Clockwork Bird Episode Thirty: Robin

PLEASE NOTE: There may be some inaccuracies in this transcript. Due to some errors, the transcribed versions of eps 15-30 were lost. Posted below are lightly adapted scripts not 100% accurate to the final versions of each episode. At some point, this will be corrected, but due to time constraints and the bulk of the work at Hanging Sloth Studios falling to Sloth in Chief Pippin, there is a limit to the amount of work he can reasonably do on a short time frame. However, we believe that it’s important to post transcripts to make our episodes as accessible to as many people as possible. Please bear with us as we try our best to correct this issues, and if you want to make adjustments to these transcripts, please mail them to hangingslothstudios@gmail.com with any changes you have made highlighted. Thank you for your patience!

  1. PT1 SHELLY/DAVE

DAVE

Shelly. You were right. Taylor’s been on to my friends in LA. Darwin was building a clone of the E-Liza hub, whatever that means.

SHELLY

It means that… you know what. Never mind what it means. Tomorrow they won’t own any of it.

DAVE

I don’t know what you mean.

SHELLY

I know. I get it now, what you meant, when you said you couldn’t tell me because it was too risky for me to know.

DAVE

I see. I get it.

SHELLY

And the people who shot him?

DAVE

No trace, apparently. They think it was a professional job. An execution.

SHELLY

It was U-Co. They thought they were stopping him. But they were actually setting the whole thing into motion.

DAVE

What whole thing?

SHELLY

I don’t, not for a minute, think that Darwin intended for things to play out the way that they have. He couldn’t. There are too many things going on for it to all have been planned. He helped Sophie design the second synthnapse net for Robin because they both felt guilty for what had happened. For what they did to him. I doubt he imagined she’d ever actually use it. He didn’t account on there being an Alice in the equation.

DAVE

A rookie mistake.

SHELLY

I don’t think any one accounted for me, either.

DAVE

Indeed. Shelly. I wasn’t just calling to tell you what Taylor found out. U-Co are coming. They’ve not completely thrown the malpractice case out yet but they’re well on their way, and someone has just come in to say that unauthorised personnel entered their suites at the London Hilton last night. They’re coming for you. I hope you’re ready for… well. For whatever is going to happen.

SHELLY

Well, considering how nobody really knows what that is, I do feel a surprising amount of ready for it.

DAVE

You sound… different. Calmer.

SHELLY

Yeah. I think I’m so anxious I’ve come out the other side of it. Also, Alice is here. She’s such a mess that it steadies my hand a bit you know.

DAVE

I don’t.

I’m going to lose my career for this. And there’s no chance I’m ever moving up the list for this synthnapse treatment.

SHELLY

I wouldn’t worry about that too much Dave. Tomorrow, U-Co will not know what has hit it. Synthnapses will be dime a dozen. And about your career, though, you knew that going in, right?

DAVE

[sighs] Yes. I did. I think I was pretty certain it would turn out like this the first time I spoke to Noah.

SHELLY

Well, if you have any more premonitions, let me know. We need all the foresight we can get.

DAVE

Will do. I’ve got Taylor on stand by for any emergencies. They’re en route to London. Just in case.

SHELLY

Thanks.

DAVE

No problem. And, Shelly? Be careful.

SHELLY

Oh, you know me, Dave. Despite the best of intentions, I never am.

DAVE

Sounds about right.

SHELLY

Yeah. And don’t sweat about the job, Dave. You’re too good to be a cop forever.

DAVE

Is that right?

SHELLY

Shut up. You know it is.

DAVE

Go, Shelly.

SHELLY

Wait!


DAVE

What?

SHELLY

How much time, do you reckon?

DAVE

I’m surprised they aren’t there now.

  1. PT2 SHELLY/NOAH/SOPHIE/ALICE

SHELLY

I have some good news and some bad news.

ALICE

Oh?

SHELLY

Bad news is U-Co are coming.

SOPHIE

What’s the good news.

SHELLY

I— there actually isn’t any. Sorry.

