S02-E10 BARTERED AIR
INT: CARGO HOLD OF THE SHIP 'STANDING BRIDGE'
(ALEX, CASSIDY)
ALEX
Hello? Is anyone here? Whoa!
(Sucking and unrolling
sounds; a SUNDEW is
lapping at the air. ALEX
must smell tasty)
CASSIDY
I wouldn't stand so close to the
SUNDEW if I were you. I haven't fed
it yet.
ALEX
It's huge... it's a SUNDEW you say?
CASSIDY
Yep. Drosera arcturi giganticus,
she'll start to lick you if you're
not careful, it can get messy. May
I ask why you're here? I'm judging
by your lack of uniform that you're
not with the DOCKMASTER.
ALEX
No, I'm not. I am here on business,
but it's about one of your
personnel.
CASSIDY
Are they in trouble?
ALEX
We don't know yet. It's about
ANDREW HELIGELIEN.
CASSIDY
ANDREW? That's a bit strange. Sweet
kid, he's never been in trouble
before.
ALEX
As I said, we don't know if he's in
trouble yet. My name is ALEX ANGEL.
I'm an investigator for the GIMBLE
and ASH agency, here is my business
card and my license. ANDREW was
supposed to meet his sister ALICE
several days ago, but he wasn't at
their agreed meeting place and she
can't get hold of him.
CASSIDY
That's right, I do remember
something. Look, I'm the Bosun, so
the crew aren't really my
responsibility. We haven't heard
much of anything from any of them
since we let them loose for shore
leave. They're all probably getting
blackout drunk and embarrassing
themselves in front of the working
girls. It was a long haul.
ALEX
You're not worried about any of the
crew getting into trouble?
CASSIDY
In theory, yes, but in practice
they're all adults and we can't be
expected to babysit them. They do
have clauses in their contracts
which specifically exclude any
liabilities on our part for their
behaviour whilst on shore.
ALEX
So what happens if shore leave is
over and you're missing crew
members?
CASSIDY
Ah, thats covered in clauses 23.4
And 5 I believe.
ALEX
I'm not talking about legal
liability, I was thinking of you
requiring them back to operate the
ship.
CASSIDY
Well, we do a rough search of all
the obvious places, and if we can't
find them we recruit new people and
terminate their contract.
ALEX
Sounds rather... heartless
CASSIDY
Well, this is a tough business.
Customs and excise may take a
different attitude of course. From
our experience ship jumping is
actually rather common. In deep
space, locked in a tin can with the
same handful of people, sometimes
for years at a time...
the pressure can be huge and
clashing personalities can get
dangerous. I had to jump ship
myself at one point, early in my
carrer. I realised that I was
getting on my captain's nerves and
as he had a reputation for burst of
violence, I decided to forgo the
opportunity for a whipping. Since
he outranked me considerably, I
figured it should be me moving on.
ALEX
Survival instincts kick in I guess.
CASSIDY
They do, madam, they do, I'm not
particularly proud of it, but it
was necessary.
ALEX
But back to ANDREW; does he strike
you as the type to get into
trouble?
CASSIDY
To be fair, it would be easy to
take advantage of him. He's a
little slow. A hard worker, but not
quite all there.
ALEX
That's why his sister is so
worried. So you've not heard
anything from him at all?
CASSIDY
Not a peep.
ALEX
May I see his quarters?
CASSIDY
No, very sorry, you may not, as you
are not a member of the port
authorities, with the requisite
permissions. I'm not about to let a
total stranger stroll onto my ship
and into crew's quarters unless you
have the correct paperwork.
ALEX
That's not unsurprising and
actually reassuring, but I had to
ask, its the detective in me. I
used to be in the CIS security.
CASSIDY
Oh, you look very young for that!
ALEX
Yes well, I have had some anti
aging treatment, so I'm not the age
I look.
CASSIDY
Oh, I'm saving up for that, it's a
steep price.
ALEX
What is youth worth?
CASSIDY
Well, a lot to many people.
ALEX
You right there. So do you have
any idea were he might be?
CASSIDY
I remember him talking loudly about
horses. He was nuts about them. I
thought he was nuts but then
someone told me that they have a
few on the habitat. Can you
believe it!
