THE BLUE ELECTRIC WIND.pdf

The Blue Electric Wind Brad Birch Characters Debbie – (f) Duck – (m/f) * Ewan – (m) Issie – (f) Holly – (f) Leigh – (f) Pog – (m/f) * Sam – (m) Scott – (m) Stinkbob – (m) Toot – (m/f) * Genders for the characters with an * to suit the performers All characters roughly within the...

The Blue Electric Wind Brad Birch Characters Debbie – (f) Duck – (m/f) * Ewan – (m) Issie – (f) Holly – (f) Leigh – (f) Pog – (m/f) * Sam – (m) Scott – (m) Stinkbob – (m) Toot – (m/f) * Genders for the characters with an * to suit the performers All characters roughly within the same year group at secondary school Note on the text (…) denotes speech trailing off (/) and (\) denotes interruption Beats < Pauses < Silences 2 One Morning. SCOTT and ISSIE are walking to school. SCOTT It’s like having a bloody knife and fork stuck in your mouth. ISSIE It’s what? SCOTT It’s like having a… I can’t even talk properly. This is crap. ISSIE You get used to them. SCOTT Yeah? How do you know? ISSIE Chloe. She had braces for ages. She got so used to them she forgot she even had them. And when they remembered to take them out they’d been in her mouth for so long she ended up losing three teeth. SCOTT Right now I’d take losing the whole lot if it meant I could get rid of this. It’s like each tooth has got a paperclip on it. ISSIE You know there is one thing to watch out for. SCOTT What? ISSIE Pens. SCOTT Pens? ISSIE You want to be careful chewing on the ends of pens. SCOTT Why’s that? ISSIE There was this boy, right, who had these whacking big braces put in as well, and… Not saying yours are whacking big, by the way, I can hardly see them if anything. 3  SCOTT Just tell me what happened. ISSIE Well, see, thing is, he chewed his pen all the time, right. But what with these braces the bloody pen got stuck behind his teeth. He panicked and before the teacher could do anything about it he’d snapped the pen in half and ended up swallowing a pint of ink. SCOTT A pint of ink? ISSIE Well however much is in a pen. SCOTT Not a pint. ISSIE More than I’d like to swallow though. Beat. SCOTT Did this actually happen? ISSIE Course. SCOTT What was his name then? ISSIE Adam. SCOTT Adam what? ISSIE Adam. Onions. SCOTT Adam Onions? ISSIE Yeah. SCOTT His second name was Onions? ISSIE Yes. SCOTT How come I’ve never heard of him? ISSIE He moved away before you moved here. SCOTT Right. 4  ISSIE Massive big deal it was at the time. Had this big campaign at the school to try and ban people chewing pens. It didn’t work. I told them it wouldn’t. Everybody has pens and only a few people have braces. Would have been easier to ban them instead. SCOTT I chew my pen all the time. I don’t even realise I’m doing it until I’m doing it. If that makes sense. ISSIE You want to be careful. His teeth went blue forever. EWAN, HOLLY and DUCK approach. HOLLY Oi oi. EWAN Look out. DUCK It’s Jaws. SCOTT Here we go. HOLLY Let us see then. SCOTT grins on demand, they all gawp. EWAN Look at that. DUCK Mouth like a bunch of keys. HOLLY Tongue like a magnet. EWAN Teeth like parked cars. SCOTT Are you finished? DUCK Listen to it. I didn’t realise it’d make you speak Robot as well. EWAN Beep beep boop boop. SCOTT Very funny. HOLLY Here. One thing. You want to watch when you’re chewing pens. 5  ISSIE I already told him. EWAN What happened to that lad again? DUCK Blue lips? He died. SCOTT He didn’t die. EWAN Issie, didn’t you tell him how he died? That’s the most important bit. DUCK You shouldn’t shelter him from the truth. ISSIE Don’t listen to them. SCOTT I’m not listening. EWAN Why not? Did they do your ears as well? HOLLY How long are you clamped for then? SCOTT Dunno. Couple of months. DUCK Couple of what? EWAN Moths, he said. SCOTT Months. HOLLY Mums? SCOTT Bloody months. DUCK Muddy bumps? SCOTT Bugger off. They laugh. HOLLY How was it then? Painful? SCOTT No. A bit. HOLLY Where did they screw it in? SCOTT They don’t screw it in. I’m not Frankenstein. DUCK notices something in the sky. 6  DUCK You know what, it was sunny when I left the house. EWAN Can you still do P.E. if you’ve got braces? SCOTT Course you can. Why not? DUCK Now look at it. I should have brought a coat. EWAN What about swimming, though? Won’t they rust up? SCOTT They’re not going to rust up, are they? They’re in your mouth all the time and your spit doesn’t rust them, does it? DUCK It’s going to lash it down. ISSIE What’s that, Duck? DUCK Bloody alright when I left the house. But now look at it. Brewing like a cup of tea. EWAN That’ll be football cancelled tonight then. HOLLY Here, let’s have a photo with Jaws. SCOTT No. No way. ISSIE Come on. Just one and then we’re done. SCOTT Alright. One. Then that’s it. They quickly take a selfie, SCOTT reluctantly grins to show his braces. The sky crackles. They notice people approaching. DUCK Look out. ISSIE Freaks Aloud. HOLLY No Direction. EWAN Stinkbob! STINKBOB, LEIGH and SAM enter. 7  DUCK Alright, Stinkbob. STINKBOB It’s not Stinkbob. DUCK My apologies. Stinkrobert. STINKBOB Bugger off. EWAN Now, now. No need for that. It’s just a bit of banter. LEIGH Stinkbob. It doesn’t even make any sense. SCOTT It doesn’t have to does it? He’s called Duck but he doesn’t lay any eggs, does he? DUCK Quack. SAM What’s wrong with your mouth? SCOTT What’s that? SAM Rough rat? Why can’t you talk properly? ISSIE He’s got braces. Obviously. SCOTT Yeah, piss off. SAM Piff poff. I thought they were tram tracks. SCOTT Yeah well you want your eyes testing. STINKBOB Come on, let’s leave them to it. DUCK Oh, Stinkbob. Don’t leave us so soon. I was enjoying our catch up. STINKBOB, SAM and LEIGH walk on. We should do this more often, Stinkrobert. We’ll miss these days, you know. When we’re old and boring. EWAN Bloody hell. What a bunch of goons they are. DUCK We were just having a laugh. 8  HOLLY That Sam gives me the creeps. Did you see how he was looking at me? ISSIE I heard they have their own language. SCOTT No they don’t. ISSIE They do. HOLLY What’s it called? Freaklish? DUCK Nerdwegian? ISSIE I don’t know what it’s called. SCOTT Where’ve you heard this then? ISSIE They were in Biology, right, and Mrs White caught them talking between themselves in this weird secret bloop bloop language. But she couldn’t give them detention because she didn’t know what they were saying. SCOTT That doesn’t make any sense. Why did she need to know what they were saying to give them detention? EWAN Couldn’t she just do them for going bloop bloop? ISSIE No, see thing is. She couldn’t because… ISSIE is stumped. HOLLY Why not? ISSIE Stinkbob’s dad’s a spy. EWAN You what? DUCK His dad’s a spy? SCOTT I can’t see that one either, Is. HOLLY Spies don’t have kids like that. He’s too odd. 9  ISSIE Well think about it. The reason he’s so odd is because his dad’s a spy. SCOTT How does that work? ISSIE Well he’s not normal because he doesn’t know what normal is. If his dad’s a spy then he’s never had a proper life, has he? EWAN What do you mean? ISSIE Well you can’t like, have sleepovers or anything like that, can you? I bet he never even had any birthday parties when he was a kid. EWAN Why not? ISSIE Why not? Security, you bloody dumbo. If you’re a spy and that you can’t just start inviting strangers to your house, can you? EWAN Why can’t you? ISSIE Because who knows who’ll turn up. You might get found out. HOLLY At a kid’s birthday party? ISSIE I don’t make the rules, do I? If you ask me I think spies deserve birthdays too. SCOTT If Stinkbob’s dad’s a spy then they wouldn’t be living here, would they? What would they spy on? Church bingo? DUCK Whatever it is, something’s not right about