Receptacle Infinity Part I
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This is a story in 4 parts. Links forward and backwards will be provided at the top and bottom of each section. Comment below or tell me what you think at:
Before jumping into things, a quick synopsis:
Before we start...
This is a story told in the rough form of a screenplay - a movie.
If you've never read a screenplay, you'll need to know the following:
EXT - Exterior. Found in scene headers to indicate we are outside.
INT - Interior. Also found in scene headers, but to indicate we are inside.
(O.S) - Off screen. Found next to character names.
(V.O) - Voice over. Also found next to character names.
(CONT'D) - Continued. Used to indicate continued speech next to character names.
SUPER: - Superimpose. To indicate text is seen over images.
The rest should be self-explanatory.
Enjoy...
FADE IN:
EXT. CHAP SOLAR SYSTEM
An ugly, insect-like spacecraft sits calmly in space.
Sunlight streaks along its streamlined teardrop body, no thrusters, boosters, just two wing-like projections - hanging down from them are paper thin sheets that glow.
Above the stubbed point of a nose and cockpit window that wraps around the front of the ship, white capital letters read: BELL.
The spacecraft sits before a huge star. It dwarfs the ship, reducing it to a speck.
INT. BELL - KITCHEN
Simple, practical.
There's a table in the centre of the room, fridge-freezer in the corner, next to it a worktop and sink, inside, three plates, three forks and three cups.
INT. CORRIDOR
There's a continuous grey decor that stretches throughout the ship, from the kitchen in the back to the cockpit door at the front.
INT. COCKPIT
The glow of the star hung in looming space spills through the tinted windscreen, over the control panel, over screens, buttons, lights, over the hands of a man running diagnostic checks.
EDDY, twenty-something, sits between two empty seats either side of him.
BEEP
His screen reads: RETRY CALIBRATION
EDDY
Shit.
INT. OLLY'S ROOM
POW. KASPLAT. BOOM. SMACK. BUFF. Explosions. Punches. Spandex. Masks. Superheroes. Comic books, all hand drawn, plastered across the walls.
OLLY, around thirty, scribbles out drafts of a Hulk/Tiger/Robot thing - none of them quite there yet.
OLLY
Shit.
He rips the piece of paper from the pad, screws it into a ball and throws it over his shoulder, missing the bin.
INT. GARY'S ROOM
The grey heart of ship. Bare walls, small shelf, couple of books, a single bed.
GARY, mid forties, reads a worn down copy of The Hobbit.
KNOCK-KNOCK
GARY
(groans)
Shit.
He gets up.
INT. LIVING ROOM
The three sit on the sofa watching The Shining.
Gary's on the left end, ankle resting on his knee, arm on the back of his head, relaxed.
Olly's in the middle, feet stretched out in front, drink in hand, quite comfortable.
Eddy, on the right, watching avidly, is squashed between Olly and the arm of the sofa.
BOM
T.V (O.S)
Hello, Danny. Come and play with us.
All three smile.
T.V (O.S)
Come play with us, Danny. Forever...
Their eyes light up as the...
BRING
... piano is struck, the bloody massacre pops up, the scene shimmering from their eyes.
INT. KITCHEN - LATER
Sausage, eggs, bacon, toast. Breakfast.
Gary's plate is piled highest. He eats like there's no tomorrow.
Eddy's slightly put off by the display but says nothing.
Gary shoves a whole egg in his mouth, wipes the grease, and, fork pointed:
GARY
The Shining has got to be the best horror film ever made. I love the way the camera moves--
Eddy nods along, but Olly comes in with a plate, interrupting:
OLLY
The Shining is not a horror film.
GARY
Yes it is.
Olly takes a bite of toast, then leans forward to get into it.
OLLY
No, it's not. The Shining is a psychological thriller that illustrates family dynamic from--
Eddy scoffs.
OLLY
I'm serious. Look, just like Poltergeist, it plays with parental anxieties. Whereas the parents in Poltergeist are scared that they're losing their kids, Jack and Wendy are more afraid of having their kid taken away. You see...
