16 characters: Announcer, Saetang, Larissa, Marissa, Renata, Tojo, Alien, Maradona, Ekkert, Ahmadi, Doomer Priest, Exmayor, Sergey, Marcus, Singh, Computer
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Marissa (32 lines, 334 words, 14.34%) - [Virginia Hargrove] Marissa Flint is 68 years old, still communications chief because she likes her job. [complete]
Larissa (62 lines, 504 words, 21.64%) - [Lindsay Townsend] Larissa Flint. Younger sister of Marissa. Formerly chief mechanic, now retired at age 62. [partial]
Ekkert (9 lines, 93 words, 3.99%) - [Lindsay Townsend] Larissa's internal evil twin. [complete]
Singh (5 lines, 87 words, 3.74%) - [Loretta Chang] Doctor Yen Singh is a competent medic who cares about her patients with solid bedside manner. She's not nearly as interested in theoretical stuff and research as her predecessor Doctor Stone was. [complete]
Maradona (7 lines, 95 words, 4.08%) - [Matt Ellis] Jesus Maradona, an aspect of Ekkert. [complete]
Alien (1 line, 13 words, 0.56%) - [Paul Knierim] Alien from season 2, with the doubled voice of different pitches. [complete]
Doomer Priest (13 lines, 173 words, 7.43%) - [Kiersten Greenfield] A fervent believer in the righteousness of the coming end of days. An aspect of Ekkert here. [complete]
Sergey (4 lines, 43 words, 1.85%) - [Alexander Grace] Doomer, right hand man of Doomer Priest, in Ekkert's imagination here. [complete]
Computer (1 line, 22 words, 0.94%) - [bot] 253 Mathilde base computer. [complete]
Saetang (10 lines, 139 words, 5.97%) - [Sova Reign] Detective Aranya Saetang [complete]
Exmayor (1 line, 4 words, 0.17%) - [Roger Arnold] Former mayor of 253 Mathilde. [complete]
Tojo (2 lines, 27 words, 1.16%) - [Gwenith Knight] Farah Tojo [complete]
Renata (17 lines, 151 words, 6.48%) - [Kathleen Li] Mayor of 253 Mathilde. Actually part of Larissa's mind here. [complete]
Marcus (10 lines, 183 words, 7.86%) - [Glenn Hascall] Marcus Flint, father of Larissa and Marissa. In this case really part of Larissa's mind. [complete]
Ahmadi (30 lines, 388 words, 16.66%) - [Paul Knierim] Arash Ahmadi, husband of Marissa Flint, brother-in-law of Larissa, actually part of Larissa's mind here. [complete]
Announcer (5 lines, 73 words, 3.13%) - [Erin Suminsby] Reads opening, closing and credits. [complete]
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
Listen along as you read:
1 Announcer: Previously on 253 Mathilde...
2 SOUND: will insert clips of important things to remember at beginning of each episode
3 Announcer: And now...
4 SOUND: security section, door opens, footsteps enter
5 Saetang: Hi Larissa, glad you could make it. Have a seat.
6 SOUND: she sits
7 Larissa: What's this about?
8 Saetang: Have you heard what happened to Stone?
9 Larissa: Everyone's heard. They say it was a gruesome sight.
10 Saetang: He wasn't just murdered, he was tortured to death. Flayed open with a surgeon's scalpel.
11 Larissa: [squeamishly] No more details please! I can't believe there's anyone among us who'd do that, not even a doomer!
12 Saetang: The first outright premeditated murder our world has ever known. I suppose we did well to make it 134 years without one.
13 Larissa: So how can I help, detective?
14 Saetang: As far as we've been able to establish, you're the last person to see him alive.
15 Larissa: [perplexed] But... I haven't seen him in like a week...
16 SOUND: pushing tablet across table
17 Saetang: Here's the video from the hydroponics bay camera. See for yourself.
18 SOUND: hydroponics background noises processed for a few seconds with faint larissa/lambert convo
19 Larissa: When was this?
20 Saetang: Yesterday, about an hour before his body was found. As you can see, you walked into his office... that's where he was found.
