Nikhil Kamkolkar

Rising X Nikhil Kamkolkar

RISING X is a moniker for the rising levels of exploitation in human society. As a concept, it forms the basis for a series of stories about a female protagonist who rises out of her innocence to don the mantle of a heroine and fight exploitation of the innocent and the helpless in all its forms. The plot of the stories is set in the very real world of the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries' constant flirtation with the boundaries of human ethics. In this series though, we take a leap beyond the now. The processes of drug discovery, clinical trails, governmental regulation, all conspire to find ways to subvert the morality needed, as we pursue the lure of extending human life and capabilities beyond current imagination. The RISING X stories live in the dark space where basic human values are subsumed by the desire in some portion of humanity to live forever, regardless of the cost to our conscience. This book is a compilation of three screenplays, all chasing after the same story of corruption and exploitation. They are presented here raw to inform the progression of thought, genre, and plot. A study, in some ways, of the process of story, character and screenplay development. The first screenplay, PHANTOM CODE, expresses the story in a Film Noir genre. The second, CHIMERA ONE, is scifi-noir and positions itself as "Die Hard on a Spaceship". The third, "RISING X - The Enemy Within" is a neo-noir thriller.