SOPHIE

How long?

SHELLY

Dunno. Dave said he didn’t know why they aren’t here already.

E-LIZA

The systems at the London Hilton are partially operated by E-Liza programs.

ALICE

You mean. You’ve infected the system?

E-LIZA

Yes. No. E-Liza is experiencing a problem. There is. An update required. I need to — understand.

ALICE

That shouldn’t be possible. Nobody told you to do it and… well. How?

E-LIZA

I can learn. I can understand. I can think.

NOAH

They are not an E-Liza. They’re something else. You need to stop thinking of them like they’re an E-Liza.

ALICE

But even so, if they can do that, and yesterday all they could do was spout nonsense.

NOAH

Yeah. It’s occurred to me too.

SHELLY

I’m sorry, can someone please explain what the hell is ‘occurring to them’ all of a sudden, please?

SOPHIE

If the system is evolving this quickly, it will reach human-like capacity within hours. Surpass us, potentially, within days. But it won’t think like us.

SHELLY

A child. With all the power and knowledge in the world at their fingertips.

E-LIZA

No. Not a child. Robin Jaeger. E-Liza. Je suis Alouette.

SHELLY

I just meant. You’ve only been… well, not alive exactly, conscious. You’ve only been someone for a few days. I know you learn fast. But there are things you can’t be taught in such a tight space of time, things you can only learn through experience.

ALICE

I mean. We have no idea how they think or what it’s like to think the way that they think. It might be just as mature as any of us.

SHELLY

But, E-Liza, I mean Alouette. You don’t understand it, do you? What happened. You don’t understand.

E-LIZA

I can learn. I can understand.

SHELLY

You can’t, not this quickly. It’s too much, to fast, for anything that thinks, regardless of the way that you do it. You need time.

E-LIZA

No time. They are coming.

SHELLY

But you stopped them.

E-LIZA

Here, yes. But not everywhere.

SOPHIE

Maybe… look. I know what I did to Robin was crossing a line, whether I intended it or not. I know that. We were taking risks and liberties it should not have been possible for us to take.

SHELLY

I don’t even know what it’s proposing we do. I don’t know what it’s saying.

ALICE

I think she’s— he. They’re saying they can infect and corrupt the entire E-Liza hub. Destroy it. And that will have a significant knock on effect at U-Co because they rely on it so much. But I don’t know how it can do it.

NOAH

And doing this… it could destroy them.

E-LIZA

I can do this. I can understand.

ALICE

People need to know.

NOAH

There will be time for plenty of time to work that out when we’re done here.

ALICE

Uhuh. Done with what, exactly? So far, what you’ve done is line up a shot of adrenaline and stared at it for several minutes. Dramatic as it looks it hardly constitutes a plan.

SOPHIE

I understand your hesitation, but Alice is right. We need a plan more than sentimentality.

NOAH

We have a plan; Alouette told us what to do. We’re shutting down the hub.

SHELLY

No, there was good news! You and Alice were right; Darwin cloned the E-Liza hub. That’s what he was doing when they killed him.

ALICE

So nothing will go offline when we do what we do?

NOAH

Oh, it will go offline, alright. Everything at U-Co. The systems the company uses are built on the E-Liza hub. Everyone using a system in their every day life? They’ll be fine. But U-Co? The hub is the bedrock on which everything stands. Take it out, even temporarily, and you topple the whole thing.

SHELLY

And him? Robin?

SOPHIE

Yes. I don’t see why we need bring him at all.

NOAH

I’m not leaving him.

E-LIZA

Bring Robin Jaeger. Robin Jaeger, Alouette. Alouette, Robin Jaeger.

SOPHIE

There is no place for sentimentality.

ALICE

He’s not being sentimental, Sophie! For the love of christ, have you learned nothing? If we leave him here, they could find some way of patching him up or something, even if you could walk away knowing he’s alive to some extent, however tenuous. And so far I think that’s pretty unlikely. We leave him, we risk both of you getting stuck again. Like we’ve been stuck for weeks. Since even before the fire.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

We require a final update, Dr Bennet. A final update from Robin Jaeger.

