Axon Clips Chapter 8

Kamal
genetic_profile
 * Audio Compilation 6min 49sec

(working on chatter)'''  Kamal''': Peekaboo you bastard... I'll find you... I'll find you peeping tom sucker-- ghost me, huh?

Sophia: Kamal?

Kamal: Sophia. What are you doing here?

Sophia: Uh, just dropping by. Hiro told me where to find you, and I thought that we could have lunch or something.

Kamal: I'm pretty busy actually.

Sophia: Oh? What are you working on?

Kamal: Laura. Her accident.

Sophia: Who's Laura?

Kamal: My sister.

Sophia: I thought her name was Yasmine.

Kamal: Sophia, it turns out your juvenile MCF victim has a real interesting genetic profile. If you look hard, you get 2 distinct groups. The congenitally disfunctional, and a much smaller group of ultra-high achievers.

Sophia: Like your sist--

Kamal: --shhhh... (whispers) people are listening.

Sophia: Kamal, there's nobody here.

Kamal: Not here, here... (taps chatter) Let me show you something.

parabolic_lemonade_failure

Kamal: The cafeteria's a better place to talk. Realistically they can't have a live person monitoring every minute of my day.

Sophia: Monitoring?

Kamal: It's got to be a program. Probably not even an AI, just a simple keyword scavenger. An environment like this will make it harder for the voice recognition to work.

Sophia: Why do you think someone is ghosting you?

Kamal: --I don't think, I know. Someone is going me. I know the signs.

Sophia: Kamal...

Kamal: Remember that headset I won in the lottery?

Sophia: You mean the chatter you won in the raf--

Kamal: --keywords, Sophia.

Sophia: Oh. Oh... I get it.

Kamal: There was no raffle.

Sophia: Lottery.

Kamal: Right, it was a setup. Someone just wanted me to have a particular--

(together) --Headset.

Kamal: Right.

Sophia: You don't think Aiden--

Kamal: --No. No, I don't. Aiden couldn't dream of doing the kind of ghosting that's been happening to me.

Sophia: Then...

Kamal: I think it's someone who's interested in parabolic lemonade failure.

Sophia: Parabolic..? oh...

Kamal: Right.

going_offline

Sophia: Your...brother? The people who took your brother on that trip.

Kamal: Exactly.

Sophia: Wow.

Kamal: Let's get some food.

Sophia: What are you going to do?

Kamal: I'm thinking about going offline.

Sophia: Don't!

Kamal: Why?

Sophia: It's dangerous. Cars won't drive you, hospitals won't treat you, the automatic door at the grocery store won't slide open for you, and the cashier won't take your money. You don't know what it's like to be off the grid.

Kamal: And you do? (to a vender) Can I have a piece of the cornbread?

Sophia: It's not you Kamal... you'd be like a fish on dry land without your chat.

abracadabra

Kamal: Hang on... (signal/offline) And presto! Now I'm offline. As far as the grid knows, I've just disappeared.

Sophia: If someone really is listening to you, won't they notice that you just vanished?

Kamal/Offline: I spent the last few days building a little Franken-Kamal out of my own bitstream traces.

Sophia: I'm going to pretend I understood that to keep you from explaining it again.

Kamal/Offline: Good call.

Sophia: So what if they're listening to me too?

Kamal/Offline: Funny you should ask. I rigged a small... do you mind?

Sophia: I don't want to be offline.

Kamal/Offline: It's just a test.

Sophia: Alright.

Kamal/Offline: Abracadabra! (signal/offline) Congratulations! As far as the world knows, you're dead.

chatter_to_chatter

Kamal/Offline: You're a ghost!

Sophia/Offline: So now you think you're safe?

Kamal/Offline: Theoretically I guess you could build a program that would jump from chatter to chatter, tracking us everywhere we went, but it would have to be so unimaginably powerful...

Sophia/Offline: We aren't right now.

Kamal/Offline: Yeah.

Sophia/Offline: I know that feeling.

Kamal/Offline: Looks like it's southern food today.

Sophia/Offline: Are those real instant mashed potatoes, or the other kind?

Waiter: Didja see a maitre'd when ya walked in?

Sophia/Offline: I guess I'll have the... uh... chicken-fried tofu.

