TRANSCRIPT Episode 11: Slip

transcript 11: slip

EXT. CALIFORNIA DAY

LEADS

Hey. Me again.

LEADS

I had this dream about you.

LEADS

And yeah, I was just thinking about the last time we talked. In person...

LEADS

I mean, it was a little while ago. Before Summer but something you said... Kind of creeped up on me.

LEADS

Like, I heard you before but I don't think what you said registered until last night.

LEADS

If you don't want to get into it I understand but... I think I want to get into it.

LEADS

Anyways, call me back if you can. I'm stopping in Reno for a minute on my way to The Bay. I'm going to push through and crash with a friend in Benicia tonight. Take the One down to Los Angeles from there.

LEADS

Talk to you soon hopefully.

Station Blue Intro

INT. CAMERA ROOM - STORM NIGHT

Death.

I always had this idea that there was only so much a person could take before their body would just shut down.

I took comfort in that. I didn't have heaven as a safety net. I didn't believe in a kind and caring God.

All I had was the belief that if things got bad enough, you would just *snap* stop. Fade to black.

That death would come easy in a way that life never had.

That death would loosen the knots in my chest and stomach. That it would release the pressure in my head. That it would free me from the madness in my blood.

And, if I was lucky, if Death was kind in a way that God had never been, that it would wrap me in an embrace as it pulled me into the earth.

That I would find rest and peace in oblivion.

And if I was really lucky?

I would stop existing entirely.

I have never been lucky.

And death is not kind.

I thought it was strange that people associated hell with the afterlife.

To me, hell is here on earth. It comes with resiliance.

Hell comes with knowing that as bad as things are, they are going to get worse. That there is no easy escape.

Hell is taking more than you ever thought you could handle and realizing that what you've experienced is only the tip of the ice berg. Hell is knowing that you will survive it. And the fear of how it will change you.

The first thing that came back to me was my sense of smell.

Copper. Ozone. Tar. Every wracking, freezing breath forced me into the present. Brought me out of the blackness. Added to the picture of my surroundings.

Next was a biting cold on my forehead, my fingertips, my leg, a cold so sharp it felt like fire.

It spread down to my cheeks, my throat, my wrists, the souls of my feet.

After that, my sense of hearing. (Bright on sound) A pulsing. A beating. From within. From without. With each beat a new wave of cold would run down my face.

With each pulse I heard the machines around me. I felt them. Felt the veins of wire and pipe running through the Station as surely as I felt the pumping blood restoring itself in my body.

I couldn't see. I could feel too much, hear too much, sense too much, but why couldn't I see?

The lids of my eyes were sealed shut. I clawed at them with my shaking hands, my sensitive fingers. They sunk deep into a muddy material, thick and crusted. Inches of it covered my eyes. It was on my face, in my hair, around my ears, at the corners of my mouth. It pooled on the ground around me.

I felt for its source and I found it. My forehead.

I pressed through the tar expecting to find skin... But there was no skin.

I pressed a little further expecting to find bone... But there was no bone.

That was when the tar gave way and my fingers plunged deeper.

As far as I am aware the human forhead is meant to be made up of a skull with no opening. And contained within that skull is meant to be a brain.

There was an opening. And I felt no brain. My fingers went down to the knuckles and I felt no brain. Down to the thumb. I gagged. The back of my hand scraped on the jagged edge of the opening, an opening forceably made by that things beak... And?

Nothing.

The edges of the opening were just big enough to fit my entire hand through. I pushed all the way to the wrist, all the way to my scars, the tar helping the process. I should have hit the back of my skull.

I went further, clutching my elbow with my free hand, using it to push my arm as far as it would go. It was impossible. Electric jolts shot through my body every time I moved my fingers through the void in my head, willing anything to stop it from going further.

Nothing stopped it.

There I lay, without sight, on the ground, my arm stuck halfway up to the elbow in the hole in my forhead, groping at the nothingness...

And then something on the inside licked my hand.

My back bent in shock, I twisted around trying to pull my arm out, away from the wet thing. My hand caught on the boney edges of the opening for a moment, my other hand rapidly clawing my eyes free of the tar.

