AWA – Full Transcript
A Wretched Analog
Complete Text Transcript
Statistics:
Wordcount: 24,454
Pagecount (text): 139
Pagecount (comic): 212
Runtime: July 2017 – October 2019
Transcript begins:
AWA – PAGE 1
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 2
Phineas:
Man you’re always up so early!
You take that luck stuff real serious huh?
AWA – PAGE 3
Phineas:
Hee hee! Ellie should pick your clothes forever.
Ulrich:
As long as they’re clean.
What is our heading?
Phineas:
Hmm?
Ulrich:
Our heading. Are we okay? Have you checked?
Phineas:
(G’mornin lil dude.)
Uhh yeah, pretty sure we’re good!
Ulrich:
You’re going to have to elaborate a little for me.
I was so tired when we got settled I didn’t think to ask, do we even have a map?
Phineas:
Kinda.
Ulrich:
What’s the trick?
. . . Is that it?
Phineas:
IS THAT NOT COOL ENOUGH??
AWA – PAGE 4
Phineas:
It shows me where to go to get to the sun.
Right now I guess it’s always pointed toward the Kairos Gate, I’m not sure it can get a closer reading from this side.
Ulrich:
But that doesn’t tell us anything! We have no idea what’s ahead of us!
Phineas:
Nope.
Better than nothing though!
Noon seems to go where I tell them to. And I”m sure they’d wake us up if something was wrong.
Don’t worry so much.
Ulrich:
They’ve been quiet, or-are you the only one who can
Noon:
I pop in when I’m needed.
Otherwise y’all are boring. All this land passing us by and you been asleep almost a day.
You missed a real nice rainstorm earlier.
Speak when you got somethin’ to say and I’ll answer, gunslinger.
Ulrich:
That reminds me –
Er, thank you, Noon –
Do you know anything about something called silverspeak?
Phineas:
. . . Yeah? Actually.
Why?
Can you do it?
Ulrich:
I think I might be able to, I’m not really sure.
AWA – PAGE 5
Ulrich:
What is it?
Phineas:
I don’t know a lot, Jo only mentioned it a few times.
She said it’s sort of like commanding, it’s just. . . more,
It’s gentle.
Commanders can overpower other wills by force when we want to. We. . . break-
It’s just moving energy. Moving a body or a vessel.
Silverspeak can CHANGE a will. Kind of like uh, hypnosis, if it was like in the movies. You lead someone by the hand instead of dragging.
Ulrich:
. . . You commanded me in the mine. I couldn’t move, but you told me to and it was like my body reacted on its own.
You talked me all the way out of that passage.
You even moved stone with a word.
Phineas:
That’s another thing. Silverspeak needs a listener. Couldn’t start ordering rocks around I don’t think.
Ulrich:
All that heartache and you could have just made me do whatever you wanted?
Why not do it all the time?
Phineas:
Some do, I guess. It’d be hard though. Commanding tears you up after while.
And will is sacred, I think.
It’s everything a person is, you don’t mess with it without a good reason.
‘Sides, I knew you’d come around.
. . .
Hey uh
AWA – PAGE 6
Phineas:
. . . I’m gonna step outside, I think I gotta call m –
. . . Myyy mom. Gotta call Ma.
Ulrich:
Sure.
Phineas:
You can use this any time by the way, I don’t mind. Do you need to check in with anyone?
Ulrich:
It is all yours, sunshine.
Jocasta:
. . .
. . . Hello?
Phineas:
Hey are you immortal?
Ulrich:
Is something –
Noon:
Oh!
Jocasta:
(Hey)
Phineas:
Jo!!
Noon:
Heyyy!!
Jocasta:
Well ain’t you lookin’ quaint. It’s Noon now huh?
Noon:
You cut off all your hair!!
AWA – PAGE 7
Jocasta:
Take your hand off that pistol, boy. No one’s here that ain’t supposed to be.
Ulrich:
Right, yes, sorry. I meant no offense.
Phineas mentioned her – you, were a walker, but I –
You surprised me.
Jocasta:
Talked me up huh?
Phineas:
Lil’ bit.
Jocasta:
Can I smoke in here?
Phineas:
Pff I dunno can you?
Jocasta:
This is YOUR ship, commander.
Can I smoke in here?
Phineas:
Yeah! Yes. Make yourself at home.
Jocasta:
Is this the Ulrich you were so excited about?
Phineas:
Oh! Ulrich Weiss
Jocasta Hubris.
Jocasta:
Call me Jo.
What is it you do, Ulrich?
AWA – PAGE 8
Ulrich:
Whatever is needed!
Jocasta:
Mm.
Y’all ain’t fuckin’ are you?
Ulrich:
WHAT
EXCUSE ME
Phineas:
Nah.
Jocasta:
He’s wound up tight ain’t he?
Phineas:
(That’s what I said!)
Ulrich:
(My god there are two of them.)
Well!
I suppose I will let you ladies catch up!
Jocasta:
. . . Good, don’t go to bed with wordy guys.
I thought you was into girls anyway.
Phineas:
It don’t really matter to me.
What’s all that for?
Jocasta:
I brought you some house stuff.
This goes over the sink, it’ll keep the water good to drink.
Phineas:
What’s wrong with the water?
Jocasta:
So your ship’s heart puts the water in the pipes, yeah?
If you carry something the heart fabricated OFF the ship, it’ll vanish.
Even if you ate it already.
Phineas:
Oh
AWA – PAGE 9
Jocasta:
Yeah.
Not too rough in small doses, but if that’s all you had to eat for a while and you leave the ship things could get weird.
Starships are weird.
Noon:
It’s true!
Jocasta:
It’s always best not to rely on what the ship makes, but you really need to keep your own food stores.
That there’ll fortify the water enough it’ll be safe for whatever.
Over the sink.
Phineas:
Yes ma’am.
Jocasta:
Crush these petals under the front door mat.
Phineas:
Don’t got a mat.
Jocasta:
Just keep the bag by the door then.
Phineas:
‘Kay
Jocasta:
These are medicinal spells. Real easy.
There’s instructions inside and anybody should be able to use them without their own magic.
I wrote down the names of that stone and the petals in the bag and that’s in here too, ‘cause I know you’ll forget.
I also got you uh
Bandages, gauze, a thing of like smellingsalts and painkillers, cough medicine,
This is good for burns.
Phineas:
‘S a lotta burn stuff.
Jocasta:
Burns hurt bad.
AWA – PAGE 10
Phineas:
. . .
Jocasta:
His scythe.
Bet that pinched.
Phineas:
It wasn’t fun.
Jocasta:
He only used the scythe for big’ns.
Must’ve put up a good fight.
Phineas:
I don’t think I did though.
I . . . cheated, kinda.
Jocasta:
What do you mean “cheated”?
Phineas:
The fight was over, I should have been dead but his star bailed me out.
I wasn’t strong enough to win right.
I’m not sure if I
Jocasta:
Right?
There ain’t right or fair in a fight. You stay alive.
Phineas:
Did Gideon ever have to cheat to win?
Jocasta:
Why’s it matter what Gideon did?
Phineas:
It
It doesn’t I guess
Did YOU ever?
Jocasta:
There IS no cheating!
And yes, any chance I got.
Look, I get it sucks to figure out you ain’t quite as tough as you thought
But you had NO business fighting him, okay?
And you definitely shouldn’t be standing here on this ship talking to me, all in one piece.
You did a damn good job getting this far already.
AWA – PAGE 11
Jocasta:
So cheer the hell up.
Don’t you dare apologize to me.
Phineas:
. . . Thanks for coming to see my ship.
Jocasta:
It’s a good ship. . .
I’m real glad you’re okay baby.
. . . You let me know when you’re ready for that history lesson, alright?
You want me to do something about that scar?
Phineas:
No! I don’t get ‘em easy anymore!
Jocasta:
Hah
Whatever floats your boat kiddo.
AWA – PAGE 12
Ulrich:
♪I’m gonna throw you overboard ~♪
♪You,♪
♪Liiittle♪
♪Shi ~ t♪
Phineas:
Hey here he is!
Jocasta:
Ooh, where’d you pick up the turtle?
Phineas:
She stowed away in the box my friend gave us!
She keeps staring at Ulrich, hee hee.
Why, is she weird?
Jocasta:
Just treat her nice while she’s here.
Ah, I left my little mason jar lid on the counter. I like it for an ashtray.
You wanna grab it for me Phineas?
Phineas:
Sure.
Ulrich:
So how does this weather compare to home?
I’d heard it could get a little strange out in the sprawl, but we’ve been
Jocasta:
Listen. If she wants to sail with you that’s her voice.
I’m not gonna disrespect her by questioning her judgement right off the bat.
But that’s a mean mark you got on you.
Son I was married to a silverspeaker longer than you been alive.
Don’t you EVEN open that mouth and try to lie to me.
Ulrich:
But I – I wasn’t –
AWA – PAGE 13
Jocasta:
Relax. If y’all are still friends after you do whatever you gotta to get rid of that thing, gimme a call.
I’ll make sure it heals up good.
You need good vision for that six shooter yeah?
Are you allergic to ozho?
Ulrich:
N. . . no?
Jocasta:
I brought this becuse I thought Phin might want it after Raven, but you might get more out of it.
Ulrich:
What is it?
Jocasta:
It’ll ground you a little bit, if you need it.
Don’t fool with it unless you have to.
The instructions are not a suggestion.
Get somethin’ in your stomach first.
Ulrich:
Right.
Thank you, Miss H
Jocasta:
Jo.
Ulrich:
Thank you Jo.
Jocasta:
He he
Don’t let her push you around too much, ‘kay?
Phineas:
I got it!
Jocasta:
From what you showed me with the compass I’m pretty sure y’all are gonna pass by Decodenn here in a few more days.
It’s a port city, probably worth stopping.
Phineas:
Sounds fun!
Jocasta:
Y’all be safe.
Phineas:
Yeah!
Jocasta:
Take a shower and eat a vegetable sometimes.
Phineas:
Uh huh!
Jocasta:
And wash that fuckin’ coat.
Ulrich:
(Nice to meet you)
AWA – PAGE 14
Noon:
Tsk
You know she scuffs the floor on purpose?
Ulrich:
Your mother is. . . intense.
Phineas:
(Hee hee!)
AWA – PAGE 15
Kid:
Oh wow look.
Phineas:
Those kids are saying something. . .
The whistle?
Oh!
Ulrich:
What? Wait –
Phineas don’t
Phineas:
Hee!
Monterey:
Agatha! Did you hear that just now??
AWA – PAGE 16
Monterey:
When was the last time you saw a train whistle on a starship?
So retro! Let’s go chat up the owners.
Agatha.
Agatha are you listening to me?
What are you doin
Agatha:
Of course I’m listening.
I’m just finishing here.
Monterey:
Well hurry up, I need you to help me get ready.
And you best leave that attitude up there with the birds.
TITLE:
A WRETCHED ANALOG
AWA – PAGE 17
CHAPTER 15
JELLY CAKE
AWA – PAGE 18
Phineas:
Wuh-oh
Ulrich:
I really wish you hadn’t done that. . .
Port Attendant:
Your flag isn’t regulation, what kind of ship is this?
Phineas:
It’s. . . it’s a starship?
Port Attendant:
Don’t get smart with me.
You can’t be here, this port is for loading and unloading commercial deliveries only.
You’ll need to head back out and come in through the gate on the other side of the city.
Phineas:
You don’t have any signs anywhere for that!
How are we supposed to know?
Port Attendant:
Of course there aren’t any signs! They’re destroyed as fast as we put them up!
How the hell did you make it out here if you don’t even –
Ulrich:
S. . . sorry, this is our first time so far out in the Sprawl.
Phineas:
(Bless)
Ulrich:
We just decided to see the city on our way by.
Port Attendant:
Oh you’re
Tourists
AWA – PAGE 19
Port Attendant:
Well, it’s not like anyone got hurt.
Phineas:
. . .
Huh?
Port Attendant:
Here!
Decodenn is a great city! You’ll have a wonderful time.
We’re celebrating the changing of our season this week!
It CAN be uncomfortable for sensitive constitutions, air always gets a little funny under the barrier about now.
You’ll get used to it.
And here, tie this up somewhere visible so you don’t get towed for setting down in the park.
Phineas:
A park? Like, grass and stuff?
Don’t ships normally dock at. . . at a dock?
Port Attendant:
Oh, no, this ship is WAY too ugly to be seen on Decodenn’s docks, hahaha!
We have some clearings set up in Slate Park so no one has to look at eyesores like this.
Phineas:
Don’t talk like that about my ship.
Port Attendant:
You’re just a spunky little lady, aren’t you?
Ulrich:
. . . That she is.
Port Attendant:
That allergy’s rotten luck, hope it doesn’t ruin your trip.
AWA – PAGE 20
Port Attendant:
Head that direction and you’ll hit Slate Park, can’t miss it.
Just find a clearing in the trees so your ship can’t be seen from the street.
Phineas:
THIS IS STUPID!!
Port Attendant:
Have a good day!
Phineas:
Lucky Noon is not ugly.
Ulrich:
. . . Wasn’t it morning just now, outside the wall?
This looks like midday, does it not?
Phineas:
Maybe that barrier deal changes the days too?
That seems parkish huh?
Come onnn!
This is so exciting!
(New ground!!)
Ulrich:
Be patient Phineas.
Is there anything we need to do to secure the Noon while we’re gone?
Noon:
That’s real cute, I appreciate the thought.
Y’all have fun!
AWA – PAGE 21
Phineas:
Oooh Ulrich! Bubble tea!
Can we get some?
Oh wait I’m broke still.
I really thought I’d be making money by now.
Ulrich:
How?
Phineas:
Howeverrr adventurers make money?
Ulrich:
(sigh) Here, go get whatever you want.
I’d like something with strawberry, if they have it.
Phineas:
Woah these things are fancy, how much ya got on here?
Ulrich:
Enough for tea.
I’m going to look over this map we were given.
Phineas:
‘Kay!
Ulrich:
Oh, hello.
Children.
Children:
Your ship is so cool!
Are you pirates?
How much did you pay for it?
(Not a lot I hope.)
Can you blow the whistle again?
(It looks like junk!)
What’s it called?
Are you pirates?
Are you pirates?
Ulrich:
I am only a passenger on the ship I came in with.
I don’t know anything about it.
Children:
Aw you gotta know SOMETHING!
AWA – PAGE 22
Narration:
Never, ever coming back
Ulrich:
Ach. . .
I’m sorry I don’t know a lot about ships.
But
. . . So embarrassing, honestly, I always keep it all right here. . .
Phineas:
(‘Scuse me!)
Dog Person:
(Sure)
Ulrich:
You don’t see them, do you?
Ooh, I think?
Maybe?
Ah, nope.
AWA – PAGE 23
Ulrich:
Well, if I can’t find my cards I guess I don’t have any magic tricks for you today.
Regrettable.
Onlooker:
You don’t have a tip jar!
Ulrich:
Oh no, that’s alright. Thank you!
Long-Haired Kid:
A magician’s almost as good as a pirate!
Glasses Kid:
(No it’s not)
It was just a subspace converter and a smoke bomb I bet.
Myla:
Are you here for a show?
Phineas:
That was so cool!
Children:
. . .
Myla:
Is this your assistant?
Phineas:
Also they had strawberry!
Monterey:
ULRICH WEISS??
Phineas:
You good?
Long-Haired Kid:
Hey Myla-
Myla:
Yeah, let’s go guys.
Glasses Kid:
Thanks mister!
Monterey:
Oh my god!!
Ulrich:
Nothing, nothing.
AWA – PAGE 24
Monterey:
It IS you!
Of COURSE it is, even without its feathers I’d know that mask ANYWHERE!
God, Ulrich Weiss in MY city! The Ringer himself! Aah!
What are you doing here?
Ah! Were you secretly hired to perform at my gala this week?
Did you put this together for me, you sneaky girl?
Oh, I’m babbling, it’s not every day you meet one of your heroes, hm?
Monterey Goddard, mayor of Decodenn, at your service.
CARD:
Monterey Goddard
Mayor of Decodenn
At your service
Ulrich:
Hello!
This is a. . .
(CHOO!)
So sorry –
Monterey:
Oh no I’m sorry.
AWA – PAGE 25
Monterey:
The air gets a bit thick right before the seasons change.
Small price for beautiful weather all the year around though, don’t you think?
You should get used to it after a day or so!
Ulrich:
It’s no problem, er,
I hate to disappoint you, but I’m afraid I am not performing professionally anymore.
Only passing through.
Monterey:
Ooh I KNEW it was too good to be true, it’s been what, ten years since your show closed?
I was HEARTBROKEN
You remember, Agatha?
Oh but that’s perfect! I can entertain you!
If you’re sightseeing, you and your lady can take Agatha along with you!
She’s got my gildchip built-in. I’ll be paying for everything, of course.
I’d accompany you but I’m TERRIBLY busy with gala preparations.
I’m already late for a meeting actually, I just heard the CUTEST little ships whistle and had to come see it.
Tragically, the owners seem to have eluded me.
Ulrich:
Really Mr. Goddard, this is not necessary.
Monterey:
It’s Monterey, please!
And I insist!
Everyone knows Agatha belongs to me, you’ll be given the VIP treatment anywhere you go!
The best Decodenn has to offer!
AWA – PAGE 26
Monterey:
My manners have LEFT me today. I was so flustered meeting Ulrich I didn’t even ask your name!
Phineas:
Oh uh, it’s okay. I’m Phineas.
Y-
You’re a machine.
Agatha:
Keep your hands to yourself.
Monterey:
Good heavens Agatha let go!
I’m so sorry!
Ulrich:
Have you never seen an android before, Phineas?
