Red Valley Transcripts Archive (Unofficial)
RV024

The Gentle Art

January 26, 2025
Summary
'I know how it feels to hate.'

Warning

(Click to view.)

explicit language, depiction of physical conflict and impact/injury, depiction of use of projectile weapon (non lethal)

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Source: Official Transcript Archive
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[PAMELA’S STOREROOM, OVERHEAD HQ. CLIVE IS ALREADY THERE, SAT IN SILENCE. PAM CAN TELL SOMETHING IS WRONG]

PAMELA

You know Clive, much as I enjoy these visits, I’m not a comfortable silence kind of girl.

[CLIVE IS TWITCHY. HE DOESN’T KNOW WHY HE’S THERE, BUT THE REALITY IS OBVIOUS - PAM IS CLIVE’S ONLY FRIEND. HE SNIFFS, PULLING HIMSELF TOGETHER. HE PRETENDS TO LAUGH, BADLY]

CLIVE

Yeah, yeah. Sorry… sorry Pam.

PAMELA

What’s up, Clive?

CLIVE

We didn’t get Bryony Halbech.

PAMELA

Okay.

CLIVE

Someone else did.

PAMELA

Who?

CLIVE

Aubrey fucking Wood.

PAMELA

Aubrey Wood is alive? Jesus, how old is she?

CLIVE

She did prison time in a cryopod so not as ancient as you’d think apparently. When we’d all written her off as dead, she was hypersleeping in bloody Egypt or something.

PAMELA

How do you know this?

CLIVE

Our people intercepted someone trying to get into London through an illegal channel. Do you remember Sophia Kyriacou?

PAMELA

Sophia… Jesus, the bar girl? From the Aloha?

CLIVE

Yeah. So… weird. She was… she was so young in my memory…and now…She could’ve been my mother almost…

PAMELA

Clive, what aren’t you telling me?

CLIVE

We caught her, brought her in. In here, to HQ, just a few floors up… Rebecca interrogated her herself.

PAMELA

Okay.

CLIVE

She didn’t even tell me it was happening, I found out from the guard. When I got to the room, she was just leaving.

PAMELA

Rebecca was leaving? She’d finished?

CLIVE

She killed her, Pam.

PAMELA

Like, executed her?

CLIVE

She… she used a bone cement gun. It’s like a grouting gun. She’d poured bone cement into her ears, and her nose, and her mouth. It’s like paste, like… Blu Tac, and then gets hard, and it gets hot, then it gets boiling hot Pam, she… she burned her and suffocated her…

PAMELA

Clive…

CLIVE

Becky won’t stop now… she… she barely listens to me… she’s sending me out trying to build some kind of army for Christ’s sake, I mean… what do I look like…

PAMELA

Clive… listen to me…

CLIVE

What else do I do, where else do I go, who can I… Pam… I don’t know what to do…

PAMELA

Let’s figure it out. You and me. Right here.

CLIVE

What?

PAMELA

It doesn’t have to be like this.

[CLIVE GIVES AN INVOLUNTARY BURST OF INCREDULOUS LAUGHTER FOR A MOMENT]

CLIVE

I, uh. I don’t know why I’m sitting her telling you all this.

[HE CRANES HIS HEAD AROUND, SUDDENLY NERVOUS OF HIS SURROUNDINGS]

CLIVE

I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this.

PAMELA

Hey. Hey. Look at me. We need to talk, we need to think -

CLIVE

No, I’ve got to go.

PAMELA

No, you don’t! Wait.

CLIVE

No, I’ve got to go. Umm… I’ll be back.

PAMELA

Clive, come back you fucking coward!

[HE GETS TO THE DOOR]

CLIVE

Coward? Coward is right. Do you have any idea how much I wish I was you right now? Sat quietly in a storeroom? You’re valuable to her. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re protected. She needs you. I’m just a big mouth she can roll shit into. I thought I knew Becky Landry. I thought she had a line. And then she screwed us over so she could keep her spot in the Overhead cryonest. And then she shot Francesca Jones in the head. Then Sophia…you don’t know what she did to get that information, and it was not the information she wanted to hear. Yes, I’m a coward. Enjoy your futon, Pam. Pray you stay valuable.

[HE MAKES TO LEAVE. PAM IS SLIGHTLY HUMBLED BUT STILL BLURTS OUT HER LAST QUESTION]

PAMELA

Do we at least know where they are? Bryony Halbech, Aubrey Wood?

CLIVE

Oh yeah. We know where they are alright.

