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As an extra reward for your dedicated clue-chasing, please enjoy the first seven minutes of The Silt Verses, Season 3- we can't wait to share the entire episode and the entire season with you in August.
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Thank you for listening, and if you support us on Patreon, a HUGE thank-you for helping us and the cast to make this show happen. We can't believe we've got this far.
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THE RIVER RISES, EXT, DAY
We start with birdsong; and water gently dripping. We’re somewhere deep underground - the wellspring of the White Gull.
Gradually, we hear the approach of rushing water. It grows louder, and louder-
-and as we hit the water and submerge, a peppy pop-folk song kicks in. (It’s a love-ballad.)
We drift, underwater, carried helplessly along by the White Gull-
-and then we surface to the sound of rockets, planes, and explosions.
The music is now tinny and faint, as if playing from a radio.
PENINSULAN RADIO OPERATOR:
This is the White Gull missile battery-
He winces as glass shatters all around him. In the background, someone screams.
PENINSULAN RADIO OPERATOR:
I repeat, this is the White Gull missile battery, and we’re under heavy fire!
We’ve got god-rockets raining down on us from over the channel. We need support! We-
-and a missile comes roaring down upon him.
As it impacts, we fall underwater again, and the river carries us on.
A moment later, we surface-
-and further downriver, a SACRIFICE is pleading for his life as he’s winched up over the water’s edge.
SACRIFICE:
Please-
PARISH WORSHIPPER:
(Cheerfully)
Hail to Katabasian Faulkner! The river rises!
WORSHIPPERS:
(Enthusiastically)
The river rises!
SACRIFICE:
(Panicking)
No, no, NO-
They fling him into the water, and we submerge with him.
As he drowns, the river carries us onwards-
-and we surface again to the hum of motor-boats and the laughter of children splashing in the shallows of the delta.
JOLLY KING KIPPER AUTOMATON:
(Cheerfully, stiffly)
Welcome to the Jolly King Kipper Wetlands Park!
Look to the north across the delta and you can see the Saint’s Dam.
Did you know that both water and electricity have a current?
One of the kids dives from a board, splashing down into the water, and we submerge with them-
-the river carries us on, further and further, until finally we surface somewhere deep underground.
As the peppy song comes to an end, we hear the sound of bells, echoing through the caves-
KATABASIAN COUNCIL CHAMBER, INT, DAY
-and the bells come to an end.
We’re somewhere deep and echoing with the drips of river-water; an underground chamber.
FAULKNER is standing before the Katabasians of the faith, as if bearing witness - or on trial.
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HIGH KATABASIAN ROEMONT:
(Slowly)
So, ahm - perhaps you could begin by telling us in your own words exactly what happened.
A moment of silence.
And then FAULKNER speaks - with calm and confidence. He’s rehearsed this story.
FAULKNER:
(As if he’s blaming himself)
In retrospect, it was obvious.
Sister Carpenter, showing up again, alive and well after Bellwethers. It was too good to be true.
It was love that made me foolish, it was love that turned me from the proper path.
I…I loved her like my own blood sibling, and I believed that this was a sign; that the Trawler-man had brought her back to me for a reason.
I could never have imagined that the Legislatures could have won her over to their cause.
(With a weary finality)
But they had, and of course her return was no coincidence at all.
It was Sister Carpenter who alerted the government’s forces to the location of the Paraclete’s Gulch.
It was Sister Carpenter who attempted to undermine our defences from within.
And after their attack failed, thanks to the combined strength of our disciples…it was Sister Carpenter who waited for a moment when the entire Gulch was gathered below in joyful celebration, and she assassinated Katabasian Mason and poor Sister Thurrocks.
FLASHBACK: FAULKNER’S ROOM, INT
We hear a sudden, violent flash of FAULKNER assassinating THURROCKS. THURROCKS calling out his name in panic-
COUNCIL CHAMBER, INT
FAULKNER continues, perhaps a little shaken by the memory.
FAULKNER:
I arrived only seconds too late to stop her.
KATABASIAN GREVE - more harshly interrogatory than the HIGH KATABASIAN - chimes in.
KATABASIAN GREVE:
Brother Faulkner, I wonder if you could tell us-
FAULKNER:
(Almost testing her with an interruption)
Uh, that should be Katabasian Faulkner, Katabasian Greve.
The disciples of the Gulch formally crowned me Katabasian after the battle.
Our victory against an overwhelming foe was declared, by the collective vote, a miracle in itself.
A slight pause. And then GREVE corrects herself, reluctantly.
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KATABASIAN GREVE:
‘Katabasian’ Faulkner.
(A little pointedly)
The assassination, as I understand it, took place in your own chambers?
FAULKNER:
(Trying to misdirect the question)
I know what you must be thinking.
It’s occurred to me as well - that perhaps I was her real target.
But Mason, as we now know from the guards, had come to my rooms hoping to speak with me.
Perhaps Sister Carpenter’s nerve was beginning to turn. Perhaps she thought he was an easier target. Perhaps she mistook him for me, in the darkness.
At any rate, she attacked him shortly after he entered the room. And she murdered poor Sister Thurrocks, who I had the good fortune to have served with in pilgrimage.
Sister Thurrocks must have sounded the alarm, which most likely saved my life.
There were others coming down the stairs. I heard them behind me.
As I entered the doorway, Sister Carpenter shoved me to one side and fled down the stairwell.
And as the other disciples pursued the assailant, I entered my chamber and tried to resuscitate Katabasian Mason.
All I managed to achieve, alas, was to cover myself in the poor man’s blood.
FLASHBACK, FAULKNER’S ROOM, INT
And we flashback to FAULKNER and CARPENTER, standing together over MASON's corpse.
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FAULKNER:
(Wretchedly)
I’m sorry about this, Carpenter.
But you’re going to need to run again.
CARPENTER:
What?
FAULKNER:
Make for the river. You know the way.
I’m sorry.
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COUNCIL CHAMBER, INT, DAY
FAULKNER continues.
FAULKNER:
It was low tide. Sister Carpenter knew about the sluice gates in the lower levels - we’d made use of them during the siege.
She got them open and made her escape, heading - as it turned out - upriver.
I directed some of the disciples to set out after her, but darkness fell, and-
HIGH KATABASIAN ROEMONT:
(Interrupting)
You directed them to take her alive, of course?
FAULKNER:
(A little on the back foot)
No, High Katabasian Roemont, I did not.
KATABASIAN GREVE:
(Sweetly but dangerously)
You didn’t think it worth questioning her?
FAULKNER:
I considered her too dangerous, Katabasian Greve, and her crimes too severe, for her to be left breathing-
KATABASIAN GREVE:
(Calmly interrupting him)
A moot point, perhaps, since in any event you failed to catch her.
FAULKNER:
(Just slightly between gritted teeth)
I suppose so.
HIGH KATABASIAN ROEMONT:
(Pointedly)
Did Sister Carpenter say anything to you, Faulkner? As she was fleeing the scene?
FAULKNER hesitates. And then he tells the truth for one fleeting moment.
FAULKNER:
Yes.
She said she was sorry.
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