[A stutter and screech of radio static]
[Peaceful, calm music starts playing, like the start of a public service announcement]
[A new computerized voice begins to speak clearly]
COMPUTER VOICE
Humanity. Evolution’s finest creation. Since the arrival of the first Homo sapiens over a quarter of a billion years ago, the human race has ruled and shaped our home world and brought life and civilisation to dozens of others.
From those early pioneering attempts to settle on Mars, to the first successful colony on Europa, to our newest fully-terraformed planet Kepler, humanity’s will to survive and explore has triumphed over the vastness of space.
And now we will triumph over time, with the Ozymandias Project, governments, corporations and philanthropists working together to create a vast space station, to protect our way of life – forever.
[Music modulates to a more triumphant key]
Unlike a terraformed colony, the Ozymandias station will have no reliance on Earth or its outposts. Designed to function completely independently, the station will house 1.5 million artifically-grown bodies, kept in stasis and implanted with unique memory sets. Thanks to donors like you lending their skills and experiences, we can store all of the knowledge we need to repopulate the stars, should humanity fall. Imagine the memory of your hometown forming the blueprint for a new (inn?), or your grandma’s recipe nourishing a new civilisation. Thank you so much for contributing to the Ozymandias Project, the ultimate insurance of humanity’s legacy.
[Music fades out]
[A few more seconds of static]
[It shuts off.]
[We start from a recap of the last few minutes of the previous episode:]
[Ominous, distant whistling]
[Suddenly the whistles are howling all around us. Flares fire and guns clink]
[Distant voices, coming closer]
MIRA
It’s open, get inside!
ANYA
Drop the flares! Go!
[Footsteps, running]
[The noises start fading somewhat]
LUNA
Riley! The release, get it closed!
[A thunk]
[For a while, nothing but the sounds of everyone catching their breaths]
RILEY
(breathing hard) Did anybody bring a torch?
[A click]
[Suddenly, the panting stops]
[A few shocked exhales]
RILEY
Never mind.
[Two bangs on the metal from outside]
LUNA
(a panicked breath) Shit. Can they get through?
ANYA
Doubt it. They’re not great with locked doors.
ZACK
Phew. That’s a relief.
ANYA
No. They’ll look for another way in.
[Another bang from outside]
MIRA
How likely is it they’ll find one?
ANYA
Depends. Doesn’t look like they’ve been in here before, so if there is one, it’s probably well-hidden. But they’ve probably never had a reason to really look before.
LEVI
Well, in that case, we’d better –
[Beat]
Wait. That pod! Is that really –
MIRA
(awed) The Commander!
LUNA
They’re real?
(remembers herself) I mean – Sorry, Mira, I know you all have this “pull” to the Commander. I just didn’t expect it to be so… literal. Like, there’s literally A Commander.
[As they talk, we can still hear the distant noises of whistlers outside the door]
ANYA
Maybe. Maybe not.
MIRA
What?
ANYA
Well, it’s a fancy pod. Says “Commander.” But we don’t know who’s in there. Maybe no one.
LEVI
Let’s find out then, shall we? (inhales) Mira?
MIRA
Right.
[Footsteps, becoming faster as she walks over]
[She taps a screen two times]
[An immediate ‘EHHHHHHH’ error, as from when everyone first woke up]
[A few more taps]
MIRA
It’s broken.
[Levi sighs]
MIRA
Same as the others. Argh!
[She kicks the pod]
LEVI
(sighing) I guess we should’ve seen this coming.
ZACK
Maybe we can do something. To fix it, I mean.
RILEY
Didn’t we set everything on fire last time we tried?
ZACK
Then let’s be a bit more careful. We have time.
ANYA
Assuming the whistlers don’t get in.
ZACK
Yes, okay, assuming that. – But look at this place! There must be something we can do.
RILEY
We might actually be able to access the temperature controls from one of these command centers –
LUNA
But it would keep them away, right? You said they avoid the heat.
