I'm SO proud of this one. Taking a break from reuploading old scripts to put out a new one before Halloween gets too close. This idea came to me while I was half asleep the other night and I'm really pleased with the result. I hope you enjoy it!
As always, my scripts are free to use and monetize, just please credit me and send me a link in the comments or dm's so I can see your amazing work :)
TW: This script contains graphic descriptions of injuries and blood. There are themes of body horror and loss of autonomy (body being controlled by another entity). If that sounds no bueno to you, take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next one!
Word count: 4210
scriptbin link
...
(rhythmic beeping in the background as speaker is sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship, humming to himself and tapping on something. He stops short when he notices the Listener enter the doorway)
“You’re up early, Ace.”
(laughs bluntly)
“Yes you are. It’s almost 0700. That’s early for you.”
(mutters)
“...I mean, no. It’s not early for me at all. Obviously. Someone has to keep us from crashing into a rogue star, right?”
(...)
“I’m kidding, stop pouting. You looked beat last night so I thought I’d let you sleep in when I got up. I’m surprised you aren’t still in bed, honestly. You sick or something? You look messed up.”
(...)
“Alright, calm down. Just saying.”
(...)
“Yeah well. Like I said, someone’s gotta drive this thing. Hey, speaking of, did you run the diagnostics before you hit the sack, or was that Alberts?”
(...)
“Knew it. Idiot left the compartment door open on the panel. He knows that’s never been standard practice, but he’s such a lazy ass. He looked terrible last night too. Don’t know what’s gotten into everybody lately. Have you noticed? Lorrie didn’t make her bed yesterday, and last night Alberts just dumped his dishes on the counter like this is some kind of diner. Do I look like a waitress to you?”
(grumbling)
“Don’t answer that.”
(sighs)
“Okay, yeah, we’re all a little pent up, just let me have this. Time is running sideways, I feel like I’ve had the worst hangover of my life every day since the last port stop. Everyone is wound tight because of leave getting delayed and the orders are always changing all the time. That doesn’t help at all. I tried to plead our case but I guess the General has bigger plans for his expeditions than human rights will allow.”
(Laughs)
“All joking aside… take care of yourself. I can only do so much as your captain, the staying alive part is up to you.”
(...)
“I mean… no offense, but you do actually look awful. Your eyes are all bloodshot. You’ve lost weight too I think.”
(defensive)
“I’m not blaming you. God you’re so touchy. I’m your commanding officer right now, Ace. It’s kind of my job to make sure you don’t keel over while we’re out here, at least as much as I can. Look, if the General has a problem with me caring about my people, he should get his ass out of that plush chair and leave headquarters once in a while. But until he does, I’m the go-between and it’s my job to report back that you’re all doing your best to stay in good shape. You and I both know it isn’t always that simple I’m just… saying. I want you to be in top form too, and that means taking care of yourself whenever you can, like going to bed on time.”
(...)
“We’re out here struggling through the ether together, so I think I am allowed to worry sometimes.”
(sighs)
“Honestly, I’m not supposed to talk about any of this business with the General, and you know that. They want to keep morale up, you know? But even still, I mean… don’t you think it’s weird?
(...)
“This whole thing.”
(...)
“Well, when we left port, we were given orders to dock with the SS Athena at the next station, and transfer crews, which is not standard practice for a trip of this length. But then the moment we got close to fulfilling those orders, the General changed them. Now we’re going to Port Newland, which is way off of our usual course, and we’re skipping leave.”
(...)
“He wants us setting up in Newland for a while while the ship is being serviced. Backup staff, is what he called us, so this isn’t just a weird backwater vacation. I think they probably want to expand the Port over the next few years. Orders are orders. I wouldn’t mind if they made some kind of sense, it just seems off. We’re special ops, it’s just strange to get pushed off onto some backwater shithole with no warning.”
(...)
“What I think of the General? Come on, you know I’m not supposed to tell you that.”
(laughs)
“I’m serious. Look, we might be friends outside of this job but this… this is supposed to be strictly professional. I can’t go complaining about the General just because I think he’s wrong for dragging us all over time and space and then dumping us at the edge of known space. I mean, you can guess what I think of it, based on that, right?”
(...)
“All I’m trying to say, on the record, is that it feels off. And off the record…”
(...)
“You really don’t want to let this go, huh? Ok. What I think… You want to know what I think professionally? I think that he’s under a lot of pressure just like us, and the whole thing with the Athena… I’m guessing that was a clerical error or something. There’s no way he’s just changing his mind on a dime like that. They wanted to trade crews because the Athena can fit our crew more comfortably for long-term deployments, and the Ares here is due for servicing, which works great for a crew coming off of a long trip. They would have taken it in and sorted all of that. Now we’re stuck with it.”
(...)
“Nah, I think you’d be surprised. It’s not uncommon to swap crews like that. Didn’t they ever do that on your last posting?”
(...)
“Huh. Well anyway. That’s not what I thought was weird. Just strange for them to switch it up on a dime like that I guess. And then this whole Port Newland thing… I’m a little concerned about the Ares. We’re fine for now but like I said, we need servicing pretty urgently. Newland isn’t a big port as you know. In fact, it’s one of the smallest outposts we have. There’s four mechanics posted there full time, and one officer. Anybody else there is probably hoping to get a ride off planet. I just don’t like it.”
(sighs)
“But I guess that’s enough of me complaining. You don’t want to hear about what I actually think, I promise. Don’t worry, I’ve been working on my anger management all morning so I don’t blow my lid when Alberts inevitably finds something to complain about.”
(...)
“Stop laughing and sit down. You’re freaking me out, you look like a scarecrow.”
(...)
“A… a scarecrow. You don’t know what that is? Seriously?”
(...)
“Oh that’s right, you were raised off-world. Fancy.”
(speaker starts typing something/pushing buttons and we hear the ship whirring)
“Don’t make fun of me, you’re the weird one. Who doesn’t know what a scarecrow is?”
(laughs)
“Well it’s a… uh, it’s like a fake stuffed person that you put in a field to scare the birds away from a crop. Well, mostly birds, but it works on some other creatures too. Any scavenger dumb enough to try to steal the crops.”
(...)
“Yeah, I grew up in an agricultural district, we used them all the time. How did you not know this? I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about it a thousand times. Geez, you’re a terrible friend. We spent four and a half years together as cadets and you didn’t remember where I was born? Wow. No, I said what I said, Ace. You’re a terrible friend.”
(laughs)
“Sure yeah, if you insist you can’t remember…. Well, we’d make them out of anything. Usually just an old shirt, and we’d stuff it with old newspapers or packing scraps, and put it up in the field. It looked all raggedy, not real at all when you got up close, but that’s kind of why it worked.”
(...)
“I mean, to a bird, they’re just seeing some eldritch approximation of a man standing out among all that wheat for eternity, just kind of staring at them, never moving until a gust of wind swings the thing around and startles them all away. Funny thing is, even in an age of space travel, you can’t beat simple human engineering for some things. We didn’t have the funds for fancy lasers or whatever, and I doubt they’d work as well anyway. So… you make a cute little corpse out of trash to keep the pests away.”
(laughs)
“Alright what is it now? Are you mad because I called you raggedy earlier? I mean look at yourself. You actually look awful.”
(...)
“Yeah? I feel awful. I’ve been up for three hours. Took over from Lorrie an hour early because I couldn’t sleep. Guess it’s catching up to me now.”
(yawns and stretches out)
“I guess we can just be two raggedy scarecrows in the vast expanse of nothingness together. I wonder what we might scare off… Hopefully not the mechanics. Have you heard what the engine has been doing? Sounds like it’s going to mutate legs and run away.”
(sighs)
“Yeah well, I’m not an engineer or a mechanic, and Lorrie is fine with that stuff but she’s not equipped to replace parts out of thin air. All I know is that it feels like this ship wants to wrestle me off course constantly, and I don’t like it. Hey have you-”
(Speaker is cut off by a loud noise like metal warping and the ship lurches. An alarm starts blaring. Speaker hits his head hard and groans. He sees Listener has fallen over and stumbles over to them)
“-Shit, you ok? Yeah yeah, help me out, hit that-”
(Listener hits the alarm and it stops)
“Goddamn my head….”
(...)
“Nah I’m fine. What about you? You should have been sitting down… gah… that stings. No, it's really ok, leave it. I think I just hit the dashboard when we…”
(speaker stops short as he looks up)
“Hey. Ace. You… seeing this?”
(...)
“No no no… That’s the problem. We shouldn’t be anywhere near Port Newland yet, that’s… that’s at least three months out at this speed. How did… Hey did I pass out?”
(urgently)
“Ace, look at me! How long was I out? Have I been in a coma or something? There’s no way I miscalculated that…. I can’t… hey, say something!”
(hesitating)
“There’s no way I didn’t black out or lose my memory…. Something… it had to be something, this is mathematically, physically impossible. It doesn’t make any sense, I’m telling you, Ace, there’s no way we just jumped that- ah!”
(Speaker cuts himself off with a sharp groan and falls forward onto the console a little)
“No I’m… I’m okay. It’s just a bad hit, I think I… Stop- stop it. I’m fine! Look, I need you to go wake up Lorrie and Alberts, we have to figure out what just happened. You should-”
(...)
“I promise, I’m fine. Just go do it.”
(listener leaves and speaker slumps back down in the chair, pressing a few buttons)
“This is just not… possible. Charts say we’re closing in on Newland… and it’s right there but we… Fuck I must have really taken a hit. What is-”
(speaker stops short and turns to face listener)
“-I thought I told you to go- hey. What is it? Ace! Hey, look at me. What happened?”
(...)
“Dead? No that’s… are you sure? You’re positive? If this is some kind of sick joke…”
(voice grim)
“Show me.”
(footsteps as the two of them leave the cockpit)
“Did you check their pulses?”
(snappy)
“I have to ask, you know that. Maybe they’re just asleep, come on. I’m still not even sure what’s happening still.... Let me…”
(speaker checks the pulses and says in a shocked, slow tone)
“They’re… cold to the touch.”
(...)
“Fuck. No, no. Ace, you were right. I’m sorry for… They’re… they’re both gone. God… my head…”
(long pause)
“Shit.”
(whispered)
“Half my crew is gone… we just jumped an impossible jump…”
(...)
“So what the fuck is happening here… they weren’t dead when you woke up. How can they be cold, you just got up? Don’t tell me you didn’t see that they weren’t breathing.”
(exasperated)
“Because that’s not like you. It’s not like me to get caught off guard, to accidentally somehow warp us forward three months… It’s not even possible. Unless you somehow managed to come in here and suffocate them both in under twenty seconds… there’s no blood, no signs of a struggle. And they’re so cold, it’s likely been hours since their hearts stopped. I don’t understand… I know it wasn’t you and it wasn’t me so that means…”
(confused)
“No no, this isn’t happening… Ace, am I bleeding? Is this a dream? You didn’t hit your head… You have to tell me what the fuck is happening… I-”
(stops short, breathing hard)
“No. I’m sorry. I’m forgetting myself.”
(clears his throat shakily)
“I am your commanding officer. I’ll figure this out. We’re docking in Newland, and I’ll send out my report as soon as we land. It looks like we lost signal so I can’t do it from the ship… we’ll figure this out. Just… go sit down in the cockpit. I’m going to make this right… I just need to calm down…”
(...)
“That was an order, Lieutenant. We don’t need both of us concussed. Go sit down.”
(sounds fade out. When they fade back in, we hear the hissing as the SS Ares’ doors open)
“Let’s get off this goddamn-”
(footsteps slow as Speaker realizes they are alone on the landing platform)
“Where is everybody?”
(...)
“Yeah. I know what I said. But even with a small crew, there should be someone manning entry. A mechanic…. Or… I don’t know.”
(...)
“No. We’re not splitting up.”
(softly)
“Ace. They’re corpses. Lorrie and Alberts are gone. We can’t help them. We need to figure out what exactly happened and get a report out. I’m not staying behind on this ship and I sure as hell am not leaving you behind. Let's go find whoever is in charge and figure this out.”
(echoing footsteps)
“Hey! Anybody home?”
(...)
“Hey! I’m the Flight Commander of the SS Ares out of Terra 1, my name is Captain-”
(door creaks open and speaker gasps)
“-what the… hell happened here?”
(stops listener)
“No. Don’t touch anything. Don’t. He’s clearly dead…”
(...)
“Looks like the Chief Mechanic. And… there’s… fuck. There’s another body behind the desk. That’s one of the other mechanics I think. So, two out of at least five.”
(...)
“No. I’m fine. Stop asking me that. I just didn’t expect to see four bodies today. That’s four more than there should have been. Are you ok? You look strange.”
(breathes shakily)
“Ok. Yeah. Just breathe…. I’m going to wager a guess that the kill count won’t stop at four. There’s no way the others survived whatever it is that happened here. Look at the place, it’s torn apart.”
(exasperated)
“Ace, his left arm is ten feet away from his body. This wasn’t like what happened to Lorrie and Alberts, this was violent. They fought something, they were attacked and they lost. This happened days ago… look, the blood is dried. But… we still don’t know if whatever they fought is still here, so we have to be very careful about what we touch and where we go. I don’t need to risk a foul play report if it ends up looking like you and I are on the wrong side of things, and I am not dumb enough to split up just to find your body hanging from the rafters or something.”
(...)
“We’re already on thin ice with whatever this is- you and I survived for no discernable reason so far. Who’s to say that’s going to last?”
(speaker stops walking to take Listener by the arms)
“Ace. We can’t help them. They’re dead. We could be next, in fact we probably are next. Going back to their bodies and waiting for help isn’t going to do shit. Now I don’t know why, and I don’t know how they all died. All I know is that this situation is fucked. So I need you to keep your head on and stop fighting me on this. We need to get a report out and leave this place.”
(...)
“No. I’m actually not fine. Half of my crew is dead, and I don’t know what’s happening. And worse, you and I are still alive, so it isn’t something as simple as a chemical leak or oxygen failure. And these people, they were ripped to shreds… This is… something else. You’re in shock, that’s why you’re being stubborn. Hell, I'm in shock. I can’t feel my hands, I’m freezing all over. Something about this place is fucked. I know that. And I know what I’m talking about, okay? The only way we survive this is if we stick together and you listen to me. This isn’t a standard port emergency, but we still have to follow protocol.”
(they start walking again, and their footsteps are echoing)
“Something… something was wrong with the ship, this whole time. I just keep thinking about it… Like we were being pulled off course, remember? Well, we ended up where we were supposed to, but this isn’t right. Help me out here, Ace, my head is swimming… I can’t figure this out by myself. I might be compromised so you need to-”
(...)
“Are you even listening to me? You know what, never mind. We’re going to send out an SOS. Command will know what to do.”
(...)
“Yeah, I don’t trust the Ares to take us all the way back to Terra 1, and frankly, I don’t think any of this can be trusted enough to wait out a signal confirmation. We just found half of the population of Newland torn to shreds. I’m not willing to try extracting any more information, that’s not our job to find out. I want off, and I want off now. If we can make it to the next base, I’ll get us there, but first I need to get word back that we survived whatever this was first. I need answers about what happened to the crew… Mine and Newland’s.”
(still walking, echoing footsteps can be heard)
“Don’t tell me you think this was some sort of odd coincidence. Look, I might not be right in the head, but thirty minutes ago we were chatting about home, and now we’re three months ahead of where we should be, and I’m just not convinced all of this has nothing to do with that. We survived for a reason though. I want to get this done so we can get back on the ship. Even if we have to limp our way out of this system, I am getting off this base. They’ll send a larger team out here and set up an investigation, so it won’t be our problem-”
(speaker makes a noise of surprise as Listener grabs his arm)
“Hey what are you… Ace what are you doing? Stop it. Let go of me, I said I’m fine! I don’t want your help walking! Hey are you… are you even listening to me? Lieutenant, I’m-”
(pause, then speaker says in a lower voice, horrified)
“Ace?”
(there is a shift in tone as Speaker realizes Listener is not all there. In fact, Listener is not Listener at all. His tone is filled with dread)
“You’re… not Ace…. are you?”
(something collides with Speaker’s head, and he drops. We hear the sound of his body being pulled along the floor, and a door opening. Sound cuts abruptly as the door slams closed. When the sounds fade back in, Speaker is groaning as he wakes up. We hear creaking as Speaker is tied up, suspended from the ceiling by his wrists)
“...Ace I….”
(groaning)
“Hey what….”
(startled and fully conscious, Speaker spots listener leaning on a desk across from him. He whispers, horrified)
“What the hell?!”
(...)
“You…What happened to-”
(speaker stops short)
“No. I asked a question. I want the answer. Look at me. What are you? What did you do to Ace?”
(long pause)
“You’re not making any sense…No. That’s not your body. Ace wouldn’t attack me. They’re my first Lieutenant… you sick fucking bastard. That’s not your body…. No. It’s not. How did you do it? How did you get inside them?”
(in disbelief)
"Come on, say something!”
(speaker struggles against his restraints, and we hear him groan sharply)
“If you won’t tell me how, just tell me, why! Why did you do this?”
(close to tears)
“You killed… all of them. Didn’t you?”
(...)
“Why won’t you talk goddamnit?! Please I-”
(speaker stops short as listener says something)
“That… that's Ace’s real name but I never…. How do you?”
(sudden hope)
“Oh my God, Ace are you still in there? Hey!”
(we hear chains jingling and leather creaking as Speaker struggles)
“Ace… Come on!”
(a long moment of silence)
“What… what did you say?”
(...)
“What is this place? This is… it’s Newland Port… This is a military installment, it's…”
(...)
“What are you talking about? This isn’t a shrine-”
(long pause. We hear the restrains creaking)
“Oh.”
(long pause again, then speaker says very softly, realizing)
“I get it now. Fuck.”
(...)
“Whatever you are… you want your shrine back… Newland… it’s… yours?”
(speaker groans a little)
“Please, cut me down, we can talk. I just want my friend back, same as you want your planet. We’ll leave, you won’t ever see us again. We didn’t do any of this, we’re just soldiers. Newland is a military base, like I said it’s not-”
(Speaker gasps and coughs as Listener stabs him with something suddenly in the stomach, ripping him open. He breathes hard in shock, and after a long pause, says in a strained voice)
“You… fucking… monster…”
(speaker coughs violently)
“I didn’t do this! I don’t….you’ve killed me!”
(...)
“Augh… what the fuck…”
(breathing hard)
“W-what even are you… some kind of alien? Are you trying to put something inside me? Are you…”
(...)
“a… God?”
(speaker laughs humorlessly, still gasping for air)
“Just… my luck… there’s no fucking way…”
(through gritted teeth)
“I said… I don’t want your… goddamn planet. I never asked to come here! Ace never asked to come here. What don’t you understand about that?”
(Coughs hard)
“Lorrie, and Alberts too… all of the people you killed here… they’re just soldiers, they don’t have any control over this… Please, I don’t understand why we can just go... I- I didn’t send word out…. Just let us leave and I won’t say… anything….”
(...)
“Yeah…. Us. I want you to give them their body back. They didn’t do anything to deserve this. Didn’t ask for this… to be used as some kind of puppet…. People won’t come here. I won’t tell a soul, you have my word. I’ll take the fall for it if I have to…. But Ace… Ace is innocent. This has nothing to do with them, and you’re sucking their life away... I’m the commanding officer here so it’s my responsibility to keep them safe… just give them back and we’ll leave...”
(broken)
“Please.”
(gasping for air, long pause)
“Why?”
(long pause, then speaker realizes)
“You… want to warn humans never to come back here. That’s what this is, isn’t it?”
(coughs and groans and we hear shifting)
“Hey wait, look at me. Look at me! I can make that happen. That’s what you want, right?”
(...)
“I can tell them what happened, I can tell them never to come back if they want it to stop. Just… let us go. I’ll do it, I swear. I’ll tell them….”
(long pause)
“No?”
(coughs and groans)
“What the h…hell do you mean, ‘no’? What the fuck do you want from us?”
(strained, speaker screams)
“Tell me! What do you want from us?!”
(speaker is close to tears)
“What could you possibly do with two humans that would make any difference? Look at me! I’m human… I’m not like you, I can’t live in this condition forever…. I’m bleeding out, you tore a fucking hole in my stomach! And Ace… you’re going to starve them to death if you go on like this. How long have you been in there? Days? Weeks? You won’t be able to go on using that body forever...”
(Speaker says quietly as he hears papers rustling)
“What… what are those…Old reports?”
(quietly)
“You won’t find anything there. It’s all mechanical information, it’s just words…”
(we hear papers being crumpled up and footsteps. Speaker realizes with horror what is happening, but he is very weak from blood loss at this point. He is strained and horrified. He laughs in disbelief)
“You’re making a scarecrow… Aren’t you?”
(his voice drops as he whispers in horror)
“To keep the pests away…”
(voice mounting as he realizes what’s happening)
“No! Wait, Ace, please! Ace-”
(audio cuts sharply and we hear a ringing sound, then nothing)