19 Nocturne Boulevard - Within The Walls of Eryx - Reissue
[Transcript below]
Adapted by Julie Hoverson
from the short story by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling
When Kenton Stanfield takes a job on Venus hunting for power crystals, he finds the hazards of the job too much to handle.\xa0
Cast List
- Kenton Stanfield - Reynaud LeBoeuf
- Frederick Dwight - Cole Hornaday
- Marshall Miller - Pat McNally
- Dana Manners - Julie Hoverson
- Supply Clerk - Marge Lutton
- Recorder - Beverly Poole
Music:\xa0 Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com)
Recorded in Conjunction with ART (American Radio Theater)
Editing and Sound: \xa0 Julie Hoverson
Cover Photo:\xa0 Julie Hoverson\xa0
"What kind of a place is it? Would you believe it's a mining colony
on the steamy jungle planet we call Venus?"
___________________________________________________________________
Within the walls of Eryx
\xa0Adapted by Julie Hoverson from the original story by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling.
This was the second story I ever tried to adapt - the first one I did as an audio drama.\xa0 I had previously adapted The Thing on the Doorstep into a short film script - which I much later rewrote into an audio drama, and that will come up when it comes up.\xa0 This one was also one of the original ten episodes I put together for the series.
You can see, I was starting with an easy writer to adapt.... H.P. Lovecraft.\xa0 HAH!
Since then, I have actually adapted a LOT of Lovecraft, and one of the reasons his writing is so hard to translate into other mediums is that much of his genius is in his actual use of words, and unless you quote his long descriptive passages word for word, you lose that.\xa0 And if you do quote large chunks of it, you might as well just make an audio book.\xa0 I try and walk a fine line.
As an aside - I know the title of the story is actually "IN the Walls of Eryx", but that always bothered me as being incorrect - the RATS are IN the walls (in the story The Rats in the Walls).\xa0 These guys are WITHIN the walls - between the actual walls, you know?
In the Walls of Eryx was one of HPL's many collaborations and rewrites.\xa0 Little is known of Kenneth Sterling, the high school student and aspiring writer who sought Lovecraft's help, but he was clearly a sci fi fan - Eryx is unusual among Lovecraft's works as being a pure scifi story, with very little horror or mythos or mythical background to it, even if Lovecraft is generally credited with a complete rewrite and expansion of Kenneth's original idea.
In the 1930s, when this was written, a common sci fi trope was that Venus was a steamy jungle planet, often populated by some lizardy species, and it appears as such in this story.\xa0 The other details are fairly unique to Eryx.
Since the original story was all one man's report, technically written out, I had to pull scenes from his story and create them, and the characters in them, from whole cloth.\xa0 Not to mention adding somebody - "Miss Manners" - he could report in to throughout the story, to add some audio texture when Kenton was technically out on his own, as well as the voice for his "recorder" unit, which also functions as a sort of encyclopedia, and helps break up the heavy data dump of "this is how Venus works".\xa0
Perhaps the weirdest thing to try and portray in audio is the very "visual" presence - or absence - of the walls themselves.\xa0 A maze of invisible walls.\xa0 Or the native Venusians - whose weird cries were originally geese, if I remember correctly.\xa0 I think I slowed them down and ran them backward, or something like that.
I also chose to tell this story vastly out of order, to give a sense of foreboding from the very start, as the audience hears how bad Kenton is doing, winding down, but still without giving away how it will ultimately end.\xa0 To make the time shifts clear, since they happen throughout the story, I created three different background ambiances for his log entries - since they have no other point of reference - each with his breather machinery getting a bit clunkier and running down.\xa0
Beyond that, everything rested heavily on Reynaud LeBeouf, the actor playing Kenton, to create the stages of the character's downward spiral.\xa0 We did record each set of scenes separately, out of order, essentially, so all the chatty beginnings were all at once and the weak and wearied end at the end.\xa0 Rey is one of my core group of go-to actors, and you'll hear him a lot in 19 Nocturne Boulevard.
