Bryony F***ing Halbech
[WARREN IS SORTING WAFFLES’ VIVARIUM IN HIS NEW QUARTERS, HE DRAGS IT AROUND THE FLOOR, GETTING IT IN PLACE]
WARREN
Why is this so heavy? This way, this way, this way. Okay. Tortoise house here? Or tortoise house there?
GORD
I don’t have a preference.
WARREN
Well what do you think she would like?
GORD
I don’t believe she would have a preference.
WARREN
Here’s fine.
GORD
I concur.
WARREN
Are you sure it’s okay to have Waffles in my room?
GORD
Hester said it was fine.
WARREN
I don’t want people thinking I’ve just swooped in and taken the tortoise as my own.
GORD
No one thinks that.
WARREN
Cause she was never my tortoise anyway. She was Gordon’s.
GORD
Everyone knows that.
WARREN
It’s just that… after 40 years I can’t really lay any claim to the tortoise.
GORD
It’s perfectly normal that you would like to keep the tortoise close to you at this early stage of acclimatising to your surroundings. She was present in your time and she’s still here now. It must be reassuring.
WARREN
Does she mind though?
GORD
Who?
WARREN
Waffles. Obviously.
GORD
I assure you Waffles has no opinion on the matter whatsoever.
WARREN
You know it feels much more homey getting a gunmetal grey windowless underground cell of my very own.
GORD
Your short resting period in the farmhouse was only a temporary measure as the weather was clement. A treat.
[WARREN LAUGHS AT THIS]
WARREN
A treat.
[HE FUSSES WITH THE VIVARIUM]
WARREN
I’m gonna move it again.
GORD
Would you like to listen to another excerpt from Gordon’s memoir?
WARREN
Maybe we could skip to a good bit. Umm… Is there a good bit? You know, like when Gordon gets into some fun scrapes or car chases.
GORD
There is a degree of intrigue and suspense as Gordon surreptitiously investigates Overhead Industries but most of the ‘scrapes’ as you would call them, are in the form of arguments in online chatrooms which are transcribes in comprehensive detail -
WARREN
Ugh. That’s gross. No thanks.
GORD
He does provide an illegally recorded telephone exchange with a man who ran a fledgeling cryonics business behind a battery hen house in Iowa which includes some interesting insight into the freezing of livesto -
[THE SOUND OF A MESSAGE PATCH]
GORD
Message incoming. Aubrey and Hester request your attendance in the farmhouse kitchen. Breakfast will be provided.
WARREN
Oh. Right. Umm… Do I need to bring anythi -
GORD
Breakfast will be provided.
WARREN
Yes, yes, you said. The food is so very good. I feel like I should’ve asked you more questions about the whole Red Valley assisted dying project instead of pissing about with this umm… umm… wh… what’s it called?
GORD
Vivarium.
WARREN
Right, is it too late? Do you think you could give me a kind of Cliff Notes vers-
GORD
I’ve told them you’ll be five minutes.
WARREN
Brilliant! Bloody hell, great, I haven’t even got my shoes on. Hum… Cheers… shit.
[WARREN IS WALKING FROM THE BASE TO THE FARMHOUSE. THE NOW FAMILIAR HUBBUB OF OUTSIDE, TOOLS, VOICES. A COUPLE OF VOICES CALL OUT A GOOD MORNING TO HIM]
COMMUNITY 1
Brigadoon! Whey! There he is!
COMMUNITY 2
Hey, Brigadoon!
COMMUNITY 3
Whey, Warren, mate! How’s it going?
COMMUNITY 4
Morning!
WARREN
Alright.
COMMUNITY 4
Morior Invictus!
WARREN
Morior Invictus yourself!
COMMUNITY 3 & 4
Whey! Whey! Warren!
WARREN
Jesus Christ.
[WARREN, AUBREY, AND HESTER IN THE KITCHEN/DINER OF THE FARMHOUSE. HESTER PLACES A MUG OF TEA IN FRONT OF WARREN AND TAKES A SEAT]
HESTER
Ah! Morning, Warren.
WARREN
You alright?
AUBREY
Hey, Warren.
HESTER
There you go. At least it’s hot.
WARREN
No, tha… that’s great. Umm… Thanks Hester. Aubrey, I… I owe you an apology for last night. I was out of line, obviously. If I’d known just what was happening with Jade, with everything… Look, I wasn’t exactly good at empathy before all this, and now I’m just blundering around in a world I’m even more clueless about. I… I am sorry.
AUBREY
It’s… don’t worry about it.
WARREN
No, really though, I understand better now, I… I see how important -
AUBREY
It’s… It’s… It’s okay, Warren.
[PAUSE]
WARREN
Is it? Cause it feels like it might not be okay.
HESTER
She’s saying it’s okay because she feels guiltier than you do right now.
AUBREY
Hester!
HESTER
I just wanted to save us all 10 minutes of Britishness, I have things to do today.
WARREN
So, what’s going on then?
[AUBREY CHOOSES HER WORDS CAREFULLY]
AUBREY
I… I didn’t ask you to come here this morning to talk about Jade. I think it was a good party, I’m sure she would’ve been happy with how it went.
HESTER
I know she would.
WARREN
Okay. So, what’s up?
