ACT 1.

/prologue

Pitch black. White noise and clicks and beeps and whirs and buzzes suggest we are not in a world of flesh and bone. A spot drops downstage center on a figure, swaying and looping like a recording. The light stops increasing in intensity at a point that is still on the right side of too dark for the details of the figure to be easy to discern.

When the light steadies, the figure crumples with her back to the audience, rocking gently on the floor.

The sound cuts. The light shudders like a mosquito has flown into a tempting trap. The figure goes death-still.

The rocking continues in the silence.

She turns and crawls to the edge of the light. She has no eyes.

Blackout.

/scene i

TRUDY's house looks like the perfect suburban home, white picket fences and pastel façade and all. The neighborhood is marked by an oppressive sameness — it looks nearly identical to the house next door and the one next door to that. The house feels cold, but it does not look it.

We're hundreds and hundreds of years in the future. The sky is burnt. The moon is cracked. Everything is clean and beautiful despite this.

TRUDY and SAL crawl out a second-story window and lounge on the shingles, staring at big plumes of cosmic dust.

SAL is a sooty speck on the planet, chipped and modded. One of his arms is very clearly cyberware. He takes up more space than he would ever be allotted. HE holds a StarFinder™️ up to his face and sucks his teeth.

SAL.Fuckin' street lights... TRUDY.I kind of always wanted to do this... SAL. Really? TRUDY.Don't be so—yeah! I did! Call me a dweeb while you're at it. SAL.That isn't what I meant TRUDY.Sure it isn't.
 It's fine. I get it. SAL.I've never been to this part of the city before. D'nt know for sure if we would see anything.

Silence. TRUDY scoots in closer.

TRUDY.Still another one off the bucket list. SAL.If I had one of those it'd be as long as my arm. TRUDY.Is that supposed to be a joke? With the...? SAL.[ laughing ] Shit, you're too much.

You really hadn't seen one before? TRUDY.Stop making fun of me. SAL.I'm not making... It's just cute. I've never thought about what it's like to be... Not in the sort of way you are, I mean. TRUDY.Same. TRUDY.Do you ever wonder what the point is? SAL.[ softly ] Y'lost me. TRUDY.Me, too. TRUDY.Forget it. I don't know what I'm saying. It's late. SAL.Nuhhhhhhh not buyin' it. TRUDY.[ looking away ] I don't want to talk about it anymore, actually. SAL.Ok, fine. TRUDY.Stop looking at me like that. SAL.How did you even know I was..?

She looks into the darkness but she looks at him, too. Like she has adapted skills of hypervigilance for survival.

TRUDY.Like, what the fuck are we even here for?

SAL takes a beat to respond.

SAL....a good time n-not a long time...?

TRUDY snorts. It’s a concession.

TRUDY.Should've known. SAL.It's part of my charm. TRUDY.[ sweetly ] I'll push you off this roof right now. SAL.Didn't think a little bio girl would have it in 'er.

Increasingly overlapping—

TRUDY.You think? SAL.Wow. Nice one. TRUDY.Here I thought that the politically correct term for what goes on up there would be "processing," on account of all the— SAL.S'that your way of saying you wanna see my processors? See what makes me tick? TRUDY.You're such a perv. SAL.It's a highly lusted after feature, you know. TRUDY.What else is in there? SAL....and you called me a perv. TRUDY.Shut up, oh my god!!!!! You know what I meant. SAL.Oh, I can "know" things now?


Fine, alright.


I don't know that much about it though. Honest. Buncha zeros and ones that make me your favorite shithead, basically. But… yeah, I think if I tried to learn more about it I might...

It'd be weird. Don’t you think your hackers see it like that, too? Like they know too much? TRUDY.... TRUDY.They're not hackers, that's... There's an art to what doctors do. TRUDY.I don't know if I think it's any different. For what that's worth. SAL.Enough.

SAL leans in closer, laying a hand on her knee. TRUDY isn't sure that she buys it, but she doesn't move away. She's in it, now.

SAL.So... you wanna know what's in my head. TRUDY.You're gross.

SAL moves even closer. TRUDY permits him this and more.

