EPISODE 6 TRANSCRIPT
PRE-SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: Hello and welcome to the mid-season finale of Among the Stars and Bones. We will be going on hiatus after this episode and will return in mid-to-late August 2019. If you’re looking for more content from us in the meantime you can check us out at Patreon.com/Amongthestarsandbones. And a reminder: Among the Stars and Bones features characters in a hostile environment and is intended for a mature audience. As such it contains material that may be upsetting or triggering for some people. In particular, this episode contains some loud and startling noises towards the end. Specific content warnings with timecodes can be found in the show notes for each episode. Please, make use of them if you need to.
CONTENT WARNINGS (FROM SHOW NOTES):
Loud/Distressing Noises – A loud, high stress sequence which includes a loud alarm, four instances of explosions, two with accompanying distant screams. The same sequence also ends with a rising tone that peaks and distorts (31:13 – 31:49)
[Theme Music Plays]
COMPUTER: Among the Stars and Bones
[Theme Music Ends]
[Computer Chime: Open Status Report]
COMPUTER VOICE: For attention of Jennifer Connolly, Eudoxus Initiative. Herodotus Task Force Status Report. Mission: Planet Tefen. Status Report 6. Five Entries included. Entry 1. Comptroller’s Report.
[Computer Chime: Open Entry]
SCENE 1 – COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE
[Background sounds of a ticking analog clock. Regular computer chirps indicate Comptroller Barnes is getting a steady stream of updates from the rest of the mission team.]
ADRIENNE: Commence report. January 19th, 2211. Day 13. Herodotus Mission Group. Comptroller Barnes reporting.
So over my express objections you are going to allow Gordon Price more scope to expand his work in order to preserve the AI cube. Now I know what it’s like to be a test subject for a bioweapons company. You don’t know which one of the incredibly nasty things they’re asking you to play with is going to kill you, but you know it’s going to, sooner or later.
Jen, If this this isn’t coming from you directly, I have to ask: Has anyone above you actually considered our position here on the ground? Our experience? Our advice? Because you should at least know that some of the things we see don’t quite come across in data packets and vid feeds on the stellar cast.
And Jen, when you got the off-site job instead of me, I was glad. A little bitter to be sure. But I knew at least you would defend the good folks in the trenches from the corporate robber barons. Was I wrong? Or have things at central gotten a whole lot worse than I remember?
[Sigh]
Well, in my own attempts to stop Gordon killing us all with the cube, I’ve taken some advice from Lieutenant Riggs and reassigned him to work with her at the Alpha site. Which, depending on your point of view, is either about to bear fruit or bring about our doom another way: Today we are running a partial test of the terraformer’s atmospheric systems, as has been requested…repeatedly. As soon as I wrap this up I’m heading over to the Alpha site to observe. With Gordon’s help the military team made some breakthroughs and on his and Riggs’ say-so regarding viability we are trying a limited powerup to observe the intake system in action. This is an early phase test I understand, which only looks at one part of the process. If this is successful and safe, we may be able to kick the whole system into gear, but I am sceptical.
And I have to ask, are we really losing the war so badly that we have to take these kinds of risks? I know this is part of the reason we tend to employ the more maverick genius types like Gordon, but there have to be limits. Else what the hell is my job for?
Victor Hollister is exactly the same. Now, despite all he’s done, he’s lead xenoarchaeologist on another high profile dig somewhere in Sector 17. And why? Because he gets results. But he’s also hurt a lot of people. Yourself and Ben not least among them.
Speaking of Ben, I believe he’s making some progress with the dead officer’s records. What’s he called them? Lime? Maybe if we can learn more about why Lime and the other Proximans ended up dead we can anticipate at least one thing that could kill us before it happens.
Okay, I am glancing at the clock. If I’m going to be there for this test I need to move. Apologies for the brevity. I’ll make up for it next time. Oh, I didn’t even get to follow up on Harry’s death, though I believe Kathy has been looking into it.
