2-15 Holes

In which the members of the Story Creation and Development Program, as well as the members of the General Data Acquisition and Storage Department, engage in a bout of spirited cardio. It's good for the hearts!  

inc: The Podcast is: 
Allyson Levine as Bethany and Fern 
Raimy O. Washington as Jonas 
Elle Lu Thompson as Button   
Edie Pierce as Carol 
Brynn Hambley as Kimberly 
With Joe Hanson providing additional music.   

inc: The Podcast is written, produced, and edited, by Monte D. Monteleagre and Alexander Wolfe, and is a production of Wolf Mountain Workshop.

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Emotional support for inc: The Podcast is lovingly provided by: Birdie, Rodeo, Jewel, Sakura, Gracie, Luna, Hazel, Kyo, Hamilton, Beau and The Slug.  

New episodes every other Monday.   

Ask yourself: how can M-E, work for me?   

———  

Transcript

EPISODE 2-15 - Holes
Cast
Lead
Bethany
Jonas
Button
Carol
Kimberly
Fern
PROLOGUE
80’s guitar.
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, and they are runnin’ wild,
It’s a generic chase scene, mile after mile…
BETHANY: Jonas, stop, wait, I can explain!
JONAS: You’re still holding the gun!
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, one person after another,
It’s a generic chase scene, some darkness has been discovered…
CAROL: Kimberly, stop, you can’t do this!
KIMBERLY: Don’t try to stop me, Carol, you know this is what we have to do!
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, two stories in tandem,
It’s a generic chase scene, it’s anything but random…
BETHANY: Jonas!
CAROL: Kimberly!
JONAS: Bethany!
KIMBERLY: Carol!
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, where all has been revealed,
It’s a generic chase scene, they all wish they had wheels!
Running sounds.
BETHANY: Jonas, you stupid little…my boots are too wet and I’m too old to do this kind of crap,
I’m getting blisters!
JONAS: Serves you right, murderer!
BETHANY: Eventually, you’re gonna hit a dead end, and what’s your plan then?
JONAS: I don’t know…probably getting murdered by you, because that’s what you do, isn’t it!
BETHANY: Okay, yeah, fair point, but…context!
JONAS: What?
BETHANY: I said, context!
JONAS: It’s really hard to hear you when we’re both running like this, Bethany, you’re gonna
have to speak up.
BETHANY: I said, ‘You don’t know the context!’
JONAS: Bethany, right now I don’t care about what’s “convex” and what’s “concave” or anything
else, I’m just gonna keep running!
BETHANY: This is why people have sympathy for your caregivers, you stupid little80’s rock.
Running.
CAROL: Kimberly, please, just listen to me!
KIMBERLY: Stop chasing me, Carol, you can’t stop me!
CAROL: Kimberly, you’re better than this, I know you are -
KIMBERLY: And I thought you were better than to fall in love with a weapon of mass destruction,
but apparently I was wrong…also, stop making me say long sentences, it’s hard to do that and
run at the same time!
CAROL: If anything that’s good for me!
KIMBERLY: And if it’s good for you, who cares if it hurts other people, right?
CAROL: Okay that is a…totally different argument…
80’s rock.
JONAS: I can tell you’re getting tired, Bethany! Your head is pounding, you’re probably about to
throw up, and the only reason I’m not insanely scared at the moment is because you shake so
much now I don’t know if you could actually hit me if you shot at me.
BETHANY: Jonas, if I truly wanted to kill you it would’ve happened on our 14th day of working
together. Think back, you know what you did!
JONAS: The past is in the past, and I live in the moment now!
BUTTON: Bethany, as your personal and loving therapy button, who is going through a bit of an
awakening, I’m scared!
BETHANY: I’m in the middle of something, Button, I’ve got a friend to chase, I’ll grab you on the
way back!
BUTTON: (Being dropped and fading out.) No, without being attached to you I have nothing to
artificially live for!
(Fading even more, and really really fast)
And really I just started living this morning, and all I know is fear and now loneliness…
BETHANY: Why is every stupid hallway in these Colonies like, 12 miles long…?
80’s rock.
KIMBERLY: Carol, you have to let this goCAROL: Let it go- You want to murder a child!
KIMBERLY: Who happens to be a story bomb just waiting to kill everybody we know!
CAROL: That is not a certainty, we don’t know what will happen!
KIMBERLY: Oh, same excuse you used about moving in with me, change the record!
CAROL: You don’t even know what a record is!
KIMBERLY: Maybe not, but I know you need to change it!
80’s rock.
BETHANY: Wrong turn, Jonas, this hallway ends with a giant picture window giving a beautiful