Lights dim and dim and dim and the nights go and go and go until:

FATHER.TRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDYYYYYY!!! TRUDY. SAL. FATHER. Miss Trudy? Hon, time to rise and shine!

TRUDY backs away from SAL, immediately clambering back through her bedroom window. SAL doesn't realize what's going on until FATHER calls another time, words indiscernible. There is heavy knocking from within TRUDY's bedroom.

TRUDY.[ to SAL ] _{damndamndamndamndamn HIDE.} SAL.I'm gonna... uh. I'll be... Shit. I'll be back.

SAL exits.

The lights continue to dim. TRUDY's parents have returned very late in the evening, expecting their daughter to be asleep. TRUDY, MOTHER, and FATHER's silhouettes are visible. TRUDY panics and starts tidying her room as if there might be evidence of her visitor amongst her pastel bedsheets.

TRUDY.Give me a second, Dad! I'm— I just got my cycle! Oh, ouch..! MOTHER.Trudy, honey, open up. The Monitors tracked a normal period for you last week. Is everything alright?

TRUDY startles. MOTHER shouldn't be home.

 Trudy? FATHER.Your door is locked. TRUDY.Oh, silly me.

MOTHER and FATHER override access to TRUDY's bedroom and enter. TRUDY is caught. The open window may as well be a funeral pyre.

MOTHER.There...
A man slept here last night. With you. TRUDY./ MOTHER.You can't lie to us, Trudylove. We know you can't. You wouldn't. Why would you? Why would you do this? Don't you know it's not safe? What if you caught the Bug? Or have you already? [ covering her face as if to ward off infection ] Where did you meet a man anyhow? TRUDY./ MOTHER.Trudy. FATHER.Your mother asked you a question. TRUDY. FATHER.If you have nothing to say for yourself, perhaps we can— TRUDY.He's just a friend.

Afraid as FATHER approaches, TRUDY backs away, nearly bumping into MOTHER. TRUDY continues to shrink as FATHER crosses back to interrogate her.

FATHER.So you did have a man here? TRUDY.You said you already— MOTHER.Get back in your room.

TRUDY freezes.

MOTHER.GET BACK IN YOUR ROOM.
Move. Or I will move you.

A commotion. MOTHER grunts. TRUDY yelps. FATHER yells.

Silence.

Labored breathing.

MOTHER.I... I did... TRUDY._{don't you touch me.} MOTHER.George... I... FEATHER.No. There's nothing.
Leave her.

I said, leave her.

She'll learn.

1010101010101111110001010000110101010101010101010101010010100101100000110111001001010101010100001001010110

/ scene ii

The sun's gone down. Scrap metal slums. Fumes escape from the sewers. SAL walks into JULES' shopfront, a tiny hut with a junkyard looming massive and misty upstage. He drags his feet and is generally jittery, but drops a sack in front of JULES despite his nerves. Business as usual.

SAL doesn't quite exit quick enough to get away without an earful.

JULES.Fuckin' finally! SAL.[ absently, picking his way towards the shop's front window ] what is it now

JULES turns the bag inside out and begins cataloguing the haul. Unimpressive.

JULES.What is it—what the—what. Uh-uh, kid. This is... As if you don't know what it is. S'not this! SAL.No idea whatchu mean JULES.Holdin' out on me? Again?

SAL attempts to defend himself but can't get a word in.

JULES. Yeah, no. Shut up! Can'tve been gone that long and not come back with anything better than synthcow patties. Man-ure. SAL.Maybe they're runnin' dry on contraband in the meadows, buddy, what can I say? JULES."I'm gonna kiss your ass so hard for the next month that you will never even consider sending me packing, Jules." SAL. JULES."You're the most understanding, schmuckiest pairer in the whole dump, Jules. I'm so lucky you've let me crash without pulling my weight for all this time, buddy." SAL.Rustbucket... JULES."Thank you for not scrapping me when I showed up at your door looking like a drowned hyena with the water-damage to match. Oh, and all the spare parts you forked over to keep me topside. That, too." SAL.Man. Don't go all old ironsides on me. I ain't done nothin' you wouldn't sanction. Ain't done as well as you like, but you can't talk my ear off about the ways things ought to be and then get huffy when it turns up squat. I can't make trade stock appear outta thin air. No matter how thin the air gets up in that fuckin' fever dream. Promise.

