Season One Episode Eight - Contact, Wait Out

SFX: a door creaks open and footsteps approach on stone. Mysterious music plays.

CINDRA: Your evening meal, your majesty.

SFX: something is set down and liquid is poured into a cup. 

VALENDRA: Thank you, Cindra. Right now I believe yours may be the only face I am happy to see coming through that door.

CINDRA: You’re kind, Your Majesty. But I’ve no doubt Inquisitor Vadric will return soon, wherever his duties have taken him.

VALENDRA: I am not so certain. His duties this time are… quite unlike any before. I hope he is well.

CINDRA: I have faith.

SFX: footsteps recede.

VALENDRA: May ask you something, Cindra?

SFX: footsteps stop.

CINDRA: Of course, my lady.

VALENDRA: Working here, in the palace, among the Royal Court. You must know of the Outsiders that have appeared from beyond the veil.

CINDRA: Such things are not my place to know, your grace.

VALENDRA: Yet you do know. You are privy to such things as to shake your faith, and yet you continue to believe. Answer me. Do you ever question if it is truly necessary for our people to be sacrificed?

SFX: mysterious music plays.

CINDRA: … I do at times lament their passing, mistress. But I have faith. It is the will of Advar that their living spirits be given to preserve his Sanctum.

VALENDRA: If that is so, then why did you accept my actions after I chose not to sacrifice the village on Sirianadin? Surely I have contravened the will of Advar?

CINDRA: Advar works through you, my lady. If it was your choice to spare those villagers from sacrifice, then Advar willed it so. Things are the only way they could be.

VALENDRA: And what of the Outsiders? I wish to understand them, and The Faith would call that heresy. Perhaps they are right. But in truth, they frighten me. Not with their intent or their power, but with their very existence. If there is life beyond the Sanctum, could there be more than just these Outsiders? How far does creation reach beyond what we thought were its boundaries? And- and in a world so vast, what significance is left for our people? What meaning? But one scattering of life among the infinite. The centre of nothing. Perhaps this same fear is why so many would see them destroyed and forgotten. The comfort of ignorance.

CINDRA: If I may, you should eat and rest well, Your Majesty. You are understandably unsettled by Inquisitor Vadric’s absence. I am certain that his skill and determination will carry him through whatever adversities he may be facing…

SFX: a piercing tone sours the music as it crescendos. 

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle music. Footsteps walk down a hallway, then a card is tapped against a reader. A positive beep and a door whooshes open. Footsteps continue a few steps.  A comm clicks on.

ELIZABETH: Good news Vadric, after all this time I think we might have finally figured out some food that’ll agree with you. In fact, a friend of mine has been obsessing over it to a frankly concerning degree. He wants you to fill out this feedback questionnaire once you’ve tried it but you don’t have to do that.

VADRIC (over comms): Iritim, my thanks for your efforts. I shall gladly sample it.

ELIZABETH: Cycle this into the cell for him please Corporal.

MARINE CORPORAL: Right away, director.

SFX: a series of small pneumatic hisses and whooshes. The comm clicks on.

ELIZABETH: There’s also something else for you in there Vadric, since you’ve been helping us learn about your people, I thought I might return the favour.

VADRIC (over comms): This, Iarefa... What is this?

ELIZABETH: It’s an image I took with one of the Avalon’s telescopes when we first arrived here. At the edge of the nebula, the peripheral clouds were thin enough to capture it. That’s the Tantalus Cluster. It’s where we came here from. That’s home.

SFX: (through comms) a swallow and a shuffle.

VADRIC (over comms): Azida raru vis...

ELIZABETH: You okay?

VADRIC (over comms): These other lights, fisal, behind and around. They are more stars?

SFX: (through comms) chewing.

ELIZABETH: Actually, those are galaxies.

SFX: (through comms) cutlery clatters.

VADRIC (over comms): I don’t understand.

ELIZABETH: Each is made up of billions of stars, and there are billions of galaxies in the space we’re able to observe alone. What you call The Sanctum sits at the farthest edge of a galaxy we call Morgana.

SFX: (through comms) shuffling.

VADRIC (over comms): What you say is... difficult to believe… callandra. No edge. No veil. How can anything be without end? I… en caveda, it is… discomforting.

ELIZABETH: Oh, I’m sorry, I should have thought. This must be quite overwhelming for you to see. I wanted you to keep the picture but if you’d prefer I could...

VADRIC (over comms): No. Arafal. Thank you, but I will accept your gift. En a mova.

ELIZABETH: I’m glad. 

SFX: a comm clicks off. Then clicks on again.

ELIZABETH: Have none of your people ever gone beyond the clouds? Seen past them?

VADRIC (over comms): Our people are forbidden from travelling in space. Only a few of us are allowed aboard the camosidava, the sacred lightships, but we do not travel beyond the veil. It is avaporamefa. Sacrilegious.

ELIZABETH: But you came close. You came to us. You’ve never said why. Why tell us about your people, why come here?

VADRIC (over comms): I am sorry. You have been kind, and I do not wish to deceive. But what you ask is… ilaim. Personal. I am... burdened.

ELIZABETH: That’s okay, Vadric. You don’t have to answer. I hope you enjoy the food.

SFX: a comm clicks off

VADRIC (over comms): Diom lin.

SFX: footsteps, then a door whooshes open. The footsteps go through the door and it whooshes shut behind them. 

REDFIELD: This is all very touching to watch, Director, but I doubt you’ll get it to tell you what it knows by making friends with it.

ELIZABETH: He has a name. I’d like you to start using it. He’s done nothing to harm us, and he deserves to have his privacy respected as much as anyone’s. So that’s what we’re going to do.

