20 characters: Dream Voice, Trisha, Mick, Klurgh, Death, Hardcase, Announcer, Vatika, Vang, Minnie, Misty, Admiral, Rosita, Ives, Peterson, Agent, Tony, Child, Clay, Amina
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Hardcase (75 lines, 707 words, 21.23%) - [John Gaunce] Captain Mack Hardcase. Confident, arrogant, Captain Kirk type. Most reluctant to accept reality and most hurt by the fall from herodom into being a nobody. But then encouraged by having fans. Grew up a slave, escaped from the mines, joined the fleet and made it his life.
Misty (13 lines, 130 words, 3.9%) - [Steff Knappe] Misty L'Quil, trying to come to terms with being human.
Trisha (55 lines, 391 words, 11.74%) - [Gwenith Knight] Trisha Blackburn is noticeably more bitter since having parts of her brain replaced after being caught in an explosion. Traumatic events can cause personality change even without brain changes. [complete]
Mick (25 lines, 266 words, 7.99%) - [Adam Wade] Agent of Union for Humanity... or in part of this episode, also sea-faring character in Trisha's dream. [complete]
Clay (20 lines, 132 words, 3.96%) - [David Loftus] Clay Erhardt is ready to reinvent himself.
Minnie (10 lines, 147 words, 4.41%) - [Mel Crochemore] Doctor Minnie Moreau is a researcher at Monolith-Eigen Laboratories.
Vatika (30 lines, 330 words, 9.91%) - [Sweena Mangal] Doctor Maya Vatika, age 30, works at Monolith-Eigen Laboratories. Recent immigrant from India. Hindu.
Klurgh (4 lines, 21 words, 0.63%) - [Nick Ben Wong] Evil alien nemesis.
Rosita (11 lines, 99 words, 2.97%) - [Roo Ryder] Widow of Ray Lotus, in whose body Hardcase now resides.
Death (7 lines, 58 words, 1.74%) - [TsoDuo] Death, in a dream. Think Terry Pratchett's Discworld death. Deep male voice preferred. [complete]
Admiral (4 lines, 129 words, 3.87%) - [Roger Arnold] A voice clone of Admiral Graveman.
Child (3 lines, 9 words, 0.27%) - [Alex Davidson] Son of the former occupant of Clay Erhardt's body. 9 years old in this episode's dream sequence. [complete]
Amina (4 lines, 28 words, 0.84%) - [Kat Leroy] Widow of the person in whose body Clay now resides. Her parents emigrated from Turkiye to Czechia when she was a small child. She met her late husband Omar in Czechia and they emigrated to the USA.
Peterson (4 lines, 65 words, 1.95%) - [Alex Foott] Psychologist. [complete]
Vang (21 lines, 409 words, 12.28%) - [Kate J White] Martha Vang, CEO of Monolith-Eigen Laboratories. Primarily concerned with profit and power, excited about her company's new innovation and the world-leading status it imparts.
Ives (4 lines, 45 words, 1.35%) - [Audrey J Williams] Senator Mary Ives, Republican representing Nevada. A favorite angling for the party's 2040 presidential nomination. Sees our heroes as the ultimate threat of replacing mankind with machines, or at least sees an opportunity to win power by scapegoating them as such. [complete]
Dream Voice (11 lines, 34 words, 1.02%) - [Monaye Jordan] A mysterious whispering female voice in Trisha's dream adding to the surreality. Looking for kind of an ASMR quality.
Tony (13 lines, 86 words, 2.58%) - [Troy Kramm] Tony, a getaway driver for the terrorist organization Union for Humanity. Not a bright fellow, but he packs a mean right hook. [complete]
Agent (6 lines, 64 words, 1.92%) - [Dan Stabb] FBI anti-terrorism agent. [complete]
Announcer (2 lines, 180 words, 5.41%) - [Paul Knierim] Announcer. [complete]
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
1 SOUND: Trisha's dream sequence will have hospital bed beep running behind everything, or maybe starting at strategic point
