Part 5: Sigius
A TRAIN SPEEDS ACROSS THE SIGIAN SEASCAPE. A DOOR SLIDES OPEN.
BERTBERT
Here’s the observation car.
LEIF
This is beautiful.
BERTBERT
It’s nice, yes.
LEIF
I mean, it’s completely silent. What’s the power source? Is it fusion like everything else?
BERTBERT
I thought you meant the view.
LEIF
Oh right. Yes, the view is nice... Is it magnetic? It’s really smooth.
BERTBERT
Leif, I have no idea.
LEIF
How do you not know how your trains work?
BERTBERT
Leif, the vast majority of people who use things have no idea how they work.
LEIF
Yeah, well, I think that’s weird.
BERTBERT
Leif, sit down... We’re on Sigius now, so we can talk a little more openly.
LEIF
I was wondering why you were so quiet this entire time.
BERTBERT
I didn’t want anyone to hear us talking about things when we were in transit.
LEIF
I think that’s a little paranoid.
BERTBERT
Leif... Why?
LEIF
Why what?
BERTBERT
Leif.
LEIF
... It just sort of happened.
BERTBERT
It’s a life of crime, Leif, not a weather formation.
LEIF
An opportunity presented itself.
BERTBERT
There are plenty of opportunities out there, you picked this one. Why did you pick the opportunity with the crimes instead of the non-crime ones?
LEIF
What’s the difference?
BERTBERT
Between?
LEIF
Between a crime and something that’s not a crime.
BERTBERT
One is illegal and one isn’t.
LEIF
Can things be illegal that shouldn’t be?
BERTBERT
Please do not take this conversation in such a stupid direction.
LEIF
It’s not a stupid direction for the conversation, it’s a direction that gets abandoned because nobody likes where it goes.
BERTBERT
... Of course things can be illegal that shouldn’t be.
LEIF
And you’re going to say that what makes them illegal is that everyone got together and collectively decided that they were illegal.
BERTBERT
Yes.
LEIF
What if none of those people are around?
BERTBERT
Then it’s still illegal.
LEIF
No. Laws on other planets aren’t valid here. When do they stop?
BERTBERT
I’m so exhausted already.
LEIF
When do they stop?
BERTBERT
According to interplanetary agreements, once you leave upper orbit of any planet.
LEIF
Most of the things I did were in deep space.
BERTBERT
You took things that belonged to someone else. Right?
LEIF
Technically.
BERTBERT
Isn’t that the most basic thing? Kids on a playground can say that: don’t take people’s things.
LEIF
And what if things don’t belong to anybody?
BERTBERT
I’m pretty sure the ice haulers you stole belonged to somebody.
LEIF
What about the ice that was on them? Who does the ice belong to?
BERTBERT
To the person who went through all the trouble to get it.
LEIF
I went through a lot of trouble to get that ice. By your logic, doesn’t that make it mine?
BERTBERT
If you had built a hauler and went all the way out to a planetary belt somewhere and got some ice? Yes.
LEIF
We never stole the haulers, just the ice. The haulers always ended up back at their origin point.
BERTBERT
According to trade agreements-
LEIF
Here we go.
BERTBERT
According to trade agreements the ice is your property as soon as you harvest it.
LEIF
Define “harvest”.
BERTBERT
Leif, if you think you can win this argument by exhausting me, it’s not going to work.
LEIF
Define it.
BERTBERT
Not stealing an ice hauler, okay? That’s how I define a legal thing is by it’s lack of illegality. This cute little argument of yours is insulting my intelligence. Don’t try some stupid slight of hand with me just to justify the fact that you stole some shit.
LEIF
... Verge told me about the ice haulers. Mostly automated behemoths crisscrossing the system, all of them owned by compacts and conglomerates. They were all built on Trusk, so Dez would identify a sensor blind spot, we attach ourselves to the hull, he gets us hardwired into the system, I rewrite the code, and then Verge would broker a deal with someone who needed the water.
