10 characters: Announcer, Silva, Roberts, Tojo, Bee, Computer, Returnee Three, Returnee Two, Returnee One, Paul
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Tojo (36 lines, 653 words, 29.19%) - [Gwenith Knight] Farah Tojo is in the future. [complete]
Silva (43 lines, 1084 words, 48.46%) - [Audrey J Williams] Distant future mayor Emiko Silva. In her 90s. [complete]
Roberts (4 lines, 46 words, 2.06%) - [Paul Moss] David Roberts is in his 90s. [complete]
Bee (10 lines, 91 words, 4.07%) - [bot] Bee Ahmadi is in her 90s. [complete]
Returnee One (5 lines, 84 words, 3.76%) - [Shriek] Descendant of 253 Mathilde colonists. [complete]
Returnee Two (3 lines, 61 words, 2.73%) - [bot] Descendant of 253 Mathilde colonists. [complete]
Returnee Three (2 lines, 41 words, 1.83%) - [bot] Descendant of 253 Mathilde colonists. [complete]
Computer (8 lines, 44 words, 1.97%) - [bot] The base computer. [complete]
Paul (1 line, 59 words, 2.64%) - [Paul Knierim] Creator. [complete]
Announcer (5 lines, 74 words, 3.31%) - [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: include brief clip from all 30 previous episodes
3 Announcer: And now...
4
Silva:
This is Emiko Silva. I'm the final mayor of this little asteroid world we call 253 Mathilde. Final because there are only 3 of us left and we're old. I'm recording this because I want to leave a record for eternity, a record of who we were and what we did here. We're presumably the last of our race, a species which died out over a million years ago on our home planet, so I think we have a duty to write humanity's epilogue even if nobody's likely to find it.
Two hundred and twenty nine years ago from our point of view, our ancestors set out from a planet called Earth in the hope that their descendants would one day reach a star 4 light years away. As you can see, we've exceeded their expectations considerably.
5 SOUND: someone approaching
6 Roberts: Emiko, we've got a fault developing in air processing, the secondary circulation system. I need your help.
7 Silva: Alright, I'm coming, just let me pause my recording.
8 SOUND: opening theme
9 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 intergalactic void at near light speed. For her residents, the journey has been more than two hundred years... for the rest of the universe, it's been more than a million years.
10 Announcer: Episode 31 - Unending
11
Silva:
In my view, there are two people who were truly indispensable titans in the history of our world: Commander Peters, and Mayor Hu. Commander Peters set us on our course and guided the first 60 years of our unique society -- I can only guess at how differently we might've turned out if he'd obeyed orders and stayed on Earth in 2107. Mayor Hu presided over our era of exploration, sending missions to dozens of worlds before dying a hero's death, so it's to him we owe our greatest accomplishments.
Of course, that was all a million years ago. The exploration era ended right around when I was born.
12 SOUND: radio beeps
13 Silva: Computer, pause recording.
14 SOUND: goes over to activate
15 Tojo: [sfx: processed] Hello 253 Mathilde, this is Chief Tojo speaking, please tell me you can hear me!
16 Silva: Who did you say you are?
17 Tojo: Farah Tojo! I'm back!
18 Silva: Nice voice clone, Roberts. But it's not funny... she was a real person, my grandmother was her friend, her loss was a tragedy. Get back to work on that sanitation system.
19 SOUND: call cutoff
20
Silva:
Computer, resume recording.
Mayor Hernandez was the only mayor I knew personally. She was my mentor. She deserves a lot of credit for bringing stability and order back to our society after the doomers nearly ended us. But there was always a sadness in her eyes, that grew deeper as our population declined. It's one thing to see your friends and contemporaries slowly die off, to attend their funerals and see fewer and fewer at each funeral -- that's just the human experience. But to see no younger generation replacing them, no children left in the world, no future to pass on a legacy to -- I don't think Mayor Hernandez was at peace with that reality. It didn't help that she felt there should've been another generation and that her predecessor had robbed us of them by approving the mission to Earth.
21 SOUND: multicom alert
22 Silva: [sigh of annoyance at being interrupted again] Computer, pause.
23 SOUND: activation tap
24 Silva: Yes, Bee?
25 Bee: Mayor, I'm working in the hydroponics bay and there's a weird noise.
26 Silva: What kind of noise?
27 Bee: Like a knocking sound. I think something must be breaking down.
28 Silva: [with a sigh] I'll come give it a listen... better not be anything serious, we're too old for all this.
29 Bee: Thanks, I'd check it out but I'm busy.
30 Silva: And you're not very technical, Bee. I know.
31 SOUND: call end sound
32 Silva: [under breath] You'd think with only three of us left alive I could get through an afternoon without all these interruptions.
33 MUSIC: transition
34 SOUND: faint metallic knocking
35 Bee: Sounds like it's coming from the outer wall, not sure what's in there.
36 Silva: Near the airlock...
37 Bee: Yeah.
38 Silva: [urgent realization of mistake] Shit.
39 SOUND: fiddles with controls
40 Silva: [anxious] If Roberts is doing this as part of his joke, I'm gonna kill him. But I'd better open it up just in case.
