MOONBASE THETA, OUT – S4 Prologue Episode 5 – “To him my tale I teach”
by D.J. Sylvis
ANNOUNCER
Moonbase Theta, Out – a Monkeyman Productions Podcast. Season 4, Prologue 4 – “I know the man that must hear me”
Please see the show notes for content warnings related to this episode. (Note – content warning is for physical injury and medical response; references to physical and emotional distress)
And, before we begin, a few words from our sponsors.
SCENE ONE
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
SOUND: Minor ratcheting vibrations behind the next few lines
SOUND: Spacesuit chime / breathing
ZHONG
There’s supposed to be a manual release on this side …
MICHELL
Can you get in or can’t you?
ZHONG
I think someone disabled it.
MICHELL
Well, re-able it! What do you think you’re here for?
SOUND: More minor vibrations, more breathing
MICHELL
I’m sorry. I’ve … you know, I didn’t sleep the whole way across. Je ne peux pas m’arrêter de penser à … (I can’t stop thinking about …)
ZHONG
I don’t know what you’re saying now.
MICHELL
It doesn’t matter.
ZHONG
(grunting with the effort in between phrases)
I think this might … do it …
SOUND: The airlock door sliding open
MICHELL
Finally.
SOUND: Faint footsteps, the door sliding closed again, the airlock cycling
SOUND: Buttons being pushed
ZHONG
The computer is probably down, but when we’re inside I can boot things up. Comms, too.
MICHELL
Yeah, they’ll be waiting for word on … whatever we find … here …
SOUND: More button pushing
MCGURK (Rec.)
Attention! This is Communications Officer McGurk of Moonbase Gamma.
ZHONG
(overlapping)
Somebody’s awake?
MICHELL
I think it’s automated.
MCGURK (Rec.)
This base is decommissioned private property of the Consortium. Do not advance beyond this point without the appropriate Security authorization. Intruders will be shot.
ZHONG
Shot?
MICHELL
That part is definitely Maria. Let me in there, it probably needs a Security code …
SOUND: More button pushing, a harsh buzz
MICHELL
(muttering)
Espèce d’enfoiré … (You bastard …)
SOUND: Another buzz, more forceful pushing of buttons
SOUND: The inside door opening
SOUND: Hallway background (ongoing) – quieter than on Base Theta for now
MICHELL
That’s what I thought.
(a little nervous)
All right, here we go.
SOUND: Both of them taking off their helmets
ZHONG
It’s dark. And cold.
MICHELL
Yeah, it doesn’t feel like they had a Bragado-Fischer keeping the lights on. You looked at the floor plans, right? Where do we go?
ZHONG
The mechanical room should be back this way.
SOUND: Quiet footsteps
SOUND: Somewhere, far off, a muffled thud, like something falling against a door
ZHONG
What was that?
MICHELL
(nervous, not quite believing himself)
Random noise. It happens. I used to do midnight watch and … footsteps vibrate, things topple over.
ZHONG
Okay. I think this is it.
SOUND: Doorknob rattling
ZHONG
It’s stuck. Like the outside latch.
SOUND: Doorknob rattling
SOUND: Faint footsteps, running, getting closer over the next couple of lines
MICHELL
Sometimes you have to jiggle it –
ZHONG
I know, I know to jiggle it –
MICHELL
There’s a toolbox in the Rover if you –
MARIA
(screaming, launching herself at them)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
MICHELL
AAAaarrrrrhhhhh!!!
SOUND: At the same time as the above, the sound of bodies crashing together
SOUND: Zhong having the wind knocked out of him
MARIA
(shouting, almost incoherent)
Ne bougez pas!!! Dis-moi pour qui tu travailles!!! (Don’t move!!! Tell me who you’re working for!!!)
MICHELL
(shouting back, overlapping)
Qu’est-ce qui se passé! Je suis de la Sécurité! (What’s going on? I’m with Security!)
MARIA
(still shouting, not really absorbing what he’s said)
Ne bougez pas! Je suis de la Sécurité! (Don’t move! I’m with Security!)
(after a moment)
Attends, tu viens de dire – (Wait, did you just say – )
MICHELL
Maria? Maria, c’est toi?