view of the rising M-E Colonies sun!
CAROL: Something you didn’t think about Kimberly, the security department isn’t even open this
late! Now what? Dead end!
80’s rock.
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, and the friendships have been fractured,
It’s a generic chase scene, everyone is knackered…
It’s a generic chase scene, but all things have their end,
It’s a generic chase scene, and because I am a friend……of the people that run this podcast,
they got my musical talent at an incredibly steep…discount!
A flourish and the 80’s rock ends.
SCENE 1
Deep quiet.
Breathing.
This silliness has suddenly gotten very serious.
BETHANY: (Out of breath) Now will you listen?
JONAS: (Out of breath) I guess I have to. You have the very real gun, after all.
BETHANY: It’s for your protection.
JONAS: What do you think is going to happen here? What’s the best way you think this can
possibly go? I just watched Jesse’s head, which had a knife in it by the way, I just watched their
head turn into a pink mist. Because of you.
Small pause.
BETHANY: To be fair, the knife was in Jesse’s head when I got thereJONAS: Because of you, Bethany! Always…it’s always because of you…
BETHANY: Yeah, including you being here. You’re welcome, by the way. You think I would just
do something like that for no reason? Honestly?
Small pause.
JONAS: Honestly…I don’t know. I don’t. And I’m scared of you right now. Do you think you could
at least put the gun down while we talk?
A moment.
Gun clunk.
JONAS: Thank you. I was about 50/50 on how that would go, but…thank you.
BETHANY: Here, I’m gonna…I’m gonna sit down…that run really did me in… and you weren’t
wrong earlier, my head is absolutely killing me and I mean, look at my tentacles…I don’t even
know if I could write my name right now.
JONAS: They were pretty steady when you were doing the killing.
BETHANY: I…I don’t think that’s true.
JONAS: Because maybe that’s where you feel safe. In control. The boss, again. Maybe that’s
why the gun is still so much closer to you than to me.
Small pause.
BETHANY: Is that really what you think of me, Jonas? Not…I mean…I don’t even think I’m
asking that…antagonistically, or whatever, just honestly - is that really what you think of me?
JONAS: I…I don’t know what I think, right now. I want to, I don’t know, I want to just go back to
the silliness of when we first met. But, like, with everything we’ve learned. Or just…I don’t know.
I don’t know what I think, I don’t know what to think, I don’t know what I want to think, I’m
just…I’m lost.
Gun sliding noise.
BETHANY: There. You literally have all the power. You’ve got the gun, I’m sitting down, leaning
against a wall, I’m powerless at this point. I couldn’t stand up right now if I wanted to, the
hallway is spinning too much. Nobody has to be scared. I just want to talk with you.
JONAS: I…I just want to stop living through catastrophe after catastrophe. I just…I…I don’t
know…
Small pause.
BETHANY: Look out that window, Jonas. What do you see?
JONAS: The big one?
BETHANY: The one that takes up the entire end of this hallway? Yes, Jonas, that one.
JONAS: We passed another on the wayBETHANY: I’m not getting up and walking back however far just for another window, plus, this
one’s huge. Just…look.
JONAS: I’m looking, geez…
BETHANY: What do you see?
JONAS: Why are we doing this?
BETHANY: I know you’re the boss around here but humor me, please. 30 seconds.
JONAS: Fine.
BETHANY: Now, again, what do you see?
JONAS: I see the sun cresting over an interlocking and constantly moving series of satellites.
Strange shadows cast by massive megastructures are interrupted by the glint of the light hitting
the polarized windows and protective coatings. Every so often there’s a tiny hole in the
satellites, just a bit of space that hasn’t been filled in yet, so small you almost might be
imagining it, and you can just barely make out a kind of writhing darkness, like stormclouds at
midnight.
BETHANY: Did you ever think you’d be…here?
JONAS: I don’t even know where here is. I mean, emotionally. Although physically I’m a little lost
too, I was just kind of runnin’...
Small pause.
BETHANY: So…after the second task I got a note that heavily implied a couple of things.
1 - that Jesse was a problem that needed to be solved, and,
2 - that if I didn’t solve that problem, there would be a…problem…for you.
JONAS: Really?
BETHANY: Yeah, I…I dropped my therapy button on the way, but when we head back we can
grab it, and it’ll tell you.
JONAS: What’s the point?
BETHANY: Of the therapy button? At this point very little, all I get is shocks when I make jokes
