THE HARBINGERS
EPISODE 10: Boston
Transcript
TEASER
(The sounds of Adam’s office at Sinclair University.)
NARRATOR: Sinclair University. January third, 2029.
(Adam is going through some papers. There’s a knock on the door.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Come in.
(The door opens. Rekha Kothari enters, carrying a box.)
REKHA KOTHARI: Hey, Dr. Blackwell. They just sent up another box. You want it with the other ones?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Over there, thank you.
(Some footsteps. Rekha puts the box down.)
REKHA KOTHARI: You’ve been putting a lot of hours into this. Are you... looking for anything in particular?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Just... something I missed. Maybe.
REKHA KOTHARI: Okay. Well... I’m right outside if you need anything, all right?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah. Thank you, Rekha.
(Rekha departs, shutting the door behind her.)
(Adam goes back to pouring through papers for a moment. He flips a piece of paper around, looking at it.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... oh. Here we go...
(He unfolds a piece of paper.)
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Dear Dr. Blackwell. I’ve been told in no uncertain terms, that you are not interested in meeting me - that the sort of press and attention that would come from that would be both an inconvenience to you and a a hindrance to your work. It’s also been impressed upon me that any hint of a recompense or a reward would be seen as the deadliest of insults. As someone with a bit of experience with life in the public eye, I can only understand these positions all too well, and wouldn’t so much as dream of disrespecting them. However, given that every day that I have ahead of me and every good moment that I will experience from here on out is thanks to you, I would lie awake at night if I didn’t find some way to try to express the gratitude I feel towards you. As such, I hope that receiving a humble letter from an avid fan will only be mildly in opposition to your wishes, and that you’ll receive it in the spirit of deep gratitude and profound admiration in which it is intended. I do not know in what way an actor could ever be of help to a man who is changing the world, but if the day ever comes? Just say the word and I will do everything in my power to be of assistance. Because I mean it: I believe you are changing the world. You’ve changed my world, infinitely for the better, and I hope that wherever life takes us you can always hold onto that. And that I’ll be just the first of many. Gratefully and admiringly yours, Kris Middendorf. May second, 2028.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Fuck... Rekha!
(The door opens as Rekha re-enters the room.)
REKHA KOTHARI: Yeah? Do you want me to try to get another box tonight?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, that’s all right. I think I’m done for the night, actually.
REKHA KOTHARI: You sure?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, you can head out. Thank you. Actually... if you have ten minutes, could you help me out with one more thing? I... I need to book a flight to Boston.
(The scene ends as the music shifts into the show’s opening theme. Over it, we hear:)
ANNOUNCER: Audacious Machine Creative Presents: The Harbingers. Created by Gabriel Urbina. Episode 10: "Boston.”
(The music resolves and fades away.)
ACT ONE
(The sounds of Claudia Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: So... between 2026 and 2028 you rarely, if ever, set foot outside your precious university. Then... we get to 2029. And you start working with Jerome Eckerberg. What brought on the sudden change?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Well... a lot of things had evolved since I got magic. I’d gotten better at it, gotten a better handle on how it works. Amy had made it palatable, something people could wrap their heads around. And... not to put too fine a point on it, but it wasn’t just the two of us anymore. The Doomscroller had turned the governments of half the Western World upside down. Christmas Eve mass in Buenos Aires was attended by eight million people. The containment seal was very much broken. So, I thought... if people are using magic, I might as well try to put it to good use.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Really? Because I heard you did it because your ex-girlfriend started going out with a movie star and you suddenly felt like you had something to prove.
(A pause.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay, that is - that had absolutely nothing to do with - I didn’t do it because of that. What you need to understand is that my relationship with Amy is complicated, all right? We’re - we’re peers and colleagues and the only people that really understand what the other has gone through, so we take each other seriously, even if we don’t always agree. And she had been telling me - telling me for years - that I should be doing more with my magic, and I finally started listening to her, is that a crime?! But any feelings that I might have had towards her were - you know what? I’m really tired of you calling her my “ex-girlfriend.” We went on one date, five years ago, and that is it. So my relationship with Amy had nothing to do with me agreeing to work with Eckerberg, understood?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: So, for the record? When you’re in front of congress and Hunter Kane from the State of Ohio asks you that - because Hunter Kane from the State of Ohio is going to ask you that, and he is going to call Ms. Stirling your ex - I would advise you leave it at, “My relationship with Ms. Stirling didn’t enter into that decision, sir.”