[RED VALLEY. THE INTERVIEW ROOM, THE MORNING FOLLOWING BRYONY’S ARRIVAL. AUBREY STANDS LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS AT THE SLEEPING BRYONY HALBECH, GRACE AND HESTER SIT]

AUBREY

So, how did the night go?

HESTER

Not well.

AUBREY

What happened?

GRACE

I tried first. It went like this.

[GRACE HITS A BUTTON ON THE CONTROL DESK IN FRONT OF HIM. A TINNY RECORDING OF HIS ATTEMPTED INTERVIEW:]

GRACE (RECORDING)

Dr Halbech. Bryony. I’m aware it’s been a very long journey for y -

[THE SOUND OF BARE FEET ON HARD FLOOR SPRINTING ACROSS THE ROOM]

BRYONY (RECORDING)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

GRACE (RECORDING)

Oh. Okay, we can try again later, no problem. Bye now.

[THE SOUND OF THE DOOR TO THE ROOM HURRIEDLY CLOSING. THE RECORDING ENDS]

AUBREY

Well, you have history with her just like I do, stands to reason she’s going to hold a grudge. Who else has tried?

HESTER

I tried.

[GRACE HITS A BUTTON]

HESTER (RECORDING)

Hello Bryony. I’m here to help you -

BRYONY (RECORDING)

AAAAAAAAH -

HESTER (RECORDING)

Ooooookey dokey.

[GRACE CUTS THE RECORDING]

AUBREY

Any other takers?

HESTER

Stevie had a go.

AUBREY

Stevie?!

HESTER

She was being nosey. She always wants to help.

[CLICK]

STEVIE (RECORDING)

Hullo! I just wanted to pop in and - fuckin’ hell she’s throwing a shoe!

[BRYONY’S NEXT SCREAM IS CUT VERY SHORT BY GRACE]

AUBREY

What’s her situation now?

GRACE

She’s still in there.

AUBREY

In the dark?

GRACE

You can see her if you get right up to the glass and squint.

[PAUSE]

AUBREY

She’s… she’s just lying on the floor.

HESTER

She screamed herself to sleep.

AUBREY

Alright. Any other ideas?

GRACE

Give her the Eterniteze.

AUBREY

Not until we’ve exhausted every other option.

HESTER

You know what you need her to do. You know what she needs to be able to do it. Just give her the drugs.

AUBREY

We are running very low. And we have people who need those drugs. More than she does.

HESTER

They deserve them more than she does. That’s not the same thing.

AUBREY

Let’s just… let’s just make sure we’ve gone through every reasonable option first.

[AUBREY PUTS DOWN A BAG SHE WAS HOLDING]

GRACE

What’s in the bag, Aubrey?

[SHE UNZIPS IT AND THE COLD METALLIC SOUND OF A WEAPON BEING CHECKED OVER]

HESTER

Are you serious?

AUBREY

I won’t have to use it.

GRACE

You’re going in there?

AUBREY

Would you rather send every other person in the station in first? Jesus, you sent Stevie in, she’s the nicest person here. She could talk lemmings back from cliffs with that accent.

GRACE

I would rather we just accept we need to use the mood stabilisers -

[AUBREY BANGS ON THE WINDOW WITH HER WEAPON. SHE HITS THE BUTTON TO SPEAK]

AUBREY

Wakey wakey. Dr Halbech.

[CUT TO THE AUDIO INSIDE THE INTERROGATION ROOM. THE STIRRING AND COUGHING OF BRYONY HALBECH AS SHE WAKES UP ON THE FLOOR. THE LOUD BUZZ OF STRIP LIGHTS BEING TURNED ON. AUBREY’S VOICE ECHOES A LITTLE FROM THE TANNOY - THIS IS A BIGGER SPACE THAN THE OLD INTERVIEW ROOM]

AUBREY

Good morning, Bryony. I’m going to come in and speak to you now. But I want you to know - I won’t have any of this funny business. In my hand I have a dart gun. Now we got a few of these literally off the back of a lorry a while ago so it is not a top quality piece of kit. The darts are very sophisticated, they’re meant to cause localised paralysis. Very good at de-escalating a situation. However - the only darts we managed to get are a bit dodgy. Some of them work just fine and will knock out an arm or a leg for a good couple of hours. Some of them, however, don’t do that at all, and simply cause your anal sphincter to relax. As in, they make you shit yourself. And we have no way of knowing which ones are which. Now, I don’t want to use this, and you definitely don’t want me to use this. So, let’s be nice.