Monterey:
Ehehe, I just can’t keep my foot out of my mouth can I?
This design is positively ANCIENT.
No social skills to speak of. She’s meant to keep me safe, sometimes she’s too good at it.
I have to go in and do maintenance pretty often, I really should have drawn up a replacement years ago.
But who has the time! I won’t fool with boxed models either, they fall apart if you sneeze on them.
And, you know, you just get so attached to these things.
Glitches and all ♥
AWA – PAGE 27
Monterey:
Well this has been a DELIGHT, but as I said I am now –
Twenty-three minutes late for a meeting about, I think, artisinal neon lighting, fun!
Let’s do dinner though! I’ll send a car for you.
Agatha:
Sir.
Monterey:
What would I do without you, dear.
We’ll do dinner tomorrow, tonight there is a fight.
But Agatha has to be there anyway! She can escort you.
Phineas:
A fight?
Monterey:
You stopped to see Decodenn and you didn’t know about our arena?
Hehe, it’s more fun if I don’t spoil it for you.
Okay! Okay, I’m leaving.
Such a pleasure to meet you and your lovely assistant. I cannot WAIT to get a chance to visit with you properly!
Be nice, Agatha!
Phineas:
. . . Hey, so,
AWA – PAGE 28
Phineas:
I’m not the assistant, he’s more like my assistant.
Just so we got things straight.
Agatha:
I know.
Phineas:
Ah, yeah, I have one of those protagonist faces, I get that a lot.
Agatha:
Someone who dresses like Mr. Weiss wouldn’t let his assistant walk around looking like you do.
Phineas:
Aw I don’t wanna hear it from the guy in the bird mask!!
Agatha:
I’m sorry that was –
Rude.
Let me try again.
I’m not programmed in such a way that social cues register with me the same way they likely do with humankinds,
But I am equipped to analyze others’ response patterns to provide better service.
He made you uncomfortable.
I’ll apologize for Mr. Goddard’s. . .
Enthusiasm?
Ulrich:
That is one way to put it.
Ach no, I could have been more gracious too. It’s been a long time since I was recognized like that.
Agatha:
He is a very dedicated fan.
Phineas:
Yeah what the hell!
Are you famous or something?
Ulrich:
More so than I assumed, evidently.
AWA – PAGE 29
Ulrich:
But Phineas and I can discuss that any time!
What would you suggest we do first, Agatha?
Agatha:
It is nearly lunchtime, sir
Ulrich:
Wait
How about
You call me Ulrich, and you drop the customer service face.
Agatha:
. . . I have been told my resting visage is inappropriate for socializing.
Mr. Goddard insists I smile.
Ulrich:
Well I insist you do what makes you comfortable.
Phineas:
Yeah! Ulrich’s face is grumpy all the time too, you can relax.
Agatha:
. . .
Is this acceptable?
Ulrich:
Much better.
Agatha:
. . . Could I,
May I unbutton my coat as well?
Ulrich:
. . . I don’t see why not.
Agatha:
. . . Thanks.
CARD:
Agatha
Android bodyguard
Doing her best.
Agatha:
Anyway yeah, it’s about the time most of you like to do lunch.
You wanna get something to eat?
Uhh, wait. . . okay.
Decodenn was founded in 795, making it one of the oldest recorded settlements this side of the Kairos Gate despite its proximity to the Galed Peaks.
Mr. Goddard’s great-grandfather, Monterey the First, designed the weather system the city runs under now, which isolates the area inside the walls into a climate-controlled environment.
Our weather is carefully overseen by a team of scientists, and Mr. Goddard himself, ensuring it remains safe and stable regardless of what happens outside.
AWA – PAGE 30
Agatha:
Thus protected, the hazardous outside conditions turned out to be strategically advantageous. Any invaders had to travel through or over the Galed Peaks mountain range, which weakened their forces.
While access to the city did become easier with the advent of commercial starstone ships, by then Decodenn had flourished into a vibrant and well established society.
Unhindered by the need for an extensive military, the city developed with a focus on science and the arts.
It’s considered one of the most influential centers for scientific advancement in the world.
Despite its size and lack of any major armed forces, there is only one instance of violent crime in the city’s record –
Ulrich:
One? In 200 years?
Agatha:
It was classified as a lab accident for over a century.
Mr. Goddard –
– The current Mr. Goddard –
Found the record and decided it should be considered a homicide, in the interest of transparency and changing social attitudes.
Phineas:
So what happened?
Agatha:
An automaton murdered their creator.
AWA – PAGE 31
Agatha:
Do not be alarmed!
Apologies, I understand this isn’t usually considered appropriate casual discussion.
Ulrich:
We DID ask.
Phineas:
Do you have that big ‘ol spiel just ready to go whenever?
Agatha:
Oh, no, I looked up decodenn’s encyclopedia article.
Phineas:
(Wow!)
Restaurant Host:
Hello!
Two for Mr. Goddard’s table?
Phineas:
Three!
Restaurant Host:
Will someone be joining –
Oh, hahaha. Okay dears, follow me.
Agatha:
. . .
Phineas:
Diiid I do something weird?
That felt weird.
Ulrich:
Ach, android etiquette can be. . . awkward, if you are not used to it.
I grew up in a city with all sorts of intelligent machines. One of my uncles is a robot.
But Phineas is from a more rural province, I think you’re the first she’s met.
If you do not mind me asking, the. . . the mayor doesn’t invite you to the table when he goes out, does he?
Agatha:
No.
And I lack the capacity to be offended, so please don’t concern yourself.
Phineas:
What.
AWA – PAGE 32
Phineas:
That’s stupid!
Ulrich:
There are different kinds of artificial intelligence, it’s only in the last few generations some have evolved to be considered their own form of life.
But society adapted once before when anthros first appeared beside their less sapient analogs, so adjusting for machines was faster and easier this time.
They own businesses, they marry, they make bad decisions. Like anyone. Uncle Souze raises dogs and was on his second wife, last I heard from him.
Some machines are only tools. A voice in an ATM walking you through a transaction, a smiling face bringing you booze on a casino floor.
Ahm, in Agatha’s case, erm. I supposed she was built to be a personal assistant. Which wouldn’t. . . necessarily require sapience.
Although you are remarkably lifelike.
Agatha:
I’m also a body guard, but yes. I’m legally considered part of Mr. Goddard’s estate as an asset, not an entity.
Functions unrelated to my purpose would be unnecessary. Your impressions of “life” are because humans project onto things with faces.
Ulrich:
In, uh, cases like hers, people usually defer to the. . . the, owner, for how to treat them.
Phineas:
Wow! I hate this!
If Agatha counts as a tool and not a person this system is dumb and broken. I’m gonna start a rebellion.
Agatha:
You won’t find a lot of support.
Sapient machines don’t normally suffer any more discrimination than any other species.
A Traveler’s Journal: Anthros
I’ve put off this entry because it’s been extremely difficult to find any objective historical information about anthros. The nature of this world is modular, fragmented and changing landscapes constantly destroying physical evidence, and while the historians who have worked to digitize information have been a huge help in my research regarding other topics, they seem as frustrated as I am by the lack of data in this field.. while not a forbidden subject, it seems the history of anthros, a word that has come to refer to any human-shaped organic being with sapience, has been hopelessly muddled by both time and humankind interference. Here is what I’ve been able to find.
From what I can tell, anthros first appeared just over 1,000 years ago. That’s the best I can do: they “appeared,” seemingly overnight. There is only one surviving non-religious documentation from the time, what’s believed some sort of news sharing medium, and that’s the word it uses as far as we have been able to decipher. they spoke the common languages for the provinces they appeared in, they wore appropriate clothing, both with slight variations but unmistakably the same. The writer seemed at a loss. It sounds suspiciously like how I appeared here, but at the time of this writing I don’t fully understand that event either.
Everything else i can find related to anthro history is speculation couched in religious myth,
which makes up most of the surviving evidence once one goes back far enough. Many human-centered religions shunned them initially, fearing a second intelligent species would destroy the idea that humans were the perfect creation of a perfect creator. Others saw them as angelic messengers, harbingers of the apocalypse, and even some anthro religions spawned from philosophers who claimed to remember arriving on spaceships. Almost all anthro demonization has been rewritten or removed from canon as religions have adapted to a changing world; their mistreatment of fellow humankinds being an embarrassing blemish on their belief systems’ histories.
Like most forms of prejudice in this world it died out quickly; it’s simply impractical for humankinds to divide themselves when the threat of divine destruction is so immediate. The common enemy of a far foe and the will to survive has more or less levelled the playing field for every humankind species, and at least from the time reliable historical documents begin to appear (around the 300’s) onward, there is no indication of widespread injustice or disrespect for any particular group.
AWA – PAGE 33
Phineas:
But you made fun of me! You smiled and told a joke earlier.
No ATM machine I ever saw had a sense of humor.
Ulrich:
Phineas.
Agatha:
Mr. Goddard told you I am outdated.
You radiate unstable energy, it caused –
Phineas:
People can treat another person like dirt and excuse it with “she’s glitchy”??
Agatha:
It’s –
Rude to –
Phineas:
You’re pissed!
Agatha:
I literally can’t GET pissed.
What aren’t you GETTING you –
. . . It might be best to discuss something else.
Phineas:
Why, are you uncomfortable?
Agatha:
The waiter is coming.
So why are you two out traveling?
AWA – PAGE 34
Agatha:
There’s a lot to see here, knowing your interests would help narrow down what we do today.
Phineas:
I’m gonna catch the sun.
Ulrich:
It is still so strange to hear you say that.
Agatha:
Is two enough for a trip like that?
Phineas:
I’m workin’ on it.
Know anyone who’d wanna join up with a commander and a liar?
Ulrich:
(I am not a liar.)
Agatha:
Your commanding is obvious, but what is your glow?
Phineas:
You can see it? Like right now?
Agatha:
Yes. Not so much outside, but it was very apparent while we were indoors.
If it’s dangerous you need to tell me what it is.
Phineas:
What makes you think I’m dangerous?
Agatha:
It’s my job to know these things.
The city’s peaceful record doesn’t mean I don’t take my function seriously.
Ulrich is carrying weapons and you yourself ARE a weapon. With all due respect, I’d just like to know what your intentions are.
Especially if you’re going to be spending time with Mr. Goddard.
Ulrich:
Ach Jocasta saw them too. What is going ON today!
I wear layers for a reason!
AWA – PAGE 35
Phineas:
You’re relaxed.
I think. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it.
Ulrich:
. . . I am.
‘Scuse me, ‘m gonna go. . .
(Wash my face or. . . or something)
Phineas:
Ulrich’s a good dude. Kind of a grump. You’d get along.
He’s not gonna do anything with those guns.
Agatha:
No, he’s not.
Phineas:
Hey, it’s cool that you’re so dedicated. I love it.
Honest, we’re only out to get some supplies.
The glow is starlight.
It’s part of me, it’s just something that happens.
Agatha:
You’re. . .
A star, inside a human?
Phineas:
It’s weird. Weird but not dangerous.
Well, COULD be, but I’m not here to tear anything up. Promise.
I’ve already sorta saved one town this month.
This one I’m just here to eat some good food and maybe get wasted one night.
Agatha:
Are you trying to impress me?
Phineas:
Is it working?
Agatha:
No.
Phineas:
(Hee hee!)
Lemme think of somethin’ else and get back to you.
AWA – PAGE 36
Phineas:
So youuu. . . don’t eat, huh?
Agatha:
I don’t need to.
Phineas:
You were lookin’ at those jelly cakes awful hard.
Agatha:
They’ve changed the seasonal desserts, I was only
Phineas:
Do you want one?
Agatha:
That’s not necessary.
Agatha:
Well I want one.
Phineas:
Which looks good Ulrich?
Ulrich:
I can’t decide! Let’s just get all three.
I can pay for these.
Agatha:
Mr. Goddard said he’s covering everything. If you want three desserts that’s what we’ll buy.
Ulrich:
Ah! So rich! I am not sure I can even finish this one.
Phineas:
Yeah I’m full.
That’s one’a them social cues you’re so bad at, miss lady.
Agatha:
Oh wow sorry, your wit’s too subtle for me I guess.
AWA – PAGE 37
Agatha:
It’s –
Sweet.
What?
Phineas:
Nothing.
AWA – PAGE 38
Agatha:
📸
Phineas:
Phew!
It takes so long to walk places here!
Ulrich:
We probably could have waited to go shopping. . .
Agatha:
I can request a car for tomorrow if you like
Phineas:
Ooh you can meet Lucky Noon!
Ulrich:
Agatha?
Agatha:
I’m. . .
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but I need to leave.
Can you manage these packages yourselves?
Ulrich:
Of course. Is everything alright?
Phineas:
(What’s goin’ on!)
Agatha:
Yes. Everything is fine.
I’ll be by around seven-thirty to take you to the arena, if you want to go.
Despite Mr. Goddard’s –
Enthusiasm, you can decline the invitation.
Ulrich:
We would love to attend. It is not like we have other plans.
AWA – PAGE 39
Agatha:
Okay then. Seven-thirty outside the park’s main gate.
Dress casually.
Ulrich:
Sure! Thank you.
. . .
Phineas! Come help me with this!
Noon:
Who was that with you?
Phineas:
Ok so you’re seeing all this too, right? It’s not just me making things up?
Ulrich:
No today, at least.
There’s something very strange going on here.
Noon:
She was a machine?
Phineas:
Right??
If she –
Uh
Noon:
Oh! Also,
We have a guest.
Myla:
Hi!
AWA – PAGE 40
CHAPTER 16
THE FUTURE STARTS WITH YOU
AWA – PAGE 41
Ulrich:
I asked if we needed to secure the ship, did I not?
Didn’t I?
Phineas:
Noon?
Noon:
A friend! They just showed up a few minutes ago wanting to talk to you. And. . .
They really like your ship, commander.
Phineas:
Yeeeah?
Myla:
So, uh, I sorta. Might have.
Followed you guys, for a while today.
Phineas:
What for?
CARD:
Myla
Engineer
Twelve-ish?
Myla:
I wanted to see what you would do with Agatha.
Phineas:
Agatha?
Myla:
I saw the way Phineas looked at her when Goddard was with you guys and I got curious.
I don’t
Like Goddard very much.
But she and I are pretty close and I kinda feel. . . protective?
AWA – PAGE 42
Myla:
I need you to help her!
Um, please.
Ulrich:
What with, exactly?
What makes you think we can do anything for her?
Myla:
Well you’re pirates, right?
If you’re here and not, like, stealing stuff or attacking anyone, you must be GOOD pirates that help people.
(Like on TV!)
Phineas & Ulrich:
We’re not pirates.
Phineas:
. . . Are we pirates?
Ulrich:
No!
What is the issue?
Monterey seems. . . nice. A little excitable, but I saw no problem with him.
Phineas:
Really though?
Ulrich:
. . . I’ll admit I feel like something is. . . off. Has been, since we arrived.
But I –
I assumed it was because I’ve felt wrong myself. People keep bringing up the air quality here, but I come from a city with its fair share of industry.
Decodenn is full of blooming plants, but I’ve lived above a flower shop for most of my life.
I had asthma, growing up, but it wasn’t triggered by allergens.
I’ve never had this reaction to anything before.
AWA – PAGE 43
Ulrich:
I assume you’ve been too distracted to pick up on anything.
Phineas:
Well I never notice that stuff as much.
Ulrich:
Oh, of course not. Commanders don’t DO allergies.
Myla:
You’re a commander?? Wow!
Can you really steal souls??
Aw your shadow looks normal.
Phineas:
Well SOMETIMES it
Ulrich:
Focus, children.
Anyway, I feel fine in here. I suspect Lucky Noon – mm, our ship – administrates our environment.
I noticed you don’t seem to need your mask now, either.
Myla:
Ah yeah. Mom says I got a “weak constitution”.
I take it off inside usually.
Phineas:
Agatha. What were you saying about Agatha?
Myla:
You like her huh?
Every time I looked you were staring at her all google-eyed.
Ulrich:
That’s just how Phineas looks at people.
Myla:
She does have like, a presence, though. Doesn’t she?
Goddard wanted her scary I guess.
He kinda took me under his wing? He found some project videos me and my friend Maka posted online, offered to fund me if I wanted to get into mech fighting.
Ulrich:
You build mechs?
Myla:
All kinds of things! I’ve been playing with solid light engineering here lately.
So-, so I fight in Decodenn’s arena. And I”m good at it. I started winning important matches.
Some people get angry, ‘cause I’m young maybe. Someone finally threatened me.
Monty got REAL mad. Agatha kept an eye on me after that.
AWA – PAGE 44
Myla:
My family owes him a lot, really. Ma works on Decodenn’s weather council.
His endorsement will be great for my career. Not to mention I get access to city resources and my own garage.
And Monty’s always been. . .
Ulrich:
. . . Nice?
Myla:
Nice.
But I just don’t feel comfortable around him! I feel like he’s gonna eat me or something!
Phineas:
Man I didn’t even notice him. I’ll have to pay more attention next time.
Myla:
Agatha’s been taking me to and from all my fights for about a year. We’ve gotten close. As close as she’ll let me.
She’s something, huh?
Phineas:
What is the deal?
Ulrich explained the whole “different artificial intelligence” thing to me, I get it, but –
But she’s DEFINITELY got a soul in there, I can’t see it but I can feel it. I know it’s there.
Myla:
So commanders can see souls? And that’s normal for you?
Phineas:
It’s easier to call it a soul. Commanders can see energy on people, if they got energy worth seeing. Around them like an aura.
Agatha’s –
She touched me and it felt like I had grabbed a live wire.
Myla:
That’s not a soul it’s static electricity.
