MAJOR GENERAL FREDRICK So, how do we know your...people will come through?
If we strike at our target and your forces leave us hanging, that will be very inconvenient.
VASHREN
(THROUGH THEIR TEETH) We can secure a system so that both teams act on the same order, simultaneously, regardless of distance.
MAJOR GENERAL FREDRICK You can do that?
RESHTHREB Dwarnian technology.
Give us a list of targets on San Ramos and we will hit every one of them. It’s we who should worry about your capabilities--
MAJOR GENERAL FREDERICK Heemdalla will be a crater.
PIPER This is RiFT, Radio Free Telemachus, as always broadcasting from the debris cloud surrounding the planet. If you’re only now joining us, a few hours ago, we received audio of the Regime’s own Major General Frederick planning a series of air strikes on San Ramos, the biggest city on Telemachus--
KESTREL --and Heemdalla, a densely-populated city in Dwarnian space. Several experts in xenolinguistics have called in to say that the other two voices on the recording sound like highly educated Middle Plains Dwarnians.
PIPER Meaning government.
KESTREL We can’t know. It does sound that way.
PIPER No timeframe yet on the coming attack. Worse, from what we know up here, it looks like San Ramos is in the middle of a citywide blackout, which, factor in the severely bugged phone system and it means there’s not much communication in or out. If you’re hearing this on your short-wave radio, please help us get the word out.
PIPER And if you’re on your way to San Ramos, either divert course or...
KESTREL
Understand the risk you’re taking.
STATIC
Scene 1
FX: BOILER ROOM SOUNDS. A FLARE OF INCINERATION.
VIOLET Should we get Captain Tripathi?
JUNIPER Why? The, uh, cremation was supposed to--leave chunks of bone like that, right?
VIOLET (“NOT IN FRONT OF MCCABE”) Juniper, can you not say it like--
I think so. Everything I could find said so.
JUNIPER Besides, I don’t think we could drag the captain out of the cockpit. I wouldn’t wanna be between her and Telemachus right now.
VIOLET It still--feels like someone should say a few words. Uh, McCabe?
MCCABE What could you possibly want me to say?
JUNIPER You saved our--
MCCABE I don’t want to hear it.
FX: A SET OF FOOTSTEPS AWAY. WE DON’T FOLLOW.
Scene 2
JUNIPER We shouldn’t have let them watch.
VIOLET
They said they wanted to.
JUNIPER Well, we shouldn’t have listened.
VIOLET At some point, you have to trust when a person tells you they can handle something, and just be there to support them if they can’t.
JUNIPER Is that so.
VIOLET I’m way too tired to fight you right now.
JUNIPER I don’t wanna fight.
VIOLET (IMMEDIATELY) There’s a first.
JUNIPER Vi--
VIOLET Sorry, reflex.
JUNIPER
Look, you were right.
VIOLET What?
JUNIPER I have no goddamn business being here. I keep running it through my head, what I should’ve done when that guard drew a gun on me, and there’s nothing. I’ve got nothing. All I did was throw you off your game.
VIOLET (EMOTIONAL) Junie...
JUNIPER If I hadn’t been there, if you’d been able to focus on your mission, maybe you could’ve gotten out without McCabe killing their friend.
VIOLET We have no way of knowing that.
JUNIPER
What happened on Martineau, it’s on me.
VIOLET
It’s on everyone. And no one. And most of all, it’s on that guard, for buying into a system that would’ve seen us all killed or worse.
JUNIPER You don’t think I should be here, and you know it. (A BEAT) Look, if we get out of this, I’ll go back to Goat Planet, okay? I’ll try to find some way to actually be useful. Just--
VIOLET What?
JUNIPER Come visit me sometime.
VIOLET Of course. Hey, let’s get out of here, it’s like a million degrees.
JUNIPER We’re really firing on every thruster to get to San Ramos, huh?
VIOLET Yeah.
JUNIPER Violet. What the Hell are we gonna do when we get there?
STATIC
Scene 3
ELLA ATTEMPTING CONNECTION. WIND BLOWING A LITTLE. STEPS ON A SIDEWALK.
CAMPBELL Short-wave radio transmission. Ignatius Campbell to Dr. Sylvia Robinson.