[THE TANNOY SQUEALS TO SILENCE. WITH SOME EFFORT A GROGGY BRYONY PULLS HERSELF UP TO STANDING. AFTER A MOMENT AUBREY ENTERS THE ROOM. THEY ARE SOME DISTANCE APART]

AUBREY

See, I’m putting the dart gun down. Over here.

[SHE PLACES THE GUN ON THE FLOOR. A MOMENT PASSES AS AUBREY COMPOSES HERSELF, FACED WITH BRYONY HALBECH FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 40 YEARS]

AUBREY

I know what it feels like to be angry. I know how it feels to hate. And the realisation that you also know just what to do with that anger and hate, how you can utilise it, how you can weaponise it…That’s a scary moment. Well, it was for me. Maybe that’s the difference between us. Anyway Bryony, what I’m getting at is… I hate you. You know when -

[WITH A SCREAM BRYONY CHARGES AT AUBREY FROM ACROSS THE ROOM. AUBREY IS UNFAZED]

AUBREY

Oh right, here she comes. I see what you mean.

[BRYONY REACHES HER TARGET. AUBREY EFFORTLESSLY LIFTS BRYONY OVER, LANDING HER ON HER BACK WITH A THUD. BRYONY GASPS AS THE AIR IS KNOCKED OUT OF HER. AUBREY WALKS AWAY TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM. HESTER COMES ON OVER THE TANNOY]

HESTER

Uh… Aubrey, I don’t think -

AUBREY

It’s fine. I was saying, you know when you fall in love, like really fall in love, the love that makes you realise all the other times you were in love weren’t even love at all because this, this is love. I’d never truly hated someone until I was alone in that cryo suite with the dead eyes of Winnie the fucking Pooh staring back at me and I knew, by God, I hated Bryony Halbech.

[BRYONY HAS PULLED HERSELF TOGETHER AGAIN. HER BONES CLICK AS SHE STRETCHES HERSELF OUT. AUBREY DOES NOT REACT AT ALL]

AUBREY

For a while I told myself it was more complicated than that. I told myself it was Overhead, I told myself it was hypersleep, I told myself that it was myself that I hated. But it wasn’t. It was just you.

[BRYONY CHARGES AGAIN]

AUBREY

Hmm. Here we go again.

BRYONY

SHUTTTTTTT UPPPPPP!

[THEY COLLIDE AGAIN, AND JUST AS BEFORE, BRYONY ENDS UP ON THE FLOOR WITH A CRACK AND A GASP, NOTHING MORE THAN A MILD GRUNT OF EXERTION FROM AUBREY. THE TANNOY SQUEALS]

GRACE

Uh… Maybe we should stay away from the ‘I hate you’ stuff.

AUBREY

Maybe we should get some crash mats in here.

[SHE WALKS AWAY FROM BRYONY AGAIN WHO IS GROANING, ROLLING OVER]

AUBREY

If you’re interested, what’s happening here is called aikido. It’s known as ‘the gentle art’. It’s basically using someone’s momentum against them. A lot of flipping people over, it’s great fun. Grace has been teaching me over the years. He uses it as a channel for feelings of anger or frustration and I’ve been trying to do the same. If you like I’m sure he could show – uh… one more time then.

[WITHOUT REALLY PREPARING HERSELF THIS TIME BRYONY LUNGES CLUMSILY AT AUBREY WHO HALF HEARTEDLY LANDS HER ON HER BACK ONCE AGAIN. THIS TIME SHE LEANS IN CLOSER]

AUBREY

I haven’t brought you all the way here to punish you, Bryony. It doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help you. The truth is, and it brings me no pleasure whatsoever to say this… in all seriousness… I need you. I need your mind. We can all agree that you have a brilliant mind. Or at least had. I hope you’re still in there, Bryony. Because if this is all you’ve got to give, then all I’ve got in return is my anger, and my hate. And I don’t want to live like that. So, let’s stop all this messing around, and get to work putting something right. Take my hand.

[A PAUSE. EVENTUALLY, BRYONY TAKES AUBREY’S HAND. AUBREY PULLS HER UP, AND IN THAT MOMENT BRYONY PULLS FREE. AUBREY FOR THE FIRST TIME IS FLUSTERED]

AUBREY

Bryony -

[WITH ALL HER REMAINING STRENGTH, BRYONY CRACKS AUBREY ACROSS THE FACE. THE TANNOY SQUEALS, BRYONY IS DELIGHTED WITH HER EFFORT. HER VOICE IS THIN, RASPING, BUT FILLED WITH PURPOSE]

BRYONY

Put that right, you charity shop Sarah Connor ska -

[BRYONY’S WORDS ARE CUT OFF AS SHE RECEIVES A CHOP TO THE THROAT THAT MAKES HER GASP AND CHOKE. AUBREY EXPRESSES NO EMOTION AT ALL OTHER THAN A SIGH]

AUBREY

Hot dog.