him. SCOTT Yeah I mean, I’m not saying he’s normal. I’m just saying that/ /The sky crackles. I’m just saying that/ 10  EWAN /Oh hear, listen to them braces. Show us then. SCOTT What? EWAN Show us your braces. SCOTT What are you talking about? I have done. ISSIE Come on, don’t be shy. SCOTT I’m not being shy, I’ve already shown you them. HOLLY Makes you talk funny. SCOTT Yeah. We’ve established that. EWAN Come on, show us. SCOTT grins again, even less enthusiastically. DUCK Look at that. HOLLY Tongue like a magnet. SCOTT You’ve said that. DUCK Teeth like parked cars. SCOTT You’ve already said that. Just re-saying it doesn’t make it funnier. HOLLY What’s got into him? DUCK Maybe it’s the metal, affecting his brain. The sound of a bell ringing in the distance. EWAN Oh bloody hell. If I’m late again I get detention. Come on. They exit. 11 Two TOOT and POG enter. They are kicking a ball between themselves. TOOT So last night… POG Yeah. TOOT Everything’s normal… POG Right. TOOT Get home normal time… POG Yeah. TOOT Mum’s there. We have dinner. Normal. POG What did you have? TOOT Jacket potatoes. POG With what? TOOT Beans and cheese. POG Standard. TOOT Normal, normal, normal. POG Yeah. TOOT But then, just as I’m going to bed, something extraordinary happens. POG What? TOOT I have this stunning realisation. POG What was it? TOOT It dawns on me, like it was sent from out of the unknown, right direct into my brain. POG Yeah…? 12 TOOT Like a parting of the waves. Like a light bulb switching on. Click. POG Will you tell me what it bloody was? TOOT It was about Star Command. POG Star Command? TOOT Yes. The seminal and unsurpassable television space series Star Command. POG Go on. TOOT You see, in episode fourteen Captain Rush takes the/ POG /Hang on. Episode fourteen of… TOOT Of season one. POG Right. TOOT Captain Rush takes the Decree of the Star Council and presents it to the Sirus Empire. POG Yeah. TOOT Offering them a/ POG /Offering them an example of peaceful unity between previously warring planets. TOOT Resulting in/ POG /Resulting in the Sirus Empire adopting a similar ethos that unites their fractured galaxy. Classic episode. What about it? TOOT Not just a classic episode though, Pog. A fatal episode. An ultimately tragic episode. POG Why? What do you mean? 13  TOOT Well… by the time we get to season five, the Star Council is all but destroyed in the/ POG /In the War of the Expanding Suns. TOOT In the War of the Expanding Suns, yeah. And who destroys the Palace of Yuma in the War of the Expanding Suns? POG Guarin the/ TOOT /Guarin the White. And where did Guarin the White build his fleet of Planet Swallowers, capable of destroying Yuma? POG doesn’t return the ball. The penny has dropped. POG The Brack Peninsular. TOOT And when was the Brack Peninsular discovered? POG In episode three of season four. TOOT Which could have only happened after the… POG Unification of the Sirus Empire. TOOT Yes. POG So you’re saying that if Rush hadn’t, in season one, have brought peace to Sirus/ TOOT /Then the galaxy wouldn’t have reunited, the Brack Peninsular wouldn’t have been discovered and Guarin the White wouldn’t have the resources to develop an army/ POG /To crush/ BOTH /The Star Council. TOOT Do you see? POG Bloody hell. 14  TOOT Do you see? POG So you’re saying that Captain Rush brought it upon herself? TOOT Well, not upon herself, because she died in/ POG /Season two. TOOT But upon her people. POG Bloody hell. TOOT Yeah. POG So in bringing peace she brought stability. And in that stability evil forces were rebuilt. Only to then wreak havoc upon the very people that helped them in the first place? TOOT Exactly. They start kicking the ball again. POG Big thought, that. TOOT Yeah. POG Very big. TOOT Too big. Seen as I was on my way to bed. POG So what do you think, that the Star Council should have just left the Sirus Empire to fall apart in season one then? TOOT Not necessarily, but/ /The sky crackles TOOT and POG look up. They let the ball roll aw ay. POG Oh dear. TOOT Oh dear, oh dear. 15  POG The storm’s coming then. TOOT Again. POG On time. TOOT Right on time. POG Oh well. They both go into their rucksacks and put on their baseball caps. They nod to each other. TOOT goes and fetches the ball. So start from the beginning, because what if Captain Rush had… POG follows. Three Break time. SCOTT and ISSIE are sat together. ISSIE So you’re coming to help buy a birthday present for Ewan at lunch, aren’t you? Because I’ve been thinking, right, that it’s dead important that I get him something that he’s into, but not like something he’s too into otherwise that’s a bit intense. Do you know what I mean? SCOTT No. Sorry, I can’t, Is. ISSIE Why not? You promised. SCOTT I know, but I’ve got detention, haven’t I? ISSIE It’s only break time. Who’s given you detention already? SCOTT Maths, first period. Miss bloody Thorne. 16 ISSIE What for? SCOTT I don’t know. A few things. But it wasn’t my fault. ISSIE What happened? SCOTT The whole thing’s a joke. I was sat there, right, and she’s going through these sums on the board. And she gets so far with this one sum and then she stops and she asks the class, she says, does anyone know what to do with the remainder number? And we say no, obviously, and so then she does it, she shows us what to do, on the board, and then she wipes the whole thing off. ISSIE Right. SCOTT But then, thing is, she then starts to do the whole thing again. The same sum. You know, but she’s not doing it on purpose. She’s doing it like it’s an entirely new sum. And she asks, she says, does anyone know what to do with the remainder number. ISSIE And so you say yeah. SCOTT Well I was gonna say yeah, but… Well see, it’s the weirdest bloody thing because everybody else says no. ISSIE What, no they don’t know what to do? SCOTT Yeah. ISSIE Even though she’s just shown you. SCOTT Yeah. Exactly. And so she shows us what to do again, and then wipes it off the bloody board again. ISSIE And then what happens? 17 SCOTT Then, Issie. Then. She does the same bloody sum. And so this time, when she asks if anyone knows what to do with the remainder number, I say yes, I say Miss you’ve already bloody asked us that. And she says don’t say bloody it’s swearing. And then she says that she finds it remarkable that I know what to do with the remainder number seen as she hasn’t shown us yet. And I say yes you have. Actually you’ve shown us what to do with it three bloody times now. Except I didn’t say bloody again because I’m not a bloody idiot. ISSIE So hang on, she doesn’t know that she’s doing it? SCOTT No. ISSIE And so what, the whole class is just/ SCOTT /No. See. The whole class are just sat there. Sat there like nothing’s going on. ISSIE They didn’t notice? SCOTT No! And so I was losing my mind, I couldn’t believe it. For almost a quarter of an hour Miss was repeating herself, this same bloody sum over and over. Over and over telling us about what to do with this bloody remainder number. ISSIE What was the number? SCOTT What? ISSIE What was the remainder number? SCOTT What’s that got to do with anything? ISSIE Dunno. 