[Computer Chime: End Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 2. Xenobiology and xenoanthropology report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 2 – A SECONDARY SCANNING ROOM IN THE XENOBIOLOGY POD
[In the background the sounds of a deep scanner at work. Scanning, then processing, scanning, then processing]
KATHY: Commence report: Kathy Winters on behalf of Dr Pennella, Day 13, Herodotus mission. Dr Penella and I have handed off most of the examination duties to other members of the team. It’s important work, but although each examination gives us more data to create a broader statistical baseline for Proximan physiology, there’s little to be gained from endless conclusions of “poisoned by gas”. We’ve already doubled the total number of alien bodies examined in all other archaeological sites combined. In the current batch of specimens we’re seeing a huge variety of phenotypes in the height and bone structure alone. What DNA we’ve been able to extract has also allowed us to identify a number of previously unencountered genes and add them to the database. By the end of this mission we’ll know so much more about the Proximans as a species. There’ll be enough data for xenobiologists to study from now until the end of time.
But in light of Harry’s death, I find myself in need of a different kind of answer. I’ve spent some time reviewing Harry’s last uploads, trying to get a sense of where he had been and where he was going when he died. The last few files uploaded to the central server were not helpful. He wasn’t used to following protocol and he never did get the hang of talking to a recorder, but it seemed he was trying to locate what our favourite dead officer Lime’s key unlocked. And I can confirm that much from his recordings. It was definitely a key.
He thought it was a master key to access restricted areas and maintenance shafts, which makes sense if Lime was in charge of operations. He described one the types of access point as…err…[Laughs]…um…uhh…let’s go with…hmm…analogous to female anatomy. I’ve seen similar reports from the tech teams during their general sweeps and these things seem kind of common, so that didn’t help me much. The techs catalogued them as “a minor relay system, like a junction or fuse box.”
I found one, and while there’s no keyhole as such, I think I’ve worked out which part passes for a “lock”. It’s kind of a raised triangle, which I suspect you press the key to. And I’ve started seeing the same triangle in other places too, like on various doors. Not all, but some. Most of the doors to living quarters we’ve had to force, and while they have something that looks like a locking mechanism and an access point, they were a different style.
In Harry’s handwritten notes he had the location of Lime’s quarters. No idea how he worked that out, but I went to check it out. I found…traces of blood on the floor. I’m having it tested now, but I’m sure it will be Harry’s. He was found eleven floors lower, but it looks like he was first attacked there.
I also found another panel with the same triangle on it hidden behind some stuff in the back. I think it amounts to something like a personal safe. But the key Harry had was nowhere to be found.
I think… I think the AI was trying to stop Harry accessing that safe. I know it sounds ridiculous and paranoid. And I’ve no idea what it could be trying to hide from us, or what it could have done with the key, but I’m creeped the hell out. And I don’t know if Harry was on to something. He might have known what he was going to find in that safe. He might have had his own suspicions about the AI and what it was doing – he worked on it alongside Gordon.
I know I’m well outside my role at this point. I know you advised me early on to stick to the job description to avoid damaging my career. I get that you’re trying to take me under your wing the way Adrienne Barnes did you, and while I appreciate it, I can’t just accept this as an accident or a bot error and let it go. We don’t have anything like a dedicated security team to look into this. I’m here
to help examine dead aliens and tell the story of how they lived, but I feel my life is in danger and I can’t just ignore it.
And I owe it to Harry. I know Celia is right, but I…but I should have been there with him. Should’ve told…
I could be wrong. Maybe this has nothing to do with the AI. Maybe it is my goddamn space balrog after all. But I can’t believe Harry died for no reason. Besides, this is me using my initiative. That’s what the suits say they want to see in an employee, right?
I want to know what the hell is in that safe. Assuming I’m guessing its function right and it’s not just the local junction box for patching into alien cable TV. Did Lime have evidence about what the AI was doing? Maybe that’s why they were the only one in the command centre when they were killed. Could it be shutdown codes? Or something to take the AI offline permanently?
