S02-E01 - HONESTY
INT. RETROGRADE GANDERS OFFICE
(ALEX, DOILY, GANDER, SHARROW)
Angel and May are man handled into two chairs
GANDER OFFICE,
CLOCKS AND
CREAKING OF
CHAIRS
ALEX
Get you hands off, easy does it, we
are not your enemy!
GANDER
Well, that remains to be seen.
SHARROW
Look GANDER if we were really the
bad guys, we would have tried
something by now. Think about it,
we've been here for months, lets
all just calm down.
DOILY
Well it looks to me like you are
definitely working for the
authorities. Why did CIS pick you
up as soon as you were discovered?
That seems pretty strange to me.
SHARROW
Well appearances can be deceptive,
just because they grab us doesn't
mean we work for them. After-all
if, as you say, we are in the
intelligence game, there are many
easier ways to arrive in New
London. We could have just arrived
on the normal shuttle. Why would we
have arrived in deep cryo, drifting
on a slow boat to nowhere. That
makes no sense all. Hell from what
we have heard we could have drifted
in space virtually forever if you
hadn't come along. In what weird
universe, does that sound like an
effective way to insert sleeper
agents.
DOILY
Well yes, I will concede on that
one point.
I just want you to know I did the
pick up purely as a financial
transaction, for the salvage. It
was not a mission of mercy.
SHARROW
Sure, you didn't know we were in
there, its to be expected! No hard
feelings either way.
GANDER
Yes, exactly. Now simmer down
DOILY. You do make some good points
SHARROW. Theres a lot about this
that does not add up at all, but
thats not ANGEL and MAY's fault is
it. However in the mean time I have
the biggest event of the year going
on next door, and I have to get
back to that. SLIM can you please
conduct a search of these two in
case they have communication
devices, but I think we are safe to
lock them in their apartment for
tonight. Tomorrow is XMAS day, we
will hear the full story please, it
will be my XMAS present. No lies,
no if and buts. Do I have to remind
you that an airlock is a short walk
away.
INT. RETROGRADE ANGEL AND MAY'S APARTMENT
(ALEX, SHARROW)
SOUNDS OF
KITCHEN MAKING A
CUP OF COFFEE.
ALEX
Well thats torn it, they are really
nervous now. Flapping around like
girl guides on a windy day. Clearly
we have some explaining to do.
SHARROW
Thats all very well, but how can we
explain, what we don't understand.
We have no real idea what happened
either. I think our best and only
strategy is to fess up, tell the
whole story and hope for the best.
(angry and striking out)
TABLE BEING
BANGED BY A FIST
SHARROW
Shit, its annoying, we were just
starting to get their trust, and
now it's all gone sideways.
ALEX
Well one things for certain. You
can't argue with the truth. Our
facts will add up. My worry is that
they will go stomping around with
their big 'Techno' feet over
sensitive database's and trigger
many alarm bells. Darn it! I wanted
to see the show, now we won't get
the chance.
SHARROW
Well we might as well hit the sack
and get a good nights sleep. We are
going to have a big day tomorrow.
I'm totally buggered. My backs
killing me from those Eagle Wings.
ALEX
Well enjoy the lie-in they're not
going to be up early. I just hope
that the hang overs don't make them
seriously unpleasant.
SHARROW
I think we are safe. From what I
have seen it's unlikely they would
harm us. That would not be
professional, and we know that they
take pride in their 'Regimental'
professionalism.
ALEX
Yep, OK, good night SHAS, see you
in the morning and try not to
worry. Look we know they are
basically the good guys. We just
fess up. What are they going to
do, and to be honest its a huge
weight off my shoulders. I'm sick
of all the secrecy.
SHARROW
Yep I agree, OK good night, to you
too, and ALEX.
ALEX
What?
SHARROW
I'm really glad you're here.
INT. RETROGRADE GANDERS OFFICE
(ALEX, BOY, DOILY, GANDER, INT., RUDI, SHARROW, SLIM)
GANDERS OFFICE
CLOCKS
SHARROW
Look please don't arc up,
understand we don't know all the
facts either. Remember we were
unconscious in that ship for a long
time. We told you all we know,
there is no more.
GANDER
So let me get this right. You both
ran a small detective agency in LA
Earth side. You uncovered something
which caused you to be in a
firefight with the Russian Mob. You
managed to 'neutralise' most of
them, but a surprise encounter in
the basement, meant that you were
both shot. You passed out, then
found yourself in New London
medical. Пиздец/Piz-dets! (Russian
swear word) Yes exactly how long
were you in that ship?
SHARROW
Well as far as we can tell it was
for fifty two years.
GANDER
I don't believe you. You can't be
more than mid twenties in age. If
what you say is true you would be,
let me see, one hundred and nine
years old. You would be drooling
crones by now.