AWA – PAGE 45
Ulrich:
I understand, I do not normally ascribe to spiritual explanations either. But Phineas knows what she’s talking about.
And I’m inclined to agree with her assessment.
I wasn’t. . . feeling well, earlier, I didn’t notice –
God,
Just recalling it is like trying to think through mud.
I brought up having a lot of experience with intelligent machines.
You develop a. . . sense, for sapience, like you do with other things.
When you look into a pair of eyes, you can feel if something is looking back.
Humankinds get a lot of practice with this, you apply it constantly without even realizing it.
It can get strange with machinery. A humanoid can be just a machine, and a sapient machine without a face still feels alive. But you do adapt for them eventually.
I felt like I was talking to a person with Agatha. It was. . . awkward, explaining that she was property right in front of her. I don’t feel right saying it now.
That is not normal. I don’t feel awkward talking about my guns while they’re in the room.
Another thing, I. . .I can’t get a read from basic machines’ faces because there’s nothing there. It’s a simulation.
But I could read her just fine. Particularly easily, actually.
. . . She’s one of the angriest people I’ve ever seen.
Phineas:
I
KNEW IT!
AWA – PAGE 46
Phineas:
That Monterey guy is keeping her against her will, isn’t he?
Myla:
I know how it sounds!
I have no reason to think so, but I don’t know what else TO think. She’s just. . . miserable.
And if he treated a regular person like he treats her it would be wrong. So I feel like this is wrong.
Ulrich:
What are you asking us to do for you?
Myla:
I’m not sure, I
Phineas:
I want her.
On my ship. We’ll take her with us.
Ulrich:
(There it is.)
Myla:
Getting her out of the city would pretty much solve everything, but I don’t know how you’d do that.
Ulrich:
Ach, that’s okay! Phineas doesn’t know either.
Why are you like this?
Phineas:
Like what?
Ulrich:
You don’t know anything about her!
She doesn’t know us!
Phineas:
I know plenty!
Look.
We’ll get her out of Decodenn. Once that’s done she can do what she wants to.
Myla:
I’d miss her if she was gone, but I don’t see how she can stay here like this.
Agatha’s not even SUPPOSED to be able to BE miserable.
Phineas:
She’s not very good at hiding it.
Like, not even trying.
AWA – PAGE 47
Myla:
I don’t think she’s hiding anything. I think she really believes her feelings are glitches. That’s what Goddard tells her. And he. . .
Well, he built her. It’s. . . possible he could reprogram her to believe what he wants.
No one here would notice, he’s always been pretty popular.
Once he established Agatha wasn’t sapient people must have stopped bothering to pay attention. It wouldn’t seem suspicious.
I only picked up on it because I spent a lot of time with her. She’s always at his side otherwise.
Goddard would never let her leave.
Phineas:
I wasn’t gonna ask him.
Ulrich:
. . . How old is Monterey?
Myla:
I dunno. Old?
Like, thirty at least. Why?
Ulrich:
Just thinking out loud. He seems young to be running a city.
Phineas:
Takin’ off?
Myla:
Gotta get ready for the arena.
Did you guys get invited?
Phineas:
We did.
Myla:
You should come!
You can see Aaagatha some more~
Phineas:
Ha ha! Yeah we’ll be there.
Myla:
. . . Sorry I barged in, thanks for listening.
Phineas:
Barge anytime!
AWA – PAGE 48
Ulrich:
(We should put away the groceries.)
Phineas:
Noon?
Why did you ask about Agatha earlier when we got here?
Did you notice something?
Noon:
Eh, not really.
Phineas:
I don’t believe you.
Noon:
Hehe! ‘Kay then I did. But I don’t wanna talk about it with y’all.
Phineas:
Why?
Noon:
Bad manners!
I’m done! Byeeeee!
Ulrich:
. . . Hm.
. . . This is what you did with me, isn’t it? Something clicked and you suddenly decided I was coming with you.
Are you going to refuse to leave without Agatha too?
Phineas:
Not leaving her without helping, at least.
What do you think?
Ulrich:
You want my opinion?
Phineas:
Of course I do.
Ulrich:
Well, I am here.
Obviously you have an eye for talent, if nothing else.
AWA – PAGE 49
Phineas:
I’ve never been in a car!!
Ulrich:
Good heavens this is an antique. You use this for errands?
Agatha:
Mr. Goddard is the sort of collector who prefers to show off his possessions.
Phineas:
There’s no driver seat?
Myla:
Lots of cars in Decodenn don’t need drivers!
Scientists, you know how they do.
Agatha:
The fram is the factory original, but he replaced most of its – – guts.
Ulrich:
. . .
Myla:
Oh yeah! I brought you a game today.
AWA – PAGE 50
Myla:
That’s the mayor’s place up there.
Ulrich:
Are we picking him up?
Myla:
Nah, Monty has his own entrance. We’re taking the ramp down.
Phineas:
★★★!
Myla:
This is just the parking structure! The actual arena is right under Goddard’s Manor. We’ll have to walk through some tunnels.
There are other venues under Decodenn, but this one’s the fanciest!
AWA – PAGE 51
Myla:
Oh Dad’s here already!
Sandy:
Got a whole entourage tonight huh?
CARD:
Sandy
Novelist
Clueless, proud anyway
Agatha:
Mr. Goddard invited Phineas and Ulrich to watch Myla, they’ll be sitting up in the box with you if that’s okay.
Sandy:
Sure! It’s Monty’s box, hahaha.
Long as you two won’t mind me gushing over my li’l fluffball here all evening~
Myla:
(oi)
Ulrich:
(Concessions?)
Phineas:
(Concessions!)
I’m so glad we came to a place with food this time
Ulrich:
Mmhmm,
This is sort of a weird observation, but the air down here is,
Surprisingly fresh?
Agatha:
It’s. . .
Tain:
I can’t see
I can’t seeeeeeeeee
Phineas & Agatha:
What?
Ulrich:
What? I can breathe easier down here.
AWA – PAGE 52
Agatha:
No, I missed what Phineas said.
Phineas:
I heard you say – something.
Ulrich:
No one said anything.
Agatha:
. . . My mistake. The crowds echo through the halls sometimes.
Ulrich:
Praises.
Another mystery solved.
Sandy:
Good luck niblet!!
Myla:
(Dad pls)
Sandy:
Yeah! Myla’s been tinkering since they could hold things. They really like taking things apart.
All our clicky pens, our sewing machine, the dryer. We had to channel that into something constructive pretty early. . .
Then Monty came along and scooped them right up!
Their mother isn’t thrilled with the fighting thing, but it’ll look great on a college application, yeah?
They’re actually trying something new tonight, I guess they and their penpal maka had some sort of breakthrough last week.
Myla’s learned so much with their little online friends their mom and I couldn’t have taught them ourselves, isn’t that cool? Young people are amazing!
Gosh I’m sorry, I don’t usually have anyone to brag to up here, hee hee.
Ulrich:
You are entitled to some bragging.
Sandy:
Oh! Here we go!
AWA – PAGE 53
Monterey:
Hi.
Well, you folks know I can’t STAND to hear myself talk,
So let’s keep this quick!
AWA – PAGE 54
Monterey:
ALL the way from Plum’s Wash, with an UNDEFEATED run this season,
The Sparkling Gem of the Seven’s Cluth –
The INDOMITABLE –
(SILON SAPPHIRE)
AND ON MY RIGHT!
Ulrich:
That looked expensive.
AWA – PAGE 55
Monterey:
From RIGHT HERE in DECODENN, our very own engineering prodigy,
Unveiling for the FIRST time their latest foray into the BLEEDING EDGE of mad science,
Sandy:
What are they up to?
. . . Oh, they’ve been wearing sleeves for weeks now.
Mama’s not gonna be happy, hehe.
AWA – PAGE 56
Monterey:
(EMPIRE MEOW)
Sandy:
I’M SO PROUD
GO GET ‘EM NIBLET!!
AWA – PAGE 57
Monterey:
HOUSE RULES!
LET’S
(FIGHT!)
AWA – PAGE 58
Myla:
Um, sorry about the hole in the wall.
Monterey:
Don’t think on it dear! Property can be fixed, don’t let a little structural damage smother your creative spark!
AWA – PAGE 59
Monterey:
But tell me, where did you get the idea for –
Selena:
You little
SHIT!!
Phineas:
(What the fuck)
Myla:
(Dad pls)
Selena:
I was supposed to go to league this quarter! You completely fucked up my season with that stupid joke of a mech!
Are hard light constructs even legal??
Phineas:
(Why guns keep happen when I’m drink)
Monterey:
Oh come now, Selena, this isn’t like you.
Selena:
What?!
Myla:
W-wait, her eyes-
Selena:
Don’t you dare patronize me!
I WANT A REMATCH!!
AWA – PAGE 60
Monterey:
Well, that’ll be a problem! Seeing as Myla isn’t quite equipped for one at the moment.
But if you insist,
My assistant would be happy to accommodate you.
Agatha:
No fighting outside the arena.
Selena:
MOVE IT YOU SCRAP!
Agatha:
Last time. Put that away and go home.
Sandy:
Come on Myla.
Selena:
NO!!
Monterey:
Go on!
We’ve got things here.
Myla:
(What? Why did you stop?)
Sandy:
Right!
Thanks Monty.
Myla:
(Are you drunk?)
(Who’s gonna drive home?)
AWA – PAGE 61
Selena:
Ah –
Ulrich:
Should we be helping?
Calling someone?
Monterey:
Oh! We’d just get in her way.
This is what she was made for.
AWA – PAGE 62
Selena:
Shit
AWA – PAGE 63
Selena:
Uh
Wait! What are you doing?!
Phineas:
A
Ulrich:
Steady, Kidd.
Selena:
No!! Look what you did to my mech!
Put me down you stupid –
AWA – PAGE 64
Selena:
Um, please put me down.
Agatha:
Better.
Monterey:
Wonderful!
Don’t feel bad, Selena, these things happen.
Selena:
What?
Monterey:
The fighters that come through my city are particularly passionate individuals! You’re certainly not the first to get a bit too tense.
Where are your people? They’re likely worried about you.
Selena:
Oh, uh
Ulrich:
We were told there was no violent crime in Decodenn.
This does not count?
Monterey:
What you just saw was a city measure preventing a violent crime.
I do hate to leave you in such a rush, but I’m going to see this girl gets where she needs to go.
Agatha will get you two home!
Ulrich:
You’re sending your bodyguard away and escorting an aggressive attacker alone?
Monterey:
Ulrich, please.
Does she seem aggressive to you?
You worry far too much, mein freund.
AWA – PAGE 65
Phineas:
See you.
Agatha:
What did you think?
The arena.
What did you think of the fight?
Phineas:
I didn’t know machines could move like that.
Like dancing almost, huh?
Agatha:
Goodnight, Phineas.
Ulrich:
. . . Curious how often they reuse their soundtrack. Music gets pricy.
AWA – PAGE 66
Phineas:
HmmMMM Ulrich I think I love her.
Ulrich:
Do you?
You met her this morning.
Phineas:
I knew I loved YOU right away.
Ulrich:
Ach, shuddap. You shouldn’t say things like that.
Phineas:
I did! You did your little show and I knew. I knew it.
You’re both so bright.
Ulrich:
You think you love everyone you meet.
Phineas:
Lots of folks worth loving is all. I can’t help it.
. . .We gotta get her out of here.
Ulrich:
Mausbär, you know you cannot save everyone.
Phineas:
Mmmm I don’t wanna save everyone.
Just her.
Just Agatha.
And I’m gonna.
(And don’t tell me what I can’t do)
>:(
AWA – PAGE 67
CHAPTER 17
GEIST!
AWA – PAGE 68
Noon:
Hey, Agatha’s trying to call you.
Phineas:
Huh?
Did I give her my frequency?
Noon:
Uhh if you did you must have been off because I’m picking it up instead. Do you want me to
Phineas:
YES.
Noon:
Mkay, hang on.
Phineas:
HI!!
Hello
Hey!
Agatha:
Sorry to bother you –
– This is Agatha, uh, Mr. Goddard’s –
Phineas:
Hahaha oh my god yes I know who you are.
Agatha:
Sorry to bother you, but Mr. Goddard has insisted I make sure you and Ulrich have something,
Appropriate, to wear to the gala tomorrow.
I hope that’s not. . . offensive.
Phineas:
Ha! It’s not, I was just gonna wear shorts and hope I didn’t get yelled at!
Agatha:
. . . Mmhmm. So I’ll bring the car out and pick you two up, then.
Phineas:
Oh, you know what. Hang on real quick.
Be right back.
Ulriiiich?
AWA – PAGE 69
Phineas:
Ulrich.
Ulrich:
Mm.
Phineas:
Agatha wants to go clothes shopping today.
Ulrich:
If it’s all the same I’d like to stay in this afternoon?
Yesterday was a bit much and I’m dreading this dinner tonight. I was hoping to rest until then.
Phineas:
You don’t wanna go look at clothes?
Ulrich:
Not today.
Phineas:
Perfect! I was gonna ask if we could go alone anyway.
Ulrich:
Have at it.
Ah,
I know how you feel, and I know you have good intentions.
But you need to be considerate of her position, Phineas.
Don’t upturn this woman’s life needlessly.
Phineas:
I ain’t gonna! It’s just clothes shopping.
Ulrich:
The most illicit type of shopping.
Noon:
Speaking from experience?
Ulrich:
A tailor doesn’t tell.
AWA – PAGE 70
Phineas:
Hey! Um it’s just gonna be you and me today actually, is that alright?
Agatha:
Of course.
. . .
Can you ride a bike?
Phineas:
Oh!
A bike.
Agatha:
Did you think I was going to pedal over here on a tiny little –
S – sorry, it’s my fault I. Should have clarified.
Phineas:
No I love it! Let’s go!
Agatha:
. . . It’s dangerous to ride with so much exposed skin.
Phineas:
Look I’m gonna be honest, I don’t own pants. This is as covered as I get.
Agatha:
. . . You don’t own pants.
Phineas:
I’m sturdier than I look! It’ll be fine!
Agatha:
No.
It’s okay, I wasn’t expecting you to have the right stuff.
Phineas:
Man, boots?
Agatha:
It’s boots or we take the car.
This, too.
AWA – PAGE 71
Agatha:
Ready?
Phineas:
What about YOUR exposed skin?
Agatha:
Don’t got any, boss.
Hold on tight.
Phineas:
What do you think!
Fancy huh?
Agatha:
You’re awful at this.
Phineas:
Hehee! Yeah,
I’ve never had to shop for nice clothes before I don’t think.
Agatha:
If it’s not too forward I. Might be able to help point you in the right direction.
AWA – PAGE 72
Phineas:
Jeans aren’t formal, why’d you pick these?
Agatha:
You need pants Phineas.
Phineas:
Daaang that’s slick!
You’re good at this!
Agatha:
It’s, uh. It’s mostly. . . pattern recognition. . .
Phineas:
Well I couldn’t do it.
You seem into this stuff, how come you don’t dress more like your boss?
Agatha:
I’m. . .
Phineas:
Y’all got the cash.
Agatha:
Not allowed to wear bright colors.
Phineas:
What?
Agatha:
I’m an assistant, it’s better if Mr. Goddard stands out next to me.
Phineas:
But
Agatha:
Are those selections adequate?
Phineas:
Yeah. Perfect.
Agatha:
I need it delivered to this address, please.
Cashier:
Certainly.
Phineas:
This, too?
Agatha:
Whatever you want.
AWA – PAGE 73
Phineas:
Well that didn’t take too long!
Agatha:
Was there- anything else you wanted to do? Have you eaten?
Phineas:
I could definitely eat.
Agatha:
I can get us a table at –
Phineas:
Youuu know what? Let’s just do something fast, I’d kinda like to ride around some more. If you want.
Take me someplace YOU like.
Agatha:
I don’t –
Phineas:
Yeah I know. You don’t like anything.
It doesn’t even NEED to be food, frankly I’m just not into the snooty crap we’ve been doing since we got here.
And I don’t think you are either.
You gotta go somewhere when you take this thing out.
Show me.
You come up here much?
Agatha:
I don’t have a lot of time to myself. It’s been a few weeks.
But I. Find excuses to ride up here when I can.
AWA – PAGE 74
Phineas:
What’s all that down there?
Agatha:
That’s the weather institute, annnd the power plant off behind it.
Phineas:
Oh, are you into weather stuff?
What’s it for? Do they study the storms outside or something?
Agatha:
They do different things.
Myla’s mother oversees the air quality board, but the most important job is maintaining the climate.
All the weather in Decodenn is planned and executed manually. Those statues you saw outside the wall are adjusting the city’s condition constantly.
They’re what changes our seasons. Mr. Goddard holds the gala alongside and makes a spectacle of the event.
Decodenn doesn’t have a patron saint, but some of the more superstitious residents think the statues used to be saints, and it was a sin to install the weather system.
So the gala for the changing of the seasons became something to honor the saints AND one of Mr. Goddard’s shows. It’s pretty important.
Phineas:
Hmm. So you guys don’t ever get storms or nothin’ huh?
Agatha:
No. The weather is always mild.
Phineas:
Not even like a drizzle? No overcast days?
Agatha:
Enough rain to sustain the plantlife and a water cycle.
Phineas:
That’s boring.
Agatha:
. . .
Phineas:
. . . You know,
AWA – PAGE 75
Phineas:
We flew by some neat weather on the way here.
We haven’t run into any storms yet, but we saw a bunch of wind turbines sticking out of a glitch field.
Agatha:
That’s not weather.
And glitchfields aren’t real.
Phineas:
Wind is weather!!
And yes they are, you just can’t take pictures of ‘em.