2 SOUND: heartbeat
3 Dream Voice: [whispering] You are lost in the listening distance...
4 Trisha: Why does my head hurt?
5 SOUND: rolling ocean waves
6 Mick: I don't like the looks of the storm developing out there.
7 Trisha: [joyful] I love the freedom of life at sea! Don't you?
8 Mick: Oh, sure. But shouldn't we furl the sails and batten down the hatches?
9 Dream Voice: [whispering] Don't trust the serpent!
10 SOUND: crack of thunder, rain begins
11 Trisha: Wait, who are you?
12 Mick: Don't mind me.
13 Trisha: But what are you doing?
14 Mick: None of your business.
15 Dream Voice: [whispering] Remember. Remember!
16 Trisha: I feel like there's something I'm forgetting.
17 SOUND: whistle alert call
18 Klurgh: [sfx: approaching] Human!
19 Trisha: Isn't everyone here human, except you?
20 Dream Voice: [whispering] Not me!
21 Klurgh: You know that I mean you, slave!
22 Trisha: I'm a slave?!
23 Klurgh: You are a galley slave! Get back down below!
24 Dream Voice: [whispering] Why?
25 Trisha: Or what?
26 SOUND: shock whip
27 Trisha: Ow, that hurts!
28 Klurgh: It is meant to.
29 Trisha: But not as much as my head.
30 Dream Voice: [whispering] Apologies.
31 SOUND: chains dragging, going below deck so outside sounds are muted
32 Trisha: Where is everyone? This doesn't really seem like the galley...
33 Dream Voice: [whispering] It is not.
34 Death: Hello, Trisha Blackburn.
35 Trisha: What's with the black cloak and scythe?
36 Dream Voice: [whispering] Death.
37 Trisha: Death?
38 Death: That's right, I am Death. Surely you've heard of me?
39 Trisha: Are you here for me?
40 Death: That depends.
41 Dream Voice: [whispering] Everything depends.
42 Trisha: On what?
43 Death: On which of you is real.
44 Trisha: There's more than one of me?
45 Trisha: [sfx: left ear, sped up] There's me.
46 Trisha: [sfx: right ear, slowed down] And me.
47 Dream Voice: [whispering] The past and the future.
48 Trisha: You two sound weird...
49 Trisha: [sfx: left ear, sped up] We're what you made us.
50 Trisha: [sfx: right ear, slowed down] Or will make us.
51 Death: Just weeks old and you've reincarnated so many times.
52 Trisha: [sfx: right ear, slowed down] Trisha, your head is splitting open.
53 Trisha: This is the WORST headache...
54 SOUND: head explosion transition to island with helicopter overhead like The Circle of Life ending
55 Trisha: [sfx: right ear, slowed down] Look, an island came out of your head.
56 Death: Do I even WANT you?
57 Dream Voice: [whispering] It's not time. It's not time.
58 Trisha: It's not time.
59 Death: Go pull yourself together and figure out who you are. You can't come with me until we both know who I'm talking to.
60 Trisha: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disappoint you. But it all hurts...
61 SOUND: beeping hospital bed
62 Trisha: [groaning uncomfortable awakening noises]
63 Hardcase: Doctor, she's waking up!
64 SOUND: theme music
65 Announcer: QuietPlease dot org presents Beyond Awakening. Starring John Gaunce as Mack Hardcase, David Loftus as Clay Erhardt, Gwenith Knight as Trisha Blackburn, and Steff Knappe as Misty L'Quil. Episode ten, Diverging Paths.
66 SOUND: beeping hospital bed
67 Vatika: [sfx: approaching] How do you feel, Trisha?
68 Trisha: Terrible. Something exploded?
69 Vatika: There was a terrorist bombing, an anti-AI extremist got through our security somehow. A group called Union for Humanity claimed responsibility.
70 Trisha: How badly was I hurt?
71 Vatika: Fortunately most of the damage was to your head.
72 Trisha: FORTUNATELY?!
73 Vatika: A lot of what's in there was artificial already. We replaced some damaged hardware and a bit more tissue.
74 Trisha: You... REPLACED... parts of my MIND?
75 Vatika: It's not the first time. And since we were replacing parts of your brain anyway we went ahead and upgraded your 21st century knowledge.
76 Trisha: I didn't give you permission to do that!
77 Vatika: [cheery] Changing your mind was medically necessary, in a manner of speaking, so we felt obligated to leave it better than we found it.
78 Trisha: So my mind is thoroughly violated. How's the rest of me doing?
79 Vatika: Your face got mangled, but with some plastic surgery we'll soon recreate the beautiful face you're used to.
80 Trisha: Doctor, under the circumstances, wouldn't it be better if I DON'T look like my old self?
81 Vatika: Huh?
82 Trisha: We're obviously not very popular here. People are trying to kill us. They all know what we look like, and I can do without being recognized. Why not give me a NEW face?
