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.

/ scene ii