Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty
Charles Paulson opened the door to the conference room, and the five of them were sitting in it. "Sorry for the long wait." He apologized to the five people, then pointed to another person behind him and said, "This is the scriptwriter you've been wanting to meet, Nick Weinstein. I've probably already told him about it gone."
"Hello," Weinstein greeted the five of them. "Wow, Charles isn't joking."
The few of them looked at Weinstein and were stunned. In the end, it was Hearst who broke the silence: "Now things are more interesting."
"What's interesting?" Weinstein asked.
"Mr. Weinstein, have you ever acted in one of your own plays?" Dahl asked.
“Once, maybe a few seasons ago,” Weinstein said, “there was a funeral scene that needed a cosplayer. I happened to be there, and they threw me a costume and made me do a sad one.” look. What's the matter?"
"We recognize your character," Dahl said, "his name is Jenkins."
"Really?" Weinstein laughed after hearing this, "What kind of person is he?"
"He was a melancholy, crazy recluse who never got over his wife's death," Duval said.
"Oh," Weinstein stopped smiling, "I'm sorry."
"But you seem to be in good spirits." Hansen said kindly.
"It's the first time someone says that about me." Weinstein pointed to his stubble.
"You said you wanted to talk to me and Nick about something," Paulson said to Dahl.
"Yes," Dahl said, "we have some ideas, please sit down first."
"Who's Jenkins?" Kerensky whispered to Dahl as the two sat down.
"I'll tell you later," Darl said.
"Go ahead," Paulson said.From time to time, subconsciously, he would look at Hearst.
"Mr. Paulson, Mr. Weinstein, we came to your time for a reason," Dahl said. "We want to convince you to stop making this show."
"What?" Weinstein said. "Why?"
"Because we're going to die if we don't," Dahl said. "Mr. Weinstein, every time you let a character die in a script, the actor playing the character just walks off the set and goes to eat and rest. But for the people who were there. As far as we're concerned, that person actually dies. Every episode someone dies like that."
"Well, not every episode," Weinstein said.
"Jimmy, tell me," Dahl said.
"Over the past six seasons, 'The Chronicles of the Intrepid' has aired a total of 128 episodes," Hanson said. Twelve episodes describe various ways of dying. So far in this episode, you've killed at least four hundred of the crew of the Intrepid. Or when the planet is attacked by a deadly plague, the lives in your hands are already countless."
"That doesn't include enemy deaths," Dahl added.
"Well, if you count this, the number will increase exponentially." Hansen said.
"He's done a lot of research on the show," Dahl said to Weinstein, pointing to Hansen.
"These deaths are not my fault," Weinstein said.
"You wrote them down," Duvall said.
"It's not all written by me," Weinstein said. "There are other playwrights."
"You're the lead creator," Hirst said, "and all scripts have to be approved by you."
"We don't want to blame you for the deaths of these people." Dahl interrupted their dispute, "You don't know that it will cause such consequences. It's just that you are just writing some fictional plots in your opinion, but For us, everything is really happening."
"How is that possible?" Weinstein said. "How can something I write here change your reality? It doesn't make sense."
Hearst sneered: "Welcome to our world."
"What does that mean?" Weinstein turned to look at Hearst.
"Do you think our world makes sense?" Hurst said, "You throw us into a world where forklift killers are walking around the space station because, of course, these Robot killers exist for good reason."
"And ice sharks," Duvall said.
"There's also Borgvellum," Hansen said.
Weinstein held up a finger and said, "Those Borgvelloids are none of my business." He said, "I got avian flu and took two weeks off. The writer who wrote that episode loved it①. Etc. It was too late when I got back. We got a kick out of Herbert's estate for that."
"In order to get here, we rushed into a black hole." Hearst said, pointing to Kerensky, "And in order to keep things going smoothly, we had to kidnap this poor guy, because he is the protagonist in your play, Doesn't die off-camera. Think about it - the laws of physics give way because of his protagonist's aura."
