[ Saturday, January 22, 2005 ]
PARADOX KID
By Tony Simmons
**
Book One: Speed of Life
Chapter One: Absolute Beginners
**
(Note: Credits to appear at end of story.)
PAGE ONE
(One splash panel, only two captions: One near top of page, one near bottom.)
CAP:
CRUX: THE SYNCHRONOUS CITY AT THE GHOSTLY CORE OF THE FLUX.
Panel 1: We are a hundred stories above the streets of the city, looking down on a rooftop where a crowd of men grapple in the moment before a great fall. They’re stacked in a living leaning tower, all of them reaching for the man at their apex, GABRIEL STREET, who rises above them with one hand raised. There’s a gun in this hand. The other pushes against the face of an assailant who looks very much like him.
Gabe wears a brown leather bomber jacket with too many straps and pockets. His blonde hair needs a trim. World War I aviator goggles dangle around his neck. He wears fingerless brown gloves and brown boots, tight blue jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, tail dangling, over a black T-shirt.
HIS DOPPELGANGERS are dressed in black uniforms, paramilitary with a touch of Gabe’s style – a couple obviously have the same aviator goggles. Some brandish knives, others have guns raised, and still more try desperately to catch him in their clawing hands. This is the instant after they have rushed him on the rooftop, piled one upon the other in their crush. Their speed is carrying them into the air beyond the railing that lines the ledge.
We see the empty street far below, the distant futuristic buildings, some of them covered in creepers and vines, some gleaming and new, some falling to ruin. There’s a FLUTTERBY flock in the distance. This is a moment frozen in time, like when a cartoon character walks off a cliff and notices there’s no earth beneath his feet: He’s about to fall.
CAP: MY DAY DIDN’T START LIKE THIS.
**
PAGE TWO (Six panels)
Panel 1: A view of a street in Ekaterinburg, Russia, 1918. It’s a mix of Orthodox churches and Wild West boardwalks, of hovels and saloons and mud in the road.
CAP: IT STARTED IN EKATERINBURG, JULY 1918. A DEAD-END BRANCH OF THE FLUX WHERE FATHER SENT ME TO PRUNE AN IMBALANCE.
Panel 2: (Low angle.) Gabe opens a wooden door. He’s wearing black clothing, a black duster. His goggles dangle at his neck. There’s a pistol at the ready in his left hand, a silencer on the snout.
GABRIEL: COME WITH ME.
Panel 3: Portrait of the Romanov family. Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra are seated. Nicholas wears a military uniform. Czarevitch Alexis stands between them in a sailor suit. The three older daughters stand behind their parents in high-necked dresses. Anastasia sits to the right; she wears her hair down.
NICHOLAS: WHAT IS THIS? WHAT’S HAPPENING, BOY?
Panel 4: Gabriel looks over his shoulder, watching for pursuit as he talks.
GABRIEL: YOU’RE ABOUT TO BE SAVED FROM THE BOLSHEVIKS BY THE WHITE RUSSIANS. I HAVE TO MOVE YOU.
Panel 5: The Romanovs bunch together, much the same pose as before but seeking comfort from one another. They all face the Czar, who faces Gabriel. (No caption or dialogue.)
Panel 6: Gabriel, hissing.
GABRIEL: NOW!
**
PAGE THREE (Seven panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel leads the family out of the room and down a hallway, trailing elongated shadows in the dim light.
Panel 2: Gabriel shoots a guard that stands in their way.
SFX: ffhht!
Panel 3: Gabriel stands to the side of a doorway leading down stairs and guards their backs as they descend.
GABRIEL: QUICKLY, NOW. INTO THE BASEMENT.
Panel 4: (Wide angle.) The daughters enter the basement through a door in the background; the stairs are visible behind them. In the foreground is a FLUX POD.
Panel 5: (Low angle.) The girls and Alexis crowd one another. Nicholas and Alexandra are behind them.
NICHOLAS: WHAT?
Panel 6: Shown from the stairwell, Gabriel closes the door. His face is in shadow, the family is behind him.
Panel 7: Gabriel slides the bolt into place.
