12 characters: Ex-mayor, Stone, Announcer, Therapist, Peters, Larissa, Tojo, Renata, Marissa, Marcus, Ahmadi, Ambassador One
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Stone (28 lines, 535 words, 16.37%) - [John Gaunce] Doctor Stone has become ever more wrapped up in his research over the years. Now he finds himself with a problem so fascinating and revolutionary that he becomes neglectful toward a patient. Basically hubris is at a high point and soon to crash.
Peters (18 lines, 328 words, 10.03%) - [David Loftus] Salish Peters, chief mechanic. Great-grandfather was the first mission commander, and he never tires of telling people so and relating the stories of Earth he remembers hearing from great-grandpa. Sensible, direct, kind of average working Joe. Now about to turn 70, he has a husband and two grown kids.
Tojo (33 lines, 338 words, 10.34%) - [Gwenith Knight] Farah Tojo is a bright young adult who's an apprentice mechanic. Brings a youthful eagerness and excitement to the job.
Renata (18 lines, 224 words, 6.85%) - [Kathleen Li] Renata Mutombo is the mayor for 22 years now. Now around 50 years old. Ambitious and competent. No longer in campign mode, she should sound more natural and less practiced than before.
Ahmadi (5 lines, 66 words, 2.02%) - [Paul Knierim] Detective Arash Ahmadi is now 46 and married to Marissa Flint.
Ambassador One (3 lines, 28 words, 0.86%) - [Azure] Ambassador One is a Centaurian. They communicate non-verbally, so in order to be understood by humans they wear machine translators.
Larissa (44 lines, 799 words, 24.44%) - [Lindsay Townsend] Chief Mech Larissa Flint is now 40 years old and much more experienced than last season.
Ex-mayor (12 lines, 139 words, 4.25%) - [Roger Arnold] Mayor Renata Mutombo's father, a former mayor himself, really misses being in the middle of everything. At 80 years old, he's struggling to reconcile with his declining years and wants to find a way to matter again.
Therapist (17 lines, 231 words, 7.07%) - [Ahmad Joudeh] Doctor Tam Peters is the husband of Salish Peters and therapist to all.
Marissa (29 lines, 421 words, 12.88%) - [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.
Marcus (5 lines, 103 words, 3.15%) - [Glenn Hascall] Marcus Flint is the emotionally crippled absentee father of Larissa and Marissa Flint. He's 68 years old and realizing that he's failed at everything so far. He feels he needs a change of scenery to start over.
Announcer (3 lines, 57 words, 1.74%) - [Erin Suminsby] Reads opening, closing and credits.
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
Listen along as you read:
1 SOUND: medical background, machine beeps, and doctor fiddling with microscope equipment and typing intermittently
2 Ex-mayor: How is he?
3 Stone: Ahmadi? It’s a simple electrocution, it knocked him out, could wake up any time now, we'll just have to wait and see.
4 Ex-mayor: Could he die?
5 Stone: [disinterestedly] Oh, someday I'm sure he will. But I don't think this is what's going to do it.
6 Ex-mayor: [after a pause] Whatcha workin’ on there?
7 Stone: The sample Ahmadi collected while he was being electrocuted. The device really is about eighty five hundred years old!
8 Ex-mayor: What?! There’s some sort of device that’s eighty five hundred years old?! Is THAT what he was doing in the mines?!
9 Stone: [confused] Wait, didn’t you know the Ambassador said… didn’t the mayor send you?
10 Ex-mayor: I just heard Ahmadi was hurt and decided to come see what was going on. Glad I did.
11 Stone: [thinking fast] Please forget I said anything. Or, wait, let’s say I’m using you as my messenger so communications section can’t listen in, that might work… go tell her I sent you to tell her I confirmed the age. Oh, give her these preliminary results too.
12 SOUND: hands pad over
13 Ex-mayor: Sure, I’ll be the postman, I suppose there’s worse jobs.
14 SOUND: walks off, door opens and closes, end scene
15 SOUND: opening theme
16 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…
17 Announcer: Episode 9 - Maneuvers
18 SOUND: two thirds second time lag between each line in following convo
19 Therapist: How are you holding up today, Salish?
20 Peters: [sfx: processed] Hungry. Never BEEN so hungry.
21 Therapist: They say that’ll pass soon. You actually don’t stay hungry as you starve. Your body should start burning through fat instead of seeking food.
