THE HARBINGERS
EPISODE 17: The Perfect Opening Line
Transcript
TEASER
(The click of a remote control, and a television is turned on. We hear all the following voices as if they are coming to us from a television screen.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: The loss that we experienced four months ago is going to stay with us. It should stay with us. There are wounds that we are not meant to recover from, that we never get to forget. But when these tragedies do not break us, they forge us into the toughest steel. And America? We are not broken.
(Some applause, followed by a news jingle.)
WNS REPORTER: That is an excerpt of the speech that President Shepherd delivered today at the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of Boston. In the four...
(The hear the intro jingle for the Watts Report.)
CHRIS WATTS: The trial of Doctor Adam Blackwell began today. The embattled academic entered a plea of guilty this morning. Given the scale of the...
(Music starts playing, it will continue throughout the following.)
NEWS REPORTER: ... chaos, following the collapse of the Eckerberg conglomerate. Once one of North America’s leading tech and energy empires, the death of...
SECOND NEW REPORTER: Tory leader Rosemary Jones was arrested today, following last week’s shocking Doomscroller revelations of human trafficking...
THIRD NEW REPORTER: Sentencing was delivered today in the trial of Adam Blackwell...
NEW REPORTER: Magician Amy Stirling canceled a two-week residency in New York City, citing extreme exhaustion...
SECOND NEW REPORTER: The law firm of Skinner, DeVries, and Wiseman announced the formation of a new, first-of-its-kind division focused on the intersection of the law with magic.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: We’ve seen what happens when the law tries to play catch up to current events. Whatever comes next? We need to be ready for it.
THIRD NEW REPORTER: Catholic Monsignor and magician Damián Zanetti held a joint press conference with Pope Gregory...
CHRIS WATTS: Adam Blackwell today began a prison sentence of six hundred and forty-five thousand, seven-hundred and seventy-seven years.
WNS REPORTER: Across the county, some groups are staging protests, calling for clemency for Blackwell. Amy Stirling spoke at an event this...
NEW REPORTER: ... absolute coup, as the lion’s share of the Jerome Eckerberg’s shattered empire has been acquired by one of his long-time rivals.
SECOND NEW REPORTER: The exhaustive report by the agency is once again asserting that the explosion of Athena’s flagship prototype was a freak occurrence caused by the attack on the facility and its unique combination of fusion with poorly understood magical forces. Despite these assurances, many are calling for new regulation on the technology.
WNS REPORTER: Amy Stirling spoke at an event this...
CHRIS WATTS: Andrea Shepherd’s healthcare bill is officially dead, following the defection of six Democrats. It was the president’s most ambitious piece of legislature since her eradication of the Department of Homeland Security in 2029.
HUNTER KANE: I don’t know how much louder of a [BLEEP]ing wake up up call we need. This technology is dangerous, and not one more American is going to die because of it.
ANDREW WALKER: I take no pleasure in the failure of President Shepherd’s legislation. But the American people have made their will known.
SECOND NEW REPORTER: ... recruitment of fifty thousand scientists and engineers...
CHRIS WATTS: Mark your calendar: as of October second, 2031, Hunter Kane’s Nuclear Fusion Act is officially law.
THIRD NEW REPORTER: These polls are the latest and greatest sign of diminishing support for President Shepherd.
NEW REPORTER: ... Christmas Day opening for the third entry in the Cypher Rose franchise, which raked in a staggering two hundred million dollars...
KRIS MIDDENDORF: We feel very lucky to be here. It hasn’t been easy, but... we get to be here. That means a lot.
CHRIS WATTS: Only five days into 2032, and things are already off to a bad start for President Shepherd.
WNS REPORTER: The New Year’s Day celebrations...
THIRD NEW REPORTER: ... to mark the two year anniversary of the destruction of Boston.
CHRIS WATTS: South Korea today announced the launch of an orbital satellite armed with a high energy laser capable of targeting objects on the Earth’s surface.
WNS REPORTER: ... McCandless’s third book, is a bestseller in record time...
THIRD NEW REPORTER: Though the South Korean government insists that the device, dubbed “Sky Cannon,” will only be used for self-defense, many are saying it could be the first step in a cycle of escalation...
CHRIS WATTS: ... record-breaking profits for Europe’s...
ANDREA SHEPHERD: I know it can feel like every day is a new crisis. But I promise you: America’s best days are still head of us. The best is yet to come.
(The music builds and builds, finally reaching a cacophonous crescendo.)
(Then… all sounds fade away, replaced by the sound of a helicopter’s rotating blades.)
PILOT: U.S.S. Doris Miller, HSC 14. Over Spot Two.
ATC: (over the radio) HSC 14, on FATO, cleared to land.
PILOT: On FATO cleared to land, HSC 14.
(The helicopter sets down. A seat belt is unbuckled. A door opens and there’s a footstep as someone exits the aircraft. There’s faint sounds of waves around them - we are on a boat.)
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: Ma’am. Welcome to the USS Doris Miller. My name is Admiral Winterbourne, I’m in charge of the Second Fleet. Welcome to the North Atlantic.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Thank you, Admiral. Glad to be on your aircraft carrier.
(Admiral Winterbourne and Claudia Skinner walk a ways together. They step into a corridor and shut the door behind them.)
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: How was the flight, ma’am?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: It got me here fast, it me here in one piece, it got me here without making me throw up.
