Nightwatch
Series “Treatment”

Hello,

My name is Jeff Williams, and I am the Production/Serials Editor for Aphelion Webzine, a zine all of you at one time or another have contributed to.  Recently, serials, which had to go on a brief hiatus, has returned with new pieces appearing regularly in Aphelion.  However, there is one glaring item missing, one item for which I have not received any significant submission in quite some time--the multipart serial.  

I cannot simply go out and force someone to write a book.  At the same time, I cannot sit down by myself and produce a work of that magnitude.  Because of this, I have devised--to borrow a phrase from Blackadder--a cunning plan!

At one time or another, the idea of a multipart story written using the “round robin” format has been suggested, and while the idea is intriguing, the logistics behind it (coordination between writers, heavy oversight to see that plot and character development are proceeding normally, etc.) make this a very difficult proposition.  However, what if the idea is adapted to something more akin to the Mare Inebrium stories or, for that matter, to episodic television?  A set of characters is devised and parameters defined, but each writer can provide his or her own “script.”  

Listed below is the idea for the series along with some basic character breakdowns, some ideas I’d like to see incorporated as the series goes along, possible recurring characters, etc.

Series Idea

Nightwatch

The time is the near future.  In the Georgetown suburb of Washington, DC, a think tank known as the Nightwatch Institute for Strategic and Economic Studies turns out ideas for everything from world peace to humanitarian issues to allocation of funds for scientific projects, etc.  The institute is founded on the idea that if you can think it, and it is for the common good, then it can be done.  A strong sense of idealism is present in every aspect of the institute’s workings, at least in theory, and the institute is involved in projects throughout the world (reconstruction of war torn regions, humanitarian projects such as irrigation, food distribution, etc).  Nightwatch is also an NGO and has some presence in many of the world’s hot spots.

Political realities have, however, worked their way into the matrix of thought at the institute, including a strong (idealistic) desire to right perceived wrongs and injustices, to prevent technological and ecological disasters, etc.  Those behind this slightly darker arena of the institute have set up what amounts to a covert operations force, which secretly works to solve whatever crises this branch of the institute perceives.  While rumors of this group do circulate, very few know that it actually does exist.

The Nightwatchmen 

Dr. Simon Litchfield is a civil engineer by training but in reality is more of a jack-of-all-trades, with a great interest in many things and a talent for pulling together disparate threads to (eventually) see the big picture and arrive at a course of action.  He is very well read, has a great appreciation for music (particularly The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Wagner, Vivaldi, and Ellington).  Dr. Litchfield is officially associated with the institute’s various commissions on the rebuilding of infrastructures in war torn regions.  Unofficially, he is the head of the “covert operations” team that is dispatched to solve the problems.

Litchfield is in his mid-fifties with silver hair and brown eyes and a penchant for comfortable khaki suits and hats (and occasionally tan cloaks if he is feeling particularly ostentatious) though he is not above “dressing or acting the part” if the situation requires it.  He has been married twice, and his ex-wives tend to be very much like him (which was probably the problem).  He refers to them as his “precious ghosts.”  

Litchfield is far more pragmatic than many of the idealists who populate the official arm of the Institute, which in part left him amenable to the plans of the “unofficial” arm.

There does, though, appear to be a certain element of coercion involved in motivating him to action at times, implying that there is more to Litchfield’s past than meets the eye.

Stephanie Keel works heavily with computers, particularly programming (though she adamantly does not do secretarial work or word processing beyond the articles she publishes about computers, drag racing, etc.).  Stephanie is one of the major computer gurus at Nightwatch and is also a wizard at finding information, particularly if someone does not want it to be found.  She also is a big fan of Junkyard Wars (though she decries the damage done to it by Junkyard Megawars) and often goes on challenges devised by her friends to build items inspired by the series.

Perhaps because of her background in programming, Keel enjoys challenges to be overcome, and if she is truly engrossed by a particular problem, reaching her can be quite difficult.