22 Peters: [kidding] When I die, it'll be all your fault for not letting me eat those pies that would've given me a few more days of fat to burn.
23 Therapist: You've got water now, right?
24 Peters: Yeah, I managed to tap the cooling system... should've thought of that myself. Not much fun rationing myself to half a liter a day though.
25 Therapist: It’ll be worth it, we’ve got some ideas in motion over here.
26 Peters: But nothing that’ll actually save my life yet.
27 Therapist: We’re working on those details, we’re close.
28 Peters: And if the plans fail, then I’ll have drawn out my suffering for nothing.
29 Therapist: Don’t talk like that.
30 Peters: I was considering spending the rest of my life with this ship, just not *this* way.
31 Therapist: [pouty] So I guessed right, you were planning to volunteer. With no consideration for me or anyone else who loves you.
32 Peters: We’d still have been able to talk for a while.
33 Therapist: With huge time lags, for maybe a couple months before we'd be out of range... is that your ideal marriage?!
34 Peters: Well, get used to the time lags. It’s only two thirds of a second lag now but by tomorrow it’ll be getting annoying and if I'm still out here in a week it’ll be downright maddening.
35 Therapist: Don’t try to change the subject, Salish!
36 Peters: [resigned/tired] I'll think about what you've said. We'll talk later.
37 SOUND: power room, reactor sounds but not same as engine room
38 Larissa: [loudly across room over noise] Okay, close it off.
39 Tojo: [loudly across room over noise] Done, chief!
40 SOUND: some sound is reduced
41 Tojo: This low gravity since the ship testing started been fun. So this is how it used to be all the time back in the day?
42 Larissa: Yeah, having the floor and ceiling trade places hasn't been convenient, but I’d almost forgotten how nice it is not to have a tenth of a gee holding me down all the time. Enjoy it while you can.
43 Tojo: I hope we'll be accelerating toward Peters soon.
44 Larissa: I figure we’ll need to place a couple engines at least 5 kilometers away, to impart enough angular momentum for a quick spin. Any thoughts on fuel lines?
45 Tojo: I was looking at the map, and we have an old ore processing station six kilometers southeast. If the lines there are intact, fitting an engine adapter shouldn’t be too difficult.
46 Larissa: Good thinking, Tojo.
47 Tojo: Do you think there’s a chance? To save him I mean?
48 Larissa: I don’t know. I just know we’ve got to do everything possible. If we can get the engines and fuel lines ready tomorrow we can turn over the next day and we'll catch up with him pretty quick, it'll just be a matter of figuring out how to achieve a survivable collision.
49 SOUND: scene end
50 SOUND: medical with beeps and microscopes
51 SOUND: door opens, two pairs of footsteps enter
52 Renata: Returning your messenger to you, Doctor. Thought we should speak face to face.
53 Stone: [distracted] What? Oh, yeah.
54 Ex-mayor: It was a good idea, but I guess I'm being fired again.
55 Renata: You’re absolutely sure it’s eighty five hundred years old?
56 Stone: Sure, sure. But that’s not the interesting part.
57 Renata: [scoffing in disbelief] Pray tell, Doctor Stone, what could possibly be more interesting than an eight thousand five hundred year old computer buried deep inside an asteroid?
58 Stone: The organic residue!
59 Renata: I fail to see the fascination.
60 Stone: There’s some DNA from Ahmadi, and from O’Hara when he picked up the dropped sample. But some of these other molecules…
61 Renata: Yes?
62 Stone: They’re nucleic acid chains, but the nucleotides aren’t the familiar ones. It’s not the adenine, cytocine, guanine and thymine that comprise all DNA on Earth. It’s other bases making similar molecules.
63 Renata: What does that mean?
64 Stone: It means I’m pretty sure I’m looking at genetic residue of an alien species here!
65 Renata: The centaurians?
66 Stone: No, no… the ambassadors have DNA, same four bases we’ve got. This is something very different, with eight bases.
