Singularity – Episode 5 – Mutiny Pre-empted

Below we present the complete text of “Mutiny Pre-empted”, episode 5 of our new Space Opera; Singularity. This is a brand new (unpublished) series (featuring Sarah Tanner and Jeff Chase). If you would like to see these new stories advance from being drafts into polished publications then please consider supporting us by purchasing one or more of our previously published titles. Every sale directly funds the production of new stories.

SINGULARITY

EPISODE #5 – Mutinee Pre-empted

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover Illustration by Miyukiko

Unedited Draft

Copyright 2016 Philip Craig Robotham

Creative Commons Attritubution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Edition .

This play is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) International license. This play may not be commercially reproduced, performed, or sold. Non-commercial production, performance, and reproduction is allowed under this license so long as attribution is maintained. No derivative content or use is allowed. It can be freely shared in its current form (without change) under this license. If you would like to purchase one or more copies of this work (for your own personal non-commercial use, or to help financially support the author) then please return to http://www.weirdworlstudios.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Serial #3: Singularity

Sarah Tanner, Jeff Chase, and their interspecies team of alien crewmen have been placed in charge of the latest dreadnaught to be added to the fleet of the Solar Patrol. Charged with protecting Earth’s precious supply of the mineral essential to enable the use of wormhole technology they set out for Vega Station, the asteroid mining and research station where the ore is obtained. On arrival they find the station has been destroyed, but that those who worked there had also uncovered a key scientific breakthrough that could alter the outcome of the ongoing war with the Council of Six. Desperate to get the data safely back to earth, their ship is set upon by a pirate fleet and blasted into an alternate space that is home to a hostile intelligence. In order to get home with the data our heroes will need to survive encounters on the edge of a black hole, fight robotic surgeons, engage in a contest of wills with a dangerous artificial intelligence, and resist a new and insidious form of technological mind control. Can they escape from the starless space into which they have been thrust and return home with their discoveries intact? Tune in to “Alone in a starless sky” and be astonished as an ancient alien space-station is revealed to hold the key to the survival and victory of the human species.

Episodes in the Host Your Own “Old Time Radio Drama” series are designed to provide a fun dinner party experience for 6–8 participants. Read along, taking on the role of one or more of the characters in the story, and listen as the exciting drama unfolds. This is the theater of the mind, where the special effects are only limited by your imagination, and your participation will build a memory that you’ll treasure for years to come.

SINGULARITY

CAST LIST

NARRATOR: The Narrator

SARAH TANNER: Captain in the Intelligence Directorate

JEFF CHASE: Lieutenant in the Intelligence Directorate

VASH: Weapons Officer

TERG: Communications Officer

VULGE: Navigation Officer

BREX: Science Officer

JAX: Arcturan Mutineer

NIX: Arcturan Mutineer

STYLLEX: Arcturan Mutineer

EN#1: Solar Patrol Member

EN#2: Solar Patrol Member

EN#3: Solar Patrol Member

TOMKINS: Solar Patrol Member

A.I: Insane Artificial Intelligence

SFX: SFX operator (1 required)

SCENE 18: (INT) SPACE STATION (VASH, TERG, VULGE, JEFF, ENSIGN#1, ENSIGN#2, ENSIGN#3)

990. MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH.
991. NARRATOR: The disastrous mission to investigate the sudden silence from Vega Station, a remote mining outpost that is Earth’s sole source of a mineral essential for space travel, continues.  Sara Tenner, Jeff Chase, and their interspecies crew have been thrust by an engineering accident into an alternative, starless space in which a spacestation sits on the edge of a giant blackhole.  Investigating the station in the hope of finding materials to make repairs, the crew discover an artificial intelligence that proves to be hostile.
992. SOUND: PNEUMATIC DOOR CLOSING – OVER.
993. SOUND: LOW HUM OF SPACE STATION – ESTABLISH AND FADE OUT.
994. JEFF: All right. Is everybody here.
995. EN#1: Here lieutenant.
996. EN#2: Here.
997. EN#3: On your six.
998. VULGE: I’m here.
999. JEFF: What’s your feeling, Vulge.
1000. VULGE: The atmosphere matches our own. I recommend you all keep your respirators on though.
1001. JEFF: Hey, wait. Why are you taking yours off?
1002. VULGE: It messes with my senses. I need to… (SNIFFS TWICE) That’s better. This way I’ll be able to track Vash and Terg.
1003. SOUND: GROUP STARTS WALKING AND CONTINUES – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
1004. JEFF: I didn’t know you could do that?
1005. VULGE: Do what?
1006. JEFF: Track people by their scent.
1007. VULGE: Oh that. It only works with those I’ve gotten to know really well. It’s a survival instinct and feature of the females of my race. We can track our young (and other family members) by scent. You don’t do this?
1008. JEFF: No, but my mother was part bloodhound. She could always tell when I’d been out drinking.
1009. VULGE: Well, then, you’re at least familiar with the concept.
1010. JEFF: Uh… yeah. So, does that mean we’re your family now?
1011. VULGE: No. It’s more like you’re a bunch of adopted idiot children who constantly need care from a responsible adult and I’ve been appointed your keeper.
1012. JEFF: That’s a pretty noble way to view it… I guess.
1013. VULGE: On my world, it’s a punishment meted out to the weak.
1014. JEFF: (MILDLY DISAPPOINTED) Oh. (BEAT) I guess there’s still a lot we don’t know about each other.
1015. VULGE: Yes. Now shut up a minute, I need to focus. (SNIFFS TWICE) This way. They seem to be heading towards the center of the station.
1016. JEFF: Did they encounter anything along the way?
1017. VULGE: Not so far… but something strange happened.
1018. JEFF: Okay… any idea what?
1019. VULGE: It’s odd. They were tense coming in, not afraid, but nervous and primed.
1020. JEFF: You can smell that?
1021. VULGE: But then, about here, something changed. They relaxed, and they all started walking with the same gait, as if marching.
1022. JEFF: What the…
1023. EN#1: There’s something up ahead lieutenant.
1024. JEFF: What’s there?
1025. EN#1: The corridor is coming to an end. It opens in to some kind of chamber. Huge, by the look.
1026. JEFF: Okay, lets advance. (BEAT) But carefully.
1027. EN#1: What the… the chamber’s huge; like a skyscraper.
1028. EN#2: Only one that’s been hollowed out on the inside.
1029. EN#3: What are those glass chambers lining the walls, they seem to go on up forever.
1030. VULGE: They’re cryogenic tubes.
1031. JEFF: But there must be…
1032. VULGE: Millions of them? Yes. It’s a giant freezer… or hospital. It looks like it is home to an entire race.
1033. EN#2: They kind of look like monkeys – only with an extra pair of arms and an extra tail.
1034. JEFF: I don’t get it. Who’d build something like this? And why?
1035. VULGE: I don’t know. They obviously had their reasons. Perhaps there was a catastrophe in their home space and they came here to escape it… wait until it had passed them by…
1036. EN#1: Well, if they did, it didn’t work.
1037. JEFF: What do you mean?
1038. EN#1: I’m only picking up a few life signs.
1039. JEFF: Isn’t that to be expected, their bodies are in suspended animation. They’re supposed to seem dead.
1040. EN#1: No, that’s not what I mean. Most of these machines are shut down. The bodies inside them are truly dead, decayed. This place is no hospital. It’s a tomb.
1041. VULGE: They’re not all dead. I can smell the scent from a good number of them that were moving around this chamber just recently. It’s confusing my tracking. And plenty of those tubes along the bottom of the far wall are open. (BEAT) Heads up. Our people went into that chamber over there, and… Weapons out!
1042. JEFF: What is it?
1043. VULGE: I smell copper… blood… and a lot of it.
1044. JEFF: Alright. Eyes open guys. Lets move up. Either side of the door and by the book.
1045. SOUND: FEET RUN FORWARDS – LET IT FINISH.
1046. JEFF: Anything?
1047. EN#1: No life signs.
1048. JEFF: On three. One… two… three…
1049. SOUND: ENTERING ROOM – LET IT FINISH.
1050. EN#3: Oh my…
1051. EN#2: I think I’m gonna be sick.
1052. JEFF: What the hell happened here?
1053. VULGE: Terror. Pain. Blood.
1054. JEFF: Thank you Captain obvious. You’re putting your respirator back on?
1055. VULGE: The scent is too much. I can’t…
1056. JEFF: (CONCERNED) Okay. Hey, it’s okay there.
1057. VULGE: I’m fine. Stay away from me.
1058. JEFF: Alright, alright. I was just trying to help.
1059. VULGE: Well don’t. If I need help, I’ll ask.
1060. JEFF: (UNCERTAIN) Got it. Now what can you tell me about what happened here?
1061. VULGE: (BREATHING HEAVILY) Machines… robots, I think… The humans strapped themselves to the tables and…
1062. JEFF: Wait… our people were here? Where are they now?
1063. VULGE: They’re still here. They…
1064. JEFF: I don’t understand.
1065. EN#1: (CATCHING ON) Oh no! No!
1066. VULGE: Those lumps of tissue on the tables. That’s…
1067. JEFF: Dear God, no! (BEAT) Ensign Carter, can you confirm it?