ALEX
I know it's crazy, right. Thank
you for talking to me. It's much
appreciated.
CASSIDY
Not a problem. I'm sure HELIGELIEN
is just fine and is drunk in a bar
somewhere. You find him.
EXT: TOUR BUS, THE DIRKSON LANES
(BEINBOT, SHARROW, TILLY)
BEINBOT
Ladies and gentlemen, as you have
no doubt noticed, the ceiling in
these shelves are low, only two
metres tall. This is in order to
utilise as much area as possible on
the grain growing shelves. For the
individuals who live and work here,
tallness is not a good trait to
have. Moving along, you'll see that
the next few shelves are taller,
with much thicker soil. This is in
order to raise orchard trees.
These orchards are mostly citrus,
but here and there you'll find
mango trees and dwarf pomegranates.
SHARROW
It reminds me of a few busts we did
back in the old days.
TILLY
The old days, your only just older
than my niece. What old days.
SHARROW
Ah, I was talking about those old
movies where they did a drug bust
of illegal Ganga, grow dens. It's
the LED lights and the big fans.
Just the same, got to keep the air
moving. They do make pretty
patterns as they blow the wheat,
it's really cool. It kinda brings
the whole artificiality of this
place into focus. In the city
habitat, I can pretend that it's
just another Earth street, but out
here it's impossible to pretend
anything.
BEINBOT
And now, ladies and gentlemen, in
one of the highlights of the tour,
everyone may disembark and pick a
piece of fruit from the actual
tree! One piece of fruit per
customer, extras will be charged to
your account. The tour company
accepts no responsibility if you
are unsatisfied with your
selection.
THE CROWD BUZZES
QUIETLY AS IT
EXITS THE BUS
SHARROW
Reminds me of that ah, when I was
on earth, we went into neighbours
gardens to nick the fruit.
BEINBOT
Please don't move too far away from
the bus, otherwise you may
encounter the security system.
SHARROW
They have a security system just
for fruit trees?
TILLY
Well, the fruit are very valuable,
you don't want thieves stripping
the trees in the night.
SHARROW
These people have got way too much
time on their hands.
BEINBOT
One piece of fruit per customer.
Please don't stray too far from the
bus.
SHARROW
Oh for the love of...
SNAPPING AND
RUSTLING AS MANY
A-RAYS SHIFT AND
MOVE RESTLESSLY.
SHARROW
A-RAYS! I really hate these
bastards. What's wrong with
flashing lights and electric
shocks?
BEINBOT
One piece of fruit per customer.
Please don't stray too far from the
bus.
SHARROW
Yes, yes, okay, okay. I heard you.
SNAPPING AND
RUSTLING AS
SHARROW PICKS A
PIECE OF FRUIT,
AND RETURNS TO
THE BUS
BEINBOT
Our next destination is the poultry
and fish area.
THE CROWD IS
EXCITED
SHARROW
This orange tastes sweet. Sweet. I
wasn't expecting that, TILLY.
TILLY
I guess they have changed the genes
to produce more sugars, also help
preserve the fruit, a lot of these
get vacuum dried and packed for
ship use, high sugars helps make
them taste good.
CORNY TOUR MUSIC
WITH OLD MAC
DONALD HAS A
FARM
SHARROW
TILLY, I tell you that next time
that bloody robot is off the bus
I'm going to take to the music
player with a screw driver.
INT: THE OFFICE OF ANGEL AND MAY
(ALEX, ZED)
ALEX
Hi ZED, did we get any customers
while I was out?
ZED
No.
ALEX
Oh, my. You painted the table. It
looks almost presentable. Certainly
less hideous. Where did you get the
paint?
ZED
They're renovating next door, so I
begged their excess paint and a
brush from them.
ALEX
Beg borrow and steal, thats the
Angel and May way! ZED, You did a
great job. I don't suppose there
was enough paint left over for the
chairs?
ZED
No, I was scraping the bottom just
to get the table done.
ALEX
Well, if nothing else at least they
don't clash with the table anymore.
ZED
That was the idea.
ALEX
Well, thank you. It's appreciated.
ZED GRUNTS.
ALEX
ZED, I need you to run some
searches for me and to correlate
into a new case VR room labelled
HELANDER.
ZED
What search parameters, shall I
load?
