, it's a copy. So now my life seems even more meaningless than it was before." "Why do you say it's a plagiarism?" Duvall asked. "It was hugely successful in its time," Hanson says, "so a lot of people just kind of jumped in and just reused the basics of it. It worked because it worked before. People bought more or less. accounts with the same settings.” "Did you find this movie we're doing?" Dahl asked. "No," Hansen said, "I didn't think I'd find one. When you conceive a sci-fi show, you create a whole new alternate timeline, slightly before production begins. The show 'Past' is not written into the show." “Otherwise there would be a paradox of circular citations,” Duvall said. "Yeah, but I don't think they thought much of it," Hansen said. Definitely don't want to believe it." "The kind of conversation we're having right now doesn't sit well with me," Hirst said. "I don't think anyone likes it," Dahl said. "I'm not sure, I think it's interesting," Duvall said. "It's fun if it's a booze talk in a dorm room," Hurst said, "but it's not any fun talking about it seriously after our friends die. " "Are you still mad at Finn?" Hansen said. "Of course," Hester spat. "Aren't you angry?" "I remember that the relationship between you two was not very good when you first came to the Intrepid," Dahl said. "I never said I liked him," Hurst said, "but since we got here, it seems to be less rigid, and he's become part of our circle. I'm mad at what happened to him." .” "I'm still upset that he put me down with that pill," Duvall said, "but I also feel guilty that if he hadn't done that, maybe he'd be alive now." "And you may be the one who died." Dahl said bluntly. "That's not necessarily the case, maybe the writer didn't have me die in this episode," Duvall said. "But Finn does have a part in this episode," Hanson said, "and he's bound to be there, in that room when the bomb goes off." "Remember when I said I absolutely hated the conversation we've had these days?" Hurst said. "Just now? That's exactly the kind of conversation I was talking about." "Sorry," Duvall said. "Jimmy, you just said that no matter when the episode starts, a new timeline will be created," Dahl ignored Hearst, who was waving his hands helplessly. "Then do we know when our show started?" "You think that will help?" Hansen asked. "I'm just curious," Dahl says, "that we're in an alternate timeline, whatever time it is, that's different from 'reality.' I want to know when the plot branch happens." "I don't think we'll know," Hanson said. "There's no obvious sign of a timeline warp, because there's no pause from our perspective. We don't have another timeline to reference, We can only see the one we're on." “Maybe we can find out when all this nonsense started happening in our world,” Hirst said. "But what's the definition of 'something that's absurd'?" Duvall said. "Space travel? Contact with aliens? Quantum physics? Because I don't know what quantum physics is talking about myself, so In my opinion, quantum physics must have been invented by a bad writer." "The earliest sci-fi show I could find was TV Ranger, which was in 1949," Hansen said, "and the first episode aired 20 years later. So maybe from 20 Sometime between the late '60s and the end of television in 2105, someone made this show we're in." "That's a huge time span," Dahl said. "Assuming it does exist," Hirst said, "there are all kinds of entertainment that exist only in our timeline. It's a big deal that our timeline goes way back before birth, but exists in our timeline." irony." "Look, the circular citation starts," Duvall said. "I think that's the crux," Hirst said, "that we're all convinced that the guy who wrote the play is an asshole. That's what an asshole writer seems to do." "I told you that a long time ago," Duvall said. "That's a fucking timeline," Hearst said. "Andy." Hansen pointed not far away.A delivery truck was coming towards the table where the group was sitting, and there was a note in the car.Dahl picked up the note, and the truck drove away. "Jenkins news?" Duvall said. "Yeah." Darl replied. "What's written on it?" Duvall said. "He said he found some leads that might be of use," Dahl said. "He wanted to talk to us, everybody."