FX: SHORT-WAVE RADIO CONNECTION NOISE
DR. ROBINSON Hey, can it wait--
CAMPBELL Sorry if I woke you.
DR. ROBINSON No, I’m just extremely busy with this wave of protest wounds, not to mention that the--
CAMPBELL (COMPLETING THE SENTENCE) Power’s out.
DR. ROBINSON Yeah.
CAMPBELL Even the traffic cameras’re off. What’re the odds the entire grid failed at once?
DR. ROBINSON What are the odds the Regime turned off the lights because they’re about to do something they don’t want the rest of space to see?
CAMPBELL Right. Reach out on short-wave, start spreading the word for folks to stay home today, and stay by their radios.
FX: WE HEAR A SPACESHIP APPROACH AND BEGIN TO LAND
DR. ROBINSON This really couldn’t have--
CAMPBELL Uh, Doc? Can I get back to you in five? A ship’s landing across the street.
Scene 4
FX: A SPACESHIP DOOR OPENS KREJJH Hey Forger Campbell! Sorry, we tried to call ahead!
STATIC
TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS ON GRASS.
CAMPBELL
--so the Regime attacks the Dwarnians, some subset of the Dwarnians attacks us, and both camps get the war they’ve been after.
ARKADY Got it in one. If you need a minute--
CAMPBELL Wish I was surprised. Wish I still had that.
DR. ROBINSON And you have proof?
ARKADY Audio of Major General Frederick arranging the whole damn thing. Just no way to spread the word far enough, fast enough.
DR. ROBINSON Stay on the line. We’ll figure this out.
WE FOLLOW TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS TOWARDS THE SHIP. OXYGEN MACHINE IN THE BACKGROUND.
CAMPBELL Krejjh, Brian, good to see you.
BRIAN The Iris 2 isn’t here yet, is it.
ARKADY What?
BRIAN It’s all over your faces, dude. Captain Tripathi and the rest of the crew were way closer to Telemachus than we were. They should be here, and they aren’t.
KREJJH
Maybe they took the secret door like we did last time, through the rubble. If you fly it careful, that can be a real slowdown.
BRIAN If they’re not flying carefully, it’s a permanent slowdown.
CAMPBELL Any chance they landed in a port, and they’re stuck in line?
KREJJH We picked up some radio chatter from the ports on our way here. The Regime agents are down to a skeleton crew, and they were way more concerned with people leaving the planet. Whoever’s left has eyes on the exits, not the entrances.
BRIAN Besides, if the Captain and the rest were just waiting for processing, they would’ve radioed.
ARKADY Brian, you think I’m not worried? About Sana, about Violet, and her sister? Even McCabe. The fact is, we can’t think about that. We don’t have time. We need to find a way to evacuate San Ramos.
DR. ROBINSON The largest remaining human city in the galaxy.
ARKADY That’s the one.
DR. ROBINSON
Without power.
CAMPBELL In the meantime, we’ve got a network of solar-powered short-wave radios for arranging protests, and spreading news too sensitive to share on RiFT. Everyone’s got three names to call. I’d say altogether, it can reach maybe a third of the city.
BRIAN If everyone we contact reaches out to all their friends and family, even the ones who aren’t political--
DR. ROBINSON Let’s say half. Not enough.
KREJJH Better than nothing.
CAMPBELL Before we start calling, I wanna be one hundred percent clear on what we’re telling them to do. Otherwise, the only thing we’re spreading is panic.
DR. ROBINSON Agreed. Let’s be systematic.
ARKADY How many people can the city bomb shelters take?
CAMPBELL Not everything from the last war is still operational. Counting the tunnels, I’d say we could pack in maybe twenty percent of the population?
BRIAN So shelters are last-resort, for people who can’t make it out of the city.
CAMPBELL It’d probably be best if folks could get off-planet.
DR. ROBINSON You said the ports were understaffed, right? With a good distraction, we might be able to overwhelm them.
ARKADY Hippocratic Oath’s a little bendier than I remember, Doc.
CAMPBELL They’re already watching the exits. A disturbance at the ports is gonna draw out whatever Regime presence’s still here. We can’t afford that.
DR. ROBINSON So the message is to leave the city, not the planet. Do we tell people what’s going on? Do we say who’s doing the bombing?