Stephanie has black hair and hazel eyes.  Stephanie’s normal wardrobe tends towards to the “slouchy comfortable” end of things though she is quite striking when she wants to be and has a rather impressive collection of formal wear if the situation calls for it.  While she is very feminine, she is not so in a stereotypical sense.  She is ferociously opposed to any suggestion that she use her “feminine wiles” to gain information or access and tends to resort to their use only if no other alternative is available.  She is, in fact, very good at finding extremely viable alternatives!

Stephanie, at heart, is also the bravest of the group, or at least the most willing to take necessary risks.  She is not foolish, but she also does not believe in holding back unnecessarily.

Stephanie spends most of her time working as a programmer and as a writer on various subjects for various publications.

She is also the least sentimental of the group, which doesn’t mean that she isn’t a sucker for cats, babies, or the love life of the narwhal.  (There is no great significance to the latter.  She just loves that particular type of whale!)

Tom Weldon is a psychologist, though as with Dr. Litchfield he has a variety of interests, including body-building.  If a situation calls for “muscle,” the others can certainly hold their own, but Tom is the best suited for the role.  Weldon wears black suit pants and jackets but with a black t-shirt and a Wild Turkey belt buckle.  His hair and eyes are brown.  He is also stocky, if not truly overweight, 

Weldon is not associated with the Nightwatch Institute and, at least in the beginning, is relatively unfamiliar with what the organization even does.  This is partly because Litchfield minimizes his mentioning them at all to reduce the risk of the Institute being brought into controversy if a particular problem isn’t solved and Litchfield’s team is detected.  As the “season” progresses, the workings of the institute will become more obvious to him.

Weldon claims to not be involved because of any particular idealistic bent though he sometimes accuses himself of being somewhat “Quixotic.”  In fact, his reasons for involvement are up for discovery.

Weldon, by the way, is the most likely of the three to be overcome by sentimentality and emotion.  He has never been able to make it through the ending of Casablanca without crying!

Simon, Tom, and Stephanie form the core of the Nightwatchmen--a jack-of-all-trades and engineer with a keen, analytic mind; an observant psychologist who can also kick in the doors if required; and a computer confident junkyard improviser who can prod the others along if they need a kick in the pants.  There is no need, by the way, to include everyone besides Simon in a story, particularly if the story doesn’t call for the talents of either Stephanie or Tom.

The Lower Echelon

This is the name, or at least the only name ever used, for the “activist” branch of the institute, and the group seems to include some very influential people since the Nightwatchmen have very little trouble obtaining needed funds and certain types of relatively hard to come by equipment.

Initially, the only representative of the Echelon seen is Callow (first name Ian, though no one besides Litchfield ever calls him anything other than Callow or Mr. Callow).  When the Nightwatchmen are needed, Callow summons Litchfield to the institute’s library, specifically the popular culture section (which the others hardly ever visit).  It is also sufficiently blocked from the view of the security cameras.  (Not every story has to begin with this library scene though a great many of them will.)

Callow believes very strongly in the Echelon’s mission, enough that if the situation calls for it he will threaten to blackmail Litchfield, damn the consequences.  He does have an affinity, however, for some of the trappings of cloak and dagger, which irritates Litchfield.  Very often Callow provides computer disks or CD Roms, passports, false identities, etc.

Blaire Jackman can obtain for the group more specialized information—sometimes information that would seem out of reach of something like Nightwatch--an implication that the Echelon itself is receiving outside assistance.  Blaire NEVER accompanies the group on missions.

Melvin Squibb is the institute’s Inventory Control Manager, and in addition to being a wiz at obtaining paper clips and copier paper, he also can get for the group more specialized toys.  Squibb is not ‘Q’ by the way.  There are just some things he cannot get no matter how hard he tries, and he cannot simply invent needed gadgets.  Squibb also should not be portrayed as a “geek” or “nerd,” partly because this is too convenient a plot device and partly because I would like to see stereotyping kept to a minimum.

Bill Starsmore is one of the pilots employed by Nightwatch, and he is usually assigned to flights where hazards are expected.  He is a top-notch pilot, a former Top Gun winner, and he probably wishes that the aircraft he flies were equipped with everything found on an F/A-18 SuperHornet.

Within reason, you are free to create other minor characters for the institute.

