Interlude 01/28: Doctor Okazaki's Long Road Home
28 Jan 2024 - XSYS Team
Open on the docks, late in the evening; a grey sea crashes against unflinching steel structures. Wild angular ship designs rest in uneven docking spaces; some are small and take after hypothetical sea life, others are like massive battleships, but with maybe only a single large cannon at most. Weapons are broadly unseen here. The outline of Big Dendy’s massive hull is in the very back of the shot, if you squint.
Doctor Okazaki’s bright red hair draws the eye straight to her– she walks into frame in front of a different ship. The others are anchored in place; this one’s moving with the waves, rocking up and down. It’s made of brass and dark iron, four massive gears (one on each diagonal) acting vaguely like wings.
Someone in an oil-stained jumpsuit jumps from the ship and just barely lands on the dock, walking up to Doctor Okazaki. Marlow (the city’s administrator), Magus (the ref), and Loa (the tech-synth assisting with the arena) are also here, standing behind Doctor Okazaki.
- OIL-STAINED TECHNICIAN: Well, Doc–
- DR OKAZAKI: [cutting them off] Okazaki. Doctor Okazaki.
The technician raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment on it.
- MARLOW: So this is it, then? The ship that took you from your world to ours?
- DR OKAZAKI: Such as it is, yes. I was hoping to be able to make a return trip, but… How’s it looking?
- OIL-STAINED TECHNICIAN: Right now? We can’t even get this thing out of the water.
- LOA: Oh? That’s no problem! I can ask Big Dendy, we can probably fabricate any parts you need–
- Marlow claps her hands, a flash of light from the impact point drawing everyone’s attention.
- MARLOW: If we repair this ship, what exactly are its capabilities?
- DR OKAZAKI: [off-guard] Ah… we can jump to other worlds, but it’s pretty much blind for the moment.
- MARLOW: I will not permit Blue Arcadia technology to be used in the creation of a world-jumping device.
- This seems to surprise the whole group.
- MARLOW: I won’t assist you. And neither will anyone in this city.
- Magus in particular folds his arms, seeming only an inch from blurting out something like “make me,” but he’s biting his tongue for the moment.
- MARLOW: Loa, seize their device.
- LOA: Uh, um, ma’am, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s a bespoke device in a bespoke vehicle with controls from another world. I have no idea how to do that.
- DR OKAZAKI: …May I at least ask why? That device is a massive investment of my team’s time and money.
- MARLOW: …I suppose. Here. I’d like you to look at something.
Marlow gestures out towards the city of Blue Arcadia, close against the shore. Lights in buildings are starting to kick on as dusk settles in.
- MARLOW: You’re both newcomers to Blue Arcadia. Loa, would you explain what this shoreline was like ten years ago?
Loa hesitates, but doesn’t want to reject an order from the city’s administrator. He puts up a hologram, and the skyscrapers disappear; there’s just a few cracked domes, and the earth is torn up between them.
- MARLOW: Blue Arcadia is my creation. Before I started brokering treaties and organizing rules, most synth creations were weapons, and any meaningful infrastructure got destroyed within a few days. Now, thanks to the hard work of every synth, we finally have a sustainable society here. But the one thing I’ve learned is that it is far, far easier to destroy something than to build it.
- Marlow pauses.
- MARLOW: What I say next… may not make sense to all of you. …Every story needs a villain. For a story to be compelling, a villain must be more powerful than their hero. And that villain is designed to fit within their story.
- Loa and the technician are looking at each other, befuddled. Doctor Okazaki seems at the edge of comprehending, but Magus gets there first, snapping his fingers.
- MAGUS: And if a villain broke loose from their story, got this kind of device, this kind of power…
- Marlow nods sternly.
- MARLOW: The result would be cataclysmic. Destruction. A war of conquest, across countless worlds. And all it would take would be one of these devices falling into the wrong hands.
- MAGUS: I mean, but that’s only if there’s a small number of these devices! World-travel used to be easy, and it wasn’t a problem, because someone could just bring them back, like the group of heroes you have in your own city–
- MARLOW: [suddenly irritable] And what are those innocent people supposed to do in the meantime? I’ve put too much work into this place, into these synths and their lives. I won’t see it lost because someone didn’t know how to leave well enough alone. Loa, if you can’t seize it, figure out how to destroy this ship. Immediately.
- LOA: Um… yes, ma’am…
- DR OKAZAKI: Hold on! …I’ll assist you in removing the world-jumping device, if you’ll help us repair the ship.
- MARLOW: …Acceptable. Loa, see to it that they stick to these terms.
Marlow walks off down the dock, leaving Loa and the technician to start talking details. Magus pursues Marlow, and catches up to her near the shoreline.
- MAGUS: Hey. HEY. Marlow.
- MARLOW: [turning, annoyed] What?
- MAGUS: Look, I’ve been nice about this, because I want the arena to be a positive thing for the city, so I put the hole-punch on hold. And you’ve got Doctor Okazaki pinned down, so of course she has to agree. But you can’t really expect this to hold, right?
- MARLOW: What’s your point? I’ve addressed the problems this city has faced.
- MAGUS: This is clearly proof that even if you don’t go outside, other people will. There are absolutely other people in other worlds working on this tech right now, and we’re just the first ones to wind up here. Are you just going to stick your head in the sand and pretend–
- MARLOW: I’m not an idiot, Magus. But I will certainly not contribute to making the problem worse. And I will defend this city from anyone who threatens it, if necessary.
- MAGUS: [sarcastically amused] With what? When someone shows up with a planet-killer capital ship, how are you going to stop them?
- MARLOW: [silently smug] …The same way I put a stop to the synths’ fighting. With my fists.
Marlow snaps her fingers and instantly vanishes, leaving Magus standing there alone, frustrated.