SEASON 2 EPISODE 9 TRANSCRIPT
PRE-SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: Among the Stars and Bones features characters in a hostile environment and is intended for a mature audience. As such it contains material that may be upsetting or triggering for some people. In particular, this episode features characters being subjected to the suffocating effects of a gas, and gun violence, from around the 13 and a half minute mark to the 16 and a half minute mark. Specific content warnings can be found in the show notes for each episode. Please make use of them if you need to.
CONTENT WARNINGS (FROM SHOW NOTES):
Loss of Bodily Autonomy – Much of the episode involves characters who do not have control over their bodies either talking about how this has affected them or other characters attempting to avoid being captured and similarly subjugated.
Chemical Weapon/Gas Suffocation – The use of smoke as a weapon of tunnel warfare in ancient times is discussed at some length along with plans to enact something similar in the present. In the second instance, characters are exposed to the suffocating effects of a gas, resulting in panic, coughing and potential asphyxiation. (7:45 – 12:45) & (13:30 – 16:40)
Gun Violence – Several gunshots are fired at a barrier without casualty. (13:42 – 13:52)
[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 9. Five entries included. Entry 1. Comptroller’s report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry]
SCENE 1 – THE CORRIDOR IMMEDIATELY THROUGH THE DOOR OF THE ANTECHAMBER
[Several hours after the end of Episode 8. Adrienne oversees work as Gallini, Jensen and a couple of others work on finishing touches to their last effort to subdue the possessed. Nearby, Janine is monitoring the situation in the antechamber via cameras. Further down the corridor some nervous members of Herodotus have a whispered conversation. Outside in the antechamber the possessed still pound away at the door.]
ADRIENNE: (Amped up with nerves) Ah, commence report, I’m um, setting this going and to auto-upload. Just in case something goes wrong, documentation of what happened here may be invaluable. It’s only been 3 hours since my last report, so it’s still technically Day 18. The stellarcast with the previous report went out about 90 minutes ago. I hadn’t realised the deadline was so close, what with the shock return of several team members and preparations to neutralise The Possessed…hopefully I…yeah.
As you likely know, Celia Pennella, Kathy Winters and Indira Raju have returned. Through a teleporter no less. Apparently that’s something else The Proximans can do…but unfortunately it seems we can’t use it to escape. It only works one way, and a number of The Possessed are on the other end and…Jen you may already know this too, but Ben stayed behind to make sure the Possessed couldn’t get through. I’m…I’m sorry.
The only way to help him now, to help anyone now, is if we can somehow stop The Possessed from getting in, get ourselves out, and get them contained until we get to the bottom of all this. That sound you can hear is them pounding away on the door. They’re not organised enough to get through it yet, but they will sooner or later. They probably can’t blow their way through without killing themselves and us in the process, but I’m not relying on the nanites to know that, so we’re moving as fast as we can. With the sum total of supplies we’ve kept intact despite constantly moving and setting up fallback after fallback, we could last a month. There doesn’t even seem to be an issue with air levels as both our own scrubbers and the passive system put in place by the Proximans are working just fine. But, with the danger posed by these nanites should they get off world it’s really up to us. And you don’t have to waste breath denying that. You’ve tied yourself in knots for a week talking around it, but I know procedure as well as anyone. The only way we get out of this is under our own steam.
And currently the only plan I have for achieving that is inspired by a 2000 year old archaeological find from the ancient city of Dura, which we are attempting to implement using improvised chemistry and engineering. And it’s all held together by baling wire, spit, prayer and sheer bloody-mindedness. Jensen, how are we doing?
JENSEN: (Working as she talks) Uh, I’ve nearly got the delivery system where I want it. Our equipment is good, but the mine machinery I’m using is older than I expected. Like this was the standard …20 years ago? 40 even? It’ll do the job, but I need to be sure. If we get any blowback…
ADRIENNE: Of course. Do you have an ETA?
JENSEN: Doing last checks now. Five minutes?
ADRIENNE: Alright. Janine, what’s the count?
JANINE: Right now there are 81 people that I’ve identified on camera. I’m checking against the lists, and accounting for the 25 we trapped a few days back, and assuming Celia’s right that 8 people followed their team to the second site, then every active member of The Possessed is out there except one. And I think that’s Victor Hollister.
ADRIENNE: Well, no one has seen him since this started. Perhaps he was forgotten. Or considered surplus to requirements.
JANINE: Sure. But yeah, if they start breaking off to bring down cutting equipment we might not get another shot at this.
ADRIENNE: I know. Gallini?
GALLINI: Yes ma’am. I’m done. We’re just working on a little protection. When we raise that door someone out there is bound to try and put a bullet or two through the gap. I don’t fancy losing a foot, or having one of the hoses knocked out, so we’re improvising. Since we want everyone ready to move quickly if this works–
ADRIENNE: Let’s go with “when”. I don’t think I’ve got room in my brain for “if”.
GALLINI: When this works, but either way I think we should have as few people up here as possible. To avoid any additional injuries.
ADRIENNE: Given our only fully qualified doctor is out there pounding on the door like a zombie, I’m inclined to agree. Everyone, if you don’t have a role as part of phase 1 of this plan, please move to the lower level. We’ll call you forward when required. Speaking of injuries, how are you?
[SFX – In the background, several people walk off]
GALLINI: Bearing up ma’am.
ADRIENNE: Janine, should I believe him?
JANINE: It was only a graze. He was lucky.