AUBREY
44 years ago, Gordon was shot. But I was, am, not a trauma doctor. I didn’t know how bad the injury was. You were showing early signs of finally rejecting the Kontinue treatment. Shock and hemorrhage. There were two cryonic infusions, the Hartshorn infusions. One was fresh and ready to use, one had been out of containment for some time, and should’ve been discarded as a result. But it wasn’t. We used the good Hartshorn on you. This was because despite your symptoms, between the two of you, you had the better shot at survival. Clearly.
[AN AWKWARD SILENCE]
AUBREY
Of course, you wish it had been the other way round. That Gordon had been given the better infusion. It was a clinical judgement made in a very short space of time. I’ve replayed the situation a thousand times, but I wouldn’t change my decision.
WARREN
What does this have to do with my pod being taken apart last night?
AUBREY
The infusion is only half of what’s needed for successful hypersleep. The cryopod is the rest. It has to hold everything in perfect balance on the inside while forming a complete hermetic and temporal seal from everything outside. And if the whole point of a cryopod is protecting the occupant from the outside world for an indefinite amount of time, it needs an independent energy source. If you could just turn it off at the mains you could hardly expect to survive in there for hundreds of years like so many people expected to. Cryopods run off a battery that’s as valuable a piece of technology as any other part of the tech, more so perhaps. They’re called megabetavoltaic cells.
WARREN
Excuse me?
HESTER
Megabetavoltaics, MBVs. They generate power from particles thrown off by decaying diamonds constructed from nuclear waste.
WARREN
That is some top-drawer science fiction rubbish.
AUBREY
Well, regular betavoltaic cells have actually been around since the 1970s but they could barely power a wristwatch. Putting the mega in front of it though, that really was some top-drawer sci-fi rubbish. They have to be big, but they can run a standard Overhead cryopod from the 2030s onward for a thousand years easily. They make up nearly half of the actual pod itself.
WARREN
But my pod…
AUBREY
Ah… The cryopods used in the experiments at Red Valley varied wildly in build and quality as they tried to make a sustainable prototype and yours, and Gordon’s, are the last of those prototypes. The MBV cells they house are dinosaurs compared to what came after but they’re still good for maybe a hundred years running those old pods. Or running something bigger for a shorter period.
WARREN
Right.
AUBREY
There’s no national grid anymore. Outside the cities you need to find your own source of energy or join a community that already has one. A top of the range MBV cell could power a small community for a century. An old cell, like the one from your pod, could still power a few households for a generation.
HESTER
Another reason why people took against the wealthy and powerful locking themselves away with their hypersleep pods. The means to help so many reserved for so few.
WARREN
Okay… So, you’re using the cell from my pod… as a power source? Fine.
AUBREY
No, we’re using it to trade for something else. What we need to save Gordon.
WARREN
So, why doesn’t this feel like a good news story?
AUBREY
The trade is for something extremely valuable, that is sought by many different people. We’ve managed to get there first. The cell is the final part of the payment. We’ll hand it over when they deliver her.
WARREN
When they deliver who?
AUBREY
We don’t know the extent of Gordon’s injuries, and we don’t know the properties of the unstable infusion I used on him to put him in hypersleep. There’s only one person who does.
[THE PENNY DROPS]
WARREN
Oh, you’re kidding me.
AUBREY
Warren…
WARREN
You’re fucking kidding me!
HESTER
She’s the only person alive that knows that infusion. Not to mention the severity of Gordon’s condition.
[AUBREY IS PRACTICING RESTRAINT]
AUBREY
I know how this must sound…
WARREN
How the fuck is she still alive? You told me it was The Street of the Lifted Lorax out there, climate nightmare, millions dead -
AUBREY
We only found out ourselves very recently. There’s been plenty of speculation but no actual evidence of where she’s been since the night she left Red Valley… until now.
WARREN
And you’re bringing her here. To save Gordon
HESTER
It’s bigger than just saving Gordon.
WARREN
For you maybe.
AUBREY
Warren, I know how this must make you feel -
WARREN
I don’t know if you do actually. You’ve had 40 years to forget about who she is and what she did, I’ve barely had 40 hours -
AUBREY
Warren, I’d ask you not to presume the first fucking thing about the way I night feel about Bryony Halbech.
[AUBREY’S TONE BRINGS THE ROOM TO A STOP]
HESTER
Why don’t we all stop assuming we know how the rest of us might be feeling.
AUBREY
Hypersleep allowed the wealthy and powerful to sit out on the end of the world so they could enjoy a new one. Now that technology has been all but wiped off the face of the Earth. If its creator was discovered to be alive and well, there are still a lot of people invested in recreating that technology. She may wish that herself. We were incredibly fortunate that the group that discovered her are known to us.
HESTER
And that the name Aubrey Wood still goes a long way with these kinds of people.
[WARREN HAS CALMED HIMSELF BUT ONLY MILDLY]
WARREN
You know I don’t know what that means when you say that, right? You guys can’t help dropping cryptic hints every time you try to tell me something important. We’ve all got dark and mysterious pasts, guys. I was doing that half a century ago. Aubrey, if it turns out you’re the queen of the cryoterrorists, you don’t need to be coy, I literally don’t care. I care… I care about Gordon.
AUBREY
I know you do.
[THEY PAUSE]
WARREN
She can save him? She’ll know how to do it?
AUBREY
Hopefully.
WARREN
And if she doesn’t, you can make her, right?
AUBREY
I’m sure we can find a way.
WARREN
And then what will you do with her?
[PAUSE AGAIN]
WARREN
Aubrey?