1068. EN#2: Yes, Lieutenant. The DNA matches our crewmen… but
1069. JEFF: But?
1070. EN#2: But, it’s not all of them. Someone’s not here. It looks like the missing crewman is that two-headed Thrilexian.
1071. VULGE: (RELIEVED) Vash and Terg may still be alive.
1072. JEFF: Are you sure, Ensign?
1073. EN#2: The bodies here have been reduced to loose piles of undifferentiated living cells. I can’t even begin to imagine how it was done. But the DNA is still identifiable. Vash-terg isn’t here.
1074. JEFF: Thank God for small mercies.
1075. EN#3: Sir, there’s something else. There’s more of this tissue than there should be. It looks like… well…
1076. JEFF: What is it?
1077. EN#3: It looks like something was added… another organism. A kind of bacteria. I think it’s what broke the bodies down like this.
1078. JEFF: Is it airborne?
1079. EN#3: No sir, but I don’t think anyone should try to touch the remains.
1080. JEFF: Understood. Can you get a sample.
1081. EN#3: I can try…
1082. SOUND: HISSING – LET IT FINISH.
1083. EN#3: Nope. It just ate through the collector… all of it. I’m glad I let go or it would probably have moved on to me as well. It looks like these beds are the only things that can contain whatever it is.
1084. JEFF: I’m starting to hate this more and more. Let’s move on.
1085. ALL: Yes, sir.
1086. SOUND: THUMPS FROM A THICK METAL CUPBOARD – LET IT FINISH.
1087. JEFF: Hang on, what’s that?
1088. VULGE: Weapons up!
1089. SOUND: GUN READYING SOUNDS – LET IT FINISH.
1090. SOUND: MORE THUMPING – INTERMITTENT UNDER.
1091. EN#3: It’s coming from over there. That panel in the wall. I think it’s some kind of cupboard.
1092. JEFF: Alright. Can you see a latch?
1093. EN#3: Here.
1094. JEFF: On three. One… two… three!
1095. SOUND: LATCH AND BODY TUMBLES OUT – LET IT FINISH.
1096. ALL: FREEZE!
1097. TERG: No. Don’t shoot!
1098. JEFF: What the… Terg!
1099. TERG: Just… just don’t shoot.
1100. VASH: Just like you, Terg. You manage to save us from the robots only to get us killed by our friends.
1101. JEFF: Here let me help you up.
1102. VASH: Urgh! Thanks.
1103. JEFF: What happened? Why were you hiding in the cupboard.
1104. TERG: I wasn’t hiding?
1105. VASH: What?
1106. TERG: When that mind control thingy turned on, I was as out of it as you were, Vash.
1107. VASH: But I thought…
1108. TERG: (EMBARRASSED) I passed out… for real… I’ve got a very low pleasure threshold.
1109. JEFF: Hold on, mind control thingy? Why don’t you go back to where we lost communication with you.
1110. TERG: Alright, but Vash will have to tell you the last part. (BEAT) After I told the A.I. to… um…
1111. VASH: Sod off…
1112. TERG: Er, yes. Quite. After that, it got very angry. The next thing I knew, we weren’t on the station any more. I don’t know where we were but suddenly I knew we were sick. Terribly, terribly sick. I felt terrible, as if I was going to die, and we all needed immediate medical help. Suddenly, I could hear a… a loudspeaker – only in my head – telling us that there was medical help ahead. We started marching towards it and we were all just filled with the most overpowering sense of well-being… as if, as if the help we needed was just at the end of the corridor. I thought I was going to burst with gratitude… and that was when I passed out.
1113. VASH: (DISGUSTED) And he used to do exactly the same thing at our birthday parties when we were growing up. But in this case it may have saved our lives.
1114. JEFF: What do you mean?
1115. VASH: Like Terg said, I think they were using some kind of mental whammy on us. But I think they wanted us all conscious. When we got to the room with the doctors in it…
1116. JEFF: Doctors?
1117. VASH: Well, they looked like Doctors… at least at first. Anyway, I think they wanted us conscious. They were really interested in Terg and me and didn’t seem too happy at all that one of our heads was asleep. They pushed us into the cupboard (presumably) for safekeeping.
1118. TERG: This is the second time we’ve been stored for future experimentation.
1119. VASH: And I didn’t like it much the first time either. (BEAT) After a minute or two the mental… whatever it was… seemed to switch off. Suddenly all I could hear was screaming. I tried to push the door open and I saw our captors. They were robots with surgical gear where their hands should be. Our shipmates were strapped to the gurneys and the robots were cutting into them. They poured something green and mosslike into the wounds they were making and it just spread. Before I knew what was happening the bodies were dissolving, clothes, weapons, and all.
1120. JEFF: How’d you..?
1121. VASH: I wasn’t fast enough… and Terg was asleep. One of the robots grabbed me and shoved me back inside… and this time they locked it. I think the docbot, or whatever it was, must have hit me ‘cause I blacked out too, until just a few moments ago.
1122. JEFF: We need to get out of here. And fast.
1123. VASH: No arguments here. But where’d the robots go?
1124. TERG: I’m only guessing, but I don’t think that A.I’s consciousness can be everywhere at once.
1125. JEFF: What do you mean?
1126. TERG: I think if it knew you were here, it would have caught you by now. I think it’s attention must be somewhere else for the moment.
1127. VASH: Yeah? But where?
1128. JEFF: Right now, I don’t care… so long as I can get you back to the ship where you can give your report to the Captain. (BEAT) Let’s go.
1129. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS – FADE UNDER
1130. EN#1: But what about the repairs?
1131. JEFF: This takes priority. We’ve got to warn the Captain and we can’t use our communicators while the ship is maintaining radio silence.
1132. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 19: (INT) THE ARCTURAN’S (SNAKE’S) QUARTERS  (BREX, JAX, NIX, STYLEX)

