Characters in order of appearance
Location INT. LIVING ROOM
Script Higgs sits upright in the centre of the living room, glass of wine on table. He holds a strong gaze at a wardrobe that lay on the far side of the dinning room across from him. Higgs glances up at a clock on the wall. He taps his fingers nervously. The clock is a minute before 1800 and as the very last second closes in so does Zipher. The front sliding door motions open as he slowly takes a few steps in, stopping only just after entering. Higgs stands up from his table and salutes. ”Kin Zipher, welcome. The air is ventilated. Please, feel at home.” panicky Part way through the sentence Higgs stops saluting and gestures to the corner of the room at a spinning air vent. Kin Zipher removes his mask with both hands. He places it upon the table but we do not see his face yet. ”Thank you, Captain.” Zipher’s eyes glisten shutting the door behind him. We cut ahead. Zipher stands by a window looking out at the city with a glass of wine in hand. Awkward silence fills the room as Higgs appears too timid to start the conversation, and Zipher coming off as too entitled to start it himself. Higgs steps up to him from behind, feeling urged. ”And how are your travels my Kin? Quite a journey it can be at this time of year?” Zipher stays fixated on the outside world of the window. Admiring the beauty of the stormy rain against his city. “My travels, are the dormant of my day.” Zipher sculls his glass of wine in one swoop placing the glass down on the window sill. He looks down and across at a tall plant that sits in the room, one of many. He walks over to it grabbing a watering jug as he approaches and begins to feed it. Higgs smiles. ”Hmpf. It’s funny really, I barely feed them yet, here they still thrive. That one’s called a Dragon Tree. Y’know, back in the old times, on the surface, those could be seen growing nearly 40 feet. What a sight that must have been. The green will always hold a sacred place in my heart.” ”The green are strictly forbidden within Archestian homes Captain. You are aware of the Heaven’s Sixth Law, are you not?” Zipher looks over at Higgs and places the watering jug down. Captain Higgs begins to look worried by this sudden turn and shun of conversation. ”But not to worry Captain, it can be our secret. The green may belong to our Surrogate, but it is only his other Laws I care to enforce. Besides, I admire your love for the green Captain.” Zipher turns back towards the window, peering out at the rain. ”If only the rain could rejoice with such creatures… They were your wife’s. Weren’t they?” Higgs bows his head down, turned off by the topic. ”Yes. They were.” Zipher focuses in on Higgs turned off demeanor. ”She was a botanist, if I am not mistaken?” Higgs begins to look very emotional. ”Agronomist. She studied and implemented the very production of green for the Gates. She was good at what she did. She was too good.” ”Indeed she was. The Heavens saw in her potential like no other. A sacrificial tragedy Captain Higgs. A dear shame.” We zoom on Higgs expression. He is emotional at this comment but suppresses the anger he harbours deep down inside.