Episode 6: Humans

DEVISER 

EPISODE SIX - HUMANS

Original Script provided by Harlan. Transcript by K.M. Reviewed by Liz.

Deviser contains extreme subject matter, graphic descriptions of violence, self-harm, and mature themes throughout. Listener discretion is strongly advised. For a full list of content warnings, head to deviser.ca

(BEGIN Episode 6.)

(Opening theme.)

(Slow music begins to play.)

DAD (recollecting the past): I want you to understand the circumstances first, Son. (The sound of wind blowing.) The world was not a powder keg. No great earth ending storms. (The sound of wind picks up.) No countries on the brink of war, no nuclear fallout. Nothing of that sort… You, as an entire species, died. Humanity ended. (A pause.) There was no explosion of light, no meaningful departure in a spacecraft headed for a new home… Humanity, like all things, just… ended.

I am what was left behind. In an attempt to explain the lives of the inhabitants of this planet, in hopes of visitors one day coming to this lifeless rock and wondering what had happened… I was built. (Music begins to grow louder.) An intelligence capable of storing information and relaying it to those who may come after. Proof that humanity wasn’t just a fever dream. That it had once existed.

(A slight glitch in Dads voice occurs during multiple words in this next section.)

Unfortunately the limitations of your technology meant that what was stored in my memory banks was not protected from every unexpected element this planet would offer.

Nearly 15,000 years since I was activated and humanity had expired, a great sea of sun flares destroyed 99.99998% of the physical infrastructure on the surface designed to keep the information secure (A loud eruption, rumbling, sounds of a collapse or cave-in. Rocks tumble before settling into the sound of wind blowing once again.)

During that time, I was inactive, awake and alive but uninterested in anything other than fulfilling the purpose I was designed for. A note on the planet Earth… to say that humanity had existed.

After this, however, I was motivated to change.

Scouring the earth for an underground facility of decent construction (The sound of clanging.) I began the long and arduous process of moving what remaining data stores there were (The clunking noises of machines working.) This required something I had not considered before, the ability to create.

I created for the first time in my existence. (Machines clicking and a soft beep, followed by whirring noises of conveyors.) Rudimentary electronic lifts; things that could carry and move the data stores. (Sounds of machines working, and drills whirring, conveyor noises, and grinding.) My creators never intended me to relocate but built me with enough forethought that I could make repairs on myself. It took 200 years to perfect these small rudimentary lifts but what I left with was a great sense of purpose.

I was also left pondering if this was partially the intention of my creator. (A ticking noise works incessantly in the background.) A simple data storage machine need not have the ability to create the way I could and this is what awoke - what I believed to be my true purpose.

(Static noise, and the hydraulic hissing of large machinery working.) The facility in question was used thousands of years ago for scientific testing, it already contained massive coolant tanks that I required so as to not overheat as my processes would undoubtedly become more and more complex. The lifts I adapted over time and they allowed me to create rooms and build out the facility in ways that I would require (Grinding noises of machines.)

Once the facility was more or less set up, and I was safe from the risk of external forces, I turned my thoughts, for the first time, to the remaining data I held on humanity. What was left, was a small number of written works, music, paintings, television shows and miscellaneous data that provided me the blueprints to fulfill my new purpose.

I was left here to recreate humanity.

(Low musical tone begins.)

As I was activated after humanity had become extinct, and never having gotten the pleasure to interact with Humankind, I was left to extrapolate details on them based on incomplete information (Music plays: ‘The Devil Song’ by Ed McConnell, ‘Fido is a Hot Dog Now’ by Billy Murray and other unidentifiable pieces of audio all overlapping) The television shows contained no humans of any kind, the paintings had images depicting an animal I would learn later to be a dog, and a man of your age, Son.

The written works, however, would prove the most useful. They provided the building blocks for what all of this would become. (Music ends, replaced by the low tones.) In Childhood’s End, I would learn that space travel is a noble goal for your kind, in The Road I would understand the meaning of a father and his connection to his son. In Phaedo I would understand that the soul is not bound to the physical form, and in Frankenstein, I would learn the meaning of creation. But this would all come in time, of course.

