THE HARBINGERS
EPISODE 9: THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW
Transcript
TEASER
(The sounds of a high-end European bar at night. Soft, pleasant music plays in the background.)
NARRATOR: Le Hotel du Palais. Mageve, French Alps. April 8th, 2028.
(There’s some approaching footsteps, followed by the sound of a drink being deposited on the bar. Ice clinks.)
BARTENDER: Un Boulevardier avec des glaçons, mademoiselle.
AMY STIRLING: Merci.
(Amy’s phone starts to buzz - she’s getting a phone call. She laughs a bit, then picks up.)
AMY STIRLING: My god, two calls in a week? You’re going to spoil a girl, Doctor Blackwell. Greetings from the Alps.
ADAM BLACKWELL: (on the phone) Amy. Listen, we’ve got a situation -
AMY STIRLING: Nice job with that heart stuff, by the way. Look at you, being the hero of the day.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Amy, that’s not what I’m -
AMY STIRLING: Although way to not tell me what was at stake with that translation, it might have been nice to know what I was dealing -
ADAM BLACKWELL: Amy. (A small pause.) Are you around a television? Can you turn on WNC right now?
AMY STIRLING: I... I think so, give me just a - Umm, excuse-moi? Est-ce que la television, umm... sorry: does this TV work?
BARTENDER: ... oui, mademoiselle.
AMY STIRLING: Would you mind putting on WNC?
BARTENDER: Uh, no, pas aussi.
(The bartender turns on the TV. He clicks through a few channels before landing on WNS as the news channel’s top-of-broadcast jingle plays out.)
JEANINE ALFARO: (on the television:) WNC has now worked with the FBI to confirm the authenticity of this recording -
AMY STIRLING: Adam...? What is this?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Just watch.
JEANINE ALFARO: - local agents had expected to spend days dredging the swamp, but the coordinates provided were, in the words of Special Agent Gerald Borden, quote “Accurate to the millimeter,” end quote. The salvage operation recovered a body from the swamp, roughly forty-two miles to the East of Detroit. Dental records have verified the identity as that of James Hoffa, the infamous labor union leader.
AMY STIRLING: What in the hell... ?
JEANINE ALFARO: Mr. Hoffa was known for his work with the teamsters’s union, as well as for his reputed involvement with the world of organized crime. His disappearance in 1975 has stood as one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history for more than five decades. And that is likely the way it would have stayed if not for…
AMY STIRLING: Adam, what does this have to do - ?
ADAM BLACKWELL: Watch.
AMY STIRLING: ... an anonymous tip delivered to the FBI. A copy of the message was sent to our producers today. It contained the following message: “I have used magic to divine the location of this body. Consider this proof of what I can do. Get ready: we’re gonna have some real fun now. Veritas Tyrannos Vincit. Signed... the Doomscroller.” The Latin quote roughly translates...
AMY STIRLING: ... Adam? Stay... stay where you are. I’m - I’m gonna get the first plane back to Chicago. We gotta... we gotta talk about this.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Yeah, no shit. See you soon.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah.
(She hangs up.)
JEANINE ALFARO: ... but the implication of today’s events seem clear: we are now living in a world where three humans are capable of using magic.
(The scene ends as the music shifts into a harsh techno melody. Over it:)
ANNOUNCER: Audacious Machine Creative Presents: The Harbingers. Created by Gabriel Urbina. Episode 9: "The Revolution Starts Now.”
(The music resolves and fades away.)
ACT ONE
(The familiar sounds of Skinner’s office.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: All right. I think it’s time to get into this. Number three.
AMY STIRLING: The Doomscroller.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: The third magician of the modern world. Possessed of...
AMY STIRLING: ... Shral Ta Veiren. The Ring of Divination.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And gifted with the power to know anything he wants...
AMY STIRLING: ... about anything he wants.
(Skinner flips through some pages as she says:)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: A few days ago, Dr. Blackwell called the Doomscroller, and I quote, “an egotistical anarchist, wildly irresponsible,” and, “an active danger.”
AMY STIRLING: What’s that old saying about stopped clocks?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: You agree with his evaluation, then? I thought you were supposed to be the radical one.
AMY STIRLING: No. Not like that. I... A forest is born. A forest grows up. Old, dead trees gather up, stopping anything new from growing. Sometimes, a fire is the only thing that can clear it up. It can be scary, but... it can be healthy.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And that’s what the Doomscroller is doing?