ADRIENNE: Alright. How long do you need, Gallini?
GALLINI: I just want to be able to get these last few plates together. Should raise us up higher than we’re lifting the door, and it’ll be solid enough that a bullet shouldn’t be able to punch through.
ADRIENNE: Sounds great.
GALLINI: I do need to warn you ma’am, there’s a chance that anything fired at it might ricochet back into the antechamber.
ADRIENNE: I figured. At this point that’s a chance we’re going to have to take. Let’s just hope we’re quick enough.
GALLINI: Indeed.
(Beat.)
ADRIENNE: Well, while the last of the preparation is happening, I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain what we’re doing here. And since I’m nervous as hell I’m going to tell you a little story to take my mind off things.
In 256CE the Sassanids tried to take the city of Dura back from the Romans who had conquered it about a century before. The Romans had fortified it and among other attempts to breach the defences, the Sassanid army started digging a tunnel, starting, if memory serves, from a tomb outside the walls and then heading under them. Meanwhile, as is the way of things in a siege, the Romans started countermining from the other end to meet them in the middle so to speak. Now back in the 1900s an archaeologist excavated those tunnels and among other things found 19 dead Romans and a lone member of the Sassanid army. There was evidence of a fire in the tunnel and it was assumed that they’d died from that, but later on, re-evaluation of the evidence suggested the Sassanids had intentionally released a gas that overwhelmed the attacking Romans and allowed the Sassanids to escape. The other day, when I was talking about how studying ancient history and ancient wars weren’t exactly useful in this situation, it came to my mind. It’s not even the best or earliest example of such warfare though. The Greeks once burnt chicken feathers and used bellows to flood the tunnels dug by invading Romans with smoke.
And so I thought maybe that was something we could do here. But instead of chicken feathers and bellows we have a concoction that Gallini mixed from the available mining chemical stores and distributed by adapting our isolation equipment and left over DahlstromCorp tech from the ventilation and funnelling system.
GALLINI: Funny thing ma’am the chemicals I used, they’re not typically used in mining.
ADRIENNE: What? Who would use them if not miners?
GALLINI: We would.
ADRIENNE: As in xenoarchaeologists?
GALLINI: Yes ma’am.
ADRIENNE: But the barrels weren’t ours.
GALLINI: No.
ADRIENNE: Or Nabonidus’s.
GALLINI: No.
(Beat)
ADRIENNE: I think that might be an anomaly best pondered another day.
GALLINI: Probably so. We’re done here.
ADRIENNE: Okay. (To the two who have been helping Gallini) You two had better get below. We need as few bodies up here as possible.
[SFX – With wishes of good luck, the two others exit]
ADRIENNE: We’re just waiting on you now Jensen, but please, don’t rush. This is too big a thing to cock up.
JENSEN: Roger that.
ADRIENNE: I’m not proud of this solution. And plenty could go wrong. Remember the lone Sassanid in the tunnel with the Romans? He was probably the one who set the fire that released the smoke, so it’s safe to say if something goes wrong we’re in as much hot water as they are. Gallini is 90% certain that the concentration of what we’re releasing is going to give us a good window between a person passing out and a person suffocating, and we have plans to pull the gas fast. But I’d be lying if I said this was perfect, or didn’t come with a good chance of casualties. I walked into this with a determination that everyone gets to walk out. That’s been my mantra since the get-go but Francis is right. Trying to keep anyone from being killed might mean everyone gets killed. We’ve given ground until there is literally no more ground to give. If we’re going to get any of the possessed back we have to get things under control, get these people safe, and get back to our labs to work with the data Celia and the others brought back.
[SFX – Jensen starts up the machine intended to distribute the gas.]
JENSEN: I’m good to go.
ADRIENNE: Right, then we’d better get started.
CELIA: (Entering from the rear of the corridor) Yes, by all means.
ADRIENNE: What are you doing here? You should be below.
CELIA: Given what you’re attempting I should absolutely be here. Who else is going to make the call on how much exposure will be enough without too much. Janine might pull double duty as a medic, but this is a biological problem, and without Dr Chang I’m all you’ve got.
ADRIENNE: But there could be stray–
CELIA: Adrienne.
ADRIENNE: I don’t–
CELIA: Adrienne. You’re not taking this one on yourself. Not alone. I know the risk in being up here and regardless, I’m not going anywhere.
(Beat)
CELIA: Don’t tell me I did all these calculations for nothing.
(Beat)
ADRIENNE: Thank you. You’ll need to be by Gallini and Janine then. Gallini’s got the measurements, Janine’s got the camera view on the monitors.
CELIA: Alright.
GALLINI: When you’re ready ma’am.
ADRIENNE: Jensen?
JENSEN: Standing by.
ADRIENNE: Janine, do it.
JANINE: Moving Bots 1 and 2 into position.
[SFX – The sound of the bots moving can be heard over headphones]
ADRIENNE: Standby on door control.
GALLINI: Standing by.
[SFX – Coms page. As Francis answers we can hear more of what’s happening in the antechamber from his perspective]
ADRIENNE: Francis?
FRANCIS: (Over Coms) Barnes. What’s taking so long? If you’re going to do something, it’s got to be now. Once they get bored of pounding the gates things could go sideways fast.
ADRIENNE: I know. I just wanted to say one last time, I’m sorry.
FRANCIS: (Over Coms) Don’t be. I’d rather not get to walk away because I’m dead than because some alien chip in my brain tells me I can’t.