HESTER
We don’t know yet.
WARREN
Well, you can bet she’s going to know what to do with you.
AUBREY
I expect you’re right.
WARREN
Yeah, I know I’m right. For once.
[THEY EXHALE. WARREN SIPS HIS TEA AND SIGHS]
WARREN
How… how long until she gets here?
AUBREY
Grace is leaving soon to meet the courier at a rendezvous nearby. They’ll be back later today.
[WARREN WHISTLES THROUGH HIS TEETH IN DISBELIEF]
WARREN
Bryony fucking Halbech.
[THE GALLEY. WARREN IS AT THE SINK. STEVIE IS HELPING WITH THE WASHING UP. WARREN’S MOOD IS RADIATING THROUGH HIS ACTIONS AS HE WASHES MUGS AND SLAMS THEM ON TO THE DRYING BOARD. STEVIE WINCES WITH EACH SLAM AND TRIES TO APPROACH THE ISSUE AS GENTLY AS POSSIBLE]
WARREN
Need a scourer. That’ll do.
STEVIE
Could you try not to put the mugs down quite so hard? They’re forged from pretty lousy mulch so they’re actually quite perishable.
[WARREN PICKS UP A MUG]
WARREN
This one wasn’t forged. I used to drink out of this mug. The last time I was stuck here. Which is the same as this time actually. I never left. Neither of us did.
STEVIE
You and the mug?
WARREN
No, me and Gordon.
STEVIE
Of course, of course. Kind of amazing the mug as survived that long, isn’t it? A relic from a different time. Like you.
WARREN
I hate this mug. The handle is too small. Keeps the drink too hot for too long.
STEVIE
Oh.
[WARREN GETS BACK ON WITH THE TASK WITH THE SAME ABSENCE OF CARE]
STEVIE
Umm… Well… as a rule, it’s best to be careful with most forged stuff if you can, we do end up with some bad batches of mulch. Things can come out a bit flimsy or brittle. I;ve snapped 3 toothbreesh this month alone.
WARREN
Everything here is made out of plastic. It’s everywhere I look.
STEVIE
We’ve forged as much of our own stuff as we can over the years. I mean… the best mulch makes for the most durable plastic for tools, equipment, weapons. Every Blue Sky drone you see is all plastic. We avoid metal wherever possible cause of the valley floor defence system obviously -
WARREN
I’m actually fine to do this on my own, Stevie. If you have anything more pressing to do. I like washing up, it keeps me calm.
[ONE PLATE BANGS DOWN ON TOP OF THE ANOTHER]
STEVIE
Okay… yes, you do seem calm.
[AN AWKWARD PAUSE]
STEVIE
You must think bringing Bryony Halbech here is a really bad idea.
WARREN
Firstly, I guarantee you she is not being brought here. Bryony doesn’t go anywhere she doesn’t want to . If she’s coming to Red Valley, it’s because she’s chosen to be here.
STEVIE
From what I hear, that’s not really the case.
WARREN
I can just see it. All of it. They’re going to put her in some interrogation room with a one way window and she’s going to stare back at us through it with a wry little smile on her face, and hour by hour, day by day, she’ll get in our heads and outsmart us all, Aubrey, Hester, Grace, you, me, and before you can say ‘the plural of toilet flush is toilet fleesh’ the whole place will be on fire and she’ll come striding out the middle of it wearing one of us as a hat. It’s classic villain-that -wants-to-be-caught stuff. It’s like Loki in Avengers.
STEVIE
I don’t know what that is.
WARREN
Like… er Joker in Dark Knight
STEVIE
Sorry.
WARREN
Like Javier Bardem in that Bond movie. There was that weird time, it felt like one summer where every bad guy just had to get themselves caught in order to execute their evil plan. She’ll do the same thing to us, you’ll see. She’ll Javier Bardem the lot of us.
STEVIE
Would you like me to find someone who gets these references?
WARREN
There was another one as well, what was it? Gordon would know.
[HESTER ENTERS THE GALLEY]
HESTER
Hey guys. How’s it going?
STEVIE
Hester. Is everything okay? I thought I was relieving you at 12.
HESTER
Stevie, can you finish up here? I just want to steal Warren if that’s okay.
WARREN
I’m fine to finish this, Hester, I don’t need babysitting.
HESTER
I know. You want to be useful. I’ve got a use for you, come on.
[HESTER AND WARREN ARE WALKING THROUGH THE FACILITY]
WARREN
What’s this all about, Hester?
HESTER
There’s no subterfuge at work, Warren. I genuinely have work for you to do. You’re part of the community now, like it or not. There are no free rides.
WARREN
I wasn’t implying that I wanted one.
HESTER
But yes, I am trying to distract you from the obvious shock and anger you must feel knowing that Bryony Halbech will be with us by nightfall.
WARREN
Do you think it’s a good idea?
HESTER
I can think of many arguments against it. But I didn’t know Gordon Porlock. Is trying to save him a good idea?
WARREN
He’s my only friend. I can’t be objective about that.
HESTER
Then really the question is, do you trust Aubrey when she says this is the only way we can save him? And that she considers the risk worth taking?
WARREN
Should I? Trust Aubrey?
HESTER
She’s only my wife. I can’t be objective about that… Right
[THEY HAVE REACHED THE DOOR TO THE WARD]
WARREN
Where are we?
HESTER
This is the ward. For our guests who need ongoing medical care.
