May 2143

FTL Newsfeed Transcript This article contains the annotated transcript of FTL Newsfeed episodes, originally written by F. Paul Wilson and Matthew Costello.

3 May 2143

ANCHOR: General Rodriguez reacts to the latest attack by "R".

RODRIGUEZ: The loss of Space Biosphere Six is a terrible blow, but I'm confident the InterCombine Police will bring these criminals to justice. But my first concern, as a great humanitarian leader, is to feed my people.

4 May 2143

ANCHOR: On Hollywood Island last night, the Academy of Holographic Arts and Sciences handed out their annual "Roddenberry Awards". A fourth-generation clone of Ridley Scott won top prize for his 57th director's cut of Bladerunner– truly a science-fiction classic!

5 May 2143

ANCHOR: Clone Rights leader Pamela Corvino testified today at Perry Epp's Public Reality Hearings.

CORVINO: Clones all over the world are defying their behavioural conditioning and are exhibiting free will. Free will is a human condition. You can't go on denying their human rights!

6 May 2143

ANCHOR: We genetically engineered clones to do our dirty work – to fight our wars, to clean our homes. Supposedly, they are conditioned to serve and have no free will – but now some experts question whether beings created from human DNA are anything less than fully human.

7 May 2143

ANCHOR: The world's largest clone manufacturer, CloneStyles Unlimited, concedes there is mounting evidence of free will among human clones.

NARCISTRO: While we don't yet have a scientific explanation, the situation seems to have increased dramatically since the arrival of the Virtual Reality Presence.

10 May 2143

ANCHOR: 60's-Ville, a Twentieth Century Retroprises theme park, was evacuated earlier today. The antique internal combustion engines which give the theme park's air "that fossil fuel tang" went into overdrive, raising carbon monoxide to near-toxic levels.

11 May 2143

ANCHOR: At today's public Reality Hearings, CommLink chief Lee Peng Vox revealed that the Presence in the Virtual Reality Net was not caused by program malfunction, illegal entry by "R" or anyone else. "Frankly," admitted Ms. Lee, "we don't know what the hell it was."

12 May 2143

ANCHOR: According to Attorney General Julian Matthews, the suspects in the Mars sabotage are double-Y clones – a violent breed produced only for military and police use. Civilian clones, as you know, have biological inhibitors which prevent them from harming people.

13 May 2143

ANCHOR: Barton Poole insists that the Mars suspects were civilian clones when they were destroyed by CenBank two years ago during a corporate downsizing.

POOLE: What they're doing back as double-Ys is beyond me.

ANCHOR: Regenerating a civilian clone as a double-Y is a serious crime.

14 May 2143

ANCHOR: Since President Clarke pulled BioMerge off the market last month, there has been scattered armed resistance by VR addicts refusing to surrender their discs. Several police clones have been destroyed. Nevertheless, the government has announced it is stepping up the recall effort.

17 May 2143

ANCHOR: Employees at Moonbase Wilson have threatened to strike unless the government re-opens contract negotiations. The key issue remains workers' claims of harmful psychological side-effects from genetic adaptation. DNA adaptees comprise most of the base's workforce.

18 May 2143

ANCHOR: In response to a survey showing that many people have sex in the VR Net with imaginary partners, Pope Thelma Louise II has released an encyclical titled "Sin in Cyberspace – A Virtual Venality". It is already a hot seller on Holodisc!

19 May 2143

ANCHOR: Two new developments in the tense labour situation at Moonbase Wilson. President Clarke has warned workers there that a strike would "not be tolerated". Meanwhile, Perry Epp plans to expand his public reality hearings to include the issue of DNA adaptation.

20 May 2143

ANCHOR: The Department of Political Correctness has issued its latest guidelines. Among the changes, dead people will now be referred to as "existence challenged". Failure to adopt politically correct language is a misdemeanour. For a full run-down, tune to the Edumerge Channel.

21 May 2143

ANCHOR: Former moonbase engineer Kai Densmore testified today at Perry Epp's public reality hearings.

DENSMORE: Sure, DNA adaptees have bigger lungs and stronger muscles for working in space. But this genetic change has also made us prone to alienation, paranoia – even violence.

Missing Video This episode is missing a video. If you know that one exists, please add it.

24 May 2143

ANCHOR: The winner of this year's Wimbleton Virtual Tennis Championship is newcomer George Zip.

ZIP: I'm deeply honoured – especially since I've never played on a real tennis court in my life!

ANCHOR: Zip added that things got so tense during the last set, he actually got up and paced around his living room.

25 May 2143

ANCHOR: How does an out-of-shape Gogglehead like George Zip get to Wimbleton? Practice! With anyone able to play sports in Virtual Reality, obesity among heavy users is a growing problem. But it is often a hidden problem – because their VR alter egos all look like this:

• (Cut to lithe young tennis player)

26 May 2143

ANCHOR: The trial of President Clarke's son, former Attorney General Bryan Clarke, got underway this morning in Chicago. He is charged with having sexual relations with a Marilyn Monroe clone. CommLink will carry the trial live in its entirety on the Crime and Punishment Channel.

27 May 2143

ANCHOR: Bryan Clarke shocks the court with a startling confession!

CLARKE: Marilyn J-31 and I are in love. She is as human as any woman I've ever known. Free will among clones is a reality – and if I have to go to prison to prove it, I will. I know she'll wait for me.

28 May 2143

ANCHOR: Bryan Clarke's dramatic confession that he is in love with a clone has drawn support from Clone Rights advocates but so far, only stunned silence from President Clarke. Sexual relations between humans and clones is a felony which could land Bryan in jail for up to ten years.

31 May 2143

ANCHOR: While not commenting directly on the Bryan Clarke case, Attorney General Julian Matthews has renewed his pledge to push for a Clone Bill of Rights. But Reality Secretary Perry Epp says he is still not convinced clones are real people. No reaction yet from President Clarke.