**
PAGE FOUR (six panels)
Panel 1: Nicholas steps forward, shielding his family behind him.
NICHOLAS: I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING!
Panel 2: Gabriel kneels, unscrews the silencer on his gun.
GABRIEL: YOUR ESCAPE WOULD INITIATE A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS CULMINATING IN A NAZI VICTORY IN EUROPE IN 1946.
Panel 3: (Close up.) Nicholas, confounded.
NICHOLAS: ‘NAZI’? 1946?
Panel 4: (Same as Panel 2.) Gabriel draws a second gun. His hand shakes.
GABRIEL: BILLIONS WOULD DIE — ALREADY HAVE, DOWN THE BRANCH — WHEN NAZI SCIENCE BREACHES THE FLUX AND SPREADS THE REICH OVER A HUNDRED REALITIES.
Panel 5: Czarina Alexandra clutches her children close.
CZARINA: (Whispers.) Nyet. Nyet.
ANASTASIA: MAMA?
Panel 6: (Same as Panel 2.) Gabriel stands with guns drawn, arms at his side. His goggles rest on his neck.
GABRIEL: I CAN UNMAKE THAT.
CAP: NO ...
**
PAGE FIVE (Three panels: a small one at top left corner, another small one at bottom right. In between is almost a full-page borderless shot.)
Panel 1: Close up of Gabriel’s head and shoulders. We can’t see his hands, but his posture indicates that his arms are stretched in front of him. Reflected in the goggles hanging at his throat are the flashes from his guns. He’s crying.
CAP: ... NO.
SFX: AK-AK-AK-AK-AK
CAP: (overlaps panels 1 and 2) IT DIDN’T START LIKE THAT EITHER.
Panel 2: Gabriel riding a hoverbike through the streets of Crux. His posture and angle are almost identical to Panel 1, as his arms stretch to reach the bike’s handlebars. Only now, his goggles are in place (over his eyes) and he’s wearing different clothes (those we saw him wearing in the Page One splash panel.) His hair and jacket flap in the wind.
CAP: CRUX.
Panel 3: The bike zooms into a cathedral-like building in the city. Flutterbys weave in the sky overhead.
GABRIEL: FATHER?
**
PAGE SIX (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel coasts by a row of flux pods. Cathedral windows cast odd shadows on the machinery along the walls. Behind him, mixed in the other shadows, is a man-shape.
GABRIEL: FATHER?
Panel 2: Gabriel sits still on his bike in the background. In the foreground is a table strewn with machinery and gizmos, and a plate with a sandwich — one bite missing.
Panel 3: Gabe takes the bike down a stairwell.
GABRIEL: FATHER!
Panel 4: Gabe rides a narrow aisle crammed with jars of specimens — plants, animals, robotic things, a dinosaur. More shadows indicate the presence of hidden men.
Panel 5: Gabe, seen from behind, speeds up, zooms toward a wide doorway.
FATHER: (off panel) I’M IN THE STUDY, SON!
GABRIEL: GOOD! WE NEED TO TALK!
Panel 6: Gabe enters the library, dwarfed by bookshelves.
GABRIELLE (off panel): YES, GABRIEL --
**
PAGE SIX (One splash panel)
Panel 1: Father sits in one of two ornate chairs set on a Persian carpet; book shelves rise to the heights behind him. He is surrounded by doppelgangers of Gabriel. Most of them wear a black uniform: jacket and gloves, goggles, multiple holsters on their hips and shoulders. Some are adults, some very old men. Some are of other races, though they still bear a resemblance to Gabriel. Even their uniforms could be what he is wearing, if not for the coloration. Some are not in the full uniform, maybe wearing the black jacket over their traditional jeans and T-shirt. A couple have swords and/or knives, a bandoleer of throwing stars. Several shoulder massive guns.
Gabrielle stands at Father’s side, one hand resting on his shoulder. She is blonde and gorgeous, of course. Strong, but not obscenely so. She’s wearing a black outfit very much like the others, except that she has a vest instead of a jacket; it hangs off of her to floor length. Her arms are bare, so we can see the muscle. Aviator goggles dangle at her neck.