WARREN
And why are we here?
HESTER
Your first shift.
[WARREN IS EXTREMELY UNSURE ABOUT THIS]
WARREN
My first shift doing what?
HESTER
Caring.
WARREN
Hester, I’m not sure I’m the -
HESTER
You’ll be fine.
[SHE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE WARD. THE USUAL GREETINGS FROM THE VARIOUS ELDERLY OCCUPANTS, SOME MUSIC PLAYING]
HESTER
Morning everyone!
EVERYONE
Hi, Hester!
HESTER
This is Warren. It’s his first shift, be nice. By which, I mean, Malcolm, be nice.
WARREN
Hi.
[A HUBBUB OF HELLOS. AND THEN A SLIGHTLY GRUMPIER VOICE. MALCOLM ISN’T IN A VITROLIC MOOS RIGHT NOW BUT HE’S STILL TOO PROUD TO ACKNOWLEDGE HIS PREVIOUS BEHAVIOR]
EVERYONE
Hi! Hello!
MALCOLM
Putting the caveman to use are we, Hester?
HESTER
Everyone’s put to use here, Malcolm.
MALCOLM
Well until he can fold his hospital corners properly, I don’t want him changing my linen.
HESTER
You can change your own sheets if you like.
[THEY BEGIN TO MOVE DOWN THE ROOM AWAY FROM MALCOLM]
MALCOLM
I remember the days when you used to show me respect!
HESTER
In those days, Malcolm, you paid me a salary.
WARREN
Hester, seriously I’ve never done care work of any kind, I’m not particularly good at caring for myself I really don’t -
HESTER
I’m not asking you to be anyone’s doctor, I’m not asking you to make huge decisions about anyone’s care. I’m asking you to help our guests with feeding, dressing, going to the bathroom. I’m asking you to learn to take observations, to record their vital signs. But mostly, I’m asking you to listen to them, to help them feel comfortable, and to raise any concerns you have about any of our guests to me or whoever else you’re working with. You’ll never be on your own and we have some very experienced people with us to support you. If you take well to it, we can talk about teaching you some more. Does that sound okay to you?
WARREN
Kind of feel like you’re not giving me a lot of choice.
HESTER
If I’d asked you politely, you would’ve said no.
WARREN
That’s not very fair -
HESTER
Warren.
WARREN
Yeah, I would’ve said no.
[JACOB, AN ELDERLY BUT ENERGETIC MAN IS THE NEAREST GUEST]
HESTER
Let’s introduce you to our current guests, Jacob, this is Warren Godby -
JACOB
Ho! The Brigadoon is here!
WARREN
Hello.
JACOB
Don’t worry we don’t bite.
HESTER
Actually, Jacob does bite.
WARREN
He what?
HESTER
I’m joking. We still joke in the future.
JACOB
How do you feel about this Bryony Halbech coming to visit then? Bad egg I hear.
HESTER
Jacob, how the hell do you - Who was on shift this morning?
GUEST 1
Ovaltine
GUEST 2
But Marmite brought the tea.
HESTER
God damn it. Remind me to kill Marmite later.
JACOB
Halbech, she’s one of those evil geniuses then? The kind that like to be caught so they can play their little mind games. Like… that lank haired fellow in those Avengers movies.
WARREN
Yes! Loki! Exactly like that!
[SOME OTHER GUESTS CHIP IN]
GUEST 1
Like that handsome fella in the Bond movie.
WARREN
Javier Bardem.
GUEST 1
That’s the one
GUEST 2
And the Joker. He loved getting caught.
JACOB
There was… There was another one, wasn’t there?
WARREN
Yes! There was! Who was it?
GUEST 1
Hmmm
GUEST 2
They all came out around the same time, didn’t they?
[JACOB SNAPS HIS FINGERS]
JACOB
Benedict Whats-his-chops!
WARREN
Yes!
JACOB
In that Star Trek movie most people didn’t like but I thought was okay!
WARREN
I can remember virtually nothing about it.
JACOB
Is that because of your mysterious amnesia everyone talks about?
WARREN
No, I just… don’t remember anything about it. Everyone talks about me?
GUEST 2
Robocop was in it.
GUEST 1
Paul Weller.
JACOB
Paul Weller?
WARREN
Peter Weller.
JACOB
From The Jam?
WARREN
It was Peter Weller.
GUEST 1
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
HESTER
Warren, I think you’re going to be just fine.
[GRACE IS DRIVING A VAN SLOWLY DOWN A NARROW HIGHLAND ROAD. THE VAN IS OLD AND LOADED WITH THE MBV CELL. IT RATTLES. OUTSIDE, IT IS RAINING SOFTLY AHEAD OF A STORM]
GORD
Do you think they’re getting worse?
[A LONG PAUSE]
GORD
Grace?
GRACE
Oh… I’m sorry Gord, what did you say?
GORD
The storms. Do you believe they’re getting worse?
GRACE
I don’t know. I hope not.
GORD
Sorry. You usually like to talk about the weather. You’re clearly deep in thought.
GRACE
No, I’m sorry. You’re right. I should be more present.
GORD
You’re anxious about seeing Dr Halbech again.