AMY STIRLING: What? No, that’s what I’m doing. The Doomscroller is the high school bully burning down the whole forest and the farm next to it with a can of gasoline he stole from his dad’s auto body shop. Just because he thought it’d be funny.
(A small pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: All right, let’s... take this one step at a time. April 8th, 2028. The Doomscroller announces himself, proves his bona fides. Where were you when the news came out?
AMY STIRLING: Europe. The Alps. I’d just done a couple of shows over there. Munich, Amsterdam, Paris... I had a few days off. Thought I’d get some quiet in a resort town, catch up on my reading.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Instead...
AMY STIRLING: ... I got on a plane and went back to Chicago. To talk to Adam.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And what were you thinking? When you got there?
AMY STIRLING: I mostly wasn’t thinking yet. I’d done five shows in six days, I’d flown halfway around the world, I was jet lagged... my brain hadn’t caught up to it all yet.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And Dr. Blackwell? What was his reaction?
(Amy laughs a bit.)
AMY STIRLING: Oh, he was very Adam about it all.
(The scene transitions to Adam Blackwell’s office at Sinclair University.)
NARRATOR: Sinclair University, Adam Blackwell’s Office. Sixteen hours later.
(Adam paces up and down his office.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Okay. Okay, okay, okay.
AMY STIRLING: ... okay?
ADAM BLACKWELL: It’s gotta be Andersen.
AMY STIRLING: ... what.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Stellan Andersen. From Oslo? You remember, we met him at - at the academic conference back in - well, whatever, it doesn’t matter.
AMY STIRLING: Adam...
ADAM BLACKWELL: It has to be him. Who else? I mean, it’s not Karen Jeong, it’s not Eddie Rowbotham, it’s not Burke or Ramírez -
AMY STIRLING: Adam...
ADAM BLACKWELL: Nobody else has been to any new dig sites in the past six weeks or had access to any of the new chambers that they’ve found in -
AMY STIRLING: ADAM.
ADAM BLACKWELL: What? What’s wrong?
AMY STIRLING: Nothing, Adam, I just need you to do me a teeny, tiny little favor and WAKE THE FUCK UP! Stellan Andersen? Karen Jeong? Are you trying to be fucking funny right now?
ADAM BLACKWELL: No, I’m - Amy, it has to be an academic, who else would have access to the places where - ?
AMY STIRLING: So many people. Governments. Militaries. Industrialists. Half of what we have of the Petrie Site was dug up by Bord Leictreach so they could put up a fucking windmill.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Archeologists and academics are the only ones venturing into the lower chambers of Harbinger ruins, it stands to reason that it would be -
AMY STIRLING: Things change! We changed things. Because now the world knows these things are out there and people might like to get a ring that gives them fucking magic powers! (A pause. Amy exhales.) Look, it... it doesn’t matter how he got the ring. However it happened... he has it. So now the question is...
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... what’s he going to do with it? What can he do with it?
AMY STIRLING: I’ve got a theory about that. Here.
(Amy pulls out her phone. Holds it up to Adam to show him something.)
AMY STIRLING: They dug this statue up in Atacama a little while ago. Now, just enough of the carvings around it were intact to make some sense of it. (A small pause.) What?
ADAM BLACKWELL: … you’re playing shows all over Europe and you’re still keeping up with what they’re finding in Argentina? How many fucking hours are there in your day, Stirling?
(She laughs a bit at that.)
AMY STIRLING: I... I don’t sleep much. And I like to read. (A small pause. Adam laughs.) Umm, so the account that’s chiseled into the wall talks about an old... king? Or a... judge of some sort? It says he was able to conjure knowledge, knowledge about any subject, no matter...
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... no matter how dark or forbidden. Yeah, there was some stuff about that in the slabs from the Desolation Islands... Wait a minute... if this isn’t an academic, how are they doing any of this? How would they know the Language of the Stars they need to use these powers?
(Amy gets up. Walks over to a bookshelf and picks up a book.)
AMY STIRLING: Well, Adam, I don’t know if you remember but... Ah, here we go...
(She sets the book down on the desk.)
AMY STIRLING: Our old professor published a book about Harbinger linguistics last year.
ADAM BLACKWELL: What? No, Julian’s book is an academic reference, there’s not enough in there to get more than a... a rudimentary grasp on the most basics parts of why are you looking at me like that?
AMY STIRLING: Because, my wonderful little village idiot, if you have a rudimentary grasp on the most basic parts of the language and a ring that lets you conjure knowledge out of thin air...
