#s9s2

[imiya]

[zrtranscripts]

Season 9, Side Mission 2: The Killing Moon

Once in a Blue Moon

~

DR. WHITMORE: Hm. The desert looks so beautiful at night, doesn't it, Technician Five? Almost like a moonscape. Being inside Red Scorpion feels so much like America that sometimes I forget we're in Tunisia.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Quiet, Whitmore. I need to send a sitrep. Red Scorpion, this is Corporal Anderson. I'm with Dr. Whitmore and Lab Tech Five, en route to the launch site. I'm armed, and Five is equipped with a headset for emergency use only. Over.

RADIO OPERATOR: Copy that, Echo. Proceed with caution.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Roger that. Over and out. Whitmore, Five, pay attention. This is a routine maintenance operation. As you know, only a few of Red Scorpion's ballistic missiles are still functional. This one is concealed in the desert, the closest we have to the border. We need to keep it in good working order, ready to fire on Maghreb Protectorate territory at a moment's notice.

DR. WHITMORE: Corporal, I know we've been over this, but are the Protectorate really our enemies? Couldn't we work together? Grow crops, maybe, or protect people from zombies?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: You're a rocket scientist, Whitmore! Let the soldiers worry about tactics.

SERGEANT FELIS: Technician Five, it's Sergeant Felis, as we discussed. Don't react. Corporal Anderson mustn't know how much you and I have spoken. If she knew of our shared desire for peace, I would be gone, and with me, Red Scorpion's best hope of avoiding war with the Maghreb Protectorate.

I wanted to thank you, Five, for taking this risk, for being my eyes and ears in the desert. I hope this mission truly is a maintenance operation, but if matters escalate, I will need you to help me avert bloodshed.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Five, Whitmore, we're on a schedule, and there have been zombie sightings in this area. Run!

~

DR. WHITMORE: The wind's blowing the clouds across the moon. [sighs] I remember watching the moon landings. I sat on our living room carpet, thinking it wouldn't be long before mankind was visiting other worlds and learning from their people. I wanted to be a part of it. But by the time I got to NASA, Apollo was over and it didn't seem like we'd ever get back to the moon, let alone other planets. Corporal, couldn't we try talking to the Maghreb Protectorate?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: I respect you, Whitmore. People like you made the United States the first nation that ever put a man on the moon. But for all we know, the United States is gone and Red Scorpion is all that's left. Our priority is preserving our nation's last bastion in honor of the brave Americans who died in the apocalypse. That's why we have to defend our soil.

DR. WHITMORE: I suppose.

SERGEANT FELIS: Whitmore's a good person, Five, but he's always been afraid to step out of line. I know you're friends, that you've worked together for years, but you must understand why I came to you for help, not him. [sighs] Anderson's a good person too, in her way, but she doesn't understand what war truly means, that there's no easy win, no victors, no glory.

DR. WHITMORE: Oh, the wind's picking up.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Then we need to get to the launch site ASAP. Don't need sand getting in the missile. Come on!

~

DR. WHITMORE: Those cliffs are spectacular! Layers of sedimentary rock millions of years old. I took a geology class at MIT, but I never thought I'd work somewhere like this. How did you end up at Red Scorpion, Corporal?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Got the call, Whitmore, same as everyone.

DR. WHITMORE: I've been thinking about that call. Things were going badly at NASA when I got it. All my work had come to nothing. I had... well, I wouldn't call it a crisis, exactly, but I felt detached from the world, like an astronaut drifting into space. Red Scorpion’s call pulled me back to earth.

They needed a rocket scientist when they thought the fungus might be extraterrestrial, to figure out how it might have been transported here and whether it was the start of an invasion. [laughs] But... why me? I was a mess. Lately, I've been wondering if they wanted a mess. Someone with nowhere else to go, someone who wouldn't mind that we wouldn't ever leave.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: They wanted American heroes, people who'd sacrifice anything for the nation. People who don't look back. People who never ask questions, like Five here. Wait, can you hear that?

DR. WHITMORE: Zombies! Hundreds of them, coming around the base of that cliff. Oh God, the smell of them! All this time cooped up in the base, I'd forgotten what they look like, the way the flesh sags from the bones. What do we do?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: A McShell.

DR. WHITMORE: What?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: A tactical maneuver, foreign intel. Whitmore, Five, run to the left of that gully. I'll go right. Match my speed, maintaining an equal distance from the horde. The zombies will run in between us right into the gully.

DR. WHITMORE: Are you sure?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Just do it, Whitmore! Run!

~

DR. WHITMORE: We did it, Five! The horde is down in the gully below us, like a river of zombies. What did Anderson call that maneuver, the McShell? I wonder where it came from. Speaking of Anderson, she must be on the other side. Oh, it's too far away, I can't see her. Five, we're out here in the desert alone, two scientists without our armed military escort. I hope there aren't more zombies out here. [Five’s headset crackles] Five, are you all right? You've got a strange look on your face.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Technician Five, this is Anderson. The McShell maneuver was successful. I'm in an outcrop on the other side of the gully, watching you and Whitmore through field glasses. Activate your headset speaker so Whitmore can hear me. Whitmore, Five, listen up.

DR. WHITMORE: Oh, Anderson! She's alive!

CORPORAL ANDERSON: There's a zombie-filled gully between me and the missile. I can shoot a path through, but not fast, and the launch window's closing.

DR. WHITMORE: The, uh, launch window?

CORPORAL ANDERSON: That's right, Whitmore. Look west. You see that silo on the horizon?