JANINE: 1 and 2 in place.
ADRIENNE: I’ll see you on the other side.
FRANCIS: (Over Coms) If not…thanks for trying.
[SFX – Coms Out]
ADRIENNE: Raise the door.
GALLINI: Yes ma’am.
[SFX – Door raises perhaps 8 inches. The Possessed on the other side can be heard more clearly. They notice the change.]
ADRIENNE: Do it Jensen.
JENSEN: Yes ma’am.
[SFX – Jensen types a command into a computer and the gas begins to deploy. At the same time gunshots begin to come under the door and ring off the metal installed by Gallini]
ADRIENNE: Gallini?
GALLINI: Seems to be doing it’s job ma’am. Nothing is getting through.
[SFX – The gunshots stop. The Possessed begin to notice the gas and cry out in despair. Some begin to cough. A moment later they begin to run away from the door.]
JANINE: Look at that.
CELIA: It appears the nanites have some sense of self preservation for themselves and their hosts after all. They’re trying to make it back up the tunnel.
ADRIENNE: Yes, but the two bots who just laid down slabs of solid rock across the exit have other ideas.
[SFX – The Possessed have reached the other side of the antechamber. Their footsteps cannot be heard, but coughing still can]
JANINE: Yeah, they’re stuck. There’s no way they’re getting through. I can’t see much though. The gas is obscuring the cameras.
ADRIENNE: Switch to thermal.
JANINE: Right.
[SFX – Janine hits a control]
ADRIENNE: I can smell it, is it–
GALLINI: No, the sensors indicate only trace amounts.
CELIA: How reliable is that rate of delivery?
GALLINI: Can’t be sure. Better off using the sensors detecting levels throughout the chamber.
CELIA: Right.
JANINE: Some of the closer ones are falling to their knees.
CELIA: The second you can’t see anyone moving, I need to hear it.
JANINE: Okay.
ADRIENNE: God, those poor bastards. No say in any of this. Not even on how to try and run or hide.
JENSEN: I know. How much longer?
CELIA: Just wait, we haven’t reached the level at which I would expect everyone to be overcome.
JANINE: I can still see a few people moving, especially near the slabs. It’s probably not a perfect seal.
ADRIENNE: You did the best you could, and I’m sure the job will get done…one way or another.
JANINE: Yeah. Two more to go. They’re down but still trying to get back up.
(Beat)
ADRIENNE: That’s it.
CELIA: Alright.
[SFX – A timer being started by Celia]
(Beat)
GALLINI: How much longer?
CELIA: Don’t rush me.
GALLINI: By my count–
CELIA: But not mine. Jensen, cut the output please.
JENSEN: Copy that.
[SFX – Jensen enters a command that stops the gas]
ADRIENNE: Drop the door back down Gallini, just in case.
[SFX – The door closes]
GALLINI: Barnes–
ADRIENNE: I trust them.(Into coms) Attention everyone below. Phase 1 appears to have been successful. Get into position, ready for phase 2.
GALLINI: Surely–
CELIA: Quiet…Janine, now.
[SFX – Another bot can be heard over headphones]
JANINE: Bot 3 is a go now…Chimney unsealed. Exhaust fans are on.
GALLINI: Gas levels are coming down.
[SFX – The members of Herodotus come up from below, ready for Phase 2.]
ADRIENNE: How long until we’re at safe levels?
GALLINI: Forty-five seconds.
ADRIENNE: Keep your eye on the monitor Janine. We need to be sure there’s no movement.
(To the Phase 2 team) Now everyone, you know the drill. In about forty seconds that door goes up. Priority one: Securing weapons. Check all the military personnel. Get their weapons away from them. If they’ve still got their stunners or guns those of you designated need to spread out and keep them covered. You see movement, stun immediately. Do not hesitate.
JENSEN: Remember, there’s a switch on the left side of the stunner next to the trigger. Make sure it’s set to fire. Make sure it has a charge.
ADRIENNE: Priority two: Tie them up as securely as possible. Do not touch them with your bare hands under any circumstances. Those who have full suits should handle anyone looking like stirring. But do not touch any of them without gloves. We have every indication that there is a finite number of nanites in each person out there and they aren’t likely to be able to leave one host for another without breaking their network, but let’s assume the worst.
Priority three: Get any of the alien barrels they’ve been carrying away from them. Again, do not handle directly.
Remember if they all start moving before they’re secure and disarmed, don’t engage. Get back under this door as fast as you can.
GALLINI: Gas is safe.
ADRIENNE: Janine?
JANINE: No movement.
ADRIENNE: Raise the door.
GALLINI: At once ma’am.
[SFX – The door begins to rise.]
ADRIENNE: Oh, last thing. We’re only raising the door about five feet, so stay low and watch your heads. Honestly I’m going to have enough paperwork as it is when this is all over, don’t make me have to write up an incident report on your concussion too.
(Some of the Phase 2 group laugh.)
GALLINI: Door is up.
ADRIENNE: Phase 2 – Go.
[SFX – The Phase 2 group run out into the antechamber, running to downed members of The Possessed, checking them, tying them up with zip ties and tape, getting weapons away from them.]
GALLINI: Permission to go ma’am.
JENSEN: I can take over on the lifter.
ADRIENNE: You’re gloved up?
GALLINI: Yes ma’am.
ADRIENNE: Do it. Help sort the weapons and keep the possessed covered.
