Sheela

EXT. WOODS - NIGHT

A muddy face staggers through the moonlight. ASTROTH, 30s, A bearded strong man, breathes heavily as he leans on trees for support to move through the forest.

He stomps forward in a hazy delirium.

VOICE #1 (V.O.)

War is not simple, my lord.

VOICE #2 (V.O.)

He’ll never see you coming.

VOICE #3 (V.O.)

Where exactly will we be striking, Your Majesty?

The trees blur in Astroth’s vision. He drops to the ground.

CUT TO BLACK.

MARDIA (V.O.)

The dance of power isn’t that hard, is it?

INT. DINING HALL - DAY

Astroth reclines at the head of a large table. An adorned female, MARDIA, 30s, an elegantly sinister madam, sits beside him. The sounds of bards and party guests roll around them.

MARDIA

But there isn’t any need for that, it’s merely for trade.

ASTROTH

I’ve told you, Mardia, from border to border.

Astroth smiles and waves over a servant.

A young man appears with chalices and slices of roasted meat on a tray. Astroth takes a chalice and waves him off without looking at him. He leans closer to Mardia.

MARDIA

But slaughter their delegates? Hrothgar has always been good to us.

ASTROTH

Who can stop us? We’re the center of the world.

MARDIA

Even the eye of a storm will move.

Mardia stands and turns to walk away. Astroth grabs her wrist and pulls her in.

ASTROTH

You speak like the insurrectionists. Confirm your faith to me.

Mardia seductively places her hand on his face.

MARDIA

Must I really say it? Okay then. Astroth, king of Matroxia, you will earn the honor you deserve.

She overemphasizes the gesture, and Astroth releases his grip, now at ease, laughing.

ASTROTH

Forgive me, Mardia, I forget your dependency on the throne. Revolution just doesn’t suit you.

She laughs. Her laugh rings out.

FADE TO:

EXT. CREEK BED - DAY

The sun beats down on Astroth’s sweating face.

He wakes with a gasp. He pushes up and looks behind him in every direction. He is on the bank of a small flowing stream.

ASTROTH

Kalmar!

After confirming he’s alone. He scrambles to get the armor plate off his torso and a single remaining boot off his foot. He is drenched in sweat.

He goes to the water and dunks his head under.

He winces as he pulls his head back up. He touches a wound on his cheek, which is no longer bleeding. He splashes some water into another wound on his upper arm.

He sees something glistening in the creek bed. He puts his hand in the water.

He pulls out a mechanical plate with wires and shapes over the face, a computer mother-board.

His face holds a vexed interest. He looks back to the water, and then glances upstream.

He rises, leaving his armor, and walks upstream.

EXT. CREEK FIELD - DAY

Astroth steps through tall grass with his bare feet. Metal banging sounds and the voice of a man can be heard up ahead.

He rounds a tree and sees a large egg-shaped pod up on the bank of the creek. A man is hunched over in the grass, sifting the ground as if looking for something.

MAN’S VOICE

But I can’t find it, Sheela. It’s not like they give us replacements.

Astroth approaches and stops.

ASTROTH

You there!

The man freezes, then slowly rises. MIKE, 40s, a scrawny and soft man, turns to Astroth. He wears the clothes of a zookeeper, with a metal bracelet.

Mike’s eyes are wide, and he is dead-still.

ASTROTH

Where about are we in the kingdom?

Mike spots the chip in Astroth’s hand. He points at it and holds out his hand, very timid.

Astroth’s brow furrows.

ASTROTH

Speak!

Mike’s bracelet glows and it makes a sound.

SHEELA (O.S.)

Do not interact. Get back now.

Astroth is stunned at the sudden voice, and looks around.

Mike slowly raises his bracelet to his mouth.

MIKE

I can’t. He has it.

SHEELA (O.S.)

Well get it back. They’re going to fire both of us.

MIKE

How?

Astroth steps closer to Mike, still confused.

ASTROTH

Where is the woman?

Mike cowers back. He speaks into his bracelet.

MIKE

Sheela?

ASTROTH

I am Astroth, king of Matroxia, and I demand that you answer me. Are you a hairless man who deals in spirits and spells?

Mike lowers his arm.

MIKE

Yes. The woman’s voice is a ghost.

ASTROTH

Your tongue is crass and wild, where do you come from, oh pale-faced seer?

Mike scrambles over to the pod, and looks at a digital map of the landscape.

MIKE

From Inseptia, your lord.

ASTROTH

Inseptia?!

Astroth storms over to Mike and twists his arms behind his back, lifting him up in pain.

ASTROTH

How dare you come into our land from that wretched, vile inhabitant! Without a sword, I can only resort to crushing your skull.

He drops Mike’s arms and scans the ground for a flat rock.

ASTROTH

Say your prayers and place your head here, soothsayer. We must not allow your people into our land.

Mike, now sweating with nerves, pretends to pray, eyeing the device still in Astroth’s hand. He reaches for the device, but the king walks away without noticing, out of reach.

