Original subtitles

NARRATOR: In the city of Betaville, in the near future,

the technology we developed confronts us.

The science we created, seduces us.

But will our dreams of tomorrow, will

be turned into a nightmare?

"Welcome to Paradox".

[theme music]

Be careful what you wish for.

Nothing is impossible anymore.

In Betaville, virtual reality has

become the reality of choice, even

or especially in the realm of human emotions and sensuality.

So feelies, videocassettes of the 21st century,

are all the rage.

But feelie megastar, Megan Galloway, carefree lifeguard,

QM, are about to find out there's

no substitute for real emotion.

Even if it destroys what they cherish most.

MAN [VIRTUALLY]: I can't believe you're actually here.

I thought when I asked you, you said yes, that I was dreaming.

I made you my barbecue chicken.

MAN [VIRTUALLY]: I have something to ask you, Christy.

When you think about the future, what do you see?

I see a house and a yard.

I see kids playing and a man who cares about me.

Why?

What do you see for us?

Little wild thing, Zombie?

Wanna come live with the animals for awhile?

[non-english]. Thank you.

Right this way.

Thank you.

So that's the Golden Gypsy.

More like the brass transistor.

Tell that to the 90 million Slavs who dream

her at the feelies every night.

Transer you mean, get the lingo straight.

ANNOUNCER [OVER SPEAKER]: Now, entering the Hall of Falls

is Megan Galloway.

Appearing in the Feelie Corporation's

latest trans video production for early September release.

Blue Champagne Enterprises trust you will not impede the taping,

and regrets any disturbance.Thank you.

She going to have sex in there?

Galloway doesn't do heavy breathers.

Yeah, wait till her sales fall off.

Careful, QM.

Get in there with her and those 90 million

will be transing you too.

That thing she's got on, safe in the water?

What do they call that thing?

Side Kick.

I think they've got that covered, QM.

OK.

Yeah, jocks like QM don't go to the feelies.

They're not up on all the gadgets.

Ooh, looks like we got ourselves

a little fan club here.

I've been a couple of times.

Can't know if you like it, unless you try it.

And?

Feelie sex is better than the real thing.

No demands.

No commitments.

Instant connect, instant disconnect.

Go on, take a taste of that androgen's feelieops,

see what I mean.

They're not just for sight and sound, you know.

They're for everything.

Maybe he's afraid he'll like it better this way.

Turn into a translob in front of our eyes.

Watch me.

Ewe.

Excuse me.

Mind if I uh--

If you must, but only for a moment, please.

Oh.

Oops, wrong point of view.

The dangers of professional equipment.

In feelie, you would have been kissing her.

You know, when we're taping like that, I can feel you too.

Links us up.

Yeah.

What did you find out?

How lost you are.

Humph.

Maybe in your machine.

I'm thinking of switching to two shift.

Since when?

Today.

All you farmers nuts in those Aggie communes,

or is it just you?

What do you care?

Water's the same on two.

Hey, you're all wet, get off of me.

Is that something to do with uh, Urie Feldman?

Why?

Is two his shift?

We're still going to be bunk mates, right?

Are you feeling me up so we can talk?

Just want to know, that's all.

I didn't think it mattered a whole hell of a lot either way.

What?

It just might be simpler if we slept alone, that's all.

What's so complicated about sleeping together?

You really don't know?

Forget it.

Just be careful of Megan Galloway.

Why?

I saw what happened today, the way you connected with her

without having to say a word.

Just remember, it was that machine.

ALL: [TOASTING] - Cooper.

Hey, Cooper.

What did I tell you?

Don't say it.

I've been trying to remember since yesterday.

Remember what?

The nick name.

QM.

You're a swimmer, right?

Something to do with racing?

Join us, will you?

Marco Montgomery, talent connoisseur.

And to my left, Coco 89, feelie technician extraordinaire.

Deeply honored to make your acquaintance.

Hey, what the hell is that?

Wacky dust.

Do you want some?

Hey, what you think you're doing?

- Marcom. - Relax.

It's such a quick drip, you'll hardly notice.

What's it going to do to me?

You'll talk funny for a while and then

become even more tiresome.

Toots kills marble.

Oh.

You all take--

MARCO: Very good.