ADAM BLACKWELL: ... you might be able to use it to put together as much of it as you need to... Fuuuuck. (A pause.) So you’re telling me… I just spent a year of my life brute-forcing my way to understanding this thing and this... “Doomscroller” can just snap his fingers and know more than I do?!? Jesus Christ! (exhales) This is all my fault.
AMY STIRLING: Okay, I’ll bite. You want to explain what insane rationale is -
ADAM BLACKWELL: It’s both our faults.
AMY STIRLING: - going to lead to that conclusion - excuse me?
ADAM BLACKWELL: What I did with the heart, with - with everything you do! We should have been more careful, stayed in our lane! If we’d refused to do anything with our powers except study them, if we had been more responsible -
AMY STIRLING: Oh my god, that would have stopped exactly nothing and no one. We have magic, other people are gonna want magic. It’s as simple as that.
ADAM BLACKWELL: Amy, you said it yourself. “We changed things.” Uh, yeah, we did. And if we use our powers without thinking things through? There’s gonna be consequences.
(Amy lets out a low breath. Gets to her feet. Starts walking towards the door.)
ADAM BLACKWELL: Where are you going?
AMY STIRLING: I think we’re done here, Adam. I’m gonna head out before you say something I’m gonna make you regret.
(Amy opens the door and exits the room.)
(The scene transitions back to Skinner’s office. Skinner takes a few notes on a piece of paper.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Did you make contact with the Doomscroller? Either of you?
AMY STIRLING: Both of us tried. Open invitations to talk through news broadcasts. I took out a full page ad in the Times. We got nothing back.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And then a week after his initial announcement...
AMY STIRLING: His declaration of war. Posted all over the Internet, from a thousand and one phantom accounts.
(Skinner picks up a piece of paper. Clears her throat.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: “Right-o you... you fucking cunts, here’s the rules of the game. Once a day for the next hundred days I’m going to reveal something about the most powerful men and women on the planet. Something shocking and dark, something they’ve tried to keep hidden. In many cases, something fucking hysterical. They cannot find me, they cannot buy me, they cannot stop me. And I bloody well promise you...”
AMY STIRLING: “... this is just the beginning.” At first it was like... what does this even mean? We thought that -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Ah ah ah. “I thought...”
AMY STIRLING: I... hoped he was kidding. That what was coming would just be embarrassing or... I don’t know. Then, the next day, the first of the leaks showed up everywhere.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: James Harridan. Frontrunner in the democratic primary.
AMY STIRLING: Who, it turns out, had used government connections to help disgraced crypto millionaire Russell Gould fake his own death in exchange for a little over sixty million dollars in carefully laundered campaign contributions.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And in the middle of it all, still found the time to have an affair with the widow Gould.
AMY STIRLING: It was shocking, outrageous, and... (lets out a glib chuckle) impossible to look away from. Six days later, Harridan withdrew his nomination to be president.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And it was just the beginning. In the following days the Doomscroller would leak information about the U.S. Secretary of State...
AMY STIRLING: Who had been secretly arranging weapon deals with insurgent groups.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... movie stars...
AMY STIRLING: Including one who’d killed one of his former girlfriends.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... the president of Italy...
AMY STIRLING: Who’d embezzled about forty-two million euro through a phony welfare campaign...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... even private wealthy citizens, like Frank Wilkinson.
AMY STIRLING: Who? Oh, the horse guy. Oh, yeah, that was fucked up… Credit where it’s due: the Doomscroller never said anything that wasn’t true. He never hit anyone for petty shit. And he went after people all over the world, of all political affiliations. There was no agenda to it, it was just...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: An asshole burning down the forest because he thought it’d be funny?
AMY STIRLING: ... anarchy. It was anarchy. By the end of the spring, people were losing their goddamn minds.
(The scene transitions to a corporate office.)
NARRATOR: New York City. May, 2028. Thirty-three days into the Doomscroller’s hundred days of revelation.
JEROME ECKERBERG: There’s really nothing you can do about this?
AMY STIRLING: Trust me, if there was? I’d do it. But even if I knew where the Doomscroller was? As far as we know, our rings make us immune to each other’s powers. All I could do is talk to the guy, and if he doesn’t want to talk to me then...
JEROME ECKERBERG: Hmm. Right. An impasse, then.