(Adam takes a deep breath.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Curveball?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Curveball.
ADAM BLACKWELL: And that’s why you’ve been calling Amy - ?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: No, I’ve been calling her your ex-girlfriend because in the eyes of the world she is your ex, Dr. Blackwell. The nuance of, “We went out once” is not going to sink in any time soon.
(A pause. Then a pen scratches a mark on a piece of paper.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Eight to three. Just in case you were wondering.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: We are going to have to talk about it sooner or later, you know? The fact that Amy started going out with the man whose life you saved.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, that’s gonna be a laugh and a half... If we can talk about it later, let’s talk about it later.
(Skinner flips a piece of paper around.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Okay. January 2029. You tour the Athena facilities. How did that go?
(The scene fades to a room in a high-tech laboratory.)
NARRATOR: Athena Energy Labs, Boston. January Eighth, 2029.
(There’s a beep, followed by a futuristic door sliding open. Adam and Jerome Eckerberg enter the room.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Please, Dr. Blackwell, after you. Can I get you anything? A coffee, a tea? Something stronger?
ADAM BLACKWELL: I’m all right, Mr. Eckerberg.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Are you sure? We have a sixty year old Balvenie somewhere around here.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Maybe later.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Very well. I gotta tell you, doctor, I’m just besides myself to finally have you here.
ADAM BLACKWELL: And I’m... not entirely sure what it is I’m supposed to be doing here. What does... trying to find this door of yours even look like?
JEROME ECKERBERG: We... won’t be doing that. Not today.
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... we won’t?
JEROME ECKERBERG: It’s on the docket, Dr. Blackwell, but first... I want to show you a different project of ours. One you might be able to help us with. It’s the main reason why I wanted you to come out here. After you’ve seen this... I think you’ll understand.
ADAM BLACKWELL: And you didn’t mention this because...? Fine. Fine. Why don’t you... start with where “here” is, exactly?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Athena Energy’s new flagship facility. I’ve spent years - and a couple billion dollars - building this place. Officially, it’s the Garamond Building. Unofficially, most of my employees call it The Observatory.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Why?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Because of what we’re trying to harness here: star power.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You know, I read a little about places like this, and I gotta say: your “Observatory” doesn’t make a lot of sense. Energy laboratories, R&D facilities, they’re supposed to be out in the middle of nowhere, where you can run big experiments. Or if you’re working with solar, where you can get intense sunlight for sixteen hours a day. So I’m just kinda wondering...
JEROME ECKERBERG: ... why set up shop in a city that is infamous for its grey, gloomy weather? Boston has things that are essential for my work. Even more essential than sunlight.
ADAM BLACKWELL: What kinds of things?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Things like M.I.T. And Harvard. And Northeastern and Boston College and the Pryce Robotics Institute. The best and brightest come to study here, all ready to take on the world and think outside the box.
ADAM BLACKWELL: And all that makes up for the shitty weather?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Adam... what I’m about to show you? Less than two hundred people have seen it. Less than a two thousand know about it. When this is done? It’s going to change the world. Forever. Here, step this way...
(Some footsteps.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Adam... this is the observatory.
(Eckerberg presses a button. A panel rises, revealing a window that leads deeper into the facility. Through the wall, we can hear various high-tech sounds.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Oh my... what - what is this place? What are you doing here?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Well... to answer your earlier question... we can harness star power here despite the weather... because we’re building one.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You’re building one... what?
JEROME ECKERBERG: A star, Dr. Blackwell. We’re building a star. Maybe now’s a good time for that whiskey?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, I think that’s a good idea...
