February 18, 2012
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Broadcast Passion: Another Cultural Experiment!
Hi folks
Making radio drama is a very democratic and passionate process. All kinds of incredibly talented, dedicated and brave people are out there sending those distant signals that supercharge our imaginations. In the same populist spirit, please find below my radio play “When Bloomsbury Fails” which is based on a short story of mine that came out in the anthology New Writings in the Fantastic a few years back. Anyone who wants to produce and perform it is very welcome to do – free of charge. All you have to do is: a) Tell me you’re going to produce it and b) tell people that I wrote it.
Happy reading…happy creating!
“WHEN BLOOMS”WHEN BLOOMSBURY FAILS”
Wr Written by Hugh A.D. Spencer
Based
Hugh
HJh
Based on his Short Story
61 Wheatfield Road
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M8V 2P5
416.251.3803
spencer.hugh@gmail.comSCENE ONE
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. 1963 and five minutes to midnight. A diverse group of about 60 people, who referto themselves as “The Searchers” are sitting on the top of a hill on the outskirtsof town. Keith (aka Keez) a disguisedanthropologist from the far future sits among them.
SOUND: RUSTLING OF A FOIL BAG BEING OPENED.
KEITH: (V.O. – electronically distorted). Ethnographic note: The old man, Mr. Williams, is opening some kind ofbrightly coloured bag. I’m trying tomake out what it contains…
MR.WILLIAMS: For this sustenance to ourbodies and spirit, we give thanks.”
KEITH: (V.O. – electronically distorted). It’s some kind of consumable…small orange cylinders. They look air-filled…my internal sensors aretelling me that there’s a very high inorganic content…
SOUND: RUSTLING OF THE BAG CONTINUES AS MR.WILLIAMS TAKES SOMETHING OUT OF THE BAG.
KEITH: (V.O. – electronically distorted). Period data record indicates that these are a snack food called“Cheezettes”. Now the old man is placingone of the so-called “Cheezettes” on his tongue…he’s closing his mouth…there’sa brief moment of silence…now…
MR. WILLIAMS: Accept this sign of our last bonds to thisworldly plane.
SOUND: RUSTLING CONTINUES AS MR. WILLIAMSPASSES THE BAG TO THE NEXT SEARCHER.
SEARCHER #1: “For this I am thankful.”
SOUND: RUSTLING.
SEARCHER #2: With this we are one.
SOUND: RUSTLING.
SEARCHER #3: Peace be with you.
SOUND: RUSTLING.
SEARCHER #4: And also with you.
SOUND: VOICES AND PRAYERS OF THE SEARCHERSCONTINUE AS THEY PASS THE COMMUNAL BAG OF CHEEZETTES AMONGST EACH OTHER ANDKEITH TELEPATHICALLY SPEAKS TO HIS INTERNAL COMPUTER.
KEITH: (V.O. – electronically distorted) Ethnographic Record Update: The sixty plus six of us sit on a hill behinda cement plant out the outskirts of a middle-sized town in southernAlberta. We were waiting for the Mothership to arrive and rescue us from our doomed world.
SOUND: SOUND OF SHAREDPRAYERS RISES A LITTLE.
KEITH: (CONT’D – electronically distorted) Most of us are expectant, exhilarated. The liberation of cutting off all ties withthe mundane world almost eclipses our dread of the forthcoming nuclearapocalypse.
SOUND: THERUSTLE OF THE CHEEZETTES BAG IS SUDDENLY VERY CLOSE.
CHRISTINE (ONE OF
THE SEARCHERS) The Love of the Space Gods, shared with you…
KEITH: TheLove of the Space Gods shared with you…
SOUND: KEITHREACHES IN AND TAKES OUT A CHEEZETTE. SOFT SWALLOWING.
KEITH: (electronically distorted) Even I feelpretty good.
SOUND: KEITHPASSES THE BAG ALONG TO ANOTHER SEARCHER.
KEITH: (electronically distorted) AfterI’ve consumed my Cheezette, I feel a vague warmth building up inside me. I briefly wondered if it was the Holy Spiritor my automatic immune net scrambling to destroy the horrendous chemicals thatwere now entering my bloodstream.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (DISTANT) Wehave a little while more to wait. Whydon’t we sing a few songs?
SCENE TWO
A hyper-reality lecture theatre, half located atAntarctic Liberal Arts University and half spread out over the inner solarsystem. It is the Year 2976.
KEEZ (AKA KEITH) What’sthat Mars Group?
MARS GROUP: (SOUND)HIDEOUS CACOPHONIC HOWL WITH OCCASSIONAL SYLLABLES THAT MIGHT SUGGEST SOMEFORM OF HUMAN LANGUAGE.
KEEZ: We’re having a hard timeunderstanding you.
MARS GROUP: (SOUND)MORE HOWLING AND SYLLABLES.
KEEZ: Tryreducing the speed on the temporal accelerator of your radio signal…I thinkyou’re a little out of synch.
MARS GROUP: Crunchcrackle whine…were wondering how tribal groups were able to maintaingenealogical and folkloric memory without the use of chip implants.
KEEZ: Nonethe less they did. For millennia beforeeven the crudest electronic and digital media existed, human communities wereable to keep records for generation after generation.
IN-PERSON STUDENT: But how was it possible to maintain accuracy withno technological support?
KEEZ: Iknow it seems impossible, but people just did.
MARS GROUP: Really? Just like that?
KEEZ: Theyhad to. Just like that.
VENUS GROUP: And you say that mythology and heroictales had a cultural existence before the advent of video games in the 20thCentury?
KEEZ: WhenI was an undergraduate, I had difficulty believing this myself. But yes, in fact hundreds of thousands offolkloric traditions had absolutely no relation to gaming – multiplayer orotherwise.
VENUS GROUP: Astonishing.
IN-PERSON STUDENT: No kidding.
SOUND: SOFTELECTRONIC BEEPING.
KEEZ: That’sthe close-down signal for the inner planet network, so folks please rememberthat you have an essay assignment due next week: please apply Edward Evans-Pritchard’s modelof witchcraft accusation among the Pre-Digital Azande to the main communityresponses to the 2305 Comet Impact.
MARS GROUP: (DISTORTINGA LITTLE)…Professor Keez…?
KEEZ: TheUniversity AI tells me that the transmission links throughout the whole solarsystem are working just fine so off-world students will not be granted extratime.
MARS GROUP: (SOUND)COMPLETELY DISTORTS.
IN-PERSON STUDENT: Professor Keez…?
KEEZ: Youalready owe me a paper on millennial movements among Asteroid Belt communities,so don’t even ask for an extension.
SOUND: ANOTHERSOFT ELECTRONIC BEEPING SOUND, SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TONE.
KEEZ: Hello,yes?
UNIVERSITY AI: Professor Keez, could you please stop bythe department head’s office?
SCENE THREE
Department of Cultural Anthropology, AntarcticUniversity. About an hour later.
ACADEMIC AI: (SLIGHTLY SYNTHESIZED) We are mostpleased to advise you that the Research Council has approved your proposal.
KEEZ: Are you sure this isaccurate? It’s not some bogus epath fromPoewe190 or Rodman?
COLARUSSO400: (LAUGHS) Oh, that’sabsurd! Isn’t this the news you werehoping for?
ACADEMIC AI: (SLIGHTLY SYNTHESIZED) We are mostpleased to advise you that the Research Council has approved your proposal.
KEEZ: But it’s exactly thesort sick thing they’d pull off as a joke.
COLARUSSO400: How can people withsuch giant intellects be so petty?
ACADEMIC AI: (SLIGHTLY SYNTHESIZED) We are mostpleased to advise you that the Research Council has approved your proposal.
KEEZ: I know I must soundparanoid but I’m going to be miserable until I get personal verification fromthe Council Secretariat. (SIGHS) Andthat won’t be until we have direct triangulation from Titan.
COLARUSS400: Well, there’s noneed to wait that long.
SOUND: SOFTELECTRONIC BEEPING AS COLARUSSO400 PRESSES A FEW CONTROLS.
KEEZ: Oh, sir! There’s no need to go to that much trouble!
COLARUSS400: (CONT’D) Wecan’t have one of our star faculty members feeling all cranky right now, canwe?
ACADEMIC AI: (SLIGHTLY SYNTHESIZED) We are mostpleased to advise you that the Research Council has approved your proposal.