Stick to one word sentences and you'll do beautifully.

Temper, temper, young man.

Quarter meter, Cooper. That's it.

Right?

Silver medal in Rio?

1,500 meter, free style.

QM, wait, please.

They're idiots, I apologize.

But you'll be all right, now.

Go on.

Try and say something.

Well, if they're such idiots, why do you hang out with them?

See?

No lasting effect.

So why you hang out with them sober?

Maybe I'm lost too.

Why don't you take me somewhere?

We'd better get going before they get too restless.

Megan.

Get back here, this instant.

They'll follow us.

No access to staff quarters.

Megan.

We're recording at 3:00.

You'll be late.

Marcom will die.

I think that already happened.

Where are you taking me?

Spartan?

Military.

Really?

Surrender.

I remember something about you never swimming

any harder than you had to.

Is that what quarter meter's all about?

What you won by?

I don't really want to talk about that right now.

Oh, must be something else.

You gonna show me?

Or do I have to look myself?

What are you recording?

Um, just checking the equipment, my dear.

We may have a very busy afternoon ahead of us.

[soft music]

[moaning]

What's this for?

Get away from your friends?

What?

Easier ways, like, just walking away.

Or you got to put on some kind of show?

You didn't like it?

Did you?

What did you expect?

Romance?

Maybe I did.

And Louise will be back in 10 minutes, you better get going.

[soft music]

Think it ever lines up?

What?

What you want and what you get.

What you think you want, what you need.

Was she that bad?

You know me that well?

No.

I just saw you leave with her.

Then you avoided me at dinner.

What just um--

I wasn't about to say, no to you when you needed me.

It was the worst.

Like nobody was there.

You know, like, fake somebody.

You thought it would be like, when

you put on those feelieops?

It seemed as if she thought it would be too.

Then when it wasn't, didn't even seem to matter.

I don't know if you can ever have what you dream of.

But the feelies are about never even trying.

And that's where she lives, QM.

In a world where no one tries.

Hey, there you are.

- Hey, how are you? - Great.

How are you?

Let's go.

[soft music]

QM [VIRTUALLY]: Go back.

[gunshots]

QM [VIRTUALLY]: Megan, stop.

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: No, I won't let them take you.

[gunshots]

No.

QM [VIRTUALLY]: Let go of her.

Let go of me.

I love you.

QM [VIRTUALLY]: Stop.

I love you too.

I love you.

I quit my job.

I've had it.

I've got to do work that means something before--

Before you what?

Just listen.

I'm trying to apologize for last night, QM.

I specialize in sensuals.

No sex, just emotion.

Jacked up for all the drones who have none of their own.

But, no matter how good you are, they

get too used to your face and they want your body too

or they stop buying tickets.

I thought if I had to, I could try to make something better.

Maybe a handsome guy from a different kind of life.

Argument turns to attraction.

Good as it gets, it can't last because our lives

are too different.

QM: Wait a minute. What are you telling me?

Marcom said, he'd set the whole thing up

so I wouldn't know.

- He got that on tape? - No.

No.

He erased it.

I didn't know.

Not exactly.

The whole trick to being a transistor

is to forget you're making a tape

so that the emotions feel real.

Because if they don't to you, they won't to anybody else.

So I thought if neither of us knew--

Why didn't you just stop?

I'm so used to playing it through, pretending it's real.

[electric zap]

It wasn't one of your better performances.

How would you know?

I went to see one of your feelies

today to see if I was missing out on something.

You won't find anything out from there.

It's the one where you're being chased at the stadium.

I think I would have done anything to save you.

Then when I walked out, I felt so empty.

I'm going to do independent production from now, on.

No more lowest common denominator stuff.

You can make emotional recordings that mean something,

it's been done before.

This whole medium's been squandered away for the money.

You have no idea how much money.

Soon as I quit Feelie Corp., six major corporations

offered me half the GNP of Japan to keep

doing the same thing for them.

Why can't anybody understand that I've had enough?

[electric zap]

Call Side Kick for me, I can't move.

Been keeping up with your maintenance?

You know I have.

If I want to move, I record.

I can't be separated.

Golden Gypsy has to pay its way.

Uh, the Golden Gypsy was you?

Side Kick first.

Gonna take this out of here for a few minutes.

