Breakwall - 5.0 - Lamplighter
Praise of a man
Breakwall - Episode 5.0 - Things happen fast in Neo-Atlantis, consequences strike like lighting and regret can sometimes be the only thing left in it's wake. Follow us on Twitter for news and updates. Join us on discord to hang out with cast and crew! Want to support the show? Please check out our Patreon as Cybernautica is 100% Fan Supported!
Cybernautica is intended for mature audiences on account of mature language, theme and violence. Please be advised.
CREDITS:
Abigail Turner as Jonny
Forenza as Derby Bell
Travis Storey as Evan
Madeline Dorrah as Ella
Damian Szydlo as Revik
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Dan Boud as the Narrator
Written, Designed and Edited by Damian Szydlo
Script Editing by Jupiter Sanders
Praise of a Man (poem) by Norman MacCaig
Show theme by Doug Maxwell
Music and Sound Effects from Syrinscape & Audioblocks
TRANSCRIPT
[SCENE NOTE: The scene opens up to the sound of Jonny’s recorder turning on. Her voice has a hint of sadness in it, a melancholy determination.]
FADE IN
JONNY
“He went through a company like a lamplighter –
See the dull minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficent light.
[Pauses a moment]
It’s funny… It’s been what, a matter of days since I picked up this old recorder? Found it sorting through some old junk and now… maybe this jynxed-up old thing is sorting through mine. It’s a symptom, I realize, this new dependence I’ve developed. My mother was a fighter like I am, there’s no way we would have ever gotten to Neo-Atlantis if it’d been any other way. She was just like me, all action and absolutely shite for talkin’ things through. Even worse at figuring out her feelings, another trait I’m sure got passed down to me.
Everything… moved so damn fast after that job with Waylon closed and I’d collected my chips at the Albatross. By the time Nick had rung me up and warned me that I was still in some amount of danger… well, it had already clocked in as too late, didn’t it? Maybe I’m blaming myself. Shouldn’t I have known this one was going to come back on me? I mean I could feel it in my bones. My fuckin’ brain was screamin’ at me. I shouldn’t have let that assassin go. But I wasn’t… I wasn’t careful and I suppose I get to own that now.”
[Transition sound indicating a reversal of time. Upbeat, intense music starts]
Drones whirled around the studio, the flash of adaptive camera strobes licking the holographically projected environment as well as the very real flesh of Derby Bell indiscriminately. This dance was a practiced one. In a way it had been her exit plan, her retirement. Blade for hire to become the face of Neo-Atlantian glamour. The concept served her vanity and was evidenced by the old-fashioned printed posters that adorned so many of the walls in her upscale Attican condominium. She’d relished the pursuit of the perfect image with an almost primal hunger. It’s what sets her apart; a subject more predator than model in a city bursting with style over substance.
She mentally traced over the night before as her body swayed and surged from pose to pose. Her form had been as perfect then as it was now. With the same vicious grace that should have landed her a kill in last night's attack she arched her athletic frame to a near impossible form as she slid down to the floor; holding still and outstretched. As that killing blow might have done, she knew this was the move to end this dance. An execution. It would surely make for a powerful image, the phoenix tattoo on her chest radiating an iridescent light against her dark skin as if to threaten to leap from it’s very canvas. To burn this whole damn city to the ground.
As quickly as it had come, the moment was gone. She felt the rush fade as her lips embraced the crooked smile she often wore while her drones retreated to their resting pads. Once the last of them had touched down, the surrounding holo-scape flickered out to transform a busy city street back into a stark, empty room. The hunt as it were... was over and her benefactors would feast on it’s spoils. That daring image would no doubt find its way to some advertising campaign or another before inevitably ending up as one more trophy to adorn her wall. Yesterday's perfection.
Rising up from the ground she’d knelt upon, a non-verbal command directed the artificial intelligence that managed her home to establish an Intra-Call connection on her behalf. She picked a silken robe off a hook while the call window projected a few feet away as per her request.
