Neptune- Part 15 Part 15- FalloutFrom Neptune's Green Sunshine Act 2 Scene 3(Merle and Nate walk on stage, Merle supporting the injured Nate on her shoulder. She rests him on the ground and stands next to him.)Merle: "Nate, are you going to be okay?"Nate: "You should leave me. I need you to live. You'll just waste time staying here."Merle: "No, you said it yourself, we're going to get off of this planet together. I'll carry you there if I have to. I'll carry you myself, Nate!"Nate: "I know you would, and I know that you could, but that will do nothing but slow you down. You'll get caught, and I may well die anyways. I want to know that you'll be
Neptune - Part 14 Part 14- IceNeptune's Journal 04/01/2029 Another new year has passed, and again we are left aimless wanderers, trying to find refuge. Our shows and performance games must wait until we can relocate to yet another town. People are beginning to catch on must faster to our presence, for some reason. This leaves us with having to travel across ice and snow even farther, a feat which neither Saturn nor I am grateful for. Perhaps we are being noticed simply by virtue of having grown? It makes me nervous that our own bodies would compromise our stealth. Mercury has told me many times that she wishes we could go back for Jupiter. A successful p
Neptune - Part 13 Part 13- Comfort Letter To Venus From Neptune, 03/02/2075Dear Venus, I can't imagine the world that you may have inherited. I will be dead by the time you receive this message, so I have not bothered with a return address. I am glad that you will be with Mercury. She needs someone to look after her. There is a duality to her character that makes it seem impossible to get close to her. While she is strong, she is also fragile. Without someone to be with her through trying times, I fear that she will do something regrettable. I wish that I could have been her companion, but that is not my fate, it's yours. And for this, I am eternally
Neptune - Part 12 Part 12- ReportNeptune's Journal 05/06/2028 It is still getting hard to get used to the lower roll call. With only five names left to list off, including my own, I'm feeling more and more discouraged. I hope that she will be alright, but I suspect that it is not my fate to see her again. For all the effort we put into an escape, she's back with them. Uranus, of all of us, has been the most calm about this. To me, it's kind of disturbing. He says that it was an act of God, just like the church woman's passing. As odd as her attention was, it was kind of comforting to have an adult concerned about our well-being. I never learned her real
Neptune - Part 11 Part 11- TrustFrom Neptune's Green SunshineAct 2 Scene 1(The scene begins with Merle leaning over Connor on the ground and Nate stands over them.)Merle: "Nate, is he... ?"Nate: "He's too sick to continue with us. I don't know when he'll wake up. Or if. If we stay here, we'll be found."Merle: "I don't want to leave him behind. He's helped us so much."Nate: "I don't want to, either." (paces and then looks off nervously) "But I don't want to lose you. I don't want to be caught."Merle: "..." (moves Connor's face and hands to try and elicit a response.)Nate: "Even if they catch him, they won't have him killed. He's still valuable
Neptune - Part 10 Part 10- FaithNeptune's Journal 01/02/2027It is hard to believe that two years have passed since our escape. We are all taller and stronger than before. Wiser, too, I hope, but this is harder to measure. We have created jobs for all of us, found temporary shelter and care. When the church is empty of congregants, we play out the stories we've all crafted together.We had our celebration today inside of the church. I fear that the lady will be taken away from here soon, though the care she takes of us is certainly reciprocated, and this refuge we have taken will find itself stripped and unusable. While she has taken the time to explain to
Neptune- Part 9 Part 9 – True Aim Neptune's Journal 08/02/2025 While we still have no true aim, no knowledge of the paths that we must tread in order to assure a future for ourselves, we are at least finding a way to keep our minds occupied. As absurd a thing it seems to me, Mercury has suggested creating a series of performance, like the films (or plays, but I have only seen scripts for those) that humans watch. These, I suppose, will be more like imagination games than anything, games that we've all played before, but more structured and therefore more distracting. I will be writing our scripts, since we have little shelter and moving around in th
Neptune - Part 8 Part 8 – AvariceFrom Neptune's Green SunshineAct 1 Scene 4(The scene opens with Connor walking onto the stage carefully while the lights brighten. He hides behind bushes, scampering between hiding places and occasionally peering off to the side and towards the audience. Nate and Merle are still wearing the same outfits from the three previous scenes.)Connor: "Look like coast clear."Merle: "Thank you, Connor. How will we ever pay you in return?"Connor: "No pay. Money is not mean."Merle: "What? I don't understand you, Connor."Connor: "It not have mean?"Merle: "I guess you're right about that... but we could give you food?