Just sit tight.

OK.

Relax.

It almost never breaks down and I never take it off by choice.

Just pretend I fainted and in a few minutes,

I'll be as good as new.

Why doesn't anybody know about this?

The public?

Wouldn't that be a big draw?

Feelie Corp. finds latest megastar

in Betaville trauma ward.

My big break was a diving accident.

When you can't feel anything, you forget the equipment

easier and trans better.

Enjoy being able to move.

Maybe that comes across too.

I thought I felt that the first day at the falls.

And sadness.

One thing they've never been able to make a turns tape about

is falling in love.

Corporations would sell their souls for one,

but nobody has been able to forget the equipment that well.

You seem happy about that.

You better thank god it's true.

People wouldn't need each other for anything anymore.

Never, unless I ask.

[soft music]

Heard the Golden Gypsy has a mean right hook.

Left cross.

You should have seen her without that thing

on, just about break your heart.

Maybe you ought to save your sympathy

for people who could only afford catheters and collection bags.

Hey, wait a minute.

She's rich for her troubles, doesn't count?

There's a real person there.

The real person behind the image, QM?

Come on.

So old.

Tragic star.

Nobody knows her secret until some strange twist of fate.

It's like some bits of romance and your in it.

I'm going back to the AG communes

next week, Q. I can't take it anymore.

Take what?

Another day of this place.

The people in it.

Wasn't even going to tell you, why bother?

I thought we--

You'd think you'd even notice.

I come from a very different life than you.

I care about very different things

and I wish that you cared about the same things, but you don't.

Some-- sometimes I want to--

I want to tell you that uh--

What?

Don't bother.

It's too late anyway.

You know, there are people in this world that

care about things other than sex and swimming

and the latest trends romance, QM.

I've had to work hard for everything

that I've got, including the chance

to come to this pimp city and save enough money to get out.

She's using you.

Don't you get it?

Everything all right now?

It's good as gold.

You want to get in?

No.

It's nice though.

Scares me when the Side Kick breaks down like that.

I hope I wasn't too rude.

Ah, forget it.

Thanks for being so nice to me.

I could show you the first tape we

ever made with the Side Kick.

Yeah, I'd like that.

GPS IN CAR: Destination reached.

Hi, been waiting long?

Just got here.

Good.

I got a call from SDX, about those special trans

project I told you about.

Great, how did it go?

Ah, you know, the usual.

They turned you down again, didn't they?

They listened very politely then they doubled

their offer for hardcore.

Sure you want to go through with this?

Positive.

Some people from the Feelie Corporation

showed up a few months after my accident

and thought I had potential.

Don't ask me why.

This is the first feelie I've ever

recorded with the Side Kick.

It's early stuff, very fragmented.

It's only one point of view.

Just turn it on.

Early training didn't go so well, it hurt a lot.

Every movement required extraordinary effort.

I hadn't walked for three months.

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: [gasping]

OK, Megan.

Let's give it a try.

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: OK.

Good.

Does it hurt?

Remember to breathe.

Just breathe.

Good.

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: [grunting]

Ah.

Oh.

You don't have to do this anymore.

Yes, I do.

All right.

Megan.

Megan.

Let's try and stand.

OK.

QM: [grunting]

Oh, too fast, Megan.

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: [heavy breathing]

[grunting]

MEGAN [VIRTUALLY]: Whoa.

OK.

Sorry.

That's what you get for going too far into somebody

else's joy or silence.

What do you mean?

How do you know it lasts?

How could it not?

You have everything now.

Do I?

I think I love you, Megan.

Maybe you should wait until you've

recovered from the tapes.

It's pretty emotional.

No.

From my toes to my chest, I just about

can't feel a a thing.

But my lips, they felt that.

Fix it up wasn't the only thing that

made it bad for us at first.

Tom, I showed you how to really make love to me.

Hi.

Been looking for you.

I wanted to say goodbye in the place we spent time together.

Wouldn't have thought of you going out of your way

for me a week ago.

Well, maybe I'm not as cold as you think.

Come on, sit down with me for a second.

So you got it bad, don't you?

Are you going to stay on at the resort?

Well, if Megan gets the independent deal

she wants I may go out of town with her.

Right.