This was also recorded with the help of A-R-T - American Radio Theater - and many of the actors in it were part of that group.\xa0 A-R-T is a group of old time radio enthusiasts who focused on re-creating old episodes and working on the occasional newer play.\xa0 Having been part of the group for years before I began 19 Nocturne Boulevard, I featured various actors from A-R-T in a number of my episodes.
_______________________________________________________________
WITHIN THE WALLS OF ERYX
Cast:
Kenton J. Stanfield (M/25), space prospector
Frederick N. Dwight (M/30), space prospector
Marshall Miller (M/40), commander
Dana Manners (F/30), contact at control
Supply Clerk (any)
Recorder, mechanical voice (any)
\xa0
OLIVIA \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Did you have any trouble finding it?\xa0 What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?\xa0 Would you believe, it's a mining camp on the steamy jungle planet we call Venus?\xa0
NOTE:\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 "AMBIANCE" CUES ARE FOR BACKGROUND SOUNDS THAT CONTINUE THROUGHOUT EACH SCENE.\xa0 THEY ARE DETAILED AT THE END OF THE SCRIPT
MUSIC
SCENE 1.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak]\xa0 Venus month 6, day 14, nighttime.\xa0 Kenton J. Stanfield.\xa0 Perhaps my final report.\xa0 [rasping bark of almost laughter]\xa0 My fifth whole day.\xa0 Canteen went dry at noon.\xa0 Food tablets not dangerously low... yet.\xa0 Chlorate cubes are my real worry.\xa0 I feel...weak from my forced economy in oxygen, and from my constantly mounting thirst.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 2.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 MINING BASE
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 TWO MEN WALK IN A FACILITY
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [hale & hearty]\xa0 You're still using Carter oxygen units?\xa0 But they're so darn heavy!
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Budget's god around here, kid.\xa0 You'll see.\xa0 We're not funded like the government.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 A Dubois mask isn't that much more, and does the job at half the weight. \xa0Saves on chlorate cubes, too.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Just figure how much "not much more" IS when multiplied by over a hundred prospectors.\xa0 If you last up here, you can always get yourself a Dubois.\xa0 [chuckles]\xa0 Once you start making the big bucks.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 The way you say that...
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh, it happens.\xa0 Just not that often.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 3.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak]\xa0 I do not know the time.\xa0 It is dark.\xa0 There is something damnable... something uncanny... about this labyrinth. I could swear that I had eliminated certain turns through charting, and yet each new trial belies some assumption I had thought established.\xa0 Never before did I realize how lost we are without visual landmarks.\xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 4.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 JUNGLE
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 SLIGHT, RHYTHMIC BEEPING CONTINUES UNDER ENTIRE SCENE [crystal detector]
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [FILTER] CRACKLE OF RADIO INTERFERENCE INTERMITTENT THROUGHOUT.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Hey greenhorn!\xa0 This is your contact, Dana Manners, speaking. \xa0[chuckle] \xa0That's Miss Manners, to you.\xa0 You got me for a glorious half hour.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What?\xa0 Why only--?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Don't none of you boys ever crack a manual?\xa0 [quoting]\xa0 "The company's only rebroadcast orbiter is a" - well, it's a dang fast critter - so it "provides a window for one half hour approximately every six hours for each sector."\xa0 And that's your first five minutes.\xa0 Care to waste some more, or you plan to make some kinda report?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [chuckling]\xa0 Sorry!\xa0 OK, my coordinates--
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 different beeping [pocket recorder]
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Good-Ness.\xa0 Did you bring your blankie, too?\xa0 All that boring info is sent up automatic-like.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [worried]\xa0 But... my log, too?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 [pause, prolonging the agony]\xa0 Nah, takes too much juice.\xa0 This way, you get to edit out all your little personal comments and naughty little secrets before handing it over for archiving.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [relieved]\xa0 Oh.\xa0 Good.\xa0
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 So you one of those boys who grew up just panting to work on Venus?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Actually, I wanted to be a writer.\xa0 Venus just pays better.\xa0 Now it seems like I--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 --got hustled out of the base the minute your feet touched the sweet soggy ground?\xa0 Y'ain't the first.\xa0 "Here's your mask, grab your suit, what's yer hurry?"
