Ghost Signals, Episode 6: Part 4.1
AC SECOND CLASS DEZ-LEI A decent point- if they didn't carve us up first!
RAIVEN You've seen their tech. A fresh-birthed youngling could tear through them in under ten minuyats.
AC SECOND CLASS DEZ-LEI And I could do it in five. (quick chuckle) Wherever it's coming from...I just wanna inhale it in a bett'n flash.
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EXT. FORMERLY JACK IN THE BOX, SOUTH BROADWAY AVENUE- Five Minutes Later
A shot of our two heroines back looking at what was formerly a Jack in the Box, showing their backs to the viewers. It's a two-story building, though you can see the same cursive "Jack" in the red slightly futuristic styled logo on the ground next to the entrance.
AC SECOND CLASS DEZ-LEI Why exactly did they need the second story, you think?
RAIVEN No idea...workers' quarters? Storage for their yellow "Fe- Aht" reserves?
AC SECOND CLASS DEZ-LEI I'm gonna guess covert sex dungeons, especially with their contradictory attitudes toward the basic act of copulation.
RAIVEN (chuckles) Not a bad guess, though the building is a bit small for a sex dungeon...
STEGGY (from the speakers) Hey Doc, we got something from the sample. A shiny one at that...!
From there, the dialogue between them fades away as the two of them walk inside the former fast food restaurant. The camera stays on them for a few moments.
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The roof of a building that was formerly Just Ride L.A. Now, it is a bunch of discarded rubble, smashed in with a mix of taco trucks and beachfront properties. Standing in the center of the shot is a skinny cyborg with a single camera at the base of its head, observing the scene.
A few moments later, it stops filming and starts to transform into a more compact flying machine. After it succeeds in making this shape, the silent spy sets off into the air. You can see the rubble and destruction of the city below, sections of which are covered in massive seas of sand and bone and what were ships of one kind or another.
It moves up to the northern part of the city up to an area near Lake Elsinore. A set of large metal doors open wide in the brown and black landscape and the spybot descends inside. On a sign, posted on a still standing section of fence in front, you can see (albeitly faintly) the logo for "A New Hope" similar in design to the one found on the initial satellite probe.
We move to an interior shot of the ship descending a long dark tunnel; the doors starting to close on top of them, blocking out the light topside from whatever hides below. The spybot flicks on a light from its base, helping guide the way as the doors firmly slam shut.
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INT. LANDING PAD
A landing pad a short time later, complete with soldiers and other workers moving to and fro at that point in time. You can see the spybot come into view from the top of the screen; its light flickers off as it makes its final descent.
The spybot transforms back into a humanoid structure seconds before landing on the hard metal-concrete with hardly a clutterous sound. The machine turns around and walks over to a captain dressed in a light blue military uniform.
A small disc emerges from the center of the robot, which it then hands over to the captain. She nods and heads over to a nearby teleporter with the data. She types in something on a keypad and, a few moments later, disappears.
The Captain stepping out of the teleporter a few moments later in the direction of a row of electric bicycles; a collection of modest looking houses in the background. She picks one out and sets off on the road next to it in a leftward direction.
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INT. BEDROOM- Minutes Later
A shot of JARYD MITCHELL, a 30-something gender non-binary person, wiling away the time drawing on a tablet; the work of art slowly coming into form via hologram. They continue like this till there comes a knock from the door off-screen right.
CAPTAIN (Off-Screen, faint) Mayor Mitchell...?
No answer. Another pair of knocks coming from the same area.
CAPTAIN (Off-Screen, louder) Mayor...?
Still, no answer from the person with the shaved head. The Captain slams on the door two more times just as they finishes the art piece.
CAPTAIN (as Jaryd hops off the mattress) Mayor!
JARYD Come in, Captain! I was just finishing up a drawing.
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The front entrance of Mitchell's domicile a short time later. We see their hand press a button on a pad next to the door; part of a robe from the back visible to the left. The doors open and we see the Captain standing in the doorway.
JARYD What brings you to my door this time of day?
CAPTAIN RIGGS (to Jaryd) One of our iSpies found lifeforms in Sector 155-Beta.
JARYD Mutates, or other colonists?
CAPTAIN RIGGS Unsure at the moment. But they're traversing the same area the S-D have been going through the past few weeks. So, can't really rule out that possibility.
JARYD (pause) I'll slide on the kettle...
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INT. DINING ROOM- Minutes Later
Captain Riggs standing at one end of the table, sliding the disc into a black rectangular hard drive the size of a brick. A second later, she then types into a keypad on the top of the hard drive.
The camera moves back to Jaryd holding a black steaming kettle with a couple of cups flanking both sides. The kettle levitates a second later, pouring the cup to the left and then the one to the right as she speaks.
JARYD I was only able to brew a pot of oolong. The LCS' been acting up for a week now, especially when it comes to drinks...
CAPTAIN RIGGS (interjecting as she finishes typing) It's fine, Mayor. I don't have much knowledge in terms of Old Age teas. Whatever comes should be fine by me.