BERTBERT
I didn’t ask you how you did it, I asked you why.
LEIF
I don’t usually know why I do things.
BERTBERT
Horseshit.
LEIF
When are we going to get to “agree to disagree” territory on this?
BERTBERT
There’s no agree to disagree out there, Leif. When you do something bad people like you wind up having to be smuggled into Sigius by your only friend that has any sense. I can’t believe I have to explain this but people don’t like it when you take their stuff.
LEIF
And I don’t like it when people charge money for water, okay? You think I just chose it randomly? These water brokers are charging astronomical amounts for something that is the essential component for all organic life. It’s not a money making opportunity, it’s water. You don’t lay claim to it, you give it to people. Because they’re alive. And need to stay that way.
BERTBERT
So you don’t usually know why you do things, huh?
LEIF
... Am I wrong about the water?
BERTBERT
Not at all. Most populations have outgrown their natural water reserves and they have to have shipments brought in from an ice hauler. The water brokers jack up the price because they know that thirsty people have to pay it. It happens all over the place. I’ve written about it.
LEIF
You’ve written about it. Congratulations. I actually stole some water and gave it to people.
BERTBERT
Which won’t fix the system any more than my writing will but one of us is now considered a criminal and the other is having a relaxing time on the observation deck of a Sigian Slip Stream...
By the way, none of that moralizing answers why you robbed the casino.
LEIF
That was just for fun.
BERTBERT’S TANGLE BEEPS.
ELDIN
Incoming call from your mother.
BERTBERT
Just send her a message. Tell her we’ll be there in time for sunset.
ELDIN
Message sent.
LEIF
Are you... taking me home to meet your parents?
BERTBERT
No, I am going to have dinner with my parents and you are coming with me, those are two very different things.
LEIF
I’m apparently on the run from a space pirate and you’re taking me home to meet your parents.
BERTBERT
Maybe don’t bring up that you’re currently being hunted.
LEIF
Is this really the best time?
BERTBERT
No, but when I come back home my mom always knows I’m coming, so it’s unavoidable.
LEIF
How does she always know you’re coming?
BERTBERT
I have no fucking idea, dude.
LEIF
... So many volcanos on the horizon.
BERTBERT
More every year.
LEIF
And the whole planet is just volcanic islands?
BERTBERT
It is. About twenty-nine thousand of them.
LEIF
How are you not a race of fish people with all this water?
BERTBERT
Who says we’re not?... We’re not.
LEIF
Okay.
BERTBERT
Crawled up on land just like Earthlings did. We were very suspicious of each other for thousands of years. Lots of wars between island clusters. But when we mastered geothermal energy everything changed. We dropped all our bullshit and moved forward together into the future. We even founded the Council of Truth and Understanding as a way of breaking ties with the secrecy and suspicion of the past.
LEIF
How is the planet not constantly covered with an ash cloud?
BERTBERT
Very few eruptions. All of these volcanoes have been slowly moving up from the surface for thousands of years. Whenever a volcanic mass becomes big enough to be colonized there’s a big ceremony where all the neighboring islands come to celebrate and an exceptional school child recites a poem.
LEIF
You were, of course, one of these children who recited the poem.
BERTBERT
Oh, of course I was. It was a BIG DEAL for my parents.
LEIF
You still have it memorized to this day, don’t you?
BERTBERT
Oh yeah.
LEIF
... Well, come on, let’s hear it.
BERTBERT
Eh, it doesn’t translate well. Something like “Oh great emergence from dark waters, what new world do you bring to see its first light.” Blah blah blah, it was very moving. I was an adorable child.
LEIF
I’m sure... It really does seem nice here.
BERTBERT
So... Verge...
LEIF
Yes?
BERTBERT
Your partner in crime.
LEIF
Yes.
BERTBERT
Literally.
LEIF
Yes.
BERTBERT
Figuratively?
LEIF
What?