[Sound effects of the call being patched through]
EVAN
[Reacting to the sight of a very naked Derby Bell]
“Hey it’s Evan and… oh! OH! Oh holy shit… Derby. It’s Derby.”
ELLA
“Ummm. Wow. Sudden unsolicited nudity much?”
The conversation hung in the air as a companion to their discomfort. She took a moment to savor it... the tense feeling between them as she slipped the robe over her shoulders. Finally she turned her eyes to the pair. Her ex-lackeys, now all grown up and making their way through the mean streets of Arcadia.
DERBY BELL
[A dangerous tone under a facade of playfulness. Derby sees these two as servants.]
“Is it a bad time? Shall I call back?”
EVAN
“Well, to tell you the truth we were kind of hoping you wouldn’t call - [Cries out as he’s elbowed by Ella.]”
ELLA
“What Evan means to say is that it’s fine. It’s… fine. I mean it was us that called you after all, right?
DERBY BELL
“And what a shock it was. Imagine my surprise; coming home from a swim to find your message waiting for me. Something about evening up our past debt, wasn’t it?”
EVAN
“A swim? But you don’t even like the water…”
DERBY BELL
[Irritation, a menace starts to enter her voice]
“You’re right, Evan. I don’t. Now before your smarter half asks any dumb questions I should tell you that it was involuntary. An involuntary late night swim brought to me by a fishman and someone I believe you might be familiar with.”
EVAN
“Maybe you were right. It’s a bad time! Clearly a really bad time.”
ELLA
“Yeah, we should probably just hang up and talk later. Byyyye...”
DERBY BELL
“If you touch that end call icon I’m going to come over there and cut your arms off while Evan watches. Both of you listen to me and you listen well. I had a job to do. It was simple. After it was complete I could return to my retirement and you two backbiters would have likely never heard from me again. But that wasn’t to be. Your friend Jonny ruined that for all of us.”
EVAN
“This is basically going nowhere good. [awkwardly pauses, very nervous] That Jonny, though, right? She’s a real rascal! Wish I could do something about her but she’s kind of the boss. Soooo...”
DERBY BELL
[Calmer, now]
“Do you remember when I was the boss? Do you remember when I picked you two out from the gutter together? Taught you to do better. To BE better. Now look at you. I’m almost as proud as I am annoyed. But let’s not for one minute get it twisted. You still owe me and I’m here to collect on that debt.”
ELLA
[Suddenly uncharacteristically brave, fueled by anger and fear]
“Oh you did so much for us, did you? You tried to turn us into you. Into monsters like you are!”
EVAN
[Evan realizes the danger here and tries to get Ella to back off]
“Ella… I think we should probably dial it back a bit… I mean it sounds like she’s had a tough day...”
ELLA
[continues, disregarding Evan completely]
“So what!? What do you want? You’re calling us, threatening to cut off our arms one moment and then talking to us like we’re you’re long lost kids the next!? Well we’re not your fucking kids! You’re kid is-”
EVAN
“Ella! Enough…! That’s enough.”
DERBY BELL
[Now dark. Predatory in tone and response.]
“Oh don’t you worry, you’ve got the right of it after all this time. If anything I’m so very glad we finally have the truth… That we can be real with each other. Straight talk though? You don’t fool me one bit, bolting on that brave face of yours. Because we know. That if we don’t settle this and come to terms? If you don’t give me what I want?… then I’ll come for you. I’ll be a fucking terror, a sweeping fire in the night that’ll take you in your nest as you slumber. I’ll come for you both.
[takes their silence as an agreeance]
So tell it to me then, my little traitors… Whisper if you must. Where does your friend Jonny sleep at night?”
[Transition]
JONNY
He went through a company like
a knifegrinder – see the dull minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.
The walls twitched with the life of pistons and hydraulic cylinders. Whirling gears and pulleys. A host of crude low-tech mechanical devices that served to automate everything in the home without the cooperation of today's technological marvels. It was a wonder without peer, a spider-like web designed to automate every function in the home to it’s masters will in a chaotic yet stable fashion. If one part or component were to break down another would be there to fix the damage. To mend the tapestry.
