PANEL: Lyric squats on the rooftop - a dark space in a glowing city. Surrounding him is speckled light, almost like errors in the printing of the black. He looks ahead of him, experienced and worldly.
Echo We know you.
Lyric Funny sort of way to greet an old friend.
Echo You didn’t show we hurt you.
Lyric No, well, I’m incredibly brave.
Pause.
Lyric So...was there something you wanted?
Echo Yes.
Lyric I’m not a telepath. You know that?
Echo Yes. We need.
Lyric Are you asking for help? Because you just stabbed me in the hand, and I don’t think you knew I could heal it.
Echo Now we know. Help us.
Lyric Why did you stab me?
Echo Now we know.
Lyric What do you want?
Echo Help us.
Lyric What do you need?
Back in the Duck Cave.
Amity That’s weird. Wraith.
Chronal Alarm bells?
Amity I’m not sure. Hard to tell at this distance because it’s subtle. But it’s conflicting emotions. He’s normally pretty clear.
Chronal We should go.
Amity Give it a minute, she asked us to stay. He’s all right, I think. He’s frightened, but not the way he...ah! It’s responsibility. Finesse has given him something important to do - something no-one else can help with. And he’s scared. Oh, wait. Hang on. It’s all right, there it is!
Chronal Clue, please.
Amity Pride.
In the corridor in the Assembly.
Wraith is tentatively sending out brackets of light. He gets more masterful and confident with every stroke. Here is the artist in his element, finding light.
Wraith It’s changing. No size, no shape, no matter. Almost.
He grins.
Wraith Alive thing. It thinks. Weird.
Finesse What’s it doing? I’m getting nothing. It’s using whatever power this is all the time, consistently. Why doesn’t it hide, or attack, if it wants to? What’s it doing?
Wraith Playing.
Finesse Playing?
Wraith Feel where it is. Look.
Wraith moves his brackets of light rapidly, unpredictably, then stops suddenly.
Finesse It’s chasing the light, then hiding from it. And now you’ve stopped...
Wraith Just out of reach.
Finesse Like a dog with a ball.
Wraith Like a kid.
Finesse OK, is it hostile?
Wraith shrugs.
Wraith Not right now.
On the rooftop.
Lyric is standing now, leaning against the wall.
Lyric What you’re asking me for, I can’t do it. I can’t make life. Not from scratch.
Echo Help us.
Lyric I want to. I can’t.
Echo Help us.
Lyric OK. Look, we’ll try and work something out, OK?
Echo Help us.
Lyric It’s like talking to a skipping CD, you know that?
In the Duck Hub.
Chronal and Amity are sitting dejectedly, getting bored.
Finesse speaks over the Com.
Finesse Hi. Right, we might need some help.
Chronal Huzzah! To the Assembly!
Finesse Sorry, not you Chrone. I need a list of children who disappeared. Can you do that from the Duck Shed?
Chronal I certainly can. But that won’t take me long.
Finesse Actually it might. I need a list of siblings who disappeared.
Chronal Easy. What’s my time-frame?
Finesse There isn’t one.
Pause.
Chronal You realise that’s going to be quite a long list?
Finesse I know. Try cross-referencing with the words “light” and “shadow”. I’m sorry. It might have been something suspicious.
Chronal Okey-dokey.
Chronal disappears into a blur, searching several computers at once to allow them to keep up with his operating speeds.
Finesse Amity, can you come over here?
Amity Yay!
Amity walks into the corridor in the Assembly.
Wraith is playing with the light again, a game that has now developed a few rules and a rudimentary scoring system.
Amity Oooh! Twins! And aren’t you Mr Popular?!
Finesse Is an explanation a possibility, at this stage?
Amity Um, OK. I can’t see them either, but I can feel them.
Finesse I’m only getting one power.
Amity There is only one. They share it. They work in stereo but there’s definitely two of them.
Finesse Are they hostile?
Amity No. Sorry to go all Deanna Troy, but I’m just feeling a lot of love, and most of it aimed at Wraith. They love him. Oh, and he makes them feel safe. They’re young, I think. Quite simple emotions.
Finesse Are you saying they’re human?
Amity They feel like it.
A beautiful, ornate door appears in the corridor, and Lyric steps through.
Wraith and Amity smile.
Wraith Three.
Finesse (Over the intercom) Chronal, you’re looking for triplets, very young.
Lyric (Also speaking into the intercom) And they died.
Everyone looks at Lyric.
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3 comments:
Damn, this got intense quickly! I'm liking how it's spotlighting the quirkier ways in which the powers work. Though I do feel a bit sorry for Chronal, reduced to a bit of admin and Oracle duties in the Duck "Cave".
Duck Hub! You nerd. Although you did mis-spell Deanna Troi, you pitiful excuse for a Trekkie. FOR SHAME.
Oh, and this:
Wraith is playing with the light again, a game that has now developed a few rules and a rudimentary scoring system.
Laughed out loud! Genuinely, hence I'm not writing out the initials of that, which would be condescending and misleading. Anyway; I love the idea of the triplets, and I love how dark this is. I wonder where it's all going? Oh, and I love use of Wraith here, both his powers and him being terrified of being the responsible one. Brilliant.
You feel sorry for Chronal?! What about Shift?! I turned her into a flea and left her clinging to an Assembly man's shirt for two installments! I'm really sorry about this, Duck and Jester, it just sort of happened. I'll remedy in the next story if I can't in this one.
Glad no-one minds the dark stuff - thought I'd have a play!
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