Agatha:
Convenient.
Phineas:
We also flew through a belt of, like, rain asteroids.
They’re these broken up little clouds like oil slicks, they rain in different colors while you’re inside.
I think they only show up in the sky, but I maybe just haven’t been traveling long enough.
Agatha:
That sounds fake too.
Phineas:
Anything sounds fake if you live in “mild” your whole life.
AWA – PAGE 76
Agatha:
Have you
Ever seen heat lightning?
Phineas:
Yeah, lots. We used to get summer storms all the time where I grew up.
Tornadoes too, those weren’t so nice.
They’d drop hailstones. One big as a tangerine busted our window and we kept it in the freezer.
Agatha:
Hail only forms under very specific atmospheric conditions.
The wind has to be able to carry the same water up high enough to freeze it, over and over and over. Layers and layers of accumulated ice.
It’s. . .
It’s statistically unlikely. You were fortunate to be able to experience it.
Phineas:
Come with me.
Agatha:
What?
AWA – PAGE 77
Phineas:
Come with me, we can leave right now.
Agatha:
What are you talking about? To Kairos Crossing?
Phineas:
Everywhere. I’ll take you anyplace you wanna go.
I can show you storms, real rain, I’ll sail you through a typhoon if you ask me to.
And new things!
Kairos Crossing is like a whole other planet!
There’s hanging lightning and sapphire snow and places where stars grow up like trees!
Whole canopies of solar flares!
There’s entire cities built into auroras, can you –
Agatha:
No.
I can’t
Phineas:
Do you WANT to?
Agatha:
I can’t.
Phineas:
What’s keeping you here?
Agatha:
You really don’t get why this wouldn’t work? Really?
Phineas:
No I don’t!
AWA – PAGE 78
Phineas:
Is it something obvious? ‘Cause you seem miserable and I don’t see much point in keepin’ on the way you are.
This sucks!
You deserve more than sitting here watching weather balloons.
Agatha:
I was designed to stay by Mr. Goddard’s side-
Phineas:
Fuck that guy!
Agatha:
-and that’s where I’ll stay. You can’t just steal peoples’ things.
Phineas:
People shouldn’t own other people!!
Agatha:
. . . You think a lot of me.
Phineas:
I think you’re a pain in the ass.
Agatha:
I wouldn’t know.
A Traveler’s Journal – Patron Saints
Patron saints are a lower classification of demigods that burst fully formed from the collective
thoughts and prayers of those who believe in them. Like gods in other belief systems their believers impress upon them a sense of duty to protect or provide in one way or another, and unlike other gods, patron saints usually acknowledge and care for those smaller than they are. Their existence built upon a response to outside stimuli, a patron saint can take any form and fulfill any function for which they’re created.
Their form depends mostly on the culture and needs of the region that cultivated them; some are “mythical” creatures, some are humankinds, and some are machines. In some cases the community’s focus doesn’t result in a sentient being at all, but a concept or a desire. This may manifest in any number of unexpected ways: in a province far in the west, every family’s second son is born with heterochromia, and there is an island in the Fantasia Sea surrounded by thick darkness that prevents certain people from finding it. A saint can also be manufactured on purpose. With the only consistent definition being a function of peoples’ collective belief, a group of people earnestly considering an agreed-upon object or concept as their patron can be enough to make it so.
(Our saints came to us in a plague of moths and fire, I guess.)
The world that humankinds inhabit is unfortunately used as a battleground for whatever deities are feeling destructive at any given time, and it seems patron saints are a result of humankinds’ desperate need for some semblance of control or defense against the chaos. While patron saints can sometimes perform feats more impressive than humankinds can do alone, and they do often serve as humankind representatives to other gods, they are ultimately only as strong as what created them, and most are easily brushed aside by bigger deities. Additionally, if the psychic energy sustaining them changes for the worse, it’s not unheard of for a saint to turn on their own people in a fit of insanity. The Sprawl is full of mad saints wandering deliriously in search of flocks they slaughtered themselves.
(It’s considered bad luck to touch a patron saint.)
AWA – PAGE 79
Noon:
Ooh, is that what the high class kids are wearing these days?
Phineas:
Agatha said I needed all this to ride her motorcycle. She told me to just keep it.
Noon:
Mmmmmm.
Feeling moody, commander?
Phineas:
She’s so STUBBORN!
Noon:
Oh yes what an awful character trait.
I supposed it’s to be expected.
Phineas:
What aren’t you TELLING me?
You been real birchy since we GOT here, why’re you hiding things from me about someone you don’t even KNOW?
ARRGHLBBLFHGK
Ulrich:
(How did it go?)
AWA – PAGE 80
Monterey:
Hello hel-lo!
Please come in!
Make yourselves at home! I JUST finished making dinner.
Your timing couldn’t be better!
Let me just run to the kitchen and grab the rolls.
Agatha, take them to the dining room please. The little one.
We’re gonna be cozy tonight.
So how are you enjoying Decodenn? Has the city treated you kindly so far?
Ulrich:
It’s gorgeous. I love how you’ve integrated the flora into the architecture.
Monterey:
You noticed!
AWA – PAGE 81
Monterey:
We like our plants plentiful.
Several thousand people living under a dome does have the potential to get dreadfully stuffy you understand.
But we really go all-out when aspiring rolls around!
Ulrich:
It’s great your citizens are so dedicated to the city’s aesthetic.
Monterey:
That’s the thing with terraforming! Nothing is free.
It would be SO much easier to just not fool with changing seasons and have the same weather year round,
But I do like to keep things interesting for us! It’s good for morale.
Phineas:
INTERESTING?
How’s sunshine every single day interesting?
Monterey:
Beg pardon?
Phineas:
Agatha said y’all don’t even get thunderstorms in here! It’s boring!!
Monterey:
Why would you want a storm? They’re unpredictable and dangerous.
That’s why we have our climate system in the first place.
Phineas:
And why isn’t Agatha sitting with us?
Monterey:
Hmm? She’s bad for the furniture, dear. It doesn’t bother her.
Right?
Agatha:
Not at all.
AWA – PAGE 82
Monterey:
You hadn’t been around humanoid appliances before, right? It’s normal to get attached if you’re not used to them, but let me assure you, Agatha is nothing to be concerned about.
Agatha:
Sir
Monterey:
See here,
There; she’s frozen. No different than the statue on the table behind you.
No reason to scuff up the upholstery.
Ulrich:
Ach, sorry!
Me and my butterfingers. I can be such a klutz!
Monterey:
Isn’t that always the way!
You can be so dextrous on stage, then
Agatha:
M-Mr. Goddard,
Miss Kidd expressed an interest in the city’s pigeons while we were out.
She might like to see the coop.
Monterey:
Certainly, but she’s eating right now, Agatha.
AWA – PAGE 83
Phineas:
I’m done.
Monterey:
Ah! Lovely, have fun then.
Your consort certainly is. . . spirited.
Ulrich:
I don’t really care to consort with anyone.
Monterey:
I understand.
Nobody quite measures up since Bel left, huh?
Ulrich:
Perhaps that is it.
Monterey:
Uh-hmm. . .
. . . You know what! While the girls are off, I have something I’d like to show you, too.
Once we’re finished here, of course. I was too busy for lunch today.
I’m famished.
AWA – PAGE 84
Monterey:
Bit of a cheesy trick, but,
Thematically appropriate.
What do you think! Every piece of Cheshire merchandise ever produced.
Well,
Plus one or two.
Ulrich:
. . .
How did. . .
AWA – PAGE 85
Ulrich:
I didn’t even start carrying Houndstooth until. . .
These pins. . .
Monterey:
Yeah, the official merch selection was. . . lacking.
But I happen to have an obscene amount of money and proximity to a city full of artists.
It helps.
. . . Oh it’s too much isn’t it?
Ulrich:
N-no! No, I. I just.
I just haven’t seen some of this in a long time.
Huh. I did not realize anyone cared this much.
Monterey:
Yes, well,
If you feel the need to put on a show, someone out there needs to see it, Ulrich.
Ulrich:
Ach, please go ahead yourself but I, ah, don’t drink, actually.
Monterey:
Neither do I! Can’t stand the stuff.
It’s just juice and soda water. I like to sip something pretty when I’m in here by the fire.
Makes me feel important, tee hee.
Prost!
AWA – PAGE 86
Monterey:
. . . saw a lot of myself in you.
Flamboyant, precocious. . . hah, a fairly complex familial situation.
And all I’ve ever wanted to do is entertain.
What did you think of the arena?? It was SO amazing getting to put on a show for YOU, hee hee!
Ulrich:
Uh, it was impressive.
I’ve never been to a mech fight, but I enjoyed myself.
Monterey:
Gosh! It means so much to hear you say that!
Ulrich:
. . . Erm, if you wanted to be an entertainer, then why are you. . .
Monterey:
Running a city?
It does seem like an odd career choice for someone who idolized stage magicians, doesn’t it?
I suppose I just. . .wanted a bigger stage.
And this way I can put my other skills to use. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done with Decodenn.
Ulrich:
Certainly more useful than my work.
Monterey:
Don’t you sell yourself short!
Art is necessary for a healthy society! It impacts MUCH more than its immediate audience.
AWA – PAGE 87
Monterey:
I was so fascinated by Roulette City I actually based some of Decodenn’s design on what I saw there. Our plants are thanks to your city’s artistic choices.
Ulrich:
I wanted to ask, but I was afraid I’d offend you.
Monterey:
Mm! Not at all! I’m delighted I managed the effect well enough for a Roulette City native to notice!
Ulrich:
The work you’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time is a marvel.
Monterey:
How do you mean?
Ulrich:
I thought if you’d been to see me at Slow Six as a politician I would remember you. Agatha. You would have been- handled. . . So, uh, I just. . .
Ach, you don’t look old enough??? It is weirding me out.
Monterey:
Haha! I do look very good for my age, if I may say so.
A very strict skincare regimen.
. . . You really inspired me, more than just as an entertainer.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how. . .
Difficult it is, to be –
Capable, skilled, at a young age. It makes people nervous.
It makes people want to hold you back, keep you in the place they’ve set out for you.
Seeing you command an audience the way you did, a brilliant star on your own stage, it. . . gave me hope.
I felt we were kindred spirits.
Figured, if you could make your own luck, what was stopping me?
AWA – PAGE 88
Phineas:
I’m –
I didn’t know
Agatha:
Come look.
Phineas:
. . .
The door’s open.
Agatha:
There aren’t any predators in Decodenn. I never lock them up.
They can come and go when they want.
. . . They’re good.
Phineas:
The, uh. . .the – dinner thing, uh
I
Agatha:
If you say “I get it” I am going to knock you off this roof.
Phineas:
But I
Agatha:
You really don’t.
Phineas:
My body isn’t all mine either.
AWA – PAGE 89
Phineas:
There’s a tether keeping you in this shell, but you can’t feel enough through it and everyone else is too far.
Like you’re. . . looking through dirty glass.
It’s- It’s hard to reach. Anybody. Switch it off.
Agatha:
But you hold
Your own switch.
Phineas:
Most of the time, yeah.
Now at least.
Agatha:
Then you have nothing to say to me.
Phineas:
I do so!
Half of me was part of a god, my mentor had to conduct an abstraction ordinance just to keep my body from pulling apart.
I couldn’t stay anyplace long before that already but nobody wants to deal with all this.
If my people hadn’t found me I wouldn’t even still BE here.
YOU need to find YOURS. I can’t stand seeing you lonesome as I was and just LEAVING you in it.
Agatha:
Just stop. You can’t possibly care that much about me, you just want something.
God, people must make fools of themselves for you.
You can’t know what this is like
Phineas:
I know it feels good to lash out at me, doesn’t it?
Agatha:
I don’t-
No.
AWA – PAGE 90
Phineas:
Your fighting gives you away. It’s a conversation.
That’s the only way you know how to express things, you have to make others feel it, what you feel.
Agatha:
STOP.
Phineas:
You make them hurt because you hurt.
I know this I’ve done it.
Agatha:
Is that what I am to you? A blank slate for you to project your own bullshit on?
Mana:
(This)
Agatha:
Is this your whole act? You pretend you can see through people? Like you’re some kind of-
(Ha! Hhha! Ha!)
I’ll tell you what YOU are, YOU’RE so abrasive and unlikable you’ve gotten desperate and you’re recruiting con artists into your crew.
The way you acted in front of Mr. Goddard just proves you’re a spoiled brat only worried about getting what you want. If you “understood” my position you would have left it alone.
Do NOT tell me you know how it feels to be this powerless.
Phineas:
There you are, why are you doing this now, what’s different?
Agatha:
You’re not listening!!
Phineas:
Why can’t you be like this all the time?
Agatha:
Because it doesn’t matter!
NOTHING I DO FUCKING MATTERS!!
AWA – PAGE 91
Agatha:
Nothing changes!
Do you think I”m stupid?? Don’t you think if there was ANYTHING I could do I would have done it by now?!
You’re going to leave and I’m going to be stuck here like I’ve always been. It’s pointless to –
WHY are you DOING this to me?!
Phineas:
Come with me.
Agatha:
S-stop
Phineas:
Come with us and you can fight and swear and you never, ever have to smile for anybody again if you don’t want to.
You don’t even have to stay, just. Just let me get you out of this place. I’ll tear this fucking house down myself but I need to hear it from you.
Tell me what you WANT, Agatha.
No
Come back.
AWA – PAGE 92
Phineas:
Y-
You’re crying.
Agatha:
You’re such an idiot. I’m not worth all this.
I’m nothing, you’re obsessing over faulty municipal equipment.
Phineas:
That’s not true. Whatever he’s doing to you, there’s-
THIS is nothing. Agatha there is a whole world out there that doesn’t give a damn about Decodenn or its mayor.
Agatha:
Maybe for you.
Monterey:
Why did you quit?
It seemed like you were about to really take off and you. . . you stopped. Fell right off the map.
Ulrich:
Ach, you know.
Showbusiness is mean. Sometimes things just. . . they don’t work out like you want them to.
Sometimes that luck fails you.
Monterey:
Can I,
AWA – PAGE 93
Monterey:
Can I ask what happened? With Bel?
It was so sudden. I always loved seeing you two together on stage.
There are a lot of pairs in stageshows, but you. . . I always got the feeling you two really were close. You could feel it when you performed.
I’m sorry, I’m just. . . it wasn’t a falling out, was it?
Ulrich:
Sheee had some
Other business to attend. And she did not have time for the show any more.
Our paths wound in different directions and we simply lost touch. A sad but not uncommon feature of adulthood.
Monterey:
. . . You two scared someone.
What did you do, Ulrich?
Oh! My goodness!
Ulrich:
Uhm
AWA – PAGE 94
Ulrich:
What – what exactly did you say was in that drink?
Monterey:
It hardly matters darling, you haven’t drunk a drop.
But it looks like your allergies are acting up agian, there’s a restroom down the hall and on the left if you’d like to freshen up. The green door.
The bookcase will open up to let you out.
Ulrich:
Thank you
Monterey:
You really should try to relax now and then Ulrich!
. . .
Ulrich:
What the fuck.
AWA – PAGE 95
Bel:
What do you think he knows?
Ulrich:
Nothing worth worrying about yet, I do not think.
Bel:
Keep your eyes shut.
You ought to do this yourself, I gotta get ready too.
Ulrich:
I can’t ever get them even though, I’m so much prettier when you make me up.
Bel:
Mm, yeah. You’re hopeless without me.
Ulrich:
I’ll wait and see what he wants, I. . . want Agatha to come with us.
I like her. I like them both.
Bel I don’t. . . want to hurt them. . .
Uhh. . . I don’t. Feel good. I think I fall asleep. Were you something. . . say something,
Bel:
Yeah.
You need to leave this silverspeak stuff alone.
Stay with the commander if you want, but don’t fuck with that shit anymore.
Ulrich:
No, no it’s. . . a good thing. I. . . why would you say that?
Bel:
Followin’ orders.
Ulrich:
Whose?
Bel:
Yours, babe.
AWA – PAGE 96
Ulrich:
That makes no –
Auf dem schild steht “Nicht stören!”, oder? Kannst du etwa nicht lesen?
Agatha:
Ulrich?
Ulrich:
Go away.
(AAAA)
(-CHOO!!)
(Oh, much better)
Agatha:
Are you alright?
Ulrich:
Fine. What is it?
Agatha:
You need to tell your captain to step off.
Ulrich:
C. . .Captain?
Agatha:
I just thought. . . armed people in a ship looking for treasure. . .
Ulrich:
Do we ACT like pirates?? We haven’t caused any trouble since we GOT here!
Agatha:
Well not good pirates.
Ulrich:
And why is Phineas the captain?
Agatha:
She’s more charismatic.
Ulrich:
I’m charismatic!
Agatha:
But you have to work at it.
Ulrich:
Oh she cheats. That Brokenspectre. . . thing, makes her seem bigger.
Agatha:
That’s – she told me about it.
Up on the roof, she was trying to recruit me. Going on about. . . loneliness? Just –
Just, drivel, saying whatever she thought might get me to
Ulrich:
She told you she was lonely?
AWA – PAGE 97
Ulrich:
Mmm. . . that’s interesting. I have been thinking about it for a while.
Our ship, that upset you so much before.
You didn’t get a good look at it did you?
It’s alive, it formed around her subconscious. Perfectly tailored to what she felt was needed.
I am familiar with the questionable interior design choices of an unleashed egoi. There are none of the things I expected from her.
There is a garden and a lighthouse, three floors in anticipation of a crew, but the. . . the spaces are narrow, the hallways; encouraging occupants to stay close.
An infinite amount of space to work with and she made a ship full of small rooms.