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: Two of those three and we call that a good day. We’ve set up your quarters in the aft deck, if you want some time to rest.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: No, I should start getting ready. Do we know when they’re supposed to get here?
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: They’re here already.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: They’re here? Both of them?
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: Three of them, actually. The Captain’s with her people, but we could get her here fast if need be.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: No, she’s... she’s someone else’s problem. At least for now. Do you have somewhere private I can talk to them?
ADMIRAL WINTERBOURNE: We’ll set up a room for you. Whose head do you want first?
(A metallic door opens. We are now in a different space - a meeting room that they’ve arranged somewhere on the ship. Skinner lets out a low sigh.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Hello again. It’s good to see you.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, it’s been a minute. Come in, Miss Skinner.
(Skinner walks over towards Amy.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: How have you been, Miss Stirling?
AMY STIRLING: About as well as I could be, given the circumstances. You?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Oh, I’m having all sorts of fun.
(Skinner takes a seat.)
AMY STIRLING: So... what? Do we just... get into it? Again?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: We just get into it. Again.
AMY STIRLING: Okay. Sure. Where do you want to start?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: If I had to take a guess? You take a twelve ounce glass. You muddle in lime, mint, baker’s sugar, six or seven turns ought to do it. You put in a lime slice, then crushed ice. Add in Cointreau, add in Bacardi, and you top it off with a not too-bubbly mineral water. A San Pellegrino would do nicely.
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: What in the fuck was that?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: That... was the recipe for a truly outstanding mojito.
(A pause - then Amy scoffs.)
AMY STIRLING: Oh. Sure. I get it. I might swap out the Cointreau for white rum.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: That’s because you’re a tasteless heathen.
AMY STIRLING: Born and raised, Miss Skinner. Never forget it.
(A small pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Okay.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah... we talked about mojito recipes...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: So now...
(Skinner turns on a tape recorder.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: This is Claudia Skinner. This is information session number one for Operation Critias. It is... two minutes after midnight, local time, on July Fourth, 2032.
AMY STIRLING: Happy Independence Day.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: We are... two and a half weeks into the Atlantic Crisis. (Clears her throat.) Miss Stirling... to start with, I would like to talk to you about the past two years. I’d like to talk to you about the events of June seventeenth. And, oh yes, little thing, I’d like to talk about maybe finding a way to stop this whole magic war thing that we’re hurtling towards. How does all of that sound for this evening’s program?
AMY STIRLING: I think... that’s as good a place as any to begin. Let’s get started.
(The scene fades away as we go into our opening titles music.)
ANNOUNCER: Audacious Machine Creative Presents: The Harbingers. Created by Gabriel Urbina. Episode 17: “The Perfect Opening Line.”
ACT ONE
(From far away, we hear a hazy voice.)
VOICE: Miss Stirling? Miss Stirling?
(There’s a woosh, and the scene around us comes into focus. We’re in a television studio. Jazzy music plays around us.)
AIDE: Miss Stirling, we’re ready for you
AMY STIRLING: Hmm? Oh my - sorry, I was - I was a million miles away.
AIDE: That’s all right. Here, walk this way.
(Amy gets to her feet and starts walking, following the aide.)
NARRATOR: New York City, ANM Studios. June third, 2032.
AIDE: Here we are.
(She’s led through a door and into a set. Crew members mill about. Amy takes a seat a desk which is laid out before a small array of cameras.)
CHRIS WATTS: Miss Stirling.
AMY STIRLING: Mr. Watts.
CHRIS WATTS: Please, have a seat. We’re so glad you could be here.
AMY STIRLING: Glad we could make it happen.
DIRECTOR: Twenty seconds.
AMY STIRLING: Are you going to throw some weird bullshit my way?
CHRIS WATTS: Not any more than is necessary. You gonna shill for your little friend?
AMY STIRLING: As much as is necessary.
DIRECTOR: In five, four, three, two...
(The opening jingle for The Watts Report starts playing.)
CHRIS WATTS: Good evening, and welcome to the Watts Report. Tonight: a special broadcast. Two years ago, America experienced a tragedy unlike any it has ever known. A whole city gone in the blink of an eye due to one man’s reckless use of magic. Since then, there’s been questions, recriminations, and grief, but few definitive answers about how we go forward. Today, as we look back on the Boston Disaster, we are joined by one of the people who is closest to these tragic events. Amy Stirling, welcome to the Watts Report.
AMY STIRLING: Thank you, Chris, thrilled to be here.
CHRIS WATTS: Miss Stirling, let’s get right to it. You were one of only three survivors on that horrible day. You’ve spent most of the past two years speaking about your experiences and helping to raise funds for the city’s reconstruction, which is very commendable. You also, it must be said, have a long history with the man responsible for the loss of Boston. How do you look back on - ?
AMY STIRLING: I’m sorry, Chris, but no, I don’t have a relationship with the man who was responsible for what happened to Boston.
CHRIS WATTS: I’m sorry? It is well documented -
AMY STIRLING: The man who was responsible was Lawrence Donahue. He attacked the facility, he caused the damage that destabilized Project Vesper. Donahue sentenced millions to die - Adam made the hardest choice in the world and thanks to him that number was reduced by a factor of tens.
CHRIS WATTS: But he was the one who cast the spell, wasn’t he?
AMY STIRLING: He was, but -
CHRIS WATTS: And he was working with Athena to create this dangerous generator, wasn’t he?
