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endless-whump · 5 years ago

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Captivity, Part 4

Whumptober day 16/17: Pinned Down/Stay With Me

This is the last one for the series! (I think). I will most likely continue writing DBH fics that exist in this AU of sorts, so for example if I write another series, this one is still canon in that timeline/AU. Hope you guys have enjoyed!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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Conner woke up to new hands gripping, pulling, twisting. His eyes snapped open in panic in an attempt to identify the source of the unwelcome touch, and locked on the faces of two unfamiliar men hovering over him.

Their strong hands pinned him by his arms and legs onto the ground, holding a painfully tight grip that dug into old injuries.

Countless thoughts ran through Conner’s mind. Pain, fear, curiosity, anticipation. What were they here for, what were they going to do to him.

All the unanswered questions and worries crowded his mind as he lay there, fingers twitching but not even daring to move too much, in fear they’d take it as a sign of defiance, or a sign of struggle.

His head pounded, making it hard to focus, but it was nothing compared to the sharp, tingling pains that plagued his beaten limbs. The pressure of hands on his wrists and right below his knees dug into his bruised and bleeding injuries with excruciating pressure.

He tried his hardest not to move or struggle on instinct, knowing that could just jostle his injuries more, and possibly aggravate his assaulters.

“Whatever you used to fry the damn things systems obviously didn’t work well, they’ve still got a tracker on him.” One of the men pinning Conner barked, looking back at who he assumed to be John, standing by the doorway.

“Whatever, just get the damn thing out and we can be done with it.”

One of the hands shifted, and Conners eyes widened at the sight of a knife being brought up close to his face. He couldn’t stop himself as he weakly tugged his arms in panic, only causing the men to dig their fingers further into his damaged skin as expected.

“N-no, stop, please don’t, plea-“ his plea was cut off by a sharp kick to his injured knee, earning a soft whine of pain as the deviant quieted down.

The knife was brought up to his forehead, where his led was cruelly pried off the side of his brow, blue therium seeping down his face from the damage.

Nononono, that was bad. His led was his tracker. The precinct had activated a new one after discovering the original ones didn’t work in deviants, for this exact type of scenario. Conner has assumed it was fried and didn’t work, considering none of his other systems did. The soft glimmer of hope died before it could even spark, now that it was gone.

They planned to simply dump him somewhere, let him bleed out or freeze or something, whatever caused him to shutdown first. Conner didn’t want to admit it, but he was afraid to die, afraid of his life slowly draining away in a heap of misery and pain.

He didn’t want Hank to find him like that, all beaten up and broken, covered in blue blood and limbs twisted where they weren’t supposed to. He didn’t want Hank to find him and feel like he had failed.

He didn’t want Hank to feel guilt over his death. Conner didn’t know if he’d be able to handle that.

Everything hurt. Everything was so sore and tired and worn out, Conner simply closed his eyes, breathing heavily with soft wheezes under the pressure of his broken chest.

His fingers continued to twitch slightly with twinges of pain, but the men above him fortunately didn’t seem to notice.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt the arms around him lift, and he gasped slightly as he found himself being pulled towards the door of the cabin, the henchmen conversing with John as he led the way.

“Better get rid of the thing before the feds come after us. The snow is letting up and that tracker was probably still working until we pried it off.”

They were headed towards the back of the cabin, dragging Conner by the arms and letting his legs drag in the semi-deep snow. His head hung limply, too weak to be lifted, so he couldn’t quite see where they were going.

The terrain remained somewhat even until Conner found himself looking down into a sudden slope in the ground, barely having time to react before he was dropped, rolling limply through the snow into the ditch.

It wasn’t a very far fall, especially with the snow to cushion any sort of collision, but he rolled over or twice before coming to a stop, his body sinking into the deep snowbank of the ravine.

The cold snow burned icily into his exposed skin, quickly soaking through the thin layer of clothing he had remaining, a pair of pants and his white undershirt. It stung numbly, especially on the exposed cuts in his wrists and ankles.