(The scene fades back to Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: So, did it never occur to you -
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, wait, wait -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: - to ask if having a facility like this one -
ADAM BLACKWELL: That’s not fair, I -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: - in a major center of commerce and culture and industry and education -
ADAM BLACKWELL: You can’t -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: - not to mention the home of thousands of people -
ADAM BLACKWELL: I don’t -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: - was a good, prudent, safe idea?
(A pause.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Can I speak now? Yeah. I asked. I asked because I remembered Chernobyl, and Fukushima and Three Mile Island and - I asked, okay? Of course I asked, the man said he was building a star in a basement in Boston!
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And?
ADAM BLACKWELL: And... if I remembered those things? Eckerberg had studied them. He’d dissected them, looked at them from every angle. And so there were... precautions and failsafes and redundancies and protocols to - (takes a deep breath) He got it. They were doing everything right. They had a plan for even the most... remote possibilities of what could possibly go wrong.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Not quite every possibility.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, well... no matter how well prepared you are, every now and then a curveball catches you off-guard.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: You’re saying “they.” Who’s they?
ADAM BLACKWELL: His team. The people designing his star. His... how did he put it?
(Skinner flips a page over, looking over it.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: The “blisteringly smart people he had working for him.”
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, that. And I was about to meet the most blistering of them of all.
(The scene fades back to the Observatory. We are now in the same room as a giant power generator.)
NARRATOR: The Observatory. Main Generator Room. Half an hour later.
(Footsteps as Adam and Eckerberg walk through the space.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: All the major components are up there. The reactor, the vacuum vessel... magnets for the plasma, of course.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Of... course.
(From somewhere around them, there’s the sound of a woman laughing.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Oh, let’s stop here for a moment, there’s someone you - Mel! Mel!
(There’s a bit of movement as Doctor Melissa Erickson walks up to them.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Dr. Melissa Erickson, allow me to introduce -
MELISSA ERICKSON: Oh, fuck, you’re - The Most Powerful Man in the World. It’s nice to meet you, man.
(She shakes Adam’s hand.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Umm, it’s a pleasure.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Mr. E, you didn’t say your magician was such a fox.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Uhh, I, that’s -
MELISSA ERICKSON: You bring a handsome man to my lab on a day when I don’t have my cute lab coat on? Tsk, tsk, Mr. E.
JEROME ECKERBERG: My apologies. It won’t happen again.
MELISSA ERICKSON: See that it doesn’t. Sorry about the messy get-up, I was just making some adjustments up in the vac.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Umm, no, that’s all - it’s your lab. I... I like your mask.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Yeah? I designed this model myself. Not your grandma’s welding mask. We’ve straightened up that transfer inefficiency, by the way. Ves should feel better.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Good.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Ves?
JEROME ECKERBERG: The largest fusion power generator in the world. The crown jewel of the Observatory. Project Vesper.
MELISSA ERICKSON: My baby. She’s got my eyes, I know. Everyone say so.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Dr. Erickson’s official title is project lead on Vesper.
MELISSA ERICKSON: That’s just because someone was too much of a stick in the mud to let me put “star forger” on my office door.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay, wait, but... what, exactly are you doing here?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Dr. Blackwell... how much do you know about energy fusion?
ADAM BLACKWELL: I could... use a refresher, I suppose.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Right. Well: fusion is the energy source that we get in the sun. You take a helium-three atom, combine it with the active elements of a tritium isotope, apply...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Okay, wait, wait, wait -
(There’s a record scratch, and we are back in Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Dr. Blackwell... do you have an advanced degree? What’s it in?
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... anthropology. A master’s. And a doctorate in archeology.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And which one of those qualifies you to explain the intricacies of experimental physics projects?
ADAM BLACKWELL: All right, hold on -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Oh, neither? Because it sure seemed like you were about to -
ADAM BLACKWELL: She was an expert! She was the expert and she was the one who - Okay, if I get asked about this, what am I supposed to say?
(There’s a fast whipping sound, and we are back in the Observatory.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: I’m gonna do some super science-y mumbo jumbo that is going to just physics the shit out of the whole fucking world.