83 Vatika: [uncomfortable] I suppose that can be arranged.
84 Hardcase: Doctor, could you leave us alone for a few minutes? I'd like to have... a private conversation.
85 Vatika: Sure Mack. I'll be back in five.
86 SOUND: vatika leaves
87 Hardcase: Ensign... I'm so sorry.
88 Trisha: It's not your fault.
89 Hardcase: It is. It is my fault.
90 Trisha: How?
91 Hardcase: I gave the terrorists the security badge to let the bomber in.
92 Trisha: You WHAT??
93 Hardcase: I got a call from what sounded like my brother and Admiral Graveman, and they convinced me this building was a Klurgh interrogation center and that they needed me to steal a security badge to get Jim inside to save us.
94 Trisha: [bitter] Must've been very persuasive.
95 Hardcase: I was just so eager to believe... to believe I was talking to my brother again. Part of me still believes. But also, they were giving me a plan of action, a way to make a difference again... it made me feel alive again and I had to reach for that.
96 Trisha: It made ME feel the opposite.
97 Hardcase: I'm sorry. I just can't... I can't live like this, as this useless fool, a fish out of water.
98 Trisha: Excuse me if I have trouble pitying you, you don't have to look far to see how things could be worse.
99 SOUND: transition
100 Vang: Mr. Hardcase, I appreciate your admitting your tragic error in judgement. We probably should've foreseen that sort of manipulation, and we should've warned you that they might create voice clones of people you'd trust.
101 Hardcase: I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?
102 Vang: There is.
103 Hardcase: I'll do it.
104 Vang: You can help us catch Union for Humanity -- the terrorists.
105 Hardcase: How?
106 Vang: We couldn't trace the phone number, it was a throwaway, but we think they may try to get in touch with you again. If they do, play along -- make them think you still believe you're imprisoned by those evil aliens and they're the good guys coming to save you.
107 Hardcase: And then?
108 Vang: They probably know we've increased security and they can't get inside again... so they may try to lure you out, set up a meeting with you somewhere and then take you as a hostage or kill you. But you'll let your FBI contact know the details.
109 Hardcase: F-B-I?
110 Vang: You really need to let us edit these details into your memory. You can see how dangerous it is for you going without, this wouldn't have happened if you'd taken the knowledge we offered.
111 Hardcase: You can't just tell me?
112 Vang: There are too many things to tell in too short a time -- and your lack of knowledge of how our world works endangers this whole operation.
113 Hardcase: [reluctant] Maybe just the essentials.
114 Vang: Fine, just the essentials. Go right in to see Doctor Moreau and Doctor Vatika right now, we need this taken care of.
115 Hardcase: [reluctant] If it's that important...
116 Vang: It is. Now go.
117 SOUND: fade out / fade in
118 SOUND: setting instruments down, turning off machine
119 Vatika: All done. How do you feel?
120 Hardcase: I don't feel any different, are you sure it worked?
121 Minnie: What's the capital of Nevada?
122 Hardcase: Carson City.
123 Vatika: What's the state capital of Rajasthan, India?
124 Hardcase: Jaipur.
125 Vatika: Who runs anti-terrorism operations in the USA?
126 Hardcase: Depends, but in a case like this it'd probably be an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security.
127 Vatika: So, you see...
128 Hardcase: [confused] I didn't... I didn't know these things before? That's right, I remember not knowing earlier...
129 Vatika: Congratulations on being the fastest learner in history!
130 Minnie: We plan to adapt this technique for regular people.
131 Hardcase: Non-zombie-cyborgs, you mean?
132 Minnie: That's right. Years of schooling implanted in seconds, imagine the potential!
133 Hardcase: I'm imagining. You can make people believe whatever you want them to believe.
134 Minnie: [scoffing] Oh, no need to be so melodramatic.
135 Vatika: We haven't changed your opinions.
136 Hardcase: As far as I know, but I wouldn't know. Someone who has their schooling implanted is going to believe whatever the instructor wants.
137 Vatika: Most of them do anyway.
138 Minnie: And a common belief in an objective reality is just what this country needs, just what our 21st century information silos and the collapse of newspapers have robbed us of. If this is what we have to do to get it back, so be it.
