SEASON 2 EPISODE 7 TRANSCRIPT
PRE-SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: [This will be edited to reflect the public release of the episode]
CONTENT WARNINGS (FROM SHOW NOTES):
Loss of Bodily Autonomy – Much of the episode involves discussion of people who do not have control of their bodies and who are being forced to hunt and capture others. In two specific scenes those characters are present. The first involves several characters executing a plan to evade and escape those without control of themselves. In a second scene a person who does not have control of their body discusses what it is doing to them. (21:00 – 29:30) & (42:18 – 50:15)
Use of Less-Lethal Munitions – During one scene, characters are fired upon with a weapon called a stunner, which while fictional is similar to the kinds of weapons often used (and abused) by law enforcement on protestors and demonstrators (28:03 – 29:03)
[Theme Music Plays]
COMPUTER: Among the Stars and Bones
[Theme Music Ends]
[Computer Chime: Open Status Report]
COMPUTER VOICE: For attention of Jennifer Connolly, Eudoxus Initiative. Herodotus Task Force Status Report. Mission: Planet Angitia. Status Report 7. Five entries included. Entry 1. Comptroller’s report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry]
SCENE 1 – A TUNNEL IN THE MINE
[Adrienne is reporting from a fortified position set up within the tunnels of the mine. In the background can be heard the rest of the people with her as they work on putting finishing touches on the barricade and moving equipment and supplies further down the tunnel that are no longer needed. Faintly, the sounds of The Possessed can be heard distantly up the tunnel.]
ADRIENNE: Commence report: Adrienne Barnes reporting. Day 16 of the Nabonidus Relief Mission. Day 4 of the siege. March 31, 2211. As you were aware from Captain Francis’s Day 14 report, the Possessed marines were getting into their ordinance supply, preparing to blast their way into the mine to reach us. Now I’ll preface everything by saying yes, they got in, and yes we are alright. Most of us anyway. I’ll run you through this as best I can, because a lot of things happened at once.
We’d considered the possibility of attack, especially with Kathy, Ben and Victor and Celia speculating that the Possessed might need to get back into the vault, so by the time that Captain Francis informed me that he and the rest of his team were preparing to blow their way into the mine, we were ready.
The biggest issue was where they would strike. The mine has the personnel entrance–like an airlock in a way, with two exits to filter atmosphere. The air is breathable here on Angitia but it’s not a fun time without filters, so the miners relied on scrubbers and kept a seal. Anyway, it makes for a good chokepoint of sorts. It’s big enough to get five people through at a time and most of our bots and equipment fit just fine. Easy enough to conceive of strategies to block that entrance or to at least keep it bottle-necked.
But next to that airlock is the wide main entrance used for getting excavators, tunnellers and ore transports in and out. It’s at least 60, 70 metres across, and while it’s made to withstand extreme conditions, at the end of the day the door is a big hunk of metal. The mine is a little like a castle really. You’ve got the main gate and a sally port. The main gate is strong, but provides the wider entry point. The sally port is more vulnerable, but it’s harder for people to get through in large numbers.
It wasn’t until the last minute that we knew for certain they were coming through the main entrance.
If you look at a plan of the mine, you can probably see the problem with that easily enough. It’s the amount of open ground. There’s so much space set aside here for loading and unloading, getting equipment to the main elevator, the administrative building, the works. You could probably park a cruiser in here. And I’ve read enough dissection and analysis of ancient battles and warfare to know that there was no way we could contain them, except at the point of breach.
So we created a kind of palisade around the outside, got a couple of ore transporters working, and used those along with bots and other equipment to create a U shape around the door. I kept everyone well back, in case the explosion was bigger than anticipated.
As it happened, they blew a hole big enough to drive a couple of elephants through. We’d been warned they were carrying live ammunition but that stunners were the weapon of choice. They didn’t want to kill us when they could capture and convert us. The defensive line worked well enough. And from the barricade we unleashed a barrage of rocks and whatever else we had to hand. But we had the same problem. We don’t want to kill anyone. Those are our people. Colleagues, acquaintances and friends. I hoped it might hold them back, but they don’t have the self-preservation instincts of regular people. The average person walks into a barrage of rocks, spanners and hammers they’re going to at least duck behind cover, but they didn’t. They kept walking and there were quite a few injuries in that initial charge, and pretty soon people on our side couldn’t bring themselves to keep throwing things. Against the marines it’s less effective anyway because they’re wearing enough body armour now that a well-placed hunk of granite isn’t much threat. They hit us with volleys of stunner fire too. It went bad fast, so I called a retreat. I’d pre-programmed the bots and some of the lighting to hit them with full brightness, which dazzled them enough that we could get nearly everyone out. We only lost two people to that incursion, Bek Rowen and Kimiko Sotomura.
Naturally, we ran for it at that point. I had some bots reprogrammed to run at them, but I can’t override their Asimov programming, so all it did was cause an obstruction. Just enough to allow us to fall back.
The chaos did allow us to put into effect a plan Ben, Kathy, Celia and I had been working on. We needed to get a small number of people out of here and off to that other site to find out what we could. And since we knew without doubt that most of the possessed would be concentrated in one place for this attack it was as good a time as any to try it. There’s a secondary exit the mine has, probably a couple hundred metres further around from the main entrances. Dr Chang, Celia, Kathy and Indira made a break for it while the possessed were breaching the main entrance. The intent was to rally with Ben and the other members of the xenoarchaeology department holed up in their pod. From what I understand they were at least partially successful, but I don’t have full details. We’re having trouble with communications, mostly I think due to distance and conditions. Hopefully they will have more for you.
