Gamer Quotes
In a future mind-controlling game, death row convicts are forced to battle in a 'Doom'-type environment. Convict Kable, controlled by Simon, a skilled teenage gamer, must survive thirty sessions in order to be set free. Or won't he?
Ken Castle: I'm wired too. I replaced 98% of my own noodle with nano-tissue years ago. But mine's different. It's built to send, to transmit, whereas every other nano-cell that I've put out there, including the ones in your head Kable, are designed to receive. I think it, you do it. We're talking every Slayer, everyone in Society city. I believe your better half would fall under that category, provided they were within range of my transmitters.
Kable: Very nice, Castle. So you got an army of psychotics and deviants to dance around for you?
Ken Castle: You're thinking small, Kable. But not as small as me.
[dips hands in dust]
Ken Castle: See, nano-cells are real small. A thousand times smaller than these dust particulates. You inhale it, they go to work: replicating, spreading like a virus, multiplying in exponentials. Six months time, I can have a hundred million people converted. Ditch diggers, porn stars, and presidents. Not one would be the wiser. A hundred million people who buy what I want them to buy, vote how I want them to vote, do pretty much damn well anything I figure they ought to do. For instance...
[Hackman attacks Kable]
Kable: Very nice, Castle. So you got an army of psychotics and deviants to dance around for you?
Ken Castle: You're thinking small, Kable. But not as small as me.
[dips hands in dust]
Ken Castle: See, nano-cells are real small. A thousand times smaller than these dust particulates. You inhale it, they go to work: replicating, spreading like a virus, multiplying in exponentials. Six months time, I can have a hundred million people converted. Ditch diggers, porn stars, and presidents. Not one would be the wiser. A hundred million people who buy what I want them to buy, vote how I want them to vote, do pretty much damn well anything I figure they ought to do. For instance...
[Hackman attacks Kable]
Ken Castle: [seeing Hackman] Look at it. The new face of Slayers. Pure, crystalized horror. Two stories high and bathed in bloody red. He is what they want.
Geek Leader: They love Kable.
Ken Castle: They do now, but when they watch their hero die right in front of their eyeballs so sharp and vivid it feels like you could reach out and touch the wet flesh, they're going to change their point of view. They'll be seduced by the power of violence; the dominance. It's human nature.
Geek Leader: Kable's made it through 28 battles. Every player in the game has tried to take him out.
Ken Castle: Yeah, Kable's the perfect soldier. He's a tactical killing computer. His only vulnerability is the nanex itself; the *ping*, the delay between Simon's commands and Kable's ability to execute.
Geek Leader: So why should this one be any different? Who controls him?
Ken Castle: [long pause] No one.
Geek Leader: They love Kable.
Ken Castle: They do now, but when they watch their hero die right in front of their eyeballs so sharp and vivid it feels like you could reach out and touch the wet flesh, they're going to change their point of view. They'll be seduced by the power of violence; the dominance. It's human nature.
Geek Leader: Kable's made it through 28 battles. Every player in the game has tried to take him out.
Ken Castle: Yeah, Kable's the perfect soldier. He's a tactical killing computer. His only vulnerability is the nanex itself; the *ping*, the delay between Simon's commands and Kable's ability to execute.
Geek Leader: So why should this one be any different? Who controls him?
Ken Castle: [long pause] No one.
Agent Keith: You know, Simon, you're being held here today suspected in aiding in the escape of a convicted murderer from a maximum-security penitentiary. The charges are beyond serious. Your hard drives have been seized. Forensics is decrypting the contents as we speak. Your internet activity over the last ten years is being scrutinized and catalogued in minute, vivid detail. In addition, your father's bank accounts have been frozen, pending further investigation. After all, it was essentially his money that funded Mr. Tillman's escape. Now I need you to tell me *everything* that happened leading up to yesterday afternoon. Everybody you talked to, everything you saw, everything you did. And I need you to tell me that right now.
Simon: Yeah, um... I'm going to need something, too.
Agent Keith: Oh, really? And what might that be?