BRIAN We have to, right? There’s gonna be another war with Dwarnians unless folks know the Regime’s behind it.
CAMPBELL It’ll slow the evac down.
BRIAN
The body count of a Dwarnian war is gonna be so much higher than an attack on any one city, even San Ramos.
DR. ROBINSON What good will a warning do if most people don’t even believe you? The Regime working with their worst enemy?
KREJJH You both bought it in under a minute, Doc.
DR. ROBINSON Yeah, but we’ve been following all this for years. We’re dead inside.
KREJJH Besides, there’s probably gonna be a second Dwarnian war no matter what. Remember, the IGR’s attacking Heemdalla, too, unless Thasia’s people can stop it.
ARKADY We sent our footage out to RiFT. I think for now we focus on reducing the body count as much as we can, get the story straight later. There’ll be time to do that, but only if people live.
CAMPBELL Right then, Doc? We’ve got some calls to make.
DR. ROBINSON Keep me in the loop.
FX: CALL DISCONNECT SOUND
STATIC
Scene 5
ARKADY Short-wave radio transmission. Arkady Patel to Madge Ferguson.
SHORTWAVE RADIO CONNECTION NOISE
ARKADY Hi, is this Madge?
MADGE Who’s asking?
ARKADY I’m calling on behalf of Irene Welles--
MADGE Irene--
ARKADY Got taken nine days ago, yeah. I’m filling in for her on short-wave. Ignatius Campbell’s idea.
MADGE
Tell me there’s an action today.
ARKADY The action is get the hell out of San Ramos. An aerial attack’s coming.
MADGE An aerial--are you positive?
ARKADY Wish I wasn’t. We don’t know when, but we need our people to tell everyone they know, take everyone they can and disperse out of the city.
MADGE My doctor said I shouldn’t fly. Something boring about my blood pressure.
ARKADY Anyone who can’t get airborne should seek their nearest bomb shelter.
MADGE I’ll pass that along.
ARKADY Thanks.
MADGE Good luck.
CALL DISCONNECT SOUND
Scene 6
MADGE Madge Ferguson to Esperanza Vasquez.
RADIO CONNECTION SOUND
ESPERANZA Madge! Is there an action today?
MADGE I need you to get your family out of San Ramos, kid.
ESPERANZA What?
MADGE An air attack’s coming. Spread the word to leave the city or seek shelter, and then do the same.
ESPERANZA Shit, you sure?
FX: BEHIND HER, A BABY STARTS TO CRY
ESPERANZA
Shh, shh….
MADGE
Yeah, Esperanza, I’m sure.
THE BABY WAILS MADGE Is he old enough to fly yet?
ESPERANZA Yeah, but he’s a shit pilot. (PAUSE) Sorry, I had to.
MADGE You didn’t.
ESPERANZA He should be fine in a ship.
MADGE
Go, call the rest and then you and Della and the baby get outta here.
ESPERANZA Got it.
FX: A RADIO CALL DISCONNECTS
Scene 7
ESPERANZA Short-wave radio transmission. Esperanza Vasquez to David Parker.
FX: CALL CONNECTS. AMBIENT GROCERY STORE SOUNDS
DAVID Hey, I’m on night shift, can--
ESPERANZA You brought your radio to work? DAVID So we can have charming conversations like this one.
ESPERANZA Listen to me, David, this is very, very important.
CUSTOMER Hey you, clerk. Can you tell me where to find the--
DAVID
No.
CUSTOMER I’m going to talk to your manager!
DAVID Okay.
FX: BRISK FOOTSTEPS CONTINUE
DAVID
(UNDER HIS BREATH) You better be serious.
ESPERANZA An air attack’s coming. Call your three and tell them to leave the city or seek shelter, then get outta here. Need a ride?
DAVID Thanks, but I’ve got one.
ESPERANZA Good, get going.
DAVID
I’m at work.
ESPERANZA Work is about to be a hole in the ground.
DAVID I guess in that case I quit?
ESPERANZA Thank you.
FX: RADIO CALL DISCONNECT SOUND
FX: RAPID FOOTSTEPS
CUSTOMER Hey--
Scene 8
FX: GROCERY STORE DOORS CLOSE BEHIND DAVID. WIND OUTSIDE.
DAVID
Short-wave radio transmission. David Parker to Yuuri Nakamura.