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Pretty much.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 5.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak]\xa0 ...Continued.\xa0 The effect of all these fr-fruitless wanderings is one of profound discouragement. \xa0I can understand how poor Dwight must have felt. \xa0His corpse is now just a skeleton, and the sificlighs and farnoth-flies are gone. \xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
\xa0
SCENE 6.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 MINING BASE
AMB\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 CANTEEN, EATING
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 It's all about the crystals, kid.\xa0 You read the manual?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well...
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 You had an entire rocket trip and--?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [sheepish]\xa0 Well...\xa0 There was this poker game--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [oh lord!] \xa0Save me from greenhorns with less sense than kittens!\xa0 That book could have saved your life, you know.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well, I figured there'd be time--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 There's never enough time.\xa0 Men who can withstand the strains of crystal hunting here on Venus are few and far between.\xa0 Most - like yourself - last no more than three trips.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What makes you think--?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Prove me wrong.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [off mike]\xa0 Hey! \xa0Miller!
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 See that?\xa0 Now there's a guy who knows his beans.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [coming closer, gloating]\xa0 Miller!\xa0 Read it and weep!
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 paper FLOURISH.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Twenty-three carats!
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Twenty-three?\xa0 That's--
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Right there in black and white.\xa0 Beat that!
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [to Kenton]\xa0 Kenton, this is Dwight - Fred Dwight, one of the brightest stars of the Terra Nova Corp.\xa0
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 The brightest star.\xa0 Ken, is it?\xa0 Well, Ken, there ain't no one else out there's netted as many total lifetime karats as me.\xa0 Over seven hundred.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh.\xa0 Um, I don't--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Kid skipped the manual.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Pfah.\xa0 OK, it takes about 20 karats to power, say the entire city of Chicago for a year.\xa0 Shoot, by my calculations, I've kept the entire eastern seaboard lit for the last five!
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 7.\xa0\xa0 \xa0\xa0KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 4
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, tired]\xa0 Nightfall.\xa0 There is nothing to do but persevere. \xa0Dwight would have got out if he had kept on a minute longer. \xa0It is just possible that somebody from Terra Nova will come looking for me before long, although this is only my fourth day out.\xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 8.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 SUPPLY OFFICE
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 OBJECTS BEING BROUGHT OUT AND SET DOWN
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Suit fit OK?\xa0 Last chance.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Feels fine.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 With the tropical atmosphere out there, you better be sure - five days is a long damn time to chafe.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [chuckles]\xa0 I understand.\xa0 I'm sure.\xa0 So my tour is five days?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 To start with.\xa0 You remember Dwight?\xa0 Now there's a long-hauler.\xa0 Does about 2 months - earth months, 60 days - on most trips.\xa0
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Food tablets.\xa0 One week.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 BOX being set down.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 But then, he's been Cytherean for over a decade.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Cytherean?\xa0
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Means "of Venus" to us long-timers.\xa0 We feel "Venusian" sounds too damn silly after all the crummy movies.
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Breathing unit.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 larger box
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Cytherean.\xa0 Got it.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Dwight's practically one of the locals.\xa0 You seen them yet?
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Chlorate cubes.\xa0 One week.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 another box
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Only pictures - now THAT part of the manual I did look over.\xa0 [shudder]\xa0 Creepy little buggers, aren't they?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Little?\xa0 Ken, Ken, Ken.\xa0 [sigh]\xa0 You didn't look hard enough - on average, the lizard-men run seven feet tall!
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Holy--!