139 Hardcase: But WHO gets to decide your objective reality?
140 Minnie: Sane, educated, thoughtful people. Of course we'll have to keep it out of the hands of Senator Ives and her ilk.
141 SOUND: transition
142 Misty: Trisha, I came to -- wait, who are you, where's Trisha?
143 Trisha: It's me. How do you like my new face?
144 Misty: It's... different.
145 Trisha: They may be primitive in most aspects of medicine, but their plastic surgery is advanced.
146 Misty: Trisha, did you hear about Captain Hardcase?
147 Trisha: He's not a real captain, just call him Mack or Mr. Hardcase. But what do you mean?
148 Misty: The Captain accepted a memory edit to bring him up to speed.
149 Trisha: Oh? That's surprising.
150 Misty: He did it to help catch the people who did this to you. Because he blames himself.
151 Trisha: He literally let them in, he better blame himself.
152 Misty: He's sorry, and went as far as letting his mind be altered to show it.
153 Trisha: Appropriate, since my brain had to be rebuilt. Guess before long none of us will be ourselves anymore again, if we ever were, whoever we were.
154 Misty: Maybe I should go...
155 Trisha: No, please don't.
156 SOUND: transition, probably with a long musical fade
157 SOUND: phone rings, pickup
158 Hardcase: Hardcase here.
159 Admiral: This is Admiral Graveman.
160 Hardcase: I've been expecting you. Something went wrong, Jim wasn't able to get to me, and somehow Ensign Blackburn was hurt.
161 Admiral: I understand that may be how things seem to you. Remember the Klurgh control your perceptions.
162 Hardcase: So what REALLY happened?
163 Admiral: It's complicated, but we created a means for you to overcome Klurgh influence, but we need your help to free your mind.
164 Hardcase: How?
165 Admiral: Remember everything in there is symbolic. We'll need you to sneak out of what appears to you to be Monolith-Eigen tonight at midnight. Take an electric wheelchair -- they're in room 122. We'll have someone watching you from the moment you come out, but we don't want to tip our hand until you're safely away from prying eyes and cameras, so head north along Riverside Boulevard. We'll have our people pick you up as soon as it's safe and we're sure you're not being followed. Do you understand?
166 Hardcase: Yes, I'll be there Admiral.
167 SOUND: end call, dialing new number
168 Hardcase: It's tonight, midnight.
169 SOUND: pause to listen
170 Hardcase: Yes, I understand.
171 SOUND: pause to listen
172 Hardcase: Don't be late.
173 SOUND: hangup
174 SOUND: door opens
175 Vatika: Visitor to see you, Mack.
176 SOUND: footsteps approach
177 Rosita: Have you remembered anything? About Ray, I mean.
178 Hardcase: I told you'd I'd let you know you if anything came to mind.
179 Rosita: It hasn't?
180 Hardcase: No.
181 SOUND: pause
182 Rosita: Did you get the watermelon I had delivered?
183 Hardcase: I did.
184 Rosita: And?
185 Hardcase: It was really good. I'd never had one before.
186 Rosita: Ray loved them. So I think that proves you have something of him.
187
Hardcase:
His taste buds.
[gathering thoughts] Tell me, Miss... uh, I don't even know your name.
188 Rosita: Rosita. Rosita Lotus. I was hoping you'd remember...
189 Hardcase: Why is it none of Ray's other family and friends have come to see me, and nobody visits my crew?
190 Rosita: I don't think you understand how painful this is.
191 Hardcase: Painful?
192 Rosita: To see a loved one's body revived, but with somebody else inhabiting it. To look into your familiar eyes and see a stranger looking back at me.
193 Hardcase: I suppose that would be awkward.
194 Rosita: Most of them are furious about it, they want Monolith-Eigen shut down, some of them want you guys euthanized.
195 Hardcase: But YOU don't?
196 Rosita: I don't.
197 Hardcase: But only because you think there's still something of your husband in me?
198 Rosita: [awkward] Well... possibly.
199 SOUND: end scene
200 SOUND: office, perhaps a heater running, ives is on phone
201 Vang: Don't you see you're responsible for this violence?
202 Ives: [sfx: phone] That's absurd.
203 Vang: You've stoked this hatred, you've encouraged people not to see them as human, you've convinced people they're going to be replaced...