REDFIELD: As you wish. But he did refuse to tell you his purpose here.

ELIZABETH: I think he’s still figuring that out for himself.

SFX: Intro music starts - “Wilderness” by Taylor Davis.

NARRATOR: The Sojourn, Season One Episode Eight: Contact, Wait Out by Daniel Orrett. Starring Larissa Thompson as Captain Cassandra Farren, Emily Serdahl as Director Elizabeth Ancelet, Laura Faye Smith as Tamara Melari, and Ben Prendergast as Mathias Croft, and Stephen Trafford as Inquisitor Castian Vadric. Also featuring Lelia Symington as Empress Valendra the Sixth, Matthew Kaufman as Lieutenant Commander Jasper Ravi, Tarek Esaw as Ensign Arin Bankole, Tim Parker as Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis, and Amy Kay as Cindra Tacira, with special guest stars Jimmy Lockett as Vice Admiral Winston Redfield and Angela Tran as Captain Maxine Blake.

SFX: Theme music continues.

SFX: Cosmic ambience and gentle music plays.

ELIZABETH: Director’s log: 100th of Equinox, 305 PCU. Today marks four months since we moved the Avalon into orbit of the vitrified planet, and established the harvesting outpost we now call The Greenhouse. And tomorrow will be three months since the original estimate for our return to Tantalus. In all probability we’ve been long since given up for dead. So under the circumstances, it feels strange to report that things are going remarkably well. We’ve extracted a huge amount of flora from the planet, and yet it seems to grow back almost as fast as we can harvest it. As for Admiral Redfield, he may be a pain in the ass but he’s certainly organised. Turns out he picked up a reputation in the war as kind of a logistics whiz. He’s cut down a lot of the workload in running this place. I’ve even had time to start studying the pulsar in my off hours. Its resolvable masscons seem to conflict with our models for neutron stars. But that's one mystery among many right now, so it will just have to wait its turn.

- Scene Change -

CROFT: I can’t believe you still haven’t gone and talked to him. He’s a cool guy!

MEDS: He’s an alien.

CROFT: Ah, he’s a cool alien!

MEDS: His buddies have been trying to blow us all up since we got here.

CROFT: Yeah and five years ago half the people on this fleet’s buddies were trying to blow up the other half’s buddies but here we are.

MEDS: Isn’t it kinda weird? People just going up to his cell and gawping at him?

CROFT: He’s chilled out. He’s just kinda… I don’t know, genuine. Anyway, it’s alien life! The biggest and most important thing that’s ever happened, like ever, is sat up on deck six chatting with the catering guys and you’re not even curious?

MEDS: Now you sound like Elizabeth.

SFX: the door whooshes open and footsteps approach.

CROFT Hey skip, tell Meds she should go and see Vadric.

CASS: You should go and see Vadric he’s a cool guy.

MEDS: Yeah, yeah.

SFX: footsteps continue past.

CASS: Hey Croft, did you ever fix that 31U with the shitty firing pin?

CROFT: Oh yeah, it’s in the arms locker.

SFX: distant metallic clattering.

CASS: Got it, thanks.

MEDS: You going to the range?

SFX: the footsteps come back.

CASS: Taking Liz down after the staff meeting. She’s graduated to carbines so we may need to evacuate the deck. See you guys later.

SFX: gun mechanism fiddling sounds. Footsteps walk away.

MEDS: Have fun.

CROFT: See you Skip.

SFX: footsteps recede and the door whooshes shut.

CROFT: Wait a minute, who’s Liz?

MEDS: Your boss? Our client? Red hair, talks a lot?

CROFT: We’re calling her Liz now?

MEDS: One of us is.

CROFT: … What?

MEDS: I’ll explain it to you when you’re older.

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle chatter on the Ops Deck.

REDFIELD: I appreciate that Director, but I believe our focus must soon change toward aggressively seeking out the three remaining gate components. The success we’ve had in harvesting food from this planet will count for nothing if we have no way to establish a supply line back to Tantalus.

ELIZABETH: Even with the return gate completed, that supply line would only be secure for as long as our infrastructure in this system remains hidden from the Advari. In the long term I think our only hope is to establish a dialog with them.

SFX: a distant door whooshes open.

RAVI: From what we’ve learned in your interviews with Vadric ma’am, that does seem increasingly unlikely.

SFX: a distant door whooshes closed.

REDFIELD: The Lieutenant Commander is right. Our best course of action now would be to scout the area where my fleet engaged the Advari, search for any trace of the Gatehauler that went missing.

CASS: That’s an area where the Advari have found us in the past. We could risk detection by returning there. We need to take great care not to lead them back to this system.

RAVI: I should think that would be obvious, Captain.

ELIZABETH: From what Vadric has said the Advari have an Empire that stretches across most of this nebula. Anywhere we go we’re risking detection. We’re lucky we’ve seen so little of them so far.

SFX: uneasy yet curious music begins playing.

BANKOLE: Excuse me ma’am, I'm picking up a signal of some kind. It seems artificial but I can’t quite make it out.

ELIZABETH: Thank you, Arin. On speakers please.

SFX: a repeating double static pattern can be heard.

CASS: Are we sure this is artificial? Sounds like solar activity or some kind of malfunction.

SFX: a comm rings. 

BANKOLE: There’s a repeating structure to the signal, Captain, and the source is external, seems to be very long range.

SFX: the comm line connects.

CROFT (over comms): Hey, Ops? Guinevere here. Sorry to interrupt but are you guys picking up that weird signal on widebeam?

CASS: Yeah, Croft, we’re looking at it now.

CROFT (over comms): I think I know what this is, skip. It’s an old Merician trick for warning merchant ships about pirates without giving the game away. It’s meant to sound enough like random static that cheap transceivers don’t pick it up.