ALEX
All passengers and crew coming in
versus all passengers and crew
going out. For, say, the past three
years.
RAPID CLICKING
ZED
Hum, I'll have to hack the port
authority database. Let's hope they
are a bad at security as I suspect
they are.
RAPID CLICKING
ZED
Oh, that was just too easy man,
they are dumber than I thought. Ok
we are in I'm just extracting the
raw data files in to a dyna-set.
So just programming some
accumulators and cross correlators,
going to take a second or so. OK
Its in the virtual space. You ready
to take a look.
ALEX
Well, you know what I'm like with
these computer screens and I'm
still trying to get a handle on
this implant tech, so can you just
lay it out for me, nice and simple.
ZED
Well, OK, in a nut shell, many more
people coming in than there is
going out.
ALEX
Well, that makes sense as the
population is growing in the
Asteroid belt and New London is a
major hub.
ZED
There's always more. Everyone wants
to live here.
ALEX
Okay. I want you to compare the
list of people coming in to the
list of people who moved in
permanently during that time.
MORE CLICKING
ZED
That's interesting. Fourteen people
came here, didn't register as a
resident, but didn't leave either.
But wouldn't the immigration track
them down for over staying their
visa?
ALEX
Check the police database.
ZED
Okay, it'll take me a while to
break in there. Shipping doesn't
care who sees their database, but
the immigration have a few more
firewalls.
ALEX
Try this instead: compare the list
of fourteen people to the oxy-tab
database. I know that bracelet
wearers aren't tracked, but does
the database at least take names on
the sale or resale of credits?
ZED
They do take your name when you're
buying and selling. They don't care
what you do in between.
MORE CLICKING
ZED
Huh. That's interesting. All of
them sold their excess credit.
ALEX
ZED, I need you to gather as much
information on all of them as you
can.
ZED
Like what?
ALEX
Like everything. If you can find
out their favourite breakfast
beverage, I want to know.
ZED
It might take me a while to break
into a few different databases
though.
ALEX
Well, you can only do your best,
but knowing your considerable
expertise and general hacking
skills, I expect it will be
considerable.
EXT: TOUR BUS, THE DIRKSON LANES
(BEINBOT, SHARROW, TILLY)
SHARROW
Well, TILLY those poultry shelves
were certainly aromatic. Put me off
my lunch a bit.
TILLY
Yes, I didn't realise how much
chickens stank. What worried me
more were the operatives in full
air breathing has-mat suits.
What's that all about?
SHARROW
Oh, thats because of potential new
viruses, all animals have them of
course as do we, its part of life
basically. The problem comes when
a virus jumps the species barrier.
There was a terrible flue outbreak
way back in the past, it came from
an American chicken farm and it
killed more than 50 million people.
TILLY
Wow, you know a lot about this!
SHARROW
Yes, well I studied biology and
it's part of the standard course.
DISNEY MUSIC
STARTS WITH OLD
MC DONALD HAD A
FARM
BEINBOT
And now we are entering the
pastures. Look to your left!
There's a cow!
EXCITED VOICES
SWELL AND COO
BEINBOT
How many of you have seen a cow
before?
SHARROW
Wow, only a few hands. There must
be a whole lot of folk from the
Earth hive warrens. TILLY you know
we really do have to stop breeding
like rats.
BEINBOT
And guess what that group of
animals are.
MURMURING
TILLY
Excuse me, are they sheep?
BEINBOT
We not wanting to contradict you
Ma'am, but close! They're a type of
goat called Angoras. They're famous
for their long soft wool, which is
spun into cloth.
TILLY
Oh, they just make me want to reach
out and stroke them.
BEINBOT
Sorry Ma'am, touching is not
allowed.
SHARROW
You're just a giant metallic kill
joy aren't you!
BEINBOT
Thank you Ma'am, for your
considerations.
SHARROW
Well, you need to go back to
whoever programmed you and kick
their arses.
BEINBOT
Thank you once again! So ladies
and gentlemen, we are at the
conclusion of our tour, you can see
garments made from that locally
grown wool for sale in our gift
shop.
SHARROW
Sure, I daresay those garments,
will cost you an arm and a leg and
your firstborn child.
BEINBOT
Ahhhm, and finally, for the finale,
if you care to look to your right,
you will see a horse!