[SFX – Gallini runs off, Jensen limps to his position. In the antechamber, the Phase 2 team can be heard running around, calling to each other and tying up members of the possessed with zip ties and tape.]
ADRIENNE: I should ask if anyone is breathing out there, but I’m too afraid of the answer.
CELIA: I made the best calculation I could, but as any anaesthesiologist will tell you there’s a lot a variation from one person to another and–
ADRIENNE: I know.
JENSEN: If I may say ma’am, there really wasn’t much else we could’ve done. You came to us with the plan, we used every trick and resource we had at our disposal to pull it off, but–
ADRIENNE: I know, but it doesn’t help. No matter what comes of this. Best…isn’t enough.
JANINE: Well, I feel like there’d be a lot more commotion if this had gone badly.
ADRIENNE: Not helpful.
[SFX – Several members of the Phase 2 people call out – one of The Possessed is up and moving.]
GALLINI: (With a grunt) We’ve got a live one here!
[SFX – Brief scuffle followed by the firing of a stunner.]
GALLINI: Weapons and cannisters secure ma’am.
ADRIENNE: Are they still breathing?
GALLINI: Everyone I’ve seen is. Hell one of them tried to wrestle a stunner off me.
ADRIENNE: Show of hands, please, anyone encountered any possessed not breathing?
(Beat. No hands are raised.)
[SFX – Adrienne falling back against the corridor wall and sliding to the floor.]
CELIA: Adrienne! Are you alright?
ADRIENNE: It’s done.
[Computer Chime: End of Inserted Recording]
SCENE 1A – THE OFFICE IN THE MINING BUILDING
[At least a day later, Adrienne is now giving the rest of her report from the office in the mining building that has been her temporary headquarters through most of the mission.]
ADRIENNE: Of course, it’s extremely far from done really, but that was how the whole situation shook out in the end. Once we were sure they were secure, we used the three bots to ferry them back to the surface. We re-instated the lift to speed up the process and got all the possessed, including those we trapped previously, secured. They started waking up maybe ten minutes after the end of that recording. We don’t currently think there will be any lasting effect from the gas, but we’re unable to do a thorough check with Chang still possessed and I am not inclined to let anyone get too close. We’re lucky the original tunnel made when the miners first broke through made a workable chimney and that we were able to get a bot into the space ready to activate another exhaust ventilation device. The gas is heavier than air, but we were able to pump it to another chamber and have since dispelled it via the mining exhaust systems.
We got lucky all-round really. But now the real work begins. With only the resources and personnel we currently have on hand we need to find a way to turn this situation around. I know we’re getting no help from above.
Actually on that note, please do me a favour and issue a recall to the cruiser you’ve no doubt had despatched to wipe us off the charts. Don’t deny it was sent, I could tell by your voice in the last report. I don’t begrudge anyone their caution, but that’s bordering on literal overkill.
(Beat.)
Better yet, issue a change of orders and have it park overhead for a bit. Clause 99 is a blade that cuts both ways you know. We can’t get to it, obviously, but they might be able to give Celia and the others a boost in the supply department. A one way drop, just to be safe.
We will figure this out. We just need time. Everyone not currently taking care of the bruises and breaks sustained over the last week is working on the problem. Teams are pulling apart every bit of data they can. There may be more data at the other site, but we’re not making any move in that direction until we know the whereabouts of…Ben, and the possessed who would’ve grabbed him.
We assume they’re likely on their way back via crawler, but there’s always a chance, depending on how strong this hivemind-like connection is, that they’re pursuing another course of action. We’re on the lookout for them from across the ice and at the teleporter exit and ready to capture them if we can but…look Jen I’m sorry, we just don’t know. We can’t even be 100% sure he’s alive.
Overall status: At this moment, there are 164 living humans on this planet. Of that number 117 are afflicted by the nanites. All but 8 are secure. 9 if we assume Ben is also one of them. Victor Hollister did not take part in any of the operations. He seems to have been forgotten by them. Johann Mueller is now considered clear and is providing assistance in trying to solve this.
Celia, Kathy and Indira are all over the data, working with all hands. The remaining xenoarchaeologists are doing their best to provide as definitive a translation as possible, though Ben and Remy are both currently unavailable and they represent the foremost expertise we had to hand. We’ll send on anything we can manage to upload for consideration back at central, but in the meantime, I’ve even got Janine Hattersley pitching in, as per Ben’s wishes.
(Beat. A realisation of what she just said hits Adrienne.)
Oh that’s a horrible way to say it, makes it sound like a last request…
To clarify, Janine is part of my logistics team but she’s also part of the intern program for masters candidates looking to get field credit. I know Ben is one of her lecturers, so I can only assume he had his reasons for wanting her in on this. I envy her that. At this point now that we’re not running for our lives, my usefulness is done. I’m personally trying to give some assistance to xenoarchaeology where I can, but with so few people on deck I’ve been spending most of my time trying to just make sure everyone else is treated, fed, watered or…guarded as appropriate. Apart from that and crossing all my fingers and toes of course. I’m sure we’ll hear from Ben soon enough Jen. And we’ll do everything in our power to free him and everyone else. I’d better get back to it. End report.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry.]
COMPUTER: Entry 2. Xenoarchaeology Report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry.]
SCENE 2 – THE ARCHOPOD
[The same conference room where Ben and the others were trapped in Episodes 6 and 7.]
JANINE: Alright. How do you start one of these things?
