EPISODE 4: NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY (2)
X: [[Sounds relieved]] Oh my gosh. Thank you. This dude is a moron.
Council Member 1: [[Interrupts X]] We'll take that under advisement, Dr. Keane. Chen.
Cpt Miles Chen: Sir?
Council Member 1: Please prep your team to… Yes? [[An unseen individual murmurs something to him, and he frowns.]] Oh. That is unfortunate. [[To the others]] I've just received word that the goat in Experimental Cell A 23 has expired.
X: [[In the background]] Wait, you took Daisy off of the Cavatica? What else have you done in your infinite wisdom?
Council Member 1: [[To Dr. Keane; talks over X]] Dr. Keane, you mentioned earlier that your patient has been exhibiting symptoms similar to those of the goat. If we continue to hold her aboard the Enforcer One, will the same thing happen to her?
Dr Keane: Yes. Without a doubt.
Council Member 1: Change of plans. Chen, please dispatch this specimen to the Cavatica. I want her confined to the greenhouse and guarded at all times. There, she is to work with the engineering team to bring Ra Ten-Seventy-Nine back to normal levels. If at any time you suspect her of acting counter to the Caldwell Enterprises Handbook of Branding and Conduct, you are to dispose of her immediately. Is that clear?
Cpt Miles Chen: Yes, sir.
Council Member 1: Dismissed.
X: Good talk.
[[SFX: Chen's footsteps; double-latch sound as the gurney lock is released. He begins to wheel X away.]]
Council Member 1: Now, onto other matters. We have received disturbing intel that ...
[[SFX: Door opens and closes; they pass through.]]
X: Is that guy in charge of everything?
Cpt Miles Chen: Heh. No. But he thinks he is. Here -- [[Stops the gurney momentarily]] here's your recorder back.
X: Thank you. [[Raises it]] Day ten mark... something. I think… I think I'm going home.
[[Lowers the recorder, thinks.]] That guy told you that you couldn't talk. But there was nothing keeping you from talking. Why didn't you just talk anyway? Or at least tell him he's a boring person who asks bad questions?
Cpt Miles Chen: Yeah, that's called career suicide. I need this job.
X: Hmm. What did he do, to make you believe he's more important than you?
Cpt Miles Chen: He's higher up on the ladder.
X: What ladder?
Cpt Miles Chen: The… the ladder. The chain of command.
X: Oh. Like a food chain? So you're the rabbit and he's the wolf. He can decide your fate.
Cpt Miles Chen: Kind of. Yeah.
X: But biologically, you're both wolves.
Cpt Miles Chen: It's more like… [[He trails off.]] I don't know.
X: No, I get it. He's the alpha. Pack structure. Keeps decision-making streamlined and centralized, protects the weak. [[She thinks a moment]] He's getting soft, though. Comfortable. You could probably challenge him soon.
Cpt Miles Chen: ...Excuse me?
X: I don't know. How did he originally seize control? Did he best you in combat? I find that hard to believe.
Cpt Miles Chen: No. He… I don't know. He's been with Caldwell a long time.
X: Longevity doesn't mean he's fit to lead people, though. Or that he has the right to tell you whether you can talk. I don't understand. He's not smart or strong. [[Silence]] Hey, I'm smart. You're strong. Why don't we challenge him and rule in his stead?
Cpt Miles Chen: You're not still recording, are you? [[Suddenly serious; leans into mic]] I am certainly not thinking about supplanting anyone. That would be treason.
X: Culture of fear and assumption. Unspoken and unseen power structure. Interesting. [[She pauses]] Hey, Captain Miles Chen?
Cpt Miles Chen: Just… you can just call me Chen.
X: Oh. Chen?
Cpt Miles Chen: Yeah?
X: Can you… can you pull over? I need to throw up.
SCENE 4
[[SFX: Cavatica, Glasshouse]]
X: Wonders never cease. Can you hear that??? [[Holds up recorder; sound of glasshouse]] I'm back on the Cavatica!
I'm confined to the glasshouse, but that's fine with me -- I'm just happy I'm not strapped to that miserable gurney anymore. And I moved all of my stuff here anyway when I was preparing for the fleet's arrival, so I've got everything I need.
Speaking of the fleet, the 16 fighters have docked aboard the Ares, so the whole invading-fleet vibe feels a lot less threatening now. It's just the Enforcer One, the Ares, and the three satellites out there. You know, “just.”
I know they can still… what did that one bureaucratic guy say? “Dispose of me” at any moment? But at least the threat is less apparent. And seeing is believing. Or whatever. I don't know. Don't ask me to make sense right now. I'm all giddy.
Not that things are perfect. Perfection is an unattainable human construction, and a subjective one at that. The Cavatica is still totally falling apart. My new tattoo is all scabby and itchy. And I'm under the constant supervision of Officers Chance and Kai, both of whom had visited my cell aboard the Enforcer One, if you'll recall. Chance is the one who had offered to drug and torture me, and Kai is the one who perpetually wears the vacuum suit and doesn't have any breathing tubes.