MORE EXCITED
MURMURING
SHARROW
Good God, it's a Clydesdale. TILLY,
slap me! I don't believe what I am
seeing, we're in an the asteroid
belt and I'm looking at a
Clydesdale horse. It's a wonder
that it's not pulling a barrel of
beer.
GIANT FOOTSTEPS
MUSIC
SHARROW
Thr guy who did this sound track
needs to be slowly killed on the
rack.
TILLY
Oh, I wouldn't think you would have
had such strange tendencies!
SHARROW
Well, this music brings out
nightmarish memories of Wonderland
back on Earth.
BEINBOT
This is a type of horse called a
Clydesdale, and he's the pride and
joy of our little home. He's the
largest of all the animals here in
New London. His name is Big Ben,
but we affectionately call him
Billy.
TILLY
And he's real? He wasn't engineered
in a laboratory?
BEINBOT
No of course not, miss, all our
original animals arrived here as
ova and sperm, and were grown in
artificial wombs in our
laboratories. In recent years,
however, we've started breeding our
own animals. Billy here did start
his life in a laboratory. However
he wasn't artificially engineered.
His parents were brought from
Earth. Now ladies and gentlemen all
Clydesdale horses are very, very
big animals, so you have to be
careful around them.
TILLY
Can we ride him?
BEINBOT
Certainly you can, but there is a
waiting list for publicly available
riding horses.
SHARROW
So just to confirm, I could ride
here? I'm going to have to talk to
SLIM. Now that's something I didn't
expect at all.
BEINBOT
So ladies and gentlemen we are
nearing the end of our tour. As
we've moved up the shelves of the
DIRKSON LANES, you may have noticed
the gravity getting lighter. This
leads us to the zero gravity area,
which is our own little forest of
wonder. If you could tether
yourselves to the belt holders you,
we can move forward.
INT: THE OFFICE OF ANGEL AND MAY
(ALEX, SHARROW, SOPHIE, ZED)
SHARROW
Hi guys, I'm home!
ALEX
We hello honey, the cake is in the
oven!
SHARROW
Hang on we don't have an oven, and
you're definitely not pregnant, are
you? Oh hello SOPHIE, how are you
doing?
SOPHIE
Oh, hello Ms MAY, it's my first day
as your receptionist. ALEX was
just showing me the various items
of equipment.
ALEX
Well, just the coffee machine
actually, as it's about all we've
got at the moment.
SHARROW
Well, you can immediately stop the
Ms MAY stuff, I'm SHARROW lets not
be so formal, after all we have to
work together.
SOPHIE
OK, well anyway, I look forward to
working here.
SHARROW
Great, we need someone to keep ZED
company!
ZED
Stop it, you're embarrassing me.
ALEX
Ah, OK. So, how was the tour?
SHARROW
Well, apart from the cheesy
soundtrack, it was surprisingly
enlightening. Full of great stuff
actually, I will tell all, but only
over a good coffee. No lets cut to
the chase. What's the bad news?
ZED
Shit, how the hell, do you know we
have bad news?
SHARROW
It's my detective sixth sense,
wooooee! (Pause) Actually no, it's
because ALEX always bites the side
of her tongue when she's upset
about something.
ALEX
Dam you, you know me too well, Ms
MAY!
SOPHIE
How come she can call you Ms MAY
and I can't thats discrimination!
SHARROW
SOPHIE, it's because she is a pain
in arse, nothing more!
SOPHIE
Yep, I'm starting to figure that
vibe.
ALEX
Well, the bad news is, we think
there may be more missing than just
HELIGELIEN.
SHARROW
Oh, wow, you mean you see a
pattern? How many?
ALEX
At least fourteen in the past three
years. The one link we can see is
that they sold their remaining
oxygen credits but didn't get back
to their ships before they left.
Unfortunately thats fairly normal.
So there is no real strong pattern
that we can see.
SHARROW
What's to stop them from just
adopting a new name and restarting
life in NEW LONDON?
ZED
We thought of that, so we checked
the biomass and the population
records. Nothing in the population
records, and no differences to the
biomass calculations. It's looking
like no one tried to sneak in.
Besides there is no real need to
sneak, the visa is cheap and
readily granted, so why bother.