HUDSON: I don’t know. Whenever Kelleher was actually around, when he did one he’d just launch into a rant or something. I think you’re supposed to give your name and the date and time though, then start.
JANINE: Barnes does that too so…Well, then it would be April 4th, about 9:40PM Earth Standard Time. And this is Janine Hattersley, and…for some reason I’m now making status reports for the xenoarchaeology department?
HUDSON: You should ask for a raise.
JANINE: We have certainly been well beyond the job description of logistics clerk for some time now, so I wouldn’t say no. I know we’re short-handed, but I don’t really understand why I’m here.
HUDSON: Kelleher requested you, by name. Said you should be the go-to in matters of translation.
JANINE: Oh. (Realising implications) Oh, wait, I’m sure he didn’t mean to say that you aren’t–
HUDSON: Yeah, he did.
JANINE: You’re not offended?
HUDSON: Honestly, not really. For one thing, Kelleher is definitely the least micro-managing boss I’ve ever worked for, but he knows what we all bring to the table. The xenolinguistics side of things is definitely not my strong suit. That’s not what I’m on the team for. After Kelleher, next best at deciphering and interpreting Proximan is Remy and he’s one of the possessed and not doing so great. Two, you absolutely schooled me New Years Eve in that game of Lost in Translation.
JANINE: Oh, I had completely forgotten about that.
HUDSON: Not the most memorable event from that night anyway.
JANINE: Ha. Still, seems so long ago.
HUDSON: Having your life constantly under threat does that.
JANINE: You are not wrong.
HUDSON: And that’s three – we’ve got over a hundred lives on the line, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s all hands on deck, check your ego at the door.
JANINE: Yeah. Okay. And um, on that note, I just want to say, Ms Connolly, that as Ben’s my master’s supervisor, I know that you two were married, and uh, I want to assure you we’re doing everything we can to fix this.
So. There’s a half dozen of us working exclusively on translation to piece together as much information as we can to aid the scientists. The picture isn’t exactly complete though. This pack of crystals recovered from the second site is probably a backup of key files.
HUDSON: Though it’s weird, cos it’s not all technical data. There’s correspondence and other stuff too. Normally that would lead to the conclusion that they were all someone’s personal files but…
JANINE: But they don’t seem to be the work of one individual, so why exactly this particular set was compiled is…frankly anyone’s guess at this point. A lot of the files collected do seem to be from one of the key researchers, however, and record references to testing data, suggesting they might be the one who put this together.
HUDSON: Got a name for them yet?
JANINE: Huh?
HUDSON: You know the rules. If their name doesn’t translate into something recognisable, you get to name them.
JANINE: Oh…um.
HUDSON: Dr Frankenstein? Dr Moreau?
JANINE: Wow, that doesn’t feel…Let’s just save it for now. That’s way too much pressure.
HUDSON: Sorry, I’ve never gotten to do it before.
JANINE: So…what I’ve translated of…The Researcher confirmed a few things that have been speculated on, though not why these nanites were being developed. That hasn’t come up yet, and I guess it isn’t the most relevant piece of information but, it’s still a question that could use an answer. Anyway The Researcher did describe intended scenarios for deployment. Which confirms it was made to disrupt an enemy species’ ability to make war by turning them on themselves. I have no idea what could make the Proximans desperate enough to contemplate something so monstrous, but there it is.
More importantly for our understanding, the files confirm the facilities were designed for safety and security. Everything was built around avoiding these things getting loose. Which suggests it was capable of affecting the Proximans themselves in the same way it’s affected us, so they had to be careful to make sure it didn’t break containment if that happened.
This seems to have led to both the security measures and that kind of “backwards” design to each facility so that in a worst-case scenario a bunch of possessed Proximans couldn’t get loose and take this thing off planet. Which, I don’t know, seems a little weird that you wouldn’t put some limitations on the hive-mind’s programming to make it ignore Proximans, but what do I know.
So, the mine facility was essentially just a repository for the bulk of the nanites produced and stored. They alone were the biggest danger, and thus the one-way teleporter to get to them but not to allow them out. The antechamber with the warnings seems to have been an afterthought. Don’t know if it was put in before everything else was built or not.
But it’s clear now that there is a binary, if not a trinary aspect to the process, but I’ll leave it to Celia to explain that. They’re far more across the specifics and how that’s informing their efforts to undo what’s happened to everyone. In a nutshell that’s what we’re doing here at the moment, providing the best possible interpretation of the information and passing it on to those it’s most useful to.
There’s just one more thing I’d like to add. It’s weird. There’s a section I’ve been looking at in one report which appears to discuss why speech centres are unaffected. It seems to be saying it’s a limitation of the nanites, that language has been a difficult puzzle to crack so to speak and efforts have been better spent elsewhere. Thus turning a bug into a feature in a sense. There are some additional paragraphs which seem to suggest they decided to be selective in their application of nanites in order to maximise impact. That they could spread their efforts to more individuals and thus cause a wider and more devastating effect and that allowing speech has a kind of psychological impact. Everyone is agreeing with that translation, but there’s something about the passage that is just not sitting right. I think it’s tonal. Some of the phrasing implies The Researcher wasn’t too pleased with this particular tactic, seeing it as…I guess we would use a word like barbaric, but…
HUDSON: This whole system seems barbaric so…
JANINE: Yeah. Exactly. I don’t know. There’s probably more important stuff to get to. We’ll keep at it, provide the best support we can. I guess that’s about it for this report. We’re still getting our head around this. After all, the device to even read these crystals that Harry Kowalski made was a prototype. Tech is trying to help us get another couple up and running by reverse-engineering Harry’s design, but at the moment information’s at a premium.