KEEZ: But I can’t ask forspecial treatment –
COLARUSSO400: Nonsense. Besides if I don’t use my authority wand asDepartment Head every once in a while it will wither and drop off.
ACADEMIC AI: (SLIGHTLY SYNTHESIZED) We are mostpleased to advise you that the Research Council – (STOPS SHORT).
COLARUSSO400: This is CulturalAnthropology Department Head Supreme Professor Colarusso400 at AntarcticUniversity. Priority query: please verify acceptance of research proposalEnhanced Associate Professor Keez.
SOUND: DISTANTHISS AND FAINT STATIC AS COLARUSSO400’S MESSAGE STRETCHES ACROSS THE SOLARSYSTEM.
ACADEMIC AI: Acceptanceverified.
KEEZ: Fantastic!
COLARUSSO400: Congratulations,young man!
ACADEMIC AI: Professor Keezshould report to Research Council Antarctic Branch for surgical preparation athis earliest convenience.
SOUND: THESIGNAL FROM THE ACADEMIC AI BLIPS OFF.
COLARUSSO400: Oh goodness! I hope that won’t be too uncomfortable foryou.
KEEZ: I can manage thepain of the implants. I’m finally getting out of the simulation archives!
COLARUSSO400: The Council musthave a lot of confidence in your proposal.
KEEZ: (EXCITED) This is going to be real temporalanthropology. Hot damn!
SCENE FOUR
Backon the hilltop in 1963. Three minutes tomidnight.
KEITH (aka KEEZ): (VO, electronicallydistorted) Meanwhile back in 1963, It’sgetting pretty cold up here on the hill.
LEO: (SNIFFS,THEN WHISPERS) Wish I had a tissue…
KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED)
Leois one of the younger Searchers, he’s looking a little embarrassed as he triesto deal with a runny nose — perhaps it’s annoying to be still dealing with theproblems of the flesh.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Sarah, canyou…?
KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED)
NowMrs. Bloomsbury is smiling at Sarah, a middle-aged woman who is sitting next toLeo.
SARAH: Ofcourse.
KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED) Sarah is a middle aged woman who left her house,husband and three children to be with us tonight.
SARAH: (QUIETLY)Leo, why don’t you take my
LEO: (ALSOQUIETLY) Thanks. (BLOWS HIS NOSE).
KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED) Now, she’s putting her arm around the Leo. It’s a platonic gesture…
SARAH: Keepthe faith, Leo.
LEO: Thanks.
MRS.McPHERSON: (QUAVERS,UNCERTAIN) “Rock of Ages…”
KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED) The woman whois trying to sing is Mrs. McPherson, aretired teacher who used to dabble in theosophy…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: There’s alot of wisdom in some of those old hymns. You can think of our planet as a rock, spinning all alone in space,waiting for a few of its tiny inhabitants to meet their destiny. (STARTS SINGING) Rock of Ages, Cleft for me…
THE SEARCHERS: (GROWING LOUDER AND MORE CONFIDENT AS THEY SING) ….let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed…KEITH: (VO,ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED)
Thoseof us, who know the words, join in. Someof us, like me have to fake it.
THE SEARCHERS: (CONT’D) Not the labours of my hands can fulfill thy law's commands; could my zeal no respite know…KEITH: (VO ELECTRONICALLY DISTORTED) But we are all enthusiastic, the cold seems to dissipate and the waiting gets a little easier.SCENE FIVE
TimeTravel Lab, Antarctic University, back in the year 2976.
SOUND: HISSOF THE LABORATORY DOOR MEMBRANE OPENING. FOOTSTEPS OF KEEZWALKING IN.
RODMAN190: (GRUMPY)Keez, at least you have the minor virtue of punctuality.
KEEZ: (SHOCKED)Rodman190! What are you doing here?!
RODMAN190: Preparingyou for your trip through time, obviously. (CALLS OUT) Incinerate!
TECHNICIAN: (ONSPEAKER, DISTANT) Incinerating!
SOUND: KEEZ’SCLOTHES BRIEFLY BURST INTO FLAME.
KEEZ: (UPSET)Hey! That hurt!
RODMAN190: Wecan’t have you going into the year 1963 in contemporary attire now can we?
KEEZ: Whatdo you care? You hate my work!
RODMAN190: Steponto the sterilization platform please.
SOUND: FOOTSTEPS.
RODMAN190: Eventhough I have limited respect for your methods, Keez I’m the most experiencetime travel researcher in the Department. (CALLS OUT) Sterilize!
TECHNICIAN: (ONSPEAKER, DISTANT) Sterilizing!
SOUND: SHARPHISS OF STEAM.
KEEZ: (SCREAMS).
RODMAN190: Ohdear, that was about 20 degrees hotter than it needed to be.
KEEZ: (ANGRY)You may be the most experienced time traveler in the department but you’vededicated your career to the most trivial subjects. 800 years of Subarctic Cree fish weir design!
SOUND: ANOTHERHISS OF STEAM.
KEEZ: (SCREAMSAGAIN)
RODMAN190: Sorry. Thought I picked up a contaminant on thescanner.
KEEZ: (GASPING)Oh, sure!
RODMAN190: Andfor the record, I happen to really like fish weirs. People should be more interested in them.
SOUND: HIGHPITCHED VIBRATION.
RODMAN190 (CONT’D)Turn your head.
KEEZ: Ow! What are sticking in my ear?!
SOUND: SHARPMETALLIC POP!
RODMAN190: Thatis your internal AI system. Fundamentalresearch tool, it will guide you through the day to day interactions and make acontinual record.
INTERNALAI: (VO,I.E. INSIDE KEE’S HEAD) Hello, Professor Keez, I am pleased to advise you thatthis unit is at optimum function.
KEEZ: Iprefer to use a notebook.
RODMAN190: Sorry,it’s a rule. Although you could haveabsorbed the unit in tablet form but that would have been much lessuncomfortable.
KEEZ: (STILLANGRY) Can I please have some clothes?!
SOUND: HUMOF AN AUTOMATIC LOCKER OPENING.
RODMAN190: Overthere.
SOUND: BAREFEET WALKING ACROSS A CONCRETE FLOOR.
RODMAN190: Andhowever dramatic you may think the subject of your research, there areliterally thousands of valid simulations in the archives you could use.
SOUND: RUFFLEOF KEEZPUTTING ON UNDERWEAR THEN OUTERWEAR.
KEEZ: That’sthe problem, there’s too much old data to deal with. We don’t know what’s real and what’s not inthose virtual environments anymore.
RODMAN190: Sowhat’s so important about what you’re going to do? Why is it worth exploding a small moon to getthe power we need to send you that far back?
SOUND: KEEZZIPS UP THE FLY OF HIS JEANS. WE HEARSHOES WALKING ACROSS THE LAB.
KEEZ: Thisis the Time Portal right?
RODMAN190: Startcountdown!
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) Commencing!
SOUND: ELECTRONICTHROBBING STARTS, GRADUALLY GETS LOUDER.
RODMAN190: Well? What’s so special about your research?
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) …epsilon…
KEEZ: (CALLSOUT OVER THE THROBBING OF THE PORTAL) I’m tracking a small group charismaticevent…
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) …gamma…
RODMAN190: (CALLSBACK) So what? There were lots of thosein the 20th Century!
KEEZ: (CALLSOUT) I have a great new angle on a classic sociological paradigm!
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) …delta…
RODMAN190: (CALLSBACK) That’s what every charlatan says!
KEEZ: (CALLSOUT) Look at the coordinates on my proposal chip! They’re almost perfect!
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) …beta…
RODMAN190: (CALLSBACK) Perfect for what?
SOUND: BEEPSOF RODMAN190 CALLING UP DATA ON A COMPUTER – CAN BARELY BE HEARD OVER THEINCREASINGLY LOUD THROB OF THE TIME PORTAL.
KEEZ: (YELLINGAT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS) Historical events appear to confirm the group’s beliefsystem!
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) …alpha…
RODMAN87: (GASPSIN SURPRISE) Good god! You mightactually learn something new!
KEEZ: (YELLS)I’m glad you—
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) Initiate!
SOUND: ROAROF THE PORTAL OPENING AND KEEZHURTLING THROUGH THE FABRIC OF TIME-SPACE.