ELIZABETH: Good catch, Croft. Can you clear it up for us?

CROFT (over comms): One step ahead of you boss, should be coming through to you now.

SFX: the static morphs and crackles, as if tuning an old radio. A distorted voice begins to be heard, stuttering and skipping. Then it becomes audible, though still staticky. 

BLAKE (transmission): To anyone receiving, this is Captain Maxine Blake of the Merician treasure ship Friendly Expedience. The gate jump dropped us and the Swift Conveyance near one of the Gatehaulers, but we can’t get a clear fix on our location. There’s something else moving around out here. Our escort went to check it out but we haven’t heard back from them. If anyone from the Avalon or the rest of the fleet receives this, please respond… 

SFX: Two beeps, then the message begins again.

REDFIELD: Ensign Bankole, is there a timestamp on this message?

BANKOLE: Yes, Admiral. 46th Solstice, last year.

RAVI: Eight months of light lag. They must have sent that message right after they arrived.

ELIZABETH: But we can use that to extrapolate their distance from here. And the signal gives us a bearing.

REDFIELD: They mentioned a Gatehauler, that’s something we cannot afford to ignore. But I seriously doubt they’re still alive after eight months out there.

CASS: We are.

RAVI: If the Lauralyn Conduits extend into that region the way we think they do, we could have a ship there inside of a week.

CASS: With the Shabayev on station to protect the fleet and The Greenhouse, we can spare the Guin to check it out.

ELIZABETH: Alright, then we have a volunteer. Stock up with whatever you need and get ready to cast off at eight bells tomorrow morning.

CASS: Will do.

ELIZABETH: Alright, thanks everyone. Dismissed.

SFX: multiple sets of footsteps recede. A door whooshes open.

ELIZABETH: But not you Cass. We’re going to deck six, I’ve got an idea.

- Scene Change -

SFX: A door whooshes open and two sets of footsteps approach.

VADRIC (over comms): Diom lin.

SFX: a comm clicks on.

ELIZABETH: Vadric. You remember Captain Farren.

VADRIC (over comms): Yes. I hope you are well.

CASS: Thank you Vadric, I am.

ELIZABETH: Captain Farren is taking her ship into a part of the Sanctum we haven’t visited before, to look for some other humans we think may be trapped out there. 

SFX: rustling, jingling, then an electronic beep. Quiet electronic whirring.

ELIZABETH: This is the region they’ll be travelling into, we were wondering if you knew anything about it?

VADRIC (over comms): Those are the Diaconate Reaches. A part of the Empire far from the throneworld that surrounds a planet called Deacon’s Post. I have known many clerics who were sent to priories there, but until recently I had never left the inner worlds myself. I was travelling to Deacon’s Post, but the ship I was searching for encountered me long before I reached it. It is calutiata. A shame. I had hoped to see the Reaches.

CASS: You might just have your chance.

ELIZABETH: Captain Farren and I have been talking about releasing you from your cell. You’ve done a lot to help us and I believe we can trust you. I’d like you to go with Captain Farren and help her in her search. Advise her on the area she’ll be travelling through. Do you think you can do that?

VADRIC (over comms): Um nidra. I can. I... appreciate your trust.

ELIZABETH: Open the cell please, Corporal.

MARINE CORPORAL: Yes ma’am.

SFX: The cell door slides open, and it morphs into a descending elevator sound.

- Scene Change -

SFX: a pneumatic hiss and a door whooshes open. Footsteps. 

CROFT: Morning, skip.

CASS: Check it out guys.

ELIZABETH: We brought a guest.

SFX: a slow set of footsteps. 

VADRIC: Lindioma. Hello. Ah.. Morning Pleasantries.

CROFT: Ayy, my man’s Vadric’s out of his box.

SFX: gentle back patting. 

VADRIC: That is what took place!

CROFT: How was the chestnut broth? Eh? I threw in some of the root vegetables they’ve been farming on The Greenhouse. Thought some local stuff might agree with you more.

VADRIC: It was very agreeable, thank you.

CROFT: You hear that Meds? It was very agreeable.

MEDS: Congratulations.

CROFT: Oh this is Meds, Vadric. She’s very excited to meet you.

VADRIC: En lian adavua. Your body is in formidable physical condition.

MEDS: Erm… Thanks.

SFX: footsteps go up a ladder, then continue muffled. A muffled door whooshes open.

ELIZABETH: We finished our long range scans on the area the distress signal came from. Closest landmark seems to be an isotope-poor gas giant. Pretty barren from the looks of things but it should give you something to look out for. All the nav data we have has been sent over.

CASS: Okay. Looks like it’s time to go then.

ELIZABETH: Yeah, looks like it.

CASS: Suddenly kinda wishing you hadn’t learned your lesson about not coming with me on scouting runs.

SFX: a couple steps.

ELIZABETH: You didn’t know what you were missing yet.

SFX: a kiss.

ELIZABETH: Hurry back.

CASS I will.

VADRIC: I see you are conjugated.

SFX: Cass yells. Elizabeth laughs.

CASS: You move like, really quietly, Vadric.

ELIZABETH: Alright, good luck everyone! First round’s on me when you get back.

CROFT (muffled): Thanks boss!

CASS: Alright everyone, let’s get going.

- Scene Change -

SFX: bright, fun nautical music plays. A door whooshes open.

CROFT: Okay Vaddy, you get yourself strapped in over here, and if you have any questions about the ship, I will happily talk your ear off.

SFX: switches are flipped, belts buckle, beeps beep. 

CROFT: Avalon TC, two-seven oh-niner, request permission to cast off.