The light from over a dozen monitors was blinding at first. I tried to look towards my brow, towards the hole. I could have sworn I saw a tongue flick by in the blue light, testing the air before retreating out of sight.

What was happening to me?

I carefully moved my hand back up my face, freshly uncovered eyes following its path. It felt at the edges of the hole. Boney ridges. Teeth. They snapped together.

I quickly sat up groping at the rest of my body, examining every piece of it in the poor light of the screens.

My legs were still human legs, one wrapped in a makeshift splint. My torso was intact, my longjohns ripped in places from that things grip but underneath? Skin.

I was me...

But my head?

No, there was an explanation. I was me.

I took in my surroundings.

The door to the camera room had been ripped out of its frame. Several of the camera moniters were cracked. Probably from contact with my face when I was thrown against them.

The blue binders from the metal shelves were scattered.

Then I spotted something on the ground. Something white.

Could it be... One of the feather? I leaned over, whincing, reached out to touch it, and...

My eyes bulged. Pressure started building in my head. I thought I was going to vommit. I barely caught myself on my hands and knees before more of the dark ichor started pouring from the lipless mouth in my forehead.

It burst out in waves, my vision went hazy, my throat clenched. It covered the ground around me, gathering together like living mercury. I couldn't look at the object. Couldn't even think about it.

When it finally stopped I gasped for air... I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And looked up.

It was the old monitor.

The one linked up to The Door.

The Door was open.

And then the power went out.

LEADS

No.

EXT. HIGHWAY 1 DAY

LEADS

When I decided to go South on the 1 I didn't quite realize that that would put me in the cliffside lane the whole way.

LEADS

The beauty of the drive has been kind of overshadowed by the anxiety that at any moment I could sneeze and go flying off the edge 50 feet into the sea.

LEADS

I'm just trying to chill out for a bit before the next leg. For the sake of my nerves.

LEADS

Remember when we'd go camping, some of those mountain roads? You'd cruise at full speed like they were nothing, meanwhile I'm all white knuckled, teeth clenched, waiting for iminent death.

LEADS

I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

INT. THIRD FLOOR NIGHT

LEADS

This is Matthew Leads, caretaker of Station Blue, employee of Datura.

Pratcher. Gina. Whoever finds this.

LEADS

Things are bad. Things are really bad.

LEADS

I have sustained an... Injury to my forehead (we hear a breathing gasp as he says this). And I think my leg is broken. I stopped most of the bleeding and put it in a makeshift splint but it's... difficult to get around on and I think I'm just making it worse.

LEADS

There was an eclipse, I don't know how many hours ago, followed by a storm. Condition One.

As far as I can tell the Eclipse is still going. I'm on the third floor, it's usually all sunny up here but it's pitch black now.

LEADS

Ice has been building up on the outside of the Station. A lot of ice. One of the windows in the computer lab shattered and the entire room is filling up with snow. The door is keeping it from spilling into the rest of the third floor but it's not well insulated.

LEADS

(Breathing in) The power is out.

LEADS

The temperature is dropping pretty rapidly. Especially up here. That broken window is a huge problem and one I'm not going to be able to fix.

LEADS

My first priority is getting the power back on. If the pipes freeze I'm screwed.

LEADS

In case of the somewhat likely event of me turning into a popsicle I'm leaving a note up here so you know where to find me. I'm taking the binders with details on the generators and as many working flashlights as I can carry down to the first floor.

LEADS

If you need them, they'll be with me.

LEADS

When I get the power back on...

LEADS

Well there's more, but we'll talk about that in person. On a plane. Headed to McMurdo. I'm done with Antarctica. I quit.

LEADS

Hopefully you all have some way of knowing when the Station goes dark. Wish me luck.

EXT. CALIFORNIA BEACH

LEADS

I made it to Big Sur.

LEADS

Do you hear that?

LEADS

I love the ocean.

LEADS

You know when I first...

LEADS

You know. When I left Colorado. I drove straight West. Straight to the ocean.

LEADS

It was calling to me. I wasn't really in my right mind and the idea of this endless body of water, this great unknown, untamable world? It kept me going.