AMY STIRLING: He was, yes, but I -
CHRIS WATTS: And Miss Stirling, you’ve been an outspoken critic of the laws restricting the use and development of nuclear fusion in the wake of this tragedy. Why is that?
AMY STIRLING: Because I don’t support things that make no sense! Mmm. Look - every physicist on the planet will tell you that Vesper was one of its kind. That it was doing things no other reactor was doing. To simply turn our backs on a technology that could provide clean, efficient energy when -
CHRIS WATT: And simple yes or no: should we be developing the technology that led to this disaster?
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: Yes, we should be pursuing this technology, because what actually led to the disaster was the violent, religious fundamentalist.
CHRIS WATTS: Interesting. We actually have someone that might have a valuable perspective on this. Joining us now via satellite uplink, Congressman Hunter Kane.
(They are now connected to a live feed of Hunter Kane.)
CHRIS WATTS: Congressman, welcome back to the show.
HUNTER KANE: Thank you, Chris, always a pleasure.
CHRIS WATTS: Now, you spearheaded the charge to restrict the proliferation of nuclear fusion in the wake of this disaster. Was too harsh?
HUNTER KANE: Chris, if anything, it wasn’t harsh enough. And I think Miss Stirling needs to decide what her argument even is. With one hand she tells us, it wasn’t Dr. Blackwell’s fault, it was the reactor exploding. With the other, she says this technology is safe. Which one is it?
AMY STIRLING: That’s not what I’m -
HUNTER KANE: A city is gone, and hundreds of thousands are dead. The worst thing that could happen now - the thing that so many Democrats want to happen - is for there to no accountability. Like it was just some natural disaster, rather than a man-made tragedy. Not on my watch. There’s gonna be a reckoning for everything and everyone that led us to Boston.
CHRIS WATTS: Miss Stirling? Thoughts?
AMY STIRLING: I’m all about responsibility. I admire the way that Adam has answered for his part in what happened. But I think the congressman is learning all the wrong lessons. For four hundred years, Boston was synonymous with education, discovery, and revolution. To turn our back on this man and this technology isn’t honoring its spirit, it’s a capitulation to fear and to bloodlust. We are better than that.
CHRIS WATTS: Miss Stirling, you’ve spoken out at rallies and events in support of the fringe cause of amnesty for Doctor Blackwell. You really think he should be released?
AMY STIRLING: I do, because -
CHRIS WATTS: Congressman?
HUNTER KANE: He pulled a trigger and half a million people died, Chris. In ninety years no one man has been responsible for the deaths of so many Americans. He had his day in court, now let him do his time. And Miss Stirling, I gotta ask: you’ve canceled shows, a whole tour this past year... how long has it been since you’ve performed?
AMY STIRLING: What does that have to do with - ?
HUNTER KANE: It’s been two years, hasn’t it? Ever since Boston? Well, I think you’re an incredibly talented woman and a brilliant entertainer. And I think you should get back to it and let those of us who have actually been elected focus on the politics. Before more people get hurt, please.
AMY STIRLING: Okay, that is - can I just say - ?
CHRIS WATTS: No, sorry, we need to go to commercial. Congressman, thank you for your time, and best of luck with the election in November.
HUNTER KANE: Thank you, Chris, always a pleasure.
CHRIS WATTS: We’ll be back right after this.
(A short jingle as the show goes to commercial.)
DIRECTOR: And... we’re out.
(Amy lets out a low exhale.)
CHRIS WATTS: Just between us... you really think Blackwell will ever see the light of day again?
AMY STIRLING: Mark my words, Chris: whatever it takes? Adam Blackwell is going to be a free man again. Trust me.
(The scene transitions back to the meeting room on the ship.)
AMY STIRLING: It had been two years of... that. Of raising funds, of doing what I could to help the victims, of speaking wherever anyone would let me.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Two years of championing the cause of Adam being pardoned and released from prison.
AMY STIRLING: Hearts and minds, right? But... well, it had mostly been two years of nobody listening to me.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And then... June seventeenth.
AMY STIRLING: Wait, wait, before we get into all of that... I need to ask. (A pause.) I... I get why I have to be here. I’m here because of everything. I’m here because Eddie Rowbotham quit his job. I’m here because with Eckerberg gone she took over, and now I find myself longing for the Golden Age of Jerome Fucking Eckerberg. I’m here because I’m at the center of this mess. Why are you here, Ms. Skinner?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Careful, Ms. Stirling, it’s starting to feel like you’re not happy to see me.
AMY STIRLING: What, the person who every time I speak to her it means something’s gone spectacularly wrong with my life? No, come on, I’m besides myself to be back with you. No really. What are you doing here? How is this one in your jurisdiction?
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Well... okay: you know what the law really hates?
AMY STIRLING: Crime?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Oh, no. Crime is fine, we know how to deal with crime. The law hates... unique. The law hates new.
AMY STIRLING: Because...?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Because by definition, we don’t know what to do with unique. And this situation that we find ourselves in right now is very unique. So I’ve been asked to come in and see if I can figure out a way out of these waters.
AMY STIRLING: We’ve had things like this in the past.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: No, we haven’t. Not with one of you involved. Look, Miss Stirling.... maybe I’m only here because in the eyes of the US Government, the last time something like this happened? I got a magician who could have snapped his fingers and sent half the DOJ to the sun to actually play ball. Maybe they think I can find a way to pull that particular rabbit out my hat for a second time. Who knows, maybe I can. Either way... I’m gonna try my best here. After all... there’s a lot of people’s lives on the line. All right?
