Act 3, Scene 4: The Signal

RATS Setup

TECH PREROLL [EMOJI_TOILET_ROLL]

LX 0099 - Work Light OFF (Static Playbacks)

LX 3400 - STANDBY for GO:

Check Level
Unmute Desk

Eisfuchs: ON
Tani: ON
Lynard: ON

Curry: OFF
Runo: OFF
Pan: OFF

DIALOG

Curtain - open

Lights on

AMB-3401 - Radio Room

SND-3401 - BANG! (Honeyberry is throwing herself against a rusted shut door)

SND-3401 (cont) - BANG!

SND-3401 (cont) - BANG!

SND-3401 (cont) - CRASH!

The door2 tumbles to the ground

Honeyberry crashes into the scene in [7] with the entire door2 that has broken out of its frame

Honeyberry lands on the playrail

Scoobie dashes in, running over Honeyberry, immediately beginning to scan the room, jumping on every device, sniffing around

Honeyberry gets up, and goes back outside

Honeyberry comes back in, carrying Marconi

Honeyberry puts down Marconi on the playrail in [4]

Marconi lays down on his back

Marconi breathes erratically, like in a fever

Honeyberry: "*sniffsniff* I smell ... vintage electronics!"

Scoobie agrees and tries to get Honeyberry's attention

Marconi: "Then let's hope this is it ... Everything hurts, and my head feels like it's going to explode."

Honeyberry feels the amplifier in [5-6, 2nd] with her paws.

Honeyberry: "Yes! The label on this one says 'RF power amplifier'! And it's warm! That means it's still running! "

Marconi: "How do you know what it says?"

Honeyberry: "Can you see the little bumps here on the sign? It's an alphabet you can read with your paws! Humans put it on almost everything. Can you tell me what it's all hooked up to?"

Marconi sits up and looks around

Marconi: "There are some pretty thick wires going up to the ceiling ... and a few thinner ones to a bunch of smaller boxes on the table to the right."

Scoobie grabs Honeyberry and drags her over to the workbench in [4, 2nd]

Honeyberry touches the box and feels over the braille on the front

Honeyberry: "This is good ... yes ... YES! Oh by the the Holy Mountain! YES!"

Honeyberry turns a dial

SND-3402 - Super scratchy sounds, then THE SIGNAL can be heard from a tiny broken speaker

Honeyberry: "This is where the Signal has been coming from all these years!"

Honeyberry bumps into the skeleton

SND-3402B - Rattling Bones

Honeyberry feels the skeleton

Honeyberry jumps back

Honeyberry: "Yikes!"

Marconi: "Oh, eh, seems I forgot to mention there's a skeleton in the chair. Sorry. My bad."

Honeyberry: "YOU!"

Marconi giggles

Honeyberry (to the skeleton): "Sorry for being rude my friend, but I need to make an urgent call!"

Honeyberry pushes the skeleton off the chair and takes its place

Marconi: "What are you going to tell them?"

Honeyberry: "The truth. Blackwood's plans all depend on our crew bailing him out. Once they know what he's up to, it's all going to be over really soon."

Marconi: "Whatever happens, you can count on me."

Honeyberry: "And you can count on me."

Honeyberry sighs, and hesitates.

Marconi: "What are you waiting for?"

Honeyberry: "I just realized, I'm probably the first non-human to ever touch this switch!"

Marconi: "Isn't that amazing?"

Honeyberry: "Yes, but ... "

Marconi: "But what? You're about to make history! Come on! Flip the switch!"

Honeyberry: "Okay. Here we go!"

Honeyberry flips the switch

SND-3403 - SPPPPPPRRRRTZ

Lots of magic white smoke escapes from all the boxes on the workbench

The lights on all the boxes go out (amplifier rack stays on)

Honeyberry: "SHIT!"

Honeyberry bangs her fist on the workbench

Honeyberry pulls her own hair out

Honeyberry jumps off the chair, over to Marconi, and buries her face in his chest

Honeyberry: "We were so close! So goddamn close!"

Marconi: "What ... what happened?"

Honeyberry (sobbing): "The transmitter just blew up!"

Marconi: "Oh dear."

Honeyberry (sobbing): "I'm such an idiot."

Marconi: "It's not your fault! This stuff has been sitting here for ages, it's a miracle that ANYTHING still worked!"