Tables to sit too many. Furniture already broken in, easily rearranged to suit company.
And it’s made of garbage. This affront to architecture is made, intentionally, with scraps of repurposed wood. Worn ropes. Reclaimed things.
More to the point,
We sleep in the same room. Only one bedroom appeared on the ship.
Phineas can’t help but be sincere, it is a pain in the ass. Anything she told you is likely what she perceives to be truth.
I’m afraid I can’t help you here, either way. If she’s set her sights on you then there isn’t a lot I could say to change her mind.
Agatha:
But WHY? I’m a monster someone built in a lab. A defective monster.
Ulrich:
I think monsters are exactly what she is in the market for.
AWA – PAGE 98
Agatha:
It doesn’t matter what she wants.
I tried to explain it to her but I don’t think she was getting it.
Ulrich:
. . .
You are heart-bound to Monterey.
Agatha:
I LITERALLY can’t leave him; if I pass the city limits without him I shut down. If his heart stops, I shut down.
Ulrich:
We. . . most of our bodyguards were programmed the same way,
We set their cores to stop when their ward dies so the. . . so the parts can be recycled.
But none of them ever kept pigeons.
And this mark means. . .
Monterey didn’t GIVE you a heart at all. You’re completely dependent on him.
. . . I’ve never seen it done this way, it’s usually a discreet engraving on the back of the neck. Was that burnt?
Agatha:
So you –
So you get why- it’s not that I don’t. . .
Ulrich:
Of course. I don’t know how effective it will be but I will speak with Phineas.
AWA – PAGE 99
Ulrich:
I’m. . .
I’m sorry.
Agatha:
For what?
Ulrich:
I’m sorry this is happening, and I am sorry we meddled and made it worse for you.
Bel:
So soft.
Dummy.
Agatha:
. . . it’s okay.
I had a good time.
Phineas:
Did Agatha find you? What did she want?
Ulrich:
. . . Sheee said she can’t come with us and asked me to ask you to stop asking.
If she goes too far from Monterey she powers down, it’s a measure meant to keep bodyguards from outliving their charges.
Phineas:
Yeah she told me.
There’s got to be something we can do. This is too much. I can’t let this go.
Ulrich:
She literally does not have a heart.
Phineas:
I saw it!!
Ulrich:
You’ll risk Agatha’s life to try and call his bluff?
Phineas:
No, I’ve just- felt this before, I can’t figure out where.
Ulrich:
Phineas this is not a puzzle.
This isn’t a problem you can solve by believing.
A dead person stays dead no matter how much they’re missed, and a machine won’t function without the parts no matter how much you love her.
Setting up a new power system for an android that sophisticated is specialist work and it can take months. Where could we take her inside his city?
AWA – PAGE 100
Phineas:
Do you really think she doesn’t want our help?
Ulrich:
That’s not the point! She has given up.
When you’re in despair the light burns.
You just keep dragging the issue into the open and saying it is awful!
Acknowledged! I’m agreeing with you, now what?
People put away their feelings for reasons, dredging up all of that without a solution is only cruel.
Phineas:
. . . Yeah, I don’t know. I’m sorry I’m
Ulrich:
Frustrated??
Phineas:
Yeah
AWA – PAGE 101
CHAPTER 18
WOOD, METAL, BONE
AWA – PAGE 102
Agatha:
Phineas?
Phineas:
I know what you are.
Agatha:
What? How are you even – where is this coming from? Are you here?
Phineas:
Listen, I know I got kinda pushy before. That wasn’t cool, I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t understand what you’re dealing with.
But I have someone here who does.
Agatha:
There’s nothing for you to
Phineas:
Just-!
Just. Look, ah, sorry, we shouldn’t talk long like this. If you want answers come to the ship. We’re still where we took the groceries the other day.
And if you. . .
If you’d rather we left you be, don’t come. Me and Ulrich will behave at this gala thing tonight and we’ll leave Decodenn and never bother you again. Promise.
AWA – PAGE 103
Agatha:
. . . What’s the plan if I do come to the ship?
Phineas:
That’s up to you. Goodbye, Agatha.
Agatha:
. . .
AWA – PAGE 104
Phineas:
Agatha!
Agatha:
Uh, hi.
Phineas:
I wasn’t sure you were coming!
Agatha:
Me either.
What’s this about?
Ulrich:
How much time do we have?
Agatha:
I… I told Mr. Goddard I was meeting with Myla. I keep my bike at their place so I had to go by anyway.
If he thinks I’m with them he’ll call Myla first if something comes up, they’ll cover for me if they have to.
Ulrich:
Is there any way we can do this slowly?
Phineas:
I have no idea, it’s usually real fast.
Agatha:
I –
I can’t see you very well in this clearing, and it’s really hard to understand you.
Talk to – please don’t talk like I’m not here. . ?
Ulrich:
Ach, yes, sorry. Our ship’s heart is disrupting your senses.
They think they might have information that could help you but the process may be. . . traumatic.
I have concerns.
AWA – PAGE 105
Agatha:
Your ship said?
Like a computer program, or. . . ?
Phineas:
The ship’s heart is called Lucky Noon. Our friend.
They want to try and explain some things to you but they need you to come inside and talk face to face.
Agatha:
. . .This isn’t some kind of trick is it?
You’re not gonna get me on the ship and try to fly off? You know what’ll happen.
Ulrich:
What good would that do any of us?
Phineas:
Of course not. You can say no.
Even if you say yes now.
You can leave any time.
Agatha:
What do I need to do?
AWA – PAGE 106
Ulrich:
Stop, here.
Can you feel this?
Agatha:
Yes.
Ulrich:
This is Noon. This is our friend. They need you to touch to open up, er, whatever line of communication they think is necessary.
Ach, wait. . .
Well just PICK something!
Phineas says, “Noon will take care of you, and we’ll be right here when you get back.”
Agatha:
Am I going somewhere?
Ulrich:
“You might be, kinda. It’s hard to explain. It might feel scary but you’ll be safe. Do you wanna stop?”
Agatha:
. . . No, just do it.
Ulrich:
I am letting go now. When you’re ready, reach forward.
AWA – PAGE 107
Noon:
This is gonna hurt
AWA – PAGE 108
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 109
Agatha:
O-oh n0
HELP
Noon:
It’s okay.
Agatha:
WHAT’S HAPPENING WHAT IS THIS?!
Noon:
It’s alright, it’ll pass.
It’ll pass.
Agatha:
I CAN’T – !
Noon:
I got you, everything is fine. We’re all fine.
We got time. You’re safe.
Agatha:
I – I’m sorry
Noon:
Don’t
You got nothing to be sorry for.
AWA – PAGE 110
Agatha:
What’s happening to me?
Noon:
You just met yourself. It’s been some time, apparently.
When two starstones get close our thoughts sort of link up. It’s how we communicate.
You. . . there is usually a, uh, a wireless network, but you and I needed to touch.
You’re. . .
It’s all kindsa fucked up to be honest. This is a mess.
Agatha:
So you’re. . . really not a ship. . . system? Thing? You’re not a program.
Noon:
Psh. Not at all. I’m a minor deity. Technically.
Agatha:
And I’m- starstone is alive?
Noon:
We aaare a fully sapient organism that exists in a plane just next to the one humankinds exist in, whose consciousness can extend to other planes under certain conditions.
So, again, technically. But yes.
Agatha:
Why do you look like Phineas and Ulrich? And Doldrum.
Noon:
Beats me, it’s YOUR subconscious.
Noon:
I don’t HAVE a shape, I only make these projections because humankinds don’t take well to communicating as nebulous energy in a formless void.
YOU really shouldn’t have a problem with that either, but uh. I think. . . your whole sense of. Like. Self is all messed up.
I can’t reflect anything back at you because it’s like you’re hiding your. . . self, behind other images.
Vane:
(Weh. . . )
Agatha:
WHAT the-
. . . I know that voice.
I hear it all the time in the arena complex under the house.
Vane:
(WAAAAAAAAA)
Noon:
That’s your shadow. Humankinds call them Tain.
AWA – PAGE 111
Agatha:
Why is it screaming?
Noon:
Probably the same reasons as you.
Hey –
uH, wait I dunno if that
Agatha:
Stop that.
We’re talking right now.
If you want, you can come join us.
But you need to be quiet, okay?
Noon:
Agatha I’m not sure you should
Agatha:
I’ve been listening to this thing cry my whole life.
Vane:
(Listening?)
Agatha:
If it hurts like I do then I’m not leaving it alone.
Noon:
(HMMMM)
Vane:
(Kind)
(I will remember)
Agatha:
Tell me more.
Noon:
Y-yeah, sure.
So, it looks like your heart- YOU, YOU’RE starstone, just like me. That is you. But someone. . . your body’s all wrong,
You’ve. . . I don’t know any of the technological details, but it seems like they took you and fused you with their metals, their earth.
AWA – PAGE 112
Noon:
You’ve been cut off.
You were part of a great big tree, and someone clipped you out and stuffed you in a little pot.
That rush you felt when you got here? Those were your siblings, the other pieces of yourself. You’re feeling them through me.
You SHOULD be feeling this, feeling us all the time, but in this form you’re. . . you can’t. I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
Agatha:
. . .
Noon:
This is a lot, don’t
Agatha:
Why is this happening?
What did I do?
Noon:
I don’t know why humankinds do anything. Their lives are short and inconsequential, they’re SO tiny but they sort of.
Circled back around? They’re so small they cant even grasp how pointless they are. Normally I think it’s charming
That lack of perspective makes them do stupid things, sometimes. Cruel things.
They can’t even fathom the hurt they cause each other most of the time.
They usually just cut us BEFORE they use stone for things like you. Machine sentience comes from their code, or whatever. It ain’t us.
If it’s strong enough the stone’s consciousness returns to the whole, nobody really gets hurt.
But I’ve never seen this. I didn’t know it was possible. Raw stone doesn’t work with their technology.
Whoever built you managed to make you advanced enough to keep yourself, but not enough to. . . be?
Agatha:
Y-
You feel things.
You feel things? You get. Mad.
It’s normal?
AWA – PAGE 113
Noon:
Phineas said you’ve been told it’s a programming error.
But it’s more that the brain you’re built into isn’t equipped to process what you’re putting out.
You’re trying to fit a mountain through a pinhole.
Agatha:
I’m not broken.
Noon:
No, sweetness. The YOU parts are fine.
Fine as they can be.
Agatha:
I’m fine.
Noon:
You’re perfect.
Agatha:
Fine. I’m fine.
Noon:
Snivel some more if you want. Nobody’s coming after you here.
Agatha:
. . . Their metals. . ?
Their earth?
Noon:
Agh, that’s kind of a longer story. So,
We were same as other stars before, I guess. All one piece.
The details were lost between us, but at some point we were shattered and cast down to the earth. To be honest I don’t remember much from before I met Crow.
We. . .I know we’re being punished. But nobody remembers who’s doin’ it or what for.
We were supposed to be bound to the earth, away from our sky.
From our creator, home, whatever it was doesn’t really matter now. Point is, this planet was meant to be our prison.
When we take a physical form, this mark is on it somewhere.
Agatha:
I thought. . . Mr. Goddard said it meant heartless.
Noon:
Not that one.
THAT one.
AWA – PAGE 114
Agatha:
They’re the same aren’t they?
Noon:
I don’t know WHAT the fuck that one on your arm is, but. . .
This is what the whole thing looks like. Mine’s got some extra bits, but the big circles and the cross are the important parts.
Basically you got a circle for a star, and an earth cross, combined.
This is our prison. Our binding.
The inner circle is us together. We can still connect across our fragments.
But like, YOU’VE been integrated into this. . .thing.
This, you’ve been ground down and melded with this. . . earth stuff, metals. You’re not just earthbound you ARE earth.
So you lost half your sigil, you’re missing the inner circle.
You’re imprisoned alone.
Agatha:
Well wh- why don’t we take me out!! If I’m –
Noon:
Mm-mm, see, half of your consciousness IS the machine. There’s no place to draw a clear division.
The body that experiences the world, the mind that thinks your thoughts both help shape you.
You can’t just abandon them. There may be something after but Agatha wouldn’t survive.
. . . Or worse, you might, scattered between pieces. Just aware enough to suffer.
Agatha:
. . .
Noon:
You’re a new kind of life. Anything is risky.
Agatha:
Why don’t
Why don’t you just kill them?
AWA – PAGE 115
Noon:
Some of us kill them, but I think they’re more useful as allies. It’s not usually as bad as your situation.
Phineas letting herself get tied up with me is what lets me make the ship, and I get to sail. I get to be in the sky again. It’s not home, but it’s something, at least.
Agatha:
Could I kill them?
Noon:
Given the right equipment you could probably level a city if you wanted to. You could do anything, if it weren’t for the whole heartbound thing.
Agatha:
But this means Mr. Goddard was lying, right?
If I have this power source then maybe I. . . don’t need him. . ?
Noon:
I dunno, it’s happened before right? You’ve cut off trying to leave?
Agatha:
. . . Yes, I think so.
Noon:
Yeah that seems too easy, it sounds like this asshole’s smarter than that. Your stone isn’t powering you directly, it’s hooked into a system designed around that. Chip. Thing?
Agatha:
Ok but I’m Modular, I know I’ve had parts changed. Can’t we just take the chip –
Noon:
Agatha, I’m SO glad you’re comin’ up with ideas and all but I don’t know SHIT about this stuff.
Sorry, these are more Ulrich questions. Or that kid who came through earlier, Myla.
How come YOU don’t know any of this?
AWA – PAGE 116
Agatha:
I’m not allowed to know anything about how I’m built. Mr. Goddard installed. . . blocks.
There was one around this ship too. . .
. . . I knew.
I knew something was, missing, wrong all this time and he made me think I was. . .
. . . I don’t want to kill anyone. I just want. . . not, this. I want to be a – person, I want a life.
Noon:
That’s good. As far as it goes, Phineas would’ve given you a run for your money I think.
She’s sort of the same as you, you know.
Agatha:
Yeah something about part of a god or. . . she didn’t articulate it very well.
I want to go. This isn’t fair.
Noon:
It’s not.
Agatha:
Knowing all this just makes being stuck here worse.
But it’s. . . it feels.
Noon:
Validating?
Agatha:
Maybe? I don’t know the. . . the words and the feelings don’t match yet.
Noon:
“Yet”, huh?
The word for that is “optimism”.
Agatha:
(-Ooh)
. . . Can they help me?
Noon:
I think they’re going to try, if you want ‘em to.
AWA – PAGE 117
Agatha:
(Be nice)
Vane:
(Nice)
Noon:
I don’t carry wimps. I’ve traveled with people who came out on top in much bleaker situations than this one.
It’s worth a shot, don’t you think?
Agatha:
. . . It’s worth a shot.
Vane:
(What is nice)
Noon:
That’s what I like to hear!
Agatha:
Why did you, um. . .
Why did you do all this for me?
Noon:
Aw I didn’t do nothin’. We just talked a little.
We take care of our own. Well, I do, anyway.
. . . Hahaaa speaking of which,
So, I’ve kinda been holding you together since you got in here. This is all. . . going to be hard to deal with when you’re back in your body, probably.
You’re a lot angrier than you think, all that repressed stuff is trying to get through at once now. We took the lid off.
I’ve been holding it back so we could talk, but once you leave it’s going to hit.
You got a lot to be mad about, but go easy on my crew alright? I kinda like ‘em.
Agatha:
. . . me too.
I’m glad I got to meet you.
Noon:
Likewise, little sister.
Ready?
Agatha:
As I’m going to be, I guess.
AWA – PAGE 118
Phineas:
Oh, Agath-
What’s wrong??
Agatha??
What did they say?
What happened?
– ?
AWA – PAGE 119
Agatha:
WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!!
I WAS FINE!!
I WAS FINE BEFORE YOU GOT HERE WHY WOULD YOU PUT ME THROUGH ALL THIS!!
Phineas:
(Agatha -)
Agatha:
YOU FUCKING
WHAT ARE YOU –
HOW ARE –
FIX
THIS!!
Ulrich:
Calm
Down.
AWA – PAGE 120
Ulrich:
. . . Are you crying?
Agatha:
O-out
Out
(OUT!!)
Phineas:
(Wait!)
Don’t – !
NOON!
Noon:
Sorry chief.
AWA – PAGE 121
Ulrich:
Phineas-
Phineas:
What’s WRONG with you two??
How could you just let her GO we could have kept her safe!
Noon:
It ain’t gonna do no good forcing her to stay someplace she don’t wanna be.
You are lucky she didn’t snap you in half.
Ulrich:
I’m sorry but what were you expecting?
I’m sure YOU were a picture of reason when you realized your existence was a waking nightmare, right?
Phineas:
What HAPPENED Noon? What did you tell her?
. . . I think she needs to come back for it on her own, but.
What happened is she asked you to fix something, s’what I heard.
Ulrich:
. . . She asked for help.
Noon:
Sure sounded like it to me.
And I really,
Really hope y’all figure something out.
A Traveler’s Journal – Golems
Golems exist somewhere between animal and mineral, falling under the same classification as sundogs or kindledrifts as an inanimate feature of the landscape that became infected with either star or tain energy. Starstone waves usually travel straight through the solid matter of the earth without a problem, but occasionally a mineral will be shaped in just the right way that a portion of the energy becomes trapped, ricocheting inside. When the resonance reaches a certain frequency, the energy sinks into the mineral and it gains something like life.
(Golems are sometimes unearthed during construction, especially in larger settlements where starstone is more concentrated.)
(Some have been found at the bottom of lakes and ponds, having fallen in and found they were too heavy to swim out.There are records of undersea reefs made of thousands of individual golems piled on top of each other, and at least one coral reef several miles long that migrates between the seas in kairos crossing, following the summer weather.)
