Act 1, Scene 4: Still Waters run Deep

• Setting: Juno Station's Officers' mess. Basically a strip bar. But since this is a women owned business, the strippers are male. There is a little stripper stage with a dance pole. On it, a chunky boar (Sparky) wearing a sexy policeman outfit is dancing. Pounding music is playing. A bartender is tending a bar. There is a separee/booth at [2-1], separated with a transparent curtain from the rest of the joint. There is a single table with three seats. (The curtain is actually a force field that can be activated to shield out some noise and for added privacy). On the table is one giant bottle of sparkling boozamahol and drinking glasses.
• Stage setup:
• Backdrop: 3 panels showing Juno Station's Officer's mess (strip bar)
• On 2nd rail: Bar [4-5]
• On playrail: dance pole [6-7], Table in the separee/booth [1-2]
• Props: A giant bottle of boozamahol on the table in [2-1], Lyra's glass (Haku), Sorin's glass (Tigerseye), Sina's glass (o'wolf), Sina's tablet (o'wolf), Lyra's tablet (Haku), Huge Mountain of chocolate pudding (Fuaran, Kobato)
• Special effects: Force field curtain (Zefiro)
• PreRec: Video "DARWIN cargo hold" with Sina, Trent, Soldier 1, Soldier 2 (requires 2 soldier's weapons, Sina's gun, container with door and keypad, tablet with hand scanning animation, apparatusamabob, counting counter, plug)
• Puppets: Stripper "Sparky" (Curry, Jyanon |Sparky), Bartender (Nex| Pine nuts rabbit), Sina (Tani, o'wolf |Sina), Sorin (Eisfuchs, Tigerseye |Tigerfox), Lyra (Pan, Haku |Lyra), Guard 1 (Fuaran |Ironwill Wolf), Guard 2 (Kobato |Bailey Shepherd), Guest 1 (Kayjay |Potami hog), Guest 2 (Reesa |Eva Marten), Guest 3 (Lynard |Savannah Serval), Guest 4 (Luno |Monica Marten)

TECH PREROLL

LX 0099 - Work Light OFF (Static Playbacks)

LX 1400 - STANDBY for GO (Link LX 0002 - DBO with dim blue reading light)

**Scene starts with Video Playback**

Recall: 114	Clean	Intercom	Helmet
Eisfuchs	**OFF**	-	-
Pan	**OFF**	-	-
Tani	**OFF**	-	-

Check Levels
Unmute Desk

DIALOG

Stripper is at the pole on the playrail [6-7], Bartender is at the bar in [4] on 2nd level, Guest 1 at the bar [4], Guest 2, Guest 3 and Guest 4 are watching the stripper

Curtain - open

Sina, Lyra and Sorin are sitting at the table in the booth [1-2].

lights stay out

START OF VIDEO

The video shows a scene in the cargo hold of the DARWIN from the perspective of various static surveillance cameras. Sina, Trent and the two soldiers are standing around one of the containers. The soldiers are keeping Trent at gunpoint.

Sina: "So this is the bomb container?"

Trent: "Yes."

Sina: "Okay. Open it."

Soldier 1 grabs the "door handle" of the container

Trent: "NO! STOP! Are you crazy? One wrong move, and we're gonna get blown to bits! Let me do this!"

Soldier 1: "How do we know this is not a trap?"

Trent: "Listen brainiac, in case you haven't noticed, we're all sitting in the same boat. I want to die as little as you do."

Sina: "He's right. Let the man do his job!"

Soldier 1: "I hope you know what you're doing."

Soldier 1 steps back

Trent slides the container open, revealing a giant technical apparatusamabob, a keypad with a screen, and a cliched count down counter, counting down the counter.

Trent (takes a deep breath): "Here we go ... step one, disarm the watchdog."

Trent pulls out a plug

Alarm beeper

Soldier 1 and 2 raise their guns

Soldier 2: "WHAT WAS THAT?"

Trent: "You mean apart from the moment you shat your pants?"

Soldier 2: "I'll show you who ..."

Sina: "Will you shut up!"

Soldiers lower their guns again.

Trent turns back to the machine

Trent: "Step two, reset the trigger program."

Trent enters an 8 digit code into a keypad

Beep Boop Beep Beep Boop Boop Beep Boooop

A second alarm beeper goes off

Soldier 1 (to Sina): "General Stillwater, with all due respect, but you can't just stand there and ..."

