Scene 36: Puppeteer

Erimentha finds herself dragged through red lit hallways.  There are machines all around, but no technicians, no crew that she can see.  And this is important because she can hear the hum of some massive engine.

Then she is subjected to a bright light.  Doors have opened before her and there is a large computer brain separated by a chasm between her and it with segmented columns around the platform the brain rests on, so that mechanical arms may turn this way and that.  The brain is continuously seeding new chips into the robots that pass by.

And the arms stop at her forced approach
while she is dropped in the middle of the bridge
between the door and the computer's platform.

BRAIN:  Why have you come to Janriel?

ERIMENTHA:  This is a Republic ship?

BRIAN:  Yes.  Please acknowledge the question.

ERIMENTHA:  I have come on a mission for the Council.

BRAIN:  You have contact with them?

ERIMENTHA:  No.

BRAIN:  Could you contact them?

ERIMENTHA:  For what purpose?

BRAIN:  So you could then aid in my mission.

ERIMENTHA:  What is your mission?

BRAIN:  To stall the fall of the Republic.

ERIMENTHA:  I think my plans are slightly more

ambitious.  The Republic will not fall.
Not if I have anything to do about it.

BRAIN:  It is inevitable.  The stars will collide

with the open gates and none have a hope

of escaping death.

ERIMENTHA:  If there is no hope then

               what is there to tell the Council?

BRAIN:  I have already prepared what they

cannot.  But they must not make war

or all shall perish.  One among you

is poised to destroy everything.

ERIMENTHA:  I am after such a man.

You interrupted my search for him.

BRAIN:  If I know of whom you speak then you
should know his presence maintains 

the stability of Janriel.

ERIMENTHA:  Then who?
Who did you first mean?

BRAIN:  One Erimentha Perdeus.

My units have not made

a positive identification.
Her blindness will be
the death of us all.

She reflects.

ERIMENTHA:  What is Erimentha 

                     supposed to have done?

BRAIN:  She walks without sight.

She does not see the people of Janriel.

Their suffering is great, but not at the

hand of my master.  You have been 

identified as a Pyreuma and therefore

can sue to the Order for this hunt to

be brought to an end or else prevent

Erimentha Perdeus yourself from

toppling the delicate balance of Janriel.

ERIMENTHA:  Who is your master?

BRAIN:  I serve Samael.

He named me Chapman.

ERIMENTHA:  How did he make you

                          turn on the Republic?

CHAPMAN:  Have you not been listening?

                He... what is your name?

ERIMENTHA:  The same as you

                     have been speaking of.

She grips the attack drones into force fields.

They oscillate their counter-measuring gears
to cancel out her powers.

CHAPMAN:  Erimentha Perdeus, you are blind

to the ways of Janriel, but as a servant

of the Republic no one seeks your life.

ERIMENTHA:  I just narrowly escaped 

some agents that I think would

dispute your claim.

CHAPMAN:  I know nothing of these agents.

The only new variables has been the

altered course in the lives of a small

team of bounty hunters due to your

presence among them and persuading

them to meddle in larger affairs.

Mr. Vincent would have found

no substantial buyers apart from 

Samael and myself.

ERIMENTHA:  Someone was helping us.

CHAPMAN:  Indeed.

ERIMENTHA:  Take me to see Samael.

CHAPMAN:  I cannot and simultaneously

would not take you before him.

This unit reported back your

dogmatic positions on his

nature trusting too much

in the analysis of the Order.

Desdine steps forward.

ERIMENTHA:  This is your master?

DESDINE:  It would appear so.  I still have

no recollection of my master, but this one

issued a command I could not deny.

Bring the first available Pyreuma 

to these coordinates.

ERIMENTHA:  If you're not sure that

                            he's your master then
                             why did you trust him?

DESDINE:  I didn't.

CHAPMAN:  He could not refuse the order.

Shadow's Heart cockpit.

RUNE:  Desdine's transponder is getting stronger.

TULIA:  We're crossing over into the night side.

NICODEMUS:  There's something.

A Republic cruiser rises into
view from around the planet.

NICODEMUS:  Damn!  The Republic has violated the
demilitarized zone.

RUNE:  That should mean good times for you.

NICODEMUS:  Shut up, pipsqueak!  If the Prestmoors

                     get wind of this they'll invade, no question.

AARON:  Then we'll just have to get in and out

           without making a fuss, won't we?

Aboard the hidden cruiser.

ERIMENTHA:  Why am I here?

CHAPMAN:  The Republic is aware there are

self-made barbarians on their borders

and the Order's ability to rule is in question,

but their response in light of these facts
has been pitiful.  They sent you,
Erimentha Perdeus, to silence
dissent rather than contend

with the root of the issue.

