2024
BLUE SKY
February 12th. 2024.
[CAR NOISES]
[THE PHONE IS RINGING]
PAMELA
Clive?
CLIVE
Pam. How’s it going?
PAMELA
Clive, you can’t keep doing this.
CLIVE
Doing what? I like to know you’re okay.
PAMELA
No, you don’t. Clive, it’s stressing me out and in any case -
CLIVE
Pam, look. I’m in a taxi, I’m on my way to meet Fran Jones right now. She summoned me.
PAMELA
She summoned you?
CLIVE
Yeah, to a tapas restaurant. Pam, I want to make my pitch, I need something concrete from you and your guys -
PAMELA
Clive listen to me, you need to be careful -
[A BEEP SHOWS THAT CLIVE HAS A CALL WAITING]
CLIVE
What? Why?
PAMELA
Clive -
[BEEP]
CLIVE
Hang on. Stay on the line.
[A DIFFERENT BEEP AS HE TAKES THE OTHER CALL]
CLIVE
Harvey?
HARVEY
Clive, hi.
CLIVE
How’s it going Harvey?
HARVEY
Have you got a minute?
CLIVE
Always got the time for my man at The Times.
HARVEY
Hahaha, Listen… I’ve got this story I’ve been asked to follow up on. We’ve had some striking material sent to us regarding some astonishing work going on at Amos Tech in China.
CLIVE
Riiight.
HARVEY
[probing] It’s in a pretty strange field of research. Cryonic preservation.
CLIVE
Cryonic…preservation?
HARVEY
The freezing of human bodies. In the hopes of one day resurrecting them.
CLIVE
Okay, so, why would I know anything about that?
HARVEY
Well, the intel that has been leaked depicts some extremely concerning treatment of human test subjects at Amos.
CLIVE
Yeah, I don’t see what this has to do with me Harvey, you want a quote about how shoddy we think Amos Tech are, then you can go to the spokespeople, I can give you their number -
HARVEY
Well, the thing is, the source for the intel links this research to studies carried out by Overhead Industries -
CLIVE
Harvey, what is this?
HARVEY
I’m just looking for a little clarifica -
CLIVE
I don’t know the first thing about cryogenics or -
HARVEY
Cryonics. And you do, there’s the record of a patent for a liquid nitrogen storage pod for cadavers that your department acquired a few years ago, and the domain name doyouwanttokontinue.com with a k by the way, which your department bought in 2019 -
CLIVE
You’re barking up the wrong tree here, mate.
HARVEY
What can you tell me about a Dr Bryony Halbech?
CLIVE
[losing patience] Fucking hell Harvey! We’re supposed to be friends! I introduced you to your mistress!
HARVEY
Clive, it’s just a story man. I’m doing my job.
[CLIVE TAPS ON THE GLASS TO GET THE CAB DRIVER’S ATTENTION]
CLIVE
Just here mate.
CABBIE
You said Shaftesbury Avenue-
CLIVE
Here is fine!
[THE CAB PULLS UP, CLIVE THROWS MONEY AT THE DRIVER]
CLIVE
Keep the change.
[HE MAKES A BIT OF A PALAVA OF GETTING OUT OF THE CAR WITH THE CANE HE NEEDS TO WALK, STILL HOLDING HIS PHONE]
[HARVEY CARRIES ON]
HARVEY
So, you’re not denying Overhead have been working on human cryonic preservation? Under the project name Kontinue? Using techniques that violate many of the-
CLIVE
You know the paywall bit of your website, when the text of your articles fades into nothingness? That is going to be the literal reality of your career, Harvey. You’re going to disappear like that photo of Marty McFuckingFly. Write your garbage thinkpiece about cryotech, I’m sure it’ll cook up a storm on reddit.com/nobodygivesashit. Say hello to your mistress for me.
HARVEY
Charlotte and I are getting married actually.
[CLIVE LAUGHS AT THIS]
CLIVE
Hoo boy, why don’t you ask Charlotte how me and her met in the first place you plum.
HARVEY
What’s that supposed to –
[CLIVE HANGS UP]
[HIS CANE CLACKS AGAINST THE PAVEMENT AS HE WALKS, QUICKLY]
[HE MAKES ANOTHER CALL - IT RINGS FOR SOME TIME BEFORE BEING ANSWERED]
CLIVE
Fuck sake.