SOUND: A hesitant footstep or two
MARIA
Don’t move. Stay right there.
(shaky)
It’s … not the first time I’ve heard your voice out of nowhere … or seen a shadow down the corridor shaped like you … I said don’t move!
MICHELL
Maria. It’s me. C’est vraiment moi. (It’s really me.)
MARIA
It can’t be you! You’re in stasis on the other goddamn side of the goddamn moon.
SOUND: Zhong sitting back up, groaning
MARIA
And who the hell are you?
MICHELL
That’s Zhong. Maintenance, Base Theta.
MARIA
Not sure why I’d hallucinate somebody I’ve never seen … and they did feel pretty solid.
SOUND: Zhong groaning again in the background
MARIA
Sorry, buddy.
(after a minute, shaky)
Michell?
MICHELL
It’s me.
MARIA
Little bro?
MICHELL
Big sib.
SOUND: Bodies colliding again, but in a good way this time
SOUND: Gasps, sobs
SOUND: Hallway background ends
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
(The scene ends.)
SCENE TWO
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
SOUND: Bunkroom background (ongoing)
SOUND: A large piece of furniture sliding to one side; a small click
MARIA
Okay. This is the safest room until I clear out a few more traps. I wasn’t sure … who’d come back, whether they’d be … Shit. Merde, little bro! I can’t believe it’s you!
MICHELL
I can’t believe it, either.
SOUND: Sitting down on the edge of a bunk
ZHONG
Could I have that first aid kit?
MARIA
Sure, buddy. Sorry again. It’s been … you get kinda strange after a while here on your own.
MICHELL
(getting angry through this line)
Not a surprise, after a year? A whole foutou year … I still can’t … if only Roger had gone further than Delta and actually checked …
MARIA
I probably wouldn’t have been as gentle with him.
MICHELL
There are worse things.
ZHONG
Why did the stasis pod fail? We had some problems with the warning lights –
MARIA
(coughs, her voice is getting hoarse through this scene)
Well, that’s a funny story. Could you hand me that flask beside you?
SOUND: Opening the flask and drinking, liquid gurgling
MARIA
Little bro?
MICHELL
(sniffs)
Yeah, uh … maybe later.
MARIA
Oh shit, I forgot the olfactory. That’s one thing I kept fixed up. Olfactory, gimme … preset thirteen.
SOUND: Olfactory spritzes every so often (ongoing)
MARIA
(coughs again)
So that, uh, stasis pod. Wasn’t so much of a ‘fail’, more like a ‘busted out of’.
ZHONG
Seriously?
MARIA
(chuckles)
I didn’t know I could punch that hard, but there you go.
MICHELL
Was it …
(after a moment, painfully)
I know when I was in there – did you dream … things?
MARIA
(a mix of horror and pride on the next couple of lines)
I never made it that far; popped up again right after the lid closed. I was the last, had to set the thing up manually, so I had a couple of minutes longer to change my mind and … I hammered the goddamn thing back open. Kinda impressed with myself, you know?
SOUND: Taking another drink
SOUND: She gets up and paces fitfully
MARIA
I was right in there, bro. I almost … bit the bullet, under final orders from – well, you know, ce salaud (the bastard) who put both of us up here – sent one last report then he cut communications, now “get in the stasis pod like you’re told” … I think that was just the final straw. I mean, fuck that, Michell! Fuck that, new guy.
ZHONG
It’s Zhong.
MARIA
Yeah.
MICHELL
He never had to say anything like that to me.
MARIA
Not that the alternative turned out so hot. We did every step by the book, decommissioned every area, used up every scrap left in the kitchen and the farm. I was living on quarter rations of that En-Soy-Ment crap before I got something to grow again. I’ve never been so happy to see a potato.
(she laughs)
Speaking of …
SOUND: She drains the flask and belches a moment after
MARIA
(just tipsy enough to be less guarded)
All the time knowing … just knowing, I had the fucking reports – about the supply stashes out there somewhere! There’s got to be one a few klicks from this base, with extra food and every damn thing I had to scrape along without … so goddamn close, but still way out of reach. Ce salaud!