[AS BRYONY TRIES TO BREATHE, AUBREY LAMPS HER ACROSS THE JAW AND SHE DROPS LIKE A SACK OF SPUDS. AUBREY WALKS CALMLY TO THE CORNER OF THE ROOM]

AUBREY

Jumping frog.

[BRYONY GETS TO HER KNEES AND STRUGGLES TO HER FEET AS AUBREY PICKS UP THE DART GUN, COCKING IT. WITH A GUTTURAL SCREAM BRYONY RUNS ONE LAST TIME, AND AUBREY SHOOTS HER IN THE LEG. BRYONY YELLS AND SKIDS TO THE FLOOR, WHIMPERING IN PAIN]

AUBREY

Albuquerque.

[A MOMENT OF RELATIVE QUIET. EVENTUALLY GRACE COMES OVER THE TANNOY, CALM AS YOU LIKE]

GRACE

Aubrey, do you think we could have a quick word?

[AUBREY ENTERS THE CONTROL ROOM TO A STONY SILENCE]

GRACE

We may need to discuss our definitions of reasonable options.

AUBREY

It could’ve gone a lot worse.

HESTER

How?

AUBREY

She didn’t shit herself.

GRACE

We may need a higher bar for success if we are to progress.

AUBREY

We’re trying everything. Now we know she doesn’t respond well to…roughhousing.

HESTER

How about monologuing? Or being shot?

AUBREY

Both areas she used to excel in, it must be hard being on the other end.

HESTER

Now you’ve got that out of your system, do you have any constructive ideas on how we move forward, or should we have kept a receipt?

AUBREY

Yeah, I’ve got a great idea actually.

[THE OFFICE ON THE GROUND FLOOR. WARREN IS NOW PART OF THE GROUP]

WARREN

This is a terrible idea.

[HESTER AND GRACE SPEAK AT THE SAME TIME]

GRACE (overlapping)

Yep.

HESTER (overlapping)

Uhm… I agree.

AUBREY

We could at least experiment with positivity, everyone.

WARREN

This can’t have been the plan all along. You wanted us kept apart.

AUBREY

Yeah, that’s true.

WARREN

Which actually was a great idea.

[GRACE AND HESTER SPEAK SIMULTANEOUSLY AGAIN]

HESTER (overlapping)

I thought so.

GRACE (overlapping)

That made sense, yes.

AUBREY

Well, yes, in a perfect world I would never put you in a room together. But we didn’t expect her to be quite as… spicy, as she is.

WARREN

Spicy? That’s what we’re calling it?

GRACE (overlapping)

Aggressive. Unpredictable. Unstable. I could go on.

HESTER (overlapping)

Incoherent, violent, enraged.

WARREN

Surely, I would be the last person on your list? Who else has tried talking to her?

AUBREY

The three of us.

WARREN

Well, she knows all of you, so, that’s not helping. Ergo, probably stands to reason I’m not going to fare very well either. What about… who else have you got? Whats-her-name seems nice. Stevie?

HESTER

Nope.

WARREN

We’re not going to work through the list of crazy names, are we? Marmite on Toast, Billy Dog Jim, T-Bone McFuck or whoever?

AUBRE

Warren you’re different to everyone else. Of course you are. She might treat you differently. She always had…

WARREN

She’s always had what?

HESTER

Power over you.

WARREN

Yeah. Yeah, I’d say that’s right. That doesn’t actually make me feel better about a trial by combat with her.

AUBREY

Maybe she won’t be like that with you.

WARREN

Why is she like this anyway? Why aren’t the mood stabiliser things working on her?

[PAUSE]

WARREN

You haven’t given her any, have you?

AUBREY

I told you we didn’t have many, I wasn’t exaggerating. They’re needed, for you, hopefully for Gordon, for our guests and some of our residents, Warren. I don’t want to waste them on someone wh -

WARREN

Someone we urgently need to perform life-saving cryo-heroics on my best friend. Jesus, give her the pills!

HESTER

Aubrey, you know he’s right. It’s not about you.

AUBREY

I know that.

HESTER

Do you though?

WARREN

How long til they kick in?