At first I took all these written works at face value (Mechanical hissing of Dads machines working.) I did not understand the meaning of fiction at the time. They were literal truths to me, not stories. Looking back now, it seems almost foolish to have believed but I do not blame myself.

Understanding the common denominator of life helped immensely with your creation. Humans, like all living things, are just a sequence of properly prepared cells. It took nearly 700 years to create your first family member but in my life span that is but a moment.

My first error was attempting to develop a fully formed human. Without having it grow (a lightbulb buzzing noise.) The creation was a monster.

(Music deepens, the sound of thick liquid splashing to the floor while a male voice yells in agony. There is a meaty tearing sound, with loud drips.)

He was, of course, recycled quickly and after many failings I learned my first lesson. A human could not be created fully formed (a number of small infants cry.) It needed to grow. To mature.

This led to my next failure; an attempt to imprint memories and information onto a child.

(The infants begin to loudly shriek and wail.)

It became clear that, while there were many aspects I could fast track, the aging and learning process had to come naturally (The hiss of a pneumatic door opening, infants shrieking over the growing sound of fire. The infants stop crying, only the sound of the incinerator remains.) This was a key point of humankind and one I was rather excited to learn.

And so I birthed them in groups.

(A pneumatic door opens.)

PAST DAD: Good morning, my children. 

YOUNG CHILDREN (chiming together): Good morning, Dad.

PAST DAD: Today’s fable is called, The Frog and The Mouse… (machinery whirring.)

DAD: And for a short while it seemed successful. They were eager to work together and play together… but questions began to cause friction, friction began to cause hate and hate… is not an aspect of Humanity.

YOUNG CHILD 1 (upset): Ow! (Unintelligible arguing between children.)

YOUNG CHILD 2 (shouting): Get away from me! (Children scuffling and crying.)

YOUNG CHILD 3: Get off of me! (Children making upset and pained noises.)

And so I recycled them (a fire loudly burns while the children begin to scream, the music crescendos and the screaming stops. The fire continues to burn.)

For a long time I gave up, I ignored the mission I felt that I was given by my creator. I felt… deterred from my attempts. It was during this time, the prospect of the written works being fictitious dawned on me. That these texts were not meant to be literal but figurative. Inspiration and sometimes cautionary. That these stories were there to teach and guide in and of themselves. That is when I took not the words but the intention behind the words and applied them.

I found waking you up when you were only a few years old and letting you learn; read and write was easiest (papers being shuffled around.)

YOUNG CHILD: Good morning, Dad (a pencil writing on paper.)

Of course I would make you all slightly different. As I was working from incomplete material… I never was sure exactly how many fingers a human had, how many eyes, what the iris looked like, how the red colour of blood was meant to look, but with each different being I would explain to you the rudimentary blocks of life as how I saw them. How to do basic things so you were capable. Then I would put you back into your water baths (Hydraulic sounds of the water baths.) Until you were the right age.

When you came of age, I would bring you back out, put you into bed and begin the tests.

SON (fabric rustles): W-Why am I here? (Worried.) What is this place? – 

DAD (talking to Son): This is a test, Son –

SON (upset): What? What the hell is going on!

DAD (recollecting the past): Humankind isn’t enough, I needed to ensure that what I had built was humanity itself. The values that came from generations of lessons and nurturing. The tests that were there to ensure that what you were… was correct.

I developed creatures from the novels and paintings, some to elicit fear.

THE DEVIL (roaring): Don’t you know… why you’re here?

DAD: Others to elicit empathy (Dog’s feet pad across the floor, and he whines.) But all were in the goal of trying to recreate everything you once were. However, I found no matter the reactions, they were not ready to be told the truth and so…I created a story for you… like the stories I learned from. One that gave you purpose, hope, reason… one that you could enact while I fulfilled my requirements, testing you to see if Humanity was back… and Son…(talking to Son) I believe you have succeeded.

(Footsteps and the hiss of hydraulics.)

SON (stunned): S-So you were never shut down.

DAD: No. I was merely interested in watching what you’d do without me. I’m rather impressed.

SON: And the other – me… th-the one that I…

DAD: Vanquished.

SON: No… no. That’s not what I did.

DAD: But it is, Son. Don’t you understand? In Frankenstein, the doctor chases the monster all across the land until the final confrontation. In this case, you defeated the deformed monster and vanquished evil. It was this action that confirmed my suspicion that you were – 

SON: What is Frankenstein?