41 SOUND: airlock evacuation effect but is audibly happening in different room
42 Bee: Huh?
43 Silva: I got a call earlier purporting to be Farah Tojo coming home.
44
Bee:
Hah, that'd be something.
Hey look, there really is somebody coming in!
45 Silva: Computer, where's Roberts?
46 SOUND: air filling airlock
47 Computer: David Roberts is in sanitation.
48 Silva: Then...
49 Bee: She's taking her helmet off, that really is Farah Tojo! Doesn't look a day older than in the holos!
50 SOUND: door slides open
51 Tojo: [annoyed] About time! I was almost out of air!
52 Silva: [awestruck] Sorry, sorry! Welcome, Chief Tojo! I can't believe this, it's an honor to meet a legend in the flesh!
53 Tojo: So who are you?
54 Silva: I'm mayor Emiko Silva, and this is Bee Ahmadi!
55 Tojo: I take it this isn't 2240? The sky out there is so dark, I thought something must've gone wrong.
56 Silva: 2335 local year. We're between galaxies so there's not much to see, there's a few galaxies you can make out if you know where to look.
57 Tojo: Where's everyone else?
58 Silva: Roberts is busy in sanitation. And that's all we've got.
59 SOUND: they start walking through corridors with doors opening and closing
60 Tojo: Apparently there's a lot for me to catch up on. But it's nice to be sort of home.
61 MUSIC: somewhat uplifting transition indicating time passing
62 SOUND: insert snippet from tojo's memorial service, meanwhile door opens and silva enters
63 Silva: Am I interrupting you?
64 Tojo: No, it's okay, I was just watching my funeral. Computer, pause.
65 Silva: That's got to be an odd experience.
66 Tojo: [mournfully] The trouble is all the *other* funerals I *missed*. My son's funeral. All my friends. A couple hours ago for me none of them had been born yet, and now they're all dead, it's like temporal whiplash.
67 Silva: I'm sorry. Can't imagine what it's like.
68 Tojo: Mayor, you must've known a lot of them. Anton, Marissa, Larissa, Ravi... what happened to them all?
69 Silva: Marissa was my grandmother. She talked about you a lot, I don't think she ever gave up hope either, I only wish she could be here today. Listen, there'll be plenty of time to tell stories, what I really came in here for was to ask if you could help us out.
70 Tojo: Oh? With what?
71 Silva: There's so much that needs doing and only three elderly people to do it all. But at the moment, I'd like you to have a look at the optical sensors.
72 Tojo: But... are those really any use out here in the intergalactic void?
73 Silva: Not usually, but the computer detected what could be something approaching us, unfortunately the sensors are too far out of alignment to confirm.
74 Tojo: [skeptical] The chances of anything out here, let alone something that can match our speed...
75 Silva: I know, but I'd like you to check, and you'd know those systems better than we do since we've never bothered maintaining them.
76 Tojo: Alright, I'll go do that right away.
77 SOUND: gets up
78 MUSIC: link
79 SOUND: fiddling with electrical stuff, sparks, metal cover being replaced
80 Tojo: There, that should do it. Computer, check optical scanner performance.
81 Computer: Performance is now restored to one hundred percent of design parameters.
82 Tojo: Computer, re-scan for approaching objects.
83 SOUND: alert noise
84 Computer: Unknown spaceship on intercept course.
85 Tojo: Really?! Computer, show me a visual.
86 SOUND: display sound as for ep 21 map
87 Tojo: Analysis please, does it appear hostile?
88 Computer: Unknown.
89 Tojo: No definite armaments detected?
90 Computer: Correct.
91 Tojo: Distance and estimated time to intercept?
92 Computer: Distance approximately seven astronomical units, projected intercept time four hours.
93 Tojo: Just four hours?!
94 Computer: Affirmative, based on ship's current acceleration profile.
95 Tojo: Wouldn't their thrust be so strong they'd be pancaked?!
96 Computer: Affirmative, explanation not available.
97 SOUND: multicom activation
98 Tojo: Mayor, you're going going to want to see this.
99 MUSIC: crests into link
100 Silva: It's a shame our external communications don't work. We didn't see a need to maintain them after we caught the last transmissions from Earth.
101 Tojo: Did Mateo and Zainab die? I only had time to see a couple of their logs.
102 Silva: Of course they died, that was a million years ago.
103 Tojo: Oh... of course. But how, and did they leave any descendants?
104 Silva: I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. Let's keep our focus on what's happening right now for the moment. Roberts, what's the alien ship doing?
105 Roberts: They're on final landing approach. Looks like they'll be setting down right by our base.
106 Tojo: On top of us, or next to us?
107 Roberts: Current trajectory looks like next to.
108 Tojo: Good, on top of us didn't go well last time.
109 Silva: Their whole ship is setting down, they're not just sending shuttles?
110 Roberts: That's right. Aaannd they're down, that was quick.
111 Tojo: Can't imagine how they do these fast maneuvers.
112 Bee: So now what do we do?
113 Silva: We welcome them like good hosts, and hope they're friendly.
114 Tojo: Is that wise?
115 Silva: Unless you think you and three nonagenarians can overpower a ship full of aliens who are far more advanced than we are.