Nightwatch Aircraft

Nightbird One is a converted Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) equipped with an opulent passenger cabin at the front followed by a large fuel tank (which has tripled the range of the plane) and a modified cargo bay allowing the transport of oversized and specialized items for Nightwatch.  The plane is also equipped with a significant number of goodies including extra shielding, extensive defensive capabilities, military-quality communications, and engines that are definitely not commercial standard.  The plane is kept at Manassas Airport about 30 miles south of Washington, DC.  

Nightwatch One is a standard CRJ for more routine flights.  It is safe to say that Simon and company normally will not fly on this plane. 

Nightwatch Two is a Boeing Business Jet used for more routine business.  Simon and company rarely if ever use this plane.

Physical Locations

The following is some geographical information for Nightwatch.

1.  The Nightwatch Institute is a cluster of buildings off of Whitehaven 
Parkway (and near 35th Street).  Whitehaven Parkway is on the outer edge of Georgetown.

2.  Nightwatch also leases some office space in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington, DC, primarily because of its proximity to the State Department.

Of course, the institute leases temporary working spaces as needed throughout the world.

3.  Simon lives in a townhouse on Reservoir Rd NW near Georgetown University. It is a two-story townhouse with two bedrooms, a library, a fireplace, a kitchen, a dining room, etc.  I imagine the library to be modestly sized but crammed with books, maps, and other items of interest.  His office is part of his bedroom.  The outer walls and fireplace are a rich deep-red brick.  The interior walls are primarily crème-colored.

4.  Stephanie lives in an apartment near the Keeger Museum.

5.   Tom lives and works in Arlington, VA.  He owns a small brick house and lives alone.

6.   Because of his training as a civil engineer, Simon, particularly when he is troubled (when he is home, that is), tends to go to the old Chesapeake & Ohio canal (now a monument).  You can, by the way, still take horse/mule drawn boat trips along the canal.  Actually, the history of the canal is very interesting if you get a chance to research it!

7.  While Simon is certainly at home in the world of fine dining, his favorite place in town to eat is the Cannon Moon Cafe (which is fictional, by the way) on 31st Street, NW.  It has a view of the canal.  While it is not fine dining per se, it is a lovely place to eat with a mean lobster bisque and has an owner--Gillian Eckelberry--who keeps on hand Simon’s favorite wine and has a particularly nice bottle of Black Label if he ever wants it.  There is a very good chance that Simon and Gillian have either had a relationship in the past or are at the very least intrigued by each other but not wanting to ruin a good relationship.  This isn't something I think I'd push very hard in the stories, but if a scene happens to take place at the Cafe, it is a nice little added dimension.

By the way, maps of Georgetown can be found at www.georgetowndc.com and at www.earthamaps.com.

Nightwatch Organization

Dr. Rachel MacMillan is the Executive Director of Nightwatch.  While she is the unquestioned leader, she only becomes directly involved in the day-to-day aspects of running Nightwatch when she absolutely has to.

Jared Molinski is the chair of the Major Projects Committee.  Nearly every major activity of the institute branches out of this committee, and many subcommittees report to it.

Dr. Subramahnian Divakaruni is the chair of the Asian Affairs Committee.  He also teaches at Georgetown University.

Dr. Paula Mankiller is the chair of the American Affairs Committee (comprising both North and South America).

Nabil Safian is the chair of the European/North African Affairs Committee.  Dr. Molly Wilcox runs the Middle Eastern Subcommittee,

Dr. Sundaygar Terrell is the Chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa Committee.

Dr. Rosalyn Chambers is the Director of Economic Affairs.  Economic Affairs handles the consulting side of Nightwatch.   She also teaches at Georgetown University.

George Nathan-Gallecio is the Nightwatch Comptroller.

Dr. Willis Eddison is in charge of Nightwatch Analysis and also heads the Special Tasks Subcommittee, which reports to Jared Molinski. Ian Callow, incidentally, is the Vice-Chair.  Special Tasks is modestly budgeted and, honestly, does very little within Nightwatch.  Eddison, in fact, only convenes the committee once a year just after the New Year’s holidays.  There is nothing remarkable about Special Tasks.  Officially.

