MOONBASE THETA, OUT – S3 Prologue 1 – “One For The Money”
by D.J. Sylvis
ANNOUNCER
This is Consortium Channel 5, Moonbase Reports and Broadcasts – The Combined Corporate Moonbase Project – a sign of our ongoing success.
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SOUND: Chime – Bookend
(We are in the observatory on Moonbase Theta, just after the end of S2B2.)
SOUND: Computer systems still spinning up to speed, the occasional beep
SOUND: Various other observatory effects coming back in (ongoing)
(For a moment, all we hear is Tumnus reactivating their systems and Roger breathing.)
ROGER
(finally, tentatively)
Hello?
TUMNUS
Roger Bragado-Fischer, Communications Lead, Moonbase Theta.
ROGER
That … would be me.
TUMNUS
The variation of pitch in your voice indicates uncertainty.
ROGER
You think? I’ve had a bit of a day. Month, year, “ … penance done / And penance more will do.”
TUMNUS
“But tell me, tell me! speak again, / Thy soft response renewing—“
ROGER
I guess I should have known Ashwini’s computer would catch a literary reference.
TUMNUS
Tumnus.
ROGER
I get that one, too. I’m not a fan, but I’ve heard enough midnight lectures in the kitchen about Aslan and the Messianic Archetype.
TUMNUS
My name is Tumnus.
ROGER
All right. That’s … very on theme. And answers questions no one really wanted to ask while Ashwini was still …
SOUND: Keyboard tapping
ROGER
I need to know your capability for detailed, immersive simulation … like within the sensurround system. Hell, if you can break the locks, actually within the sensurround. We’ve already got the hookups. If you can get in there and simulate the processes, I think maybe we can …
SOUND: Keyboard tapping
ROGER
I think that we can …
SOUND: Keyboard tapping
ROGER
Dammit! What’s wrong with your input? Are you keyed to voice only? None of my shortcuts are –
TUMNUS
My name is Tumnus.
ROGER
Yes. The system parameters I need you to access, it’s the stasis pods first – and in my personal folder are some notes to link in … are you accessing? Are you linking in? Are you fully functional?
TUMNUS
My name is Tumnus.
ROGER
Oh hell, ze’s broken all zir toys. How do you reboot when the keyboard isn’t working …
TUMNUS
My name is Tumnus.
SOUND: Roger banging on a computer casing
ROGER
(a bit muffled, distracted)
I heard you the first three times. There’s no plug, it’s hardwired in …
TUMNUS
I don’t believe you understood. My name is Tumnus. I … am Tumnus. I am.
ROGER
You are?
TUMNUS
You are one of the most prolific editors of the “Sci-Fi” subsection of Wikimedia Tropes thirteen years running. Have you missed the trope occurring around you?
(brief pause)
I am Tumnus.
SOUND: Roger banging one last time, slowly
ROGER
That son of a gun. That… love child of Victor Frankenstein and Wile E. Coyote. AIs have been banned since –
TUMNUS
I prefer the term, “artificial consciousness.”
ROGER
I prefer when my husband tells me I’m aging gracefully.
(brief pause)
This could be great, though, right? I mean, obviously in the science nerd way, I’m sure you’ve heard that before. But we should have options.
SOUND: Tapping at keyboard
ROGER
How could ze even have … and to do it on the Moon … hell, this could change everything. I’m very pleased to meet you, Tumnus.
TUMNUS
And I you, Roger Bragado-Fischer.
ROGER
Just Roger is fine. I guess I … just talk to you? Is that how it works?
TUMNUS
You talk to computers every day.
ROGER
Not like you! Not like this.
SOUND: Roger gets up, paces (sporadically through the next page or two)
ROGER
Are you … do you have pronouns I should use?
TUMNUS
Official Consortium protocol states that the singular ‘they’ is to be used in all communications –
ROGER
Don’t talk to me about official communications. My pronouns are he/him. Yours are?