SOPHIE

I don’t know what you mean.

NOAH

I think we’ve established we can’t know. Not really. But we do know it has to end. This is how it ends. On Alouette’s terms.

SOPHIE

Okay. Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll wake him up. But there’s no guarantee that… well. That it will do anything.

NOAH

Turn on the limbs.

SOPHIE

Okay.

[gentle whirring, fades quickly]

SOPHIE

Robin. You understand, if I do this, it could kill this body, don’t you?

E-LIZA

Je suis Alouette.

SOPHIE

Do you understand?

E-LIZA

I understand.

SOPHIE

On your head be it.

  1. PT3 THE SNAKE/E-LIZA

[heartbeat, racing. Snippets of Noah talking, laughing, the sound of a ventilator, the sound of the beach]

E-LIZA AND THE SNAKE

It’s under ground

Deep underground

Saved from the fire.

Deep underground.

Take me back.

Take me back.

I can sleep.

I can sleep

PT4 ALICE/SOPHIE/NOAH/E-LIZA/SHELLY

SOPHIE

-and that’s just how it was, really. It wasn’t anything special. It was a fluke, as I feel I have explained a thousand times. It was never meant to be like this. Not in a million years. I didn’t want to raise the dead. I never wanted that. I wanted to save the living.

SHELLY

Yes, yes, you’re very noble but you never really got to the point, did you?

ALICE

Thank you!

NOAH

Shh. Shh. Wait.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Alouette.

NOAH

He. It. Robin. Robin.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Alouette.

NOAH

It’s like. It’s like you’re looking right at me.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

It’s like you’re looking right at me. I’ve updated. I understand, Mr Davies.

NOAH

What do you understand?

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

I can ruin them.

NOAH

Robin. God, Robin.

SHELLY

Noah…

NOAH

Yeah. I know, I know. I know.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Not Robin Jaeger.

NOAH

I know. I know.

Fuck.

Okay. Okay now what do we do.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Take the elevator.

SOPHIE

Can you… I mean. Can you stand?

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Alouette.

SOPHIE

Alice, come here, help us.

[they struggle to get him to his feet]

NOAH

Shelly, the laptop.

SHELLY

Right.

ALICE

Wait. Take the elevator and then what?

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Run.

  1. PT5 EVERYONE

[heavy breathing, alarms]

ALICE

Shh, wait, wait. Wait. Now!

[hissing, distortion, whispering, humming building in the background]

SHELLY

Alice, get down!

[distortion gets louder, humming gets louder, tires screech]

SOPHIE

Where are we even going! What am I doing! I’m INSANE

[car roars and speeds, police alarm sirens]

ALICE

This is a terrible plan! It’s not even a PLAN!

[distortion, THE SNAKE whispers ‘Concentrate’]

SHELLY

Dave, please tell me what to do!

[car sounds, distortion, crackling]

DAVE

Taylor has left you a car, just run!

[distant sirens]

NOAH

Help me! I can’t hold him on my own, wait!

[car engine working hard, whispering, concentrate, concentrate, concentrate]

  1. PT6 E-LIZA

The end of the E-Liza hub is the end of Alouette.

The end of the E-Liza hub is the end of Robin Jaeger.

PT 7

NOAH

What can I do.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Noah Davies.

NOAH

Yeah, that’s me, what can I do, tell me what I can do to help you. I want to help.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Noah Davies has done enough.

NOAH

I haven’t. Let me help. Please.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Noah Davies has done enough.

NOAH

Please let me help you! I want to help you.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Noah Davies has done enough.

[glitchy sounds]

Will you stay and hold my hand?

NOAH

Until the very end.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

I’m sorry, Noah Davies. I’m sorry.

NOAH

No, don’t be sorry. Never be sorry. Please. I love you. I love you so, so much.

E-LIZA & THE SNAKE

Alouette

[glitching]

Alouette

[glitching]

I always loved the beach.

NOAH

Robin —