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Recording unit.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 box
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Don't worry too much.\xa0 They're-- well, they're not harmless, not by a long chalk, but they're... manageable.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 So those...tentacles they've got for arms...?
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Crystal detector.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 box.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Arms, legs, tongue, who knows what they are - Yup, four or five feet long on some of them.\xa0 We call them lizard-men, what with the greenish, scaly skin and all, but they're not really like anything back home.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [awe]\xa0 Seven feet tall...
SUPPLY CLERK\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Flame pistol.\xa0 Fully charged.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 box.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 9.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 4
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, tired]\xa0 Four days out.\xa0 I think.\xa0 I am resolved not to hasten matters as Dwight did.\xa0 His grinning skull has just turned toward me, shifting by the groping of one of the scavengers that are picking him over.\xa0 The ghoulish stare of its empty eye-sockets is worse than the tentacled onlookers that stand gloating around the invisible barrier laughing at me. \xa0Another day and I shall go mad, if I do not drop dead from exhaustion.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 10.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 JUNGLE
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 strong, rhythmic beeping THROUGHOUT SCENE [crystal detector]
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 You still there, Miss Manners?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, very crackly throughout]\xa0 Just another coupla minutes. \xa0What's your beef?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I've got a reading on my crystal detector - looks like a big one.\xa0
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Them things ain't reliable for size, just direction.\xa0 Could be just an itty bitty one, real nearby.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well, what's the terrain like due, um...
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 beeping gets slower, then picks up again AS HE TURNS
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 North, I think, of my current position?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 North?\xa0 [prolonged crackle]\xa0 --Erycinian highlands--\xa0 [crackle]\xa0 --last known position of--
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 crackling.\xa0 CLICK - radio turned off.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Great.\xa0 On my own again.\xa0 Recorder?
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, mechanical voice]\xa0 Ready.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0 \xa0Erycinian highlands?
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 A plateau mapped by Matsugawa from the air fifty years ago.\xa0 Designated 'Eryx'\xa0 One of the few areas of any size on Venus noted for a lack of vegetation--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Off.\xa0 Lack of vegetation?\xa0 That'll be a relief.\xa0 Anything to get out of those rubbery creepers and overhanging fronds.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 11.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, normal]\xa0 Month 6, Day 12, my third day out.\xa0 Afternoon.\xa0 In less than an hour, I saw that the jungle growths were thinning out, and by five o'clock - after passing through a belt of tree-ferns with very little underbrush - I emerged on a broad plateau.\xa0 My progress now became rapid, and I saw by the wavering of my detector-needle that I was getting closer to the crystal I sought.\xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 12.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 BAR - MAINLY MALE VOICES
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Some brainy types insist they're intelligent.\xa0
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 The lizzies?\xa0 [dismissive]\xa0 Screwballs.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well, they build cities--
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Anthills.\xa0 Beehives.\xa0 And we don't try to make treaties with bugs, do we?\xa0 Hmm?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 But they talk... don't they?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 That's been debated for years.\xa0 There seems to be some pattern to the tentacle movements--
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yeah, and bees dance.\xa0 I've been out there longer than just about anyone, and they're nothing but a damn nuisance.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 A religious nuisance.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 So they worship the crystals.\xa0 Big deal.\xa0 They can't use 'em - don't even know they do anything more'n glow.\xa0 If we wanna change things, we got about two real choices--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [ironic] \xa0Try and civilize them, like we did with everyone back home?
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Nah - they're way too primitive for that.\xa0 I say we either gotta cage 'em up like the animals they are--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 We've tried THAT one before, too.
