Difference between revisions of "User:Taln Fan/Summary:The Original"
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=== Chapter 12 === |
=== Chapter 12 === |
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| + | Holly enters the Jolly Racer nightclub, hoping to isolate one of the ICON members and get some answers. She wears a physical disguise that she printed at the hotel. She brushes against dancers to hear the music, allowing her to dance to the rhythm and blend in. She uses her dancing to disguise her search for ICON members. She spots Carl Newton |
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=== Chapter 13 === |
=== Chapter 13 === |
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Revision as of 00:57, 26 September 2021
This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of The Original. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.
Chapter 1
- Characters
- Summary
Holly wakes up in a hospital bed, disoriented and confused. A doctor asks her questions, wanting to know the last thing Holly remembers. Holly asks where her husband, Jonathan, is, but the doctor doesn’t answer any of Holly’s questions, which frustrates Holly. The doctor asks more questions about Holly’s past, and then signals to one of the men in the room. The man pulls a knife out and moves to attack Holly. She responds quickly, stopping his attack and wrapping her IV line around the man’s neck. She released, him, aghast and wondering how she’s gotten those skills. The doctor tells her that she is a provisional replica, a clone of her original self but with special skills edited into her. The third man in the room, Skyler, hands Holly a pamphlet about living as a provisional replica, then informs her that she has murdered her husband.
Chapter 2
- Characters
- Summary
Holly sits on the edge of the bed, holding a gun in her hand. The gun feels disturbingly confrtomble in her hand, due to the muscle memory edited into her. Holly is assigned to kill her original, because she killed her husband and went off grid. Her gun is set to only harm her original, and Holly is given four days to hunt her original down. If she fails, she will die, and if she succeeds, she can replace her original and returned to normal. Skyler shows Holly a virtual replication of the murder scene, which took place in their apartment. Skyler doesn’t include the body in the simulated room, but there are signs of a struggle. Skyler plays a recorded report of the murder, and the report lays out the details of the murder. Jonathan was killed with a knife, and his head was mutilated, spiraling lines carved into it. Angry but with little other choice, Holly sets out to find and kill her original.
Chapter 3
- Characters
- Summary
Outside the hospital, Holly is taken aback at the blank white surroundings. Without her personal theming, everything seemed strange and different. She walks past some slums, and encounters an old woman who asks if she’s a checkout. Holly struggles to understand what happened with Jonathan, and can’t imagine herself ever killing him, much less them getting into a fight. Holly comes to the conclusion that maybe her original was framed. She decides that she needs to find and talk to her original, and find out what happened,
Chapter 4
- Characters
- Summary
Holly goes to the Riverside Market, and is again shocked at how different the market is without her theming on. She walks to the citrus stand where she first met Jonathan and where they often hang out. She suddenly realizes that there might be dangerous people out to get her if her original was framed, and that she had just come to the most obvious spot people would look for her. She surreptitiously looks around her, and spots a sniper in a third story window. The woman fires her energy rifle at Holly, and she is knocked unconscious.
Chapter 5
- Characters
- Summary
Holly wakes up, but feigns unconsciousness. She is dumped onto a table in a restaurant, and she listens to four people talking about what to do with her. Holly, using her edited skills, uses their voices to discern where everyone is in the room. She moves slightly, and the team sees the movement is alerted. Holly leaps into an attack, attacking one of her opponents and taking back her gun. She shoots him, but her gun can’t harm him. Holly runs into the kitchen, using a set of knives and a cutting board there to fight her attackers. She is familiar with the restaurant because it belongs to a friend of Jonathans, and she opens a manhole and escapes into the sewer.
Chapter 6
- Characters
- Summary
In the sewers, Holly discovers that she is edited with infrared vision. She contemplates what just happened, and is disturbed by the ease with which she could kill people. She wonders if she is the same person anymore. A timer appears in the corner of her vision, telling her that she has three hours until nanite depletion. Holly is confused and concerned, wondering why she needs to go to the renewal station so soon. Holly feels dizzy and numb, and decides to go to a renewal station.
Chapter 7
- Characters
- Summary
Holly reaches the renewal station without incident, and as she lays down the system automatically calls Skyler. She asks him about the nanite depletion. He tells her that if she doesn’t check every day to get new nanites, she will die. He notices the damage to her hands, and asks what happened. He tells her that the government can’t watch private places like the marketplace. He reveals that he can look through her memories, which shocks and horrifies Holly. She tells him about the attack and her escape, and he tells her that they are likely members of ICON, a terrorist group.He gives her access to all documents on ICON, so that she can research them freely. At Holly’s request, Skyler gives her gun the ability to shoot checkouts, which make up the majority of ICON members.
Chapter 8
;Characters
- Summary
Holly goes to her apartment, against her better judgement. It looks strange without her theming, though some real decorations remain. Holly sees a bowl of oranges, and begins carving it. She takes a bite, but it is shockingly acidic. She had edited her taste buds as a kid to make oranges sweeter, now making it taste awful in comparison. Holly sits at the table and weeps.
Chapter 9
- Characters
- Summary
Holly looks at some keepsakes from her and Jonathan’s time together. Several of them are real, though some of them are missing. Holly goes to her computer and begins researching ICON, and sees videos of them murdering people and blowing up renewal stations. Holly wonders what connection her original has with ICON, and tries to figure out what her original would do. She sees a clip of Jonathan giving a talk about the phycology of checkouts. Holly hears voices outside her apartment, and moments later several ICON members break in. Holly fights back, disabling a few of her attackers. She gets shot in the leg by an antique revolver, then escapes by jumping out her window.
Chapter 10
- Characters
- Summary
Holly is in a renewal station, restoring her nanites. The system calls Skyler, and Holly angrily yells at him. Skyler patiently explains himself, then tells Holly more about ICON. He shows her information about the members in the fire team, and about Jill Preston, the infamous leader of ICON. HOlly remembers that Jonathan used to know Preston, but Skyler said that Jonathan wasn’t connected to ICON. Skyler tells her that the government can’t trespass in the slums where ICON is hiding, but that Holly can as a provisional replica. Jonathan tells her that she has some funds in a bank account, and that she can find a hotel to rest and research. Holly almost goes to her favorite hotel, but realizes that ICON would be looking for her there. She uses a pair of dice to pick a random hotel, and goes there instead.
Chapter 11
- Characters
- Summary
Holly arrives at the hotel, which is blank and generic without theming. Holly’s room has an in-room fabricator, and she tries multiple times to print weapons. Holly tries to figure out what ICON wants, and decides that they want some sort of memories stored in her head. She wants to figure out who really killed Jonathan, so that she can prove that her original didn’t do it. She decides that she needs to meet with her original, but on her own terms. She picks the Jolly Racer nightclub, a place that she and Jonathan have strong connections to.
Chapter 12
Holly enters the Jolly Racer nightclub, hoping to isolate one of the ICON members and get some answers. She wears a physical disguise that she printed at the hotel. She brushes against dancers to hear the music, allowing her to dance to the rhythm and blend in. She uses her dancing to disguise her search for ICON members. She spots Carl Newton