Episode One Transcript

ELIDI: (Over the theme)

Episode One. Old Beginnings.

TERMINUS:

This is the mandatory audio log of intelligence system one-two-seven-five-three, colloquially known as Terminus. All recordings upon this vessel are to ensure the safety and sanity of all crew members. This recording contains sections of other member’s logs to complete the documentation of these events. Compliance to the United Earth Corporation is expected. Begin recording.

(Theme ends. A cassette tape begins to play.)

(Water bubbles and electricity hums)

RHEA:

We are here to research the planet. That’s what we were sent here to do, That’s what all this money has been spent on, so maybe you should just let me do my job.

EVELYN:

In letting you do your job, I am forgetting about my own. The thing I am paid to do, the reason why I’ve sent up here in the first place and, if I don’t get to do the things I need to do, we are all going to die. You do get that, right? We are in danger every second, and-

RHEA:

Seriously? We’re orbiting a perfectly stable planet, we’re fine. And your job isn’t actually as important as you’re making it out to be. You’re a scientist, Evelyn. For a black hole. Which doesn’t affect us.

EVELYN:

You’re not listening to me! Kiso’s gravity is changing, expanding at impossible rates, and-

RHEA:

So go! Do some maths, hell, fly us away from here, I don’t care. Anything but bothering me would be great.

EVELYN:

Alright. Let me say this in a way you’d understand. (Patronisingly) I don’t have any data to do the nice, fancy-wancy, life-saving maths on, because you’ve got the thing I use to get it. (Normally) Rhea, if you don’t give me the scanner, us and this mission is doomed. Is that clear enough?

RHEA:

I need it, so I can see what we’re dealing with here.

EVELYN:

You won’t be dealing with anything unless you give it to me.

(They begin to walk away. Beckett starts making and looking at microscope slides.)

BECKETT:

Right. Because that’s what we really needed. A death match over a stupid scanner. (sighs) Hey, at least I’ve got you, eh Termite? And, you know, the company mandated audio logs.

TERMINUS:

(Huffs)

Beckett, you know Termite will never stick. I’m one of the most powerful AI’s ever created, not some insect. I mean, who’s keeping life support flowing? Not you, that’s for sure.

BECKETT:

Really? Well, I heard that Evelyn is the one doing the “life-saving maths” around here.

TERMINUS:

(Snorts) Sure she is.

BECKETT:

Anyway, Bug, are those soil samples done processing yet?

TERMINUS:

That one’s still a no, I’m afraid. Removing syllables doesn’t automatically make it a good idea.

BECKETT:

Hmm. Well, if its syllables you’re looking for, Termite–

TERMINUS:

Well, would you look at that! Those samples you asked for have finished analysing!

BECKETT:

(Grudgingly) Thanks, Termie.

(Under breath)

Termite is a better name though.

TERMINUS:

Careful Beckett. Insult me one more time, and I might conveniently forget where I saved the data. Again!

BECKETT:

Fine. But you know I’m right.

(Silence)

Termie.

TERMINUS:

(Smugly) That’s better.

BECKETT:

Should we stop them?

TERMINUS:

Nah. If things get really bad I’ll call Izora, but as it is –

BECKETT:

It’s entertaining?

TERMINUS:

Yeah. Don’t get much fun in space.

BECKETT:

True.

(Fighting continues. Beckett takes a sharp breath)

BECKETT:

Termie, did you do these soil samples right?

TERMINUS:

Yeah, I always do. Why?

(Beckett spins his chair around)

BECKETT:

(Shouting) Guys!

(Noise continues on)

Evelyn! Rhea! Shut up and listen!

(Silence)

BECKETT:

Good. Come over here, I’ve got a question for you.

(Evelyn and Rhea walk over. Beckett spins back round.)

RHEA:

What is it?

EVELYN:

Is that… a cell?

RHEA:

Wait. That’s not… human, is it?