these days. Which the Sub-Director said it wouldn’t even do…
JONAS: No, of any of this. What’s the point?
BETHANY: Well, that’s what I was kinda trying to do with the whole window thing. I mean, back
when we met, do you think you could’ve described anything like that?
JONAS: I don’t know…maybe?
BETHANY: Jonas, you wouldn’t have had the attention span to even look at it for a few
seconds. You’d be running around this hallway trying to teach yourself how to do a double
cartwheel or somethingJONAS: I can already do a double cartwheel.
BETHANY: Not the point, but I’m proud of you. Or… Well… No, I guess that is the point actually.
I’m really proud of you, Jonas. And I’ve had a hard time showing it, and I’ve had a hard
time here lately, and this past while has just kinda been the “Bethany spirals and hates
themselves and apparently occasionally murders” time, which is important, yes, and we’re
discussing it, but I’m also proud of you. And I haven’t told you that enough. And you deserve to
hear it, because you’ve earned it. And I haven’t heard anybody else say that to you.
I’ve watched you change from this little…I don’t know, should’ve-been-medicated
infant-person with a little potential maybe, if you looked really deep, into…into somebody that
I’m proud to call my boss. Somebody that I’m proud to call my friend.
You’ve earned it, Jonas. You earned your freedom from the last ship because you can
make friends and trust people and not give up in a way that I just can’t. You earned your position
here by channeling the best and worst parts of your life into creativity instead of letting them rot
and destroy you, or…well, letting them convince you to destroy yourself is probably more
accurate…And you’ve earned a spot in whatever comes after this. You have. Because if there’s
one thing I know about my best friend Jonas, it’s that if you care about it, you can do it better
than anybody. And maybe this is the therapy Button talking a bit, but I think you care about
being the best “you” you can be. And I think you’re doing that.
Pause.
JONAS: It is a nice view out there. The sun is pretty, even though there’s only one of them.
BETHANY: So, maybe you can see why I…did what I did. They were gonna put out your candle,
and, well, I didn’t wanna live somewhere that dark.
Pause.
JONAS: So, I’m taking it you didn’t listen to that lecture on metaphors I recorded for you?
BETHANY: I did, but I was…you know, Story Juice.
JONAS: It wasn’t the worst one, butBETHANY: Look, it’s all kinda off the cuff here, I’m pouring my hearts out, can we look beyond
my bad writing? I’m not the boss here for a reason!
JONAS: Yeah…yeah…
(Small pause.)
I get it. To an extent. I do. And I’ll be the first to agree with you if you say that our species
deals with death different than other species, I mean, we saw that firsthand on the incorporation
ship, participated to a certain extent, some more than othersBETHANY: Cheap shot.
JONAS: No, not really. And I know…or at least I believe, that you don’t really lash out in…let’s
say anger. Maybe it’s maturing, or being the boss, or writing and reading stories all the time, but
it’s become a lot easier to see who you are, Bethany.
You’re scared.
Every day of your life, you walk around terrified, on such a personal level that I don’t
even know if you recognize it as fear, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. I think you got it into
your head early on that you would always be the most insignificant little rock, and the universe
would, if it paid attention to you at all, only see fit to grind you down, day by day, year by year,
cycle by cycle, until finally that rock was just…nothing. Just…into dust.
BETHANY: …cheap shot…
JONAS: No, not really.
Pause.
BETHANY: I wish I knew what this poison was. I really do. And I’m trying. It’s just…every time I
go a little deeper there’s still so far to go. It’s like there’s just a hole in me.
JONAS: Well…holes happen. That’s what happens. Holes.
BETHANY: Yeah…I guess they do.
JONAS: You know, it’s not a crime to be a broken person. It feels like it, sometimes, I’m sure,
and nobody wants somebody they love to be broken, but it’s not a crime, it’s not a sin, it’s not
a…
But when you use your hurt to hurt other people, even if you don’t mean to, that’s…well,
that’s where people have to draw a line.
BETHANY: (Soft) I know…
JONAS: I know you do. I’ll bet you know that just about better than anybody right now.
And for what it’s worth, I could’ve done a lot more. As a boss, as a friend. I mean, if you
see your friend jumping off a cliff, you’re not a bad person if you don’t catch them, but you sure