He made an attempt to shift his arm underneath him, rising up a little bit before he felt something crack, and he fell back to the ground with a whine, gritting his teeth.

Sharp pain surged through his arm, and he evaluated that there were at least two places where it was broken from the blows of the crowbar. Trying to put weight on it probably just made it snap the rest of the way, he thought to himself.

The storm had let up a bit, but a soft, steady amount of snow was still falling from the sky, covering Conner with a thin, white layer. He gave an attempt at his legs, but they weren't in much better condition, and he felt sick when he reached down, running his hands lightly over them and finding deep, awkwardly bent dents.

He sighed, shivering slightly as he felt his biocomponents slow, his therium pumping slower, and his ventilation components whirring desperately trying to keep up with the extensive damage done to his frame.

He was going to lay there and die, and there was nothing he could do about it, he thought to himself. Everything he had done would be for nothing, John would get away, and he would die alone, and then Hank would be alone. He would never get to see Sumo again. He sniffed as he realized he was now crying, a steady stream of tears flowing down his face.

He shut his eyes, resigning to stay as still as possible so at least he wouldn't be in as much pain, and allowed his systems emergency stasis mode to take over.

He barely noticed the hand on his back as muddled voices sounded above him. He flinched, curling in on himself to escape the unwelcome touch as his senses slowly started coming back to him. His already uneven breath hitched as he started to panic, to pull away.

“-ont move.” he caught someone say, almost muffled. More hands descended on his and he was flipped carefully onto his back, but the gentle movement still caused him to grit his teeth.

“Oh my god, Conner.” A hand cupped his face, and his initial reaction was to flinch away, but he didn't have the energy to. His mind felt slow foggy, processing everything delayed. He forced his eyes open, finding himself staring up at Hanks worried face.

“h,,hank?” The deviant whispered weakly.

“Yes, son, we’re gonna get you out of here, your going to be ok, I promise. Just stay with me, ok?”

“msorry, I just, s,,sorr,-”

Fingers ran through his matted, wet hair comfortingly as Hank tried to reassure him.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, son, just hang in there, you're safe. Your going home.”

Home? He had thought about home a lot. He thought about all the things he missed or would never see again. Was he really going home? To Sumo, to Hank?

He felt himself being lifted, being moved, but he almost didn't quite register it. Everything that was happening seemed distant, like he was watching it from afar. He was so tired. Conner let his eyes slip shut, because they were so heavy. Thats what you were supposed to do, right? When you were tired, you were supposed to give in, to go to sleep? If that was the case, why were there hands shaking him, alarmed voices begging him to stay awake? Why did they want him to stay awake so badly?

He was so tired, he simply wanted to ignore them, and fade away. He wanted to let the pain and the cold fade away. And they did.

——-

Warmth surrounded Conner as he cracked his eyes open, and found himself staring into the face of a very concern looking Sumo. He was wrapped in several layers of soft blankets, laying slightly propped up in what he recognized as Hanks bed.

Gasping he sat up, instantly regretting it as his chest erupted in sharp pains. He grimaced, settling back down as Hank walked through the door, looking relieved.

“Thank God, your awake.”

Conner raised a shaky hand towards him.

“H-Hank?”

Hank rushed forward, grasping Conners bandaged hand gently and allowing the deviant to fall forward in an embrace as the tears started. His fingers gripped the back of his sweater, taking in the familiar warmth and musky smell of his father as he shoved his face into Hanks shoulder.

“It’s ok, your safe, go ahead and cry, your alright.” Hank said comfortingly, running his hands through the back of Conners hair in reassurance. Softly, he laid the Android back down onto the bed, trying not to jostle him too much.

Conner grabbed the edge of the heavy blanket covering him, lifting it to see his legs and torso layered with white bandages

“H-how bad was it?”

Hank met his eyes solomnly, brushing a hand through his hair.

