**The clouds clear below them, and the outlines of long forgotten buildings thrust into the sky like desperate, grasping hands. The Desperado sinks past them and alights on a patch of dry ground in the middle of what used to be the town park, and Aurora switches off the engines. They stand in silence for a moment**
AURORA: Let’s get this over with.
**Jimmy calls for Goddard, and Aurora and April lead the way out of the cockpit, through the twisting corridors, and down the ramp way and out of the ship. The smell of springtime floats lightly on the air as Sheen and Carl throw themselves onto the earth**
SHEEN: Land! Sweet Land!
CARL: I’ve missed you so much!
SHEEN: (kissing the ground) My one true love! Never shall I part with you again! Oh how I…eck…ach…ugh! Phhht! I swallowed a dirt clod!
**Sheen hacks on the mouthful, and the others take in their surroundings in silence as the grass ripples in the wind**
CINDY: Everything feels so…empty.
LIBBY: It’s quiet. It’s so quiet it hurts to listen.
**A yellow butterfly floats by on a current of warm air, and Aurora shivers**
AURORA: Well, here we are. Among the ruins of a forgotten Earth…was the trip here worthwhile?
JIMMY: It will be once we get to my lab and I collect a sample of the Cryptococcus neoformans. The antidote may be the key to a better future for all of us. So can we get going please?
**Aurora motions for him to lead the way, and he pushes open the creaking, rusty gate and they exit the park. The trees are all in bloom and birdsong is on the air, but beneath their harmonious calls is a chilling silence**
AURORA: We’re coming into town now. Look ahead at the outlet shops…
**The travelers walk into town in a silent procession, each awestruck by the stark desolation around them. Cars, some broken and overturned, lie scattered about in the road. The rows of shops, once thriving areas of human activity, have already begun to succumb to nature. Plants sprout from the sidewalk cracks, and a closer look at a nearby store reveals a family of raccoons living inside. Jimmy and the others pass by the House of Pants, a crooked advertisement for low prices still clinging to life in the window. The door to the shop creaks open and shut in the wind, and an abandoned chessboard, the pieces locked forever in mid-game, peeks out from under a layer of cobwebs on a café table**
CINDY: It’s so weird. It’s like everyone just disappeared in the middle of what they were doing.
AURORA: That’s because they did. The Nanobots deleted everyone without warning…people had no time to react. They were there one minute, and simply gone the next.
**April points to a large building coming up on their left**
APRIL: Aurora, is that your local educational facility?
**The kids freeze in their tracks, for less than a hundred feet in front of them stands Lindbergh Elementary school. The statue out in front has collapsed and is hidden beneath a carpet of fallen leaves, and the walkway is strewn with dirt and windblown litter. The playground is in complete disrepair. Most of the equipment lies broken and rusted, except for a single swing that sways slowly in the breeze, and one teeter totter that creaks up and down, as if the ghosts of long dead children were still riding it**
SHEEN: You know, I always thought it would be way cool to see our school trashed, but this isn’t what I had in mind.
CINDY: (looking around nervously) This place gives me the creeps.
LIBBY: (pointing as she speaks) I can still picture everyone here…it’s so weird. Look…over there’s where Britney and the other girls used to jump rope. And Nick and his girls are sittin’ on the steps…and there’s Butch, beatin’ up poor Oleander for the fifth time.
CINDY: I know what you’re talking about. I mean, I know everyone’s gone, but I can still feel their presence somehow.
**Aurora’s sharp intake of air startles everyone, and they swing round to see her hastily backing away**
AURORA: We need to go. I need to get out of here now so…so…let’s go to Neutron’s lab. Then I want to leave. I want to leave forever.
**The kids gladly oblige, and doing their best to avoid stealing a glance at the Candy Bar, they make their way to Jimmy’s street. Memories seem to hang in the air like smoke; each house dredges up the ghosts of long-forgotten friendships and rivalries. They come to a stop in the street between Jimmy and Cindy’s houses, and Aurora stares up at what remains of her house, the once lovely pink paint peeled away and the shutters hanging askew**
AURORA: (wrapping her arms around herself) There’s something so eerie about coming back to a place you once lived. You are one of your own memories.
**April lays a hand on her friend’s shoulder, and Aurora slowly climbs the steps up to her house**
JIMMY: (feeling uncomfortable) If it’s OK, I’m going to pay a visit to my lab now and see what’s left. I’ll be back up soon…
**He turns and dashes into his backyard, then disappears into his clubhouse. Aurora lays her hand on the doorknob and slowly pushes on the door. It swings open**
AURORA: Funny, it’s not locked…
**She sets one foot inside, and a tiny cloud of dust rises up into the air. She takes another step, hesitates, and then quickly backs out**
APRIL: What is the matter?
AURORA: I…
**Glass smashes somewhere behind them and Aurora whisks around. Sheen has thrown a rock through the front window of Carl’s house**
CARL: AAAHHHH Sheen! You broke my window! My dad’s gonna be so mad!…
SHEEN: Chillax, dude! Your dad’s gone, remember? Besides, I’ve always wanted to do that! Ha! I think I’ll do it again!
**He pitches a rock at the other window, and it shatters**
SHEEN: Check me out, babes! I’m a hot-blooded Mexican vandal…and nobody cares!
CARL: Cut it out Sheen! I might step on a piece of the glass and cut my foot!
LIBBY: Sheen, ya really shouldn’t go breakin’ other people’s stuff. Go throw rocks through your own windows.
CINDY: Why don’t you just hit yourself with that rock and do us all a favor?
APRIL: (furious) Sheen! How dare you destroy someone else’s property?! Show some respect to Carl’s departed family!
AURORA: (in a strained tone of voice) No. He’s right, April. Houses are nothing without the people who used to live in them.
**April whirls around to see Aurora staring up at her bedroom window, her eyes cold and full of bitter sorrow**
AURORA: (voice rising) They’re just monuments to grief, and I won’t let my house stand another day!
**She jumps backward and hurls an energy bolt at her house…then another, then another, then another. With frightening speed she whips them at the roof, the walls, the door. Her blasts create gaping, cinder-rimmed holes wherever they hit, and chunks of debris fly out into the smoke-clogged air. The roof collapses into a pile of ashes, and with one spinning kick Aurora crumbles the front wall. She leaps forward and rapid-fires on any furniture still standing inside**
AURORA: DAMN IT ALL! I…won’t…suffer…any…longer!!!
**A crackling, blinding orb of energy coalesces between her hands, and with a cry she sends it hurtling at the house. When the dust clears, only a pile of wooden splinters and a heap of blackened ashes remain**
AURORA: (gasping for breath) I’ll destroy them all!
**She swings round and flings another bolt, this time at Jimmy’s house. With surprising speed, April squares herself firmly in front of Aurora and diverts the blast with one expertly placed blow**
APRIL: (grabbing Aurora’s arm) Enough. You need to stop now.
**The two women stand locked in mid-motion, Aurora half stooped over, her breaths coming in gasps. April stares down at her with a glittering purple gaze. Aurora looks up at the alien woman through terrified, angry eyes, then with a cry lunges forward and embraces her**
AURORA: Oh April!
APRIL: (smoothing her ruffled hair) Shhh, do not worry. We will leave soon enough.
**Aurora buries her face against April’s shoulder, and the kids stare on in dazed silence. After a moment, Jimmy reappears holding a vial full of a speckled gray substance**
JIMMY: What’s all the commotion about? I heard some explosions and…Holy Heisenberg! What happened to your house?
**Nobody answers. Aurora kneels down and sifts the remains through her fingers**
AURORA: Sometimes it’s better to destroy the past than to let it destroy you.
JIMMY: What are you talking about?
**April quickly steps in**
APRIL: Did you obtain the fungus?
JIMMY: Oh…yes. Yes I did. Turns out there was quite a bit of it growing in the sewers near my lab. Despite the fungi’s hardiness, I’m worried that it won’t survive long enough for me to use it in the antidote, so I’ll have Goddard preserve a portion of the sample. Here boy!
**Goddard bounds over to his master**
JIMMY: (rubbing his head) Good dog! I’ll need you to access your liquid hydrogen tank and freeze-dry this sample for me, OK?
GODDARD: Bark…grr bark bark!
**Jimmy places the beaker on the ground, and Goddard’s back unlatches and a small spray can appears. He blasts the fungus with a burst of liquid Nitrogen, and it instantly freezes solid. He grabs the beaker with a pair of tongs and stows it away in his back compartment**
JIMMY: One more thing Goddard. Run a quick analysis scan to make sure the fungus is still alive…sometimes the freeze-drying process can be a bit faulty. And don’t bother to do a specific search for the fungi’s DNA structure, because I don’t think it’s in your database. Just run all your DNA scanner systems and hopefully something will come up besides our life signatures.
**A scanner appears on Goddard’s chest, and he begins the search. When it finishes loading it gives a loud bleep, and the words “life signs detected” flash across the screen. The screen transforms into a map of Retroville, and a little red dot begins to flash for each member of the group. A yellow dot appears inside Goddard, and Jimmy heaves a relieved sigh**
JIMMY: Good, good, the fungus survived the freeze-drying process. Now if we…
**Goddard’s screen beeps again, and the words “life signs detected” appear for a second time. However, instead of centering on Retroville, it zooms out to a map of North America, and then to a 3-D image of the Earth. The globe rotates on the screen and twenty or so red dots begin to flash in central Asia. Goddard starts barking like crazy**
JIMMY: What the…? Goddard, what did you just do?
GODDARD: Bark bark bark bark!
JIMMY: Calm down boy, that’s absolutely impossible. There’s no way that reading is correct.
CINDY: Reading? What reading?
JIMMY: (pointing at Goddard’s screen) Goddard’s scan just indicated human life signs in central Asia, but there’s NO way…
AURORA: WHAT? What did you say?
**She pushes the others aside and grabs Jimmy by the shoulder**
AURORA: Show me.
**Jimmy points and Aurora bends over and squints at the image**
AURORA: Your scan is WRONG. Everyone was deleted by the Nanobots.
JIMMY: Oh, I have no doubts about that. Don’t worry Aurora, I’m sure it’s a mistake. Goddard, re-run the scan.
GODDARD: Eow, eow…
**He clears the screen and then repeats the scan, but the twenty red dots continue to flicker**
JIMMY: Ugh, I don’t understand! Maybe if I…wait a minute. Goddard, zoom in on those life signs. Somehow that spot on the map looks familiar.
**He pans in closer, and the name of the location flashes on the screen**
JIMMY: (gasping) Shangri Llama! That’s incredible…unthinkable even! It looks like the Nanobots did miss some people after all. The monks of Shangri Llama are alive!
LIBBY: What?
CINDY: You’ve got to be kidding…
SHEEN: You mean master Hong and the rest are still around? Wicked! I think it’s time for The Chosen One to make a house call!
AURORA: Neutron, are you absolutely sure about this? I mean, how could anyone have escaped? The annihilation was absolute…
APRIL: Yes, this is indeed a remarkable discovery. We need speak to these survivors immediately. Perhaps we can learn the secret of how they survived.
SHEEN: I can already answer that question: mad Kung Fu skills, that’s how!
**He judo-chops Carl in the shoulder**
CARL: Ow Sheen! That’s gonna bruise!
**Sheen puts his foot behind his head, then whirls around and bows to Libby**
SHEEN: (waggling his eyebrows) Will you be MY chosen one?
**Libby rolls her eyes and heaves an exasperated sigh, and Jimmy scratches his chin in thought**
JIMMY: I don’t think so, Sheen. Hand-to-hand combat skills are useless against the Nanobots. I think we should fly over to Asia and investigate.
**Aurora’s expression of uneasiness changes to one of anger**
AURORA: What the heck, are you all crazy? We don’t have time for this! We need to finish that antidote, remember? Besides, they’re just a bunch of stupid monks. What can they teach us that we don’t already know? By now I’m a black belt in karate, and I’ve mastered Tai Chi and deep meditation. What are they gonna show us…the proper technique for drinking tea? Or maybe they can instruct us in the ways of peace and understanding while the war rages on around us and people die!
JIMMY: I understand what you’re saying, but we still need to go. Besides, it’s not like we’ll be wasting too much time. The Desperado can be there in a matter of seconds.
LIBBY: Sorry girl, looks like you’re outvoted on this one. ‘Sides, wouldn’t it be nice to relax for a little bit?
SHEEN: Ya…I’ll give you a backrub…
LIBBY: Sheen!
SHEEN: What?
**Jimmy takes a step closer to Aurora and his eyes fill with sympathy**
JIMMY: I know it’s hard for you to be here, but we could really learn a lot from this trip.
AURORA: (yelling) Fine! Jeez! We’ll go see the lousy monks if you really want to. Just get off my back!
**Aurora begins fiddling with the watch communicator on her wrist**
LIBBY: Shouldn’t we start walkin’ back or…
AURORA: No need. I just activated the ship’s remote autopilot. It’ll fly overhead and beam us aboard any second now.
SHEEN: Sweet! Does it hurt?
AURORA: Not really.
SHEEN: Aw, man…
**An instant later, the ship materializes out of the cloud line. With a flash of light and sudden lurch, they all find themselves back inside the cockpit**
SHEEN: What the…whoa! We’re back in the ship already? Cool! Tele..teleparto…partonation…whatever… rocks!
**Aurora punches some coordinates into the autopilot and the ship rockets upward into space, then it hangs in a suspended orbit as the earth rotates below**
CINDY: Is the Earth moving, or are we?
AURORA: Both, actually. It helps speed up the travel time.
LIBBY: (pointing) Look! There’s Asia comin’ up o’er the horizon. Asia…you know, that’d make a pretty jive name. I think if I ever have a daughter…
CINDY: Libby, focus please.
**The ship begins its descent, and Jimmy turns around and begins fiddling with the autopilot**
AURORA: Hey…what do you think you’re doing?
JIMMY: I think we should land a little outside of town. This huge ship might frighten the monks.
AURORA: (muttering) Might frighten the monks…neh nah neh neh…
**The Desperado hovers for a moment before setting down on a grassy plain just outside of Shangri Llama. There is a whoosh of air as the interior decompresses, and the group makes their way out of the ship. Ahead, the silhouettes of the temples stand silent against the cloudless sky**
AURORA: (breathless) Sure has been awhile…
SHEEN: Not really. I was just here fighting Yoo Yee a couple of months ago…
AURORA: I meant for me, idiot.
LIBBY: Should we try to go in?