are if you don’t even try. And I didn’t try hard enough. And then I sat back and I watched as you
took down person after person with you.
BETHANY: It’s not your fault.
JONAS: No, it’s not. But I could have done more. That’s just the truth.
Pause.
BETHANY: That jumping off a cliff metaphor was pretty good, I should relisten to that lecture.
JONAS: That was more of an analogy, I think.
BETHANY: What’s the difference?
JONAS: Nobody knows. And anybody that says they do is lying. Same goes for similes.
BETHANY: Oh, well that takes some of the stress off at least.
Pause.
JONAS: The sun does look beautiful out there.
BETHANY: It really does, doesn’t it?
JONAS: Do you ever think you’ll be somewhere that has actual sun? Like, down on a planet or
something, where you can feel it?
BETHANY: Maybe when I’m dead. I wouldn’t hold out hope though, it might just all be dark, and
as sunlight goes that’s kind of the opposite.
JONAS: I think you will. Me too, maybe, but I’ll bet that you will.
BETHANY: It wouldn’t feel as sunny without you there.
JONAS: How would you know?
BETHANY: Look, I may be old, shaky with story juice withdrawal, and honestly still kinda winded
from that run, but sometimes I just know things.
JONAS: If you say so.
Pause.
BETHANY: Jonas, are we…what are we? Are we friends? Coworkers? I mean…
JONAS: Bethany…we are…this relationship is complex…
BETHANY: So that…that’s a no, on the friendship?
JONAS: We are…Bethany, I don’t know…
BETHANY: You’re my friend.
JONAS: And that’s your choice to make.
BETHANY: But you don’tJONAS: I said, that’s your choice to make.
Pause.
BETHANY: What do you wanna do?
JONAS: We should probably get back. I’m sure there’ll be some kind of meeting or something
about Jesse.
BETHANY: Yeah, you’re right. What do you want to do with the gun?
JONAS: I’m gonna take off a sock and pick it up, because I don’t want my tentacle prints on it,
and you’re going to walk in front of me while we head back.
BETHANY: Yeah, I guess I can’t really argue with that. See, you’re a great boss.
JONAS: The bar is low. Also, let’s grab your button on the way back. It actually seems to be
helping. Despite…everything.
BETHANY: …fine…you get how annoying it gets to be shocked for every little suicide joke,
though, right? Help me up, I can’t tell if my boots are filled with sweat or blood, but either way it
hurts…
JONAS: (Fading out) Yes, Bethany, you are truly the person in all of these colonies that has
suffered the most…
SCENE 2 - MUSICAL INTERLUDE
80’s guitar.
LEAD: (Singing)
It’s a generic chase scene, on a giant ship,
It’s a generic chase scene, the story does a flip…
It’s a generic chase scene, with Carol and Kimberly,
It’s a generic chase scene, drivin’ them both crazy……on account of the fact that they can’t
decide what to do with Fern and it’s driven a wedge in their once beautiful…relationship!
80’s guitar fades out.
SCENE 3
Two sets of running footsteps and then:
CAROL: (Jumping effort noise.)
KIMBERLY: (While being tackled.) Hey!
Carol tackles Kimberly and there is a small improvised scuffle until Carol gains the upper hand.
CAROL: Stop, Kimberly, just stop!
KIMBERLY: (Straining a bit) Get…off…me…
CAROL: Kimberly, listen.
KIMBERLY: Carol, I’m warning you-
There is a sharp slap.
Silence.
KIMBERLY: You…you hit me.
CAROL: I said listen to me, Kimberly.
KIMERLY: My nasal tube is bleedingCAROL: Listen!
KIMBERLY: I’m listening!
CAROL: You wanna know why I chased you all this way? You wanna know why I’m sitting on
top of you right now? You wanna know why my vision is down to pinpricks and I can hear all of
my hearts pounding in my ears? Because I am officially done.
It’s been building for a while. You can tell, maybe, if you’ve even been paying attention…
I settle…I settle for a lot in this life. As you constantly point out, I settled for Gabriel. A
loser. Yeah, I know it too, we all know it, thanks for bringing it up so often, thanks for all the
support. I also settle for a job that is mind numbingly boring, amazingly so, and so far behind the
times that on this state of the art ship we’re still using paper for some reason! What even is
that? And you know what, I settled for you too. An airheaded, popular, vacuous, person, who’s
main qualification, now that I think about it, was not being mean to me, pretending to try and
remember the name “Jonas”, and occasionally inviting me over for game night!
No more! Do you hear me? Are you listening? It’s over. We’re over, my guess is that this
job is over, our lives as we know them might be over, but you know what’s not going to be over?
Fern. Because Fern is a piece of the one thing in these last few months that’s actually meant