AMY STIRLING: Why don’t you do something about it? You have more money than god, tentacles all over the planet, you were able to conjure up a six thousand year old magical artifact out of thin air... You basically have magic of your own.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Oh, I’ve tried. And I’ll keep trying. But so far? Private investigators, surveillance networks, identity detection algorithms, and contacts in the FBI, CIA, and British intelligence have resulted in absolutely nothing to show for my troubles. How can one man be this hard to find?!
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: ... he may be... unfindable. (A pause.) Uh, well, Harbinger mythology has this recurring element of mirrors, and duality and... I can read minds, but I can also put things into them. Back and forth, above and below. With me? Okay. The Doomscroller’s powers let him divine information. Let him know things he shouldn’t. What if they can also do the opposite? What if he can take something that should be knowable and make it impossible to know? For example...
JEROME ECKERBERG: ... his identity. Or his whereabouts. I see.
(A long pause.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: All right. In that case... we pivot. If we can’t stop the Doomscroller, we survive him.
AMY STIRLING: Which requires... what?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Well... less corrupt leadership in the Democratic Party would be a good start.
AMY STIRLING: Okay, let’s not be too dramatic. Harridan hurt, but Myers has pulled a coalition together that could -
JEROME ECKERBERG: No. I’ve spoken to Jennifer Myers. The skeleton in her closet is... well, I expect you’ll find that out sometime in the next sixty-seven days.
AMY STIRLING: ... okay. Then Thompson, he’ll... no, right he was implicated with Harridan. And Greer had that stuff with the oil companies...
JEROME ECKERBERG: I see you’re starting to grasp our problem.
AMY STIRLING: Well... the other side’s gonna get it too. What we learned about Walker was not -
JEROME ECKERBERG: No. Walker’s teflon. The people that love Walker don’t care that he’s corrupt. More to the point, it isn’t news that he’s corrupt. So what if he kept more of his media companies that he claimed to? So what if he’s let his friends ransack the government? As long as he’s gaming the system in their favor, all is forgiven. That’s the problem in this country. One side just needs a lightning rod. The other needs a paragon.
AMY STIRLING: ... and where are we going to find one?
(We hear the buzz of an intercom. Eckerberg presses a button.)
ASSISTANT: (over intercom:) Mr. Eckerberg? It’s starting.
JEROME ECKERBERG: Thank you, Gloria. I hope you don’t mind, Ms. Stirling? I was hoping to catch something on the television...
(Eckerberg grabs a remote control and turns on a TV. We hear the jingle that comes with the opening of a cable news program.)
AMY STIRLING: ... you watch ANM?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Think of it as opposition research.
CHRIS WATTS: (on television) Welcome back, you are tuned into The Watts Report. I’m your host, Chris Watts. Following the withdrawal of front runner James Harridan, much has been made of the chaos in the Democratic primary. While leading candidates like Jennifer Myers and Joseph Greer have been getting much of the media’s attention, other challengers still remain in the race. Our guest today is a freshman congresswoman from Illinois, who is currently polling at a little over three percent. Andrea Shepherd, welcome to the program.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: (on television) Thanks Chris, pleasure to be here.
AMY STIRLING: Why are you...?
JEROME ECKERBERG: Shh, shh, shh...
CHRIS WATTS: Miss Shepherd, let’s begin with your platform. Your policies have been criticized by members of both parties for being too radical. How do you respond to those who say you’re too extreme for America?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: First off, Chris, that’s Congresswoman Shepherd.
CHRIS WATTS: I - sure. Congresswoman.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Thank you. Secondly: I’d respond by saying... they’re not radical.
CHRIS WATTS: (laughing) How can you say that? You’re -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: I can say they’re not radical because they’re just not. Accessible healthcare, affordable living conditions, common sense environmental policies - none of these are new ideas. If I was sitting here calling for the dissolution of banks or the confiscation of wealth from our richest citizens? That would be a radical leftist position. But I’m not. What I’m advocating for is just a liberal platform that is actually liberal. And if you take the time to go through what I’m proposing? It’s all things that the United States has done in the past or that our First World neighbors have been doing for decades.
CHRIS WATTS: And many would say those European nations are on the brink of ruin thanks to these practices. Do we really want to import the crises Europe has been facing for -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: What crises are those? The Netherlands’ health care index? Finland’s social progress rate? Denmark’s public education, maybe?
CHRIS WATTS: No, that’s -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Because frankly? I’m tired of our country not leading in these fields. It should and easily could.