GRACE

We can give the medication IV. We’ll probably have to sedate her first. She’ll be groggy but we might see the start of a response later today or maybe tomorrow.

WARREN

Fine. Give her the stuff. I will try and talk to her. And what if that doesn’t work?

[PAUSE]

WARREN

Aubrey, what if that doesn’t work?

AUBREY

I don’t know.

WARREN

Awesome. Am I alright to go back to the ward, I said I’d help out?

HESTER

Sure.

[WARREN HEADS TO THE DOOR]

WARREN

You know you nearly had me for a minute.

AUBREY

What do you mean?

WARREN

I almost thought you guys knew what the hell you were doing.

[AUBREY AND MALCOLM ARE TALKING OUTSIDE. CRUNCHY GRAVEL UNDERFOOT, GULLS IN THE DISTANCE]

MALCOLM

Of course you don’t know what you’re bloody doing.

AUBREY

Yes, I thought you might agree.

MALCOLM

I’ve been telling you for years.

AUBREY

Yes, you have.

MALCOLM

I’ve been telling you that for years!

AUBREY

You don’t have to raise your voice.

MALCOLM

I… I don’t have to do anything!

AUBREY

I thought you were having a good day.

MALCOLM

I’m outdoors. I’m dressed. I can recognise your face. This is as good as it gets.

AUBREY

Well, thanks for spending time with me Malcolm.

[THEY PAUSE FOR A MOMENT]

MALCOLM

If you knew what you were doing, we wouldn’t even be outside of course. Anyone could be watching. Satellites. Drones.

AUBREY

You’re probably right.

MALCOLM

And of course, if you knew what you were doing, you would’ve left Godby and Porlock in the rubble where you found them, or better yet -

AUBREY

Malcolm -

MALCOLM

Or better yet! Switched off their ice cube trays and let them rest in peace!

AUBREY

You make it sound so straightforward.

MALCOLM

Well, it is! Or it would be. If you still believed in the cause.

AUBREY

The cause. My God, I did a better job on you than I ever could’ve imagined. Chairman of Overhead, the man who wanted to live forever. Look at you now.

MALCOLM

And look at what you’ve done with that great power of yours. A great leader, a great persuader. The good fortune you had that the people who found Bryony Halbech on the other side of the world - no, no, no, no it’s not good fortune. The respect given to you, respect you earned by doing what has to be done time and time again. They reached out to you first. You could’ve given the order and Halbech could be gone from the world, as she should’ve been years ago!

AUBREY

I do not kill people, and I do not give orders anymore -

MALCOLM

Don’t lie to me! You can lie to your acolytes, right? You can lie to your lovely wife. But don’t lie to me. You can hide at the back of Jade’s party, you can squirrel yourself away in the records room listening back to your bad memories but like it or like it not, you’re still captain of this little ship. And you need to make the hard decisions none of them can.

AUBREY

Do you think any of these decisions have been easy? Do you think I sleep better knowing I’ve brought her here? To our home?

MALCOLM

No, you sleep because of your mood stabilisers, your little Eterniteze, that’s how you sleep. Don’t look at me like that. I know things. I know you drink my moonshine too. More than most.

AUBREY

Malcolm, I -

MALCOLM

Don’t worry. I’m a demented old man, your secrets couldn’t be any safer, I mean… no one listens to me.

[PAUSE]

AUBREY

You know, it’s decisions I’ve made that are the reason you’re alive you old bastard.

MALCOLM

And a fat lot of good it’s done me.

AUBREY

Fucking hell are you going to say anything nice to me today!

[PAUSE]

MALCOLM

I like your hair.

[WARREN IS WITH GRACE BY THE EXIT TO THE FACILITY]

GRACE

We have got a guard with a dart gun trained on her. But I would still keep your distance.

WARREN

You could put me on Mars, and I wouldn’t be far enough away.

GRACE

Any time you want you just walk away, Warren.

WARREN

Yeah.

[STEPS OUTSIDE TO FIND BRYONY IS WAITING. THE FERAL HOSTILITY IS GONE, REPLACED WITH THE DETACHED FOGGINESS OF HEAVY MEDICATION. SHE WEARS A HOODIE TO SHIELD HER FROM THE ELEMENTS OVER HER YELLOWS. SHE IS FACING AWAY, STILL]

WARREN: Hello. Bryony.

[SHE TURNS, ACTUALLY SURPRISED, AND SEEMINGLY AMUSED WITH IT. HER VOICE IS THIN AND RASPING, SOUNDING A LOT OLDER THAN SHE IS]

BRYONY

The indestructible Warren Godby. Of course, you’re here.

