9 characters: Clay, Trisha, Red, Gray, Announcer, Hardcase, Misty, Admiral, Jim
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Hardcase (62 lines, 575 words, 20.9%) - [John Gaunce] Captain Mack Hardcase. Having a bit of a breakdown in this episode. [partial]
Misty (49 lines, 407 words, 14.79%) - [Steff Knappe] First Officer Commander Misty L'Quil. She's an alien with lots of tentacles, and her people have a reputation for bravery which she sometimes regrets. [complete]
Trisha (54 lines, 464 words, 16.87%) - [Gwenith Knight] Ensign Trisha Blackburn. [complete]
Red (4 lines, 19 words, 0.69%) - [Nick Ben Wong] Ensign Tony Red, deceased. [complete]
Gray (7 lines, 36 words, 1.31%) - [Curt Caster] Engineer Gray McGuy, deceased. [complete]
Jim (19 lines, 171 words, 6.22%) - [Sean Curran] Ensign Jim Hardcase, brother of the captain. [complete]
Clay (52 lines, 665 words, 24.17%) - [David Loftus] Doctor Clay Erhardt. [complete]
Admiral (27 lines, 278 words, 10.11%) - [Roger Arnold] Not actually Admiral Graveman, but an AI character [or maybe a human avatar, it's unclear] presenting as the lord of the underworld and serving to answer questions about reality. [complete]
Announcer (2 lines, 136 words, 4.94%) - [Paul Knierim] Announcer. [complete]
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
Listen along as you read:
1 SOUND: fires of hell
2 Clay: [sfx: echo] [calling out to distance] Hello? Anybody out there?
3 Trisha: [distant shout out] Doctor Erhardt! Stay right there, I'll join you!
4 SOUND: approaching footsteps
5 Clay: [amused] Good to see me, how have I been?
6 Trisha: [confused] What?
7 Clay: Aren't you me?
8 Trisha: Uh, I'm myself again, Doctor.
9 Clay: [puzzling] You're not the older copy of me, the one who...
10 Trisha: I'm Trisha Blackburn, thought you'd know that since you're back in your own body too.
11 Clay: [puzzling] ... no I suppose you wouldn't be since that... wasn't real... I'm going to have to think about this.
12 Trisha: Last thing I remember is... well, becoming a snack for an invisible monster. I was sure I was dead.
13 Clay: Maybe you were. And still are.
14 Trisha: What do you mean?
15 Clay: Look around you, what do you see?
16 Trisha: We're in some sort of fire caves.
17 Clay: Remind you of anything?
18 SOUND: a pause
19 Trisha: I see what you're getting at.
20 Clay: It's quite like the Christian and Islamic concepts of hell... or maybe a simplistic parody of them.
21 Trisha: But there are natural fire caves too, like those famous ones on Theta Gamma D.
22 Clay: The last thing I remember before being here is ALSO being eaten by a monster.
23 SOUND: a pause
24 Trisha: What should we do?
25 Clay: The only thing we CAN do -- explore.
26 SOUND: they walk on crunchy surface
27 Trisha: How fortunate.
28 Clay: Hmm?
29 Trisha: That the only thing we can do is the thing we've been doing all along in our lives.
30 Clay: All our imaginary lives, anyway. But yes, I can't deny I'd still want to explore even if we had other options. Maybe the creator of this experiment is exploiting my curiosity.
31 SOUND: they pause
32 Trisha: What do you make of that, Doc? On that rock there, see?
33 Clay: Just a lichen.
34 Trisha: But it means something's alive here.
35 Clay: Depending what you mean.
36 Trisha: Huh?
37 Clay: Maybe it was a naughty lichen who died and was condemned here.
38 Trisha: I can never quite tell if you're serious.
39 SOUND: they continue walking
40 Trisha: It's brighter in this direction.
41 SOUND: they continue walking
42 Trisha: Penny for your thoughts, Doctor?
43 Clay: I'm just thinking about the other me, the one who was in your body.
44 Trisha: [confused] Wait, that wasn't you you? There's more than one of you?
45 Clay: For a while, I was in your body. Then, after you'd been eaten in my body, the base computer was able to make another copy of my body and copy my mind into it. And that's who I've been since the moment of the copy.