Mike grins, clasps his hands, and speaks into his bracelet.

MIKE

Oh, Sheela of the H.H.H., please save me from this calamity. You have blessed me to send me Astroth the king to take my spirit, but I would rather not die at this time. Please give a word to us from beyond if I am to remain alive.

Astroth lifts a heavy stone off the ground and looks up into the sky for an answer.

Mike sweats. His bracelet glows.

SHEELA (O.S.)

Fine. Don’t do it, Astroth.

Astroth steps forward.

ASTROTH

I know not this deity ‘Sheela’, I cannot abide by her strictures. Now lay, seer.

MIKE

Oh, but you don’t know of Sheela?

Astroth doesn’t answer, waiting for more.

MIKE

She can do many things. Yes, yes. She is from... from the future!

Astroth drops his stone and steps back in absolute horror.

ASTROTH

It cannot be!

MIKE

Oh, but it be! She can see all of time, and she comes backwards to... do things sometimes.

Astroth storms up towards Mike, who cowers away. This time Astroth drops to his knees, pleading with Mike.

ASTROTH

I need to ask of this Sheela. She must tell me if I will enact vengeance on King Kalmar of the West Lot Run, and bring his spy, Mardia to justice. She has betrayed me from within my own palace, and the wounds she has caused might be the end of my line.

Mike listens intently, clearly forcing wisdom onto his face. He gains a pompous composure.

MIKE

Ah, yes. King Collar-

ASTROTH

Kalmar.

MIKE

Yes, Kalmar. Let me ask her in private.

Mike enters the pod for a few moments. Astroth eagerly straining to hear the response. Mike returns from the pod.

MIKE

She has shared the entire lineage of the ages, but she has noticed something more important in her divine knowledge.

Mike points to the computer chip device again.

MIKE

Do you know what that is?

Astroth looks down, remembering the strange device.

ASTROTH

No.

MIKE

This is a device that only those in the deepest study know of. It can bring you to Sheela herself.

Astroth holds the device in a new way, now more powerful.

ASTROTH

Truly?

MIKE

Truly. And I need it to get back to her.

He goes to grab the chip. Astroth swipes his hands away.

ASTROTH

I must go as well.

MIKE

Well, uhm, you... you can’t! You see if you go to Sheela, you must leave this whole world, indeed this whole way of life, behind.

He tries again to take the chip, Astroth faces away from him and looks to the sky.

The horizon shows a castle, smoking with fire as if being burned to the ground. Astroth watches on for a moment.

SHEELA (O.S.)

Only one must come to me.

Astroth turns around.

ASTROTH

One?

Mike nods.

A pair of armed swordsmen spot Astroth and Mike from the other side of the field. Mike breaks from his character.

MIKE

Hurry, give me the chip.

ASTROTH

They have found me. I must be the one to leave, seer.

MIKE

We can both go, just give me the thing!

He tries and fails again to swipe the computer chip. The two swordsmen are running towards them.

ASTROTH

Sheela spoke that only one could-

MIKE

She lied, just, please!

Astroth looks to the approaching swordsmen, then to the card. He hands it to Mike.

Mike scrambles over to the pod and inserts the card into a slot on the outside shell, then steps inside.

Astroth places his hands on the doorframe.

MIKE

You have to stay here!

ASTROTH

Both of us will travel. Where are the horses?

MIKE

No, you don’t get it. You have to stay.

Mike pushes Astroth’s chest out of the pod, and pulls a lever above his head. He looks back out to Astroth.

MIKE

Goodbye.

Mike smashes a green button that says “Resort” and the door of the pod begins closing.

Astroth’s hands block and pry open the door enough to push his way in. He throws Mike out of the pod.

ASTROTH

Dishonorable snail! I must see Sheela!

The door closes and the pod begins to levitate.

The two swordsman come upon Mike, dragging him off the direction they came.

The two swordsmen and Mike watch the pod lift into the sky.

INT. POD - DAY

Lights, switches and buttons surround Astroth. Through the pod’s window, Astroth can see the two soldiers dragging Mike away, and hear Mike’s faint voice:

MIKE

Sheela!

FADE TO:

INT. HUMAN HISTORY HABITAT BRIDGE - DAY

The pod lands on a curved mount. The pod door opens.

Astroth steps out onto a metallic plane. Planets and technology surround the sky around him. Large domes line the edges of the plane with digital panels labeled, “Iron 6,000 B.C.E.”, “Medieval 1,000 A.D.”, etc.

On the screens, there are also maps and live feeds of each world playing out.

On a sign labeled “Classical 500 BC”, Astroth sees Mike being taken into captivity on a screen, and on another, he sees Mardia with a man, Kind Kalmar, sharing a meal at a table, laughing.

He looks around to the other domes, flat planet environments completely isolated from one another. His breath is heavy with realization and the technology overwhelm. He sees hundreds of more dome habitats around him.

He falls to his knees.

ASTROTH

Sheela!

CUT TO BLACK.