Simon: Could you guys do a sandwich? Like peanut butter, almond butter, walnut butter, pecan butter, pistachio butter... um, pretty much any kind of, you know, nut butter? With some grape jelly?
[pause]
Agent Keith: Pistachio butter... They make that?
Simon: It's awesome.
Simon: Yeah, um... I'm going to need something, too.
Agent Keith: Oh, really? And what might that be?
Simon: Could you guys do a sandwich? Like peanut butter, almond butter, walnut butter, pecan butter, pistachio butter... um, pretty much any kind of, you know, nut butter? With some grape jelly?
[pause]
Agent Keith: Pistachio butter... They make that?
Simon: It's awesome.
Kable: Kid's gonna get me killed.
Simon: Dude, I'm right here man. I can hear you.
Kable: Listen to me. I don't know who's behind it or why, but I was supposed to die tonight. Lucky for us, I can beat them, but not with you controlling me.
Simon: What the hell are you talking about?
Kable: Turn me loose, kid. You want to win? Turn me loose!
Simon: Dude, I'm right here man. I can hear you.
Kable: Listen to me. I don't know who's behind it or why, but I was supposed to die tonight. Lucky for us, I can beat them, but not with you controlling me.
Simon: What the hell are you talking about?
Kable: Turn me loose, kid. You want to win? Turn me loose!
Kable: [after killing Hackman] You should have let him fight for himself. Maybe then he would have had a shot.
Ken Castle: I think you're missing the point, my man.
Kable: No, no, I get it. You're pulling all the strings around here. Which makes my next move pretty stupid...!
[He lunges at Castle with a knife, but freezes unexpectedly]
Ken Castle: I neglected to mention my smart boys reversed that crack the Humanz worked for you. Easy-breezy, once I had access to their drives.
Ken Castle: I think you're missing the point, my man.
Kable: No, no, I get it. You're pulling all the strings around here. Which makes my next move pretty stupid...!
[He lunges at Castle with a knife, but freezes unexpectedly]
Ken Castle: I neglected to mention my smart boys reversed that crack the Humanz worked for you. Easy-breezy, once I had access to their drives.
Simon: Gibs.
Kable: What?
Simon: Like giblets. Kibbles 'n Bits. Chunks. Pieces. Everywhere.
Kable: These are real humans fucker!
Simon: Death row psychos, so what? They had it coming anyway, right?
Kable: I guess that goes for me too.
Simon: Yeah, but you're different.
Kable: Different. How?
Simon: I don't know, because you're *my* psycho.
Kable: What?
Simon: Like giblets. Kibbles 'n Bits. Chunks. Pieces. Everywhere.
Kable: These are real humans fucker!
Simon: Death row psychos, so what? They had it coming anyway, right?
Kable: I guess that goes for me too.
Simon: Yeah, but you're different.
Kable: Different. How?
Simon: I don't know, because you're *my* psycho.
Upgrade Guard: Who aims?
Kable: What?
Upgrade Guard: Who aims? The player or the slayer?
Kable: I'm the hand. Someone, somewhere else is the eye.
Upgrade Guard: That's tripped out, man.
Kable: Sometimes, they take over completely. Move you around like a robot. But that don't work so good.
Upgrade Guard: Why not?
Kable: The delay.
Upgrade Guard: Right, the "ping," they talk about that. The time it takes for the Slayer to respond to the player's commands.
Kable: Whatever they call it, when you're in the game, a slice of a second is the difference between living and dying. When that trigger pulls... it's just me.
Kable: What?
Upgrade Guard: Who aims? The player or the slayer?
Kable: I'm the hand. Someone, somewhere else is the eye.
Upgrade Guard: That's tripped out, man.
Kable: Sometimes, they take over completely. Move you around like a robot. But that don't work so good.
Upgrade Guard: Why not?
Kable: The delay.
Upgrade Guard: Right, the "ping," they talk about that. The time it takes for the Slayer to respond to the player's commands.
Kable: Whatever they call it, when you're in the game, a slice of a second is the difference between living and dying. When that trigger pulls... it's just me.