GABRIELLE: -- WE REALLY DO NEED TO TALK ... BROTHER.
CAP (bottom of page): YES. THIS IS HOW IT BEGAN.
**
PAGE SEVEN (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel dismounts from the bike, shocked and amazed.
GABRIEL: MY GOD, FATHER. THEY ALL LOOK LIKE ME.
Panel 2: Father rises to meet Gabriel, puts his hands on the boy’s shoulders.
FATHER: IT’S INCREDIBLE, SON. I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE.
Panel 3: Gabriel shakes hands with one of his look-alikes.
GABRIEL: IN ALL THE FLUX, I’VE NEVER MET ANOTHER ME.
LOOK-ALIKE: NAME’S GABRIEL. NICE TO MEETCHA.
Panel 4: One of the doppelgangers claps Gabriel on the back. He’s smiling.
DOPPLEGANGER: WE ALL WERE BORN IN CRUX, JUST NOT THIS CRUX. EACH OF US THOUGHT WE WERE UNIQUE.
Panel 5: Father introduces Gabriel to Gabrielle.
FATHER: GABRIELLE, HERE, BRIDGED THE OMNI-FLUX BETWEEN THE SYNCHRONOUS CITIES. SHE BROUGHT THEM HERE.
GABRIEL: ‘OMNI-FLUX’?
Panel 6: Gabrielle kisses Gabriel on the cheek.
GABRIELLE: IT’S GOOD TO MEET YOU, BROTHER.
**
PAGE EIGHT (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabrielle gestures.
GABRIELLE: CAPTAIN? THE TEST KIT, PLEASE.
Panel 2: In background, a more military-garbed Captain Gabe hands Gabrielle a crystalline cylinder. In foreground, Gabe turns to Father.
GABRIEL: ‘TEST’?
Panel 3: Father (serious).
FATHER: THERE’S A REASON SHE BREACHED THE OMNI-FLUX.
Panel 4: Gabrielle places the cylinder against Gabe’s heart. He directs his question to her.
GABRIEL: MAYBE YOU’LL TELL ME -- ‘OMNI-FLUX’?
Panel 5: The cylinder glows red.
GABRIEL: IS THAT BAD?
Panel 6: Gabrielle gestures to the men.
GABRIELLE: LEAVE US, GENTLEMEN. WE NEED SOME ... TIME.
**
PAGE NINE (Four panels)
Panel 1: Gabrielle pulls a second seat forward and Father takes it. Father is troubled. In the background, two doppelgangers stand guard as the rest of the crowd files out the door.
GABRIEL: WOULD SOMEONE CARE TO EXPLAIN--?
GABRIELLE: CRUX IS THE CENTER OF ALL THE BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF TIME. ALL THE FLUX STREAMS ISSUE FROM HERE. HERE, TIME STANDS STILL.
FATHER: I THOUGHT THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE CRUX, ONE ABSOLUTE. MY RESEARCH--
Panel 2: Gabrielle stands behind Father, addressing Gabriel, who fiddles with the cylinder.
GABRIELLE: FATHER DOESN’T AGE BECAUSE HE’S A NATIVE OF THE ‘NORMAL’ TIME STREAM. YOU, HOWEVER -- AND ME -- ALL OF US ‘GABRIELS’ WERE BORN IN CRUX.
FATHER: AN INFINITY OF CRUXES -- CRUXI? MORE THAN ONE ABSOLUTE BEGINNING?
Panel 3: Gabrielle steps away from Father, takes the cylinder from Gabriel.
GABRIELLE: IN THE FLUX, THE DAY-IN AND DAY-OUT, WE ARE VIRTUALLY IMMORTAL. ONLY HERE, IN OUR CITY, DO WE AGE AT THE SPEED OF LIFE.
GABRIEL: YES. THAT’S WHY FATHER SENDS ME AWAY.
Panel 4: Gabrielle puts the cylinder against her own heart, and it glows red.
GABRIELLE: YOU ASKED IF THIS WAS BAD.