TECHNICIAN: (DISTANT,ON SPEAKER) He’s away.
RODMAN190: (SOFTLY)I hope that was as uncomfortable as it looked.
SCENESIX
Lethbridge,May 1963. Lunchtime at a pretty ordinarydiner. Keez, now using his “study name”of Keith has been conducting field research for three months now.
SOUND: TYPICALDINER NOISES: UTENSILS IN USE, PEOPLE SPEAKING QUIETLY, PERIOD C&W MUSIC INTHE BACKGROUND.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Food composition: 40% crude protein, 30%unrefined fats; 10% excessively refined fats; 10% complex sugars, 8.2% assortedanimal excrement; 1.8% active parasitic elements.
CHRISTINE: So,you’re having the hamburger?
KEITH: (ALITTLE HESITANT) Yes, I guess so.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Activating protective nanobots throughout GI system.
SOUND: KEITHUSING A KNIFE AND FORK TO CUT THROUGH THE MEAT. HE CHEWS AND SWALLOWS.
KEITH: It’snot bad. Do you want some?
INTERNALAI: (VO)Vapourizing all quasinutrients.
CHRISTINE: No,I think I’ll stick to this salad.
KEITH: Okay.
CHRISTINE: (SERIOUS)I’m so glad we’ve finally have some time to ourselves.
KEITH: Finally?But we saw each other at last night’s service.
CHRISTINE: That’snot what I meant. (SIGHS).
INTERNALAI: (VO)Interpersonal notation: the subject is expecting to you provide appropriateemotional response.
KEITH: I’msorry, Christine. I’m not always good atthis kind of thing…
CHRISTINE: (WARMSA BIT) That’s okay, Keith. I think Iunderstand.
KEITH: Ijust don’t want to say something stupid or weird.
CHRISTINE: Iknow we haven’t known each other very long…”
INTERNALAI: (VO)Warning. Emotional intensity of thisconversation is magnifying by a factor of 84. Speak with caution.
CHRISTINE…butI think you ought to know that I find you very attractive.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Warning. The subject is experiencing significant loss of perceptualorientation. Objective analysis indicatesthat you are not particularly attractive.
KEITH: (SURPRISED)I, uh –
INTERNALAI: (VO)Warning…warning…warning (FADES).
SCENESEVEN
Bedroomin Christine’s trailer. About threehours later.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…warning. Recalibrate fieldwork settings to avoidcompromising analytical perspective…recalibrate…
CHRISTINE: (SLEEPY)Sweetheart?
KEITH: Hithere.
SOUND: RUSTLINGOF SHEETS.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…recalibrate…recalibrate…recalibrate…
KEITH: (VO)I should have seen this coming. This isfieldwork basics. The community reactsto the presence of a stranger in a range of characteristic ways. The more often members of the group see thestranger, the more intense the reaction.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…recalibrate…recalibrate…recalibrate…
KEITH: (VO)I really should be thinking about more important things about the fact thatthis was the first time I’d ever had sex without technological or telepathicenhancement.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…recalibrate…recalibrate…recalibrate…
KEITH: (VO) Itwasn’t too bad.
CHRISTINE: I’ve been thinking…
KEITH: You have?
CHRISTINE: …I think you oughtto move out of the YMCA.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Warning. This is a warning…
KEITH: Ishould?
CHRISTINE: Thepeople in the trailer park are very nice.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…warning…warning…warning…
KEITH: (VO)So change of residence.
SOUND: RUSTLEOF SHEETS AS CHRISTINE TURNS OVER.
CHRISTINE: We’lltalk some more later.
KEITH: (VO)Given the time period, Christine would likely insist that we get married fairlysoon.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…warning…war—(SHUTSOFF ABRUPTLY)
KEITH: (VO)Score one for the natives,
SOUND: STREAMOF STATIC FROM KEITH’S INTERNAL AI.
KEITH: Butat least a lot of the Searchers lived in the trailer park.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Recalibration of research methodology has begun.
SCENEEIGHT
Lethbridge,Alberta, 1963. A few weeks later. Keith, Christine and the Searchers haveassembled in a local park for a service with Mrs. Bloomsbury.
SOUND: INTHE DISTANCE SOMEONE IS PLAYING A PASSAGE FROM ST. MATTHEW’S PASSION BY J.S.BACK ON AN ACCORDIAN. ABOUT 60 PEOPLEARE TALKING SOFTLY AMONGST THEMSELVES AS THEY UNFOLD LAWN FURNITURE AND SITDOWN.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Optic discomfort level at 43% and rising.
CHRISTINE: Areyou alright, Keith?
KEITH: Justa headache, should have brought my sunglasses.
CHRISTINE: Silly,you can’t wear sunglasses at Service.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Cranial pain level at 51.7% and rising.
KEITH: (VO) I grew up in environments were thedistinctions between “inside” and “outside” or even”natural” and “manufactured” were quite blurred — so Ifound the whole I idea of just walking through doorway into non-mediatedsunshine pretty disorienting.
SOUND: MUSICFADES, EVERYONE STOPS TALKING.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (INDISTANCE) Is everyone here?
KEITH: (VO)I had to fight the urge to turn down the contrast on the sky.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (NOWCLOSER) It’s such a beautiful day…
KEITH: (VO) The challenge was Mrs. Bloomsbury held herservices out-of-doors when weather permitted.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Cranial pain at 48.9% and dropping.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Whydon’t we get started?
KEITH: (VO) But even I found Mrs. Bloomsbury quitereassuring in times of stress.
CHRISTINE: (WHISPERS)You look a little better.
INTERNALAI: (VO)…36.5%and dropping…
KEITH: (VO)WithMrs. Bloomsbury, I was able find a way to enjoy sitting around the parkbandstand with the rest of the Searchers.
KEITH: (WHISPERS)Yes, I suppose I do.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Ihope everyone was able to perform their meditation this morning, and attunethemselves to the signals from the Galactic Superculture.
SEARCHERS: (ADLIB, Positive noises)
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: That’sexcellent. Now today, we are going toexplore some of the attitudes we need to ascend to higher levels of spiritualdevelopment.
CHRISTINE: (WHISPERS)Did you remember to meditate?
KEITH: (WHISPERS)Im sorry, I slept in.
CHRISTINE: (WHISPERS,ANNOYED) Oh, Keith!
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Doany of you have any idea of what it is like to be a humble person? What are the essential qualities of humility?
LEO: (HESITANT)Um…not being a conceited person…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Whatmakes a person conceited?
LEO: Like…well…that’ssomeone who brags or talks about themselves all the time.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY; Yes,people who are full of themselves can be pretty tiresome, can’t they?
SEARCHERS: (ADLIB, Positive noises)
MRS.BLOOMSBURY; Doesn’tanyone remember the word “hubris” from one of our earlier talks? Does anyone remember the significance of thatword to us?
OLDMR. WILLIAMS: Hubrisis pride and it’s what caused the citizens of Ancient Atlantis to be cast outof the Galactic Superculture.
MRS. McPHERSON: Andhumility is the opposite of hubris.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (DELIGHTED)That’s right! But if we are going everrejoin our sisters and brothers in the universe, there’s a tricky abouthumility…something that we all agree is good…that we have to understand. Can anyone suggest what that might be?
SOUND: NO RESPONSEFROM THE SEARCHERS.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Anyone? Anyone?
SOUND: STILL NORESPONSE.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Okay, let’s trythis as a group exercise.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Observation: Interpersonal interaction dynamics about to intensify.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: It’sso terribly sad when what is best in ourselves is turned against us. Especiallywhen this is done in the name of humility. (CALLS OUT) Jamie?
JAMIE: (DISTANT)Yes, ma’am?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Couldyou come up here for a moment?
SOUND: SLIGHTLYHESTIANT FOOTSTEPS AS JAMIE ASCENDS THE STAIRS OF THE BANDSTAND.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: IfI was to ask Jamie, to tell us what she thought her best features where, she’sprobably have some difficulty doing that.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Observation: Subject identified as “Jamie” is experiencing increasing levels ofsocial anxiety.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Do you know whythat is, Jamie?
JAMIE: (AWKWARD)N-no…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Becauseyou’re a nice, modest person with good manners.