(Also, I'm actually starting to wonder if it's not a vacuum suit but simply Kai's body.)
They're here to make sure I don't [[air quotes]] “try anything”, which is ridiculous, because of course I'm going to try things. I just know who I have to hide it from now.
Both of them are bunking in my… well, what used to be my cabin pod, along with some of the engineers and scientists who took up residence there while I was stuck on the Enforcer One. Apparently, a lot of them have left since this whole thing started.
And by “left”, I mean they've been relegated to the Enforcer One's infirmary.
But things are okay again, for the most part. And I'm okay. It hasn't even been that long and I'm feeling better already. I've only thrown up twice today, and the seizures seem to have stopped entirely.
The Cavatica is a little less fortunate, but I'm still optimistic that we can undo a lot of the damage that the Caldwell crew did. Not all of it -- I mean, Daisy is dead, and two species of bird are now extinct, along with one species of plant, seven species of insect, and one species of arachnid.
(Weirdly -- and terribly -- , all of the fish are thriving.)
But I can fill in the holes where they dug out samples, and re-root some of the plants they've torn out. I can clean out the aqueducts and re-graft the mosses. I can gather back all of the cell and tissue samples they took. I can recreate Daisy. Again.
I'll just have to wait a couple days to begin, since for now the Caldwell folks are pretty insistent that I focus my attention on bringing Ra back up to full health.
[[Smiles]] Speaking of which, I think he's glad I'm back. He sent out one of our special solar flares the moment I stepped back into my monitoring station. [[SFX: Charlotte's hydraulics approach]] His progress is also a lot more rapid than I thought it would be, especially given --
Charlotte: [[Interrupts]] I am also glad to see you.
X: Hey, Charlotte. [[Grins]] I heard you put some people in the infirmary. ...Also that you welded someone?
Charlotte: That is correct. I have also been disturbing their slumber. They jeopardize the integrity of our mission, so I jeopardize the integrity of theirs.
X: I don't blame you. This place is a disaster. Ooh. While I'm thinking about it, could you please bring me one of the Daisy embryos from cold storage? I think we're on number two-point-three.
Charlotte: Aural receptors malfunctioning. [[whirs away]]
X: Yeah, that's cool. I'll get it myself.
[[Smiles]] Back to normal.
[[SFX: Humans chatter in background as two scientists pass by.]]
-Ish.
SCENE 5
[[SFX: Cavatica, Glasshouse]]
X: Day 10,317, Hour 17:36.
Oh man. In all the confusion, I totally forgot to catch you up on the potato bug situation. Which is: they're gone. All of them. The terrarium is right where I left it, but… it's empty. No potatoes. No bugs. Just glass and air.
I tried asking a couple of the Caldwell scientists about them, but none of them remembered releasing, exterminating, or otherwise messing with the previously undiscovered insect species.
So that's fun.
And by fun, I mean that I might murder someone.
[[SFX: Gun priming, state right]]
Kai: [[Stage right]] Attempt to murder any Caldwell Enterprises personnel will result in immediate subdual.
X: Aaaah, no, that was a joke. I'm not… could you stop pointing that gun at me, please?
Kai: No murdering.
X: No. No murdering.
[[SFX: Gun de-charges/is holstered, stage right]]
X: Thank you.
Chance: [[From left]] Aren't you supposed to be fixing the sun or something?
X: Re-calibrating radiation emissions, and yes. But I'm on break.
Chance: I just can't believe you've got all this crazy tech in here and you're making cheese.
X: [[Snorts]] You're just saying that because you've never had cheese.
Kai: Cheese is nutritionally unnecessary.
X: Heresy. You'll be whistling a different tune after lunch tomorrow. Though… Kai, can you eat food if you're a… ?
Kai: [[Mildly]] A what?
X: Never mind. I think that was rude of me. I'm sorry. Just… ignore like 90% of the things I say.
Kai: I don't understand how that is possible.
Chance: And I'm not sure I want to eat the solidified remains of a liquid that came out of the internal organs of a goat.
X: Earlier you freaked out about the thought of eating something that had grown on a plant, and then you ate about 900 oranges. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.
[[SFX: In the distance, a deep rumble, then a human shout! Then footsteps running. An alarm begins to sound.]]
X: What now?
SCENE 6
[[SFX: Cavatica, Glasshouse. ALARMS blaring.]]
X: I'm going to fix this. I'm going to bring Ra back to full health, and restore the ecosystem in the glasshouse, and develop a new embryonic Daisy, and make Charlotte stop glitching, and find a way to re-attach the communications pod that just broke away from the rest of the Cavatica...
I'm going to fix everything.
[[SFX: OUTRO MUSIC]]
-Fin-