August 2145

1 August 2145
ANCHOR: The monthly dandefox seed release has become a disaster. Red petals from last month's plants are causing crimson dust storms to swirl around the planet. Today's release completely blotted out the sky, driving people inside.

MAN: I– I was out with my family, I guess we forgot that the seed release was coming. And all of sudden we couldn't see, we could barely breathe for all the seeds. My little boy wandered away, lost in the cloud – but I grabbed him and we took refuge in a TFP Burger joint. We're lucky to be alive. [coughs]

ANCHOR: With another seed storm due in 28 days, scientists wonder what can be done to stop a plant... that can't be killed.

2 August 2145
AUDIO STING: Nautilus update

ANCHOR: There's a new crisis aboard the Nautilus. We go live to Dr. Winston Rylo:

RYLO: At 7:15 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time a number of the Nautilus‘s systems began to fail. These include the primary navigation and life support systems. But the most pressing problem is that one member of the team, Maria Koblatz was in a storage chamber when the failure occurred. That chamber is now locked. [a beat] The air supply is limited and – so far – the team cannot override the security door.

ANCHOR: Dr. Rylo, are you saying that–?

RYLO: If we can't get her out of there, Colonel Koblatz hasn't more than a day to live.

ANCHOR: And do you have a solution?

RYLO: No. But we're working on it, around the clock.

3 August 2145
ANCHOR: Maria Koblatz is still trapped aboard the Nautilus. But help is on the way.

RYLO: The Artificial Intelligence examined the status of the Nautilus and has come up with a plan. The AI says that if we shut down the computer link to the Mars and Earth monitoring systems – shut them down completely – and then re-boot all the ship's internal computers, there's a chance the vital systems will correct themselves. [a beat] But there's a problem with that plan... there's a fail-safe program that won't allow the connections to be severed. Someone has got to do an EVA and physically disconnect the three micro dishes. [a beat] Fortunately, we have a volunteer.

McDONALD: I will be carrying out the EVA as soon as Dr. Rylo is ready.

4 August 2145
ANCHOR: Captain McDonald is about to sever the last micro-dish, the Nautilus‘s lifeline to Habitat Mars. Captain McDonald, is everything AOK?

McDONALD: I'm about to cut the link... and start the black out... Now!


 * [Silence]

ANCHOR: The world waits while the Nautilus reboots its internal computers... and Captain Mike quickly reconnects the micro-dishes... We should know in a few seconds whether...

McDONALD (emerging from static): –can anyone hear me? We've rebooted! Tashi, what's your status inside?

KARAWARA: Yes, everything is coming online normally now... Mike, the locked hatch is opening and... Maria! She's out! She's out and she's safe!

McDONALD: Thank God!

7 August 2145
ANCHOR: Riots in southwest NAU! Crowds of angry New Amigos supporters took to the streets and skies along the NAU-Hispanic Combine border, demanding secession from the NAU and annexation by the HC. Kyle Swann has a theory about the civil disorder.

SWANN: This is Grant's work. My sources tell me that members of his Earth First Brigade have been trying to stir up trouble in those territories for months. Finally they have succeeded.

ANCHOR: But to what end?

SWANN: Disorder is an end in itself for Cameron Grant. He's a nihilist. He won't be satisfied until he's achieved complete social breakdown... but he'll have to deal with me first.

8 August 2145
ANCHOR: As xenobotanists across the globe search for a solution to the growing dandefox dilemma, Dr. F. Paulson proposes an unorthodox line of inquiry.

PAULSON: I'd like to talk to M'ti on the subject. It was dandefox that killed Mars, and it is dandefox that allows the alien to live. In fact, he'd die without the dandefox. M'ti knows something... I'm sure of it.

ANCHOR: When will you be speaking to him?

PAULSON: My people are working through Perry Epp to arrange it. I want to move on this. We don't have time to waste.