GABRIELLE: IT IS.
**
PAGE 10 (six panels)
Panel 1: An aged Gabriel double brings in a tray of cups and a carafe of coffee as Gabrielle turns away from her “brother” and moves toward Father.
GABRIEL: WE’RE SICK, AREN’T WE? WE’RE DYING.
Panel 2: Gabrielle sits. The aged Gabe pours coffee into her cup. Father is looking at the ancient version of his son standing by, unconsciously reaching toward him, as if at a vision.
FATHER: THEY -- YOU’RE ALL AGING. TIME IS CATCHING UP.
GABRIELLE: ‘METHUSELAH SYNDROME,’ WE CALL IT. WE’VE SCOURED PARALLEL REALITIES FOR THE ONE THING THAT CAN CURE US. THAT’S MOTIVATION.
Panel 3: Gabriel is genuinely scared.
GABRIEL: FATHER?
Panel 4: Father waves off an offer of coffee from Aged Gabe. He leans toward Gabrielle, who sips her coffee.
FATHER: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Panel 5: Close up on Gabrielle.
GABRIELLE: YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT, ‘FATHER.’
Panel 6: Wide angle shot of the room. No movement. No sound.
**
PAGE 11 (six panels)
Panel 1: (Same as Panel 6 of Page 10)
FATHER: I DON’T HAVE IT.
Panel 2: Gabrielle stands, angrily slings her cup aside.
GABRIELLE: LIAR! I TRACKED IT HERE. I KNOW YOU HAVE IT!
Panel 3: Gabriel steps up beside Father, who is rising also.
GABRIEL: BACK OFF, SISTER. IF HE SAYS --
FATHER: THE OMNICHRON IS FAILED TECHNOLOGY.
GABRIEL: WHAT?
Panel 4: Low angle of Aged Gabe cleaning the shattered cup from the floor. The guards are backing up Gabrielle as she faces Father. Gabriel is also looking at him, awaiting an explanation.
GABRIELLE: YOU’D DENY YOUR OWN CHILDREN?
FATHER: IT MADE THIS A GHOST WORLD. THE ANSWER IS ‘NO.’
GABRIEL: FATHER?
Panel 5: Gabrielle holds out her hand and a guard puts a gun in it.
Panel 6: (Same as Panel 4 above) Gabrielle shoots the Aged Gabe through the head. Father and Gabriel react with shock.
SFX: FFAP!
AGED GABE: UUHHhhh
**
PAGE 12 (Five panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel leaps at Gabrielle, who dodges to one side.
GABRIEL: CRAZY BITCH!
Panel 2: Gabriel has overshot and tumbles with the guards as Gabrielle, like a dancer, turns on her heel and keeps her feet. She’s been fighting his sort for years, now, and knows all his moves.
Panel 3: Gabriel struggles with the guards in foreground. Gabrielle grabs Father by the hair.
Panel 4: (Two-shot) Gabrielle holds her gun to Father’s head.
GABRIELLE: I’LL KILL ALL OF THEM, ONE AT A TIME. YOU’LL WATCH HIM DIE OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
Panel 5: (Same as Panel 3 above) The fight freezes in mid-swing as Father calls out.
FATHER: GABRIEL!
FATHER: THAT’S ENOUGH!
**
PAGE 13 (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel looks up from the floor. Another guard can be seen entering in the background.
GABRIEL: FATHER?
Panel 2: The new guard, standing over Gabriel, hits him in the head with the butt of his gun.
Panel 3: Black.
Panel 4: Black.
Panel 5: Blurred, shadowy images of three men.
Panel 6: A doppelganger with a scar across his cheek and stubbled beard leans close, as if looking into the reader’s eyes. Behind him, an old Gabe double leans against the far wall, near a window. A younger one with long yellow hair, wearing only tattered blue shorts and loose blue boots squats between them, cradling a rifle.
SCARRED GABE: OI? YE WAKIN’ UP?