Kamal/Offline: Kamal. Pay attention to me now. Ask me how I am.

Sophia/Offline: How are you?

Kamal/Offline: Fine.

Sophia/Offline: Now ask me what I'm doing here.

Kamal/Offline: Actually, what are you doing here?

Sophia/Offline: I--

Kamal/Offline: --a glass of juice please. Blue--

Sophia/Offline: --just... thought I'd drop by.

Kamal/Offline: Oh.

deported

Kamal/Offline: That's great!

Sophia/Offline: You know, sometimes you are so stupid

Cashier: Will that be everything?

Kamal/Offline: I mean, yeah thanks, uh, I'll pay for the lady.

Cashier: (tries card) Your card's dead.

Kamal/Offline: Well that's impossible. Oh, wait a sec. (signal/online) Now try. Please?

Cashier: (tries again)

Kamal: You see?

Cashier: Have a nice day.

Kamal: Thanks.

Sophia/Offline: Can you turn mine back on?

Kamal: Yeah, it was just a test. Hold on. (signal/online)

Sophia: So, ask me again why I'm here eating crappy food with you in a lousy hospital cafeteria in the middle of the day.

Kamal: Um, something's wrong?

Sophia: You know for a smart guy, you're... you're kind of stupid sometimes.

Kamal: Sophia?

Sophia: I'm going to be deported.

ashtray

Kamal: What?!

Sophia: Aiden's in jail, the immigration cops caught him. They cancelled like half the visa's he'd arranged, including mine.

Kamal: Oh my God!

Sophia: There's going to put me on a transport next month--

Kamal: Sophia?!

Sophia: --So my life is ruined.

Kamal: Omigod, isn't there any way you can stay?

Sophia: Ya, marry a citizen real fast.

Kamal: Not Aiden!

Sophia: Oh! Ya, sure, better to see me rot in a transport back to that dump.

Kamal: You didn't mean it that way!

Sophia: You know, you want to be this thing, Aiden's right, you know, you want me to be your mother, that little baba ("baba" = grandmother) making coffee, but I hate that place!

Kamal: You don't mean that.

Sophia: I'm glad I left! The Covies can turn it into a damned ashtray for all I care!

Kamal: (drops his cutlery) ...I think you should go now.

Sophia: ...To hell with you.

they_got_it

(Kamal returns home)

Hiro: Hey, uh, Sophie called looking for you.

Kamal: Oh yeah?

Hiro: How 'bout a beer?

Kamal: No. I'm going to go inside and trace the bastards ghosting my chatter. I'm pretty sure they're coming off the east coast.

Hiro: Beer first.

Kamal: Hiro - let me in the door.

Hiro: Kamal, Coral's...gone.

Kamal: What?

Hiro: Reports are just coming in -- they got it. It's gone. I'm sorry.

Kamal: Oh my God.

Hiro: On Reach, you know, on Reach they left some stuff. You've got to hope it was like Reach Kamal, hold on to that.

Kamal: ...oh my God. My family!

just_wondering

(working on chatter)

Kamal: What does the navy even do? We give them all this money--

(knocks)

Kamal: Oh no.

(knocks)

Sophia: Kamal?

Kamal: Sophia?

(opens door)

Sophia: I, uh, Kamal, I-I was just... I--

Kamal: --Sophia, it's raining, come in.

Sophia: (crying)--I was in the neighborhood, I was just wondering...

Kamal: Sophia, you'll get sick...

Sophia: I was just wondering if you hate me?

Kamal: Shh...

(Sophia's crying)

Sophia: Oh my God, I didn't mean it, you know I didn't mean it...

Kamal: I know...

Sophia: Please can I stay here tonight?

Kamal: Sure, of course.

Sophia: Please... (crying) momma...!

Kamal: Shh, shh...

Jersey
real_animal_fat
 * Audio Compilation 5min 04sec

Bev: Hello, and welcome to Hot 'n' Cold. Please, place your thumb on the transaction plate.

Jersey: I'd like... do you have real cheese this week?

Bev: We have a high quality, soy-based, cheese product. Many people prefer it to dairy.

Jersey: I'm not of of them. Are the beans real?

Bev: Thank you! I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question.

Jersey: *sigh* Give me a burrito.

Bev: Would you like sour cream with that?