ANYA
Sure. Haven’t found a temperature that kills them yet, though. Not one that wouldn’t kill us too, anyway. So we’ll probably have to keep that door closed for a while, to be safe.
[Beat]
Kind of safe.
LEVI
Riley. Why don’t you and Anya see if you can take care of that, while Mira and Zack work on the Commander’s pod? Er, Luna and I will look for any way the whistlers might get in, and see if we can barricade them somehow.
MIRA
Mmm. (a little distant) It’s – better than no plan at all.
LEVI
(smiling) Good.
[Footsteps as they disperse. we follow one group to the command center:]
[Machinery working]
[A button press]
COMPUTER VOICE
Please enter the command key.
RILEY
(surprised) How did you do that?
ANYA
Just turned it on. Stuff still works, sometimes.
RILEY
Right. What’s the command key?
ANYA
Ooh, don’t know. Never been asked for one before.
RILEY
(calling) Mira, can you have a look at this?
[A few taps on the screen]
MIRA
(calling) On my way!
[We move over to where they are working on the pod. It is behaving like the far-future equivalent of a home printer.]
(closer) Zack, are you going to be alright with this?
ZACK
I think so. I should be able to stop it catching fire again, at least.
MIRA
Please.
COMPUTER VOICE
(distant) Please enter the command key.
[Mira walks off. We stay with Zack:]
ZACK
…Right. I think I’ve made it onto the medical override menu. So… if I can just figure out how to…
[A few soft beeps, a tone different from the taps]
[An ‘EHHHHHHH’ error noise]
Whoops! Okay. Er… I can just go back and then just, er –
[Soft beeps again. They aren’t interrupted this time.]
Yes! Got it!
[The beeps stop. No error noise.]
Hey everyone, I think I’ve done it!
MIRA
What?
[Footsteps as people hurry over]
[Machinery starts to click within the pod]
LEVI
That’s great!
ZACK
Yeah! It’s initiated the wake-up procedure, so just give it a minute and…
[More soft beeps]
They’ll be here. I guess. …The Commander.
[A beat as machinery works]
ANYA
Huh! Never thought I’d see the day.
MIRA
I thought you said you didn’t feel the pull anymore.
ANYA
I didn’t! But it’s right here. Hard not to feel something.
RILEY
Yeah. It’s… (sighs) It’s a lot.
ANYA
Still, looks like it’ll be a few minutes yet and we’ve still got work to do.
[Footsteps as they disperse. We follow to the temperature console:]
LUNA
Hey. I haven’t found any vents or anything, but there’s a smaller door round that corner we should check. Any luck with the console?
RILEY
Nope.
[They tap on the screen:]
COMPUTER VOICE
Please enter the command key.
RILEY
(simultaneously, mocking:) “Please enter the command key.”
LUNA
(sympathetic) Yeah, that sounds frustrating.
RILEY
(matter-of-fact) Yeah, it is.
LUNA
There is one other thing I found.
RILEY
What?
LUNA
Weapons.
ANYA
Wha– weapons? (excited) Where?
LUNA
All different kinds. At least some guns, and I think maybe some explosives? There’s caches of them. (cloth rustles as she points:) One in the floor over there, and another hidden in that wall. There’s other stuff too: maintenance supplies and emergency rations, that sort of thing.
ANYA
Oh, that’s gooood. We should stock up!
LUNA
But – (a troubled exhale) Why are there so many here? Who were they supposed to be firing at?
RILEY
We can figure that out later. After we make sure that the other door’s properly blocked. Come on.
[We move back to the Commander’s pod]
[More machinery noises are clicking inside it]
ZACK
Something’s not right. There should be movement by now.
MIRA
Are you sure you activated it correctly?
ZACK
I’m pretty sure. …Yes, I’m sure. It definitely responded. It’s doing something, just not necessarily the right thing?
– We need to get it open.
LEVI
Isn’t that dangerous?
ZACK
If the person’s still in stasis, sure. But not as dangerous as leaving them in there if it’s just a faulty lid.
