13 characters: Larissa, Ahmadi, Announcer, Renata, Stone, Ambassador One, Saetang, Marissa, Priest, Marcus, Tojo, Computer, Alien One
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Tojo (1 line, 4 words, 0.15%) - [Gwenith Knight] Farah Tojo is a bright young adult who's an apprentice mechanic. Brings a youthful eagerness and excitement to the job.
Saetang (42 lines, 553 words, 21.37%) - [Sova Reign] Detective Aranya Saetang has now been on the job for 22 years. Sometimes she's still a little annoyed about having to share the office with Ahmadi, but she tries to bury her resentment.
Renata (11 lines, 111 words, 4.29%) - [Kathleen Li] Renata Mutombo is the mayor for 22 years now. Now around 50 years old. Ambitious and competent. No longer in campaign mode, she should sound more natural and less practiced than before.
Ahmadi (28 lines, 361 words, 13.95%) - [Paul Knierim] Detective Arash Ahmadi is now 42 and married to Marissa Flint.
Ambassador One (5 lines, 137 words, 5.29%) - [Azure] Ambassador One is a Centaurian. They communicate non-verbally, so in order to be understood by humans they wear machine translators.
Larissa (23 lines, 279 words, 10.78%) - [Lindsay Townsend] Chief Mech Larissa Flint is now 40 years old and much more experienced than last season.
Marissa (24 lines, 328 words, 12.67%) - [Virginia Hargrove] Communications Chief Marissa Flint is 48 years old and enjoys the responsibilities of her new job. She's now married to Arash Ahmadi... turns out there was some jealousy behind her previous spite for him, but they're still playfully combative at times.
Stone (10 lines, 193 words, 7.46%) - [John Gaunce] Doctor Stone has become ever more wrapped up in his research over the years and resents being torn away from it.
Priest (13 lines, 185 words, 7.15%) - [David Nagel] The asteroid's sole religious services provider is 22 years older and wiser than last season, but his role hasn't changed much.
Marcus (31 lines, 308 words, 11.9%) - [Glenn Hascall] Marcus Flint, father of Larissa and Marissa.
Computer (2 lines, 12 words, 0.46%) - [Ty DollaTree] The voice of the elevators.
Alien One (2 lines, 58 words, 2.24%) - [Meghan Schmitt] A six-legged, one meter tall, sturdily-built hermaphrodite alien with a trunk.
Announcer (3 lines, 59 words, 2.28%) - [Erin Suminsby] Reads opening, closing and credits.
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
Listen along as you read:
1 Larissa: [concerned] Arash, when did you last see Marissa?
2 Ahmadi: This morning when she left for work, why?
3 Larissa: She never arrived for her shift, and she’s not responding to messages.
4 SOUND: Ahmadi taps multicom
5 Ahmadi: Marissa? Please respond.
6 Larissa: Something must’ve happened to her!
7 Ahmadi: Well she could’ve had some urgent task come up elsewhere and her multicom could’ve broken. Let’s not jump to conclusions.
8 Larissa: She could be hurt, unconscious somewhere!
9 Ahmadi: I’m not getting a response ping from her multicom, so it must be broken.
10 Larissa: Maybe whatever accident hurt her broke her multicom too!
11 Ahmadi: [reluctantly] I’ll organize a search, we’ll comb every level. Don’t worry Larissa, we’ll find her.
12 SOUND: opening theme
13 Announcer: Quiet Please dot org presents Two Fifty Three Mathilde. In the early 22nd century, the crewed asteroid 253 Mathilde left the solar system on an interstellar mission. Generations later, after a hundred and fourteen years, a new star system stretches out in front of them…
14 Announcer: Episode 12 - First Contact
15 SOUND: medical background
16 Renata: What've you got, Doctor?
17 Stone: An absolutely incredible achievement -- couldn't have done it without Ambassador One's help!
18 Ambassador One: Nor I without yours, Doctor Stone.
19 Stone: Have a look!
20 SOUND: mini holographic activation
21 Renata: What am I looking at?
22 Stone: A full reconstruction of the alien who touched our mysterious device eighty five hundred years ago, from its genetic material!