"Not only that, but I've always had all sorts of tragedies," Kerensky said. "I used to think about why this shit happened to me all the time. Now I get it, because you guys have to at least let the main character One of them was tortured. It's just rotten."
"You even made him recover quickly so you could beat him up again," Duvall said. "That's brutal in my opinion now."
"There's another box." Hansen signaled Dahl to speak.
"Box?" Weinstein looked at Dahl puzzled.
“Every time you write about pseudoscience, the solution is to let us throw questions into this box, and it will spit out perfectly timed answers at the most dramatic moments.”
"We didn't write a box in the script," Weinstein said, puzzled.
“But you wrote a bunch of pseudoscientific stuff,” Dahl said, “from cover to cover, so there’s a catch-all box accordingly.”
"What did your science teacher do?" Hurst said. "I wonder what you were doing in school."
"I graduated from Occidental," Weinstein said, "and the science classes were a strength."
"That's true, but have you ever heard it?" Duvall said. "I have to tell you without hesitation, our world is a mess."
"Other sci-fi works have professional science advisors," Hansen said.
"This is science fiction," Weinstein said, "and the second word has its meaning too!"
"But you make this sci-fi shitty," Hirst said, "and then we have to live in it!"
"Guys," Dahl interrupted the quarrel, "let's get back to business."
"What's the point?" Paulson asked. "You said you had an idea you wanted to talk to us about, but so far all I've heard is attacks and complaints about my creator."
"It made me feel a little bit defensive," Weinstein said.
"Come on," Dahl said. "I'll say it again, you didn't know. But now that you know where we came from, why are you here to stop you from making the show."
Paulson opened his mouth to publish a series of objections to the impossibility of this.Dahl grabbed his hand and stopped him first: "Now we are standing in front of you, I know it is impossible to simply stop shooting. So I am not going to stop shooting now, because I can find a way to get the best of both worlds, right It's good for you and me."
"Then tell me what you think," Paulson said.
"Charles, your son is in a coma," Dahl said.
"yes."
"And there's no way to wake him up."
"Yes." Paulson said after a while, turned his head away, his eyes were moist, "Yes."
"Don't ever say that," Weinstein said. "I think there's a silver lining."
"Impossible." Paulson said, "Dr. Luo told me yesterday, the scan results came out, his brain function continued to deteriorate, and now he is completely dependent on equipment to maintain various physiological functions. We will bid farewell to him when the family members gather. After that, unplug the instrument." He looked at Hearst who was sitting there quietly, and said to Dahl, "Unless you have something to do."
"I have," Dahl said, "Charles, I think we can save your son."
"Tell me what to do," Paulson said. "We took him," Dahl said, "back to the Intrepid. There he can be treated. We have advanced technology. Even if we can't," he pointed at Weinstein, "we still have the story Let Mr. Weinstein write in one of the episodes that Hearst was wounded but survived, was sent to the infirmary and recovered, and that's how it will happen. Hearst can survive. Your son can survive .” "Bringing him into the world of the show," Paulson said, "that's your plan." "It's my idea," Dahl said, "about that." "Roughly so." Paulson frowned. "There's still some flaws in logic," Dahl said, "and there are -- for lack of a better word -- teleological contradictions." "Like?" Paulson asked. Dahl turned to Weinstein, who was also frowning, and said, "I think you've thought of something by now." "That's right," Weinstein said, pointing to Hirst, "first of all, there will be two you in your world." "You could write a reason or something," Paulson said. “It could be possible,” Weinstein said, “but it would be messier and meaningless.” "Is that a problem for you?" Hurst asked. "The problem is, there are two him in their world, which means there is no him in this world." Weinstein ignored Hearst's question, "Your son was—sorry, he is also playing a role now actors, if they both go, there's no one else to play the part." "We're going to find someone to replace him," Paulson said. "Someone who looks like Matthew." "But that would raise the follow-up question, which—" Weinstein looked at Hearst. "Hurst." Hearst reported his name. "Which Hirst is influenced by this character here," Weinstein