RANDOM ACCESS

A journey of the Cloud,
through the past, present, and future.
Cab driver, GPS, and pulsar,
– navigators of different scales,
get lost as memories fading away,
on the day after the central data center reboots.

 

Full Script

Shot1:
Dark cloud gathers.
A thunderstorm is looming.

CLOUD VOICE-OVER
Turn the power off and on,
you will lose data in the RAM of the last session.
When you reach the end of your life,
you will lose your memory for the whole lifespan as well.
But not me.

Shot2:
Host groups are working normally in the data center.
Suddenly shut down altogether silently.

CLOUD VOICE-OVER
The Cloud stores everything.
It is going to run forever.
Until the fatal termination.

Shot3:
The camera hanging around in the satellite map and digital street view.

CLOUD VOICE-OVER
I still remember the time when I was a cab driver.
I know every road and bridge and tunnel in the city.
However, the urban system was evolving far faster than I was.
Soon I could only drive with the GPS,
Over time, you will feel like you are one with the digital system.
I said, no, I am just an old tourist in my city.

Shot4:
A middle-aged woman is driving across the street and turning the wheel according to the GPS.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我开车在这个城市旅行，(I travel through the city,)
就像我还是一个出租车司机。(as if I was still a cab driver.)
我的记忆力在退化。(My memory is deteriorating.)
但我退休好多年以后，(But many years after I retired from my position)
都还是可以一眼就看出来哪个需要坐车，(I can still identify who might be a potential passenger,)
就像学会哦就不容易忘记如何游泳。
(It’s like, you will not forget swim as soon as you learned it.)

Shot5:
Seawater fills the screen.

Shot6:
Raining day, the wiper is cleaning the car window.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
这是停电后的第二天，(It was the next day after the power break,)
雨很大，(Along with the heavy rain,)
导航老是出故障，(the GPS didn’t work properly,)
有人说是雷击到了数据中心。(Someone said a lightning struck the data center.)
于是可能记忆也出了故障。（Then memories didn’t work properly neither.)

Shot7:
Driving through the tunnel. It is daytime when enter the tunnel, but night when drive out. Single long shot.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我好像之前来过这里，但是又不是很确定。(I think I’ve been here before, but I’m not really sure.)
路边有一个人在等车，(There is a man waiting taxi on the side of the road.)
我好像见过，又好像认不到。(I may have met him somewhere before, or maybe not.)
他说他想到未来方舟，(He says he wants to go to the Future Ark.)
前面会路过一个叫科幻谷的地方。(and we will pass by a place called Sci-Fi Valley.)
我说你在开哪样玩笑。(I say, are you kidding me?)
他说是真嘞，但是已经荒废很多年了，(He says it was true, but it had been abandoned for many years.)
除哦那些进入了时间隧道的人，(Except for those who have entered the Time Tunnel,)
没有人还记得到这个地方。(No one would remember this place any longer.)

Shot8:
The passenger’s memory: he’s singing a song in the village with his friends. Finally, the images glitches into noises with the sound changing.

Shot9:
Overpass bridges in the night.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我们第三次路过这座桥的时候，(THE THIRD TIME WE PASSED OVER THIS BRIDGE,)
每个路口都好像变成了一样的弯道，(Every intersection seemed to have turned into the same curve)
路牌上的字也看不清楚，(I couldn’t read the signs clearly.)
导航说，你已经偏航，(The GPS said, “You’re off course”)
但是无法规划新的路线。(but a new course can’t be chart.)
我说我也好像已经完全失去了方向。(I said, it seems that I have also completely lost my way.)

Shot10:
A diving into the water, a piece of seashell is found.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我也还没得忘记当我还是一块贝壳嘞时候。
(Guess what, I haven’t forgotten when I was a piece of shell.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
Seawater receded from this land, then the mountains rose.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
雨水降下来，灌进地下和山体里面。(The rain fell down and poured into the ground and the mountain bodies.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
Until one day they can not be held any longer,
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
它们冲破了阻碍，喷涌出来。(They burst and gushed out.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
And formed the rivers, caves and the sinkholes.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
就像我忍不住像现在这样喋喋不休。(It was like, my endless talking, at this moment, and I can’t help it.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
At that time, I could hardly identify the direction.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
但是我也可以顺着水漂流。(But I could still drift with the water.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
It was a piece of my memory hidden in the deep storage.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
但是我还是能想起来一点。（But I can still remember part of it.)

Shot11:
Full view of the bridge.

CLOUD VOICE-OVER
I had a dream that I was a floating star in the dark space,
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
有规律地旋转和闪光，(with regular rotation and flashing lights.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
Like a light house.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我想起来我是在电视上看到过这个画面，(I remembered that I had seen this image on TV.)
CLOUD VOICE-OVER
It is the celestial GPS.
CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
就是不晓得它会不会有一天也失灵。（I just wonder if it will also be out of order one day.)

Shot12:
Woman (the cab driver) left home.

CAB DRIVER VOICE-OVER
我记得好多事。(I remember a lot of things.)
但是又好像忘记了很多事。(But it seems like I’ve forgotten a lot of it.)
燃烧的大数据会带走不好的记忆吗？(Does the burning big data take away bad memories?)
网上有人说，那只是因为你不想记得。(Someone replied on the Internet, it’s just because you don’t want to remember.)

Shot13:
The man (the passenger) and woman (the driver) in a framed photo, then they disappear.

Shot14:
Glitched street signs and bill boards passed by, including the one of the FAST telescope, and of the HUA WEI data center.

Shot15:
The driver picks up the man. (like a flash back)

Shot16：
Future Ark region

Shot17:
Science Fiction Valley Region

Shot18:
Word lines appear on a computer screen.

Shot19:
Fade from the night of the city into the astral space, where a group of pulsars are rotating, they are called the celestial GPS. Detecting pulsars are the main task of the Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope in Ping Tang, Guizhou, which succeed Arecibo Observatory (collapsed in the end of 2020) to be the world’s biggest single aperture telescope.

CLOUD VOICE-OVER
Am I the cab driver, or the GPS system?
Am I the passenger, or the endless bridges and tunnels?
Am I the cloud in the air, or the shell buried in the ground?
Maybe I am the data flowing all over the world.
the electron hitting the planet from billions of light years away.
Or a part of the Great Intelligence.
I was like, I don’t know.

Shot20:
Close up to one of the pulsars.