BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP... Machines monitoring a sedated HEARTBEAT...
FADE IN:
INT. STABLE - OPERATING TABLE
A Sheldoraptor raivei - not dissimilar from the one above - lays unconscious with all sorts of monitoring equipment and restraints.
Medical drones hover above the feathery creature preparing to operate on its head. This young specimen is labelled SH1_001, and will be commonly known as LURION, the first chipped predator.
LATER
BEEP...BEEP...BEEP... the HEARTBEAT increases but it is still steady,..
Lurion wakes up. He lays his groggy and pissed off eyes on Yome, that ungrateful fanny. How dare she stand over him in his undignifying helpless state? She will pay.
YOME
Hello. Can you understand me? Nod if you do.
Lurion wants to bite her head off... BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, the HEARTBEAT rushes up. Yome leans on the instruments, she almost expect the raptor to start struggling...
Instead he nods calmly...
The HEARTBEAT slows back down...
YOME
(smiling)
Welcome to Smartland, big boy.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP...
CUT TO:
EXT. SNOWY DEEP FOREST - DAY
Lurion wakes up hungry in his small burrow.
He gets out of there and shuffles the undergrowth, sniffing about...
...And sniffs some more...
...And shuffles further...
The CHIRPING chatter and distant WAILING of the forest suggest him that there ought to be game about, but walking in slushy terrain is going to prove tiring.
He pushes on.
What's that?
An Aralodon colony sprints through the foliage: leaves tremble, dirt scrambles, and a marmot-like scamper decides it's a good time to hide underground.
A raptor silhouette rushes forward - it's Lurion: he's got the last Aralodon in the column in his sights. The colony scatter on the forest floor. Some hide...
...others keep running.
Lurion loses target and slows to a stroll to sniff the air and the ground. He tracks their scent carefully... He soon finds a track that seems promising.
From inside a burrow, a juvenile Aralodon observes the skilled Raptor close in on his scent. The tiny prey's terrified eyes meet those of a comrade across the trail, also hiding under tree roots sticking out of the ground and slushy snow.
They evade Lurion's sight. For now.
Lurion keeps sniffing about... He tracks another, stronger, scent and approaches a big rock with all sorts of rotten branches and crap around it: perfect hiding spot for an underground-dweller. If Lurion could smile he would now...
Behind the rock he gets a glimpse and...
A sub-adult Aralodon is hiding behind the rock. They meet eyes for a moment. Hello death, you look rather handsome, would you mind - - POUNCE!
The Aralodon panics and SCREAMS its lungs out while Lurion gets a precarious grasp on it with his feet claws...
...it's enough struggle to alert everybody. The entire colony comes out sprinting in a STAMPEDE.
What's this? Lurion flinches and it's enough for the prey to escape while he's distracted laying eyes on so many sudden targets. Sensory overload...
Lurion chases...
In the confusion he struggles to lock on a one single target with so much movement and dashing and scampering and foliage and...
...a mistake. Lurion corners an Aralodon between a large tree trunk and a voluptuous rock, with all sorts of crap around but the prey is too fat to hide inside. Not dwelling in the undergrowth now, are you?
To Lurion's surprise, the Aralodon he cornered is a fiesty one and immediately fights back with mighty rage. PECK, SCREAM, PECK, SCREAM, PECK... Lurion wrestles it.
Feathers fly away...
The SICKLE CLAW stabs the prey's flesh...
PAIN.
SCREAM.
The Aralodon pants as he tries to recover some energy for a desperate escape.
Lurion catches his breath, too...
ARALODON
Squeeee!
Lurion takes another minute: his powerful leg pushes his entire foot over the Aralodon's hips. Muscles on his foot contract and thrust the claw further into tissue...
Blood pours out.
Lurion takes his time to examine his prey:
SPECIES: Aralodon minoris
GENEALOGY: AG1
GROWTH: Adult
INJURY: Dorsal / hips
Lurion's brain implant is satisfied with the acquired information and prepares a fatal blow at the back of the animal's neck...
ARALODON
Squeeeee!
There is a last desperate struggle...