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Or we can just blow em all away.\xa0 Why not?\xa0 They're not decorative, useful, or even edible.\xa0 They don't do ANYTHING worth keeping 'em around.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 13.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 4
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, tired]\xa0 Note to self.\xa0 Um, day - fourth.\xa0 Fourth day.\xa0 I racked my brains with speculations regarding the material, origin, and purpose of the strange edifice. \xa0That the hands of men might have reared it, I could not for a moment believe.\xa0 Human knowledge does not include any perfectly transparent, non-reflective solid such as the substance of this building.\xa0 Did a forgotten race of highly-evolved beings precede the man-lizards as masters of Venus?\xa0 The strange and seemingly non-practical building and its material suggests a religious purpose.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 14.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 RADIO STATIC
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Contact?\xa0 You back yet?\xa0 Manners?\xa0 Damn.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 crackling static.\xa0 radio CLICKS off
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 This is just... nuts!\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 two thunks - pounding on stone wall
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What the heck is this stuff?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 pounding, hand groping along wall
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Hmm.\xa0 Smooth.\xa0 Cool to the--
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 RADIO STATIC
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter] \xa0Contact here.\xa0 Report?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Have I got a report for you!\xa0 I found an invisible wall!
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 15.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak]\xa0 Fifth day out, and I doubt I will see a sixth.\xa0 Very weak.\xa0 Did not sleep much till daylight.\xa0 Must save chlorate cubes, so I'm nearly suffocating for lack of oxygen.\xa0 Can't walk much of the time, but ma-manage a crawl.\xa0 Those damnable green things keep staring and laughing with their tentacles, and sometimes they gesticulate in a way that makes me think they share some terrible joke, just beyond my perception.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 16.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Listen to me real careful now, Ken.\xa0 You need to close your eyes and start backing up.\xa0 Right this minute.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What?\xa0 My recorder unit lists nothing about invisible walls--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You backing up yet?\xa0 Ignore anything you see or hear--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Why, for crying out loud?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Get yourself clear first, then check your recorder's entry for mirage-plants.\xa0 Move your backside!\xa0 Them things're deadly.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Wait.\xa0 No...\xa0 Wait a minute.\xa0 I'm in the middle of the plains of Eryx.\xa0 No plants within a half mile.\xa0 Nothing to see but mud, and-- [cuts himself off]
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 BEEPING [crystal detector]
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 [beat]\xa0 Yeah?\xa0 Mud and ...?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [evasive]\xa0 Hmm?\xa0 Oh, the walls.\xa0 But you can't SEE them because they're invisible.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 17.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Third day, supplemental.\xa0 What made my heart leap was a smaller detail, whose position could not have been far from the plain's exact centre.\xa0 It was a single point of light, blazing through the mist and seeming to draw a piercing, concentrated luminescence from the yellowish, vapor-dulled sunbeams.\xa0 This, without doubt, was the crystal I sought. \xa0I could hardly wonder, as I glimpsed the distant glow, that those miserable man-lizards worship them.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 18.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 squishy footsteps, intermittent throughout
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 --maybe 20 feet tall - I managed to throw a handful of mud about that high, and it went over.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 I ain't got any maps or archives with specifics for that locale.\xa0 Not a popular spot, seeing as there's none of the streams them crystals show up in.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 No streams, but plenty of damp - the whole plateau is-- [slight shudder] --like a solid sheet of slimy mud, with a light frosting of ground mist.\xa0
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Could this wall thing be some kinda natural phenomena?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Too smooth.\xa0 Very regular.\xa0 Slightly curved, too, I think.\xa0 Ovoid.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You writers and your big ole words...\xa0 Been all the way round yet?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I don't think so, but I can't really tell--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 [condescending] \xa0Well, did you hit your own dainty little footsteps again?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Not a chance.\xa0 The mud is so liquid, it just doesn't take - not even for a minute.\xa0 It's like I haven't been here before.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 I need you to mark your position and come back to base, Ken.\xa0 This is way outside standard procedure.\xa0 You hear me?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Got it.\xa0 I'll get out of here pretty soon.\xa0 I just wanted to--\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 BEEPING [crystal detector] SPEEDS UP SLIGHTLY.\xa0 THEN IS MUFFLED.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 --to get all the way round, just once.\xa0
