James Brighton Society, Chapter 9: Pages 1-2
Page 1, 6 Panels- GV Jones' Office, JBS Headquarters, Alexandria Virginia
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of the Grand Vizier, in the early afternoon not too long after the end of Chapter 8, seated at a nice looking high chair in his office reading a book; a bit of sunlight coming in from a window off-panel. You can see by the cover that it's a collection of poems by Theocritus as the sound of jazz plays from the record player.
GV JONES [voice over caption]: In my youth in Brighton, one of my tutors told me the story from the fifth century BCE of Tithonus...
Panel 2-4: A three-part set of panels that recounts the story of Tithonus in an annotated form, flowing over three basic parts. In Panel 2, we see the young Prince falling in love with Eos, the Greek Goddess of the Dawn, and her bearing their two sons (Memnon and Eathion). In Panel 3, it shifts to Eos in Olympus asking Zeus to grant her mortal lover immortality. It ends in Panel 4 with an elder Tithonus, decrepit and worse for wear, being put to bed by Eos.
GV JONES [Cont. caption, Panel 2]: A prince of Troy who fell deeply in love with the Goddess of the Dawn, Eos (an understandable emotion, from the paintings of her) and asked for immortality from her father Zeus. GV JONES [Cont. caption, Panel 3]: She bore him twin children, one of which was also granted immortality by Zeus. How Tithonus was bribed with a golden grapevine to send that child to fight for Troy. It was the first time I had heard about immortality as a possibility. GV JONES [Cont. caption, Panel 4]: What struck me though was near the end of the tale- "when loathsome old age pressed full upon him, and he could not move nor lift his limbs, this seemed to her in her heart the best counsel: she laid him in a room and put to the shining doors. There he babbles endlessly, and no more has strength at all, such as once he had in his supple limbs." GV JONES [caption 2, Panel 4]: I couldn't stop how much of an idiot he was, missing such an important and fairly obvious detail- the retaining of youth.
Panel 5: We move back to Reginald in the same setting and layout as Panel 1. A few minutes have passed by, and he's still reading. His left turning the page from right to left, immersed in the text that we don't see at this point. You can hear the melodies of the record wafting in off from panel left.
GV JONES [caption]: I promised myself one day, if I was fortunate enough to get such a monumental opportunity to improve my life for the better, that I wouldn't waste it. That I would grab it with both hands without a moment's notice.
Panel 6: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. His reading is interrupted a couple of seconds later by the sound of a phone ringing, which breaks through the melodies of the jazz record. His eyes look up from the book and shift to the left in the direction of the phone.
GV JONES [Cont. caption]: So you can understand when underlings physically push that monumental opportunity away from my grasp, whether intentionally or through their own incompetence...
Page 2, 5 Panels- GV Jones Office, JBS Headquarters, Alexandria Virginia
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of the Grand Vizier standing behind the desk minutes after the action from the end of the previous page. He has the phone receiver in his right hand, pressed to his ear as he roars his displeasure toward the person on the other end. You can see, along with the window in the background that looks out to a part of the compound's backyard, a shadow cast on the desk from someone listening in off-panel.
GV JONES [aggravated, to the Commander]: It makes me all the more...angry. COMMANDER [from the receiver, to GV Jones]: I apologize, Grand Vizier. We didn't anticipate that the raghead he was with would have that complicated a defense system. But we will retrieve Allen, it's only a matter of time before our forces-- GV JONES [Bubble 2]: It was 10 of the best of Troia Nova against a scientist, a mecha, and a goddamn soulless bloody malcontent. It should've been long over by now!
Panel 2: Close-up on Mr. Jones' face a few moments later after he starts to calm down from the earlier outburst. Though the anger still stews in his eyes and the barely held together words as he speaks. You can see the windows that were on display in the previous panel in a more zoomed-in focus, giving him a bit of a shiny yellow glow with a touch of black in it.
GV JONES [Cont., with a groan]: I...Do not call this line again until you're back on the plane to D.C. Is that clear, Commander? COMMANDER [Off-Panel, from the receiver]: Yes, sir.
Panel 3-4: A two-part set of panels that focuses on the same setting and layout as Panel 1. He has both his hands placed on the countertop of the desk, looking down in stewed frustration. The phone is slammed back onto the main receiver as the shadow that was in play then has faded from view at that point.
GV JONES [to Christopher Stark, Panel 4]: I can hear you gloating from here, Stark. CHRISTOPHER STARK [Off-Panel to GV Jones, Panel 4]: With all due respect, Grand Vizier, it's not gloating.
Panel 5: Cut to a shot of CHRISTOPHER STARK standing next to the liquor cabinet. He's slightly younger than Reginald, though not by much, with a muscular physique that appears to have been cut from a long life in the military. It doesn't take long to notice, by looking at his face, that he's in fact the 3rd Partygoer from the story's first Chapter.
CHRISTOPHER STARK [Cont.]: I warned you yesterday that engaging in this operation was a foolishly risky move this close to the Ball. Especially since it was not too long ago that you wanted to lay off this Gremlin fellow till the Ascension is completed. CHRISTOPHER STARK [Bubble 2]: If I didn't know better, it would seem you have a vendetta against him. Or that you believe he holds the key to immortality.