Sina: "I said **shut up**!"

Trent: "Thank you. Now, step three, deactivate the bomb."

Trent puts his paw on the screen

The screen does a "scanning animation"

%SND% Happy Bleep Bloop

The screen shows a green "disarmed" message

All the warning sounds shut off

Trent: "All right. That's it. She's all yours."

Trent hands the tablet over to Sina.

Sina: "Thank you."

Trent: "You're welcome. I hereby apply for political asylum at Juno Station."

Sina: "Before I grant you asylum, I have to know who sent you."

Trent: "Hey, that was not part of our deal!"

Sina: "The deal just changed."

Trent: "Look, if I told you who sent me, you could as well just shoot me."

Sina: "Alright, if that's what you want ..."

%ACT% Sina shoots Trent.

Sina: "Fucking idiot."

END OF VIDEO

Eisfuchs: Clean - ON
Pan: Clean - ON
Tani: Clean - ON

AMB-1401 - Club Noise
MUS-1401 - Music Cue 1

LX 1410 - The lights go on and reveal that the preceding video was actually playing on a tablet computer, and Sina was showing it to Lyra and Sorin

Sina and Sorin are both absolutely smashed. Lyra seems suspiciously sober.

Sorin bursts into laughter

Sina laughs

Sina (drunk): "And that's how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb!"

Sorin (tipsy): "Oh, what an idiot indeed! *giggles* What the hell did he expect?"

Sina: "To the bomb!"

Sorin: "To the bomb!"

Lyra (dry): "Whatever ..."

Sina, Sorin and Lyra raise their glasses and drink

Sorin slams the glass down

Sorin: "Ahhh! Hell yeah! What's up Lyra? Not in the mood for a party?"

Lyra: "Yeah, I dunno. I know he was a bad guy, but it still feels wrong to me."

Sina: "Seriously? That guy tried to murder us! He even tried to kill you twice! You're incredibly lucky that you're still alive!"

Lyra: "Sorry for having a conscience."

Sina: "For that guy our deal was off the moment that bomb stopped ticking. Simple game theory."

Sorin: "She'd also give you a witty quote from 'The art of war' ... but she's too drunk to remember!"

Sina (laughs): "Oh, shuddap and drink!"

Sina, Sorin and Lyra raise their glasses again, and drink

Sorin: "Aahh!"

Lyra: "Ah, yeah, your tactical training, I get it. It's all professional. Killing people while delivering funny one liners. Which school did you go to again? Schwarzenegger University?"

Sorin: "Geez, lighten up! We're not on Earth any more! This is how you survive out here!"

Lyra: "Yeah, and it's also why I'd rather go back home than stay here."

Sorin: "But that's not an option right now, so you better get used to it."

Sina: "And what the hell, don't you ever get drunk? You had twice as much boozamahol as Sorin here, and he's got some training!"

Lyra: "I'm afraid not. Artificial liver. Breaks it right down the moment it hits my bloodstream. And that means no buzz for me."

Sina leans forward, in sincere sympathy

Sina: "I am ... SO ... SO ... sorry ..."

Sorin: "I'm sure she knows some weird ass engineer in the belt who can make that adjustable ..."

Lyra sighs, and gets up from her chair.

Lyra: "Alright, I think it's time to call it a night ..."

Sorin: "Oh come on, please stay. I'll turn the belter humor down a notch for you, okay?"

Sina: "Today's the first day of your new life after all!"

Lyra: "Yes it is, and you know what? It's damn scary! I've never been farther away from Earth than the moon. I'm homesick! Like crazy!"

Sorin: "Everyone here had to pay a price to stay alive, you know?"

Lyra: "I've never been much fun at parties. Sorry I can't just wash my worries away with booze like you."

Sorin: "Your iron heart saved my life. Maybe one day your iron liver will, too."

Sina: "Who knows what other hidden superpowers you have?"

Lyra: "Apart from being the designated driver? Not many. Well, at least you can sell my parts for scraps when I die."

Everybody chuckles

Sina: "See, that's the spirit."

Lyra sits down again

Lyra: "You two act like you're high school buddies."

Sina: "Almost. We've known each other for a long time. Sorin was one of the very first Pioneers. Back then we were still that tightly knit band of brothers and sisters. Today I can barely keep track of who's working in my own office."

Lyra pulls out her tablet, and scrolls through a long text.