BANKOLE (over comms): Permission granted Guinevere, fair winds. 

SFX: a distant, muffled clunk, followed by vector bursts.

CASS: Take her out Croft, straight and steady.

CROFT: Aye aye, skipper.

SFX: vector bursts, then an engine accelerates. The lively fiddle music swells, then fades.

- Scene Change -

SFX: footsteps finish going down a ladder.

MEDS: Hey! Get away from there. This is the avionics bay, you can’t be in here.

SFX: footsteps quickly approach.

VADRIC: Ven lutia. I apologize. I did not know. I-

SFX: A footstep.

MEDS: Don’t move. Stay where you are. What’s that in your hand?

VADRIC: Oh. Enodazara. It is… vul iarefa ...a printed image.

MEDS: Did you take it from one of the consoles?

VADRIC: No. From Elizabeth. Before we left. It was a gift.

MEDS: Oh.

SFX: gentle music plays.

VADRIC: I did not mean to cause distress. This room was… quiet. Your pilot… is not.

MEDS: Yeah. He means well. Could I see the image?

VADRIC: Oh, of course. It is a iarefasalo. A vision of your Tantalus Cluster.

SFX: footsteps, then quick rustling

MEDS: Huh. I’ve never seen it from the outside before.

VADRIC: Canidrim. You did not, look back? When you came to the Sanctum?

MEDS: I guess I didn’t. Just never occurred to me.

VADRIC: Can you show… From where you hail? On this image?

MEDS: Oh... Yeah. I’m from, somewhere around here on the right. A desert planet. Called Maiala’s Rest. But I... haven’t been there in a long time.

VADRIC: You do not wish to go back?

MEDS: No. I… I don’t know. But it doesn't matter, I can’t. The people there won’t allow me to return.

VADRIC: Why?

SFX: clothing rustles.

MEDS: There was… a war. I fought for the other side. Against my people.

VADRIC: Your people… lost?

MEDS: Everybody lost.

VADRIC: It is... strange to imagine. Worlds and peoples and wars within this… distant light. From here, it looks so very… neot?

MEDS Small.

SFX: the music fades

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle rattling and groaning from the Guin.

CASS: If I’m reading this right, it looks like we’ll need to exit the conduit soon, then cross part of this solar system under our own power to reach another conduit on the far side. That one should take us where we need to go.

CROFT: Yep. If I ramp us up to 7G, it’ll only take us five hours to get across. The dampers can take most of it so we’ll only feel about 2G. Not the most relaxing way to travel but I reckon this isn’t a neighbourhood we want to hang around in.

CASS: Let’s do it.

SFX: comm opens

CASS: Meds, can you bring Vadric up here, we’re about to leave the conduit.

SFX: the door whooshes open.

MEDS: Already here. Strap yourself in Vadric.

VADRIC: I shall.

SFX: seat belts buckle. A rapid deceleration and gentle return to quiet.

CASS: What have we got Meds?

SFX: telemetry noises.

MEDS: Main sequence star. Not seeing any ships or installations. Looks like there’s a sparse asteroid belt and one large planet.

CASS: Can we put a scope on that planet?

MEDS: Sure.

SFX: beeps. 

VADRIC: Deacon’s Post.

CASS: Vadric?

SFX: mysterious music begins playing

VADRIC: This world. En a veda. I have seen the images. Deacon’s Post. An important giftworld, home to many Advari.

CASS: Meds, check again for any ship profiles. Croft, be-

CROFT: Be ready to get the hell out of dodge, I got you skip.

SFX: a beep.

MEDS: Confirmed. No contacts.

CASS: What are we reading from that planet?

MEDS: Rocky surface, breathable atmosphere. But no clearly visible structures or technological signatures. No immediate signs of life. I’m picking up trace fluorocarbons in the atmosphere. Could suggest there was once artificial infrastructure, but at this rate of decay, we’re talking thousands of years ago, minimum.

VADRIC: But I do not understand. I saw clerics sent to temples here only days before I left the throneworld.

CROFT: You sure this is the same planet Vadric?

VADRIC: I am certain. We have all seen Deacon’s Post pictured many times, and on all the maps, this is where it appears.

CASS: Hmm. Alright Croft, sou’east-by-east-a-quarter-east, and a slow trim up to 7G. Let’s get to where we’re going. 

CROFT: You got it, skip.

SFX: cranking and beeping. A klaxon blares, then the Guin’s engine fires. Gentle shaking and rattling fades out. 

- Scene Change -

SFX: mysterious music fades out. Engine noise resumes. 

CROFT: Okay, that’s our decel burn done. Cutting thrust in three. Two. One.

SFX: The engine fades out and someone lets out a sigh of minor relief.

MEDS: Conduit at four-zero, mark oh-six. Sixteen thousand kilometers.

CASS: Alright, you guys get some rest, I'll take this trick. My spacecraft.

SFX: seatbelts unbuckle.

CROFT: Your spacecraft.

SFX: More unbuckling. 

CROFT: Come on Vadric, let’s head down to the galley.

SFX: Several footsteps go towards a door which whooshes open for them. Footsteps go down a hallway.

VADRIC: The… conduits, as you call them. My people simply call them al idaval, the pathways. They are said to have been woven by Advar, so that we may be united by his truth.

CROFT: Huh. Is that what you believe?

VADRIC: I… am no longer sure.

CROFT: Nothing wrong with that. Bit of healthy scepticism never hurt anyone.

SFX: clothing rustles. 

VADRIC: Among my people, it has hurt a great many.

SFX: hair is scratched.

CROFT: Oh. That was probably a stupid thing for me to say then. Sorry mate, I'm a bit tired.