67 Renata: Well, anyway.
68 Stone: [scoffing with disdain] Only you could shrug off the discovery of a new type of alien life!
69 Renata: I’m more concerned with what the device is doing down there. Can you tell me that?
70 Stone: [irked] From organic residue? I’m a doctor, not a mechanic. Go get your mechs down there working on that. If you need me I’ll be in here rewriting the books on abiogenesis and evolution.
71 SOUND: medical sounds cease just after [to make it an fx transition] we hear a couple of lockers being opened and closed and equipment moved and suits being put on behind lines.
72 Larissa: Take this toolbox, and one of the N-770s.
73 Tojo: Yes chief.
74 Larissa: Okay, helmets on.
75 SOUND: they latch helmets, use ep 1 effect
76 Larissa: [sfx: processed] Communications check, sing something.
77 Tojo: [sfx: processed] [singing] Twinkle twinkle little star...
78 Larissa: Alright.
79 Tojo: That bad?
80 Larissa: You ready, Tojo?
81 Tojo: Yes chief, all green.
82 SOUND: walking into new room
83 Larissa: Hold onto the rail, there’s about to be some wind.
84 Tojo: Yes chief.
85 SOUND: the airlock effect from ep 1
86 Larissa: [expressing awe] Your life is about to change, Farah. There’s nothing like being on the surface, no simulation, nothing I can say to prepare you.
87 Tojo: I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time!
88 SOUND: their footsteps begin
89 Tojo: Wow, it’s so… stark. And so vast. Without end.
90 Larissa: It's really something, to go from four walls and a floor and ceiling your whole life out into this, isn't it?
91 Tojo: And the terrain, so smooth, and those hills... breathtaking.
92 Larissa: Used to be littered with boulders, we had to melt the surface it to give it structural integrity to handle our acceleration.
93 Tojo: With the acceleration we normally have, I could never have carried this.
94 Larissa: Actually you'd have been blown off into space... the engines were pushing our world forward faster than gravity could pull you down.
95 Tojo: Wow, then I'm really glad the engines are off. Everything feels so easy.
96 Larissa: The automated rover took the actual engines out ahead of us, those are enormous. Inertia will still be tricky with the smaller stuff when it's hard to judge the mass, so be careful, you’re not as familiar with low gravity as I am. You don’t want to have an accident out here.
97 Tojo: Guess you’d know, chief.
98 Larissa: Took me years to work through all the issues my accident brought on. Still haunts me sometimes.
99 Tojo: [with alarm] Hey, what's that over there?! Looked like something just exploded!
100 Larissa: [nonchalant] Just a particle of interstellar dust. Remember we're still going three quarters the speed of light even when we're not accelerating.
101 Tojo: [worried] Are we in danger?
102 Larissa: We'll only be out here a few hours and we're really small targets, and most of the gas and dust is hitting the other side of Mathilde until we turn over, we'd have to be incredibly unlucky. That impact looked like it was over the horizon, probably 10 kilometers away. But it's one of the reasons we don't let people walk the surface just for recreation... and it's why we can't bring Mathilde into the Tau Ceti system itself, where the dust is far denser.
103 Tojo: I imagine flying through the middle of a system at this speed it'd be like a constant barrage of nuclear weapons.
104 Larissa: Pretty much.
105 Renata: [sfx: processed, and only to the side flint is on] Chief Flint?
106 Larissa: Yes mayor?
107 Renata: The team working on the… artifact… found it’s attached to a sort of wire. A long wire. Possibly all the way to the surface.
108 Larissa: [impatient] How does that concern me?
109 Renata: They’ve projected where it would reach the surface, and it’s only a couple kilometers from where you're going. I need you to take some readings.
110 Larissa: [angry] Excuse me, mayor, but this is a rescue operation! Every wasted minute could be the one that leads to Peters dying out there!
111 Renata: [taken aback] Nobody’s asking you to abandon Peters. You can place the engines first. When everything else is done, before you head back in, just take a few minutes to get me electromagnetic spectrum scans at the location I’m sending you, latitude minus forty one point three longitude six point seven seven.