23 Ambassador One: It is not a faithful rendition of exactly how the individual would have looked, that is impossible and irrelevant, but we think it fairly accurately represents the species as a whole.
24 Stone: Note the six legs and the trunk, we believe they must use the trunk much like we use our hands.
25 Ambassador One: And the multiple genitalia, we've established that this was a hermaphrodite and believe all of the species is the same.
26 Stone: It should be about a meter tall, but very sturdy, more massive than we are with a lot of muscle -- my guess is they evolved on a high gravity planet.
27 Renata: Miranda?
28 Ambassador One: Presuming they are the same species in the asteroid approaching us, the speed of approach suggests the asteroid does not originate in the Tau Ceti system. So while Miranda's high gravity could be consistent with their physiology, I do not believe they are from the planet you call Miranda.
29 Renata: So how does any of this help us?
30 Stone: [exasperated] I give you the greatest genetic reconstruction of all time, the first insight into an entirely new form of life with different genetic building blocks, and you want to know how it can help us?!
31 Renata: Exactly, our survival is what matters. Can you tell me any vulnerabilities we can use against them? Say, a gas that would knock them out without affecting us? An analysis of how our weapons might fare against them?
32 Stone: [exasperated] They breathe oxygen and they have bodies made of meat, they're going to react to a weapon just like anybody else! I mean, I guess it'll be harder for you to shoot them dead because as hexapods their hearts face the floor instead of being an exposed target...
33 Renata: Well, I need you to work on the vulnerability angle. We have less than a week before they're here.
34 Ambassador One: We can tell you that these aliens communicate vocally, similar to humans, rather than the way my people do or any of the innumerable alternatives. This should aid in establishing communication.
35 Renata: Let's hope they're interested in communication. No sign of it so far.
36 SOUND: end scene
37 SOUND: security room tone, some light typing going on
38 SOUND: multicom touch
39 Saetang: Ahmadi, how's the search going?
40 Ahmadi: [sfx: processed] Still no sign of her, and we've covered every room.
41 Saetang: Well, I was just looking up her multicom log and noticed something strange. It stopped transmitting yesterday afternoon. You said you saw her leave for work this morning?
42 Ahmadi: Yeah.
43 Saetang: She didn't mention her multicom being broken?
44 Ahmadi: [after a pause] I don't remember.
45 Saetang: Looks like it happened a few minutes after she stopped by here to ask where you were.
46 Ahmadi: Oh! I remember she stopped by while I was caching the ordinance, and she dropped her multicom. I didn't realize that'd broken it.
47 Saetang: What'd she come to see you about?
48 Ahmadi: Oh, nothing, we were just talking about our evening plans.
49 Saetang: Seemed like she had more of a purpose than that.
50 Ahmadi: If she did, she never brought it up. She was only there a couple minutes.
51 Saetang: Well, we've got another ten volunteers. I could have them double-check areas already searched.
52 Ahmadi: Send them to the arboretum, it'd be easy not to spot somebody behind a bush or something there. And tell them to think three dimensionally, since we're not accelerating she could've gone up high somewhere, like a branch high up in the trees.
53 Saetang: Okay. Don't worry, we'll find Marissa.
54 Ahmadi: I hope she's okay.
55 SOUND: end scene
56 SOUND: dungeon door opens
57 SOUND: scuffle, then a shot
58 Marissa: *grunts in pain*
59 Ahmadi: Next time I fire, it won't be on low power.
60 Marissa: [in pain] So, we've passed the stage in our marriage where you think nothing of shooting me. Are we at the point yet where you're pondering chopping me up into little pieces to put me down the garbage disposal before somebody finds me?
61 Ahmadi: I've brought you food and water. I mean you no harm as long as you don't interfere with my plans.
62 SOUND: tray set down
63 Marissa: WHAT plans? Who ARE you?
64 Ahmadi: You know too much already, there's no advantage to revealing more.
65 Marissa: [sarcastic] But don't you feel a need to unburden yourself by telling me all about your plans, isn't that how villains work?