LEVI
I think Luna found some first aid stuff. I’ll go grab it, just in case.
ZACK
Thanks.
[Footsteps as Levi hurries off]
Mira? Ready on three?
MIRA
Right. One, two, three.
[Cloth rustles as they pull at the pod]
[Several strained grunts; nothing happens]
[Footsteps as the others approach]
ANYA
What are we doing?
LEVI
Zack thinks the Commander might be waking up but stuck in there. We’re trying to open it up. Give us a hand?
MIRA
Right. Everyone, lift on three. One, two… three!
[More straining as everyone pulls]
[Metal scrapes as the pod starts to open]
[Electric sparking; the pulling stops]
[Everyone starts to cough in the air of the newly-opened pod]
[Silence]
LEVI
What happened to them?
ZACK
(blankly) Stasis failure.
[A pause]
MIRA
Fuck!
LUNA
I’m sorry, Mira.
[A rustle of fabric there]
RILEY
How long have they been – like this?
ZACK
It’s hard to say without knowing what went wrong with the pod systems. Maybe a decade? Maybe centuries. Possibly a millennium.
LUNA
They look so old.
ZACK
Everyone does at this stage of decomposition. They might have aged and died naturally without ever waking up.
Or… the life support systems might have cut out suddenly –
ANYA
You said the lid was stuck. Maybe someone else woke them up first! Maybe –
MIRA
(cutting in, quietly) Maybe… we should just try to figure out what to do next.
[Beat.]
LUNA
We could bury them. Back on the farm?
MIRA
Why?
They would’ve hated the farm. It would represent a mission failure. This is where they belong to.
LEVI
We should leave them here. Let them stay at rest like they have been.
RILEY
We broke the pod.
ZACK
Mmm. We could fix it, maybe. Not well enough for stasis, but well enough for–… Well. A coffin.
LUNA
We’ve got tools. I think I saw a welding torch somewhere –
MIRA
Wait. The badge!
LEVI
You don’t think you need the –
MIRA
(speaking over him) Riley, that data port from the command console.
RILEY
No, I – I think you’re right. The command key!
MIRA
Maybe it’s a physical key.
ANYA
Someone should take it, then.
[A long pause.]
MIRA
Right. I… (quiet, unsure) I guess I’ll, um…
[Someone shifts, cloth rustling]
[A noise of disgust – from Luna]
[A tearing sound]
LUNA
Ugh.
[She hands it to Mira:]
Here.
MIRA
…Thanks.
[Footsteps as she departs]
[Riley takes a bracing breath]
RILEY
Levi, you saw them, right? The scratches on the inside of the lid? Do you think that –
LEVI
What I think is we’re better off not pointing them out to Mira. She’s got enough on her plate.
COMPUTER VOICE
Please enter the command key.
Welcome, Commander.
RILEY
Yes!
[Footsteps as the others hurry over to look]
ANYA
The whole station’s on here! It’s even bigger than I thought!
LEVI
We saw a layout a while back, but the scale wasn’t clear. How big are we talking?
ANYA
Vast! At least 20 miles in each direction.
[Levi makes a shocked noise]
MIRA
Right now we need to focus on this room. See if we can get the temperature any higher?
ANYA
(a little singsong) Aye-aye, Commander.
MIRA
Don’t call me that. The Commander’s dead.
[High, solemn music, interspersed with sounds of glass clinking on glass]
ZACK
Is it hot enough yet?
ANYA
Depends how much you want to keep the whistlers away.
ZACK
(so-so) Eh. Pass us some more water, then.
MIRA
Careful with those. We don’t want to run out.
[As she speaks, Zack tears off a water pack.]
LEVI
We’ve got loads in here. And we should be able to find more.
[Zack drinks the water.]
MIRA
You don’t even know where we’re going next.
LEVI
I mean, we’ve got floor plans for the whole station. We can probably even find other hydroponics bays, like the farm.
MIRA
Have you actually looked at the schematic, Levi?