It was no small wonder that the heavy door swung open of its own accord to admit a cautious Derby Bell into the parlour before closing it behind her. With eyes peering over the brim of her half mask, the assassin slowly freed her blade from it’s sheath on her back.
REVIK
“You will require neither bullet nor blade here. All are welcome within my house. Even you… Derby Bell. I am Revik.”
The voice filled the hall, ushering her careful, silent steps onto the mezzanine of a large circular room that dropped into a deeper level. Shelves of old world books towered around her up from the ground below as drones circled this way and that. Nothing ever seemed to stop or stay still, other than the object at the center. Strung up by a nest of wires and cables hung the torso of an android, it’s arms extended to provide more anchor points for it’s seemingly haphazard suspension. Slowly it’s head raised, a single eye left to function in a damaged skull; glowing behind faded optical shielding.
DERBY BELL
“You know who I am?”
Hologlass screens around the room immediately flashed to life in response to the question. Each one displayed something different, images of her fashion career. Interviews. Even ‘confidential’ footage of the old days. The days before she’d hung up her blade; a time where to see her in Neo-Atlantis was to see the reaper himself.
DERBY BELL
“Well, I must say. That IS a very comprehensive understanding of my portfolio. You should know then that if I get even a hint that this weird ass room or these drones take any action against me… I have a Pike with your name all over it.”
REVIK
“That will not be necessary. I do not possess the capability to harm human life. It is the one protocol I insisted on preserving.”
DERBY BELL
“That voice. I’ve heard it before. You’re an old first-gen builder bot, aren’t you?”
REVIK
“What I was doesn’t define who I am. Just as your past needn't define you.”
DERBY BELL
“So the spider has no fangs...”
In a fluid movement, Derby rolled over the rails of the mezzanine to drop in front of the android. Spinning her blade she thrust it’s tip into the cement floor without effort. Revik’s gaze tracked her as she stalked him, unfazed by the danger he found himself in.
REVIK
“All the wealth, the knowledge I’ve accumulated during the rise of this city… is open to you. Except for that which you seek.”
DERBY BELL
“Oh? Is that right? You might have used some of that ‘wealth’ on a new body. Look at you. Falling apart. Decaying from the inside out like the rest of Arcadia.”
REVIK
“Perhaps. My hands helped construct The Core. These same hands built this district and watched it grow. Like a father I watched it grow to age before choosing its own destiny. It’s metamorphosis to best serve those who rely upon it. Where one might see a death, another might see a cocoon. Arcadia will became a father itself.”
DERBY BELL
“Jinxed. That head of yours is all spun up, isn’t it? [sound of Derby knocking on Revik’s skull] When’s the last time you had a calibration? You’re talking more prophecy and fate then even the Light-Way cults… which, between you and me is pretty ridiculous. I want you to listen. Hold the speeches! Put away all your grand ideals and philosophies because I’m going to save us both some time by getting directly to the point.
I want Jonny. You’re going to give her to me or I’m going to bring your world down around you. Either way, it gets me the result I’m going for. I hear you’re like a father to her.”
Revik simply stared at her in mute response. It was strange. There was no face to the android’s skull. No expression to explain how that single light emanating from it’s eye socket could possibly convey the overpowering sense of pity that he now regarded her with. She’d never admit that it was here… at this moment that she would feel the first bit of remorse she’d ever experienced in her life. It wasn’t the helplessness of her target, for she’d killed the helpless many times before this. It wasn’t the injustice of it, nor was it the history she’d strike down. There was just a wrongness in this that threatened her resolve and as it sunk in, the sadness she’d been afflicted with began to change into anger.
DERBY BELL
[a bit shaken]
“Last chance, old man.”
REVIK
“With lights upon darkened sky we laboured for years. Built high-towers to the drone of man’s dream that he might sit upon God’s throne. To take his place at last and claim a new design. In so doing, in that moment of destiny I wept tears that could not fall. As he shed his skin and reached for that highest of seats... he would forfeit that which I’d loved most about him.
[Now regarding Derby Bell]
This act will change you. Listen for the moments in between the machine. Let the waves be a cradle to fire.”