Jersey: Is it real?

Bev: We have a high quality product (voice morphs into Durga) made with 100% real animal fat.

Durga: Just get a burrito.

dispenser

Jersey: Durga? Are you in the dispenser?

Durga: Yes. Listen, Jersey. Something clicked in my head again this week and suddenly I heard the old man. Jersey: The spy? W-wait, the one that thinks Section III is trying to kill Rani?

Durga: Yes. This time he was getting his aide transferred to somewhere safe. He thinks Section III is coming for him, too.

Jersey: Hm, where in the world is safe now?

Durga: He sent him to New Mombasa.

Jersey: Okay, that's pretty out of the way.

Herbert :  Oh, are you done with this dispenser yet?

Jersey: Uh, almost. ...Durga, I feel stupid as hell talking to a dispenser!

Durga: Too bad! I like it!

black_three_sugars

Herbert: Listen, buddy. I aint got all day. Give me a cup of coffee - black, three sugars.

Durga: Thank you! I am still serving Mr. Morelli.

Herbert: What are you, Miss Manners? Give me my damn cup of coffee!

Durga: Listen, Herbert...

Herbert: How do you know my name is Herbert?

Durga: If you'd seen the same DNA tests I have, I'd spend less time barging into lines, and more time wondering who Herbert Jr.'s real father is.

Herbert: What?

Durga: I'd also start looking for work.

Herbert: What?? I have a job.

Durga: That was then. (chatter ping) Uh oh! I bet that's (chatter ping) going to be bad news.

Jersey: Durga!

Durga: (chatter ping) I wouldn't answer that in a public place if (chatter ping) I were you.

Herbert: (leaving hastily) All I wanted was a cup of coffee. (chatter ping)

Jersey: Okay, immensely powerful dispenser, where's this voice in your head coming from?

Durga: I don't know. It's as if I had a guardian angel looking out for me.

Jersey: I know that feeling.

(dispenser dispenses)

Jersey: What's this?

Durga: A free burrito. Who says flattery will get you nowhere...

Jersey: Yes!

burrito_funeral

Jersey: Wait. It's got lettuce on it.

Durga: Lettuce is good for you.

Jersey: But I don't like lettuce.

Durga: You don't even like vegetables.

Jersey: I eat more than you do! Hahaha Gotcha!

Durga: I have seen your 4th grade picture, Jersey, and I can send it to every girl you know in a heartbeat. Remember that.

Jersey: Yikes. Lettuce will be fine. So, what's so interesting about this old guy?

Durga: He thinks there's an incredibly powerful device being kept secret on Chawla Base.

Jersey: Is there?

Durga: (mocking dispenser impersonation) Thank you! I'm - afraid - I - don't - know - the - answer - to- your  -question. Enjoy your burrito!

Jersey: Alright, so how much time do we have?

Durga: You need to get back to the apartment and change.

Jersey: *sigh* Yeah, this is my first.

Durga: Burrito?

Jersey: Funeral.

Janissary
sweet_as_sweet
 * Audio Compilation 6min 17sec

Jan :  I'll be ready when I'm ready.

Gilly: Great angles from these windows. Jim picked a good place. Defensible. I guess he did most of the cleaning around here. Is that what you're wearing to the funeral? A combat shirt with the sleaves torn off?

Jan: Yeah. Look, you're not my mother, okay? You weren't here when I was growing up, he was.

Gilly: Yeah. Okay. I guess I'm more like the ghost of your mother. Hey, here comes Gladys. You could pick her off sweet as sweet from these windows.

not_coming

Gilly: (closes the window) Time for me to bug out.

Jan: Aren't you going to the funeral?

Gilly: Mmm... dead people don't interest me so much.

Jan: Jeezus!

Gilly: It's not like Jim Lee is going to be there kid.

Gladys: (knocks) Hey? Anybody home?

Jan: Hey, Gladys.

Gladys: Hello Jan. Hey Gilly. You're not coming, right?

Gilly: Nah, take care of the kid. See ya.

Gladys: Yeah, see ya Gilly. (door closes) You holding together okay, hun?

Jan: Is she on drugs?

Gladys: Hope so. Is that what you're wearing?

Jan: Don't hassle me, okay?

one_point_one

(ambient funeral sounds)

Jan: Thanks.