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Honey, I'll be flat out of range in two shakes.\xa0 I don't want to worry you none, but if anything happens out there, it could be days before help'll arrive.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Days?\xa0 But a lander would only\u2011\u2011
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Manpower and money, old son.\xa0 Base only has a dozen resident staff, and none of us is jungle-worthy.\xa0 We gotta wait for some of you roughnecks to wander on home, THEN the company has to pay fer their time fer a rescue.\xa0 Why d'you think they load you up with plenty of ammo?\xa0 Much cheaper.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 It's a wonder they bother.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 [serious]\xa0 And death benefits.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 They're cheaper, too.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 19.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak] \xa0Horror and despair. Baffled again!\xa0 I had been deceived once more, and was apparently back where I had been on my first futile attempt to leave the labyrinth.\xa0 Whether I screamed aloud I do not know - perhaps I was too weak to utter a sound.\xa0 I merely lay dazed in the mud for a long period, while the greenish things outside leaped and laughed and gestured. \xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 20.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 MINING BASE
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Isn't this a lot of ammo?\xa0 I mean, seven clips--
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 One a day - that's pretty average.\xa0 Save 'em for the trip home.\xa0 The lizzies don't usually try much right away - that is, until you got one of their precious crystals.\xa0 The worst you can expect before you make a find is pot-shots with blow-gun darts.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Blow-guns?\xa0 That's it?
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Don't scoff.\xa0 One of those darts'll slice through your suit like butter.\xa0 All it needs to do is nick you and the local germs do the rest - if the insects don't get you first.\xa0 [beat]\xa0 If you don't get back to base in time...\xa0 Well, you noticed the bartender's hand?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [gulps] \xa0The hook?
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Um-hmm.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 21.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, normal]\xa0 Late afternoon, third day.\xa0 I have said that even from a great distance the shining object's position seems indefinably queer - a slight mound rising from the slime and mist.\xa0 Now - at about a hundred yards - I could see plainly just what that mound was.\xa0 It was the body of a man in one of the Company's protective suits, lying on his back, with his oxygen mask half buried in the mud a few inches away.\xa0 In his right hand, crushed convulsively against his chest, was the crystal which had led me here - a spheroid of incredible size, so large that the dead fingers could scarcely close over it.\xa0 I wondered who the man was.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 22.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Holy cow!\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 THUMP ON WALL
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Dwight?\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 THUMPING ON WALL, HURRIED SPLISHING FOOTSTEPS
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh, jeez. [SOUND: THUMP]\xa0 But the walls-- [SOUND: THUMP]\xa0 How could he--\xa0 [gasps]\xa0 Woah!
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 splash in the watery mud as he finds a gap.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 23.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, normal]\xa0 There was an opening about three feet wide.\xa0 Without a moment's hesitation I stepped through and advanced two paces to the prostrate body - which lay in what seemed to be an intersecting doorless corridor.\xa0 It gave me a fresh curiosity to find that the interior of this vast enclosure was divided by partitions...
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 24.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 BAR
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 TIN CUP SET DOWN
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [a bit drunk] \xa0I hope I die out there.\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LIQUID POURS
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 You want to die?
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 No - don't WANT to, just that when I do, I hope it's out there.\xa0 In the jungle.\xa0 The scavengers'll strip me clean in a coupla hours and no one'll ever know what happened.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Just make sure you're dead first.\xa0 Some of them bugs don't wait.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Will they really--?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 That's why the suits are made the way they are - like cellophane, but thicker.\xa0 No weave, no tiny holes for bugs to get in through.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 But the suit doesn't cover everything--?