FX: A RADIO CALL GOES THROUGH DAVID Hey, Yuuri? How’s your hotwiring?
YUURI At this point, I could hand you the reins to the very chariot that pulls the sun.
DAVID Great, go down to the nearest dealership and grab something that can take thirty. There’s gonna be an airstrike on San Ramos, we need to get out of here and go remote.
YUURI Who.
DAVID I don’t-- YUURI Is it the Dwarnians or the government? Friend, you know it’s one or the other.
DAVID I have no idea, I just know it’s coming. Everyone who can’t disperse outta San Ramos needs to seek shelter.
YUURI Head to the South dockyards, call your half of the usuals, and wait for my ship.
DAVID How will I know which one’s yours?
YUURI It’ll be the prettiest.
DAVID No shit. Take care.
YUURI See you!
FX: RADIO PHONE CALL ENDS.
Scene 9
YUURI Short-wave radio transmission. Yuuri Nakamura to Ignatius Campbell.
CAMPBELL
Have you heard?
YUURI Yeah, dude. I’ve got a spot with your name on it in the nicest ship I can hotwire, you in?
CAMPBELL Thank you, extend the honor somewhere else.
YUURI You sure?
CAMPBELL I’ve got a lot of work to do.
YUURI Right, best of luck!
FX: RADIO CALL DISCONNECT SOUND
Scene 10
CAMPBELL Have we covered everybody circled on the tree?
KREJJH We have!
CAMPBELL Anything from Sana and the others?
BRIAN You woulda been the first to know.
CAMPBELL We need to find a way to reach more people than short-wave, or I’m gonna start going door to door.
KREJJH Too bad we can’t talk to everyone with a radio.
BRIAN Actually, we might be able to...
ARKADY How.
BRIAN What would San Ramos do if there was a disaster? A hurricane, or a terrorist attack?
CAMPBELL They’d use the Emergency Alert System.
BRIAN The EAS overrides all radio and cable, it’d reach everybody with a device that runs on battery--
KREJJH It’d reach the Regime galoots stationed here. If they believed the warning--
ARKADY Either they stay and help the evacuation, or they turn and run, in which case they leave the ports open.
CAMPBELL Good. How do we set it off with no juice?
KREJJH Could we hook it up to Forger Campbell’s van engine?
ARKADY That’s Sana’s department, but we can try. The signal relay would be in a government building, one with a radio tower.
CAMPBELL The Office of the Governor. Could you make it happen?
ARKADY I cannot overstate how much the EAS is just a button you push.
BRIAN I have to imagine the building’d be under heavy guard, though.
KREJJH Do we have a way of knowing that’s still true? Looks like the Regime took a lot of their forces off-planet.
CAMPBELL One way to know. Short-wave transmission, Ignatius Campbell to Madge Ferguson.
MADGE Ignatius! Your friend called, I’m just packing up for the shelter.
CAMPBELL D’you still live on the top floor of the Keefe Building?
MADGE Yeah…
CAMPBELL Can you get a line of sight on the Office of the Governor?
MADGE
Sure. Decent view when the back’s acting up and I need something to flip off.
CAMPBELL How’s it look around there?
MADGE Big crowd of people swarming. Some guys in jeeps. Barricading the street, looks like.
CAMPBELL Damn, thanks.
MADGE See you on the other side.
RADIO DISCONNECT SOUND.
CAMPBELL The governor’s gathering up a crowd.
ARKADY Shit. Any cover that might’ve gotten us in has been blown for months, and there’s no time for new credentials. Do we try storming the building? Maybe with the right distraction--
CAMPBELL There’s four of us, and any backup is getting the hell out of the city proper right now.
KREJJH Do we need to breach the big fancy office for this, or could First Mate Patel hack us in someplace else?
ARKADY I could record my own message and patch it through, but to reach the whole city, I need an antenna. A big one.
CAMPBELL The Regime closed down most local radio, scrapped the stations for parts.
BRIAN “Most.” What’d they leave?
CAMPBELL
Vaughan University still has one. To the best of my knowledge, they’re the only one.
BRIAN Gotta train the new generation of propagandists somewhere.
ARKADY The jumpship won’t take four.
CAMPBELL My van’s parked this way.