Maybe I won’t find out why Harry died, but maybe I’ll find out why all the Proximans did. I swear to god though, if one more thing goes wrong around here, I’m heading out to hangar six with a crowbar and beating that cube apart.
This has been your daily update from the xenobiology department. Have a nice day?
[Bitter, slightly maniacal laughter]
[Computer Chime: End Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 3. Xenoarchaeology report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 3 – TOP LEVEL OF THE BETA SITE OVERLOOKING CENTRAL SHAFT
[Echoey space. It is relatively quiet. Occasional drones pass by and somewhere deep below level 1 some sort of hammering is taking place intermittently.]
BEN: The thing I don’t get is why this Lime character was– Sorry, I’ll start again. Alright. So in the last 24 hours I’ve been going through more and more of the Proximan third officer – Lime’s – records. I’ve done this partly because of Kathy’s revelation that the key– Wait. Key…Lime. Huh. Not sure if that’s funny or not. Sorry. When I say in the last 24 hours what I mean is that I’ve been doing this for 24 hours str…oh 28 actually. Anyway the revelation that Harry was using the key in or around Lime’s quarters when he died. So I’ve been going through the records, the ones Gordon gave me and the ones on the crystals Harry left, and, they’ve been easier to access than before. A few days ago it’d only work maybe one in every ten tries. And even then Harry’s program would need four or five passes to decode the thing. Maybe the program learns to repeat processes that work? Maybe Harry made it that way? Maybe the AI really is out of our system and can’t mess with us anymore?
Do I sound paranoid?
You might not think me so paranoid after this, because Lime was getting worried about the readings they were getting from the AI too. I mean really worried. Here, this is a snippet I translated a couple of hours ago.
[SFX: Beep, followed by a recording of Lime’s voice, a combination of clicks simultaneous with multiple nasal tones overlapping each other plays under]
BEN: (translating) I have express concern. Control computer not functioning. Correct. Small errors. Actions outside. Rules. Have seen five…their version of days…of unusual measurements.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice out]
BEN: Data maybe?
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice continues]
BEN: (translating) Replies to question of hmm, I think they’re using that word there as some variation on status. Uh, so replies to questions of status appear normal but difference other systems.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice out]
BEN: Alright so control computer sounds like as good a name for an alien AI as anything I could come up with. they’re talking about it glitching on them. Throwing up weird responses that didn’t match other systems? Okay. So let’s keep going…
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice continues]
BEN: (translating) Responsible for malfunction breathing system in something like a sector. Four injuries result. Two days ago. This rely on. Oh this system we rely on. Can we afford to?
[SFX: Beep and Lime’s voice out]
BEN: So that was from one section of a status report. Here’s another:
[SFX: Two beeps, followed by Lime speaking]
BEN: Instruction or orders given tool group. A maintenance crew? Received not same submitted. Error cause flood something section.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice out]
BEN: Makes it sound like the AI was deliberately issuing false orders. Then there’s another, and this seems to have been only a day or two before all records end, presumably due to the disaster that brought this place down.
[SFX: Two beeps, Lime’s voice again]
BEN: (translating) Question to leader about control computer. Answer was not proper. Not correct.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice out]
BEN: Not a correct response.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice continues]
BEN: (translating) Have a bad thinking. Suspicion Control Computer sabotage. Faction initiated to affect opposition? Initiated by one side to hurt the other? Could end in death.
[SFX: Beep, Lime’s voice out]
BEN: No deaths. Many deaths.
[SFX: Beep Lime’s voice again]
BEN: (translating) Speaking…will speak to leader tomorrow. I Ignore it. What?…
[SFX: Beep to pause, beep to rewind, beep to play. The last few of Lime’s words are heard again, then beep to stop]
BEN: Oh I missed the pronoun case suffix. So Lime was saying “I, speaking as they would, Ignore it.” Okay, Lime thought the leader would tell them to ignore it. Those rare pronoun cases always mess me up. Anyway…
[SFX: Beep. Lime’s words continue]
BEN: (translating) May, must make control computer stop.