21 Larissa: It does look like me. But I was home asleep at that time!
22 Saetang: Lambert spoke with you when you asked where Stone was. He had no doubt it was you.
23 Larissa: What about the camera in Stone's office?
24
Saetang:
He had that disabled.
You realize how this looks.
25 Larissa: I'm beginning to. [feeling faint] Excuse me, I'm feeling a little...
26 SOUND: collapses to floor knocking chair over, figure out how that sounds in low gravity, maybe add vomit
27 SOUND: multicom activation
28 Saetang: [urgently] Doctor Singh, I've got a medical emergency in security section!
29 SOUND: opening theme
30 Announcer: Quiet Please dot org presents Two Fifty Three Mathilde. After leaving the solar system in the 22nd century, the asteroid 253 Mathilde now travels the galaxy at near light speed. For her residents, the journey has been 134 years... for the rest of the galaxy, it's been hundreds of thousands of years.
31 Announcer: Episode 29 - The Battle Within
32 SOUND: larissa's cabin
33 Larissa: [yawns]
34 SOUND: getting out of bed, opening door, hallway crowd noise, we stay with her perspective as she walks
35 Marissa: Hey sis, about time you woke up. Dad wants to see you.
36 Larissa: Tell him I don't want to see *him*. Oh, I'm late for work, I better go...
37 SOUND: door opens, entering engine control room
38 Renata: [angry] Flint! Where were you?!
39 Larissa: [sfx: talked over] I guess I overslept.
40 Renata: We've got a rupture in #7's aft hydraulics! Fix it!
41 Larissa: Yes Mayor.
42 Renata: Now!
43 SOUND: arrives at hissing steamy malfunction, gets metal tools out
44 Larissa: [panic] I don't... I don't understand any of this!
45 Tojo: Of course you do! Just computate the parabolic infraction, flip the polarity and reverse the neutron flow with the parambulator!
