The Primary Talent

Full Synopsis

In the year 2030 an unknown phenomenon, known as the law, takes place preventing humans from causing or experiencing any bodily harm. This natural law has created a society in which crimes such as murder are impossible, leading the majority of people to lose their sense of morality. The ramifications of man-kind not being able to harm one another has created a dystopian future filled with many looking to fill their time with recreations of violence.

Oliver, a struggling actor who could barely pay his bills, works for a film studio that recreates classic Hollywood films. The studio he works for is doing poorly because no one cares about movies any more, they all want to spend their money at Cinema Simulation. Cin-Sim is a massive business that allows users to enact out there most violent desires through hyper realistic virtual reality situations.

Oliver goes into work one day only to find the head of the studio, Dean, murdered. Oliver is shocked as murder is an impossibility under the new law. Unsure of how to process this, Oliver decides to visit his ailing father at the hospital. After he speaks to his father and leaves the room, Oliver watches in horror as an unknown orderly suffocates him with a pillow. None of the doctors believe him because of the law, and they tell him that his death was completely natural.

Oliver decides to report his father’s murder to the police. There he meets Detective Lokinson, a good man who doesn’t have much to do as a detective because of the inability to murder. He doesn’t believe Oliver’s claims and thinks he’s just someone who has been using Cin-Sim. Oliver then urges Lokinson to follow him to the film studio, where they discover Dean’s body. Lokinson is stunned to find the body, but also eager to solve the first real murder case since the start of the law.

Lokinson and Oliver launch an investigation into how the law could possibly be broken, and their search leads them to Simon Gent. Simon is a beggar living in the slums of a rundown building called Cenoby. They question him and discover he used to be a scientist working on a project trying to undo the law. Simon reveals that it’s possible to trick the law, and by doing so would allow you to cause harm as well as be harmed; becoming a completely normal human again. He goes on to explain that this will start a chain reaction and anyone you harm would then be able to break free of the law as well. Simon also warns that they are in over their heads with this investigation.

This all leads to a thrilling conclusion at Oliver’s apartment. His wife, Alice, is being held hostage by a famous Cin-Sim actor, Baldur. Baldur has great influence being the biggest actor in the world, and he too knows the secrets of the law. This means that Alice is in mortal danger and a fight ensues, with Oliver killing Baldur.

The law is now broken and a chain reaction of violence slowly breaks out through the city, bringing the world back to where it once was; filled with chaos and bloodshed.