JAMIE: (STAMMERS)I-uh, t-thank you—
INTERNALAI: (VO)Social anxiety levels of subject are now rising exponentially.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: But are youhappy?
JAMIE: (SURPRISED,ALMOST BURSTS INTO TEARS) I-I d-don’t really –
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Youdon’t have to answer, Jamie. Why don’tyou sit back down?
SOUND: JAMIE’SSTEPS OFF THE BANDSTAND.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CALLSOUT) Thank you, Jamie.!
SOUND: MRS.BLOOMSBURY STARTS TO CLAP HER HANDS. THEREST OF THE SEARCHERS JOIN IN.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: That was verybrave!
SOUND: APPLAUSEGRADUALLY STOPS.
KEITH’SINTERNAL AI: (VO)Observation: Discourse phase of sermon is about to begin.
KEITH: (VO,MUTTERS) I know, I know.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Theproblem is that social humility can very often twisted into very anti-socialnegativity. We become so habituated intodenying our own self-worth that we start to believe that other people have noworth as well.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Observation: group cognitive receptivity levels are rising.
KEITH: (VO)There is an unexpected amount of folk-psychotherapy today.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Travelwith me, friends. Breathe slowly anddeeply…slowly and deeply … Let your consciousness rise up the vibrationalcosmoscape.
SOUND: OFTHE SEARCHERS, BREATHING SLOWLY AND DEEPLY.
KEITH’SINTERNAL AI: (VO)Group 02/CO2 exchange rates slowing. Heartbeats and respiration decelerating—
KEITH: (VO,ANNOYED) Quiet, you!
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Ifwe are to ascend to the plane of Galactic Superculture of our Alien Gods, thenwe must purge our spiritual selves of this negativity.
KEITH: (VO)This is better, the discussion is not much more consistent with myclassification system of religious millennial doctrines.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Let’s all keepbreathing for another minute or so…
SOUND: BREATHINGCONTINUES.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Internal physiological and telepathic readings indicate that you are alsofinding the exercise emotionally reassuring.
KEITH: (VO) Itold you to be quiet!
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: …andstop…and open your eyes. How doeseveryone feel?
SEARCHERS: (AD-LIB)“Much better”, “terrific”, “relaxed”, “so rested”, etc.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY” NowI would like us to go around the circle and have each one us look at the personnext to you…and then speaking only the truth…tell us what you admire themost about that person.
INTERNALAI: (VO) Warning! Emotional Peril Approaching! Emotional Peril Approaching!
KEITH: DamnAI system is going to give me a cerebral incident.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Mr.Williams, why don’t you start?
OLDMR. WILLIAMS: Ah…doI go to my left or my right?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Whynot to your left?
MR.WILLIAMS: Verywell…ahem…Mrs. McPherson…Agnes…
MRSMcPHERSON: (Alittle amused) Yes, Henry?
MR.WILLIAMS: I’vealways wanted to tell you how much I admire your creativity and your sense ofbeauty.
MRS.McPHERSON: I’mnot sure what you mean, Henry.
MR.WILLIAMS: Iknow you don’t show them around, but I’ve seen you in your garden working on yourwatercolours…and some of those paintings are wonderful.
MRS.McPHERSON: (TOUCHED)Why thank you, Henry!
MR.WILLIAMS: Ihope I haven’t embarrassed you.
MRS.McPHERSON: No,no…not at all…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Agnes,do you have anything to say to Henry?
MRS.McPHERSON: Well…(PAUSES)…Yes! Henry, I’ve always wanted to tell you howmuch I admire how…how…steadfast you are.
MR.WILLIAMS: Steadfast?
MRS.McPHERSON: Yes,steadfast! Henry, you’ve been living inthe trailer park as long as I can remember and whenever someone has a problemthey know they can turn to you for help.
MR.WILLIAMS: (HUMBLE)Thank you, Agnes.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (SMILEIN HER VOICE) That was very interesting…now let’s move along the circle.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Warning! Emotional Peril Approaching! EmotionalPeril Approaching!
THESEARCHERS: (MONTAGE)Of different people telling each other what they admire about each other: “Ithink you have excellent taste in music”…”you always have the courage to speakthe truth”…”you are so incredibly kind”…”you have a great sense of humour…”
CHRISTINE: (SUDDENLYVERY CLOSE) …and that’s what I truly respect about you Keith.
SOUND: ALONGISH PAUSE.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Keith? Don’t you have something to say to Christine?
KEITH: (VO)Oh, excrement! I had forgotten to payattention to what Christine was saying.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Interpersonal Advisory: Increase yoursincerity quotient by at last Factor Eight.
KEITH: (VO)I really wish I was better at telling the truth.
SCENENINE
Sometimeafter the service. Keith is mentallytranscribing field notes.
SOUND: QUIETELECTRONIC BEEPS AND PIPS.
KEITH: Recordingnow… (PAUSE) …Mrs. Bloomsbury defies description with standard life historyformats. Yes, I can tell you when she was born, where she went to school, whenshe got married, what happened to Mr. Bloomsbury…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (VO,DISTANT, SLIGHTLY DISTORTED) Travel with me, friends…
KEITH…Thedate when she claimed that a purple beam of light first burned into her brainwith a message from beyond the stars.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (VO,DISTANT, SLIGHTLY DISTORTED) …look at the person next to you…and thenspeaking only the truth…tell us…
KEITH: Butthat really doesn’t tell you what’s important about Mrs. Bloomsbury.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (STARTS TO HUMAND THEN SING)
KEITH: Shewas the alpha and omega of all events in our little community.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (SHEVOCALIZES BUT DOESN’T SING IN ANY RECOGNIZABLE LANGUAGE)
KEITH: Aclassic charismatic leader with the power to inspire, comfort and spur. When I’m completely candid with myself Iadmit that I daydream about her in a variety of situations.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (THESONG SOUNDS AS IF IT MIGHT BE SOME KIND OF TRADITIONAL FOLK OR PROTEST SONG,POSSIBLY A SPIRITUAL.)
KEITH: Mylimited telepathic scans tell me that most of the Searchers feel the sameway…whether they know it or not.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (SOMELISTENERS WILL RECOGNIZE THE SONG AS “JUPITER” FROM HOLST’S COMPOSITION THEPLANETS.)
KEITH: She’struly wonderful. (PAUSE) Wonderful peoplelike her have caused a lot of suffering and wars throughout human history.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (FINISHESSINGING).
KEITH: Whenour university’s existential search engine twisted its way through thetime-streams, they made one hell of a catch with Mrs. Bloomsbury. (PAUSE) Now, I just had to wait for events to unfold.
SCENETEN
Threedays later. Mrs. Bloomsbury’s livingroom.
SOUND: (DISTANT)LAUGHTER AND FRAGMENTS OF CONVERSATION.
KEITH: (VO)That afternoon Mrs. Bloomsbury was giving a lecture on the nature of theuniverse.
SUSAN (A CHILD): So what areyou doing with that globe?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Thisglobe represents the Core of Galactic Civilization… (VOLUME OF HER VOICE SHIFTSA LITTLE AS SHE WALKS ACROSS THE ROOM)…and I’m going to take it over here tothe middle of the living room…
BILLY (ANOTHER CHILD): Do we follow you?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY…and I’ll just sit down here on the floor. No, children I want you to hang on to yourspheres stand where you are.
SOUND: SCREENDOOR OPENS.
CHRISTINE: Hello?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Billy,now you take three paces back and hold your orange ball over your head. Susan –
KEITH: Gosh, arewe interrupting?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Notat all, you’re just in time to be the planet Xorgon.
SUSAN: (WHINES ALITTLE) Mrs. Bloomsbury?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Sorry,Susan. Please move that blue ball aboutfour feet to your left. Evan, I want youto take three steps to the right then one step back… now hold that green ballover your head.
EVAN: Okay,Mrs. Bloomsbury.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Now we needXorgon.
CHRISTINE: Take this, Keith.
SOUND: CHRISTINETHROWS A BASKETBALL TO KEITH.
KEITH: Thisbasketball is the Planet Xorgon?
CHISTINE: Isn’t it obvious?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Keith,could you take the planet over to the bathroom door, please?
SOUND: FOOTSTEPS.
KEITH: Noproblem.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Christine,if you could stay over there by the curtains, please.