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ah, they don't like the breather.\xa0 Smells bad or something.\xa0 So your head is pretty safe... as long as you don't take it off.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 25.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, normal]\xa0 Looking about for some possible cause of death, my eyes lit upon the oxygen mask lying close to the body's feet. \xa0Probably carelessly buckled, so the weight of the tubes worked the straps loose - wouldn't've happened with a Dubois sponge-reservoir mask. \xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 26.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Well, Dwight, old buddy, you got your wish.\xa0 At least this baby won't go to waste.\xa0 [grunts]\xa0 Let go!\xa0 [grunts again]\xa0 Aha!\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 a couple of squish-steps
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Waitaminute.\xa0 Wait...\xa0 Rigor mortis, it... it doesn't last...\xa0 Manners, you there?\xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 crackle of radio
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Recorder?
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Ready.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Rigor mortis.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 A condition of deceased flesh.\xa0 A spasming of muscles--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 How long does it last?
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 rustling, slapping noises far in background
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Rigor begins 3-7 hours after termination of life, and lasts approximately 12 hours.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Off.\xa0 Holy--!\xa0 Dwight...
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 rustling, slapping noises build
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 What in sam hill--?\xa0 [what the heck?]
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 27.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 3
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, normal]\xa0 It was a group of a dozen or so of those detestable man-lizards emerging from the forest far off across the plain.\xa0 When they drew nearer they seemed less truly reptilian - only the flat head and the green, slimy, frog-like skin carrying out the idea.\xa0 They walked erect on odd, thick stumps, which made curious noises in the mud.\xa0 The motions of their tentacles - if the theories are right - indicated that the things were in animated conversation.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 28.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You asleep?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [bummed]\xa0 Would it matter?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You sound real down.\xa0 Tell mama Manners all about it.\xa0 You may not have a lot of time, though, there's some sunspot activity predicted for tonight, so I may have to miss a date or two-- but you can forgive a girl for that, can't you?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I--\xa0 I'm lost.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Nonsense.\xa0 You're nowhere near uncharted territory.\xa0 Just punch into the recorder--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh, I know exactly where I am.\xa0 But I'm still lost.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, half joking]\xa0 Is this where I start telling you to back away quickly?\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 The invisible wall?\xa0 Well, it's more like--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Like what?\xa0 An invisible barn?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 --An invisible ...maze.\xa0 I can see the entire plain from here, the trees are at the edges, the sky above, but I can't... get... out.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Have you tried taking every left fork?\xa0 That usually--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 There's something else.\xa0 I-- There's a crowd of the lizard-men just waiting at the entrance - ready to jump me if I manage to escape.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Two things--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I need some help--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, sadly]\xa0 Ain't gonna happen.\xa0 [crackle]\xa0 Not for a couple days.\xa0 Sunspots play havoc with landing vehicles, same as communications.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 So I just--
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Listen to me Ken.\xa0 You've never tried shooting one of them things, have ya?\xa0 The flame guns are particularly nasty.\xa0 Them critters go up like oily rags.\xa0 Once you get one or two of 'em, the others'll head for the hills.\xa0 They don't really wanna fight--
DWIGHT\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, distant and echoey]\xa0 That is, until you got one of the precious crystals.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Oh.\xa0 [resolved]\xa0 No.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 No?\xa0 No what?
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I'm not giving it up.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 That's the spirit, Ken.\xa0 Long as you're in a safe place, just sit tight, and we'll get a rescue party in, soon as possible.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [considering]\xa0 You mean other prospectors, right?
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Yep.\xa0
KENTON \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Maybe I will be out of here by then...
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 29.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 4
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, tired]\xa0 Fourth day.\xa0 Shortly after dawn.\xa0 The alluring crystal, the body of the man who seized it before me - these have acquired a dark and threatening meaning.\xa0 Dwight was a victim, too.\xa0 He must have been trapped some time ago, and failed to find his way out.\xa0 His mask probably didn't slip accidentally.\xa0 Rather than face a lingering death he solved the issue by letting the lethal atmosphere do its work.\xa0 The horrible irony of his fate lay in his position - only a few feet from the exit he failed to find.\xa0 And now I'm as trapped as he'd been.\xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 30.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 plateau
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [tired, but not quite exhausted - yet] Recorder.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Ready.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Location - central chamber.\xa0 Describe?