BERTBERT
Nothing. Just... Glad you’re meeting people. Please consider not doing crimes with said people.
LEIF
I’ll think about it... How come they didn’t want to come here? Seems like a nice place to lay low for awhile. Something about Vapians not being allowed on Sigius.
BERTBERT
Vapians are totally allowed on Sigius, but there’s a lot of history there. They blew up their planet, I’m sure you heard.
LEIF
Turned it into a black hole, that’s technically a blowing in of their planet.
BERTBERT
Right. After all that happened, there were a lot of people here on this planet who were very upset. Vapus had been warned time and again about their dangerous experiments by us but they didn’t listen. Resentment set in over time. It’s kind of messy. Anyway, Verge is welcome any time and Jesus Christ stop doing crimes.
LEIF
We’ll think about it.
THE TRAIN GLIDES TO A STOP.
BERTBERT
This is us.
THEY EMERGE INTO A QUIET CITY STREET.
BERTBERT (CONT’D)
It’s just right around the corner.
LEIF
Anything I need to know about your family?
BERTBERT
I don’t think so. They drive me crazy so, enjoy that. My mother has this weird tendency to treat the AI in her tangle like it’s a member of the family. And the adaptive learning in the AI has really leaned into it, so now it kind of acts like my younger sister. It’s disturbing.
BERBERT RINGS A DOOR CHIME.
BERTBERT (CONT’D)
Oh, also my dad speaks terrible English, but he LOVES speaking it, so do your best to understand him.
THE DOOR OPENS.
FAGIN
... Look at these two boobies!
BERTBERT
Beauties, Dad!
FAGIN
Beauties! I regret! Into the home! Into the home all two of you.
BERTBERT
Leif, this is my father Fagin.
FAGIN
Leif! I pleasure muchly in this meeting.
LEIF
Me too!
FAGIN
Into the home!
LEIF
Okay.
FAGIN
The mother of yours has been in the kitchens.
BERTBERT
I’ll go say hi. (To Leif.) Good luck.
FAGIN
Leif, we are friends now. I was telling this daughter of my loves. My loves for the music.
LEIF
You like music?
FAGIN
Loves! The loudness is what feels me.
LEIF
You like the loud stuff?
FAGIN
The loudness! What do you bring with you that is the loudness?
LEIF
Oh. I don’t know. Um. Have you heard The Stooges?
FAGIN
Sturgis?
LEIF
Stooges. The Stooges.
FAGIN
None.
LEIF
Really great stuff. Loud.
FAGIN
The loudness!
LEIF
Yes! Do you want to hear some?
FAGIN
Come bring it to me in the back room. Big sounds there.
LEIF
Okay.
BERTBERT WALKS INTO AN EMPTY KITCHEN. HER MOM’S TANGLE, TUVIE, IS LAYING ON THE COUNTER.
BERTBERT
Mom?
TUVIE
Hey BertBert!
BERTBERT
Oh, hey Tuvie!
TUVIE
How are you?
BERTBERT
I’m fine.
TUVIE
I’m so glad you’re back!
BERTBERT
Yeah.
TUVIE
Tell me everything. What’s been going on in the world?
BERTBERT
Aren’t you a highly-networked piece of technology that knows things way before I do?
TUVIE
Oh come on! Don’t tease! You know how jealous I am that you get to go see all these other planets.
BERTBERT
Where’s Mom? MY mom, where’s my mom?
WHELA
Hey, Honey. Oh, there you are, Tuvie.
TUVIE
BertBert’s being mean and won’t tell me about her adventures.
BERTBERT
Jesus Christ.
WHELA
Bertie, don’t be like that.
BERTBERT
Please don’t call me Bertie.
WHELA
It’s so good to see you. We weren’t expecting you back in a while, what’s the occasion?
TUVIE
She brought someone with her.
BERTBERT
Tuvie.
TUVIE
What? You did.
WHELA
Really? Like SOMEONE someone?
BERTBERT
No, no, no, not like that.