FX: FOUR SETS OF FOOTSTEPS BRISKLY CROSS GRAVEL.
KREJJH Alright, let’s get this show on the road! Can I--
CAMPBELL Human roads, Krejjh. With human traffic laws. I’m driving.
KREJJH Less fun in two dimensions anyw--
SHORTWAVE RADIO INCOMING CALL SOUND
KREJJH What was--
ARKADY Accept transmission.
Scene 11
SANA Where are you at?
CAMPBELL
Captain!
ARKADY Sana!
SANA Sorry about the delay, we ran into some--[STATIC]
CAMPBELL Just get to Vaughan University on State and Liberty, okay? We’re all meeting up at Vaughan University.
SANA (STATICKY) Sounds good, can’t wait. Great to kind of hear your voice.
ARKADY Is--are the others okay?
SANA (STATICKY) We will be.
FX: A VAN UNLOCKS. CAR DOORS ARE OPENED. FOUR SEATBELTS. THE CAR STARTS.
CAMPBELL Get here really goddamn soon, okay?.
STATIC
FX: DRIVING SOUNDS
CAMPBELL What’s that shape up there? Too opaque for a cloud.
BRIAN You’re right…
KREJJH I see them, I see them!
ARKADY Krejjh, for the love of God, stay down.
CAMPBELL Lights are out, and anyway, this is a college campus. People see a Dwarnian-looking somebody around here, they’ll assume they’ve been up studying too late.
BRIAN Or that it’s the drama department.
KREJJH Is that true?
CAMPBELL I sure am willing it to be.
FX: THE VAN STOPS. FOUR FIGURES CLIMB OUT.
FX: SOME DISTANCE AWAY, A SPACESHIP LANDS. THE AIRLOCK OPENS.
FX: A PAIR OF FEET RUNNING VERY VERY FAST. WE’RE FOLLOWING THE FEET.
KREJJH My crew my crew my crew my crew!
SANA Hey, Krejjh, where are--oof!
FX: KREJJH HUGS SANA, HARD SANA Good to see you.
KREJJH Good to see you!
STUDENT 1 What the--
FX: A PAIR OF FOOTSTEPS SPRINTING BEHIND KREJJH
BRIAN Haha yeah, come see the drama department’s new staging of Midsummer, where all the fae are played by folks dressed as Dwarnians!
STUDENT 2
Whoa, deep.
STUDENT 1
No it’s not. What does that actually say?
STUDENT 2
Please, you made me go to that experimental jazz thing, don’t pretend that you’re...
THE TWO STUDENTS TRAIL OUT OF EARSHOT.
BRIAN
(OUT OF BREATH) I should not have run. Hi.
SANA Hi Brian, great to see you again.
CAMPBELL Hey Captain.
SANA Hi. We don’t really have time to--
CAMPBELL I know. Should be mad you came back in the middle of all this, but God. Glad you’re here.
SANA Me too.
Arkady, are you coming?
ARKADY Campbell forgot to put the van in park. Hi, uh, everyone. Hi Violet.
ARKADY Missed you. So much.
VIOLET You too.
ARKADY Mind if I just. Don’t let go. For a while?
VIOLET Hold on as long as you want.
JUNIPER
Uh, hi. I’m--
ARKADY Juniper, I know. Good to meet you. Hey, Sana. McCabe. McCabe, how are--
MCCABE (NOT FINE) I’m fine.
SANA So what are we doing here, what’s the plan?
ARKADY
Everybody on the ship, I’ll explain.
STATIC
ARKADY So here’s the plan: we use Campbell’s van to power the university antenna, use the antenna to patch me into the emergency alert system, use the EAS to intercept anyone with a battery-powered radio or screen, and send a message to either find shelter or evacuate.
SANA Alright, we have a--let’s call it a setback. BRIAN What?
SANA The van engine won’t do it. For an antenna like this, we’d need a generator the size of…
CAMBPELL What?
SANA This ship.
KREJJH You’re saying...hook up the power from the ship life support systems…
SANA The Iris 2 is essentially a huge flying battery. I think I could do it.
CAMPBELL If you turn the ship into a generator, will you be able to turn it back?
SANA That part’s...harder.
VIOLET So, we’re taking a ship that could easily move sixty people out of the city, and tying it to the ground.