Gary rolls his eyes.
OLLY
... Danny has the shining, the ability to talk to others with his mind. This is known to his parents as...
(waits for answer, not getting one)
... Tony. But, what Tony really is, or what he represents, is a child's ability to talk to others, to reach out for help. The film is best understood through Jack. Jack is your everyday man, suppressed and moulded by society. He has to be a father, he needs to provide for his family, he--
GARY
Hardly justifies him trying to murder his wife and kid.
OLLY
Jack doesn't try to kill his family, the family collapses under the pressure of social expectation. Jack is lashing out at society through his family - who he feels he is losing.
EDDY
But the film is about isolation.
OLLY
Being isolated with the people we are supposed to love, those who we live for. But, what happens when you feel you're not enough or that the ones you love are working against you?
GARY
(knife raised)
You get the axe out.
Eddy laughs along.
OLLY
Not an axe. And whatever happened to empathy? Again, Jack isn't lashing out at his family but at the society who labels them and brands him. I mean, the duality of man, right?
GARY
That was Full Metal Jacket.
EDDY
What?
GARY
The Jungian thing.
OLLY
People are contradictory by nature, it's just how we are, and apparently that's just unforgivable by the standards of society. That's all I'm trying to say. Anyhow, the only person Jack got to was the cook. His wife smashed him on the head with the bat, sliced his hand with the knife, took his kid--
GARY
Why are you defending this guy?
OLLY
(tuts)
I--
GARY
And what does 'contradictory' have to do with anything?
OLLY
Everything! Control is what people don't have, we live lives bound by definitions, words, other people, perception. How can we all be expected to survive under this tremendous pressure? We are told to be one thing and the polar opposite all at the same time. I mean, with all that tension, the mind being torn in two directions, 'do I try to be a successful writer?', or 'do I concentrate on my family?'... something will eventually have to give.
GARY
Wait, how does this not make it a horror film?
OLLY
The horror genre has been abused for forever, to call a film a horror movie is to say it's not worth anything more than a few scares.
EDDY
(agreeing)
Mmm.
OLLY
Exactly. Why would you insult The Shining? You need to understand--
GARY
Insult? Olly, you don't know anything about horror.
He scoffs.
GARY
The Shining simply is a horror movie whether you like it or not. The film may be about the horrors of a man's mind or maybe the family dynamic as you like to put it, but--
OLLY
Think of this: there's no such thing as fish.
GARY
(with a laugh)
What are you talking about?
OLLY
The Shining isn't like any other horror film.
GARY
Hold on--
OLLY
The Shining is actually Rebecca, but without the resolution of the last five minutes.
EDDY
(goes unnoticed)
What about Secret Window?
GARY
That means nothing. The--
OLLY
Hitchcock's films always had more to them... take The Birds for example, a ridiculous film, if not for the birds actually meaning something. Rebecca--
GARY
Mean what?
OLLY
I forget. Rebecca and The Shining just are on about the same thing is all I'm trying to say.
GARY
It doesn't retrac--
OLLY
Psycho! Psycho the best example! It's about marriage, about what women want and men need. Marriage is suppose to serve those two ideas, but for some, the wife just isn't as good as mummy and for others the security just isn't there. What I'm trying to say--
EDDY
What about Repulsion?
GARY
There's a horror film!
OLLY
Psychological drama.
GARY
Oh, come on--
EDDY
I hate eyeballs.
OLLY
(laughing)
What?
EDDY
The opening shot of that film is one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. The eyeball, it's... like an organism of its own. Hate them.
GARY
But, you've got two in your head.
EDDY
Have you ever watched your eyeball close up in the mirror?
GARY
No.
EDDY
It'll freak you out, man. Nasty thing. Moves with a mind of its own.
OLLY
How about the intro to Vertigo?
EDDY
Creepy, but not as powerful.
OLLY
You've lost it.
EDDY
I'm telling you, nothing scares me, but, the eyeball alone? Freaks me out.
GARY
I'm not sure if that's tragically ironic or that you're a nutcase.
He shoves another egg in his mouth.