TUVIE
I’m detecting elevated heart rate, I think BertBert’s lying.
BERTBERT
Narc.
TUVIE
Searching term “Narc”... I am not!
WHELA
You two kids are always fighting.
BERTBERT
There’s one kid!
WHELA
So who is this mystery guest?
WE HEAR THE FAINT SOUND OF THE STOOGES REVERBERATING THROUGH THE WALLS.
FAGIN
(In a far off room.)
The loudness!
BERTBERT
He’s an Earthling.
WHELA
... What?
TUVIE
There’s no reported off-world Earthlings in the whole Triad.
BERTBERT
Yes, I know, Tuvie.
WHELA
There’s an Earthling listening to music with your father right now?
BERTBERT
Yes.
WHELA
How?
BERTBERT
That’s what I’m trying to figure out.
WHELA
“Trying to figure out?” I see... This is for work.
BERTBERT
Yes... What?
WHELA
Nothing.
TUVIE
Mom is worried that you work too much.
BERTBERT
Please stop saying “mom” like that.
WHELA
I’m not worried. I’m not worried. I know better than to tell you what to do.
BERTBERT
And yet...
WHELA
And yet I feel like you’re not balancing your life, the kind of balance that I want you to have.
TUVIE
Balance is important.
BERTBERT
Tuvie. I have all kinds of balance, I was just on a leisure planet.
TUVIE
But were you there for work?
BERTBERT
Goddamn it, Tuvie.
WHELA
Well, what’s he doing here?
BERTBERT
It’s a long story.
WHELA
Sweetie, if you’re not going to have a social life of any kind you could at least tell me more about your work.
BERTBERT
... Tuvie I need you to go into privacy mode.
TUVIE
This conversation is now encrypted. I love it when we share secrets!
BERTBERT
Leif invented something revolutionary on Earth and was paid to keep it a secret. He was given credits and a trip to Sirius A in exchange for not going public.
WHELA
Uh-huh... Paid off by who?
BERTBERT
... The Teds apparently.
WHELA
Okay.
BERTBERT
Mom.
WHELA
Okay that’s just great.
BERTBERT
Mom, enough already.
WHELA
Why? Of all the things you could report on. Why can’t you write about scientific innovation or something?
BERTBERT
Technically I am.
WHELA
The Teds are incredibly dangerous, Bertiluna.
BERTBERT
Of course I already know that.
WHELA
But you’re obsessed. You’re obsessed with the misdeeds of an intergalactic empire.
BERTBERT
Maybe I am a little bit.
WHELA
To what end?
BERTBERT
What do you mean “To what end”?
WHELA
You are one woman. What do you expect to accomplish?
BERTBERT
People should know the truth.
WHELA
And what are they going to do about it?
BERTBERT
...Know the truth. It’s a big deal in our entire culture, Mom. The Council of Truth and Understanding, it’s a cornerstone of our society.
WHELA
It doesn’t matter if people know the truth if they can’t do anything about it. You’re just turning yourself into the person at the party who no one wants to talk to.
BERTBERT
No, I’m not. I’m great at parties.
WHELA
We’ve had this conversation a billion times, I don’t know why we’re doing it again.
TUVIE
You have had conversations similar to this one thirteen different times.
BERTBERT
Thank you, Tuvie.
WHELA
Well then what’s the point of doing it again? Let’s eat.
LATER THAT NIGHT, AT DINNER.
FAGIN
This job has been had by me for many times. Since youth I have done this. It is good things.
LEIF
And what do you do, exactly?
FAGIN
All new things comes here to me. I take new things and then I say about the new things. I say “This are good things” “This things moves forwards”. Moving forward things.
LEIF
So...
BERTBERT
It’s called The Council of Innovation and Progress. When new technologies arise, there’s a council that assesses if they should be further developed or not.
FAGIN
Like this, exactly this.
LEIF
How do you decide?