CHRISTINE: I’mthere.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Whereeach one of us is standing represents the major planetary systems. Now… (PAUSE)…At its zenith,the Galactic Superculture extended to encompass almost all sentient life in theuniverse.
BILLY/EVAN: (INAWE) Wow…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Butthen, millions of years ago, there was some kind of dysfunction in the ethereallines of communication. And to representthat event I am going to put my globe behind my back.
BILLY/EVAN/SUSAN: Awww…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Yes,children. It was very serious. And somehow, our world was cut off from allthe others. Christine, could you pull the curtains halfway shut?
SOUND: CHRISTINETUGS ON THE CURTAINS.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: It’sdarker now, isn’t it children?
BILLY/EVAN/SUSAN: Yes,Mrs. Bloomsbury.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Agreat shadow then passed over whole quadrants of our galaxy. Vast tracks of interstellar civilization wereisolated, this dark age extended from the far end of the dining room back tothe hallway. (PAUSE)Christine?
CHRISTINE: Yes, ma’am?
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Pullthe curtains all the way shut, dear.
SOUND: ONCEAGAIN, CHRISTINE TUGS ON THE CURTAINS.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Nowit’s even darker in the galaxy and there’s much more suffering on the helplesslittle worlds you are holding in your hands. Let’s stop for a moment and say a silent prayer for all the innocentcreatures on those alien planets.
SOUND: SILENCE.
KEITH’S INTERNAL AI: (VO) Emotional Advisory—
KEITH: (VO–ANNOYED) Terminate vocalization!
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Christine,could you slowly open thecurtains?
CHRISTINE: Yes, ma’am.
SOUND: CHRISTINEOPENS THE CURTAINS AS MRS. BLOOMSBURY SPEAKS.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Butthe planets at the Galactic Core…over by the kitchen…are taking steps. They have already dispatched a giant mothership to rescue those believers who are trapped in shadow.
BILLY/EVAN/SUSAN: (DELIGHTED)Ohhhhhhhhh!
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Sothat Searchers like us can live in the light and in happiness…forever.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (SINGSNONVERBALLY AS KEITH SPEAKS).
KEITH: (VO)If you didn’t worry too much about internal consistency or scientific accuracy,Mrs. Bloomsbury’s sermons were incredibly fun. This entertainment factor may be an essential element in any successfulreligious movement.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (SINGINGRISES AND FADES).
SCENE ELEVEN
September 1963,back at the pretty ordinary diner. Breakfast.
SOUNDS: Usualeating and conversation fragments. MOREBAD C & W ON THE RADIO.
CHRSTINE: I’vegot something to tell you.
KEITH: Youdo?
INTERNAL AI: (VO)Permission to issue interpersonal advisory?
KEITH: (VO)Denied.
CHRISTINE: Doyou want some more coffee?
KEITH: Please.
SOUND: COFFEEIS POURED.
KEITH: Wasthat what you wanted to tell me?
CHRISTINE: (LAUGHS)No.
KEITH: (VO)If I was a better social scientist, or maybe if I was just a slightly smarterhusband I probably would have developed an analytical schema for predictingChristine’s verbal behavior. But thatmorning all I cared about was obtaining some pure, primitive coffee. Whatever else, monogamy had definitelychanged me.
CHRISTINE: There’s going to be three of us byspring.
SOUND: INTERNALALARM FROM KEITH’S AI.
KEITH: (VO)It was very early in the morning and the rising sun was reflecting hard offthose very thick lenses she had mounted over her nose. Her voice was very serious and her facialexpression was impossible to read.
KEITH: Youmean?
CHRISTINE: We’re going to have a baby.
KEITH: (VO)AI: permission to articulate granted!
SOUND: INTERNALALARM FROM KEITH’S AI.
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Thank you.
KEITH: (VO)Report on Christine’s psychological state.
CHRISTINE: Keith? Are you all right?
KEITH: I’mfine.
KEITH: (VO)Actually I wondered what I looked like as my emotionswere rather mixed at that moment. The
treatments forphysical time travel had removed my ability to reproduce without the aid ofadvanced genetic technology…
CHRISTINE: Don’t you have anything to say?
KEITH: (VO)AI: report on my psychological state.
INTERNAL AI: (VO)Too complex to process at this time.
KEITH: (VO)So if Christine really was pregnant then I certainly hadn’t been heraccomplice. And from what I knew of herimmediate time-stream, Christine wouldn’t have the opportunity to enjoy herbaby.
CHRISTINE: Some words would be good right now,Keith.
KEITH: It’sincredible. (PAUSE) Really incredible.
SOUND: KEITHSTANDS UP.
CHRISTINE: (ALARMED) Keith? Where are you going?
KEITH: (VOICEGROWS DISTANT AS HE WALKS AWAY) Just a walk.
CHRISTINE: A walk?!
KEITH: Yes,I need to contemplate how incredible all this is.
SCENE TWELVE
Earlyevening of the same day. Field outsidethe trailer park.
SOUND: KEITHRIDING HIS BICYCLE.
KEITH: (VO)Psychological analysis on Christine?
INTERNALAI: (VO)Still in process.
KEITH: (VO)Implications of pregnancy for time line integrity?
INTERNALAI: (VO)Negligible.
KEITH: (VO)Implications of pregnancy for my research methodology?
KEITH’SINTERNAL AI: (VO)Negligible.
SOUND: KEITHBRAKES HIS BICYLE TO A STOP.
KEITH: (VO)AI, who is that?
INTERNALAI: (VO)L eo Milgrom. Age 17, secondary school student, scienceenthusiast.
KEITH: (VO)Right, Leo. Nice kid.
INTERNALAI: Leois the only child in a single parent family. Telepathic scans also indicate that he processes a strongly homosexualpsychological configuration.
KEITH: (VO)So? I did a stint as a part-time homosexual back when I was a grad student inPelucidar.
INTERNALAI: (VO)In this era this combination of factors can be extremely dangerous.
KEITH: (VO,SIGHS) You’re right about that.
SOUND: KEITHGETS OFF HIS BIKE AND STARTS WALKING IT TOWARDS LEO.
KEITH: (CALLSOUT) Hey, Leo! Exploring the universe again?
LEO: Kinda.
KEITH: Whatis that? A model rocket launcher?
LEO: Yeah. I’m just hooking up the wires to the ignitionbattery.
KEITH: Groovy.
LEO: Iguess this must look pretty pathetic. (SIGHS) Shooting off stupid little rockets when we know that there’s giantstarships hovering out there.
KEITH: Ifigured you were just impatient.
LEO: Guessit’s something to do while we’re all waiting.
SOUND: BUZZ AS LEOACTIVATES THE IGNITION.
KEITH: (VO)Leo’s sexual orientation was very definitely a problem in this era. I suspected that he was only just now comingto terms with his feelings and I doubted he even had words to describinghimself.
LEO: Let’sget this puppy off the ground. Step back from the launcher.
SOUND: MORE BUZZING.
LEO: Five…four…three…two…
KEITH: (VO)It probably made more sense for Leo to tell himself that he was some kind ofstar lost alien progeny.
LEO…one…zero…blast off!
SOUND: WHOOSH!AS MODEL ROCKET FLIES OFF INTO THE EVENING SKY.
LEO: (EXCITED)Hey! Look at that!
KEITH: Good shot!
LEO: Chutesout. Probably means the camera won’t bedamaged.
KEITH: Camera?
LEO: Yeah,just a miniature 8 millimeter one but I can get some great aerial shots forabout 10 maybe 12 miles around.
KEITH: (VO)AI: activate link to Ancient Speculative Archives.
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Activating.
KEITH: You’repart of a long tradition.
LEO: I am?
KEITH: Yes,one of the first groups dedicated to the moral impact of extra-terrestrial lifewas called the Cosmic Circle back in the 1930s…
LEO: (ALITTLE IMPATIENT) So it was quite a long time ago.
KEITH: Yes,ages and ages ago. The Cosmic Circle wasa group of science fiction fans who were going to set up a commune in NewMexico, help themselves evolve into higher states of existence and make contactwith other worlds.
LEO: What’sthat got to do with me?
INTERNALAI: (VO)Telepathic report. Leo has just thoughtthe following: ‘Why are such strangewords coming out of the mouth of Christine’s big dumb husband?’
KEITH: Modelrocketry experiments were a big part of their belief system. They planned to do them every day.”