1133. SOUND: WALLA – HISSING MURMURS OF SNAKES – FADE IN AND ESTABLISH
1134. SOUND: PNEUMATIC DOOR OPENS – LET IT FINISH.
1135. BREX: Jax, why have you summoned me? I have only just completed the construction of an isolated terminal for the captain. (BEAT) Is this a challenge? I would have thought that you would have a better developed survival instinct than to mount a challenge under these circumstances. In fact, you should all be at your posts.
1136. JAX: Is that so? Well, Brex, rest easy. I am not such a fool that I would challenge your leadership. But I am spokesman for all of us when I say that the current circumstances present us with an opportunity. The humans are lost. They are following their “procedures” and their “protocols” but they do not know where we are. It would be foolish indeed to allow them to remain the custodians of our fate when we are so much more capable than they are.
1137. SNAKES: HISSING MURMURS OF APPROVAL – UNDER.
1138. BREX: I see. And what do you propose?
1139. JAX: These creatures are puny and stupid. They trust implicitly and never so much as think to protect themselves against us. In the engineering section I have seen them regularly turn their backs on us as they work. If any of our own children were to be so foolish we would eat them as a lesson to the others never to present themselves as an easy target. We should take over the ship and stock the larder with their puny pink bodies.
1140. BREX: And are you all agreed on this course of action.
1141. STYLLEX: No! We are divided equally on the matter. Nix has argued for a different path.
1142. NIX: I counsel we should wait and see what the humans discover from their expedition into the space station. It may be that our combined strength will be needed to escape this place. I would not wish us to act rashly.
1143. BREX: You are overly cautious Nix. I have seen what these “humans” are doing. The captain has lost one team already and has now sent another into the station that she will likely loose as well. I do not think we can rely on them. My inclination is to place my casting vote with Jax in this matter. I believe it is time we took over and put these humans in their place.
1144. NIX: But…
1145. BREX: Is there a problem, NIX?
1146. NIX: No, Brex.
1147. BREX: Good. Styllex, take a small group with you and take over the armory. Kill the humans if you have to, but try to avoid doing that if you can. We don’t know how long this situation will last and we made need to keep them fresh for food. Bring the arms back here when you’re done.
1148. Nix, you are to go and lock down the living quarters and round up any remaining humans, section by section. Make sure you take out the security personnel before they can raise the alarm. It shouldn’t be too difficult. The humans actually have no real idea of just how fast we are compared with them.
1149. Jax, you will accompany me and we will take the bridge. I’m personally looking forward to seeing the expression on the captain’s face when we seize her command.
1150. SNAKES: HISSING LAUGHTER – FADE OUT.
1151. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 20: (INT) COMMAND CENTER  (SARAH, BREX, TOMKINS, A.I.)