EDDY
Well, the eyeball and that woman with the dancing and double joints and elbows and shit in Metropolis. Have you ever--
OLLY
Hold on. For a moment, please...
They all drop the talk.
OLLY
Tomorrow we go to sleep. Right?
EDDY
No, we just jump.
OLLY
We've jumped all the way here.
EDDY
So what? It's the quickest way, there's a jumper just on the other side of the star.
GARY
Not the quickest way.
OLLY
That's true, the closest exit point is much too far off, we'd be wasting our time.
EDDY
No.
GARY
I think we should sleep. Light push it. No jumpers.
OLLY
There you go. Two against one, tomorrow we sleep.
EDDY
Hold on if we--
GARY
Hey, Eddy.
Gary brings his fork up to his eyeball, threatening to touch it.
EDDY
Go ahead, I don't care if you stab yourself in the eye.
Gary drops the fork then picks up a fried egg to hold up to his face.
The yolk.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE - SAME
The star.
Bell slowly moves across it.
CUT TO:
Gary slits the yolk open, letting it ooze.
CUT TO:
The star.
Bell gone, its calm presence lingers.
INT. EDDY'S ROOM - LATER
One huge framed Mariah Carey poster from the early 90s. Below it, Eddy lies in bed staring up at the ceiling.
INT. GARY'S ROOM
Gary sits up in bed twisting the wedding ring on his finger.
INT. OLLY'S ROOM
Olly works on his comics - more blood, guts, guns, knives and tits.
He rubs his eyes then throws the pad in the top drawer of the desk next to his bed.
Before closing the drawer he straightens out the pad so it doesn't cover up a picture of a young woman. His MOTHER.
EXT. SPACE
Bell wanders in the starlit abyss.
INT. KITCHEN
Olly opens the fridge, it's empty. On the inside is a small control panel with a touch screen.
The screen has two options: VIEW BASKET and EDIT BASKET.
Olly taps EDIT.
He scrolls down a long list of food with dates and times next to them until he hits the bottom where there's a +, - and X.
He clicks X.
Two options come up: CANCEL and SUSPEND.
He taps SUSPEND.
Boxes meant for a date pop up, he starts punching in numbers.
INT. COCKPIT
Eddy sits in front of the control panel working on a screen. Olly walks in.
OLLY
How much longer?
Eddy gets out of the chair.
EDDY
Uhh...
(final taps)
... the course is set so we can go now.
OLLY
All right.
They both walk out of the cockpit, into:
INT. CORRIDOR
Eddy stops at his door.
EDDY
You now, they say the fumes are carcinogenic.
OLLY
Who's they?
Eddy shrugs.
OLLY
They also say that you can become immune to the anti-ageing chemicals.
EDDY
There was that guy who never woke up.
OLLY
Oh, yeah?
EDDY
The fumes put him in a coma.
OLLY
(shouting)
Gary?
(back to Eddy)
Seriously, who told you that?
Eddy gestures to Gary walking down the hall.
OLLY
Well...
(to Gary)
It's set.
Gary walks past Olly and...
THUD
... playfully punches him in the stomach.
GARY
Ok.
Olly punches Gary in the shoulder, arms raised, laughing, backing into his room.
Gary pulls his door shut, not interested in a play fight.
OLLY (O.S)
Bitch.
He walks on, knocking Eddy in the stomach.
GARY
Sweet dreams.
INT. EDDY'S ROOM
Changed, Eddy lies on the bed.
EDDY
Sleeper.
BEEP
The mattress drops down into the foundation of the bed.
BEEP
A glass lid seals Eddy in. He gets comfortable.
B-BEEEEE--THUNK
Eddy freezes.
B-BEEEEE--THUNK
EDDY
Cancel.
The lid retracts and the mattress rises. Eddy gets off the bed, inspecting it.
Finding no apparent errors he turns around to leave the room, but Olly walks in.
EDDY
Funny, huh?
OLLY
It would be, but mine's not working either.
Gary comes up behind him.
EDDY
It was you then.
GARY
I thought it was Olly.
