* * * * *
Franklin opened the door quietly. He was not sure if Dolly would be awake, or if she was synapped into a feature. Either way, he did not want to disturb her. Dolly would be angry when she discovered Franklin had returned Molly to the dealership. She would be angry, and he had no plan, no excuse, and no idea about how he would explain his need to get Molly out of his house. It was a confrontation that Franklin would rather postpone for as long as possible.
The interior of the house was quiet and cool. Franklin gently secured the front door behind him and made his way to into his private study. He gently closed this door as well. He made it. Dolly was probably still asleep. Franklin opened his notebook and flipped through some of the pages. Titus would want to hear the pulp feature. Once this was sold, then Franklin would pitch the content story.
Franklin found the early passages where Anand had described the gunfights and violence at Wild West Alive. He read through his notes. It was good pulp. Franklin needed to establish a point of view for the remote user. Anand himself was an obvious choice, but the evil Marshal Dirk Redburn was where all the action was. Shooting, kidnapping, perpetrating real violence and then being rewarded for hurting his colleagues with more popularity among the remote players. Even the Marshall’s lecherous overtures towards Sadie would make great pulp, first at the plastic factory and then later in the Saloon. This character, Marshal Redburn, would sell pulp features. Franklin checked the time. He had only a few minutes before his appointment with Titus in his office in San Francisco; it was time to rent a Synapse Host.
Thinking about the time, Franklin realized that after the meeting with Titus he would only have a few hours before he was scheduled to read from his work in progress, his book, to Claudia and her book circle. For this meeting, he felt much less prepared.
“Need to get going,” Franklin mumbled to himself purposefully avoiding thinking about the impending reading.
He looked at his open notebook. Was it pulp or content? Was it a feature or a book? Franklin felt unsettled. He removed his clothes and squeezed head first into his Synapse Suit.
Franklin maneuvered the light frame of Ashley X through the revolving door and into the lobby of Brandon and Stern publishing. The elevator was full, but Franklin was able to squeeze the small frame of his selected Synapse Host into the remaining space.
On the eighteenth floor he exited and made his way to the receptionist outside the office of Titus Briggs.
Franklin had met the receptionist who worked here many times, but he was always synapped into a synapse host so it was necessary that he let her know who he was.
“Hello, I’m Franklin Tempo. I have an appointment with Titus.” Franklin said using the high girlish voice of his synapse host.
“I am a bit early,” he continued.
“Go right in Mr. Tempo they are in the conference room,” said the receptionist without looking up from her workstation.
“Thank you,” Franklin said, and began moving down the hall.
“They?” Franklin pondered. Who else was meeting with Titus?
The conference room was on the interior of the building, so it would be illuminated only with artificial light, which was a comfort to Franklin. He knocked lightly and then opened the door and peaked in.
Titus Briggs was seated at the head of the conference room table and there was a young Hispanic man sitting uncomfortably across on the far side of the table.
“Hello,” Franklin said quietly.
Titus signaled Franklin to enter. He was in the middle of a dialogue with the young man.
“Say something original.” Titus continued emphatically. “Say something we don’t already know.”
The young Hispanic shifted uncomfortably in his chair, but remained quiet.
“What about the murder? He must have given some insight into his conviction?” Titus asked exasperated.
“He maintains his innocence. He does not like to answer questions about it.” The young man responded.
Titus addressed Franklin’s slim female host,
“Are you Franklin?” he asked.
“Yes,” Franklin said,
“I can wait outside.”
“No,” Titus waived away the suggestion with his hand.
“You are both working on the same feature from different angles.” Titus continued.
Then speaking to the young man Titus said,
“Franklin is writing a pulp feature that deals with the history of the WetWeb.”
Titus did not bother to explain who the other writer was. Franklin assumed he was a content man working on the Al McKnight feature.
The young Hispanic synapse host said,
“McKnight pontificates about his great leadership. He talks endlessly about his meetings with celebrities and heads of state. He talks about his Nobel Prize. He is trying to improve his name for posterity. It is a lot of hot air and repackaging of the same stuff we already know.”
“I need you to say something original,” Titus repeated. “I want a fresh content feature on this. We have already told the Al McKnight biography, we cannot re-package the same content over and over again and expect it to sell.”
Titus paused hoping the content man might say something in response. When he did not, Titus turned to Franklin,
“Franklin, tell us your pulp feature, what do you have that is new?”
Franklin looked at Titus and the other Synapse host and started to tell the story of the origin of Wild West Alive. At the last minute, he decided not to use the point of view of Marshal Dirk Redburn as he had planned. Instead Franklin described his pulp feature using the point of view of Yang; the outlaw hero who gets wounded and then fights the deadly quick draw with the evil Marshal who is being controlled remotely. Using this point of view the pulp feature seemed less gratuitous and Franklin wanted to lend a dose of content to this pulp. He wanted to impress the content man who he did not know, and he wanted to impress Titus. He sensed he had an opportunity here.
When Franklin was finished, Titus was clearly pleased.
“This is good pulp,” Titus said. Then he continued saying,
“We can use this to tie into the content feature.”
Looking at the content man’s Synapse host, Titus said;
“Synap out of here and go back to the prison. See what you can get from Al McKnight about Chinese Cowboys and gunfighters in the old Wild West Alive game. We need a tie-in.”
The content man protested. Via his Synapse host he said,
“What if he won’t answer the questions? What if he does not want to talk about it?”
“Just get it” Titus said growing exasperated,
“Make it up if you have to.”