LEO: Sowhat happened to them?
KEITH: (VO) AI:what happened to the Cosmic Circle?
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Insufficient data.
KEITH: Nobody’ssure. They faded from the historicalrecord.
LEO: Sothey failed.
SOUND: KEITH’SFOOTSTEPS IN THE GRASS.
KEITH: (CALLS OUT) Hey! I’ve got the rocket!
LEO: Is thecamera okay?
KEITH: Lookslike. Anyway, we don’t know if theCosmic Circle failed our not.
SOUND: KEITH WALKSCLOSER.
LEO: Ifthey were such a big success, how come nobody’s ever heard of them?
KEITH: Maybesomebody picked up their signals. Maybethey got a lift to somewhere further out than New Mexico.
LEO: Hmmm. Can I have that rocket please?
SCENE THIRTEEN
Christine andKeith’s trailer. Afternoon, October1963.
SOUND: KEITHWASHING HIS FACE IN THE BATHROOM.
CHRISTINE: (CALLSOUT) Keith? Are you there?
KEITH: (VO)Confirm status on all recording and analytical technology.
INTERNALAI: (VO)All research equipment functioning at optimum levels.
CHRISTINE: (LOUDER)Keith! Where are you?!
KEITH: (VO)It’s difficult to say which events preceded which that day. Let’s just say thatit was a pretty intense time.
KEITH: (CALLSBACK) I’m in the bathroom!
KEITH: (VO)Since I had a heads-up of over six hundred years, I was a little more preparedbut not by much. I just knew — forcertain — that it was going to be an interesting day.
SOUND: KEITHWALKS OUT INTO THE LIVING ROOM.
KEITH: Iseverything all right, darling?
CHRISTINE: Sitdown here next to me.
KEITH: (VO)Maybe it was worse because I saw it coming.
SOUND: KEITHSITS DOWN.
KEITH: (VO)It would start with Christine.
CHRISTINE: (SOFTLY)It’s not going to happen.
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Subject Christine is no longerpregnant.
KEITH: (GENTLY)You mean the baby?
CHRISTINE: (SOBS)Not going to happen.
KEITH: (VO)I shut down the AI’s telepathic sensor because even I knewwhat she was experiencing: pain, relief,
despair,confusion.
SOUND: FURNITURECREAKS A LITTLE AS THE COUPLE EMBRACE.
CHRISTINE: (CRIESQUIETLY)
KEITH: (WHISPERS)Christine…Christine…I’m so sorry.
KEITH: (VO)I knew she would miscarry a long time ago, so Icouldn’t explain how I felt at that moment, why
wasI feeling….shock? Grief?
CHRISTINE: (SOBS)I’m so sorry…I don’t know why…but
I’m …
KEITH: (VO)I knew what I was about to say. And I wishedI was going to say it out of compassion but I knew that I was a much betteranthropologist than I was a husband.
KEITH: There’sa service today, Christine.
CHRISTINE: (SNIFFS)A what?
KEITH: Aservice at Mrs. Bloomsbury’s house. Weshould go.
CHRISTINE: Weshould?
KEITH: Itwill help.
CHRISTINE: Y-yeah,it might help.
KEITH: (VO,ANGRY) Yes. We had to go to theservice. Because today was going to be avery important day for data collection.
SCENE FOURTEEN
Mrs.Bloomsbury’s house. About an hour later.
MUSIC: ONEOF THE SEARCHERS IS PLAYING CLASSICAL SOLO PIECE ON THE THERAMINHECK THEROCKWELL CD. (
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Thank you Annie,that was lovely.
SOUND: ANNIERETURNS TO THE CONGREGATION.
KEITH: (VO)Mrs. Bloomsbury knows that something is about to happen as well. She seems to be distracted by something, herusual glow isn’t there and there’s something missing in her greetings andblessings.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Now,everyone I want to tell you that tea is not ready and will not be served untilafter today’s service.
KEITH: (VO)The preparation, distribution and consumption of tea was an essential bondingprocess in the services. Handling thetea was Mr. Cruthers’ responsibility.
MR. CRUTHERS: (UPSET)But Mrs. Bloomsbury!
KEITH: (VO)Now the poor old man had no idea what to do.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: I’mtruly sorry, Mr. Cruthers but I have an important announcement to make. (VOICE RISES) Something of critical importance.
SEARCHERS: (ADLIB – phrases along the lines of “My goodness!” “What could it be?” “What doesshe mean?” “Sounds very serious!”
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CALLS OUT)Quiet, everyone! (NOW SOFTER) Please bequiet so that everyone can hear what I am about to say.
SEARCHERS: (QUICKLYQUIET DOWN.)
KEITH: (VO)This is it, the group is about to cross the experiential threshold.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Ididn’t sleep last night.
KEITH: (VO)Neither did I, because I had a reasonably good idea of what she was about tosay.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Iexperienced a revelation.
KEITH: (VO)Right on schedule.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Whenwe first spoke of living in these, the latter days…
SOUND: MRS.BLOOMSBURY WALKS ACROSS THE ROOM.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY… we knew far more than werealized….
SOUND: MRS.BLOOMSBURY WHIPS THE CURTAINS SHUT.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY… but the emphasis has shifted to the days rather than the latter.
MR.CRUTHERS: I’mafraid I don’t understand. Does that mean there won’t be time for tea?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (ALITTLE SAD) Mr. Cruthers…Jonathon…my dear friend…
MR.CRUTHERS: I’mconfused, Mrs. Bloomsbury.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (CALMLY)It is the end. Our world will soon cease to be.
MR,CRUTHERS: (SHOCKED)But, Mrs. Bloomsbury –
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Hush,Jonathon. Not another word.
SEARCHERS: (AD-LIB,START TO WHISPER AMONGST EACH OTHER)
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Everyone,please. Hush for a moment.
SOUND: HERFOOTSTEPS ECHO AS SHE WALKS ACROSS THE OTHERWISE COMPLETELY SILENT ROOM. THEN SHE DROPS INTO HER CHAIR.
KEITH: (VO)So here we all. Sitting in the darkness,we can just barely make out Mrs. Bloomsbury sitting there in her chair. She’s covering her eyes.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Sistersand Brothers…
KEITH: (VO)She’s looking at us now…her face is streaked with tears.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Lastnight I was blinded by the flash and felt the fire.
KEITH: (VO)Christine took my hand, I turn towards her and she looks…content?
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Theatomic war is coming. Our lovely littleplanet will soon be scorched into nothingness.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Group Emotional Response Report: Surprise…fear…vindication. Emotions listed in ascending order.
KEITH: (VO)Of course! This means we aren’t crazyafter all. It’s all happening the wayour prophet predicted.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Butwe must not despair. A rescue vessel ison its way to us. We must prepare for thegreat journey.
SCENE FIFTEEN
Much later thatnight. Christine is behind the wheel ofa very old Volkswagen. Keith is in thepassenger seat next to her.
SOUND: DISTINCTIVEWHEEZE OF A VW ENGINE.
CHRISTINE: Areyou sure that you don’t want to drive?
KEITH: Nothat’s fine. I prefer the bicycle to thebug.
CHRISTINE: Okay.
SOUND: ENGINETHROB AS THEY DRIVE WITHOUT SPEAKING.
CHRISTINE: Areyou cold? Do you want me to turn on theheater?
KEITH: Sure,that would be nice.
SOUND: TURNOF A KNOB AND THE FAN OF THE HEATER ROARS TO LIFE.
CHRISTINE: It’llwarm up pretty quick.
KEITH: Great.
SOUND: MOREMACHINE NOISES AS THEY DRIVE IN SILENCE.
CHRISTINE: Quitea service tonight, wasn’t it?
KEITH: Realfire and brimstone stuff.
CHRISTINE: So,do you think it was like a metaphor or a fable?
KEITH: “We’reall going to die in an atomic war” doesn’t sound very metaphoric to me.
CHRISTINE: Butit might not happen for hundreds maybe thousands of years, right? And that’s sort of like a legend. Something that far off.
KEITH: (VO)Time to start nailing this down.
KEITH: Iwonder what’s on the radio.
SOUND: KEITHTURNS A KNOB, CRACKLE OF STATIC.
NEWSREADER: (ONRADIO) The top story on the hour is still President Kennedy’s declaration of afull naval blockade of the island of Cuba.