[SFX: Beep. Lime’s words out]
BEN: No, be stopped.
So, now we need to consider the possibility that the alien deaths here weren’t due to some sort of internal conflict, that maybe it was the AI itself. But if so then why was it unplugged? Something about this whole situation does not add up. There is a chance I’m not getting the translation exactly right. Proximan grammar definitely changed in the six hundred years between First Discovery era and now. There’s been movement in the lexicon, too, and Lime’s syllabic overlapping makes it so hard to tell one sound in a word from another. They’re the fastest Proximan speaker I’ve ever encountered, but with the computer breaking down the patterns I don’t think I can be that far off.
But…I’m missing something here.
If nothing else, I’m sure the AI was a threat. Lime’s last record is dated no more than two days before all communication ceases, and there are no further records posted by any members of the colony, so they had to be right. They unplugged the AI in the hope of stopping whatever it was planning, but perhaps by then it had already set things in motion that couldn’t be stopped.
But then why was Lime murdered? Was it a shooting war by then that Lime got caught up in? Were they acting contrary to orders from a superior that had sabotaged the AI? Did the AI itself issue orders in its own defence?
[Sigh. Ben begins playing with a number of Proximan data crystals while he muses]
The computer is breaking down two more batches of Lime’s files now. It’s taking some time, but once they come through I may have more answers. We keep finding bodies in the upper 80 levels, and mounting evidence of direct fighting to support the idea that there was wide-ranging armed conflict. But that works against the AI as the overall killer hypothesis, which will of course further muddy the waters around whether or not we’re messing with things beyond our understanding here that we should just leave alone.
And as I say this I realise I just both sides’d myself to death. Too many maybes for anyone above you to make a call to stop Gordon.
Nice knowing you Jen.
[Computer Chime: End Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 4. Military Scientific Research Report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 4 – THE COMMAND CENTRE OF THE ALPHA SITE
[There is activity and bustle here as several members of Laura’s team (including Jensen) are plugged into the alien machinery and are currently entering commands and doing final checks in preparation for an experiment. Regular monitoring pings can be heard from different stations in the room. There is also an ambient hum, somewhat similar to what can be heard in the chamber deep in The Beta Site where the cube was found. Rain is falling outside.]
LAURA: Commence report: Day 13 Herodotus mission, Lieutenant Riggs speaking to you from the command centre of the Alpha site where I will be directing our first test of the atmospheric section of the weapon–Terraformer rather. I’m currently in the middle of final checks, so please excuse any interruptions. The intent was to do this test earlier in the morning so there would be time to include results and observations in the outgoing data packet with today’s report, but we lost a lot of time when some instruments went offline. Instead Gordon has live-synced the data feed to the stellar cast server, so whatever you get before the beam goes out will have to do.
Sorry.
Speaking of Gordon, as soon as he came on board he invalidated several competing theories we had on how this machine works, and his knowledge of how Proximan tech is organised helped locate a secondary generator for this node so we only have to power up parts of the machine we want to test. His work is the reason we’re ready to proceed much sooner than I an–
JENSEN: Ma’am the readings suggest power will remain stable at 21%. Do you want me to go with–
LAURA: No, I don’t want anything higher than 18%. Dial it back. Safety first.
JENSEN: Copy that.
LAURA: The intent of this test is to observe the machine in action. There are two things we hope to discover, first is how the system takes in atmospheric gas and determines how it can be used to better suit Proximan needs, and the second is how the gases deemed useless are broken into sub atomic particles and reassemble as required. Although such a process is technically within humanity’s grasp, we lack the ability to do it without a prohibitive expenditure of energy and resources. Speaking of energy we also hope to find out what happens to the fission energy. We think the Proximan process may actually defy our understanding of how energy and matter even work and we’re hoping to generate some data for the chemists and physicists back home to unravel. If we’re right, this may rewrite the textbooks forever.
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that the ability to manipulate matter and energy at a low cost could have amazing applications beyond the military as well. I can see a use for this in replication technology. Imagine a ship able to pull from gases or comets and reconstitute the matter as replacement parts or hull plating. Pie in the sky perhaps, but who knows?
