Fratricide

A short play by Ben Auslin, Isadora Germain, Lynn Kusmin,

Angelo Tydings-Lynch, and Andrew Vigliotta

SLOANE enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits at desk.

SLOANE

November 11, 2448

The scientists finished conducting their preliminary environmental scans
today. This is it! Operation Goldilocks officially active. Commander Hannark
says we have to wait another couple weeks for the more detailed scans to
come in, so we have a full idea of what were dealing with, but everyone has
gotten pretty hyped up, like weve already secured the planet and ensured the
safety of our people. Its great! After months of seriousness and tension, this
little confirmation has done so much for the crews morale. Knowing that youre
going to succeed, it seems, does almost as much for the psyche as the actually
succeeding.
Theres only one guy who doesnt seem so keen about this good news,
and thats Jasper. Jas is great, but hes always been a little more squeamish
about the idea that ends justify the means than the rest of us. Even for him,
though, hes on edge. Hes been muttering about civilians and collateral like
were really at war here. I tried asking him about it, but he just said something
about maybe its not worth it and then shut me out. I wonder what he
means? How can it not be worth it if youre saving people, if youre working for
the greater good? Even if there is some sort of collateral- which I dont think
there will be- how can there be anything more important than that?
Signing off,
Sloane WilIard
SLOANE exits USR.
Enter Hannark and Jasper USR.
HANNARK
Dr. Jasper, Ive entrusted you with the monitoring of this mission. Its critical
that we act precisely and make sure we do what we were meant to do.
JASPER
No problem, commander. Ive been testing the weaponized ionization mech, we
call it WIM for short, and my maintenance crews have been cleaning and
checking it every day. Also, the armament computer systems work smoothly
with the WIM.
HANNARK
Good, come with me. (They go to the helm in front of a massive window) See
that little speck? Thats Kappa 1337, our destination. Were going to lock into
its orbit in around 54 hours from now. Ill come find you when were ready to
start prioritizing sections.

HANNARK exits CSL.

JASPER
Sounds good. I need to catch up on my sleep, its been a stressful week. See
you- (Aside, mocking himself) Sounds good, lets just go fry up a planet.
JASPER exits CSL.
HAZEL enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits on the ground.
HAZEL
April 7th, 1324
All of my family members are still asleep. I woke up again to the sun shining in
on my face, Im the lightest sleeper in my family. The past few days have been
warmer than usual, we dont know why, but its nice for swimming in the lake.
We planted new seeds yesterday, I love watching the plants grow. Recently Ive
been feeling tired of this family and this farm. I feel like something bigger
should have happened by now. Its okay though, Im lucky. The weather has
granted us with both plentiful crops and a nice environment for us children to
grow up in. It could be worse.
HAZEL exits USR.
HANNARK enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits at desk.
HANNARK
April 12th, 2448
We came across the first settlement of creatures today. Our protocol tells us to
not approach any life forms we come upon. Our ground scouts go down to the
surface in Mech-Suits and they create a perimeter around the settlement. The
coordinates are programmed into our WIM (Weaponized Ionization Mech),
which instantaneously turns any structures or people or anything on the
surface into atoms. Afterwards our Drones sweep the site to make sure
everything is gone. No contact. No emotion. Just a job to do.
Its not something I really agree with. Or ever have agreed with really. I
know that my duty as leader of this group of soldiers is to not question the
orders, to follow them; to complete the mission. But sometimes I dont know.
We never know what were destroying. Or who were destroying.
We as a species have spent so much time wondering about what else is
out there, wondering if there were other worlds with life out there. Now weve
found it, but were so desperate for our own survival that we destroy it
indiscriminately.

HANNARK exits USR.

ANDREW enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits at desk.

ANDREW WE NEED YOUR MONOLOGUE HERE
ANDREW exits USR.
HAZEL enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits on the ground.
May 23, 1324
I dont know whats going on anymore. The warm weather turned into a
sweltering heat, everyones a mess. The plants are all dying. My family has
been going insane with trying to save the crops. I need a break. Tonight Im
leaving, I need to get far away from this home for a while, it seems like the
heat hangs around us here. Theres a forest a few miles to the North. I dont
know how long Ill be gone but I wont be gone forever. Just until things die
down a bit.
HAZEL exits USR.
JASPER enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits at desk.
JASPER
December 7th, 2449
Oddly enough two of our crew members have disappeared overnight. We
searched for their records and biomed logs aboard our ships internal database.
Its frightening, there is no record of them. I swear I knew one of them, he was
an engineer named Alvin. But can I trust my memory? The human mind is
known for playing tricks. Although my gut tells me something about this- uhAl- huh I cant really seem to remember, now that I actually think about it? I
just feel like I knew this guy. Weird
Well other than that, I have been testing our ionization weaponry- pardon
me, tools- and have been collecting data. It appears that the electromagnetic
waves responsible for causing the ionization are quite sparse and weak by the
time they reach the ground. Our ground instruments have picked up that the
weapon is fairly ineffective. I have been considering working with an
engineering team on creating a much more potent delivery system.
JASPER exits USR.