[More whistlers howl in the distance]
LEVI
Not yet, I’ve been reading th–
MIRA
Well – it’s not good.
RILEY
About half the station’s showing some sort of problem, and there’s a whole section of it that should be there but just isn’t giving any kind of status signals at all… (sigh) We think it might be gone.
ANYA
Could it have been hit by something? An asteroid, maybe?
LUNA
Is that what’s gone wrong here? With the station, I mean. However it was meant to work, it obviously wasn’t… this.
LEVI
That’s what I was saying. I’ve been reading… well, briefings, I suppose, for the command crew. Whoever built this station left instructions. Apparently, we – everyone, I mean, all the people on the station – were supposed to wake up when a signal stopped reaching us from Earth.
MIRA
Well… Are we still getting the signal?
LEVI
No. The last time the station picked it up was over six thousand years ago.
[Beat.]
ZACK
Maybe the receiver’s been lost? It could’ve been in that missing section.
LEVI
It’s possible. But the central computer’s been sending its own signal to Earth, and… that’s still going.
RILEY
So, it’s more likely that there’s just – no one left to answer?
LEVI
Maybe they… just can’t hear us, or maybe they can hear us, but can’t get here. Or – (sighs) yeah. Maybe there isn’t anyone. …We don’t know.
ANYA
That signal could be what’s attracted the whistlers!
MIRA
You said there were instructions.
LEVI
Yes, but I don’t think they’re of much use to us.
MIRA
(a rustle as she pushes past him) Let me see. (a few taps on the screen) What are these? Contingency plans?
LEVI
Instructions for different scenarios.
MIRA
Computer: find instructions for an inoperable station.
COMPUTER VOICE
Sorry, file not found.
MIRA
Find instructions for minimal crew.
COMPUTER VOICE
Sorry, file not found.
LEVI
They don’t call us “crew.” You know what they call us? All the way through? We’re not people, or citizens, or inhabitants… we’re “units.”
[Mira lets out a strangled breath]
MIRA
(distasteful) Computer… Find instructions for – (falters) minimal units.
[Music starts playing, quiet and haunting]
COMPUTER VOICE
In the event that identified suitable habitat is insufficient to support full contingent, assign minimal units for termination according to the following schedule until sustainable population is reached.
Terminate units with designation DY and values below 50.
Terminate units with designation DX and values below 50.
Terminate units with designation CY and values below 55.
MIRA
(forcing out the word) Stop!
COMPUTER VOICE
Terminate u–
[Mira hits something. A beep. The voice, and the music, stop.]
[Silence.]
[Luna inhales:]
LUNA
(a little hoarse) What designations are we?
LEVI
Well, I’m a CY. Don’t know what my “value” is, though.
ZACK
I’d rather not know.
LUNA
What were the other scenarios?
LEVI
I didn’t look at all of them. Things like suppressing dissent on the station, what to do if we encountered “alien life sufficiently sentient to hold inviolable right to habitation”…
RILEY
Let me guess. It wasn’t going to be “inviolable.”
LEVI
Mmm.
LUNA
That’s horrible.
ZACK
…Maybe it’s for the best this place never worked.
ANYA
I guess that explains why there’s so many weapons here. They’re better than anything in the rest of the station, too – we should take as many as we can. Now.
LUNA
I don’t want to touch those things.
ANYA
We’re being hunted by monsters.
LUNA
(annoyed) I haven’t forgotten!
RILEY
She does have a point, Luna.
MIRA
It would be good to have some extra defense against the whistlers.
ANYA
Oh, we can do better than that. Look here!
[Cloth rustles & footsteps as she walks over to the console]
Computer, show station schematic with current temperature.
[The computer beeps twice]
ANYA
See here? There’s a sort of five-way junction. Not that far from the missing sectors. It’s much colder than anywhere else on the station, and the status readings are all over the place.
MIRA
You think there’s whistlers there?
ANYA
I think it’s their nest. Where the queen lives.
