Hi all — here’s my take on the “State of Health Care” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0<\/p>\n
INT. FUTURISTIC DOCTOR’S OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES (50s, elegant in a future-y sort of way) sits on a medical bed in the middle of a white, minimalist room. A few blinky, LCARS-looking computer displays hang on the walls. Next to one display is a trough and a button.<\/p>\n
A DOCTOR (40s, professional in a future-y sort of way) stands nearby; she takes notes on a handheld device.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
-- and then I vomited and passed out again<\/i> right there in the spaceport.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
We can grow up a clone for you in about a week, move your mind over to that, and you should be all set.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
Hello? I have a dinner party to attend in two days. It’s the whole reason I came to Centauri.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
Ah.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
So: fix it.<\/p>\n
The doctor pulls a syringe out of her pocket.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
I’ll draw some blood.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
With that pointy thing? Are you kidding?!<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
Okay. Computer, teleport a blood sample from Mrs. Humphries into the syringe.<\/p>\n
A whirring noise, and the syringe is full.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
Why do you need blood? I just want to know what’s wrong with me!<\/p>\n
The doctor puts the syringe in the trough, pushes the trough into the wall.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
Computer, diagnose the patient from the blood sample.<\/p>\n
COMPUTER (V.O.)<\/p>\n
Your patient has -- brain cancer.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Humphries rolls her eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh.<\/p>\n
COMPUTER (V.O.)<\/p>\n
The treatment time is three days.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
I’m going to have cancer for three days<\/i>?<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
We could always put you in a loaner clone, and --<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
God, no. Some off-brand body? The last one I had, the nose didn’t work and the right foot kept wobbling.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
I’m sure it will be okay --<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
I demand to speak to your boss!<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
Computer, send in Dr. Almherst.<\/p>\n
ALMHERST (50s, handsome) enters.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
Doctor, I --<\/p>\n
ALMHERST<\/p>\n
Don’t worry. I heard everything.<\/p>\n
Almherst hands Mrs. Humphries a photograph.<\/p>\n
ALMHERST<\/p>\n
I think we can solve your problem with a sexy robot.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
(off the photo)<\/p>\n
Wow!<\/p>\n
ALMHERST<\/p>\n
Take the tube to the fourth floor, they’ll download you to a sexy robot, and you’ll get your clone back in a week.<\/p>\n
MRS. HUMPHRIES<\/p>\n
Great! Thanks, doctor!<\/p>\n
She exits.<\/p>\n
The doctor heaves a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
That went well.<\/p>\n
ALMHERST<\/p>\n
I’d say so. And hey, she didn’t even figure out I’m not a real doctor!<\/p>\n
DOCTOR<\/p>\n
Damn straight! Thanks, sexy-robot salesman!<\/p>\n
FREEZE-FRAME on Almherst giving a thumbs-up.<\/p>\n
A quick JINGLE is accompanied by an onscreen caption with the same text:<\/p>\n
SINGERS (O.S.)<\/p>\n
Sexy-robot salesman! He sells sexy robots to you!<\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on the “State of Health Care” edition of Sketchwar: “Medicine of the Future”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-state-of-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}