Rough Draft 1 : 2024-09-19
Sufficient leeway is given in the sketch, so that the players may be of any gender, the media may be stage or screen or only sound, and the setting of the meeting may be any year between 2035 and 3035.
- - -
[ SCENE 1 ]
It was an ordinary weekend.
The one little thing on my to-do list, was to meet Chen, an ex whom I tend to avoid. But a short chat every few years, remains tolerable, and somewhat amusing.
[ ACT 1 ]
k : Hello.
c : Kay! Good to see you! What? Ah ... I see we do cheek kisses now, haha.
k : Muah. Muah. Was it easy to find the place?
c : Pretty easy. It's on the map.
k : Sweet. Good trip so far?
c : So far so good. Staying at a place not far from here actually ... I walked.
k : Oh is it in Henlow?
c : Yup. Tourist street, hopefully not a tourist trap.
k : Nice Nice. Let's order something.
c : Hi! Hot tea, please.
k : No coffee?
c : Not right now.
k : G & T please.
[ Server exits. ]
k : It's been so long.
c : It's ... been longer.
k : And you seem happier.
c : I'm not under a lot of pressure right now. Taking a bit of a break.
k : Reading a lot?
c : Not really, just ... well I was reading more at the start of the year. Now I'm just trying to feel healthier. So there's a lot of eating and working out. A bit splurgey, but what the hell ... now and then, it's okay. How about you? So you're ... in between jobs, again?
k : Just setting up the next big thing.
c : Always the next big thing.
k : Only big things for me!
c : Only little things, for me.
k : Haha, how is the nursery?
c : Sold it three years ago. Worked a bit elsewhere after that.
k : Seeing anyone interesting?
c : Always seeing someone, or two. Rarely interesting. And you?
k : Had enough of boys for a while. And girls. Just dating myself for a bit.
c : Stay safe.
k : Always safe. Not always happy. But safe, I can do.
c : Figured as much. Ah, cheers. [ clicks ]
k : [ smiles, and drinks ] Ah, so good, I haven't had a drink in ages.
c : Why not, you live here don't you?
k : In this city, but not right here, and I've just been too busy at work handing over and stuff.
[ ACT 2 ]
c : How long's it been ... five years?
k : Fiveish. Before that was ... seven, before we did dinner.
c : And dinner was six years after we met.
k : My god, I was so young.
c : You wanted to get married. I mean you would joke about it.
k : Flights of fancy.
c : I could never tell when you were kidding, if you really wanted something, or if you really just wanted to think about things aloud.
k : It's okay.
c : Whole different world away.
k : The last time we met - AI was so trendy. NVIDIA was so hot.
c : Did you make money on NVIDIA?
k : Of course!
c : Of course. Ambitious little thing.
k : And when I called you, you weren't sure if it was me! Asshole!
c : Er, well, that was precisely the point in time when they started to be indistinguishable, the deep fakes, right?
k : And now ...
c : HAHA ... fuckin now I wouldn't know if you were real or not.
k : Haha, no you wouldn't, would you?
c : As expected. Nothing new for me.
k : You always say things like that, you know-it-all.
c : Are you real?
k : Fuck you!
c : Haha, I wouldn't know. Frankly I don't care. I take it for granted that anyone around me could be a bot.
k : Really. So absurd.
c : But you know they're like, indistinguishable, at this point.
k : But not everyone can afford one.
c : You could always have afforded one, haha.
k : Oh come on. [ giggles ] Do you doubt it's really me?
c : As much as anything is dubious. [ raspberry ]
k : Fifty-year-old sticking their tongue out at me. Absurd!
c : How would you know it was me?
k : Because you're such an asshole!
c : No but really, you know bots can be remote controlled.
k : I'll do you one better - at work they already have the new fully-self-driven ones. They're programmed to ingest a personality based on journals, videos, and all that ... takes about two minutes to calibrate anyone if you have good data.
c : Nice. Maybe I'll afford myself one some day.
k : Get a real partner. Nothing like the real thing.
c : But that's the point ... nowadays bots are indistinguishable. I hired one the other day.
k : You WHAT?
c : Call-bot. Don't ask if it was a boy or girl.
k : What the fuck. How would you know it wasn't a real person?
c : I didn't think too hard about it. Completely legal. Everything by the book. Just had a good time.
k : Geez.
[ ACT 3 ]
k : Now you're making me wonder.
c : Give me your hand. Looks like you. Feels like you. Trembles like you.
k : Enough, I'll have my hand back, thanks.
c : Always a little nervous. But that's the thing - it doesn't seem like it's possible nowadays to tell a person from a bot. You said so yourself, two minutes for a basic calibration.
k : I need another drink.
c : Do you remember how I used to joke that we should do something like the Before trilogy and meet up every few years.
k : Well we're doing it. It's not ten years in between meetings, but we're doing it.
c : What else do you remember? Shaking your head again.
k : Gosh, I was so young.
c : You're still young.
k : You're still old.
c : I still love you.
k : HAha. How does a bot prove it?
c : I love a lot of people. Don't get too excited.
k : Chen!
c : NOW you wanna touch my thigh.
k : Hahaha.
[ ACT 4 ]
c : Do you remember the first time we kissed?
k : No.
c : Traffic lights. You were shy, and gave me your cheek. And then after we parked, you kissed me properly - it was surprising.
k : By the park, was it.
c : By the park. With the flashing lights, as the cops passed.
k : I don't remember the cops.
c : I remember everything.
k : I remember you made me sad.
c : You said, it was in a good way.
k : Are you still not sure, I'm me.
c : I've never been sure, about what you are.
k : What's that supposed to mean?
c : I just knew that you wanted different things than I did, so you I had to let you go and get them. Look at you! All grown up, with your own things now.
k : Such a long time ago.
c : Do you never think about it.
k : Never. Always. I don't know.
c : You said, the last time we met, you'd outgrown me. That was a relief.
k : I did?
c : You said, you did. Whatever.
k : Another missing bit of programming. I'll have to check with mission control when I get back to base.
c : Haha, you little fucker.
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