46 Larissa: You're way better at this, you should probably have MY job.
47 Renata: Flint, you're fired!
48 Larissa: But--
49 Renata: Go home.
50 Tojo: It's okay, I'll take over for you.
51 Larissa: But--
52 Renata: [angry] Go!
53 SOUND: larissa walks out, down hall, door opens
54 SOUND: alien laser blasts coming down hall
55 Larissa: What the--?
56 Alien: [sfx: loudspeaker] We have you surrounded! Your technology is no match for ours! Surrender now!
57 Maradona: [sfx: loudspeaker] You'd better listen to them! All of us returnists are helping them!
58 Larissa: [shouting] What do you *want* from me?!
59 Ekkert: [sfx: loudspeaker] Your life!
60 SOUND: door opens, footsteps
61 Marissa: [urgently] Come on, follow me, I know a place to hide!
62 SOUND: larissa follows, they take off ventilation grate and enter duct
63 Larissa: But who was that last voice, what did she want?
64 Marissa: That was our sister, Ekkert. She wants us all dead.
65 MUSIC: dream-like fade out and into next scene
66 SOUND: hypnotic call to prayer.wav, 21st century city traffic is okay if it's imagination
67 Larissa: [confused] What's this place?
68 Marissa: Somewhere Ekkert won't find you.
69 Ahmadi: A long-forgotten corner of your imagination.
70 Larissa: Ahmadi! Where'd you come from?
71 Ahmadi: Another part of your mind.
72 Renata: We're all part of you here.
73 Larissa: Mayor Mutumbo!
74 Renata: Flint, there are some harsh truths you need to hear.
75 Larissa: Such as?
76 Renata: Your mind is a battleground, and you're losing the war.
77 Marissa: To Ekkert.
78 Larissa: So what can I do, how can I fight back?
79 Renata: She has a big advantage over you.
80 Larissa: What's that?
81 Renata: To defeat her, you have to live. To defeat you, she's happy to die.
82 Ahmadi: And to fight her, you'll have to expose yourself to her and experience what she wants to make you experience.
83 Larissa: How bad can that be?
84 Ahmadi: Bad.
85 Larissa: I can handle it. Where do I go?
86 Ahmadi: Just through that door there.
87 Larissa: So simple?
88 Renata: Ekkert allows the door because she wants you to come through it.
89 Ahmadi: Be careful.
90 SOUND: footsteps as larrisa approaches, turns doorknob, door slowly creaks open
91 MUSIC: changes for transition to horror
92 SOUND: insert copy of Stone death scene on repeat here
93 Larissa: [horror] Make it stop!
94 SOUND: larissa sobbing in background
95 Doomer Priest: You should be proud you helped dispose of Stone, he had it coming.
96 Marissa: Larissa didn't murder Stone. Ekkert did.
97 Doomer Priest: Larissa's body performed the act. And Larissa was still the cause of all this.
98 Marissa: Ekkert was the cause.
99 SOUND: ep 1 clip of larissa being blown off into space and landing hard
100 Maradona: This was Larissa's mistake, her misjudgement...
101 SOUND: the ekkert in drawer scene from ep 2
102 Maradona: Ekkert was born because of that accident.
103 SOUND: medical background from episode 2 with sound of surgery ongoing, maybe a few faint lines of stone saying what he said there
104 Maradona: And died because Doctor Stone and his allies felt her life was worth nothing. You see how Stone murdered Ekkert, and Ekkert justly returned the same fate to him.
105 Doomer Priest: And everyone in this world deserves the same fate, because nobody objected to murdering Ekkert.
106 Exmayor: I did. I objected.
107 Doomer Priest: Yes, the mayor objected, but he's long gone, dead for a hundred and sixty thousand years now. Everyone else applauded the murder and the miscarriage of justice.
108 Marissa: A murder with intention is a totally different thing from a medical procedure to save a life. Ekkert wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Stone anyway.
109 Sergey: [annoyed] You think she WANTS to be alive? And what murder could be more intentional than growing someone for the express purpose of harvesting them for parts?
110 Doomer Priest: [firm] Enough. We don't need to explain ourself to her. Sergey, shoot them!
111 Sergey: All of them, Shepherd?
112 Doomer Priest: All of them.
113 Sergey: Very well, Shepherd.
114 SOUND: laser fire and screams
115 SOUND: dungeon with water dripping
116 Ahmadi: [wryly] That could've gone better.
117 Marissa: At least it went better than if the weapons fire hadn't been imaginary.
118 Ahmadi: But now we're trapped. In this... dungeon, I guess.
119 Marissa: I still believe Larissa has the strength get us out of here and to fight Ekkert. We just need to get her focused. You hear me, sis?
120 Larissa: [groans]
121 Marissa: You okay?
122 Larissa: [tired] I feel like my life energy is draining out of me.
123 Renata: Don't give up, Flint! That's an order! And don't go to sleep, you're stronger than that. We need you here.
124 Larissa: Renata, you gave your life to save our people. Maybe it's best if I do the same -- if I take Ekkert with me so she can't kill anyone else.
125 Renata: Are your motives really selfless, or do you just want to hide from the guilt you're feeling?
126 Marissa: Larissa, you really need to talk to someone.
127 Larissa: Haven't I been talking to people?
128 Marissa: A specific person.
129 Larissa: Who?
130 Marissa: You know who. You've been avoiding him. Go to him.
131 SOUND: Miranda forest forest soundscape, some walking
132 Larissa: [confused] Where am I?
133 Marcus: Welcome to the planet Miranda, Larissa!
134 Larissa: Hi dad, been a long time. Why am I here?
135 Marcus: So we can talk.
136 Larissa: I don't remember us having the kind of relationship where I'd go to you for advice in a crisis.
137 Marcus: Some part of your mind must value my experience and wisdom. Anyway I can only express what you already know deep down.
138 Larissa: Such as?
139 Marcus: Ekkert wants to die. And she wants you to die with her. Don't let her win.
140 Larissa: But I can't defeat her.
141 Marcus: Neither you nor Ekkert can ever defeat the other, because you're parts of the same brain. If she were surgically removed, you'd be reduced to the vegetable you were on that operating table 42 years ago... and if you were surgically removed, she'd be even less than that. The harsh truth is you'll have to make peace and share your mind with her.
142 Larissa: Ekkert is a cold-blooded murderer -- not just in this nightmare, but in the real world.
143 Marcus: There were reasons for what she did, remove those reasons and she might become a better person.
144 Larissa: We're not talking about a shoplifter here!
145 Marcus: We all have a dark side. Accepting it doesn't mean we have to let it rule us. Don't run away from your problems like I always did.