Lurion endures the prey's last breath... The injuries prove fatal.
DEAD: Aralodon minoris adult; 20 kg of meat.
Lurion lets go of the bite and preens his feathers to calm down.
Then...
LURION
(barking)
MY!
KILL!
His lips are still tainted with the Aralodon's blood he is standing over.
EXT. DEEP FOREST - DUSK
As the snow melted, Lurion has carried the carcass to a quieter spot... He finds an Aralodon burrow and buries the carcass in it.
He is too big to fit humself in too so he crouches next to it and starts eating the carcass...
He keeps an eye out for threats just in case.
EXT. DEEP FOREST - NIGHT
Lurion wakes up. The carcass barely filled him so he is hungry again...
He thinks...
New: Player-installed EXP program!
...And plots his next move with his newly acquired LVL2 MILITARY D.S.P. (Drone Specialization Program)...
LURION
...to please God.
EXT. FOREST - DAY
Lurion has some luck scavenging... He is still hungry, though. He searches for bigger loot...
...and comes across a RIVAL scavenger: it's another subadult Sheldoraptor raivei male.
Lurion opts to compete the Rival for territory: he gets into a fighting stance and employs martial arts adapted to his own anatomy from the Military DSP.
LURION
(snarling)
Bring it!
The Rival hesitates; he is not a chipped creature so he doesn't have access to either the ShelderEvo game nor any DSP or other forms of collective knowledge. He is "just an ordinary raptor".
Lurion can see the Rival both as the real animal as well as a greyed-out AVATAR in the game, with no name or stats associated with it apart from its basic Species information.
Lurion shakes his head in dissapointment: he cannot communicate with the Rival in any deeper manner than...
LURION
Snarls!
The Rival accepts the challenge:
RIVAL
Snarls!
They both sport sharp sickle claws on their inner toes, other still dangerous claws on toes and fingers, and serrated teeth. They are muscly and agile, and their feathers can cushion some of the slash damage as well as some impact. They are however rather fragile bodies overall...
Lurion feels insecure about the imminent fight...
He backs away but keeps stalking the Rival from foliage.
The Rival doesn't like to be fooled and follows Lurion around to figure out what he is up to...
Lurion is cheekily stealing scraps of food loot!
RIVAL
Hiss!
They get into a wrestle. Feathers fly.
Lurion manages to defend his newly found scraps with some confident kicks that slash at the Rival's head with scary precision.
Lurion crouches in an aggressive pose: he is ready to bite and scratch to KILL.
The Rival scans Lurion's pose: he figures this is not a convenient fight he can confidently win - his eyes fade into submission - and...
RIVAL
Screeeeeee!
The Rival surrenders the territory and backs away. Slowly. Lurion stares him out. Attentively. No change in his aggressive pose.
The Rival is unsure of what exactly is going on here and doesn't want to find out - this is no ordinary raptor. He sprints away into the forest.
Lurion calms down and rests. His eyes sparkle with trumph at the newly acquired territory and meaty loot.
LURION
(barking)
MY!
TURF!
FADE TO:
EXT. FOREST - DUSK
BEGIN MONTAGE:
Lurion looks for shelter away from the upcoming HURRICANE.
The Hurricane lands.
Storm winds blow trees of their roots.
Streams and ponds overflow with torrential rain...
...and the prairie floods.
The ocean invades beaches.
EXT. BEACH - NIGHT
It lasts the whole night...
EXT. BEACH - DUSK
SUPER: GS 36 / 10 / 17
...until the sun sets the following day, leaving behind a mellow vanilla sky and scattered pink puffy clouds, as if no storm was ever here.
END MONTAGE.
A Sairasaura florensia elder herd leader peeks out of a beach cave - it's GERRY, Charlie's father.
A storm was here afterall and it left death and destruction on land.
It is still drizzling - the air humidity is high and seagulls are wailing: more stormy weather inbound...
INT. FOREST CAVE - DUSK
Lurion wakes up when the rain finally stops.
He gets up and leaves the cave with a purpose...
