The Earthloop Trilogy

S1E1 Pilot

I will add a bit more to this chapter in the future, as this particular episode needs a lot of work to adhere to the continuity of later ones. There's a balance between entertaining and informative that needs to be reached, basically. I want to have a flash-forward of Nori Furukawa reading about the 1947 event, etc. I am writing that today and will update this when I'm done.

1944

The leather suitcase beneath Betty's feet was cold and hard. She had positioned it carefully by the front door, allowing her to climb up and reach the bolt. She opened it quickly. The door rattled as the wind pressed against it. Betty removed the suitcase and opened the door slowly, peering out into the night alone. Upstairs her father stirred against the encroaching cold.

Betty walked out onto the sheltered wooden porch and turned to her right, watching the rocking chair carefully. Beyond the chair and the porch, the wheat fields rustled as if they were laughing. She stepped down into the dirt, feeling the Earth's coolness against her feet. She felt as if the world might open and eat her, but she had to keep walking. She turned and headed into the desert, following the nagging voice behind her own that told her where to go and where to stop. The voice did not speak in a language she understood, but she knew its intentions. It had woken her up because it was time to leave. Because she did not belong on this planet anymore. Because she was not safe here.

She kept walking into the soundless desert. Where once there were snakes and insects, now there was nothing. Not even the bushes rustled out here. It was as if the desert was frozen in time. Betty looked up at the stars for a moment, waiting. The ship materialised. It was dark and massive, its triangular shape marked out only by the void it left in the stars above. Betty picked up pace, moving automatically even as she began to feel fear. She looked back and saw how small her house had gotten, how the warm glow of the night lamp was now a pinprick of yellow against an infinite darkness. The starship spoke to Betty in its strange quiet voice. She kept going until she was underneath the ship.

After several long and cold minutes, three thin beams slipped down from the ship's corners, each radiating a column of warmth and noise that overwhelmed Betty's senses. The human fear snapped her out of the trance now, but it was too late. The beams snapped inward as she started to run, capturing her in white light. The rocks and dust and bugs around her were swept up into the beams. Betty's feet left the Earth. She panicked, but it was over quickly. The beams moved like a predator's claws, throwing her helpless body into the underbelly of the starship. The aperture spiralled shut behind her, and her little body fell against a metal panel somewhere dark and warm. The air in here stank of decaying plants. The smell got into her lungs, and soon enough Betty slipped into a deep and endless sleep.

2009

Darlene took a sip from the beer and leaned back against the fountain's edge. She was nestled in one of four benches with Quinton, watching as Krystal talked them through the events of last night's party. Krystal was stood in the middle of the quiet street, swaying and gesturing with every word.

"So, she tried to get out of my window, right?" Krystal explained. The sun was coming up over the shops in the town centre now, matching Darlene's orange hair and agitating the cool morning air. Quinton was wearing his signature leather jacket; Darlene was wearing her old prom dress. Together they looked ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as Krystal, who was wearing a heavy metal t-shirt and tan trench coat she had borrowed from a party guest.

"Why?" Darlene asked.

"Because he thought mum and dad were here obviously. And I told him it wasn't a good idea, but he got out and rolled and went right into the food on the front. That's why your cake was splattered." Krystal was trying hard to suppress her laughter. Darlene had been understandably upset about her birthday cake becoming fused to some guy's denim jacket and had only now found out precisely why it happened. She took another sip from the warm beer, grimaced, then passed it to Quinton.