18  SCOTT So then she says if you’re so sure Scott Taylor come and show us all on the board. And so I got up, and wrote out the solution. ISSIE And so what did she do? SCOTT She went crazy. She went Scott Taylor have you been looking at the answers? Have you been cheating? And I say no, obviously. ISSIE And you hadn’t? SCOTT Of course I hadn’t. But she doesn’t believe me. So she says to the class, she says have we already done these sums like Scott Taylor’s saying we have. But of course they all shake their heads like gormless bloody vegetables. ISSIE So then what happened? SCOTT So that’s when I got a detention. ISSIE Because you got the answer right? SCOTT Because she thought I was cheating, and because I called everyone gormless bloody vegetables. ISSIE Right. Bloody hell. Beat. And were you? SCOTT Was I what? ISSIE Cheating? SCOTT Of course not! Beat. ISSIE Do you remember that kid Molly or Polly or Ollie Rowlands, I can’t remember the name, who once cheated on a test and did so well that he or she got 19  taken to a top-secret university for like future Prime Ministers or whatever? SCOTT No. ISSIE And eventually he or she, I can’t remember, told someone that actually he or she isn’t actually a genius and they had to kill her or him because they’d seen the location of this super top-secret university. SCOTT That’s not true. ISSIE It is. SCOTT Well if it was so top secret and the kid died then how do you know about it? Beat. ISSIE I don’t remember. SCOTT That’s such a lie. ISSIE Says you. You cheat in Maths. SCOTT But that’s the point! I wasn’t bloody cheating! Four Lunch time detention. SCOTT, DEBBIE and SAM are sat on their own. DUCK and HOLLY are sat together. They are on their phones. DUCK This is crap. HOLLY It’s detention. It’s meant to be crap. DUCK No but I mean this is really crap. They’re not meant to just leave us on our own, you know. 20  HOLLY Why not? DUCK Well what if something happened? HOLLY Like what? SAM He might need the toilet. He’s worried he’s going to have to use the bin. DUCK Shut up. SAM Don’t tell me to shut up. DUCK Shut. Up. SCOTT Can you both shut up? If you make too much noise then Miss’ll come back quicker and make us do crap. I’d rather be sat doing nothing than have to work. Wouldn’t you? They wait. DUCK gets increasingly bored. DUCK We’ve been here ages. I’m hungry. Detention doesn’t mean bloody starving to death, does it? That’s torture, that is. That’s against our Human Rights. DEBBIE It’s not against our Human Rights. DUCK Why not? We’re human, aren’t we? DEBBIE Some of us are. DUCK You what? DEBBIE Nothing. DUCK Dunno who invited you into the conversation anyway. HOLLY Yeah. Keep your snout out. It’s rude. DEBBIE Well I can’t help it if people are talking so loud. 21  HOLLY Whatever. Snout. DUCK and HOLLY turn back to their phones. DUCK You know what, Scott. Beat. Scott. SCOTT What is it, Duck? DUCK I reckon football’s going to be cancelled tonight. SCOTT Yeah. DUCK Because of the weather. SCOTT I know, Duck. DUCK You know? SCOTT Yes. I already know that you think the weather means football’s going to be cancelled tonight. You’ve already told me. DUCK No I haven’t. SCOTT Yes you have. First Ewan said it. And now you’ve said it about ten times. DUCK How can I have said it ten times when I’ve only just thought of it this second? SCOTT turns to DUCK. SCOTT Because you haven’t just thought of it this second. You’ve thought it and forgotten it nine bloody times now. DUCK You said ten! You said ten just then and now you’re saying nine. Is it nine or ten? Or have you forgot? SCOTT No, you’ve thought it ten times and you’ve forgotten it nine times. If you forgot it as many 22  times as you said it then you wouldn’t remember saying it now. Bloody hell. It’s not hard. SCOTT turns back round. It’s like everyone’s stuck on the same record. You with bloody football, Miss Thorne with bloody remainder numbers and look. SCOTT stands and unloads a load of coins out of his pocket. Every time I see Ewan he gives me the 50p he’s owed me since Thursday! Beat. SCOTT picks up the money he dropped and sits back down. You’ve all gone mad. HOLLY Or you have. SCOTT What? HOLLY What if it isn’t Duck and it isn’t Miss Thorne and it isn’t everybody bloody else, what if it’s just you? SCOTT Well. Then… I don’t know. DUCK Maybe it’s them braces. Maybe they’ve screwed them on too tight. HOLLY You could go to D and T and ask someone to loosen then. SCOTT You two need bloody loosening. They smirk. DEBBIE I’ve noticed it. Too. SCOTT What? HOLLY Snout. 23  DEBBIE People repeating themselves, forgetting they’ve said things, and then acting weird when you point it out. SCOTT Yeah. That’s it. You’ve noticed it too? DEBBIE It happens all the time. SCOTT I thought I was the only one. DEBBIE So did I. People don’t like you talking about it. They get angry. But it’s only because they don’t realise they’re doing it. SAM shuffles in his chair. They notice. SCOTT goes and sits next to DEBBIE. DUCK and HOLLY giggle. SCOTT How long has it been happening to you? DEBBIE A couple of weeks. You? SCOTT Only today. DEBBIE It started small. People would just forget a word or where they left something. Little things that you wouldn’t even notice. But it’s been getting worse. SCOTT Worse? DEBBIE People are starting to forget big things. And for longer. DUCK shows HOLLY something on his phone. They laugh. I think it’s why Miss hasn’t come back. HOLLY Hey Scott. DEBBIE I think she’s forgotten we’re here. HOLLY Scott. SCOTT What is it? 24  HOLLY Come and have a look at this. SCOTT Not right now, Hol. HOLLY Come on, Scott. SCOTT We’re talking, Hol. DUCK Mate. SCOTT I’m serious. DUCK Mate, she’s talking rubbish. DEBBIE No, I’m not. DUCK Dunno what you’re listening to nerds for. SCOTT You don’t know what she’s talking about because you don’t remember any of it, Duck. But I do. What she’s saying makes sense to me. DEBBIE You don’t have to defend me from them lot. HOLLY Look, she thinks she’s better than us. DEBBIE No, I don’t. DUCK Come on, mate. Come and watch this video. SCOTT is torn. HOLLY stands. HOLLY Look, Scott, listen to yourself. People forgetting things? So what? People forget things all the time. Doesn’t mean something’s happening. Miss hasn’t forgotten we’re here. She’s going to walk through that door any second. I swear down. They wait. SCOTT So? HOLLY So she must be on the loo or something. 25 HOLLY sits back down. SCOTT What do you think we should do, Debbie? DEBBIE What do you mean? SCOTT What do we do, how do we stop it from happening to us? DEBBIE Oh. I don’t know. HOLLY Convenient. DEBBIE I don’t know if there’s anything anyone can do. HOLLY There’s nothing you can do because it’s not real. SCOTT But we can’t just accept it, we can’t just live with it. And there’s got to be a reason why it’s happening and why it’s not happening to everyone. DEBBIE Well what do you think we should do? SCOTT I think, if Miss isn’t coming back, then we should leave. DEBBIE What? SCOTT We should get out of here. And go and find other people who aren’t forgetting, and get them to help us. DEBBIE You mean like the police? SCOTT Maybe. DEBBIE I don’t know if we should leave without making sure that the teachers aren’t/ HOLLY /Let’s do it. SCOTT What? HOLLY Scott’s right. We should just do it, go, now. Get out of here. And have the afternoon off. 26  DEBBIE But what if we’re wrong and Miss does come back? I don’t know if it’s a good idea. HOLLY Well then, Snout, if she comes back then you can keep her company, can’t you? We’re off. Are you coming, Duck? Duck? They turn, DUCK is just staring at his phone. Duck? SCOTT and HOLLY rush to him. HOLLY Duck? What’s happened? DEBBIE He’s gone. SAM stands. HOLLY What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where? Duck? Duck? SCOTT Gone in what way, Debbie? DEBBIE I told you it was getting worse. HOLLY Duck? Can you hear me? Duck? SCOTT I thought you just meant worse like, like forgetting more things. DEBBIE Yeah. First you just forget things, little things, things you’ve done, things you’ve said. Then you forget who you are. And then… SCOTT What? HOLLY Duck… SCOTT