AMY STIRLING: ... yeah. All right. June seventeenth, then?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: June seventeenth, please. Where were you when you got the call?
AMY STIRLING: New York. I was at home, with Kris.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And how were things with your lovely husband?
AMY STIRLING: Oh, you know... Same old, same old.
(The scene transitions to Kris and Amy’s apartment in New York. There’s a hectic, drumming music over the following:)
AMY STIRLING: What can I say to make you understand it’s not like that?!
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Oh, I don’t know. How about saying something, wouldn’t that be a nice start?
AMY STIRLING: I have been saying things, you ass!
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Well, then I guess it’s all my fault. As usual!
AMY STIRLING: It’s not your fault, it’s not my fault, it’s - it’s no one’s fault, it’s fate’s fault, it’s -
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Written in the stars?
AMY STIRLING: Don’t fucking say that! Not to me.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Someone has to. And if you want out? Say so. Say the word and I’m gone, you’ll never see me again.
(A pause… the angry drumming music fades away.)
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Aaaand that’s blackout, end of act two. You want to take a sec before the next scene?
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, sure.
(Some papers rustle as they both put down scripts.)
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Thanks again for helping me with this stuff, Amy. I really want to be off-book by the time rehearsals start up again.
AMY STIRLING: You do remember how much money Cypher Rose 3 made, right? You do not have to do some... little play about a couple’s marriage issues.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Okay, first of all? This “little” play is opening on Broadway. And it’s a new Erin Feist, she’s only the most exciting American playwright since Jackie Sibblies Drury.
AMY STIRLING: Sure, sure. And the whole... ten weeks playing bedroom scenes with a half-naked Nancy Grief has nothing to do with it, I’m sure.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Don’t tell me you’re jealous.
AMY STIRLING: Of course I’m jealous. I’m jealous of you. Have you seen Nancy? She’s a snack.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: And here I was thinking surely you’d run out of new ways to turn me on by now.
AMY STIRLING: Honey, I’m just getting started.
(They kiss.)
AMY STIRLING: Okay, shall we? I want to get to this frying pan scene I’ve heard so much about.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Sure. Oh, uh, wait, actually... some packages came for you, did you see them?
AMY STIRLING: No, I didn’t...
KRIS MIDDENDORF: I put them on the table, over by the...
(Amy walks towards a table, starts going through the contents of some packages that are there.)
AMY STIRLING: Thank you, give me just a... Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Something good?
AMY STIRLING: It’s from Karen, the latest from the site in Myanmar. They dug up three whole new tablets last week. Oh, this is great, it’s some kind of mythological narrative of... Oh, Adam is gonna love this.
(She flips through a few pages for a moment.)
AMY STIRLING: Shit, sorry, sorry. This is just -
KRIS MIDDENDORF: It’s okay.
(A phone starts ringing. We just hear it ring for a long moment.)
KRIS MIDDENDORF: Amy? Everything okay?
AMY STIRLING: I... hope so. But... here, I need to just - (Picks up the phone cal..) Stirling. (A pause.) Yeah...? (A pause.) Umm, okay, understood. Yes. (She hangs up.) Kris, I’m sorry, I... I need to go. Right now. I need to get on a train.
KRIS MIDDENDORF: A train? A train to where?
(There’s a blast of thunder. The scene is now a security checkpoint at the White House. Outside it’s pouring rain.)
NARRATOR: The White House. Four hours later.
GUARD: I’m sorry, Ms. Stirling.
AMY STIRLING: You gotta be kidding me.
GUARD: I’ll just need you to wait here for a few minutes while we -
AMY STIRLING: You have got to be kidding me. I was summoned here! I was told I had to come in - I walked fifteen minutes in the rain, and now you’re not gonna let me through?!
(A pause.)
GUARD: It’s gonna be a few more minutes.
AMY STIRLING: Ugh! You know, if I wanted to? I could make you want to let me through. I could make you take me right to the Oval Office.
(A figure is walking towards them. White House Chief of Staff Joseph Musa.)
JOSEPH MUSA: But you’re not going to... are you, Amy?
AMY STIRLING: ... no, I’m not.
JOSEPH MUSA: Good. I’ll see to Miss Stirling, Mike.
GUARD: Thank you, Mr. Musa.
JOSEPH MUSA: You got it. Come on, Amy.
(He waves her through the checkpoint. The two of them start towards the interior of the building together and the sound of rain grows more distant.)
AMY STIRLING: Thanks for the assist, Joe.
JOSEPH MUSA: Okay, for the seventeenth time? You absolutely cannot... did you canoe here or something?
AMY STIRLING: It’s raining, okay?! The car got stuck in traffic two blocks away, they told me it was an emergency, what do you want from me?
JOSEPH MUSA: ... right. As I was saying: Amy, if I ever catch so much as a hint of you using your powers around anyone in this building...?
AMY STIRLING: I’ll never be allowed within a hundred yards of your White House ever again, I know.
JOSEPH MUSA: Because...?
AMY STIRLING: ... too many people here are codeword classified.
JOSEPH MUSA: And...?
AMY STIRLING: ... I’m not. So me just “poking around” in people’s heads would compromise this little thing we call “national security.”
JOSEPH MUSA: Which would be...?
AMY STIRLING: ... bad. Yes. Anybody ever tell you you’re no fun?