said, "beyond that, let me start by admitting that I have absolutely no idea how this twist could work. But if I were to try, I would There will be no replacement for Hearst because there is no way of knowing what that will do to your son's treatment, and he may become less of himself." "Yes," Dahl said, "that's why we propose the following solution." "I'll stay," said Hurst. "So, you stay here as my son," Paulson said. "You miraculously recover, and then we make an episode where you play my son and live." "Approximately," Hurst said. "What the hell do you keep saying 'roughly so'?" Paulson asked aloud. "Any more questions?" Dahl looks at Weinstein again. "Tell him," he said. "Oh shit," Weinstein said, straightening up in his chair. "It has something to do with atoms." "Something about atoms?" Paulson said. "What does that mean?" Weinstein scratched his head and said to himself, "What an idiot." Then he said to Paulson, "Charles, when we wrote the episode where Abernathy and the others went back in time, we made a premise , they can only stay in the past for six days, after which the atoms that make up their bodies will return to the timeline where they should be." "I don't know what that means, Nick," said Paulson, "explain it to me in plain language." "Meaning if we stay here for six days, we're going to die," Dahl said, "and it's been three days now." "Accordingly, if Matthew goes to their timeline, he can only stay for six days, otherwise he will end up in the same end." Weinstein said. "What kind of bullshit setting is this!" Paulson got angry at Weinstein, "Why did you write that!" Weinstein puts out his hands to shield his head. "How did I know we'd be standing here one day talking about something like this?" he said aggrievedly. "God, Charles, we were just trying to figure out how to finish that damn episode. We were just giving them a reason Able to complete the task within a limited time. At that time, this setting was quite reasonable.” "Okay, that changes that part," Paulson said, "with new rules. A time traveler can stay as long as he wants to die." Weinstein looked at Dahl pleadingly.Dahl understood what he meant, and said: "It's too late now, we go back in time based on this setting, and, not only what appeared in this episode, we also live outside the plot. This means Even if you could change the script, it wouldn't work if it wasn't filmed. We all have to live by that rule." "They're right," Paulson told Weinstein, pointing to the crew. "That universe you're describing is bullshit." Weinstein winced. "He didn't know it was going to happen," Dahl told Paulson. "Don't blame him. And we need him, so please don't fire him." "I'm not going to fire him," Paulson said, staring at Weinstein. "I just want to know how to fix this." Weinstein opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.He turned to Dahl and said, "Help me." "The next thing might sound a little crazy," Dahl said. “Wasn’t it crazy before?” Weinstein asked. Dahl said to Paulson: "Hearst stay here," he said, "and we take your son. We go back to our time and space, and he—" he said, pointing at Weinstein, "in the In the script, the guy on the shuttle is Hearst. We're not going to sneak him in or make him another sidekick. He has to be the center of the plot. We're calling him by his full name. Call him Jasper Allen Hearst." "Jasper?" Duvall said to Hearst. "Don't pick a fight now," Hurst said. "Then we'll call him Jasper Allen Hearst," Paulson said. "So what? He's still my son, not your friend." "No," Dahl said, "unless we say he's not. If the writer says he's Hearst, he's Hearst." "But—" Paulson said again, looking at Weinstein, "that sounds like bullshit to me, Nick!" “It’s true,” Weinstein said, “but the point is, it doesn’t have to make sense, it just needs to happen.” He then told Dahl, “You’re using the crude worldview of this show to your advantage.” "It doesn't have to sound so harsh, but it's true," Dahl said. "And what about the atoms?" Paulson said. "I think it's kind of a headache." "If Hearst stays here and your son goes there, there is going to be a problem," Weinstein said, "but if Hearst is there, then your son is here and their son is here." Atoms will be fine." He said to Dahl, "Right?" "That's right," Darl said. "I like the plan," Weinstein said. "Then we're sure it works," Paulson said. "No, we're not sure," Hurst said.Everyone looked at him and asked, "What?" He replied, "We don't know if it's going to work. Maybe we don't get it right. Either