204 Ives: I've told the people the truth. You're responsible for this, your immoral experiments incited it.
205 Vang: So you endorse the terrorists?
206 Ives: Obviously I don't endorse their methods, but groups like Union for Humanity wouldn't exist if it weren't for you.
207 Vang: They were founded three years BEFORE Monolith-Eigen.
208 Ives: People LIKE you. And you've been their best recruiter.
209 SOUND: fade out fade in
210 SOUND: psychologist's office
211 Trisha: Everything that's been happening since we woke up, it's all so... scattershot. Disjointed.
212 Peterson: That's real life. You have to come up with your own narrative, unless you want to trust someone to write it for you.
213 Trisha: People will do that?
214 Peterson: Employers, politicians, cult leaders, advertisers, anybody who wants to exploit you. They've all got narratives to give your life meaning.
215 Trisha: I'm not fond of being manipulated.
216 Peterson: Then you have the very challenging job of making sense of everything on your own.
217 Trisha: Or I could just accept that it's all nonsense.
218 Peterson: Nobody can accept that without going insane.
219 SOUND: transition
220 Agent: Are you sure you understand, Mr. Hardcase?
221 Hardcase: Yes, I'm ready.
222 Agent: Our people will be right behind you, but out of sight.
223 Misty: Good luck, sir.
224 Hardcase: It's strange going on a mission without you at my side, Misty.
225 Misty: I wish I had the strength to be of use to you tonight.
226 Hardcase: I'll be drawing from your mental strength. Well, off I go to spring the trap.
227 SOUND: door opens, then sound of electric wheelchair going along street
228 Hardcase: [to self wryly] Nice moonless night, no street lights... a fella could sure get kidnapped along here.
229 SOUND: van pulls up ahead of him
230 Hardcase: Looks like I've found a taker.
231 SOUND: van door opens
232 Mick: Captain Hardcase, your ride is here.
233 Hardcase: Glad you could make it.
234 SOUND: gun clicks
235 Mick: Into the car, Mr. Hardcase. I won't hesitate to shoot if I need to.
236 Hardcase: I thought you were, I mean, aren't you rescuing me from the Klurgh?
237 Mick: We don't know if you really believe that or if you believe you're leading us into a trap. Okay Tony, drive!
238 SOUND: increasingly fast aggressive driving
239 Hardcase: If you think it's a trap, why are you here?
240 Tony: If da feds 'r afta us, I'll lose 'em, don't ya worry 'bout it.
241 Mick: Too good an opportunity to pass up.
242 SOUND: grabs phone and throws it out window
243 Hardcase: [angry] Hey, why'd you throw my phone out the window?!
244 Mick: It's another way they could track us.
245 Tony: He hates all phones, always paranoid about 'em. Prolly enjoys smashin' 'em.
246 SOUND: beeping detector
247 Hardcase: And what's that... wand thing?
248 Mick: Checking you for any other potential electronic bugs. Looks like you're clean.
249 Tony: [sarcastic] Ain't ya gonna give him a bath ta be sure?
250 Mick: Keep your eyes on the road, Tony.
251 SOUND: pause
252 Hardcase: [defiant] My crew and I have defeated monsters and evil empires you couldn't begin to imagine. Small time punks like you should surrender while you have the chance.
253 Tony: [laughs]
254 Mick: [mocking] Captain Invincible is trying to intimidate us! What do you think Tony, are you as scared of this little half-human cripple as I am?
255 Tony: [amused] Them cyborgs as crazy as 'n ol' ChatGPT.
256 SOUND: pause
257 Hardcase: Say, why are you using one of these old gasoline cars? [mocking] Is Union for Humanity suffering budget woes?
258 Tony: We ain't trust nothin' that's gotta self-drivin' mode.
259 Mick: Never know when the authorities might remote in and navigate you to a police station. We find Tony here is a lot more reliable driver for our purposes.
260 SOUND: car slows and stops
261 Tony: Boss, we here.
262 Hardcase: This is your headquarters?
263 SOUND: car door open, cicadas chirping, unloading, walking over gravel, door open and close into house under the following
264 Mick: This is the safe house.
265 Hardcase: [wryly] Maybe safe for you, more of an UNsafe house for me.
266 Mick: Tony, tie him up.
267 SOUND: sounds of being tied up
268 Hardcase: I'm an invalid and you've taken away my wheelchair, what the hell is the point of tying me up?
269 Mick: Just habit I guess.
270 Tony: Makes ya easier ta carry.
271 Hardcase: I feel like the wheelchair would've made things a lot easier...
272 SOUND: Hardcase is carried in, thudded onto floor
273 Mick: Welcome to your new home. Not quite like your 23rd century spaceship, is it?
274
Hardcase:
Off hand I can't recall any squalid, rotting, smelly areas on the Chimera, no.