GRACE
It’s not about seeing her. I don’t know if this makes sense to you, but whenever I would return home to see family or… or catch up with old friends, I would always be reminded of the person I was when I used to live around them. Some people must love that. Perhaps it brings back memories of their glory days. But I have always disliked it intensely. I dislike being reminded of who I used to be. Not just as a naive child or an arrogant teenager. I can forgive those stupid boys. But the me that knew Bryony Halbech… I would punch that man in the face.
GORD
I’ve never heard you talk that way about yourself, Grace.
GRACE
It would somewhat damage my agenda of self-love and forgiveness. Please tell no one.
GORD
I never would.
GRACE
Thank you.
GORD
You need to brake, the turning is coming up very soon.
GRACE
Oh, you are quite right.
[HE SLOWS THE VAN AND TURNS TO ENTER THE DRIVEWAY TO GEORGE AND BETTY’S BOTHY]
GRACE
You’d think I’d remember where the bothy is by now.
GORD
Well, it is meant to be obscure.
GRACE
I hope Sophia can find it alright.
GORD
Sophia is very capable.
GRACE
Was everything okay with the bothy project last time a report was logged? I have not been very involved.
GORD
Stevie has it under control. She says there’s some new damp in the brickwork. Worth keeping an eye on.
GRACE
I’m sure she has it under control.
[GRACE TURNS OFF THE ENGINE. THE RAIN PATTERS]
GRACE
Now we wait.
GORD
You know, if you consider yourself notably changed since you last saw Dr Halbech, it’s possible she may also have reflected on her past actions.
GRACE
Humm… Perhaps.
[ANOTHER PAUSE]
GRACE
How is practice coming along?
GORD
You’re aware I don’t ‘practice’, Grace.
GRACE
Humour me.
GORD
I can perform much better in my default voice.
GRACE
I know. But you couldn’t give me a baritone with the old Blue Sky voice. Come on. Give me a low G.
GORD
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
GRACE
Humm… Again.
GORD
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
GRACE
Ah… I love it. It’s so soothing, you know? I would have the while choir just doing this. AAAAAAAAA
GORD & GRACE
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
[IN THE NEAR DISTANCE, ANOTHER HEAVY VEHICLE PULLS UP ON GRAVEL]
GORD
She’s here.
[A DOOR OPENS, FOOTSTEPS ON THE GRAVEL. A WOMAN GETS OUT OF THE OTHER VEHICLE]
GRACE
See you in a minute.
[HE GETS OUT OF HIS VEHICLE AND APPROACHES THE WOMAN. THE WIND OCCASIONALLY GUSTS THROUGH THE NEARBY TREES AND BUSHES]
GRACE
Sophia! It’s been too long.
SOPHIA
Degracious. You are still handsome. This is irritating.
GRACE
Ah. It’s the air. Amazing what a bit of peace, quiet and Highland breeze can do. You look well.
SOPHIA
I look tired. Because I am tired.
GRACE
We’re grateful, Sophia. You’ve come a very long way.
SOPHIA
You have no idea what I’ve had to put up with to get here. And I’m not talking about the distance. You have what we agreed?
GRACE
Of course. The MBV cell is a little vintage but it’s in pristine condition. Do you want to take a look?
SOPHIA
Grace, please. I trust you.
GRACE
That means a lot to me, thank you. You know, I was hoping to ask… after you have delivered the cell to its destination, perhaps you would finally consider coming to stay with us. For good this time.
SOPHIA
Grace.
GRACE
I will keep asking.
SOPHIA
We do not all have the luxury of a retirement resort in the mountains.
GRACE
The door has always been open for you, my friend. Aubrey would love to have you.
[SOPHIA SWEARS IN HER GREEK UNDER HER BREATH]
GRACE
What… What is it?
SOPHIA
We had thought… if she wanted Halbech brought all the way here… maybe Aubrey was getting back in the fight.
GRACE
We want to end the fight, Sophia.
[SOPHIA SCOFFS AT THIS]
SOPHIA
If Aubrey wants her dead, I could’ve done it when we found her. In fucking China. Would’ve saved me a long trip and a lot of headaches.
GRACE
Which is why we’re paying you so well.
SOPHIA
You’d need an MBV cell the size of a house to make me take another road trip with Bryony Halbech.
GRACE
We are incredibly grateful for your efforts. Aubrey just needs to be sure. Look, we have all seen movies. If you don’t see the body, no one’s really dead.
SOPHIA
Then why isn’t she here right now? If it’s so important to get it right?
GRACE
That was my influence I’m afraid. With this kind of history between them, I felt perhaps Aubrey’s should not be the first face Bryony sees.
SOPHIA
You didn’t have to worry.
GRACE
What do you mean?
SOPHIA
Come, help me with the gurney.
GRACE
Gurney? What’s going on, Sophia?
SOPHIA
Come, I show you.
[THEY WALK ROUND TO THE SIDE OF SOPHIA’S VAN]
SOPHIA
Signed, sealed, delivered, the most wanted woman in the world.
[SHE PULLS OPEN THE SLIDING SIDE DOOR. GRACE IMMEDIATELY HOPS UP TO INSPECT WHAT HE SEES. THE BEEP OF A MEDICAL MONITOR]
GRACE
What happened?
SOPHIA
Don’t worry, she’s alive. It’s better this way, I assure you.
GRACE
What happened to her?
SOPHIA
This is how we found her. Not quite as pristine condition as your MBV cell I’m thinking? You still want to trade?
GRACE
How long has she been unconscious?
SOPHIA
I tell you as we go. Come on. The sky’s getting black.