way, Mr. Paulson, your child is going to die." of." "But if the plan didn't work out, you'd die too," Paulson said. "You didn't have to die." "Mr. Paulson, actually, even if your son hadn't fallen into a coma, you'd still kill me one day if he got tired of being an actor." Hearst said, pointing at Weinstein. "More precisely, He's going to kill me. Maybe I'll be eaten by a space monster or die of some other stupid cause. Your son's comatose right now, maybe I'll survive, but if the Intrepid is in I happen to be on deck six during the space battle, and I'm probably going to be a nobody sucked into space. Either way, I'm going to die pointlessly at any moment." He looked around at everyone on the table. "What I want to explain is that even if I die, I must die worthwhile—that is to save your son." He looked at Paulson and said, "In this way, my life can be regarded as doing something useful. It’s not like doing nothing like so far. If the plan works, your son and I can survive, which we thought was impossible. No matter what, I don’t think I will suffer.” Paulson stood up, walked over to Hearst, who was sitting across the room, and put his arms around him, sobbing.Hester didn't know how to respond, but just patted him on the back lightly. Paulson finally calmed down, and he said to Hearst: "I don't know how to thank you." He looked at the other crew members, "I don't know how to thank you either." "In that case," Dahl said, "I have some suggestions."
Notes:
"Tell me what to do," Paulson said. "We took him," Dahl said, "back to the Intrepid. There he can be treated. We have advanced technology. Even if we can't," he pointed at Weinstein, "we still have the story Let Mr. Weinstein write in one of the episodes that Hearst was wounded but survived, was sent to the infirmary and recovered, and that's how it will happen. Hearst can survive. Your son can survive .” "Bringing him into the world of the show," Paulson said, "that's your plan." "It's my idea," Dahl said, "about that." "Roughly so." Paulson frowned. "There's still some flaws in logic," Dahl said, "and there are -- for lack of a better word -- teleological contradictions." "Like?" Paulson asked. Dahl turned to Weinstein, who was also frowning, and said, "I think you've thought of something by now." "That's right," Weinstein said, pointing to Hirst, "first of all, there will be two you in your world." "You could write a reason or something," Paulson said. “It could be possible,” Weinstein said, “but it would be messier and meaningless.” "Is that a problem for you?" Hurst asked. "The problem is, there are two him in their world, which means there is no him in this world." Weinstein ignored Hearst's question, "Your son was—sorry, he is also playing a role now actors, if they both go, there's no one else to play the part." "We're going to find someone to replace him," Paulson said. "Someone who looks like Matthew." "But that would raise the follow-up question, which—" Weinstein looked at Hearst. "Hurst." Hearst reported his name. "Which Hirst is influenced by this character here," Weinstein said, "beyond that, let me start by admitting that I have absolutely no idea how this twist could work. But if I were to try, I would There will be no replacement for Hearst because there is no way of knowing what that will do to your son's treatment, and he may become less of himself." "Yes," Dahl said, "that's why we propose the following solution." "I'll stay," said Hurst. "So, you stay here as my son," Paulson said. "You miraculously recover, and then we make an episode where you play my son and live." "Approximately," Hurst said. "What the hell do you keep saying 'roughly so'?" Paulson asked aloud. "Any more questions?" Dahl looks at Weinstein again. "Tell him," he said. "Oh shit," Weinstein said, straightening up in his chair. "It has something to do with atoms." "Something about atoms?" Paulson said. "What does that mean?" Weinstein scratched his head and said to himself, "What an idiot." Then he said to Paulson, "Charles, when we wrote the episode where Abernathy and the others went back in time, we made a premise , they can only stay in the past for six days, after which the atoms that make up their bodies will return to the timeline where they should be." "I don't know what that means, Nick," said Paulson, "explain it to me in plain language." "Meaning if we stay here for six days, we're going to die," Dahl said, "and it's been three days now." "Accordingly, if Matthew goes to their timeline, he can only stay for six days, otherwise