HANNARK, SLOANE, and ANDREW enter USR.

HANNARK
Here we are, soldiers. This will be our new home soon. Dr. Jasper has sent us
down to search the remnants of this district for survivors.
ANDREW
Commander?
HANNARK
What is it, Andrews?
ANDREW
I thought we were never supposed to make surface contact.
HANNARK
We weren't. But until Jasper has his new system up and running, we can't be
sure of a single blast doing the job. So start working. We have to comb this
area by midnight, and it's twenty-five square miles.
SLOANE
This place gives me the creeps. It feels- I don't know, like home, somehow.
HANNARK
Really? I don't get it. Doesn't matter anyways. Get a move on. Andrews, head
East. Willard, West. I'll go North.
ANDREW/SLOANE
Yes sir!
ANDREW exits CSR, HANNARK exits USC. SLOANE stands center stage.
SLOANE
Everything about this place is so strange. I can't help but feel that maybe
Jasper was right- what he said about collateral.
HAZEL enters CSL at a run. SLOANE looks at her, surprised.
HAZEL
What's going on? What have you done to my family? What have you done to
everyone? What's happened?
SLOANE
I-oh god. (Shakes head.) I don't know, sweetie. I don't know. Come here.
(SLOANE opens her arms, HAZEL runs to her and rests her head on her
shoulder, weeping.)
HANNARK enters USC. ANDREW enters CSR. Neither notices HAZEL.
HANNARK
And how is your work progressing, Willard? Any updates?

SLOANE
Commander- I can't- I think we've done something wrong. I'm not sure what,
butHANNARK notices HAZEL.
HANNARK
Willard, what are you doing?
SLOANE
IHANNARK
Step aside, Willard.
SLOANE
ButHANNARK
I said step aside. Just think of the greater good.
SLOANE reluctantly disentangles herself from HAZEL and steps aside, looking
sick. HANNARK draws a gun and shoots HAZEL in the heart. HAZEL staggers
back and drops, convulsing. ANDREW drops dead immediately.
HANNARK
There.
SLOANE
Commander- (her eyes fall on ANDREW.) Oh my god, Commander- Andrews!
(She runs to him and checks for a pulse) I think he's dead!
Lights fade to black.
HANNARK enters CSR sits CSL JASPER follows him in, and paces along SR.
JASPER
With all due respect, Commander Hannark, Ive had my doubts about this
operation from the start. Any planet capable of sustaining life is bound to
present dangers. And weve seen how biodiverse this planet is.
HANNARK
Of course. Weve always known they were risks, Doctor. Its these particular
risks we cant understand. Why have we lost twenty-seven seemingly healthy
people?
JASPER

I dont know. Im working on it with the remainder of the team. Well tell you
when we figure something out.
HANNARK
Well, figure it out fast, dammit! (aside) I dont think I can stand to lose any
more of these people. Its like Im losing part of myself.
HANNARK and JASPER exit CSL.
SLOANE enters USR, crosses to DSC and sits at desk.
SLOANE
June 14th, 2449
This is going to be my last entry.
The scientists figured out why people are disappearing, and its not
good. No, more than that. Its fucking awful. And urgent: this is Earth. Real,
honest to god, Earth; our Earth, only some thousand years before our time.
Weve been killing off our ancestors.
I dont believe it. All this time, I- we- thought we were doing something
good, something important. Thats always been our goal, and its always hurt
to know that there are people who didnt support us. We were fighting for
them. We were fighting to maintain their rights, their freedom. Its true that
what we do may not always fall into white morality- I wont deny having had
my qualms after that first ground mission- but the ends can justify the means,
and our ends were the people in whose name we were working. Only now it
turns out that all weve been doing in their name is killing them off by proxy.
I cant possibly have much longer. Its a real miracle Ive survived long
enough to record all this, though God only knows why I am. Neither I or this
message is ever going to reach home. We dont have a home to go back to.
And even if we did, it would be different now, with my seeing the things Ive
seen.
I think- no, nevermind, I dont have the time.
Signing off for good,
Sloane Willard
Lights fade to black.

WORKS CITED
AP, Anonymous. E-mail interview. 29 Mar. 2015.
BA, Anonymous. E-mail interview. 27 Mar. 2015.
LK, Anonymous. E-mail interview. 27 Mar. 2015.
- - -. E-mail interview. 27 Mar. 2015.
MS, Anonymous. E-mail interview. 27 Mar. 2015.