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Contraption, Part 1: Springs
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by Lendren Starfall
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Cast, In Order Of Appearance

Allessa Delphine .......................... Captain of the Motley Roger
Llarrell Silverwing ........................ Empath of the Motley Roger
Giselle Delacroix ..................... Port Gunner of the Motley Roger
Sha Tallowtail ................... Starboard Gunner of the Motley Roger

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Table of Contents

Scene 1: Discovery .................................................. 2
Scene 2: Distraction ................................................ 3
Scene 3: Defeat ..................................................... 4

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Produced in association with the Seeds of Change Repertory Company.

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Scene 1: Discovery
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ROLE Allessa (F): Allessa Delphine

COSTUME AllessaCostume (Allessa): She is a fierce loboshigaru and has obviously
seen a fair amount of wear and tear, her graying hair missing tufts here and
there, marked by scars and discolouration. One eye is clouded over, milky with
mottled, churning clouds; the other darts quickly from side to side as if trying
to make up the difference. For all her age she still walks with a swagger in
her hips that has clearly been habitual so long she no longer realizes she's
doing it. She wears a rogue's leather longcoat studded with platinum rings, two
iron-shod black leather scabbards, long boots of tanned hide, and ten spiral
rings of gold and silver.

ROLE Llarrell (M): Llarrell Silverwing

COSTUME LlarrellCostume (Llarrell): He is a feathered trill and fidgets
constantly, twitching his fingertips and scanning his eyes from side to side as
if always on the lookout for some unnamed threat sneaking up on him. His
rust-brown feathers are meticulously groomed without a single one out of place,
yet somehow his constant anxious movement makes him look disheveled. He is
alarmingly tall and scrawny, as if a regular person were elongated until he
seems like he could topple over at any moment. He wears hunter green trousers,
a pine green sleeveless tunic, sandals of crimson and mulberry, and a necklace
from which hangs a single key.

ROLE Giselle (F): Giselle Delacroix

COSTUME GiselleCostume (Giselle): She is an ordinary human and shows her
Delportoise heritage in the sway of her hips, the curves that fill out her
clothes and threaten to spill over in their exuberance, the unnaturally vivid
red hue of her long, wavy hair, and the look on her face which perpetually mixes
a leer, a smirk, and a pout. She takes great pains to make it look like she
doesn't take any pains to look sexy, and is not entirely successful -- at the
deception part, not the sexiness part. She wears a slinky evening gown of blue
and indigo, high-heeled shoes of sapphire blue, a sapphire choker, dangling
aquamarine earrings set in silver hoops, and a glittering sapphire ring.

ROLE Sha (F): Sha Tallowtail

COSTUME ShaCostume (Sha): She is a bullish taurian and seems designed not to
attract attention. Her hide is not shaggy, but not patched, and in a
grayish-brown that would blend into any season's foliage. In place of horns she
has only tiny nubs at the forehead, and the characteristic muzzle of her kind is
softened, perhaps implying some mixed blood in her ancestry. Her eyes are a
dark yellow-green. All her movements are relaxed yet sparse, calculated not to
waste any effort. She wears brown woven trousers and a rumpled gray tunic.

SCENE Aetherspace: Against a backdrop of inky darkness, swirls of coruscant
energies and dancing clouds of colour swirl endlessly. In the distance, barely
visible, hazy shapes loom, the visible projection of remote aetherbubbles.

EFFECT S1Q1 (5): An inky darkness fills the area above the stage and seems to
swim out to enfold the senses, as blossoming whorls of colour expand, the
striated energies of aetherspace. Distant aetherbubbles loom as hazy blobs of
ochre and cerulean. In the middle distance, a fleet of a half-dozen
aetherships, so small they're barely visible as more than darts of light,
surround a larger flagship as it cruises with inexorable calm through the
shimmering aetherspace.

PAUSE

EFFECT S1Q2 (5): Abruptly looming overhead, a large aethership, battered and
pitted, its outer skin splattered with bruises and paint, appears as it glides
by. It soon fills most of the view, and two smaller ships flank it, a
mismatched, motley armada.