146 Larissa: You never faced anything like this, dad.
147 Ahmadi: But *I* did.
148 Larissa: Arash.
149 Ahmadi: Remember? My brain was taken over by nanobots that made me hurt my wife and sabotage our defenses so aliens could defeat us.
150 Larissa: But they eventually left you alone, you didn't choose to live with them for life.
151 Ahmadi: They stayed in my head for life, who knows if they really shut down. It's just their circumstances changed so they no longer needed to do bad things once they'd fulfilled their purpose.
152 Larissa: Ekkert's purpose is to see us all dead, how can I let her fulfill that?
153 Marcus: Maybe that's not her purpose, maybe that's just her lashing out because she can't get what she really wants from life?
154 Larissa: Which is...?
155 Ahmadi: What does anyone want from life, that Ekkert never had? To be seen and respected, not written off as a mistake... to be listened to...
156 Marcus: To be loved.
157 SOUND: pause
158 Ahmadi: Ekkert has no stake in the world. That's why she wants to see it burn. You have to embrace her, have to willingly absorb her into your identity.
159 Larissa: How could I live with her memories and feelings?
160 Ahmadi: My experience being used by the nanobots made me stronger and better.
161 Larissa: How?
162 Ahmadi: I learned how easy it is to be led, how people can take reprehensible actions for what seem like logical reasons at the time, how the big picture isn't always visible. It made me more careful, more empathetic. Try to think of Ekkert not as the personification of evil, but as a victim of circumstance who made terrible decisions for understandable reasons.
163 Larissa: A lot easier said than done.
164 Marcus: Maybe we can help you.
165 Ahmadi: We'll face her together.
166 Renata: I'll join you.
167 Marissa: You know I've always got your back.
168 Larissa: But how do we find her?
169 Marissa: Just start walking. Your mind will lead you to her when you're ready.
170 SOUND: thunderstorm with rain and muddy footsteps
171 SOUND: gunshot whizzes past. periodic potshots through conversation here.
172 Ahmadi: Behind these rocks, take cover!
173 Larissa: I assume that must've been Ekkert taking a shot at us?
174 Ahmadi: Get me my scope...
175 SOUND: getting scope out of pack
176 Marissa: Here.
177 SOUND: zooming sounds
178 Doomer Priest: [shouting from distance, cup hands around mouth] We know you're behind those rocks! You can't hide forever!
179 Ahmadi: It's the doomers, they seem to be acting as Ekkert's perimeter guard. I count... ten.
180 Renata: Do you see any way we could sneak past them into the castle?
181 Ahmadi: No, even if we had cover there's a moat with a drawbridge.
182 Larissa: Wait. Why are we worried about her defenses? We want to negotiate, not attack her.
183 Ahmadi: How are we supposed to negotiate if she kills us out here before we see her?
184 Marissa: Larissa has a point, actually. They can't actually kill us by shooting us.
185 Ahmadi: But we can end up back in a dungeon, all our progress lost...
186 Marissa: That's what happens when we try to fight, but what if we *don't* try to fight?
187 Doomer Priest: [shouting from distance, cup hands around mouth] You have one minute to surrender, before we come kill you!
188 Larissa: Ahmadi, hand me that shirt from your backpack.
189 Ahmadi: This one?
190 Larissa: Yes, the white one. I'll tie it around this stick.
191 SOUND: tying
192 Ahmadi: Surrender? But doesn't that mean Ekkert wins the war?
193 Marissa: Nobody can win the war. Maybe it'll give us a chance to speak with Ekkert.
194 SOUND: disarming
195 Marissa: We'll leave our weapons on the ground here.
196 Doomer Priest: [shouting from distance] Wise decision! Come out slowly with your hands in the air!
197 Larissa: Okay, let's go.
198 SOUND: a few seconds of trudging forward
199 MUSIC: to link
200 SOUND: castle tone/reverb. keep all the good guys on the left and bad guys on the right in stereo mix, will help distinguish Larissa and Ekkert.
201 Doomer Priest: The prisoners, your majesty.
202
Ekkert:
Thank you, Shepherd.
