~ two

Another knock on the steel, Strauss outside the pod, tanks and soldiers readied on the crater ridge, where radiation reading from the scientific wing read zip.

Strauss - "Hello in there ... just me now.  And the army on the ridge surrounding us of course.  I told them there was no point, I knew you would survive.  And so there is little they can do now.

"I hope you understand it was never my desire to hurt you, only to show them.  I know what you are."

... nothing.

Strauss - "I understand.  This place must seem strange and our first act was one of violence.  Said the doctor after the baby's first spank, as they say so the baby knows it's alive.

...

"But we've recorded many things of this universe and this metal we've seen before."  A knock on the pod side.  "First recovered by archaeologists.  So ... welcome home !  We take this to mean, the experiment is over."

...

"We knew this time would come.  When the chips all get cashed in on this world and reality, we were well warned this day would come, and here you are.  And ... now these frightened people send me to negotiate with our own death itself.  

With the fates, via this strange alien girl in her spider, who to me appears more human than human.  Our own progenitors."

The curtain opens on the pod's view port.

Caldera - Muffled inside, she looks like she's trying to hear him.  "What ?"

...

Strauss - "I ... said, welcome to Earth ?  And please don't kill us all."

Caldera - "Oh.  Thank you.  And we'll see.  You may kneel."

Strauss - "I'd really rather not ... "

Caldera - "Hmmm ... "

The door opens, the spider unfurls ... stretches and yawns.  Timepiece watches from the hill beyond.

Caldera - Yawning ... she looks around.  "What's with all the soldiers ?"

Strauss - "Oh.  Well they're afraid of you I suppose, they ... "

Caldera - "Have you got any food ?"

Strauss - "So you need to eat."

Caldera - "Are you insane ?"

Strauss - "Conscripted."

Caldera - "With many tanks.  So you seek my weakness.  I could eat you."  The spider demonstrates.

Strauss - "Well they'd at least distract you I think."

Caldera - "Who ?"

Soldiers at home with family and friends eating food, but none on the ridge.  Strauss looks around and back to Caldera eating a sammich.

Strauss - "That's ... my sammich !"  He watches her take a bite in slow motion ... chomp.  " ... my wife made that for me ... "

Caldera - "You did have food.  Go get me the president please."  The spider encloses around her, the curtain slides shut.
____

The president sits at his desk staring blankly to the sound of crickets ... "What ?"

The twigs leftover of the faux town for testing swirls around as she walks, forming a small table.  The spider weaves the doilies while air Force One takes off.  She plays with a toy of it flying through the air as she spins with the splinters now making small chairs.

Around the world leaves begin to pluck with a gust of wind, collecting and crushing in its currents and all headed for the crater.  

 

The toy airplane flies, teddy bears are picked up in the wind.  On board the plane the president stares confused at Strauss with a look, 'Why am I here' ?

Upon arrival the president sees the short table and small chairs, two set for them and two for teddy bears.  Upon his arrival two teacups on saucers crash onto the table, cups shattering the saucers, a teapot into her hand.

A gust of wind dropping herbs before a sudden hard downpour of rain for filling it, soaking them both while she stares until it stops.  Her hand bursts to flame, heating the pot to fast boil and she pours.

Caldera - "Have a seat."

The very tall and very old president looks down at the tiny chair ... the teddy bears ...

President - "Goddamn it."

The song continues as Secret Service helps him down.
________

Zelda - "Do we care ?"

Carson looks to Esmeralda, excited like a dog.

Esmeralda - "I honestly don't know."  She scratches his head contemplatively ...

...

Auto - "I don't care."
________

Caldera - "Well, the charter expired and the experiment failed.  We're ready to boot the next simulation now but we need to scan a few object profiles first."

...

President - Speaking very clearly as an ignorant man thinking it makes it easier to understand, "I understand, your words, completely, strange and beautiful, alien child ... "

~ Timepiece on the hill draws back, "oh-oh".

President - " ... can I smell your hair ?"

The spider takes his head off with a single swing, she draws her space gun and disintegrates the Secret Service.

~ Timepiece - "Oh fuck."

The world starts twirling around her with the shattering of tectonics, Timepiece races on the motorcycle for the distant ship with the world falling inward behind her.  Cities crushed within, storms beyond category, quakes beyond Richter.

Timepiece rides through destruction, past the shaking old planes and hard docks in the ship.

Timepiece (Esmeralda) - "We care !  We care a lot !"

The ship departs as the world crumbles, porting out of time.  The last of reality swirls, taking out the solar system, galaxy the after, sector and cluster until out with a blip like the old TV turning off.

The Decibel blasts backward through the time stream, pursued by a wave of devoured present to past.  

Accelerating hard with all the lights flashing bad, Decibel jumps within the jump, streams desperately out of the path and gone before the wave tears through the view to darkness.

It burst back out of control over the Earth, falling fast.  All at work with fast repair to the stabilizers, they kick in before the crash but only mitigating it crashes a path through the trees.

In the silence overhead, the aurora borealis overhead looking a bit too bright, mingled with the view of the milky way arm over a world before city lights so bright.

Timepiece - As they exit the ramp, she looks up.  "We have six hours."

(credits)