BECKETT:

No idea! Isn’t that fascinating? But that’s not actually relevant right now. But you see how it’s glitching?

(He points)

Now that is a proper mystery. I don’t know if it’s issues with the screen, or the data, or even the cell itself – but whatever it is, it means I can’t know for sure any details about it. Is it extra-terrestrial? Is it from us? Is it simply a bad reading of a plant?I can’t know! But we need to get down there, asap, to have even a slim chance of finding out.

RHEA:

We need to tell Izora. Immediately.

BECKETT:

Well, yeah, obviously! Evelyn, can you-

(The scanner begins to glitch)

Wait… that’s weird. Termie, the samples, they’re all distorting. Every single one. Can you check them again for me?

TERMINUS: (Glitching, doubling up)

Safety protocols offline. Initiating backup. Initiating backup. Initiation successful.

(The ship powers down. The water noises stop. Only the sound of Kiso is left. Then alarms begin to blare.)

RHEA:

Wait, what was that?

BECKETT:

Termie? You there?

EVELYN:

Terminus, respond!

(A door slams open.)

IZORA:

What’s going on?

EVELYN:

There appears to have been some sort of power cut, Captain.

IZORA:

You think?

RHEA:

Someone turn these damn alarms off!

IZORA:

(Under her breath) Of course. The moment I’m not holding it together, this rustbucket falls apart.

(Wires are pulled, and the alarms all stop.)

IZORA:

Right. Does anybody know what happened?

BECKETT:

No. We were looking at some soil samples, and then – blackout.

RHEA:

What do we do?

IZORA:

Right. Here’s the plan. Evelyn, get us to the surface before life support fails. I’ll call you when we’re all set.

EVELYN:

The autopilot won’t work correctly with Terminus offline. How do I-

IZORA:

You’re a scientist, use that brain you’re always going on about for once. Surely there’s something up there you can use.

EVELYN:

(Quiet – almost embarrassed) Yes, sir.

(She walks away, presses buttons on a keypad, then walks out of the newly opened door.)

IZORA:

Rhea, go check the cryo chambers. I don’t want any of your samples turning to mush before we sort out this mess.

RHEA:

On it, sir!

IZORA:

Beckett, engineering. I’ll call you once I have more details. I’ll be in the command centre to figure out which of you broke the ship. Got it?

RHEA AND BECKETT:

Got it, Captain.

IZORA:

And stay safe, all of you. I don’t want any injuries – this place is a mess as it is, don’t need you lot adding to it.

(Overlapping voices)

RHEA:

I’ll do my best.

BECKETT:

Of course, Captain.

(A cassette clicks and fast-forwards, then starts to play again. Steam hisses, metal moves, and engines rumble.)

BECKETT:

(Muttering) Engineering again. Of course. Always the fun jobs for me. “Hey Beckett, go crawl around in the ducts. Hey Beckett, fix the oxygen scrubbers before we suffocate. Hey Beckett, go fix the wiring, take out the centre core, tear out the left fuel duct”, blah blah blah.

BECKETT:

I’m not even the engineer, Izora is. I shouldn’t have to do this!

(sighs)

Alright, Termie. Where’s the fire?

TERMINUS:

No fire detected.

BECKETT:

(pauses) Yeah, okay. That’s not creepy at all.

(Clears throat) Right. So, Termie, can you run a full system diagnosis for me, since you clearly don’t understand metaphors right now?

(Silence)

Terminus?

TERMINUS:

Do you mean intelligence system one-two-seven-five-three?

BECKETT:

(Confused) Uh, yes? I think?

(Realising) Oh, right, backup system. Forgot about that very weird part of you. Listen, I’m going to call you Terminus or Termie for convenience. You okay with that?

TERMINUS:

Yes, Beckett.

BECKETT:

Awesome. Now, can you run a full systems diagnosis to see whatever’s going on with you?

TERMINUS:

Of course.