JUNIPER We have to do it, right? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think we’re gonna find something else that can handle this kind of power.
BRIAN This ship was our way out. Our jumpship can only carry three, and even that’s a tight fit.
CAMPBELL If we can use it to send a message to the rest of the city…
BRIAN Yeah. I know.
SANA So, we put it to a vote. All in favor of converting the ship, hands up?
FX: A RUSTLE OF RAISED ARMS.
SANA Thank you. All opposed?
MCCABE Can I abstain?
SANA Yeah. Thank you, for taking this risk, everyone. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
STATIC
Scene 12
FX: ENGINE ALTERATION SOUNDS
TWO SETS OF RUNNING FEET VIOLET We got the parts you asked for, Captain!
SANA Thank you, set them down over there.
ARKADY Will do.
FX: VARIOUS CLANKY PARTS ARE SET DOWN ON THE FLOOR.
CAMPBELL Where are we at?
SANA I’d say two hours to go. How’s the distraction?
ARKADY Uh, Brian is reciting a poem and Krejjh is ribbon-dancing? Kind of?
SANA Great, the busker ploy. Nobody looks hard at buskers, too afraid of being asked for change. Where’s McCabe?
VIOLET They said they wanted to scout the perimeter.
ARKADY In the dark?
VIOLET I think they just want space.
ARKADY Hmm.
CAMPBELL You need anything else? SANA Time.
STATIC
Scene 13
FX: FIDDLING WITH THE ENGINE--BOLTS LOOSENED AND HOOKUPS CHANGED, OCCASIONAL USE OF A BLOWTORCH
CAMPBELL Made you a sandwich.
SANA How?
CAMPBELL I keep a bug-out bag in the trunk. It’s extensive.
SANA Thanks. Set it there.
CAMPBELL When’s the last time you ate?
SANA (DISTRACTED) I don’t appreciate these trick questions.
CAMPBELL Sana, this isn’t you.
SANA If we don’t get the signal out in time because I was eating a sandwich--
CAMPBELL You can chew and work. Please.
SANA Alright.
STATIC
FX: THE ENGINE TINKERING NOISES ARE WINDING DOWN.
VIOLET Captain, what can I get you?
SANA Nothing. I think it’s done. I think we’re done.
CAMPBELL Half an hour ahead of schedule.
SANA
Get Arkady, she was gonna send the message.
VIOLET Arkady got tired of waiting for McCabe and took the van after them. Do we wait?
SANA Every second we lose--
CAMPBELL Yeah.
JUNIPER I can do it.
VIOLET Juniper, are you sure?
JUNIPER I interned for a news station, I’ve heard EAS bulletins all the time.
VIOLET How often?
JUNIPER On Lovelace, they ran it any time a suspect was on the loose. One time, it was, well--
VIOLET Me.
JUNIPER Point being, emergency alerts are firm in my mind.
VIOLET Have you heard the message for an air attack before?
JUNIPER No, I haven’t. And it’s been years since the war, I’m guessing people either won’t notice if it’s different or they’ll assume, I don’t know, the protocol got updated. I just need to sound like I know what I’m talking about. That’s half of broadcast journalism anyway. (PAUSE) Vi, I’m good at this.
VIOLET It’s taking a risk...
SANA That’s kinda what we do. Patching you over in three, two, one…
JUNIPER (DEEP BREATH) This is the Emergency Alert System. An aerial attack is imminent. Please evacuate the city in a calm and orderly manner. If you are unable to do so, please report to your nearest functional bomb shelter.
[THE SAME MESSAGE BUT IN SPANISH] "Este es el Sistema de Alerta de Emergencia. Un ataque aéreo es inminente. Por favor evacuen la ciudad de forma tranquila y ordenada. Si no son capaces de hacerlo, por favor présentense al refugio antiaéreo funcional más cercano."
FX: A SMALL CLICK.
JUNIPER This is the Emergency Alert System. An aerial attack is imminent--
SANA And we’ve got it.
JUNIPER (LETS OUT A HUGE BREATH) Oh thank god.
JUNIPER
Please evacuate the city in a calm and orderly manner.
Scene 14
FX: TRANSITION: WE ARE HEARING THE MESSAGE DISTANTLY. A VAN IS DRIVING.