WARREN

You look terrible.

BRYONY

It’s a real labour putting mascara on, what with the one arm and the no eyelashes. But you always look lousy when you run into an ex, don’t you?

[WARREN STEPS A LITTLE FURTHER OUTSIDE BUT STILL KEEPS HIS DISTANCE]

WARREN

So, I heard an evil tech conglomerate abused you physically and psychologically in an attempt to perfect hypersleep tech. I just wanted to say, if you ever need to talk about that with someone who’s been there, you can, you know. Fuck yourself.

BRYONY

Well, if we can learn anything from my experience it’s that, you really didn’t have it all that bad. You look quite well all things considered. Why are you stood all the way over there?

WARREN

Because you’ve got this new habit of charging at people like a rabid dog and trying to claw their eyes out. Also, you’re a dickhead. And I hate you.

BRYONY

Hmm. I wouldn’t worry about the first part. Don’t really feel like charging or clawing, or anything really. What marvellous medicine have I been given?

WARREN

It turns out, when you create a new technology that involves rewiring someone’s brain, so it simulates being massively traumatised, you need a pretty powerful mood stabiliser to give to that person once they wake up, so they don’t, you know, lose their minds.

BRYONY

Wow. That’s… that’s really quite clever.

WARREN

My God.

BRYONY

What?

WARREN

That never crossed your mind, did it? The aftercare. What would happen if someone wanted to actually live their life after being treated by you.

BRYONY

That wasn’t my job.

WARREN

Did you ever speculate that the reason you got sent to work underneath the already secret and isolated facility in the Highlands was not due to ‘other people’s boundaries’, but because you’re a fucking psychopath? You got fired from your job killing people in wildly extravagant ways and your first act was to… why… why did you do it?

BRYONY

Why did I do what?

WARREN

Don’t pretend. Why did you shoot him?

BRYONY

Shoot. Oh! Gavin-

WARREN

I said don’t.

BRYONY

Your brain needed to remain in a traumatised state in order to survive being in hypersleep. You wanted to go back in the pod. I made sure you’d survive. Again. You’re welcome.

WARREN

Yeah… I wondered how quickly it would be my fucking fault.

[BRYONY HASN’T QUITE GOT THE ENERGY FOR THE FULL LADY MACBETH]

BRYONY

Okay fine. Gordon Porlock was the reason I was fired, wasn’t he? If he’d just kept his head down and got on with the job, he’d probably still be alive. Perhaps I overreacted. But in my defence, I had killed a lot of people in, as you say, wildly extravagant ways. So, it was hardly out of character. He was lucky it was just a gunshot. There are worse things that can happen to a person. Wouldn’t you agree?

WARREN

You know I was hoping your experience might have changed you. I’d have more luck changing the face of that mountain.

BRYONY

Is this my fate? To see out the end of the world listening to the moral judgements of a group of fellow killers? Oh, I forget. Aubrey Wood’s retired now, isn’t she? Some take up gardening, or watercolours, but I guess euthanasia is an interesting enough hobby. Is that what I’m here for, to bump off old biddies? Maybe she wants to set up a franchise?

WARREN

I’m not here to talk to you about Aubrey Wood. I don’t care what she’s done or is doing. Her, or anyone else here for that matter. And there is a chasm of difference between the choices you and I have made.

BRYONY

You are a killer, Warren.

WARREN

I know.

BRYONY

Only took you 40 years to summon up the courage to find out.

WARREN

We’re here to talk about you, Bryony. About giving you the chance to put one thing right.

BRYONY

Oh really!

WARREN

Gordon is still alive. Here, in a cryopod. Fresh from being shot by you. And you’re going to get him out, alive and well.

BRYONY

Golly. And what if I refus -

WARREN

Oh, you’re gonna do it. You’re gonna save him.

BRYONY

Am I indeed. And why is that?

WARREN

Look, we’re not Amos Tech, we’re not going to throw you into hypersleep until the rest of your limbs fall off, but we will take away the medicine. And you’ll be feral again. And we will lock you in a room with no windows. But mostly, you’re gonna do it because it’s a chance, isn’t it? I’m sure you’ll make the most of any opportunity we give you to get, you know. Whatever it is that you actually want.

BRYONY

And what do I want?

WARREN

I mean…

BRYONY

What do I want?

WARREN

I know right? It’s like our anniversary all over again.

BRYONY

Can you still pick up supermarket flowers and a Michael Bublé CD these days?