JOSEPH MUSA: I’m the White House Chief of Staff, everyone tells me I’m no fun.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, well, I think you’re just worried I’m going to read your thoughts and find out what you really think about me.
JOSEPH MUSA: I think you’re an insufferable busy-body and you’ve got a weird nose.
AMY STIRLING: Hey, hey, my nose is aquiline and beautiful.
JOSEPH MUSA: And the rest of it?
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, it’s pretty much spot on. So, what’s going on?
JOSEPH MUSA: It’s a... little complicated. We’ll get into it in a moment.
AMY STIRLING: Fine, fine. I will hold my questions until we get to... get to... (She drifts off, noticing something…) Joseph, this... this isn’t the way to the Oval Office.
JOSEPH MUSA: No, it’s not.
AMY STIRLING: Where... where are we going?
JOSEPH MUSA: I’m gonna need your cell phone now.
AMY STIRLING: ... why? Joseph, where are we going right now?
(There’s some beeps from a keypad. A metal door opens, and the two of them step into a sleek, tactical space built around a conference table.)
NARRATOR: The White House Situation Room.
AMY STIRLING: Okay... this is new.
(Two figures are seated at the table. One of them gets to her feet.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Ms. Stirling. Thank you for joining us.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, no problem. What’s going on...?
(The second person gets to her feet.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Allow me to introduce Dr. Elsa Schuster, our National Security Advisor.
ELSA SCHUSTER: Ms. Stirling. Good to meet you.
AMY STIRLING: It’s good to meet you, doctor, but god I hate that I’m talking to a National Security person. Why am I talking to a National Security person?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Trust me, I’m not happy about it either.
ELSA SCHUSTER: Take a seat, Ms. Stirling. (Amy sits down.) Approximately five hours ago, NORAD satellite imaging noticed something curious. Could we pull up ASR-3-42 up on the wall, please?
(There’s a digital chirp as an image appears on a screen.)
ELSA SCHUSTER: This is every flight that was in the air over the North Atlantic today, as of 1:42 PM, Eastern time. If we could please isolate to the anomalous elements, please?
(Another digital chirp.)
ELSA SCHUSTER: Thank you. These are eleven flights that we have been tracking this afternoon, Miss Stirling. Mostly A380s or 777s, originated from the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Dominican Republic. Here they are at 1:42 PM.
(Another digital chirp.)
ELSA SCHUSTER: Here they are at 2:17.
(Another digital chirp.)
ELSA SCHUSTER: And here they are at 3:21. (Chirp.) Have you spotted the problem with these images, Miss Stirling?
AMY STIRLING: I... no, don’t think I -
ELSA SCHUSTER: A few more, then. Here’s 4:05 PM. (Chirp.) 5:15 PM. (Chirp) 6:06 PM. Do you see it now?
AMY STIRLING: ... no, I don’t think. Nothing about them seems to have changed in all that ti- ... which, when you think about it, is really weird for planes that are in the middle of a trans-Atlantic flight. Why are they not moving?
ELSA SCHUSTER: That is the quarter of a million dollar question. The half a million dollar question is...
AMY STIRLING: How many people are on those planes?
JOSEPH MUSA: They’re international jumbos. Mostly commercial passenger flights. By our best estimate? Just a little over six thousand souls, between the eleven of them.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: And for the million dollar question...?
AMY STIRLING: They’re... sort of in a circle, aren’t they? It’s not quite perfect, but... What are they around? Where are these...? Oh no.
ELSA SCHUSTER: Very good, Miss Stirling. They are... (Chirp) ... exactly where you are afraid they are.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: This is why we pulled you in. I’m sorry.
(Amy lets out a low breath.)
AMY STIRLING: So... Jacqueline Saint-Pierre, the world’s richest woman and only billionaire magician, just froze eleven airplanes in the airspace around the artificial island she’s built in the North Atlantic. Anyone else feel like this is the start of something really, really bad?
(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 the meeting room on the battleship.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Jacqueline Saint-Pierre. Born October thirteenth, 1991.
AMY STIRLING: The richest woman in the world. Third richest human, ever since a vacancy opened up there.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: What did you know about her?
AMY STIRLING: What, before she became a magician? Or before she became an international terrorist?
(Amy lets out a low breath.)
AMY STIRLING: She was an heiress. Or rather, the latest in a long line of heirs. Daughter of a French CEO and... a British fashion model or something. The Saint-Pierre’s had been wealthy for a while, they had some kind of construction conglomerate?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: La Compagnie de Saint-Pierre, Société Anonyme. Established in 1872.
AMY STIRLING: There you go. But they didn’t become pornographically rich until the forties, when they pretty much rebuilt all of France and Germany after World War 2. Which means that they were the sort of company that was in a place to do business immediately after the collapse of Vichy France, but let’s not worry about that right now.
(Skinner flips a page over among her notes.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: After her father’s death, she took up the reins of the empire, and set about modernizing it. She was twenty-seven at the time.
AMY STIRLING: But then, fast forward to October 2029, and she gets her hands on Shral Ta Alevia. **
CLAUDIA SKINNER: The Ring of the Skies. Back at the White House, when they found those tablets? You said, conservative guess, it lets you fly. Not conservative guess, it lets you manipulate gravity.
AMY STIRLING: Chalk up a win for “non-conservative.”
(Skinner flips another piece of paper over.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: I remember seeing this photo, the one she got Gregory Crewdson to take for her announcement. I remember thinking -
AMY STIRLING: “She looks like an angel. She literally looks like an angel, flying like that.” (A pause.) I thought so too. Even with all my... everything, I thought so too.
(A small pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: What about Atlantis?
AMY STIRLING: Ahh, her weird little island fiefdom.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Do you remember when you first heard about it?
AMY STIRLING: I don’t know... probably 2027, 2028? I kinda remember reading one of the early article about it. You know: “Crazy euro billionaire is building an artificial island in the middle of the Atlantic, cons France into picking up half the tab for the construction,” that kind of thing. At first it was just like... oh my god, another crazy billionaire vanity project that they’re wasting money on instead of doing something productive with it. They’re gonna spend twenty years building it and it’s gonna sink to the bottom of the ocean by 2050. Whatever.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: But then...
AMY STIRLING: But then the billionaire got magic powers. And it turns out construction projects go a lot faster when you can just opt out of the laws of physics. By the end of 2030, there was an artificial island city state five hundred miles North of Ponta Delgada. By the end of 2031, half a million people were living there.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Farmers, engineers, artists, educators... but above all else:
AMY STIRLING: Scientists. The best innovators out of America, Europe, Southeast Asia... a little technocrat paradise for everyone who ever wanted to go fast and break things. Or how might be really annoyed at their own country for embracing anti-science regulations...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: The city of tomorrow, today. That’s what she sold it as.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah, and then tomorrow became today. I spent a few hours sitting through some briefings, reading some reports, getting as caught up as I could be. It was a while before Andie and I could really talk.
(The scene fades to Amy sitting in a White House parlor.)
NARRATOR: The Blue Room at the White House. Later that night.
(Amy flips through some pages, glancing at the content on each one.)
AMY STIRLING: Okay... Okay... Well, that’s no good.
(She tosses the folder aside. A door opens and closes as President Andrea Shepherd enters.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Hey.
AMY STIRLING: Hey.
(A small pause.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: You want a drink?
AMY STIRLING: At a quarter to midnight? It’s a little early for me, but... ah, what the hell?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Coming right up.
(A few footsteps as Andrea Shepherd walks towards a bar in the back and starts fixing both of them a drink.)
AMY STIRLING: Thanks.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Don’t mention it. So... how have you been?
AMY STIRLING: Is that my friend asking or my president? (A pause.) ... sorry.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Still angry about that, huh?
AMY STIRLING: No. I mean, yes. I don’t fucking know. What was that thing you said, back in the Boston speech?
(Some footsteps as Andrea walks back towards Amy and hands her a drink.)
AMY STIRLING: There are some wounds we don’t recover from?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Some things we never get to forget. Here.
AMY STIRLING: Thanks. I think what happened with Adam is something I’m not going to recover from. Not really.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: But you understand why it had to happen, yeah?
AMY STIRLING: And you understand why I get to still be mad about it, yeah?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Well... to not recovering.
AMY STIRLING: Chin chin.
(They clink their glasses together and take a drink.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Okay. To business. Jacqueline Saint-Pierre. What do you think?
AMY STIRLING: I think this is scary. I think it could get all kinds of bad.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: What are the limits of her powers? How far can she go?
(Amy exhales.)
AMY STIRLING: I... I don’t know. We know she can fly, she can make other things fly. She can make things momentarily weightless, even huge things. That’s how she got that Bond villain island of hers built in half a year. I guess compared to that, freezing airplanes in the middle of the air’s just child’s play.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: But could she do... more? Something more destructive?
AMY STIRLING: … yeah? Probably. If she knows the right words? Well... sky’s the limit, I guess. Pun not intended.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: And does she know the right words? This isn’t an academic, she’s an industrialist, a businesswoman. You’re telling me she’s an expert in the inner workings of dead languages?
AMY STIRLING: She’s got people for that, she’s got - There’s this guy, Edmund Rowbotham. He’s a British academic, a linguist, and -
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Rowbotham? I know that name...
AMY STIRLING: ... you do? He, uh, he was the one that cracked Harbinger orientation, their... coordinates system, I guess you could call it. Adam was probably building off of his work when he...
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Oh. When he teleported the heart. Yeah. Right. He said Mr. Rowbotham was good.
(Amy gives a bit of a scoff.)
AMY STIRLING: Okay. Calling Eddie Rowbotham “good” is just Adam being Adam. He’s a genius, one of the best in the business, and...
ANDREA SHEPHERD: ... and Saint-Pierre has got him on her payroll now.
AMY STIRLING: I think she drove a literal dump truck full of money to his home to get him to leave Oxford. But... yeah. He’s been her top dead languages guy for two years now.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Oh, good. Amy? How do I stop one of you? This woman just used magic to kidnap six thousand people, and every inch of my gut is telling me this is just the beginning. She is dangerous and she is putting people’s lives on the line. How do I stop her?
(A pause, then…)
AMY STIRLING: I don’t know. Andie, I don’t know if... you can. You know what happens if you try to take one of our rings away. They go berserk, start going off at random. And I really don’t think the ring that fucks with gravity is a good one to roll the dice on.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: What if we didn’t try to take the ring? What if we just made... her go away?
(Amy lets out a low breath, thinking.)