JUNIPER If you are unable to do so, please seek shelter immediately.
FX: A VAN WINDOW IS ROLLED DOWN
ARKADY Looks like they got it working.
MCCABE Yeah.
ARKADY Get in the van, McCabe.
FX: MCCABE QUICKLY CLIMBS INTO THE PASSENGER SEAT IN THE VAN AND BUCKLES UP. THE VAN DRIVES.
ARKADY Thanks for--scouting the area.
MCCABE You’re not going to try to talk to me, are you?
ARKADY What?
MCCABE I know Captain Tripathi told your half of the crew what I did. I don’t need you of all people trying to contort what I did into some rebel fable. I’m alright, okay? Nobody needs to worry about me. I am--goddamn--fine.
ARKADY Fair enough.
THEY RIDE IN SILENCE FOR A BEAT.
ARKADY
You know, I’ve been losing time?
MCCABE What?
ARKADY
A few seconds, here or there. I’ll look up from where I am and not know how I got there.
MCCABE What does Violet think?
ARKADY Haven’t told her. Haven’t told anyone. It can’t be good and everyone’s already got their shit, so I’ve just been--trying to ignore it.
MCCABE (SNIDE) How’s that going?
ARKADY Turns out, it does something to you when you pack everything way down inside and pretend it can’t hurt you.
MCCABE
Don’t look at me like that. Everyone you know is on your side, you have no idea what it’s like to pull the trigger on your best friend.
ARKADY No idea--? McCabe, I thought you read my file. I was one of the goddamn Seven Sevens. Do you really think the Regime didn’t send any of ‘em after me when I went on the run?
MCCABE
How did you get through it?
ARKADY
I killed them, McCabe, I thought that was obvious.
MCCABE No, I mean, how did you--
ARKADY Drinking, mostly. Sarcasm. I’m not saying ‘handle it how I did,’ Jesus. Don’t do that.
MCCABE It feels so bad. How can it be the right thing when it feels this bad?
ARKADY Would you feel better if you’d let your friend take you all into custody, march you straight to Zone Z?
MCCABE I don’t know.
ARKADY See, I think you do know. Sometimes, you don’t get the luxury of a choice that’s gonna leave you feeling good. Doesn’t mean there aren’t degrees. People say “lesser of two evils” like it’s damning, but shit, less evil, always preferable.
THE VAN STOPS. HURRYING, THEY UNDO THEIR SEATBELTS, CLIMB OUT, AND BEGIN WALKING BRISKLY.
MCCABE There’s nothing you can say that will...
ARKADY I think...Sana would say it’s allowed to hurt.
MCCABE It doesn’t seem to need permission.
ARKADY Yeah.
Scene 15
VIOLET Hey, you’re back!
THREE SETS OF FOOTSTEPS INTO THE SHIP
VIOLET They’re here!
ARKADY What’s our next step?
CAMPBELL
Just got off short wave with the shelter on 29th and Jackson. It’s a no-go.
VIOLET What’s left?
CAMPBELL From what I hear, all the shelters are full up.
SANA In a way, that’s good news.
VIOLET
Just, not for us.
CAMPBELL Last resort time. There’s a stretch of subway in Uptown that doesn’t connect to anything, they never finished building it. A buddy told me you can get down there through the manhole cover on 2nd and Chavez. Assuming it’s not underwater and assuming he wasn’t full of shit--
SANA Yeah.
ARKADY Sana, keys!
(KEYS ARE THROWN AND CAUGHT)
MCCABE Where’s Juniper?
ARKADY And Krejjh. And Brian.
VIOLET Other room.
KREJJH Hey folks! You made it!
MCCABE What is that?
JUNIPER We took a brief detour to the school communications lab, did a little light--
MCCABE Looting.
KREJJH Yep!
SANA Okay, everybody in the van, now.
BRIAN Captain, would you mind dropping off me and Krejjh at our jumpship? We’ve got the beginnings of a plan.
STATIC
Scene 16
PIPER This is Radio Free Telemachus, reporting, as we always do, from somewhere inside the old wartime debris surrounding Telemachus.
KESTREL A wave of ships have begun to evacuate San Ramos, some heading off Telemachus entirely, and we’re starting to receive messages from people that’ve made it out.
