*** Spoiler alert! Don’t read this unless you’ve played (or never intend playing) this adventure ***
Written by Dave
“In the following days, even weeks on some vid and social feeds, the show is replayed, dissected and discussed by “personality” taking heads and surviving past contestants along with the vox populi from the everyday Joe on the street. With the hindsight of all experts, it seems unanimous that Sam was the favourite all along for this seasons’ title (though Serge ultimately wore the ‘crown’ of course).
The Network’s “official” commentary show, Little Sister’s Big Brother, put together the inevitable montage clip-show which was run and rerun throughout the course of the following months (gotta spin it out somehow for the revenue boys, after all each season is really just a one-off special live-broadcast).
The start of the show is comprised of behind-the-scenes clips…. Fast forwarded footage of the set being built on the back yard lot, the wood and plasterboard construction growing in time with the be-bop happy TV tunes laid over the top…. The metal sheeting being riveted onto the wooden stud supports and then painted, doors being carried through the, growing structure (looking a lot lighter than heavy metal doors should)…
Tiny cameras being wired up into carefully placed recesses and then plastered over (a grinning technician up a step ladder pointing out the tiniest of pin-holes left for the lens to capture it’s specific angle on TV gold)… A second technician standing below idly smoking on set, our view catches him idly stub the fag out on his boot and toss it aside along the corridor, where it would remain for eagle eyed viewers to spot and raucously complain about in the comment threads during the broadcast…
Quick shots of the set dressing… Cart loads of both desiccated and verdant plants, shiny metal tins (a quick cut to a tech shaking an opened tin and laughing as it’s contents slosh about and slop liquid over his arms and onto the floor), containers stacked high with randomly assorted items (all chosen by the ever inventive audience trying to outdo the selections of previous shows)… a gurney bearing what is obviously a rubber doll alien is being tended to by a technician holding a huge syringe of what looks like black goo…
We see black vans pull up on the lot and men in hazmat suits unloading stacks of crates bearing bright warnings and Bio-Hazard signs on them. A close up of a lid being carefully opened, condensate air hissing out and a brief glimpse of the gooey egg shape inside… A single shot of a much larger crate with airholes pockmarked it’s metal walls that suddenly lurches and shudders as if something large and angry is trying to get out…
After a sequence showing a tour of the now ready set (including a brief explanation of how the Shuttle Bay and simulator will “work”, how the wall panels are easily removable, with a bit of effort and the right tool anyway, so the room can be effectively reversed so that the disorientated shuttle “passengers” will believe they have indeed “flown” from one area of the set to another) our contestants’ pods are gurneyed in, and bolted to the floor in the pod chamber. Through the flimsy plastic lid of one of them we can see Sam’s sleeping face, her mouth and nose covered by a respirator mask. In the background we see a naked man (not Serge) being led up to one of the empty pods, given a shot in the arm by a medic and then helped in. That same medic then goes from pod to pod, removing the masks from the contestants and sealing down their lids with an audible but quite plastic sounding snap.
The medic turns to the camera and with a grin gives a thumbs up… We’re ready to begin…
One clip that gets a lot of replay value for the network, though it is not even half a minute of footage in a tight, dark corridor: we can see a couple of worried production crew suddenly shocked by the tip of a claw hammer coming through the wall near their heads, then light streaming through the small aperture as it’s pulled out for another strike. When the whole hammer head comes through, one of the crew grabs on with all his strength. The other disappears from view, but reappears just as it seems her fellow teamster is about to lose his battle of strength for the hammer. In her hand we can see what looks like a bottle of washing up liquid. She douses the hammer head with its contents and steps back as the other releases his grip. Shown in real-time tandem with the show footage, this becomes the most rewatched clip in show’s history…”
By Owen
Serge grabbed the controls as the shuttle jerked weirdly off course. Miranda had had her doubts about the authenticity of everything, but the prospect of a fiery death as this shuttle smashed into the lower level landing bay had her doubting her doubts. The screens showing the void outside flickered, slowly Serge’s efforts were steering the craft back on course. The landing bay grew larger until an automated system took over guiding them in carefully. The door opened to a mostly familiar scene… was this not the landing bay they had launched from? Miranda regretted not having etched something into one of the panels before they left. The threats all seemed real, but the setting was still off, despite her momentary lapse on the shuttle.
Miranda lifted one of the canisters into position on the metal table and connected the cables. A voice crackled to life… a voice of command. She was confused, but she snapped to attention none-the-less. He, the voice, asked about the war. She faked answers, hoping to learn something they could use. Was she really talking to a brain in a (metal) jar. The conversation went nowhere, but she could see Serge looking at her, suspicion writ large on his face. Everything had been weird, off really, since she’d awoken in the pod. That seems obvious given all that had happened to them, but the weirdness was more than just what had happened. There was a wrongness to it all. Talking to a brain in a jar? This was just another weird thing. But, why did she think she was being toyed with?
Sam was worried for Miranda, irritated at Serge’s clumsy advances, and most of all pissed off with this place. She wanted out of here… needed to get out of here. They knew the egg things in the corridor could hatch acid spewing squid things, but it was the only way forward. Grabbing Miranda’s soft hand, she moved into the corridor. Wet pops signalled the squid attacks. Miranda zapped one with the taser, but its battery pack began to smoke. She threw the now useless weapon at another, smearing it along the metallic wall. Sam kicked one, a squelching splat against a wall signalling its demise. Miranda squealed… one had latched on to her arm. Sam yanked it off, acid burning her hand and flung it away. Two ‘popped’ nearby, both hitting her in the chest. The sudden pain caused her to stumble, releasing Miranda’s hand. The pain was intense, but she was sick of this. She grabbed the latched creatures, one in each hand and tore them from her jump suit. Ignoring the pain, she squeezed them in her grip until they exploded like goo-filled balloons. Miranda helped her to her feet… “Let’s get out of here,” Sam winked and nodded towards the end of the corridor.
Until next time,
Owen