**
PAGE 14 (five panels)
Panel 1: (Wide angle) Gabriel is strapped to a chair in the library. The three guards are shown in the same relative positions, except the scarred one is seen to be holding Gabe’s chin. Gabriel’s hoverbike is visible by the doorway, where he had parked it.
GABRIEL: WHERE’S ... FATHER?
SCARRED GABE: GONE. TOOK MI’LADY TO GET WHAT WE COME FER.
Panel 2: Gabriel.
GABRIEL: WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? LET ME GO. HOW CAN YOU FOLLOW SOMEONE LIKE HER?
Panel 3: Scarred Gabe slaps Gabriel. In background, young one flinches, old one looks at floor.
SFX: SMACK!
SCARRED GABE: YE DON’T KNOW US -- THE THINGS WE’VE DONE. DON’T THINK YE CAN JUDGE US!
Panel 4: Gabriel’s head hangs low, but he’s watching them with angry eyes.
GABRIEL: WE’VE ALL DONE THINGS ... TO PRESERVE VIABLE TIMELINES. THINGS ... WE DIDN’T LIKE DOING. BUT SHE SHOT THAT — HE WAS ONE OF US! — AND SHE KILLED HIM IN COLD BLOOD!
Panel 5: Same as Panel 1, but Scarred Gabe is standing behind Gabriel’s chair, holding his aching hand.
SCARRED GABE: YE GET USED TO IT.
**
PAGE 15 (six panels)
Panel 1: (Two shot) Older and younger Gabes, looking away, looking back in time.
OLD GABE: I SHOT JOHN F. KENNEDY.
YOUNG GABE: I KILLED CAESAR.
Panel 2: (Two shot) Scarred Gabe shouts down at his slumped captive.
SCARRED GABE: I STOMPED A BUTTERFLY IN THE JURASSIC AN’ WIPED OUT A WHOLE WORLD’S HIST’RY. WHAT’VE YE DONE?
Panel 3: Gabriel, head hanging lower. Silence.
Panel 4: (overlapping Panel 3) Portrait of the Romanov family, spattered with blood.
CAP: NO. DON’T GO THERE.
Panel 5: Gabriel looks back up.
GABRIEL: SO. THIS BUG WE’VE GOT? WHAT IS IT?
Panel 6: Old Gabe, seen through the window.
OLD GABE: A MYSTERY. DIFFERENT FOR EACH OF US. THE LADY SAID YOU HAD ABOUT FIVE YEARS TILL IT KILLED YOU.
OLD GABE: SO DID I, FIVE YEARS AGO.
**
PAGE 16 (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel and the three guards.
GABRIEL: BUT THIS ‘OMNICHRON’ CAN SAVE US? IS THAT WHAT HAPPENS ... WHEN THEY RETURN?
SCARRED GABE: SURE. WE ALL LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
Panel 2: Scarred Gabe punches Gabriel in the face, tipping over the chair.
GABRIEL: UUFFHH!
SCARRED GABE: EXCEPT YOU. I DON’T LIKE YOU.
Panel 3: Young Gabe grabs Scarred Gabe’s arm. The chair is on its side on the floor.
YOUNG GABE: THAT’S ENOUGH!
Panel 4: Gabriel in foreground. Old Gabe is separating the other two in background.
GABRIEL: WHA ... WHAT ABOUT ... FATHER?
Panel 5: Scarred Gabe snatches away from Old Gabe, screaming at the captive.
SCARRED GABE: FATHER?! WHAT ABOUT -- YOU DON’T EVEN
KNOW HIM! TO HELL WITH FATHER -- WHAT ABOUT
DAISY?!
Panel 6: Gabriel, looking up, puzzled.
GABRIEL: ‘DAISY’? I ... DON’T UNDERSTAND.
**
PAGE 17 (five panels)
Panel 1: (Three shot) Scarred Gabe and Old Gabe share a look. Young Gabe is looking toward Gabriel, surprised.
YOUNG GABE: HE DOESN’T KNOW. HE HASN’T MET HER.
Panel 2: (Wide angle) The floor shakes and bits of debris fall as the building is rocked by an explosion. Books tumble from shelves.
SFX: WWHOOOMM!
