LIBBY: Say what? Are you outta your mind, girl? You saw how mad she got just now. Imagine if she saw you in her room!
CINDY: Pshaw! She won’t catch us.
LIBBY: But Cind…
CINDY: Oh, come off it Libby!
**Cindy flips her hair and heads off down the corridor toward Aurora’s room. Libby scrambles after, her protests falling on deaf ears**
LIBBY: I think that if ya stopped to think for a minute you’d see that barging into another person’s business isn’t always a good idea!
CINDY: This isn’t “another person’s” business. It’s MY business. She is me and I am her. End of story.
LIBBY: But you’re NOT her…
**The kids reach the door to Aurora’s room, and a mechanical voice speaks**
VOX: Identify yourself.
CINDY: It’s me, Aurora, now open up!
VOX: Voice match confirmed. Welcome back, Aurora.
**There is a clicking sound as the latch unlocks and the door swings open**
CINDY: Now we’re getting somewhere…
LIBBY: I don’t know girl…did you ever stop to think that you might not LIKE what you find in here?
**The girls tiptoe cautiously into the darkened room. The outline of a bed is just visible in the gloom, and Libby feels around on the wall for a light switch**
CINDY: You’re not going to get anywhere by doing that, Libby. This whole ship uses voice recognition. Lights!
**Instantly, the overhead light flickers to life, splashing the contents of the stark and depressing room with brightness. A bed, some curtains, and a desk comprise the entirety of the furniture in the room**
CINDY: (examining the blue-gray bedspread) Wow, I sure have lost my sense of decoration.
**She glances around at the bare silver walls until her eyes rest on a large poster on the far wall. She walks over for a closer look, and lets out an excited gasp**
CINDY: Libby, look! I’m on a wanted poster! How cool is that?
LIBBY: (from across the room) Oh yeah? What does it say?
**Cindy’s eyes trail over the striking picture of Aurora on one side of the poster, green light dancing around her in a firestorm. On the left is a bold message written in several different languages**
CINDY: (reading) Wanted Dead or Alive, for high crimes against the dictator. Use caution, as subject is considered armed and highly dangerous. Reward to be paid upon delivery. Hmm…the Jimmy in this universe must have commissioned it. Wow, imagine…my face on a poster?!
LIBBY: Doesn’t sound like anything to be proud of to me. It’s not fame we’re talkin’ ‘bout here. It’s someone who wants to kill Aurora.
CINDY: But still…
LIBBY: Uh-oh. Cindy, you’d better come see this.
**Libby lifts one edge of the blue curtain on the opposite wall, and she motions for Cindy to join her**
CINDY: What is it now?
LIBBY: I was wonderin’ what Aurora could possibly be doin’ with curtains in her room when there wasn’t a window. Look behind it…
**Libby throws aside the curtain, revealing a massive bulletin board covered with a dizzying array of photographs. Star maps, layout drawings, ship plans, weapon sketches…some half ripped, blood stained, and many with unidentifiable symbols written all over them. But overshadowing the whole display is something that leaves both girls breathless. It’s a log: a line of countless photographs winding its way across the whole board. Each photograph is marked with a date, a location, and a comment. The pictures are all of Jimmy…every single one**
LIBBY: Wow, girl. This is one sick obsession.
**Cindy pales and looks down at the floor**
CINDY: Aurora is just really meticulous, that’s all.
LIBBY: More like “fixated”. This is like a storyboard for everything he’s done for the past 10 years. There must be hundreds of pictures here…Jeez girl, I sure hope you ain’t hidin’ some stash of Jimmy love photos in your room back home too!
CINDY: (looking away) As if! And who says these are love photos? Maybe it’s a catalogue of events or something.
LIBBY: True. I guess having this sort of thing would make sense when your goal in life is to destroy one person.
CINDY: Destroy one person?
**Cindy reaches up and pulls down a picture from the top of the board. In the image, Jimmy is maybe two or three years older than their current age. He’s regarding the viewer with cool indifference, his cold blue eyes glinting in the light of the camera flash. Cindy heaves a sigh and sits on the bed, only to jump back up again**
CINDY: What the heck did I just sit on?
**She quickly finds the source of the discomfort — another photograph. This one is a class picture from 5th grade, tattered and dog-eared from years of being handled**
CINDY: (breathless) I can’t believe she still has this…I remember that day so well. It was before the accident that shrunk everyone in town. Remember that? Everyone was making fun of Jimmy for being short…and I told him to stand up for himself and “be a man”.
**Cindy gives a short little laugh, then stares off into the distance. Libby puts her arm around her friend**
LIBBY: What are you thinking about, girl?
CINDY: It’s just…I feel like I’m understanding some things for the first time.
LIBBY: What do you mean?
CINDY: Some things about Aurora I mean. How she must be feeling.
LIBBY: Oh yeah?
CINDY: She can’t find comfort anywhere. Her war with the dictator is just another painful reminder of everything and everyone she’s lost. I guess our presence here must be causing her to suffer too. Imagine seeing yourself from a futuristic perspective, remembering how wonderful life was and knowing that you took it for granted and could never get it back?
LIBBY: Ya. I guess I never realized how great we have it. All we have to worry about is some silly schoolwork and our crazy adventures with the boys. I bet when we grow up we’ll look back on them as the best years of our lives.
CINDY: Poor Aurora, she never got to finish them. And she never got to get past her other problems…the ones Jimmy and I have.
LIBBY: (grinning) Wow, you’re referring to each other as “Jimmy and I”? Are you an item now?”
CINDY: NO! I’m saying that Aurora still feels a connection to him, despite all he’s done.
LIBBY: Oh really…
CINDY: (gazing off into the distance) When you love and hate someone at the same time, it’s like a constant tug-of war. But in her case, the love must be unbearable. Could you imagine every day, waking up and knowing that the person you secretly loved wanted to watch you suffer and die?
LIBBY: No, I can’t.
CINDY: Libby, everything in this universe has gone wrong because of me…because I was too thick headed to see the truth. I was the one who sprayed Megalomanium in his eyes. I was the one who turned him into a monster.
APRIL: I guess it just goes to show how profoundly our actions can affect the world, doesn’t it? We can never foresee the chain of events that our choices will set into motion.
**The girls whip around to see April leaning against the doorframe**
CINDY: April! It’s not what you think! We were just…
APRIL: (waving away her protests) It is all right. I understand. If I were you, Cindy, I would be doing the same thing. It must be very difficult for all of you, seeing your future selves living this way. May I come in?
CINDY: I guess.
**April walks in and sits on the bed, her purple eyes filled with compassion**
APRIL: I’m actually impressed with the both of you. You are learning things from this experience. If we are fortunate, maybe you will learn enough to keep this cycle of hatred from spinning out of control in your own universe as well.
**She pauses, then continues**
APRIL: Please forgive Aurora for her behavior while we were back in the cockpit. She has been through more than you know.
**April’s glance falls upon the bulletin board behind them, and her face grows solemn**
APRIL: Ah, I see you have discovered “the wall”…Aurora has kept a sort of living record of everything that has happened. She has been able to use it to successfully trace the dictator’s behavior patterns. She knows more about him than anyone else, you know. Maybe this is her way of dealing with all that’s happened. Still, I think it hurts her more than it helps.
CINDY: April, what happened when evil Jimmy captured Aurora? How long was she missing?
LIBBY: Did she tell you what happened?
APRIL: She would not tell anyone. But she was gone for three weeks. We all thought she was dead…and when she reappeared she certainly looked it. I know he must have done something awful to her, but she does not like to talk about it. And now, I am afraid that she is heading for even more pain. With your appearance, everything changed. I wonder what will happen once he is given the antidote and returns to normal. I think it might have been better if we had allowed her to get her revenge. She deserves to finally have some peace in her life. The way she is now, she’s trapped in a prison: her own prison, walking the world all alone without hope for any kind of future. Aurora is my best friend, and I do not want to see her in pain any longer.
CINDY: But I think we can still stop all of this. I think she’ll come around…because I feel like I finally am.
**There is a noise behind them at the door, and they all whirl around. Jimmy staggers into the room**
JIMMY: Aurora, the door was open so I…wait a minute. Cindy? Libby? April? What are you guys doing in here?
**Cindy snaps the curtain shut over the picture-covered wall, and he looks at her quizzically**
JIMMY: What’s behind the curtain?
CINDY: Nothing you need to be concerned about! What do you want?
JIMMY: I’ve finished the chemical analysis, and it’s very important that I talk to Aurora straight away!
APRIL: (springing up) You have? In that case, let’s get to the cockpit as quickly as possible. I will raise Aurora on the comm. system.
**They dash out of the room and shut the door behind them, then proceed down the hall. April pushes a button on her watch communicator and speaks into it**
APRIL: Aurora, come in.
AURORA: Ya? What?
APRIL: Meet us in the cockpit. Jimmy has finished his chemical analysis and needs to share the results.
AURORA: Already? Jeez. All right, I’ll
meet you there.