HUDSON: Got anything on the name yet?
JANINE: Wow, don’t rush me.
HUDSON: I still think Frankenstein makes a good go-to.
JANINE: Why does it always have to be a man?
HUDSON: It isn’t alwa–
JANINE: Did you read the audit someone over at Columbia did that pointed out that of 208 nicknames applied to Proximans with untranslateable names, 171 were male names? Given Proximans themselves don’t have gender don’t you think that’s a little unbalanced?
HUDSON: I see your point.
JANINE: Good. Anyway, uh…end report I guess.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry.]
COMPUTER: Entry 3. Data Investigation Report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry.]
SCENE 3 – A WORKSHOP IN THE DATAPOD
[A technical area in the Datapod for assembling equipment. The sounds of a small drill and leads being connected can be heard, along with some sound of the wind outside.]
KATHY: Commence report. Kathy Winters of the doing-our-best-to-unfuck-this-situation team.
INDIRA: That’s the best one yet.
KATHY: I’m here with Indira as you heard, and Anatoliy Klymenko. At the moment we’re coming at this from two angles. On one hand there’s a bunch of technical data from the files that we’re able to work with directly. That’s giving us the shape of what we’re facing technologically which I’m filtering through to Celia so we can work out how that impacts us biologically.
The second is that we’re looking at stuff Klymenko here is translating for us, along with Janine and Hudson and all the rest. The sum total of that effort so far is that we have more ideas of how the nanites don’t work, but nothing solid about how they do.
KLYMENKO: What I think we really need is more information on this interrupter you found.
INDIRA: Yeah. Other members of xenotech are doing physical assessment of the ones we brought back, but until we know more about it, that’s mostly surface scan level work.
I’m just putting the finishing touches on three more of those readers Harry Kowalski created. They should be up and running in a couple of hours, and then we can get data off crystals faster.
Once we’ve built up a decent backlog of files, I can start running searches to pull out anything with references to that weird word for the interrupter Ben found.
KLYMENKO: That’s going to be my focus. That leaves Janine and Hudson to work on the broader nanite stuff and both of us to throw any overflow at whoever else we have.
INDIRA: And at that point, Ms Connolly, it might be possible to send more data your way for consideration, so you can bring more people in from Central to help us.
KATHY: I’m trying to play middle person here, since this problem stands between technology and biology, though of course my expertise is the alien side of biology.
INDIRA: You’re not too bad at the alien technology side of things either. I would love to know how you knew how to operate a Proximan teleporter without study.
KATHY: Yeah, look I don’t know. I just got lucky. Ben and I saw more of the underground city on Tefen than anyone else. We were mostly running for our lives, but I saw a lot more technology from this era and something just kinda clicked.
INDIRA: Ahuh.
KATHY: Anyway, I’m trying to come at the information from that angle, since, as Celia believes, our best chance here relies on understanding enough of the technology to work out how the nanites adapt to and attack different biological structures. Because from there we can compare it to what we can see happening in our own possessed and hopefully find something we can exploit to neutralise or remove the networks they’ve created in people’s bodies. To that end, Johann Mueller is probably our best bet, since he proved the exception rather than the rule. I’m letting Celia take the lead on testing him and so on, but I did check in on him to see how he was doing. He was entirely alone throughout the whole mine incident. Locked away in the medical pod and unable to help.
He’s a bit shaken up, but seems to be okay. It seemed important to check on him. It’s so easy to forget the little things when dealing with a crisis like this.
KLYMENKO: Hey, Hudson and I didn’t always have the best time either.
INDIRA: Oh yeah, I’m sure you had a terrible time locked in the caf with your boyfriend and full run of the kitchen and our supplies.
KLYMENKO: Okay so we may have lived on marshmallow for an entire day at one point. Good times.
KATHY: So, in better news, we found a document summarising a batch of tests to ensure the nanites were not easily shifted or stopped, eliminating some options. There’s no point hitting them with electricity, for instance, even assuming we could somehow protect the people they’re inside at the same time.
INDIRA: Hardly surprising to say, but I think it’s safe to assume these “interrupters” aren’t electricity based.
KATHY: We’ve also ruled out reprograming them, or implanting code in some that will spread to the network and redirect them. The tests they put them to were rigorous and…how did you put it?
INDIRA: None of us even understand the code they used to try and hack the network with, so if they couldn’t do it, we have no chance.
KATHY: Right. So until we can find some hard data on the interrupters we’re really just providing support to Celia’s efforts. They’re way better at the comparative biology side of things. I was far more focused on Proximan anatomy than human anatomy when I was in college.
(A snort from Indira.)
KATHY: Oh shut up.
INDIRA: So much is explained by that one sentence.
KATHY: That’s not why…
INDIRA: Oh calm down, I wasn’t even going there. (After a beat) Sorry.
KATHY: No, I think that one’s on me.
INDIRA: Call it a draw?
KATHY: Sure.
(Beat.)
KLYMENKO: Loving this tension. It makes for a very healthy working environment.
KATHY: Right then, back to business. In short, Miss Connolly, the sum total of where we’re at is that after six days or whatever on the run and 36 hours getting into this data, we’re still hunting for a plan of attack. We’re working as fast as we can, but we’re only looking at a few pieces of the puzzle. Even with all the data on the crystals we’ve recovered I still don’t think we’ll have the full picture. We may need to go back to the second site to see if there’s more data. Maybe even look at some of their equipment. Who knows. End Report.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry.]