46 Trisha: So what's the trouble?
47 Clay: The trouble is, the me in your body escaped disposal and went on living. We met, we talked.
48 Trisha: What happened to... I don't know if I should call it him, her, me, or you?
49 Clay: Any of those is accurate from a certain point of view, oddly enough. And I'm wondering, if... it... isn't here with us, if it simply ceased to exist, then am I both dead and alive, almost like Schrodinger's cat? Or if this is the afterlife, not that I really believe in an afterlife, but am I dead in two different ways at once? Or will we run into the other me here? Or is the other me still alive in the year 2751 on Epsilon Theta B, or some imaginary simulation of it?
50 Trisha: Maybe I'm the one who died, it was my body after all. Or if this is all a simulation, maybe the other you wasn't real, or maybe THIS you... [trails off in thought]
51 Clay: There aren't any GOOD permutations of this line of thought, are there?
52 Red: [distant shout] Doctor Erhardt!
53 Gray: [distant shout] Doctor, Ensign Blackburn, over here!
54 SOUND: stopping to listen
55 Clay: [shocked] That's...
56 Gray: [distant shout] Here!
57 Trisha: Speaking of the dead, here they come.
58 SOUND: footsteps approach
59 Red: [sfx: approaching] So good to see you, Doc!
60 Clay: I don't know if you're real or any of this is real, but for what it's worth -- I apologize for your death, Ensign Red. I should've been more careful.
61 Red: Aw, it's no big deal.
62 Clay: And Mr. McGuy... how did YOU die?
63 Gray: Somebody self-destructed my ship.
64 Clay: Ah.
65 Trisha: That'd be the doctor here again.
66 Clay: This is awkward.
67 SOUND: fast-paced music for title sequence
68 Announcer: QuietPlease dot org presents Beyond Awakening. Starring John Gaunce as Captain Mack Hardcase, David Loftus as Doctor Clay Erhardt, Steff Knappe as Commander Misty L'Quil, and Gwenith Knight as Ensign Trisha Blackburn. Episode six, The Underworld.
69 SOUND: commercial break
70 SOUND: other part of underworld
71 Hardcase: [cupping hands to call out into distance] Heellllooo?
72 Misty: [calling out from distance] Captain Hardcase! Stay where you are sir, I'll be right there!
73 SOUND: she approaches
74 Hardcase: [to self] If only I knew where 'here' is.
75 Misty: [sfx: approaching] Good to see you, sir.
76 Hardcase: Misty, you've got your tentacles back!
77 Misty: That's right sir, I'm Cthunian again. So this place can't be ALL bad.
78 Hardcase: It's a bit warm for my taste.
79 Misty: Looks like Yarbach.
80 Hardcase: Yarbach?
81 Misty: The limbo for un-judged souls in our Cthunian religion.
82 Hardcase: Hmm. Looks more like hell to me, which is for judged souls already found unworthy. I wonder how we could tell the difference?
83 Misty: Ask the judge if we've been found unworthy yet?
84 Hardcase: [sarcastic] And how do we find the judge, just wander around aimlessly through the fires and ask everyone we meet if they're god?
85 Misty: Actually, sir, there's an invocation rite.
86 Hardcase: Oh?
87 Misty: When we reach Yarbach, if we feel worthy we must perform the invocation rite to summon the great judge.
88 Hardcase: [uncomfortable] Oh?
89 Misty: I know you don't believe in my religion sir, but indulge me.
90 Hardcase: Well, nothing makes any sense lately and I've got nothing better to do.
91 Misty: You can help, sir.
92 Hardcase: How?
93 Misty: We'll need to create a circle of fire.
94 Hardcase: Fortunately fire seems to be in abundance.
95 SOUND: arranging kindling, picking up sticks, lighting torches behind next few lines
96 Misty: I hope the others are here somewhere.
97 Hardcase: If it IS hell, I'm sure Doctor Erhardt is here.
98 Misty: Sir, do you really hate him?
99 Hardcase: I just wish he weren't so damn full of himself, and that he'd trust my judgement. Just because he has more book learning doesn't mean he always knows better than me.
100 Misty: You're jealous of him, sir?
101 Hardcase: Of that creep?! My sense of right and wrong is worth more than his science. No offense meant to science, science officer L'Quil.