As for me, I can only focus on what’s in front of me. So here is the current situation we’re in. We destroyed access to the internal elevator system and are using the mine’s tunnels instead. I’ve established several sets of barricades and fallback positions at various points throughout the tunnel system. As a point of final stand I’m setting up the antechamber of the site itself, and our final recourse will be to barricade ourselves on the other side of door 1. That would leave us trapped with no way out except through the possessed, so it’s something I would like to avoid, obviously, but at the moment my hope is simply that if we buy the team heading to the second site enough time, they will find out something that might save us all.
Slowing the possessed is difficult however. As I said, standard tactics don’t work against people who feel no pain. At Captain Francis’s suggestion we used metal gates and spare paneling and anything else we could find to create a barricade and ran current through it. Not enough to kill, but enough to give someone a good jolt. It worked for a while, but then Valma Heikkenin from xenobiology walked into it repeatedly, screaming. Apparently the turning off of pain receptors is optional. Likely it was a test of our resolve, and I held firm for…I don’t know how long in the end. Eventually they found a way to circumvent the current, but would I have had enough…pragmatism? Resolve? To sit there and listen to someone scream in pain for a whole day?
We were more successful in sending a group of our people out as lures to draw some of them off. They managed to lead about 25 of them into a side tunnel which had lockable gates at either end. We managed to trap them between the two gates and as far as we can tell they haven’t got out yet. I was hopeful the others might tie themselves up a bit trying to get to those people, but it seems they have not. I am reluctant to overly rely on this tactic though, since if we ended up with more groups trapped like that it would likely end in cannibalism. This is also the case for any injuries intended to incapacitate. We could aim for broken legs for instance to take more people out of the fight. Not something I relish, but a possibility. But there’s always the chance they would eventually just eat anyone no longer seen as useful.
And that’s the problem we continually run into. By endangering the possessed we endanger those they have possessed. We also have the additional problem that we are outnumbered, and because of the nature of the opposing force, for every one of them we remove from the fight they only lose one. But every time one of us makes a mistake and gets grabbed, we lose one and they gain one. That’s happened 12 times in total over the last two days. We’re getting better at avoiding it, but numerically speaking that basically erases the gain made by the stunt with the side tunnel.
Before I forget, there is a full list of every member of the team and their status attached to this report so you have full knowledge of who is compromised and who isn’t.
Currently we’re located at a dense barricade at a key tunnel junction between us and the site. We are now at a depth of 7.8 miles, but we have more things set up than we did in the more open tunnels, so I am hopeful we can grind them down. I can hear them now. They whisper as they move through the tunnels and it carries. It always turns to shouts and screams when they know they’re getting close to us. Warning us is all they can do I suppose. But in some ways the whispers are worse.
[SFX: Janine’s approaching footsteps]
ADRIENNE: With luck we might be able to hold them here for as much as two or three days if we force them to pull this barricade apart piece by piece while…
JANINE: Comptroller, I just got a message from Captain Francis. He says they’re coming.
ADRIENNE: Which way? I need his exact words.
JANINE: He says as near as he can tell they’re coming from the right tunnel.
ADRIENNE: Ours or theirs?
JANINE: Theirs?
ADRIENNE: Janine, it matters. What else?
JANINE: They were coming in force for a frontal assault. Oh, he said something like…just like Caesar at Alesia, I think.
ADRIENNE: What? Alesia? You’re sure?
JANINE: Yeah, he said not to worry, they were playing right into our hands…just like Caesar did at Al–
ADRIENNE: (Calling out) We’ve got to get out of here, now.
[SFX: People dropping tools and supplies and walking out quickly]
JANINE: What? Why? We put all this work into–
ADRIENNE: Because somehow, they have us surrounded.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 2. Xenoarchaeology report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 2 – IN THE CABIN OF A CRAWLER
[The sounds of the crawler driving across the ice, a heavy wind blowing outside. Indira is driving.]
BEN: So, under the heading of things I’ve learned in the last two days: Crawlers can do 70 miles an hour if you push them flat out. I really think we should revisit the name.
Also I’ve learned that you should not push a crawler at 70 over ice, though that one I rather suspected.
We are now 2800 kilometres west of the mine site after just over 2 days travel. We were supposed to be a team of six, but ended up as a team of four. I have Celia, Kathy and Indira Raju with me. Just this plucky little band to sort out that minor matter of the Nabonidus team being possessed by advanced nanite technology. No biggie. Should be wrapped up by lunch tomorrow at the latest.
CELIA: I appreciate your humour as much as the next person, but I’m not sure this is the time.
KATHY: Appreciate?
CELIA: Tolerate.
BEN: You’re probably right, but this is how I get when I’m under life or death stress. Jen can back me up on this.
KATHY: I also can back him up on this.
BEN: Thank you Kathy. Anyway, I’m currently riding shotgun alongside Indira who drives this thing like a bat out of hell.
INDIRA: Thank you.
BEN: And it’s fallen to me to summarise our escape. Then Kathy will run you through our current data and observations as we continue to deal with people fast becoming zombies that also like to tell you they are not zombies and please help them. I’m aware I’m starting to sound a little manic. In my defence I don’t think I’ve slept since we left.
INDIRA: I vote we keep him out of the driver’s seat until he’s had at least 6 hours sleep.
KATHY: Seconded.
CELIA: Thirded.
BEN: Come on folks, this is a road trip to end all road trips. I mean there’s all that complete lack of visibility to admire. The driving wind howling at us. Only 3D projection of the surrounding terrain to navigate by, and the knowledge that the sensor range means if we do come across a crevasse we’ve got eight seconds to brake before the accrued momentum of a six tonne vehicle carries us into it. Now where’s the radio on this thing? I want some mid-20th century rock music to cap this off.
CELIA: In retrospect, showing him Thelma and Louise the other week may have been a mistake.
KATHY: I told you we should’ve stuck with Little Miss Sunshine.
INDIRA: Do you all really do this on corporate reports back to your superiors?
KATHY: All the time.