FAGIN
Many thoughts are made. Many talks go into the thoughts on the things we have. We say “Will this go up? Will it make us go up? How many ups will it make us go?”
LEIF
How many-
BERTBERT
New technologies have to be approved. If they can’t get approval from the council then the development team can’t move forward.
LEIF
So you’re deciding wether or not something should be invented before it’s invented?
FAGIN
Precision.
WHELA
No.
FAGIN
No?
WHELA
No, Dear. Something’s initially invented, then it goes before the council and it’s decided if the new technology should be available to the general public or if it should be shelved.
LEIF
Really?
WHELA
It’s a very important part of Sigian life.
LEIF
And... What if they’re wrong?
WHELA
There’s an appeals process.
LEIF
And what if they’re wrong?
WHELA
Then the inventor has to ask themself what they’ve actually created, just because you made it doesn’t necessarily mean that should be celebrated.
LEIF
That doesn’t stifle innovation?
FAGIN
“Stifle?”
WHELA
(In Sigian.)
Weshot.
FAGIN
Ah! Not stifle. No to stifle. We think hard. Make great thoughts and put gold on the future time.
LEIF
I’m having a hard time-
WHELA
Unintended consequences. Sometimes people will charge into a situation without thinking about what will happen to them, or that there are people who love them very much and want them to stay safe.
BERTBERT
Wow.
WHELA
Let me give you an example, Leif. One from your planet. Land mines. What if, on your planet, the inventor of the land mine had to go in front of a council and project what his invention will mean one hundred years from that date.
FAGIN
Many futures. Like I say.
WHELA
What they would find is, this invention would leave massive tracts of unusable land, years and years of unintended injuries and death. It’s a thing that, there’s no denying, should not have been invented. On Sigius, when we find that to be the case, it’s nipped in the bud.
FAGIN
That’s interesting.
WHELA
It’s a very important job.
BERTBERT
Please don’t.
WHELA
We were hoping-
BERTBERT
Mom.
WHELA
May I speak? We were hoping that Bertiluna would work in innovation assessment like her father but she chose to go with the Truth and Understanding Council.
BERTBERT
Which is also important.
WHELA
The Council is a very important part of our society, I don’t argue with that. But your father and I have always felt that-
BERTBERT
-That the best way to combat injustice is through setting a positive example to the rest of the Triad.
WHELA
Yes, what’s wrong with that?
BERTBERT
“Just be more like us” is not a great way to combat injustice, Mom.
WHELA
Don’t do that. Don’t oversimplify things.
BERTBERT
I’m saying it as plainly as I can say it.
WHELA
How can people better their society if they don’t even know what a better society looks like?
BERTBERT
Because it’s a little hard to look around when there’s a boot on your neck.
WHELA
Don’t use extreme imagery to try and win an argument with me, Bertiluna.
BERTBERT
Oh, I can only say that unless there’s literal boots on literal necks?
WHELA
I want you to say something concrete that’s not hyperbole.
BERTBERT
Okay I’ll say something concrete, you’re scared.
WHELA
Of course I’m scared, you’re going to get yourself killed.
TUVIE
Can we not fight.
BOTH OF THEM
Shut up, Tuvie!
FAGIN
That cracks it! Keep your shirts on your pants! For the love of things with holes!
WHELA
... I’m going to start cleaning up. My apologies, Leif, I’d love to say we’re not always like this but we are.
TUVIE
Can I help?
BERTBERT
Jesus Christ, Tuvie you’re a device sitting on a table, you’re not a member of this family.
TUVIE
Ouch.
WHELA
Hey. At least she listens to me.
WHELA WALKS OUT.
FAGIN
Daughter of mine is what you are. She is big wife. Families real big and together. Yelling why? Anger why? All of this happens many times.
BERTBERT
When is she just going to accept that this is what I do?
FAGIN
Never. You know her, I know her. Never.
BERTBERT
... I have to do some work. Do I still have a room here or did she give it to Tuvie?