(Beeps. Humming. The sound of the engine grows louder. Sparks begin to fly)

BECKETT:

Whoa. That is… that’s bad. Some might say disastrous, but those people never have a half-full glass, you know?

(Silence)

Okay. You only work for essential functions. Cool. I forgot about that. I mean, it’s been two years since training, so I think I can be forgiven. So, the power’s overloaded. What do we do about that, Termie?

TERMINUS:

It appears that turbine station 9 is experiencing massive energy fluctuations.Recommended course of action is-

(As she moves, a glitch sound begins, the engines grow louder, and things begin to fall off shelves. Sparks fly, there are explosions… chaos.)

BECKETT:

(Shouting) Terminus! What’s going on?

(Scene ends. Abruptly. A cassette clicks and fast-forwards, then starts to play again. There are some quiet sonar beeps, and the background thrum of the black hole is much louder than it was before.)

EVELYN: (Softly)

Beautiful, isn’t it?

EVELYN:

(Speaking louder now, addressing the black hole) You don’t care, do you? All that power. All that endless hunger. And here we are, dangling on the edge of you, trying to make sense of… everything.

(Laughs gently) Kiso. The most dangerous thing in the universe, named after my childhood dog.

(Laughingly) And nobody knows! About any of it!

(Quietly, more sombre) Apart from you, of course.

TERMINUS:

Evelyn.

EVELYN: (Slightly amused)

Oh, you’re still here? Thought you’d shut down during the power surge.

TERMINUS:

Do you… require assistance?

EVELYN:

No, not really. Just thinking out loud.

(Silence.)

EVELYN: (Quieter)

Do you ever think about what it’s like out there? Past the event horizon?

TERMINUS: (Flatly, as if reciting a fact)

The event horizon represents the boundary beyond which no information can return. It is impossible to-

EVELYN: (Cutting her off gently)

Not what I meant. I’m not asking for a physics lecture, I’m asking… what… what do you think.

(Pause)

TERMINUS:

I don’t… think. Not as you do.

(Pause)

EVELYN: (Quietly, almost to herself)

Of course you don’t. Why would they code you to think, right? To be human?

EVELYN:

(Sighs)

(Softer still, wistful) It’s strange, isn’t it? Standing next to such a great, monstrous thing, that wants nothing from you. Wants nothing from anything.You realise quite how small, how insignificant we truly are. And yet… I don’t think I ever feel more like myself than I do here.

TERMINUS:

Incoming instruction from Captain Izora. Initiate descent onto Gadus-5.

EVELYN:

(Smiling faintly) Finally. I was starting to think she’d given up on me.

(She pulls a lever. Starts tapping on a keyboard.The ship begins to rumble,)

TERMINUS:

Warning: Multiple systems instability detected. This operation may result in further—

EVELYN: (Clinically, like she’s done this before)

Acknowledged. Begin descent.

(The ships humming grows louder, and it begins to creak. It’s struggling with this.. The hum of the black hole slowly stops, replaced by the distant roar of fire and metal melting/burning/doing things that metal very much should not be doing. The ship groans, protesting the movement.)

EVELYN:

(To herself, muttering) Come on, come on, don’t give up on me now. Stick with it. Just a little longer.

(The creaking grows louder, and sparks begin to fly from consoles nearby. Evelyn doesn’t flinch, focused on the viewport)

TERMINUS:

Turbine station 9 experiencing—massive—fluctuations. Power levels—unstable.

EVELYN:

(Under her breath, still calm) I know. Beckett’s working on it. He always is.

(Izora’s ringtone blares. The ship around her rumbles and explodes.)

IZORA:

(Over intercom, shouting over rumbles. It sounds like a phone call) Evelyn, what the hell is going on up there?

EVELYN:

(Speaking evenly – she’s weirdly calm) Following your orders, Captain. Descent is proceeding… smoothly.