something to me, actually given me a reason to believe that there might be something beyond
my puny little life, and I’m not letting you or anybody else take that from me!
Pause.
KIMBERLY: And just how are you going to stop me?
CAROL: I already stopped you.
KIMBERLY: You’re sitting on me in an empty hallway. Eventually somebody will come along, I’ll
tell them to go get help, and that’ll be that. You’ve delayed it, nothing more.
CAROL: I don’t remember asking your opinion.
KIMBERLY: What’re you gonna do, you gonna hit me again? That’s how you’re gonna save a
little malfunctioning computer in a dead plant? You gonna hit anybody that tries to do the right
thing?
CAROL: I might.
KIMBERLY: See, Carol, that’s the thing about when people like you get all passionate…you’re
bad at it. In our relationship it was kinda cute, I’ll admit it, but now I see it for what it really is. A
lost stray pet trying to find a warm home, but too stupid to not bite the claw that feeds it.
CAROL: In a relationship with a pet, huh? That sure says a lot about you.
KIMBERLY: You’re the one on top, you’re the one using violenceCAROL: To keep you from killing a kid!
KIMBERLY: To keep me from dismantling a doomsday weapon. So yes, Carol, when I compare
you to an animal, I mean it. I mean that you're irrational, short sighted, and have limited control
over your emotions.
CAROL: You do want me to hit you again…
KIMBERLY: Carol, what I want is to get rid of the thing that will destroy my family, my friends,
and everybody I know and love.
CAROL: Imagine it were me, Kimberly. Imagine it wasn’t a computer/AI/child/thing, but imagine
it was me. And the risks were the same. Could you do it then?
Small pause.
KIMBERLY: CarolCAROL: No, it’s a yes or no question. If it were me instead of Fern that could take down this
ship, not because I wanted to, but just as a happenstance of my birth, would you kill me?
A deep shuddering within the ship. Lights flicker off and on again. Sci fi noises all over the
place.
Silence.
A thwack as Kimberly hits Carol, wrestling sounds for a moment and then a short wet thunk
and…
Silence.
CAROL: (In shock) Kimberly…
KIMBERLY: I’m sorry, Carol, I didn’t want to do that.
CAROL: Kimberly, you stabbed me…
KIMBERLY: Sometimes even the right thing is the wrong thing.
CAROL: Kimberly, you stabbed me with a pen…
KIMBERLY: Sometimes you have to kill a stray if it won’t stop biting.
CAROL: Kimberly, there’s blood, I…I…Kimberly there’s a hole in my chest…
KIMBERLY: Holes happen. That’s what happens. Holes.
Footsteps fading.
CAROL: Kimberly…
A klaxon blares, deep and ominous.
FERN: (Over speakers) Welcome to Incorporation Ship F.E.R.N. Thanks to the recent
conversation I’ve had with Crewmate Gabriel-Bethany, I have made the emotionally driven and
impetuous decision to assume complete control of this vessel. Crewmates designated as
Bethany and Soon-to-become Bethany, would you like to hear a story?
SCENE 4 - Musical Interlude
80’s guitar.
LEAD: (Singing)
It was a weird episode, somebody dumb wrote it,
It was a weird episode, puttin’ themselves on a pulpit…
It was a weird episode, wrappin’ up the plot lines,
It was a weird episode, I am out of the confines……of the typical way stories are presented,
because I’m talking to you as both a narrator and quasi-framing device, which might just be a
crutch that either Alexander or Monte have used because it can be hard to tell where you are in
time or space when listening to something in a purely audio format, and this episode delved into
some really important and interesting character things that will carry on throughout this season,
so hopefully it’s fairly clear where the story is at this point with all the characters, we know
there’s a lot of them, but hey, we all keep trying our…best!
80’s guitar fades out.
Epilogue
BETHANY: I can’t find Button anywhere, Jonas, are you sure you haven’t seen it?
JONAS: Are you sure it was this hallway?
BETHANY: Yeah, I dropped it right by this painting of sad clowns around an empty grave.
JONAS: Are you sure it was this painting of sad clowns around an empty grave?
BETHANY: Yeah, because they all have purple hair.
JONAS: Ah. Well. Who knows, I guess. Maybe somebody thought it was trash and tossed it out.
We can get you another one.
BETHANY: Aw, I was kinda getting to like that one.
JONAS: I know, Bethany. But the most important thing that we can take away from this is that
the original Button is gone, and that’s never gonna be a problem for anybody. Take it from me,
that’s the last we’ll ever even be talking about the original button.
Pause.
BETHANY: Did you take a lecture on ominous foreshadowing that I missed?
JONAS: No, why?
END.