PAMELA
[weary] Clive, I’m at work.
CLIVE
Was that what I had to be careful about?
PAMELA
Was what?
CLIVE
I just had a call from that gobshite at The Times poking around some leak from Amos Tech, did he call you?
PAMELA
Yes, he did, but he left a voicemail, I didn’t speak to him! Clive, please God tell me you didn’t tell him anything.
CLIVE
Why the hell would I do that? Okay, look, you leave rubbish like that to me, you concentrate on being the best bloody cryo tech genius you can be.
PAMELA
You talk like we’re a team. We’re not a team. I have my own team now. I’m finally back doing something I love.
CLIVE
Yeah, you’re building diamond-powered batteries that could let a cryopod run completely independently for a thousand years!
PAMELA
The research has a few more applications than a bloody cryopod, Clive -
CLIVE
Do you realise how cool that sounds though? Let me use it in my pitch. Help me, help you! I could get you some funding, we’ll get you out of that little lab in Bristol -
PAMELA
I like my little lab! Clive, I don’t want you bringing up me or my work -
[CLIVE HAS STOPPED]
CLIVE
Oh, there she is. She looks terrible in blue.
PAMELA
What?
CLIVE
Francesca Jones. Sat there like she owns the place. Drinking her fizzy fucking water.
PAMELA
Where are you?
CLIVE
I can see her through the window. Where’s Malcolm? I can’t see him.
PAMELA
You’re watching her through the window of the restaurant?
CLIVE
He’s meant to be here, I need him to - oh. She’s seen me.
PAMELA
Clive…
CLIVE
I’m waving.
PAMELA
Do you realise how much this sounds like an Alan Partridge bit?
CLIVE
I’m not Alan Partridge. I’m Jerry Maguire.
PAMELA
Don’t bring my name up. Don’t even think about it.
[SHE HANGS UP]
[CUT]
[CLIVE HAS ENTERED THE RESTAURANT, WHICH IS NOISY AND BUSTLING]
[HIS CANE CLACKS ON THE FLOOR]
FRONT OF HOUSE
Hello sir, do you have a booking?
CLIVE
Yep, I’m right over there with the electric blue power suit and boring drinks choices.
[HE CLACKS STRAIGHT PAST BEFORE CALLING BACK]
CLIVE
Actually, could you bring over an old fashioned?
FRONT OF HOUSE
Um, of course.
[HE WALKS TO THE TABLE]
CLIVE
Francesca. How are you?
FRANCESCA
Clive. I’m fine, how are you? Um, you found us alright.
CLIVE
Us? Is umm… Malcolm here then?
FRANCESCA
Malcolm couldn’t be here.
CLIVE
[disappointed] W-Why not?
[SOMEONE NEW SITS DOWN]
REBECCA
[seriously] I’m afraid my father has been unwell, as I’m sure you’ve heard. He’s asked me to help out for a while. Rebecca Landry, how do you do?
[SHUFFLING AS THEY SHAKE HANDS]
CLIVE
Oh. Er… Lovely to meet you. Have we - have we not met before?
REBECCA
I don’t think so, no. I haven’t been involved with the company until now.
CLIVE
Oh right. Okay. But you’re um… you’re up to speed with everything.
REBECCA
Absolutely.
FRANCESCA
Clive, now Rebecca’s here we really should get started -
CLIVE
You’re sure we haven’t met before?
REBECCA
Quite sure.
FRANCESCA
Clive, we’ve asked you on a matter of some urgency -
[CLIVE SNAPS HIS FINGERS]
CLIVE
Bloody hell, she’s the voice of Blue Sky!
REBECCA
[annoyed and barely hiding it] Yes. Yes, I am.
CLIVE
Malcolm got his own daughter to be the voice of the Overhead virtual assistant. I did not know that.
REBECCA
Now you do.
CLIVE
That must be so weird for you.
[HE SCRAMBLES FOR HIS PHONE]
REBECCA
It’s…oh, you’re going to, oh, okay -
CLIVE
Hey Blue Sky, what’s the time?