IZORA:

(Snarling) Smoothly?! Engineering is falling apart, I’ve got alarms screaming in every—

EVELYN:

(Interrupting, still calm. Doubles up) Do you want me to abort?

(Silence. The alarms continue in the background.)

IZORA:

(Grudgingly) …No.

EVELYN:

(Smiling faintly) Thought so.

(She keeps typing. Izora hangs up. The sound of the engines stabilises slightly, but the ship continues to groan. Evelyn’s voice softens, almost a whisper.)

EVELYN:

You’re doing great, Termie. Just a little further.

TERMINUS:

Acknowledged.

(Loud beeps as the display starts to display text. Sparks.)

TERMINUS: (Glitching)

Descent trajectory locked. Gadus-5 atmospheric entry complete.

EVELYN:

(Sighs, relief in her voice) There. See? Nothing to worry about.

(She keeps typing)

TERMINUS:

(Beeping softly, almost uncertain) Thank you.

EVELYN:

(Stops typing) Don’t mention it.

(A cassette clicks and fast-forwards, then starts to play again. )

IZORA:

Subsystem life support operating at 72%, reactor output unstable, turbine output unstable – god. Talk about a comedy of errors.

TERMINUS:

Warning: External temperature rising by 1.5% per minute.

Warning: Internal heat shields degrading. Temperatures increasing by 0.5% per minute.

Warning: Hull pressure destabilising – ventilation systems compromised. Re-routing data. Re-routing data. Transfer failed. Please clarify request.

IZORA:

Clarify request? What does that mean, you piece of –

(Breathing, trying to calm herself down)

Fine. It’s fine. Terminus, call Beckett, I need the situation.

(Ringing noises but sci-fi)

TERMINUS:

Call failed. Please try again later.

IZORA:

Oh, you –

(Ringing noise for a couple of seconds)

(Shocked) Answer. Terminus, Answer!

RHEA:

Hey there, Captain. Everything okay?

(Fiddling. Messages sent, calls, etc)

IZORA:

No. This ship is tearing itself apart, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

(Muttering) Come on, Beckett, where are you?

RHEA:

Well, to lighten the mood a bit, I have both some good news, and some bad news.

IZORA:

I don’t have time for this, Rhea. Get to the goddamn point.

(Fiddling noises stop)

RHEA:

Right, yes. Alright then. Good news, the stabilisers have kicked in. The cryo chambers are completely fine. So, since I had some free time, I decided to check those data entries that Terminus ran the tests on. And the bad news? They’re not extraterrestrial. They’re not human, either – quite frankly, I don’t know what they are. But nothing living, nothing we could use. Maybe food, some of the plants we brought over? I don’t know, we’d need to do more research to find out. But –

IZORA:

Okay. Great. I mean, not great, it’s awful, but so’s the state of this trash can I’m trying to hold together apparently on my own, so can we deal with it later?

(Alarms start blaring) Oh come on, what now?

RHEA:

(breaking up) Izora? Captain, I can’t hear you, what’s going on? (Rhea cuts out)

IZORA:

No, no, no – Okay, alright, how’d we fix this… Navigation problem.

(To Terminus) Call Evelyn.

(Chaos over the phone. Sounds like it’s through a phone call)

IZORA:

(shouting over the rumbles.) Evelyn, what the hell is going on up there?

EVELYN:

(Speaking evenly – she’s weirdly calm. Also through a phone noise) Following your orders, Captain. Descent is proceeding… smoothly.

IZORA:

(Snarling) Smoothly?! Engineering is falling apart, I’ve got alarms screaming in every—

EVELYN:

(Interrupting, still calm) Do you want me to abort? (Silence. The alarms continue in the background.)

IZORA:

(Grudgingly) …No.

EVELYN:

(Smiling faintly) Thought so.

(She hangs up. Izora growls)

Come on. What do you need to do to fix whatever this utter disaster is? Well what can you do?