CHRIS WATTS: And would you also bring Denmark’s taxes to America? The tax rate that you’re proposing -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Is still considerably lower than most of your viewer’s grandparents would have paid before Ronald Reagan hypnotized this country into thinking there was a section in the Bill of Rights against taxes.
CHRIS WATTS: But - but you can’t compare the 1950’s to - what you are proposing would make companies and job providers flee America like -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: No, it wouldn’t.
CHRIS WATTS: Could I just finish explaining - ?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: No, because what you’re about to explain isn’t true. There is no evidence to suggest that companies pick up sticks and run away at the slightest increase in their taxes. You know why?
CHRIS WATTS: Well, we’ve heard from CEOs that -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Because infrastructure, public health, and education all have a much greater impact on companies’ bottom line. And I would never insult American businesses by acting like they don’t know that.
CHRIS WATTS: Well, that’s debatable, but -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: It’s not. There’s forty years of -
CHRIS WATTS: Let’s come back to that. Congresswoman, if there is something in which you’re radical, it’s your stance on immigration. There are videos of you calling for the abolition of ICE, or protesting the deportation of illegal, dangerous criminals. Shouldn’t we work to mitigate the crisis at our border, not to make it worse?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Chris, I believe that respecting our laws is important, that everyone should come here legally. And I also believe that Americans should be proud of our history and our heritage as a nation of immigrants. We should be f***ing thrilled that people all over the world want to make our country -
CHRIS WATTS: A simple yes or no, Congresswoman: if you were president, would you secure our borders?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Yes, I would - and I would mainly do it by providing more sensible, legal ways for people to come here.
CHRIS WATTS: And the loss of our culture? Our traditions? Our identity?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Chris, I think America’s is the greatest, richest, most resilient culture on the planet. I think it can take a little competition no problem. But I’m curious now, so tell me: why do you think it’s so weak and fragile that is has to be coddled?
CHRIS WATTS: Congresswoman... are you taking any of this seriously? Do you actually think you can win the nomination?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Winning the nomination is not my job.
CHRIS WATTS: ... isn’t it your only job?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: No. I’m not here to say the things that get me elected. I’m here to articulate what I believe is the best way forward for this country. People can vote for me or not, but they deserve one candidate with a legitimate liberal platform on the ballot. That’s why I’m doing this.
CHRIS WATTS: All right, well, it’s been a...
(Eckerberg turns off the TV.)
JEROME ECKERBERG: Ms. Stirling... would you be able to make an introduction for me?
AMY STIRLING: I... think I could, yeah. What are... what are you thinking?
JEROME ECKERBERG: I’m thinking... two hundred million. Two hundred million to start with.
(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: Miss Stirling, could I ask a possibly... indelicate question? 2027, 2028, even most of 2029, you went... considerably out of your way to never be seen in public with Mr. Eckerberg. Campaign events, press conference, public appearances, you always stayed well away from one another. Or perhaps more to the point...
AMY STIRLING: ... I stayed well away from him.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: If you met, it was behind closed doors. The rare times you actually met around other people, any conversation of substance happened in the privacy of your minds, if Christmas 2028 is anything to go by. Whence all the secrecy about this association?
AMY STIRLING: What can I say? I’ve always very protective of my privacy.
(A pause. Skinner lets out a low breath.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Ms. Stirling... it’s all the same to me. Answer the question, waste some time by being cute and then answer the question... only thing that’s gonna change is how many hours I bill. So... what’s it gonna be? How much money do you want me to make today?
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: It wouldn’t work. What I was trying to do? It wouldn’t work standing next to Jerome Eckerberg. If the world saw me associating with him, I’d just be one more part of the machine. If I stayed independent in the eyes of the world, I could be something that changed the machine. The Silver Witch had to be a host onto herself.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... you’ve traded being cute for being clever, but that’s still not it. What’s the real answer?
AMY STIRLING: I...
(A long pause. Amy exhales.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: “She that is proud eats up herself.”
AMY STIRLING: You - you think it was pride? That I didn’t tell people I was working with Eckerberg because I was... what, embarrassed?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: That is exactly what I think, yes. I think you made a deal with the devil. And when the devil owns your soul, the thing you want the most is to be free. So you act as though there isn’t a chain around your wrists. And when the devil’s clever, he lets you. Lets you feel like you you’re free. Until he needs something from you. And then oh no you’re not.