There's a moment of silence as they look at each other.
OLLY
There's probably a problem with the pipes, I think--
GARY
It was you then.
OLLY
No.
EDDY
Can we skip this bit and get to the part where the sleepers are fixed?
OLLY
(tuts)
The particle crawlers may have overheated again, meaning the pipes have probably fallen loose or got tangled. I knew they would eventually.
Gary cocks his head in agreement.
INT. COCKPIT - LATER
Gary relaxes in the chair next to Eddy as he taps at the screen.
The screen reads: PARTICLE CRAWLER COOLING SYSTEM ERROR.
Eddy picks up a set of headphones with an attached microphone.
EXT. SPACE - SAME
Olly is in a green space suit, breathing heavily into the helmet (like in 2001...).
Inhale...
Exhale...
Inhale...
Exhale...
EDDY (V.O)
(Olly's helmet)
All right, cut it out.
Olly laughs.
OLLY
I'm telling you, next time we're getting red. Every time I say we're getting red and we never do.
EDDY (V.O)
How does it look?
OLLY
I'm not there yet.
Olly tugs on the line that attaches him to the ship, bringing him closer.
He floats toward the cockpit.
When he reaches it he taps on the window, smiling in like an idiot.
Eddy shakes his head. Gary ignores him.
OLLY
You know, I want thrusters too. None of this Spiderman shit.
He taps the one button on his helmet and places his palms on the ship, they bind like magnets.
Eddy gestures for him to move.
He starts pulling himself across the hull toward the wings - particle crawlers.
EDDY (V.O)
We're not getting thrusters.
OLLY
(sighs)
Do you know how big space is? Do you know how long it'd take ages to pollute it all?
EDDY (V.O)
How long till you get to the cooler?
OLLY
I've just got to get under the particle crawlers.
He reaches the wire and slides under.
Past, he pushes the button on his helmet. The tip of his finger glows bright blue.
He circles an area on the ship.
KATSHHHH
Gas is released, a panel opens up. Inside tubes are loose and wrapped around each other.
OLLY
Ok, I'm going to need you to turn off the cooler.
EDDY (V.O)
Give it two seconds, then go ahead. What's it look like?
OLLY
Yeah, just tangled. Circuitry's cut off.
A white tube within the panel deflates, Olly starts pulling wires around to untangle and then to slot them back into their sockets.
OLLY
Did I ever tell you about my great, great uncle? He invented the particle crawler.
EDDY (V.O)
(doesn't believe him)
Sure.
OLLY
I'm serious. My aunt used to tell me about it all the time. He was an engineer working for the government.
EDDY (V.O)
What one?
OLLY
The main one, back when there was only three. Anyway, my great, great aunt apparently gave him the idea for it.
EDDY (V.O)
How's that?
OLLY
He was working on particle manipulation. He aimed to resize atoms and harness their energy, like with the lithium-Q bombs. He wasn't interested in blowing things up though, he wanted to use particles swept up in solar winds as an energy source for a ship. He had the theory down, but when it came to testing, experiments would just explode. He couldn't properly harness the energy of particles as they shrank back down because he was trying to do it through a jet with trillions of them at a time.
EDDY (V.O)
Cooler needs to go back on.
OLLY
Give me a second.
He untwists the white tube and slots it into a holder along the panel door, keeping it in place.
OLLY
Turn it on.
The tube expands in the holder. Olly lets it go and closes the panel.
EDDY (V.O)
Ok, we're good.
He clicks the button on his helmet and starts making his way toward to the front of the ship.
OLLY
On my way back.
EDDY (V.O)
All right.
OLLY
Where was I?
EDDY (V.O)
Jets.
OLLY
Ok, trillions of particles would just blow the thing, so after years of funding, he's about to be shut down. He goes home and cries to his wife: 'Oh, Esmeralda, I've failed, you'll have to divorce me, I--
EDDY (V.O)
Esmeralda?
OLLY
Yeah, she was Spanish or Colombian or something. So, he's crying to my aunt and she's trying to comfort him: 'the funding will come through, I know you're capable, la-di-da-di-la'. He loses focus. He stops... he looks at her face. He hasn't seen her properly in months, he's been too busy with work. Looking at his wife's face, she's pretty old, as is he, her skin isn't great, her pores are pretty visible on her face, her nose especially.
EDDY (V.O)
My mother was like that.
OLLY
(tuts)
Yeah, well. He stops and he looks... 'Essy!'. He jumps up and kisses her face. Two months later we have the particle crawlers and he's a millionaire.
EDDY (V.O)
Wow. Hang on, where'd the money go?
No reply.
Olly reaches the cockpit window, staying out of sight.
Silence...
EDDY (V.O)
Olly?
BAM
He smacks the window, then, with a stupid grin on his face, he looks in.
No reaction. Eddy shakes his head. Gary's still ignoring him.
OLLY
(sighs)
Nothing?
EDDY (V.O)
All right, ten seconds.
Olly starts pulling his way under the ship.
EDDY
Why aren't particle crawlers called Esmeralda's then?
OLLY
You know, I don't know. Doesn't sound too fitting though, does it? He never let her get any kind of treatment though.
EDDY (V.O)
Huh?
OLLY
Like to fix her pores. Despite the millions he had he never wanted his wife to change.
A hatch opens up under the ship as Olly makes his way toward it.
EDDY (V.O)
My grandmother must have got facial reconstructive surgery every five years for the last fifty of her life.
OLLY
People don't know how to get old anymore. Except Gary.
Eddy snorts. Gary sighs. Olly pulls himself through the hatch laughing.
It closes.
INT. EDDY'S ROOM - LATER
Over the shoulder of an unknown figure:
Eddy's asleep in his sleeper.
A subtle creaking, like window wipers rubbing against a dry windscreen, fills the room.
INT. GARY'S ROOM
Over another unknown figure's shoulder:
Gary sleeps.
Deep breathing resonates all around, as if someone's mouth is right up to our ear.
INT. OLLY'S ROOM
Over a figure's shoulder:
Olly, in his sleeper.
The figure slowly disappears.
FIGURE (V.O)
(sharp whispers)
Olly... I'm... I'm here now.
EXT. SPACE
Bell glides through space, the particle crawlers glowing brightly.
They blink.
The ship begins changing direction, veering off to the side.
INT. COCKPIT
All the lights on the control panel start blinking.
The screens go off.
EXT. SPACE
Bell veers off course even more, coming around the star, a blue circle rising from its searing horizon.
Around the blue circle is a faint chrome outline. This is a jumper.
Particle crawlers beaming, Bell shoots around the star, squaring up to the jumper.
As she closes in, the blue circle starts to whirl. A purple flash floods out of a spot in the chrome rim, scanning the ship.
Bell makes contact with the jumper, gone.
EXT. SPACE
Bell emerges through a purple swirl.
As she moves away, the second jumper sends out a blue flash, scanning again.
Out into the emptiness Bell flits, her light quickly lost.
FADE TO:
INT. EDDY'S ROOM - MONTHS LATER
BEEP
A mist fills the container. A few moments later Eddy takes a deep breath.
EDDY
Open.
BEEP
The lid retracts and the mattress rises, as it does Eddy waves the smoke from his face.
He swings his legs off the bed, stretching his back.
INT. COCKPIT - LATER
Eddy checks the screens, still half asleep.
He notices.
He looks at the coordinates on the screen, freezing in disbelief.
EDDY
(tapping the screen)
What the fuck?
Fully awake he jumps out of the chair and runs out of the cockpit into:
EXT. CORRIDOR
He knocks on Gary's door. Before waiting for an invite to come in he pushes it open.
Empty.
EDDY
Gary?
GARY (O.S)
Gimme a second.
KATSHHH
Gary comes into the room, from the tiny bathroom, wiping his hands on his trousers.
EDDY
We are way out in a dark zone.
GARY
What!?
Gary rushes to the cockpit and Eddy to Olly's room. He pushes his door open to find him lounging on the bed.