Pause.

 Jules. You know I'm good for it. Y'know I'm grateful.

JULES sighs.

JULES.Not buyin' what you're not sellin', here so. Guess that's the overpass. SAL.Truth don't sell. JULES.What savvy business expertise. Tell me more about this, as I embark on this fine voyage of entrepreneurship in the industry of chopping off the real bits and screwing on synthsubs. What a revelation!

SAL waits to be dismissed.

JULES.Really not gunna tell me? SAL.What's there t'tell? JULES.I'll find out. No use lying. What's the big deal, huh? SAL.There's no big deal, that's the big deal.

JULES removes his welding goggles to look SAL over.

SAL.If you couldn't see the lie with those on, you sure as shit won't see it raw. JULES.Shut up.
I'm thinking.

You got a bug? SAL.What? No. JULES.Hm. Just a fibber, then. SAL.Let me have this one secret, yeah? You already dibbsed all the rest, Juke. This one don't hurt anybody. I swear.

Silence.

JULES shakes his head and returns to his work slowly, glancing over at SAL until SAL decides to leave.

As he walks back out onto the street, the resolve leaks out of him. SAL stops walking just before he hits the wings, fear dawning, and then runs the opposite direction, past JULES' junkyard.

JULES continues his work.

The phone rings. It is corded and clearly frequented.

After considering it for a while, JULES answers.

JULES.Hello?

...hello?



[ soft ] Hey.

Listen, you don't have to explain it at all. I... It's been tough. You're doing well for yourself. Yeah... Yeah, that sounds like well enough for me.

How's the kid?

I'll be damned...

Sorry. Surprised. Slipped out.

[ with contempt ] ...and George?    Good. Glad he's takin' care of you two.    Naw, it's still just me. Pick up a stray or two now and then.    No, no animals, please, you know I'm allergic, heh!

Sinuses are expensive. Don't act like you don't know.

No, I'm not busy. You know I wouldn'tve picked up the phone if I were busy. [ Pause. ] Not that I wouldn'tve picked up if I was busy, but... this old thing, no identity chips... not too many people wanna... Yeah, forget about it. Didn't mean it like it sounded.    Tell me more about your little girl. If you want. I'm all ears.

JULES tucks into the conversation fully, headset against his shoulder, hip to the work table. JUDY and JULIUS should improvise for a short exchange, using each opportunity to reminisce on a shared past and tactfully avoid the minefield present. Until—

 ... y'never told me it got bad again.

How many times do I have to say that I'm only a phone call away? It might be a trek down here in the flesh — don't start with me — but you know I wouldn't ask you any questions if you just needed to get away for a while.

I know. I know.

The offer stands. And if he... Call. Please.   I know you don't think much of... but it's honest work. Pays my bills, gets me fed. I can handle intake for two for a while if I need to.

Then why...?

Judy. That's done with. That's twenty years done with. You know I don't run with that crowd anymore. Beat feet hard as I could the opposite way and I can still hear the gravel. George would—

Silence.

 That's what you called for..? Thought... Never mind what I thought. Offer still stands, even if that's all you think of me. I hope you find what you're looking for, but I— Judy, listen to me, okay?    I'm too old to be risking things like that anymore. You need the reminder?    Yeah. I know you know. It... It's just all the dust you kicked up.  No, it's not about George, it's—hey, hold on a second!

If that's what you're going to—Don't you try to fucking reason through that, there's no reason and you know it. if THAT'S what you're going to—

/ scene iii

SAL sneaks back up to the rooftop beside TRUDY's window. It remains cracked, but at discomfitting angle. It's late. SAL tries not to make any noise.

SAL._{Trudy..?
      Trudy.}
            TRUDY.

TRUDY waves him in through the window. Her hand is the only part of her that reaches to the outside. As SAL climbs in, she sits at her vanity and fusses with her appearance, turned away.

SAL.Uh. Hi. TRUDY.I didn't think you were coming. SAL.