“You were pretty beat up. Both knees had to be replaced, and they had to go in and seal several breaks in your legs, arms, and chest.”

He looked down at his hands, fidgeting with something.

“I, I didn’t think you were going to make it. It was bad, really bad. You were half frozen when we found you, and you wouldn’t wake up even after your repairs. They really fucked up your systems.”

Remembering, Conners hands flew to his brow, and he felt the familiar, round led.

“They fixed it?” He said to himself. Sure enough, he was able to operate his cybernetic communications again. He sighed with relief.

“Your ventilator and therium pump were broken and frozen, so it took a lot to fix, but everything seems to be working normal, at least that’s what the technician said.”

“How long have I been out?” Conner said, looking up to Hank.

“Almost two days. You were missing for over a week, Conner.”

It felt like years.

“Well, your on bedrest for now,” Hank sighed. “Your legs are still pretty fucked up, and you need to drink up in some warm therium for the time being, to help your pump thingy regulating again or whatever.”

He tucked the blanket back around Conner, standing up. The deviant reached a bandaged hand out to him.

“Could, could you maybe stay?” He asked timidly. Hank looked down at him, a soft, concerned smile spreading on his face. “Yea, son. If you want.” He sat next to Conner, gripping his hand. Sumo, who had been laying next to him, snuggled up closer, grumbling contently as Conner ran his fingers through the dogs fur.

It was comforting. He was safe, tucked into a warm bed with Sumo and Hank by his side, just like he had so longed for in the past hellish days. He was ok.

He was finally home.

#whumptober 2019 #whump #no. 17 #dbh #rescue #pinned down #stay with me #conner #hank #angst #whumptober #day 17 #day 16 #no. 16 #prompt

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writersblockletters · 6 years ago

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Pioneer Returns v1.3.3

INT. CAR - NIGHT EDWARD is driving down an empty highway somewhere in Washington state. His cars headlights are the only source of light for miles. we briefly glimpse a large duffel bag in the back seat. A baseball game plays out on the radio EXT. CAR - NIGHT A thick bank of fog rolls in, nearly whiteout conditions. Then, in an instant, the car clears through the fog, back into a near complete darkness EXT. DINER - NIGHT Up ahead appears an all night truck stop/diner. Ed takes the exit and heads in to grab some coffee. Ed takes the duffel bag out of the backseat and locks it in the trunk. INT. DINER - NIGHT Edward sits down at the counter, noticing the TRUCK DRIVERs the left, GEORGE, and right of him, JERRY, are staring. MAGGIE, the waitress walks over and pours him a cup of coffee. MAGGIE Don’t mind the regulars, they lost their manners years ago. JERRY Where you headed slick? Ed looks over at the gruff trucker to his right EDWARD I’m going up north to see about a logging job. The truck driver finishes the last of his coffee and stands to leave. He leans over to Ed as he places a $5 on the counter (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2. JERRY No, you ain’t. Jerry grins and looks back up at the waitress. JERRY Thanks for the pie Mags. Jerry exits. Edward follows him with his eyes until he is gone, returning his attention to Maggie. MAGGIE He’s harmless. Can I get you a slice of pie? Edward hands the waitress some cash. EDWARD I should be getting back out there, still have a long way to go. MAGGIE Here. Maggie puts a slice of pie in a small box and hands it to Edward. MAGGIE CONT. It’s on the house. INT. CAR - NIGHT Edward is back on the road, the darkness seemingly has closed in on the car. The headlights are a match at the back of a cave. baseball game is still on in the background. The headlights flicker, then go out altogether. The radio bolts to static The headlights come on after a moment, but the highway is again thick with fog. Edward strains to see anything in front of him. The fog is getting thicker and thicker, now the headlights hit up against the cloud like a wall. Ed slams on his breaks, but the car continues rolling forward.

