Ep. 9 –  “My Name is Ezra” — Disconnected in 2050

Scene 1

EZRA (studio voice)
You’re still with Grounded,
We are getting closer to the end of our story.
This announcement by Infinity Ford,
Surely you know which one I’m talking about.
This for me, was when everything shifted for good.

Scene 2
INFINITY (ethereal voice)

Jingle – “Announcement of Infinity Ford” –

My dear Infinity friends,
I come with exciting news.
Infinity comes to you today with a new innovation.
Now how does that sound?

[mechanical applause/cheering]
Since its creation, my company has been dedicated to a dream: the dream to abolish
the frontier between online and offline.
We have worked relentlessly on suppressing the screens of the old ages.
And now I want to take you with me a step further into a digitalised reality.
(dramatic pause)
Introducing “Jyn-in”

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[storms of applause / sounding mechanical – as they are not from real people but
from online reactions]
Thanks to a quick and fast implant, Jyn will always be with you, as she will quite
literally get under your skin.
Jyn reads your thoughts and gets you what you need, what you want instantly.
Say goodbye to your old meta-glasses or meta-lenses, the chip is all you need to
access Infinity.
Jyn-in is the start of a new era.

(Disclaimer)

Enter the new era in two simple steps.
Ask Jyn to launch the update.
And starting in January, a medical drone will fly to your doorstep to proceed with the
light surgery to insert the microchip.
And that’s it.
Because it is that easy to access (dramatic pause) Infinity.

(Pause)

Scene 3
JYN
Ezra? ready for the update ?

[Ezra turns off Infinity – gets out, slams the door].

Scene 4

[In the background we hear Ezra running in the street]

EZRA (studio voice)
Hannah Arendt The Human Condition, 1958
« (But) it could be that we, who are earth-bound creatures and have begun to act as
though we were dwellers of the universe, will forever be unable to understand, that

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is, to think and speak about the things which nevertheless we are able to do. In this
case, it would be as though our brain, which constitutes the physical, material
condition of our thoughts, were unable to follow what we do, so that from now on we
would indeed need artificial machines to do our thinking and speaking. If it should
turn out to be true that knowledge and thought have parted company for good, then
we would indeed become the helpless slaves, not so much of our machines as of our
know-how, thoughtless creatures at the mercy of every gadget which is technically
possible, no matter how murderous it is. »
EZRA (studio voice)

[in the background we still hear her running / essoufflement]

I tried not to panic.
I decided to find Cy.
I had become aware of what lied underneath the surface.
But what was I meant to do about it?
Cy was still leading some underground actions.
She would tell me what to do…
I had to hold on to that thought.
The map’s clue had led me to Avenue Emile Verhaeren, in Schaerbeek, north of
Brussels.
I didn’t know if Cy would be there, but at least someone would, someone who might
know where she was.
I ran down the street and then back up on the other side.
73, 75, 77…

[steps stop]

A little black stone…keeping a door open just like in Rue des tanneurs.

[ door creaks open]
[We hear some Disconnecteds chatting behind a door – she knocks – they suddenly
stop – music stops ? ]

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Scene 5
EZRA (in situs)
Hello,
(pause)

[knocks]

I’m looking for Cy.
I was told she lived here.

[knocks intensely]

(firm) I’m not leaving.
So where is she?
I need to talk to her.

[door opens]

OLD ADRIEN
I didn’t expect you to turn up so soon.
Already in trouble?
EZRA (in situs)
Adrien?
I wasn’t looking for you, as I said //
OLD ADRIEN
You’re looking for Cy, I got that…
Grunts
Nosy, persistent, and annoying. Back in the day, you would have been a great
journalist.
Come this way…

[we hear them walk inside, into a room and close the door]

(To the other Disconnecteds) It’s okay, she’s with me.

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[we hear them walk inside, into a room and close the door]

EZRA
What is this place?
OLD ADRIEN
This is a… bar
An underground bar.
There were a lot of these in my time.
Disconnected life can get lonely.
And their triple is worth the detour.
EZRA
Is Cy here?
I want to talk to her.
OLD ADRIEN
Yeah well, sorry to break it to you but that’s gonna be complicated.
Cy is in jail…
She took 20 years.
For cyber-terrorism…
Unfortunately, she’s just one of countless victims of this new judiciary system the
government is so proud of: Preventive Justice.
Anyway…
Cy and some friends, the good people you see over there, participate in occasional
sabotages.
Remember the so-called “drone maintenance” of June 10 th ? That was them.
But without Cy…
EZRA (in situs)
With or without her, we need to do something.
ADRIEN
Ezra, listen to me!

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Whatever it is that got you all shaky like this, you need to get over it.
It’s over.
You wanted answers, you got answers.
You wanted the truth, you got it.
Now live with it.
There’s no battle to be fought.
Cy knew the system inside out and yet they got her.
If you are a problem for them, they will find you.
So my advice: don’t be a problem.
EZRA (in situs)
(firmly to Adrien) Move out of my way.
[Ezra turns off (or down) the music – we hear people complaining]// she can just
speaks louder to get the attention of the other people.

(she addresses the other disconnecteds)
Hello, Hello everyone,
Adrien didn’t introduce me so allow me to do it myself.
I’m Ezra.

[pause – maybe tensed music)

This morning, Infinity Ford announced the launch of a new program.
It’s an upgrade of the current operating system, Jyn.
The new one, they call it Jyn-in.
ADRIEN
Creative name…
EZRA (in situs).