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Round chamber.\xa0 Six irregularly spaced egresses.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Progress?
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You have 27 times attempted the exit you designated "door in line with corpse and tree".
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yeah, well...\xa0 Then I realized three of the doors all line up that way.\xa0 There's just not enough difference in perspective.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You have recorded 43 trips out of the central chamber.\xa0
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 I know.\xa0 With no way to mark anything, I can't tell which door is which.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 You have attempted to score the wall with your knife, and with your flame pistol.\xa0 You have tried to make a mark in ink, and smear it with mud.\xa0 You have reported no success.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Picking a damn door at random would do me more good.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Correlating the turns you have thus far recorded, a random choice would give you odds of 1 in--
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Off.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 31.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 KENTON'S LOG
AMBIANCE\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 LOG 5
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter, weak]\xa0 This, then, is the end.\xa0 Three days, taking me nowhere.\xa0 My strength is gone.\xa0 It was no common series of mischances which made me lose my way in this roofless, unseen tangle of corridors.\xa0 Far from it.\xa0 Beyond doubt, the place is a genuine maze - a labyrinth - a trap set to catch humans.\xa0
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 32.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 PLATEAU
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [weak, not on filter]\xa0 Hiya Dwight.\xa0 Hey, buddy.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 weak pounding on wall, splishes of vague movement in the mud.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 You got it all over me.\xa0 You almost made it, old pal.\xa0 Almost...
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 RUSTLING AND SPLISHING [Kenton takes out his recorder]
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Recorder on.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Ready.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 ALIEN NOISES GET LOUDER.
KENTON\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [weak]\xa0 I have just taken the great crystal out of my pouch to look at in my last moments. \xa0It shines fiercely and menacingly in the red rays of the dying day. \xa0The leaping horde have noticed it, and their g-gestures have changed in a way I cannot understand. \xa0I am ... growing ... numb. \xa0
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 ONE LAST LABORED EXHALE, MACHINE SLOWS, THEN A MOMENT OF SILENCE.
MUSIC
\xa0
SCENE 33.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 GENERAL QUARTERS
[NOTE:\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Miller is dictating, not playing back, so he is NOT on a filter]
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Operative A-49, Kenton J. Stanfield left Terra Nova early on six-twelve, for a short-term trip. \xa0Due back 13th or 14th. \xa0Did not appear by evening of 15th. \xa0Followed last reported location to Erycinian Highland. \xa0Brought plane down nearby and corner of the wing crashed on unseen obstruction. \xa0Approaching on foot, we came up short against a smooth, invisible barrier. \xa0Located skeleton of Operative B-9, Frederick N. Dwight of Koenig's division, and aforementioned deceased, Stanfield. \xa0We had great difficulty in getting to Stanfield, but finally succeeded. \xa0We shall bury Dwight and Stanfield in the company graveyard, and ship the crystal on the next--
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 beep [phone].\xa0
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Off.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 phone picked up.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Miller.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 I heard--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yeah.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 And I'm real sorry.\xa0 Boy seemed real nice--
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 He was.\xa0 Keep it under your hat, but I think this is the last straw.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 Last straw?
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [sigh]\xa0 I have been warned.\xa0 The next rocket'll be carrying marines.
DANA\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter]\xa0 [shocked]\xa0 Oh.\xa0 Well. \xa0I AM sorry.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Yeah.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 HANGS up PHONE.\xa0
MILLER \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Recorder on.
SOUND\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 CLICK.
RECORDER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [filter] Ready.
MILLER\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 [sigh]\xa0 Personal note.\xa0 I am impressed not only with the irony of Dwight's fate, but with that of Stanfield as well. \xa0We found a doorway some fifteen feet past Dwight. \xa0Beyond this was a hall and ... oh, hell... Stanfield could have reached the outside by walking twenty-two feet if he had just found the opening directly behind him.
MUSIC
END