JEROME ECKERBERG: The science shit that we’re gonna do here is gonna get real... physics-y.
(Erickson and Eckerberg turn towards each other and share a high-five.)
(There’s another fast whipping sound and we are back in Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Adam, the last thing you want is to be seen as putting on airs of being an expert in matters you don’t know anything about. Especially given -
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yes, yes, I know, I know. Look, Mel... Dr. Erickson had to explain it to me a couple of times. Dumb it down a bit. If we acknowledge that I am so not the person to be explaining this... how about I take us through the layman’s explanation she gave me?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... I’ll allow it. What’d she say?
(Another whip, and we are back at the Observatory.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: All right, let’s try it this way... Here, hold onto this glass of water for me.
(A bit of a rustle as Adam takes the glass of water from her.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay...
MELISSA ERICKSON: So - atoms release energy when they fuse to other atoms. Not... all atoms and not in all circumstances, but for now: atoms join with other atoms, you get energy. Yeah? Stars make atoms fuse together. They do this by being, I cannot emphasize this enough, fucking huge. They’re so big that everything at their core has an enormous amount of pressure being applied to it. We can’t do that.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Because...?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Because doing that would require building something with more mass in it than the entire Earth.
ADAM BLACKWELL: We cannot do that.
MELISSA ERICKSON: So if you can’t apply stellar pressure, you find an alternative. Best candidate so far was adding enough energy to agitate the atoms to the point that they’ll stick together.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You need to spend energy to make energy?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Snappily put, Dr. Blackwell.
MELISSA ERICKSON: There’s a point at which it’s self-sustaining. Where it’s outputting more energy than it’s taking in. We call that point ignition.
ADAM BLACKWELL: And you can’t do that?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Theoretically we can. But getting our technological ducks in a row to figure out how to do it is probably gonna take another decade or three.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Except you said that was the best alternative so far. Past tense.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Magic, looks, and brains. You found me a man for all seasons, Mr. E. Yeah. You’re the better idea.
ADAM BLACKWELL: How am I the better idea?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Think of it this way. You’re trying to put a lot of pressure on something. Say... a quarter. You pick it up, and you close your fist around it, hard as you can, and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. That works fine. But what if you could close your fist first, so tight you leave no space at all... and then put something in there? That’s pressure of a whole different kind.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You... you want me to teleport something into Vesper?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Just a tiny, little itty bit of... well, plasma. That’s all.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You want me to teleport plasma into your homemade star?
MELISSA ERICKSON: No. I want you to teleport plasma into my big scary generator so we can get to ignition. To... make Vesper into a homemade star.
ADAM BLACKWELL: I... I don’t know. Look, this stuff can be unpredictable, especially if I’m not teleporting things into open spaces. And if I don’t word things very carefully, and it’s anything other than inorganic solids, a lot of the things that I teleport have a tendency to -
MELISSA ERICKSON: - kind of just explode? As if there had been a reaction? Like a lot of energy had been released, all at once? Maybe because things had gotten... pressed together? You’re not the only one with brains around here, Dr. Blackwell. We’d go slow. You’re gonna tell me everything you know about how your powers work. I’m gonna tell you everything about how Vesper works. And when I’m happy, and you’re happy, and a bunch of other very smart, very paranoid people are happy... we’ll try it. Okay?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah... okay...
MELISSA ERICKSON: Good. All right, hang out here for juuust a second. Let me get some plans that’ll help to illustrate some of the more... esoteric parts of this. I’ll be right back!
(Some footsteps as Melissa Erickson departs. As she goes:)
JEROME ECKERBERG: To answer your question: yes. She’s always like that.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Heh, okay... sure... Uuh, wait: what did any of that have to do with this glass of water she gave me?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Because once we get to the point of ignition? The hydrogen atoms in that glass of water is all the fuel we’ll need to power the city of Boston for three months.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Jesus.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Dr. Erickson’s the one that first theorized that you’re getting the energy for your magic from somewhere else. Once Vesper is up and running? She’s very excited to to find that door. To figure out what walking through it might look like. This is just the beginning, Adam. Just the beginning.