ALEX
Between selling their credits and
returning to their ships, they
essentially vanished.
SHARROW
So either they found a way to
deliberately disappear, for what
ever reason, or something else...
ALEX
It's looking like its nefarious.
SHARROW
Individual killer or a serial
killer. What do you think?
ALEX
Serial, I think. Sadly the profile
is near identical for all of them.
All were freighter workers on shore
leave, all disappeared in the exact
same way. The only discrepancy is
that the first one who disappeared
was a woman, the rest are men.
ZED
We tried going back further than
three years, but there's nothing
similar before that.
SHARROW
Could they have been murdered on
their own ships?
ZED
No, because then they'd be in the
departure records.
ALEX
ZED, we're going to need as much
information on each of these people
as possible. Can you do that?
ZED
Yeah, of course.
SHARROW
Are there message boards or
discussion groups? Any type of
social media, we need to know if
anyone else is looking for them.
ZED
I can run some searches and run
through the basic algorithms I have
on eenie, menie, miney, mo.
SHARROW
Great idea. If you could get
started on that right away, it'd be
good. Perhaps SOPHIE might be able
to help, would you SOPHIE please?
SOPHIE
Oh, uhh, oh sure, I'll help ZED, of
course!
Sophie is winking at SHARROW
ZED
Oh, SOPHIE thank you, that would be
great, but we will need to go to
the server room, I need to plug
some patches.
SOPHIE
Oh, that's very interesting. So
ZED, why don't you run me through
what you have set up here.
VOICE FADE AWAY
AS THEY MOVE TO
SERVER ROOM.
ALEX
SHARROW, so these lanes things.
What can you tell me?
SHARROW
Well, they're named after an
engineer called DIRKSON and
basically they are tiered living.
They are a regular rabbit warren,
with hundreds of levels. They range
from large livestock- horses, cows,
etc, which are concentrated on
three shelves grouped together.
There's seven or eight properties
that own or have horses on
agistment. Owning a horse here is
almost the ultimate fashion
statement. Look at SLIM, now that
man must have some serious cash
stashed. Having an animal that
large and, considering where we
are, almost useless, is an
indicator of great wealth. On Earth
they'd have waterfront mansions and
keep an entire fleet of Porsches
and Ferraris. Here they have a
mansion and we have water
obviously, but they can't have a
vehicle, so they own a horse.
ALEX
Did you get to talk to any of the
property owners?
SHARROW
No, basically, it was a superficial
tour for the plebs complete with
sickly music, but it was enough to
get an impression.
ALEX
So we're going to need an
introduction or perhaps we sniff
around.
SHARROW
No chance of that unless you want
to be A-Rayed, loads of the little
bastards all over the place. Some
of the horse owners run lucrative
sidelines with petting zoos, and
have people coming to and fro from
the port all the time. The several
who keep horses on agistment seem
to value privacy. As I say A-RAYS
everywhere, plus camera's and
electric fences.
ALEX
Shit, also I know from a magazine
article that A-Ray's ain't the
limit they have Sundews, man eating
mountain pitchers and a few other
genetic monstrosities. Although I
did see they sell Sundews at the
genetic market, I was tempted.
SHARROW
Well curb that enthusiasm!
ALEX
It was too big to fit through the
door.
SHARROW
ALEX...
ALEX
I know, I know. Sorry.
SHARROW
Okay. So right now we have two
leads: an invitation to see some
horses in the DIRKSON LANES, and
the resale of oxygen credits. If
you want to chase up the oxy-tabs,
I'll start asking questions at the
mini petting zoos.
ALEX
And ZED can continue researching
the missing people, once he has
stopped slobbering over SOPHIE and
his servers. You know SOPHIE's
emotional intelligence, is
definitely set at 11, I feel for
the poor boy.
SHARROW
Yep, she picked up on that cue,
straight away. No doubt she's a
sharp one. You know I really like
her, I think she is going to be a
big asset.
EXT: THE MARKETPLACE
(ALEX, BIANCHI, SHARROW)
BABBLE OF A
LARGE CROWD,
WITH THE VOICES
OF VARIOUS
SPRUKERS
OVERLAYING
EVERYTHING.
BIANCHI
Discount oxygen credits! Discount
oxygen credits!
ALEX
Hi. I was just wondering if we can
talk.
BIANCHI
You want some credits?
ALEX
I'm after information.
BIANCHI
I sell oxygen credits, not
information. Look out of the way,
you're queering my pitch.
ALEX
Look I will queer more than your
pitch if you don't start playing
nice. Do you want me to be bad cop
or nice cop? How you going to be
able to sell with a sprained arm?
I'm starting to lose patience, with
this evasive shit, I feel the bad
cop rising to the surface.
BIANCHI
You talk a big talk, sugar, but I
know you're not a cop. Your far too
young for a start. So bugger off.
ALEX
I'm not sugar to you, unless you
are talking Lead Acetate. You are
right, I'm worse than a cop, I'm
poisonous as all hell and ex CIS
and my mood is variable today, so
lets just be nice and have a chat.
BIANCHI
Jeez, alright why don't you. What
do you want to know?
ALEX
I saw you earlier today buying
oxygen credits off of people who
are leaving the asteroid.
BIANCHI
So, what about it, I have a license
for that, it's a perfectly
legitimate business.
ALEX
How many others have a license?
BIANCHI
How the hell do I know, I'm not the
licensing body.
SOUND OF A
SCUFFLE AND A
SLAP
ALEX
You little piece of shit, I'm going
to knock some sense into you,
peoples lives are at stake. That's
the bad cop by the way!
BIANCHI
OK, OK, ow, that hurt.
ALEX
Not as much as the next one.
BIANCHI
Five, ten, fifteen. I don't know. I
go to the docks, I say, sell me
your oxygen credits, and they do.
ALEX
Do you recognise any of these
people?
BIANCHI
No. Should I?
ALEX
Does this one in particular ring
any bells? His name's ANDREW
HELIGELIEN.
BIANCHI
I don't know who he is, never seen
him.
ALEX
He's missing. All of these people
are missing, over the space of
about three years. They each sold
their oxy-tabs but never got on
their ship to leave.
BIANCHI
Why are you showing me these
things? I don't know anything about
them. Why would I know?
ALEX
Well, let me speculate here, maybe
you bought oxy-tabs off of them,
duh.
BIANCHI
(Mocking sarcastic tone) I know
nothing, nada, nothing. I buy off
many people, thousands pass through
here, why would I remember a random
bunch of losers?
ALEX
Well, I thought that a snake like
yourself, might have little beady
eyes, and perhaps might, just might
have a nose for shady business.
BIANCHI
These people look like nobodies.
Like thousands of other nobodies.
Look you're just wasting my time.
ALEX
Well, you better not be wasting
mine otherwise, I'm going to come
back here and shake you down so
hard, you'll never buy or sell
another credit again. Like I said,
people are hurting. My job is to
spread some of that hurt around.
BIANCHI
I've a living to earn, now if you
don't get out of here I'm going to
yelp to the local coppers and then
well see who gets shaken down.
ALEX
See my eyes, these two little eyes,
I'll be watching you.
BIANCHI
Discount oxygen credits, discount
oxygen credits! Biggest discount in
NEW LONDON!
(BIANCHI fades out as ALEX
moves away)
ALEX
SHARROW, you there.
SHARROW
(Over the radio) Yep!
ALEX
Well, that was interesting, I did a
number two shake down, with just a
hint of messy. She's a snake
alright, but wether she knows
something about the missing people.
I can't tell. My sixth sense is not
flagging anything. Maybe she is
just very good at lying. Look I'm
going to shake down some of the
other resellers, and see what falls
out of the tree. I'll probably have
to retreat by then as the local
cops will start sniffing around.
EXT: PETTING ZOO
(ATTENDANT, SHARROW)
SHARROW
Oh my, this baby cow is so cute!
ATTENDANT
Calf. A baby cow is called a calf.
SHARROW
Can I pat it?
ATTENDANT
You'll need to sterilise your hands
first. And please don't put your
mouth too close to it.
SHARROW
Why?
ATTENDANT
It's health is a little delicate,
I'm afraid. It sometimes happens if
animals are grown in an artificial
womb.
SHARROW
How do I sterilise my hands? Oh I
see, pink goo. It smells a little
strong.
ATTENDANT
It'll fade quickly.