AMY STIRLING: First Shakespeare, then poetry. Now who’s being cute and clever?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Tell me I’m wro-
AMY STIRLING: I can’t, all right? Is that what you want to hear? But if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have gotten this ring on my finger, and without my ring I wouldn’t have been able to do all the good I’ve done these past four years. So I’m only going to be so contrite about all of this.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: All right. Let’s get back to the good, then. For example... you got Andrea Shepherd elected president.
AMY STIRLING: No, I didn’t.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Didn’t you? Shepherd is often called the “Magician President.” Political Historian Ernest McNamara famously said that her campaign started with the Most Powerful Man in the World, got serious with the Doomscroller, and was victorious thanks to the Silver Witch.
AMY STIRLING: Ms. Skinner. I know you didn’t mean anything by it, but... Andrea Shepherd won Andrea Shepherd’s election. Do not say otherwise in my presence.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... understood. My apologies.
AMY STIRLING: No, I’m... Sorry. Sorry, that was… (A pause.) That’s not what they call her. Well, it’s not all they call her. “The Magicians’ President.” Like we’re above her or some other bullshit.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Let me try to rephrase myself, just for the sake of clarity, okay? Andrea Shepherd launched her presidential campaign on November first, 2027. For the first few months, everyone wrote her off as a protest candidate...
AMY STIRLING: ... or as someone doing a practice run for a future campaign. Yeah.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: But then in April of 2028, she gets an unexpected boost in press coverage when fate makes her the right person in the right place at the right time to make sure Adam Blackwell teleports a heart to Japan and saves the life of America’s favorite up-and-coming actor. Several established politicians are ahead of her in line, but the Doomscroller clears out the clown car. By the time the Democratic convention starts on July 27th - just three days after the Doomscroller’s hundred days of terror end - she’s the last man standing.
AMY STIRLING: In a manner of speaking.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: In a manner of speaking. Unlikely as it might have seemed at the start of the year, your friend the bartender had cleared every hurdle on her way to the White House.
AMY STIRLING: All except one.
(The scene transitions to a dressing room at a debate hall.)
NARRATOR: The College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall. October, 2028.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: All right, got anything else?
AMY STIRLING: Mmm... Oh, here’s a good one. So right before you get on stage? Try saying something and then halfway through getting all weird and sweaty and fidgety and just really fucking it up. Well, that way when you’re up there and you start to feel like things are going that way, you can just be like, “Nah, we did that already, skip it.”
(A pause. Then they both burst into laughter.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Okay, sure.
AMY STIRLING: Oh, oh! Plan on getting really nervous. That way when you do it’s, like, “Hell yeah, everything’s going according to plan.”
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Umm, can someone get this woman away from me? She’s an absolute psycho.
(They both laugh a bit more. Then, there’s a chime from a PA system overhead.)
STAGE MANAGER: (over PA) This is your five minute warning. Five minute warning for President Walker and Congresswoman Shepherd.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: I think that’s me.
(A door opens and a security guard enters.)
SECURITY GUARD: Ms. Stirling? I need to take you to your seat now.
AMY STIRLING: Well, that’s definitely me. Listen to me, girlfriend: you lock the fuck in and show them who you are, yeah? Tonight’s the night.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Bring it on.
AMY STIRLING: Bring it the fuck on.
(Amy hugs Andrea and gives her a kiss on the cheek.)
AMY STIRLING: I’ll be right in the audience, cheering you on.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: All right.
(Amy follows the security guard into a hallway. A door closes behind them.)
SECURITY GUARD: This way, Ms. Stirling.
(As they walk down the hallway:)
AMY STIRLING: (low whisper) She’s got this... she’s got this...
SECURITY GUARD: Here, through this door.
(The security guard opens a door and ushers Amy through. We travel with her into a different backstage room.)
AMY STIRLING: Umm, no, I’m supposed to go out -
(The door closes with a bang.)
(Then - there’s the click of a lighter turning on. A flame burns as it lights a cigarette.)
MAN: You know, the curiosity has just been killing me, so I gotta ask...
(The man exhales a lungful of smoke as he steps towards Amy.)
MAN: ... why have you never liked me? (A small pause.) Come on, Ms. Stirling. It’s not a hard question, is it?
(A few more steps.)
MAN: We could have been friends. Lord knows I tried. I reached out. It could have been... we could have had a beautiful thing, you and I. But no. You’ve always had such... disdain for me.
(A few more steps. He takes a drag from his cigarette.)