COMPUTER: Entry 4. Military Search and Rescue report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry.]
SCENE 4 – THE NABONIDUS HANGAR THAT PREVIOUSLY HELD THE POSSESSED
[This time we are on the other side of the glass in the main holding area that held the bulk of The Possessed last time. There is some background chit chat and the sound of the wind outside but little else.]
FRANCIS: When I woke up here yesterday, bound and lying on the floor of these fishtanks with the rest of the possessed, I felt something other than dread for the first time in a week. Not a reaction I ever expected to have to being held in restraints, but…there it was. For the first time I wasn’t a danger to anyone else. I can’t speak to the relief of that. I’m a marine. I don’t think I have the words.
I walked into that chamber expecting Barnes to finally show no mercy. To finally go for the throat. I thought I was dead and I was ready to welcome it. From what I’ve heard from others with me here, they felt their survival instincts kick in, the panic response. The fight or flight. Even if they weren’t the ones in control, they felt that instinct to run, to claw, to survive. I…didn’t. I went limp, at least on the inside. I assumed whatever was coming was lethal and I was okay with that. I had accepted my fate.
But no, even with her back against the wall Barnes’s response was still aimed at trying to preserve life rather than take it. Even if it was only a chance. And somehow it paid off and here we are. I…don’t know where that leaves me right now. Alive, I suppose, even if I have no influence over what comes next. It’s taken a few hours, but I feel somewhat reassured by that. As long as I can’t hurt anyone, or force them to live like us, I’ll take the slim hope that something will come of this. Because I know there’s no help coming. That we’re stuck with the expertise and resources we have.
But if an administrator with her back against the wall can come up with a way to safely incapacitate a force both hostile and hostage while trapped miles underground, then maybe I shouldn’t write anyone off just yet.
I asked for replacement gear so I could make this report, in the hopes that saying something would help me feel better, like I was contributing somehow. The current situation for those of us who are possessed – we’re divided into cells. It’s been explained that there’s an element of triage involved here. Those who were more affected by the gas or who have particularly bad injuries have been isolated so they can be treated safely. Which makes sense.
I also appreciate that people are talking to us more. We know what’s happening. We’re all exhausted, but things are calmer. Barnes has made a point of coming down and speaking to us and passing messages on. When I was in charge of security I guess I was more concerned about dealing with the hostile rather than the hostage.
When we walked the tunnels of the mine we were crying. We were screaming. A few had clearly lost it. Now, there’s occasional whispers of chit-chat. There’re even the odd joke between people standing near each other. Otherwise, it’s quiet.
Our spirits may be a little lighter, but at this point, all we can do is await news of our fate. I suppose that’s all there is to say for now.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry.]
COMPUTER: Entry 5. Xenobiology and xenoanthropology report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry.]
SCENE 5 – A CORRIDOR IN THE HANGAR WITH ALL THE POSSESSED
CELIA: Commence report: Celia Pennella, Xenobiology, Day 20, April 4th 2211.
There are no answers in this report. Not yet. This is a process. First of understanding, then of theorising, then of experimentation. After that…The duration will be longer than the war as they say. I am not so full of self-importance as to place myself at the centre of the problem. This is a group effort. But I am aware that a lot of this is going to run through me.
One important development is a decoded file that shed some light on the behaviour and limits of the nanites. Thus a rough interpretation of how events played out from the point of view of the nanites might go like this:
Step one: Hollister, Meisner and Duong head beyond the antechamber door. There they are exposed to nanites that appear to have escaped a broken cannister in Chamber C.
Step two: The nanites work to gain limited control of those same three. It is likely, though not entirely certain, that the nanites, passed by touch, were placed on others at this point. Mueller’s limited sense that something was wrong possibly speaks to this. In any case…
Step three: Hollister, Meisner and Duong head below to the chamber beyond the second door. This was the calibration process. It required the warmer conditions, which I have now confirmed from the information provided. Essentially the way these things were designed, the nanites were making Meisner and Duong into walking labs for their experimentation, consuming their bodies for analysis, to learn as much as possible about human biology. They were designed to reconfigure themselves to the biology at hand, selecting from a wide range of templates, suggesting that the Proximans had a wider experience of different forms life takes across the galaxy.
The implications of that are mind-boggling. We can probably infer a lot about other evolutionary directions life has taken across many systems if we get access to that data, but I will put that little
xenobiologist’s dream aside for the present.
Step four: The new and improved nanites now infuse Hollister, who distributes them among the entirety of the Nabonidus group. This is now the sum total of the nanites, reconfigured to better possess humans. At that moment he could potentially have grabbed more of the original cannisters but did not. I have no explanation for why that happened except that perhaps at such an early stage the nanites were working on instinct and did not fully comprehend their situation or know what their hosts knew. There is some indication that the intelligence of the hive-mind is relative to the number of hosts rather than the number of nanites, and at this moment the number of hosts was one. Lucky for us.
Step five: No more than 24 hours later, the nanites activate and all the Nabonidus crew are possessed. Their first objective is to secure more nanites, increasing their ability to spread further. However, they are thwarted by Johann Mueller sabotaging access to the rest of the site beyond the door. I believe the total number of nanites available is roughly equivalent to the number required to maintain the networks in people they have possessed at this point. They need more if they are to also possess the humans who, they now understand from their hosts, will follow these ones.
