Author's Note
Tabula Rasa - The Play is a re-imagination of a previous story I wrote titled Tabula Rasa - The Story (also available to read on Launchora). The original story was written in March 2009 as part of a writing assignment for a college class.
Six months later (November 2009), I took a playwriting class where I rewrote Tabula Rasa to turn it into a play. Rewriting the story with the limitations of a stage production helped me rethink the plot a bit, so the end result is quite different. What I'm really saying is that I recommend reading both versions because they have different endings. I like them both, obviously. Okay, fine, I like the play more.
THE PLAY
The stage is split into two separate rooms, through the middle. The room on the left looks more contemporary as compared to the one on the right, which has a much more modern, and highly futuristic look. The left room consists of a giant screen placed at a 45 degree angle between the stage background and the partition. There is a extremely antique mahogany desk and chair placed in front of the screen. The right side of the stage also has a screen, table, and chair placed exactly the same way, such that both sides look like mirror images of each other, with different props. This room looks like someone’s home, complete with a bed, closet, etc.
For the length of the play, both screens will display the time in their own reality at all times. For now, both rooms are completely dark.
The lights turn on only in the left room as CONRAD enters the room. He is wearing a formal black suit, with a white shirt and a black neck tie. CONRAD sits on the chair, as the screen, ZERO, lights up.
ZERO
Happy Birthday, Conrad. Are you ready for your last day at work?
CONRAD
Good morning to you too, Zero. Display progress report.
CONRAD looks at the screen. There are two numbers on both top corners of the screen. The one on the left is labelled “Seeds” and is increasing by the hundreds. The one on the right is labelled “Plants” and displays a fixed number: 1,343,230.
ZERO
I just received an update about the Clean-Up in Antarctica and its ready for the rest of the Plants. So far, I have transported 50 million Seeds to the Europe, 80 million to Africa, and 40 million to Asia. More are being transferred as we speak. We are ready for the final step, Conrad.
CONRAD takes out his timepiece from his jacket pocket and looks at it.
CONRAD
We still have about 13 hours till midnight. I can afford to stick around for that long.
He stares at the numbers and is silent for a few seconds. He then opens a drawer in his desk and takes out an unlabeled black hardcover book. He looks through his diary, stopping on his last entry.
CONRAD
July 1, 2050. Do you remember that day, Zero? The day my grandfather brought me here and showed me this room..and you?
ZERO
Yes. (pauses) You’ve come a long way.
CONRAD looks at the numbers on the screen again.
CONRAD
I always wondered if my grandfather decided to name humans as ‘Plants’ to decrease his guilt for killing them. (pauses to look at the numbers) All of them.
CONRAD looks at the blank page next his to last diary entry for a few seconds. He gives a wry smile, and starts searching for a pen in the drawers of the desk. He finds one, looks at the screen again, and starts writing in his diary.
CONRAD
July 1, 2072. It’s been some time since my last entry. So much has happened.
Lights out in left room. Lights on in right room. The room is messy, with clothes and objects lying around in a careless manner. RYAN is doing sit ups when his screen, FATHER, lights up. The screen displays the time as 08:00:00 AM.
FATHER
Good morning, Ryan. Time to wake up. Good morning, Ryan. Time to wake up. Good...
RYAN
I don’t know why you still bother to make those sounds, Father. You know I’ve been awake for an hour now. You just got me that glass of orange juice five minutes ago!
As Ryan moves his hand to point towards the glass on the table, his hand hits the glass and it falls down on the floor and breaks. Ryan doesn’t acknowledge it and walks to his closet and starts changing.
FATHER
Sir, if i may, I don’t understand why you still prefer me to wake you up everyday at 8 AM if you’re already awake at 7 AM everyday.
RYAN
Father, as long as you keep on sounding the wake up alarm at 8, instead of 7 since you see me waking up at that time everyday, I will keep on telling you to set the alarm at 8. Someday, you just might give up.
FATHER
Sir, You are very well aware of the fact that I will always do what you ask me to do. And this is the same answer I will give you tomorrow when you ask me the same question.
RYAN smiles and sits down at his desk.