ANCHOR: Elsewhere, Dr. Winston Rylo announces that the crew of the Nautilus will hold a press conference from beyond the asteroid belt tomorrow. FTL will carry it live, and also provide an edited version.

9 August 2145
ANCHOR: Here is an excerpt of the press conference with the crew of the Nautilus:

McDONALD: ...and I'm happy to report that not only are we all safe and sound, but we've finally bonded into a cohesive unit.

ANCHOR: Is this true? Do you all agree?

KARAWARA: Oh, yes. We are like a single organism now, each part working for the betterment of the whole.

VALDEZ-BLAINE: Most certainly. My old floaterball team was never as close-knit as we are now.

ANCHOR: And you, Colonel Koblatz? You were once reticent about Captain McDonald's leadership. What do you say now?

KOBLATZ: I say he is the most loyal, most courageous... [a beat]... man I have ever known. (She hugs McDonald)

10 August 2145
ANCHOR: The dandefox dilemma: does the Last Visitor hold the key? Dr. F. Paulson thinks so.

PAULSON (to M'ti): Do you have any idea why the plant that killed Mars is the only thing that keeps you alive?

M'TI: I'd like to help, really I would, but I don't remember anything before this year. If only I could learn to remember the things I never should have forgot.

BIMBETTA: Why, honey, you just wrote a country-western song!

PAULSON (to Bimbetta): Does he ever talk in his sleep?

BIMBETTA: Oh, yes. All the time. He mumbles these strange words when he has nightmares.

PAULSON: Nightmares? He has nightmares?

BIMBETTA: Every night, poor little thing.

M'TI: I do? I don't remember.

ANCHOR: Any ideas, Dr. Paulson?

PAULSON (staring at M'ti): As a matter of fact, yes.

11 August 2145
AUDIO STING: News from the NAU.

KENT: Today, with the authorisation of President Clarke, I announce the formation of the NAU Net Police. We have learned that the Net is being used as a data conduit for the murderous Earth First Brigade. In order to root out these criminals and their sympathisers, the NAU must take steps to police communications on the Net.

ANCHOR: How will this be done?

KENT: With software agents called bots. Ours will monitor the content of all messages. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about.

ANCHOR: Maria Gonzales made another appearance on the Net.

GONZALES: The danger is not from within... it is from without...

14 August 2145
ANCHOR: As concern over the dandefox dilemma escalates, Dr. F. Paulson is pursuing an unorthodox line of inquiry. He believes the Last Visitor holds the key.

PAULSON (to Bimbetta): As I said before, I believe there's a connection between M'ti and the dandefox threat. In two days I've arranged for The Amazing Kreskin VI to hypnotise him–

BIMBETTA: Hypnotize my husband? Well, when was this decided?

PAULSON: I, uh, checked with Perry Epp. He green-lighted it–

BIMBETTA: Did he now? Well, we'll just see about that.

PAULSON: Look, Mrs. M'ti, you don't realise how important this is.

BIMBETTA: Well, I understand that he's the only husband I have!

M'TI (to camera): I've never been hypnotised before.

15 August 2145
ANCHOR: Last week's appearance in the Net by Maria Gonzales has physicians puzzled.

HAMM: I can't explain it. I mean, one thing I can tell you for certain: Ms. Gonzales never left her bed. She's monitored around the clock without interruption.

ANCHOR: Tell me, |Dr. Hamm, is there any conceivable way you can account for her appearance in the Net while she's in a deep coma?

HAMM: None whatsoever. But I can tell you this: Our monitors showed a very sharp increase in her brainwave activity during the precise period she was seen in the Net.

ANCHOR: Could she have a hidden BioMerge implant?

HAMM: Absolutely not. Whatever she's got makes BioMerge look like, like a toy – a teeny little toy...

16 August 2145
ANCHOR: With permission of his guardian, Perry Epp, and his wife, Bimbetta Mondaine, the Last Visitor has been put under hypnosis. The Amazing Kreskin VI is about to question him.

KRESKIN: All right, M'ti... I want you to picture a dandefox.

M'TI (dreamily): A dandefox...

KRESKIN: Right... did you ever see one before you came to Earth?

M'TI: ...yes...

KRESKIN: Where?

M'TI: ...In the ship... what you call Rylo-7... I see a tunnel... leading to a room... with a flower on the wall...

KRESKIN: But Rylo-7 has been thoroughly searched. How could that have been missed?

M'TI: ...Lots of places you missed... lots of things you didn't find...

17 August 2145
M'TI: ...Lots of things you didn't find...

ANCHOR: Yesterday, under hypnosis, the Last Visitor revealed that the asteroid craft that brought him here still holds mysteries. FTL contacted Dr. Winston Rylo for his reaction.

RYLO: After conferring with Dr. Paulson, I've arranged for a shuttle, manned by DNA adaptees, to leave the moon immediately. It should reach the asteroid later tonight.

ANCHOR: Then you think there's a possibility–

RYLO: I have my doubts, but I agree with Dr. Paulson that the dandefox menace is of such momentous importance that we can leave no stone unturned.

ANCHOR: Do you think there's any hope this mysterious chamber could provide a weapon against the dandefox?

RYLO: Let's first see if there is a chamber, all right?

18 August 2145
ANCHOR: Watching the Last Visitor under hypnosis has given Debbie Gonsher an idea.

GONSHER: There are secrets waiting within Our Lady of the Net. If we can get at information hidden inside M'ti, why can't we get inside Maria? I know we can't hypnotise her... but what about hooking her up to a BioMerge unit?

ANCHOR: We asked Dr. Rodd Hamm for a second opinion.

HAMM: BioMerging a comatose patient? What an intriguing idea. I will look into that...

ANCHOR: The shuttle from the moon has landed on Rylo-7. Its crew of DNA adaptees will enter the asteroid's interior labyrinth tomorrow.

21 August 2145
M'TI: ...In the ship... what you call Rylo-7... I see a tunnel... leading to a room... with a flower on the wall...

ANCHOR: Those words launched an emergency mission to Earth's new moon, Rylo-7. We go now to DNA adaptee Kai Densmore inside the asteroid itself. Any luck finding this mysterious "Room with a Flower"?

DENSMORE: "Room with a Flower"? How about we just find this tunnel he was talking about.

ANCHOR: You're saying, then, that there are no tunnels in Rylo-7?

DENSMORE: I wish! This rock is honeycombed with them! It could take us a year to explore 'em all.

ANCHOR: What's the plan, then?

DENSMORE: You ever hear of luck? Try wishing us plenty of it.

22 August 2145
ANCHOR: Startling news from Rylo-7! We now take you live to Kai Densmore inside the asteroid. Kai, what have you found?

DENSMORE (scratching his head): Well, we had to search an awful lot of tunnels, but I gotta hand it to that Matty guy... he was dead on about the Room with a Flower. We found it... and it looks just like he said.

ANCHOR: Is the flower a dandefox?

DENSMORE: Hey, I live on the moon. We don't have dandefoxes. Take a look and see what you think.

ANCHOR: That's unquestionably a dandefox. But what's that line of code etched across it?

DENSMORE: Beats me. I downloaded it to Earth for descrambling. And that means my work here is done. I'm heading back home to the moon. This place gives me the creeps.

23 August 2145
ANCHOR: At the Kevorkian Medical Center, where the mysterious Lady of the Net, Maria Gonzales, lies in a coma, Dr. Rod Hamm is about to try an experiment.

HAMM: We are using BioMerge technology to tap into Ms. Gonzales' subconscious.

ANCHOR: Do you think that will explain how she can appear in the Net while still in a coma?

HAMM: I certainly hope so. Look – the first images are forming now... [wincing and holding his ears] Turn it off! Turn it off NOW!

ANCHOR: Dr. Hamm – can you explain what just happened?

HAMM: No...but whatever it was, I don't want it to happen again!

24 August 2145
ANCHOR: Instead of answering questions about the mystery woman, yesterday's BioMerge of Maria Gonzales served only to raise more. SHIVA has been called in to investigate. We go now to Dr. Martin Bibo.

BIBO: We've analyzed the high-pitched whine and discovered that it is a voice.

ANCHOR: Maria Gonzales' voice?

BIBO: Listen for yourself.

VR PRESENCE: No Europa! Squatront! OgthRod! Spafon Europa! No Europa!

ANCHOR: That sounds like the VR Presence.

BIBO: Exactly! This indisputably links Maria Gonzales to the VR Presence.

ANCHOR: But what about the visual images? What was that strange alien world we saw?

BIBO: I have no idea.

25 August 2145
ANCHOR: Benjamin Droid, president of FLAKE, has his own take on SHIVA's deciphering of Maria Gonzales' BioMerge.

DROID: Ooh, it's just like that old flat-screener, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, when the scientist accidentally records a whine from the saucer and it turns out to be a message. [in a deeper, warbling voice] 'People of Earth!' [laughs] Ooh, I can't wait till the saucers arrive! [points skyward] Keep watching the skies! [laughs again] And you know what else–?

AUDIO STING: Faster-than-light interruption.

ANCHOR: Just moments ago, an explosion was reported at Tel Aviv University. FTL is trying to learn if the explosion occurred at the Propulsion Lab, suspected site of research on a faster-than-light drive.

28 August 2145
ANCHOR: Marcia Kent is coming under fire for the Net Police, which seem to be destroying data.

KENT: The 'bots still have some bugs to be worked out. Once we do that, everything will be under control.

BIBO: "Everything will be under control"? I don't think so. Governments have been attempting to control the Net since the 1990s when the old USA tried to censor it. That failed, and so has every other attempt since. Marcia Kent's Net Police will be no exception. Why? Because the Net is alive – more than just information, it's an organic conglomeration of humanity at its grandest and most venal, revealing all its glories and all its warts. You can't gag the Net. Only an idiot would try.

29 August 2145
ANCHOR: The Xenobotanical Society believes it has deciphered the stange inscription found within Rylo-7.

PAULSON: We've been able to determine that the inscription appears to be a genetic code.

ANCHOR: Does it match dandefox DNA, doctor?

PAULSON: No. It's RNA. It appears to be the genetic code for a virus. But I'm hesitant to reconstitute it here on Earth, so I'm transmitting it to Kristeen Ballard to let her try work with it at Habitat Mars.

ANCHOR: Any ideas what this virus might do, doctor?

PAULSON: Yes, but I prefer to withhold comment until I've conferred with Dr. Ballard.

ANCHOR: And in Israel it's been confirmed that last week's explosion occured in Tel Aviv University's Propulsion Lab. This could mean a political as well as scientific setback for the project.

30 August 2145
ANCHOR: The Knesset meets today to debate the fate of Israel's faster-than-light research programme after last week's explosion.

KANTER: Cutting off research funds now would be a catastrophic blunder! We are this close to a breakthrough! This is no time for faint-heartedness. Our ancestors endured untold hardships during their 40 years in the desert searching for the Promised Land. We must press on!

ANCHOR: But the Propulsion Lab... the explosion...

KANTER: We lost only one building... no lives. And... a failed experiment can be just as instructive as a successful one, sometimes even more so.

31 August 2145
ANCHOR: A red-petaled plant has achieved what no war or terrorist threat could accomplish: It has brought transportation and commerce all over the world to a grinding halt. This month's dandefox seed release was the largest yet, blotting out the sun with thick clouds of airborne seeds, blackening the skies the world over. And at ground level, blinding swirls of red dust from the dandefoxes' crumbling petals eddied in the streets and countrysides, choking air filters and intake vents, leaving everything everywhere covered with a thick red coat.


 * VISUAL: People stumbling through empty streets, screaming and shouting.