MICHELL
Wait, what? What supply stashes?
MARIA
Shit, baby bro, forget I said that. It didn’t matter anyway, because I don’t know where they are or how to –
SOUND: Kicking a footlocker or something handy
MARIA
How the fuck to find them!
MICHELL
(behind her lines)
Hold on, you’ve got to explain –
MARIA
I’m Security! I’m Security, my whole foutou job is keeping your secrets! I knew about the shutdowns, I knew when the Maintenance crew went to bust up all the comms towers what that was for … before he even said the words, I knew it already. I knew about the spies – Michell! Michell L’Anglois! You found the spies in time, right? The Base Theta spies? That one scientist?
MICHELL
Not in time, but … you knew everything? You knew about –
MARIA
(overlapping)
Over here, it was one of my officers – my own officers, like I wasn’t gonna notice and … when I did, they sure as hell weren’t reporting to anyone but me, I’ll tell you. And the little secret meetings down in the mining tunnels – McGurk told me about that, I let them go along because the devil you know, right Michell? The devil you know. I had all my reports, all my intel, all that information going around and around in my head. The secrets and … I had to find them … that’s why I beat my way out of that stasis pod! Trust nobody. Take no shit. I know you get it, bro. I know you get it.
MICHELL
(obviously not)
Yeah. Of course. Just … maybe go back, just a little bit?
SOUND: Maria breathing heavily
ZHONG
(after a moment)
If all that happened, if you had to break out and you were low on supplies and you knew everything … why didn’t you take a Rover and go to another base?
(the briefest pause)
Why didn’t you come to Base Theta?
MARIA
(after a moment, sighing)
Et voilà. (There it is.)
(after another moment)
Okay, the thing is … what you’ve gotta understand …
SOUND: Sitting down again (bunk creaking a bit)
MARIA
(apologetically, almost in tears)
Why didn’t I go? Why didn’t I get over there and … find you? Save you? Our Rovers were all in pieces – another order from the top to the maintenance crew, and … even Beta was too far to make my way on foot. I tried a good half-dozen times. I even … Doc Kashyap had this little broadcast rig, it’s my own damn fault … I couldn’t make sense of that either, couldn’t even get static. I just … there wasn’t any way.
(her voice goes flat)
I’m sorry, Michell. I’m so damn sorry. Did you get that message where I said I’m sorry?
MICHELL
I got it.
MARIA
I’m gonna keep saying it. You’re here because of me, you’re in this shit because of me. I should have found a way. I don’t know what I can even do for you now, baby bro, but … I am so, so, goddamn sorry.
(Another long, awkward pause)
ZHONG
(sniffs)
What’s that olfactory setting?
MARIA
Michell knows what it is.
MICHELL
(breathing in)
I can’t believe you managed to program that whole bakery.
MARIA
The one decent part of our childhood. It took a while to get the right combination. But hell, I’ve had nothing but time on my hands.
MICHELL
Yeah.
(he breathes deep, waiting for a while before he speaks)
I’m … sorry too. There’s a lot I’ve got to tell you, some of it official, some that … didn’t make it to reports. A lot of things have changed. I’m not sure you’ve even got a commanding officer anymore, or if there’s a Rio we could go back to. But up here … there’s a plan, I’m part of a plan, to start waking people up again, to try to … build something …
MARIA
Yeah? That sounds … interesting.
MICHELL
I ought to call back to Theta – Zhong fixed up the comms towers, we can do that now –
ZHONG
(overlapping, proud of himself)
It’s not a big deal.
MICHELL
I just needed to find you. Before I could do anything else, I needed you to be a part of it. I don’t know what would have happened if I got here and you weren’t …
MARIA
Not even possible. I’m still here. We’re here together.
SOUND: Standing up, the bunk creaking
MARIA
Let’s go grab a refill and then you can catch me up on the details.
SOUND: Quiet footsteps
MICHELL
(as they go, starting to fade a bit)
I’m gonna get you back for the way you jumped out at us.
MARIA
(similarly)
You can try. Oh, be careful there, just step over that wire.
ZHONG
(just still audible)
I think I might need the infirmary.