WARREN

Oh… I used to hear you humming that shit in the kitchen. It’s cold, I’m going in, enjoy the Highland breeze.

[WARREN STARTS TO HEAD BACK INSIDE]

BRYONY

Look at us. The inventor of hypersleep, and the man whose genes made it all happen, in a world of people either desperate to Kontinue or desperate to kill anyone who does. Both in the custody of the world’s leading cryo-terrorist. I wonder what Aubrey Wood has in store for the both of us -

WARREN

You know, I don’t know if it’s the voice, or the clothes, or if it’s just being in the future. But your puppet master schtick just doesn’t work anymore.

BRYONY

I needed two hands to hold all the strings.

[AN ALARM BEGINS TO SOUND. THE DOOR BACK TO THE STATION OPENS AND GRACE STICKS HIS HEAD OUT]

BRYONY

Fucks sake…

WARREN

Fucks sake…

GRACE

Both of you, back inside. Now.

[WARREN ENTERS THE CONTROL ROOM - THE MAIN CENTRE OF OPERATIONS AT RED VALLEY - TO A HUBBUB OF ACTIVITY. THERE ARE AT LEAST A DOZEN PEOPLE PRESENT]

STEVIE

When do we press go?

MARMITE

I don’t want to press go, we shouldn’t even have brought it inside.

MALCOLM

I agree. Take it outside and smash it up.

STEVIE

We scanned it.

MARMITE

You scanned it.

[EVERYONE SPEAKS AT THE SAME TIME]

STEVIE (overlapping)

Oh, shut your mouth Marmite.

HESTER (overlapping)

Shut up Marmite.

AUBREY

Oh, give it a rest. I asked her to bring it in.

GRACE

Marmite, don’t be derogatory to Stevie’s work.

[WARREN SPEAKS UP]

WARREN

Uh. What’s all the fuss about?

AUBREY

Come on, let’s play it. Warren, come in, come in.

WARREN

What is that?

AUBREY

That is a messenger drone. It just arrived.

MARMITE

It looks like a messenger drone.

MALCOLM

Indeed.

AUBREY

Marmite! Shut up! It’s a messenger drone. It’s been scanned. There aren’t any signals of any kind coming or going out of it, and if it was going to kill us all it would’ve done it already. It is a crappy old Overhead messenger drone and nothing more. Stevie, play the message.

STEVIE

At last.

MALCOLM

I hope you’re right about this.

AUBREY

I’m right, Malcolm. Oh, and someone get ready to catch Warren, he’s about to have a nerdgasm.

WARREN

Why would I do that?

HESTER

The message is going to look like the Princess Leia hologram from Star Wars.

WARREN

Say wuuuut -

STEVIE

Here we go.

[THE FLICKERING NOISE OF A RECORDED MESSAGE STARTING UP. THE IMAGE OF CLIVE SCHILL, FORMER CEO OF OVERHEAD INDUSTRIES. FROM THE OFF, HE SOUNDS WEARY, TIRED, PROJECTING ONLY DESPERATION. HIS BLUSTER AND CONFIDENCE IS GONE]

CLIVE

Alright. This is a message for Aubrey Wood, if she’s still alive. If she’s not, this is a message for whoever’s keeping the lights on at Red Valley. My name is Clive Schill. You might have heard of me.

[CLIVE PAUSES, AND THE ROOM TAKES THE MOMENT TO REACT. THEY ALL SPEAK AT THE SAME TIME. WARREN IS SURPRISED, THE REST OF THE ROOM REACTS LIKE SOMEONE THEY WENT TO SCHOOL WITH HAS JUST SPOTTED THEM AT THE BAR]

WARREN

Oh my god… Clive Schill is still around?!

HESTER

Oh my god…

GRACE

Wow.

AUBREY

Of course. He’s a cockroach.

MALCOLM

He hasn’t aged terribly well, has he?

CLIVE

So, we know you had a special delivery recently. Our very own Bryony Halbech. Given no one even knew she was still alive, she was on the other side of the planet and the world’s infrastructure currently seems to be made out of Duplo it must’ve been incredibly difficult to both find her and bring her all the way home. So, well done you.

REBECCA

Hurry up Clive, we haven’t got all day.