3. EXT. SPACE - NIGHT We see the classic car in full now, emerging from the fog into the void of space. Milky galaxies dot the sky. INT. CAR - NIGHT The radio comes back in tune, ANNOUNCER mid sentence ANNOUNCER -drive to right field and deep going going gone and another homerun for reggie jackson! Ed turns down the radio, gazing, awestruck at interstellar space. Ed mouths ’what the fuck’. After a few moments, he turns the radio up and sits half dazed. INT. CAR - NIGHT It’s several hours later, the game and post-game shows have wrapped. ANNOUNCER thats sports time, thats world series time, were out of time, Im jim Kelley and we’ll see you next time on sports radio hour. Ed turns off the radio. He sits silently. INT. CAR - NIGHT Edward dozing, is jolted awake by another block of static from the radio. Slowly, the sound takes shape - we hear the SOUNDS OF EARTH; RAINFALL, THUNDERSTORMS, THE JUNGLE AT NIGHT... Transmission cut. silence.

4. INT. CAR - NIGHT Block of static. The sound forms once more - similar to the first set of sounds, but they are cut and arranged in a different order. The sounds seem to be jumping quickly from one topic to the next, as if a new message is being composed.. The tempo of the sound increases, the radio dial jumps left and right on its own. A bright blinding light fills the car, Edward throws his arm over his eyes to block it out. A loud metallic THUD rocks the car. The light cuts, all is black again. INT. CAR - DAY Edward awakens in his driver’s seat, the low pink light of dawn streaming into the cab. Edward takes stock of his car, his body...everything checks out. He reaches for the door latch... EXT. HILL - DAY Edward steps out of his car and looks around. He is parked on top of a hill overlooking a dawn-lit field. He now notices smoke rising from the hood of his car. Walking over to the front, he notices a GOLDEN PLAQUE lodged in the GRILL. With some effort, Ed pries the plaque out of his grill and examines it. Down at the bottom is an apparent map of the solar system and the trajectory of a probe etched into the gold. Edward looks out over the field, the peaceful dawn skyline has now transformed, and is filled with endless interstellar space. Music crescendos - Ed falls backward...

5. INT. HOTEL - DAY Ed wakes up frantically in a hotel bed soaked in sweat. After taking a moment to calm himself, Ed checks the nightstand finding a... INSERT: hotel room key - monogramed with Hudson Lodge logo Rising from the bed, ed walks over to the window, peering through the blinds - he sees his car below in the parking lot, hood facing toward us. EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY The classic car is spotless, no scratches, dents, or emanating smoke. INT. HOTEL - DAY Relaxing, ed sits down in an upholstered chair, only then noticing... INSERT: Square foam container Ed slowly rises, walks to the box and looks inside- instantly chucking it across the room. the pie inside splatters against the wall, slowly drooling down. Then he remembers...running over to the desk he pulls out all the drawers, then, resorting to the nightstand bible, he rips out a page and scribbles down a likeness of the plaque. Staring at the picture, Ed grabs a bottle out of the mini bar and returns to his upholstered chair. Ed downs the bottle in a gulp. ED Dammit. Cut to.

6. EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT Ed speeds down the highway in the opposite direction. EXT. DINER - NIGHT Ed roughly pulls into a parking spot near the front and jumps out. INT. DINER - NIGHT Ed opens the door, the truckers from the night before are sitting in their usual spot. Maggie emerges from the kitchen, hauling chicken fried steak for the trucker on the left, JERRY. MAGGIE Ill be right with you. The trucker on the right, GEORGE, gets up to leave. Ed remains near the door, shifting to allow George to pass. Maggie walks back over to Ed MAGGIE Do you want a booth? ED I came in here last night- MAGGIE I remember you. Have a seat sweetie. Ed looks around, then chooses a spot at the counter several chairs from the trucker. ED Something happened. After I left. MAGGIE I’m sure it was nothing you couldn’t handle. ED When I was in here, It seemed like you knew something. Jerry stands up from his stool and walks over to Ed. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 7. JERRY I’d like to know something. Ed turns to Jerry ED Get in line pal. MAGGIE Hey Jer can I get ya some pie? JERRY I remember you said you were looking for work. Hows that logging job son? ED All staffed up. JERRY That so? Jerry takes another step closer toward Ed. ED I’ve had some hard luck. MAGGIE C’mon Jerry give him a break. JERRY Mags what do I always say about this highway? MAGGIE Jerry, come on. JERRY Margarette what do I say? Jerry now stands next to Ed. Ed stands and stares back at Jerry. MAGGIE There’s two kinds of people Jerry. JERRY That’s right, there’s two kinds of people travel this road; Truckers and outlaws. Jerry glances out the window. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 8. JERRY And I don’t believe I saw you pull in with a rig. Ed takes a step back toward the door ED I didn’t do a damn thing you old fuck. Jerry steps toward Ed JERRY y’did something bad enough to wind yer ass right here. That’s got-damn for sure. Ed takes another step back, just then George walks in, blocking Ed’s Exit. George also has the Ed’s duffel bag. GEORGE I found this in his car. George opens up the duffel bag, filled with cash, tossing it onto the counter. JERRY That’s a lot of money, huh george. GEORGE I’ll say. JERRY �� I suppose that’s milage? You hear about any banks getting ripped off down south Mags? MAGGIE I’ll check the paper. ED That’s my money, money I earned. JERRY For what? ED That’s my business. JERRY You’re not really in a position to be keeping secrets from me slick. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 9. Jerry takes another step towards Ed, who backs from Jerry and George, tensing for a fight. ED Take the bag, it’s yours. But first you have to tell me what I came to know. JERRY Who’s to say we won’t just fuck you up and take the cash? Good Samaritan reward for bringing down a wanted felon. GEORGE They’d probably give us medals Jer. ED Look, I was paid to deliver something. I don’t know what it is, and frankly I don’t want to know. Look for yourself, it’s in the bottom of the bag. Jerry looks at George, nods at him. George reaches into stacks of cash to the bottom of the duffel bag and removes a black, thin, metal briefcase. ED All I know is it’s got to be delivered tonight. That’s the first half. JERRY So we do have a trucker. ED Something happened to me last night, and I know you know something about it.Take the damn money, I’m behind schedule coming back here so tell me what you know and Ill be on my way. Jerry looks at george. JERRY I’m all set Mags, tell him about the shit. Jerry and George collect the duffel bag and walk back to their respective meals. Maggie turns to Ed (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 10. MAGGIE It’s pretty simple. For reasons unknown, this particular um, stretch of