Well actually, McGuy's quarters were pretty close.
275 Tony: How long we stayin'?
276
Mick:
Not my call.
I'm gonna make myself a tuna sandwich, would you like one Tony?
277 Tony: Sure boss, don't think I gonna sleep tonight.
278 SOUND: Spy gets stuff in kitchen, perspective stays with Hardcase
279 Hardcase: I'll take one too.
280 Mick: [sarcastic] You'll have to ask your magic food replicator for that, Captain.
281 Hardcase: [suspicious] You seem to know a lot about my life on the Chimera...
282 Mick: I've got a television.
283 SOUND: helicopters
284 Hardcase: What do you mean--
285 Tony: [interrupting, worried] Copter... ya think that mean...?
286 Mick: [urgency] We'd better check. I'll take a peek through the blinds.
287 SOUND: blinds movement
288 Mick: [alarmed] Damn electric vans, you can't hear 'em until it's too late! There's a bunch of them out there already!
289 Agent: [sfx: loudspeaker] Attention! We have you surrounded! Come out of the house NOW with your hands above your heads.
290 Tony: [panic] What we gonna do?
291 Mick: Fuck if I know... but get him into the back room.
292 SOUND: gunfire breaks glass of windows
293 Mick: Shit! They don't wait around, do they?
294 SOUND: sound of tear gas canister
295 Mick: Gas! [shouting to other room, coughing] Tony, it's gas, cover... [cough, trails off collapsing]
296 SOUND: door smashed in
297
Agent:
[sfx: through breathing mask] Freeze!
This one's out, you secure him while I check the back room.
298 SOUND: steps leading into other room
299 Hardcase: [coughing from gas inhalation]
300 Tony: [coughing from gas inhalation and giving up] It [cough] fair cop [cough] fair cop [cough].
301 Agent: [sfx: mask filter] Breathe through this, Mr. Hardcase.
302 SOUND: sharp breaths through mask
303 SOUND: quick transition to outside van door opening
304 Agent: You're safe now, Mr. Hardcase. Just wait in the van here.
305 SOUND: closes van door on him
306 Vang: Hello there, Mack. Glad we didn't lose you.
307 Hardcase: This is... utterly humiliating.
308 Vang: What do you mean?
309 Hardcase: Being practically a piece of furniture! The helpless bait!
310 Vang: Think of yourself as the princess we had to save.
311 Hardcase: You're not helping. But I hope it all did some good at least.
312 Vang: It's unfortunate they didn't take you to their headquarters, but I'm sure the FBI will learn something from an... 'enhanced interrogation' of these two.
313 Hardcase: Torture? But that's--
314 Vang: I know we taught you it's wrong, but we don't always live up to our ideals, and you'd best not complain when it's our best bet to keep you safe.
315 Hardcase: How DID you save me here, anyway? They disposed of my phone and I thought they'd lost any pursuers.
316 Vang: You're a unique being, Mack. The first of your kind. Did you really think we wouldn't have a way to track you?
317 Hardcase: ... yes?
318 Vang: Your brain emits a signal we can track. One of the artificial parts of it.
319 Hardcase: [sarcastic] Well that's just great.
320
Vang:
It's the only reason you're safe right now. Would you rather be a hostage and probably eventually executed?
Thought not. Now let's get you home.
321 SOUND: long musical fade out to release tension and indicate time passage
322 SOUND: music evocative of dreaming and xmas/winter/snow
323 SOUND: handing present
324 Child: Merry Christmas, daddy!
325 Clay: [confused] Who... where... what?
326 Child: Open it, daddy!
327 SOUND: unwrapping present
328 Child: It's a spaceship!
329 Clay: It's... the Chimera. Thank you.
330 Amina: It's what you wanted, Omar.
331 Clay: Yes. Thank you, son.
332 Amina: Not us. You don't want us. Not really.
333 Clay: [dazed] What? But you're my family...
334 Amina: You want to be out among the stars.
335 SOUND: explosions rock house
336 Clay: [panic] It's the Klurgh! Get to the basement, the storm cellar!
337 Amina: [accusing] Your fantasy is destroying us, my dear.
338 Clay: [panic] I don't understand!
339 SOUND: alarm clock
340 Clay: [sounds of startled awakening, gasping]
341
Clay:
Computer, lights.