112 Larissa: [irritated] Fine, whatever, please clear the channel and let us get on with the job…
113 SOUND: end scene
114 SOUND: medical background, bed beeps
115 Marissa: Doc, how is he?
116 Stone: Who?
117 Marissa: My husband!
118 Stone: Oh, I guess Ahmadi’s still unconscious.
119 Marissa: When did you last check on him?
120 Stone: Uh… well, I looked at his vitals this morning.
121 Marissa: Once?
122 Stone: Uh, maybe.
123 Marissa: I can’t believe how irresponsible you are, doctor! You only have one patient right now and you’re totally neglecting him!
124 Stone: What is there to do? He’s just been lying there unconscious, not very interesting to look at, terrible conversationalist.
125 Marissa: So you go off into your little office nook and spend your day doing something more fun instead of tending to your patient?
126 Stone: I’ll have you know I’ve made the most incredible discovery today, the medical discovery of the century if not the millennium!
127 Marissa: Sure. Meanwhile, your patient has been out for two days! You told me yesterday he'd almost certainly wake up yesterday!
128 Stone: Hmm, well that's what I thought at the time but you never really know how long it'll be with these things. Maybe he slipped into a coma.
129 Marissa: [angry] Well why don’t you come see?!
130 SOUND: Stone stands up and comes over and runs scanner from ep 7
131 Stone: It’s not a coma, his brain activity is actually unusually elevated… hm, wasn’t like that yesterday.
132 Marissa: [concerned] Like a seizure?
133 Stone: No, not *that* elevated. And it’s coming down toward normal. If I project based on the rate of change there… his brain activity should be back to normal in six hours. So I’ll betcha that’s when he wakes up.
134 Marissa: [seething] It better be, or you might find yourself equally unconscious after I’m through with you.
135 Stone: [taken aback] I should really report you for that threat, Flint.
136 Marissa: [sarcastically] You’ve got a detective right here, pin the report to his gown and I’m sure he’ll deal with it when he wakes up.
137 SOUND: end scene
138 Larissa: [sfx: processed] How's the fuel line test looking?
139 Tojo: [sfx: processed] Eighty six percent.
140 Larissa: Stable?
141 Tojo: Yes.
142 Larissa: That'll do, we can afford some waste since it's just a couple of five minute burns. Close it up.
143 SOUND: closing up of equipment/ports/whatever... is there a scenario where there'd be sound?
144 Tojo: So what was that errand the mayor had for you? She was only talking to you, I couldn't hear her side of the conversation.
145 Larissa: Guess she's keeping it under wraps for the moment, not telling anyone she doesn't have to.
146 Tojo: Are you going to do it alone?
147 Larissa: No, follow me.
148 SOUND: they start moving
149 Tojo: How am I supposed to help work on it if I don't know what it is?
150 Larissa: Oh, who cares if the mayor wants secrecy, I'll fill you in. Mining section found a device, a sort of computer, 9 kilometers down. And they've dated it to eighty five hundred years ago.
151 Tojo: What? That's insane!
152 Larissa: I've seen some insane things in my time, but it's up there. Anyway, they found a wire coming out of it that they think might go all the way to the surface. And that's what we're looking for. That's all.
153 Tojo: Just an impossible wire from an impossible computer, that's all.
154 Larissa: Not impossible. Just very hard to explain at the moment.
155 SOUND: maybe a restaurant lunch background. sandwiched scene to help convey time passing.
156 Ex-mayor: I'll agree not to submit my application for the mission, under one condition.
157 Renata: [skeptical] And what's that, dad?
158 Ex-mayor: You put me on the committee that chooses who goes.
159 Renata: Then you *couldn't* volunteer, conflict of interest.
160 Ex-mayor: Exactly.
161 Renata: *sighs* Well, I suppose it wouldn't do any harm, I was having trouble deciding on those appointments anyway.
162 Ex-mayor: Thanks Renata, I need chances like this to participate in important decisions. It's a three person committee, right?