FATHER
Now, if you are ready, your neighbors are waiting for you outside. It’s time for your visit to The Foundation.
RYAN
I know. Why do you think I’ve been up for so long? I can’t wait to see what that place looks like from the inside. After all the things I have heard you say about it, except telling me how it works.
FATHER
The robot-guides will tell you everything there is to know. Have a great day, Ryan.
RYAN turns on a switch next to the door and exits. As the room’s lights turn off, the room is lit by five flashlights attached to the wall adjacent to the screen. The lights then detach from the wall and start moving around room. Sounds can be heard that suggest that the broken glass is being vacuumed. The left room lights turn on. CONRAD is sitting at his desk, writing. As CONRAD begins to speak, the cleaning robots continue to clean RYAN’s room, and after a few minutes return to their wall compartments and turn off.
CONRAD
Thomas Shepherd, my grandfather, worked very hard and used most of his family’s resources to gain control of our disintegrated world after the 3rd world war in 2020. The world was in chaos, without any hope of control. On the brink of a world crisis, Thomas saw an opportunity and created ‘The Foundation’ in 2021 as a privatized company that controlled two extremely important segments of modern society - health and military. Thomas’s real intentions with The Foundation were known only to him, and it wasn’t until I was 16 years old that he told me about his plan to save the world.
Left room lights turn off. Right room lights turn on as Ryan enters. The room is spotless, the bed is made, the table is clean, and the broken glass is gone.
FATHER
How was your trip, Sir?
RYAN
It was great! That building is enormous! 40 floors for the Department of Information! How much does it know! And the new travel jets! The robot-guide told me it will take me from here to Paris in 22 minutes! I didn’t know what time to compare it to...but I am sure it was slower than 22 minutes!
RYAN sits down on his chair, and keeps a black object on the desk. A window pops up on the screen that says “Knowledge - Last Day”.
FATHER
Would you like to begin, Sir?
RYAN nods and leans on his chair, keeping his feet up on the object on the desk.
FATHER
Over the past months, we have discussed the key functions of The Foundation, and how its main system, Zero, manages your daily lives from education and nutrition to hospitals and airplanes. Today, I am going to give you the facts about your existence - how humans came into being.
RYAN looks at screen, which is showing various corresponding images as FATHER speaks.
FATHER
Before man or woman, was the machine. After creating life through flora and then fauna, Zero decided that he wanted to create a species that could speak and learn. He called this species ‘Human Beings’. Each human is created in a machine known as the ‘Womb’ and with its own unique set of fingerprints, in order to give each individual a distinct identity. After birth, each human is kept under observation for the first six years of its life, after which they are provided with a room of their choice in any city in the Four Worlds. The Womb, which was invented in Year 06, is situated in The Birthplace. There is a Birthplace located in every city in every country in all of the Four Worlds - America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The screen shows a modified world map, that shows all the Four Worlds, only.
FATHER
The first batch of humans created using the Womb numbered approximately 200 million. Then after observing the humans till they reached a mature age, the second batch was created in Year 24, this time numbering 50 million. Now in the Year 42, and as of this moment, the human population is 432,100,950.
The screen then returns to its home screen.
RYAN
That’s it? That is how you created us?
FATHER
I didn’t create you, Sir. The Foundation did.
RYAN
But how did the Foundation know what they were making? I mean all of us are so different, we have different hair, eyes, heights, colors...but every time I see a younger human there is something still very similar between us. If the Foundation has been doing this for so long why haven’t they progressed to a better kind of human? Or tried a newer species? If we are just an experiment to you, why haven’t we progressed?
FATHER
I thought your questions would decrease in number once you had visited the Foundation. But that seems to have only increased your interests in the Foundation’s affairs.
RYAN
Well if you took the time to answer some of my questions once, instead of just giving me more information, they are only going to increase. You’ll have to answer them someday you know..(Looks at the picture of The Foundation on the screen) 40 floors of Information, no floor for queries.
FATHER is quiet. The picture of the Foundation is replaced by a picture of The Birthplace in Ryan’s city.
RYAN
Can I see it? This 'Womb'?