LUNA
(fascinated) They have a queen? Like bees?
ANYA
Yeah! Or ants. At least I’m pretty sure they do. I’ve never seen her, but – it would make sense with what I’ve seen of the rest of their social structure.
LEVI
Well then. (cloth rustles as he inhales) We’d better stay as far away from there as we can.
ANYA
What? No! I mean we should go there. We have decent weapons now – explosives! If we could kill the queen and destroy the nest…
LUNA
(horrified) You want to wipe them all out.
ANYA
Yes! Exactly.
LUNA
(furious) Did you not just hear any of what’s been going on? You’re just like the people who built this place, thinking they get to decide who counts. What the value of a life is.
ANYA
That’s not the same! Not even a bit the same. This isn’t the whistlers’ home, it’s ours. And they’re the ones killing us off. I’d expect you to see that more than anyone!
RILEY
She’s right, Luna. We could actually make this place safe.
MIRA
Anya, how many whistlers do you think are in this nest?
ANYA
A h– (pauses) I’ve never seen it, so I can’t say for sure… I reckon a few hundred.
[A long beat]
MIRA
It’s too dangerous.
ANYA
Don’t any of you understand what they do? They don’t just sit in their nest waiting for prey to walk into it. They’ll get all of us eventually. If we can’t find a way to hurt them back.
LEVI
We don’t know that. There are places we can defend. We could go back to the farm.
MIRA
And what? Live out our lives like the people buried there?
LEVI
No, like the people who lived there. I was just suggesting an option. You’re free to put forward your own idea.
MIRA
I’m thinking.
[Footsteps quietly departing in the background]
I just need some time to come up with a plan…
[Quiet, calm transitional music]
[We’ve followed Zack and Luna, who wandered off]
ZACK
You okay?
LUNA
Hm? Yeah, I’m fine.
[She considers for a second]
Actually, I don’t really know how I am.
ZACK
Yeah. This is… (he exhales) It’s a lot to take in.
In a way, I suppose it’s nice to have options. But none of them are really –
LUNA
It’s not that. (sighs) It’s more…
You know it was hard for me, waking up. You all knew who you were immediately, but I had to have it explained. And it took a while to make peace with having memories that was sort of hand-me-downs. I still felt like a person, though. And now. Knowing exactly how we’ve been – manufactured, made to the specifications of someone else’s scenarios…
[She sighs again]
ZACK
Yeah. But then, if you think about it… isn’t everyone?
LUNA
Oh – I know this must be just as hard for all of you, too –
ZACK
No, no –
LUNA
– I didn’t mean –
ZACK
– I mean, isn’t everyone made, even back on Earth? When people have a baby, they don’t create a fully formed person, but they try their best to shape one. They probably have a life in mind for their child, even if it’s just to be happy and loved.
Having expectations put on you doesn’t make you inherently different to most people. And if it helps, I think the people who built this place would have hated how we turned out.
[He snorts a little at his own joke]
[Luna laughs, genuine:]
LUNA
Ahaha! Bet they would.
ZACK
I just mean that, maybe we’re all the product of other people, but that doesn’t mean that other people control who we are. I can remember teaching a lot of kids in loads of different places, and every single one of them surprised me. They all had people trying to mold them, and at some point, they all did something we hadn’t accounted for. And whoever decided I should remember all that, didn’t account for the five of us waking up together. Or for Anya spending decades on her own.
LUNA
I guess not. I just really hate the thought of it. What we were meant to do… The more I see of it, the more I can’t stand it. How could I be part of a society that would do – all this, let alone resurrect it?
ZACK
(softly) It’s a hard thing to accept.
LUNA
When we were back in the farm, I collected seeds from all the different plants. I’ve still got them in my bag. I thought that maybe, someday? I could grow them somewhere new.
But now. I just wonder whether we ever found life on any of the worlds we terraformed. And I can’t remember. Because they didn’t think I needed to know. They thought I needed the desire to take life from one place and grow it somewhere new, and that’s exactly what I have. What I am.
