OP/DEVELOPMENT/Script v.2

OUTPOST SCRIPT v.2

Still some unwritten scenes, to come soon.

Scene 1

A black screen, a man’s voice, sounds of paper shuffling:

“It is advised, by the board of general health and their associated partners in the department science, that researchers undertaking long distance and/or isolated tasks take part in psychologically constructive measures to ensure mental stability. In the situation of a one man to one outpost ratio, such measures are considered essential. To facilitate this aim and enhance the effectiveness of any such measures the company has integrated systems into the outpost video log software. Combined with the symbiotic link this software enables users to create and participate in interactive diary instalments. It is advised that this be done for a period of up to one hour per day and contain a combination of scientific and personal reflection”

A video image starts to bleed into view, some text can be seen but printing backwards, as if we’re looking through the screen –

“So time to make this personal”

He looks into the screen and a wry smile spreads across his face.

“Well talking myself is no longer a problem, been here long enough”

The man looks down and flicks through some pages of instructions, scanning and reading bits

“…when connection is activated and symbiotic link strength at 80 or higher it is possible to begin visualisation…blah blah blah…begin by imagining something simple, like a – banana! huh? I hate banana’s”

The man looks back up at the screen

“right, banana, think”

Nothing happens, he frowns at the screen and tries again, this time with his eyes closed. A small glow of light starts to amass at the centre of the screen but quickly dissipates before he opens his eye. The man scoffs, looks down at the page and mumbles. In annoyance he slides the pages away,

“I hate banana’s; the shape, colour, the way they fucking taste”

Suddenly on the screen the basic shape of a banana appears, it flickering, fuzzy and unstable but the man looks up on it in amazement.

“Haha..can you..”

He half looks over his shoulder, as if talking to someone. Of course no ones there, he just continues and looks back at the screen. Off screen an alarm goes off and a flashing red light. The man looks over and then back to the screen before turning it off.

Flashback 1

The image is very grey and desaturated compared to the first scene it looks dull and the man looks warn out, ground down. His tone is one of despair and tired desperation.

“I have no update, again. Key monitoring and sensor equipment is still malfunctioning. Still unable to fix. Still unable to do anything!”

The man has his head in his hands, fingers through his hair.

“I came here to…I came here to do something, I can’t carry on like this. There must be some procedure or fucking protocol, these years of nothing”

He grabs a ream of files and starts rummaging through.

“What do I do when there’s nothing to do?”

He falls silent whilst studying a piece of paper.

“Why didn’t I know about this…”

“It is advised, by the board of general health and their associated partners…”

Scene 2

The man sits down in front of the screen, he looks tired out, is dripping with sweat or water and has grease smeared on his face.

“I don’t even know how long it’s been you know? Exactly. I stopped checking after a while…”

He tries to unscrew a bolt but is unsuccessful and gets frustrated as as his hands slip,

“…didn’t seem much point in continuing after I worked out no one would come”

On the screen words form – ‘You’re wet’

“Yeah it started raining so…huh, ur…what?”

The man is completely confused.

“You can talk…?Hello? Respond to me?Are you the software…the outpost?

Nothing happens, the words just stay there.

“I swear Oscar if this is you, screwing with me again I’ll rip the link. For good.”

The man glares at the screen. The words start to disappear to be replaced with what looks like drops of water hitting the screen and running down. The rain gets heavier and heavier until his image is obscured.

Flashback 2

The man has his elbows on the desk and rubs his eyes with his hands

“I have no update. Key monitoring and sensor equipment is still degrading. Although my link with Oscar, sorry I mean the outpost, is still functioning I continue to find it increasingly influential, no sorry thats a bad word…distracting to my decision making. I feel like its pulling me, you know? In certain directions, I can’t keep my mind off those fields, I know thats what I’m here for but what about the communications, what about finding a way to leave! Its not letting me work in any meaningful way on getting all this back…back home.”

Scene 3

“It’s getting stronger, corrupting communications, I think it’s messing with the symbiotic link I share with the outpost. It’s..it’s you know in here…”

The man tenses his hands brings them up to his head to indicate.

“It should be out here!”

He clasps at the air in front of him.

“Not inside..not here..”.

On the screen there are flashes of this image of him close up, echoing his movements. One image of a eyes, a woman’s eyes hangs around and only slowly fades away as he begins to calms down.

“I…I’ve been going back to check some of the external camera footage, but it’s not right, I think Oscars been hiding things, manipulating. I found things in the compression, you know? Digital artifacts of figures I think. Why what if it’s them – like – help, it could be her, who knows. Look, look you can see”

As he says this camera footage of the external area comes up, it becomes greatly scaled up – blocky and blurry. Some pixels and objects in the image move but it is nothing conclusive.

“I’ll be watching this, live, so it can’t hide it from me. Hide them from me.”

He says as a matter-of-fact

Flashback 3

“Something’s been niggling at me. I’ve been here a long time. I wanted to find some food that’s not rations. But I couldn’t get far, not even over the perimeter. You know I never really leave here? Well it wasn’t a physical thing, more like I was…sad. I know, sounds ridiculous but it was like…well the best way I can describe it was homesick or heartbreak…It’s not just me thats suffering a bit, I think after all the time the unique properties of this environment is having a detrimental affect on the Oscars monitoring equipment. I’m currently working on a way to reverse this trend.”

Scene 4 – CHOKE CHAIN

The man looks into the screen. He looks awful. Words are displayed,

“Just Leave”

He stares forward breathing heavily, holding his neck lightly.

“You know I cant. And you know why. I don’t, I don’t know what the fuck’s happening, every time I try, the harder I try, the more it hurts. I’ve tried to just leave, walk away, but every time…every time, you yank the chain. Choke everything inside me”

On the screen, overlaid we see him run and then stagger to kneeling, before stopping completely.

“Draining me ’till I’m back here, gasping!”

The screen clears to leave the words

“Just leave coward”

The man goes to say something but quickly gives up, he hasn’t the energy. Instead he lowers his head into his hands and slowly settles on the desk. Calmly and gradually his breathing becomes consistent and gentle. He falls asleep with the link still active.

Images of small drops of rain start to hit the screen, running down whilst sounds of distant rioting and shouting become audible. The tube and box at the end of a gas mask drags through a puddle. Light glistens off the wet metal of a weapon. Ripples trace across water. Close up on a woman’s lips as they speak,

“Just leave coward”

The man wakes up with a start, a bit disoriented but stares at the screen as the image dissolves.

Flashback 4

fields – amazing place. Only person to ever see this let alone study it. Could really help our fight, the properties of the crystals could improve the signal clarity and dispersion of our weapons immeasurably.

Scene 5 – BETRAYEL IN THE RAIN

Ends with a close up of her dead eyes before his wide, happy eyes in the next scene.

Flashback 5 – IN THE BEGINNING

He looks wide eyed into the screen and smiles.

“Is this working? OK, reporting for duty…date 12-15-72”

The man shuffles awkwardly in his seat, his speech is a little stunted.

“It’s taken a week to unpack and build after the drop”

He looks around smiling.

“This…this here is what I need – space, air, time and room to breath you know…? Oh urr sorry, out of context. Right, detection and sensor systems are functioning at 90% efficiency, some parameters still need tweaking. The symbiotic link between me and the outpost is, well, exceptional. In all the training I never experienced such clarity of thought transfer, the data rate is thriving!”

He straightens himself after getting carried away slightly.

“The main issue is communications, with well, you”

The man points to the screen.

“I’m still working on some issues with the aerials, so you may receive this late and a little jumbled. Just not too late I hope, this place, it could help us.”