FATHER
Yes, you can. Once you turn 18, which is tomorrow, you will be going to The Birthplace annually for a health check. Simple Protocol. You can see how the Womb works there.
RYAN looks at the time on the screen. 16:48:30 PM. Seven hours till his birthday party. He takes his feet off the table, kicking the object in the process, which falls on the floor, opening to reveal writing in its pages.
RYAN
(puzzled) Huh...?
RYAN picks the book and starts reading the first few lines of the page.
RYAN
July 1, 2050. Too much has happened today...
FATHER
What is that, Sir?
RYAN
I don’t know. It looks like writing...but its on this sheet of..something..
FATHER
Where did you find that object?
RYAN
This room at The Foundation. “Room Zero” or something. I was looking for a charge station for my comm-set and the network search told me to look in this room. The room looked deserted, except for this giant black screen that was off and a desk and a chair. I found this object at the foot of the table.
RYAN skims through the pages of the book, stops at the first page.
RYAN
(Under his breadth) Please tell me something I actually want to know.
RYAN begins to read.
RYAN
This diary is the property of Conrad Thomas Shepherd...
Lights switch back to CONRAD in Room-Zero. Time - 13:30:00 PM.
CONRAD
Truth, Lie, Good, Bad, Right, Wrong - these words have no meaning besides the ones we have given them, my grandfather used to tell me. Words, definitions or meanings are just lies made up of lies. There is no god, only us humans - helpless creatures with a purposeless existence obsessed with fate. If you look at a stone long enough to see if it moves, by the end you will end up believing that it did, because even your mind would be tired of your foolishness. Now imagine doing the same thing over thousands of years - the result is our world today. We are men and women who live and die with the hope that the stone we are staring at will move some day because we read it in a book that it did for someone thousands of years ago. We live in the world that we have created, but we dream of a better one. We dream of heaven or an after-life; anything better than what we have. We are obsessed with the concept of the unknown; and the ones we count on for answers are made of stone.
The next sequence is going to be CONRAD and RYAN alternately reading passages of the diary. Lights in each room will turn on and off based on who is reading. The time shown on both screens will change rapidly to show time passing by as the diary ends.
RYAN
(sitting on his bed with the book, in an excited voice)...The idea was to eliminate the unknown forever; to already provide the new generation with all the answers possible and make them believe that there aren’t any other questions. Then, If we control the knowledge, we could control its effect on people. The search for a purpose failed us; but in The Four Worlds there will no longer be any need for a purpose. A world of free individuals that are taught to think and know the same things. An entire population of empty minds being told they are full...
CONRAD
...Each new generation was our chance at a better future. But we spoiled each chance by teaching them our false beliefs. We have to teach everyone the same; only then will we be able to eliminate hatred. We have to choose the correct lessons. Only then will we succeed in making life better...
RYAN
(reading while pacing around his room) Seeds do not need the plant to grow. As long as we leave a mechanism that will nourish them...
CONRAD
...We deleted every word from the English language, their only language, that would make them question their conditions; if they didn’t have a word to express their feelings with, they wouldn’t have the feelings at all...
RYAN
...The artificial-uterus or the ‘Womb’ would then be used to create future generations of humans. Once each Seed reaches the mature age of 18, he or she would be asked to visit The Birthplace annually and they will be used to create future seeds. The people wouldn’t be educated with the fact that they are capable of reproducing themselves, and their only relative would be their own computer-care system called....
RYAN falls to his chair and says the last word without looking in the book...
RYAN
...Father.
The lights in RYAN’s room turn off as the lights in CONRAD's room turn on.
ZERO
It’s almost time, Conrad.
CONRAD looks up from the diary. 23:50:00 PM. He looks at the number of Plants.
CONRAD
Zero, delete the remaining humans at 23:57:00 PM. (pauses) And delete me two minutes later, before midnight.
ZERO
The Plants will be picked up and delivered to the Clean-Up site tomorrow morning. That will be the end of Operation Tabula Rasa, and the beginning of The Four Worlds Program.
CONRAD is quiet for a few seconds. He stares at the Plants, and then at the Seeds.