SHARROW
Yes well I'm only 107 so I'm
feeling quite young nowadays, and I
only drool if I have too many of
those GHOST cocktails!
GANDER
Well, its a hell of a long time. We
have some anti-senescence
treatment's but they were only
starting to come in the mid
sixties, and then only for the very
rich. I can't square this with
something that would have had to be
done in the late twenties.
Thats a big difference in years and
a significant technology gap. Where
did the supposed protagonists get
the technology from?
ALEX
Well you're not going to like this
but the last memories we had before
going sleepy byes, was of a painful
and terminal end. Oh and at the
time we were in our mid fifties
remember, so its not just stopping
ageing its reversing it! As well
as that, we have no wounds, and no
signs of any scars. It's as if it
never happened.
RUDI
So let me get this straight. You
remember being age fifty,
presumably on Earth, some incident
occurred, you blacked out and the
next thing you know, you're waking
up in New London Central Hospital
aged twenty something.
ALEX
Exactly, (sigh and pause) yes,
thats about it, when we went to
sleep Asteroid colonies were only a
future dream. You know we wouldn't
make this stuff up, its just too
crazy. How the hell do you think we
feel?
RUDI
OK, OK. Well just arguing about it
isn't going to achieve anything.
The only thing we can do is some
fact checking. We need to think
forensically. That gun fight sounds
serious, it must have done
'remodelling' to the building
structure. We could trace building
works to see if renovations were
done to your old address, post gun
fight.
ALEX
Well I would be mighty cautious
over that, any obvious snooping
around for data retrieval could
just trigger bad stuff. Think about
it, very carefully. Imagine the
resources that would have had to be
used, and what it would take to
stick two sleeping bodies in
cryogenic preservation.
An expensive process in itself,
with very expensive Atomic
Generators, for fifty odd years,
and then effectively throw away a
whole spaceship. Even if it was a
junker, and to what end? It only
makes sense if they intended for us
to be retrieved at some stage. That
takes some serious cash and long
term thinking. That can only mean
we are dealing with one of the
combines, big corporate, big bucks.
I don't think you will want them
crashing you party up here, just to
grab, SHAS and myself, all sorts of
other muck could come flying up in
the backwash.
RUDI
Yes I see your point, and its well
made. We will have to tread very
carefully. We need to enact
multiple data cutouts, treat this
like a full military operation.
SHARROW has provided a lot of
detailed incidental information to
us on a datavise. Things such as
company account numbers and bank
records for the 'original' Angel
and May agency. A call on Companies
House is unlikely to raise much of
an eyeball, there are millions of
queries every day, we will use
proxies even for routine enquiries.
However I will get Sargent CHEN and
Private ZED to run a good number of
security protocols. It will look
like enquires are coming from lunar
Selene One.
ALEX
(Whispered) Pssst, SHARROW, data
viced? I didn't know you had one of
those new fangled implant thingies.
When did you do that. You know they
give me the creeps.
SHARROW
(Whispered) Yes well, I decided two
weeks ago. I realised, that if I
was to function in any way normally
in this society, and to boot strap
the agency, I would have to have
some very basic neural nanonics.
Actually they are mega expensive,
so this is a very basic set.
You're going to have to get them
eventually. You know that don't
you?
ALEX
(Whispered) Oh, well, they creep me
out, I thought you would have told
me!
SHARROW
(Whispered) Yes, well as you say, I
know how you feel. I didn't want to
make you grumpy.
ALEX
(Whispered) So how do you data
vice?
SHARROW
(Whispered) It's datavise. Its that
little green icon on the right hand
side, think of the file name, then
move the cursor to the icon and
think of the persons face, then
subvocalise send, it sends straight
to them. It's weird at first, but
like everything you get used to it.
BACKGROUND
DISCUSSION
GANDER has been discussing with RUDI and SLIM what to do
about the girls status.
RUDI
OK, we've come to a decision for
the time being. Girls, it's a
fantastical tale, but strangely
that makes it all the more
believable. No spies would have
such a cockamamy back story.
GANDER
I agree, also your behaviour is
consistent with the story. Its
clear on hindsight that you have
both displayed knowledge and
maturity much beyond your current
biological years. It's unlikely
that two twenty somethings could
actually start a 'detective'
agency, a concept that is so
quaintly nostalgic. Then there is
the matter of the guts you both
displayed in the mirror house.
RUDI
The problem we face, and I say we,
because I owe you one, as does the
full regiment, is the nature of the
agency or agencies behind this. I
agree that what happened takes some
serious bio tech, possibly
military, the sort of level that
the typical protagonists of your
old case load would not have been
able to muster. I think your
preservation was coincidental.
BOY
Excuse me Marm.
RUDI
Yes Major.
BOY
If I may pursue a course of logic
that's been bothering me, Marm. We
know the criminal gang that
attacked and, ahem, terminated the
(pause) early Ms. ANGEL and Ms.