SOUND: Olfactory spritzing ends
SOUND: Bunkroom background ends
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
SCENE THREE
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
SOUND: Stasis pods background (ongoing) – Stasis-Background-hq.wav
SOUND: Some additional beeping in the background (ongoing)
MEDIC PACEY
All right, Tumnus, if you would … slowly, gently …
TUMNUS
(distracted, concerned)
Right.
SOUND: Machinery, like a lift being lowered
SOUND: A bit of plastic rustling as Pacey moves tubes out of the way
MEDIC PACEY
A slight abrasion from the transnasal tube, applying some ointment … and okay, down into the pod.
TUMNUS
Down … into the pod.
SOUND: The same machinery again, glass rattling a little bit
MEDIC PACEY
The next step will be –
TUMNUS
Wait. Is Roger …?
ROGER
(just coming in, flat, despairing)
Here. Roger’s … here.
MEDIC PACEY
Tumnus, you can switch to the internal monitor systems now.
TUMNUS
The … umm, beeping is going to stop. Which is normal.
SOUND: The background beeping stops
ROGER
Thank you.
MEDIC PACEY
There’s a chair right here.
ROGER
Thank you.
SOUND: Sitting down, chair sliding back a bit
ROGER
I think I left this here. After Michell.
MEDIC PACEY
Right.
(after a moment)
I want to make sure you understand. The surgery was successful.
ROGER
Of course.
MEDIC PACEY
It will be, thanks to that process Tumnus developed for Wilder. We can hold him in medical stasis as long as it takes.
TUMNUS
The nanobots will keep working on his heart until it recovers.
ROGER
Uh huh.
TUMNUS
And I’ll be monitoring the nanobots. Every moment.
ROGER
Right.
(after a moment)
Can I just … if you don’t, umm, both of you …
MEDIC PACEY
Will you be okay down here?
ROGER
(after a pause)
I can be. For him.
MEDIC PACEY
We’ll talk soon.
SOUND: Pacey’s footsteps, and the slight sound of the braces on zir legs, retreat and fades
TUMNUS
Call if you need me.
ROGER
I will.
(For a long moment, we don’t hear anything else.)
SOUND: The chair sliding a bit
ROGER
Alex.
(after a beat)
Well, we did it. Together again, huh? I … I just …
SOUND: He touches the glass and it rattles as his hand shakes
ROGER
I don’t know what to … feel. Everything I thought I’d feel when you got here …
(after a long pause)
I want to say that I don’t blame you. I would have done the same thing in your shoes … then that little voice in my head says, but you didn’t, did you? You’ve stuck me with a major guilt trip, love, being the one who stayed at his post through all of this.
(he laughs weakly)
Major guilt trip.
(after another long pause)
I wrote you a poem. It’s not terrible. I don’t think; not too terrible. I’ll save it for when you …
SOUND: After a moment, we hear Roger break down, sobbing, and we listen to that for several seconds before it fades out
SOUND: Stasis pods background fades out
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
(The episode ends.)
PRODUCERS
Today’s episode featured Cass McPhee, NayMyo Win, Cat Blackard, Leeman Kessler, Teddy Hannah-Drullard, and Jen Ponton.
Written by D.J. Sylvis; Cass McPhee is our audio engineer. Our theme music is “Star” by the band Ramp; our cover art is by Peter Chiykowski.
Looking for more great audio fiction? Check out Roguemaker, a sci-fi whodunnit mystery with escape pods, crass commercialism, and things that shouldn’t be found.
We’d like to take a second to thank our associate producers for this season. Marty Chodorek, June Madely, Timothy LaGrone, Marilyn Reid, Marissa Robertcop and Linda Boyer. We also want to make sure we thank our executive producers Sarah Mueller and Beka B. Thank you so much for helping us create Moonbase Theta, Out season four, we genuinely would not be able to do it without you.
Want to help make this show possible AND get early ad-free access to every episode? Support us at Patreon.com/MonkeyManProductions. For a full list of our cast and crew, as well as transcripts, official Moonbase Theta, Out merch and more, visit MonkeyManProductions.com. And, as always, keep watching the moon.
