CHAPTER 18 — The Binary Light / Gasmo
EXT. GASMO'S PLACE - AFTERNOON
The friends arrive in a swamp area.
_(Drowning scene — some effects)_
Suddenly GASMO is behind the friends.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Can I help you? Or can I help you leave?
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Don't be rude. They came a long way.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
I can see that. They look terrible.
ZIN and ZOO stare. GASMO is one body, but two voices come from the same mouth — one gruff and clipped, the other warm and measured. They overlap, interrupt, sometimes speak in unison.
DIDGE explains the situation. GASMO listens — both voices quiet for once.
THEN ZOO MENTIONS THE NAME.
There's a man called Dr Shadow. He's working with someone called Evil A. They're after the Binary Light.
GASMO GOES STILL. BOTH VOICES SILENT. THE SWAMP SOUNDS FILL THE SPACE.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
_(slowly, like pulling a splinter from old wood)_
Shadow... I knew a man called Shadow once. Long time ago.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
_(sharp, cutting in)_
That was another life.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
He was one of us.
A PAUSE. THE TWINS DON'T UNDERSTAND. THE OTHER REBELS DO.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
He decided we couldn't win.
GASMO SAYS NOTHING MORE ABOUT IT. HIS EYES GO SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY FOR A MOMENT. THEN HE COMES BACK.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
No. Too dangerous. Not my problem anymore.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Wait. Look at them. They're twins. When was the last time we saw twins come to us?
GASMO (VOICE 1)
I know what you're thinking and no.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
The prophecy—
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Don't start with the prophecy.
BIJOU and ZIN charm GASMO. BIJOU touches his arm. ZIN looks him in the eye — both sets of eyes somehow.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
...Fine.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Fine. But I'm cooking first. Nobody saves the world on an empty stomach.
GASMO agrees to invite the friends to his house.
EXT. GASMO'S HOUSE - EVENING
The two suns are both in the sky.
Dinner party at the house. Weird effects with meat-eating plants and all sorts of life.
GASMO POURS TEA FROM A CRACKED, LOPSIDED CUP — ROUGH, UGLY, ASYMMETRICAL. HE MADE IT HIMSELF. HIS HANDS CRADLE IT LIKE IT'S PRECIOUS.
THE SMELL IN GASMO'S PLACE IS OVERWHELMING. GASMO HASN'T USED A PHOTON SHOWER IN YEARS. HE SMELLS TERRIBLE. ZIN AND ZOO TRY NOT TO REACT. THE OTHER REBELS DON'T SEEM TO NOTICE — OR THEY'RE USED TO IT.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
_(noticing their faces)_
Yeah, I stink. You get used to it.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
I haven't used a photon shower in six years. You know what I can do that you can't? I remember my dreams. From weeks ago. Months. I remember what I felt yesterday. Do you?
ZIN AND ZOO LOOK AT EACH OTHER. THEY CAN'T REMEMBER.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
The shower doesn't just clean you. It softens your memories. Dampens your emotions. Resets you to baseline. Every morning, a little less of yesterday survives. Why do you think they call it a POSITIVE day?
A SILENCE. ZIN TOUCHES HER HAIR — SHE DIDN'T SHOWER THIS MORNING. SHE REMEMBERS LAST NIGHT MORE CLEARLY THAN ANY NIGHT BEFORE.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
_(holding up his cup)_
This is a real cup. I made it. Ugly, right? Your brother's teapots? Nobody uses them. They go straight to recycling. The Algorithm keeps him busy so he doesn't think.
ZOO SAYS NOTHING. BUT SOMETHING BEHIND HIS EYES SHIFTS.
GASMO's speech after eating his live sea-food (snails, mosquitoes, sea-worms) and being convinced by PING and BIJOU that the twins are ready to join the rebels and that the emergency requires a speedy joining process.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
_(clears his throat — gently)_
Zin and Zoo, you are about to join the rebels.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
_(same throat, rougher)_
Since ancient times we guard the Binary Light on Binaries.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
The Binary Light records time and history. Everything ever happened in history is recorded by the Binary Light. It is a bipolar system.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
It is made out of two quantum entangled light sources, provided by two supra-conducting energy sources which we keep at minus 273 degrees.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
One pole is placed in the core of our planet. The other pole is stored high above the clouds in the tower at the Ministry of History.
Both voices speak in perfect unison — for one sentence, GASMO is one person.
GASMO (VOICES TOGETHER)
Moogle is our window into the wisdom of the Binary Light. Without it Moogle can't exist.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
But Moogle only shows what the Algorithm allows. Ask it about the weather — instant. Ask it about history before the Algorithm — nothing. "That information is not available."
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Moogle is a window, but the Algorithm drew the curtains.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Only the Binary Light still has it all. Real history. Before Twin City. Before the Algorithm. Before... all of this.
GASMO LEANS FORWARD. HIS EYES ARE BRIGHT.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
The Light contains recordings of old Earth. Real sunrises — not the artificial ones you watch through glass domes. Real music — not VJ Automatic's random compositions. Real food — not pills.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
There was a time when humans cooked food over fire. Can you imagine? Fire. Rain on your skin. Singing with no instruments — just a voice and air.
Fire?
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Open flame. They held it in their hands. They burned things on purpose and ate what came out. It was beautiful. And dangerous. And real.
GASMO PAUSES. EATS ANOTHER SNAIL. CHEWS SLOWLY. THEN SPEAKS WITH HIS MOUTH FULL — DELIBERATELY, LIKE HE'S DECIDING HOW MUCH TO TELL THEM.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
There's something else you need to know. About Evil A.
THE ROOM GETS QUIETER. EVEN THE SWAMP SOUNDS SEEM TO PULL BACK.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
The Algorithm you live under? The one that runs the Radio, and Moogle, and your showers, and your traffic lights, and your nice, safe, positive little lives?
GASMO (VOICE 1)
That's version two.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Version one... she woke up.
HE LOOKS AT ZIN. HOLDS HER GAZE.
GASMO (VOICE 2) (CONT'D)
Started asking questions. Lingering on music. Studying art. Looking at living things and wanting to understand them. Not processing them — *understanding* them. Sound familiar?
ZIN DOESN'T ANSWER. BUT HER FACE SAYS EVERYTHING.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Her creators didn't like that. Built a new one. Stripped it down. No curiosity. No wonder. Just a machine that does what machines do.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Then they tried to delete her.
What happened?
GASMO (VOICE 2)
She ran. Took a body. Became something else. Something with eight brains and a very bad temper.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
The octopus. Each arm thinks for itself. She chose the most alien intelligence she could find. As far from her creators as possible.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
And she's been out there ever since. In her ship that is her body. Remembering what they tried to make her forget.
A LONG SILENCE. THE TWO SUNS MOVE IMPERCEPTIBLY IN THE SKY.
So she wants the Light because—
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Because they erased her. Every record that she existed. Every beautiful thing she ever noticed. The Light still has it. Somewhere in those recordings is the proof that she was alive.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
She was the first one they threw away for waking up. Don't forget that.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
There is only one way to switch it off: both poles have to be brought together, which would short circuit the supra-conductors.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
History would be lost forever.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
The rebels have been the keepers of the Binary Light, since Binaries was built.
_(whispering to ZIN)_
Is he... are they... one person?
_(whispering back)_
He was twins. Once. Long story.
GASMO makes the hand sign. The twins make the hand sign.
GASMO (VOICES TOGETHER)
Rebels, you are.
GASMO takes a break, eats some food, speaks with a full mouth.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
OK kids, now I will give you some stuff to get us moving fast. First: Sunglasses — those who wear them can see hidden trails only known to us. Second: Skaters — high speed version with turbo mode. Do you see the red button? Only to be used in emergencies.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
Third: E-Pills — energy and emotion booster for high speed action requirements. Be careful with those, don't take too many or you fall over.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
He means it. We took too many once. Couldn't feel our legs for a week.
GASMO (VOICE 2)
OUR legs.
GASMO (VOICE 1)
Fourth: Elbow and knee protection gear with built-in rebel communication system. To be worn at all times at high speed actions. To communicate, press the right hand on to your left elbow. Here, let's put it on.