(The scene fades back to Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And did you know?
ADAM BLACKWELL: What? That I’d just signed the death warrant for six-hundred and forty-five thousand people? No, I did not know.
(The scene fades away.)
ANNOUNCER: The Harbingers will be back after these messages.
ACT TWO
ANNOUNCER: And now... back to The Harbingers.
(We return to Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And so you became a part of Project Vesper. How’d it treat you?
ADAM BLACKWELL: It was... an adjustment. The first few weeks were all data-gathering experiments with Dr. Erickson. Teleport this there. Teleport it back. Teleport it with this sensor attached to it. Teleport it with this sensor attached to you. Teleport it to this box, teleport it with a fox.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: You were there the whole time?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, no. When the term started at Sinclair, I went back. Kept teaching. I’d go back to Boston, on the weekends, on days when I could get away. Mr. Eckerberg was very generous with the use of his private airplane. And then... things just kind of stopped for a while. Dr. Erickson had been so excited, it had felt like we were close to... something. But they just stopped calling for a few weeks. Until one day out of the blue, my phone rang. They were ready. Ready for a big test. They wanted me back in Boston as soon as possible.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And did it occur to you - ?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, of course it didn’t -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Let me finish, did it - ?
ADAM BLACKWELL: It would have been insane for me -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: I am just saying, at any point - ?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, it fucking didn’t! I’m sorry. I’m sorry, finish the question.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... did it ever occur to you... that there might have been something else happening? For example: a new president taking office. One that Mr. Eckerberg had ties to. One that might have removed some roadblocks that were preventing this test from happening in the middle of a very important, very populated urban center?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No. It really, really should have. But... it didn’t. I didn’t know how connected he was to the campaign, I didn’t know how much he’d invested into her presidency, or how President Shepherd had gotten involved in the work Athena was doing. Maybe I could have if I’d been paying more attention or been cleverer or... but it didn’t.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Okay. Walk me through the day of the test, please.
ADAM BLACKWELL: I flew out the night before. Got put up at some fancy hotel downtown. Eckerberg shouldn’t have even bothered, I barely slept at all that night. Then... eight AM the next morning, I made my way to the Observatory. Eckerberg said that it was a completely private test, absolutely closed to everyone. So naturally, when I got there, there were fifty people I’d never seen in the control room. Investors, professors, scientists, a few people from the White House... that was the first time I realized how big this was.
(The scene fades to the Observatory.)
NARRATOR: The Observatory. Vesper Reactor Core. March thirteenth, 2029.
(A door opens with a beep. Adam is now in a platform above the core of Vesper’s machinery.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay... this is new.
(Through an overhead speaker, we hear Melissa Erickson’s voice.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: Adam? Can you hear me?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, Mel, I can hear you.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Good. Hey, remember, this thing is gonna make a lot of big noises, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be, yeah? So keep breathing, okay? Oxygen’s good for you.
ADAM BLACKWELL: I’ll do my best.
MELISSA ERICKSON: That’s all I can ask for. Now... right by where you are, there should be a small metal container. You see it?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, I got it.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Great. That’s the package. When I tell you to, you deliver what’s inside there right to Vesper’s core, all right?
ADAM BLACKWELL: You got it.
MELISSA ERICKSON: You need any more calibrations, any more practice runs? You want to fine tune the wording on the spell?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No. I got it.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Hell yeah, you got it. All right, Adam, we’re gonna start pressurizing the core. Stand by.
(The machine rumbles to life. Various parts of it start to power up and begin moving. This continues throughout the following:)
MELISSA ERICKSON: This is all normal, okay? This is all expected noises.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, I remember.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Good, good. By the way, is that a new cologne? It’s nice.
ADAM BLACKWELL: What are you doing, Mel?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Oh, you know, flirting to distract you from the big scary noises the nuclear device is making.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Aren’t there, like, a sixty people watching and listening right now?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Don’t tell me you’re gonna go shy on me, you were doing so well...