VADRIC: It is quite alright. The ships we are searching for, to rescue. They are your people, yes?

CROFT: Yeah. They’ve been out here a good while now but I hope they’re okay.

VADRIC: You also have been long away from your homeland?

CROFT: Yeah, it’s been a few years since I've been home now.

SFX: a door whooshes open, then closes behind them.

VADRIC: That seems a common factor aboard this vessel.

CROFT: Ha, yeah I suppose it is. But it’s pretty common for us Mericians. Most of us don’t live on planets. We live on ships and stations. Spend most of our lives wandering and looking for work.

SFX: water bubbles gently. Beeping and rustling, pans clattering, food sizzling.

VADRIC: Dorovita. It is… a very foreign concept to me. Individuals owning craft like this one. Travelling and seeking prosperity without restriction. Most in our Empire never leave the villages they are born in. Their lives are spent merely working the land and attending temple.

CROFT: Must be kind of crazy for you to be out here with us then.

VADRIC: Nol irit. It is a fascinating experience. Though… I feel surprise. At how easily you all seem to take to this life of wandering. Do you not miss your homeland, your family?

CROFT: Honestly, I kinda think of this ship as my home these days. My family. But you’re right, I don’t check back with my parents or my friends back home as much as I should. I do miss them. I tell you what. If we ever get out of here, the first thing I'll do is call home and tell them a friendly alien from beyond the void reminded me I was taking them for granted.

VADRIC: That is wise. I am proud to be accredited.

CROFT: (laughs) No problem.

SFX: food sizzles, then fades out.

- Scene Change -

SFX: majestic exploratory music swells, then settles into lively curious music as the engine noise fades in.

MEDS: Coming up on the conduit exit, this is our stop.

CASS: Brace for deceleration.

SFX: rapid deceleration as they leave the conduit. Vectors fire. 

CROFT: We’re at stationkeeping.

CASS: Alright, same drill. What have we got?

MEDS: Cass, these are the correct coordinates for that gas giant the director told us about, right?

CASS: Should be. Are we picking it up on scopes?

MEDS: I guess so but… Check this out.

SFX: A beep.

CROFT: Woooah that is big.

MEDS: If I'm reading this right, it’s about the largest gas giant ever recorded. About three times the size of Arasin Maxima back home. And it’s packed with usable volatiles and fusion fuels. You could supply an entire navy off this thing for decades.

CASS: But the Avalon’s long range scans said it was barren. No useful isotopes and average dimensions.

MEDS: Yeah I don’t know what to tell you Cass, there’s no other gas giants in this system. Somehow those scans were very wrong.

CASS: Are we picking up any ships?

SFX: static starts.

MEDS: Doesn't look like it, but that gas giant is putting out a lot of interference.

SFX: static clicks off. 

CROFT: Wait a second, show that signal data again? 

SFX: static starts again.

CROFT: What’s that, by the southern pole?

MEDS: Plasma wave signals, from the ionosphere.

CROFT: Nah nah, look at that. That same pattern is cropping up in a loop, that ain’t natural.

CASS: More Merician messaging tricks?

CROFT: I reckon so.

CASS: Alright Croft, head us toward that polar region, ahead slow. Just into the cloud level but keep our orbit stable. Let’s check it out.

CROFT: Aye aye skip.

SFX: cranking, and a gentle acceleration starts. 

MEDS: We’re getting a tightbeam, probably from the Mericians.

CASS: Can you tune any of the interference out?

MEDS: Doing my best. Just give me one more…

SFX: static distorts, then an incoming comm rings.

BLAKE (over comms, distorted): ---uinevere. Do you read us!? ------ ----silent runni—imm—! -------erious danger. ----ay again, cut engi---- and —-- silent running --ediat—

CROFT: Where’s that coming from?

SFX: static.

MEDS: Still no fix. All our scopes are blind in here.

CASS: Switch to internal heat sinks. Rig for silent running, now.

SFX: Whirring down sounds as the engine shuts off. 

CROFT: Running quiet skip.

SFX: a trilling beep.

MEDS: Contact! Partial visual on the aft scopes.

CASS: The Mericians?

SFX: warning beeping.

MEDS: Not sure if-- Advari Lightship! Eight hundred kilometers range!

CROFT: Holy shit it’s on top of us.

CASS: Kill the gravity, full shutdown! Everything but life support, now!

SFX: switches are flipped, then whirring as everything else goes eerily quiet. Something echoes distantly.

CROFT: Zero emissions, skip.

MEDS: Six point eight hundred kilometers. Course two-eight-zero parabolic, they’re gonna pass right by us.

VADRIC: We must move away, we will be detected.

CASS: If we light the drive they won’t be able to miss us.

SFX: hydraulics hiss as a chair is turned.

CROFT: Hey, skip, I got an idea. If we decompress the port torpedo slit and blow out the port-aft water tanks, the recoil might be enough to quietly push us out of their way.

SFX: distant, muffled rumbling approaches

CASS: Do it.

SFX: a sustained beep

CROFT: Alright here we go.

SFX: A gust of rapid decompression and a jolt. The rumbling gets louder and faster

MEDS: That gave us some distance, eight seconds til they pass us.

CROFT: Don’t anyone drop any spanners.

SFX: a creepy, muffled wail fades in, then the wail fades away and the rumbling passes. 

CASS: Are we good?

MEDS: I think so, they’ve passed out of firing range.

CASS: Okay.

CROFT: Bloody hell, that was brown trousers time.

SFX: gentle music plays

CASS :Good thinking with the decompression Croft, well done.

MEDS: Getting tightbeam ranging signals from three ships. Patchy but it looks like a gatehauler and two Merician treasure ships. I think one of them wants us to dock.