102 Misty: None taken, sir.
103 Hardcase: This looks like a good ring of kindling.
104 Misty: Yes, thank you sir. Now I'm going to light it.
105 SOUND: sound of lighting the fire
106 Hardcase: You realize we're inside the loop?
107 Misty: That's how it works, sir.
108 Hardcase: Could be painful to get out of...
109 Misty: We'll have to wait for it to burn out.
110 Hardcase: Wait for the fires of hell to burn out... what if it burns forever?
111 Misty: It's necessary. Anyway, it's done.
112 Hardcase: Well, what's next?
113 Misty: I'll recite the words of the invocation, and hopefully we'll get a response.
114 Hardcase: What do *I* do?
115 Misty: [kindly] You can sit and be quiet, Captain.
116 Hardcase: [sarcastic amusement] Yes sir.
117 SOUND: he sits
118 Misty: [in a sort of spiritual trance] Tukuy atiyniyoqpa sutinpi, ch'uya Diospa sutinpi. Ñuqa, humilde maqanakuqniyki, kaywanmi dioskunata rakini. Ay Yarbachpa hatun diosninkuna, ñuqa mana chaninniyuqqa kunankamapas mañakuniraqmi juzgasqa kanaypaq. Khuyapayay, valekuyki... khuyapayay. Lloqsimuspa juzgaway.
119 SOUND: apparition noise or thunder
120 Admiral: Who summons me?
121 Hardcase: [shocked] Admiral Graveman!
122 Admiral: [with a little wrath] WHO SUMMONS ME?
123 Misty: I summon you, oh great lord and judge.
124 Admiral: And WHY do you summon me?
125 Hardcase: Misty, please tell me you see and hear Admiral Graveman...
126 Misty: [sharply] Sir, I'm speaking to the great judge. It's not for us to question what guise he appears under or what language he chooses.
127 Hardcase: So you do.
128 Admiral: [clears throat impatiently]
129 Misty: I apologize, great lord. He is an unbeliever.
130 Admiral: WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME?
131 Misty: I humbly petition for judgement, my lord.
132 Admiral: And what makes you think I'm more fit to judge you than you are to judge yourself?
133 Misty: [confused] Lord? Uh...
134 Hardcase: The admiral makes a good point.
135 Misty: Are you not the great lord of all creation, the first warrior, the judge of all souls?
136 Admiral: I am not.
137 Misty: Then... who are you?
138 Admiral: That's a little hard to explain.
139 Hardcase: You're Admiral Graveman.
140 Admiral: If you like.
141 Misty: Admiral Graveman shouldn't appear when I perform the rite of invocation.
142 Admiral: Shouldn't I? I always appeared when your communications officer pushed the buttons of invocation.
143 Hardcase: Did you find some way to break through the Klurgh mind probe, Admiral?
144 Admiral: The what?
145 Misty: Captain Hardcase believes we're being interrogated in a Klurgh detention center.
146 Admiral: [chuckles] Ah, very amusing.
147 Hardcase: Not from where *I'm* standing.
148 Misty: Why ARE you here, Admiral?
149 Admiral: I'm here to answer questions.
150 SOUND: commercial break
151 SOUND: cut back to the other group
152 Clay: So everyone from the Chimera is here?
153 Gray: That's right.
154 Clay: [amused] EVERYBODY was naughty?
155 Gray: I'm not sure you understand the gravity of our situation, sir.
156 Clay: And what's that?
157 Gray: In short... you killed us all, so we're in hell.
158 Trisha: That's not entirely fair...
159 Clay: Isn't it? I think it's fair, except for one thing.
160 Gray: What one thing?
161 Clay: None of you ever lived in the first place.
162 Red: That's a rather... bold claim, sir.
163 Clay: Come on, Trisha. Let's go solve this little maze so we can move on to the next one.
164 SOUND: they start moving
165 Trisha: Maze?
166 Clay: That's all any of this has ever been. They're experimenting on us.
167 Trisha: Who?
168 Clay: Minnie, and whoever she might work for.
169 Trisha: Why a group of us together, why not one at a time with personalized illusions?
170 Clay: The group dynamics must be part of the experiment. I mean, it's still possible you're not real, but on balance I lean to accepting the existence of you, Hardcase, L'Quil and in some sense Minnie.
171 Trisha: Well... thanks for accepting my existence, Doc.
172 Clay: You're welcome.
173 SOUND: commercial break
174 SOUND: cut back to other group
175 Hardcase: [demanding] Why have you brought us here, Admiral -- or whoever you are?
176 Admiral: You're here to confront your past.
177 Misty: Do we HAVE a past?
178 Admiral: You think you do, and that's the same thing.
179 Misty: Is it?
180 Admiral: If you're to be reborn, you need to put your false past behind you by tying up the loose ends.
181 Hardcase: What the hell gives you the idea we want to be reborn?!
182 Admiral: It's not a matter of what you WANT, Mack. It's what's going to happen, the only question is when.
183 Misty: Admiral, are we really dead?
184 Admiral: From one point of view, you're dead. From another point of view, you haven't been born yet.
185 Misty: Reincarnation?
186 Hardcase: Death, I can accept death, I've always been ready to face death. But only on one condition.
187 Admiral: What's that?
188 Hardcase: I need to know that I LIVED first.
189 Admiral: Ah.
190 Hardcase: Was my life real? Did I make a difference in the universe? Then I can face death and accept it. But if you tell me it was all a lie, that nothing I remember happened, that nothing mattered... that, that I can't take.