PIPER Many say they heard an official emergency broadcast warning of an incoming offensive on San Ramos, and urging them away from the city.
KESTREL This contradicts our earlier transmissions, in which intercepted audio seemed to suggest a government conspiracy between Regime top brass and some Dwarnian officials.
PIPER Uh, our bad on that one. Maybe.
KESTREL
Maybe. We’ll continue to report on this story as it develops, and in the meantime, here’s “Moonchaser” by Creature to Creature.
And, we’re out.
PIPER I still think something’s up, Kes.
KESTREL Me too, but we need to head where the facts--
ELLA Incoming call from--unknown number. Incoming call from--unknown number.
Scene 17
KREJJH Ahoy hoy! Krejjh speaking.
PIPER Krejjh. The Krejjh.
KREJJH I’ve been waiting my whole life for someone to call me a The! Anyway, we’re just calling to say: special delivery!
BRIAN Krejjh, love, when you say that to people who don’t know you, it’s kinda ominous.
KREJJH Fair point! Look, we’ve got a doohickey that’ll beef up your signal to the rest of space, help us spread word of what’s really happening and why. We’ll deliver the booster to you and a full exclusive account of the evac. All we need are your coordinates. KESTREL How do we know you are who you say you are?
KREJJH Quick, ask us anything only we would know.
BRIAN I mean, Krejjh could do the Dwarnian J, but without some really specific training, it won’t land on your ear as anything special.
PIPER Tell you what. We tell you where we are, and in exchange, you do something for us.
BRIAN What can we possibly-- [pause] oh. How’s this. You need someone on the ground on Telemachus, reporting on the attack. We happen to know someone who hasn’t evacuated, with media training--
KREJJH Science Officer Liu’s gonna hate this.
BRIAN Juniper’s gonna love it. (PAUSE) We need this connection.
KREJJH Fair enough.
KESTREL Great, sending you our coordinates. Come drop off your booster and we’ll hand off some recording equipment for whoever Juniper is.
BRIAN So we’re flying back to San Ramos?
KREJJH Weren’t we always, bud?
STATIC
Scene 18
VAN DRIVING SOUNDS. WE’RE INSIDE THE VAN.
CAMPBELL Sixteen more blocks and we’re there.
ARKADY Does anybody else hear that?
JUNIPER Hear what?
ARKADY That humming. Dwarnian bomber ships make a really specific sound.
FX: A VERY FAINT BUT DISQUIETING HUM.
ARKADY Shit…
(VERY FREAKED OUT) Why do their bombs still sound...exactly the same?
VIOLET Arkady? (VIOLET’S VOICE BRIEFLY DISTORTS AS ARKADY ZONES OUT) Arkady?
FX: BOMBS FALL IN THE DISTANCE
ARKADY Drive.
_________
ELLA The Strange Case of Starship Iris, Episode Eight: Signs and Signals. Starring--
JULIA
Julia Morizawa as Piper Tanaka
LUCILLE Lucille Valentine as Kestrel Colvin
JACKIE Jackie Andrews as RJ McCabe
CINDY Cindy Chu as Violet Liu
RAE Rae Tay as Juniper
RICKY Ricky Harris as Ignatius Campbell
ANGELIQUE Angelique Lazarus as Dr. Robinson
RUKHMANI Rukhmani Desai as Sana Tripathi
JAMIE Jamie Price as Brian Jeeter
BRITTONY Brittony LeFever as Krejjh
ISHANI Ishani Kanetkar as Arkady Patel
ELLA Ella Whomersley as ELLA
L.W. L.W. Salinas as Madge
ISA Isa Ramos as Esperanza Vasquez
DORIAN Dorian as David Parker
YUUTO KUROKI
Yuuto Kuroki as Yuuri Nakamura
ELLA MOIRA SEET
Ella Moira Seet as the Customer
K K Watson as Student One
ARI Ari Delyne as Student Two
ERIN Sound design, mixing, and editing by Hannah Cross and Erin Baumann
DIRECTOR Directed by Rachel Kellum
JESS
Written by Jessica Best. Opening credits music is “Fear for the Storm,” written by Jessica Best and S.E. Winters and performed by Chiron Star with Erin Baumann on vocals. Ending credits music is “Rocket Science” by David Devereux of Tin Can Audio.