ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 008

 ACT 008: EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF THE GOUGE BASIN – DAY

The team walks beside their Zoids, now in low-power mode. The terrain is scorched and fractured, with smooth glass-like formations catching the sun in odd angles.

DANNY (grinning, shielding his eyes)
They say the crash impact melted the stone. Turned the sand to glass. You can still see it — vitrified rock, all the way to the Basin.

A faint rhythmic crunching rolls through the air.

NEKU
You hear that?

They crest a rise and freeze.

Below, four massive Wild Gustav Zoids crawl slowly across the basin. Their domed shells shimmer with dirt and grime, legs clicking methodically. Long antennae sweep the ground ahead, and as they move, their mandibles pull hunks of rusted Zoid carcasses into gaping undercarriage maws. Plates grind and shift as metal disappears into their segmented bellies.

PAIGE (disbelieving)
Are they... eating them?

DANNY
Yup. Wild Gustav’s. Nature’s clean-up crew. They digest Zoid remains, break them down, and enrich the soil as they go.

They watch as the Gustav move slowly.

DANNY (continues)
They’re also crazy strong — built to haul weight for days. Tilly’s is a beast, totally modded. She normally gets us around using hers.

NYSSA
Let’s not make them nervous. Those mandibles can crush a Zoid cockpit like its nothing.

They watch in silence as one Gustav pauses, twitching its antenna toward the group. A panel on its side flexes with a hydraulic hiss. Then, disinterested, it resumes feeding — dragging half of a Hellcat’s broken frame into its mouth in a jerking motion.

The team quietly moves on.

EXT – TEMPORARY CAMP – NIGHT

A low fire crackles between stacked rocks, casting warm light over the team’s modest camp. Their Zoids rest nearby, cloaked and powered down — looming silhouettes in the dark, camo nets slung over them.

Tents and gear are half-unpacked. Neku leans against a small crate, mug in hand. Paige is curled up on her bedroll with a sketchpad. Nyssa sits on a crate, quietly cleaning her sidearm.

Danny is hunched over a makeshift table — laptop glowing, a signal dish wired into a portable antenna. He’s been staring at it for a while.

DANNY (frustrated muttering)
That’s impossible…

NEKU
Danny…?

He doesn’t respond. The screen glitches, showing faint static pulses — a rhythmic echo — then stabilizes.

NYSSA
Eyes up, Danny.

DANNY (sits back, rubbing his face)
It’s not interference — not exactly. There’s a signal, faint but steady. Directional. Same as before… southeast. Same path as the Astray drift

Nyssa stands, holsters her weapon, and starts to walk toward her tent.

DANNY
Whatever this is, it’s not a transmission. It’s more like… a gravity well for code. It doesn’t say anything. It just pulls.

A hush spreads across the group.

NEKU
You think it’s moving?

DANNY (shrugs, uneasy)
Hard to say. I didn’t think so… but if it is… it's moving slow. Purposeful.

NYSSA (small pause, then firm)
Call it a night, we rendezvous with the others tomorrow. Get some rest.

Danny closes his laptop, glancing once more at the signal dish — still twitching ever so slightly.

Paige looks to Neku.

PAIGE (quiet)
Do you think it’s following us?

Neku looks at Paige

The fire pops.

FADE TO BLACK