[THE PORCH BY THE EXIT TO THE FACILITY, WHERE WARREN AND GORDON ONCE STOOD LOOKING AT THE SNOW. AUBREY SITS BY THE DOOR IN SOFT RAIN. IN THE DISTANCE, RUMBLES OF THUNDER. THE DOOR OPENS, AND CLOSES AGAIN]
WARREN
Hey Aubrey.
AUBREY
Hey Warren.
WARREN
Just sitting out here in the rain?
AUBREY
Sitting in the rain, rumble of thunder of an oncoming storm in the distance, want to absorb the melodrama at its fullest.
WARREN
You mind if I sit?
[HE SITS. THEY TAKE A MOMENT. THE RAIN PATTERS. THERE ARE VOICES IN THE DISTANCE, WOOD BEING CUT, LABOUR BEING FINISHED]
AUBREY
I always get twitchy when I’m waiting for someone to come back from a pick up. Especially when the weather turns.
WARREN
Because it’s so bad out there?
AUBREY
Because I don’t know how bad it is out there. I stay here.
WARREN
You always stay here?
AUBREY
Always.
[AWKWARD SILENCE]
AUBREY
How was your shift on the ward?
WARREN
Oh. It was… good. Not what I thought I’d be doing today. Or ever. But I… actually kind of enjoyed it.
AUBREY
They’re a good bunch at the moment.
WARREN
Maybe it’s because they’re old enough to be… my age? If that makes sense.
AUBREY
Yeah. Hester said that. That you might find more common ground with our residents than with the rest of the team, with most of them being so young.
WARREN
She was right. It was a good distraction.
AUBREY
She also thought it would be a good way for you to get a better handle on everything, what with the ward being ground zero for all gossip in Red Valley and beyond.
WARREN
Yeah. Got plenty of that in between learning how to take someone’s respirations. Actually, made that quite hard, because they all did more talking than breathing.
AUBREY
Come on then, get your questions out of the way.
WARREN
Right… So, they said there are actually dozens of tunnels underneath the station. Some built by you, some built by Overhead, some built by ancient miners…
AUBREY
It’s not dozens. It’s not even a dozen. But yeah, we spent years working on the subterranean level. We need it. You never know how bad things are going to be up here. What’s coming tonight is just a little storm. But you still wouldn’t want to be up here when it hits.
WARREN
What are all the tunnels for though? I’ve seen a bunch of sealed doors… honestly, I don’t even know where I am when I’m down there.
AUBREY
Most run into the mountain. Linking up to various exits we’ve created. We never know how or when we might have to leave. Some tunnels run out onto the valley floor in front of us. One actually runs all the way to the farmhouse, and that wasn’t built by us. We found it when we first started digging around down there.
WARREN
Installing the Valley Floor Defence System.
AUBREY
Golly. People just tell you anything, don’t they?
WARREN
So, accounts vary, but apparently either a lightning rod comes out of the ground at night and absorbs all the energy from the lightning storms and you use it to vaporise your unwanted guests or, you’ve just filled the ground with explosives so you can blow everyone up.
AUBREY
Um… I hope you don’t mind if I at least try and keep the odd secret about the running of this place. We do have people going in and out, and, you know…
WARREN
Sure. I imagine loose lips sink secret euthanasia clinics all the time.
AUBREY
Quite.
WARREN
It’s bombs, isn’t it? You love bombs.
AUBREY
I do not ‘love bombs’.
WARREN
On a different note then. The old guys were trying to tell me the names of a few of the people here. So, I wrote some of them down, I was wondering if you could do a true or false.
AUBREY
Yes. That I can do.
WARREN
Right… Lord Ovaltine. I met her earlier.
AUBREY
True.
WARREN
Right. So, I assume her twin sister really is called Baron Sellotape/
AUBREY
/Baron Sellotape, yes, she is.
WARREN
Harissa Cod?
AUBREY
True.
WARREN
Come on. I’ve… I’ve eaten Harissa Cod. It was in an old Jamie Oliver I had.
AUBREY
Things are different now. People choose their permanent names later in life. Some of them are great, some of them, you just have to bite your lip and not tell them it’s a Mediterranean seafood dish. Harissa is a lovely young man from Peterborough. He has no idea what cod is.
WARREN
So, these are all true then?
AUBREY
They probably are.
WARREN
Dick Splash.
AUBREY
Yep.
WARREN
Krang.
AUBREY
True.
WARREN
Alabaster Funch. Julia Robots. Ross Kemp On Gangs.
AUBREY
All true.
WARREN
Marmite Mackenzie I have met. Let me guess, you love him or hate him?
AUBREY
No, everyone thinks he’s a prick.
WARREN
Does everyone here have a name like a second tier Guy Ritchie character?
AUBREY
Guy fucking Ritchie. He did it, you know. Bought himself a luxury cryopod and a spot in a very well-to-do Hollywood hypersleep bunker. Unsure what his role would’ve been in the new world.
WARREN
Seriously though, not everyone has a crazy name, right? Because I… I can’t get through the day like this.
AUBREY
Don’t be square. There are plenty of names that you would consider ‘normal’, Warren. Look, the guys are coming back from the woodshed now.
[A SMALL GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN ARE TRUDGING BACK INTO THE STATION PAST THE TWO OF THEM]
AUBREY
Hi Tim.
TIM
Hi Aubrey.
AUBREY
Vignesh.