Right, um-- what was that again?

Feelies that mean something?

How's that going?

Uh, she's still waiting.

Gee, I got to admit it, QM, she's changed you.

You've come alive.

Even though she's going to hurt me?

I hope not.

You don't deserve it.

Take good care of yourself, OK?

I'll be thinking of you.

[ON TV] The company feels that your proposal,

while intriguing because of your involvement,

simply isn't real world enough for us.

On the other hand, Megan, if you would like to reconsider

our previous offer, I'm sure we could come to some type

of mutual agreement.

Skip.

[ON TV] The trans project is hardly a viable use

for the Golden Gypsy given the enormous expense

involved in its maintenance.

Megan, I'm sure I don't have to explain this to you.

The bottom line--

End.

Hi.

Who died?

Me.

That was the last one.

12 for 12.

No smaller companies out there that would be interested?

There are no smaller companies, QM.

You felt how powerful the trans tapes are when it's

about something, didn't you?

I mean, I'm not dreaming the whole thing up, am I?

What am I talking about?

These are corporations that would

repress the cures for disease because they

didn't cost enough to use.

Well, we'll do something else.

We'll figure it out, Megan.

Do you have any idea how much it

costs to maintain the sidekick?

I don't even own it. I lease it by the month.

I love you whether you have that thing or not.

Don't you know that yet?

The damnedest thing is is that I made this break through that

nobody thought was possible.

I could set this whole industry on fire,

but no one will talk to me.

I've been racking my brains on how to tell you this, Cooper.

Did you understand me when I told you

my transcorder is always on?

I thought I explained it.

You telling me you got love on tape?

The moment we fell in love.

What about the technicians?

No, you weren't listening.

They just to the visuals.

The gypsy records the feelings.

Well, can I see it?

No.

Well, it's something we did together.

I mean, how can you take something so private

and sell it?

I'm not got to sell it, QM.

I would hate that just as much as you would.

My money can hold up, I just get scared.

Look, maybe you better let me be by myself for awhile, OK?

You sure?

I'll call you in the morning.

Go on, I'll be all right.

Promise?

Yeah, I promise.

[electric zap]

Play

Can you um, help?

Please?

Play.

QM, I couldn't wait for you.

They were going to take my body away.

They're going to leave me with nothing but pity in people's

eyes, in yours most of all.

So I took the deal and they gave me my body back.

What deal?

What deal?

GPS IN CAR: Arrival at the northwest ag

communes in five seconds.

[buzzer]

At least you called first.

What are you doing here, QM?

You were the only one who understood.

The only one who warned me.

She called me not long after the last time you saw her.

She seemed to know that you would come to me

and there were things that she could never say to your face.

There's only one Goldman Gypsy, QM.

And it costs more to lease for a month

than you and I will ever see in our entire lives.

If you ran the company that owned it,

who would you lease it to?

Somebody who does what you tell her and makes it pay?

Or somebody with a different idea?

I would have stayed with her through anything

and she knew that.

Yes, and she also knew that she couldn't

live with her betrayal of herself

with you there to reminder her.

I can't go back.

I can't face the city anymore.

Of course you can, that's where you live.

You'll get past this.

Let me stay here with you.

I can work hard.

Maybe we--

You don't want me.

Go on.

Get back in your car, drive back to the city.

You've changed, QM.

You've become somebody.

Now, go home and find somebody to share your life with.

[soft music]

Sorry.

That's what you get when you go too far

into somebody's joy or sadness.

QM [VIRTUALLY]: What do you mean?

How do you know it lasts?

QM [VIRTUALLY]: How could it not?

You have everything now.

Do I?

QM [VIRTUALLY]: I think I love you, Megan.

Maybe you should wait until you recover from the tapes,

it's pretty emotional.

QM [VIRTUALLY]: No.

From my toes to my chest, I just can't feel a thing.

But my lips, they felt that.

Fix it up wasn't the only thing that was bad for us at first.

Tom, I showed you how to really make love to me.

As you can see, technology is a double edged sword.

It can help and it can hurt.

Megan's side kick helped her to be whole,

but the feelies robbed thousands of others

from experiencing their own real emotions.

So is technology a blessing or a curse?

Or can we tell the difference anymore?

Welcome to Paradox.