Neptune - Part 7 Part 7 – Idle HandsNeptune's Journal 06/02/2025Mercury, I'm going to assume you're reading this. This is not for anyone's eyes but mine, but I am not surprised or upset that you peruse it. With that being said, I will write my log for the day.My conversation with Uranus was discouraging. By the end of it, his opinions remained unchanged while I feel as though he has manipulated me into sympathizing with him. I know that his empathetic nature makes this difficult for him, but we must all act as a cohesive whole in order to survive. Venus and Mercury have returned with supplies, trash stolen from small restaurants. Unwanted foods d
Neptune - Part 6 Part 6 – Our FatherNeptune's Journal 12/11/2068 The world is changed. The face of politics is changed. Recomkind has changed. It is about time that we took the reins of our own destiny. Luna is a recom nation which, in the past, has always been ruled by humankind. My recent election has changed all that, and I cannot help but to reflect on it. What does our future look like? As much as I hope otherwise, humankind will not stop fighting. It is what they do. I fear for our own destiny, for we possess the same roots. While the men who served here previous to me have been thinking of human needs, I bring a different perspective. I expe
Neptune - Part 5 Part 5 – Company Coming Letter To Jupiter From Neptune, 05/02/2075Dear Jupiter, This letter might not reach you, but I hope that it does. I have been thinking of all of you lately. Some, I know our fates. Yours is still obscured. Mercury will know where to find you, if anyone will, so I am including this with her letter. Are you even alive? It's a strange question, and if you are reading this, I can assume the answer. Unfortunately, I do not think I will ever be around to get a response from you so it will be a mystery to me. I only know that you were taken by the Bio-Tech facilities back when we were children. I am sorry. I have
Neptune Part 4 Part 4 – Earthly PassionFrom Neptune's Green SunshineAct 1 Scene 1(The scene opens with Merle and Nate running from stage left holding hands. Nate seems to be pulling Merle along. Nate is wearing clothes that make him appear to be a labourer. He runs with a slight but visible limp. Merle is wearing what appears to be something a prostitute might wear, but covered with dirt and stained red.)Merle: (shakes her hand out of Nate's grasp once they are mid-stage, looks back towards stage left, taking a couple of steps) "Are they really gone, Nate? Are we really alone?"Nate: (continues looking towards stage right) "Yes, Merle. Yes, th
Neptune - Part 3 Part 3 – Familial BondsNeptune's Journal 05/02/2025Sorry for using your diary, Neptune, but we don't have any other good paper to write on. Don't worry, I didn't read any of your other entries. Or am I allowed to? I'm not really clear on your rules about this notebook. Let me know!Food is getting lower, so I will be going into town to see what kinds of things I can pick up. Where are you right now? I guess by the time you read this, your answer will be that you're right in front of this book. Smartass. Hypothetical smartass, I mean. With me feeding you answers like this, you probably won't be answering the question anyways. It look
Neptune - Part 2 Part 2 – InjusticeNeptune's Journal, 02/02/2025I never expected it to look like this. Outside for the first time in my life, and while I am finding the weather unpleasant, I have never felt this free in my life. After removing one of the Bio-Tech vehicles for transport into a nearby city, we find ourselves in as much a bind as we have ever been in. Without medical supplies to treat my injuries, without much but our limited amount of supplies to feed us and without anyone to turn to for help, we have become discouraged.Uranus and Venus are both upset over the loss of Mars yesterday. While his loss was tragic, it was for the greater
Neptune - Part 1 Part 1 – My RegretsLetter To Mercury From Neptune, 01/02/2075Dearest Mercury,I hope this letter finds you well. I hope it finds you at all. Today, I couldn't help but to be thinking about you. It is the fiftieth anniversary of our escape from the facility, and I regret what I did to you all those years ago. I cannot forgive myself and I cannot expect you to forgive me. I thought I was doing it for your good, to offer you the chance at a peaceful, happy life, but I spend hours upon hours thinking about you.I miss you. It is perhaps unfaithful to Saturn, who you may have learned I have taken as my wife, but I will never be able to
Mercury - Part 18 Part 18 – People of EarthCONTROL 194, 08/01/2023(Two figures sit across from each other at a table. One is a middle-aged man, the other is a human girl who appears to be about six years old.)RESEARCH ASSISTANT: "Hello, Terra. How are you feeling today? Do you feel able to do some experiments with us today?"TERRA: "I'm tired, but I think I can. Who am I doing this against?"RA: "You're being tested against Mercury."T: "Oh. I don't like Mercury's experiments. They're too hard. Maybe test me against Venus? Or Uranus?"RA: "I know they're hard. They are supposed to be. We don't expect you to do as well as it. Just as well as you
Mercury - Part 17 Part 17 – MercurySECURITY CAMERA 22, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:36 PM(A six-year-old wolf recom stands on top of an ocelot recom of the same age, and has just finished yelling. Two other six-year-old recoms, a white mouse and an arctic fox, also stand in the field of vision and appear to be wearing headsets.)JUPITER: (shouts, in surprise) "What?"MARS: "Who are you talking to on there? Is it Saturn?" (Steps off of the ocelot recom and approaches Jupiter, taking the headset, disconnecting it and crushing it.) "If you know what's good for you, Jupiter, you'll tell me where Mercury went to. I'm not authorized to kill you, but I will hu
Mercury - Part 16 Part 16 – Organized ChaosTEST 3: SUBJECT O1MER01/02/2023(A four year old snow leopard recom sits strapped to a chair. A middle-aged man stands nearby with a clipboard in his hands.) RESEARCH ASSISTANT: "Hello, Mercury. Today, we will be checking the strength of your phobia in relation to your previously established pain tolerance."MERCURY: "That's a good way to spend a Thursday."RA: "We will be exposing you to increasing intensity of shocks, twenty seconds apart, for a total of three hours. At any time, you may end the test by putting your bare hand, open palmed, into a pan of sewage that we will provide you with."M: "Who c
Mercury - Part 15 Part 15 – Break OutSECURITY CAMERA 22, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:33 PM(A six-year-old ocelot recom and a six-year-old mouse recom, both wearing blue Bio-Tech pyjamas, walk through the camera's field. The mouse recom wears a headset.)NEPTUNE: "What's Five saying?"JUPITER: "Nothing important or relevant at the moment. Five left the microphone on while discussing dinner with Six. Stage 2 is proceeding normally, from what I understand. We should be seeing Three and Seven soon."N: (nods) "Good."(The sound of two sets of footsteps running can be heard approaching. Both look off-camera until a snow leopard recom and an arctic fox reco
Mercury - Part 14 Part 14 – SaturnSECURITY CAMERA 1, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:12 PM(A six-year old cheetah recom sits in front of the camera, staring at it with wide eyes. It wears a bio-tech jumpsuit and a headset. In the background, there are a couple of motionless slumped over bodies and a six-year old rabbit recom stands by an exit door, wearing blue bio-tech pyjamas)SATURN: "Hello, camera!"URANUS: "Saturn, please explain what's going on to the camera, we're keeping this video so we can watch it later."S: "Oh, Uranus, nobody told me we'd be making a movie of the game, too!"U: (smiles, looks towards the camera and shrugs, looking back into t
Mercury - Part 13 Part 13 – EmpathyEXPERIMENT 16, 10/04/2023(Two figures sit across from each other at the table. One is a middle-aged man, the other is a rabbit recom of age four. On the table, facing the recom, there is a computer monitor.)RESEARCH ASSISTANT: "Hello, Uranus. Today, we will be showing you images and getting you to rate them from happy to unhappy."URANUS: (nods, starts clicking silently at the computer screen, and then stops) "Jupiter said that these experiments don't make sense anymore."RA: "Why would it say that?"U: (shrugs) "Now that Terra's dead. Jupiter said it's not scientific. I don't know what she means."RA: "Well, i
Mercury - Part 12 Part 12 – Conflict ManagementSECURITY CAMERA 12, BIO-TECH, 01/02/2025, 4:24(A six-year-old ocelot recom and a six-year-old mouse recom, both wearing what seems to be blue Bio-Tech pyjamas, appear from off-camera on the left, carrying a ladder. The mouse recom also wears a headset. The ocelot recom climbs up the ladder to face the camera, so its face is the only thing visible.)NEPTUNE: "This is my last message to you as a piece of your property. I have warned everyone involved, everyone who signed off on Mercury's euthanasia. This is the only camera's information I will leave intact for you."JUPITER: (In the background, calmly) "N
Mercury - Part 11 Part 11 – A Friend of MineINTERVIEW 001 – 13/07/2028 (PART 3)(Two figures sit across from each other at a table. The first is a man in about his thirties wearing a business suit, the other is a mouse recom of about nine years of age.)JUPITER: (laughs cheerily)BIO-TECH INTERVIEWER: (looks disturbed) "That was a human life, Jupiter. Not something to laugh at."J: "Oh, but I've wanted to see that life snuffed out for years! It's just so nice to see it."BI: "Jupiter... Mr. Marcus was a friend of mine."J: "Should I apologize for your taste in friends? I don't care."BI: "..."J: (shrugs) "If it's any comfort, I don't like
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