CELIA: Absolutely.
BEN: When the situation is this messed up, what other choice is there?
INDIRA: Alright, just making sure that I know where I stand before I embrace the chaos.
KATHY: Yay! One of us. (Chanting) One of us. One of us.
INDIRA: Sure, why not. Although not to be a wet blanket but you should explain how we got here.
BEN: Yes. I should. Okay Jen, so you’ll recall that two days ago the situation was, everyone else trapped in the mine, while myself and a handful of others were in the archopod with members of Team Possessed guarding our escape routes. We were brainstorming plans for this little adventure, when Francis’s warning that the possessed were about to attack the mine upped our timetable. It was a rush, but if we hadn’t gone then we’d probably still be stuck.
KATHY: Only we’d be several miles underground by now with no other way out.
BEN: So we–
KATHY: Cue the Mission Impossible Theme.
BEN: So, Indira, Chang, Kathy and Celia got in position at some sort of emergency secondary mine exit or something?
CELIA: Yes, that’s correct.
BEN: Which was guarded, but only lightly. The adventure started with Indira hacking into one of the crawlers.
INDIRA: Correction, ingeniously hacking into two crawlers. If we were going to get out of there in one piece, we needed a crawler ready to roll, so I started one to let it warm up while another went for a little tour around the base, distracting the guards around our entrance. We got loose and made our way around the outside of the mine site, trying to steer clear of the massed army but we got a bit held up.
BEN: Yeah. And I think it was about this time I started live recording.
[Computer Chime: Begin Insert Recording]
SCENE 2A – THE ESCAPE
[The scene begins in the Archopod where the hum of equipment can be heard along with the sounds of Hudson reprogramming an alarm circuit]
BEN: Okay, ready.
KLYMENKO: Why are you recording this?
BEN: It’s kind of just a habit at this point. Makes it easier to report later.
KLYMENKO: And if we screw this up?
BEN: Hopefully someone learns from our mistakes?
HUDSON: Honestly, this job kinda sucks.
BEN: No argument here. How’s that alarm going?
HUDSON: Yeah, I think I got it.
BEN: And our guards?
KLYMENKO: Same as always.
REMY: What about the others?
BEN: (Into Radio) Kathy, how are things at your end?
KATHY: (Over Coms) Yeah, we’ve got a problem here. I think we’re going to go to plan B.
BEN: There’s a plan B?
KATHY: (Over Coms) There is now. Hang on.
[SFX: A notification beep]
INDIRA: (Over Coms) Ben, put this link on your screen.
[SFX: Ben accessing the file]
BEN: Got it. What am I looking at?
REMY: That’s us here, that’s the crawler there.
INDIRA: (Over Coms) Yep. That’s the one that’s warmed up and ready. Now,
we’re here…
[SFX: A beep on the screen]
INDIRA: (Over Coms)…The first crawler did the trick, drew people away from the door so we could slip out, but there’s another group that seems to be patrolling, and any move we make towards you is going to be spotted.
BEN: What do you need?
INDIRA: (Over Coms) A pick up.
REMY: Yeah, doesn’t look like we can get all the way to you. Lot of derelict mine equipment in that area.
INDIRA: (Over Coms) If you can get close, we can outrun them.
CELIA: (Over Coms) I refuse to lose a footrace to a zombie.
KATHY: (Over Coms) These are technically fast zombies.
CELIA: (Over Coms) Ugh.
CHANG: (Over Coms) Another time for this cinematic debate perhaps?
BEN: Alright, give us a moment. What do you think?
REMY: Seems workable to me, as long as we get to the crawler we should be safe. Worst case would be them deliberately getting in our way to force us to stop or risk running over them.
BEN: Which is a risk we run no matter which way we drive the thing.
REMY: Yeah.
KLYMENKO: Wait, are we changing the plan?
BEN: Functionally no. Just the destination. Hudson, you good?
HUDSON: Yeah, definitely got it isolated. Just tell me when.
BEN: You’re going to seal your suits up, right? Just in case?
KLYMENKO: Of course.
BEN: Remember, once you’re moving you don’t look back and you don’t stop, even if something goes wrong.
HUDSON: To be honest boss, it ain’t us I’m worried about.
KLYMENKO: Yeah. You see how old those people are? It’s almost insulting.
BEN: Remy?
REMY: Yeah, come on, we better get moving before something else goes wrong.
BEN: (Into Radio) Alright folks, sit tight.
KATHY: (Over Coms) Hurry. We checked in with Barnes, they’ve already had to fall back. The longer we sit here…
BEN: Got it. Alright, let’s do it. Hudson?
HUDSON: Okay, here goes.
[SFX: An alarm begins. After clicking a control, the alarm can be heard outside in the corridor. Footsteps from outside can be heard.]
BEN: Klymenko?
KLYMENKO: They’re moving. Four of them. Still at least one in our way. I can see a shadow.
[SFX: Hudson snaps on his helmet and initialises the speakers]
HUDSON: (Over Suit Speakers) You wanna play blocker or running back?
[SFX: Klymenko snaps on his helmet and initialises his speakers]
KLYMENKO: (Over Suit Speakers) Just get behind me zayat.
HUDSON: (Over Suit Speakers) Okay big man. 3, 2, 1, go!
[SFX: The door opens and they run out into the corridor. Klymenko bellows and runs through one of the possessed who ends up no the floor. Hudson dodges him then has to dodge a second who lunges at him. The door closes. Moments later the sound of running feet as the possessed distracted by the alarm run back and continue to chase Klymenko and Hudson]
REMY: They took the bait.
[SFX: The alarm is switched off and the door opens]
BEN: Let’s go.
[SFX: Ben and Remy walk out into the corridor and continue to the external door]
BEN: Clear on my side. You?
REMY: No one that I can see.
BEN: I can just see the crawler between those containers.