We’ll have to wait and see. The alien modelling is so complex we lack the language to fully comprehend what is going on. Mathematics might be a universal language but we’re still stumped. I even sent on some of the data to people at top universities…with appropriate clearance, and they have given me nothing.
So we go back to science the old fashioned way. Hypothesis. Experiment. Observation.
(Announcing to those in the room and others over radio) Alright ladies and gentlemen, I want final numbers and a go/no-go in six minutes. Logan, give me a final reading on those recording instruments.
LOGAN: (over comms) Five by five, Lieutenant.
LAURA: Okay, thank you. Gordon, you good down there?
GORDON: (over comms) Yeah, we’ve got it all locked down here Lieutenant. You do your job and I’ll do mine.
LAURA: (Returning to report) Price is at the intake site directly monitoring feed and flow. A couple of his team are there along with Logan and a few more of mine. Their position should allow them to intercede directly on the ground if anything goes wrong. There are a number of Proximan cutout switches down there that they can hit if the instruments miss anything. Gordon also has to monitor the lines into and out of the system in order to properly regulate energy flow.
ECKHARDT: (distantly, from rear of the room) I need two more minutes here.
LAURA: Thank you Eckhardt. Take your time, we will do this by the numbers or not at all.
Alright, only a few more minutes to go. By the time the next stellarcast goes out we will have had time to do some preliminary work on the data and be able to present the most relevant information. I had hoped we’d already be done by now and there’d be time for at least some initial observations, but it was not to be.
I’m starting to get thumbs ups from my crew now. We’re only doing this on less than 20% capacity but that should be more than enough to get the reactions going without putting too much strain on a system that has lain dormant for 6 centuries.
I guess Gordon is good for something after all. This is the most advanced technology of alien design that has ever been operated by human hands. I got into the military to serve, but my first love has always been science and this, this is the kind of science I have always lived for.
[SFX: The sound of a voice coming through Laura’s military comms earpiece]
LAURA: Flanagan. Please repeat.
[SFX: The sound of the voice over the earpiece again. This time it’s clearer that it is saying “It’s increased by 1400.”
LAURA: Yes, that was expected. Just keep bringing it up slowly. Any sudden dips in your dials, you let me know immediately.
(Back to reporting) Alright, I’m going to hit upload and then switch off to focus on the test. I’ll see you on the other side,
once we’re done making history. Riggs out.
[Computer Chime: End Entry]
COMPUTER: Entry 5. Xenotechnology report.
[Computer Chime: Begin Entry]
SCENE 5 – AN INTAKE CHAMBER IN THE ATMOSPHERIC NODE OF THE ALPHA SITE
[The sounds of activity as members of the Military and Xenotechnology teams go through final checks and enter final commands into their computers connected up to the various alien machines and human monitoring equipment. Regular monitoring pings. There is also an ambient hum as the terraformer’s atmospheric node is being slowly powered up in preparation for the experiment It is raining.
GORDON: Gordon Price here from some place in the bowels of the Alpha site that I was not contracted to be in.
See I really don’t get it, Jennifer. You guys trust me to boot up a generator six hundred years past its use by date and ride shotgun on your little experiment to kickstart an alien terraforming machine you’re hoping to subjugate to your little war effort, but somehow, despite the doctorates and degrees in the actual area of science for which I have studied, everyone keeps second-guessing my judgement on an alien counting machine.
What gives?
[Pause. He composes himself]
Anyway, I’ve spent the day prepping, so since I didn’t have time to make a report earlier you’re stuck riding with me live through this experiment. I’ve synced this recorder to upload directly to the outgoing server in real time so I don’t miss the stellarcast deadline. Someone upstairs whose name rhymes with Bootenant Squiggs wanted me to check, re-check and triple check the math down here.
Then we had an instrument failure that caused a delay, and Riggs also had me evaluate the various alien extension cords we’re using. Okay look, extension cords makes it sound like we’re kicking off a community concert at the local elementary school, but you get the idea. We’ve essentially rerouted their power conduits from a cluster of three minor power generators to both isolate and kickstart this thing.