EDDY
Get up, we ran way off course.
OLLY
(sitting up)
Huh?
INT. COCKPIT - LATER
Olly walks into the cockpit and takes a seat in front of the control panel with Gary and Eddy.
OLLY
What's going on?
GARY
It says right here, hours after we went down, Bell hit a jumper.
EDDY
We programmed the journey, I don't see how this could have happened.
GARY
(looking at his screen)
We went into a jumper way back in the Chap solar system and came out right on the belt of a dark zone called, o-seven-sixty-two. There's no other data, the tracking system was off the whole time.
OLLY
We've just been floating through space for months?
EDDY
The particle crawlers should turn off if we're overridden.
GARY
I don't think we were overridden, we drifted at first, as if pulled. We then went into a stage 1 light push, but it was cut short after couple of minutes.
EDDY
There's no way. I plotted a safe course.
GARY
System error. There must have been a malfunction.
EDDY
But then we should have drifted in more or less a straight line. We couldn't have made our way into a jumper.
Silence...
Olly turns his screen off and rubs his face, leaning back in his chair.
OLLY
How about we stop the ship and get something to eat? We can find a way back after. This is too much drama for an empty stomach.
INT. KITCHEN - LATER
A pack of chocolate is pushed through a purple screen in the back of the open cupboard. Olly takes it and waits for more to come.
Eddy stands next to him making a sandwich.
OLLY
O-seven-sixty-two.
EDDY
(not catching it)
What's that?
OLLY
The dark zone we're in, o-seven-sixty-two. I'd prefer something with more personality.
EDDY
Oh yeah, like what?
Olly takes a plate full of various crap and sits at the table with Gary - who's stuffing his face again.
GARY
Maybe something like Meg.
OLLY
No, not a girl's name.
GARY
Why not?
EDDY
Girl's names are for ships and weapons.
Eddy brings his sandwich over, taking his seat.
GARY
I had a guitar call Betty.
OLLY
Yeah, an axe, right?
GARY
Never cut anything down with it.
EDDY
Yeah, well, maybe you weren't that good.
GARY
I was good. Could blaze up the fretboard with Flight of the Bumblebee by the time I was fifteen.
OLLY
Still can't call the dark zone Meg.
GARY
Who said you get to name the dark zone?
EDDY
Who said dark zones can be named?
OLLY
Well, you've just got to assume they can be.
EDDY
This one's already got a name. What is it, two-ninety-six?
GARY
Seven-sixty-two.
OLLY
O-seven-sixty-two.
EDDY
There you go, the dark zone has a name.
OLLY
That's just a label scanners give unexplored places. If we can plant our flag somewhere -
GARY
We don't have a flag.
OLLY
Just a figure of speech.
EDDY
No, I think you actually need a flag.
OLLY
What does that mean? A flag is just a pattern on a piece of cloth, a logo for a country.
(empties a packet)
How about we make this our flag?
GARY
We don't own that company.
OLLY
Then we make our own. Got a piece of paper?
GARY
No.
EDDY
That's all besides the point, you can't just put a flag down and name a section of space.
OLLY
Is that not what humans do? We label matter with intangible ideas and abide by them as if a country really exists...
Gary sighs.
OLLY
... a country is a lump of land that people believe is under their control, you can't own things, especially with a name--
GARY
(as if he's stupid)
You've got a name!
OLLY
Exactly, people like to think they've got control so they throw themselves all over things with ideas.
GARY
And you want to throw yourself all over the dark zone?
OLLY
Well... yeah. All space started out as a dark zone.
EDDY
Don't you hear yourself though? This is a recognised dark zone. You can't patent a name for it or sign a birth certificate.
OLLY
I'm just saying, if we come across anything like a good looking moon or planet, I'm planting a flag and naming it.
EDDY
Like that'll mean anything.
GARY
We're not stopping to plant flags.
EDDY
We're stopped, we aren't going anywhere right now.
GARY
When we get going then. We definitely missed the job in Denton, we'll have to call in another, take a cut--
OLLY
It wasn't in Denton, it was in Hertyard.