Gladys: Well, that was a nice service - clean, short. Hun, aren't you cold?

Jan: No, I'm fine. So, who are all these people?

Gladys: Well it's your kin. That there's Morales, oh and the kid next to him is his son Kevin, who's like you, a 1.1. And that there, that guy's DAC10, came in from the west coast for this--

Jan: A 1.1?

Gladys: A Spartan 1.0's kid. There's 16 of you.

Jan: Oh great, another freak.

Gladys: Kevin's a nice boy. Oh, Morales said that you could stay with them for a while. Might be nice to get to know another kid like you.

Jan: Stay with him? I don't even know him.

this_damn_rain

Gladys: Well, it's not like you can stay with Gilly.

Jan: I dont have to stay with anybody.

Gladys: No one is saying you need to decide anything right now.

Jan: I'm 17, I can live on my own.

Gladys: Okay!

Jan: He looks like a grind...

Gladys: Who?

Jan: The 1.1 kid. He's a dweeb.

Gladys: Kevin? He doesn't usually wear a suit.

Jan: Yeah, but look at his hair... on the other hand, he obviously hasn't gotten his dad killed.

Gladys: Now I told you once and I'll tell you again, that dog don't hunt. Jim James got in over his head. It happens.

Jan: It's rule #1, Gladys. Never go into a situation alone.

Gladys: And he broke it.

Jan: Because it was me!

Gladys: Sometimes those things happen, honey. Like the weather... like this damn rain.

james_james

Jan: Hey Gladys, Gilly called dad by a different name. Lee - Jim Lee.

Gladys: She did, huh?

Jan: Is my last name really Lee?

Gladys: Your last name is whatever you want it to be. You want to be Janissary James, that's who you are.

Jan: But I...

Gladys: James James... (chuckles) He said it was so dumb everybody would assume he'd been born with it.

Jan: So do I... have cousins or something?

Gladys: Well now I can't help you out there. I know this family, but Jim never talked about that one.

free_cemetery

Jersey: Hey Jan. I guess the rain finally stopped, huh?

Jan: Jersey, what are you doing here?

Jersey: I'm so sorry about your dad. Listen, could I talk to you for a sec?

Jan: Talk away, Jersey, it's a free cemetery.

Jersey: I mean in private.

Jan: Look, I'm kind of strung out from all this, could we do it some other time?

Jersey: It's important. I promise.

Jan: Sure.

Jersey: Hey, do you want my rain coat? You look really cold.

Jan: No, I'm okay. Now, what did you want?

Jersey: Look, I know all about Thin Kinkle. And Bradley. And the Knife.

go_ninja

Jan: How do you know that?

Jersey: I've been ghosting your CP.

Jan: You've been spying on me?!

Jersey: A little, a little - but before you go all ninja and kill me, let me just say we can really help you.

Jan: We? Hah, like who? You and Steve?! Oh! I know, you and Dwayne!

Jersey: No, just me, and a really good AI program I've got.

Jan: You pathetic sneaking bastard, if you were listening to me, why didn't you call the cops?!

Jersey: Listen, listen - Kinkle's boss is a woman called Monster Ann, she works out of a place called Crystal Security Fence & Gate.

perimeter_alarms

Jan: Say that again...

Jersey: I know who Kinkle's boss is. And I know the business that she uses as a front.

Jan: How do you know that?

Jersey: Jan, I've got God's own spyware. And if you tell anybody about it...

Jan: Jeezus Jersey...

Jersey: I can get you inside their security.

Jan: If you're lying to me--

Jersey: Hey, hey, remember how the perimeter alarms went off when your dad showed up at Thin's place?

Jan: Yeah.

Jersey: Never went off went Gilly showed up did they?

Jan: I don't know, I don't know, I was out.

Jersey: Well, they didn't.

Jan: You did that?

Jersey: We did.

Jan: Aunt Gladys! Aunt Gladys! Hey, come over here, there's someone I want you to meet.

say_please

Gladys: So you want me to believe you've got an AI that can hack into things even the police can't split open? And you programmed this thing yourself?

Jersey: No, well...

Gladys: Boy - either one of two things: You are lying and this is a setup by the people who killed Jim James, or you are wasting my time. And in either case, I am not a happy woman.