LEADS

...

LEADS

Leaving was so (hard)... I was (so sorry)... God you don't want to hear about this. I'm sorry, this isn't even what I called about.

LEADS

I was in bad shape. Just alone and lost and I didn't... Didn't even feel like I was human. It was like I was in orbit, completely ditached from the world. But when I got close?

LEADS

The air. I had never experienced anything like it. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love the crisp air of the mountains but by the sea...

LEADS

It was new. It was like a home coming. This smell of life on the edge, of brine, of a barrier to humanity?

LEADS

Even though I had never been to the ocean before as soon as I breathed it in it felt familiar. Exactly how I had always imagined it.

LEADS

I don't know how something this big and chaotic can be so relaxing. No matter how wild my thoughts get...

LEADS

We have to come out here sometime. We'll make a whole trip out of it. We'll pick out a few books, one person drives, the other reads out loud, trade off at every stop.

LEADS

Maybe stop off in a few National Parks, you'd love the trees, they're huge.

LEADS

I've got a cabin for the night. Maybe they'll let me book it again. When I'm back. We can cook camp food on the beach, put a fire on when it storms. Jump in the water once a day. It's not warm but not as bad as some of the lakes at home.

LEADS

It feels safe here. I think you'd like it.

LEADS

I'd like it.

INT THIRD FLOOR

LEADS

The Door is open.

LEADS

It was the last thing I saw before this place went dark.

LEADS

I need to get the power back on. The Station and I are linked at this point. If it dies, I die.

LEADS

And right now its heart isn't beating.

LEADS

None of the automated systems are running.

LEADS

I've spent so much time checking up on the generator, venting waste heat to the right areas, keeping everything in rotation so that nothing fails from disuse.

LEADS

If the generator is off too long the Stations water is going to start freezing and the pipes are going to burst. Sewage will back up. The ice build up outside will get so thick they'll need a wrecking ball to knock it loose.

LEADS

(Exhale)

And the longer it's down the harder it's going to be to get running again which means the temperature will keep dropping, more permanent damange will be done to the Station.

LEADS

And I'll probably get hypothermia and freeze to death. Best case scenario.

LEADS

This is assuming I can even get the generator running again. If something else is wrong with it? Something I don't know how to fix?

LEADS

I'll have to turn on the underground back up. Which I've only seen once. Using the elevator. Which is obviously not an option.

LEADS

There's another way down there but in my condition... I need to count on the primary generator.

LEADS

But first, I need to get me (beat) and these tools (beat) down there.

LEADS

The only thing keeping me concious is this leg pain. The splint was doing okay until the running, the getting thrown... The drop...

LEADS

I don't know if it's ever going to recover from this. But that doesn't matter... No difference between broken and whole on a corpse.

LEADS

Gotta get the power back on before I can even start to worry about the future.

LEADS

Which means three flights of stairs.

LEADS

And that Door.

LEADS

The Open Door.

LEADS

Starting to think that that Thing wasn't doing me any favors when it left me alive.

EXT. CALIFORNIA DAY

LEADS

Hey! Hello?

LEADS

Hello? You're breaking up, I can't hear you?

LEADS

My service keeps going in and out, I'm going to pull over.

LEADS

Hello?

INT. DOOR HALLYWAY STORM NIGHT

LEADS

Come on flashlight, now is not the time...

LEADS

Don't, don't...

LEADS

Hey!

LEADS

Can you hear me? Look, it's dark. I can't see what you're doing. I'm coming your way. I need you to hold off. I'm just passing through.

LEADS

I need you to be okay with that. I need you to let me pass through.

LEADS

(Under his breath) god...

LEADS

See? That's good. Like that. Just

LEADS

Hey! Hey you just... Just hold on a minute okay?

LEADS

Just... Not now okay? This is not a good time for you to

LEADS

Listen! Listen I need you to stop! I need you to let me through

LEADS

Whoa whoa whoa KNOCK IF OFF. I'm serious.

LEADS

You? Me? We can work this out after the storm!

LEADS

Hey can't you hear me! Do you understand what's going on!?

LEADS

I'm in rough shape! Just let me through. I'm barely standing. Let me do what I have to do, you can take your best crack at me after!

LEADS

But in the meantime I need a truce. If I die, the Station dies, you die.

LEADS

You got that? I die you die.

LEADS

See?

LEADS

See?

LEADS

I'll be back. I'm going to get the Stations heart beating again then I'll be back. I promise.

EXT. CALIFORNIA DAY

LEADS

Hey! -Damnit.

INT. SWITCH ROOM STORM NIGHT

LEADS

One break... I just need one break.

LEADS

One break that I'm not going to get.

The generator was the most current piece of machinary in the Station.

And it wasn't working.

It would have been easy if that was it. Just sit there and freeze to death. You did everything you could. The Fates have spoken. It wasn't meant to be.

But these Antarctic research Stations are all about redundancy. Back ups.

There was a back up generator underneath this one. In the limited underground storage. Nothing glamorous. Couldn't even be called a basement.

But it's main access was the elevator. Even if I hadn't sealed off the entrance with every role of gaffer tape I could find, even if I felt stable enough to use it, it wasn't moving without electricity.

There was technically access outside. Which would be under a few feet of ice by now.

That left a hatch. A cramped ladder. A long ladder.

And me with my frozen fingers. My foggy blooddrained head. My leg.

Could mean a long drop.

But what choice did I have?

EXT. CALIFORNIA DAY

LEADS

Are you there? Can you hear me?

INT. STATION GENERATOR ROOM

Even with the flashlight I could barely see the bottom.

I tested the ladder. It was cold. Icy. I stopped.

I needed to see where I was going. I held the flashlight as far as I could reach down the hatch then dropped it.

The batteries popped out as soon as it hit the stone floor.

Only two left.

I took off my jacket. It might work as a coushin.

I tried to fan it out before dropping it, give myself the widest target possible.

Second times a charm. I lit the next flashlight and dropped it.

The jacket prevented the batteries from popping out this time but it bounced and rolled up against the wall, away from the ladder. No good.

I looked at the third. Couldn't risk it. This one was staying with me.

I don't do heights. I don't look over the edge when I'm at the top of a parking garage. I don't climb trees.

It's a fear I've never been able to get over. It's the kind of thing that shuts my body down. Going up is hard. Going down is worse.

A toddler was more graceful than I was getting on to that ladder. Bad leg down the hatch first. Roll on to the belly. Scootch down inch by inch. Catch one of the wrungs with the good leg.

Crawl a bit more, arms spread wide so that I could catch myself on something if my foot slipped.

When I finally got one of my hands underneath to grab the top wrung it was frozen and clumsy. I shook it, trying to get some blood back into my fingers.

Finally dropping a little further I grabbed the top wrung with my other hand. Face pressed against the floor, my forehead leaking more of the viscous material all over the ground.

That wasn't real, right? My forehead was just split, something stitches would fix. The rest had to be some illusion of regained conciousness.

I should have worn my boots. The metal rods hurt, they were not made for socks. Some of the wrungs were wet, probably blood from my leg.

Grab tight. Lower. Catch a wrung with my good foot. Move hands down. Grab tight. Lower. Catch a wrung with my good foot.

Face pressed against the each wrung. Leaving a smear of blood in my wake as I descended into complete darkness.

EXT. LOS ANGELES

LEADS

Hey. My phone is acting up. It shows that you've been calling me but they haven't been getting through.

LEADS

I made it to LA. Drove through the night. This... Cop woke me up this morning. I was sleeping in my car. He was such an asshole.

LEADS

Anyways, I have service now. Just going to go hang out at the airport until my flight leaves. Hopefully I'll hear from you before then.

INT. BASEMENT PERFECT DARK

LEADS

I can't even feel the cold anymore.

LEADS

First sign of hypothermia.

LEADS

Alright big Blue. What is it going to take to get you running

LEADS

"Starting a cold generator can do permanent damage. Please use smaller gas generator with heater before turning on" of course that's what you would say.

LEADS

Hey buddy.

LEADS

It's you and me.

