Act I: Planetfall

Written by Omni

Soundtrack For This Cinematic Opening

December 30th, 2183 EC | 5.3.5 SW
19:01/21 SW-CP-Local Time
East of Crowning Point > Sutter's Trail through the Wombwood

The camera pans down from the stars flying through the night over moonlit, windswept fields following a dirt road that leads away from the neon night lights of Crowning Point toward the giant trees of the Wombwood Forest.

As the camera sways and descends, we close in on the tail lights on the backend of an off-road vehicle cruising along.

The vehicle skids to a stop, sending dirt and rocks flying past the camera, parking off the side of the road in a dark area just inside the tree line. Things are immediately getting hot and heavy for the young couple, Poppy and James, inside the cab.

🎵…new words… that only they can share in…🎵

The stars and moon sparkle above as the pervasive carelessness of lust and love overtakes them. The hairs on their skin raise to goosebumps, not from cold, but excitement and anticipation. Hands caress curves, hearts race, soft lips meet and pull passionately at each other for more; their bodies writhing in sync.
🎵…love descends on those defenseless…🎵

The camera cuts to a low shot in front of the vehicle looking up.

They don’t hear music, nor do they see the incoming dark shape of the starcraft sweeping overhead the trees outside their windows but they begin to feel the rumble of its engines, putting a halt to their escapade. The camera rises up, focusing back on the lovers, their lips inches apart, their eyes looking around to find the source of the quaking.

The Model V-10A1113 Mantis comes down quickly from the sky into a forest clearing, but lands softly with bursts from its independently articulated engine pods. The camera leaves the lovers as the saxophone solo leads us meandering into the forest toward the vessel. The external lights are switched off for the express purpose of remaining stealth.

Entering the window of the bridge, we see Lyron Cham, still bedecked in sunglasses and cowboy hat, the music now blasts from the speakers of his antique, late 20th century audio cassette boombox. Cham stands to his feet, snapping his fingers and dancing through the cockpit checking the systems, flipping switches and tapping keyboards all the while. Getting the ship ready for what comes next.

He moves through the corridors, past the mess hall and the APOLLO mainframe, drumming on the walls and dancing all the way to the cryo chamber where we see 5 cryo pods.

He continues his work, tapping at the consoles, preparing the system to wake the crew manually as he can’t be bothered to stop his performance for a single moment to have the AI do it for him automatically.

He stands over them with his hands on the lids singing at the two women, Captain Bolaji and Hel sleeping peacefully in their pods.

🎵…love is not loving…🎵

“Rise and shine, baby!” he laughs as the lid of the Captain’s pod finally hisses open.

Adisa Bolaji barely opens her eyes to glare at Cham in disapproval.

He responds with a smug grin.

We jump cut back to the two lovers sneaking from the vehicle into the dark forest, searching for the ship that, by all accounts, should have landed at the airfield. As they reach the clearing, they stand just beyond the ferns and moonlight of Suen, shivering and marveling at the Sotillo.

The music fades with the scene…