DR. WHITMORE: The vast silver cylinder.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Affirmative. That's a Maghreb Protectorate grain store, their largest. You're going to use the ballistic missile to destroy it. A preemptive strike.

DR. WHITMORE: You said this was just a routine maintenance operation!

CORPORAL ANDERSON: I said what I had to. There are Protectorate sympathizers at Red Scorpion.

DR. WHITMORE: But we can't destroy a food supply, people will starve! Innocents!

CORPORAL ANDERSON: There are always casualties in war, Whitmore. We have to defend what's left of America.

DR. WHITMORE: But what will -

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Whitmore, don’t argue! The launch window's closing. Run!

~

DR. WHITMORE: Can you see it, Five? The missile, the tip of it cresting the horizon. What are we going to do? We can't destroy that grain store! But if we disobey, we can't go back to base. And we can't survive out here, we don't have supplies. Or any way to defend ourselves, or anything to eat, or any water, or...

SERGEANT FELIS: Five, can you hear me?

DR. WHITMORE: Sergeant Felis, is that you coming out of Five's headset?

SERGEANT FELIS: Ah, Dr. Whitmore. So you can hear me. Doctor, Anderson's order did not come from me. There are many at Red Scorpion who believe war will help them rebuild America, but war does not build, it's only destroys. For a long time, I have used persuasion and subterfuge to keep a fragile peace with the Protectorate. Dr. Whitmore, you must help Technician Five sabotage the missile and save the Protectorate’s silo! In exchange, I can give you means to build a new life far from Red Scorpion. Will you help us?

DR. WHITMORE: Five, you knew about this? Hm. I... I think I understand. We've been friends a long time, but it's hard to trust anyone in that place. And I've been, well, I suppose I've let myself drift with the tide, lost sight of my compass. You really think this is the right thing to do, to risk everything for a nation that might shoot us on sight? Hm. Then I'm in.

SERGEANT FELIS: Good. Get to the silo.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Five, Whitmore, I found my way through the horde quicker than I thought. I'm on the other side of the gully and there's a shortcut to the launch site. We’ll rendezvous there and you can launch the missile. Do you copy?

DR. WHITMORE: We... we copy.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Roger that. Over and out.

DR. WHITMORE: What do we do? She's armed. We'll have to do what she says.

SERGEANT FELIS: Only if she’s there. We need to get to the launch site before her. Run!

~

DR. WHITMORE: We've made it! We've beaten Anderson to the launch site. Look at the missile, Five, like a miniature Saturn V, ready to venture into the heavens. Except it'll never make it there. We need to sabotage it.

CORPORAL ANDERSON: Whitmore, Five, do not launch that missile. Repeat, do not launch that missile.

DR. WHITMORE: Yes! I mean, affirmative. Did you hear that, Five? We're not going to destroy the grain store!

CORPORAL ANDERSON: That's right, Whitmore. There's no need. The horde’s heading through the gully towards the Protectorate. It should take out a few hundred of their people, maybe even contaminate the grain store, all without wasting one of our last ballistic missiles. So stand down. Over and out.

DR. WHITMORE: I can't believe it! Sergeant Felis, can't we do something?

SERGEANT FELIS: I wish we could, Doctor. So many lives will be lost. The only consolation is that this way, the Protectorate will have no reason to suspect Red Scorpion of interference. War will be averted for now. I regret that I cannot grant either of you freedom from Red Scorpion today. I will need your help in future. Please await Anderson so she can escort you back to base. Over and out.

DR. WHITMORE: Oh, I can't stand it, Five! How could we just stand here while zombies attack the Protectorate? Look, there's Anderson running towards us from the base of the cliff. That sedimentary cliff with all those layers of rock... huh. I wonder. If we adjusted the missile's trajectory... Five, we can use the missile to bring down the cliff and crush the horde! People will be saved and Red Scorpion’s ballistic missile will be destroyed. Anderson will know it was us, but that's a small price to pay for saving all those lives. Are you in? Yes, Five! I'll adjust the coordinates. And now... liftoff! Stand back, Five.

The missiles hit the cliff and... yes! Look, the layers of rock are sliding off into the gully below. It's crushing the zombie horde! Oh... oh dear. Five, the rock fall’s starting an avalanche. It's going to crush us, unless we run!

~

DR. WHITMORE: We did it! Five, we're safe. We saved all those people, and we're still alive. I have no idea how long we'll stay that way with no supplies, but for the first time, I feel like... like I've done something that matters. I found my course.

SERGEANT FELIS: Dr. Whitmore, Technician Five, is it true? Did you fire the missile at the cliff?

DR. WHITMORE: Sergeant Felis, I'm sorry. It was the only way.

SERGEANT FELIS: I know. You saved a lot of lives tonight. What's more, Anderson just arrived here at base. She thinks you both died in a rock slide, and she thinks you worked alone. Rogue elements, she said.

To say I am relieved is an understatement. Without me, there would be no one to counter the influence of Anderson and people like her, no one to keep the peace between us and the Protectorate. I have buried a cache of supplies, weapons, and papers beneath a triangular red rock a little south of the launch site. You'll both be able to start new lives far from Red Scorpion. Now destroy your headset. Over and out.

DR. WHITMORE: Guess we'd better do what she says, Five. Take the headset off. Oh well. We're free. No more Red Scorpion, no more Anderson, no more reciting the pledge of allegiance over breakfast unless we want to. You know, Five, I heard rumors that the Maghreb Protectorate has very advanced technology. Agricultural, hydroelectric, that sort of thing. Could be an interesting place for a couple of scientists.

~