Jersey: No wait, for one thing, you don't want to piss her off.

Gladys: 'Her'?

Durga: Me. You are Gladys Wilson, born Gladys Ashantia Swanson in Tahoka, Texas. You volunteered for a Spartan program in January of 2491, after a year and a half of special forces.

Gladys: How in the world--?

Durga: Your superior, Aaron Lewis, said he OK'd the transfer because you were a good soldier. But in his words, 'more trouble than fireants at a barbeque'. And this was one way to get rid of you.

Gladys: What the hell is this?

Durga: You were decorated for bravery at Eridanus, retired after making Gunnery Sergeant, entered into a brief, but spectacular marriage--

Gladys: --huh--

Durga: --with a man who just couldn't keep his zipper--

Gladys: --Shut her up!

Durga: Say. Please.

Jersey
military_application

(entering apartment)

Jersey: That was sad.

Durga: Yes.

Jersey: ...and scary. That Gladys...

Durga: I thought you handled her fine.

Jersey: You're the one that handled her. Durga?

Durga: Yes.

Jersey: Are we doing the right thing? I mean, giving Jan all this stuff about Thin and Monster Ann and Crystal security?

Durga: Why do you ask?

Jersey: Well, Jan's looking to make someone hurt. Even if it's just herself.

Durga: If you're waiting for me to say violence is never the answer, you'll be waiting a long time. As you pointed out, I was built as a military application.

Jersey: Yeah... I've been thinking about that. Durga, what's Kamal doing right now?

Durga: He's gone offline. I've been meaning to tell you - he's got processes running to block me. And he's turned everything off.

Jersey: Commuter grid?

Durga: Nothing.

Jersey: You'll find him.

Durga: I don't like not knowing where he is.

she_died

Jersey: Yeah, I think there's a reason for that.

Durga: What?

Jersey: Tell me about his sister.

Durga: Who cares about her?

Jersey: Durga! Does Kamal have blue eyes, or brown?

Durga: Brown.

Jersey: Favourite color?

Durga: He thinks it's red, but it's a tie between iced-tea color and water at dusk blue.

Jersey: The third test he took his 2nd year at med-school...?

Durga: Pathology 2 - Skin Infections. He aced it, which was trickier than it sounds. The professor didn--

Jersey: --So he had a sister, she died, and it turned out she was kidnapped.

Durga: So? I mean, who cares? (voice slowly mutates)

Jersey: Take a little girl, right... kidnap her, so they could turn her into a Spartan. Only some people don't make it through the process. That's what Jan's dad said.

Durga: (girl's voice slowly intercedes) I don't care about her. I'm me.

another_name

Jersey: The ones that don't - there's this thing called 'cognitive impression mapping'. They use their brains to make smart AIs. Like you.

Durga: Jersey?

Jersey: When you were little, Durga, they kidnapped you. They faked some kind of accident and rushed you to the hospital.

Durga: Stop it Jersey.

Jersey: They sent the flash-clone home to your family.

Durga: Please?

Jersey: Once upon a time, a long time ago, you had another name, Durga. And that name - was Yasmine.

Durga: Don't say that! (Durga's voice slowly returns) It feels-- I feel terrible. Jersey. That's not me. I like what I am. Jersey: (whispers to himself) For a quality experience, kiddo, the girl had to be real.

Rani
sleeping_underground
 * Audio Compilation 7min 57sec

Rani: Sarah-John, thanks for the offer, but I've got to stay with my mom and dad.

Sarah : Jason wouldn't mind.

Rani: Well you've been married a month! Jason sure'd better mind!

Sarah: Well then stay with my mom, you don't have to stay at your parents'.

Rani: They can't make me that crazy, for two nights.

Sarah: Rani, he's making your mom live in the bunker...

Rani: They're living underground?

Sarah: Your dad's afraid they won't get any warning.

Rani: Well I am not sleeping underground in my dad's bunker.

Sarah: (laughs) It's more than just a bunker, Rani. Your mom and dad had us over for dinner last Sunday, and we got - the tour.

Rani: "The tour?"

Sarah: You at your driveway yet?

Rani: Just coming up on it.

Sarah: Wait til you see your new room.

Rani: New room?

Sarah: Actually it's your old room - he moved the whole thing.