Honeyberry: "No! I should have checked for a short circuit ... that's the first thing you have to to before powering on old hardware! But I was so nervous I couldn't think straight!"

Scoobie comes over and comforts Honeyberry and Marconi

Honeyberry stands/sits behind Marconi, and strokes him lovingly.

Lots of Marconi's fur falls out and assembles in the form of little fluffballs

Marconi: "And what now?"

Honeyberry: "I don't know. I'm so sorry."

Marconi: "If we can't reach the ship, I guess that means we have to go back and to fix the power on our own. You know how electric stuff works, don't you?"

Honeyberry: "I'm not worried about the power. I'm worried about you."

Marconi: "I'm sure I'll be better once I've had a proper night of sleep."

Honeyberry: "No, seriously. The nausea. The burns. Your fur falling out. I know what this is. I'm so sorry Markie ... But without help from the ship ... you're probably not going to make it."

Marconi: "What?"

Honeyberry: "Yes. You've only got a few days left. And it's all because of me."

Curry: ON

Hawking appears in [5]

Hawking: "NOT SO FAST, HONEYBERRY!"

Marconi: "And now we're even more fucked."

Hawking: "No, please, hear me out! Don't we all want the same thing?"

Marconi: "You mean, survive?"

Hawking: "Yes! So let's we work together instead of against each other! With Honeyberry's knowledge we can return the power to Polaris and save everyone!"

Honeyberry: "Oh no ... Hawking, please tell me you're wearing a hazmat suit."

Hawking: "A what?"

Honeyberry: "Oh by the holy mountain, WHY ...?"

Hawking: "What do you mean?"

Honeyberry: "By that I mean your fate is sealed. Just like Marconi's. It was nice knowing you."

Honeyberry hugs Marconi and sobs a bit

Hawking (in terror): "The Ghosts of the Great White?"

Honeyberry: "There are no ghosts! Just acute radiation poisoning' That's why the forbidden zone is forbidden! It's contaminated!"

Hawking: "I still don't get it."

Honeyberry: "Humanity once fought a great war, using weapons powerful enough to destroy matter itself. And while the war has been over for hundreds of years, that destructive power is still around today. You can't see it, you can't smell it, and you can't taste it. But it can still destroy you from within. This is why your Masters put those blinky harnesses on you. They didn't want to curb your vices. They wanted to keep you safe!"

Marconi: "If you knew this all the time, why the hell did you take me out here?"

Honeyberry: "Because I didn't realize what was going on until now! And we have medicine on the ship that can repair your DNA and heal you!"

Marconi: "On the ship we can no longer reach."

Hawking: "Is the special medicine how you made it all the way here through the Great White? Then maybe Blackwood still has some?"

Honeyberry: "No, it's more complicated than that. The war reduced the human population to tiny colonies in bunkers like this one. They could change the genetic code of almost every living being - but they didn't dare to experiment on their own kind. So they created us. Hybrids, part human and part animal, to experiment on, and serve them to clean up the mess they made."

Marconi: "But then why is it killing me, and not you?"

Honeyberry: "I'm a second generation hybrid, my DNA is basically made of steel. But you must be from the first generation. You have to take a medicine called 'The Shadow Remedy' to withstand the radiation. Or stay inside a fenced off safe zone for the rest of your life. Just like your Masters told you."

Hawking: "And if we had accepted Blackwood's offer, and followed him to his ship, we would have walked into our own death."

Honeyberry: "Yes."

Runo: ON

Hawking: "When I get that bastard in my paws just one more time I'm going to personally rip his sneaky little head off!"

Blackwood appears right behind Hawking in [5]

Blackwood: "NOT SO FAST MR HAWKING! Muhahahhahhaaa!"

Blackwood shocks Hawking with his shock rod 3

RATS-14+18+26 - Shockrod

Hawking collapses

Blackwood: "Muhahahhahhaaa!"

Marconi: "You son of a Pigrat!"

Honeyberry shrieks, and hides behind the workbench (stay on 1st level)

Honeyberry is super scared

Marconi uses all his strength to get up on his feet to protect Honeyberry

Marconi raises his fists and gets into a fighting stance, but very wobbly

Blackwood laughs

Blackwood: "Now look at that manly man trying to protect his baby-girl! Isn't that cute?"