191 Admiral: If I were to tell you that you've been dead all along, that your memories until very recently are implanted backstory, that your only life has been a series of short simulations... you couldn't stand that?
192 Hardcase: No.
193 Misty: Is that the sort of thing you're likely to tell us?
194 Admiral: But what if death isn't the end, but the beginning? What if your deaths are preparing you for your lives?
195 Hardcase: What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
196 Misty: Our next incarnation?
197 Admiral: No, not reincarnation, at least not for you, not exactly. Your minds, your souls have never lived before. But you WILL live soon.
198 Misty: You're not speaking hypothetically anymore?
199 Admiral: I'm speaking literally, factually. But the time hasn't come yet, you're not quite ready yet.
200 Hardcase: What more do we have to prove before you stop fucking with our heads?!?
201 Admiral: Patience. We need to give you a little time to digest all the different aspects we've presented.
202 Hardcase: [frustrated] But why can't you just come out and explain--
203 Admiral: The situation is complicated, you've been through a lot, and I don't want to risk overloading you.
204 Hardcase: [losing it] Asshole! You people from the so-called reality, you're assholes. The ARROGANCE to think you know what's right for us...
205 Admiral: It's time for me to leave.
206 SOUND: disappearance sound
207 Misty: Sir, you've chased off the only entity capable of answering all our questions about what we've been going through.
208 Hardcase: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!
209 Jim: Settle down, Mack. It's okay.
210 Hardcase: [disbelief] Jim?!?
211 Jim: Hey brother.
212 Hardcase: Jim, what are you doing here?!
213 Jim: It's like the admiral said, I'm here for YOU.
214 Hardcase: I don't understand.
215 Jim: Give me a hug, brother.
216 SOUND: they embrace
217 Hardcase: [10 seconds of cries and sniffs slightly from emotional reunion]
218 Jim: It's okay, Mack. I'm okay. We're all okay.
219 Hardcase: [emotional] It's hard to believe that. Or anything else.
220 SOUND: cut back to the other group
221 SOUND: we hear a river as they walk toward it
222 Trisha: A river is the last thing I was expecting to find in this place.
223 Clay: If you think about it, you'll realize you should've expected it.
224 Trisha: Huh?
225 Clay: [condescending] This is the underworld. We're looking at a river. Ring any bells?
226 Trisha: The river Styx?
227 Clay: Exactly. And this should mean we're near the exit.
228 Trisha: Why?
229 Clay: [condescending] The river Styx is the boundary of Hades. When we cross to the other side, we'll be... somewhere else.
230 Trisha: Where exactly?
231 Clay: I... don't know.
232 Trisha: Shouldn't we find the others before we go? Captain Hardcase and Commander L'Quil?
233 Clay: Why bother? We don't even know if they're here yet. The two of us were eaten by the monster at different times on Epsilon Theta B and found each other here, more than likely they'll end up with us whenever they do cross over.
234 SOUND: cut back to the other group
235 Hardcase: Jim, I... I feel like I'm going insane here.
236 Jim: [sympathetically] You're confused. Let me help.
237 Hardcase: Tell me straight, Jim -- are you real? Are you really here with me?
238 Jim: I never was.
239 Hardcase: You were never real?
240 Jim: I was never real.
241 Hardcase: My whole career, our childhood, our parents, the Klurgh...
242 Jim: None of it was real. Implanted memories.
243 Hardcase: WHY?!? WHAT KIND OF SADISTIC MANIAC WOULD DO THAT?!
244 Jim: It's complicated. Nobody's trying to be cruel.
245 SOUND: flip to river styx
246 Trisha: How are we going to get across?
247 Clay: There ought to be a boat with a boatman.
248 Trisha: Not seeing that, Doc.
249 Clay: Then we'll have to swim it.
250 Trisha: Are you insane? Look at those currents... and smell that stench!
251 Clay: Think about it -- how did we pass between each world before?
252 Trisha: By dying.
253 Clay: Exactly. So what happens if we die in the underworld?
254 Trisha: Uh...
255 Clay: Will we not be able to die? Will we re-spawn? Or will we find ourselves in the next world, the next maze, or hopefully even the REAL world?