EXT. MARINE FOREST
Lurion navigates debris from the storm. He finds some scraps from the undergrowth dwellers that didn't make it back in time to their burrows and perished until falling trees or drowned in the flood... YUM!
EXT. BEACH CAVE
Gerry and his 4 ladies leave the cave to go forage for food, leaving the two male subs to watch over the juvenile females Charlie and Maya.
EXT. MARINE FOREST
Lurion smells Sairasaura adults: an alpha male and 4 mothers. He doesn't know yet, but they are Gerry and his ladies.
He also smells and finds water and fills up... Rapid thoughts in his mind:
Find the bull. Find the cows. Find the calves. KILL THEM.
All filled up, ready to go.
EXT. BEACH FOREST
Lurion wallows in the mud left over by the storm to cover his scent...
He starts tracking Gerry's herd.
EXT. BEACH FOREST - NIGHT
Gerry and his ladies forage the undergrowth, unaware of Lurion's eyes stalking them from dense foliage nearby.
EXT. BEACH CAVE
Lurion tracks down the cave where the Saira herd is staying. He smells 2 subadult males and 2 juvenile females. One of them - Charlie - smells familiar to Lurion...
The Chip Stable! The Human Colony! BINGO!
Lurion finds a spot to hide outside of the cave entrance and spies on the kids inside...
FADE TO:
EXT. BEACH CAVE - DAWN
Lurion wakes up at the sudden banter from the kids inside: Charlie is communicating with the Human colony. Unlike the 2 subadults, the kids are chipped like Lurion; he can get their human little girls synth voices on unencrypted short range radio. How convenient!
CHARLIE
(pleased)
It's Jay!
Charlie sits up, waking Maya in the process. Lurion peeks down to get a closer view, careful not to be spotted.
CHARLIE
(super-excited)
I'll read it out...I'll...
(breathe!)
I'll read it out loud.
Maya also sits up and feeds off her sister's excitement.
MAYA
Yeah-yeah!
Charlie reads the DM to Maya:
CHARLIE
Hey Charlie!
The supply pod is on its way...
(giggles)
...will be there in about an hour.
MAYA
That's great!
Lurion's eyes shimmer with excited malevolence: Supply Pod, uh? Interesting...
CHARLIE
There's more!
MAYA
Oh! Read it!
CHARLIE
I'll let you know where it lands...
As soon as I know.
MAYA
Does that mean we have to go find it?
CHARLIE
I think so...
Lurion's programming forces a grin on his raptorial face and it makes his lips twitch unnaturally; he is so dastardly satisfied right now... He gets back into full ninja and waits.
FADE TO:
EXT. HIGH ALTITUDE - DAY
A car-sized conical SPACE CAPSULE commonly referred by the colonists as 'Supply Pod' is oriented belly-first - 'Retrograde' - ready to endure the heat and drag of Atmospheric Reentry. So far the air resistance is negligable and barely noticable at all... Land and ocean slides past a hundred kilometers below.
EXT. C1 HABITAT BALCONY - CONTINUOUS
DIMAR
(excited)
There!
JAY
Yeah! I see it!
Dimar, Jay, Larry, and Meda all look at the firey trail that starts to appear in the sky. It's like a falling star at super-slow-motion.
DIMAR
It's burning!
JAY
Oh no! Is it gonna break?
MEDA
Nah, it won't break. Yome said it's in the pipe, five-by-five.
JAY
The pipe?
Larry smiles nostalgically at Jay's naivety; he looks up at the tiny firey metal dot, imagining the conical pod with inside the drone he designed. Go drone go drone go drone! Woop! Woop! But his internal excitement doesn't translate to his outside behavior. He is troubled by insecurity.
DIMAR
The descent path. We big kids call it 'the pipe' to be quicker.
JAY
Why 'pipe', though?
Meda smiles tenderly at how brotherly Dimar is with Jay: she finds this extremely attractive. Oh damn! This is the first time she finds Dimar attractive at all! What's going on? BLUSH!
DIMAR
'cause the Descent Path is like a pipe. It's very tight and narrow and hard to get right. And if you touch any sides yer dead.
JAY
Oh dear!