SHARROW
The calf's fur is coarse. Strange,
I thought it'd be soft like a cat
or dog. Still, it's the cutest
thing!
THE CALF MOOS
ATTENDANT
Time for its meal.
SHARROW
You feed it out of a bottle?
ATTENDANT
Yep, four times a day. Would you
like to hold the bottle?
SHARROW
Really? Thanks so much. Whoa, it's
strong!
ATTENDANT
Yep, it's a little beastie.
SHARROW
I was actually wondering though,
about your horses.
ATTENDANT
We have three ponies and a
thoroughbred. Ponies are small, but
a thoroughbred is a large horse.
SHARROW
I know that, but can anyone see
them?
ATTENDANT
So long as they pay the fee.
SHARROW
Hey could you take the bottle
again?
I need to show you something. Here,
have you seen this man?
ATTENDANT
Can't say he rings any bells.
SHARROW
His name is ANDREW HELIGELIEN, and
we think he's missing.
ATTENDANT
You think he's missing, but you're
not sure. Why the hell would I
know?
SHARROW
Well, we have good reason to think
he may have passed by here. No one
can find him, but we don't know if
something bad has happened to him,
or if he's just drunk in a ditch
somewhere.
ATTENDANT
Well, to be completely honest with
you, dozens of people come here
each day, and I've a very bad
memory for faces. He might well
have been here and I wouldn't know.
SHARROW
I see.
ATTENDANT
What specifically makes you think
he was here?
SHARROW
The last we know of him, he sent a
message to his sister that some guy
he'd met in a pub was going to show
him some horses. That's all we
know.
ATTENDANT
The other two zoos here won't be
very helpful. One of them had their
only horse die on them last year.
The other keeps more exotic stuff
like bongos, wallabies, and birds
that can fly. The property next
door has horses on it, they give
riding lessons. Come to think of
it, there's only two farms that
don't offer their horses in any
way. The first one is the farm that
belongs to MARS ONE ITG.
MARS ONE ITG owns nearly half of
NEW LONDON, or at least it seems
like it. Their horses are kept only
for themselves. The other is the
farm belonging to ADELLE SORENSON.
She has horses on agistment for
other rich people. Unless you own
one of those horses, she won't let
you on her property.
SHARROW
I take it she's not friendly?
ATTENDANT
That's the polite way of putting
it.
SHARROW
Do you know her well?
ATTENDANT
Not in the least. I know her two
labourers a little better, but
neither of them are really
approachable.
SHARROW
Can you think of anything that
stands out about them?
ATTENDANT
Other than being standoffish,
nothing really comes to mind.
SHARROW
Well, thank you for talking to me.
You've been very helpful.
ATTENDANT
My pleasure.
SHARROW
I'll be on my way, just let me pat
this cute little fella again!
THE CALF MOOS
SHARROW
Damn, you're adorable!
INT: THE OFFICE OF ANGEL AND MAY
(ALEX, SHARROW, SOPHIE, ZED)
ZED
Oh hey ALEX, you're back. SOPHIE
was showing me her programming
chops, she is quite the dab hand.
ALEX
Oh, I'll bet.
ZED
No really!
ALEX
Is that true SOPHIE?
SOPHIE
Of course, I was a gamer, needed to
gain me some skills, in all those
bits and bytes. I got a DC award in
Giant Slippery Python.
ALEX
Is that good?
ZED
SOPHIE, don't bother talking to
her, she knows nothing about
computers, only guns.
SOPHIE
I know about those guns actually.
Needed to sharpen my skills in
gaming, so I did time at a real
shooting range.
ALEX
Oh, really, wow, you got skills,
that will be very useful SOPHIE.
SOPHIE
I also make a good cup of coffee.
Try this!
ALEX
That smells divine, whats in it?
SOPHIE
You're never going to know, I would
have to kill you, it's top secret.
ALEX
Hmmm, (Pause)Is SHARROW in yet?
DOOR BELL
ALEX
Speak of the Devil!
SHARROW
You weren't talking about me, were
you?
ALEX
Who, us? Why, were your ears
burning?
SHARROW
Just a touch. How did your
investigation of the oxy-tab
sellers go?
ALEX
Not too bad. How about yourself?
SHARROW
I got to pat a baby cow.
ALEX
A baby cow? Sounds edible.