Then what, Debbie? SAM Then you go blank. They all look to SAM. DEBBIE So you’ve seen it too? 27  SAM No, I’ve just… I’ve heard of it. SCOTT Blank? What does that even mean? SAM You stop functioning. Like a zombie or something. DEBBIE Where did you/ SCOTT /How do you know? SAM I just/ SCOTT /What’s going to happen to Duck? HOLLY You have to help him. Duck. Duck, it’s me. SAM, SCOTT and DEBBIE stand aside. SCOTT What do we do? SAM We should still leave. SCOTT What? SAM You were right. About going. I think we should go. SCOTT But I said that before. Before Duck. What about him? SAM What about him? SCOTT I’m not leaving him behind. SAM Look at him, Scott. He’s comatose. You can’t carry him, can you? The quicker we leave, the quicker we can come back with people that can help. SCOTT But he’s our friend. My friend, anyway. It’s not right to just go. DEBBIE I think Sam’s right. The best thing for your friend is to leave him somewhere where he’s safe, where we know where he is. 28  HOLLY Come on, Duck. Duckie. Wake up, you idiot. It’s R.E. after lunch. You know how much of a doss R.E. is. DEBBIE What do you say? SCOTT Fine. But I don’t know if Holly’s going to agree. DEBBIE If she’ll listen to anyone, it’s you. SCOTT reluctantly goes to HOLLY. SCOTT Holly. We, uh. HOLLY What? What are we going to do, Scott? SCOTT We need to go. HOLLY We can’t just leave him. SCOTT I know, but/ HOLLY /Would he leave you? Think about it. Do you think Duck would leave you behind? They’re not your friends, Scott. We are. DEBBIE We all want to stop this, Holly. But we don’t know what we’re doing. HOLLY What if Duck wakes up and he’s seen that we’ve left him in detention? Or what if it gets us, and we forget where we left him? SCOTT Look. SCOTT puts DUCK’s phone back in DUCK’s hand again. If he comes to then he can call us. You see? HOLLY Or we could call him. If we find something. SCOTT Exactly. DEBBIE Are you coming with us? HOLLY thinks about it. 29  HOLLY Ok. DEBBIE You’re doing the right thing, Holly. They start packing their things. HOLLY sits at a desk on her own. HOLLY Holly Swaine. Fourth of August, 20o2. Holly Swaine. Fourth of August, 20o2. SAM What if someone stops us on the way out? It’s only lunchtime. It’s going to look suspicious. DEBBIE I don’t know. I’ve never left school in the middle of the day before. SCOTT There’s a back route. Where all the smokers go. We’ll go that way. SAM And no teachers will see us? SCOTT No. Obviously. That’s why the smokers go there. SAM Alright. I’m just asking. DEBBIE, SCOTT and SAM are ready to go. SCOTT Holly? Are you ready? HOLLY Holly Swaine. Fourth of August, 2002. SCOTT Hol, are you… What are you doing? HOLLY Holly Swaine. Four… I… I don’t want to forget who I am, Scott. SCOTT You won’t. SAM Are you two ready? SCOTT Are we? HOLLY Yeah. 30 Five TOOT and POG are sat with their ball. They’re still wearing their baseball caps. They are watching the group leave. TOOT Look at them. POG Where are they off? TOOT Class trip? POG Field work? TOOT What subject? POG Buggering Off. Top set. TOOT Maybe it’s P.E. Long distance walking. POG Do you think they might be, possibly, potentially, skipping class? TOOT Don’t know. POG Looks like it, doesn’t it? TOOT I wouldn’t like to speculate. POG Wouldn’t you? TOOT No. But if I did. POG As one might. TOOT As one does. POG As we are. TOOT A nice day like this. POG In this weather. TOOT No point being stuck in a stuffy room. 31  POG You could be missing out on all this wonderful… cloud. TOOT All the lovely rain. POG You could catch a cold in this. TOOT Whether you’re in school or out of school, it’s better to be out. They start kicking the ball about. POG Toot. TOOT Yes Pog? POG I’ve been thinking. TOOT That’s good. POG About Space Command. TOOT Oh right. POG I’ve been thinking about what you said. About Captain Rush and the decision to save the Sirus Empire. TOOT Yeah. POG What if she hadn’t? TOOT What do you mean what if she hadn’t? POG If the Star Council had let the Sirus Empire fall then that would have put the whole galaxy into chaos. TOOT Yeah. POG And in its place something more evil, much more/ TOOT /Than Guarin the White? 32  POG Well maybe not more evil than Guarin the White, but maybe just as evil as Guarin the White, but different. And maybe that’s worse. TOOT How? POG Because the Command knew Guarin the White. They knew what he was capable of, and how to fight him. At least in the timeline we’re talking about the Star Council had the opportunity to defeat Guarin, in/ TOOT /Season three. POG And season four. And it’s not Rush’s fault that they never stopped him. Rush did all she could in the time she had. If it was someone else then the Council could have fallen quicker. TOOT So what are you saying, you think she did the right thing? POG I think given the information she had at the time, she did the right thing. TOOT But it turned out to be the wrong thing. POG Only in hindsight. TOOT Only in fact. Beat. POG Do you ever wonder what you would do, if you were faced with a decision like that? TOOT In a show or in real life? POG In either. TOOT If I was in a show then I’d make sure I was a minor character. 33  POG Why’s that? TOOT Because minor characters never have to make tough decisions. And so when it all goes wrong… POG It’s never their fault? TOOT Exactly. Six That afternoon. The school fields. DEBBIE, HOLLY, SAM and SCOTT. HOLLY Holly Swaine. Fourth of August, 2002. Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis and Zayn, but not any more. Harry, Niall/ SAM /Are you going to keep doing that? SCOTT She’s just worried. She’s allowed to be worried. SAM We’re all worried. We’re not all annoying about it though. HOLLY Niall. Uh, Louis. No. Not Louis. Oh bloody hell. Who am I missing? Scott, I’m forgetting. I’ve forgotten who was next. It’s happening. I’m going blank. DEBBIE It was Liam. Liam next. Then Louis. HOLLY Oh. Right. Yeah. Thanks, Snout. SAM goes and stands on his own. DEBBIE approaches SCOTT. DEBBIE You should be nicer to him. 34  SCOTT Why? DEBBIE Because right now we need to stick together. SCOTT What we need is a plan. SAM I didn’t expect the school to be so quiet. It must be spreading quickly. DEBBIE And we still don’t know what’s causing it. SCOTT Whatever it is, we’re all still with it, so that’s something. We’re doing something right. DEBBIE We should go straight to the police, or the hospital. Somewhere where there’s people who might know what to do. SAM Guys. SCOTT Ok, well the hospital’s closer, so maybe let’s try there first. SAM Guys. DEBBIE What? SAM points. SAM Look. SCOTT What am I looking at? SAM Isn’t it obvious? DEBBIE I can’t see anything, Sam. SAM Exactly. It’s the middle of the day and that’s the main road in and out of town. And there’s nothing. Not one car has passed since we’ve been here. SCOTT He’s right, that road’s normally packed. HOLLY So what does that mean? SAM What do you think it means? 