BLUE SKY
[in a voice unmistakably belonging to Rebecca Landry] The time in London is 3:27pm.
REBECCA
It’s definitely not annoying at all when people do that.
CLIVE
It’s like meeting a celebrity.
FRANCESCA
Clive. Amos Tech have a functioning hypersleep prototype and it’s going to be on the Chinese market before the end of the year.
[A SILENCE, INTERRUPTED BY THE ARRIVAL OF CLIVE’S DRINK]
FRONT OF HOUSE
Your old fashioned, sir.
[THE ICE TINKLES AS THE DRINK IS PLACED ON THE TABLE]
[HE TAKES A SIP]
CLIVE
How are they pushing it?
FRANCESCA
It’s over Clive. Amos got there first.
CLIVE
How are they pushing it?
REBECCA
Why does that matter?
CLIVE
Just because they got there first, doesn’t mean they got there right.
FRANCESCA
Overhead’s slogan is literally ‘The Future, First.’ It’s printed on your business card.
REBECCA
They’re using it in the penal system.
CLIVE
Well, there you go. I’ve been saying this all along. It’s not a utility or a punishment, it’s a lifestyle choice -
FRANCESCA
Clive -
CLIVE
You use it on convicts, and you’ve made it dirty tech, the big money will go nowhere near it. You don’t want to read thatmBilly Bugnuts who murdered his wife with a meat tenderiser is getting 10 years in hypersleep, you want to see it on a Kardashian’s Instagram, you want to see it on a SpaceX rocket going to Saturn -
REBECCA
That’s not actually what we’re here to discuss.
CLIVE
You’ve got to let me talk to you about the Aloha Eternity.
REBECCA
The what?
FRANCESCA
Rebecca, don’t get him started -
CLIVE
The Aloha Eternity, it’s a patent I secured a year ago. A cruise ship for cryonics. First developed by Sebastian Bedford, philanthropist, big thinker, terrible public speaker. The rich and the dying spend the end of their days seeing the world on a top of the range cruise liner, right. Ticking all their bucket lists in the most beautiful locations in the world, with a team on hand to freeze them the moment they shuffle off their mortal coil, safe in the knowledge that with Kontinue, Overhead have taken the pioneering step in cryonic preservation technology -
FRANCESCA
Except we haven’t. Amos Tech have.
CLIVE
They don’t even realise what they’ve got.
FRANCESCA
Clive -
CLIVE
Just let me show you my presentation.
FRANCESCA
Clive! I don’t appreciate having to raise my voice in public!
CLIVE
Then why are we meeting in a fucking tapas restaurant! I don’t even have a menu!
REBECCA
Mr Schill, we asked to meet because we want to talk to you about something that’s been brought to our attention.
[REBECCA PRODUCES A FILE AND PLACES IT IN FRONT OF CLIVE]
CLIVE
Um hmm.
REBECCA
If you could look at the file.
[HE LEAFS THROUGH IT UNENTHUSIASTICALLY]
CLIVE
This is… this is inside Amos.
REBECCA
Yes.
CLIVE
What am I looking at?
REBECCA
Someone took these pictures inside the cryo development lab at Amos.
CLIVE
Who?
REBECCA
We don’t know who took them, but we know who sent them, because she attached and signed a covering letter.
CLIVE
She?
FRANCESCA
Aubrey Wood.
CLIVE
Bloody hell, she’s stepping up her game, isn’t she? I take it we’re no closer to finding her?
REBECCA
In her letter, she states that the men and women in these pictures are undergoing some kind of neurological treatment that rapidly enlarges the subject’s amygdala while shrinking their hippocampus at the same rate.
[CLIVE SQUINTS AS HE LOOKS THROUGH THE PICTURES]
CLIVE
Then she can see a lot more than I can.
REBECCA
This creates a neurological state that appears to tolerate the cryonic preservative infusion that allows for successful resuscitation from prolonged hypersleep.
CLIVE
Well, hooray for Amos Tech!
FRANCESCA
This neurological state is an artificial recreation of what would commonly be recognised as PTSD.
REBECCA
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
CLIVE
I know what PTSD is.
FRANCESCA
It’s being given to otherwise fit and healthy individuals. Probably against their will. It’s a human rights atrocity. Does that ring any bells, Clive?