CASS: Alright. Give it another five minutes to be safe, then head us toward them under vectors only.

CROFT: Aye aye, skip.

SFX: a short hydraulic hiss as a chair moves.

CASS: Sorry Vadric, but I think it might be a good idea for you to stay on the ship for this part.

VADRIC: Roia viso. If you wish.

- Scene Change -

SFX: electronic buzzing and mechanical whirring. 

BLAKE: Cycle the airlock.

MERICIAN GUARD: Aye cap.

SFX: Hand pumping, then a harsh beep. A door slides open.

BLAKE: Welcome aboard. We’re damn glad to see you Captain…?

CASS: Farren. Privateer. This is Meds and Croft.

CROFT: Nice to meet you, Captain! Glad to see some folks from back home still kicking out here.

BLAKE: Feeling’s mutual. A freelancer then. You from the Keep?

CROFT: Yeah, close enough, you?

BLAKE: Ah, the Middle Beams. City girl.

CROFT: Won’t hold it against you.

MERICIAN GUARD: What the hell is that!

SFX: guns rack. 

VADRIC: Oh, enodazara, I apologise, I wanted only to look, I-

CASS: Ah shit. I told you to stay on the ship.

BLAKE: Is that one of the-?

CASS: Okay, his name is Vadric, and he’s with us. I can explain everything.

SFX: footsteps.

CROFT: I’ll vouch for him, Captain. Vadric’s just curious, he won’t cause you any trouble.

SFX: quiet sparking and life support whirring. 

BLAKE: Alright. You heard the man. Everybody relax.

MERICIAN GUARD But cap… it’s—

BLAKE: Are you deaf? I said guns down!

MERICIAN GUARD: Aye aye cap.

SFX: The guns are lowered. People mutter.

CASS: Do you have a wardroom, Captain? Anywhere we can catch each other up?

SFX: a pneumatic drill burrs

BLAKE: Yeah. Right this way.

SFX: the creaky ship sounds fade out with the footsteps. 

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle yet tense music plays. The janky life support sound resumes.

BLAKE Well it’s like I said in the message, Captain. We found the Gatehauler not long after we dropped out here. The crew and the Component over there were in good shape and we counted ourselves pretty lucky, until the locals showed up. …”Advari”, you called ‘em?

VADRIC: Yes.

BLAKE: First time we saw them they just appeared out of nowhere on the edge of the system, bushwhacked our PMC escort. Those guys were a bunch of grifters but the poor saps never deserved that. The science officer on the Conveyance reckons there’s some kind of anomaly out there that the alien ship comes out of.

CASS: They’re right. It’s a Lauralyn Conduit. They’re all over this nebula, we’ve been using them to get around just like the Advari do.

BLAKE: So more of the expedition survived then? The Avalon?

CASS: We’ve managed to pull together eight ships, including the Avalon and a Centran Ship of the Line, the Shabayev. But you’re the first we’ve seen in months.

BLAKE: We’ve been holed up in this gas giant since we got here. The alien ship seems to come and go at random, but I've got two treasure ships and a Gatehauler here, we’re slow as shit and you couldn’t ask for bigger targets. I’ve never been able to risk making a run for it.

CASS: How do you know it’s the same ship?

BLAKE: For the longest time we didn’t. But about four months ago it left for a while and then came back damaged. Its hull was cooked all down one side. Torn right up with huge segments missing.

MEDS: Oh shit, you don’t think…?

CASS: The ship the Bracewell hit with its reactor breach.

BLAKE: That’s not all though. Ever since it got back here that ship has been doing something, its hull gives off this bright glow all the time, and the structures that had been torn away have been growing back, like it’s healing itself. After four months that thing looks almost the way it did before it left.

CROFT: Shit. As if these things weren’t already creepy enough.

CASS: Vadric, do you know anything about that?

VADRIC: Carare vis. I was not aware that the holy lightships could do what you describe.

MEDS: Don’t take this the wrong way Vadric, but there sure seems to be a lot you don’t know about your own people.

VADRIC: So it would seem.

CROFT: Magic healing or not, we wouldn’t last ten seconds in a straight fight.

MEDS: I hate to have to be the ruthless pragmatist here, but the Guin’s the only ship we’ve got fast enough to have a chance of getting past that thing. You may want to start drawing straws for the twenty or thirty people who get to leave with us.

BLAKE: No chance. Sorry. You and yours should do whatever you think’s best, Captain, but my people are leaving together or not at all.

CASS: It doesn't matter anyway. Without that gatehauler and its cargo we’ll never finish the return gate back to Tantalus and then we’re all just a different kind of trapped. We need a way to get everyone out of here.

BLAKE: There was one plan we considered. We can only burn our engines unseen when that gas giant is breaking their line of sight. So we thought if we burned as hard as we could for as long as it was between us and the aliens, we could cut our drives and go ballistic right before we left the planet’s shadow, coast the rest of the way to this anomaly of yours without putting out any emissions. With a bit of luck, they might not spot us in time. But like I said, Captain, we’re slow as shit. The odds of them missing us aren’t great, not unless these aliens have really crappy eyesight.

VADRIC: We do not.

CASS: Meds, can you get our system telemetry on this table?

MEDS: Sure.

SFX: footsteps, then cranking. A positive beep. Electronic humming starts.

CASS: We might be able to make this work. If everyone sets off at the same time, and we put the Guin on a closer trajectory to the planet, we’ll emerge a fair way ahead of your ships. Then when you cut your drives, we’ll keep burning, make as much noise as we can. If their attention is on us, they’re less likely to spot you while your ships are coasting.

BLAKE: And what about you?