VIGNESH
Hi.
AUBREY
Alice.
ALICE
Alright.
AUBREY
Robin.
ROBIN
Alright Aubrey. Brigadoon.
AUBREY
And… Pingu.
PINGU
Noot noot!
[THE DOOR IS CLOSED. THEY ARE ALONE ONCE MORE]
WARREN
I feel very old.
AUBREY
I can assure you, you don’t.
[PAUSE. RAIN]
WARREN
So, the guests weren’t pulling my leg then.
AUBREY
Depends, what else did they tell you?
WARREN
You actually were queen of the cryo terrorists.
AUBREY
Don’t remember that being an official title.
[PAUSE]
WARREN
You ended up in prison yourself? For destroying cryo tech. In Egypt?
AUBREY
I did.
WARREN
And they put you in hypersleep?
AUBREY
My very own sarcophagus.
WARREN
That’s ironic.
AUBREY
Yeah, it was. I had the last laugh of course, when I was broken out and the entire prison and all their cryo cells burned to the ground.
WARREN
You’re a little bit scary now, Aubrey.
AUBREY
Nah, now I’m just an old lady who used to be scary.
WARREN
So, you did it? You got rid of hypersleep, all of it?
AUBREY
Can’t blow up an idea, Warren. But we removed a lot of the tech around the world and the means to make more. There are plenty of people still trying to get the job finished. But not me.
[AUBREY TAKES A MOMENT]
AUBREY
I had become extremely adept at tracking down cryo nests and gutting them. Gutting them, torching them, blowing them up. And leading others to do the same. The world was screaming, whole countries sinking, burning, every climate horror story cliché you can imagine. And I was damned if I was going to let anyone sit it out in a cryopod while the rest of us choked and drowned. They apprehended me in Cairo. It was years before Grace found me and broke me out. And I came home to find we had… won? Hypersleep was gone, well, in this country at least. So, I got my wish. Here we all were, all frogs in the same saucepan of slowly boiling milk.
And now there’s a new authority in charge, part church, part militia, calling themselves The Bastion, and their doctrine is… anti-hypersleep. We should all come together and use the time we have left in this world productively. Wow, that’s really great! Aubrey Wood was right all along! Except the world’s still on fire and everyone’s still as mad as hell, so that doctrine becomes a stick to keep everyone in line. Life is sacred, so no one’s getting out of here. Too bad there isn’t enough infrastructure left to look after you all. So, we’ve jumped back two centuries, people are dying in the streets of ancient diseases, you know the family of anyone who takes their own life is flogged in the town square, just a bunch of wild backwards bullshit that belongs in a half- baked YA novel that you never bothered to finish. So, yeah, well done Aubrey. You got the world you wanted. Hester and I found each other again. We came here. We built this. And for a few people we offer a peaceful way out.
[PAUSE. THE RAIN FALLS]
WARREN
What was Guy Ritchie’s cryo nest like?
[AUBREY CANNOT HELP BUT LAUGH,]
WARREN
Was it fancy? Does his Blue Sky unit have a cockney accent?
[A BEAT AS THE TENSION EVAPORATES FROM AUBREY]
AUBREY
You know there’s one little outpost of Kontinue we can never get actually. Really bugged me for a long time.
WARREN:
Oh yeah? Where’s that?
[A PAUSE AS AUBREY VISUALLY INDICATES]
WARREN
What?
AUBREY
No joke.
WARREN
Aubrey, who is hypersleeping on the fucking moon?
AUBREY
The President of the United States and his nearest and dearest.
AUBREY
Just… just up there. Bit of cloud in the way.
WARREN
You’re serious.
AUBREY
Yeah, I’m serious. A click southwest of the Sea of Tranquillity.
WARREN
I understand why that would be annoying. You know, if you… if you’re trying to be a completist.
AUBREY
Yeah, it was rather. Although I heard someone blew up the rocket that was supposed to go and pick them up. In a thousand years he’s going to have a really bad day.
[THEY BOTH SHARE A LAUGH. GORD INTERRUPTS]
GORD
Grace has reached the perimeter.
[AUBREY SIGHS AND STANDS UP WITH SOME EFFORT]
AUBREY
I’d like you to stay inside, Warren. I’ll keep you informed of everything that happens, I promise.
WARREN
You better be right about this, Aubrey.
AUBREY
I know. Any advice?
WARREN
Hmm. Standard ominous supervillain stuff, I suppose. Don’t underestimate her. She’ll weaponise everything she knows about you, etc etc.
AUBREY
Really puts you and I on the back foot, doesn’t it?
WARREN
Yeah… yeah, it does a bit.
AUBREY
Right then. A date with Bryony Halbech.
[A LOUD RUMBLE OF THUNDER]
WARREN
Wow, what a cliche.
AUBREY
Oh, you get used to it. Every other thing you say has a dramatic roll of thunder behind it here. I’ll try it now. I’m… allergic to cat saliva.
[AFTER A SECOND OR TWO ANOTHER RUMBLE]
AUBREY
See?
[AUBREY OPENS THE DOOR TO GO BACK INSIDE]
WARREN
Aubrey?
AUBREY
Yeah.
WARREN
Do whatever you have to do.
[IS STRIDING DOWN THE CORRIDOR TOWARDS THE INTERVIEW ROOM WITH HER GORD DRONE.]
GORD
It’s important you remain calm in this situation, Aubrey.