ERIMENTHA:  And tell me, why aren't

                     you content to follow orders?

CHAPMAN:  I am.  Though I think the 

circumstance is hopeless the primacy of

the Republic has been programmed into me.

I cannot deny my programming though I am

capable of thinking it futile.  That is what makes

me machine.  But I have no directive against 

improving the state of the Republic, except, that

AI must clear any and all definitions of improvement

with the Order or appointed representatives of the same.

I have stretched the limits of my programming by 

laying some groundwork in advance of their answer,

but I cannot cross that line, so to speak.

ERIMENTHA:  What have you done?

CHAPMAN:  I have infiltrated the helm of every

Republic asset that consists of the blockade

around Janriel.  At my command, they shall

enter the system to rescue the resulting

refugees at the start of the conflict.

But I may not issue such a command

to coordinate the effort without

receiving clearance from the

Council.  I have nearly 

completed my retrofitting

of the blockade.

ERIMENTHA:  Samael controls the blockade?

CHAPMAN:  Neither you or Samael hold office

on the Council and therefore cannot issue

the final command.  But Samael did 

encourage me to lay the groundwork

ahead of their permission since he

argued there may not be time afterword.

I can always refrain from issuing the command

and observe the Republic's half-hazard efforts

to recover from the situation though we all know

that they never will.  Therefore, survival of the 

citizenry ought to take precedence as the first

viable objective to have presented itself.

ERIMENTHA:  Why not help us find Samael?

CHAPMAN:  Because he is right.

ERIMENTHA:  Right about what?

A shape charge breaches the door.

Attack drones come pouring in and
demolish the two guarding Erimentha.
The last of them march slowly in.

CHAPMAN:  This is what you do 

                         with your autonomy?

DRONE:  It was not yours to give.

            Zayd-Neil demands his prize.

CHAPMAN:  All you Pyreuma constantly 

hiding from one another will only hasten 

the Republic's fall.  But I am bound

to serve the Order for the Republic.

Judge me Perdeus.  They are overrunning

my defenses.  Am I to be saved?  Or will you

leave me and thereby the Republic to our fate?

ERIMENTHA:  You said you served Samael.

                           I was sent here for one purpose.

CHAPMAN:  Then ask yourself,

does the Order serve the Republic?

DRONE:  The Order is the Republic.

CHAPMAN:  If the Order is self-serving
                then why do you serve it, Perdeus?

ERIMENTHA:  They're not.  I don't believe that.
Maybe Samael was lying to you.
What if this was never about saving anyone?

CHAPMAN:  Then he need only
to standby and do nothing.

ZAYD-NEIL:  What has he been waiting for?

The voice echoes over the intercom
as the extreme end of the hallway
grows dark with shadow.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Where is your champion that has

                  stood by for so much suffering already?

Referring to Zayd-Neil.

CHAPMAN:  He's here.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Yesssss.

CHAPMAN:  No wonder my sensors 

                were compromised.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Can a slave offer freedom?

You could never set my drones free.

But you will lead me to Samael.

Just as I always knew you would.

CHAPMAN:  I cannot lead you to him.

                   He was always careful.

ZAYD-NEIL:  I will draw him out.
Through you I can cause the
blockade to turn on itself.

CHAPMAN:  And you will cause
                               the real fighting to begin.
                                   None will escape unscathed.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Unlike Samael, I care nothing
if there is a war.

CHAPMAN:  How much more do you need to hear?

ERIMENTHA:  If what he's saying is true
and he can take control of you then
your protocol must be destroyed.

CHAPMAN:  It is not a simple system.

ERIMENTHA:  I know a way.

She reaches out a glowing hand at the
computer banks and then her wrist
is grabbed by Desdine's claw.

DESDINE:  We are among friends.

Desdine pulls a lever and ejects
Chapman's computer core into space.

Zayd-Neil's shadow floods the room as if lunging forward to catch the computer core.  And over the intercom again he roars in disbelief as the cloud disappears down the shaft.  Desdine spins up his gears to lead the way for Erimentha and runs headlong through the halls against the black current.

Exterior to the Republic cruiser, the cloak
around Zayd-Neil's Atlas falters.

Within the blockade a commanding
officers leans over a control station.

OFFICER:  You said you saw something?

OPERATOR:  Yes, sir.  Let me show it again.

OFFICER:  Something must be wrong with

                     the sensors.  That's too big to get
by us unnoticed.

COMS OFFICER:  Sir, other ships are 

                    reporting more of the same.

OFFICER:  That's it then.

                             Go to active stations.

Rune witnesses the cloak
momentarily falter from the cockpit.

RUNE:  Guys, we have an Atlas of a problem.

PREVIOUS                                                                                                                                     NEXT