THE STAGE 32 LOGLINES

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AFTER://LIFE
By Drew Wesley Peardon

GENRE: Sci-fi, Drama
LOGLINE:

In a future where anyone can become immortal with a medical procedure, a deeply religious scientist seeks evidence of an afterlife.

SYNOPSIS:

In the not too distant future, medical science has advanced to the point where any living person can live forever by undergoing a simple procedure. Adam Effendi, a devout Bahá’í who’s just earned his doctorate in neuroscience, is conflicted over this development. His agnostic fiancée Mary Khánum, has decided to undergo the procedure, but he’s uncertain due to his deeply religious belief in an afterlife. Faced with the certainty of immortality versus the uncertainty of life after death, Adam decides to devote his research towards finding scientific proof of the existence of an afterlife.

His research attracts the attention of quantum physicists who collaborate with him on creating what’s dubbed “The Schrödinger Box.” The box places a subject in a state of quantum uncertainty where they are both dead and alive (hence the name), allowing them to theoretically fully experience being dead before being “resurrected” by returning to the certain state of being alive. Adam enters the box to obtain firsthand knowledge of an afterlife, and seemingly succeeds. He finds himself in a new world populated by the dead. While initially elated at his discovery, Adam begins to notice some problems. He can’t find anyone who’s died before a particular point in history, and everything about the afterlife seems comprehensible and constructed by human minds, as opposed to the incomprehensible and infinite design of God. He is then informed that this afterlife is an artificial construct created by human scientists in the further future, who’ve figured out how to capture the brainwaves of everyone who’s died in the past (up to a point) and place them in a computer simulation. Adam is unsatisfied with this, and forcibly breaks out of the artificial heaven.

He then finds himself in the true afterlife. He learns that what astrophysics calls dark matter and dark energy, makes up the matter and energy of God’s realm and the realm of the spirit. For the dead, dark matter and dark energy become tangible while all other matter and energy becomes intangible. The universe is made mostly out of dark matter and dark energy, and still constantly expanding, because it must accommodate both the ever-growing trillions of immortal souls, and God’s infinite reality. However, this is all he’s able to comprehend, and he learns that to fully comprehend and learn all about the spiritual universe, he must choose to remain for eternity, and never return to life. Furthermore, if he does return to life, he will forget everything about what he experienced while dead. Adam briefly considers staying, but then, because time flows non-linearly in the spirit realm, he sees the future of the human race. After mastering immortality, then creating an artificial afterlife, humanity goes on to spread throughout the universe. Making contact with several alien species, populating several planets, and ultimately transcending the physical world and being able to enter the spirit realm through our own technological ingenuity. Inspired by this, Adam resolves to return to life so he can be a part of this bright future, knowing that he will ultimately make it back to this afterlife along with the rest of humanity. Thus, Adam returns to life, and while he can’t fully recall what he experienced, he does still carry the emotional and spiritual impressions of his experience. He thus undergoes the procedure for immortality and resolves to use his scientific research to help humanity’s continued advancement towards it’s technological and spiritual ascension.

Nathaniel Baker

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