SFSD-X

Round 4 - Notes

I had a lot of false starts with this one. The only 'Super Human' stories that have appealed to me in the past are Iron Man, Batman, and similar stories, because I'm happy that someone in a suit might be able to effect super human feats and stay within the realms of what's possible, physically.

Superman, Spider Man, The Hulk - there's too much 'magic' for me. I did once write an 'invisibility' story that I was ok with, so I guess I just wasn't trying hard enough, I guess.

Still, I started down the 'person in a suit' path but couldn't give it a better treatment than what I'd already read or seen. Then I went for a genetic-engineered approached, but realised I don't have the experience as a writer to be able to make it credible (it's the time-frame aspect that stumped me; the conception, birth, development, growth, motive of the 'creator', present-day storytelling; too much for my tiny mind. Maybe one day, when I've learned more about writing...?)

Anyway, I went for someone that goes about designing drugs to enhance his own abilities. I was going to have someone make themselves super-intelligent. But that was too difficult to make into a story - what would they do with their super intelligence? What problems might they solve that would beat something a computer might do? (Maybe on day, when I've learned more about writing...?!)

So I chose drugs that might enhance the body, and I've had an interest in chemistry and biology for a long time, so know a tiny bit about amino acids, proteins, psychoactive drugs, lab procedures and so on. And I soon had an idea of the sort of person that would be motivated to created drugs of that nature. I'm afraid there's a lot more of me in Oliver than I would be willing to admit...

In terms of hard scifi - the THEBES computer is a play against SPARTA, which is used by the pharma industry for modelling chemical compounds. All the computer stuff is accurate (although usernames are usually accommodated with LDAP, so there would be no need for a schema that could be used to hide a special username with full rights!)

The bit about the RIP Act in the UK is true. If you don't hand your password to the police you face two years in prison, or five years if the charge is related to terrorism. And the encryption and the concept of a hidden container - 'plausible deniability' - was implemented in an application called Truecrypt. Truecrypt was dropped by its developers under strange circumstances a couple of years ago, but the code is still available in an application called Veracrypt...

The drugs side is soundly based too. Silicon compounds are used to enhance bone mineral to increase strength; the proteins mentioned exist in their stated contexts. Even the stuff about evolution is correct (as far as my understanding of the subject), and I don't think there's any physical reason that the proteins in spider-silk could not, in theory, have evolved to be part of mammalian physiology...

As for the combined results? I can't honestly see them working together to make a slightly built individual stronger than a naturally strong person. Chimpanzees are way stronger than humans with an identical physiology - just by nature of the distribution of bone and muscle tissue. I would have been more satisfied with the story if I'd gone for a combination of chimp genes and drug treatments, but like I say, the genetic aspect was too much for my writing ability.

It's a love story, of course. I'm quite pleased with the way that turned out. A dysfunctional boy that gave up on all hope of love due to his social awkwardness and lack of self esteem as result of being bullied. He's rescued by a girl who sees past his physical inadequacies, and even his psychological defences. He pursues his drug enhancement ambitions out of a purely selfish desire to escape being bullied - he doesn't really want to be a super hero, he just doesn't want to be afraid of the bullies. But her love gives him the confidence to live his life without fear, and he begins to lose his will to become physically strong, and realises that he can have a good life just by becoming 'normal'. He's all set to leave the Company, forget his goal of becoming a Super-Human, and live a simple, peaceful life with his true love in Paris.

I don't think I had any influences for this one really. There are stories I've read where people have bodily enhancements, particularly 'The Stars My Destination' by Alfred Bester, and Molly in Gibson's Neuromancer series spring to mind. A lot of Iain M Banks's Culture novels have characters with modified physiology. But we don't get any details - just that they pay people, or otherwise have them done. Also, I think I saw a 'Twilight Zone' or similar TV show with nanotechnology that had someone's body being modified from within (it was the actor who played John-Boy in the Waltons, if I recall!) I did consider Nanotech for the story, but again, it was too nebulous for me to get a hold on!

I wanted to have a happy ending, but for some reason the story ended up a tragedy. It's a rant against Big Business to some extent, and the way power and profit leaves those who just want ordinary lives are the least likely to be left in peace. In the end, the evil Professor Van de Ven is alive and well, protected by the facilities of her wealthy Company. Oliver is dead, because he wouldn't sell himself out knowing that his research would be used to cause more suffering. And Anne, who began with the moral stance that violence breeds violence, and mercy to those without power is the way to peace and civilisation? Well she is seduced by the power of Oliver's drugs, and in the end loses her deeply held belief in mercy once she has the power herself.

So it's a bleak story in every way. Because in the last line, Anne is the Super-Human. But her motivation in pursuing Oliver's research, now she has the password, is not to make her own life better, which was Oliver's motivation, but to make Professor Ven suffer in revenge for her killing her love.

And there's a bit of Shakespeare again - Oliver's secret password (and the title) is from A Merchant of Venice  - the play they see during their trip to Paris. It is Portia's speech (as she addresses Shylock in Court) in an attempt to convince him to take mercy on her love, who has signed a contract to forfeit a pound of flesh, cut nearest from his heart, after defaulting on his loan. Professor Ven stabs Oliver in the heart, after he refuses to sign her contract... In the play, Portia is successful when she notices that the contract allows Shylock (who is sharpening his knife in Court) precisely a pound of flesh, no more, no less, but more importantly, not a single drop of blood. But Oliver dies bleeding...

Good grief. I need to write something more cheerful next time!

All the best

:)