CHRISTINE: Thatsounds pretty serious.
NEWSREADER: (ONRADIO) Soviet cargo and battleships are maintaining course…
KEITH: Gosh.
NEWSREADER: (ONRADIO) The Pentagon has placed all their armed forces in a condition of DefenseCondition Two. Defense Condition Onerepresents a condition of total war.
CHRISTINE: Ohmy god!
NEWSREADER: (ONRADIO) This is the closest ever the United States and the Soviet Union haveever come to the full exchange of nuclear weapons.
KEITH: Soundlike whatever is going to happen is going to happen sooner or later.
CHRISTINE: (NEARTEARS) Oh, my god…
KEITH: (VO)I can be a real bastard sometimes
SCENE SIXTEEN
Front yard ofSteve and Linda Griffin, two Searchers who live in the trailer park. Late afternoon, two days later.
SOUND: LINDATAPING A CARDBOARD BOX SHUT.
NEIGHBOURKID: (CALLSOUT) Hey, Mrs. Griffin! You sure got alot of boxes there!
LINDA: (LAUGHS)Yes, who would have thought!
SOUND: STEVEGRUNTS A LITTLE AS HE DEPOSITS ANOTHER BOX ON THE GROUND.
STEVE: That’sthe last of them.
LINDA: Ican’t believe we managed to accumulate so much useless stuff.
NEIGHBOUR KID: Soare you having a garage sale?
STEVE: Somethinglike that.
NEIGHBOUR KID: Howmuch do you want for those comic books?
STEVE: Takeas many as you like.
NEIGHBOUR KID: What?
STEVE: They’refree.
NEIGHBOUR KID: You sure, Mr.Griffin? Aren’t these Davey’s favouritecomics?
LINDA: Hewon’t be needing them.
NEIGHBOUR KID: Okay,Mrs. Griffin (FADES)…
SOUND: KEITH BRAKESHIS BIKE TO A STOP.
KEITH: (CALLSOUT) Mr. Cooprod?
MR. COOPROD: (DISTANT, CALLS BACK)Hello Steve.
SOUND: SCREENDOOR OPENS AND SHUTS. SLOW FOOTSTEPS.
MR. COOPROD: (GROWSCLOSER) How can I help you, young?
KEITH: Ijust wanted to give you this envelop to cover the rest of this month’s rent andto let you know that you can shut off the water and electricity the day aftertomorrow.
MR. COOPROD: Firstit was the Griffins, then the Delaney’s and the Jacks and now you andChristine. Is there something you folksdon’t like about my trailer park?
KEITH: Yourpark is great Mr., Cooprod; we just have to moveon.
MR.COOPROD: Isit something to do with that funny church you all go to?
KEITH: Idon’t know about that –
SOUND: KEITHIS INTERUPTED BY SHOUTING IN THE DISTANCE.
MRS.ENWRIGHT: (UPSET)You really have to tell Julie to take back her Barbies!
LINDA: IfJulie wants to make a gift of her dolls to her friend, then who am I tointerfere?
STEVE: That’sright Sue, and if you’d like anything you see in these boxes, why don’t youhelp yourself?
MRS.ENWRIGHT: (EVENMORE UPSET) This is crazy! You’ve goteverything you own out here on the lawn –
STEVE; (CALM)Just about.
MRS.ENWRIGHT: –and you’re just giving it all away? Areyou insane?
LINDA: No,we’re just feeling generous.
KEITH: (GROWSNEARER) Linda? Steve? Anything I canhelp with?
STEVE: Nothanks, Keith. Everything’s fine.
MRS. ENWRIGHT: (STILLANGRY) I don’t understand what’s going on here but I still understand littlegirls. And I know that sooner or lateryour daughter will want her Barbies back and my daughter will have to returnthem.
LINDA: Agift is a gift, Sue.
MRS. ENWRIGHT: Andthere’s going to be a lot of tears all around!
KEITH: Ibet there won’t be, Mrs. Enwright.
MRS.ENWRIGHT: (GROWSMORE DISTANT AS SHE WALKS AWAY) Oh, what would you know about it?!
KEITH: (VO)AI: did you record all that?
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Affirmative.
KEITH: (VO)Bourgeoisie value system under crisis conditions. I’m going to get a great paper out of that.
STEVE: Keith,you got a few minutes to help me weed the garden?
KEITH: Sure,I guess.
STEVE: Lookat that. Linda’s back, cleaning thewindows.
KEITH: Shesure is.
STEVE: Iguess we just hate the idea of leaving the place in a mess.
KEITH: (VO)It’s going to be a great paper!
SCENE SEVENTEEN
Mrs.Bloomsbury’s house. The very early hoursof the morning. Three days later.
ANNOUNCER: (ONTV SPEAKER) This concludes our broadcast day on KRTV, Great Falls,Montana. Our schedule resumes at 6:00a.m. with University of the Air.
SOUND: STARSPANGLED BANNER STARTS, GRADUALLY GROWING FAINTER WITH MORE STATIC IN THE B.G.
KEITH: Isthat the last station?
LEO: Yup. We’re lucky we can pull in a signal all theway in from Montana.
SOUND: MUSICSTOPS ABRUPTLY AS KEITH TURNS OFF THE TV.
KEITH: Well,that’s it then.
SOUND: CLICKAND HISS AS LEO TURNS ON ANOTHER ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE.
LEO: No,we can check out the radio.
KEITH: Ofcourse, I forgot.
SOUND: MORESTATIC AND FRAGMENTS OF MUSIC AS LEO TRIES TO TUNE IN TO A NEWS STATION.
LEO: Youforgot about radio? Man, you’re strangesometimes.
KEITH: Naw,it’s just tired.
LEO: Iknow what you mean, kind of hard to sleep a busload of people in onehouse.
ASEARCHER: (SLEEPY)Could you two, keep it down people?
KEITH: (WHISPERS)Sorry.
ANNOUNCER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) This is KBLG, Billings and now get ready for “Dark Words” – latenight debate and discussion…
LEO: (ALSOWHISPERS) Here we go…
KEITH: Yougot a news station?
LEO: Sortof…it’s a phone-in show.
KEITH: (VO)By now most of the Searchers had packed one bag and moved into Mrs.Bloomsbury’s house. There we sat in frontof her radio and television and listened to news reports on the situation inCuba. It seemed so quaint to me, sogentle and fragile, this process of quietly waiting for tiny little waves toflicker through the atmosphere only to be snared by jagged little wiressticking out of aluminum igloos and wooden huts.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) So here we are…on the brink of a possible nuclear exchange withthe Soviets. Some say we should doanything to avoid this, others say it’s about time we took a stand and showedthese Communists that we won’t be pushed around.
KEITH: (VO) Notlike my time, where information is more a primal force — sort of like livingin a smart tidal wave. It wasoverwhelming at times but there were some advantages: you were never really alone and if you didn’tlike life conditions…well…wait two nanoseconds.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) So come on, folks call in at 212-999-1010 and talk to me JackCarpenter at “Dark Words”. TellPresident Kennedy what he needs to do.
KEITH: (VO)Apparently listeners would use these dial-in telephones…mechanical-electricaldevices to call into a living person who was chairing this synchronicdiscussion.
SOUND: RINGINGON THE RADIO SPEAKER.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) Here’s our first caller. I think it’s all the way from California! Hello, you’re on “Dark Words” with JackCarpenter!
KEITH: (VO)These people could be so primitive. Notonly was the technology only two notches up from a stone projectile point but thevery real threat of nuclear war was being assessed through stinging, blearyeyes of insomniacs, paranoids and the habitually unemployed.
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) I don’t know why the President is going to all this trouble.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) You mean the fact that the Russians have missiles less than 30miles off the Florida coast isn’t a problem?
KEITH: (VO)I probably should have been paying more attention to this. But I was exhausted. I was in the middle of an apocalypticmillennial group facing what really looked like an apocalypse. There was just so phenomena to take note of.
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) Kennedy is wasting time.
KEITH: (VO) At that moment, I was slumped in an old andover-stuffed easy chair trying not to fall asleep. I had been activating my artificialstimulation “You mean attack Russia with our missiles first?” groupwas responsible for the impregnation of my “wife”.
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) He should just hit them right away.