CLIVE
Are you sure you guys wouldn’t rather discuss this back at your office?
FRANCESCA
Because it reminds me very much of the last conversation I had with Bryony Halbech, do you remember it?
CLIVE
Do I remember the day Bryony shot my kneecaps off?
[HE TAPS HIS CANE AGAINST THE TABLE]
CLIVE
Hmm… Let me think.
FRANCESCA
I think, that it’s safe to assume that Bryony Halbech is behind this research at Amos.
CLIVE
One should never assume, Fran.
REBECCA
Mr Schill, I’m not sure you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation in which you find yourself. The scope of your failure is wider than you think.
CLIVE
Oh right. Do elaborate.
REBECCA
After the destruction of the cryonics laboratory at Red Valley in which valuable assets in your care were stolen or destroyed -
CLIVE
Such as my kneecaps.
REBECCA
You assured Francesca and my father that you could locate Bryony Halbech within 2 weeks.
CLIVE
I was in a hospital bed when I said that. Following surgery. Do I have to say the word kneecaps again?
REBECCA
That was 2 years ago. You still haven’t found her.
CLIVE
I’m… I’m Clive Schill by the way, I work in research and development. You still seem to have me confused with The Mandalorian.
REBECCA
During this period, it would appear that Dr Halbech has perfected her research into human cryonic preservation by taking it to our biggest competitor.
CLIVE
I feel like you’re building up to a third thing.
REBECCA
Now, that research has been leaked and shared by an ex- Overhead employee who seems hellbent on stopping the development of human cryo tech in any form. This file hasn’t just gone to us. We have reason to believe it’s reached the press.
CLIVE
I got a phone call from a newspaper about this just before I walked in here, that’s a strange coincidence.
REBECCA
I’m not sure quite what you’re implying, Mr Schill.
CLIVE
I don’t see Bryony Halbech in any of these pictures, do you? Actually, is there any hard evidence she’s at Amos? Or that she’s even alive for that matter?
FRANCESCA
They’ve done exactly what she asked us to do 2 years ago, Clive.
CLIVE
What she asked you to do in the function room of a pub before going on an attempted killing spree. Now, forgive me if I don’t take the words of a homicidal maniac that seriously. And sorry, but I’m struggling to see how Aubrey Wood leaking human rights abuses from our biggest rival is actually a bad thing. Now, if you’d like me to take responsibility for the PR shitshow that’s about to head Amos’ way, I’m happy to do it.
REBECCA
Clive -
CLIVE
You think I don’t know what this is? I see an Overhead board of directors that’s lost its fucking nerve. Why do you think Amos, Jinx, Chapter, every new tech on the block, why do you think they’re beating us? And they are beating us, aren’t they? So, Amos got there first in cryo. It’s not what any of us wanted. But your first reaction is to take everything we’ve done, everything we’ve achieved, tie it to a brick with my name on it and throw it in the sea? Because you’re scared of a little poking from a nobody at The Times and a nuisance ex-employee with a grudge? Does Malcolm even know you’re meeting with me today?
REBECCA
As I’ve said, my father is unwell -
CLIVE
Your father would look at this file and laugh until he broke a tooth. His mind would open like a motherfucking flower to the possibilities it presented, it wouldn’t shrink in fear and doubt.
FRANCESCA
Well, you’ve made a jolly spectacle of yourself as usual Clive, so I suppose we’re done here.
CLIVE
You suppose correctly. You want to walk away from Kontinue, fine. But if you think you can leave all the trouble at my feet, you’ll find I dotted my i’s and crossed my t’s with some pretty wild fucking penmanship. Enjoy your £30 calamari rings or whatever the fuck.
[THE SCRAPE OF CLIVE’S CHAIR AND THE TAP OF HIS CANE ON THE GROUND AS HE STANDS]
REBECCA
It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Schill.
CLIVE
You too Rebecca. I look forward to being served by you in five years at the Overhead all night pharmacy or whatever is left of this company when you’re finished with it. That’s your future. But hey, at least you’ll have got there first.
[HE DEPARTS THE RESTAURANT, HIS CANE CLACKING ON THE FLOOR]
CLIVE
[muttering] That was some Jerry Maguire shit right there.