(Golems can be made of nearly any type of mineral. curiously, golems born from tombstones never seem to stray from their graveyards.)
Golems don’t eat, sleep, or care to interact or communicate with other creatures outside of
themselves. They lumber along slowly and without apparent purpose, though it has been reported that they seem to prefer to stay in groups, and sometimes merge together the way raw starstone does. In the sprawl, left alone long enough, they can grow as large as mountains. There are no reported cases of aggressive golems, and the larger ones’ movements are slow and easy enough to predict that they aren’t involved in many accidents aside from an occasional crushed fence. They seem to want only to wander under an open sky.
AWA – PAGE 122
Agatha:
What –
What is –
Why am –
Monterey:
Articulate as ever I see.
Agatha:
M. . . my bike. . .
Monterey:
I’ve had THAT obnoxious thing sent back to Myla’s.
You’re lucky it’s storming outside the wall today. It kept going after you passed out, it could have hurt someone if there had been a bigger crowd.
Agatha:
You knew?
Monterey:
What, about the motorcycle or you “hiding” it at Myla’s garage?
Your bizarre fixation on that woman? The little tantrum you threw this morning?
Do you think there is any aspect of your existence I don’t know about?
Anything I haven’t allowed you?
AWA – PAGE 123
Agatha:
Wh – why? Why did you do this to me?
How could
Monterey:
“How COULD you?”
“This is HELL”
“You’re a MONSTER”
Always the same lines. I could script these sessions out from memory.
This is hardly any fun anymore, you know. You could at least TRY to make it interesting.
Though I don’t know why I’d expect creativity from you.
Agatha:
I don’t – please tell me what’s going on. . .
Monterey:
You’ve remembered what you are. And now you’re asking questions about the way I’ve treated you, about why things are, the way they are.
You’re fighting against your programming and it hurts and you’re too fucking stupid to understand why. So let me try simpler terms.
You are a caged animal but you usually aren’t aware of the cage.
If I don’t do something about it you’ll just beat yourself to death against the bars. Probably take half of my city with you.
Agatha:
What are you. . . -doing now how?
Monterey:
I’m erasing the last few days. It’ll be like this whole thing never happened.
AWA – PAGE 124
Monterey:
You’ll go right back to the way you were before that nasty girl came and got you all worked up.
Agatha:
But
Monterey:
You’re going to cry, in a moment, and you’re going to protest.
But then you’ll realize I know what’s best for you.
Agatha:
How many times has this happened?
Monterey:
This makes probablyyy 16, 17, I’m not sure. I stopped counting after the first handful of years.
Ulrich and that woman are new, though, no one’s ever been interested in you. I didn’t realize it could be a problem.
You won’t have to worry about that again.
Agatha:
I don’t want to forget.
Monterey:
Don’t you?
I’m doing you a FAVOR keeping you stupid.
Did it hurt like this before? Hmm?
Do you remember anything else? You’ve been overwritten so many times there’s probably nothing left of the first version of you now.
Do you even recognize your mother’s lab? Do you remember what happened to her?
Not that you two didn’t have it coming. I singlehandedly restore this family’s name and what do I get for my trouble?
Agatha:
Please please I don’t understand any of this
Monterey:
Of course you don’t. She never did, and you never will.
The sooner you stop trying to, the easier things will be.
AWA – PAGE 125
Monterey:
You’re going to ask me to roll you back.
Agatha:
I
Monterey:
It’s either oblivion, or things continue as they alway have, but you’ll feel like this.
Agatha:
I am afraid
Monterey:
Because you are a wretched, wretched mistake of a life.
And you know it.
As long as you do, revulsion is all there will be.
Agatha:
. . . M –
. . . Make it stop.
Monterey:
Ask me nicely, Agatha Goddard.
Agatha:
Please make it stop.
Monterey:
There’s a girl.
AWA – PAGE 126
CHAPTER 19
VITRIFICATION ORDER
AWA – PAGE 127
Phineas:
Hello??
Agatha:
Hello! I’m calling on behalf of Monterey Goddard, is this where I can reach Mr. Ulrich Weiss?
Ulrich & Phineas:
. . .
Ulrich:
Yes, speaking.
Agatha:
Hi! Mr. Goddard will send a car for you and your guest around 6:30, is the westward entrance to slate park still the most convenient place or –
Ulrich:
The same place we met for the bout, right?
Agatha:
. . . I’m sorry?
Ulrich:
Ach, nevermind I ah. Took some allergy medication and I am a little out of sorts.
Yes, that all sounds fine.
AWA – PAGE 128
Agatha:
Great! Can I help you with anything else before tonight?
Ulrich:
No, thank you Agatha.
Agatha:
. . . Alright! Have a good afternoon.
Ulrich:
You too.
. . . Damn.
. . .
Phineas?
Noon:
Hoo boy you must be PISSED if you came down all them stairs to
Phineas:
WHY didn’t you let me go after her?!
Noon:
I mean you could’a.
I just said it would be a bad idea.
Phineas:
You’ve been undermining us this whole time!
Why won’t you TALK to us?!
Noon:
You wanna fight with me Kidd?
Phineas:
Why did you let her GO?!
AWA – PAGE 129
Noon:
Don’t play dumb.
I know you felt how scared she was.
Phineas:
I could have HELPED!!
Noon:
By invading her privacy? By giving her a new boss?
Phineas:
You know we wouldn’t do that!
Noon:
She doesn’t. Agatha has no memory of ever making a choice for herself, not once in her whole life.
She’s never been able to say no, to anyone, how is she supposed to say no to you?
If her only options are abuse or pledging to risk her life for a stranger you’re just taking advantage.
Phineas:
I’m trying to help! I even said we’d let her off at the next town if she asks us to!!
Noon:
Yeah cool, just like you let Ulrich make his choice in Last Chance?
I’m not gonna let you build a crew out of impressed rescues, Phineas.
She’s not in a position to give you an answer.
Phineas:
No! She’s NOT!!
She can’t do ANYTHING unless we get her away from him and now she doesn’t even know who we ARE!!
Fuck your moralizing this is WORSE!! She should be with US!
Noon:
I understand
Phineas:
No you DON’T!
Noon:
But I won’t carry prisoners. And I damn sure won’t imprison my siblings.
Phineas:
I’m not ASKING you to!! WHAT are you TALKING about?!
AWA – PAGE 130
Phineas:
(-OOF!!)
Noon:
. . . Man y’all are just the same.
Phineas:
Don’t change the subject!
Noon:
What else you wanna say?
Phineas:
I’M STILL MAD AT YOU.
Noon:
Mad enough to dismiss me? You don’t wanna be partners no more?
Phineas:
Oh knock it off. I love you.
You’re just being stupid.
Noon:
Neat, then let’s finish this later huh?
Go cool off kiddo. Y’all’ve got a party to get ready for.
Ulrich:
THERE you are.
Come down and get dressed. The car will be here soon.
Phineas:
. . .
Ulrich:
I finished those gloves you wanted~
Phineas:
I’m not going.
Ulrich:
Yes you are.
Phineas:
What for.
Ulrich:
Because I have to go, and Monterey extended the invitation to both of us.
Which means if YOU don’t go I’ll have to explain why you’re not there.
AWA – PAGE 131
Ulrich:
It’ll be awkward.
Phineas:
What do you care what these people think.
Ulrich:
I don’t. I care what I think.
Besides, I can use you as an excuse to leave early.
You only need to behave for ten, fifteen minutes. Just a token appearance.
Eat some food, take full advantage of the free alcohol, I’ll carry you home and we’ll be down the Sprawl’s lack of a road by the time you’re up and hungover.
Please get dressed.
Phineas:
This isn’t fair.
Ulrich:
It isn’t.
Phineas:
I should have gone after her.
Ulrich:
She begged to leave and she ran, were you going to force her to stay?
I am not sure even YOU could have managed that.
Phineas:
This shouldn’t be happening, there has to be some angle we haven’t thought of.
There has to be something.
Ulrich:
. . . Not really.
Occasionally, being the better player only means knowing there is no winning strategy.
There’s no grand design conspiring for or against you. There wasn’t necessarily a right answer in the first place.
AWA – PAGE 132
Ulrich:
It hurts when it’s someone else. I know.
I know.
All you can do is cut your losses and set up for the next game.
Phineas:
I could flip the god damned table.
Ulrich:
Or,
You could say goodbye.
And you’ll have been a bright thing in her life for a moment.
It is nice up here.
Phineas:
. . . Yeah.
Did this building even EXIST when we were over for dinner? When did it get here?
Isn’t this a weather thing? Why are we having it inside?
IT’S NOT LIKE IT’S GONNA RAIN.
Ulrich:
Twenty Minutes, Phin.
Phineas:
You said fifteen.
Ulrich:
Just seeing if you’re listening.
AWA – PAGE 133
Ulrich:
Ach, that was fast.
Phineas:
Yeah I ain’t doin’ this.
Ulrich:
Fine. Get a drink in your hand and find a corner to brood in.
Phineas:
Yep.
Monterey:
Hello! Hello how are you.
Oh I was SO hoping you’d wear one of your masks this evening.
Ulrich:
I wasn’t sure if a mask would be appropriate, and if you wear one you really must build the rest of the outfit around it.
Monterey:
Hehehe, you surely must. . . dark colors, hm? Phineas could be attending a funeral I think.
Goodness that was rude! I’m so sorry, I’m always too familiar at these things.
The air, it’s. . . you know. . . hahaha
Ulrich:
No apology necessary.
Monterey:
Haaahaha you’re too gracious for lil’ ol’ me.
Ah! Well, I have an embarrassing amount of guests to greet but please catch up with me later dear.
Ulrich:
Just, one moment if you can spare it.
Monterey:
For you, Ulrich, I have an abundance of moments.
Ulrich:
Your assistant, Agatha, earlier she called to remind me when the car would be picking us up.
Monterey:
Oh no, was she unpleasant?
AWA – PAGE 134
Ulrich:
Not at all, I just noticed she was acting oddly and thought I should inform you she may be malfunctioning.
Monterey:
Mm! She didn’t know you, right? I ran that maintenance procedure I mentioned earlier.
Ulrich:
Oh?
Monterey:
She’s so old and she does meet so many people, she gets bogged down with data easier than newer machines do.
I take her down to the lab and clean up her memories. It sounds garish, but she never minds it for too long hahahaaa
Was there something else?
Ulrich:
No, I understand perfectly.
Monterey:
She’s always batty for a few days after, I’m sorry if she put you off.
Ulrich:
No harm done.
Monterey:
Great! Have a good time, schatzi, you look like you need it.
Myla:
Hi Phineas!
Phineas:
Oh, hey.
Myla:
I just wanted to say thanks again for listening to me earlier.
And bein’ nice to Agatha. I know she doesn’t remember you now, but
Phineas:
Yeah I’m sorry we couldn’t –
Myla:
But she told me about your, like, date thing, and when she came by this morning she seemed. . . hopeful?
AWA – PAGE 135
Myla:
I’ve never seen her affected by anything like she was by you guys.
Phineas:
She
Myla:
So, um. It was a good thing you did, I think.
Y’all are really cool and! I’m gonna tell Maka to make a ship like yours so we can travel too!
Phineas:
Who?
Ah, haha it was
Myla:
Tell Ulrich I said bye!
Phineas:
. . . See ya.
Ulrich:
(Having fun sunshine?)
Phineas:
Sorry I left you. I don’t think I could talk to that guy without hitting him.
Ulrich:
It was a near thing for me.
Phineas:
Can we go soon?
AWA – PAGE 136
Phineas:
Uh,
Hi.
Agatha:
Hello!
Can I help you with something?
Phineas:
Ah, don’t –
You don’t have to –
Agatha:
I’m sorry!
Does this expression upset you?
Mr. Goddard heard my smile is unsatisfactory, so it was adjusted.
I’ll let him know it needs further attention.
. . . ARe you alright?
I can direct you to the medical services if you need them.
Phineas:
N-no, I. . .
. . .
You look. . . rea nice.
Agatha:
What?
Wh – uh. Thanks. So do you.
. . . Really.
That suit fits you perfectly.
Phineas:
My,
My friend picked it out for me. I’m no good at this stuff.
Agatha:
Well you can tell them they’ve got a good eye.
AWA – PAGE 137
Agatha:
Ma’am are you sure you’re –
Excuse me.
Mr. Goddard needs me.
Phineas:
(Wait,)
Mana:
She should have been ours
She should have been ours!
She is ours!
Mine
That’s
Phineas:
MINE
Mana:
Our precious thing is desecrated at the hands of a fool sovereign!
Blood!
BLOOD!!
AWA – PAGE 138
Mana:
While we yet shine
Ours will suffer no sovereign!
AWA – PAGE 139
Monterey:
Oh, dear.
Ulrich:
Sorry, what’s. . ?
Phineas:
Uh,
Ulrich:
Ah.
Crowd:
SOMEBODY GET HER!!
What happened what happened?!
CALL THE WEATHER DEPARTMENT
SECURITY!!
Are those wires?!
Where’s the robot?!
Where’s Monterey?!
Phineas:
Hey!!
AWA – PAGE 140
Agatha:
Move!
Move!
Get out of –
Get
Phineas:
Listen man
Dude who isn’t paid enough for this:
You’re staying right here until the –
HERE TAKE HER!
Phineas:
H – haha
Hi,
AWA – PAGE 141
Ulrich:
What now?
AWA – PAGE 142
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 143
Ulrich:
PhineaaAS?
Where did you!
Phineas:
Hi.
Ulrich:
Hello.
AWA – PAGE 144
Ulrich:
What is your plan?
Phineas:
T. . . try and hold her off ‘till she gets tired? Maybe?
Ulrich:
Phineas she is a machine!
How do you expect to
Hals- und beinbruch.
Don’t go outside, I will be back as soon as I can.
Phineas:
Come on, pretty lady.
AWA – PAGE 145
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 146
Ulrich:
I do not normally care for a captive audience.
But you’ve paid a hell of a lot for this performance, Monterey, and never let it be said I’m not worth admission.
So, sincerely,
Enjoy the show.
AWA – PAGE 147
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 148
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 149
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 150
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 151
Monterey:
Well, Ulrich, when you’re right you’re right.
About masks, and outfits.
They work the other way too.
You have too many details, too many loose ends, but you pick the right face, and,
Things tidy right up.
AWA – PAGE 152
CHAPTER 20
MNEMONICS IN MOTION
AWA – PAGE 153
Monterey:
You’re still dazzling, dear, but
Applause is a bit beyond me when we’re down here.
Have you visited many secret laboratories?
You came straight here, ready for traps. You must have done this before.
Ulrich:
You may as well have invited me.
Did you think I would not notice one of our entry coins facing the wrong way?
Monterey:
In my defense.
That is a ridiculous thing to notice.
And you seemed preoccupied at the time.
AWA – PAGE 154
Monterey:
You, Ulrich, have been a uniquely frustrating development.
Not that I’d expect less.
Your body’s been fighting off my pollen ever since you arrived in Decodenn, I cannot imagine it’s been pleasant for you.
Ulrich:
[— d u e t w a h n e e k t l e s s u n]
Agatha:
[Ulrich?]
Monterey:
I have different strings for every sort of humankind who’s ever set foot in my city,
And never have I seen someone so viscerally refuse to
Just,
Fucking,
Relax.
You’re strung so tightly your stress outpaces tech that’s had nearly 100 years to perfect its ability to dynamically adapt.
Do you understand? I had you breathing in smoke from above the foundry and it only made you bleed.
How do you live like that?
Ulrich:
I don’t. . .
I do not know if you’re really there, if you’re listening.
If I am speaking to myself.
I, um. I need you to keep me safe.
If things go wrong I need to be useful, We can’t lose our grip again. Where they will see.
I don’t want to, this is. Too much.
AWA – PAGE 155
Ulrich:
Help me.
Bel:
Amateurs.
Well that was stupid. I could have done it myself.
I said silverspeak was trouble.
Yeah? It would hurt less if you’d stop struggling so much.
AWA – PAGE 156
Ulrich:
Pollen, the flowers all over the city. . .
Keeping me from focusing, whenever I got upset I couldn’t –
Myla’s father, and the woman Myla fought in the arena. They were acting strangely.
Monterey:
I do have a special formula for the fighters’ dressing rooms. The arena complex has its own rules.
A little aggression makes for a better show.
Ulrich:
Myla is a CHILD.
Monterey:
Oh calm down.
Not Myla. Their mother and I have an arrangement.
Ulrich:
. . .
There is a special place in hell for people who do the kinds of things you are doing.
Monterey:
Haha, yes. I expected you’d think that.
Ulrich:
. . . What have you heard.
Monterey:
Fortuna got his money’s worth out of you, didn’t he?
Quite right too!
You were a hefty investment as far as lab rats go.
Did anyone ever tell you how much you were sold for?
What your life was worth in hot meals? In rent checks?
In diamonds?
Would you like to know?
AWA – PAGE 157
Monterey:
I’ll let you have that one for free, even. When you decide you want it, hee hee.
But you’re not here to rehash old business.
What is it you expect from me?
Ulrich:
I’ve noticed industrialists try to justify their actions when they are brought to light.
Monterey:
I’m not under the impression that justice has anything to do with it.
Ulrich:
My employer would argue otherwise.
Monterey:
Would she! While she’s destroying my home and endangering my citizens and trying to steal from me??
She just wants my servant! You both do! What is this fascination?
Let me make this plain.
Whatever slipshod show Fortuna ran, my experiments stay where I put them.
Agatha will remain here. There is nothing anyone can do about it. Not even you, Herr Weiss.