GARY
Same area.
EDDY
There's like nineteen Dentons in the Loma area.
OLLY
That's because Ben Denton discovered it all. And if he could name stuff why can't I?
GARY
First of all, your last name? Weak. Second of all, there's no habitable planets here, that's why it's a dark zone.
OLLY
That's what everybody said about... Avabell and... Mixer and... even Tres.
EDDY
This is all a moot point. Just because you come here doesn't mean you'll be able to set up countries, the government will just sweep in and--
OLLY
Didn't happen to Denton.
GARY
Denton worked for the government.
EDDY
Everybody does.
GARY
Well... more so then.
EDDY
I give up, if we find a planet, go ahead, Olly can plant a flag. There isn't going to be any jobs available for months.
GARY
You say that like we don't need money.
OLLY
We'll become self-sufficient. We find a planet, plant a flag and live off the land.
EDDY
You need women.
OLLY
I'm not talking about colonisation.
EDDY
Sounds boring.
OLLY
What's that planet... come on I know this...
EDDY
Oh, defiance.
GARY
Defidence.
OLLY
That's right, Defidence. Ninety-eight percent of the population are women.
GARY
Ninety-nine.
EDDY
But, women don't need men.
OLLY
What does that mean? I got this far.
EDDY
But, a planet with a population of one-hundred percent men? Sounds kind of lame.
GARY
Insecurities.
OLLY
That's right. Insecurities.
EDDY
I--
GARY
Insecurities!
OLLY
Insecurities!
EDDY
I--
GARY & OLLY
Insecurities!
They laugh. Eddy sighs.
EDDY
Like any of you are ones to talk.
OLLY
Insecurities!
INT. COCKPIT - LATER
Gary and Eddy sit at the control panel tapping the screens.
GARY
Here, look. Power levels are low. The system hasn't been charging. The only way we can manage getting out of the dark zone is to push off in the right direction and float.
EDDY
(pointing at screen)
Wait, if we go near this solar system we can use the solar winds to charge and fly all the way.
GARY
(checking screen)
The star is a red dwarf, you can't be sure how strong the solar winds will be.
EDDY
Too risky?
GARY
No... I think it can be done.
Olly walks in with a tablet in hand.
OLLY
Three days if we push on out, we should be able to pick up solar wind when we cross the belt.
GARY
I reckon we should try the closest solar system. It'll take a few hours to get there but we should be out of the dark zone before the day is up if we then use a stage 5 light push instead of a 3.
OLLY
Where's the solar system?
EDDY
(pointing out the window)
Around there.
GARY
Helpful.
OLLY
What are the planets like?
GARY
We are not planting flags, we'll be out of the dark zone by the end of the day and then--
OLLY
It's hardly day.
GARY
It one o'clock.
OLLY
Doesn't make it day, where's the sun and the sky?
Eddy laughs.
GARY
Back on Earth where you left it.
EDDY
Homesick?
Olly snorts.
OLLY
This is home and I'm sick of it, I'll tell you that. We need some colour in here.
GARY
No paint's going to stick.
EDDY
How old is this ship?
GARY
(sighs)
Older than you.
OLLY
And you.
Gary just shakes his head. They all work on screen in silence a moment.
The ship creaks. Eddy looks around.
EDDY
I've never heard the ship creak before.
OLLY
You just never noticed.
EDDY
They say--
OLLY
They say--
GARY
Come on. What we doing?
EXT. SPACE - MUCH LATER
A faint speck creeps over a burning star. The particle crawlers light up.
INT. COCKPIT
A screen reads: PARTICLE CRAWLERS CHARGED.
EDDY
And off we go.
He taps the screen a few times.
EXT. SPACE - SAME
Bell turns around and starts off away from the star.
Out of nowhere a ship appears behind her.
It's cylindrical with a body made out of jutting scrap metal, the front face glowering, emanating a deep blue light.
It trails Bell.
INT. COCKPIT
Eddy squints in the corner of his screen where a small blue dot has appeared. He taps it, bringing up the radio.
EDDY
Hello?