MAN: It’s funny, when you’re as well-known as I am, you start to get a sense for the different ways in which people dislike you. For some folks, it’s not personal. They’re a Yankee, you’re a Sawx, that’s the way it goes in the Big Leagues. For others, it’s about superiority. They think they’re smarter than you, or more sensible, or just more... worthy than you are. I think that was Blackwell’s whole deal. I met him, you know? Once or twice, back when your whole thing was first getting started. There’s a man absolutely tripping over himself to find a reason to think he’s better than you. That’s all right. I can take arrogant. I can work with arrogant. But that’s not you. No, you... hate me. You hate me with your liver. If it was not illegal, you would kill me right here and right now. So let’s have it. What’d I do? How did I kick your dog?
AMY STIRLING: I don’t have to give you an answer.
MAN: No, of course you don’t. But... don’t you want to tell me off? Just a little? I mean, when are you gonna have an opportunity like this ever again? Come on - live a little.
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: Sure. If you really wanna know... I don’t like you, Mr. President, because you traffic in fear. Because at some point you realized that you could do the right thing and work hard and make people’s lives better... or you could make them afraid. And if you scared them bad enough, that is all you had to do to win. And so that’s what you did. Why do I have so much disdain for you? Because you made people afraid of women deciding whether they have kids or not. Why do I look down upon you? Because you made people afraid of climate change being a con that might rob them of their jobs in coal mines and oil pipelines, when what they should really be afraid of is half our cities being underwater in their kids’ lifetime. My liver hates you because you made people afraid of trans kids, and of scientific research, and of poor people laughing at them when they cash in their welfare lobster dinners. But really, end of the day? I.. loathe you in ways English cannot express because you made people afraid of anyone that had the fucking temerity to want to come to this country, and live, and prosper here. I hate you because the entire fucking arc of our moral history as a species is thinking its okay to control what people could or could not do based on how they were born and then realizing: oh, no, wait, we should stop doing that because it’s evil! And a hundred years from now, when we’ve realized that limiting where people can live, and work, and grow and love and build and dream based on the random fucking happenstance of where they were born is evil? When that happens, history books are going to have pictures of what you are doing to human beings in this country, and those pictures are going to come with the caption, “WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK TO THIS!”
(A pause. Then Walker lets out a low whistle: damn.)
ANDREW WALKER: Anything else?
AMY STIRLING: No, I think that about covers it.
ANDREW WALKER: Well... all right then. You know, Ms. Stirling, hard as it may be to believe? I’m doing what I think is best for this country. My country. And I don’t intend to give it up without a fight.
AMY STIRLING: Get up on that stage. There’s a fight waiting for you.
ANDREW WALKER: I don’t doubt that for a moment, but that’s not what I meant. (calling out:) Stacey?
(A door opens as a campaign aide pokes her head into the room.)
STACEY: Yes, sir?
ANDREW WALKER: You know, mmm, it’s the damndest thing. As I’ve been talking to Ms. Stirling here, I think I’ve started getting a headache. Could you - mmm - have an aspirin and a glass of water ready for me?
STACEY: Yes, sir, right away.
(The door shuts as Stacey leaves them.)
ANDREW WALKER: She’s a good kid. Hard-working. Attentive. Patriotic. Big mouth, though. She blabs. And now... she’s seen you and me having a closed door meeting right before a presidential debate.
(A small pause. Walker takes a deep breath.)
ANDREW WALKER: Anyway - where were we? Oh right - not giving up my country without a fight. I’m no fool, Ms. Stirling. I can see which way the wind is blowing. I’m not going to make it easy for Miss Shepherd, but I know a storm when one’s about to hit me. But you can wait out a storm. You want to... what? Just hand the biggest job in the world over to a naive, inexperienced little girl? Be my fucking guest. Have her take on the job. Have her deal with Russia and the economy and one-hundred and eighty million people who will absolutely hate her guts. Have her be a good little puppet for Eckerberg too. Oh, you think I hadn’t caught that? Watch out for that one, he’s a spider. And after you’ve done that for a bit... once the Visigoths have stormed the city gates and Rome has burnt for just long enough... I’ll be back. And we’ll do this all over again. And in the mean time... I have a new thing to make people afraid of. You think I’m good at it now? Just you wait, Ms. Stirling. Just you wait.
STAGE MANAGER: (over PA) President Walker and Congresswoman Shepherd to the stage, please.
ANDREW WALKER: Well, Ms. Stirling... nice talking to you. See you around.
(Walker steps up to the door, opening it as he exits the room.)
