Videodrome: Days of O'Blivion by Lee McGeorge Read Free Book Online Page A

she’d
grown out of her teenaged idealism.”
    “She hasn’t grown out
of anything. She’s matured into a thoughtful and sophisticated
woman. But that isn’t what I meant. I find it uncomfortable to be
associated with this. Sadomasochism on video? Soft porn with
violence? There is a psychology to pornography that if you capture
a woman on film, you own that image and by proxy you own the woman.
If you had a daughter of your own, you would feel the worry that I
feel now. I am going to commoditize someone’s daughter and I worry
that I’m on the road to becoming a pornographer.”
    Barry laughed hard.
“You’re not making porn, you’re testing the science,” Barry laughed
until the joke faded to a chuckle. “Wow, you’re putting a lot of
philosophy into this. Look, some horny kids or a hooker are going
to get a sexy spanking on film. If you want to get involved then go
down to Pittsburgh and take a look at what they’re doing; or ignore
it and let it just happen. Do you think Consec are interested in
making porn? They just want to see what the technology can do.”
    “I’m surprised Consec
are involving themselves at all.”
    “It’s because of your
political results. I told Consec how agreeable you made McNamara
look and they got excited. They want this thing taken as far as it
can go… How far can it go?”
    “I think I can push the
limits further,” Brian said. “I’ve been working on a way to make
the signal stronger and have upgraded the signal generator.
Veraceo-Two, if you will.”
    “That’s great. Consec
are going to love that bit of progress.”
    “But should we be
giving it to Consec? Ever since we got into bed with them I’ve had
doubts. Reservations. Like you said about their interest in
manipulating political broadcasts, that’s a monstrous thing. We are
giving the power to subvert democracy to a group who think the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is a good idea.”
    “If you spend any time
thinking about the Soviets,” Barry said, “you’ll come to the same
conclusion as Consec... These communist overlords would love to
upend North America. Consec Leader is right when he says there are
communists whose sole purpose is to cause us irreparable harm.
Imagine if they had invented Veraceo first? They would use it to
swing elections here. The genie is out of the bottle, Brian. We
can't just un-invent this thing and you should keep that big
picture in your head. Go to Pittsburgh, take Veraceo-Two and push
this thing to the edge. Learn what it can do and learn how to
defend us against its misuse. Worrying about becoming an accidental
pornographer is a minor concern when the real focus is maintaining
global security.”
     
    ----- X -----
     
    In Pittsburgh, Brian
was issued with a magnetic entry key by a security guard sitting on
the back door. The building looked derelict from the outside.
Broken windows had been hastily bricked up from within meaning the
broken glass was still visible ahead of the stonework. It was a big
place, with four floors and a basement. The guard told him only the
ground floor was used for filming, the first floor for
post-production and the higher floors for long term storage of sets
and props.
    “Hello, are you Brian
Spectrometer?” A large lady crossed the floor with a cigarette
between her lips and her hand held out to shake. “I’m Susan
Anthony, Production Manager. Let me introduce you to the team.” She
walked him across the main studio floor. It was cold and Brian
could see his own breath. The studio had brick walls painted black
with high lighting bars suspended from the ceiling. Two
broadcast-quality cameras were on floating mounts ahead of a three
walled set made of plywood. It was just three walls painted white.
There were brackets on the walls and an ominous looking hook
hanging in the centre.
    “Is this the set? I
thought it was going to be coloured?”
    “It will be soon. We
have control of key light and set light, so they can change the
colour