The information above is provided to give you a glimpse at the overall organization of Nightwatch.  The people above (along with anyone else associated with those individuals) need not appear in your stories unless there is a driving reason for their presence.  More than likely, the most you will do with them is bring them up in conversation.

Some Wrinkles

--At some point around the middle of the second run of stories, it will be revealed that the Lower Echelon has in its possession a crude, unreliable time travel device.  This shocks Litchfield as well as Weldon and Keel.  Callow will seem to be in awe of it as well.  The device allows only for travel to the past.  It is also extremely unreliable and may misplace individuals within a time period, assuming that it hits the desired period.  Use of the device seems to be a matter of grave concern within the Lower Echelon, and, ominously enough, no one seems to really be sure if they are getting it right when operating it.  When it first appears, Litchfield will be dismayed and aghast.  As I said, though, this is not something that will be revealed in the first set of stories.

Also, the motivations of the Lower Echelon itself may be drawn into question as the Nightwatchmen carry out their orders.  For instance, some of their operations may produce results that on the surface are extremely favorable but carry with them brand new potential consequences.  The benefit of some operations may even be difficult to see at all.

--Litchfield’s ex-wives are free to be created and used in the stories, perhaps as specialists in some field for which Litchfield requires help on an assignment.  They are capable of playing nice when the situation calls for it.

--Some skeletons may be lurking in Litchfield’s closet, and you are certainly free to allude to them if the moment is right, without, of course, being terribly specific.

STORY IDEAS

The following are some ideas/suggestions/vague notions for stories.  As writers, you are under no obligation to use any of them, but they are here if you wish to try.

1.	“The Poet Who Came In From The Cold”--  Sergi Illeyvich is a Nobel Prize winning poet (claimed by both the US and Russia since he often split time between the two).  Now in his late sixties and living in St. Petersburg, everything seems well.  However, he is harboring a terrible secret.  Pietor, his father, during the Cold War created a weapon (although it is more of a force than a physical weapon) that was never used because of the fear that it would come back to haunt the Soviets.  His father, before his death, told Sergi about the weapon and said, cryptically,  "It was never used...on a large scale...nothing more than tests.  But I fear, Sergi.  I fear it lives still!"

The weapon, you see, is Apathy.  No bombs, no guns, no chemical weapons.  Just Apathy slowing draining the will of populations to do, well, anything.  No innovation, no clear thinking, society at a standstill.

Sergi didn't believe Pietor since, at that point, his father was suffering hallucinations and delusions.  Now, however, events have led him to believe that his father's story was true.  It is his attempts to report this to the Russian government that opens the connection to Nightwatch and to Simon's team.

This is a potentially very interesting story, but it does have one serious challenge.  How do you make Apathy a convincing villain, something so ultimately terrifying that the Soviets would be afraid to use it?  However, if you can, I think it would be very effective and very unique indeed!

2.  "Jigsaw Creek"--An isolated town in West Virginia is devastated by the closure of the last coal mine in the area.  It faces gradual death as the young move away, their parents move for new work, and the old die.

However, someone has come along for the town’s salvation.  A company experimenting with a bio-computer has arrived.  In exchange for the townsfolk's participation and adherence to absolute secrecy, they've all been put on the payroll.  At appointed times, they are to either jack themselves in with a headset or go to a designated point and plug themselves into the machine, where they will help run the computer as part of its processing system computer.  The company, while trying to make money, truly doesn't mean these people harm.  However, they don't understand the consequences of making these people part of the computer and the harm the townsfolk can do without truly meaning to do so, including triggering phenomena and causing harm or death to others, such as a government agent sent to investigate what is going on.

Simon and company have been dispatched here because of something Nightwatch picked up through a government contact (as well as information learned, indirectly, through a Nightwatch economic consulting contract with the state of West Virginia).  An FBI agent (with absolutely no ties to anything even remotely resembling the X-Files) had been sent to the town to investigate why a small group of unemployed people had suddenly had to file tax returns with sizable incomes noted.  (The government suspected criminal activity.)  This, combined with the sudden appearance of a new state of the art cable company in the area (which, among other things, has upgraded many users with cable modems) drew the FBI’s attention.  The agent's disappearance coupled with a tip about the new cable company caught the eye of Nightwatch.  