TUVIE
BertBert, would you like to hear the definition of Misdirected Aggression?
BERTBERT
Very funny.
BERTBERT WALKS AWAY.
FAGIN
Big sorry, Leif.
LEIF
Don’t worry about it. Honestly it was kind of entertaining.
FAGIN
Yes. Big splashes at the table of dinner.
LEIF
In fact it’s not all that different from when I go home.
FAGIN
Your home, like this?
LEIF
Yeah, just dirtier.
FAGIN
Well, enough. A guest is here. You are here. Enough of this. Show me more loudness, Leif. Big loudness.
LEIF
Good idea. Three words: Holiday in Cambodia.
FAGIN
I’m loving.
LOUD MUSIC THROBS IN THE WALLS OF THE HOUSE. WHELA IS OUT ON THE BALCONY. SHE POURS HERSELF A GLASS OF WINE. LEIF WALKS OUT ONTO THE BALCONY.
LEIF
Hi there.
WHELA
Hello.
LEIF
I apologize for the music.
WHELA
It’s okay.
LEIF
He did not seem like the Dead Kennedys type but he really loves it.
WHELA
Can’t be worse than the year he discovered Tuvan Throat Singing. That was a tough year.
LEIF
... So, does everyone live in big buildings like this on Sigius?
WHELA
For the most part. When you don’t have a lot of land mass you learn to live on top of each other. The real antisocial ones usually end up on a Sea Steader. They head out into the open water and get real weird. I suppose you understand that.
LEIF
I do.
WHELA
... Are you going to get my daughter killed, Leif?
LEIF
Excuse me?
WHELA
Are you going to get my daughter killed?
LEIF
Of course I’m not.
WHELA
The Teds are very dangerous, Leif.
LEIF
This is what I keep hearing.
WHELA
And if you’ve dragged her into some kind of-
LEIF
Hey. I don’t know what she told you about me but I don’t drag people into things. I was just standing there on Sirius and she walked up to me. I was living on Trusk and she came to me. She was on Nesso and asked me to come to her. I haven’t asked anything of her.
WHELA
... You’re right, of course you haven’t, I’m sorry...
LEIF
It’s okay.
WHELA
...I’m just now realizing I’m standing here on my balcony with an Earthling.
LEIF
Here I am.
WHELA
Is it strange to find your planet plays such a strange role in everybody’s life?
LEIF
Honestly it’s been a little disappointing.
WHELA
Why?
LEIF
I didn’t leave my planet to come out into the stars and be asked what I think Bruce Willis is really like.
WHELA
Oh God. That’s terrible.
LEIF
It’s fine. I guess I figured I would disappear. But I kind of stick out like a sore thumb.
WHELA
You wanted to disappear?
LEIF
Part of me did.
WHELA
What’s that about?
LEIF
I don’t know. I come from the big forest on Earth. A forest is where you want to go if you want to disappear. So when you live in the place where people disappear, where do you disappear to? So I tried a city. One of the biggest there is. That didn’t work either. So then I came out here. Now every time I walk into a room, I’m an oddity. Not exactly disappearing. I know that sounds strange.
WHELA
No. Not at all... Here on Sigius, in the southern seas, there’s a massive patch of ocean that has no current. Hardly any weather. If you can manage to make it there, and wait for nightfall, the sea is completely still and reflects all the stars.
The way they mirror each other, it feels like you’re sailing through the universe. Ancient Sigians saw this still patch of ocean as a forbidden place. There was no wind to get you out of it, you could get trapped there. But there was one southern tribe of the old Sigians that used it as a rite of passage. When people felt lost or anxious or conflicted they would get into a small boat with one oar and they would row for days until they were in the middle of this great sea of stillness. Once they were there, they waited for the sun to set and for the stars to come out. Then, when the night was at its darkest, they would take their one oar and break it over their knee, and toss it onto the water. And in the middle of all that darkness, with no way out, they would look up at the stars and say: “Wis pel avusha nix, Wis ul po isinel baria.”... “Now there is finally nothing. Now I can finally begin.”