REMY: Lot of hiding places for possessed between us and there.
BEN: We’ll go slow and quiet then. I can’t really sprint anyway.
REMY: Oh shit, right. Your leg. That should make things more interesting.
[SFX: They open the door and step outside into the wind, their feet on snow. After a few moments they crouch down behind cover]
REMY: What?
BEN: There’s one hiding by the crawler. I guess after Indira’s stunt they noticed it was on and’re keeping an eye on it.
REMY: Between us we can take one.
BEN: Not without the risk of them getting a touch on us. We only had suits for Klymenko and Hudson, remember?
REMY: They should have checked in by now. This is about to go south. Okay. I should just tackle them and you get on the crawler.
BEN: We can both make it. If Indira moves the crawler forward we can halve the distance and keep to cover most of the way.
REMY: Alright.
BEN: (Into Radio) Kathy, you there?
KATHY: (Over Coms) Yeah?
BEN: Can you get Indira to drive the crawler forward about 40 metres? Slowly?
KATHY: (Over Coms) Uh, sure.
REMY: (Into Radio) Hudson, Klymenko, you there?
KLYMENKO: (Over Coms) Yeah, we were just about to check in. But we wanted to make sure that–
HUDSON: (Over Coms) They’re definitely not out there.
[SFX: The crawler drives closer, coming into earshot]
KLYMENKO: (Over Coms) Yeah. We got to the cafeteria pod but they’d stopped chasing us. I think they worked out we were a distraction.
REMY: Oh they definitely know you were a distraction.
BEN: How do you know?
REMY: Because that woman is now actively looking for us.
[SFX: A half dozen running sets of footsteps]
BEN: Oh hell, and there are the others. They know we’re not in the pod.
REMY: Nothing for it. I’m going to run, try to lead them away.
BEN: We can both do this.
REMY: No. We can’t.
BEN: There are seven of them, what are the chances you can safely–
REMY: Better than yours.
BEN: You should go – your sister–
REMY: That’s why I’m doing this. Ben, I’m not your biggest fan, we both know that. You spend half your time with your head up your own ass and not enough running your department and I have to pick up the slack, but of the two of us, you’ve got the best chance of working this out.
BEN: Remy–
REMY: Just get ready to make your move. And let them know I’m coming.
BEN: There’s got to be–
KATHY: (Over Coms) Ben, what’s the hold up. We’ve got a problem over here.
BEN: Shit. We’re on it. Klymenko, keep an eye out for Remy, he’s trying to reach you.
HUDSON: (Over Coms) What?
KLYMENKO: (Over Coms) Seriously?
BEN: Yeah.
HUDSON: Okay.
BEN: Alright, ready when you are.
[SFX: Remy stands]
REMY: Hey! Any of you assholes seen my sister?
[SFX: Remy runs off. The six original guards and the woman by the crawler chase after him. A moment after they’ve run off, Ben breaks out from his cover and runs towards the crawler. Halfway there he falls, wincing in pain]
BEN: Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck it.
[SFX: He begins to crawl. A single set of footsteps running towards him begins to approach]
KONSTANTINIDIS: (Distant) Dammit, why aren’t you running away? You know what happens if I catch you.
BEN: (Through gritted teeth) I would…if I could.
KONSTANTINIDIS: (Closer) Hurry! I’m right behind you.
[SFX: Ben increases the speed of his crawl. The running footsteps are close now]
KONSTANTINIDIS: Quick!
[SFX: A second set of fast running footsteps from the side. Remy barrels into Konstantinidis, knocking her down]
BEN: Remy!
[SFX: Remy and Konstantinidis wrestling]
REMY: (Strained) Get. In. The. Crawler.
[SFX: The other six possessed can be heard running up, calling out to warn of their approach. Ben heaves himself up to the door of the crawler, gets the door open and gets himself inside. He closes the door and levers himself into the drivers seat. Outside the possessed approach Remy and surround him. Ben punches some buttons to get moving. Remy is piled on and beaten into submission]
BEN: Sorry.
[SFX: Ben begins to drive]
BEN: (Into Radio) Anatoliy, you can stop looking out for Remy.
KLYMENKO: (Over Coms) They got him?
BEN: Yeah, you two stay safe, got it?
HUDSON: (Over Coms) Hey, don’t worry about us. We’re sealed in with enough food to last us years. Just get the others and get this done.
BEN: Yeah, will do. Kelleher out.
(A beat)
BEN: (Into Radio) Alright, I’m on my way, what’s the situation?
KATHY: (Over Coms) There’s more of them, and they seem to be looking for us. We’re going to have to break cover and take our chances running toward you, but the greater the distance–
BEN: Yeah, got it.
[SFX: Ben increases speed]
BEN: I can see the pickup spot now.
INDIRA: (Over Coms) We’ve got you tracked. Everyone get ready to move.
CHANG: (Over Coms) There’s a marine.
CELIA: (Over Coms) How did she–
CHANG: (Over Coms) We have to go now.
[SFX: Over Coms a stunner shot is heard as Kathy and the others begin to run. More stunner shots]
JANOWICZ: (Caught distantly over coms) Don’t run in a straight line! You’re too easy to hit.
CHANG: (Over Coms) Watch out!
[SFX: Over Coms, Chang is hit by stunner fire and falls down]
CELIA: (Over Coms) Don’t stop.
INDIRA: (Over Coms) But–
CELIA: (Over Coms) Don’t. Stop.
BEN: I see you. Bloody hell.
KATHY: (Over Coms) We’re not going to make it to you.
BEN: The hell you’re not.
[SFX: Ben floors it. The crawler bursts through an obstruction]
BEN: Hope this works.
[SFX: Ben hits the brakes and slides into a stop between the runners and the marine. Stunner fire begins to ping off the crawler. Ben opens the door. A few seconds later Kathy runs into the crawler]
KATHY: Grab my hand.