So here I am, computer scientist extraordinaire, running cable and flipping switches.
(Aside to Logan) Logan, for the third time, you need to stand back farther, the spill from the containment field you calculated was strong enough that no one should be within 30 feet of–
LOGAN: I’m fine here. You watch your screens and I’ll–
GORDON: Okay, someone get the math whizz a measuring tape. One he can’t tell 30 feet from not 30 feet and two it sounds like he wants to get into a dick measuring contest over this.
[Gordon goes back to business. Under the following lines, Logan walks closer to the recorder, suggesting that perhaps Gordon was right]
GORDON: Anyway, I suppose I should be reporting. Once my expertise was requested I, without the slightest reservation happily volunteered my time and energy to the endeavour of unlocking the secrets of this delightful machine. I was able to cut to the heart of the problem in about two hours. Maybe 90 minutes if I’m fair to myself. And here we are. Seriously, it’s so simple. It was just about a) matching power polarities from the secondary interfaces so we could boot up just this one section of the facility, and b) making a list and checking it twice on how many things could go spectacularly wrong.
LAURA: (over comms) Gordon, there appears to be an issue with the number 4 booster. Can you compensate and reroute?
LOGAN: (standing closer than he was earlier) We’ll have to power down.
GORDON: No we won’t. Give me 20 seconds.
[SFX: Gordon begins entering code]
LOGAN: You can’t possibly do a live patch of–
GORDON: Only three things I can’t do, Logan. Cook a souffle, remember my wife’s birthday and hack a stellarcast server.
LOGAN: Really?
GORDON: Oh yeah, the military grade encryption on those things is formidable. I guess they really don’t want anyone messing with the phone line.
LOGAN: I meant about your wife. That’s a pretty fundamental relationship no-no. Why don’t you set up a notification on your calendar or something? You’re the tech wizard and you’re telling me that you can’t–
GORDON: And… done. All fixed Riggs.
LAURA: (Over comms) We’re back in the green. Thank you. Okay people can we have a final go/no go from all sections please?
[A change in the volume and tone of the ambient hum, suggesting that Gordon’s adjustment did the job, and that the experiment is getting closer. Laura continues speaking, calling for responses from other members of the experimental team. Gordon presses a button to turn her voice down as he continues to report]
GORDON: So where was I on this report? Oh yes, explaining how my genius got this experiment off and running. I mean Riggs seems pretty solid, but she’s a plodder. These guys had all the data in front of them for a week. They’d mapped the facility, they’d studied the simulations, even had yours truly come in and–
LAURA: (over comms, quiet) Gordon, go no-go?
GORDON: All go here Lieutenant.
[SFX: Gordon switches the comms channel up again]
LAURA: (over comms) Alright people, starting in T-minus 20
[SFX: The ambient alien technology noises begin to increase in tone and intensity as the power-up sequence begins]
GORDON: (continuing report) …And even had yours truly come in and help. Got ol’ Professor Benny in too to read the labels.
LAURA (over comms) T-Minus 15
GORDON: I mean if this is the brightest the military have to offer, I can see why the separatists are kicking our asses.
[SFX – Gordon types in one last command and executes it as the countdown continues]
LAURA: T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Engage.
[SFX: The build up of alien technology peaks. The intake begins working and the reaction begins]
LOGAN: Look at that.
GORDON: I will admit this does look pretty cool. As the system is powering up there’s a kind of lightning in a bottle effect going on amid swirling gases. We’re overlooking an intermix chamber where we can see the atmosphere being drawn in and it’s like watching a fog machine in reverse. I imagine this is what it looks like up close and personal with Jupiter’s atmosphere.
[Pause]
GORDON: Hmm, that’s odd. [The audio glitches, repeating “that’s odd, odd”]
LOGAN: What?
GORDON: It’s okay. Just saw something on my screen for a second. It’s nothing.