Must say I'm disappointed in you lot, I expected better sport. What do you have to say for yourselves?
203 Marissa: Ekkert, why do you want to destroy our world?
204 Ekkert: Why shouldn't I? What has it ever given me but suffering?
205 Marissa: You haven't felt anything positive in your life? Surely you experienced what Larissa experienced?
206 Ekkert: I watched Larissa enjoy herself. I saw she was loved and valued. But that was all for her, none for me. I was only ever a mistake that shouldn't exist.
207 Ahmadi: So you decided to turn it around, you decided the world that felt you were a mistake that shouldn't exist is itself a mistake that shouldn't exist.
208 Ekkert: Exactly.
209 Ahmadi: But what if the world were to accept you?
210 Ekkert: It can't, the world can't even see me when Larissa is in control.
211 Ahmadi: But what if you shared control?
212 Maradona: A body can only have one pilot, one course. Saying otherwise is like saying we returnists could've compromised with the mayor to continue the mission and go back to Earth at the same time.
213 Marissa: But we actually did that.
214 Maradona: Huh?
215 Marissa: We continued the mission, circled the galaxy and sent people back to Earth when we got back around to it.
216 Doomer Priest: Playing semantical games like that isn't going to make the impossible possible.
217 Ahmadi: Fundamentally, why is it you can't BOTH control Larissa's body?
218 Ekkert: Because we have different needs, different goals.
219 Ahmadi: You want to be valued and loved. Larissa wants the same thing.
220 Ekkert: But...
221 Marissa: And what you really need most isn't to be loved and valued by the world, but to be loved and valued by Larissa. Because she's the one you have to live with.
222 Ekkert: She could never give me that.
223 Renata: She's willing to try, willing to make the sacrifice of accepting you as a full part of herself.
224 Larissa: I'm sorry for what I've done to you, Ekkert. I never knew you were there, never knew I was suppressing you.
225 Doomer Priest: Splitting time in control isn't going to work, that'd just mean each of us is suppressed half the time.
226 Larissa: That's not what I have in mind. We can't be two minds in one body, what we need to do is become one mind... but not my mind or your mind, we both need to be components of a new mind. The same memories, the same feelings, thoughts that come from both of us...
227 Doomer Priest: [thoughtfully] If we could really become one mind, one personality that both of us contribute to... I suppose that'd be worth living for.
228 Larissa: Things will be different.
229 Maradona: But how do we do it?
230 Marissa: It's your mind, you just have to want it.
231 SOUND: tornadoey sounds of chaos, winds begin to swirl
232 SOUND: cracking sounds
233 Ahmadi: [panic] The sky! The sky is collapsing!
234 Sergey: [panic] Are you sure this is how it's supposed to happen?!
235 MUSIC: something wondrous
236 Larissa: [calm] Don't be afraid. We'll all be one again.
237 Marissa: [panic] But which one?!
238 SOUND: swirling collapse reaches crescendo and goes silent
239 MUSIC: crests and falls silent
240 SOUND: medical with beeps
241 Singh: She's waking up.
242 Marissa: Larissa, can you hear me?
243 Larissa: [groggy] It's over. The danger is over.
244 Marissa: How do you know that?
245 Larissa: I've integrated Ekkert, we're one mind now, she won't hurt anyone else.
246 Singh: Let me do a quick scan here...
247 SOUND: quick brain scan sfx
248 Marissa: Do you think there's something physical going on?
249 Singh: Considering we're dealing with physically distinct sections of brain, any heightened mental integration between them could have physical evidence. Let's see.
250 SOUND: scan ends
251 Singh: Computer, compare this brain scan with her scan from this morning. Can you detect any evidence of new integration between the original and cloned portions of her brain?
252 Computer: Affirmative. Current scan shows vascular integration has increased by 37%, electrochemical activity shows improved synchronicity, new synaptic clusters have formed at the interfaces.
253 Marissa: But does that necessarily mean Ekkert can't return, or can't influence her?
254 Singh: That's really something that'll be up to Doctor Peters to determine. All I can say is there's physical evidence that something has just happened which has changed her.
255 Announcer: You've been listening to Two Fifty-Three Mathilde, episode twenty nine: The Battle Within.