highway is special. ED Special is a menu option. What I saw was insane. MAGGIE You’ve heard of the Bermuda triangle right? ED Sure. MAGGIE Well think of it like that, except those that pass through are less Amelia Earhart, and more smokey and the bandit. ED so the space stuff? People see that? MAGGIE It depends I guess, some get radio interference. You drove through a big one. So you probably got a little more than most. Ed looks at Maggie intently. ED I saw something last night. MAGGIE The first time is a weird one for everybody. ED Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Edward hands Maggie the loose page with his sketch of the plaque. MAGGIE A sign? (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 11. ED It was a metal plate with sketches on it. MAGGIE So a sign. EDWARD Yes, but it looked like hieroglyphics, like a map or something. Then there was this light, and- MAGGIE What? ED Chuck Berry. Jerry looks up from his food. MAGGIE You saw this? EDWARD I had to pry that thing out of my grill. JERRY (To George) That’s a new one. Ed turns to Jerry ED So you haven’t seen this before? JERRY Not exactly. George leans in and whispers something to Jerry, who nods. JERRY Where’s your delivery? Ed pulls out a business card with coordinates written on the back, he hands it to Jerry who inspects it. JERRY Mags can you get me a map? Jerry inspects the map, finding the coordinates - a spot in the woods a few miles from the highway. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 12. JERRY You can’t get there tonight. ED What do you mean? GEORGE The storm. Rigs don’t come back when they’re this strong. ED Doesn’t matter. I forfeit my other half if it’s not done tonight. JERRY Forfeit your cash or forfeit your life, son. ED That would be one and the same in my situation, sir. Jerry looks at George. JERRY tell ya what. Jerry takes two large stacks of cash out of the duffel bag then tosses the bag back to Ed. JERRY I’ll take you there, but I need to find a route around the storm. You don’t want to get caught in the open when it rolls in. INT. DINER - NIGHT Ed sits by himself at a table off to the side of the restaurant, staring into a cup of coffee. Maggie comes over and sits across from him. She slides a plate of apple pie over to ED MAGGIE Hey. Ed looks tired, he smiles at her. ED Hey. Can I ask you something? (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 13. MAGGIE sure. ED Why do you stay out here? MAGGIE One place is as good as the other i guess. ED But Here? MAGGIE It has its charms, for instance, I have an apple tree in my back yard and it makes the best apples. Maggie pushes the plate closer to Ed. Ed takes a bite. ED wow. You made this? MAGGIE If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. ED Hm. Far out. MAGGIE How’d you get caught up in this business? You can’t work a real job? ED I ran out of options when I burned my draft card. You have to live in Had to get creative to make it work. But that life’s just about done with. MAGGIE Because of this delivery? ED It’s enough to start over. No more running. Jerry comes over to the table (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 14. JERRY We should go before it gets any worse. ED Okay. Ed turns to Maggie ED Thanks for the pie Mags. Cut to. INT. RIG - NIGHT Jerry and Ed drive down a quiet back road, Ed holding the map, shining a weak flashlight at it. JERRY How far from the trail head? ED It’s coming up on your right. JERRY Listen, its going to get worse the closer we get to the storm. Keep your whits about you. Ed can see a large thundercloud on the horizon, strangely colored compared to normal storm clouds. ED Where do you think they go? -beat- JERRY You’ve seen. cut to. EXT. RIG - NIGHT The semi truck turns down a dark logging road, fog lightly hanging in the air.

