Dreamnasium

THE MUSE: Dreamnasium. Function: noun. A vast, extra-dimensional space described by benign chaos and the germination of visions, revelations, and tales. “The Lingering Grief of Twilight,” part one.

[Dreamnasium theme continues, then fades out]

******

[RUSHING WIND]

[Radar search blip blip blip]

[Radar zeroing in on Lady Justice [comm chirp]

[Occasional static on the comm line throughout.]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Lady Justice? Lady Justice this is Stonewall Base, do you copy?

LADY JUSTICE: (exertion stress) Just a moment Captain Farragut. I am at escape velocity and it’s a little- (grunt of effort)

[Rushing wind gets REALLY LOUD and then shoots off, cold. We’re in space now. Energy aura extends around Lady Justice.]

LADY JUSTICE: There. I have left your atmosphere. Proceeding to rendezvous point. I’m retaining a small sheath of nitrogen around myself to facilitate communication.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Uh… thanks?

LADY JUSTICE: Of course, Captain.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] You going to be able to handle this? On your own, I mean?

LADY JUSTICE: I don’t have much choice.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Well, we can always use the nukes.

LADY JUSTICE: Useless in this case. Also, they would make a mess. My way is… (Thinks for a moment) well. Better.

[A beat]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Lady Justice? Still with me?

LADY JUSTICE: (gentle sigh) Yes, Captain. My apologies. Intervals of relaxation have been… rare, since I made my home here. It’s been some time since I was able to stretch out a bit.

[Lady Justice’s powers extend into space.]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] You’ve got a few minutes until rendezvous. Care to talk?

LADY JUSTICE: About?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Anything you want.

LADY JUSTICE: (amused) I don’t need a chaperone, Captain.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Maybe I do. I’ve been awake for two days, tracking these things.

LADY JUSTICE: The base’s liquid stimulant isn’t keeping you alert?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Coffee? And no. Definitely not holding up its end.

LADY JUSTICE: (fondly) All right. I will keep you company. What should be our topic?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Well, I know why we’re happy to have you around. You’ve saved the planet six times already, that I know of.

LADY JUSTICE: You’re welcome.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] But why?

LADY JUSTICE: Why? Why what?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Why’d you pick us? What’s so special about the human race?

LADY JUSTICE: (laughs – not mean spirited, she’s truly delighted) Special? Humanity? You’re not so very special, I suppose. You dance and spin in your towers and your warrens. You

move so frantically in your canyons of steel and concrete, listening to your secret electric whispers. You dash around like, um- what are those builder insects you have? They get in everywhere?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Ants? You see us as ants?

LADY JUSTICE: Should I not? You build hives, squabble over bits of dirt and food.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] (defensive) Well, I mean, maybe we’re not as sophisticated as the mighty Lady Justice. You’re a superhero. Alien goddess. Whatever.

LADY JUSTICE: (amused) I am also teasing you, Captain. I am very fond of humanity. Very.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Even before you got here we’d started exploring the universe.

LADY JUSTICE: Yes, in those clunky metal contraptions, spewing unbreathable gases into your own biosphere.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Eh, it’s a start. Everything has to have one.

LADY JUSTICE: (somewhat charmed) That… is true. (teasing) I’ve seen better species, though.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] (laughs) That right?

LADY JUSTICE: I’ve met single entities that span parsecs and entire races that lived and died in spaces smaller than a pinhead. I’ve seen… civilizations rise like spiral mushrooms and watched them… wither away, down into the dust that spawned them. Once, a very very long time ago, I found… love among them as well.

[Flashback sound]

*****

[The sounds of an alien rain forest, serene and beautiful.]

[Teleportation flash]

[Gasps from the crowd]

CHAPLAIN BROEK: She comes! Our call has been answered! You humble us with your presence.

LADY JUSTICE: Rise, Chaplain Broek. Your fealty need not be physically displayed.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: My Lady. You have done so much for us. Defending us from the grischec beasts, holding back the floodwaters, and athousand more deeds we praise in song!

LADY JUSTICE: And I thank you for those songs, dear Chaplain, but they are not necessary. I am quite-

CHAPLAIN BROEK: -Lonely, my Lady.

LADY JUSTICE: Pardon me? I am not-

CHAPLAIN BROEK: You are with us, you live among us, but you are not OF us, Bright Lady. You are, in even the thickest crowd, absolutely alone. Is this not so?

LADY JUSTICE: Alone is not lonely, Broek. I am content with my lot.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Forgive me but “content” is not enough. You are alive. You are intelligent. You need… you need a…

LADY JUSTICE: (amused, fond) What do I need?

CHAPLAIN BROEK: A peer, Lady. A companion. Someone to, forgive me, share with.

LADY JUSTICE: (amused, fond) Indeed? And if you’re right, Chaplain Broek? What shall we do? I’m the last of my kind in this universe. All the rest have fled for other spaces. Where should we look for this “companion?”

CHAPLAIN BROEK: No farther, Bright Lady. (clears throat)

[A curt clap.]

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Eos. Eos, come forth. Eos! Don’t dally. Come.

[A few footsteps from the side]

EOS: Greetings, Bright Lady.

LADY JUSTICE: (amused, puzzled) Chaplain, what- who is this?

EOS: I am Eos, Bright Lady. I am for you.

LADY JUSTICE: “For” me?

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Let me explain. We see you. Your life, your solitude must be…crushing. Even for one such as you. But who among us is worthy of a goddess? And so we studied, and toiled, and bring to you now the finest specimen of perfection our science can muster. Eos.

DREAMNASIUM, episode 1: “The Lingering Grief of Twilight,” part 1

LADY JUSTICE: (deeply moved) Chaplain. All of you. I- that is – I mean to say, your generosity is…touching. Deeply. But I cannot.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: You have done so much for us. Please, let us do this for YOU.

LADY JUSTICE: Eos. Is this something you want? Something you’ve chosen? For yourself? I would not make you a slave or take you to be one.

EOS: How can I answer? I was made to love you. I was made to be loved by you. Do you find me unappealing? If so, I-

LADY JUSTICE: No! No no no no no, I- you are quite…appealing. Quite. But, uh, your choice is the important thing.

EOS: My mind is my own. My choice is you. Freely made. Look at me. Look closely. Look deep. Can’t you see it?

[A beat]

LADY JUSTICE: (soft, concentrating) I… can.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: (hopeful) Then… you accept our Eos?

LADY JUSTICE: (small laugh) I do. (So very moved) I accept. And I… I thank you. I thank all of you.

[Delicate music as flashback ends.]

*****

[That super light wind again]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Whoa whoa. Wait a minute. They made you a person?

LADY JUSTICE:(wistful) The Iphosians were such sweet creatures, beautiful, even wise when weighed against most other species. If… if you saw them, you’d take them for gods. My Eos was to them what the Iphosians would be to human beings. I couldn’t refuse him. But it was awkward at first. I’d been so long alone and… and really, we were strangers, after all. I had no idea what to do with him.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] (smirk) Let me guess. You got to know him better, value him as an individual. That led to friendship, and friendship led to…

LADY JUSTICE: …the touch of his flesh? (Beat, then sadness)Yes.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Bet that was some night.

LADY JUSTICE: I don’t think you understand.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] What’s to get? A lonely woman, the perfect man ready to ring the bells. Hoo. I bet you burned the house down.

LADY JUSTICE: I killed Eos, Captain.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] (laughs) Yeah, I bet you did. Like I said, you sh- wait. Wait. You don’t mean you actually killed-

LADY JUSTICE: Eos was the finest product of Iphosian art and science but, it didn’t matter. When I opened my true self to him he was consumed by the inferno.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Judas. Judas Priest, that’s… (Beat, at a loss) I’m sorry.

LADY JUSTICE: My mistake. All mine. I shouldn’t have let myself be… lulled.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Um, if you don’t mind my asking, how did the Iphosians take it?

LADY JUSTICE: The Iphosians weren’t the problem.

[Flashback sound]

*****

[Back in the rain forest. We can hear Lady Justice WEEPING SOFTLY. She is inconsolable.]

[The light footsteps of a few people approach, cautiously and stop]

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Bright Lady, forgive our intrusion.

LADY JUSTICE: (soft, weeping)

CHAPLAIN BROEK: We have been concerned for your-

LADY JUSTICE: (soft, tears) Leave me, please, just-

CHAPLAIN BROEK: You- are you well, my Lady?

[Lady Justice Power surge.]

LADY JUSTICE: I said go!

[LARGE POWER SURGE]

[Broek and the others being hit with the force of her energy, like being caught in a hurricane.]

LADY JUSTICE: (Roaring in grief)

CHAPLAIN BROEK: (struggling over gale) Bright Lady! Please! Please stop this! We only want to help you!

[The energy storm dwindles to nothing. Beat.]

LADY JUSTICE: I’m sorry, Chaplain. All of you. I’m composed now.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Thank you, Lady. We have been concerned about you. And Eos. The lightning storms around your tower have been most distressing. We… (beat) Bright Lady? Where is Eos?

LADY JUSTICE: There is no Eos. Not anymore.

[Nervous, upset murmurs amongst the delegation]

CHAPLAIN BROEK: You…attempted to…consummate your union?

LADY JUSTICE: He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t nearly- (tears)

CHAPLAIN BROEK: This is not your fault, my Lady.

LADY JUSTICE: (Through tears) It is. It is. I was weak. I shouldn’t have-

CHAPLAIN BROEK: No, my Lady. We feared this outcome. Eos himself was fully aware he might not survive your love.

LADY JUSTICE: And you sent him to me anyway? You sent him to die?

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Eos CHOSE. There was no programming. No coercion. He chose to come to you and every day he chose to stay.

LADY JUSTICE: Eos… my brave Eos…

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Eos loved you, Bright Lady. We all do. There is no blame here. One does not fault the volcano for erupting.

LADY JUSTICE: (pure grief) I miss him, Broek. I miss him so much.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: (gentle, comforting) Give us time. Please. We shall make another.

LADY JUSTICE: Another?