PAUSE

EFFECT S1Q3 (5): The weary-looking trio of ships glides to fill the vista, a
view window approaching and broadening to reveal the ship's interior, where a
quartet of rogueish crew peer out into aetherspace.

Allessa: ENTER SILENT

Llarrell: ENTER SILENT

Giselle: ENTER SILENT

Sha: ENTER SILENT

Allessa: (standing at the ship's helm in the bridge's center) That looks a fat
basket, what kind of plums does she have aboard?

Llarrell: (his twitching fingers buried amongst the wires of the empath grid)
Scanning her, Captain.

Sha: (from her station at the starboard turret) She's got six escorts, reckon
we're outgunned, Cap'n, 'specially with no one on the top turret.

Giselle: (swinging the port turret to face forward) The Motley Roger's taken
worse'n this, with a good pilot at her helm.

Allessa: (flashing Giselle an annoyed glance) Giselle, mind your tongue and
your turret, it's the captain's prerogative to fly her own ship.

Giselle, to Allessa: (pointedly) You know I'm a better pilot, it's endangering
all of us to banish me to the--

Allessa: (sharply) And if you hadn't smashed up your own ship, you'd still be
flying it, so be grateful you've got a place on the crew after wrecking a
quarter of the armada.

Sha: (in a flat tone) We're fifteen klicks out, they'll be spotting us right
soon.

Giselle: spins the turret around in a flouncy sulk and glares down its length.

Llarrell: Umm, Captain, you want the good news or the bad news?

Allessa: (with a sigh) Bad news first.

Llarrell: We've been spotted, but not hailed. The escorts are raising shields
and readying weapons, not firing yet, but making ready.

Allessa: So she means to fight. The good news?

Llarrell: Ah, there wasn't any good news, I just wanted to ease the blow. The
other bad news is there's no cargo.

Giselle: Let's go find somewhere else, then.

Sha: lets go of her turret and relaxes.

Allessa: (frowning and stroking her chin) That makes no sense. Why guard an
empty ship with six battle-ready escorts... positively itching for a fight?

Giselle: Who cares why people do crazy things? There's no profit to be made
here, just risk.

Allessa, to Giselle: Rather like that stunt you were flying when--

Giselle: (in clipped tones) Yes, thank you for reminding me of that. Now, if
you're done rubbing salt in my wounds, can we put some distance between us and
them?

Llarrell: They're locking on weapons, Captain.

Allessa: Did anyone provoke them?

Sha: Weapons are calm and quiet, Cap'n.

Allessa: They must have something... or someone... valuable on that flagship.
Llarrell, inform the White Night and Scalliwag to draw off the escorts. We'll
play too weak to act until they're not less than six clicks away.

Giselle: That's ridiculous!

Sha: Truth, the Cap'n's spot on. Must be as they're holding summat what's
worth the keeping, follows as night the day summat worth takin'.

Giselle: Well, she'd better not lecture me on taking insane risks anymore.

Allessa: Quiet, and concentrate. We'll need to act fast on my mark.

EFFECT S1Q4 (5): As the crew focuses on their modules, the ship drifts away
until the inky blackness of aetherspace hoves into view around it, then draws
quickly back, the Motley Roger shrinking to a point of light. Its two companion
ships move forward, prismatic flame lancing from them at the escort ships now
releasing volleys of violet torpedoes at them.

EFFECT S1Q5 (5): One of the torpedoes fills the vista suddenly, and in a wash
of violet fire, the scene dissolves into darkness.

PAUSE

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Scene 2: Distraction
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EFFECT S2Q1 (5): The ebon landscape above the stage suddenly develops pinpricks
of colour to one side which swerve rapidly at a lopsided tilt, causing a rising
feeling in the stomach.

EFFECT S2Q2 (5): The view swerves past a scene of battle some distance away,
seven ships dancing around one another and peppering each other with sprays of
fire and rippling waves of energy, but does not linger, passing this tableau
almost immediately.

EFFECT S2Q3 (5): The gut-wrenching movement of the world around slows as the
large flagship seen earlier, now unaccompanied, swings into view, closer but
still fairly distant.

EFFECT S2Q4 (5): As the flagship settles into the center of the view, around
the edges of the stage, the crew appear dimly lit by their instruments, now seen
from behind as they gaze forward at the viewport in which the flagship hangs.

SCENE MotleyRoger: From a viewpoint at the back of the bridge, the stage
depicts the central chambers of the aethership Motley Roger. In center, the
captain's chair sits on a small rise, gazing at the broad viewport that takes up
the far wall almost in its entirety. Towards the back, the empath's grid stands
cocked at an angle, flaring cables and tendrils snaking in all directions. To
either side stands a turret, each one looking like it's been repaired with
scraps of shrapnel and wrong-sized bolts.

Llarrell: The Rabbit's Foot at eight clicks and dead ahead, Captain.

Sha: Sweet flyin', Cap'n.

Allessa: I don't know, if they're paying any attention they won't be fooled by
that trick. Their empath will have spotted the engine flare. Are they
reacting?

Giselle: sits in stony silence.

Llarrell: No sign of any reaction. Captain... I don't even think there's
anyone on that ship.

Allessa: Someone's got to be flying it.

Llarrell: Maybe, but it's just gliding in a straight line. Maybe it's piloted
remotely by the escorts?

Sha: Is that even possible?

Giselle: Of course not, it takes a skilled pilot with her hands on the
controls, her mind locked into them, feeling every caress of aetherspace against
the ship's flanks.

Llarrell: Or perhaps the crew abandoned ship.

Allessa: How goes the battle off starboard?

Llarrell: Scalliwag's taken a lot of damage, two enemy ships disabled and one
destroyed, fighting continuing. Bandits have moved to three flanks to prevent
Scalliwag and White Night from focusing on a single target now.

Allessa: (beginning to move her hands swiftly over the controls) Sounds like we
better make this happen now. Gunners, open fire, make room for my ram.

Sha: Holy hides, are you sure?

EFFECT S2Q5 (5): The flagship begins to loom, approaching at a frightening pace
dead ahead.

Sha: (grabbing her controls) Sweet lightning, reckon you're sure, then.

EFFECT S2Q6 (5): Brilliant lances of red and green begin to strike a pinpoint
on the flagship, whose shields flare and divert the damage for a moment, then
begin to waver and collapse in.

Allessa: Any response yet?

Llarrell: They're not even reraising shields. Escorts are breaking off though
and coming at us.

Giselle: That'll leave their flanks exposed.

Allessa: Focus on the Rabbit's Foot, Giselle, if we don't have a weak enough
spot we'll tear ourselves apart when we ram her.

Llarrell: Collision imminent, Captain.

EFFECT S2Q7 (5): The glare of the beams of focused light renders the Rabbit's
Foot, now filling the whole viewport, a hazy blur of coruscating fire.

Allessa: Gunners, on my mark... punch it.

EFFECT S2Q8 (5): A sudden coordinated flood of fire conceal the Rabbit's Foot
in a storm of darkness as the whole ship shudders and jerks to a jarring halt.

Llarrell: Ram is engaged.

Allessa: Sha, with me. Giselle, take the chair until I get back, leave if the
ship will be destroyed, not a moment sooner.

Sha: disengages from the turret and lopes to join Allessa.

Giselle: whirls in her turret, which flashes once in vermillion energy.

Llarrell: Captain, there's an escort coming at... nevermind, Giselle got it.

Allessa: Nice shooting, now mind the ship.

Giselle: beams at the praise but only for a moment before sulking in a
desultory fashion over to the chair.

Allessa: EXIT leads Sha off to the port side of the ship and out of sight,
readying a pair of knives as she walks.

Sha: EXIT SILENT

Llarrell: There's still no sign of the Rabbit's Foot being aware they're being
boarded.

Giselle: (settling into the chair) Why are we drifting?

Llarrell: The Rabbit's Foot, her engines are still going, same speed as before.
Dragging us with her.

Giselle: That's crazy, what are they thinking?

Llarrell: Something about this whole situation is wrong.

Giselle: (with a shrug) Not our problem. How about the escorts?

Llarrell: Regretting turning their tails towards Scalliwag. Only three still
moving, but they'll be here any minute now.

Giselle: (with a calculating look on her face) It'd be a shame if we had to
leave the Captain behind.

Llarrell: (glancing suspiciously at her) You wouldn't become Captain even if we
did, Giselle. Markk on the White Night has seniority after you trashed Shanth's
Stripe.

Giselle: (glowering, but nodding) Well, let's hope Allessa gets back fast,
then. Only thing worse than gunning on this bucket under her, would be doing
it under him.

Allessa: (voice crackling over the aethers) Come in, Motley Roger.

Llarrell: (distracted by the grid) That's odd, there's some... strange energy
coming from the Rabbit's Foot. Motley Roger's never sensed anything like it.

Allessa: (voice crackling over the aethers) Make ready, we're--

EFFECT S2Q9 (says): Allessa's voice dissolves in a sound like sleet falling
onto a bonfire.

EFFECT S2Q10 (5): The lights in the modules flicker, dim, and then wink out,
leaving the scene completely shrouded in darkness.

Llarrell: EXIT SILENT

Giselle: EXIT SILENT

PAUSE

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Scene 3: Defeat
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EFFECT S3Q1 (5): The darkness is broken by a narrow beam of light sweeping in
from the right, panning slowly over a turret, empty and still. An unseen hand
moves it now to explore some empty crates, pausing to linger over each detail
before moving on.

Sha: ENTER steps slowly in through the darkness, holding a crystal from which
spills the narrow beam of light, with which she examines the chamber.

SCENE RabbitsFootDark: The stage is entirely dark, except for vague,
half-glimpsed shadows of shapes here and there which fail to coalesce into
anything more than the impression of inert objects.

Sha: Reckon as this be the bridge, Cap'n.

Allessa: ENTER comes in behind Sha, knives in hand, swinging her view warily
side to side.

Sha: Empty as ever'where else, though. If'n I can find the grid, I can get us
some proper light, maybe that--

EFFECT S3Q2 (5): Sha's beam of light wanders across a bulky shape and stops to
explore it, causing the taurian to fall silent in astonishment as the narrow
cone of light picks out gears, springs, levers, wires, whirling wheels, gleaming
bronze and silver, moving with silent precision.

Sha: What in tarnation be that?

Allessa: turns to look at the strange contraption.

Allessa: Don't know, but it's doing something. You go ahead and find the grid
and get us light, I'll watch for guards.

Sha: (sweeping the light reluctantly off the mysterious device) If'n you say
so, though there ain't no one here.

Allessa: Maybe so, which should make you quicker at it.

Sha: tiptoes forward, her light moving more quickly to sweep the room, passing
over disused crates, dusty furniture, a viewport showing nothing, and finally an
empath's grid.

Sha: buries her hands in the grid up to the elbows and hums to it.

EFFECT S3Q3 (5): With a blinding, harsh wash, the scene fills with light,
revealing an entirely empty bridge that looks like it hasn't been occupied in
years, except for the contraption in center, which whirs silently in maddeningly
complex, yet breathtakingly elegant, motion.

SCENE RabbitsFoot: What was once a spacious, gleaming, modern aethership bridge
now looks dusty and disused, not through scars or repairs, but through dust and
neglect. Various modules are arrayed in a tidy array, ergonomically designed
according to exacting standards. The scene is dominated by a mysterious
contraption dead center, opposite the captain's chair.

PROP Contraption (RabbitsFoot): About half as tall as an igasho and nearly as
wide and deep, the contraption is a puzzling jumble of moving parts which whir
silently in perfectly machined precision, to no apparent end. Wheels turn
geared cogs, springs pivot levers up and down over gearteeth, belts whir and
flap, and whole sections of the curious contraption glide on bearings to move
around in a complex pattern which ensures the machine always looks about the
same even as its inner workings replace one another. There is no obvious source
to the contraption's motive force; in fact, if the eye traces any point of
movement to find what makes it move, then what makes that move, and so on, if
one doesn't get lost in the brachiating complexities and give up, one inevitably
comes back in a full circle, by which point the machinery has rearranged itself
such that the previously-traced path of interactions is no longer valid anyway,
leaving one just as bewildered as before.

Allessa: blinks away the bright light and turns to survey the room, her eyes
settling on the contraption only after they've eliminated the chance of ambush
from all directions.

Sha: (loping to the contraption) Sweet and sour dumplings, what manner of
oddity is this?

Allessa: More importantly, what's it doing?

Sha: (examining the contraption closely as she lopes around it) That's a fair
question, Cap'n.

Allessa: Is it of gnomish manufacture?

Sha: Could be, only it don't seem so. The spacings aren't like the way they
usually work.

Allessa: Spacings?

Sha: Atween the gears and... where this here cam turns, see, there's a sort of
verge and foliot thingie what reverses the direction of rotation, gnomes always
use a reciprocal gear for that.

Allessa: (growing impatient) Well, if gnomes don't, then who does use a... what
did you call it, a virgin folio?

Sha: (hiding a smirk) Verge and foliot, it's a kind of escapement, us artisans
use'm in watches, but not never seen one this big, or used for anythin' like to
this.

Allessa: So what's it doing?

Sha: Well, like I said, it reverses the direction of the rotation here on this
cam, which shifts--

Allessa: Not the virgin-- verge-- whatever it was, I mean the whole...
bloody... whatever it is.

Sha: (stroking her chin thoughtfully and considering the device) Well, after
careful analysis, I'd say... damned if I know, Cap'n.

Allessa: (letting out an exasperated sigh) Well, it's the only thing on the
ship. Would you say it's worth protecting?

Sha: Seein' as it's being protected, I'd wager there's someone as thinks so,
and if someone thinks it's worth keepin', someone else's like to pay for it.

Allessa: (with a wolfish grin) Good enough for me. Think we can move it?

Sha: (crouching down) Shouldn't be no problem, it's on casters, only don't know
as whether movin' it'll disturb what it's doing, or... make it react somehow.

Allessa: How can it react? It's just a... a... whatever it is!

Sha: Well, it's got counterweights, like as all these movements might change to
other movements if'n it got tipped, or if it moved fast enough to put any torque
on the workin's.

Allessa: Then we'd better move it as gently as we can. But fast.

Sha: (getting her hands secure on two sides) Right, gentle but fast. Want as I
should do that standing on one hoof, too?

Allessa: (with a wry, friendly laugh) See if you can do it standing on one hand
instead.

Allessa: (grabbing the other side of the contraption and beginning to roll it
back the way they came) Come in, Motley Roger.

EFFECT S3Q4 (5): With a groan, the contraption finally begins to move very
slowly, the whirring and spinning unabated, silent as ever.

Sha: Easy now, little friend, we're just takin' you for a little walk.

Allessa: (eyes distant as she focuses on the aethers) Make ready, we're heading
back with some sort of...

EFFECT S3Q5 (5): While Allessa is speaking, the contraption, still whirring
silently, begins to emit a faint colorless glow, and the air is filled with a
menacing sound just beyond the range of hearing, felt more than heard. All
around, the modules begin to spark and warp.

Sha: Woah, little girl, that smarts.

Allessa: What in the ninth bowel of Gorgulu is it doing?

Sha: Should we leave it behind?

Allessa: Damned if I've come this far with nothing to show for it. Keep going.
We can figure out who'll pay for it later.

EFFECT S3Q6 (5): The contraption's colorless glow intensifies and the unheard
sound reaches new stratas of inaudible agonies, felt in the skin, then the gut,
then the heart, then behind the eyes, and suddenly the device is silent again,
the unseen glow gone... or just moved even farther beyond sensation.

Sha: (looking increasingly uncomfortable) Hopin' that be quick, Cap'n.

EFFECT S3Q7 (5): As the contraption leaves the bridge, the modules sputter and
spark, then with a belch of fire, they all wink out, the ship's lights fading a
moment later, leaving only shadows which swirl and congeal into total darkness.

Allessa: EXIT SILENT

Sha: EXIT SILENT

EFFECT Continued (13): When the darkness is complete, blocky letters appear,
backed by the ticking sound of a pocketwatch, reading "To Be Continued" in vivid
hues of purple before fading away to nothingness again.

PAUSE

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