[SFX: Kathy pulls Indira into the crawler]
INDIRA: Come on Celia!
[SFX: Indira helps Celia in. Kathy closes the door]
KATHY: Go!
[SFX: Ben speeds off]
BEN: Everybody okay?
KATHY: Yeah. I think that we–Look out!
BEN: Shit!
[SFX: The crawler swerves. Kathy and Indira are thrown to the floor]
KONSTANTINIDIS: (From Outside) Please don’t hit me! I can’t move!
KATHY: Ow.
BEN: Sorry. Not a lot of snow in Australia.
CELIA: The nanites made her stand in the way.
BEN: Yeah, seems so.
CELIA: Where’s Remy?
(A beat)
CELIA: I see.
INDIRA: (Muffled) Are we clear?
BEN: Yeah.
INDIRA: (Muffled) Then Kathy, would you be a dear and–
KATHY: (Getting up hurriedly) Oh, sorry. I didn’t even notice.
[SFX: Indira gets up from the ground]
INDIRA: I should be vaguely insulted by that. Nice to know one of us was comfy.
[Computer Chime: End of Inserted Recording]
SCENE 2 – IN THE CABIN OF A CRAWLER (PART 2)
[Continuing on from Part 1]
BEN: So, I guess that’s a roundabout way of saying that Remy and Chang are missing, presumed possessed, and here we are. I wish I’d…
CELIA: You did the best you could. We all did. And we all had to make some hard choices otherwise none of us would’ve gotten out.
BEN: Stupid fucking leg.
CELIA: Which had a bullet in it six weeks ago.
BEN: Yeah.
(Beat)
BEN: Anyway, after that we’d been driving for about anhour when the sensors picked up a crawler on our tail. I sped up. That’s when I found out about the 70 miles an hour thing. Eventually they dropped back out of range and I slowed, but we have to assume they’re still following us. They don’t have to rush. They know where we’re going. Sensors picked up the crawler that the Nabonidus team abandoned on their way back, too, so at least we know we’re heading in the right direction.
CELIA: Worth pointing out – it won’t just be the crawler lying there.
KATHY: No. When this is over we’ll have to go back and recover the remains.
BEN: Yeah. Right now though, all we can do is keep going and hope we don’t miss this place. We don’t know too much about how the others are faring. We can get some messages back and forth by uploading to the network, but direct radio communications are out. I’m surprised the stellarcast upload is still working frankly.
KATHY: Can’t stop the signal.
BEN: Our whole gambit is that there has to be something useful at the other site. That if they made this as some kind of weapon surely they would also have made a way to neutralise it. All we can do is hope the four of us are smart enough to find it and work out how to use it.
CELIA: Which will be all the harder without medical knowledge.
BEN: Well at this point the only alternative to making it work with the four of us is joining the Proximan unholy zombie army of the night.
INDIRA: I refuse to join an army with a name that stupid.
BEN: Well, here’s hoping we’re as good at our jobs as we think we are then.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 3. Data Investigation Report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 3 – IN THE REAR OF THE CRAWLER
[Kathy, Celia and Ben are gathered in the back of the crawler, which is it’s cargo area. Indira is still in the cabin, listening and contributing from a distance]
KATHY: Commence report: So at this point, um…I guess this is the report of the…well here’s the thing. You could argue that this is still a Data Investigation report because while we’re not going through files we’re about to sift through available data. Then again this is now a biological problem to solve, so we could go with xenobiology.
CELIA: If we are, then I hereby relinquish to you my duties to report on our prog–
BEN: Whoa, not so fast. the cause of the problem is Proximan nanites. That puts it back under xenotechnology.
CELIA: Dammit. Worth a try.
KATHY: How about this: Commence report: Day 16 of the Nabonidus Relief Mission, this is Kathy Winters giving the Sort This Shit Out Report.
INDIRA: I can work with that.
CELIA: Well, it has a ring of truth to it.
KATHY: Thank you.
CELIA: Lacks a certain poetry, mind.
KATHY: Wow, I think you cut me down less harshly when you didn’t like me.
BEN: Don’t knock it. It’s a high honour.
CELIA: (About to get serious) It wasn’t that I–
KATHY: Would Xenotechnology Crisis Team work better?
CELIA: I…yes.
KATHY: Cool. Okay, so with being out on the ice for the last day or so we’ve had time to get over the initial…everything after being under siege and having to escape from humans being piloted by alien technology, and have had more space to go over what we know. We have most of the data we’ve accumulated to hand, and while we don’t necessarily have access to the hardware to do analysis, we can at least review and add new observations.
One thing we noticed was how much things changed once the marines became possessed. It proved that the nanite network Celia observed can tap into specific parts of the brain even if that’s not how it exerts control. Since being possessed they’ve operated weapons, and even seem to have made some tactical decisions from what we can gather.
CELIA: Yes, it was particularly noteworthy that the marines were primarily responsible for sweeping the Herodotus compound. They must have access to the marine’s memories of formation and tactics. They haven’t just used the weapons the marines had when they were taken. They knew to go to the military stores to access explosives. Doing all that involves different parts of the brain: those tied to procedural memory – the cerebellum and basal ganglia, and semantic memory – the hippocampus and neocortex. This suggests that either the probes from the nanite network grow over time, or that the…tendrils are capable of drawing from anywhere in the brain.
KATHY: The lack of pain is interesting too. It suggests that the connection and link is interrupted in both directions. Signals from the brain don’t get to their desired destinations in the body, but signals back don’t get back either. Or if they do, it’s selective. Which is odd. What is the advantage of allowing eyes to still relay messages to the brain, but not to let someone know their foot is hurting?