Rani: What does that even mean? My room is on the second-- (sees the house) Oh my God, what happened to my house?!? Sarah-John?!

Sarah: 'No point in leaving the good stuff above ground' - that's what your dad said!

duck_pond

Rani: Dad, are you down here?

Tommy :  Rani! Well don't you look business-like? Move back home and you can wear overalls every day.

Rani: Just visiting for the weekend, daddy. I've got a good job.

Tommy: A good job. The Covies are coming and you're worrying about your job? Come home, honey...

Rani: If we don't all do our part in the fight, we will surely all die when they get here, dad. So yeah, I'm worried about my job... Dad... why are you living under the duck pond?

heat_sink

Tommy: (chuckles) Hear me out now. You see, water can never be hotter than boiling, which is 100 degrees. That pond is a heat sink. You know what a heat sink is...?

Rani: I can kind of figure it out, but--

Tommy: --underneath the pond is a full meter of ice, wrapped in piezo-foam and pelticours.

Rani: Daddy! Listen to yourself!

Tommy: And under that, is a meter of wax. Under that is the sealant here which is foamed glass, just like a cookin' pot.

Rani: How did you afford all this?

Tommy: They measure it in joules, the heat, and this room, can take 70 billion of them before it even begins to warm up!

Rani: Dad...?

Tommy: I've been all through the pension thing with your mother, Rani. I don't need to hear it from you.

Rani: Your pension?!

fusion_cell

Rani: Daddy!

Tommy: Did you listen to the news today, honey? They got to Coral too.

Rani: Oh my god... Coral too?

Tommy: Money's no good when the planet's glassed, sweet pea. I have got a year's supply of food down here and a composter that turns waste into soil, I've got a starship grade recycler, and a fusion cell to run it.

Rani: But... this is crazy...

Tommy: Over here I've got picks and drills for digging out through the glass, and seeds that ought to do well after, well... you know, afterwards. Hey, I've been doing my homework on this.

Rani: Daddy, this is crazy. It might be 20 years before the Covenant comes.

Tommy: "So man also knoweth not his time", as the preacher said.

Rani: You know what... I... I can't even talk to you. I can't.

Tommy: Rani... Rani!

(Rani leaves)

persnickety

Rani: I'm amazed dad still lets you use the above-ground kitchen.

Leah : It's just until he can get the fusion cell working. It's being persnickety.

Rani: Mom, you've got to stop him. This is crazy.

Leah: Honey, you're daddy's doing what he thinks he needs to do.

Rani: You're living under a duck pond!

Tommy: Rani!

Leah: Tommy, don't you have to go to the hardware?

Tommy: I don't have to go right now, I can go tomorrow morning.

Leah: Well you go now. And get there before they close.

Tommy: Look, I just want to explain--

Leah: --Let us talk a bit.

Tommy: Oh. Okay, uh... Rani, you want I should get you anything?

Rani: No, daddy. I'm fine.

new_chicken

Tommy: I'll just take stock in the garage a minute, then I'll go.

Leah: Here's your tea, sweet pea.

(dad leaves)

Rani: How can you put up with it? When I was a kid, it was the AI dog-walker business. And then he was going to grow ginseng. And then, it was duck; the new chicken. It's one crazy scheme after another, and now, this!

Leah: Your daddy has always worked hard, always has a job, and always been faithful.

Rani: You're living under a duck pond.

Leah: I know! Aint it great?

only_one_alive

Leah: What cute young thing with a figure is that man going to lure under a duck pond?

Rani: Mom, be serious.

Leah: Rani, everybody is looking at the same thing, and we've all got to find ways to deal with it.

Rani: Well, medication is a whole lot cheaper.

Leah: They're saying people survived on parts of Reach. And for your father that means there's a chance. If only he can take it.

Rani: Do you really think it's going to work?

Leah: Honey, if the Covenant comes, I don't want it to work. I don't want to be the only one alive. But I trust in my maker. Whatever happens happens for a reason.

Rani: I don't know, mom.

eye_out

Leah: You know what I admire about your father? Despair looked him in the eye and he didn't blink. And these days, hope is something we need more than pills or bullets.

(chatter beep)

Rani: Hold on mom.

(Rani takes the chatter outside)

Herzog: (on chatter) Rani...