ZED
Well, SOPHIE and me have concocted
something you'll want to see.
ALEX
Really, not another cup of coffee?
ZED
I really wonder about you
sometimes!
ALEX
OK, Let's have it, then.
ZED
So you asked me to research the
backgrounds of the missing fourteen
people. All except one came from
the same kind of background. They
basically had no families or
friends, the only people who missed
them were their crew members. This
guy, he was orphaned, raised by the
state. This one here had been
married, but the divorce had been
brutal and there were no children.
This other one was an old man; he'd
just outlived his family. The only
person who had living family, out
of all of the missing, was the only
woman, PAIGE BIANCHI. She went
missing first, but none of her
family reported her as gone. This
is important, right? This is a
lead?
ALEX
It could be. Or it could mean that
the disappearance of PAIGE BIANCHI
isn't related to the disappearances
of the men. Still, all this is
extremely significant. We have a
pattern.
SHARROW
Except the disappearance of ANDREW
HELIGELIEN doesn't fit. He has
family, his sister. He even called
her from the bar he met the horse
man at.
ALEX
ZED, I need you to check something.
Pull up ANDREW'S oxy-tab record.
ZED
Okay.
ALEX
Has there been any activity on it?
ZED
Yes, it says that he sold his
remaining balance this morning.
This is great, that means he's
still alive, right?
ALEX
No, ZED, it means he's most likely
dead.
SHARROW
ALEX and I start asking questions,
and now someone is trying to make
it look like he left town. It's not
a good sign.
ALEX
Just in case though, check the crew
lists on all the outgoing ships.
See if any of them have picked up
any additional crew members.
COMPUTER
KEYBOARD
ZED
Done and done.
COMPUTER
KEYBOARD
SHARROW
We need to investigate PAIGE
BIANCHI. We need to know if she's
connected to the missing men in any
way.
ALEX
And we need to know about her
family, too. Why didn't they report
her missing?
SHARROW
ZED, and SOPHIE, when you're done
with the crew lists, focus on
BIANCHI. Okay?
ZED
Sure.
SHARROW
It's chilling, the way those men
disappeared without anyone
noticing. It makes me fear old age.
Will I disappear unnoticed too?
ALEX
Well, when I last checked, you were
not a man, although I have known a
few who could pass! Look SHARROW
don't be ridiculous, you getting
maudlin, we are not going to fade
away, we would always go with a
massive explosion.
SHARROW
How can we be certain? What happens
if all that's been done to us just
comes suddenly undone? Where would
it leave us?
ALEX
I tell you when we go it will be
with a big explosion for sure.
ZED
You guys are weird?
ALEX
We sure are ZED, look concentrate
on the data analysis, as you know
we are carrying some heavy vibes.
SHARROW, what's the matter, look
snap out of it, you're worrying me?
SHARROW
ALEX, I might just be hormonal,
don't really know.
I guess I've been so up and down
over the past few days and then
KRIS coming back. I'm bone deep
tired.
ALEX
Yeah I get that, but look we have a
case, it's what we do. Lets just
take a break. Maybe we should both
go back to the RETROGRADE and
crash. I know lets grab these two
and have a company meal in the bar
and get some GHOST tails.
SHARROW
Hmm, a GHOST tail, not such a bad
idea. I still have trouble
remembering what time it is without
the sun. Easy to miss sleep. I
could never get by on a few hours
sleep the way you do.
ALEX
Just battle training, nothing else.
SHARROW
Hey, I'll see if ALICE HELIGELIEN
is there, we need to update her as
to what's going on.
ALEX
Telling her everything at this
stage might not be such a great
idea. I have a bad feeling about
this.
SHARROW
I know. I'll just tell her we've
got some leads and leave it at
that.
ALEX
Well, just make sure you don't get
her hopes up too much. Look you go
on, order a pizza, and I'll lock up
and drag these two along in a
minute.
SHARROW
Will do.
THE DOOR BELL
JINGLES AS
SHARROW LEAVES
ZED
So mine's a pepperoni right
ALEX
Sure, look guys lock the servers
and lets get out of here, we have
all been at this too long we all
need a break. I need a beer, making
threats to dodgy Oxy-tab sale
snakes is definitely thirsty work.
END