ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 025

 ACT 025. INT. CHELONIA – COMMAND ROOM – AFTERNOON

Neku and Inu enter the Command Room. Everyone is already waiting, seated around a long table with a large monitor on the far wall. Nicholla sits at the head, Irie Meilin standing behind her. Danny is next to Clair, reviewing data. Nyssa sits alone, arms crossed and face tight with anger. Brandt is present beside an old man known only as the Librarian. Several other figures — unknown, silent — observe without speaking.

NEKU (as she sits)
Sorry we’re late.

NICHOLLA (nods)
You’re not late, so please don’t worry.
(she looks at the door and back to Neku)
Paige?

NEKU (looking directly at Irie, a bite in her voice)
I’ve left her somewhere safe.

Irie nods. Nicholla smiles. Danny glances up from the data slate and offers Neku a small smile.

NICHOLLA (with a deep breath)
Lets start. Clair and Danny have been analysing the data from Skarfi’s drone. We also retrieved footage from a drone-controlled Pteras we dispatched for recon. (she gestures to the monitor)

The monitor flickers to life. Virodahaka walks below, slow and ponderous. As it brushes against trees and rocks, chunks of greyed Zoid fall from its body, only to be retrieved and re-assimilated by thick tendrils. Wild Zoids nearby flee at its approach. An Astray Zoid willingly walks into the creature and is absorbed.

 
The Pteras circles for another pass. A ruined König Wolf is visible within Virodahaka’s mass, its once-vibrant blue replaced with stone-grey, green light seeping through cracks and joints.

INU (gasps)

Nicholla quickly shuts off the footage.

NICHOLLA (concerned)
I’m so sorry. I hadn’t had the chance to view the full footage.

INU (tears, holding up her hand)
It’s fine… I’m fine.

Neku places a hand gently on Inu’s lap to comfort her.

DANNY
Unfortunately, the Pteras was shot down. Luckily it was drone-controlled, so no loss of life. (he pauses, checking his data slate) We didn’t see the assault from Skarfi’s footage — he was shot from behind — but we can confirm Virodahaka has charged particle beams.

CLAIR (still scanning her data slate)
Three of them.

BRANDT (hand on chin)
Those weapons were phased out decades ago. There hasn’t been a recorded Zoid with a partial beam in over fifty years.

LIBRARIAN (eyes closed, stroking his beard)
Sixty-seven years. Last seen on a Genosaur. Deemed too dangerous. Deactivated. Catalogued.

NEKU (shocked)
And this thing has three?

Danny flicks his slate, casting an image of Virodahaka’s head on the monitor.

DANNY
This is a particle intake. It pulls energy through here and fires from the mouth. (he zooms out) We’ve only seen it use one. But each head has an intake.

CLAIR (eyes on her slate)
We don’t know if it can use all three at once. But we should assume it can.

The room falls into a heavy silence.

CLAIR (watching as wild Zoids appear on the footage again)
Wild Zoids avoid it. Astray Zoids are drawn in.

NEKU (eyes widening, turning to Danny)
The Astray herd—you said you thought there was a signal calling them.

DANNY
That’s our theory. Wilds receive the signal and flee. Astray respond to it... and join the mass.

NICHOLLA
How big could it get?

CLAIR (considering)
We don’t know. But if it gets too large, it could collapse under its own weight. There’s no internal structure—no skeleton. It’s a pile of bodies. If it grows too big, it would crumble.

NICHOLLA
Gats would obviously know that. He would stop it before it became an issue.

LIBRARIAN
Houser Gats and his brother were two of our brightest minds and helped shape modern Chelonia. However, after the loss of Gats’ daughter, they turned to regenerative Zoid–DNA research, and the illegal experiments that followed led to their exile.

NEKU (confused)
His daughter? I thought Paige was his daughter.

IRIE (looking at Neku)
According to Paige’s DNA... she’s not human.

NEKU
DNA?
(realising)
You tested her blood?

IRIE (calmly)
We did.

NYSSA (leaning forward)
Then what is she?

IRIE (looking to Nicholla)
She’s a Zoid.

NICHOLLA
She’s a Zoid hybrid, Neku. A potential clone of Gats’ lost child.

NYSSA (realising)
That’s why you’re so bloody protective of her.
(she leans forward)
You’ve bonded with her. She’s a Zoid, Neku.—and you’ve bonded.

Neku’s eyes widen. Her breath catches as the weight of it sinks in. She slumps back into her chair, stunned.

LIBRARIAN
Sixteen years ago, the Gats brothers began experimenting with Zoid DNA in an effort to resurrect the lost child. When we discovered what they were doing, we gave them a choice: stop, or leave. They left.
(pauses)
There is an unproven theory that their work led to the accidental creation of the Astray Virus.

Silence.

CLAIR
That would track. Virodahaka appears to be the virus incarnate. Controlling that Zoid would require mastery of the virus.

NEKU (frustrated)
Alright—history lesson over. How do we stop it?

NYSSA (blunt)
Give it the clone?

Neku spins in her chair, glaring. Inu grabs her arm.

NICHOLLA (firm)
That is not an option. Paige is under our protection. She will not be sacrificed.

Nyssa slumps in her seat, rubbing her forehead.

NYSSA (tired)
Then what do we do, Nicky? How do we stop that thing?

CLAIR (tentatively raising a finger)
I... erm... we— (gesturing to Danny) —might have some ideas.