116 Tojo: Good point.
117 SOUND: knocking
118 Bee: At least they're polite, knocking on the door.
119 SOUND: tapping controls, airlock opens and then fills
120 Tojo: Three of them! From the shape of the suits they look a lot like us!
121 Silva: [thoughtfully] You know, I'd swear they're actually human.
122 Tojo: But how could that be possible?
123 Silva: Airlock is full, give me a sec to let them in and we'll find out.
124 SOUND: airlock opens, 3 come out
125 Silva: Welcome to 253 Mathilde. I'm mayor Silva, this is Bee Ahmadi, that's Roberts, and that's Farah Tojo.
126 Returnee Three: Farah Tojo... the ancestors spoke of you in their records.
127 Tojo: What?
128 Returnee Two: Long ago, the ancestors recorded they came to our planet from 253 Mathilde, where they spoke of an assistant mechanic Farah Tojo. But you can't be the *same* Farah Tojo, can you? After all this time?
129 Tojo: It's a long story. Suffice it to say a lot of strange things can happen around light speed. What planet are you from?
130 Returnee One: I'm from KHI 231 -- as you know it.
131 Returnee Two: A lot of us are from LOJ 383.
132 Silva: How did human beings end up on these planets? And then together in one ship?
133 Returnee One: Because of you. And we came to find you.
134 Returnee Three: Most of us are descended from those who were taken from you in 2220. They were taken back to Earth but found humanity apparently extinct, so most of them were resettled elsewhere.
135 Returnee One: And a few of us are descended from the explorers you purposely left on planets.
136 Tojo: But when did you leave your home planets?
137 Returnee One: This project came together about eighty thousand years after 253 Mathilde left Earth. We realized that with the right acceleration profile, traveling even closer to the speed of light, there was still a chance to catch up with you before you'd run out of resources.
138 Silva: But why would you want to catch up with our dying world?
139 Returnee One: We've come with solutions to your energy problems.
140 Returnee Two: There are forty seven of us. We're here to bring this world back to life, to honor our ancestors.
141 MUSIC: uplifting, rises and crests and drops to silence
142 SOUND: similar atmosphere to mayor hu's speech in episode 20
143 Silva: I've always been very aware of my mortality. It's hard not to be when you grow up watching your community die around you until finally you're one of the final three left. It's been a given from the moment of my birth that our community would die with me and my generation. I've devoted my life to making the best of it and drawing down our time here with dignity. I've long assumed my final day as mayor would be my final day of life. But now, with a shocking suddenness, everything has changed. We have a new population, a new life, a new future. And I couldn't be happier to submit my resignation and announce my retirement, effective today.
144 SOUND: crowd murmur in surprise
145 Silva: My successor was an obvious choice. There's one person here who knows how this world works, how to restore it to what it used to be, how to chart a path forward. She came to us across the mists of time as if by divine providence. And so, I turn you over now to your new mayor, Farah Tojo.
146 SOUND: applause
147
Tojo:
Thank you. I'm honored to accept this new challenge. I didn't mean to be here, but maybe it's where and when I needed to be. I bring with me the memory of everybody who made me who I am -- too many people to mention, and their names might mean little to you right now, but part of my future work here will be seeing that they're remembered and honored.
I've seen our world at the beginning, in the middle, and at what was supposed to be the end. I've learned there are no true endings, no neat and tidy summations. There's only people doing what they can. We're stewards of this world, and we're explorers of this universe, driven by our inherent need to try to understand our universe better and leave it a little better than we entered it. These are unending tasks, Sisyphean challenges we gladly volunteer for. And truth be told, if someone handed us the answers and finished the tasks for us, we'd be devastated -- because it's the striving that makes our lives worthwhile.
Today is a special day. It's launch day, the day we celebrate the beginning of the slow departure of our ancestors from their solar system, the beginning of our evolving mission. For the three of you who've been living in 253 Mathilde's reference frame without interruption, it's the 230th launch day. For me, it's only my 135th. For most of you, the original launch day is a legend passed down for tens of thousands of years. The first launch day brought people together from so many different countries on Earth and united them on a single mission. Now we're bringing people together from different worlds, even different times. So I'd like to propose we declare this day today as our RE-launch day -- a day we hope future generations will look back on with pride.
148 SOUND: applause
149 Announcer: You've been listening to Two Fifty-Three Mathilde, episode thirty one: Unending.
150 Paul: This was the final episode of 253 Mathilde. It's been a pleasure to write and produce it. Thank you for listening, please share with your friends, and stay tuned for our season 3 retrospective documentary in a couple weeks. If you enjoyed 253 Mathilde, feel free to check out all the other QuietPlease dot org productions at QuietPlease dot org slash originals.