Computer?
342 SOUND: door opens
343 Vatika: Mr. Erhardt, did you want something?
344 Clay: Just the lights.
345 Vatika: I'll have to show you how to do that through your phone. It can do more than just cat videos.
346 Clay: What are cat videos?
347
Vatika:
I'll show you that too.
Now let's get you out of bed.
348 Clay: I can do that on my own.
349 SOUND: he gets out of bed
350 Vatika: That's great to see! You know, this is gonna be a big day for you, Clay!
351 Clay: It is?
352 Vatika: For all of you! You'll see, it's a surprise.
353 SOUND: lounge
354 Trisha: What do you suppose they gathered us all in here for?
355 Clay: All feels rather conspiratorial, depositing us and then walking out.
356 SOUND: pause
357 Misty: I'd like to get a drink of water right now, but I can't reach those cupboards.
358 Clay: I'll get you some water.
359 SOUND: wheelchair creak, then footsteps, then sound of getting glass and water and returning behind scene
360 Misty: Doctor Erhardt, you can walk!
361 Clay: Getting better at it every day.
362 Trisha: I can walk a little too.
363
Misty:
I've taken a few steps, but I can't safely leave the chair on my own yet.
What about you, Captain?
364 SOUND: pause
365 Hardcase: I was dead for longer than you three.
366 SOUND: awkward silence
367 SOUND: party sounds blare, toots and music, and door opens
368 Vatika: [enthusiastic] Congratulations, guys!
369 Hardcase: Turn off that damn noise.
370 Vatika: It's your party!
371 Minnie: Doctor Vatika insisted we throw you a party for this.
372 Hardcase: [more emphatically] I said turn off that damn noise!
373 SOUND: it turns off
374 Trisha: What's the party for?
375 Vatika: We have some great news for you!
376 Clay: That'd be a welcome change.
377 Vatika: [enthusiastically] You're going home next week!
378 Hardcase: My home is the bridge of my starship.
379 Vatika: Your new homes. Monolith-Eigen is kindly renting apartments for you so you can live independently!
380 Clay: Conditional on us toeing the company line, I presume.
381 Minnie: And signing over certain media rights. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, Clay. Millions of homeless Americans would kill for the deal you're getting.
382 Clay: Won't we be targets out there?
383 Minnie: Keeping you in Monolith-Eigen makes us ALL targets.
384 Vatika: Those who haven't already been surgically altered will be before release, just enough to be sure you aren't recognized.
385 Minnie: We'll recommend some new hairstyles too.
386 Clay: [sarcastic] Fashion advice, just what I was hoping for.
387 Misty: [concerned] Are you splitting us up?
388 Vatika: You'll be able to see each other whenever you like, but we think it's best for you to live separately so you can start to develop your independence... and so your identities don't become obvious by association.
389 Clay: [hopeful] Well, it's about time. I've had more than enough of this limbo, it's time to put this Doctor Erhardt character behind me and start a new life of my own in the real world.
390 SOUND: end theme
391 Announcer: Beyond Awakening episode 10, Diverging Paths, was written and produced by Paul Knierim. It starred John Gaunce as Mack Hardcase, Kate J White as CEO Martha Vang, Gwenith Knight as Trisha Blackburn, Sweena Mangal as Doctor Maya Vatika, Adam Wade as Mick, Mel Crochemore as Doctor Minnie Moreau, David Loftus as Clay Erhardt, Steff Knappe as Misty L'Quil, Roger Arnold as Admiral Graveman, Roo Ryder as Rosita Lotus, Troy Kramm as Tony, Alex Foott as Doctor Peterson, Dan Stabb as the FBI agent, TsoDuo as Death, Audrey J. Williams as Senator Mary Ives, Monaye Jordan as Trisha's dream voice, Kat Leroy as Amina, Nick Ben Wong as the Klurgh, and Alex Davidson as the child. This is Paul Knierim. Music licensed from Joel Steudler and creative commons zero and public domain sources. To learn more about Beyond Awakening or support the show, go to quietplease dot org slash awakening.