Scribblers: Conspiracy Part 3

Final installment. Not at all sure about it, and it's very talky.


Chronal Goons coming your way. Hold on.

Chronal does the timey-wimey thing and suddenly he is with them, and they are in a time-bubble.

Chronal Hi guys. I thought I’d better give you this bit of exposition before the fighting. We’re in almost-stopped time. I found...

Amity Hang on, Chrone. How many people have you got in this bubble?

Chronal Just the five of us.

Wraith Eight.

Amity That’s what I thought.

Chronal Well, I’m not doing it.

Lyric Could they have just found their way into the bubble, if you can’t see them?

Finesse It doesn’t work like that. It’s not literally a bubble.

Chronal I choose what entities I slow down with me. It’s time. It doesn’t operate according to the laws of space.

Amity But they’re here.

Echo We are here. Hello.

Finesse Makes sense, really. Their powers are light-based, so if they can go as fast as light, but still interact with us...

Chronal They must be able to slow down.

Wraith experimentally throws some light, to see if he can, and Amity giggles.

Amity They liked that!

Finesse OK, Wraith, you’re on creche duty, Chronal, exposition. And quickly, please, we need you fighting strength when we tackle the goons.

Chronal Oh, yes, right. There were triplets, and they did die. Yesterday. They were six years old. Their parents put them to bed, and when they checked in the morning, all that remained was dust. It looked like they’d been cremated, apparently. The police are treating it as highly suspicious.

Finesse Any history of powers?

Chronal Nothing at all.

Finesse Right. Well, they’re young, but it’s the only explanation, then. They must have...

Wraith Hey!

Amity Where are they?

Finesse They did something in real time, they’re using their powers. Chrone, take us back!

Chronal de-activates the time bubble and they return to hear no goons.

Lyric approaches the door, sword at the ready, and cautiously opens it. Everyone else is in fighting stance.

Lyric looks through, then abruptly closes the door again.

Lyric Power down, take a deep breath. Amity, keep us calm.

Lyric opens the door more widely. Each of the goons that were coming for them has burned down to dust.

Pause.

Amity They’re expectant, and happy.

Wraith Shit.

Finesse We need a weapon. Thoughts?

Wraith They didn’t understand.

Finesse Even a six year-old knows mass-slaughter isn’t OK.

Amity They were trying to protect us. They couldn’t know we didn’t need it.

Lyric The only weapon they know is what they did to their own bodies.

Pause.

Finesse OK. Can you hear me?

Echo Yes.

Finesse Right. What you have just done was wrong. Those people aren't like you. They can't come back like you. You must promise to never ever kill another human being again. Do you understand?

Pause.

Amity Sulking. Nothing I can do - no chemicals.

Finesse We will look after you, and we know you were trying to help, but I need you to understand why that is not OK.

Echo Sorry.

Finesse That’s...OK. Now, in a minute, I’m going to let you go and play with Wraith for a while, but first you have to listen.

Echo The jumping game?

Finesse Ah. That’s it. Yes. Now, pay attention. I know what you are. You are new. You’re evolved beyond anything we’ve met before. That means you won’t grow up like other children because you have changed so that you don’t need bodies any more. You are light. You can do lots of things other children can’t do.

Echo We want skin.

Finesse When you...hurt those people, I bet you didn’t have to try at all, did you? I bet you just went into them, and then it happened. Is that right?

Echo Like jumping.

Finesse Yes. So if Lyric grows new skin for you, the same thing will happen.

Amity winces.

Amity I really hope you’ve got a silver lining.

Finesse Possibly. Wraith?

Wraith Yeah. Probs. Like this.

Wraith does something with his hands, and across the room appears a blurry figure with wild hair. Wraith is concentrating as hard as he ever has.

Wraith New thing. Not too good yet.

Everyone is very impressed by this.

Wraith Get it?

Echo Yes!

Nothing happens for ages. Then blurry figures start to appear. An impression of colour, nothing much more.

Amity (Under her breath) Temper, temper.

Wraith Pretty good. The kids got talent.

Lyric What do we do now? We’ll need to explain.

Finesse We tell the truth, of course.

Amity But you know what they’ll do...

Finesse What? How do you incarcerate light? We’ll offer to train them, we’ll explain, and as soon as we can, we’ll send them back to their parents. They are far too dangerous to be left alone, and far too dangerous to be exposed to criminals at a young age. The Assembly will have no choice but to educate them. (Pause.) Wraith, take them down to the training rooms. I doubt they get tired any more. They need to create a physical form as soon as possible. Chronal, will you come and help me recover Shift? And then we need to talk to the Assembly.

Finesse clocks what Lyric and Amity are doing, and then she, Chronal, Wraith and Echo leave.

In the next room, crouching in the dust, Lyric is occupied in making urns. Each is different, and each is beautiful.