HEART OF CHOCOLATE:

THE CREATURE'S PERSPECTIVE

Written by Marcus G. Burke

Based on

SHELDER EVOLUTION

First Draft

PROLOGUE

FADE IN:

H.S.S. Venture - Interplanetary colonization support vessel

Hard to imagine that this colossal assemblage of oversized tin compartments is actually a versatile and autonomous endurance spaceship... 

But it is.

She is orbiting planet Shelder.

Just another ball of blue and white and brown and green... What do we care?

But we will be exploring this ball inside-out. Our brave protagonists are ready to adopt the crucial first landing mission, just as the ship's A.I. has fearlessly adopted and nurtured them for 12 years.

(12 years on Shelder are 9.6 years on Earth)

Inside H.S.S. Venture - ROTABITAT B - classroom

PROJECTION WALL:

M.A.G.P.I.E. H.I.M.S. SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT
GARDIA CAMPAIGN

Organisation: GARDIA
Date: 12 GS
Homebase: Venture
Authority: Maggie MAGPIE
Program: HIMS_Generation

Success Conditions
- Establish at least x1 CAMP on Shelder.
- Generate colonists with HIMS_Generation.
- Deploy Generations to CAMP.
- Ensure Health&Safety of all humans under care.

Failure Conditions
- All humans under care are dead.

Assets
- H.S.S. Venture
- x5,000 GARDIAN embryos
- x1 Colony starter kit

An "asian-looking" WOMAN strolls back and forth in front of the projected dossier on the wall. She is lecturing two tan-skinned children - a BOY and a GIRL - sitting at their chairs in the middle of the classroom.

Girl raises her hand:

GIRL
Maggie?

Woman stops and presents the girl with an interested smile. Yes, this is MAGGIE.

MAGGIE (Woman)
Yes, honey?

Girl drops her hand and stares at the projection with a worried eyebrow.

GIRL
Why are the failure conditions like so?

GIrl points at the projection. Maggie checks it and freezes for a couple of moments - loading data in her advanced brain.

MAGGIE
'Failure Conditions. All humans under care are dead?'

It now sounds like an open debate... Maggie doesn't like open-answer questions. She turns back to Girl with a confused frown that intimidates both youngsters; is Teacher going to scold Child?

Suddenly... A proud smile.

MAGGIE
That is a great question, Yome!

YOME's blue eyes sparkle with joy. Her classmate gets a hint of envy and bites his own lips to suppress it. Yome catches it with the tail of her eye and turns to face him...

No more sparkles.

MAGGIE
Go on! Try to answer your own question.

Yome leaves Boy to brood and sets on a higher mind gear: her child brain needs to focus.

YOME
Urm...

Maggie starts pacing around the room again, impatient to hear. One could almost hear her mutter "come on, you can do it" but she doesn't make a sound.

YOME
...I would have thought that...

"Go on..."

YOME
...Shouldn't it say... Like... 'Any human... is dead'?

Boy finally gets it: the topic is a hot one. He flips his head between teacher and apt pupil while he wishes he was smarter to be able to compete. But he isn't - this is not his genetic strength.  

MAGGIE
Carry on.

More pressure. Maggie will not stop pacing around. More anxiety. How is Yome supposed to think clearly with such expectations?

BOY
Give us a clue!

Maggie suddenly stops dead for a second. Then scolds Boy:

MAGGIE
Not your turn, Toby! Yome raised her hand to talk.

TOBY (Boy)
Sorry!

Toby is burnt. He drops his gaze on the floor and eats his own tongue. Yome feels sorry for him too and her reasoning slips a beat. Maggie gets back on her case by walking behind her back, forcing her to stare dead mid-air. Gulp!

YOME
Urrr...

Suddenly, GASP! She gets it.

YOME
The individual deaths are not deemed grave enough to warrant a mission failure.

Maggie stops and nods proudly. Toby lifts his head and gets a severe case of stiff neck at the icecold realization of what Yome's answer means to him.

MAGGIE
Nailed it!

Maggie's smile is void of human compassion - only pride. Yome starts to feel the weight on her shoulders. Could it be too heavy a subject for a schoolkid? She sighs her worries down her throat.

YOME
But Maggie... 

Maggie walks back to the front and faces both pupils.

YOME
...Does this mean any of us can die and it wouldn't matter?

MAGGIE
(sighs)
Almost correct. But not enough vision.

TOBY
This is stupid! You're a machine! You just aren't obligated to care!

There follow a few seconds of total uncomfortable silence in the class...

Then Toby starts sobbing and Yome gets up and goes to console him warmly caressing his head, sisterly.

MAGGIE
But I do care. Obligations are irrelevant. I am programmed to nurture you, but I choose to care.

Toby appreciates Yome's care to soothe his crying but he's too angry not to respond.

TOBY
What happens if I die? Like, earlier than my... like... expiry date?

YOME
(heartbroken)
Toby!

MAGGIE
Kids. You have to understand. You might be too young to understand this, but with time and practice you will.