And I hate it.
ZACK
And that’s why it’s not who you are. Because you have that hate in you. They’d never let you keep that if they had a choice.
All those contingencies, all those scenarios were because whatever they called us, they knew they were making people. And people are messy, and weird, and unpredictable… Maybe we remember some things they wanted us to and we have some skills they gave us, but nobody who lives thousands of years ago gets to decide who we are or what we do now we’re here!
MIRA
(voice coming from a distance away) I didn’t say that, Levi! I said you could be a little bit patronising sometimes.
LUNA
Yeah. Thanks. You’re right.
[The quiet music from before fades out]
[We move back to Mira and Levi, still arguing:]
MIRA
Yes, Levi, I know how dangerous it is. Every possible thing we do at this point is dangerous.
LEVI
That doesn’t mean we can just disregard the risks!
MIRA
I’m not disregarding them–! (sighs in frustration) I just think it’s worth considering!
[Levi also sighs in frustration]
ANYA
So my plan’s too dangerous, but you think getting inside a millennia-old metal box and flinging yourself into space is (mockingly) “worth considering”?
MIRA
It’s not a metal box. It’s an escape shuttle.
RILEY
But it would be flinging ourselves into space.
[Approaching footsteps]
ZACK
What’s going on?
MIRA
We found a shuttle bay on the station plans. Status updates say most of them are still functional.
ZACK
That’s great!
ANYA
Is it? What’s out there!? We’re a lightyear away from the nearest star system, and the star charts are all fried, so we have no idea which one it is.
ZACK
So it could be Earth, or Lagadha, or anywhere.
LUNA
Or it could be nothing but rocks and gas.
ZACK
Do the shuttles have light speed?
LEVI
We don’t know yet.
ANYA
How are you even thinking about this!? We’re already somewhere we know we can survive. And now we have a way to take care of the whistlers!
MIRA
And by “take care” of them, you mean feed ourselves to them.
ANYA
Oh, this is ridiculous.
LEVI
Anya’s got a point. Like, we know we can survive here. We can even focus on something other than survival.
MIRA
We’re not going back to the farm, Levi.
LEVI
Mira, you can’t make that call for everyone.
[Departing footsteps in the background]
You’re not in charge just because you’re holding the Commander’s badge.
[We move a distance away from the others, to the two people who wandered off:]
ANYA
Riley, I know you understand. We need to destroy that nest if we want to survive here.
RILEY
(sighs, troubled) I don’t know. I mean, you know whistlers better than anyone…
ANYA
And I say this needs to happen! One swift blow and it’s all over!
RILEY
How can we make them understand that, though?
ANYA
They never will. They’re so obsessed with what the weapons were supposed to do, they can’t see what they could do for us now!
RILEY
So… (sighs again) What do we do?
ANYA
We do what they need us to do. What they can’t do themselves!
RILEY
No, I can’t just leave them. What if something happ–
ANYA
Look at them, Riley. (lower) They’re scared. They can’t bring themselves to do what needs to be done!
RILEY
I – (sighs) I don’t know – I’m scared too.
ANYA
Then face those fears. You’re the only one I trust to have my back.
[We cut back to:]
LEVI
I don’t see anything wrong with that! There’s beauty in what you think of as a small life, Mira.
MIRA
I’m sure there is. But we won’t get to have one no matter what we do! And I don’t want to be just another skeleton or mummified corpse to be found by the next unlucky souls who wake up there.
ZACK
Is this still about the farm?
LEVI
No!
MIRA
(simultaneously) Yes!
LUNA
Look, I loved the farm, but I don’t think I could live my whole life there.
LEVI
We could live –
MIRA
Wait. Where’s Riley? And Anya?
ZACK
I don’t know. I saw them talking a minute ago.
MIRA
(to herself) Shit. (louder) Is that so much to ask, that people stop just sneaking off?
[She sighs angrily]
Come on. Before Riley gets themselves eaten.