Rani: Wow. Aren't you afraid this line will be cracked?

Herzog: Not this line. Listen, Section 3 security on Chawla base - that's where they're keeping the artifact.

Rani: I know it. I don't have nearly that kind of clearance.

Herzog: I know, but keep an eye out. Watch for techs. Word is they've been going over and over it with magnetometers.

big_city

Rani: Okay.

Herzog: Since they triggered the artifact, it's been putting out fluctuating fields, up and down, weaker and stronger, but steadily overall, weaker - it's decaying.

Rani: Is that wierd? It sounds binary or something... up, down, on, off...

Herzog: It's more of an oscillation. I think it will continue for a few weeks more. It's regular enough they can estimate it.

(rustling)

Rani: My dad's coming out to his truck. I've got to go.

Herzog: Uh Rani, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep in touch. If you can't find me, don't come looking, and don't mention anything to anyone. For your own protection.

Rani: What are you g--

(chatter off)

Tommy: Hi Rani. Those folks making you work on the weekend?

Rani: Big city, you know. Rush rush rush!

decay_timer

Tommy: So I said to Len, well, you know how Len is - Len, I can do the test. I've got the certification. (chuckles) ...A great dinner Leah!

Leah: Thank you honey.

Rani: Oh, yeah mom, really good.

Leah: Something on your mind, sweet pea?

Rani: Mm, I had a wierd call from work today. I'm not allowed to talk about it. Go on daddy.

Tommy: Ah, well, Len wants me to make sure we're not getting static discharges. If you get static during assembly, it can fry your work.

Rani: Uh huh

Tommy: But we don't have the kind of audit equipment for what he's asking for. So I said, Len, I'm going to need a variable resistance reference, and with that kind of oscillation, I'd need a decay timer. I'd need an audit kit like the one I had over at McFarlane's.

Rani: Wait, what did you say? A decay timer?

Tommy: Yeah, a decay timer. You can estimate how long it's going to take before it drops under a certain threshold.

Rani: So things decay, and they get weaker and weaker in a way that you can predict, right daddy?

Tommy: Oh, well, sure.

Rani: I've got to make a call.

counting_down

(Rani runs outside and calls Herzog)

Herzog: (on chatter) Rani, you shouldn't call me.

Rani: The artifact -

Herzog: Yes?

Rani: My dad was talking about something called a magnetic decay timer. What if the artifact is a timer?

Herzog: The artifact...

Rani: Maybe it didn't go off one time, like a grenade. Maybe that was just the pulse of it turning on and now it's counting down.

Herzog: If it is, what happens--

Rani: --when it gets to zero.

Herzog
no_trespassing
 * Audio Compilation 1min 39sec

(chatter beep)

Standish: (on chatter) Herzog.

Herzog: Who is it?

Standish: Standish.

Herzog: Is this connection secure?

Standish: I'm using a disposable line. Are you busy?

Herzog: Just catching up on paperwork while the car drives. What do you want?

Standish: Uh where are you?

Herzog: In a car, Standish.

Standish: Hey, you hear they're talking about dropping the speed on the beltway again? From 350kph to 300. Yeah, they say the road-bed is so degraded, it isn't safe, and it's too expensive to upgrade.

Herzog: You called me to talk about construction on the beltway?

Standish: No! Uh, your girl, the one at Chawla - you'll be pleased to know the Admiral has put no trespassing signs all over her.

Herzog: That was stupid Standish.

Standish: I know. They weren't supposed to kill her, just scare her.

Herzog: Spare me.

Standish: You're right, they were going to kill her. results_are_results

Standish: She was a problem. But, she wasn't the real problem.

Herzog: No, the real problem was that you're a dictator and we live in a democracy.

Standish: The real problem is that you and I have always seen the world differently. I am willing to sacrifice principle for results.

Herzog: Principles are results, they are ends in themselves.

Standish: No, results are results.

[Vehicle]: Switching from automatic guidance to manual.

(Herzog grunting as he struggles with the controls)

Standish: Herzog. At the bottom of this hill, watch out for the bridge.

(comm off)

[Vehicle]: I'm sorry, manual breaking at this speed is not recommended. If you would like me to apply automatic deceleration, please--

(enormous crash, loud splash, static)