LAURA: (over comms) We are five by five here, Gordon report in.
GORDON: All good at this end. The reaction is beginning and it looks stable. Power is stable. Lines seem unaffected and despite his poor visual estimation skills, it looks like Logan’s math holds.
LOGAN: (under breath) Prick.
GORDON: Don’t get him to park your car but he can calculate the size of a containment field. It’s actually making my hair stand on end as we speak.
LAURA: (over comms) Literally?
GORDON: Yep.
LAURA: (over comms) I don’t think…is that supposed to happen?
GORDON: Hell if I know Lieutenant.
LOGAN: It would suggest there’s slightly more passive leakage from the field than I expected.
LAURA: (over comms) Should you withdraw to a safer distance?
LOGAN: No it’s well within limits.
LAURA: (over comms) Are you sure? Be sure.
LOGAN: I’m sure.
LAURA: (over comms) Gordon?
GORDON: Nothing out of the ordinary. We’ve obviously all just been rubbing our heads with balloons.
LAURA: (over comms) Are you getting the same readings I am down there?
GORDON: If you’re referring to what the machine appears to be doing to the sulphur in the sulphur dioxide, then yes.
LAURA: (over comms) Incredible.
[A change in the ambient hum, a higher note creeps in]
LOGAN: Wait, what is that?
LAURA: (over comms) What is what?
GORDON: I saw it too. Surges. They’re on the sensors but they’re not coming from our equipment. It’s something separate.
LAURA: (over comms) I’ll order a power down.
GORDON: No wait, that might make things worse. We must have triggered another nascent relay. If you power down now it’ll just kick in and try to compensate. Hang on, let me see if my interface here in the system will–
[SFX: An alien klaxon begins and continues under]
LOGAN: That can’t be good.
GORDON: Okay, I can’t do it from here and it’s getting worse. Clear the area people!
[SFX: People gathering things and getting out. Gordon gets up and starts to move]
GORDON: There’s a junction box down the west corridor. I think if I dial in from there I can re-route to–
[SFX: An explosion nearby. Sounds of breaking and cracking. Someone calls “look out” and there is a thud]
LAURA: (over comms) No time. Get clear!
GORDON: Someone help that man!
[SFX: Gordon begins to run. Two additional distant explosions are heard. People are shouting and trying to get out. The chaos and voices begin to fade as Gordon continues to move]
GORDON: No choice Lieutenant. Another explosion like that could cause a breach and we’ll all die from atmospheric exposure.
[SFX: The chaos continues to fade as Gordon enters the corridor, but there is an additional explosion and scream back in the chamber. A rising noise gets closer. Gordon comes to a stop]
GORDON: Okay I’ve–
[SFX: The rising noise reaches him, cutting off other sound. There is an abrupt cutoff of the recorder]
[Computer Chime. End Entry]
COMPUTER: End Status Report 6.
[Computer Chime: End of Status Report]
[Theme Music Plays]
COMPUTER ANNOUNCEMENT: This episode of Among the Stars and Bones featured the voices of:
JULIA: Julia Eve as Adrienne Barnes.
JORDAN: Jordan Cobb as Kathy Winters.
CHRIS: Chris Magilton as Ben Kelleher.
LINDSEY: Lindsey Dorcus as Lieutenant Laura Riggs.
ALLISON: Allison Brandt as Jensen.
DYLAN: Dylan Chambers as Logan.
GRAHAM: Graham Rowat as Gordon Price.
DEVIN: Devin Madson as The Computer.
COMPUTER ANNOUNCEMENT: The work of the Eudoxus Initiative is made possible by generous research grants from our patrons. Thank you to our most recent patrons Papa Fargo, Fiona Kennedy, Bohan Jiang, Nathaniel Westcott. If you too would like to support humanity’s understanding of alien technology, culture and history, go to patreon.com/amongthestarsandbones. For a transcript of this report or additional information, go to amongthestarsandbones.com. We can also be found on Twitter, Facebook and merchandise is available through TeePublic. Thank you for listening.