CASS: With all that momentum from burning around the gas giant, we’ll have a lot of starting speed and control of the engagement. We should be able to stay out of the Advari’s range and loop back to conduit once you’re all clear. We’ll have the wind on our side, in a manner of speaking.

VADRIC: This plan seems… farfetched.

CROFT: It’s worth the risk to get this lot out of here. I reckon I can do it, skip.

BLAKE: No offence but you’d better be sure. This is going to take some serious piloting.

MEDS: Oh he’ll do it. We’ll never hear the end of it, but he’ll do it.

CROFT: Awww. Thanks, Meds.

CASS: It’s our best chance. We’ll get you out of here.

BLAKE: I hope you’re right.

SFX: music swells, then fades out.

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle rumbling crescendos as the crew flip switches and such. A beep repeats.

MEDS: The Mericians are getting underway.

CASS: Alright Croft, trim for 7G. Don’t get too far ahead, we need them to spot us at just the right moment.

CROFT: Got it all timed out, skip. Lighting her up.

SFX: gentle electrical humming starts up, then fades out underneath a closer rumble that builds.

MEDS: Hey Vadric, do you think it’s worth us trying to hail that Advari ship? You might be able to talk them down.

SFX: vectors burst.

VADRIC: They would not answer. To speak with outsiders like yourselves, would be to admit that you exist. The Faith insists that you do not.

MEDS: But we’re right here.

VADRIC: They would correct that. When one holds a belief so unerringly and for so long, reality is immaterial.

MEDS: Yeah, I suppose so.

CROFT: Here we go, we’ll be in the open in three… two…

SFX: the rumble ends. A contact alarm beeps harshly.

MEDS: They see us. They’re reorienting.

CASS: Four points broad on the port bow Croft, three-one-eight-zero-zero and make a show of it

SFX: Another harsh beep. Ominous rumbling approaches.

MEDS: Wait wait wait. They’ve changed course again. They’re bearing away and headed clear past us.

SFX: the ominous rumbling gets closer, then recedes. 

CROFT: They’re going for the Mericians.

CASS: Shit.

SFX: Controls and a beep.

CASS: Captain you’ve been made, they’re headed right for you. Get all your ships under full burn now, we’ll run interference!

BLAKE (over comms): They’re on a clean intercept Guinevere! We’ll never make it to the conduit in time.

CROFT: I got an idea, skip, mind if I take the reins here?

CASS: Go for it. Put him through Meds.

CROFT: Captain Blake, I'm sending you a course heading, you need to get your ships turned around and headed straight back to that gas giant, right now. Low orbit, gravity assist trajectory.

MEDS: A slingshot manoeuvre?

BLAKE (over comms): I like your thinking but this course puts us too far inside the atmosphere. At that depth and speed the air resistance will tear us apart, my ships aren’t rated for that.

CROFT: No, but this one is. I’m gonna put us right in front of you when you hit that atmosphere, and use the Guin as a windbreak. We’ll create a slipstream for you to follow us through.

VADRIC: This plan is yet more farfetched.

BLAKE (over comms): For lack of a sane option I guess this is the plan. We’re on our way Guinevere, you better make sure you’re in position when we get there.

CASS: Get us back there Croft.

CROFT: This is gonna be a gnarly one folks. Everyone hold on to your teeth!

SFX: a warning klaxon blares

CASS: Brace for high-gee manoeuvre!

SFX: the engine fires abruptly, several people groan. A beep repeats.

CROFT: Ugh. 4.5G internal, 9.8G actual, dampers are maxed out!

SFX: shrill, insistent beeping.

CASS: Medical alert! Who is that?

MEDS: Vadric. The system’s flagging cardiovascular distress! Vadric, are you okay!?

VADRIC: I am well. Continue.

CASS: We don’t know how well his physiology can handle this!

CROFT: I don’t think I can slow us, skip. We won’t be in position in time!

VADRIC: You must continue, Captain. Do not stop.

CASS: Ahh, keep going! Meds, keep an eye on him!

MEDS: We’re coming up on the Merician convoy, the Advari are gaining on us fast!

CASS: Coming up on the intercept window. Rig the drive for atmosphere!

CROFT: Brace for turbulence, hitting atmo… now!

SFX: A bang and a shudder, howling winds, creaking. Beeping intensifies. Music is intense and exciting. 

MEDS: Vadric’s out cold!

CROFT: Is he alright?

MEDS: Not sure, the system can’t understand his biology properly.

CASS: Merician ships bearing one-seven-five mark oh-six. Bring her point oh-eight to starboard!

CROFT: I’m on it. I gotta retract the radiators, we’re getting too much drag.

CASS: We’re gonna build up a lot of heat in here.

CROFT: That’s gonna have to be a later problem.

SFX: cranking, then muffled mechanical whirring. 

MEDS: I’ve got beacon lock with the Mericians. They’re in our wake, only minor structural damage, looks like this is working.

CROFT: Velocity climbing, we’re about half way through.

SFX: A loud creaking tear reverberates through the ship.

CASS: What was that?

MEDS: We’ve lost the forward wideband antenna. Torn right off. Switching to backups.

CROFT: The hull’s steady, she’ll hold up.

SFX: sparking, creaking. 

MEDS: Thermal warning. Fire in the engine room, venting!

CROFT: She’ll hold up!

CASS: Where are the Advari?

MEDS: No clear visual. But the Mericians are still with us.

CROFT: This is it, breakaway speed in four seconds, everybody hold on!

SFX: Everything except the music is muffled suddenly, rumbling intensifies, then several whipping accelerations launch the ships away to safety and silence. 

- Scene Change -

SFX: muffled rumbling.