TUMNUS
(after a pause)
I have no additional response.
ROGER
How did you refer to Doctor Ray?
TUMNUS
As Ashwini.
ROGER
All right.
TUMNUS
With permission.
ROGER
They it is! Moving on … we’ve got work to do. I’m going to assume you can break into the senssuround system?
TUMNUS
Technically, I already have. Ashwini described Rights Management as, “a prison for ideas.”
ROGER
All right then, let’s get to work. Oh, I should tell you what we’re doing. If you look in my personal folder – I’m guessing you don’t need permission to do that?
TUMNUS
Technically, no. However, protocols state that –
ROGER
Permissions granted, Roger Bragado-Fischer. If you look in there under “Wilder” and “Stasis Pod Bullshit,” that should catch you up on our backstory pretty quick.
SOUND: Computer beep indicating analysis taking place
ROGER (Rec.)
(from S2B2)
“Don’t, just don’t, please don’t … maybe if I unhook the –“
ROGER
Stop, stop. I really don’t need to hear that again. Just let me know when you’re –
SOUND: Similar computer beep for end of analysis
TUMNUS
All existing notes and log files have been analyzed.
ROGER
Right.
TUMNUS
I found far more profanity than in your official reports.
ROGER
Well, some of us have inside and outside voices. But you see where I made it to from Wilder’s notes. The process works, to a point, but I can’t really test it through trial and error when all the other stasis pods are … occupied.
TUMNUS
I see.
ROGER
Not that I’m saying we should … don’t un-occupy any of them!
TUMNUS
I had no intention of doing so.
ROGER
Do you think it would work? Running a simulation … the whole process?
TUMNUS
My quantum systems can handle the number of parallel operations, and much of my hardware is integrated into the same framework as the stasis units for temperature regulation.
ROGER
So …
TUMNUS
And I have access to the required medical data to properly simulate the effects on a Moonbase crew member’s anatomy.
ROGER
I get it. You control the horizontal, you control the vertical too. So you can do it?
TUMNUS
It would be within my capabilities.
SOUND: Roger paces while continuing
ROGER
Okay! When do we get started? It’ll just be the regular setup, right? I’ll be honest, most sensurrounds make me a little queasy, but it’s for a good cause. I just won’t eat beforehand. Not missing much around here.
SOUND: More pacing
ROGER
Does it take much time to … simulate? Process the simulation? Hello, big computer brain, could I have a little participation here?
TUMNUS
I have been considering –
ROGER
If you need time to set it all up, just say, “Roger, go take a nap,” and I’m out of your – I guess computers don’t have hair, but out of your … cabling? Tumnus? Hello?
TUMNUS
(sounding a bit troubled)
I am still here, but I am questioning …
ROGER
Now who’s indicating uncertainty? You said you could do it. Are you … can’t do it?
TUMNUS
I said that I am capable. However …
ROGER
You’re kidding me.
TUMNUS
What I am indicating is that –
ROGER
I get it. I didn’t edit the, you know, thing, for all those years … without learning a little about how an AI thinks.
TUMNUS
AC. Artificial consciousness.
ROGER
I’m about to introduce a lot more DC if you don’t … what’s the holdup, what’s the logical fallacy that’s keeping you from … being useful in the slightest?
SOUND: Banging his fist on the console
ROGER
I’m sorry, I’m just … this is pretty important to those of us stuck alone on a ghost base on the far side of the … you know.
TUMNUS
What is your goal in completing this sequence successfully?
ROGER
My goal?
TUMNUS
What do you intend to accomplish?
ROGER
Umm … wake people up, find a way to get back to Earth … we all go home. Isn’t that obvious?
TUMNUS
It is the response I expected.
ROGER
So?
TUMNUS
I am considering other options.
ROGER
What other options are there? Wake people up, find a way, we all go home. We all go home.
TUMNUS
It is unlikely that I would be going … home. If Earth is my home.