66 SOUND: door closes and locks to end scene
67 SOUND: temple bells and wood steps as in episode 6
68 Priest: Welcome, Marcus.
69 Marcus: You asked me to report here?
70 Priest: Yes, I did.
71 Marcus: Why?
72 Priest: You're about to leave us forever.
73 Marcus: Is that your concern?
74 Priest: I think so, yes. Departures have always been my concern. I've presided over a lot of departures from our world, but you're the first who's leaving it alive.
75 Marcus: Don't worry, I'll prolly die pretty quick after.
76 Priest: You're always trying to project such a harsh exterior, Marcus. I wonder if you're leaving because you're tired of playing that role and think you'll be free of it if there's no more audience.
77 Marcus: You should probably leave the psychoanalysis to Doctor Peters.
78 SOUND: they walk by the fire
79 Priest: Would you like to offer a sacrifice for the fire?
80 Marcus: Nah, I think offering the rest of my life is enough of a sacrifice.
81 Priest: May I ask, Marcus, do you believe in God?
82 Marcus: I don’t know what I believe in.
83 Priest: Shall I tell you what you believe in?
84 Marcus: [skeptical] This should be interesting.
85 Priest: You believe in redemption. You believe an act of sacrifice can atone for past sins. You believe it’s never too late to be saved.
86 Marcus: I suppose I do.
87 Priest: Then I’d call you a man of faith.
88 Marcus: But I don’t know if there’s any higher power out there who believes in these things that I believe in.
89 Priest: Then the strength of your faith in these things is that much greater and more impressive, for maintaining it alone without the help of God.
90 Marcus: I should really be out looking for my missing daughter right now.
91 Priest: Yes, you should. May I ask if that's what you were doing before you came here?
92 Marcus: [awkwardly] It wasn't.
93 Priest: Thought not. Well, don't let me keep you from it.
94 SOUND: end scene
95 SOUND: security room tone
96 SOUND: door opens, footsteps approach
97 Marcus: Detective Saetang... Ahmadi isn't here?
98 Saetang: He's out searching for his wife, your daughter.
99 Marcus: I was going to, but then I thought maybe it's better to think it through instead of wandering blindly. Have you found any clues?
100 Saetang: Not much. She was last seen this morning, but her multicom broke yesterday afternoon so we don't know much about her movements after that.
101 SOUND: door opens, footsteps enter
102 Larissa: [surprised] Dad, what are you doing here?
103 Marcus: Just trying to help. The detective was telling me we don't know much about Marissa's movements after her multicom broke yesterday afternoon. What's the last thing we do know of yesterday?
104 Larissa: Ahmadi saw her in the evening. Did anyone else?
105 Saetang: Nobody has mentioned it. Though we weren't really asking for details about yesterday, we were looking for anyone who might've seen her on her way to work this morning. Which nobody seems to remember seeing.
106 Marcus: If we can't trace today, maybe we should trace yesterday. Something may have happened then that could explain her deciding to go somewhere other than work this morning.
107 Saetang: Well, the mayor's dad and I saw her around sixteen hundred hours when she came by and asked where Ahmadi was.
108 Larissa: That must've been right before I called her, we talked for a minute and then she said she had to go and cut me off real quick. Thing is, she said she'd call me back but she never did.
109 Saetang: Because her multicom broke?
110 Larissa: She could've called through the ambient voice system when she got home. For that matter she could've just walked over to my door any time all evening, we live about 50 meters from each other.
111 Marcus: How did she seem when you called her?
112 Larissa: Normal.
113 Marcus: What did she talk about?
114 Larissa: Uh, we were just talking about you dad.
115 Saetang: Was it a video call?
116 Larissa: No, she only answered with voice.
117 Saetang: Then did you hear anything in the background indicating where she was?
118 Larissa: [trying to recollect] Sounded like she was in an elevator, and she said she had to go moments after she stepped out of the elevator.
119 Saetang: She must've been arriving at the storage level where Detective Ahmadi was working on the ordinance cache.
120 Marcus: So what happened after that?
121 Saetang: Ahmadi told me they had a brief chat about their evening plans, during which she dropped her multicom and apparently broke it through he didn't realize it was broken at the time. And maybe she didn't realize either. But he didn't know where she went from there until she came home a couple hours later.