MEDS (muffled): Alright Vadric, take it easy.

SFX: the muffle lifts and sound becomes clear. Gentle medical beeping. 

CROFT: You doing alright, mate?

SFX: crackling of a medical blanket.

VADRIC: Keriot irit. That was… unpleasant.

CROFT: I’m sorry man, I just couldn’t let up, they would never have made it.

VADRIC: They are safe, your people? All of them?

CROFT: Yeah. Yeah they’re safe, we got everyone out.

VADRIC: Then I am glad of your choice. My discomfort was a trifling burden for such an outcome.

CROFT: Thanks Vaddy. Glad we had you with us, mate.

MEDS: But no more high-gee burns for you I'm afraid. Turns out your circulatory system really isn’t a fan of those.

VADRIC: That would indeed correlate with my experience.

SFX: fade out. 

- Scene Change -

SFX:  chill live fiddle music playing. A drink is poured.

BLAKE: *laughs* Well I hope you won’t mind me saying Captain, but most of the way through that I was pretty damn sure we’d bought the farm.

CASS: I know what you mean.

BLAKE: No way we’d ever have made it out of there without you. Or your pilot here, that was some crazy shit you pulled off there.

CROFT: Ah, I'm just glad everybody got out of there.

ELIZABETH: Me too.

CASS: You feeling any better Vadric?

SFX: a bottle is opened and set on a table. 

VADRIC: I was. Though now… En nidra canopa. I feel my coordination has become impaired.

MEDS: Oh, that might actually be the drink.

VADRIC: This beverage damages one’s mental acuity?

MEDS: Well… yeah. Temporarily. Well, unless you get hooked and drink it all the time.

VADRIC: This beverage is chemically dependence-forming, and poisonous to one’s mind and body?

MEDS: Well… medically I guess that’s… You know what, I'm gonna get you some water.

SFX: clattering and footsteps recede.

CROFT: We’re headed over to the Expedience. Been a long time since I was on a treasure ship and Captain Blake was kind enough to offer. Little slice of home.

BLAKE: Thanks again for saving our hides back there.

CASS: My pleasure, Captain.

SFX: a door whooshes open and footsteps walk away.

VADRIC: Director Elizabeth. When you asked before. Why I came here. I came here at another’s request. Someone I care for a very great deal. I confess, I do not know precisely what she wished me to do. But she is wise, and kind. I believe she wished me to come to you with respect and curiosity, even in defiance of the Advari Faith. To learn, and find commonality between our peoples. I miss her company. But I believe I am serving her well.

ELIZABETH: Wow. I guess we have her to thank for you being here then. I’m glad.

VADRIC: I am glad to be here also.

CASS: I gotta say, Vadric, it kinda sounds like you set off on a vague and dangerous quest to do something you didn’t fully understand, against the wishes of your entire race… because a girl you're crazy for asked you to.

VADRIC: Y-yes.

ELIZABETH: I think you might have found some of that commonality you were looking for already.

SFX: fade out. 

- Scene Change -

SFX: gentle, almost mediaeval music plays. A quill scratches on parchment. 

CINDRA: You are to deliver a morning homily at the Seminary Halls later this week, you will need to be fitted for new garments for the occasion.

VALENDRA: Because the several garments that have already been made for similar occasions are insufficient.

SFX: a distant door squeaks open. 

ARVANNIS (distantly): Your majesty.

VALENDRA: Lord Arvannis.

SFX: quill scratching stops. Echoing footsteps approach. 

CINDRA (whispering): Though it shames me to admit, I must confess I’ve always found the Lord Cardinal most… unpleasant.

VALENDRA (whispering): Believe me. Your instincts are well founded. (normal volume) That will be all, Cindra.

SFX: Footsteps recede, and a door opens then closes. 

ARVANNIS: Your majesty, as is forever my duty, I am once more obligated to share with you the various trivialities of the day. The Mirror of Contrition will be delayed by a month in bringing the tribute from Anesidora back to the Throneworld. The lightship has not yet returned from its other duties.

VALENDRA: One would think that our grand and ancient empire with all its many ships and armies would not struggle with such rudimentary logistics. But I shall not question the Lord Cardinal’s competence on matters he understands so much better than I. After all, I am but a humble empress.

ARVANNIS: In my time, I have served three monarchs, but none have sat the throne with quite your grace’s… elegance.

VALENDRA: Thank you.

ARVANNIS: It always seemed to me such an uncomfortable thing. Cold stone and sharp frame. Though perhaps in truth, it is not the purpose of the Throne to serve the monarch, but rather the opposite. After all, even the greatest of us are but mortal. Ephemeral. The Throne is eternal. You know, no-one even knows where it came from any more, it has been here long beyond memory.

VALENDRA: Perhaps it came to us from Advar himself. I'm quite sure they will say so, anyway. It is so often our answer when no answer can be found.

ARVANNIS: How little they understand. I am needed offworld, I was about to depart. Diom Lin, your eminence.

SFX: footsteps recede. The music swells, then fades away. 

SFX: The Sojourn Ending Theme plays.

NARRATOR: You have been listening to The Sojourn, Season One Episode Eight: Contact, Wait Out, written by Daniel Orrett. Produced by Daniel Orrett, Larissa Thompson, and Gabriel Fonseca. Creative consultation by Larissa Thompson. Scientific consultation by Gabriel Fonseca. Sound design and audio editing by Kennedy Phillips. Assembly editing by Aiden Brookstone. Audio mixing by Dave Chick, with additional voices by Dave Beamish and Katte Noel. Music by Sam Redfern, including a rearrangement of “Wilderness” by Taylor Davis which is used with the given permission of Taylor Davis representatives. Continue listening for the next episode.