YOUNG GABE: WHAT?
Panel 3: Scarred Gabe shouts and points, Old Gabe goes to the window.
SCARRED GABE: WHAT’N’ELL WAS THAT?
OLD GABE: EXPLOSION.
Panel 4: Old Gabe looks through window, sees a building in the distance burning, a smoke cloud rising. He’s got an odd smile.
OLD GABE: FATHER, YOU DIRTY BASTARD. NEVER PLAYED FAIR.
Panel 5: Scarred Gabe yells at Young Gabe, who sprints toward the door.
SCARRED GABE: GO CHECK IT OUT!
**
PAGE 18 (five panels)
Panel 1: Old Gabe looks out the window as Young Gabe disappears through the door. Scarred Gabe approaches his elder “brother.”
OLD GABE: GOD. I REALLY MISS HIM, SOMETIMES.
SCARRED GABE: SAY WHAT?
Panel 2: Old Gabe turns and fires his weapon, blasting Scarred Gabe.
SFX: FZAK!
Panel 3: Old Gabe steps over Scarred Gabe’s smoking body, moving toward Gabriel.
OLD GABE: MY FATHER SET A BOOBY TRAP, SAME AS YOURS. NOW, I CAN’T LET YOU REPEAT MY MISTAKES.
Panel 4: Old Gabe unties Gabriel.
GABRIEL: THANKS.
OLD GABE: DON’T THANK ME. YOU’RE STILL A DEAD MAN WALKING.
Panel 5: Gabriel picks up Scarred Gabe’s weapon.
OLD GABE: I KNOW YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS. GO GET YOUR OMNICHRON AND GET THE FLUX OUT OF HERE.
**
PAGE 19 (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel checks the weapon’s load and sight.
GABRIEL: I’VE GOT TO HELP FATHER.
OLD GABE: FATHER’S GONE. I’M SORRY, BUT ALL THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE. YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN, NOW.
Panel 2: Gabriel, close up, holding back tears.
Panel 3: Old Gabe turns back to the window. Gabriel slips the rifle’s strap over his shoulder.
GABRIEL: THEY’LL KILL YOU.
OLD GABE: SO WHAT. I’M TIRED -- TIRED OF MY LIFE.
Panel 4: Gabriel climbs on his hoverbike and considers the old man by the window.
Panel 5: Closer shot of Old Gabe. The burning building is visible in the distance. Old Gabe raises his middle finger.
Panel 6: Gabriel puts his goggles over his eyes.
GABRIEL: YEAH. SAME TO YOU.
**
PAGE 20 (four panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel zooms up the stairs on the bike.
SFX: WHOOSH
Panel 2: (Large panel) Gabriel bursts into the lab, firing at the men in the room. They shoot back.
SFX: FZAK-AK-AK-AK-AK
DOPPELGANGER 1: RETURN FIRE!
DOPPELGANGER 2: DON’T KILL HIM!
Panel 3: Gabriel leans off the side of the bike to dodge gunfire.
SFX: FZAK!
GABRIEL: UHHF!
Panel 4: Gabriel bounces the underside of the bike off the roof of a fluxpod, angles up toward the gigantic window. Blaster hits pop all around him.
SFX: K-WHUMPF
GABRIEL: UH–
**
PAGE 21 (five panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel’s bike smashes through the window. Laser blasts chase him.
SFX: SKASSHH!
GABRIEL: WHOO-HOO!
SFX: FZAK!
Panel 2: A double in the foreground shouts into a radio as glass rains down. Gabriel is visible riding off into the distance, only feet above the street level.
RADIO GABE: AIR PATROL! OUR NEW BROTHER IS ON THE RUN!
Panel 3: High angle shot of three men flying with jet backpacks, looking down on the city. They see Gabriel’s bike far below.
JETPACK GABE: WE SEE HIM.
JETPACK GABE: MOVING TO INTERCEPT.
Panel 4: (Low angle) Gabriel is surprised when a blaster bolt crosses the nose of his bike. We see the air patrol firing from above and behind him.
SFX: FZAK!