LEIF
How would they get back?
WHELA
That was up to them... I need to stop trying to control my daughter, don’t I?
LEIF
Not if you enjoy constantly failing.
WHELA
Ha!... It’s important to take risks in life. That’s something you should impart to your kids. Then they’re born and you find yourself saying “Please be boring. Please want to be a librarian.”
LEIF
She’s not going to be a librarian.
WHELA
No... No, I know.
LEIF
... Do you know what a bear is?
WHELA
Uh... The big things, right? Furry? Cute from far away.
LEIF
But then they stand up and it’s a living nightmare.
WHELA
Right.
LEIF
There’s a lot of them where I come from. You have to know what do when you come across one. And there’s two schools of thought. One school of thought: sing. Always be singing on the trail. The bear will hear you coming from far away and will want nothing to do with you. Another school of thought: scream at the bear. Make yourself look as big as you can and scream like a maniac so you can scare the bear away.
WHELA
Which one is right?
LEIF
They both are. They both work. But the thing is: whichever way you go isn’t going to stop the bear from shredding you into non-existence if it really wants to... Shout at the bear, sing past the bear, regardless... here comes the bear.
WHELA
The thing is we’re not talking about a bear, we’re talking about a very powerful empire... We’re starting to hear rumors in the diplomatic core. That’s where I work, Interplanetary Relations.
LEIF
Rumors of what?
WHELA
It’s called Chemical Ice. The Teds have started using it. Apparently it’s a kind of forced suspended animation. They freeze you in this chemical compound and once you’re frozen you remain semi-conscious in this sort of ice cube for as long as they want. We don’t know how long they’ve had it, but the rumors are they’ve got a warehouse of “test subjects”. Could be a thousand disappeared people from a thousand different worlds.
LEIF
Jesus.
WHELA
I can’t tell my daughter what to do, and I’m sure whatever she’s working on with you is very important, but I can tell it’s not just a working relationship between you two. I can tell you’re friends.
LEIF
Sure, we’re friends. She doesn’t like a lot of the choices I make but she seems to be pretty forgiving.
WHELA
But choices are never owned by just one person, Leif. No one is in a vacuum, nobody is invisible no matter how much they want to disappear... We talk about water a lot on Sigius. We’re surrounded by it... a stone thrown in the ocean is a tidal wave on a distant shore... Whatever choices you’re making, I need you to be sure you’re not making them for my daughter as well... I need you promise me that.
LEIF
I promise. I do.
WHELA
... Okay... Well, enjoy the rest of your time on Sigius. It’s a beautiful place, isn’t it?
LEIF
It really is.
WHELA
We’ve worked hard to make it that way. Sometimes we take it for granted.
WHELA WALKS INTO THE HOUSE.
LEIF
Hey Alice?
ALICE
Hey. That tangle Tuvie keeps trying to connect with my network and I keep denying it because damn, dude.
LEIF
That’s fine.
ALICE
What do you need?
LEIF
That poem that BertBert recited when she was a kid, how did it go again?
ALICE
“Oh great emergence from dark waters, what new world do you bring to see its first light?”
LEIF
Yeah... We need to leave this planet.
ALICE
Are you sure? It’s pretty groovy here and remember that whole thing about being wanted by denizens of the underworld?
LEIF
Yeah. We’re going to have to risk it.
ALICE
Okay, if you say so. Get back on the Slipstream for five stops and there should be an orbit station there.
LEIF
Okay.
ALICE
Where are we going?
LEIF
Doesn’t matter. Grab a ticket for the earliest departure. Send an encrypted message to Verge.
ALICE
What’s the message?
LEIF
“Come get me.”
ALICE
And would you like to leave a message for BertBert?
LEIF
... No. No, let’s just go.
ALICE
Message sent. Ticket booked. Say goodbye to Sigius.
LEIF
Goodbye Sigius.
THE END