MEDA
(giggling)
Don't scare him!
DIMAR
He should be scared. Reentry ain't no playground.
MEDA
True.
JAY
Oh no! Is it gonna go off-pipe?
DIMAR
(teasing)
Off-pipe! Ahahaha!
Larry has enough of this; he can't connect with the mood here on the balcony, so he gets back inside and spies his mom Yome from the door of the HQ Room.
INT. HQ ROOM
Yome notices the signal is back and focuses on the console screen that fades back in with the TV feed from the Supply Pod. Larry is trembling as he also stares at the screen from the door.
YOME
Pod is back online. Twenty-thousand...
She watches the Pod descend until it is falling vertically.
BALCONY
JAY
Larry! It's back online!
(looks around)
Larry? Larry!
Meda sighs in boredom as she pushes back from the balcony fence wanting to leave...
MEDA
I think I saw him go back inside.
Meda smiles at Jay to try and cheer him up but notices he is deeply disappointed in Larry's disappearance. She decides to stay.
YOME (INTERCOM)
Ten-thousand. Drogue out.
JAY
(excited again)
I forgot.
What's the drogue?
Dimar is just as excited to teach Jay about spacecraft operations. Meda watches him. Studies him...
DIMAR
Drogue chute. The small parachutes that slows the craft down and stabilizes it.
JAY
Ah, yeyeye!
Meda notices Jay move closer to Dimar. He doesn't notice, too bothered with his tablet, checking the Supply Pod stats as it descends. She bites her lips in anticipation - will Dimar notice what Jay is implicitely doing, like she has?
YOME (INTERCOM)
Nine-thousand. Slowing down...
DIMAR
Hear? Slowing down...
JAY
Yeyeye!
Meda shakes her head to herself - disappointed. How can Dimar not notice how Jay is trying to get him to notice him back? The kid is sliding closer and all he cares for is the damned tablet.
YOME (INTERCOM)
Four-thousand. Drogue deploy.
JAY
Drogue deploy? I thought she said the drogue was out?
DIMAR
It doesn't deploy all at once or it will break.
JAY
Ah!
Meda feels annoyed and twists her lips at Dimar's dismissal of Jay's curiosity. Dimar is still to bothered with the Ta - - wait! He puts it away in his chest pocket... He smiles at Meda. She smiles back, embarassed - has he noticed she is studying him? He then turns to Jay and smiles at him.
DIMAR
It opens in stages to be always at its optimal operating state.
JAY
Smart!
Meda squints her eyes at Dimar; she just knows that he's going to start acting like the know-it-all jackass presumptuous idiot he i - -
DIMAR
Of course! These things are complex! And expensive as f - - fudge...
Meda swats her hand towards Dimar...
JAY
Fudge?
She squints her eyes at Dimar again and he just knows: no swear words.
DIMAR
(ashamed)
N-never mind!
He grins at Dema trying to normalize the slip up and Meda rolls her eyes. But she buys his implicit apology and smiles back tenderly.
YOME (INTERCOM)
Two-thousand. Primary out.
Jay nonchallantely holds Dimar's hand as they watch the vanilla sky imagining the pod slowing down with its parachutes. Meda notices and holds her breath waiting for Dimar's reaction: Dimar feels embarassed and tenses up at first but quickly warms up to Jay's affection and eases his muscles down, releasing the tension.
Meda notices with a smirk on her blushed face.
JAY
The primary is a triple-chute, isn't it?
DIMAR
This one is, yeah.
JAY
'cause it's heavy?
DIMAR
Yeah. It's just over the max weight for the single. We went with the triple.
JAY
You did the Reentry work, didn't you?
MEDA
We did!
Jay and Dimar glance at Meda's sudden intrusion. She notices she said it out loud and blushes with shame. Oops!
DIMAR
Yeah, well. To be honest...
Meda tenses up, ready to defend. Here he goes with the presumptousness, annoying as hell!
DIMAR
Planning and operations are more my thing... Your role is more on drone supervision and details.
Meda
(irritated)
Are you saying I'm just a drone nanny?