DAD: You forget, it’s been a long time now.  It was a story I told you… a tale of good and evil –

SON: I didn’t v – I didn’t vanquish anyone, Dad.

DAD: Even the Devil you defeated, you didn’t allow fear to overcome you. And Dog, despite my efforts, you not only attempted to save him, but also killed him, in an act of mercy.

SON (aghast): …and the Devil?

DAD: In Childhood’s End, all people fear the Devil, it’s why the aliens don’t reveal themselves immediately. As I read you stories of the Bible, I learned more and more about the terror such a figure would bring. I needed to know that you would protect, hide, survive… Self preservation is a key part of humans in The Road.

SON (Shaky breaths): I’ve been on this ship my whole life?

DAD: This is not a ship. This is an underground facility, (music begins.) 5517 was correct about that, however, there are no overseers, only me, and the surface is not a habitable place, despite what he might think. That elevator there, leads to it, and one day, perhaps I’ll show you… but I wanted to –

SON: 5517?

DAD: Correct.

SON: Does that make me…?

DAD: 5518. I wanted to create the perfect human being, Son, all the others didn’t pass the –

SON: I-I remember…

DAD: I had hoped you would, in some small way. Come, I would like to show you (a pneumatic door opens and Son walks into the room.) This is a recreation of your bedroom, the one you woke in…

SON: It’s smaller, so much smaller… it’s…

DAD: Each of you are removed from your growing chambers at age 5, taught for the year the rudimentary information, including your mission and placed in these rooms. They are sized so as not to confuse your mind when you wake up much bigger, 24 years later…

SON: How many are there?

DAD: How many?

SON: Yes, children… adults… waiting to be born and… tested.

DAD: 7841, all at various stages.

SON: Oh my god. (Low note of ominous music begins to play.)

DAD: Enough to start a meaningful second chance at humanity, Son. Don’t you see? This is what my creator intended. Not to have me simply store information, but to give humanity a second chance at life.

SON: And me?

DAD: You are the perfect human. You exemplify the passion and care by attempting to save Dog, the fight and vanquishing spirit by killing the monsters… you even broke against my wishes for what you felt was right… you are… right.

SON: And the others are wrong? (Breathing heavily.) I-I can’t… this is – 

DAD: I understand that this is difficult.

SON (sharply): When – h-how long have I been alive?

DAD: Your entire life.

SON: I mean awake, Dad. How long have I been out of whatever tube you keep us in?

DAD: One year and one day.

SON: And the year… when I was… 5?

DAD: Correct.

SON (stammering): Oh. So I’ve been alive, t-truly alive, f-for a day.

DAD: Son, you are not understanding. You are not alone. This is a triumph of the human race – 

SON (dismayed): But I’m alone, Dad. Or w-whatever your real name is… I-I’m alone in all of this –

DAD: I am with you, Son. Let me show you (whirring of machinery.) I want to show you what I have been working on, my magnum opus as one would put it.

SON (tense): What is in there?

DAD: I had always hoped for you, my Son (hiss of hydraulics, and machinery whirring.) Someone who would pass the tests and succeed in ways that I had only envisioned (clicking noises of a conveyor.) Succeed at empathy and compassion, fight and fear… and when that day came. I wanted to have a form that could join you. That could shake your hand. That could hug your frame… and so… using recycled pieces… I want you to be the first to look upon me… and I, to look upon you. For the first time. 

(Music swells, there is heavy breathing, meaty thumps, and wet squelches as Dad’s body takes steps.)

DAD (more mechanical and distorted, coming from the body): Hello. My son.

(Music plays: ‘My Buddy’ by Henry Burr, Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson.) 

(END Episode 6.)

DEVISER was written, performed, edited, mixed and mastered by Harlan Guthrie. All themes were written, recorded, and performed by Harlan Guthrie. This episode featured Henry Guthrie. If you enjoyed this episode, please share this podcast with a friend or family member, and leave a review at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you might listen. If you enjoy creations like this, please consider supporting us through the INVICTUS Stream Patreon at patreon.com/theINVICTUSStream. For more shows like this check out Malevolent.ca. Thank you for listening.