Step six: Thwarted, they take a second option. They know, perhaps by instinct, where the other site is. And they head there. It turns out that the nanites alone are not the sum total of this weapon. There are two other parts to the process. Both are catalysts of a sort that make the nanites more powerful. They are kept separate for reasons that should be obvious. Keeping the part of the weapon that possesses the will away from the resources required to fully execute that will is a method of control.
The first additional component allows the nanites to self-replicate. They cannot do that without it. But apparently these are housed in a more secure part of the facility, a level we did not find that exists below even where the four of us ended up, so that’s not what they can get. Instead, following their instinct to survive and grow, they find part 3. This is a raw material of sorts, which allows the nanites to solidify the networks they have already created, replacing themselves with purpose built components. Nanites are still the heart and mind of the networks within each host, but they no longer also have to use themselves as the “wires” holding it together. This gives them something crucial that they did not have before – an excess of nanites. As more and more nanites are replaced within each network, they can continue expansion.
Step seven: When faced with a threat dire enough to cause loss of group members–the crawler breakdown and their sudden exposure to the elements miles from safety–they…they consume a third of their number, effectively adding to the number of nanites that they have in the excess pool, but also ensuring the survival of their current hive.
Step eight: Having put into action what was effectively Plan C, they return with the intent of trying to enact Plan A again – to reach main storage at the mine site. By this stage, they’ve had time to further adapt, they know more about how the people they are piloting think and work. They’ve absorbed more skills. They have a chance now.
Step nine: They arrive and find they are not alone, as we had now arrived. That’s fine and fits within the scope of their plans, so they don’t risk their numbers further. They simply try and get one person to spread nanites to someone else they consider to be in a position of power – the marine that they tackle. From there we essentially repeat the process back at steps four and five. It’s possible they showed their hand too early, but I assume the total number of nanites spread only got things to go so far. They grab all they can, continuing to increase their numbers and pushing towards their ultimate goal, getting to the stash of themselves and presumably preparing to continue expansion.
This is perhaps over-simplified and speculative, but makes the most sense of available data in light of actual events and the Proximan files I now have.
Of course, that still leaves the question of what to do with this information. But I am starting to understand both the underriding logic, macabre as it is, and a little of how the nanite adaptation to human biology worked. Given that said adaptation was not 100% effective there’s a window there. Something to exploit. I think I found something in the last batch of tests I did on Johann Mueller that I might be able to work with, and I was just about to take it to Dr Chang to see what he thought when I was reminded that I only had fifteen minutes to get this report in, so now you get to hear me have that conversation live I suppose. We’ve separated Chang out into a separate plexiglass isolation room like we did with Hollister because we need to be able to consult with him regularly.
[SFX – Celia walks through a door into a room with an isolation chamber in it. Chang speaks from the other side of the glass.]
CELIA: Hello Yee Kiat. How are you?
CHANG: A prisoner in my own flesh, you?
CELIA: I’m doing my best for you, for all of us.
CHANG: I know. What do you have for me?
CELIA: Here, look at this. The last batch of tests show that Johann Mueller has some scarring in the spinocerebellum and I think there’s a chance that that’s why the nanites failed to make a full connection with him and establish a proper network. That there’s a feedback loop of sorts there. What do you think?
CHANG: Hmm, interesting. Show me the neural scans…alright, the comparison to the control…and now the new bloodwork.
(A beat as Chang considers.)
CHANG: I can see why you’re hopeful, but it looks to me that the cerebellum damage, while certainly present, is not linked. If I were you I would do some more work in the area of his genome. In my analysis of the genetic breakdown you provided earlier I noted a number of rare alleles in there that might help explain the situation.
CELIA: You’re sure?
CHANG: I am.
CELIA: (With a sigh) I thought I was on to something. That’s the second time.
CHANG: I think you’re making amazing progress. And everything we eliminate–
CELIA: Brings us closer. Yes, I know. But it’s frustrating, and I am concerned that there is a time factor involved. Especially for the those who’ve been possessed longest.
CHANG: I know. But there is an answer in his genetic code. I’m sure of it.
CELIA: Yes, alright. I’ll take another look. Be well Yee Kiat. I’ll no doubt be back soon.
CHANG: I’ll be here.
[SFX – Celia walks out and back along the corridor.]
CELIA: Back to the drawing board I suppose.
[Computer Chime: End of Entry.]
COMPUTER: End Status Report 9.
[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.
WHITNEY: Whitney Johnson as Jensen.
LUCILLE: Lucille Valentine as Janine Hattersley.
DYLAN: Dylan Chambers as Gallini.
SHAKIRA: Shakira Searle as Dr Celia Pennella.
LIV: Liv Smith as Captain Edward Francis.
TAREK: Tarew Esaw as Hudson.
JORDAN: Jordan Cobb as Kathy Winters.
ASHA: Asha Lloyd as Indira Raju.
ANDREY: Andrey Dragovich as Klymenko.
ALEX: Alex Chew as Dr Chang.
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: Ray Reinard, Larry, Phoenix, Mesalikepie, Colman, Timothy Walker, Samantha, Nicodemo, Christopher Vian, Winter, Carly, Amanda Comet, Anthony, Nicholas, Cool Matt, Sarah Joy, Eddie, Liz. 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 Facebook and merchandise is available through TeePublic. Thank you for listening.
[Theme music fades out]
