PERCHANCE TO DREAM (10 page short sci-fi script) by James Austin McCormick

A dead soldier follows the light at the end of the tunnel, but discovers his own personal afterlife is nothing he could have imagined.

Imagine, for a second, a world (or universe) in which democracy has completely collapsed and evil, amoral corporations have seized supreme political control, overtaking government, controlling our economy, military and even us, as people. What’s that? We don’t have to imagine it at all? It’s happening now?

I’ll stay away from any political rants, but it’s no secret just how much corporations influence our government, our economy and us, as people, and our everyday lives. But what if these corporations controlled us… even after we’re dead?

That’s what author, James Austin McCormick, explores in his “Outer Limits”-esque sci-fi tale, Perchance to Dream.

It all takes place in the very distant future, where corporations reign supreme and are at war with each other, duking it out over the solar system’s resources. It’s also a future where DNA replication and gene patenting is regulated by one corporation in particular. Think of the way Monsanto was able to alter crop DNA and then essentially own it in perpetuity, thus monopolizing America’s agricultural market with its genetically modified seeds. Well, the corporation in Perchance to Dream is kinda the same thing, but with human DNA.

The story opens with battered and bloodied soldier, Captain Eli Jaxon, moving towards a light at the end of a tunnel. As he reaches the light, he finds himself in an office where he’s greeted by a nerdy, bespectacled clerk sitting behind a desk.

All Jaxon remembers is being on the battlefield, where an enemy shell exploded, decimating him and his troop. Next thing he knew, he was walking down a dark tunnel, towards a light.

“Am I dead?” Jackson asks.

            CLERK
Well, at this precise moment your
body lays broken and bloodied on
the Martian battlefield, just outside
Olympus Mons. Both heart and respiratory
functions have ceased. Already brain
cells are dying.

He taps his temple.

            CLERK
Your higher cognitive functions have
ceased, but your consciousness has
been saved. That now resides inside
this virtual environment.

            JAXON
Okay, now I’m beginning to catch on.
That damn chip in my head.

It’s actually a crystal embedded in Jaxon’s central cortex, the clerk clarifies.

During this office meeting inside of Jaxon’s subconscious, the clerk then discusses some paperwork that had previously been signed by Jaxon.

            CLERK (CON’T)
Now, it says in your contract that
if you’re to die during active duty
then a substantial payment is to be
made to your family.

Unfortunately for Jaxon and the family that he’s survived by, there’s a sub clause in the contract that threatens payment – leaving his wife and kid, back on Earth, no longer entitled to compensation despite Jaxon being blown to bits over this corporation’s war.

There is, however, a way to make things right – to sign a new contract. By signing it, not only will his family be compensated, but he will be brought back to life to specifically complete his mission so that the corporation he’s fighting for can prevail. But, by signing that contract, he may be signing away much more than he had intended.

In Perchance to Dream, McCormick explores themes of power, lack of it and how individuals can become enslaved through gene patenting while also touching on what it means to be human… and whether or not that human side can truly be replicated.

BUDGET: Low. There aren’t any action set pieces here, really. It’s essentially two main characters and two locations – an office and a larger room that can be made to look like the inside of an army base.

ABOUT THE WRITER: James Austin McCormick is a college lecturer and compulsive writer of speculative fiction with many short stories published in various anthologies along with novellas and novels published with Class Act Books. As a screenwriter, James has consistently placed high in international competitions and, along with a co-author, has had three feature-length horror scripts optioned by K5 films. With a long list of short-length scripts, James also collaborated with talented writer, Annabel Grace, on the produced short, In the Silence. You can find his works on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. James can be reached at: jimbostories (a) hotmail.

Read: PERCHANCE TO DREAM

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About the Reviewer: Michael J. Kospiah is the award-winning screenwriter of critically acclaimed indie-thriller, The Suicide Theory (79% Rotten Tomatoes – available on Amazon Prime, Itunes, Google Play, etc) and 2020’s upcoming Aussie thriller, Rage. His horror feature, They Never Left is currently in development.