AMY STIRLING: ... I don’t know. Maybe it would work. Or maybe it would make her ring go even more berserk. And then it’s really hard to say sorry and just take it back.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: When you got shot -
AMY STIRLING: I didn’t die, Andie. It’s different. I’m sorry, but... as far as I know, the only way to get one of these off our fingers? It’s if we willingly give it to someone else.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Yeah, somehow I doubt that’s happening any time soon.
(A pause, then Amy laughs a mirthless chuckle.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: What?
AMY STIRLING: Nothing, it’s just... well, you know who was trying to find a solution to all of this? Who spent a year researching how the old Harbinger Empire dealt with the problem of the wrong person getting magic powers? You know, before your DOJ sent him off to supermax?
(Andrea laughs a sad little laugh.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Right, right… god… you think he’d be willing to help out?
AMY STIRLING: I’d ask really, really nicely, if I were you.
(A door swings open. Joseph Musa and Elsa Schuster enter.)
JOSEPH MUSA: Madame president? There’s been some developments.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: What is it? What happened?
JOSEPH MUSA: Well, the good news is... the planes are down.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: They are?
JOSEPH MUSA: They were brought down from their cruising altitude. Brought down gently, as far as we can tell. Imagining has eleven out of eleven making successful water landings.
AMY STIRLING: Okay. That’s good.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: ... except...
JOSEPH MUSA: ... except there’s nothing around them for miles, except Atlantis. They’ve already dispatched boats to collect the passengers. It’s a safe bet to assume that they’ll be on the island shortly.
AMY STIRLING: Wait, but... why? Why bring them down, why not just keep them suspended while she... makes whatever weird point she’s trying to make?
JOSEPH MUSA: Probably because JSP needed to focus her attention on the other thing she just did.
ELSA SCHUSTER: Twelve minutes ago, SBX-2 picked up movement in Low Earth Orbit.
JOSEPH MUSA: Abrupt movement.
ELSA SCHUSTER: Four minutes later, an object crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, about fifty miles off the coast of Bermuda.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Was anyone hurt, anyone in immediate - ?
ELSA SCHUSTER: No, ma’am. The object fell far from all other human activity. That is not the problem.
AMY STIRLING: Then... what is the problem?
(Joseph hands President Shepherd a folder. She looks down at its contents.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Oh, fuck me.
JOSEPH MUSA: We haven’t been able to reach Seoul yet, but... Japan and the UK both back our findings.
AMY STIRLING: What... what is that?
ELSA SCHUSTER: That... is Sky Cannon.
AMY STIRLING: Sky Ca - the South Korean thing? The orbital weapon thing, the new experimental weapon thing, that Sky Cannon?
ELSA SCHUSTER: I can see why the president likes you, you are very quick.
AMY STIRLING: Okay, listen -
JOSEPH MUSA: No, everybody shut up and listen. Madam President: I’ve got a room downstairs with a dozen military ballistics experts all telling me the same thing. If Sky Cannon had just malfunctioned, developed some sort of mechanical fault? It would have gone into a decaying orbit, it would have gradually fallen to Earth. That’s not what happened.
ELSA SCHUSTER: What happened here is it was violently removed from its orbit. Like some enormous, invisible hand pulled it towards the Earth.
AMY STIRLING: No, but - why would JSP do this? What reason would she have to piss off the Koreans, isn’t it bad enough she’s about to have NATO knocking on her door? Isn’t this the stupidest thing she could do?
ANDREA SHEPHERD: No. It’s not. For the chess game she’s about to play? It’s the perfect opening move. It takes out a weapon before it can be used against her... and it shows the rest of us that she understands exactly what she’s doing. This is someone saying, “You don’t scare me.” This is someone saying, “Bring it the fuck on.”
(A mobile phone starts ringing. Schuster picks it up.)
ELSA SCHUSTER: Schuster. (A pause.) Send it up, please. (Hangs up.) Madame President, we’ve received a message from Atlantis. It should be up on the screen momentarily.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Good. Let’s see what Mademoiselle Saint-Pierre is looking to get out of this hissy fit...
(There’s a digital chime as an image appears on a screen that’s mounted on one of the walls.)
AMY STIRLING: That’s... no, that’s ridiculous. Is that a joke? That has to be a joke, right?
(A small pause.)
ANDREA SHEPHERD: Amy? If there’s a way to neutralize someone with a Harbinger ring? Find it. Now, please. In the meantime... I think I need to go order the Second Fleet to set up a blockade around the island of Atlantis.
JOSEPH MUSA: I think you’re right about that, Madame President.
ANDREA SHEPHERD: I’m sorry in advance everyone - I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
(The scene transitions back to the meeting room on the ship. Amy takes a deep breath.)
AMY STIRLING: If Jacqueline Saint-Pierre hadn’t stopped eleven planes on June Seventeenth. If Eddie Rowbotham hadn’t taught her how to speak the Language of the Stars. If Eckerberg hadn’t died and she hadn’t taken over his empire. If Boston hadn’t happened, if Adam hadn’t... (A bit of dark laughter.) But no. It all happened. And so...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Here we are.
AMY STIRLING: Yeah. Here we are. (A pause.) I was a grad student. You know? I studied tombs and dead languages, I was just...
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And now you’re on a warship, trying to figure out how to break an impasse between the superpowers of the world and a power-mad sorceress with the face of an angel.
AMY STIRLING: Hey on the upside? At least I’ve got a good lawyer on my side.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Okay, we’re done. Go get some rest.