35  DEBBIE It’s reached everywhere. People all over are going blank. It’s not just the schools. SAM Our families. Everyone. SCOTT We need to work out what we should do. Do we still try the hospital? HOLLY pulls SCOTT aside. HOLLY Look. Scott, I think we should run away. I think we should run away on our own. Now. DEBBIE It’s better to stay together. HOLLY Why? We don’t know each other. DEBBIE We’ve got this far together. We got out of the school. HOLLY Yeah, because of Scott. SAM It was a group decision. HOLLY These two, they’re nerds. They’ll only slow us down. SCOTT Run away to where, Holly? HOLLY Anywhere we want. SCOTT If we just run then it’s going to catch up with us eventually, isn’t it? We need a plan. HOLLY But we can make a plan together. SCOTT What if you forget who I am? What if I forget who you are? We make a plan as a four, which means if someone goes blank then no one’s left on their own. HOLLY Like with Duck, you mean? HOLLY sits down, on her own. 36  DEBBIE Scott’s right. We can’t rely on our own minds, our memories. We have to prepare for if we were to forget everything. SAM I want to know if my parents are alright. DEBBIE We all do. SCOTT If you’re worried about them then it means you can remember them. That’s a good thing. Shows you’re still with us. SAM That doesn’t make me feel any better. SCOTT Well then just think of happy things. Good times, good memories. You don’t know how long you’re going to have them before they’re gone forever. DEBBIE Scott. SCOTT I’m trying to say nice things, they just keep coming out wrong. DEBBIE looks up at the sky. DEBBIE The storm has been here for a few hours now. I’ve never seen it this bad. If there are people out there who’ve avoided going blank for this long then there’s a good chance they’re going to know what’s causing it. SCOTT We’re surviving it and we don’t know a thing about it. DEBBIE But I think Sam might. SAM What? Me? No, I… SCOTT Yeah. You said you knew what was happening to Duck. SAM No, I… 37 SCOTT You said you knew that it turned people into zombies. DEBBIE Who told you, Sam? Who told you that this could happen? SAM It’s just an idea. It’s just something someone once said. It reminded me of this. SCOTT Who? Who was it? SAM Robbie Stenk. HOLLY Stinkbob? SAM That’s not his name. HOLLY Bloody Stinkbob? SAM Stop calling him that. HOLLY Oh my God. Has it really come to this? DEBBIE Who’s Stinkbob? SCOTT He’s a weirdo he hangs out with. DEBBIE Oh. Right. HOLLY Our class’s resident lunatic. Doesn’t eat school dinners because he thinks the government puts chemicals in them. SCOTT Doesn’t use a calculator because he thinks they’ve got cameras in them. SAM Hey, he’s… He’s an intelligent guy. You shouldn’t talk about him like that. Yeah, sure he has a lot of… ideas. But he’s smart. And this doesn’t sound too different to something he once told me. DEBBIE What did he say? SAM Something about the weather. How it can… 38  DEBBIE How it can what? SAM I can’t remember. HOLLY Try to. SAM I am trying. HOLLY squares up to him. HOLLY Try harder. SAM That doesn’t help, you know. Just puts me off. HOLLY backs down. SCOTT Ok. Even if Stinkbob could help us, where the hell could he be now? What if he’s still at the school? SAM He won’t be at the school. First sign of trouble then he’d be off. DEBBIE Do you know where he’ll have gone? SAM If he’s not gone blank, then I’ve got an idea. Seven Later. A country road. SCOTT, DEBBIE, SAM and HOLLY are walking. SCOTT and DEBBIE end up walking together. SCOTT How are you doing? DEBBIE Yeah. Alright. I’ve never done anything like this before. 39  SCOTT What, joined a group of randoms trying to solve the mystery of why everyone keeps losing their memories? I do it once a week. DEBBIE No. Obviously. I mean trying to… I mean… Oh, you know what I mean. SCOTT I do. Sorry yeah. Just teasing. Beat. Debbie, can I ask you something? DEBBIE Yeah. Anything. Not anything. I mean/ SCOTT /Why were you in detention? DEBBIE What? SCOTT Why were you in detention today? You don’t seem the type. DEBBIE Oh. Right. SCOTT And I’m saying, like, it’s a good job you were. If you hadn’t have been there then we wouldn’t be here now. I just wondered why you were there at all, really. DEBBIE Oh. It was nothing. SCOTT You were in detention for nothing? Yeah I’ve used that excuse too. DEBBIE No. It’s not an excuse, I… SCOTT What? DEBBIE It’s embarrassing, Scott. SCOTT Why’s it embarrassing? What did you do? Was it gross? DEBBIE No! It wasn’t gross, it was just… 40  SCOTT What? DEBBIE So, a couple of the other girls were passing notes. And I was sat between them. When Mrs Roberts, our teacher, turned round and saw, all the notes were on my desk. SCOTT So? Why did you get in trouble? They weren’t your notes. DEBBIE No but, they just… I don’t know. The others just talked their way out of it better. SCOTT What, and blamed you? DEBBIE I didn’t stand up for myself. SCOTT Dicks. DEBBIE Yeah. I suppose they are dicks. SCOTT Who were they? DEBBIE Camilla Jones and Emily Kendrick. SCOTT Yeah well bloody Camilla Jones’ brother once did a wee in the school swimming pool. DEBBIE He didn’t? SCOTT Yeah. DEBBIE Oh my god. SCOTT He was like seven but even so. DEBBIE Brilliant. HOLLY notices something. HOLLY What’s that? HOLLY points out a wooden sign. On it, painted in sloppy red paint is the word STOP. Is that for us? 41  DEBBIE I think it’s for everyone. SAM If it’s them then that’s a good sign. Shows they’re still with it. HOLLY Them? I thought we were looking for Stinkbob. SAM Yeah. Leigh will be with him too. I hope. SCOTT But what if it’s someone else? SAM Well then let’s find out. SAM keeps walking. SCOTT is reluctant. SCOTT Whoever it is obviously doesn’t want us going further though. SAM Come on. DEBBIE What’s this, Scott Taylor suddenly doing what he’s told? SCOTT What’s this… Debbie, uh, Nerd, breaking the rules? DEBBIE My name isn’t Debbie Nerd. SCOTT No, I know that. I was joking. DEBBIE What’s my last name, Scott? SCOTT Debbie. Deborah. Uh… DEBBIE You don’t know my name. SCOTT I, uh… DEBBIE shakes her head in disbelief. And walks on. DEBBIE Way to make someone feel good about themselves. HOLLY approaches SCOTT. HOLLY Awkward. 42  SCOTT Shut up, Hol. They go to set off again. STINKBOB /(off) Go away. HOLLY What’s that? STINKBOB (off) Go away. This is private property. SCOTT It’s just a road, you idiot. SAM He’s not on about the road, he’s on about the den. STINKBOB appears. STINKBOB Sam? SAM Rob. I thought you’d be here. They hug. STINKBOB I’m so glad to see you. SAM And you. STINKBOB Who are they? SAM We left the school together. STINKBOB Right. DEBBIE We were all in detention. SCOTT The whole place is dead. STINKBOB Dead? Oh my God. SCOTT No, not literally dead. Quiet. STINKBOB Then why did you say dead? SCOTT It’s a figure of speech. Dumbo. SAM Is Leigh with you? STINKBOB Yeah, she is. SAM Good. 43 STINKBOB So you’re safe? SAM Yeah. We’re fine. STINKBOB You should come with me and Leigh. HOLLY What about us? STINKBOB What about you? SAM Rob, these guys, they helped me. I want to help them back. STINKBOB Help them? How? SCOTT We’re sticking together. Where he goes, we go. STINKBOB Well that’s a cute idea but there’s not the room here. SCOTT The room? STINKBOB It’s not like I was planning for guests. HOLLY This is so stupid. DEBBIE We weren’t just looking for somewhere to stay. We were looking for people who might help us know what to do about it. STINKBOB Do about what? DEBBIE The weather. That’s what this is, isn’t it? That’s what you told Sam. STINKBOB Look, as far as I’m aware there’s nothing you can do. So I recommend you go and find somewhere safe to hide out. SCOTT Like where? STINKBOB I don’t know what you want me to say. If I knew there’d be more of you I would have baked a cake. I’m sorry. Sam, are you coming? 44  SAM Robbie, I can’t just… STINKBOB The den’s packed with stuff. Just like we planned. We’re hidden away. It’s perfect. SAM I… I can’t go without them. STINKBOB sighs. STINKBOB Then that’s a shame. Good luck. All of you. STINKBOB goes to leave. DEBBIE I know you don’t owe us anything. STINKBOB Look. It’s nothing personal. HOLLY Whatever. STINKBOB Not to all of you, anyway. DEBBIE We’re not asking for a hand out. We want to work with you. Work together. We can be useful to you too. The supplies you’ve got will only last you so long. What if one of you gets hurt? It’s better to be in bigger groups. It’s better to/ STINKBOB /But you want to stop it. All I want to do is survive. A noise. LEIGH approaches. SAM Leigh. STINKBOB Leigh, go back to the den. LEIGH What time is it, Rob? STINKBOB It’s not time yet. Go back to the den. SAM Leigh? LEIGH Sam. You’re here. Aren’t you getting ready? SAM Ready for what? 45  LEIGH School, you idiot. Got to get ready for school. HOLLY She doesn’t know where she is. STINKBOB Leigh, please. Go back to the den. LEIGH You don’t want to be late. What time is it, Rob? STINKBOB It’s not time yet. LEIGH It’s not? STINKBOB No. It’s early. Don’t want to be too early, do we? LEIGH No. STINKBOB Go back. There’s still time for breakfast. LEIGH wanders off. SAM Rob/ STINKBOB /Don’t. Please. Just go. SAM We need to help her. STINKBOB I am helping her. Don’t you see that? I am. I’m keeping her away from… She’s not going to get any worse out here. SCOTT How do you know? STINKBOB I just do. STINKBOB goes to leave. SAM You’re hurting her, Robbie. Keeping her out here like this. Help us, work with us, to find out how to stop it. STINKBOB You can’t stop it. Will you listen to me? It’s impossible. DEBBIE But it’s not. If you know what the problem is, then working out the answer just takes time. 46  STINKBOB I can’t leave Leigh. HOLLY We’ve lost people too, you know. STINKBOB She’s not lost. SAM But she will be. And I won’t ever forgive you if you just let it happen. You won’t forgive yourself. Eight Later. In STINKBOB’s den. LEIGH is sat mumbling to herself, getting her school bag ready. HOLLY, SCOTT and DEBBIE sit at one side. SAM and STINKBOB at the other side. SCOTT Are you alright? DEBBIE Yeah. Fine. Awkward pause. SCOTT You know, you once called Mr Simpson a boner. And I found it really funny. DEBBIE What are you talking about? SCOTT In a Geography lesson Mr Simpson said that we had to finish our coursework at home if we didn’t finish it in class. And it was a joke because there clearly wasn’t enough time in class to get it done so we all definitely had homework, and you whispered under your breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear, that he was a boner. And I laughed. I might not remember your second name. But I remember that. 47  DEBBIE Oh. Right. DEBBIE offers half a smile back. STINKBOB I’m sorry, about before. SAM Don’t worry about it. STINKBOB I wanted you to stay. I just needed to protect Leigh. SAM I know. I get it. STINKBOB I promised her. I said. If anything was to happen… SAM I know. SCOTT walks over to STINKBOB and SAM. SCOTT So we should probably talk about a plan. STINKBOB I’ve got a plan. It’s to stay right here. SCOTT And then what? STINKBOB And then I’ll see if it’s passed. And if it hasn’t then I’ll wait some more. SCOTT But what about your friend? What if she goes blank? Will you just keep waiting it out then too? Until what? STINKBOB Blank? What does going blank mean? SAM That’s what we call it, when they… DEBBIE When they stop functioning. DEBBIE approaches. We’ve noticed a pattern. They start out forgetting little things. Then they forget who they are. SCOTT Like where your friend is right now. DEBBIE And then they… SCOTT Go blank. 48  STINKBOB I call it fading. You know, like you can see behind the eyes, how they fade. It’s the shutting down of their complex functionings. Talking, listening, basically all their senses just stop for business. They can breathe. They can regulate their body temperature. But that’s about it. SCOTT So then what do you do when that happens to your friend? STINKBOB I don’t know, Scott. I panic. Alright? Is that what you want me to say? SCOTT No, I want you to get on board with helping us. STINKBOB Well, I don’t think I can. DEBBIE Robbie, if you could just help us understand it. What is it? What’s causing this? What is it about the weather? STINKBOB It’s not just the weather. It’s more complicated than that. There’s no way that a cloud system could do this to people’s brains on its own. DEBBIE But I thought you told Sam that it was. STINKBOB You know, a kettle doesn’t boil water on its own. Does it? It needs something else, right? It needs heat. All the kettle does is just hold the water in place while it warms up. That’s what the weather is. It’s just the kettle. And we’re the water. SCOTT So then what’s warming us up? STINKBOB sighs. STINKBOB Electric. The electric. In the air, coming from your phones, your computers, the lights, the plugs. Plug sockets, they’re the worst. It just pours out all the time. And when the weather changes, it makes the 49  electric go a kind of blue and react with your brain. It kills off memory, your working memory, and then digs deeper down. Until people… as you say, go blank. SCOTT So it’s like a reaction? STINKBOB Yes. Kind of. SCOTT What do you mean kind of? STINKBOB I mean kind of as in not really but it’s near enough for someone like you to understand. DEBBIE What do you mean when the weather changes? So it’s not like it all the time? STINKBOB No. Of course not. You must have noticed how the storms, how the clouds go a different colour. They’re darker, more angry. SCOTT Duck noticed it coming this morning. The sound of the sky crackling outside. STINKBOB But while they’re not all the time, they’re lasting longer than they ever have before. And each time the wind blows it takes more people with it. SAM What’s causing it? What’s causing the storms? STINKBOB I don’t know. SCOTT That feels like a key bit of information. STINKBOB Well exactly. I’m sorry. DEBBIE Why doesn’t it affect all of us? Why Duck and Leigh and not us? We’re all the same. STINKBOB But we’re not all the same. Are we? DEBBIE What do you mean? 50  STINKBOB When I was twelve I had an accident. I fell off my bike and split my head open. I had to have a plate fitted. What was the plate made out of? SCOTT I don’t know. STINKBOB Ok. Sam was born with a problem with his heart. They have to reconstruct a valve. What did they use to build it with? Beat. What’s different about you today compared to yesterday, Jaws? SCOTT Braces. I’ve got braces. STINKBOB Don’t you see? It’s the metal. And it’s not just any metal. It’s an amalgam. You’re talking copper, zinc, silver, mercury. Mixed together it’s durable and tough. It’s also harmless to the body. That’s why they use it. But what’s also useful is that this particular amalgam is a pretty handy insulator. That means it earths you. You don’t conduct, you don’t absorb, electricity in the same way. SCOTT So my braces are stopping this from happening to me? STINKBOB Basically yes. SCOTT But what about Debbie? You don’t have/ DEBBIE /My leg. My leg is metal and plastic below the knee. SCOTT Oh. I didn’t know. DEBBIE Why would you? SAM What about her? 51  HOLLY Me? SAM Yeah. What have you got? HOLLY approaches. She puts her hand in her pocket. HOLLY I’ve got a bunch of keys. STINKBOB That won’t do it. HOLLY Why not? STINKBOB Because that’s not made out of this amalgam. HOLLY How do you know? STINKBOB Clutching at straws a bit with that one, aren’t you? HOLLY So what does it mean? What do I do? STINKBOB I don’t know. I’m sorry. SCOTT Is there nothing we can do for her? STINKBOB Make her swallow a spoon. I don’t know. SCOTT There’s no need to be funny. STINKBOB If there was something we can do don’t you think I would have tried it for Leigh already? DEBBIE How do you know about this, Robbie? Who told you? STINKBOB It doesn’t matter who told me. It doesn’t matter how I know. I just do. SCOTT But that means if you can’t help us, there are other people who can. The people who told you. STINKBOB What makes you so sure that this is something a bunch of kids can change? You can’t expect people in power to help you. They’re not on your side. An idea flashes through HOLLY’s mind. 52 She dives her hand in her pocket. HOLLY I’ve got a bunch of keys. SAM What? HOLLY I’ve got keys. I’ve got these keys. They’re metal. SAM Yeah but they’re not made out of/ STINKBOB /She’s forgotten. DEBBIE Oh no. HOLLY Forgotten? Forgotten what? No I haven’t. DEBBIE Scott. It’s starting. HOLLY What’s starting? Who are… Who is this? Where are we? SCOTT Holly. Come and sit down. SCOTT takes HOLLY and they sit down together. DEBBIE We might have the amalgam, but lots of people, like Holly, like Leigh, don’t. And they’re fading, Robbie. Quickly. STINKBOB Look, even if we had an idea, even if we came up with a plan, it’s too complicated for us to solve on our own. We’re talking weather system, power systems. Never mind/ DEBBIE /But maybe we don’t have to solve it. Maybe we just have to break it. SAM What do you mean? DEBBIE We don’t need to know how to change the weather. We just need to cut the electric. At the source. You cut the power then it cuts out the lights, the plugs and when the batteries run out then it kills the phones and computers too. Just for long enough 53  for people to start remembering again. Long enough for people to work out what exactly is going on. SAM So how do we do it? STINKBOB Wait, wait. Hang on. You can’t just… Even if you could break into a substation then you’d need to know how to short circuit the transmitter without damaging it forever. You don’t know what you’re doing. SCOTT But you do. STINKBOB No, I don’t. SCOTT You just said so yourself. Trans-whatever, substations. STINKBOB I know the names for things, I don’t know anything about the actual things themselves. DEBBIE It’s more than what we know, Robbie. If you think this might work… STINKBOB It’s not a case of whether it would work or not. Of course it would work, it’s a great idea. DEBBIE Thank you. STINKBOB No, the question is whether you’re ready for the consequences. SCOTT stands. SCOTT Which are? STINKBOB There are terrifying things in this world, Scott. Things that won’t want us to get in their way. SAM What the hell is causing this, Robbie? What do you know? 54  STINKBOB There are things that I know, Sam, which I would rather forget. Nine Early evening. The den. The group are packing their bags. HOLLY is sat with LEIGH. LEIGH Look at the time. Time for school. HOLLY Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis and Zayn. LEIGH Pack your bag. HOLLY But not any more. DEBBIE approaches SCOTT. She’s saying something to him, quietly. He shakes his head. She presses him. He sighs, gives in. SCOTT approaches STINKBOB. SCOTT Look, thanks. For helping us out. Today. Letting us in here. STINKBOB You didn’t give me much choice. SCOTT No, but even so. It’s not like we’re mates or anything. So, I appreciate it. We appreciate it. STINKBOB It’s alright. SCOTT turns to leave, DEBBIE is watching. There’s something else. SCOTT turns back to STINKBOB. 55  SCOTT And working it out and everything. Obviously. I know I used to, maybe, make fun of you, for all the crazy stuff you used to talk about. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe, without you we wouldn’t know what to do. So cheers. A clean slate? STINKBOB Clean slate. Sure. SCOTT, head down, goes back to what he was doing. DEBBIE smiles at STINKBOB. LEIGH Oh look at that. Look at the time. HOLLY Let’s just run away, Scott. LEIGH Pack your bag. HOLLY Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis. LEIGH Don’t be late. SAM approaches the group. SAM Right. It’s time. Everyone gets their bags and come together. You got everything? STINKBOB Yes. DEBBIE Yep. SCOTT Yeah. SAM And the letters? SCOTT and DEBBIE add their notes to SAM’s. What about yours? STINKBOB I didn’t want to. SAM What if something happens, Robbie. You don’t want to leave a note to your parents? 56  STINKBOB No. Call it a gamble. SAM Fair enough. SAM puts the notes by HOLLY and LEIGH. Can you two look after these? They stare back at SAM, gormlessly. I’ll take that as a yes. SAM turns back to the group. Right then. That’s everything. SCOTT goes to HOLLY. SCOTT We’re going now, Holly. Holly, can you hear me? We’re going now, but we’re coming back. And so are you. SCOTT stands. STINKBOB approaches. STINKBOB Have they faded yet? SCOTT Not completely. But it’s maybe good to say bye now. Just in case. STINKBOB No, I’d rather not. SCOTT You might regret it. STINKBOB If I need to regret it, then hopefully I won’t remember anyway. They all leave. HOLLY and LEIGH watch them exit. HOLLY Scott. Let’s just run away. LEIGH Look… HOLLY But not any more. 57  LEIGH Time for school. HOLLY Scott. They go blank. Ten Night. The substation office. STINKBOB climbs through the window. He looks around the room. He takes a moment. The terminal flashes at him. He unlocks the door. SCOTT, SAM and DEBBIE enter. SCOTT It was cold out there, you know. STINKBOB Sorry. DEBBIE Look at this place. DEBBIE and STINKBOB approach the terminal. What do we do? STINKBOB We have to override the system and short circuit the transmitter. SCOTT How do you know about all this stuff? STINKBOB Well I’m guessing. But it looks like just straightforward circuit work. But on a larger scale. Look. There’s the transformer. So it’s all like a big version of one of those toy battery and light circuits you have when you’re a kid. SCOTT That’s a toy? You’re such a loser. 58  STINKBOB Well it’s a good job I am. STINKBOB sits at the terminal. SCOTT What should I do? STINKBOB I don’t know. What can you? DEBBIE Boys. STINKBOB You could not get in the way. That would be a start. SCOTT goes to look through a pile of papers. SAM sits down. DEBBIE goes to sit down with STINKBOB. DEBBIE He is trying, Robbie. He’s just out of his depth. STINKBOB keeps working. STINKBOB I know that. I’m just, what’s it called, doing banter. DEBBIE Right. STINKBOB I don’t mean to tease your boyfriend, though. I know we’re all tense tonight. DEBBIE What? He’s not my boyfriend. STINKBOB He’s not? DEBBIE No. Why? Did you think he was? STINKBOB I thought that was the whole reason you were doing this together. DEBBIE No. We were just in detention together. STINKBOB You? In detention? DEBBIE Yeah, what’s so weird about that? STINKBOB You don’t seem the type to be detention. 59  DEBBIE I don’t seem the type to be the girlfriend of Scott bloody Taylor either. STINKBOB Fair enough. DEBBIE watches STINKBOB working. DEBBIE I didn’t mean/ STINKBOB /But you like him though. Don’t you? DEBBIE No, I… No, I never… Why do you think…? STINKBOB It seems like you really like him and are kind of glad that all this means that you get to spend time around him. You don’t like how he speaks to me but it isn’t a deal breaker for you because you think that you can change him. Beat. Or maybe I’m wrong. DEBBIE Yeah, you’re, like, so wide off the mark. DEBBIE watches STINKBOB work for a moment. She gets up and goes to sit with SAM. How are you doing, Sam? SAM Yeah. Ok. DEBBIE You’ve gone quiet. SAM You know I sometimes wonder, I wonder if it might be better, when you think about it, to be able to forget certain things. Look at this. Look at what we’re doing. I’d have never done anything like this on my own. I’d have never believed that I could. But we’re doing it. We’re doing it right now. I wonder what else I could have done if I hadn’t have just presumed that I couldn’t. I wonder what else I 60  could do if I could just forget who I am, and just get on with it. I wonder if starting again might have been a good idea. DEBBIE I think this is us starting again, Sam. Without needing to forget. SCOTT stands. He is holding a form. SCOTT Stenk. STINKBOB What? SCOTT Stenk. Stenk, Stenk, Stenk, Stenk… He turns the page. Stenk, Stenk, Stenk, Stenk, Stenk. What the bloody hell’s this? DEBBIE What’s that, Scott? SCOTT This is the bloody maintenance rota. And it’s all Stenk. DEBBIE Robbie? STINKBOB stands. STINKBOB I can explain. SCOTT You better do. STINKBOB It’s, it’s not me. SCOTT Then who is it? STINKBOB My dad. DEBBIE Your dad? STINKBOB My dad’s an engineer. He works here. This is his substation. 