LEADS

We gotta get this place warmed up.

LEADS

How has your day been?

LEADS

Oh mine?

LEADS

Well. I went on a nice run.

LEADS

This... Thing came out of the sky.

LEADS

Unleashed a storm from the ninth circle of hell.

LEADS

Broke into my Station.

LEADS

Took a bite out of me.

LEADS

I can't feel my leg anymore.

LEADS

Or the cold.

LEADS

Probably not a good thing.

LEADS

Ah, see little generator! There you go. You're the only friend I have in this place.

LEADS

Got any shop lights down here? It's pretty dark.

LEADS

Ah, in the corner? I see it.

LEADS

You know what.

LEADS

I'm just going to sit here.

LEADS

I don't feel so good.

LEADS

I think the day is catching up with me.

INT. LAX AIRPORT DAY

LEADS

The plane is boarding. I wanted to drop one more line, just incase.

LEADS

I just... I really didn't want to leave this on a message, but you know what?

LEADS

Yes. Yeah. To your offer. I'd like that.

LEADS

I gotta do this job first. Gotta prove myself.

LEADS

But yes. Absolutely yes. And time will fly by! Just a season chilling out with some seals. I'll come home with some new stories.

LEADS

Oh shoot, It's my turn, gotta go-

LEADS

Sarah!?

LEADS

(Hold on) Sarah! Hi! Did you get my message?

LEADS

(Yeah, I know, just a second) Sarah, sorry, gotta go, just listen to my message!

LEADS

Yeah, yeah just listen it's all (excuse me) it's all there! Really gotta go!

LEADS

I'll be home before you know it.

INT. BASEMENT

LEADS

I want to lay down forever little generator.

LEADS

I'm out of juice.

LEADS

Out of blood. Out of sense.

LEADS

But I've got some place to be.

LEADS

You know? Like your place is here.

LEADS

I've got a place waiting for me. Far away. Really, really far.

LEADS

I can't take you with me. I want to but I can't.

LEADS

But I'll remember you little generator. I'll draw your portrait. I'll put it up in my new home in Colorado.

LEADS

A place of honor.

LEADS

You think it's warm enough? In here?

LEADS

I can't really feel anything. I'm all fuzzy.

LEADS

But it's got to be warm enough. You're a good little generator.

LEADS

Let's see if we can get Big Blue going.

LEADS

Let's get this heart pumping again.

LEADS

I'm ready to go home.

LEADS

Here we go Big Blue.

LEADS

Not like that, not like that. I've got to get home.

LEADS

No no no, you don't get it. I'm going to go home. You need to work for me to do that.

LEADS

Home

LEADS

Home!

LEADS

HOME

LEADS

Oh! Oh! Haaah!

LEADS

Hahahah... Haha (manic laughter)

LEADS

I thought I was going to die.

LEADS

She was coming for me. Death was coming for me. And she wouldn't be able to get in. Too much ice.

LEADS

I love you Big Blue. Thank you. I'll never forget this.

LEADS

I'll never forget this.

LEADS

Okay...

LEADS

I see the light up there up there.

LEADS

Just a little climb...

LEADS

No big deal... A little climb... No problem at all. Then you get to go home.

So you climb.

You climb away from the darkness. You climb towards light.

You climb towards your new future.

You'll survive until the scientists arrive.

You'll get on the plane.

You'll fly back to the States.

You'll stop running from everything.

You'll start giving people a chance.

You'll lay down roots.

You'll make a home.

You'll make it to Thanksgiving.

You'll see Sarah.

You'll apologize for everything.

You'll apologize and you'll eat leftovers on the back porch with her and watch the moon rise.

You'll build something new.

Something real.

You'll get help.

There is no cure for the things you suffer from but you'll find ways to cope. Ways to heal. You'll do it together.

Life won't be perfect but you'll find a way to enjoy those little pieces of happiness.

Or at least you would. If you didn't

Slip.

End

Post Credits

SCIENTIST

Cassi. I found him.

SCIENTIST

Hey... Hey buddy... We've been looking for you.

SCIENTIST

Let's get you back upstairs.