Panel 5: Close up on Gabriel glancing over his shoulder.
GABRIEL: DAMN.
**
PAGE 22 (six panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel makes a hard turn into a downsloping roadway, like the entrance to a parking garage. Another blaster bolt hits the arch above him.
SFX: SPAK!
Panel 2: The turn was too sharp. He scrapes the bike’s underside along the wall. Sparks fly.
SFX: SKREEEEEE!
Panel 3: The air patrol zooms into the tunnel after him.
JETPACK GABE: AIR PATROL TO BASE: PURSUING DOWN TO THE UNDERGROUND.
Panel 4: Gabriel enters a portion of the building that has fallen into disrepair. Girders lean haphazardly. He ducks under one as he rides along.
Panel 5: Up ahead, Gabriel sees sunlight through a portion of the roof that has collapsed.
Panel 6: Two of the air patrol pull up just short of flying into a fallen rafter. The third ducks under and continues.
**
PAGE 23: (seven panels)
Panel 1: Exterior: Gabriel’s bike surfaces through the opening at top speed.
SFX: WHOOSH!
Panel 2: Underground: The air patrol leader sees the opening above and arcs toward it.
JETPACK GABE: HE’S FOUND AN EXIT. I’M PURSUING.
RADIO CHATTER: RIGHT BEHIND YOU, BROTHER.
Panel 3: Exterior: Gabriel aims the rifle at the opening.
Panel 4: The leader of the air patrol flies out of the opening, and Gabriel fires.
SFX: FZAK!
Panel 5: The double’s jetpack explodes, engulfing him in flame and closing the opening.
SFX: BLAM!
Panel 6: Underground: The other two air patrol are pelted by falling debris.
SFX: RRUMMBLE
PATROLMAN: NO!
Panel 7: Gabriel rides away as dust rises from the collapsing building.
**
PAGE 24 (seven panels)
Panel 1: A skyscraper on an empty street. A glass tower reflects circling flutterbys. Gabriel flies the bike up to the front doors.
Panel 2: Gabriel enters an elevator, still riding his bike. By the door is a sign, “LOBBY.”
GABRIEL: GOING UP, PLEASE.
Panel 3: Close up of an elevator door opening. Gabe is sitting on his bike in the elevator. Sign on wall says “96.”
SFX: DING
Panel 4: Gabe rides down the hall, toward a glass case with a fire extinguisher sign above it.
Panel 5: Gabe smashes the glass with the butt of his rifle.
GABE: IN CASE OF EMERGENCY – !
SFX: SKASH!
Panel 6: He reaches into the case.
Panel 7: He holds up the object: The Omnichron. It’s a rounded crystal, a lens, with circuitry like organic-looking silver veins running through it. It reflects the light like a prism, but casts no glow of its own.
**
PAGE 25 (six panels)
Panel 1: He puts the object in his jacket’s inner pocket, over his heart.
Panel 2: (Wide angle.) Gabriel is in foreground, on bike. Far down the hallway is the elevator.
ELEVATOR SFX: DING
GABRIEL: UH-OH.
Panel 3: Full shot of elevator doors opening to reveal crowd of doppelgangers ready to rush out.
Panel 4: Over the shoulders of the doubles, we see Gabriel’s hoverbike bearing down on them.
DOPPELGANGER: UH-OH.
Panel 5: Gabriel, running away from the elevator, falls over as the bike hits its target and explodes.
SFX: BLAM!
Panel 6: Gabe runs through a door marked as a stairwell.
**
PAGE 26 (six panels)
Panel 1: Group of doubles coming up the stairs see Gabriel and start shooting.
DOUBLE 1: THERE!
DOUBLE 2: SHE WANTS HIM ALIVE!
Panel 2: Gabriel runs up the stairs. Blaster hits pop all around him.
SFX: SPAK! SPAK!
Panel 3: Exterior: Gabriel exits onto the building’s rooftop.
Panel 4: Gabriel reaches the edge and looks over.
Panel 5: One of the men in a jetpack flies up from below and slams into him.
JETPACK SFX: WHOOSH!