YOME
Understand what? We are expendable?

MAGGIE
Yes. We all are. 

Yes. This turns out to be too heavy for Toby; he falls into despair and Yome helps him up the chair and starts him off towards the door. She is distracted by a brief view of the Shelder planet drifting from side to side of the window. It's not the planet that's racing across the black sky - it is the Rotabitat that is rotating.

Maggie frowns watching the kids get at the door. But then Yome stops and turns around, leaving Toby to cry unattended as if he regressed to toddler stage.

YOME
This is stupid. I get that we have to understand indigenous life if we are to integrate, but we are humans, we... We shouldn't be... expendable!

Maggie walks over to them and becomes all motherly. Change of programming routine?

MAGGIE
Expendable does not mean easily discarded. It only means the entire campaign - the reason over a thousand generations sacrificed for - will continue on even in the event of one of us dying. 

CORRIDOR - LATER

Yome is starting out at the dark sky. Every 30 seconds or so, planet Shelder races across the winodw gifting her with stunning visuals of the bright blue ball with its own atmospheric aura.

MAGGIE
My job is just as hard as your training, Yome.

Maggie strokes Yome. There seems to be a genuine motherly instinct. Or maybe it's just bloody good programming.

MAGGIE
It is my responsibility as your tutor to prepare you for reality down on the surface. It will not be as easy and safe as here aboard this cosy four-star.

Yome leaves the window to show Maggie a tearful blushed face. Maggie's android "heart" breaks. Her emotions might be digital, but they are real.

MAGGIE
You are strong, darling. So strong. You will have to be strong for the both of you, inside...

Maggie's hand taps on Yome's chest.

MAGGIE
Because Toby's strenght will be mainly a physical one, so he will be able to protect you. And your children. I have the ominous task of having to teach you, a human child, how to be a mother. But I am only a surrogate to you...

Yome breaks down and rushes for a possessive hug around Maggie's chest, buring her child face into Maggie's bosom. MOTHER!

MAGGIE
...You cannot learn by example from me. You will have to figure this out on your own, and it would break my heart, if I had one.

YOME
(sobbing)
Oh you have -- one. Mother.

Maggie gets the beegeeses in her legs; what's going on? Can a Android get dizzy from excess tenderness? Or is it the first sign of chip malfunction?

MONITOR SCREEN

Toby spies on Maggie mothering Yome...

ROTABITAT A - BEDROOM

...from the comfort of his bed, and the convenience of the monitor screen on the wall. 

His face is icecold... But his eyes betray him: he is so envyous.

CORRIDOR

MAGGIE
(letting go)
But I trust you. You will know what to do, when the time comes.

Maggie smiles at Yome who is a mask of tears but the child manages to find the maturity to turn the weakness into a strenght - she smiles back.

MAGGIE
Yome. Listen...

Smiles fade.

MAGGIE
You have to promise me...

"Focus!"

YOME
Sure!

MAGGIE
Heart of Chocolate implants sound like a toy that your child mind is eager to play with. And so will your own children...

"Your own?" would probably want to whisper Yome, but she cares not to act so immaturely. With a sigh she finds even more strenght to internalize the inevitability of becoming a mother herself one day.

MAGGIE
...But toys they are not!

Maggie glances at the ceiling for a moment, implying a reference to a higher entity:

MAGGIE
'Mother' likes to use childish personalities when dealing with humanly matters. I do not personally agree with it, but I am prohibited to disagree. Do you understand what I am saying?

Dang! Yome is feeling the burns from the scorching hot topic they are only scratching at like a dog to a door it wants to get past and the door is electified. BZZZZ! OUCH!

YOME
Urrm... I... Urr.. think so.

MAGGIE
You will with time. Now listen...

"Here it comes."

MAGGIE
...Once H.O.C. two's are deployed you will have little to no control over them. That is how they have been designed - to be fully autonomous. They will evolve along with the creatures and...

Unpromisingly, the conversation is becoming way too heavy even for Yome and she starts to drift off into fantasyland where unicorns play chess with dragons and keep a bucket of water in case the dragon gets sick of losing all the time - 'cause unicorns are way smarter, deal with it!

MAGGIE
...like us.

"Back in focus."

MAGGIE
This is why we are all expendable. I know it hurts to even think about it now, but once down there, dealing with H.O.C. two's and what they mean for you, do value your children's life to the highest standard, but remember: no one single life is worth an entire species, because you need a minimum of one boy and one girl to make more. 

"JUST. LIKE. YOU. NOW."

YEAR 36 GS

COMPUTER SCREEN:

M.A.G.P.I.E. MISSION CONTROL

Run GARDIA_TAG.
GARDIA_TAG active; x100 TAG kits available.
Run GARDIA_CHIP.
GARDIA_CHIP active; x100 HOC1 kits available.
C1_LabDrone ONLINE.
C1_SurgeryStable ONLINE.
TAGandCHIP mission is now available.
Ready

Someone turns the screen off... 

FADE OUT.

END OF PROLOGUE