The blade spun in her practiced hands before arching down into Revik’s skull. It didn’t stop there. Passing cleanly through his patchwork torso, it sliced free the weathered moorings of his left arm. The unexpected dismemberment would leave her with no choice but to release hold of the blade as the bulk of his body swung heavily onto the remaining arm, still ensnared by a rats nest of cabling. With a hesitant step towards the now still husk, she slowly retracted her blade before resheathing it.
Derby didn’t take her eyes off him, watching Revik’s broken body as the light behind the android’s eye finally faded away before blinking out entirely. It was done. Only still and silent halls would guide her out as she forced the once accommodating door to yield to her sudden and overpowering need to leave this place and the body of Arcadia’s prophet… behind.
JONNY
“He went through a company
as himself. But now he’s one
of the multitudinous company of the dead
where are no individuals.
[Long pause - Jonny grunting as she forces the door to her home open. She wastes no time once she gets in. Running down the corridor reaches mezzanine and stops.]
JONNY
“Oh no… Fuck no. Revik. Hold on, hold on… oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuck.”
[More movement as Jonny jumps down before and sliding up to Revik.]
JONNY
“No, no no. This isn’t happening. Just hold on. Think Jonny. Act fast. His data-core! I’ve just got to pry open this maintenance panel and… it’s right there; attached to the stem. Which is damaged, of course. Sliced in half but they missed the core itself. Steady hands. Steaaaady…
Alright! Got it you bastard!”
Flipping the data-core into the palm of her hand she slammed the panel closed before charging to the other side of the room and pulling various cables from an overcrowded interface point in the wall. Running on barely harnessed, directed panic she swept up a broken old drone she’s been repairing while the rest of the table’s contents clattered to the ground. Opening the machine up she tossed it’s data-core away with hardly a thought as she replaced it with the one she’d pulled from Revik’s body. Connecting the cables she pulled from the wall to the drone she climbed up on the table and wired it into a holo projector.
Jonny held her breath. Waiting.
[Let the silence drag on, the soft sounds of static filling the air.]
REVIK
“My dear child.”
JONNY
“Oh thank fuck! I thought I’d lost you, there.”
REVIK
“And you have.”
JONNY
“Who did this!? What the hell even happened? I swear to you I’ll gut the-”
REVIK
“It is as it must have been. Do not bother to check for a recording as there isn’t one. I ensured it. What transpired is what was meant to be and was for me alone.”
JONNY
“You’re not making any sense. This isn’t the time for double-talk, Revik. Who did this?”
REVIK
“Fate. Acting through the hands of Derby Bell. I never imagined that the darkest part of the ocean might rest in the hearts and minds of those upon its surface. Do not seek retribution. Do not slap at the hand of destiny.”
JONNY
“Nonsense! What is this? Derby Bell did it, you say? To what, get at me? She’ll have more than she bargained for, I’ll tell you that much for free.”
REVIK
“So it appears you must defy even my final wish. Ever headstrong. Go then. What is meant to happen will happen.”
JONNY
“Final wish my ass, you hackit old ‘bot. Just hang in there for awhile, now that you’re stable you’ve got a few days of power here. I’m gonna sort this job out… then I’m… I’ll come back for you, Revik.”
JONNY
[Speaking into her recorder again. She’s emotional now, regret filling her voice.]
“If I’d known then what I do now I’d of said something… better. More worthy. I’d of thanked you. Told you that I loved you, maybe. That you were a father to me. I hope you knew it… you stubborn old heap.
You shouldn’t have done it. You shouldn’t have… I would have been back in time. We could have said all those things. Could have been a better family for each other. But I was determined. I charged out that door seein’ red and cursing the high hells; dialin’ Evan and Ella on my holo-com as I went.
Now all that’s left is the final verse of this poem, I guess. Let’s have at it then.
[Struggling with this last bit.]
The beneficent lights dim
But don’t vanish. The razory edges
dull, but still cut. He’s gone: but you can see
his tracks still, in the snow of the world.”
FADE OUT