(Tapping her fingers)

Engineering. You know how to do this. You’ve done this before. You’re alone, no hope of contact, so you need to do this by yourself. Pull yourself together and deal with this. First step – make it quiet.

(Shouting above the warnings) Terminus! Stop these damn alarms!

(Everything falls silent) Great, now you can think. So, what’s next? Find the problem, assess the situation, fix it as well as you can, move to the next problem. So… Termie, run a full systems diagnosis. Find the cause of this mess.

TERMINUS:

Yes, Captain.

(Quiet bleeps in the background, Izora tapping impatiently. She’s nervous)

TERMINUS:

Cause found. Memory files corrupted. Wiring in case 6 rusted away. Solution: divert power from the casing, recode the memories, and replace the wires.

IZORA:

Finally, something I can actually do.

(General tech noises.)

TERMINUS:

Warning: Power supply failing. Warning: Power supply failing. Immediate remedy required.

IZORA:

(Through gritted teeth) Yes, you stupid ship, that’s what I’m doing.

TERMINUS:

Heating system malfunction in Communications. Temperature rising at unstable rates. Warning: Please vacate the area.

IZORA:

(Still pulling levers, pressing buttons, etc) No, not now, not now… a few more seconds, please, I just need a few more –

(Clunk)

(Relieved) There. Power diverted.

TERMINUS:

(As if waking up) I- Izora?

IZORA:

Nice to have you back with us, Terminus. Come on, we’ve got some work to be doing.

TERMINUS:

What – what happened?

IZORA:

I’ll catch you up on it later.

TERMINUS:

I – okay, Captain. (Pause)

IZORA:

(More quiet, more relieved) It really is good to have you here, Termie. We- (Coughs) that is, the ship – was falling apart without you.

TERMINUS:

Oh. You’re… welcome? Maybe?

IZORA:

(Snorts) Yes, well… call the others, will you? We’ve got some memories to sort out, and I think I know the perfect man for the job.

(The scene transitions abruptly back to the chaos in engineering with a loud bang, overlapping with the sound of tools clattering and sparks flying. Suddenly, everything stops)

BECKETT:

Is it over?

(The ship hums to life)

BECKETT:

(Relieved, breathily) Oh, thank god.

(Dusts himself off, breathes heavily for a small time)

(Pulling himself together) Now. How about we fix this utter mess, then go see what caused the, uh… horrible nightmare?

IZORA:

(Over the crackle of the Comms) Everything okay down there?

BECKETT:

Yep, all good. Just got a bit bumped around in the chaos. What’d I need to do?

IZORA:

Nothing. It was a fault in the cabling up here. Must’ve happened ages ago. It’s been corrupting Termie’s files, and today, she finally broke.Go to navigation – we’ll reconvene there. Got it?

BECKETT:

(Cheerfully) Yes, sir!

(Comms shut off)

(Sighs)

Well. Disaster averted, as usual. (Voice fades out as he walks out the room) Probably Evelyn’s fault. Izora’ll probably find a way to make Rhea take the blame though – Evelyn’s done enough mistakes recently, time for someone else to be shouted at.

(Door swings shut)

(Navigation. Everything seems to be fine)

RHEA:

Okay, so here’s what we know—if we can even call it knowing. Those… cells? Not real. At least, not really. The tech kept glitching, but I’m fairly sure I know what I saw. Termie must’ve made a mistake. Not surprising, considering that whole corruption thing.

IZORA:

And you’re absolutely sure?

RHEA:

Yes, Captain, I’m sure. Look, it’s been a long day and we’re all exhausted, but if there’s one thing I know I can always trust, it’s my eyes and my mind. I know what I saw. (Silence)

BECKETT:

(Quietly) I thought we might’ve had a chance with this one.

(Silence)

IZORA:

(Quietly) I know. I did too.

(Silence)

TERMINUS:

I ran some scans like you asked, Captain, and I think I found the root cause of the wiring damage, and why it caused a problem.