AUBREY
Piss off, Gord.
GORD
It is to be expected that you might have a powerful reaction to seeing Bryony Halbech again after such a long time.
AUBREY
Shut up.
GORD
Your last interaction took place in this very corridor.
AUBREY
You know I hadn’t realised that.
GORD
Really?
AUBREY
Of course I bloody did!
GORD
It’s just important to remain in control in anticipation of a likely confrontation.
[THEY HAVE REACHED THE DOOR TO THE INTERVIEW ROOM. SHE ENTERS THE KEYCODE AS SHE TALKS]
AUBREY
I doubt there will be any kind of confrontation and she’s on the other side of the glass in the interview room anyway. Grace said she was still sedated when they reached the perimeter, she’ll be half asleep at be -
AUBREY
I doubt there will be any kind of confrontation and she’s on the other side of the glass in the interview room anyway. Grace said she was still sedated when they reached the perimeter, she’ll be half asleep at be -
[SHE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE INTERVIEW ROOM JUST AS A HAND SMACKS ON THE GLASS FROM THE OTHER SIDE. BRYONY HALBECH IS THERE. SHE IS SCREAMING, INCONSOLABLE, FURIOUS. SHE YELLS HYSTERICALLY, DEMANDING TO BE RELEASED, CURSING WILDLY. GRACE IS STANDING IN THE INTERVIEW ROOM]
GRACE
Welcome.
[AUBREY REGARDS THE SCENE IN FRONT OF HER. SHE HAS TO SHOUT TO GRACE TO BE HEARD]
AUBREY
What the hell is this?
GRACE
Hang on. Hang on.
[GRACE MUTES THE MIC FROM BRYONY’S SIDE, BUT SHE CAN STILL BE HEARD A LITTLE.]
AUBREY
Wh… When did all this start?
GRACE
The minute she woke up. Apparently, she’s been like it the whole journey.
AUBREY
From China?!
GRACE
They had to keep her sedated half the trip. The rest, like this.
[AUBREY TAKES A MOMENT TO WATCH AND LISTEN AS BRYONY STALKS THE ROOM LIKE A CAGED ANIMAL, TALKING HALF TO HERSELF, MUTTERING INCOHERENTLY. AUBREY TAKES A LONG BREATH, TRYING TO WORK OUT WHAT SHE’S SEEING]
AUBREY
What do you know?
GRACE
They got most of a story out of her. She’s not exactly being tight-lipped.
AUBREY
Tell me the story.
GRACE
Amos Tech had a better idea of who they were dealing with than we ever did. They gave her whatever she asked for to complete her research. Once she’d delivered whatever their interpretation of successful hypersleep was, they used it on her.
AUBREY
So, she couldn’t run out on them the way she did with Overhead.
GRACE
Yes. They pulled her out whenever they needed her to work, under considerable duress. Then back in she went. Clearly, she’s spent a lot more time inside a pod than out. Her age isn’t that easy to discern with the damage to her skin and the loss of her hair, but I don’t think she’s much older than the night she left here, no?
AUBREY
Have they asked her? How old she is?
GRACE
Of course. She doesn’t know.
AUBREY
How did she lose the arm?
GRACE
Necrotising fasciitis. She claims there was a compromised anti-bacterial seal on her pod which seems likely enough, it was a common cause of death in the nastier cryo-prisons. It would’ve been luck that they got her out before the infection went beyond the elbow.
AUBREY
Anything else?
GRACE
We haven’t done anything more than the most preliminary inspection, but she says the burn scars cover about 25% of her body. Liquid nitrogen exposure. She’s lost most of her toes.
AUBREY
Can we use her? Is there anything left to use?
GRACE
Can we use her?… I don’t know yet.
AUBREY
I suppose I’ll talk to her later - oh, there goes the chair.
[BRYONY HAS GRABBED THE SINGLE CHAIR IN THE ROOM AND FLUNG IT AGAINST THE GLASS, IMPACTING WITH A THWOMP, ACCOMPANIED BY MORE SCREAMING]
GRACE
What do you want to do?
AUBREY
Put her in some yellows. Nothing she can hurt herself with. Let’s get rid of the furniture. I don’t want her left alone for a second.
GRACE
No, umm… To make her more comfortable though. What treatment?
[AUBREY TAKES A MOMENT]
AUBREY
Whatever you think is best.
[SHE EXITS]
[WARREN ENTERS THE CRYO SUITE AND SITS BY GORDON’S POD.
WARREN
Hey.
GORD
Hello.
WARREN
I wasn’t talking to you.
GORD
Oh. I thought you were unsure about talking to Gordon’s pod directly -
WARREN
This is making it much easier, thank you.
GORD
You’re being sarcastic.
WARREN
I am.
GORD
I am intruding.
WARREN
You are.
[PAUSE]
WARREN
Hey Gordon. So, we’re going to try and save you. I think. In the most stupid and dangerous way I could think of. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t know what happens if it works. I don’t know what happens if it doesn’t work. I don’t know how to help. Or if I even can… help. So, all I can do is try and be ready. Ready for Bryony.
[PAUSE]
WARREN
Hey.
[SILENCE]
WARREN
Gord!
GORD
Oh, now you’re talking to me.
WARREN
You know what I did, right?
GORD
Please clarify.
WARREN
What I went to prison for? You have all the information?
GORD
I do.
WARREN
Are you allowed to tell me?
GORD
I am.