AMY STIRLING: ... we’re done? That’s it?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: We’re done for tonight. You’ve given me... call it the first piece in the puzzle. Enough for me to start working. But before we go much further, I should talk to your more problematic half.
AMY STIRLING: Don’t call him that, please.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Our mutual friend, then. All right?
(A pause.)
AMY STIRLING: I - I’m sorry. I just... If we’re gonna do this? If we’re gonna do this again? I need to hear it. I need to hear it from you.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Miss Stirling -
AMY STIRLING: I need to hear you say... that we’re not gonna do it. (A pause.) We’re not going to give her what she wants. Right?
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: I’m going to do absolutely everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t come to that. But if I’m gonna figure out how to do that? I’m gonna need us to work together on this. And I’m gonna need you to trust me. Okay? (A pause.) Get some sleep, Miss Stirling. I... I think we’re all gonna need it.
AMY STIRLING: ... yeah. Yeah, all right.
(Amy gets up. Gets to the door. But doesn’t exit.)
AMY STIRLING: I’m... I’m glad you’re here, Miss Skinner. I’m glad it’s you.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... thank you, Miss Stirling. Good night.
(Amy leaves, shutting the door behind her. Skinner lets out a low breath.)
(The scene transitions to the deck of the ship. A door opens and closes. Claudia Skinner enters. We hear her take a deep breath, then an exhale. Then there’s some footsteps as someone joins her.)
JOSEPH MUSA: Claudia.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Joseph.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: It’s bad enough for you to be here?
JOSEPH MUSA: Yeah, it’s bad enough for me to be here. When’d you get in?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: A couple of hours ago.
JOSEPH MUSA: You talk to them yet?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: To Stirling, yes. He’s first thing tomorrow.
JOSEPH MUSA: Good.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: I... didn’t realize how close we’d be.
JOSEPH MUSA: Yeah, it’s a tight perimeter for the blockade.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: It’s... beautiful.
JOSEPH MUSA: It is. She built one hell of an island. (A pause.) So? What do you think?
CLAUDIA SKINNER: I don’t know yet.
JOSEPH MUSA: Well, you’re very smart. I have every faith you’ll figure it out.
(A pause.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Stirling’s worried. Worried you might give Jacqueline Saint-Pierre what she’s asking for. Should she be?
(A pause.)
JOSEPH MUSA: Hell of a thing. Seeing that first message, that day in the White House. (A pause.) “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m not going to do anything drastic. But I need you to take this seriously. I’ll release the planes and let everyone on them go... as soon as you release Adam Blackwell from prison and deliver him as a free man to the island of Atlantis.” Hell of a thing.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: You know, when I first heard you’d had him brought out here, I thought you might actually be considering giving into her demands. But then I realized... You can’t do that. It’d be giving an atom bomb over to a terrorist. So then what’s he doing here? There was about ten minutes where I thought, well... he can teleport things, he can teleport people. Maybe the idea is he can get the people from the planes off the island.
JOSEPH MUSA: Not a bad plan.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Not until you realize he’d need to get thousands of incantations pitch perfect, working off of targets he can’t see, without information he’d need... And even if he did pull it off, Saint-Pierre is supposed to just what? Go, “Oh well done, you got me, good show?” No, she’d do something more drastic, something scarier. Which leaves you with just... the sudden preemptive strike. Something that would destroy everything Jacqueline Saint-Pierre cares about, makes it all go away in the blink of an eye. And the threat of something like that might actually put the fear of God in her. But... those sorts of threats don’t work unless you have the weapon to back it up.
JOSEPH MUSA: Claudia -
CLAUDIA SKINNER: Why - !? Why am I here, Joseph?
JOSEPH MUSA: You’re here to help us find a way to bring some very scared people home and to do it without anyone getting hurt.
CLAUDIA SKINNER: And if that’s impossible? If I can’t do that, am I here because you think I’m one of the few people that could actually convince Adam Blackwell to teleport another city to the moon? Should I be worried, Joseph?
(Joseph Musa takes a long, slow breath.)
JOSEPH MUSA: Like I said: I have every faith in you, Claudia. After all, you’re very, very clever. (A pause.) I’ll be up for a while. If you need anything else. (A pause.) It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?
(Some footsteps as Joseph Musa departs.)
CLAUDIA SKINNER: ... yeah. A beautiful view.
(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 September 24th for Episode 18, "Good Grief." 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, Emmy Bean as Claudia Skinner, Sabrina Odigie as Andrea Shepherd, Andre Teamer as Joseph Musa, Ian Geers as Kris Middendorf, Krista D'Agostino as Elsa Schuster, Mark Soloff as Andrew Walker, Marsha Harman as Admiral Winterbourne, Pat King as Chris Watts, and Zach Valenti as Hunter Kane. It also featured the voices of D. Casselian, Emily Agy, Wesley Scott, Jeffrey Nils Gardner, and Ryan Schile. 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 September 10th, 1821, Italian linguist and aspiring archeologist Alessandra Levi presented her translation of nine stone tablets found on the Desolation Islands to the Accademia della Crusca in Florence. Though she was largely dismissed at the time, her work is now considered the first comprehensive model for the grammar and syntax of what came to be known as the Language of the Sun.
**A correction: In the original published version of this episode Amy says that JSP got her ring October of 2030. This has been corrected, so that Amy says was that JSP got her ring October of 2029. If you are one of the people who noticed the error in the original release, we tip our hat to your attention to detail.