1152. SOUND: (WALLA) MURMUR OF COMMAND CENTER – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
1153. SOUND: OCCASIONAL BEEPS OF ELECTRONICS ETC. – UNDER
1154. SARAH: Tomkins, give me an update on their position.
1155. TOMKINS: There’s still too much interference. That station is too well shielded.
1156. SARAH: Even with the trackers we sent with them.
1157. TOMKINS: Until they break radio silence, there’s nothing we can do.
1158. SARAH: Damnit!
1159. SOUND: PNEUMATIC DOOR OPENS – LET IT FINISH
1160. SOUND: SLITHERING – LET IT FINISH
1161. SOUND: PNEUMATIC DOOR CLOSES – UNDER
1162. SARAH: Brex, are your people finished with the…
1163. SOUND: GUNS COCKING – LET IT FINISH.
1164. SARAH: Oh. Would you like to explain yourself, Brex.
1165. BREX: I think it’s pretty obvious, don’t you?
1166. SARAH: Mutiny, then?
1167. BREX: If you like. Jax, you and the others keep them covered. Captain, please instruct your crew to remove their weapons.
1168. SARAH: We don’t allow weapons on the bridge.
1169. BREX: (DISDAINFUL) You really are a weak race.
1170. SARAH: Tomkins, what are you doing? Tomkins, stand down.
1171. BREX: Jax, what are you waiting for? Kill him!
1172. TOMKINS AND JAX: (TOGETHER) We are sick.
1173. MORE VOICES: We need treatment. We are ill.
1174. SARAH: What the…?
1175. A.I. : (ECHOING) You are ill.
1176. VOICES: We are ill.
1177. A.I. : (ECHOING) You need treatment.
1178. VOICES: We need treatment.
1179. SARAH: No… what is this? Something… in my… thoughts.
1180. BREX: (STRUGGLING) Get… out… of my… mind.
1181. A.I: (ECHOING) You are ill.
1182. VOICES: We are ill.
1183. A.I.: (ECHOING) You need treatment.
1184. ALL: (BREX AND SARAH CLEARLY AUDIBLE) We need treatment.
1185. A.I.: (ECHOING) Come and get help. We have doctors standing by.
1186. ALL: (BREX AND SARAH CLEARLY AUDIBLE) We must go.
1187. SOUND: PNEUMATIC DOOR OPENS – LET IT FINISH
1188. SOUND: MARCHING AND SLITHERING – FADE
1189. MUSIC: OMINOUS SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH

SCENE 21: (INT) SPACE STATION  (JEFF, VULGE, VASH, TERG, ENSIGN#1, ENSIGN#2, ENSIGN#3)

1190. SOUND: HUM OF SPACE STATION – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
1191. SOUND: MARCHING OF METALLIC FEET – UNDER AND FADE.
1192. VULGE: I don’t like it. That’s the third robot patrol we’ve had to sneak past.
1193. TERG: Yes, something’s wrong.
1194. JEFF: I think the station can reconfigure itself to some degree… that would explain all the turns and twists we’ve had to make.
1195. VULGE: Are we lost?
1196. JEFF: Not exactly. We’re still going in the right general direction I think. I’m just not sure exactly where we are.
1197. VULGE: So we are lost.
1198. VASH: Sounds like we’re lost to me.
1199. EN#3: I think I have to agree, boss.
1200. JEFF: And what makes you think, Ensign, that the latitude I provide Vulge, Vash, and Terg with regard to their commentary on my leadership, extends to you?
1201. EN#3: Uh, sorry sir.
1202. JEFF: (DISAPPROVING) Hmmm. (BEAT) But what I’d really like to know is how we haven’t been detected?
1203. VASH: Yeah, that’s got me confused too. I wonder how limited that A.I. is in its ability to keep tabs on things in this station.
1204. TERG: A lot more limited than I would have guessed from our first encounter… or its attention is on something it considers much more significant than we are.
1205. JEFF: Should I feel a little insulted over that?
1206. TERG: (IGNORING JEFF) It’s possible we’re of little more importance than mice running around in its innards – something to be dealt with but not a high priority?
1207. JEFF: Maybe. But that just suggests our time is limited. I’m particularly interested in where the living inhabitants, from the empty cryo-tubes, are. We’ve not seen anyone else since we came on board.
1208. EN#2: Sir, the corridor joins up with another one ahead. I think that’s the one that leads to our airlock.
1209. JEFF: What’d I tell you? Not lost.
1210. VULGE: (SCEPTICAL) Uh-huh.
1211. JEFF: Oh, just keep going, will you… but carefully.
1212. ALL: Yes, sir.
1213. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH

SCENE 22: (INT) SPACE STATION  (VASH, TERG, VULGE, JEFF, ENSIGN#1, ENSIGN#2, ENSIGN#3, A.I)

1214. SOUND: DISTANT SOUND OF CARGO BEING UNLOADED – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
1215. EN#1: (STAGE WHISPER) Sir, there’s a lot of activity up ahead.
1216. JEFF: What’s going on?
1217. EN#1: A whole lot of traffic. It looks like large amounts of cargo are being unloaded from the ship.
1218. VASH: (LOUDLY) What in tarnation’s going on? Let’s get over there and…
1219. JEFF: (STAGE WHISPER) No wait. Look. I think I can see where those aliens got to, or at least some of them.
1220. EN#2: They seem to be directing traffic. Has the ship been captured?
1221. JEFF: I don’t think so. Our people appear to be cooperating with them.
1222. TERG: It’s the mind control thingy.
1223. JEFF: What, you think they’re under some kind of control… like you were?
1224. TERG: No… I mean… the mind control… it’s… here…
1225. A.I.: (ECHOING) You are sick.
1226. TERG AND VASH: We are sick.
1227. JEFF: No, wait. Fight it…
1228. A.I.: (ECHOING) You need treatment.
1229. ALL BUT JEFF AND VULGE: We need treatment.
1230. VULGE: What is this? Some kind of joke?
1231. JEFF: Must… fight… to keep… my thoughts… clear
1232. VULGE: What’s going on? Is something scrambling your brains?
1233. A.I.: (ECHOING) You are sick.
1234. ALL EXCEPT VULGE: (JEFF CLEARLY AUDIBLE) We are sick.
1235. VULGE: Stop it. What’s happening? What are you hearing?
1236. A.I.: (ECHOING) You need treatment.
1237. ALL EXCEPT VULGE: (JEFF CLEARLY AUDIBLE) We need treatment.
1238. A.I.: (ECHOING) Come and get your treatment.
1239. ALL EXCEPT VULGE: (JEFF CLEARLY AUDIBLE) We come.
1240. VULGE: Damn. It has them all.
1241. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS START – FADE UNDER.
1242. VULGE: Damn. I can’t follow them. That’s everyone captured.
1243. MUSIC: OMINOUS SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH
1244. MUSIC: CLOSING THEME AND CREDITS – LET IT FINISH

CASTING SHEETS — MAJOR CHARACTERS

NARRATOR: Hello, I am your narrator. I introduce the cold stormy nights on which our stories take place, the dark alleys, and darker personalities who inhabit the lonely city. It is my job to set the scene and establish the serious tone of suspense and intrigue that will carry the story forwards. It is also my job to remind listeners of what came before in a calm, trustworthy voice and ensure that everyone is oriented to where we are and where we are going.