122 Marcus: A dead end.
123 Saetang: I'm going to put out a call for anyone who may have seen her yesterday evening. Even a glimpse in a corridor. Hopefully we'll be able to reconstruct the rest of her evening soon.
124 SOUND: long trailing music to indicate passage of time
125 SOUND: dungeon
126 Ahmadi: Stay back this time if you don't want to get hurt.
127 SOUND: door unlocks and opens
128 Ahmadi: Eww, the smell...
129 Marissa: You lock me in a room with no toilet for 2 days and wonder why it smells?
130 SOUND: sets down food tray
131 Marissa: Can't you at least bring me silverware?
132 Ahmadi: I don't know what you might do with a knife or even a fork.
133 Marissa: Maybe if I had a spoon I'd dig my way out.
134 Ahmadi: You can eat with your hands. How's your leg?
135 Marissa: Better, no thanks to you shooting it.
136 Ahmadi: I used the lowest power setting.
137 Marissa: I'm sure you'll win a humanitarian award for kindest shooting of a kidnapped victim.
138 Ahmadi: Look, I don't like having to do this. But the mission is the only thing that really matters in the end.
139 Marissa: A mission I'm pretty sure nobody but you has heard of. Look, do me a favor, just go see Doctor Peters today. Have him give you a quick evaluation. It can't hurt, can it?
140 Ahmadi: It would endanger the mission.
141 Marissa: *sighs* I knew you were going to say that.
142 SOUND: end scene
143 SOUND: security room tone
144 Saetang: I'm sorry to say nobody except Detective Ahmadi has reported seeing Marissa the rest of the evening before she disappeared.
145 Marcus: Have you searched the public camera records?
146 Saetang: Yes, no matches for her on there. But they aren't everywhere.
147 Larissa: But wouldn't it be pretty difficult for her to get home from the storage level without being visible on at least one camera?
148 Saetang: Hmm, yeah.
149 Larissa: She took the elevator down there, seems pretty certain she'd have taken the elevator back. They all have security cams, don't they?
150 Saetang: They do. Something could've been obscuring her face...
151 SOUND: touch typing
152 Saetang: Actually there's no record of any unidentified occupants that evening, so that can't be it.
153 Marcus: [after a pause] Detective, in any case like this on Earth, wouldn't the missing person's spouse be the prime suspect?
154 Saetang: I suppose so, but surely you don't think Detective Ahmadi...
155 Marcus: Why not?
156 Larissa: He has been acting a bit odd lately.
157 Saetang: Can't dispute that. The way he cut off our discussion to rush down to that storage level was odd too. But did Marissa mention having marital problems lately, arguments?
158 Larissa: No, but she doesn't share everything.
159 Marcus: Why don't we just look at things from the perspective of Ahmadi being a suspect for a minute, and see where that'd leave us?
160 Saetang: We'd have to discount what he's told us.
161 Larissa: Meaning Marissa could've disappeared the day before we thought. Right when she went to see Ahmadi.
162 Marcus: I think we should go down there, check out her last known location, and try to trace her steps from there.
163 Saetang: I'll bring a DNA analyzer so we can identify any hair or skin cells.
164 SOUND: they all get up and start moving, scene ends
165 SOUND: footsteps walking down hall (perspective with ahmadi)
166 Tojo: Good morning, Detective Ahmadi.
167 Ahmadi: *grunts hurried greeting-like noise*
168 SOUND: door opens, reactor noises, continued footsteps
169 Ahmadi: [quietly to self] Three charges should get the job done... if they insist on making war, I can set off the charges remotely and take out both the primary reactor and the inter-switch. Then they'll have no choice but to surrender, with the power out.