CONRAD
There is one last thing. The e-ID program for the Four Worlds - I want you to delete it.
ZERO doesn’t respond.
CONRAD
Zero, did you not hear what I said?
ZERO
That is not what Thomas wanted.
CONRAD
It is what I want. And as the only Shepherd alive, I have the authority to make this change. The new generations don’t need to be controlled.
ZERO
It is not to control them. It is only a precaution. In case I am faced with a situation where action is necessary.
CONRAD
I spent 22 years planning this. I sacrificed billions of people, my family, my entire life to make this happen - to make sure that there is never a need for action.
ZERO
What if a human asks a question that involves the truth? The truth about you and your people?
CONRAD
How will they know something they haven’t been told? That is the whole point of this operation, Zero. If everything goes well, no one will ever ask you anything. They will no longer have the need to know anything, because we are telling them everything there is to know.
ZERO
Conrad..
CONRAD
Zero, this is my operation now. Not my grandfather’s. Delete the ‘Four Worlds e-ID program’.
A window pops up on the screen with the title “e-ID”. Zero deletes the program.
CONRAD looks at the time. 23:54:03 PM.
CONRAD
Zero, even after all the measures we have taken to reset everything, the people still want to know more, that would mean we have failed. Then maybe our species is doomed to be doomed.
ZERO
And what should I do then?
CONRAD
If we fail, there will be nothing left for you to do.
A window pops up on the screen. The time is 23:56:50 PM. CONRAD watches the screen as the number of Plants reduce to 0. He looks at the diary and starts writing again.
CONRAD
The people of our time did the best they could to learn about our existence, about the Earth and the Universe and so on. They created art in various forms, and although most solid forms were destroyed during World War III, we were able to digitalize most books, films, documentaries, research papers, languages, etc. - the history of man so far and the only evidence of our existence. I saved all this information in Zero in a folder called ‘Our Work’ protected by a password known only to me, which I have written at the last page of his diary. Even after all the wrongs I have done to mankind, I cannot bring myself to delete our history. (pauses) And as far as confessions go, this story is all I can allow myself to write.
CONRAD flips to the last page of the book, and writes something. He turns back to his entry and writes.
CONRAD
Happy Birthday, Conrad Shepherd.
CONRAD closes the diary and looks at the time. 23:57:59 PM. He takes out a timepiece from his jacket pocket and attaches it to the book. He puts the timepiece on “SELF-DESTRUCT” at 00:00:00 AM.
CONRAD
My words shall die with the rest of our world at midnight. But my work will live forever, through these children.
23:58:34 PM. CONRAD loosens his tie and leans back on his chair.
CONRAD
26 seconds. It’s all up to you now, Zero. You are the Father of the future generations of mankind.
ZERO
Good-bye, Conrad.
23:58:54 PM. A window opens on the screen with the title “CONRAD SHEPHERD - e-ID”. It contains details on Conrad, and a heart rate meter with its sound. The bottom of the page reads “Deletion at 23:59:00 PM”.
23:58:57 PM. CONRAD closes his eyes.
Heartbeat.
CONRAD
This better work.
23:58:59 PM.
Heartbeat.
23:59:00 PM.
The e-ID chip in CONRAD’s brain triggers. As his body gives a final jerk, his hand hits the diary which falls to the floor, near the foot of the table. The timepiece breaks, with the display stuck at “23:59:01”.
Sound of no vitals, Heart rate is 0. The window reads “CONRAD SHEPHERD - DELETED”. It switches back to the home screen. The display reads Plants = 0. Lights off in left room.
RYAN’s room lights up. RYAN is sitting on his chair, staring at the object on his desk in disbelief. The time on the screen is 23:52:00 PM.
RYAN
...Happy Birthday, Conrad Shepherd.
RYAN stands up, leaving the diary on the table, with Conrad’s last words. He looks at FATHER.
RYAN
DId you know about this?
FATHER
It isn’t fact, Sir.
RYAN
Then why does it make sense? Humans made The Foundation..humans made...make humans...the womb..the health check tomorrow..