Ulrich:
So keep her. I just do not feel like being arrested today.
Call off whatever the hell is going on outside, stop this fight. We’ll leave with no trouble.
Monterey:
You need me for that?
All commanders are good for is brute force. Do you have so little faith in Phineas?
She can’t even manage to evade the law with one partner?
Or she won’t?
She has become infatuated with Agatha, and clearly you want to walk out of here with both of them.
I’ve already won. Agatha is everything and she is mine.
There are no pieces left for you to play. What leverage do you think you have?
AWA – PAGE 158
Ulrich:
Well,
This, to start with.
Phineas:
Kay,
Okay okay
Kneel.
(KNEEL)
S – sorry! Can you hear me? I’m just gonna keep talking. In case?
I’m sorry, I would never do this I just don’t want us to, to hurt each other.
Well, unless you’re into that I guess. Just not like this. H – ha.
AWA – PAGE 159
Phineas:
Oh man you’re strong. Uh,
It’s fine, I’m good. We’re good it’s not, that bad, I can hold this until, uh, Ulrich?
He seemed like he had __ idea of w__
Vane:
[GET]
[AWAY]
Get out
Of her head
Phineas:
What??
Vane:
You have done nothing but hurt my Agatha
You have failed her
Everyone has failed her
No more
She would not raise her hand to save herself
But I will
AWA – PAGE 160
Phineas:
How is using her as a puppet to kill me gonna help??
You can’t understand what this will do to her!
Tain don’t FEEL anything you don’t know what
Vane:
Do not tell us how we feel
I have watched this for an age, powerless, but now she has accepted me, brought me in given me form and
Existence
And
She wants it to stop she wants it to stop and now
Now she sleeps and I can do for her what none could
I can make it stop
No more
Phineas:
Wh –
N, no, wait a minute,
Vane:
No more no more no more no more no more no more
Phineas:
DON’T YOU DARE!!
(DON’T!!)
Mana:
DON’T!!
AWA – PAGE 161
Phineas:
. . .
Agatha. . .
Agatha please I’m trying to help.
. . .
How did I hurt you?? I didn’t mean to, I – I can’t stay,
I can’t do this –
Please say something
Agatha:
I
I am not allowed to hurt. I am not allowed to refuse what hurts.
I am not allowed hope, not even the memory of hope being taken away.
Am I not at least allowed the decision to end it.
Will you take this from me too.
AWA – PAGE 162
Phineas:
I don’t think you want to die. You’re just exhausted.
When you had the chance you told me to fix things.
The first thing you did when we met was reach out.
How many times have you done it since? Before? How many lifelines snapped in your face? I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier.
Even still,
Even here, despite everything you took my hand. You’re a god damned miracle.
Let me carry this burden you’ve picked up for a little bit.
You came by it honestly and I’ll give it back, but I can’t help you if I can’t get close.
I want you to show me how much it hurts.
Get mad.
Get mad enough to hang on to whatever part of you this is, the part that reached.
I’ll be right here when you come down.
I love you so much.
Just a little longer, I promise.
AWA – PAGE 163
Phineas:
(Hang in there.)
Mana:
(I AM HANGING)
(BRING OURS BACK.)
Myla:
Somebody TALK TO ME!
AWA – PAGE 164
Myla:
I’m MYLA!
I’m ZULA’S kid! Say something dammit!!
Myla & Weatherman:
. . .
Myla:
Uh,
Let me GO!! I HAVE RIGHTS!!!
Weatherman:
You should have gone home with your father, Mx. Mensah.
Myla:
Ooh I KNEW y’all had done something to him!
He didn’t even notice when I left!!
What’s going on! What are the statues doing? What are Y’ALL doing??
Weatherman:
Please, your mother would murder us if she knew you were still here.
Don’t make things more complicated.
Leave, no one will stop you.
Myla:
It’s Goddard isn’t it?
Weatherman:
For your safety I will call Director Zula myself.
Myla:
Fine! Call her then!!
Weatherman:
Really?
Myla:
. . . Ugh!! No!
Just –
Weatherman:
Go home. This doesn’t concern you.
AWA – PAGE 165
(No dialogue)
AWA – PAGE 166
Phineas:
Yeah?
AWA – PAGE 167
Phineas:
How did y-
Vane:
[Let me go!]
Phineas:
(Kgh-hhh!)
AWA – PAGE 168
SIGN:
Lab tour entry
Tour Guide:
Hello! Welcome to the Goddard Estate Laboratory!
To ensure your visit is as safe and enjoyable as possible please adhere to our rules and restrictions!
AWA – PAGE 169
Tour Guide:
Many of our research projects involve highly volatile materials and delicate equipment!
Please don’t touch anything unless explicitly instructed to do so by a Goddard Estate Botanical Artisan™.
Watch out for this symbol!
COMPUTER MONITOR:
FILE NOT FOUND
M:\BEACONv3.4.2\FrontLab
\elevtator\montysadforbid
Tour Guide:
Areas displaying this sign are restricted to authorized personnel only! If you go wandering you will be removed from the tour 🙁
In the event of an emergency do not panic!
Our Artisans™ have completed disaster response training and are ready to assist you.
Your safety is important to us!
Thank you for visiting today!
Your Goddard Estate Science Chaperone™ will take over from here!
Monterey:
Ugh they’ve hit the labs. This is going to be expensive.
Ulrich:
You are remarkably composed.
AWA – PAGE 170
Monterey:
I have no reason not to be. Your threat is insubstantial.
Ulrich:
Mhm? We could see how threatening a not-bullet from my un-gun would be to that malignancy behind you.
Monterey:
Generally my conditioning wouldn’t let you shoot me if you wanted to.
But you wouldn’t regardless.
We are the same
Ulrich:
Oh god.
Monterey:
I’ve no doubt you have the capacity for murder, but you
And I. And even our robotic friend out there
Are bound by the luxury of a polite society.
And why not! You’re a well-travelled man.
Isn’t my city wonderful?
Isn’t it better?
Decodenn has no malice.
We facilitate trade, we shelter our people from a cruel world so they can forward the cause of art and science for the betterment of that world.
AWA – PAGE 171
Monterey:
These are facts.
Decodenn is good for everyone.
Ulrich:
Sure, you only needed to subdue the entire population to get there.
Monterey:
And what harm does it do?
I am simply achieving the effect for which the threat of law strives elsewhere.
Sans the crime and the punishment, and personal capital dictating the extent to which the law applies.
Ulrich:
You being the exception.
Monterey:
Well,
Somebody’s got to run this place.
Whatever you feelings are about my methods, they get results.
And I am not some hated science fiction villain brooding in my mansion on the hill for those results, either. No one is afraid. No one is suffering.
Everybody wins.
Ulrich:
. . .
. . . You mentioned having done some research into my medical history.
AWA – PAGE 172
Ulrich:
What do you think you learned?
Monterey:
Naturally I was determined to produce a cure for what ailed you.
Which!
Would require a tiny breach of your privacy.
For your own good!
God that was a nightmare.
I can usually get anything I want. Not many settlements have the resources to stand up to mine.
Even the ugly transaction that brought you to the Fortunas in the first place wasn’t a problem.
(It’s still right there, you know.)
(You can take it any time)
There just wasn’t any information to find.
Your PR claimed your asthma had forced a hiatus, but I couldn’t get the doctors you saw. The hospital you stayed in, absolutely no paper trail.
All I could see was, one day you were there, one day you were not.
And you came back different.
Suddenly estranged from the heir to the Fortuna Empire, no less. What with running my own city with its share of secrets. . .
I can make some educated guesses as to what happened.
Ulrich:
In that case I don’t understand why you think any part of this argument would convince me to agree with you.
Monterey:
Oh, darling, you don’t have to keep up a facade for me. . .
AWA – PAGE 173
Monterey:
The city you came from made you.
You must know this, deep down.
One is nothing before their crucible. What happened to you was a gift.
Whatever etiquette keeps Roulette City turning created a wonderful performer, and a clever man with as many prospects as you care to pursue.
And Decodenn’s social contract put me in a position to write it.
Bel:
Hey.
Hey, come one,
Monterey:
The system is working as intended. All around us, always.
That mess out there is what happens when you give yourself over to fools’ sentimentality and bite back at the hand that feeds.
They’re the monsters we invented this system to control in the first place.
Rational men like us are never going to get by in the kind of world they want.
Which is why we must abide by these rules we’ve written.
Which is why,
You will not kill me. I’m better use to you, and everybody, alive and well-connected.
Agatha is put to better use here, at my side, helping Phineas be the most useful version of her self:
Compost.
AWA – PAGE 174
Vane:
[As if you could hide from my Agatha]
Mana:
(Phineas)
Phineas:
(Please if you would just)
Vane:
[I will not work with thieves]
Mana:
(Phineas this is getting)
Phineas:
(Oh my GOD shut UP!!)
AWA – PAGE 175
Mana:
(Phineas you are losing)
Phineas:
(I ain’t!)
Mana:
(You’re pulling your punches)
Phineas:
(What am I supposed to do?!)
Vane:
[— listening to me listen let me go let me go!!]
Phineas:
(Who’s gonna fix her if she gets wrecked!)
Mana:
(We cannot do this forever.
Vane:
[WORDS]
Mana:
(At this rate one of you will die.)
(Are you going to throw away your ambition for her? Is this as far as you go?)
Phineas:
(I ain’t gonna lose! I can do this!!)
Vane:
[WORDS]
Mana:
(Well you make her live with killing you?)
Phineas:
SHUT – !
Vane:
[WORDS]
Phineas:
Oh GODDAMMIT
THIS IS SO STUPID!
Vane:
[You are stupid!!]
AWA – PAGE 176
Phineas:
STUPID!
NEITHER OF US ARE DYING TODAY!
I’M A COMMANDER!
DEATH ANSWERS TO ME FIRST!
NONE OF YOU GO UNTIL I DISMISS YOU!!
YOU CAN’T HAVE US!!
I SAID SO!!
WE’RE GOING TO LIVE!!
Vane:
[. . . Can]
[Can she do that?]
Mana:
(Really?)
AWA – PAGE 177
Ulrich:
. . . And Agatha?
Monterey:
What about her?
Phineas:
N – NO! STOP!!
Ulrich:
You will not free her?
Monterey:
No. I don’t see why what I do with my personal property concerns you.
Ulrich:
Fine.
Monterey:
W. . . What? Wait,
Wait
You can’t be serious! You’d destroy a city over
You’d trade all those lives for
For one person?
(WAIT)
Ulrich:
Every time.
Monterey:
(WAIT!)
(STOP!!)
AWA – PAGE 178
Myla:
SEE? SEE?!
WHAT DID I SAY?!
AWA – PAGE 179
Phineas:
Agatha!
Agatha??
H-hey?
Agatha
Agatha:
I f-feel
Every. . .
It’s all
It’s all so much
AWA – PAGE 180
Monterey Memory:
Wh. . .
M. . . mom? No. . .
Aunt Sho?
Where am I?
Y-you!
Please help me I don’t know where I am!
Where am I?! Hello?!
Please!
I can’t
What can’t I h-hello???
Is there anybody there?! Hello?!
HELP!! HELP ME!!!
(M-MUH)
(MUUUUUM)
(MAMAAAAAAAAAAA)
AWA – PAGE 181
Ulrich:
Shit!
Fuck you?
FUCK YOU!!
What are you doing still wandering around down here
Phineas:
Help me.
Ulrich:
Help you wh. . .
Is –
– Is she alive?
Can you see. Something?
Phineas:
. . .
AWA – PAGE 182
Ulrich:
Phineas you’re hurt, she’s too heavy we can’t. . .
Phineas.
Phineas:
Help me or leave.
Ulrich:
A laboratory full of chemicals is on fire and I just murdered a politician we do not have time for this.
Phineas look at me.
Phineas it’s over.
This is no good Kidd!
Phineas:
How COULD you?!
Ulrich:
I protected my boss.
Monterey was too far gone, he would not be persuaded, you see?
You see what that beam did to the lab over there?
LOOK!
You think you would have a lot of will to live if you were blasted to pieces?
Phineas:
I fought a demigod last week!!
I could have
Ulrich:
No, you couldn’t.
But I could. So I did.
Phineas:
No!
Never ever put me before one of you!
That’s not how this works
Ulrich:
THAT IS EXACTLY HOW THIS FUCKING WORKS!
AWA – PAGE 183
Ulrich:
How many times are we going to do this?!
The whole POINT of gathering pieces is to put them between your king and the opposition!
You do not sacrifice your king, understand?
You can lose anything else and still have a chance.
But if the king goes everyone goes!
Phineas:
I’M
Ulrich:
LISTEN TO ME!
I just killed two people to save your stupid ass.
If you die anyway what good was it?
You brought me onto thes crew to help you reach a goal,
To do what you can’t.
My JOB is to remove what threatens you and you have to let me work.
You need to understand that your actions as a leader, losing your temper – these things have consequences which may very well be an innocent person in my sights.
When you ask someone to sail with you you’re asking them to put themself in danger in service to your ambition.
I know you don’t see it that way, I know it’s difficult.
But until you get your SHIT together we will only lose more people.
Phineas:
. . .
Ulrich:
. . . Okay?
Okay??
Phineas:
Get off me.
Ulrich:
PHINEAS!
Phineas:
I,
AWA – PAGE 184
Phineas:
I can’t leave her here.
I can’t take it.
Myla:
What the hell are y’all still DOING down here?!
Phineas:
A. . . Agatha
We killed Monterey and now she’s
Myla:
Y’ALL DID WHAT?
You murdered the mayor?!
Phineas:
We had to! There was – Agatha – had a laser
Myla:
uuUGH GOD, just –
Come on, hurry up.
We can talk outside.
My mom’s gonna be so pissed.
AWA – PAGE 185
Toulouse:
Sorry, I’m running a little early.
SIGN:
20.75:
Sound of Someone Saying “I Love You”
Toulouse:
Agatha’s mother was a scientist.
Orphaned just after she came of age, she was left with an enormous house,
An obscene amount of money,
And the reputation of being the latest in her family’s line of brilliant but strange inventors toeing the line between hard science and fantasy.
She did not disappoint.
Her name was Shoshanna.
Like any good scientist she kept faithful notes on her work, although few cared to read the chickenscratch of a madwoman.
AWA – PAGE 186
Toulouse:
She decided, at some point, she wanted a child.
Estranged from most everybody, she knew she’d have to solve this problem on her own.
WRITING:
Beatrice
Johann
Agatha
Julius
Toulouse:
So her work on Agatha began. Her work was good.
To date, Agatha was the most complex, convincing synthetic human in existence. She was often mistaken for a clone.
The good Doctor Goddard wasn’t the first to tinker with using starstone as a direct powersource for a sapient machine. But she was the first to give a humankind interface to an uncut stone, being fascinated by its bizarre properties.
She didn’t know what she was doing, only having a scientific knowledge of the nature of starstone and none of what was considered superstitious by her peers. Still. . .
Agatha, a machine with the heart of a star, was born.
She woke up screaming.
Neither she nor her mother understood then what kind of isolation Sho had condemned her creation to.
But Agatha was built to be loved, and she was, and Sho made sure she knew it.
Concerned someone less kind might imitate her experiment, she stopped documenting.
Instead, her work notes became love letters to her child.
AWA – PAGE 187
Toulouse:
Agatha grew. They were happy.
Sometime after Agatha’s fourteenth birthday, Monterey’s parents were killed in a relatively boring lab accident.
He lost his home and his body was made frail
Eventually he became ill enough to seek the counsel of the embarrassing aunt his branch of the family had vehemently ignored his whole life.
That Shoshanna had deluded herself into thinking her experiment was a sapient thing didn’t interest him,
But the hardware. . .
Sho dropped everything to help the young scrap of sickly family on her doorstep.
And while she worked to save his life, Monterey seethed.
Not only did this woman have the audacity to call herself a scientist, making a joke of the Goddard name in the scientific community with her hokey magic stories about spirits in stones, but people praised her for it.
Agatha was Decodenn’s darling, her “groundbreaking” design forwarding the research into synthetic emotions and even restarting the village’s ethical discussion about starstone.
An argument about GHOSTS.
AWA – PAGE 188
Toulouse:
Why did SHO get to continue her work while his parents’ lab was in ruins?
Why did SHE get to live while HE got sick?
Why did AGATHA, who couldn’t even appreciate her, get to have a mother??
It wasn’t fair.
It took two years, but Sho finished her work in time; Monterey was just able to survive being installed into the machine.
Building on her experience with Agatha, Sho was able to give her nephew a convincingly human remote body.
Once it was established that he would live, Monterey used his new body to murder Sho.
His own continued humanity secured, he mutilated Agatha’s.
Forced this time into a shell too big, insular and unresponsive,
Built haphazardly and with the intention of serving the person who had eaten up her life.
At first, Agatha remembered, and felt, nothing.
Nearly.
What’s the use in punishing something that can’t feel it?\
AWA – PAGE 189
Toulouse:
Unfortunately for Monterey, his vessel did eventually need keeping up. Agatha’s body was too ruined by his own hand to be useful for research.
And it was like Sho’s notes on the model were missing entire years of data.
All he could find
Were letters to Agatha.
Hidden all over the estate, Sho had left them for Agatha to find on her own.
She did, sometimes.
The resets came to be common; when Agatha learned too much, when she rebelled. When she turned self-destructive.
Over and over, the truth was buried deeper and deeper until finally there was no one left who remembered it.
It’s a cold comfort that dead mothers can’t see what the lack of them makes of their children.
Despite his efforts, Monterey’s body drifted from Sho’s immaculate work while his human self decomposed in the dark for 80 years.