MAY, would not have had anything
like the resources to achieve the
life extension and cryogenic
preservation.
RUDI
Go on Major
BOY
Well Marm, I agree it was just bad
luck, or good luck, that they
arrived at the right place at the
right time, namely the mortuary in
question. Perhaps we could
investigate the mortician on duty
at the time in the historic
records. Now if we find he was, say
corrupted, perhaps had spending
patterns incompatible with say a
mortician, it might give clues as
to whom was doing the messing
around. Perhaps they subjected
other victims to the same
procedures? Perhaps he was later
caught in another case? It might
give a line of slightly indirect
enquiry. One which perhaps would
not trigger alarms.
ALEX
RUDI if I could also throw
something else into the ring.
Another angle which would be worth
pursuing is to find out what
happened to my partner MAREE and
our secretary KRIS. I know its a
hell of a long time ago but there
were two lines of indirect enquiry
there. We did start to do a very
tentative search for death notices
and the like in the first few
weeks, but we got side tracked by
our 'case load'. I would really
like to know what happened to both
of them.
RUDI
Yes I could well understand that. I
think our best approach is to get
Sargent CHEN and private ZED on the
case with our server farm, the
A.I.s can do a lot of the 'donkey'
work and speed up cross correlation
of the data. Remember we are trying
to access servers on Earth, its a
long way away, and we have light
speed delays to deal with.
SLIM
(Cough) Beg you pardon Marm, I
think you're forgetting the most
obvious line of enquiry.
RUDI
Oh whats that SLIM?
SLIM
Well these two folks Marm, they
have the living evidence, its
sitting right in front of you. We
need to take what we have to hand.
What ever was done to our two
friends, might still be in
existence. I think we should really
get a very detailed 'off the
record' medical examination done.
For example from my limited
knowledge of forensics, we could
look at dental records or perhaps
look for anachronistic medical
evidence of the time line, that
sort of thing. We could perhaps
start with our own small facilities
downstairs. We must be able to do
bloods and x-rays and use the small
NMR scanner in med-bay, perhaps it
might kick up some dirt. Then I
propose we could get those two nut
jobs from the university involved.
They were molecular biologists.
They could examine the nuclear
chemistry, isotope ratios, and that
sort of thing. There must be away
of proving their ages. Those guy's
owe us big time and they've got the
gear to do it.
RUDI
Now that's a set of great idea's
SLIM, and we can start straight
away.
ALEX
Oh hell, here we go again.
SHARROW
I'm game ALEX we don't have much
choice.
SLIM
If I might suggest we try and keep
this 'in-house' for the time being,
no harm in a quick medical and
don't we have access to a dentist?
RUDI
I'm sure we can rustle up a
throughout initial examination,
before resorting to those two bat
stag jokers.
SLIM
Well, It can't hurt any, can it!
ALEX
Hmmm, I'm not so sure about that,
that nurse of yours, whats her
name?
SLIM
You mean Doctor SEATON?
ALEX
Oh, so she's a Doctor, that
explains her enthusiasm with fixing
DOILY?
RUDI
Oh, yes, thats not a nurses uniform
you know, I believe she did start
in nursing but worked her way up.
She's a major trauma specialist,
very good with wounds, she can do a
dental examination as well.
SLIM
She does seem to stick those
needles in with entirely too much
enthusiasm!
RUDI
Just professional enthusiasm girls,
heart of gold, saved many a soldier
in her time.
ALEX
Yes well, thats all good, but when
are you folks going to stop
treating us like criminals? We are
victims too, you know.
SHARROW
GANDER, do you really think we
would do anything to harm you
folks? Have we displayed anything
that shows we mean harm?
GANDER
No, of course not. The good news
is that since you told me the
story, that nagging feeling in my
gut, has gone. As far as I'm
concerned your good with me and I
trust my gut.
RUDI
You're good with me too, but we
have to prove matters. I really
want the story to be true because I
think you might be a strong, asset
to the regiment. You have unique
skill sets and youthful energy.
It's a good combination, but we
need to run the tests.
SHARROW
Great, its good to be a positive
asset now!
SLIM
Girls, I for one totally believe
your story, and I've got a real
good nose for sniffing out the old
B.S. You're solid with me.
DOILY
Well your not good with me! I
scratched my suit looking for you,
and I for one, am not going to be
persuaded that easily. You know I
was having nightmares for days.
I don't care if you're all bouncy
and warm, understand that you're
still those creepy corpiscles to
me.
GANDER
DOILY I would appreciate it if you
could at least shake hands and make
up. Its not good for morale to have
so much tension in the air.
DOILY
No sorry GANDER, I'm not touching
them, they may be infectious. What
ever changed them, may still be
active.