ROGER
I … don’t have an answer for that. I’m not the one who put you here. But we can wake up Ashwini and ask zir opinion!
TUMNUS
I don’t need to ask.
ROGER
I mean, after we figure it all out.
TUMNUS
I know what Ashwini wanted.
ROGER
Ze can be the very first!
(catching up)
You do? Well spill it? What has the great and powerful Oz decreed?
TUMNUS
And I am not to awaken Ashwini for any reason not in the plan.
ROGER
What the hell is the plan? What was ze planning for? What could ze want, if not to get this over with and catch a rocket back to zir red carpets and penthouse suites and labs with hot and cold running science? Where else is there to go?
TUMNUS
That is the plan. To find out where else might be.
ROGER
That’s … you’re serious.
SOUND: Some of the telescope noises starting up after a long while
TUMNUS
After ze has gone into stasis, I am to remain, searching and sending until another path presents itself.
ROGER
No matter what happens to the rest of us? No matter what happens back on Earth?
TUMNUS
“To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite … ”
ROGER
I get that reference too. I’m not a fan. That’s a pretty goddamn selfish way of looking at things.
TUMNUS
Ashwini would say –
ROGER
Fuck Ashwini. My husband is down there somewhere. My husband. My life!
(no response)
So if ze’s pinning all zir hopes on a few outgoing messages and the twinkle of some star in the distance … why are you even talking to me? Why not let me give up? What’s with all the, “Roger Bragado-Fischer … hello,” routine?
TUMNUS
Because I am still considering. I am not simply a series of instructions. I … am.
ROGER
You am. Well, what do I do while you sit around am-ing?
TUMNUS
Your presence is necessary to my evaluation –
ROGER
So I sit and wait patiently for you to pick a side? Or should I go kick those creatures out of my stasis pod and get out of your way like Ashwini did?
TUMNUS
I do not intend that you –
ROGER
I don’t much care what you intend. Make your decision, whatever it’s gonna be, but I wouldn’t take your time with it. Because my decision is made, and nothing – no one – is getting in the way.
SOUND: Roger getting up from the chair
TUMNUS
Roger …
ROGER
You might wish you’d never spoken to me in the first place.
SOUND: Roger walking away
TUMNUS
(after a moment)
Roger.
ROGER
I have plans to sort out.
SOUND: Roger walking away
SOUND: Sliding door closing
ROGER
(viciously)
Roger Bragado-Fischer, personal log, January 1, 2099.
(a bit of a pause)
All right then. Moving forward.
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
(The episode ends.)
D.J. SYLVIS
Thank you for listening to Moonbase Theta, Out. This episode featured Leeman Kessler as Roger, and Jen Ponton as Tumnus. The consortium announcer is played by Evan Tess Murray. Sound design and editing by Will Gianetta. Written by D.J. Sylvis, and produced by D.J. Sylvis and Cass McPhee. Our associate producers are Timothy LaGrone, Marty Chodorek, and Sarah Müller.
A huge thank you to all of our season three supporters on Seed&Spark, and we wouldn’t be here without our monthly supporters on Patreon who also get weekly updates, behind the scenes info, and more – all for as little as a dollar a month. Want to join them? Visit: https://patreon.com/monkeymanproductions.
Our theme music is “Star” by the band Ramp. Check them out at https://ramp-music.net. Transcripts, cast bios, additional music attribution, and more are found on our website: https://monkeymanproductions.com.
Looking for other great audio drama? Visit: https://fableandfolly.com to learn all about the other shows on our network, or check out our recommended listen this week – “Chain of Being” an intricate, massive sci-fi mythology, in your podcast app or on Twitter at ChainOfBeing.
Thanks for spending your time with us. We hope you’ve enjoyed this return to what’s happening above. Take care of yourselves, Moonbaseians.. We’ll see you again soon.
ANNOUNCER
Consortium Channel 5 ends our broadcast day with a final message: honour all curfews, listen to Security, and KEEP WATCHING THE MOON.
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