(The machinery lets out a ka-klunk sound and a hiss of steam. Something seems to have settled in the mechanical process.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Mel?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Just a second.... Okay. Pressurization is set. That’s your cue, magic man. Just like we rehearsed, okay?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, just like we rehearsed. Oreldo Gherio Parev Trentello Arrelvo Veriai Brilgo Dran Uria Gherio Baranta Salandro Cara.
(A soft woosh as an object disappears.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Mel? Did it work? Mel? Are you reading me? Did the -
(There’s a sudden sparking sound. The machine suddenly comes to powerful, vivid life, spinning and churning at a much stronger, more forceful rate than it was before.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Oh my holy god...
MELISSA ERICKSON: Got you, you son of a bitch... Adam come on up and join us in the control room. You did great.
ADAM BLACKWELL: S-sure...
(The scene fades to the Athena Laboratories control room. A door opens and Adam enters. Various people present burst into applause.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Oh, uh, no, that’s - that’s really all right, it’s -
(Some footsteps as Eckerberg approaches him.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Doctor Blackwell.
(They shake hands.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: You’ve just changed the world, my friend.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Oh, no, that’s -
MELISSA ERICKSON: No, listen to him. You just changed the world.
ADAM BLACKWELL: It worked, then? It’s what you needed?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Juuust a moment...
(A computer console around her beeps slightly as she looks over some readouts.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: Oh, you sexy, sexy thing. Output’s clean. Steady transfer. All around... exceeds expectations. We did it.
ADAM BLACKWELL: You did it. Congratulations, Mel.
MELISSA ERICKSON: You should be getting a big hug right now, but I’m air traffic controlling this whole thing. Mr. E, could you hug Adam for me?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Maybe later. But for now... you should both be besides yourself with pride. This is proof it’s viable. With your magic, Dr. Blackwell, we can get to fusion.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Well, it could be more than that...
ADAM BLACKWELL: Mel? What do you mean?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Zhou, proof me. Are these numbers right? Do these actually line up?
TECH: I mean... oh. Oh. You don’t want to actually...?
MELISSA ERICKSON: We could, couldn’t we?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Dr. Erickson...?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Well... it’s a better transfer than we were expecting. By a factor of... fifteen at least. We could just... let it run.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Wait, what?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Just, you know... see how far it gets. See if we can actually get to full ignition.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Is that - is that safe?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Oh, absolutely. We can pull the plug anytime. I mean, boss... this is already a huge success, but... a successful ignition test? In front of this crowd? Come on...
(A pause… and then…)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Ladies and gentlemen... when I asked you to come here today, I told you it was to see something remarkable. The coming together of magic and science to prove that today’s dream can be tomorrow’s reality. But the truth is... I’d always hoped that we’d be able to show you a little bit more than that. So if you could all please wait just a moment... and hold your breaths... with a bit of luck, you’re about to see irrefutable proof that in just a few short years? Athena will be able to bring clean, efficient energy to the whole world.
(He turns away from the crowd of VIPs and back towards Erickson.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Dr. Erickson... let it run.
MELISSA ERICKSON: All right boys and girls... this is now officially a full fusion energy ignition test. Get me readings please.
(Erickson and the techs get to work on various consoles. Through the wall, we hear the machinery of Vesper’s fusion core growing louder and more powerful.)
(After a moment, there’s the sound of a loud power surge.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Oh my god...
MELISSA ERICKSON: Zhou? Talk to me...
TECH: Just... just a second...
(The machinery keeps spinning. It occasionally lets out a sparking electrical sound.)
TECH: Okay... output is reading in at... Seven point nine megajoules per.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Is that - is that good?
JEROME ECKERBERG: That’s... that’s enough to power half the city.
MELISSA ERICKSON: See boss? Told you it would work. All it needed was a little magic.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Yes, yes! I told you, Dr. Blackwell: this is a before and -
(An alarm goes off from one of the consoles.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: Rosales?
TECH 2: Structural warning, boss. We’re getting a... little bit of instability.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Instability?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Diagnostics, please. What’s causing it? What’s the - ?
(Metal structures around them start to grown. The machinery gets even louder, more ominous.)
TECH: Umm, Dr. Erickson? Energy output’s rising... we’re up to twelve megajoules.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Okay... okay... Boss, I think we can call this a successful test, but it feels like -
JEROME ECKERBERG: Agreed. End it.
MELISSA ERICKSON: All right, all hands, termination sequence. Quickly, quickly.
(The techs work at their consoles.)
TECH 2: Umm... termination sequence... non-responsive. Reaction continues.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Excuse me?
TECH: We’re up to seventeen megajoules. It’s... it’s not slowing down.
MELISSA ERICKSON: Run it again please, route the command through the energy input line and - oh for god’s, let me -
(Dr. Erickson starts typing into one of the consoles.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: Dammit... trying again...
ADAM BLACKWELL: What - what happens if you can’t stop it? How much will it - ?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Adam, please: keep your voice down. No need to panic our guests. Dr. Erickson has this well in hand. You know that, right?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah. I know.
TECH: Twenty-nine megajoules... and... is anyone else feeling... ?
(The machine is getting even louder… all around them the building is rumbling.)
TECH 2: We’re getting more instability... kinda getting close to the upper thresholds here...
TECH: Thirty-seven megajoules... and rising...
(The generator is rising to a fevered pitch.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Mel...?
MELISSA ERICKSON: Just... give me... a... moment... to...
(Dr. Erickson puts some commands into a console… and various machines finally start to power down. Several alarms stop going off.)
MELISSA ERICKSON: Okay. Termination sequence completed. Event finalized. We’re good.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Thank you.
(He turns back towards the VIPs.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: All right, a slightly more... exciting conclusion to today’s little demonstration than we expected, but nothing our team couldn’t handle. And this is just the very exciting beginning.
(The scene fades back to Skinner’s office.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: After that, the rest of the day was... champagne. Toasts. People slapping each other on the back. Talking about the big bright beautiful tomorrow. Of how this would change things. Help the economy. Save the environment. Make the world taste good.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: What about you? How did you feel?
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... weirdly? Numb. Like I... couldn’t quite figure out what I’d just seen. But at the same time? Reassured. Something had gone wrong. And they... they dealt with it. Just stopped it in its tracks. It felt like they knew what they were doing. Still... I spent the whole flight back to Chicago replaying everything that had happened in my head, over and over again.
(The scene fades to Adam’s office at Sinclair.)
NARRATOR: Sinclair University. Adam Blackwell’s Office. Two days after Athena Energy fusion test.
(Adam opens the door and enters. Looks around the space.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay... what did I miss while I - ?
AMY STIRLING: Jerome Eckerberg.
(He yelps, startled at her sudden presence here.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Jesus. Amy, what are you - ?
(Amy shoves him.)
AMY STIRLING: Jerome Eckerberg.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Hey, easy. How did you even get -
(She shoves him again.)
AMY STIRLING: Jerome Fucking Eckerberg. You’re working with Je-
(She reaches out to shove him again, but Adam catches her hands.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay, that’s enough! Yes. Yes, okay? I am.
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: Adam, can you let go of my wrists, please?
ADAM BLACKWELL: If I do, are you gonna shove me again?
AMY STIRLING: No, I think I’m done with that now.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay then.
(He lets go. Amy shoves him again.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Hey!
AMY STIRLING: Okay, now, I’m done.
ADAM BLACKWELL: God... all right to ask one of the about fifty-two questions that are being begged right now... how? How do you know I’m working with him?
AMY STIRLING: Well, Adam, you see: I’m a very clever girl, I’m friends with the president, and - oh yes, little thing - I can read fucking minds.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay, fine. So let’s move onto - and I cannot wait to hear what frankly insane train of thought is about to run me over here - what is the problem, Amy?