he will end up in the same end." Weinstein said. "What kind of bullshit setting is this!" Paulson got angry at Weinstein, "Why did you write that!" Weinstein puts out his hands to shield his head. "How did I know we'd be standing here one day talking about something like this?" he said aggrievedly. "God, Charles, we were just trying to figure out how to finish that damn episode. We were just giving them a reason Able to complete the task within a limited time. At that time, this setting was quite reasonable.” "Okay, that changes that part," Paulson said, "with new rules. A time traveler can stay as long as he wants to die." Weinstein looked at Dahl pleadingly.Dahl understood what he meant, and said: "It's too late now, we go back in time based on this setting, and, not only what appeared in this episode, we also live outside the plot. This means Even if you could change the script, it wouldn't work if it wasn't filmed. We all have to live by that rule." "They're right," Paulson told Weinstein, pointing to the crew. "That universe you're describing is bullshit." Weinstein winced. "He didn't know it was going to happen," Dahl told Paulson. "Don't blame him. And we need him, so please don't fire him." "I'm not going to fire him," Paulson said, staring at Weinstein. "I just want to know how to fix this." Weinstein opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.He turned to Dahl and said, "Help me." "The next thing might sound a little crazy," Dahl said. “Wasn’t it crazy before?” Weinstein asked. Dahl said to Paulson: "Hearst stay here," he said, "and we take your son. We go back to our time and space, and he—" he said, pointing at Weinstein, "in the In the script, the guy on the shuttle is Hearst. We're not going to sneak him in or make him another sidekick. He has to be the center of the plot. We're calling him by his full name. Call him Jasper Allen Hearst." "Jasper?" Duvall said to Hearst. "Don't pick a fight now," Hurst said. "Then we'll call him Jasper Allen Hearst," Paulson said. "So what? He's still my son, not your friend." "No," Dahl said, "unless we say he's not. If the writer says he's Hearst, he's Hearst." "But—" Paulson said again, looking at Weinstein, "that sounds like bullshit to me, Nick!" “It’s true,” Weinstein said, “but the point is, it doesn’t have to make sense, it just needs to happen.” He then told Dahl, “You’re using the crude worldview of this show to your advantage.” "It doesn't have to sound so harsh, but it's true," Dahl said. "And what about the atoms?" Paulson said. "I think it's kind of a headache." "If Hearst stays here and your son goes there, there is going to be a problem," Weinstein said, "but if Hearst is there, then your son is here and their son is here." Atoms will be fine." He said to Dahl, "Right?" "That's right," Darl said. "I like the plan," Weinstein said. "Then we're sure it works," Paulson said. "No, we're not sure," Hurst said.Everyone looked at him and asked, "What?" He replied, "We don't know if it's going to work. Maybe we don't get it right. Either way, Mr. Paulson, your child is going to die." of." "But if the plan didn't work out, you'd die too," Paulson said. "You didn't have to die." "Mr. Paulson, actually, even if your son hadn't fallen into a coma, you'd still kill me one day if he got tired of being an actor." Hearst said, pointing at Weinstein. "More precisely, He's going to kill me. Maybe I'll be eaten by a space monster or die of some other stupid cause. Your son's comatose right now, maybe I'll survive, but if the Intrepid is in I happen to be on deck six during the space battle, and I'm probably going to be a nobody sucked into space. Either way, I'm going to die pointlessly at any moment." He looked around at everyone on the table. "What I want to explain is that even if I die, I must die worthwhile—that is to save your son." He looked at Paulson and said, "In this way, my life can be regarded as doing something useful. It’s not like doing nothing like so far. If the plan works, your son and I can survive, which we thought was impossible. No matter what, I don’t think I will suffer.” Paulson stood up, walked over to Hearst, who was sitting across the room, and put his arms around him, sobbing.Hester didn't know how to respond, but just patted him on the back lightly. Paulson finally calmed down, and he said to Hearst: "I don't know how to thank you." He looked at the other crew members, "I don't know how to thank you either." "In that case," Dahl said, "I have some suggestions."
Notes: