EPISODE 2 - ZALE INDIGO RAVENHEART (1)
PROLOGUE
(THE ANSWERPHONE CLICKS ON WITH A BEEP)
VOICE
Congratulations. You've reached The Amelia Project. This phone call isn't happening. If you're not serious about this, hang up. Now.
(PAUSE)
If you continue there's no way back.
(PAUSE)
Good choice. A new life awaits. You'll hear back from us within the hour. If you don't hear back, please consider the whole thing a hoax. Leave your message after the beep.
BEEP.
ZALE INDIGO RAVENHEART
(FAST, NERVOUS WHISPER)How quickly can this be done? I don't have much time. I leave planet Earth tonight. I'm being launched to Antithon in… ten hours. I can't get out of it. My followers won't let me. I need help! I need you to intervene!
My name is Zale Indigo Ravenheart. Founder and Archpriest of the Apostles of Antithon.
Get back to me. Please. Quick. Help.
(SHRILL BEEP OF THE ANSWERPHONE)
THEME TUNE
INTRO
The Amelia Project by Philip Thorne and Øystein Brager, with music and sound design by Fredrik Baden. Episode 2: Zale Indigo Ravenheart.
(THE INTERVIEWER'S OFFICE. THE BEAT OF THE THEME TUNE DISSOLVES INTO THE TICKING OF A TIMER, THAT THEN GETS SHUT OFF WITH A CLICK)
INTERVIEWER
Interesting.
(A KNOCK ON THE DOOR)
INTERVIEWER
Hello? Come in!
(THE DOOR OPENS WITH A SQUEAK AND IS SHUT AGAIN, QUIETLY)
ZALE
Could you draw the curtains? It's just…
INTERVIEWER
Certainly.
(SOUND OF THE CURTAINS BEING DRAWN)
ZALE (
COMING CLOSER, HIS STEPS CAN BE HEARD)Nobody- Nobody is allowed to know I'm here. Those two Italian guys in the lobby, are they trustworthy?
INTERVIEWER
Joey and Salvatore?
ZALE
They don't look trustworthy.
INTERVIEWER
Those boys are hard as biscotti! But don't worry, they're working for you. We're all working for you. Amelia is at your service.
ZALE
(HESITANT, NERVOUS) What- What I want is probably impossible.
INTERVIEWER
(WITH EMPHASIS) “Without faith nothing is possible. With it nothing is impossible.”
ZALE
Faith?
INTERVIEWER
(AMUSED)Relax, make yourself comfortable, grab a chair.
ZALE
(CLIPPED LAUGH, CONFUSED) What?
INTERVIEWER
Relax, grab a chair.
ZALE
Uh… there is no chair.
INTERVIEWER
(MATTER OF FACT) Of course there is.
ZALE
No there isn't.
INTERVIEWER
(CALMLY, THOUGHTFUL)Aha… You have no faith.
ZALE
No, faith's got nothing to do with it.
INTERVIEWER
I'm telling you there is a chair, you're choosing not to believe me.
ZALE
(GETTING INCREASINGLY MORE NERVOUS/UPSET)Look, this has nothing to do with what I believe or not, okay? I can see with my own eyes! Or rather I- I can't. I can't see. See? That's the point. I can't see the chair, because it's not there. The chair. It doesn't exist. (LOUDER) Fact.
INTERVIEWER
(UNBOTHERED BY ZALE, BUT SAD ABOUT THE CHAIR) Pity. It's a very comfy chair.
ZALE
(EXASPERATED, Prove it to me.
INTERVIEWER
What?
ZALE
Prove there's a chair. Go on. Go on. Sit down in it. (CHUCKLES, MORE CONFIDENT)You can't. you have no evidence.
INTERVIEWER
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
ZALE
You're really strange, you know that?
INTERVIEWER
What was your name again?
ZALE
Zale Indigo Ravenheart.
INTERVIEWER
(WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT)Call it even.
Pause.
I looked you up on the google before you came in. (SAVORING THE SOUND OF THE NAME, SLOWLY) Zale Indigo Ravenheart.
(SOUND OF TYPING ON A KEYBOARD, THEN THE TICKING BEGINS AGAIN)
Hm. This was the first hit. What am I looking at?
ZALE
(HESITANT) It's the countdown. Days, hours, minutes, seconds.
INTERVIEWER
(INTERESTED) A countdown to your death?
ZALE
To my departure... from Earth.
INTERVIEWER
Eight hours, twenty minutes, thirty five seconds.
ZALE
Yes. Does that give us enough time?
INTERVIEWER
Well, that rather depends on the complexity of the task and the funds you have at your disposal. How do you intend to… “leave planet Earth?”
ZALE
In a (PAUSES, THEN, AS LOT QUIETER) cannon.
INTERVIEWER
(CHUCKLES) You're kidding.
ZALE
(AFRAID, QUIETLY) I wish I was laughing.
INTERVIEWER
(LAUGHING)And this was your idea?
ZALE
(LOUDLY, CONVINCED) It's the only way to get to Antithon.
INTERVIEWER
Antithon?
ZALE
It's a long story and we don't have time…
INTERVIEWER
(VERY SERIOUS)There's always time for a story. At Amelia we collect stories. (SIGHS CONTENTLY) Ah, if these walls could talk…
ZALE
But they can't, can they?
Beat.
INTERVIEWER
I'm sorry did you just ask me if our walls can talk?
ZALE
I mean, this isn't being recorded or anything is it?
(PAUSE)
INTERVIEWER
No.
(PAUSE)
I'm interested in how someone decides he wants to be fired into space from a cannon,(CHUCKLES) goes out of his way to publicise the exact time and date, attracts huge attention, then realises eight hours, twenty minutes and thirty five seconds beforehand, that maybe it's not such a bright idea after all.
(AMUSED) Can I guess?
You've lost your faith. Whatever this Antithon is, you no longer believe in it.
ZALE
Yeah. It's not that simple.
INTERVIEWER
What is Antithon?
ZALE
You may find it hard to believe.
INTERVIEWER
(INTERESTED)I expect nothing less.
ZALE
It requires a leap of imagination.
INTERVIEWER
You're sure you won't take a seat?
ZALE
(NERVOUS LAUGH) There is no… (SUDDENLY SHOUTS)What is that?
INTERVIEWER
I believe that is a chair.
ZALE
(UPSET, STRESSED) Where did it come from?
INTERVIEWER
Do you believe this is a chair?
ZALE
I…
INTERVIEWER
Ceci n'est pas une pipe?
ZALE
It doesn't… (HE GETS INTERRUPTED BY THE INTERVIEWER)
INTERVIEWER
Sit down and tell me about Antithon.
ZALE
Would you mind turning that down? It's (STUTTERS)stress- stressing
INTERVIEWER
(SERIOUS AGAIN) Sit down. (THE TICKING STOPS) Tell me about Antithon.
(SOUND OF THE CHAIR SCRAPING OVER THE FLOOR AS ZALE SITS DOWN)
ZALE
For every aspect of life there's an opposite right? Fire and water. (THE CHAIR CREAKS) Light and dark.
INTERVIEWER
Life and death.
ZALE
A thing can only exist by having an opposite, something to compare it to. I mean, how would we know what good is if there were no evil?
INTERVIEWER
(CHUCKLES) I agree with that.
ZALE
Everything exists in pairs. Earth is no exception. Earth has an opposite.
INTERVIEWER
And that's Antithon?
ZALE
(EXCITED) Yes! Earth and Antithon are on opposite sides of the sun. They circle the sun at one hundred and eighty degrees from one another.
INTERVIEWER
(EQUALLY EXCITED, INVESTED) Like twins!
ZALE
(GETTING INCREASINGLY MORE EXCITED) That's right! Their identical distance from the sun, means Earth and Antithon have the exact same conditions. Same atmospheric pressure, temperature, gravity.
INTERVIEWER
And presumably life?
ZALE
Precisely!
INTERVIEWER
(STILL EXCITED) Wow! I think this calls for a cup of cocoa. (A CLICK, LIKELY OF A TELEPHONE) Salvatore! Two cocoas please!
ZALE
Each one of us has a counterpart on Antithon.
INTERVIEWER
Oooh. (EXTREMELY INVESTED) What proof do you have for the existence of Antithon?
ZALE
Everything has an opposite. The universe needs balance. (ALMOST MANICALLY) Antithon revealed itself to me in a vision.
(PAUSE)
INTERVIEWER
(INSTANTLY COMPLETELY UNIMPRESSED) Ah. So you haven't actually seen it?
ZALE
No, well. How could I? The sun blocks it from view. It's perfectly hidden. Even from the most powerful telescopes.
INTERVIEWER
(AMUSED AGAIN) So, it's a matter of faith…
(THE DOOR SQUEAKS WHEN IT'S OPENED AS SALVATORE ENTERS)
Ah, Salvatore! Grazie mille!
(SALVATORE SETS THE CUPS DOWN WITH A CLANK BEFORE HE STOMPS OUT AGAIN AND CLOSES THE DOOR. THE INTERVIEWER AND ZALE CAN BE HEARD SLURPING, THE INTERVIEWER SIGHS CONTENTLY)
ZALE
(IMPRESSED)Oh my…
INTERVIEWER
Good, isn't it? I have it specially shipped from Les Deux Magots. (ZALE CHUCKLES, SOUNDS OF SIPPING, THE INTERVIEWER SIGHS AGAIN)
Ah… Choccy choccy choccy (CLEARS THROAT, GETTING BACK TO THE PRESENT AND THE INTERVIEW)
Okay. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Antithon exists. After all, without evidence of its absence, who am I to disprove it, hm? Let's say it really is a second Earth. Why are you and your followers so hellbent on getting there?
ZALE
Why?
INTERVIEWER
Yes. Haven't we established it would be exactly like Earth? It would just be more of the same.
ZALE
(TAKES AN AUDIBLE BREATH) Antithon is our counter-planet. Not just geographically. Everything there is inverse. Every decision you make on Earth is played out twice. On Earth and on Antithon. Your counterpart always does the exact opposite…
INTERVIEWER
(UNDERSTANDING) So going to Antithon means you can turn your life around, go down the roads you chose to ignore…
ZALE
(GETTING INCREASINGLY MORE PLEADING) Wouldn't you like to know what would have happened if you'd made different choices? If you'd studied Art instead of Physics, gone to Africa instead of America, if you'd taken up that job offer in Paris, if you'd just kissed that girl… (NORMAL AGAIN) That's what tonight is about. When I founded the Apostles of Antithon two years ago I started the online timer to give myself a deadline. (PASSIONATELY) It was always my intention to be the first person to get to Antithon.
INTERVIEWER
To meet your counterpart?
ZALE
(SHAKES HEAD) To switch places with him.
INTERVIEWER
Or her?
ZALE
What?
INTERVIEWER
Look. It's a nice story. And you tell it passionately. I can see how you've attracted such a following. But tell me, did you actually ever believe this stuff yourself or was it just a way to get famous and make money?
ZALE
I still believe in it.
INTERVIEWER
(CONVINCED) No you don't.
ZALE
(VERY CALM) I do.
INTERVIEWER
I don't believe you!
ZALE
(STILL VERY CALM) That's your choice.
INTERVIEWER
(UNAMUSED) You're messing with me! The reason you're here is you don't want to get in that cannon right? You want us to fake your death?
ZALE
Can it be done? Do we have enough time?
INTERVIEWER
(CHUCKLES, STILL SEEMS UNAMUSED) Frankly, you've put yourself in a very difficult position.
(THE TICKING SLOWLY STARTS UP AGAIN)
You have eight hours, fourteen minutes and six seconds left.
ZALE
(PANICKED) Shit shit shit.
INTERVIEWER
We might be able to help. There's nothing we like more at Amelia than a challenge. But, given how little time you've got and the danger you've put yourself into, haven't you considered, you know, just legging it?
ZALE
(PLEADING) Where- where would I go? They'd find me!
INTERVIEWER
Your followers?
ZALE
My apostles. They've poured their heart and soul into this.
INTERVIEWER
And their money…
ZALE
(THE TOPIC IS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE FOR HIM) Yes, that too.
INTERVIEWER
What do you think they'd do?
ZALE
(HUFFS) I'm supposed to lead the way. Show it can be done. If I chicken out they'll think it was a scam. They'll- They'll feel betrayed. They'll want revenge.
(QUIETLY, THEN PLEADING AGAIN) I have no choice. I have to get in that cannon. But I don't want to be shot to Antithon.
INTERVIEWER
Because it doesn't exist.
ZALE
(LOUD) Because my life would be a nightmare there. (CALMER, BUT ONLY FOR A MOMENT BEFORE HE GETS UPSET AGAIN)When I founded Apostles of Antithon my life was a mess. Two divorces, an estranged son, trying to wean myself off a cocaine addiction. (EXASPERATED) I'd hit rock bottom. That's when Antithon revealed itself to me. All those things I could have done differently! I envied my counterpart on Antithon so much! (MANIC)It drove me crazy!
(DREAMILY)Then I realised: I was the chosen one! Antithon had chosen to reveal itself to me! My destiny was to be the pioneer who leads the way there.
INTERVIEWER
So you founded Apostles of Antithon and set the timer.
ZALE
Yes. And it was a hit! I mean, I couldn't keep up with all the emails. Had to hire a secretary!
INTERVIEWER
Who wrote to you?
ZALE
At first it was, you know, people like me. Victims of bad decisions that had led to dead ends.
Then the media got interested. (LAUGHING, SLIGHTLY MANIC AGAIN) They thought I was batshit crazy, but I was good for ratings. My name started trending on Twitter. (INCREASINGLY ENTHUSIASTIC) Courtney Love wore an Antithon T-shirt to the Emmy's, Lady Gaga mentioned me in a song, Marilyn Manson became a follower. My name started trending on Twitter. They wanted to do a documentary on me, but production could only have started next month, after I'd already been launched to Antithon.
