Double Integral

Everyone had seen the cranes from the highway for months, lifting steel into the air all over the Thrill Zone amusement park. Blaze, the penultimate breakneck roller coaster, was making its debut today. Its features were unparalleled: top speed nearing 80mph, two massive drops, eleven corkscrews, six loops, and over six minutes long, circling the entire park. For the grand finale, the train would vault itself over a missing section of track approximately 250 feet long. Clearly the ride’s designer was less than sane and probably in jail somewhere, but that’s what makes a good coaster.

(SCENE - People sit calmly in a waiting room reading magazines or watching daytime TV. A RECEPTIONIST types furiously at her computer. In the background a female scream of agonizing pain echoes through the back hallway. A young BRUNETTE walks in the front door and approaches the reception counter.)

RECEPTIONIST: Can I help you, miss?

BRUNETTE: Yes, I'd like to die, please.

“Good morning. I’m Virginia Dawson, and this is a FlashNews-33 bulletin. FlashNews-33 has learned that a major breakdown of the Martian blockade has occurred. Hundreds are feared dead in the massive surprise attack led by several militant groups of Martian colonists. NASA administrators and spokesmen for the Earth Alliance say that there is no risk to the planet Earth at this time and reinforcements will be dispatched to the blockade location immediately.

When the call came, Christy Carlisle knew what to do.

She and two other deep cover CIA agents in Paris had been compromised. Unable to leave France due to the escalating war, they each had one hour to completely terminate their mission: bank accounts closed, pertinent intelligence faxed home, papers shredded and burned, car and belongings dumped in the Seine outside of town. It was risky in broad daylight, but there was no alternative. On the river bank, Christy stripped naked and tossed her clothes in the water.

Erasing herself was all that remained.