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Indeed, Lady. The process can be refined, upgraded indefinitely until we create the perfect-

LADY JUSTICE: No.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: Be assured. We will dedicate ourselves to correcting every flaw until-

LADY JUSTICE: No, Broek. I see your heart. I see all of you, but… no. This can never happen again.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: But we would be bringing you Eos again. A more perfect Eos.

LADY JUSTICE: There is only one Eos. No matter how perfectly you make his replacement all I would see in him would be the ghost of my love. No.

CHAPLAIN BROEK: And our world, Lady? Will you look on us the same? Eos was meant to be the best of us. If your grief won’t let you look on him again, how can you look on us?

[Delicate music fades as flashback ends.]

*****

[Back to that light wind and the static of Farragut’s comms.]

LADY JUSTICE: Broek was right. And so I left them.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Cold turkey, huh? Just like that?

LADY JUSTICE: And… do you think less of me for it?

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Uh… (clears throat Not sure I’m in a position to take a position, Lady Justice. I’m not sure anyone is.

LADY JUSTICE: I value your input, Captain. As a…friend. Do you think I was wrong to leave them behind?

[A beat as he thinks.]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] I think, uh… I think one trip through that particular grinder’s enough for anybody.

[Important beeping sound heard across the comm.]

FARRAGUT: We’re tracking something. Target inbound at point-five-eight luminal. Think it’s your friends?

LADY JUSTICE: (Icily) They’re not my friends. They’re not anyone’s friends.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Well, be that as it may, my people say they’re whipping around Mars right now. Vector puts them on a bullseye… for Earth.

LADY JUSTICE: A moment, please.

[Magical whooshing sound, like she’s traveling everywhere all at once.]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Are you doing the “whooshy” thing?

LADY JUSTICE:(amused) I am.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] I knew it. What did you see?

LADY JUSTICE: I saw everything, everywhere, all at once. Every point in the solar system. (Beat) And it’s them, all right.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] What… what are they?

LADY JUSTICE: Devastation. The scourge of any life they encounter.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] And you still think we shouldn’t warn the public about this?

LADY JUSTICE: You’ll just worry them all for nothing. Either I can do this and people will get to go on with their lives, or I can’t and they won’t.

DREAMNASIUM, episode 1: “The Lingering Grief of Twilight,” part 1

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Not going to say I don’t wish we had some better choices.

[Another important beeping across the comm]

FARRAGUT: They’re cresting lunar orbit.

LADY JUSTICE: I see them.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] Revised target shows them headed for… that can’t be right. The ocean?

LADY JUSTICE: They mean to announce their arrival with torrents and tsunamis, before they begin their awful work.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] That’s…not the awful part? What are these things?

LADY JUSTICE: They are emptiness. Yawning absence, wrapped in winged crystalline shells. They’re hungry. Or hunger, perhaps. That might be more apt.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] That didn’t really clear it up.

LADY JUSTICE: No. I suppose not. One moment, Captain.

[Lady Justice flies toward the attackers. As she closes, we hear the sound of their wings beating as they approach. They make a very distinctive, quiet gurgling roar.]

[NOTE: When Lady Justice speaks in all caps, her voice booms, and musical tones are heard mixing with her voice.]

LADY JUSTICE: THIS WORLD IS NOT FOR YOU.

[The beings stop moving, though their wings still flap, the quiet gurgling roars continue.]

FARRAGUT: [over comm] They’ve stopped. Holding position. Could it be that easy?

LADY JUSTICE: No. It could not.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] So, what’s this, diplomacy? You’re talking them down?

LADY JUSTICE: They do not possess language; they have no need for it. But I can feel… surprise radiating from them. (Beat) DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? TURN AWAY, NOW.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] You, uh… feeling anything from them now?

LADY JUSTICE: (Irritated) They are amused.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] And that’s…a good thing?

LADY JUSTICE: There were eight of them once. I destroyed three. I thought it would teach them a lesson.

FARRAGUT: [over comm] I don’t think the lesson took. Hold on. We’ve got an energy signature building from the- Lady Justice, watch out!

[The gurgling roars get louder as the beings each fire an alien energy blast that slams into Lady Justice]

LADY JUSTICE: (cries/grunts of pain)

******

[Dreamnasium theme plays.]

THE MUSE: Geoffrey Thorne’s “Dreamnasium”, episode one. “The Lingering Grief of Twilight,” part one.

Featuring the voice talents of:

Darian Lindle as Lady Justice

Philip Weber as Captain Farragut

Kathryn Pryde as Chaplain Broek

Perry Whittle as Eos

And Melissa Autumn Hearne as The Muse

Written by Jeffrey and Susan Bridges, based on the original short story “The Lingering Grief of Twilight” by Geoffrey Thorne

Dreamnasium theme by Vincent Morrison

Music by Josh Molen at TheTunePeddler.com

Directed by Kathryn Pryde

Produced by Pendant Productions

Please rate and review the show on iTunes

Thanks for listening

[Dreamnasium theme fades out.]

Dreamnasium- The Lingering Grief of Twilight, Part 1

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