Simon and company do not know about the computers though they have solid indications of something seriously awry going on there; they have to learn; they have to figure out why certain events have occurred (events triggered by the emotions of the townsfolk) and unravel the mystery along with the readers.

3.   [“Stars with Trains of Fire”]
It is recorded that Shakespeare wrote a play called Cardenio.  However, it has been lost to the mists of time.  Or so it is said.

Strange things are happening in the mountains of Brazil.  An entire village where the Nightwatch Institute has been helping to build modern infrastructure has gone missing.  More precisely, the roads and river leading to it seem to twist and bend so that they AVOID ever going to it, and so far, trying to reach it through the forest produces the same results.  Everyone seems to simply "miss" it.

Officially, Simon and company are going to investigate Nightwatch's investment and to make sure that they aren't the victims of corruption.  Unofficially, they have been sent to investigate two things:  the disappearance of the town, and why there were reports of Dr. Finley St. John (a renowned Shakespearean scholar with a positively rampant allergy to mold and a great disdain for anything even vaguely non-WESTERN-European, much less the colonies!) coming there.

There are only a few more points I can give you, and the rest you'll have to figure out (I can hear you saying 'Thanks!' now).  Their investigations will lead them in a bizarre direction.  This has something to do with Shakespeare's lost play Cardenio.  They will also find out that, in reality, there are two copies of the play extant, and that this secret has been very closely guarded to the point that many have died if they found out.  One copy is in the Vatican archives, and they let no one even touch it much less read it, such is their desire to prevent whatever is there from being unleashed upon the world.  The other...well, while it is known by a select few that it does exist, no one knew where it was, until St. John tracked it down to Brazil.

What is in Cardenio that is so terrible that led Shakespeare, apparently, to 
destroy every copy he knew of rather than let anyone ever again read or perform his creation, and why has it led to the disappearance of the village?  

There can definitely be light-hearted moments in this, but in order for the story to work, the story itself and the danger found in Cardenio MUST be terrifyingly real.

4.	[THIS STORY IDEA HAS BEEN CLAIMED ALREADY]  "Winterfall"--Meggar & Fields was, at one time, one of the biggest buyers and sellers of, among others things, grain and soybean contracts, petrochemicals, power, and real estate, and owned Union Rail, a significant player in the United States rail network.  All of that changed two years ago when it was discovered that the C.E.O., C.F.O., and several others had been cooking the books.  Subsequent investigations and revelations had damaged the company beyond repair, and Meggar & Fields declared bankruptcy.  The company has been drastically reduced in size, and if it survives, it will be little more than a glorified tanker operator.

While it undergoes restructuring, however, it has lost track of several of its projects.  One of these is in Africa (choose a likely country), a location chosen because of lax environmental regulation and the ability to use chemicals banned in the first and second worlds.  They were, in fact, trying to breed strains of soybeans and grain-producing plants that are the most drought, heat, and cold resistant ever, meaning that they could provide food even in the most inhospitable places.  Without direction from Meggar & Fields, however, and with no oversight from a company in such turmoil that it has more or less forgotten that this project is still ongoing, the managers have gone freelance.

Ostensibly, operations have been suspended, and the manager will gladly show anyone the "only plants we have left" and bemoan the fact that the whole program is kaput.  However, operations are ongoing and being funded by a new source.  In addition to being resistant to all but the most extreme climactic extremes, the plants being engineered grow quickly and are incredibly tenacious, particularly the soybeans which now produce highly invasive runners.  If let loose, they will overrun native plant life.  The other problem, the one that kept the original plants from ever going to market, is that they have a voracious habit of soaking in carbon dioxide.  Let enough of them loose in isolated places, and boom, many plants no longer have the food they need, and the earth loses not only excess greenhouse gas but also much of what it needs normally.  Naturally, the plants have been engineered as herbicide and insect resistant as well.

Someone has hired them to produce "weapons grade" plants, and Simon and company have to find out about this, figure out who is behind it, and stop it before it is too late.  

Now, what attracts Nightwatch to this in the first place, and what their cover story is for being there still needs to be worked out.