CELIA: Yes, the blue spots Victor Hollister experienced and our scans suggest the nanite network connects directly into the optic nerve. If so, it could presumably shut off the flow of visual information to the host’s brain and deny them sight. That it doesn’t seems intentional.
INDIRA: If these nanites were designed to adapt, graft onto and take over any lifeform they encountered, wouldn’t that by definition mean there would be imperfections in each possession, oversights…like perhaps the fact that the possessed can still speak for themselves if nothing else.
CELIA: True, but my instinct says otherwise.
KATHY: Yeah, so let’s run with that for a minute. Let’s assume that everything the nanites do or don’t do is deliberate. Maybe they don’t override the facial muscles and speech centres because it’s not necessary for what they’re trying to achieve, or because it takes up resources that are better used elsewhere. But suppose the actual reason is that they want people to be able to talk as they attack. That they want people to know their friends and family are still in there so people hesitate to defend themselves, increasing the chance that the possessed can get within physical contact range. Like when that woman jumped out in front of the crawler shouting for you not to hit her. If these are weapons of war, then perhaps the psychological effects ought to be considered. Bad enough that they kill or enslave those you know, worse that those people are also aware of it. They have no control over their eyes, but can still perceive the visual information because they want people to see what’s happening to them.
BEN: That’s hard to argue against, given the effect it’s had on the Nabonidus people particularly.
KATHY: You mean the surviving members of Nabonidus.
BEN: Yeah.
CELIA: Yes, though on the other hand, the idea of this being about psychological impact on the Proximan’s enemies makes less sense when you consider the lack of pain. We have two suppositions right now. One being that the Proximans are nasty but not outright cruel.
KATHY: We’ll call that the Bastard, But Not a Fucking Bastard Supposition.
CELIA: And the other is that the nanites are not able to perfectly configure to a species. We assume there that they were designed with no particular species in mind, or I suppose for a species of which they did not have sufficient biological knowledge.
BEN: Do you think there’s any advantage to us if that’s true?
CELIA: Perhaps. There’s always the possibility there might be a…biological loophole in whatever process or program these nanites execute.
KATHY: You’re thinking about Johann.
CELIA: Yes. The nanites seem to have evolved their adaptation through whatever it is they did to Duong and Meisner, but those two don’t represent the full possibilities of human variance. And something in Johann seems to have actively rejected or interrupted the development of a network within him. Though I do worry about that. Given time, it might be able to find a workaround.
And I wonder about the different storage cylinders. The ones at the mine site and the ones at this new site. If they have different functions, I can’t help but think that one might give the whole situation a boost of some sort.
INDIRA: What kind of a boost? That’s the least scientific word I’ve heard in this whole conversation.
CELIA: I don’t know exactly.
INDIRA: Do you think they were kept separate for a reason? Like it was a safety measure? That the nanites couldn’t reach full potential until they got their special super serum?
KATHY: Something like that.
BEN: Well, here’s hoping we can find something more definitive at the other end of this trip.
CELIA: You know as well as I do that with the size of this place we need a larger team.
BEN: Speak for yourself. We’ve got the full spread of expertise here. Xenoarchaeology, xenobiology, xenotechnology and xenoanthropology. What more could we want?
CELIA: A medical professional.
INDIRA: Heavy duty computer equipment.
KATHY: About ten more of each of us.
BEN: Well sure, but I mean apart from that.
(Beat)
CELIA: What is it?
BEN: I don’t know. It’s funny, I know we’re in danger, on the run, and have a problem at least ten sizes too big to solve, but…the other day before it all went to hell, heck even after it went to hell, myself, Remy, Klymenko, and Hudson grabbed some food and sat around and we were working through a problem and just laughing and joking our way through it, and I forgot how much I used to enjoy that. And now here. With you lot. It’s been a while since I’ve had that feeling. Of really being with people.
KATHY: Awww.
BEN: It finally brought home what you said to me, New Year’s Eve, Celia.
CELIA: Welcome back to the human race Ben. Took you long enough.
BEN: I haven’t been the best person to be around. You’ve been very patient with me.
CELIA: It was nothing.
BEN: I’ll do better.
KATHY: If we live.
BEN: There is that. But anyway, for right now, I just wanted to say that I really value you all, and I’m glad to be here with you.
CELIA: Likewise.
KATHY: Hey you and I are repeat customers for this whole last dash thing. One more time and we get a free sundae.
(Ben laughs)
KATHY: Come here.
(Ben and Kathy hug)
KATHY: Celia, unless you’re touch averse, you should get in on this.
(Celia joins the hug)
KATHY: Well, turns out my boss is quite the hugger.
(The hug ends)
BEN: And I realise since this is only like the fourth time we’ve spoken, Indira, that was probably super awkward. I mean you seem really cool, but we don’t really know each other yet so…
INDIRA: Hey, I like a group hug as much as the next person, but maybe not while I’m driving the world’s biggest snowmobile in zero visibility.
(She yawns)
INDIRA: And now I’m yawning.
KATHY: Let’s switch over. I can go another stretch. Everyone else should sleep.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 4. Military Search and Rescue Report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 4 – ANOTHER TUNNEL IN THE MINE
[Francis and the other members of the possessed are marching through the tunnels. This is some time after the events of Scene 1]
FRANCIS: Commence report: Captain Francis reporting. Day…I can only assume it is 16. I am still compromised, but as you can see, the robots in my head haven’t removed my coms unit. In that capacity I have tried to advise Comptroller Barnes as best I can, though my intelligence gathering capability is limited. I can’t direct my eyes, but whatever I do see I have passed on.
Occasionally other members of the team shout useful information when they’re within earshot. It’s not much, but it’s all I can offer.
On a more positive note, during periods where we are allowed to rest, we get food and have been kept well-fed. I have no interest in participating in cannibalism, from either end of the cutlery.