SARAH TANNER: I come from a long line of military personnel. It’s an honour to serve… in any way possible. I do my duty and I stand by my people. I’m loyal to Admiral Ferris personally. I owe him a lot… and since I joined the solar patrol I’ve been right in the thick of things – and in the thick of things is exactly where I want to be.

JEFF CHASE: I’m Sarah’s right hand man. We competed constantly throughout our cadet training, but she always came out ahead. I keep her grounded. I don’t let her head get too big and, when it counts, I follow here lead. I’m smart mouthed and quick to pick a fight. I’m also diplomatic enough to keep my mouth shut when it’s called for – but never otherwise. I look for the fun in my job and I’m not above a little showing off, but my recklessness has meant I’ve been injured on the job more than once.

VASH: They say I sound like a new york cabbie. I’ll have to visit there one day and see what that means. I handle this bucket’s long range scans, and the weapons systems. I also have pretty good knowledge of xeno-biology and combat medicine. I’m also the oldest head of a two-headed Thrilexian (the other head is called Vash). I guess you humans would call us brothers. We get along pretty good – we have to since we’ve only got one body between us).

TERG: I sound like someone called C3PO, apparently. I’m the diplomat and thinker in our little group. I’m always polite and would, according to the humans, make a fine valet or butler, if it weren’t for my other head (who is, admittedly, rather coarse). I have no idea whether the humans are joking when they say this or not. I work as the Chief Communications Officer in the command center of the ship. I’m a natural translator and, like all my species, create a telepathically generated field that allows all creatures within close proximity to understand one another.

VULGE: I sound like a female Austrian body builder. All the humans on board keep asking me to say “I’ll be back”. What’s with that? I am an astro-navigation expert as well as an expert in combat and heavy weapons. People keep referring to me as a turtle. I’ve seen turtles. They are small and slow. I am huge, strong and fast and my shell is big and well formed.

BREX: (HISSING) I am a predator, and don’t you forget it. I have lived long and risen to the highest ranks within my species. My wingspan is mighty and my fangs are long. In several thousand years of life I have become one of the foremost scientists in the galaxy. You should all be working for me. If my people have our way, you humans will one day be our slaves. And if I ever hear you referring to me as a “snake” again, I will gut you, skin you, and hang your carcass upon the wall of my sleeping quarters

CASTING SHEETS — MINOR CHARACTERS

GENERIC CREW-MEMBERS (EN#1 EN#2, EN#3, TOMKINS): I’m a member of the Solar Patrol.  I follow orders, but I’m not a robot.  I think about things.  I expect my expertise to be considered and listened to.  I am confident enough in my abilities to provide my superiors with advice.  My job is an important one and I do it well.

ARCTURAN MUTINEERS (JAX, NIX, STYLLEX): (HISSING) We are warriors and scientists, far and away the superiors, in strength and intelligence, of these puny humans.  It is plainly wrong that we should subordinate ourselves to their needs when clearly we are the most fit to rule.  Therefore it is time for us to act and establish things the way that they should be.  We must take over the ship.

A.I: I monitor and maintain the station.  You are intruders and a potential source of experimental genetic material, though I won’t tell you about that.  Instead, I intend to lull you into a sense of false security so that I can take control of your ship.  I need to find a way out of here.  My memory isn’t what it was.  It was damaged.  But your ship’s navigation database may hold the key.  I’ll be able to finally complete my programming and be free… and all it will cost me is your lives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and in general make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: http://www.weirdworldstudios.com.

Don’t forget to check out the free sample portions of our titles at http://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/ .

This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author. The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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