163 Renata: Yeah, that's what I've been leaning toward.
164 Ex-mayor: Maybe pick someone who can evaluate their mental fitness and someone who can evaluate their ability to meet our scientific research goals?
165 Renata: [disinterested] Hmm, maybe.
166 SOUND: abrupt scene end via discontinuation of background noise and sound of larissa's breath
167 Larissa: Right up here.
168 Tojo: I don't see anything.
169 Larissa: You wouldn't. If it ended right at the surface it'd be melted down now... and the coordinates might not be exact. Take a reading with your electromagnetic scanner.
170 SOUND: scanner sound, i know it wouldn't have one in vacuum but her suit relays sound simulation to tell her it's working
171 Tojo: Well there's something going on here, that's for sure. There's a big spike around eight gigahertz. Looks like a highly focused directional beam, drops off just a step to the side.
172 Larissa: Beam of what? Play me the aural representation.
173 SOUND: touch noises on tojo's side
174 Tojo: Here.
175 SOUND: some sort of eerie space static
176 Larissa: Sounds like random static.
177 Tojo: I don't think it is. I'm already seeing patterns.
178 Larissa: Are you saying this is a transmission?
179 Tojo: I think so. And why else would the device have a wire to the surface with highly directional eight gigahertz emissions?
180 Larissa: Let's leave a relay here so communications section can get a steady feed of it. Maybe Marissa can figure out what it means.
181 Tojo: Shouldn't you get the mayor's permission before you bring another person into this?
182 Larissa: She'll say I should've, but this is too significant to hide and I don't want to argue with her right now.
183 Tojo: Easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission?
184 Larissa: Something like that. Okay that's the relay planted, now let's get back inside. I've got an itch I haven't been able to scratch all day in this suit.
185 SOUND: end scene
186 SOUND: one second time lags now
187 Peters: [sfx: processed] I admit I was being selfish, just thinking about chasing adventure. It was a sort of a mad dream, once it became more real I would've understood it was wrong. If I survive this, I promise I won’t volunteer for the exploratory mission.
188 Therapist: That's all I wanted to hear, for now anyway.
189 Peters: How's it going over there, Tam?
190 Therapist: Some great progress. Chief Flint got the rockets placed to turn us around, we should be flipped over by tomorrow. Gonna be weird feeling sideways gravity during those burns.
191 Peters: You might not even notice, it doesn't take much acceleration to get Mathilde up to a velocity where she'll turn over in 12 hours. Tell Larissa I said thanks, if you see her.
192 Therapist: Once we're pointed in the right direction and restart the main engines, they say it'll only be a matter of hours until we come up on you.
193 Peters: That's where it'll get tricky, you'll have to rotate again and decelerate to try to catch me instead of smash me to bits.
194 Therapist: I believe Chief Flint will make it work somehow.
195 Peters: If anyone can, it's her.
196 Therapist: So how are you holding up?
197 Peters: The hunger pangs have subsided.
198 Therapist: That's good. They told me to let you know you can drink more water now, since we should be there pretty soon.
199 Peters: To tell the truth, I've already been cheating a bit on the half liter ration.
200 Therapist: Have you been sleeping okay?
201 Peters: Some nightmares, but not as bad as the one I face when I'm awake.
202 Therapist: Stay strong, there's just one more day to get through.
203 Peters: Yeah, no matter what happens tomorrow at least it'll be over. I'll be ready to do whatever part I can to help... which I'm afraid won't be much.
204 SOUND: sounds of eating dinner in background behind conversation
205 Marcus: [self-pitying] I wonder if either of you would really care if I were gone.
206 Larissa: [irritated] Dad, do you really have to do this tonight? I've spent the whole damn day in a space suit hooking up engines and running errands for the mayor and I'm on my last nerve...
207 Marissa: [irritated] And *I'd* rather be with my husband in medical right now, the doctor's useless...
208 Marcus: [accusingly, scoring a point] There's never a good time, is there? Haven't you both always been telling me you MAKE time for family?
209 Marissa: [eyes rolling] Oh, for... [cuts herself off] Fine, let's just pretend to like each other for ten minutes until we're done eating.