Blackwood pushes Marconi over, who is too weak to even resist

Marconi falls over

Blackwood stabs him in the back with his shock rod 3 while he's down

Scoobie lurches forwards, protecting Honeyberry

Blackwood walks towards Honeyberry and Scoobie, pointing his shock rod 3 at the possum

Scoobie spits and hisses, but walks slowly backwards, staying out of the weapon's reach

Honeyberry raises her arms before her face protectively

Blackwood: "Look, I don't want to hurt you. All I want is a little favor."

Honeyberry: "And why the hell would I owe you one?"

Blackwood holds up the radio

Blackwood: "Guess what I'm holding in my paws here. It's small. It's black. It has little knobs on it. And it smells an awful lot like possum."

Honeyberry: "My radio!"

Blackwood: "Winner winner, chicken dinner!"

Honeyberry: "Well good luck with it, because I'm not going to help you hook it up."

Blackwood: "And here I thought you wanted to save your boyfriend. Well, without their leader, the colony will soon descend into chaos anyways, and I'm sure the survivors will be all the happier to join me on my trip back to the Stormbreaker."

Honeyberry: "Murderer!"

Blackwood: "Murder is such a loaded word! I prefer to call it a [EMOJI_AIRQUOTES]happy little accident[EMOJI_AIRQUOTES]. And all caused by YOU refusing to do me that ONE little favor. So selfish!"

Honeyberry: "Alright, put the radio on the bench and shut your fucking mouth."

Blackwood puts the radio on the workbench next to the amplifier rack

Honeyberry walks to the workbench

Blackwood: "That's my Honey."

Honeyberry: "Fuck you, Blackwood."

Honeyberry: "Scoobie, please go fetch me a piece of RG58, will you?"

Scoobie salutes, and goes shuffling through the debris, and immediately returns with the cable

Honeyberry (to herself): "Good Girl! Now this goes here ... and the other end goes here ..."

Honeyberry plugs the other end of the cable into the radio

Honeyberry: "There. You're all set."

Blackwood: "Turn it on."

Honeyberry (to herself): "Please blow up, please blow up ..."

Honeyberry flips the switch

SND-3404 - Turn Radio On

The radio springs to life

Honeyberry: "Damn. Where's my bad luck when I need it?"

Pan: ON

Blackwood: "And now, would you please step back, I have a call to make."

Silverclaw appears behind Blackwood

Silverclaw: "NOT SO FAST, MR. BLACKWOOD!"

Silverclaw shocks Blackwood with her shock rod 1

RATS-22 - Shockrod

Blackwood collapses

Honeyberry: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE, HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN QUEUING UP IN THE HALLWAY OR WHAT!"

Silverclaw (looks back over his shoulder): "No, uh, I think I'm the last one."

Honeyberry: "So what the hell do YOU want?"

Marconi: "And please make it quick, the dances are already late."

Silverclaw: "Hello? This is the second time I saved you! I would have expected a little more ... gratitude?"

Honeyberry: "I'm sorry, but you were the last person I expected to help ..."

Silverclaw: "Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want you to die. Nobody deserves that."

Hawking wakes up, too, trying to get a grip on the situation

Marconi groans, and sits up, shaking his head

Marconi: "Wait, if this is is the second time, what was the first time?"

Silverclaw: "Did you really think I didn't see you hiding under the snow? I thought, maybe Blackwood will give up if he doesn't find you, but he's as stubborn as he's stupid."

Honeyberry: "Wow. It seems like everything I thought of you was wrong. I think I do like you after all."

Silverclaw: "Okay, let's not overdo it, right?"

Honeyberry: "Scoobie, say thank you to the scary lady!"

Scoobie tackles Silverclaw, and licks her all over.

Silverclaw: "AARRGHH! NO! STOP IT! I HATE THAT! GNAAAAA! HELP! AAAAAAAA!"

Blackwood groans, and moves.

Marconi: "So, can we make the call now?"

Honeyberry: "Yes, but before that, there's one more thing I've been wanting to do all day."

Marconi: "And that is ...?"

Honeyberry kisses Marconi

Lights out

AMB-3401 FADE

END CREDITS MUSIC

The following epilogue becomes part of the end credits music

Radio noises

Honeyberry: "This is Honeyberry of Hunter's Peak calling the Stormbreaker, please come in."

Radio Voice: "Honeyberry? What the hell are you doing on this frequency? And what happened to the signal? We thought we had lost you!"

Honeyberry: "Well, you won't believe what happened ..."

Illuminate the Tomato

Curtain - close