By agreement, I have made suggestions, but asked that Barnes refrain from informing me of her specific decisions and deployments. It’s clear these nanites can make use of our memories and knowledge. I don’t know if our knowledge of language falls under that category, but I’m taking no chances. So far the tactic seems to have worked, and I–
HARRIS: Captain! Captain please, I need to record a message to my brother. He needs to know that–
FRANCIS: Harris, stow it. Keep it together. We’re all hurting and we’re all in a bad way, but you’ve survived with your back against the wall before and you can again.
HARRIS: I know sir, but just in case, please–
FRANCIS: (Gently) Alright son, soon as I am finished I’ll see about recording a message for your brother, just in case. But if we’re going to beat this we need to keep doing what we can–
HARRIS: I could’ve done more…when I was taken. I should’ve tried–
FRANCIS: Even if that’s true Harris, and I don’t think any of us had much say in any of this, it’s the past. All we can do is keep providing the intel needed to keep the others safe. So try to pull yourself together soldier.
HARRIS: I…Yes sir. We…I saw that we passed a depth marker a while back. We’ve crossed 8.5 miles.
FRANCIS: Good, that’s good. I’ll pass that on to Barnes. Good work. Keep your eyes peeled okay.
HARRIS: I will sir.
FRANCIS: Apologies for the interruption, but while I’d normally dress down a soldier for something like that…under the circumstances…because…This…this feels like being unmade. I am being marched into the fray again and again, but it all feels wrong. We march forward with only the most minimal concessions to formation and tactics. If my training officer could see me now her eyes would pop out of her skull. It’s like being in a nightmare. Every instinct is screaming to stay low and to make use of cover, to increase space between us. But even though I know what I want I can’t.
And on another level…I don’t want to. It’s a strange sensation to be cheering for your opposition to take you out. To have someone swing at you, and to know how easy it would be to duck and counterattack yet hope these nanites don’t know that too…
Honestly, we look more like robots in desperate need of repair than elite marines. Just blundering in and pushing forward no matter the obstacle. And the problem is, it’s working. At the moment we’re in a kind of stalemate, but Adrienne is being forced to give ground, because our side doesn’t win by tactics or guile, but by being relentless, like a tide. And even though they’ve removed a number of us from the field, every time we take out one of theirs we get one back. In the long term, numbers will tell.
Something that might be of interest is that when we grab one of the Herodotus crew they’re held down for skin to skin contact. Then they’re exposed to an open cannister from the second site. I don’t quite understand what’s going on there, but I’m recording the observation in the hope that it might be of use to the science types trying to help us.
Especially since the civilians Barnes is leading don’t seem to realise they’re at war. I get how hard it is when your enemy is unwilling and wears the faces of colleagues, but it’s still a war. Failure means enslavement, and in the long term almost certainly something worse. No one should want to end up like this. I…this has only been a handful of days. The Nabonidus people have been like this for weeks. I understand now why some of them don’t speak anymore, or just cry or whimper. This…no one should have to endure watching their body do things they haven’t commanded of it, not when it’s hurting other people they know.
It’s coming closer to the crunch. When Barnes is going to have to make a hard choice. Stop defending and go on the attack. Don’t just try to contain or hold us back, but put us out of the fight by injuring us. Or just go for the kill.
JANOWICZ: But sir, you can’t give up like that. We’ve got to keep faith that there’s a way out of this.
FRANCIS: I don’t want to die, Janowicz, but we are as good as dead short of a miracle, and there comes a point when everything is stacked against you and you have to realise a hard truth. If you try and keep everyone alive, then everyone will die. And what do you think will happen if Barnes loses and everyone on this planet ends up like this? When there’s no one left to solve the problem and no one left to save? What would you expect from our superiors if that occurred?
JANOWICZ: They wouldn’t…They…totally would.
FRANCIS: Exactly.
The other reason I am concerned is that I’ve noticed a change in our attack patterns. At first the focus was clearly on capture and conversion. We were sent in first with stunners, hoping to put someone out and drag them away. Now it feels more like containment or an attempt to slip by altogether. Like…like at this last barricade Barnes set up. I know there was already some concern that the vault was as important a target as capturing non-possessed people, and the truth of that is becoming clear now that priorities are starting to shift. They want to increase their numbers, yes, but I think they want the vault more. Which means sooner or later instead of stunners, we’ll be switched to live ammo. And then all hell is going to break loose.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 5. Xenobiology and xenoanthropology report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 5 – THE REAR OF THE CRAWLER, LATER
[Celia sits alone at the rear of the crawler. Ben and Indira are asleep. Kathy is in the front driving]
CELIA: Dr Celia Pennella. Day–
KATHY: (Calling quietly from the front) Hey what’re you doing back there? I thought you were going to get some sleep like the others.
CELIA: I need to do this infernal report.
KATHY: You’re bothering? I wouldn’t.
CELIA: Sometimes there are things that must be said.
KATHY: Speaking of which, what were you going to say before?
CELIA: When?
KATHY: I made a comment about cutting me down and you started saying something?
CELIA: Oh. (Pause) I am sorry.
KATHY: Hey look, you don’t have to get into it, I’m just glad we’re good now. We are good aren’t we?
[SFX: Celia tiptoes to the cabin of the crawler and sits down]
CELIA: Kathy, I have the highest respect for you as a colleague and a person. As for how we started…
KATHY: Look don’t worry about it. I was just going to say I was glad that Indira hasn’t been getting the same treatment. She’s…she’s pretty cool, don’t you think? But I think she worries sometimes about fitting in with the three of us. I mean you and Ben go way back and he and I have been through a lot together and…you know…
CELIA: Ah well, I always like to look out for a fellow Desi.
KATHY: Oh? Huh. I never realised. I guess I just thought with a name like Pennella that skin tone was from your Italian heritage.