GABRIEL: UFH!
Panel 6: The other men pile out of the roof exit.
DOPPELGANGER: HE’S DOWN!
**
PAGE 27 (seven panels)
Panel 1: Gabriel gets to his feet.
Panel 2: The men pile onto him, a tangle of arms and legs. Gabriel is struggling.
Panel 3: The men pile up, Gabriel somehow on top, and teeter over the edge of the roof. (This is a repeat of Page 1, Panel 1.)
Panel 4: Gabriel falls, and several men fall with him, still grappling with each other. One man manages to grab the railing and save himself. Others look over the edge at the falling men.
FALLING DOUBLE: WE ARE DEAD MEN!
Panel 5: One of the doubles fires his gun and the blast hits Gabriel in the chest.
SFX: FZAK!
GABRIEL: AIEEeee!
Panel 6: Gabriel disappears, leaving the men to fall without him.
Panel 7: The men hit the street.
CAP: NEXT: ‘SOUND & VISION’
CREDITS (across bottom of page 28 or top of page 29):
PARADOX KID
“Speed of Life”
Chapter One: Absolute Beginners
Tony Simmons / Writer
???? / Art
Paradox Kid created by Tony Simmons
**
PAGE 28: (Text page from Father’s notes, illustrated with computer-generated cubes and spheres and x-y-z coordinates, wormhole drawings and scribbles in the margins)
TIME IS A PECAN TREE.
Each moment is encapsulated at the end of a branch of events, and off of every possible moment, another near-infinity of branches sprouts. (I say “near-infinity” because some possibilities include the choice of nothingness, or of no change, and thus, where a branch might have grown, one does not.)
(It’s complicated.)
Time is a pecan tree grown in zero gravity, meaning its trunk extends in all directions like an infinite wooden sphere, and within that sphere, all the potential branches grow in all directions, interweave, growing through and around one other, sharing cells and sap, allowing the events of one branch to affect those of another, and allowing for unexpected crossings between the branches. This is the nature of the Flux, the day-in and day-out, the moments leading to infinite alternatives.
Because of this sharing, if one branch grows sick, becomes unviable, it threatens the life of many more than itself. In fact, a single dying branch of the Flux draws into danger all of the other branches.
That’s where my son comes in.
Gabriel was born on a summer day in the empty city, the synchronous city at the core of time’s pecan tree. Crux lies, impossibly so, at the absolute center of the Flux. All branches grow out from this point. There is one Crux, one absolute. And only one Gabriel in all the omniverse.
Whereas time does not touch me here — I was born in the 20th century of earth’s “modern” era — it has a normal aging effect upon Gabriel. So it was that his mother and I chose to send him into the Flux as a child, passing him into the hands of a procession of keepers, with whom he would stay for many years at a time, returning to us only when they no longer could conceal his true nature or when their own times ran out. In later years, he began to undertake missions to correct imbalances, to prune diseased branches of the great tree of time.
As he has stayed here in the city of his birth for only short spans, Gabriel has aged no more than 16 human years. In fact, however, he has lived for dozens of human lifetimes and has amassed incredible amounts of knowledge — now if only he could overcome this youthful impetuousness! He has studied Asian mysteries and the martial arts under an aged master in Tibet. Cleaned brushes for Leonardo Da Vinci. Fought super-villains. Hauled stones for the builders of pyramids. Hunted sabertooth cats with tribesmen of North America. Corrected Shakespeare’s spelling.
And while I feel great pride as a father because of his accomplishments, we have developed a great distance between us. We barely know each other. I dare not enter the Flux for long periods, else I will age and die. I cannot allow him to stay home for any length of time, either — though he has stopped expressing a desire to stay since his mother’s d–
(No. Something else. Think of something else. Got sidetracked. Where were we?)
Ah, yes. Time is a pecan tree, and each moment is encapsulated at the end of a branch of events. While one moment rots on the limb, others are sweet — but the only way to know how the moment will taste is to crack the nut.
And then, it’s too late to go back. You have to taste the moment, good or bad.
Choose yours carefully.
Unknown [8:59 PM]