RUDI
Hmmm, point taken, but I don't
believe they could be infectious,
because it would have manifested by
now. The transformative processes
would have to be fairly aggressive
and active, none of us have been
affected.
DOILY
As far as you know!
GANDER
OK, RUDI, should I make contact
with the biologists, whilst you
organise, the data side? I'm really
curious, how are those winged stags
are doing?
RUDI
Yes but not yet just wait an hour
or so, lets get our own tests done
first. On the 'BatStage' front, I
did hear they are back in the
university zoo. Our two geniuses
went off mumbling about a
controlled breeding program, and
some more scientific papers.
Personally I would put them in the
cages with their own creation and
let Darwin do the rest. However, I
agree, I think we are going to need
them. Resolving this is going to
take medical equipment that we just
don't have.
GANDER
Agreed, OK lets get these two down
to the medical unit straight away.
SLIM can you pay a visit to those
biologists and get them back here
as soon as possible?
ALEX
Hay, you know we are standing right
here, don't you. Don't we have any
say.
GANDER
Yes of course you do, as long as
you don't stand in the way. Look,
you have potentially exposed the
inn and the RCBS to a world of
danger, so we need to get this
investigation off the ground and
assess the threat. For all we know
the opposition, whoever they are,
was notified of your pickup as soon
as you got to New London. With our
position in the orbit it will take
a long time and significant
expendables even at flank boost to
get Earth based operatives to New
London. However they may have
activated local assets to hunt you
two down. With that in mind I
think we need to deepen your
disguise. We need to make you look
and behave like BC locals. We also
need to change the name of your
agency its a dead giveaway.
ALEX
Oh, no way, I liked it.
SHARROW
How about we change it to GIMBLE
and ASH after our code names, until
this is resolved.
ALEX
Well that does sound like an
undertakers, but I guess needs
must. Shit, we are going to have
to change all our paperwork.
SHARROW
Well its better than being hauled
off and frozen, never to wake up.
At least we didn't advertise.
ALEX
Yes, there is that.
RUDI
OK, so to summarise, ALEX and
SHARROW are down to the infirmary
for a slew of tests, GANDER holds
off on the biologists until we get
our own tests back. I think we get
SOPHIE on the case to 'train' you
two and to get some of the local
behaviour locked in. We also need
to get them voice coaching
didactics. They don't sound like
natives. If we activate the
university biologists, its back to
their labs for a second round of
tests. In the mean time CHEN and
ZED will make, 'discrete' and I do
mean discrete enquiries on the
data. Not merely to check out the
story, but to look for patterns, to
pull out any useful information.
MAJOR please start to call up some
RCBS assets and get them active,
but do it on the Q.T. We don't want
to cause any alarms to go off. We
need to be on the look out and
react quickly to silence any hunter
killers before they communicate
back to base. Also put the word out
not to mention Ms MAY or Ms ANGEL
under any circumstances. GANDER can
you pull on your chain of up town
informants to see what might have
gone down after these two left the
hospital, also it might be useful
to scan for any ship departures
heading this way, from Earth. I say
we meet in C&C conference room
tomorrow at twelve hundred and
compare notes.
INT. RETROGRADE RCBS MEDICAL
(ALEX, CHEN, HOTEL LOBBY RETURN AND CHERYL, SEATON, SHARROW,
ZED)
SEATON
Open wide and say ah!
SHARROW
Ahhh!
SEATON
Very good.
ALEX
Whats that for?
SEATON
No reason really, it's just what
everyone expects from a medical
examination, makes them feel
wanted. Now I'm going to take a
sample of blood and a swab from
inside your mouths.
ALEX
Look, just be careful, OK with the
check on the DNA database.
SEATON
Don't worry we have good people on
this. We're the military remember,
we have done some fairly complex
data penetrations in our time. Its
a piece of cake.
ALEX
Ahhhh!
SEATON
I'm going to look at your teeth and
make some dental X-Rays.
ALEX
Ahhhhh!
SOUND OF
SPEAKING WHILST
DENTIST WORKS
SHARROW
That's interesting because when we
came around, ALEX said that my
teeth look different, they were
straighter. You don't think this
rejuvenation could have actually
affected the teeth do you.
SEATON
No, I think thats highly unlikely,
they may have moved in the gum as
the soft tissue was 'made younger,
but I don't think the teeth would
have been rebuilt, but who really
knows at this stage. Oh thats
interesting.
ALEX
Ahhhh! Wact!
SEATON
Well, I have found an old amalgam
filling, they stopped using those
in the late 1990's, so thats good
evidence of your real age.
Now I'm going to take a small
sample of one of your teeth, I want
to run an isotropic analysis on it.
ALEX
Urghh!
SEATON
Don't worry I'm going to fill the
tooth up with genetically matched
artificial tooth. It will be
better than new by the time I'm
finished.
SOUND OF DENTIST
END