15. INT. RIG - NIGHT The semi rolls up a winding logging road deeper and deeper into the woods. Jerry’s semi truck rolls to a stop. JERRY End of the road. Ed stares into the dark forest. JERRY You’ve got an hour, maybe two if the pressure holds. I’ll keep her running, and I won’t wait. Ed nods, steps out of the Rig. JERRY Hey, good luck. ED 10-4. JERRY Christ. Get a move on. EXT. FOREST - NIGHT Ed steps out of the cab with a flashlight and Duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The floods from the rig light about 10 feet into the woods, then become engulfed by darkness Ed sets off into the woods. EXT. FOREST - NIGHT Ed hikes through the woods, the distant roar of thunder can be heard. Ed pauses to shine a light at his map, and compass. A clearing in the canopy above him shows a clear dark night sky. Ed pushes on.

16. EXT. TRAILER - NIGHT Ed stumbles through a thicket into a small clearing at the bottom of a hill. A large airstream with a radio antennae on the roof sits at the top of the hill. A man, KEN, opens the door, his small figure silhouetted by the light from inside the trailer. KEN Are you the guy? ED yeah. KEN You’re late. Get inside. Ed picks up his pace, walking in with Ken. INT. TRAILER - NIGHT Ed enters just after Ken, who is already in another room. Looking around, Ed notices the room is small, mostly white, and mostly empty, spare for a glass box in the corner of the room and a metal table next to it. KEN (O.C.) Stop on the X. Await instruction. Ed looks down at the floor, a yellow square of duct tape with an X in the center sits in front of him. Ed takes a step forward and pauses on the marker. KEN (O.C.) Place the package on the table. Ken comes in from a side room to Ed’s right holding a black case. He opens it, addressing Ed... KEN Take off your clothes. ED Excuse me? KEN Hurry up, I’m behind schedule. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 17. ED uh. Alright. KEN Put them in the bin. Ed unbuttons his shirt, and drops it in a clear tub on a table next to him. He continues with his pants. ED Can I ask- KEN Decontamination. Hold up your arms. Ed holds up his arms, Ken throws white powder over Ed’s body. ED Christ! It burns! KEN Delousing agent. Step in the shower. Ed half blindedly stumbles into the glass case in the corner. Before he can turn, burning hot water pours out of the spout. ED Ahh! KEN Open your eyes, let the water clear the agent. After a few moments the water cuts out. Ed steps out of the shower, red and panting. KEN (O.C.) Clothes on the exam table, put them on, then return to the X. Ed fumbles putting on the clothes, a dark pair of slacks, a black tie, and a white short sleeve button down, the same as Ken’s. Then slinks back to the X. KEN Go to the door on your right. Ed walks to the door, it opens as he steps in front of it.

18. INT. TRAILER - NIGHT Around Ed appears to be a retrofitted trailer with an array of scientific instruments, printers, and screens with varying readouts. Ken is standing at one of the printers reading a string of printer tape that is sorting itself into a cardboard box. KEN Why are you late? ED You aren’t exactly the easiest person to find. KEN Place the package in the tote to your right. Ed opens his duffel bag sitting on the table, retrieving the black box from the bottom. He places it in the clear tote and slides it toward Ken. KEN Thank you. Your payment will be at the specified drop site. Be on time to ensure it does not get picked up by anyone else. Exit through that door. Your discretion is appreciated. Ed points to the black case. ED Is, does that have to do with the storms? Kens eyes dart to Ed’s. KEN What do you know about the storms? ED So it is the storms. KEN What do you know!? ED I don’t know! I just drove through one! (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 19. KEN You drove into it? Good god, how’s your vision? ED I feel alright. Ken stares at Ed for a long moment. KEN Tell me what you know. Sit down there. Ken motions to a small swivel chair near one of the desks. Ed sits down, Ken meets him with a tape recorder. Ken flips the recorder on. KEN March, 3rd, 1977. State your name and age for the record, ED Edward Druyan, 26. KEN Describe the event in detail. ED Well. I was traveling north, it was about 11:00. I stopped at a diner. Then continuing I ran into a heavy bank of fog. When I came out of it I was. I was somewhere else. KEN Describe it if you would. ED It was like, nothing I’d seen. Maybe in the movies. But it wasnt like a movie. I was in space. I saw. I saw planets and stars. And then my radio started acting up. KEN Tell me about the radio. ED It’s a good radio, mostly listen to games on it.AM/ FM I think. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 20. KEN What happened with it!? ED At first it was jumbled, but there was music and voices. None of it sounded familiar, and then. I heard. Something. KEN What? ED Johnny Be Good. KEN What? ED You know; da ninninini nini deh da na nininini ninini ni KEN Ah. Ken turns off the recorder. ED I know it sounds crazy but it was clear as a bell. And then it came back at me all jumbled up again. Ken stands and walks toward one of his instruments. ED Look man, I had to go through some shit to get this thing to you. I know what I saw. You wouldnt even ask if you didn’t also think there was something weird about this fucking place. KEN Come with me. Ken grabs the black box that Ed delivered. He walks over to a bank of equipment and opens the box. He removes a... INSERT: A golden lazerdisc Ken places it in a discplayer and flips a switch. Familiar sounds of nature and people and music play. Ken stops the record. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 21. KEN Something like this? ED Yeah yeah, thats before it got all switched around! KEN This is a digitized copy of the golden record from Voyager 1. Ken walks over to a computer and taps a couple keys. KEN It’s a probe we launched into space to study the solar system. �� ED Okay so? Walking back over to the record he flips a switch, the sounds have been converted to an 8bit sounding playback. KEN Voyager is more than that. It’s a message. This is that same record played back at basic binary. ED I don’t get it. KEN You wouldn’t. But wait. Ken walks over to the printer and rips off a section of page and feeds it into a reel attached to a synthesizer. KEN If you break an audio file into binary, you suddenly have a cipher. He flips a switch. A string of horrific sounding binary notes play out of the synthesizer. He pauses it. KEN That was a string of binary I pulled from the storm last night. Ken returns to the computer, taps a couple keys, presses a button on the lazer disk player, and syncs up the synthesizer to the player. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 22. KEN When you overlay the binary code with the audio files from the record... Ken presses a button... The sounds of the voyager record are played to the beat and edit of the printout. Reproducing the sounds from Ed’s Radio. ED That’s it! That’s what I heard! KEN That’s what I thought. Since then it’s been coming in repeating streams. ED So you know what it is? KEN I don’t know exactly what it’s saying, that will take time, but I think I know where it’s coming from. ED From the storms right? KEN Partially. If you’re the receiver, and the sender were your neighbor next door. The storms is the string that runs between your tin can telephones. ED Where does that put the neighbors? KEN Jupiter. ED Jupiter? KEN Voyager 1 launched September ’77, with course corrections and diversions that puts her within several hundred thousand miles on either end of Jupiter by the time (MORE) (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 23. KEN (cont’d) we received our first transmission of this message. ED If Voyager had the record, who had the sign? KEN What sign? ED It was like a gold plaque with a man on it and a map. I found it after the storm. - Beat - KEN Pioneer. Thunder shakes and rattles the trailer. ED It’s here! KEN Brace yourself! The trailer rattles and rolls, instruments begin blaring. Printer tape and seismometers spit mountains of data. KEN The record! ED Jerry! Ken runs to the disc player and ejects it. Placing the lazer disc back in its case. Ed searches around the room for a cb radio. Finding one, and tuning it to Jerry’s frequency. ED Jerry, come in Jerry! Radio static... ED Jerry if you can hear me, get out of there! (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 24. Radio static...The trailer rocks hard..sending Ken and Ed Down. Alarms from computers blare off. KEN Oh thats a lot of data! The trailer settles after a moment. A pen floats out of frame. KEN Take a look. Ed walks to a slatted window and peers out. EXT. SPACE - NIGHT The silver airstream floats in the abyss. Far away planet Earth seems below them. INT. TRAILER - NIGHT Ed turns to Ken, who has made his way to a monitor and is reading data. KEN How bad is it? The readouts showed a massive power transfer. Ed walks over to a chair and plops down. ED Hard to say, really. KEN What? Ken walks to the window and peers out momentarily. KEN My lord! Ken shuts the slats and walks over to a desk and plops down in a chair. ED This part took a while last time. The two continue sitting.

25. EXT. TRAILER - NIGHT The trailer sits against a backdrop of stars, an unlikely yet capable space vessel. INT. TRAILER - NIGHT Ken is feeding a string of data tape into the the synthesizer, Ed lies back with his feet kicked up on a desk. ED Tell me about Pioneer. Ken continues fumbling with equipment, tapping codes into a computer. KEN Pioneer 11, actually. I worked on that mission. Ed sits upright in his chair. KEN It paved the way for voyager. Gave us out first close up views of our planetary neighborhood. ED What about the plaque? KEN Cave paintings. We were here, this is us. ED Why did I get it then? KEN You wouldn’t know, it was kept top secret. But there was, an anomaly. We were performing a maneuver to slingshot Pioneer out of the solar system, when something affected the gravity surrounding it. Pulled it off course. We regained control of it, of course, but there’s been speculation as to the cause. ED So maybe, its not coming from jupiter. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 26. KEN Maybe not. But let’s see what can find out. Ken flips a switch on his recorder, then on the synthesizer. The golden record remixes and plays out a new string of sounds

#pioneer returns #originalwork #workinprogress

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