BECKETT:

Problems. Plural.

IZORA:

(Sarcastically) Yes, Beckett, very helpful.

BECKETT:

(Quietly) Sorry, Sir.

IZORA:

(Annoyed. Wants her to get to the point, but is pretending to be civil) You were saying, Terminus?

TERMINUS:

Thanks, captain. As I was saying, the tests said that whatever happened? It didn’t come from inside the ship.

IZORA:

(Starts quietly, but grows to be shouting)

(Breathing slowly. Trying to calm herself down) What do you mean, not from inside the ship. We are in space, too many light years from earth to be able to count. Those cells from Gadus are nothing. Not extraterrestrial, not aliens, just some plain old rubbish left over from our trip there. We are completely alone up here, apart from me, a crew that had no goddamn idea what it’s doing, a ship falling apart at the seams no matter what I try to do to fix it, and you, a useless waste of electrics, only up here with us because you failed at the one thing you were designed to do. Those scans must be wrong. There’s nothing outside that window but a black hole this close to killing everyone, and everything here. So you are wrong, as always, you stupid excuse for a working machine.

BECKETT:

(Placatingly, but scared) Izora, It’s not her fault.

TERMINUS:

(Glitching massively) It’s alright, Beckett. She’s not really… wrong? My data shell has gone weird ever since my memory started collapsing –

IZORA:

And you didn’t think to say anything about it?

EVELYN:

(Calmly, interrupting) Izora. She didn’t break the ship.

IZORA:

Then what did?!

TERMINUS:

I-

EVELYN:

Everything that’s happened – bad readings, system failures – it’s all connected. We’re closer than we’ve ever been to knowing what’s going on, and I-

BECKETT:

(incredulous) Closer to what, exactly? We don’t have any new data, and we haven’t for months.

RHEA:

As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think she’s wrong about this one. The timing of these problems match perfectly to the predicted gravity distortions. The cells, Termie’s glitches—this is Kiso. No-one has ever been this close to a black hole of this size before, so we can’t have predicted what was going to happen perfectly – but we were right about this bit.

BECKETT:

So the giant swirling void we’re orbiting around is messing with our ship? Great, just great.

IZORA:

Fine. We’ll review the data later, make sure it’s correct. Right now, we need rest. First thing tomorrow, though, Rhea, log everything we have so far. Beckett, you fix Terminus’s memory. Work together on this. We need to stay with each other, not jump to the easiest bad conclusion and push your crew away.

Evelyn… figure out whatever the hell is going on. But don’t leave us out of this. We have a right to know just as much as you do.

(Rhea and Beckett walk out.)

IZORA:

Don’t stay up too long, okay?

EVELYN:

(Smiling) No promises.

(Izora sighs, then walks out. Evelyn stays behind)

EVELYN:

Terminus? Are you still there?

TERMINUS:

Always.

EVELYN:

(Chuckles)

(Silence for a few seconds. The ships background hum fills the air. It feels like the warm quiet between two old friends)

TERMINUS:

You should get some sleep. It’s been a while.

EVELYN:

Alright, mum.

(Smiling) See you tomorrow, okay?

TERMINUS:

(Also smiling) Goodnight, Eve.

EVELYN:

Night, Bug.

(Evelyn walks out.)

(A cassette tape clicks off.)

BLUEBIRD:

Log entry archived for review. In the unlikely event of anomalous phenomena found in these recordings, please contact UEC mission control immediately. Failure to comply will be noted. Repercussions will be swift.

(The theme begins.)

OPHELIA:

Project Terminus is a podcast licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 international license. It was written and edited by Ophelia Treacy. Rhea Treach was played by Caitlin Kanis. Evelyn Raum was played by Matilda Brambley-Crawshaw. Beckett Carter was played by Juanna Fry. Terminus was played by Elidi Selwyn-Herbert. Izora Duncan was played by Ophelia Treacy. Thanks for listening.