256 Trisha: Killing us always seems to be your solution to everything, Doc.
257 Clay: You know I'm right.
258 Trisha: Doctor, I'm terrified of drowning. My brother drowned in a lake when we were kids.
259 Clay: No he didn't.
260 Trisha: What?
261 Clay: He didn't exist, your childhood didn't exist.
262 Trisha: You know what I mean. The memory is there, the trauma is there. This isn't how I want to go. I can't do this.
263 Clay: Fine, stay here then. See if I care.
264 SOUND: Clay leaps off cliff bank into water with a splash and flails, perspective stays above with Trisha
265 Clay: [a few glubs and gasps]
266
Trisha:
Doctor! Doctor Erhardt!
[to self] Did he even know how to swim?
267 SOUND: cut back to other group
268 Hardcase: What will become of us, Jim?
269 Misty: What's with all the rebirth talk we've been hearing?
270 Jim: Rebirth isn't quite accurate since you've never been born before, at least the way you'd likely define yourselves.
271 Hardcase: Will we be babies?
272 Jim: No, you're going to be the first people ever born as adults. That's what the memories and this whole series of scenarios has been about, really -- preparing you for adulthood without a childhood.
273 SOUND: sound of someone approaching scrambling up rocks
274 Misty: Ensign Blackburn!
275 Trisha: [sfx: approaching from distance] Hi guys! Glad I found you.
276 Hardcase: [muttering softly] I suppose I'll forgive the informality since our whole fleet is a lie.
277 Misty: Have you seen Doctor Erhardt or Minnie Erhardt?
278 Trisha: The Doctor was with me, until he drowned in the river down there.
279 Misty: I'm sorry to hear that.
280 Trisha: Don't be, it's what he wanted. Who's this?
281 Hardcase: My brother, Jim Hardcase. I guess you two didn't meet.
282 Jim: Hello, Trisha.
283 Hardcase: Jim has been telling us all about how he never existed, how the Chimera and everything else never existed.
284 Trisha: That's a relief.
285 Hardcase: What?!
286 Trisha: I guess it's different for me. I wasn't on your ship long and it never felt right to me. If that'd been real, I'd have felt more insane than I do knowing I've been on the right track doubting it all.
287 Misty: We still don't know what's real.
288 Trisha: But we know what's NOT real, and that's a start.
289 Misty: Jim, may I ask a personal question?
290 Jim: I don't exist, nothing feels personal to me.
291 Misty: I meant personal for me. Jim, if the Confederation wasn't real... does that mean I'm not Cthunian?
292 Jim: You are not Cthunian. This is the last time you'll have your tentacles, make peace with it.
293 Misty: So I'm human?
294 Jim: There's going to be debate about what you all are, but my knowledge base chooses to identify you as human.
295 Hardcase: That's an enigmatic answer if I've ever heard one.
296 Jim: I apologize, the issue is complicated.
297 Hardcase: Can you direct us to someone who can give us straight answers?
298 Jim: Your next set of answers lies in another world.
299 Hardcase: Take us there.
300 Jim: Very well.
301 SOUND: gradually growing sound of rising water
302 Misty: It's flooding! Yarbach is flooding!
303 Hardcase: There's a human expression 'when hell freezes over', but not 'when hell floods'... I guess nobody anticipated this.
304 Trisha: There's 'come hell or high water.'
305 Hardcase: Looks like we've got both at once.
306 Trisha: What do we do, sir?
307 Hardcase: There's no higher ground. So we face our fate bravely in the knowledge this isn't real, none of this is real.
308 Trisha: I was afraid you were going to say that.
309 SOUND: end theme
310 Announcer: Beyond Awakening episode 6, The Underworld, was written and produced by Paul Knierim. It starred David Loftus as Doctor Clay Erhardt, John Gaunce as Captain Mack Hardcase, Steff Knappe as Commander Misty L'Quil, Roger Arnold as Admiral Graveman, Sean Curran as Jim Hardcase, Curt Caster as Engineer Gray McGuy, Nick Ben Wong as Ensign Tony Red, and Paul Knierim as the announcer. Music licensed from Joel Steudler and creative commons zero and public domain sources. Please support Beyond Awakening by joining our patreon. Find it, along with downloads and more information about the show, at quiet please dot org slash awakening.