Lyra: "Sina Stillwater. Adopted daughter of Meredith Stillwater, CEO of Stillwater Dynamics and John Stillwater, UN Military Officer. Military college graduate, best in her class. Spotless military career, leading off-world police operations with the rank of a master sergeant."

Sina: "Yeah, that's my Wikipedia article, what's your point."

Lyra: "One day, you defected to the dark side, gave up everything you ever lived for and decided to fight the system you once swore by. But why? What turned Sina Stillwater the patriot into Sina Stillwater the revolutionary?"

Sina: "THE POWER OF LOVE!"

Sorin: "Shut up Sina, you're drunk!"

Sina: "I'm serious! The man of my dreams, and he opened my eyes to the truth!"

Sorin: "Sina, quit the bullshit."

Sina: "All right, story time. PRIVACY PLEASE!"

SND-1401 - Privacy ON
MUS-1402 - Music Cue 2
AMB-1401 - FADE

The force field curtain in [2-3] flickers to life

Sina: "Listen up, 'cause I'm gonna tell you something that even good old Sorin here may not know about me."

Sorin: "Uh oh."

Sina: "They were setting up that new mining operation ... Davi ... Something. In the Asteroid belt. It was boring as hell, so I decided to have a little fun. I had a crush on one of the workers in the setup crew, and so I asked him out on a date. We ended up spending a lot of time together. And he taught me how different the world looked from a miner's perspective. I kept getting new assignments all over the system, but we wanted to stay together. So I had to choose between him and the military."

MUS-1403 - Music Cue 3

Lyra: "So it was more the power of hormones."

Sina: "No! I loved him. And his simple way of life. Honest work. No politics. The whole career madness had worn me out. All I wanted was my own home and kids. A family like in the old days. But the powers that be just couldn't tolerate it. My family had my future carefully laid out for me, and they hated my change of plans. I was denied permission to have my own child, and then one day, Albio disappeared."

Lyra: "Albio?"

MUS-1404 - Music Cue 4

Sina: "Albio Sengo. My love. The day they picked me up to have my pregnancy terminated was the last time I saw him. His workplace deserted. His name removed from the records. His CommNet account ... dead. They did not even give him a chance to leave a message. That's when I knew I could never be a part of that system again. I had been fighting for the wrong side all my life."

Lyra: "But if you're officially 'the other side' now, why didn't Earth ever try to attack you?"

Sina: "I don't know. If I had to guess, it's because there's no profit in blowing me up."

Lyra: "Until now, apparently."

Sina: "That would almost be a compliment. And it will be my pleasure to send this little gift back to Earth."

Lyra: "Can we PLEASE talk about this again properly when we're all sober? And this is really not a good time to make decisions of that magnitude ..."

Sorin: "That's the designated driver talking right there!"

Lyra: "I have friends and family on Earth! It's my home!"

MUS-1405 - Music Cue 5

Sorin: "Lyra is right, let's postpone the launch until we all can think straight again."

Lyra: "Thank you."

Sorin: "Please excuse her. The power sometimes gets to her head when she's drunk."

Sina: "Feh!"

Sorin: "Let's talk about something else. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Lyra: "Some sugar might help."

Sina picks up her tablet again and taps and swipes.

Sina: "That reminds me we still have to do some business. Here's a quote for containers BZ21 rows three to six. Do we have a deal?"

MUS-1406 - Music Cue 6 (business)

Sina hands the tablet to Sorin

Sorin: "HELL YEAH WE DO!"

Sorin taps the screen

Siri's voice: "Transaction approved".

Lyra: "Hey, wait a minute that's my ..."

Sina: "Relax, you're both getting fifty-fifty, alright? DEACTIVATE PRIVACY."

The privacy shield flickers off

MUS-1402 - Privacy Off
AMB-1402 - Club Noises 2

Lyra: "Sorin ... what's in BZ21 row three to six?"

Sina: "CHOCOLATE PUDDING FOR EVERYONE!"

MUS-1407 - Electro Party

The people break out into a party frenzy

SND-1403 - Applause! Cheering!

Everybody Celebrates!

Guard 1 and Guard 2 wearing cook's hats come in, swipe all objects off the table, and replace them with a GIANT MOUNTAIN OF CHOCOLATE PUDDING

Sina digs in!

Sorin digs in!

Lyra digs in!

LX 1499 - Fade out

Curtain - close

Mute all but Video

LX 0099 - Work Light ON (Static Playbacks)