Dimar is surprised at Meda's reaction and immediately puffs up to counterattack but.. Jay is clenching his hand and his sweaty kid hand seems to be preventing him from showing his own aggressive side to the child, so he sighs and deflects the vibe away.
DIMAR
We have way more drones than people...
(to Jay)
'Drone nanny' is a crucial job.
Meda feels weird about that remark and assumes it's passive aggression.
MEDA
I do a lot more than just watch after drones, you know!
Dimar feels like Jay's warm hand is keeping him calm - it's weird. He feels more... courage all of a sudden... Meda doesn't intimidate him right now.
DIMAR
I know you do. You were busy helping with the chipping...
Jay leans against Dimar's hips with his shoulder and nudges Dimar's arm with his cheek, looking for affectionate contact. Dimar surrenders to the instinct of hugging him and lands his hand around Jay's back, bringing him closer to himself.
Meda mellows down watching them share contact and smiles... But she also feels a weird brooding weight in her gut and a flying thought buzzes through her mind... Envy!
DIMAR
I did, yeah. I took care of the Reentry documents and ensured the design was sound. Drones can make mistakes just like us, so we need to double-check and triple-check.
JAY
(giggles)
And quraruple checks!
Dimar giggles back, a bit embarassed but also happy.
Meda feels happy for them, but not for herself...
HQ ROOM
Yome watches the main chutes extend to pre-deploying and slowing down the Pod even more...
YOME
One-thousand. Drogue cut. Primary deploy.
She watches the drogue chute snap off and once clear of the main chutes, the latter extend to fully deployed. The Pod slows to gentle glide.
YOME
Seven-hundred. Primary nominal. Vertical below six.Landing is go.
Larry smiles; the hard part's over. Now they can all sigh in relief and enjoy the final descent.
BALCONY
YOME (INTERCOM)
Pod is down safely!
Pod... is down safely!
Jay twiches and snaps his head up to look for Dimar's face but doesn't meet his gaze which instead lands on Meda's as they share an excited smile.
Jay's joy starts to fade away when he gets squeezed against Dimar's side by his arm and rejoices and giggles.
YOME
(barging out)
It's down safely.
Dimar and Meda snaps his head at Yome's arrival while Jay hugs Dimar's hips tight, eyes closed.
DIMAR
Oh!
(relaxes)
That's great.
As Yome parades the balcony like a super model, Jay slowly lets go of Dimar and turns to look at his mom posing.
JAY
(giggles)
Awesome!
Dimar offers a 'five' to Jay to congratulate but sees him run inside instead and is left there embarassed. Meda giggles at him and he makes a frowning smirk to lighten up how displeased he is.
CORRIDOR
As Jay runs inside he can still hear adult giggles and laughs. He stops at Bedroom2 door and finds Larry already there.
BEDROOM2
Larry gets up the bed seeing Jay arrive. Larry doesn't seem in a happy mood at all, he looks depressed.
JAY
(insecure smile)
It landed safely!
LARRY
(insecure smile)
I heard.
Larry crosses Jay and exits the room to the corridor. Jay raises an eyebrow, confused, but he is panting from excitement so he lets this slide for now and sits down on his bed, and brings out his tablet.
He can't wait to talk to Charlie in private.
Is Charlie ok?
CUT TO:
INT. BEACH CAVE - CONTINUOUS
CHARLIE
(excited)
It's Jay!
Charlie sits up.
MAYA
What's he saying?
CHARLIE
(reading from memory)
The Pod landed in [coordinates], out in the forest.
Once we get in range we should get pinged...
EXT. CAVE
Lurion peeks from hiding to spy inside the cave: the adults are eating and sleeping and aren't bothered by what the two kids are doing. But Lurion is... He needs to overhear this.
He can hear Charlie's motivation build up - the kid has guts, he can tell.
CHARLIE
We need to convince the adults to follow us!
Lurion thinks quickly. He glances up at the sky...
...he waits for a reply...
...then nods... He now knows where he has to go, and what he has to do.
LURION
I'm on it.
He quietly climbs down the entrance and sneaks away...
...destination: Supply Pod landing location.
FADE OUT.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR