12 characters: Trisha, Dream Voice, Announcer, Sara, Peterson, Hope, Bystander One, Bystander Two, Bystander Three, Cellmate, Deputy, Minnie
Click on a character's name to get their lines highlighted.
Trisha (100 lines, 1523 words, 61.66%) - [Gwenith Knight] Trisha Blackburn. [partial]
Peterson (26 lines, 182 words, 7.37%) - [Alex Foott] Psychologist.
Hope (39 lines, 251 words, 10.16%) - [Ashley] Trisha's friend, an older homeless woman living on a beach in Marin county. Probably missing a lot of teeth. Has schizoaffective disorder. Former marine biologist. [complete]
Dream Voice (3 lines, 9 words, 0.36%) - [Monaye Jordan] Dream voice, which begins to emerge into Trisha's waking life.
Sara (12 lines, 227 words, 9.19%) - [Lizafeh] Holistic cattle ranch owner who sells cow cuddling experiences. A middle aged woman with a permanent smile and aggressive positivity. [complete]
Bystander One (1 line, 7 words, 0.28%) - [Jose Montalvo] Bystander in museum.
Bystander Two (1 line, 5 words, 0.2%) - [Lindsay Townsend] Bystander in museum.
Bystander Three (1 line, 5 words, 0.2%) - [Monaye Jordan] Bystander in museum. [complete]
Cellmate (10 lines, 86 words, 3.48%) - [Monaye Jordan] Trisha's cellmate in a San Francisco jail. Has violent tendencies but is more worried about Trisha's unpredictability at the moment.
Deputy (2 lines, 25 words, 1.01%) - [LunaLorre] SFPD deputy. Woman.
Minnie (4 lines, 25 words, 1.01%) - [Mel Crochemore] Doctor Minnie Moreau is a researcher at Monolith-Eigen Laboratories, and deserves most of the credit for leading the team that built these new AI personalities.
Announcer (2 lines, 125 words, 5.06%) - [Paul Knierim] Announcer. [complete]
Script format: Margined | Marginless (for phone viewing)
1 SOUND: soft, echoing heartbeat, fading into the sound of rushing water.
2 Trisha: Where am I?
3 SOUND: Water lapping against a shore, distant whispers in an indistinct language.
4 Trisha: WHO am I?
5 SOUND: The sound of waves grows louder, morphing into a chaotic storm.
6 Dream Voice: [stage whisper] You are lost...
7 Trisha: Will I ever be found?
8 SOUND: thunder rumbles, then suddenly city street noises
9 Trisha: This isn't me.
10 Dream Voice: [stage whisper] You contain multitudes...
11 SOUND: splash of falling into water
12 Trisha: [sfx: processed to sound filtered through water] I contain nothing. I can drown in nothing.
13 SOUND: alarm clock, shifting sheets, slapping snooze
14 Trisha: [reluctant waking noises]
15 SOUND: sounds of getting up and washing face, maybe starting shower, behind the narration
16
Trisha:
[narrating] Another day. I don't know if this life I'm living is real or if it's just an extended illusion, part of a sick experiment. First they give me whiplash with a series of adventures, then they settle me down into this domestic routine on this boring little planet and watch to see how long I can take it before I scream.
How can you ever know what's real? You can't. You just can't. You can either live with that, or you can die with it... and I choose to live with it.
17 SOUND: theme music
18 Announcer: QuietPlease dot org presents Beyond Awakening. Starring Gwenith Knight as Trisha Blackburn. Episode thirteen, Shores of the Unknown.
19
Trisha:
[narration] There's a more pressing, more fundamental question in my life than what's real -- the question of who I am. I've been trying to work that out. Am I the idiot who got her head blown apart by a bomb? The sleeper who finally awoke centuries before she was born? The nervous but dutiful Ensign too intelligent for her universe? The cattle rancher living in bliss with her polycule?
Cattle ranches are real. This city, Sacramento, lies at the center of great valley full of them. With a bit of research on my phone, I found one that sells experiences to visitors and booked a trip. And I was greeted by a woman with a permanent smile and an aura of aggressive positivity that took me aback a bit.
20 SOUND: outdoors, mooing, at ranch.
21 Sara: Welcome, Trisha! So good to meet you! Is this your first time?
22 Trisha: It... uh, yeah I guess so.
23 Sara: You're in for such a treat! There's nothing like the love of animals, the pure warmth and affection. And cows, they've got so much love to give and there's so much of them to give it!
24 Trisha: It's been a kind of dream of mine to live on a ranch like this.
25 Sara: It's a lot of work, a lot of early mornings and a lot of money, but it's sooo worth it. You're so young dear, did you grow up in farm country?
26 Trisha: No, everything was very... artificial.
27 Sara: A city girl! We get a lot of those, people escaping the hustle and bustle to reconnect with the Earth. How much do you know about cows?
28 Trisha: I'm not sure.
29 Sara: Well, let's make an introduction. This here is Bessie -- I know, cliche name. She's a Red Angus, and she loooovvveees people!
30 Trisha: She's so big...
31 Sara: Over fourteen hundred pounds. Here, put your hand on her side.
32 Trisha: Is that safe? Is she safe?
33 Sara: [joking] If she sits on you you're dead, but she wouldn't do that, would you Bessie?
34 SOUND: moo
35 Trisha: She's so soft.
36 Sara: I can tell she likes you! Oh, she's sitting down, she's inviting you to cuddle with her!
37 SOUND: sound of cow sitting and then Trisha lying down
38 Trisha: She's so warm. And peaceful.
39 Sara: Cows have a way of grounding us, reminding us what's really important.
40 Trisha: She doesn't care who I am, she's just happy I'm here.
41 Sara: Exactly, they don’t judge or complicate things.
42 Trisha: [softly] Hello, Bessie. This is nice.
43 Sara: You say that, but... dear, you look troubled. Are you okay?
44 Trisha: This reminds me of something. But the people who were there... aren't here.
45 Dream Voice: [whisper] You are lost...
46 Trisha: It's a private matter.
47 Sara: I understand dear, I'll leave you two to get to know each other. If you want to talk about your problems, Bessie's a good listener!
48 SOUND: Sara walks off
49
Trisha:
[softly] This IS nice, Bessie... but it's not a life, is it? I couldn't just keep doing this, could I? And without my polycule I'd get lonely here. And there's no way I could afford it, just this hour here is costing me a week's allowance.
I'm chasing echoes of a dream, trying to reclaim a past that never truly existed. I don't know, Bessie... thanks for trying, but I think you're a dead end.
50 SOUND: moo
51 Trisha: [narration] Yes, that was a dead end. So were a lot of other things. I thought about getting a job, or volunteering... but I can't seem to be awake the same hours on consecutive days and there's not much that can accommodate that. And it's just too dangerous for me with everything going on and all that I don't know yet.
52 SOUND: therapy room
53 Peterson: They gave you a knowledge update after... the incident, when they rebuilt your brain. Don't you think you know enough?
54 Trisha: I know what I know, but I don't know what I don't know. Who knows what might trip me up?
55 Peterson: You should try a sports league, a book group, some sort of regular social commitment...
56 Trisha: I can't do things that require a regular schedule because I can't KEEP a regular schedule... unless I want to be exhausted.
57 Peterson: Still experiencing that non-24-hour sleep disorder? The melatonin supplements haven't helped?
58 Trisha: Not in the slightest.
59 Peterson: Well, even late at night you can do things. Go for a drive, maybe a peaceful walk by the ocean. I just want you to get out there.
60 Trisha: Doctor Peterson, my enemies aren't imaginary. As we speak, terrorists are holding Misty and might kill her.
61 Peterson: I understand that.
62 Trisha: Do you really? Do you have ANY idea what it feels like, being the only one who's different, who half the world wants dead? And being utterly, utterly alone in that?
63 Peterson: You're not alone, you have your three shipmates.
64 Trisha: Even in the fantasy we'd only known each other a few days, I wasn't really part of the Chimera's crew yet. And here... Misty's gone, Captain Hardcase just mopes, and Doctor Erhardt is full of himself living the high life with that company he works for.
65 Peterson: So you don't feel you can talk to them?
66 Trisha: [annoyed] Why do you think I'm here enduring YOU?
67 Peterson: Well, what DID you come here to talk about today? What's really on your mind?
68 Trisha: There is something...
69 Peterson: Well?
70 Trisha: I've started having these... moments.
71 Peterson: Moments?
72 Trisha: Moments of clarity.
73 Peterson: That sounds good.
74 Trisha: I'm not sure.
75 Peterson: Describe one for me.
76 Trisha: Well... Tuesday. I went to a movie at the Esquire -- you see, I DO go out sometimes.
77 Peterson: What movie?
78 Trisha: The Machine Stops.
79 Peterson: Oh, I haven't seen it.
80 Trisha: Well, there was this one scene, where Vashti steps outside for the first time after a lifetime in the machine.
81 Peterson: And?
82 Trisha: Time froze.
83 Peterson: In the film?
84 Trisha: In reality. All around me.
85 Peterson: You mean it felt that way?
86 Trisha: No, I mean really. The kid next to me was midway through a sip of soda.
87 Peterson: How long did this last?
88 Trisha: About 10 seconds.
89 Peterson: And how did you feel?
90 Trisha: I felt... as if I were being spoken to.
91 Peterson: By the film?
92 Trisha: By whoever's running this universe.
93 Peterson: God? And what was he saying?
94 Trisha: That I'm seen.
95 Peterson: That's all?
96 Trisha: That's all.
97 Peterson: And you say this has happened other times?
98 Trisha: The two other times were at home.
99 Peterson: Important moments?
100 Trisha: Fairly.
101 Peterson: And do you always feel like you're being spoken to?
102 Trisha: Only in a vague sense.
103 Peterson: We'll have to monitor this.
104 Trisha: [narration] There was one thing Doctor Peterson said in that session that really helped me. It was just a little idea he tossed out way back there, that suggestion of a walk along the beach at night. I'm glad I heard that and remembered it, glad I decided to try it.
105 SOUND: ocean beach
106
Trisha:
[narration] Listen to the sound of the sea.
Does it speak to you? I can hear it speaking to my soul. It's that dark immensity, full of life beyond comprehension, a paradox of force and gentleness. And it was there, a little after midnight, that I met my first true friend. I actually tripped over her...
107 SOUND: sound of trip and fall over sleeping bag into sand
108 Hope: [soft yelp of pain being tripped over]
109 Trisha: Sorry, so sorry!
110 Hope: [groggy] Are you okay?
111 Trisha: I'm fine. I didn't mean to wake you, didn't see your sleeping bag until it was too late!
112 Hope: My name is Hope.
113 Trisha: I'm Trisha.
114 Hope: Do you live around here?
115 Trisha: Visiting from Sacramento.
116 Hope: At this time of night?
117 Trisha: I only got up four hours ago, it's morning to me.
118 Hope: [concerned] Trisha, are you running from something?
119 Trisha: Not exactly. It's more like I'm trying to find myself.
120 Hope: I understand. You're welcome to sit with me if you like.
121
Trisha:
Thank you, Hope.
You know, I think you're the first person to welcome me without wanting something from me.
122 Hope: Are you new to our planet?
123 Trisha: How'd you guess?
124 Hope: I know we're not the only life in this universe, and that we've been visited, a lot of us know.
125 SOUND: pause
126 Hope: You look worried.
127 Trisha: Hope... do you ever wonder if this is real? Your life I mean.
128 Hope: I KNOW this isn't real.
129 Trisha: How do you know?
130 Hope: There are flaws, flaws everywhere. Glitches. Have you ever remembered something really clearly only to be told it never happened?
131 Trisha: Yeah, kinda the story of my life.
132 Hope: They edit memories -- other people's memories or your own memory, who knows which most of the time.
133 Trisha: Who?
134 Hope: The people in charge, running it all. Spooks, aliens, illuminati, hell if I know.
135 Trisha: But you're sure there's somebody in charge of it all?
136 Hope: Of course.
137 Trisha: It can't be chaos?
138 Hope: Everything happens for a reason. You forget that, then they REALLY got you.
139 Trisha: But you don't have a leading theory?
140 Hope: Nope, I like to keep an open mind. You?
141 Trisha: I think... I think there are three scenarios I can believe.
142 Hope: Oh? Do tell.
143 Trisha: I can believe that this is the real world like I've been told. Or I can believe I'm still in a hospital bed going through a simulation of life. Or I can believe I'm in a Klurgh interrogation center experiencing a mind probe.
144 Hope: Klurgh?
145 Trisha: Long story.
146 Hope: [excited] Hey, you're one of those... those dead people they woke up!
147 Trisha: Yeah.
148 Hope: Don't worry, I won't tell anybody.
149 Trisha: We just met, but for some reason I trust you.
150 Hope: Trisha, those three scenarios of yours....
151 Trisha: Yes?
152 Hope: Which one do you WANT to be true?
153 Trisha: You know, I'm not sure. Each has its own horror.
154
Trisha:
[narration] Have there ever been two people who cut through the small talk and uncovered each other's innermost thoughts faster? I just wished that beach weren't so far from my apartment.
For a while I forced myself to wake up in the mornings. I was getting three or four hours sleep, but it meant I could do things with Hope. We explored San Francisco, from the Presidio to Golden Gate Park, Land's End to China Basin. We were in the California Academy of Sciences when I experienced a new sort of reality distortion.
155 SOUND: moderate crowd museum background, animal noises where appropriate
156 Hope: Trisha, are you okay?
157 Trisha: Th-that fox.
158 Hope: This one?
159 Trisha: It was alive. Now it's stuffed.
160 Hope: That's sad.
161 Trisha: No, I mean just now -- just now it was alive. And I turned away for a moment, and when I turned back it was stuffed.
162 Hope: An edit.
163 Trisha: An edit?
164 Hope: Sometimes things get changed, without explanation.
165 Trisha: Like you were talking about the night we met. It's happened like this for you?
166 Hope: Several times. It's how I lost my family, ended up on the street...
167 Trisha: So it's still... it's still a simulation.
168 Hope: Something like that, I suppose. I think maybe--
169 SOUND: all falls mystically quiet with appropriate music
170 Trisha: [narration] And she froze mid-word. Everything and everyone froze. The fish in the aquarium section behind me, the tropical birds in the rain forest area, it was all like a beautifully-painted glass sculpture. The people in mid-motion, lips parted to form sounds I couldn't hear. The air felt sticky, moving through it felt like trying to swim through molasses. And I looked at the fox, and the fox turned its head to look at me... and I started to move toward it, and it bounded off, unimpeded by the thick air.
171 Hope: An edit.
172 Trisha: [narration] she said. An edit, I said.
173 Hope: Sometimes things get changed, without explanation.
174 Trisha: We've been here before, we just had this conversation, and then...
175 Hope: And then what?
176 Trisha: Hope, look at the fox!
177 Hope: What about it?
178 Trisha: It's back!
179 Hope: It was gone? Trisha, are you--
180 Trisha: [narration] And she froze again. Everything froze as before, the air was sticky again. And the fox was looking at me again. And then it bounded off again.
181 Hope: An edit.
182 Trisha: A loop.
183 Hope: Sometimes things get changed, without explanation.
184 Trisha: I have to break this loop before I'm trapped forever.
185 Hope: And then what?
186 Trisha: The fox, it's the fox!
187 SOUND: tearing through rope into exhibit, ripping and smashing stuffed fox
188 Bystander One: [angry] Hey, stop that! Get off that exhibit!
189 Bystander Two: [shocked] She's destroying that stuffed fox!
190 Bystander Three: [urgently] Security, security! Over there, see!
191 Hope: [concerned and scared] Trisha, are you okay?
192
Trisha:
[narration] The fox was the focus of the loop. I had to destroy it while it was in stuffed form, before it could change again. Security came, pulled me off and took me away, but I must've done enough because I was out of the loop. And I spent that night in jail.
I spent a few days in jail in my rebellious youth. It was like a timeout, an opportunity for quiet meditation on misdeeds. 21st century jail is the exact opposite, a forced intimacy amid an unnerving cacophony of sound.
193 SOUND: jail noises -- background convos, doors opening and closing, banging and such in distance
194 Cellmate: So what're you in for, Trisha?
195 Trisha: Attacking a fox.
196 Cellmate: That's a new one. I'm warning you, I know how to defend myself.
197 Trisha: I'd never hurt you, I'd never attack a person.
198 Cellmate: What've you got against foxes?
199 Trisha: Nothing in general, just this particular one.
200 Cellmate: Did it ruin your garden, attack your pet?
201 Trisha: It was stuffed, in a museum.
202 Cellmate: [realizing she's a loony] I see.
203 Trisha: Don't look at me like that.
204 Cellmate: Like what?
205 Trisha: Like I'm crazy. I'm not crazy.
206 Cellmate: [sarcastic] Of course not, attacking a stuffed fox exhibit is perfectly sane.
207 Trisha: Well, what'd YOU do to end up here?
208 Cellmate: I hit my husband over the head with a beer bottle. But he was asking for it.
209 Trisha: People in glass houses...
210 Cellmate: Look, why don't we agree to stay at opposite ends of our cell and cut the chatter?
211 Trisha: If that's the way you want it...
212 Cellmate: I think it'd be safest.
213 Trisha: [narrating] Safety wasn't something I ever felt in there, trapped with a violent woman who could assault me at any moment. I didn't get any sleep at all, I didn't dare. Thankfully my stay was brief, they came for me in the morning.
214 SOUND: cell doors opening
215 Deputy: You understand you're taking full responsibility for her and for the psych eval?
216 Minnie: Yes, I understand.
217 Deputy: And you'll see to it she makes it to her trial date?
218 Minnie: I will.
219 Trisha: Thanks, Minnie.
220 SOUND: they start moving, cell closes behind
221 Minnie: I'll take you back to Sacramento.
222 Trisha: I know this isn't real, Minnie. I know that now.
223 Minnie: We'll get you back to Monolith-Eigen and see what Doctor Peterson has to say.
224 SOUND: end theme
225 Announcer: Beyond Awakening episode 13, Shores of the Unknown, was written and produced by Paul Knierim. It starred Gwenith Knight as Trisha Blackburn. Also featured were Ashley as Hope, Lizafeh as the rancher, Alex Foott as Doctor Peterson, Monaye Jordan as Trisha's cellmate and Trisha's dream voice, LunaLorre as the SFPD deputy, and Mel Crochemore as Doctor Minnie Moreau. The patrons at the California Academy of Sciences were Jose Montalvo, Lindsday Townsend, and Monaye Jordan. 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.