THE CONTEMPORARY

[ description ]

Three hundred years ago, magic was the way. Three hundred years from now, technology will be the way. That is what was intended by Fate.

But the Temponauts, a sect of people intent on bringing to the present the best of both dimensions, arise to popularity, and humanity takes Fate's job for itself. Vast amounts of resources are poured into a new project that is promised to allow people to travel to wherever, whenever  they wish to go, in order to take whatever they want.

When the time comes for the unveiling, all the globe watches eagerly, hanging on the edges of their seats, eyes barely blinking, but it does not go as planned.

It is not us who are taken elsewhere. It is them that come to us.

The Befallen. The Prospects.

And thus, the world is changed forevermore...

[ further plot ]

When the dust clears, there are a hundred Befallen and a hundred Prospects in the modern world. Those of the present attempt to hastily make sense of things and send diplomatic missions, but neither group trusts the other, and it doesn't take long for war to break out. A way to send them both back to their own times must be found, and to find that way, Salem Byrd is chosen. 

Salem is a tinkerer from Pasadena who excels at working both machines and people, and as the world is thrown into turmoil and horrific battles, he must search for the team needed to fix everything. He begins a quest to find them, and he frantically does, one by one, in a race with the imminent destruction of Earth as he knows it.

———

Season :: One

Episode :: Pilot

Description :: It is the night of the Temponaut's revealing of their culminating project, but it does not go as expected...

—

[ open in a scientific lab / office setting similar to a college classroom; a large "05" is painted on the wall in the back, and many people, working hurriedly, sit in circular rows in front of a large screen ]

[ characters :: "Head scientists"; Cather Kahloni(44), Aedan Larke(32), "Owner of the Temponaut Agency"; Neil Prince(46) ]

Cather Kahloni : [ enters room and rapidly climbs the stairs over to the top of the rows, to a panel with five seats ]

Aedan Larke :  [ notices Kahloni arriving and stands, pulling out her chair for her ] Professor! It's almost time. What kept you?

[ the other professors glance over ]

Kahloni : [ takes seat, methodically begins to set up her desk ] Nothing of any importance, Larke. Are we set to go? Any last-minute issues?

Larke : [ returns to his seat ] Inexplicably and fortunately, no. No last-minute issues. [ gestures at the blank screen ] We'll start any second now.

Kahloni : [ carefully puts on optical display glasses ] Good.

Extra 1 : [ from the lower rows, yells ] Three seconds to unveiling!

[ the room dims and the screen turns on with a flash — it is split into four 3D squares; a reporter standing at the unveiling site in the top left, an imposing covered object up close in the top right, the crowds at the site in the bottom right, and another control room from the site in the bottom left, a "01" painted on their wall ]

[ the workers in the Control 01 wave, and those in Control 05 whoop and laugh, returning the wave ]

Murmurs from various extras : "We're finally here!" "So close to being done!" [ laughing ]

Larke : [ wide grin stretches on face ] Almost done, Professor.

Kahloni : [ expression is grim and tight ] But not quite, Larke. Never assume completion. [ face loosens slightly ] Though we have made it far.

[ someone hits a switch and the screen zooms into the reporter; the audio starts midway through her sentence ]

Reporter 1 : -currently at the unveiling site in eastern Russia for the brand new Temponaut device that the world has been pouring money and time into for almost nine years now, and it's set to be unveiled at 21:04. That's exactly two minutes from now, and then seven minutes from now at 21:09, the device will be activated and the very first, real temponaut — what those who will travel between dimensions are to be called — will step through into another time.

Larke : [ leans forward intently ] By God, we're so very close.

[ screen switches to another reporter ]

Reporter 2 : -just received intel from Temponaut Agency headquarters about the route today's true temponaut — who, by the way, is Conner Fell, a twenty-six year-old astrophysicist fresh out of Oxford and hailing from Somerset, England — is going to take with the help of the Temponaut device, the official name of which was released as "Simultaneous Chronological Curvature-Inducing Machine", or SCCIM for short, but has since been dubbed by the public as "the Temp". Fell is set to migrate to 17th century Florence, and at a predetermined time afterwards to 37th century Azer. He will be spending roughly an hour in each time period, but no time will have passed in our world - ah! [ is interrupted by a loud boom and turns to glance at the veiled structure; checks watch distractedly ] It's time! The unveiling will begin in one minute!

[ on a platform above the machine, a man walks out, and the camera pans upwards to him ]

Kahloni : [ grips end of desk ] Prince. [ implies animosity ]

Larke : [ glances over curiously before returning attention to screen ]

Neil Prince : Citizens of this year, fellow members of humanity! The time has come for a revolutionary advancement in our lives, and this is it. We are at a critical moment in history — in one night we will jump human achievement to a standard never before experienced by anyone on this planet. I reveal to you the Simultaneous Chronological Curvature-Inducing Machine, made possible by the Temponaut Agency!

[ cloth is pulled off the machine; ripples in the light ]

[ the massive machine consists of a round arch multiple feet thick and an immense base as tall as a person ]

Prince : [ sweeps hands in a flourish ] Conner Fell!

Connor Fell : [ emerges into visibility with a helmet tucked under his arm and waves at the crowd, appearing to be flustered and flushed; smiles nervously and stands at the base of the machine ]

[ a few workers run out to the machine and check over it; one of them, talking rapidly into a walkie-talkie, looks up at Prince and flashes a thumbs-up ]

Prince : [ nods quickly at worker; turns to crowd ] Behold — the doorway to a thousand times!

[ worker speaks into the walkie-talkie again rapidly and signals to fellow workers; they scurry to follow, and then suddenly, the arch flares to life and blue waves of light ripple across the circle ]

[ crowd at the site gasps; Control 05 workers clap loudly and shout ]

Larke : [ grins at Kahloni ] It worked, Professor! It worked!

Kahloni : [ mutters intensely, eyes glued to screen ] Not yet, Larke, not yet.

Fell : [ places helmet carefully on head and raises chin to buckle it; walks forward and climbs quickly up stairs to stand directly in front of the wavering blue light ]

Prince : [ watching intently, muttering to himself ] This is it, this is it, it has to work...

Fell : [ takes a deep breath, and steps into the light, disappears from view ]

[ nothing happens for a second, and everyone waits with bated breath ]

[ a dark spot appears in the midst of the waves; a second one winks into existence, and then steadily they both grow larger, into the silhouette of two people ]

[ those in the control room murmur uncomfortably to themselves and those around them ]

Larke : [ leans back, expression a cross between confusion, apprehension, and curiosity ]

Kahloni : [ leans further forwards, focused only on the screen ]

[ the shapes solidify and two people emerge from the waves; they look entirely different from each other, and neither is Conner Fell ]

[ one is a tall and elegant woman wearing a dress straight from the Victorian Era; the air around her crackles when she pulls away from the machine, and her clothes sway even without wind; her eyes are an oddly bright and unnatural blue, and around her neck is a necklace that curls across and sinks into her skin ]

[ the other is a short man who appears to be completely covered in a suit made of metal; pieces of the blue-gray suit turn and click with every movement and holographic displays fly up from his fingers when he flicks them ]

[ the two stare at each other in utter confusion and then turn together to look at the world they've fallen into; their expressions morph into further bafflement ]

[ everything and everyone is dead silent — until with a sudden deafening noise, the machine explodes; there is a glimpse of screaming/running people spontaneously combusting as the camera is dropped, and then the screen sears into white before it goes blank ]

[ everyone in the Control Room stares aghast at the screen ]

Larke : [ jumps up and races to the window; draws shutters open and slams hands on glass, looking out at the silent city ] What just happened? What's going on? [ rushes back to panel ] Search! Find a way to contact them!

[ workers jump to attention and into motion, reaching for phones and monitors, frantically calling locations around the unveiling site ]

Extra 2 : No response from 01 — what about 06? They're the nearest, right?

Extra 3 : Yes, they're at Yakutsk. I tried them. No response again.

Larke : [ desperately ] Anyone? Anyone at all?

[ one by one, all of them slump back into their chairs and shake their heads ]

Larke : You can't be serious — you're not trying hard enough, have you checked ten miles from the site? Twenty? Fifty?

Extra 4 : [ despairing ] I checked a hundred.

Larke : [ falls back into chair, speechless ]

Kahloni : [ voice echoing in quiet room, staring down at her hands ] They're dead.

Larke : [ looks at her, opens mouth to speak ]

Kahloni : [ interrupts Larke ] They're dead. [ looks up with wild eyes and grasps the desk ] Every. Single. One.

Larke : [ eyes unfocus, in disbelief ] We've killed them all.

[ ominous/epic music begins to play; camera focuses on screen and zooms in; switch to black ]

[ music reaches a crescendo; the words "THE CONTEMPORARY" fade in, and half a second after: "directed by Terry Garcia" ]

———

Wattpad's still not letting me publish new stories, ugh. Sorry about that.

| _BALENCIAGA_ |