Fictionarium 10. Episode 4. Outlaw at CAMP 'J'

Considering that they were living in a Fictionarium, things seemed to be getting pretty real. The reason that Arlo was "Wanted for questioning", was that some unknown person had supposedly shot up a Hill Valley PD squad car outside of the City's DMV building, and since the phrase "in connection with" was used-- while showing his photo-- then it was Arlo who did it.

Arlo had just seen himself on TV, and had it been anybody else in that photo, Arlo would have gladly called the news-lady's delivery of his charges a complete masterpiece. She had made Arlo sound like a monster-- it was horribly beautiful, how she'd crafted it. And her voice! The way she had uttered his name, "Arlington Andrew Davis", sounded like innocent children screaming-- she was awfully brilliant with that. 

[cue screaming children]

 Everyone at the table looked at Arlo. While they all sat stunned, the TV was still on a roll. The reporter was now at the home of a local man who had invented an "anti-gravity bicycle", except that his bike didn't fly, or even float, and instead of wheels, large quartz crystals were wired onto a sharply-painted red bike's frame using some hasty copper tubing. The local man, wearing a ridiculously huge T-shirt which had "MY OTHER CAR IS A UFO" written glaringly on the front of it-- and sporting an unnecessarily long mustache-- claimed to be working on another, better design, with which the bike "should float with free energy." It was purposefully pitiful, and Arlo glanced at Mel to see if she'd caught the TV's subtle anti-Lakeland technology smear campaign. She blinked with amazement-- she definitely had caught it.

 

Unplugging the TV,  Arlo sat back down at the kitchen table. Somebody asked if he was going to turn himself in, and he took a breath and laughed as well as he could. "This isn't… it ain't exactly 'Mayberry RFD'-- we're living inside a brittle and fractured Fictionarium mind-control device… and the more it cracks up, the more dangerous it gets."
 

Arlo sat back and looked into the future with a scowl.

 "All I have to do is show up like a dumb-ass… claiming to be innocent, and I'm doomed. They'd show something on TV that was filmed weeks… months ago. They roped off an area-- called it a gas leak or whatever-- placed the actors, and did their filming for the show. Then, when they have me in custody, they rope the area off again-- yellow tape--nobody gets in. This time it's cop cars instead of gas company trucks, and the pre-recorded film hits the news. The TV just solves it for everybody; 'Arlo did it, in the yellow taped-off area shown, with a machine gun.' Then the cops… they parade me out, claiming to have captured me, or…"

 

 Mel's kitchen suddenly had a silent ring in the air. Nobody knew what to say to Arlo, it looked pretty bad and he was now sitting quietly, and looking seriously glum. They wouldn't ask again if he was planning on turning himself in, though it had seemed like a reasonable question, considering the TV lady's reasons why Arlo was now Hill Valley's most-wanted fugitive. 

Propaganda 

The news was still pushing the notion-- through suggestion-- that the neighboring town of Lakeland was somehow involved with this gun-violence story. By criminalizing the town of Lakeland, the news could thus criminalize anyone who had ever traveled to the town-- or anyone who even speaks favorably about the neighboring town.  

 At another level; by using Lakeland as a villain, the public's mind could then further associate any of the Lakeland ideas with phantoms of violence and fear. Has your neighbor painted their car in a way that isn't normal? Are they turning their lawn into a vegetable garden? Do they try to talk to you, or help you, or offer you things? Do they try to share? Through repeated association with fear, it can begin to seem reasonable that the HVPD would be interested to hear about these types of strange activities-- for your safety.

When growing plants becomes an act of sedition, you know you're living in a Fictionarium.

 

 

These propaganda techniques weren't invented by the Science Board, they were only perfected in their great outdoor labs; the Fictionariums. The methods employed were well understood, and playing upon a population's collective fears was an ancient science using psychological formulas loaded with these dastardly tricks, which still seemed to work in Hill Valley-- like a charm. 

Arlo was still testing out some potential futures in his head, and he didn't like any of them. It felt like pure cowardice to run back to the safety of Lakeland, but the urge was strong. Or was it something else, squeezing him like a melon seed in that direction? Would a proper labyrinth offer an exit so easily? 

 
Mel raised her hand, but then dropped it again, deciding not to ask. Probably bad timing, but Arlo had seen it and was looking at her now, trying to guess her question, and trying to answer it.

 "The only thing that sounds like a nice… awesome plan-- is to get out of town-- back to Lakeland. But that's not a solution, and, it is exactly what I'm expected to try to do. To run away, and stay away… from Hill Valley. But right now, all I want is to get that damned watermelon car away from you… and this house. Then, all I know is-- I need to find Felger. He must be here… in Hill Valley. This whole frame-up, it's got his fingerprints all over it. I have no idea how to find him, and I don't even WANT to find him… but it's the only way. I have to stay here until I find him-- so I can be fired, or so I can officially retire."  

 Mel raised her hand again, and Arlo smiled with embarrassment. "Sorry... you were about to say something and… I'm sorry I interrupted you, I was…"

 Mel smiled with him, but stopped him this time. "I was just going to ask… you know how my house-- this house, was on that old map-- it was called 'CAMP J' back then-- and there were a few more camps on the map… three or four, anyway-- outside of Hill Valley… I think the letters went up to…"

 Arlo interrupted her. "M… that's where Felger will be… 'CAMP M.' Ha!"

 Mel finished her sentence quickly. "I was thinking one of them might make a good hideout for YOU."  

Mel had made a plan. She was good at this. On the following day, Chuck would take her to Lakeland, where they would make a copy of the map. Then, they would find a way to borrow a car-painting device from Lakeland and bring it back to Hill Valley, just long enough to put Arlo's car back to normal. Then, they would go and find 'CAMP K', or 'CAMP L', and hopefully find a good place to hide Arlo. Arlo would wait at her house until they returned.

Often times, the best laid plans are made by Mel.

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Thanks for reading this episode of Fictionarium

previous episode link is HERE

blue flying monkey/baby image by me, all others Pixabay

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