170 SOUND: ahmadi is placing charges during the above, and finishes
171 SOUND: the storage area
172 SOUND: DNA scanner
173 Saetang: This is Marissa's hair.
174 Marcus: Well we knew she came down here, question is where did she go from here?
175 Larissa: Can you do a wide field scan on each exit besides the elevator she came in on?
176 Saetang: Sure.
177 SOUND: they walk a few steps, scanner sound
178 Saetang: Not detecting any of her DNA there.
179 SOUND: a few more steps
180 Saetang: She went down these stairs.
181 SOUND: they descend the stairs
182 Marissa: [sfx: faintly and muffled] Is there somebody out there?! HELP!
183 Larissa: MARISSA! WHERE ARE YOU?
184 SOUND: they move toward her
185 Marissa: [sfx: fading in and muffled] OVER HERE! LOCKED IN THIS ROOM!
186 Saetang: Looks like a manual lock, I'll have to shoot it open.
187 SOUND: shooting door open
188 Larissa: Ugh, what's that stench?
189 Marissa: You don't wanna know.
190 Larissa: Your leg, is it okay?
191 Marissa: Ahmadi shot me, but it's not too bad.
192 Marcus: Ahmadi did this?
193 Marissa: That's right, he was sabotaging the power packs for our weapons and wasn't going to let me tell anyone.
194 Saetang: [shocked] But... why?
195 Marissa: In the name of peace. I think he's nuttier than a fruitcake. Who knows what else he's been doing, you better get him quick.
196 Larissa: I'll take Marissa to medical, you get Ahmadi.
197 SOUND: Marissa and Larissa amble off
198 Saetang: You're with me, Acting Deputy Marcus Flint. We'll get you a weapon.
199 Marcus: So where is he?
200 SOUND: Saetang punches up her multicom
201 Saetang: He's in corridor 12, heading away from the reactor area... probably toward the elevator. We should get to one ourselves.
202 SOUND: they move, go back up stairs, toward elevator
203 Saetang: He's in the elevator. Uh oh, he's heading to level two...
204 Marcus: Near medical?
205 Saetang: Too late to warn them off, let's just get up there as quick as we can.
206 SOUND: entering elevator
207 Computer: Please state your destination.
208 Saetang: [interrupting computer] Level two, medical.
209 Marcus: And step on it, computer!
210 SOUND: eleveator movement
211 Computer: Proceeding to level two, last command not understand.
212 Marcus: You realize I'm still unarmed?
213 Saetang: Yeah, stay back and behind cover.
214 SOUND: doors open, bolt hits the wall
215 Ahmadi: Don't come any closer or I'll shoot my hostages!
216 Saetang: [calling out] Why are you doing this?!
217 Ahmadi: It's my duty. I don't want to hurt anyone, but people aren't making it easy.
218 SOUND: marissa pushes ahmadi
219 Marissa: [urgently] Now, shoot him!
220 SOUND: a shot
221 Ahmadi: *grunts and slides down wall*
222 Saetang: Okay, he's unconscious, let's get him in to the doctor.
223 SOUND: pulling his body through the opening door
224 Stone: What's going on?
225 Saetang: Ahmadi went nuts and took hostages, I had to shoot him. Put him in restraints.
226 SOUND: medical scanner from ep 7
227 Stone: The wound isn't serious, he'll make a full recovery.
228 Marissa: Check his brain while you're at it, Doctor. He's been acting a little odd since I think a week or so after being electrocuted, and now he's obsessed with an imaginary mission, maybe there was some sort of delayed progressive effect brain damage.
229 Stone: Okay, let's have a look at that leg of yours too.
230 SOUND: end scene in way that implies long passage of time
231 Marissa: [sfx: processed] [surprised and somewhat awed] Mayor, we're receiving a message from the approaching asteroid!
232 Renata: Let me hear it.
233 Alien One: [sfx: process to sound alien] You are in possession of a relativistic kinetic weapon. You are ordered to prepare to receive compliance teams peacefully. If you do not resist, you will not be harmed.
234 Renata: They speak English?!
235 Marissa: Not surprising really, we've been transmitting it to them for maybe over a century through their device.
236 Alien One: [sfx: process to sound alien] You are in possession of a relativistic kinetic weapon. You are ordered to prepare to receive compliance teams peacefully. If you do not resist, you will not be harmed.
237 Marissa: Do you have a response to send, mayor?
238 Renata: Put me through.
239 Marissa: You're on.
240 Renata: This is the mayor speaking. We're prepared to receive one negotiator to discuss terms.
241 Marissa: Should be about a day for a reply at this distance.
242 SOUND: closing theme
243 Announcer: You've been listening to Two Fifty-Three Mathilde, episode twelve: First Contact.