Excerpt: Waking the Sky

++begin transcript++

HC: Are we rolling?

IX: Mora, give us a vid check.

MW: Vid checks fine. Datacores are receiving clear. Good to go.

HC: Yeah, but are we rolling?

IX: Yes, we’re rolling, Crade. Shut up.

DC: All right, everyone. Are we ready to make travel-doc history?

HC: Grandstanding piece of…

IX: Be nice, Hector. E.J., how are the Eyes?

EJ: Hot and floating, Mr. Xin!

IX: Gah! Keep them out of my face, will you?

MW: Need a sound check. Hector, say something.

HC: Ianos told me to shut up.

DC: Are we ready to go?

IX: A few last-minute checks, Mr. Culber.

MW: Olfactory pickups. Hector, sniff your armpit.

HC: Like hell. Ellen, what are you wearing today?

EJ: Rigel Sunrise. Care for a whiff?

HC: Will I make John jealous?

DC: Enough talking, people. Switch to mind-link and verify… ::now::

IX: ::Ianos, signing in.::

MW: ::Mora here.::

EJ: :: ::Ellen-John, ready to roll.:: ::

HC: Geez, it’s bad enough the two of you talk in stereo. Do you have to think in stereo too?

DC: ::Mr. Crade, please verify mind-link.::

HC: I’m a commentator. I’m paid good money to talk out loud.

IX: ::Hector…::

HC: ::Okay, okay. Hector Crade, intergalactic superstar, beloved idol of billions, signing in.::

MW: ::Shouldn’t that be ‘dozens’?::

DC: ::Okay, here’s the plan. When they give us the go ahead, John, Mora and myself will go down on the transfer pad. Give us a minute to get our shots framed up, then I’ll call Hector and Ellen down. Ellen, stay framed on Hector’s face. His right side. From a little below.::

EJ: ::Got it, Mr. Culber, sir.::

IX: ::Dal, ground control says two minutes.::

DC: ::Okay everyone. Stay limber. Hector, if you want to start running your spiel or whatever you do, go ahead.::

HC: Running my spiel? You know, these shows are usually scripted.

DC: ::Spontaneity, Hector. We want spontaneity. Come on, just look at Ellen’s camera and talk.::

HC: Hi there. This is Hector Crade. The boring white room you see around me is the waiting area for the transfer pad on the DayStar Majestic, currently in orbit over the planet Daear. We’ve been a day in transit from the spanking-new hypergate at the edge of the system and have had the entire liner pretty much to ourselves. As such, we’ve had to do more than our fair share of work to keep the bartenders busy and now we’re all praying that the planet below us has an exceptionally low gravitational… This is stupid. I can’t do improv.

IX: ::One minute.::

MW: ::I’ll do it, Hex. Just pose.::

EJ: (giggles)

MW: Hector Crade, daredevil extraordinaire ::puff your chest out more:: the man who knows no fear embarks this day on his greatest challenge yet. His leonine mane of golden hair ::tousle it:: trembles in anticipation. Is it only the breeze from the starliner’s air recyclers? Or is it the memory of the sandstorms of Banner’s World, or the typhoons of Naora V?

DC: ::Get ready, people.::

MW: He juts his mighty cleft chin at danger ::jut your chin out:: a chin that could topple mountains.

HC: ::Really?::

MW: And braces his fists on his hips as he gazes at an imaginary horizon. “What wonders await?” the virile explorer wonders.

HC: ::Virile? And you said ‘wonders’ twice.::

MW: What soft, virgin fields have yet to be furrowed? What nubile native maidens have yet to be ravished?

DC: ::Enough! Ms. Waro, if you can’t take this seriously and treat the moment with the respect it deserves, be assured that we could find a replacement even this late in the game. Stick to your job if you want to keep it.::

HC: (private) ::Ianos, did this jackass just threaten to fire Mora?::

IX: (private) ::I’ll have a word with him later.::

HC: (private) ::Do that, or I’ll let her twist his award-winning ego into a pretzel and force feed it up his colon.::

DC: ::Okay, this is it. Remember, Hector – spontaneity. First impressions. Be candid. We want this to be as real as possible.::

HC: First impressions of what? We’re just going from one identical transfer pad to another.

DC: ::Then be snarky about it. Whatever makes you comfortable. Mora, John, let’s go down.::

HC: (private) ::Remind me why we hired this guy.::

IX: (private) ::We didn’t. The network did, and I’d love to know how much DayStar is paying them for this level of promotion.::

HC: (private) ::I know. I mean, I’m sure it’s a pretty planet and all, but how much…::

MW: (from Daear) ::Holy shit.::

DC: (from Daear) ::No chatter. Hector, Ellen, are you ready? Step onto the pad.::

IX: ::I’ll follow in a few. Have fun.::

HC: I hope so. After all, it’s my

[discontinuity]

HC: job. Oh. Oh wow.

DC: ::Good, that’s good. Love it! Ellen, stay framed on his face. John, pan around. Slowly. Scan the horizon. Take in everything.::

EJ: ::Mr. Culber, sir? He’s not saying anything.::

DC: ::That’s fine. Just hold the shot. John, keep scanning but task one Eye to twenty degrees north from east. We should have sunrise any minute now.::

MW: ::Boss? Are you okay?::

HC: (swallows)

EJ: ::Should we…::

DC: ::Just hold your shots. Keep scanning. Drink it all in. Take your time. Trillions of people are going to see this.::

HC: The pad…

DC: ::Shh::

MW: ::Speak up, boss.::

HC: The transfer pad from the liner… It lets you out into open air. I’ve never seen this before, but I guess I should have realized. The transfer pad is on a platform made of something that looks like marble, in a ring of ancient-looking columns. We’re on some sort of hill overlooking the sea.

DC: ::Okay, he’s walking. Ellen, stay on his face. John, try and capture whatever he looks at.::

HC: You can smell the grass when you step on it. And there’s something else. There’s a wind coming up from the ocean, and it smells… it smells like a spring morning. There’s a taste of rain, but no clouds. The sky… Sweet Gloriana, the sky. I’ve never seen one like this. I’ve never seen the stars like this on a planet with an atmosphere. Like a river of candles. I think I can see the Majestic overhead. A gaudy interloper in a chorus of angels.

MW: ::We’ll be able to edit this later, right?::

DC: ::Shh.::

HC: The sun’s coming up. I can see it. I’m standing on a cliff, a hundred foot drop over the water, and I can see exactly where the sun’s going to be. Is that the corona? I can see a halo of light just peeking over the horizon, but the stars haven’t faded at all. This is unreal.

DC: ::Ellen, keep your primary on his face, but task another Eye to frame Hector in silhouette from behind with the sunrise.::

HC: I’ve been to a hundred worlds. Desolate worlds, wild worlds, places completely untamed by Man. But I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never been anywhere you could step outside without a breather or a grav-harness or some kind of environment suit. I’ve heard the rumors just like everyone else – that in all the known universe, they’ve finally found another Earth. I’m here to tell you, people, you don’t know the half of it. Earth itself was never like this.

DC: ::And… sunrise! Wait for it… wait… wait… Now turn to the camera…::

HC: This is Hector Crade, and you’re watching Endless Horizons. Welcome to Daear.

**

Author's Note: The rest of the book isn't in this style, just the prologue. It's not ScriptFrenzy after all. :)