(There’s a pause, then…)
DEBATE MODERATOR: (through sound system in a different room) Ladies and gentleman... President Andrew Walker of California.
(There’s applause from the main debate hall.)
AMY STIRLING: ... fuck me.
(The scene transitions back to Skinner’s office. Amy lets out a low breath.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: A month later, America went to the polls. By the end of the night, it was clear it was gonna come down to Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Day after the election, they called Arizona for Shepherd. The day after, Georgia went to Walker. Finally... on Friday, Pennsylvania went to Shepherd... with a margin of just a little under fifty thousand votes.
AMY STIRLING: And I exhaled properly for the first time since July.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: It must have been a relief.
AMY STIRLING: Not... exactly. It didn’t feel over. Or rather, the election was over, so now... Andie had to do it. She had to be president. Had to prove herself to three-hundred and ninety million Americans.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And you felt... responsible?
(A slight pause.)
AMY STIRLING: You know I was the one that encouraged her to run for congress? She used to throw that in my face all the time. Then, at a certain point... she stopped throwing it in my face. I think she saw me getting a little freaked out by it.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Ms. Stirling, I hope that - without disrespecting our president’s accomplishments - we can acknowledge what a pivotal role you played in the campaign. You spoke at forty-three campaign events. You did twelve charity shows in two months. And, oh yes, little thing, behind the scenes, you connected her to Eckerberg, who became her biggest campaign donor. All sense of propriety aside... did you get our current president elected?
(Amy takes a low breath.)
AMY STIRLING: Some people certainly think so.
(The scene transitions to the stage door at a theater in Philadelphia.)
NARRATOR: Outside the Majestic Theater, Philadelphia. December 2nd, 2028.
(A heavy door opens with a thunk! There’s applause and cheering as Amy steps out.)
AMY STIRLING: Hey guys. I can only hang out for a second, so let’s see how many I can - yeah, I can sign that. Thank you. Thanks for coming out. Yeah, sure. Let me just...
(The shutter of a phone camera as someone takes a selfie with her.)
AMY STIRLING: Did you enjoy the show? That’s great. Thank you for coming out.
YOUNG MAN: Miss Stirling? Miss Stirling?
AMY STIRLING: Uh, yeah, hi?
YOUNG MAN: Can you - I want to ask you something.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, what’s up?
YOUNG MAN: How many people’s minds did you change in Pennsylvania?
AMY STIRLING: I’m... I’m not sure. I don’t know how many shows I’ve done here.
YOUNG MAN: No! No, that’s not what I meant. I… how many people did you force to vote for Shepherd?
AMY STIRLING: No, that’s - that’s not what I do.
YOUNG MAN: How many people? About fifty thousand, give or take? Hmm?
AMY STIRLING: No, I would never. I don’t do that.
YOUNG MAN: Well... oh, you’re never gonna do it again. That’s for sure.
(The click of a gun cocking.)
AMY STIRLING: Carea Lyndro Alv - !
(A gunshot. Then another. Two more. People scream, scatter. A siren approaches.)
(The scene transitions back to Skinner’s office. Amy lets out a breath.)
AMY STIRLING: He missed. Each time. Four shots, and nobody got hit. Thank god.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Did you make him miss all of - ?
AMY STIRLING: No. No, I wish I had... I tried. I started to cast a spell, to make him... I don’t know. Drop the gun. Stop. Anything. But I barely got through half of the incantation. His name is Eric Fisher. He had driven up from... somewhere up in Fulton County, I think. The gun was his father’s. He had just turned nineteen a week earlier.
(A small pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: That was number one?
AMY STIRLING: That was number one. That was... the one where no one got hurt.
(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 February 26th for Episode 10, "Boston." Today's episode was written by Gabriel Urbina. It was directed and sound designed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner. It featured the voices of Lauren Grace Thompson as Amy Stirling, Andrés Enriquez as Adam Blackwell, Emmy Bean as Claudia Skinner, Sabrina Odigie as Andrea Shepherd, Dan Granata as Jerome Eckerberg, Mark Soloff as Andrew Walker, Rachel Music as Jeanine Alfaro, Pat King as Chris Watts, Marsha Harman as Gloria, Elise Soeder as Stacey, and Christopher Wilson as Eric Fisher. It also featured the voices of Cornelius H. Mohr, David Rheinstrom, Eduardo De los Reyes, and D Cassellian. 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.)
AMY STIRLING: Today’s history tidbit: on February 14th, 1992, Doctor Melissa Erickson was born in Sausalito, California.