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They say they’re going to have people get microchip implants.
In other words, it prevents you from ever being offline.
Apparently, it executes tasks by “reading your mind”.
For now, it’s on a voluntary basis, but with these things you know it’s just a matter of
time before they make it seem compulsory.
OLD ADRIEN
Sorry but… ummh We’re all Disconnecteds here remember ?
So why do we care?
EZRA (in situs)
Noone asking you to stay.
OLD ADRIEN
I haven’t finished my beer yet.
So go ahead, tell us why.
EZRA
Because I can’t believe this is the world you want to live in.
And also I assume that once those chips have spread, they will be accompanied with
higher control on the streets, increasing the authoritarian model of Infinity.
How easy will that become if they can have patrol drones scanning microchips and
automatically detecting Disconnecteds?
(Silence)
OLD ADRIEN
(exhales) So what are you suggesting we do?
EZRA
Well, first of all we’re gonna have to figure out an alternative way to communicate
over distance.
Finding old computers, old phones, that’s a first step.
OLD ADRIEN
This won’t keep Infinity from detecting us.

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Unless you have your own servers.
EZRA (in situs)
That’s right.
And to answer your question //
OLD ADRIEN
Wasn’t a question…
EZRA (in situs)
…I’ve thought about that: And that’s why we should get our own servers.
Scene 6
EZRA (studio) :
I got the idea from this recording of Martin Cronel I found on the computer.
There was this collective of organisations in the 2020s which offered server hosting
services which respected privacy unlike Big Tech’s platforms.

[00:02:21.540] – Martin
C'est un ordinateur chez quelqu'un d'autre. Un cloud, pour être très précis sur
comment ça se passe techniquement. Ce collectif est né. Il y a quelque chose
comme trois ou quatre ans maintenant. Chacun des membres peut avoir des
structures différentes (…) Il y a aussi des membres individuels qui sont auto-
hébergeurs, qui hébergent des services dans leur salon, sur un petit ordinateur, chez
eux. Il y a aussi des entreprises qui fournissent des services payants soit au grand
public, soit à d'autres entreprises.
Scene 7
EZRA (in situs)
Now, I know that these organisations have completely disappeared since the laws of
2034.
But we can build servers here.

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OLD ADRIEN
Build servers…? Sorry, did I miss something? I don’t recall renaming this bar Silicon
Valley…
(Sighs)
EZRA
Anyone?
SASHA
Well, first of all we’re gonna have to figure out an alternative way to communicate
over distance.
Finding old computers, old phones, that’s a first step.
there are abandoned ones around the city.
They’re a bit vintage to say the least, but it could work.
ADRIEN
I know you miss playing engineer Sasha
But common, before we all risk our lives, what do you want to do with that?
EZRA
It would allow us to communicate with each other.
SASHA
What if we could infiltrate Infinity?
ADRIEN
Who are you, Julian Assange?
SASHA
What I’m thinking is: Infinity is updating for the next 72 hours. If there is an update,
the system will – for once – be more vulnerable.
And as always, since they want to have everyone update at the same time – it’ll be
impossible for them to monitor what’s happening with each user.
I had been working on this plan with Cy for a possible hack of Infinity, but the system
was too protected.
This way we could get into their system, access their files.

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ADRIEN
Wait, wait, you mean we could actually download their files?
SASHA
If it works, yes
ADRIEN
Ok, I like this.
We could investigate Infinity, dig up some skeletons in their closet and put it out
there to make people react.
EZRA
Okay, Grumpy is finally on board, good.
Sasha, you really think it could work?
SASHA
Could, yeah.
But we would need a hyperconnected to insert the malware.
EZRA
That, I assume, would have to be me.
ADRIEN
Ezra, do you realise what //
EZRA
Go on Sasha.

Transition musicale/changement d’ambiance

Scene 8
EZRA (in the studio)
Sasha called it Candiru, after the vampire fish found in Amazonia.
Just like the vampire fish, our malware would go upstream, swim in the opposite
direction of the current until it would reach the central server.
Firstly, this would allow us to access Infinity’s files and to try to download them.

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And secondly, and that’s my favourite part, once the process is complete, it would
automatically stop and disconnect so that the attack could not be traced back to me
nor to any of us.
It was a risky plan.
But I had to try.
I had been lied to all these years.
This was my revenge on Jyn, Infinity, all of it.

Scene 9

Musical transition / (back home)

JYN
Welcome home.
EZRA
Hi, Jyn.
JYN
Hello, Ezra.
Are you ready for the update?
Most of your community has already started the (process) //
EZRA
Yes, I’m ready.
Begin the update.
JYN
Surprised Okay, Great!
This will take approximately 1 min.
Downloading begins… now

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We hear Ezra unzipping her bag, going through it hastily – gets something out
EZRA (in situs)
Catches her breath
Here we go….

Plugs something like an USB key

JYN
10%
EZRA (studio voice)
The device Sasha had given me was plugged in my headset.
The Candiru was released.
Now all I could do was, wait and see.
JYN
(bip) 50%
EZRA stressed
Come on…
EZRA
Come on, Come on, please…
JYN (bip) 70%
EZRA heavily breathing
Enrages progressively Fuck, Fuck, fuck
JYN (bip)
download complete (EZRA breaks down) welcome to — (voice slowing down, and
sound of a bug, sounds like big harsh flow of data) welcome to —
Sound of crashing