61  DEBBIE Why didn’t you tell us? STINKBOB I don’t know. I didn’t think it was important. SCOTT Of course it’s important. STINKBOB I just didn’t/ DEBBIE /It’s how you knew to come here. It’s how you knew what to do. SAM It’s how you knew what this was. The whole thing. STINKBOB Now, wait… SAM The electricity. The weather. It’s not books or theories or conspiracies. It’s your dad. You knew because your dad knew. That’s why you live out in the country now. It’s why you knew where to build the den. Your dad moved you out, away from everyone, to protect your family. He knew and he didn’t tell anyone. STINKBOB Well he couldn’t tell anyone. SAM Why not? STINKBOB Because he… SCOTT Controlled it. From here. He knew about it but didn’t tell anyone else because it’s him. He’s causing this. DEBBIE Robbie? STINKBOB It’s, it’s, it’s not his fault. SCOTT You idiot. SCOTT grabs STINKBOB. STINKBOB Please. He didn’t know it’d be like this. SAM What about Leigh? 62  STINKBOB It’s not his fault. SCOTT What about our families? STINKBOB He didn’t mean for this to happen. He didn’t want it, he didn’t want it to happen like this. There’s nothing he could do. DEBBIE Scott, let him go. SCOTT reluctantly lets STINKBOB go. STINKBOB rubs his neck. STINKBOB They made him do it. They said that he had to work like normal. He didn’t like it, but he had no choice. He hates it more than you do, I swear. SCOTT What is it? STINKBOB They say it’s defence. But my dad calls it war. It’s a weapon. A meteorological weapon that they’re testing. DEBBIE What? STINKBOB They’re testing it, a safer version of it here, for a stronger version that they can use abroad. A version that wipes whole systems, infrastructures, a version that evaporates people’s entire memories forever. It’s horrible. They’re monitoring the town, how people react, how much people can cope with. They send in the clouds when they up the dose. The storms, that’s it coming in. There was nothing my dad could do. You have to believe that. He’s not a bad man. SCOTT I can’t believe it. Issie was right. Your dad is a bloody spy. STINKBOB What? 63  DEBBIE If he couldn’t stop it, then why are you helping us now? STINKBOB He was such a happy man. A man with a real passion for his job. But that’s changed. Now he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep. When you came to me I realised this might be a chance, a way of stopping it, so he doesn’t have to. DEBBIE If we break this now, then your dad will be trouble. STINKBOB We’ll probably be sent away. That’s what they’ve threatened him with. They’ll put him on a station somewhere out of the way and keep him quiet, away from everybody, forever. SAM But that means you too. You’ll have to go too. STINKBOB I know. And actually now it’s come to this it doesn’t feel like a threat at all. It’s what he needs. What we all need. To start again. Somewhere new. New life. New memories. STINKBOB goes back to the terminal. How does that sound? DEBBIE Robbie, you don’t have to/ SCOTT /It sounds good, Rob. Sounds good to me. STINKBOB turns to the terminal. SAM Wait. He stops. I mean, we should say goodbye or something. Shouldn’t we? STINKBOB I suppose so. Maybe it’s not a goodbye though. Maybe it’s a ‘see you later’. In a way. 64  STINKBOB turns the dial. The lights swell then flicker and then explode. Pitch black. Eleven Morning. SCOTT is on his own. He’s waiting. ISSIE arrives. SCOTT Hey. ISSIE Morning. How are the braces then? SCOTT It’s like having a bloody knife and fork stuck in your mouth. ISSIE It’s like what? SCOTT Nothing. Just still getting used to them. EWAN, HOLLY and DUCK approach. HOLLY Oi oi. EWAN Look out. HOLLY Jaws. DUCK Let us see then. SCOTT grins on demand, they all gawp. EWAN Look at that. DUCK Mouth like a bunch of keys. HOLLY Tongue like a magnet. EWAN Teeth like/ 65  SCOTT /Parked cars. EWAN Yeah. How did you know… HOLLY Where did they screw it in? SCOTT They don’t screw it in, I’m not bloody Frankenstein. HOLLY Oh. SCOTT How are you feeling, Hol? HOLLY Fine. Why? SCOTT Nothing. I just… I dunno. Had a feeling, you uh… HOLLY What are you going on about? EWAN Oh mate. EWAN takes 50p out of his pocket. Here’s that 50p I owe you. SCOTT Don’t worry about it. DUCK notices people approaching. DUCK Look out. ISSIE Freaks Aloud. HOLLY No Direction. LEIGH and SAM walk past. SAM and SCOTT share a glance as they pass. A kind of déjà vu. HOLLY Where’s the other one? Stinkbob? ISSIE Oh yeah. SCOTT Who knows. EWAN Look. Can we get going? If I’m late today I’ll get detention. 66  DUCK Alright, chill out. We’re coming. They all start walking, apart from SCOTT. ISSIE Are you not coming, Scott? SCOTT No. Actually. I’m waiting for someone. DUCK You what? SCOTT I’ll catch you up. They start walking. SCOTT waits a moment. DEBBIE arrives. Twelve POG and TOOT enter. They are kicking the ball between themselves. POG looks up at the sky. TOOT looks up at the sky. POG So. Do you think it worked? TOOT I don’t know. POG Does it feel different to you? TOOT I suppose it does. POG Less of a nip. TOOT More like a breeze. POG How many days has it been then? TOOT Three by my count. POG Should have worn off by now. 67  TOOT Yeah well you see some of them are starting to come to. POG They’re going to miss the weird one. That’s something you can’t ignore. TOOT Pog, if it’s thinning out then should we, uh…? POG Yeah. Why not. They take off their hats. They take the tin foil out from inside of them. They feel nothing. They shrug. I was never a hat person. TOOT No, me neither. POG As a rule. They start kicking the ball about again. So I was thinking. TOOT Were you now? POG I couldn’t help it. TOOT What about? POG About being minor characters and not having to make tough decisions. TOOT Yeah. POG Well isn’t that a decision in itself? TOOT What do you mean? POG Take us for example. We knew about the weather and the electric and the metal. We knew how to avoid it and we probably could have worked out how to stop it, if we put our minds to it. TOOT Yeah, but we’re not… We’re not the leads in this, it wouldn’t make sense for us to have/ 68  POG /But Captain Rush didn’t wake up one morning and say hey I’m going to be the lead in this story now. As you know in episode four the ambassador to the Sirus Empire was killed and Rush only got involved because she chose to get involved. We could have got involved in this business any time we wanted. TOOT So you’re saying we made ourselves minor. POG Yeah. We made ourselves minor, we opted out, we decided not to try to do something about it, despite us knowing that we could have. We saw the risk and didn’t take it. That was our tough decision. Beat. TOOT When you put it like that… POG When I put it like that. TOOT You make us sound like Dofor the Coward in episode six of season two. POG In a way. A bell rings in the distance. Toot? TOOT Yes Pog? POG Now this is all blown over. And, like, with all the teachers having their memories back. TOOT Yeah? POG Don’t we have to start going to class again? TOOT Oh. Crap. End 69