[A FEMALE VOICE IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE RECORDING MUTTERS SOMETHING INAUDIBLE TO HURRY HIM ALONG]

CLIVE

Yeah, yeah alright. Right. We don’t know why you want her, but if you’ve dragged her across the world, you probably don’t want her dead, not yet anyway. To be honest, I don’t care what you do with her as long as she doesn’t come to harm. We’re simply asking that you sort your business quickly, and once you do, hand Halbech over to us. In return, you get to keep Red Valley as your little… nursing home, whatever it is. We won’t tell the Bastion that you’re here. Or the nature of your heretical little enterprise. If you refuse, and I really hope you don’t because it will be a huge pain in the arse for everyone involved-

[ANOTHER GRUMBLE IN THE BACKGROUND]

CLIVE

What? It will! If you refuse…well. Red Valley is still technically Overhead property. So, as your landlord, we would have to issue a strongly worded notice of eviction. Extremely strongly worded. We’ll get back in touch in a couple of days and we can begin to organise transport for Halbech. Let’s not piss about.

[PAUSE. CLIVE REFERS OFF-HOLOGRAM AGAIN]

CLIVE

Right is that inside your two minutes or however long it needs to be?

[THE FEMALE VOICE ANSWERS AND GETS LOUDER AS IT APPROACHES CLIVE, BEFORE FINALLY JOINING HIM IN THE PROJECTION. IT’S REBECCA LANDRY]

REBECCA

Yeah, that’s great. Actually, we do have some time left over. Hello everyone, I’m Rebecca Landry, CEO of Overhead Industries. Just so there’s no ambiguity here. We want Bryony so we can recreate the Kontinue tech. We want to do that so we can go back into hypersleep and try and sidestep this slow motion extinction event that we’re all living through. Actually, we’d like to try and save as many people as possible so, you know, there’s still a human race. So yes, weirdly enough it’s the evil tech corporation that wants to save mankind and your plucky rebellion that apparently wants to kill us all. You know, when I put it like that, really makes me think. Maybe you’re the bad guys. Like Clive said, you just want to stick to bumping off one granny at a time, fill your boots. Let the rest of us get on with saving the world.

[PAUSE]

REBECCA

There, that’s got to be two minutes surely -

[THE MESSAGE ENDS AND THEY BOTH FLICKER AWAY. A SHORT SILENCE]

AUBREY

Grace. How’s she doing?

GRACE

Bryony? She’s getting the medication. I cannot tell you how long it would take -

AUBREY

Warren, how did it go with her just now? How was she?

WARREN

How was she? Um, sarcastic… unrepentant… generally not nice…

AUBREY

Not so screamy and punchy then.

WARREN

Well no.

AUBREY

Grace, get your operating team together and start prepping. We’re doing it tonight.

GRACE

Tonight?

AUBREY

Gord, let them know everything you’re going to need in surgery.

GORD

Yes, Aubrey.

HESTER

Aubrey - is that even an option?

WARREN

Sorry, doing what? Gordon?

MARMITE

I thought they were giving us a few days.

WARREN

Are we - are you ready? Look, don’t… Don’t take anything I say into account versus actual medical stuff, I’m just – I… I mean, what are we talking about here -

GRACE

She might be able to make pithy one liners, but that does not mean she can manage an emergence. Of a mortally wounded subject after 40 years of suspended animation.

HESTER

Aubrey, we don’t know what Overhead will do. We don’t.

AUBREY

You’re right, we don’t know. We don’t know anything. We don’t have the contacts, we don’t have the resources. They could be a thousand miles away with nothing but a clapped out messenger drone or they could be on the other side of the mountain with a goddamn helicarrier. We don’t know.

WARREN

I’m sorry I still don’t really get the future, what are we actually weighing up here?

GRACE

Overhead might be planning to take Bryony by force.

WARREN

And that’s something we should definitely be worried about? I mean…it might just be those two goons. They didn’t look too scary.

MALCOLM

You didn’t know Overhead back then, and you don’t know them now. If they don’t seem like a threat, it will have been her choice. She’ll want you to underestimate her. To think you have the advantage.

WARREN

And how would you know that?

MALCOLM

It’s what I taught her to do. And she’s more ruthless than her father.

[PAUSE]

MALCOLM

Aubrey, it’s time.

AUBREY

Yes Malcolm, of course.

[SHE CROSSES THE ROOM OPENS THE DOOR]

GRACE

So, is the discussion over, or…

AUBREY

I’m taking Malcolm back to his quarters. Hester, we need to lock everything down. Everyone sub-level before it gets dark. Stevie, I want you checking over the defences then back down here. Valley Floor Defence System first. Grace, once you’ve rounded up your team, you’re in charge of getting Bryony Halbech to do what we need her to at any cost. Any more questions?

[SILENCE]

AUBREY

Right, we’re waking up Gordon Porlock tonight. Get to work.