KEITH: (VO)there was some potential value into looking into that question. The elasticity of values and moral behaviorunder conditions of community crisis and ideological transition. I might get a really good paper out ofChristine.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) You mean attack Russia with our missiles first?
KEITH: (VO)But then I started to hear some really interesting things on the radio:
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) And our planes, too!
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) Why hit them so hard?
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) Because it’s idiotic to even try to negotiate with soullessmonsters.
HOST: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) The Russians have no souls?
CALLER: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) President Kennedy shouldn’t mistake the Soviets for humanbeings.
KEITH: (VO)The Searchers weren’t the only people in this era with some odd theories.
SOUND: (ONRADIO SPEAKER) CALLER HANGS UP. DIAL TONE.
SCENE EIGHTEEN
Mrs.Bloomsbury’s house. Six hours later.
NEWSREADER: (ONTV SPEAKER, VERY CRONKITE-LIKE) And so, with the World poised on the brink of apotentially horrendous conflict—
SOUND: MRS.BLOOMSBURY TURNS OFF THE TV. SEARCHERSSTIR A BIT.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Tonight.
SCENE NINETEEN
Back on the hilltop. It isnow two minutes to midnight.
KEITH: (VO)So there we were, sitting on a big hill by the river waiting for the saucer toarrive and rescue us from the atomic fires.
YOUNGERSEARCHERS: (SINGING)Jesus wants me for a sunbeam…
KEITH: (VO) Some of the younger children started tosing the only religious song they knew by heart.
YOUNGERSEARCHERS: (SINGING)…A sunbeam…
INTERNAL AI: (VO)Subject Assessment…?
KEITH: (VO)Why not? This is as good a time as anyto consider the fates of the Searchers.
YOUNGERSEARCHERS: (SINGING)…A sunbeam…
KEITH: (VO)Christine: Ends up alone. No husband, no lover, no children, dead inless than ten years.
YOUNGERSEARCHERS: (SINGING)…A sunbeam…
KEITH: (VO)Steve and Linda Griffin will move to nowhere in particular and never doanything of any particular importance. Their children and their children’s children would follow the samepattern.
YOUNGERSEARCHERS: (SINGING)…A sunbeam…
KEITH: (VO)Leo. Right now he is sitting next to thecircle of singing children, looking happier than I’ve ever seen him. He will commit suicide a little more than twomonths from now.
YOUNGER SEARCHERS: (SINGING)I’ll be a sunbeam for him!
KEITH: (VO)Mrs. Eleanor Bloomsbury. Less thaneighteen months after Kennedy and Khrushchev pulled the world back from thebrink of nuclear exchange, Mrs. Bloomsbury would be sent off for psychiatricevaluation. In five years she would bepermanently institutionalized and chemically lobotomized by the crude psychoactivedrugs of this era. Mrs. Bloomsbury wasgoing to leave this world but not in quite the way she had prophesied.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (DELIGHTED)Very good, children!
KEITH: Ireally did have a lot of leeway with this group. None of them were going tohave any significant impact on human history.
SOUND: CHOIR-LIKECELESTIAL HUM, SLOWING RISING IN VOLUME.
SEARCHERS: (AD-LIB,Along the lines of “Look!” “Upthere!” “Can you see it?” “What is it?”)
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: Brothersand sisters, they are coming for us. Bowyour heads…bow your heads…
INTERNAL AI: (VO) Detecting massive energy field…
KEITH: (VO)From the corner of my eye I could just make out a multicolored field of lightsurround the hill and envelope the Searchers.
SOUND: THEHUM GROWS LOUDER AND LOUDER.
KEITH: (VO)A choir of wondrous ethereal voices cried out in harmonious transcendence as wewere all transported into the heart of the mother ship.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: Look, brothersand sisters! Look!
SOUND: DISTANT“CRACK!” OF AN ENORMOUS EXPLOSION.
KEITH: (VO)When we opened our eyes, Mrs. Bloomsbury pointed to a giant imaging curtainwhere we saw the Earth burn and fade to a scarred stone.
THE SEARCHERS: (IN AWE)Dear God!
INTERNAL AI: (VO)Assessment complete.
SCENE TWENTY
Thearrival point. Sometime after the Ascent
SOUND: RAPIDAND INSISTENT BEEPING.
INTERNALAI: (VO)Incoming message! Incoming message!Incoming –
SOUND: KEITH/KEEZTURNS THE VOLUME ON THE BEEPING DOWN, BUT IT CONTINUES AS HE SPEAKS.
KEITH: (VO)I’ll get to that later…
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (SINGSIN THE DISTANCE) She starts to sing a solo from Handel’s Messiah – “I Know ThatMy Redeemer Lives”.
KEITH: (VO)One of the first things we did after we arrived was to change our name from”The Searchers” to “The Saved”.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CONTINUESSINGING).
KEITH: (VO)Then for the next few months (we had to use some kind of familiar system toexplain the passage time) we started planning different utopias. Deciding which ones would suit us best.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CONTINUESSINGING).
KEITH: (VO)Christine’s baby is due soon and she and Steve finally decided to have thatfrank and friendly chat they’ve been meaning to have with me. Linda’s came along, too.
INTERNALAI: (VO,SOFTLY) Incoming message! Incomingmessage! Incoming –
KEITH: (VO)The three of them explained that they couldn’t invite me to life with them,because they don’t feel I’m suited to any kind of committed relationship. Pretty accurate assessment, I have to say.
CHRISTINE: Iguess it’s silly to say I’m sorry…in the midst of all this joy.
KEITH: Morepolite than silly.
CHRISTINE: (ALITTLE SAD) Keith…
KEITH: No,no – I thank you. I really appreciatethe sentiment.
INTERNALAI: (VO,SOFTLY) Incoming message! Incomingmessage! Incoming –
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CONTINUESSINGING).
KEITH: (VO)Mrs. Bloomsbury has relinquished her leadership over the community and seems tobe pursuing personal salvation through artistic expression.
INTERNALAI: (VO,SOFTLY) Incoming message! Incomingmessage! Incoming –
KEITH: (VO)Leo tried to kiss me the other day and I’m not sure what I’m going to do aboutthat.
INTERNALAI: (VO,SOFTLY) Incoming message! Incomingmessage! Incoming –
KEITH: (MILDLYIRRITATED) Very well, I’ll take the call.
SOUND: ELECTRONICCLICK.
KEITH: ProfessorKeez here.
COLARUSSO400: (ONSPEAKER) Keez, at last!
KEITH: Sorry,sir. I was busy taking readings.
COLARUSSO400: (ONSPEAKER) I understand, but I thought you might like to know that the Board ofTrustees has agreed to maintain the virtual environment for the foreseeable future.
KEITH: (DELIGHTED)That’s excellent news, sir!
COLARUSSO400: (ONSPEAKER) The University will probably have to liquid all its neutron energyassets to keep the subjects this far ahead in the time-stream –
KEITH: Iunderstand that this project is an expensive undertaking, sir.
COLARUSSO400: (ONSPEAKER) — but the Trustees agree that this is a unique research opportunityin the history of social science.
KEITH: Wewon’t let you down, sir.
COLARUSSO400: (ONSPEAKER) Well, carry on then.
SOUND: CLICKAS COLARUSSO HANGS UP.
KEITH: (VO)Of course, there were a lot of objections when the Department discovered thatI’d taken my research in a different direction. Showing up with over sixty people from the past and plugging them intoan immersive simulated world is bound to eventually make someone concerned.
MRS. BLOOMSBURY: (CONTINUESSINGING).
KEITH: (VO)Except for the people who are living in that simulated world. They just think they’re living on anotherplanet and I intend to keep them there for the rest of their lives.
MRS.BLOOMSBURY: (CONTINUESSINGING – IT GROWS IN VOLUME AND INTENSITY).
KEITH: (VO)Yes, I did get some flak from my supervisor but even he had to give in. This was the first opportunity to study anapocalyptic community experiencing the consequences of their prophecy.
SEARCHERS: JOININ SINGING WITH MRS. BLOOMSBURY.
KEITH: (VO)So now I have enough material to last the rest of my academic career. I’m happy.
SEARCHERS: SINGINGREACHES A CRESCENDO.
KEITH: (VO)They’re happy.
SEARCHERS: SINGINGGRADUALLY FADES.
KEITH: (VO)We’re all in heaven.
-END-