210 Marcus: This might be one of the last meals we eat together.
211 Marissa: [momentarily concerned] Are you sick, dad?
212 Marcus: No, I'm just thinking about leaving. I've failed here, a change of scenery might for the best.
213 Marissa: [confused] What? Where could you go?
214 Larissa: [cynically] He's talking about the mission, the pod to Tau Ceti.
215 Marissa: [skeptical] Ha! You, dad? Volunteering to give up everything and go on a one way mission to die alone for the benefit of humanity?!
216 Marcus: [defensive] I'm leaning toward it. I know my life here hasn't gone to plan, and living in a world of 200 people I've never been able to escape it... but at 68 I may finally have a first chance to get away for a fresh start.
217 Larissa: [to Marissa] Well, it'd be a great opportunity for him to completely abandon his family again while convincing people he's being noble for it this time.
218 Marissa: [to Larissa] And he's gonna die alone with nobody liking him anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter what world that's on.
219 SOUND: multicom beep, touch
220 Marissa: [irritated by interruption] Yes, what is it?
221 Stone: [sfx: processed] You wanted to know the moment your husband woke up, he just did.
222 Marissa: I'll be right there.
223 SOUND: hangup beep, chair movement, clothes rustle
224 Larissa: [sternly] If I find out you faked that call as an escape...
225 Marissa: [jokey gloating] Have fun, sis! See ya tomorrow.
226 SOUND: end scene
227 SOUND: medical, but with no beeping now
228 Marissa: How are you feeling, Arash?
229 Ahmadi: Bit of a headache. And hungry.
230 Marissa: [wryly] I know a dinner seat that just opened up, but it'd make your headache a lot worse.
231 Stone: I don't think there'll be any further issues. I'm discharging him now if you want to take him home.
232 Marissa: [judging] Well I'm sure he'll be safer in my care than in yours.
233 SOUND: Ahmadi jumps down off bed, tries to walk.
234 Marissa: Careful, let me help...
235 SOUND: they walk out door slowly
236 Marissa: [faint greeting] Ambassador.
237 SOUND: door closes as Ambassador's footsteps enter
238 Ambassador One: You wanted my help, Doctor Stone?
239 Stone: Yes Ambassador, I think you're the only one other than myself qualified for this job.
240 Ambassador One: A new alien species, you said?
241 Stone: Help me sequence the... not DNA, but whatever you want to call their genetic material. Then let's try to derive a simulation from that of what these creatures may have looked like, and see if we can even narrow down where their home planet could be based on their physical characteristics.
242 Ambassador One: A fascinating challenge. I am not sure if this can be done, but I will help.
243 SOUND: end scene
244 SOUND: room tone for ahmadi and marissa's quarters, maybe same as marissa's from ep 5
245 Ahmadi: So what've they discovered about the device while I've been out?
246 Marissa: The ambassador got the date correct, it's eighty five hundred years old. The sample you collected had ancient genetic material from an unknown alien species. And it's transmitting some sort of message somewhere.
247 Ahmadi: Kinda makes you wonder about those ancient aliens crackpot conspiracy theories back on Earth.
248 Marissa: There's no reason to think they ever visited Earth, let alone did anything significant to Earth's history. It's a big solar system.
249 Ahmadi: A big solar system with a lot of asteroids, I wonder why they planted something in this one.
250 Marissa: It's not a big device except for the antenna, maybe they planted them in thousands of asteroids. Or maybe they only wanted to track the ones that might become spaceships, there weren't many sized right for that task. And as far as we know this is the only one with the special ore that's accelerated us so fast.
251 Ahmadi: Hm. If their species is still out there listening, our acceleration must've caught their attention by now...
252 SOUND: sitting on bed, mattress squeak
253 Marissa: [sleepily] Maybe these mysteries will become a little clearer in the morning, when I get to work on analyzing the transmission. Sorry Arash, it's been a long day, I gotta sleep. Gonna be a big day tomorrow, hopefully in a good way.
254 SOUND: closing theme
255 Announcer: You've been listening to Two Fifty-Three Mathilde, episode nine: Maneuvers.