AMY STIRLING: The problem? I don’t know, Adam. How about the fact that you’re putting your magic at the feet of a billionaire who already has too much power? Or how you’re helping him corner the global market in energy? Or - oh, here’s a good one - you’re helping a guy go from having fuck you amounts of money to having fuck you fuck you fuck you I own the planet amounts of money?!
(She shoves him again.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: You said we were done with the shoving!
AMY STIRLING: I was wrong, sue me! I thought I could... not trust you, exactly. But... at least leave you alone! You turned down so many people, Adam. So many people that wanted your magic. Just because all you wanted to do was stay in this fucking university and study. And even though I couldn’t believe it, at least you weren’t working with people like Eckerberg. So I gotta ask: how did he finally get you to crack? What did he offer, what’s he giving you? What did he say to - ?
ADAM BLACKWELL: He didn’t say anything, okay?! It wasn’t anything he said, it was -
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: What? What was it?
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... it was what you said, Amy. What you’ve been saying for years. “No one has ever changed the world by sitting in an ivory tower.” So I’m - I’m getting out of the ivory tower. I’m using my powers to do some good, to do... to do something. The way you’ve always wanted.
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: So... what you got out of all of that... was, “Please go help a billionaire get richer - “
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, that’s -
AMY STIRLING: “- and more powerful -”
ADAM BLACKWELL: That is not -
AMY STIRLING: “- and more dangerous?” You are -
ADAM BLACKWELL: That is not what I am doing! Amy, what do you actually know about what he’s doing? About how he’s going after it? About the precautions, the fail-safes, the safety measures? About what this kind of energy becoming viable could do for all of us? Because you said - you said - that if you have power you’re supposed to use it save the world. Well, I’m -
AMY STIRLING: No. You aren’t saving the world, you’re helping one of the guys who thinks he owns the world get closer to actually owning it.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Who cares what - ? This is bigger than him! This is about what he’s trying to develop. Once he’s made it happen, we have it, and we can use it, and the world can be a better place long after he’s gone. Isn’t that worth it?
AMY STIRLING: Pro tip, dude: Playing devil’s advocate for the billionaire oligarchy is so not the move.
(Adam lets out a low breath.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: When I don’t do anything with my magic... I’m an asshole. When I do something with my magic... I’m an asshole. I just... I can’t win with you, Amy, can I?
(A pause.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: All right... anything else you want to get off your chest, Amy?
AMY STIRLING: Just... be careful. Be so goddamn careful around Eckerberg, okay?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Amy... do you know something? Something about Eckerberg? Something I should know?
AMY STIRLING: No, Adam, I just... I just don’t want you to make a mistake you won’t be able to fix, okay?
ADAM BLACKWELL: But -
AMY STIRLING: I gotta go. I’ll see you.
(Amy leaves, shutting the door behind her as she exits.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... yeah. Always nice talking to you, Amy.
(The scene fades away as the episode’s closing theme begins playing.)
ANNOUNCER: This has been The Harbingers. Created by Gabriel Urbina. Come back on March 12th for Episode 11, "It’s a Sin." Today's episode was written by Gabriel Urbina. It was directed and sound designed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner. It featured the voices of Andrés Enriquez as Adam Blackwell, Lauren Grace Thompson as Amy Stirling, Emmy Bean as Claudia Skinner, Dan Granata as Jerome Eckerberg, Sunnie Eraso as Melissa Erickson, Ian Geers as Kris Middendorf, and Leah Khambata as Rekha Kothari. It also featured the voices of D Casellian, and Eduardo De los Reyes Our original music was composed by Nicholas Podany. Our original show art was created by Cassie J. Allen. The executive producer for the series is Eleanor Hyde You can learn more about the show, see a timeline of the events of our story, and become a supporting member at AudaciousMachineCreative.com. This is an Audacious Machine Creative production. Thank you for listening.
(The episode’s closing theme concludes and fades away.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Today’s history tidbit: on February 26th, 2023, an expose in the West Coast Gazette revealed a long history of corruption and inhumane treatment within the Agnus Dei religious organization. Its founder, Lawrence Donahue, publicly denied the claims and swore to continue fighting for his followers and his beliefs.