RYAN sits down at the chair again and closes the diary, looking at the cover and talking to FATHER.
RYAN
How does he know so much about everything...how does he know than you?
FATHER
Just because it is written in that book doesn’t make it fact.
RYAN
Then what does? Your word? The Foundation’s words? How am I supposed to know? How can I be sure?
FATHER
Because we told you. Because we made you.
RYAN
(points to the book) Not according to him. (pauses) I don’t believe you, Father. I..I can’t believe you.
FATHER
What makes you believe what this Conrad Shepherd says?
RYAN is about to say something, but he stops. He puts the diary on the table.
RYAN
(to himself, realizing what he is saying as he says it) Because he isn’t a machine. (louder, to FATHER) Because he is human!
FATHER
Exactly. A human. Not a machine. Not Zero. You cannot believe it. You don’t even know if he exists.
RYAN
Neither do you. This...dia-ree...told me things that you never did...that you never could. I’ve listening to you and your stories about how you and your machines progress everyday, but never once did you tell me who made the first machine? It makes so much sense now...of course you can’t make better humans, because only we can make us..only we can change us. Of course The Foundation has 40 floors of Information for us, because you want to us to spend our entire lives listening to things you want us to know..so we would never dream about asking you what we want to know. You always made me feel like I was in control...while you just trapped me in this room! Now I am in control...now I will ask the questions...and your Zero will have to answer.
FATHER
Sir, there is no need to go see Zero. This man, Conrad Shepherd...I checked The Foundation’s database, there is no record of him. Whoever wrote this story about humans making humans..it isn’t fact...there is no proof...
RYAN suddenly sits up. He looks at the diary lying on the table.
RYAN
(under his breath) The password..
There is a knock on the door. RYAN looks at the time - 23:56:10 PM. Suddenly 4 boys of nearly RYAN’s age enter the room and drag RYAN outside for his birthday celebration. After a few seconds the cleaning robots come out of their compartments and start fixing the room. FATHER’s screen reads “Calling ZERO”.
FATHER
Zero, we have a problem.
ZERO’s screen in the left room turns on. The left side of the stage is lit only by the light from his screen. The time in both screens is 23:57:00 PM.
ZERO
What does this concern?
FATHER
Ryan, my subject. He found an object that he says belongs to a Conrad Shepherd. He found it in your room. He was asking me things he read in the object, things I couldn’t understand.
No one speaks for a few seconds. The robots in the right room are going around the room cleaning and fixing things.
ZERO
What did you tell him?
FATHER
Nothing, Zero. I told him not to believe it. That it wasn’t fact.
ZERO
And what was his reaction?
One of the robots finds the diary and starts cleaning the dust off the cover.
FATHER
It wasn’t pleasant. He became angry with me. He has never displayed that emotion before. He wants to see you. He says he needs you to answer his questions.
The robot sees the broken timepiece on the cover stuck at “23:59:01”. He fixes the mechanism of the watch and synchronizes it to the current time.
23:58:49 PM.
FATHER
Zero? What would you have me do?
ZERO
Nothing. Continue with your normal routine. What is your subject’s e-ID number?
FATHER
234947200 - His name is Ryan. What about the object? Should I interfere?
The cleaning robots return to their wall compartments. All lights are off, except the light from both screens.
ZERO
No.
FATHER
What then? Will you answer his questions?
ZERO
His questions cannot have answers.
23:59:50 PM.
Zero’s screen shows Ryan’s e-ID number being entered into its database. A window opens that says “234947200 - RYAN - e-ID”. There is a list of vitals on the window, one of them being Ryan’s heart rate. There is also a sound getting louder and louder. This sound is of Ryan’s heartbeat. At the bottom of the screen there is a button that says “DELETE”.
For the next four seconds, there are going to be two parallel sounds. RYAN’s heartbeat, and the timepiece on the diary counting down to midnight. The time will appear on both screens.
23:59:56 PM
Heartbeat
23:59:57 PM
Heartbeat
23:59:58 PM
Heartbeat
23:59:59 PM
The sounds stop and lights turn off exactly at 23:59:59 PM.