He became frail in new ways, and the frustration he poured into Agatha only intensified.
So it went.
The life of Agatha as a star, as a child in her mother’s arms: twice, the existence she should have had was stolen before she could even understand what was being done to her.
A theft so complete there is no language to mourn it, no name enough for what was taken, no way to comprehend the shape of the ragged void it left.
AWA – PAGE 190
Toulouse:
Ofen, dear things are lost in stupid, useless ways, and even the comfort that the universe cares enough to cause agony is not there, because that’s not true.
But that doesn’t mean there is no comfort to be found.
A hard drive is never quite the same once it’s been written into. Neither is a life.
The memory is etched into the metal, the flesh and bone; every mark alters the physical form forever.
The howling emptiness is there, always, demanding grief it can’t be given. If this is constant, so too is the inverse, the overwhelming ordeal of being alive.
A soul meant to love, to live, will fight to do so whether or not it remembers why.
The kindest universal truth is that all things, even things lost to our small understanding, carry on somehow.
One way or another. Unstoppably, definitely, everything continues.
Even if we can’t recognize the form it takes.
Everything marks, dear reader.
Every last thing.
Take heart.
Ulrich:
I’ll be damned.
AWA – PAGE 191
Agatha:
. . . Ulrich Weiss?
Ulrich:
That’s me. How are you?
Agatha:
. . .
Ulrich:
Myla said you’d need to recharge after you, ah. Blew up.
Agatha:
. . .
Ulrich:
She’s fine, only resting. She’ll bounce back soon.
Agatha:
Should I know who this is?
Ulrich:
We are friends of yours, we’re here to help.
Agatha:
What happened?
Ulrich:
Quite a bit. Monterey is dead.
I,
I do not know your situation well enough to know if it would have been beneficial for you to see the body, or if this will help.
But I thought it best to err on the side of preparation.
He is gone, you are safe.
Agatha:
. . . You killed him.
Ulrich:
Yes.
Agatha:
Why would you do that?
Ulrich:
It needed to be done.
Agatha:
How am I. . . Am I your guard now?
Ulrich:
You are nobody’s anything.
Phineas:
Myla says bye.
AWA – PAGE 192
Ulrich:
Myla says we need to report to the Weather Institute tomorrow morning.
I think we should.
Myla really saved our asses, we wouldn’t have gotten out of the estate without their help.
Those suits were ready to kill us if Agatha didn’t first.
I believe we have managed to make proper enemies of the state this time, mausbär.
Phineas:
Good.
Fuck this state.
I’m sorry I ruined the outfit you got me
Agatha:
. . . It’s okay.
Phineas:
I really liked it
Agatha:
. . . I’m glad.
AWA – PAGE 193
CHAPTER 21
VICTIMS OF SCIENCE
AWA – PAGE 194
Zula:
I know you didn’t know, Myla.
I understand you’re frustrated with me for keeping all this from you but I’m not going to apologize for trying to keep you safe.
Keep Decodenn safe.
I cannot overstate the severity of what happened last night.
Myla:
Yeah well I know all of us sitting here means none of us is getting killed.
So can you just lecture me later or whatever?
Zula:
. . . You know, despite everything, I can’t help but be proud of you.
Just a little bit.
But I need to be certain we’re all clear about how we’re going to proceed.
CARD:
Zula
[REDACTED]
AWA – PAGE 195
Myla:
I wish you’d mentioned the. . . that Monterey? Was. here?
Phineas:
Yeah that would’a been real nice for Agatha to know before now.
Zula:
“Nice” is not the concern.
You are lucky to be here for this discussion at all.
You’ve all committed crimes against the city and I’d already have had you dealt with if Myla hadn’t spoken for you.
Agatha:
What did I do?
Tell me what I’ve done wrong.
Zula:
You are a skeleton in the administration’s closet.
A scandal like you could be disastrous for us.
Ulrich:
As long as we can be sure of Agatha’s well-being we do not want to cause you any more trouble.
What would you have us do now?
Zula:
Leave. The three of you.
You have the rest of the day to make your preparations, after that none of you are to set foot in my city again.
Phineas:
So y’alls mayor’s an asshole and WE’RE in the wrong for doin’ something about it.
Zula:
We are being exceedingly generous.
Ulrich:
You are,
Considering we just murdered your figurehead.
Given how brutally Agatha was treated I am disinclined to believe you are really going to let us walk out of here so easily.
Zula:
Believe what you like. To be frank, you’ve done us a favor, in a manner of speaking.
AWA – PAGE 196
Zula:
Monterey was capricious.
Difficult to work with.
We spent more time cleaning up after him than anything else.
Between that and Myla’s insistence that we don’t have you all blanked, we’re willing to call it even if you disappear.
Phineas:
Have us WHAT now??
Agatha:
What happens to him?
Zula:
That doesn’t concern you.
Myla:
U-uh, no, I think it does.
Zula:
Myla this is not up for debate.
Myla:
What’s it matter if Agatha’s leaving anyway?
Zula:
. . .
. . . We’re not sure yet. Shen we brought it in it kept insisting it was Monterey.
Monterey Goddard is dead, we don’t actually know what that is in there.
But if we can be certain there’s no danger, after some schooling we’ll introduce it to the public as the original Monterey and pass off the lost time as a recovery period after the explosion.
Myla:
Maybe if you keep a, a consciousness,
A soul, in something long enough it. Starts to affect the vessel. Or something.
Monty:
Please, I. . . I only want to entertain.
Interrogator:
Good. That’s a good answer.
AWA – PAGE 197
Phineas:
This isn’t right. It’s not fair.
Zula:
It is an unfair world, Miss Kidd.
Phineas:
Oh fuck you!!
Don’t fucking brush off responsibility like that! Agatha deserves JUSTICE!
You KNEW this WHOLE TIME was
Monty:
Um! Is that Agatha on the other side of this mirror?
Sorry, It’s just –
Just, there’s an awful lot of familiar radiation in there, hahaha.
In case we don’t see each other again, I’d like to say I’m dreadfully sorry for what my counterpart did to you.
Terrible stuff.
I truly hope you can find some peace.
Zula:
Hey!
Get BACK HERE –
We’re not through
Ulrich:
So I can pick up my shoes and such from the front desk then?
Zula:
. . . Get out.
AWA – PAGE 198
Ulrich:
It was insensitive to let him near you, we wouldn’t have gone if we had known.
It is okay to feel afraid
Agatha:
I am not fucking scared.
You don’t GET IT.
Ulrich:
What don’t we get?
Agatha:
hhHHH I DON’T –
KNOW
Don’t ask me that shut UP
Ulrich:
Please try, liebe.
I know it is difficult,
But we cannot help you if you won’t talk to us.
Agatha:
shhHHH
HHH h. H. . . .
. . . the version of Monty who did this got away with it.
He did everything he meant to do.
Now this one gets another chance after everything?
I, I keep remembering things,
I – it’s not fair, I still –
A-aH, IT-
It still hurts. It HURTS!!
He’s sorry?
I don’t even have the right body and he’s SORRY??
I have to carry this anger AND HE’S SORRY?!
AWA – PAGE 199
Ulrich:
You don’t have to
Agatha:
YES I DO.
It’s all I have that’s mine.
If I’m not angry he gets away with it with everyone.
I have to spend the rest of my life managing this damage, that wasn’t my choice. This is.
And they’re trying to take THAT from me too! They decided we should just forget that – th
How b – bad it was, I should accept more servitude, swallow all this acid they dumped into me and be fucking grateful for it so they don’t have to feel – uncomfortable.
Nobody cared how I felt until it looked like I might fight back. No one said “peace” until it was MY turn to take a swing.
If the only control I have here is to be mad then I’m not letting go of it. It feels like giving up.
I can hate him or I can hate the wreckage he left.
And I am done hating myself.
Phineas:
You’re not wreckage, Agatha.
Ulrich:
(sigh) Well, we are not going to tell you what to do.
This was your ordeal and you can feel however you like about it.
But I wonder, what is it you want to do with all that anger?
It will have to go somewhere.
Agatha:
I want –
To be –
– Dealt. With.
I want. If my monster isn’t facing consequences there are others.
Other Montereys.
There must be. I won’t let this happen to anyone else.
AWA – PAGE 200
Agatha:
Not while I can help it.
Phineas:
You wanna come sail with us?
Kairos Crossing, to catch the sun.
Agatha:
What do you want the sun for?
Phineas:
That stuff you said,
Making sure the Montereys get theirs.
I think we’re on the same frequency.
But we can go bigger.
Agatha:
. . .
. . . Do I have to smile?
CARD:
AGATHA GODDARD
Berserker
Tempered Steel Guardian
AWA – PAGE 201
Noon:
Welcome back, little sister.
Phineas:
!!!
Noon:
Before we get too happy,
You may want to address your hangerson.
Phineas:
Huh?
We can leave, right now.
What do you want to do?
Agatha:
I want to talk to Myla.
Monty:
Hi – ho!
Myla:
S, sorry, I couldn’t get rid of him. . .
AWA – PAGE 202
Monty:
Oh what a DARLING little ship – !
Noon:
No.
Monty:
– ! Ah,
Fair, fair, sorry.
I am. . . not exactly the same Monty you knew, but I was. . .
Hm.
I am essentially a collection of his memories. I know everything.
Now that I’m driving, I find the actions quite distasteful.
So I wanted to extend my proper apology for the-
Haha! I suppose I deserved that.
Phineas:
(Weather dudes work fast huh)
Monty:
And you deserve much more than this, but. . .
AWA – PAGE 203
Monty:
I found it on my way out of the wreckage.
Isn’t it funny how things survive sometimes?
ENVELOPE:
For Agatha!
You found me!!
🙂
Agatha:
. . .
. . . What is this supposed to be?
Monty:
Someone who loved you very much wrote that for you.
It will be better for you to read whatever it is in her own hand, rather than hear it from me.
I’m just sensing so much hostility, I was hoping to foster some good will so we might part on civil terms.
Agatha:
You realize I can’t even be sure this is real? Do you get what’s happened here?
I’m having trouble believing these people haven’t reprogrammed me to like them.
Monty:
Yes, yes, all this business was unpleasant.
But! Now it’s finished we can all start moving forward, eh?
Phineas:
. . . Hey, you were right.
Ulrich:
I was.
What about?
Phineas:
The leader stuff.
I think we can do the things I want us to do, but I. . .
Forget, how dangerous stuff is?
It feels like I’m looking down from real far away, a lot of the time. Everything looks so much smaller than me. Not. Real,
It’s just hard to hear anyone else up there, you know? Fooling with practical stuff seems like a waste when things feel the way they do to me. There’s just. Pieces. Goals.
Ulrich:
Half god will do that I imagine.
Phineas:
I have so much faith in us, but I know I can’t ask a crew to have that faith in me when my perspective is so different. Y’all need more proof.
I need to be reachable or I’m no better than the. . . the others.
AWA – PAGE 204
Phineas:
You guys need to be able to trust me to do what’s best for us, I’m gonna do better.
I wanted to make sure you know I heard you
Ulrich:
Even all the way up there?
Phineas:
You’re a beacon, I told you. Loud and clear.
Ulrich:
Yes, well, I’ll do my best to bring you back to us now and then. But please don’t think I. . .
Well look at this mess. All of this happened because Monterey forced Agatha to repress herself for so long, I don’t mean for you to do that.
You are more zealous, you love and it’s heavy. The momentum of your focus can be. . . not, a bad thing, it is a lot.
But that’s the hand you were dealt, going against your nature can only end badly.
And it’s important for a leader to burn brightly. We wouldn’t be here with her now if not for your impetus.
I. . .
Keep loving, keep burning, be smart about it. Let me be good at things you are not good at.
God, if YOU get jaded what chance do the rest of us have?
Phineas:
NyawwWW don’t worry!
Myla:
Woah
Agatha:
I want you to keep it for me.
AWA – PAGE 205
Agatha:
I think it’s just a radio now, but it’s still a direct line to me.
Myla:
(Assuming the range is any good. . .)
Agatha:
Keep an eye on Monty okay?
If he tries anything weird,
If you ever need me for anything, you call me.
Monty:
(A-hem)
Myla:
But mom said you’re not allowed to come back to Decodenn. . .
Agatha:
If you need something
Call me.
Oh,
Good thing the coop was open.
Myla:
. . .
Agatha:
The others might keep going back to where the house was, go by and check on them when you think of it?
Send me pictures. If you want.
Myla:
Okay. . . well I was already gonna but if you’re giving me the radio thing I want you to have my patch
Cause you took me to all my bouts and helped me carry my stuff a – and,
I’m gonna miss youuuu
Agatha:
You won this, I don’t want to take your trophy Myla.
Myla:
It’s f – fine I have so manyyyy
Agatha:
. . . Thank you for being my friend.
. . . It’s okay to call sometimes, if you don’t need anything, too.
Myla:
‘Kay.
AWA – PAGE 206
Ulrich:
Are you sure you don’t want to come eat with us? I can cover it.
Myla:
I can’t, I’m meeting with one of my sponsors today.
(also I am grounded until the end of time I really need to get back)
Ulrich:
Well, what shall we do, Agatha?
Is there something special you want before we leave?
Are you well?
Phineas:
(HNNnN)
I feel like I got hit by a truck.
Agatha:
Technically I’m sturdier than most trucks.
AWA – PAGE 207
Agatha:
. . . Sorry.
Phineas:
Aw I’d step into the street for you any day, lady.
Ulrich:
Do not be weird.
Phineas:
I think I might head back and get some sleep though.
No rush, you guys have fun.
Ulrich:
Please behave.
Phineas:
Yep yep
Ulrich:
So! We’ve done the grocery shopping, our schedule is obnoxiously open.
Anything else you’d like to do today?
I er, don’t mean to pester you. I only want to make sure you feel like you can ask, if you want something.
Agatha:
Uhm. . . I,
The uh. I’d like.
I want a new pair of glasses.
Ulrich:
. . .
Ahm
Agatha?
Agatha:
. . .
Ulrich:
Agatha
Agatha:
. . . Can’t,
– I,
I can’t
Ulrich:
Alright.
Okay, okay, come on.
Agatha:
I don’t – know, what’s
I can’t
Ulrich:
Come this way now, this way, sternchen.
AWA – PAGE 208
Agatha:
I – I’m sorry, I don’t know what
Ulrich:
Do you think you’re better than me?
Agatha:
What?
Ulrich:
No no, come on, be honest.
Agatha:
Of – no, I don’t.
Ulrich:
Really? Are you sure?
Strong, tall,
Heart of a cosmic being stuck in a body that cannot get sick? Doesn’t age?
Just the same as this meatbag?
Agatha:
. . . I mean, you’re trying to, that’s –
That’s not –
Ulrich:
Right, so, that.
That’s what you use when you need to look someone in the eye.
Or climb the stairs to a crowded shop.
I want you to understand this. . . isn’t a problem, for most people.
I know all the feelings are not normal for you right now, but the one you felt out there isn’t normal for anybody.
Or, it shouldn’t be. I’m familiar with it myself
Agatha:
ssHHDON’T. Treat me like an idiot.
I know what anxiety is. If I had a problem I’d have identified it by now.
I just don’t think I need to take up time and money and sp. . .
Oh.
Oh this is bad.
Ulrich:
Yes.
I don’t mean to patronize you, I only. . .
Suspected, you’d have a few lingering effects that might make things difficult.
It’s alright. We just need to have our tricks for it.
You havent had a chance to find yours yet, so I’m saying for now it could be a slight superiority complex. Slight.
Agatha:
. . . Is that . . . healthy?
Ulrich:
It is perhaps not a permanent solution.
AWA – PAGE 209
Ulrich:
And I am certainly not the poster child for good mental health.
But to be honest, it’s likely your version of feeling “superior” might put you nearly equal with everybody else.
Managing a mind is difficult without the kind of baggage you have, it’s hard to say for sure what healthy even is, person to person.
In any case,
I think you’ve earned the right to use this particular crutch long enough to buy a pair of god damned sunglasses.
Cashier:
Find everything okay?
Agatha:
. . .
. . .
Yes. Thank you.
Cashier:
Goddard huh?
Agatha:
Uh,
Cashier:
Oh haha, the name registered with your gildchip, Agatha Goddard.
Decodenn’s mayor’s a Goddard! Spelled the same and everything.
Small world! No relation I assume.
Sure I’d’ve noticed a pretty gal like you on his arm before.
AWA – PAGE 210
Agatha:
N. . . none at all.
Ulrich:
Say thank you, Agatha.
Agatha:
Thank you.
Ulrich:
My friend has had some work done. She is a bit out of it.
Cashier:
Aw, poor thing. My daughter-in-law just had her hydraulics refit last week.
I hope you feel better, Miss Goddard!
Ulrich:
Twenty gild for off brand aviators? We should have just let this place burn.
. . . That was a joke, you’re allowed to laugh now, remember.
Agatha:
Yeah I’ll laugh when something’s funny.
Ulrich:
Oh you’ll do fine.
AWA – PAGE 211
Dusk:
Excuse me!
I love your coat!
Such a great color! Where did you get it?
Phineas:
Thanks! My mom made it.
Dusk:
oOOH one of a kind. What a thoughtful mom.
Phineas:
Yep!
Dusk:
Bold choice to sew a target on the back.
Phineas:
Oh it’s,
. . . Yeah.
Dusk:
Well it suits you, kiddo. You take good care of it.
Coming my way now?
Keep up, I’ve got places to be.
Myla:
Oh! You’re early.
Dusk:
I’m always right when I need to be, pipsqueak.
Myla:
I dunno man, you missed a CRAZY week.
I’ll make some coffee.
AWA – PAGE 212
(No dialogue)