CELIA: Actually, the Pennellas are from the north of Italy. My father is quite fair. Blue-eyed if you can believe it.
KATHY: No way.
CELIA: My mother on the other hand, born and raised in Kolkata. They actually met at Tranquility City of all places though.
KATHY: Well there you go. My parents met in space too. On the job.
CELIA: Traders, I think you said.
KATHY: Yeah. Small time. They travelled a lot.
CELIA: Must have been hard for you.
KATHY: Yeah.
(Beat)
KATHY: Look at us. Finally talking about something other than work or movies.
CELIA: I look forward to many more conversations. Even a decidedly more awkward one about what you said before.
KATHY: You don’t have to–
CELIA: I owe it to you. When things are more settled, perhaps.
KATHY: Okay.
(Beat)
[SFX – Celia gets up and tiptoes back to the rear of the crawler then lies down, preparing to sleep when they are done]
CELIA: Commence report: Dr Celia Pennella. Day 16. I was not going to bother with a report. Kathy’s right – We had more than enough conversation earlier to constitute an appropriate update, and we both know these reports mean nothing and never have. Dear god, we used to giggle about the things Tyra said, and she never received so much as a caution over any of it.
All corporate has ever cared about is the news of our progress. The method of delivery doesn’t matter. I think it’s actually a feature and not a bug. They figure that by letting us get away with proverbial verbal murder as we vent our collective spleen at the profit-driven focus of Eudoxus, we get it off our chests and go back to working out how to make other people rich off derivative patenting of Proximan tech.
So yes, I was going to just let it go, knowing nothing would be said, just as you’ve said virtually nothing about everything I let spill a week ago. But even with being stuck in a life-threatening situation for the second time this year, it’s been weighing on my mind. So much so that as I lie here in the back of this crawler, bone-tired, with Indira and Ben completely comatose, I can’t quite sleep.
You knew it would weigh on me. That’s why you didn’t say anything. You’ve always known just how much to push to get the right reaction and when silence will do the job better. Any time I was twisted up internally about something, you always knew. And you could always draw me out, one way or the other. And I would always feel the better for it. It took all night sometimes. And other times just a little wine and a companionable silence, but you put the time and effort in. You never had to say how much I meant to you through words or gifts. Time. Attention. Consideration. They told me how much I was loved more than three words and a gift voucher.
And that’s the thing. I can be upset with you for stepping over another dear friend to take a position she sorely needed. It hurts that you hurt someone I care deeply about, but you had your own reasons for needing to get out of the field and my pain by proxy
is not the whole story. Nor is everything that happened between you and Ben, because there was more than enough hurt and hard-headedness on both sides. Ben isn’t perfect by any means.
But no, that isn’t it. The truth is…I am upset because that person who knew me and gave to me of herself so readily, that person has changed, and I rather suspect that the change is irrevocable. That friend who I defended every time Ben let his bitterness get the better of him. That friend who I spent hours putting together reading lists for and coached through so many tricky final essays. That friend whose hand I held, metaphorically and literally, through the most devastating moments of her life and the months that followed after. That friend who I would gladly have followed into hell. And that friend who I laughed with in simpler times.
That’s where I find myself right now. In a kind of mourning, I suppose. It still remains to be seen if something new can be built on top of the old. I hope so. I truly do. I still hope I’m wrong to be perfectly honest. That I’m being too harsh, and mistaking the natural bending of personality that comes with years and maturity and the accumulated weight of life and loss. But Jennifer…I just don’t see it.
And that might seem dramatic, but the evidence is all around me. The way you have used the same tactics you once employed to help me work through something I was keeping bottled up inside, in order to draw me out this time, not for my benefit, but for yours.
And more than anything, there’s Kathy. You heard the two of us just then. It was so hard not to simply tell her everything, what I’ve figured out and what I suspect. I owe her that honesty, for the way I chose to treat her when she first arrived if nothing else, and I am big enough to admit that that part of it is on me and not you.
She deserves to know what we both know. Why she was hired. I’ll give you a little time to tell her the truth first, before I do. Consider it a gift on my part. For old time’s sake.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry]
COMPUTER: End Status Report 7.
[Computer Chime: End of Status Report]
[Theme music plays]
COMPUTER ANNOUNCEMENT: This episode of Among the Stars and Bones featured the voices of:
JULIA: Julia Eve as Adrienne Barnes.
LUCILLE: Lucille Valentine as Janine Hattersley.
CHRIS: Chris Magilton as Ben Kelleher.
SHAKIRA: Shakira Searle as Dr Celia Pennella.
JORDAN: Jordan Cobb as Kathy Winters.
ASHA: Asha Lloyd as Indira Raju
ANDREY: Andrey Dragovich as Klymenko.
TAREK: Tarek Esaw as Hudson.
EDWYN: Edwyn Tiong as Remy
ALEX: Alex Chew as Dr Chang.
MAIA: Maia Harlap as Alexis Konstantinidis and Sergeant Janowicz.
LIV: Liv Smith as Captain Edward Francis.
ANTHONY: Anthony Morales…Harris
DEVIN: Devin Madson as The Computer.
COMPUTER ANNOUNCEMENT: The work of the Eudoxus Initiative is made possible by generous research grants from our patrons. Thank you to our most recent patrons: Muffy, Danielle, Billy Howington, Octopus Gallery, Gravity Sux, Sipelgas, Jodi, Kymm, Plague Noir, Isabella, Alex Lewis, Adam Hammick, Rogue Vigilante. If you too would like to support humanity’s understanding of alien technology, culture and history, go to Patreon.com/Amongthestarsandbones. For a transcript of this report or additional information go to amongthestarsandbones.com. We can also be found on Twitter, Facebook and merchandise is available through TeePublic, including T-shirts, mugs, hoodies and stickers. Thank you for listening.
[Theme music fades out]
