JENSEN
Well, that’s over 1000 clicks closer than anyone else has got.
MURRAY
That’s a good point admittedly.
BROWNING
It might be. But without Murray’s removal from overall operational command, you’re going nowhere.
So either you accept your position Jensen or you won’t be sunning yourself on the Costa del Arcadia anytime soon.
MURRAY
Well, I have to brief some of our newer recruits on the finer points of inter dimensional physics incursion rifts, which is always fun. So I’m going to go.
Enjoy the rest of your conversation.
Welcome to the loneliness of command, buddy.
JENSEN
Wait a second? Did you know about this already?
Cal?
MURRAY
It was a hell of an undercover job you did. You deserved a command for a long time. Congratulations, mate. You want to talk later, I’ll be in the officer’s mess.
JENSEN
You cooked this up between you didn’t you, sir?
BROWNING
Now what gives you that idea?
JENSEN
I’m not going to get out of this, am I?
BROWNING
You’re quick on the uptake, Colonel. I’ve always liked that about you.24. INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE LECTURE THEATRE. DAY.
A GROUP of SOLDIERS and SCIENTISTS sit wearing PROJECT BIFROST UNIFORMS in front of a INTERACTIVE SCREEN.
As MURRAY lectures, images appear on the screen illustrating what he is saying.
MURRAY
In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton published his “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”. This as many of you are aware is considered to be one of the most important scientific books in modern history.
In this publication Newton laid the basis for our basic understanding of the universe.
The Law of Gravitation and the Three Laws of Motion are the underpinning of everything we learn in our teenage years during long science lessons in which most of us were not paying attention but fiddling with gas taps and Bunsen burners.
Space travel, satellite tv, the miracle of powered flight, automotive design, you name it, our lives are affected by theories that Newton propounded in his magnum opus.
CASPAR who is sat on the BACK ROW reaches over to one of
the soldiers.
CASPAR
Seems like we’re sitting through Murray’s Magnum Opus.
MURRAY
Everybody meet Mr Caspar Oliver. Civilian contractor on the Bifrost Project, expert computer technician, hacker and all round smart mouth. Along with the rest of you, he is new to this team.
However unlike the rest of you, he has not been subject to the same rigorous training that you received from your various militaries and intelligence agencies. I would appreciate it if in the next few days you would bring him physically up to speed so to speak.
I’m not talking anything to strenuous, just enough to get him in shape and learn discipline.
CASPAR
What are you talking about Cal?
MURRAY
You’ll find out soon enough if you don’t let me continue.
CASPAR sits back with a SULKY LOOK on his face.
MURRAY
This is the basis of all physics. Or at least the kind we all learn in school. It is based on the concept of a Cartesian universe, where everything in the world can effectively be quantified and measured. The universe is ordered and aligned, everything in its rightful place, hanging on invisible forces that keep everything spinning in motion.
However the basis of this theory is founded on the idea that matter and energy are constant. That length is always length, breadth is always breadth and height is always height. That time always travels at the same speed.
However energy and matters behaviour alters when we get down to the subatomic level. At this point classical mechanics working in a Cartesian universe becomes unreliable in explaining the behaviour of said energy and matter.
A perfect example is the way light seems to behave as both particles and waves. Quantum mechanics does give us some explanation as to the behaviour of light but can’t account for many different phenomena.
Which in turn leads us into the realm of string theory, super-string theory, m theory, quantum theory, ad infinitum.
You need to know this because of what will happen the moment we enter the inter dimensional incursion rift. You have all been informed of the purposes of this mission and our intention to cross this inter dimensional “crossover rift” barrier. Once that happens all physical laws of both classical Cartesian mechanics and Quantum mechanics, no longer mean anything.
We will be an area between universes where time doesn’t exist. Where up is down and down is up and the next moment it seems reversed. During that period it is important that noone panics. The journey can be somewhat disorientating especially your first time through.
Motion sickness pills will be available from the infirmary in the hours before launch. Take them or not. Its entirely up to you. This journey will make you feel ill, no matter how strong you think your constitution is and in the case of poor Caspar over there, we expect him to admit himself to the infirmary for an extended stay.
The Mobile Command Centre will travel through the incursion on an automated signal and course.
Further details are available in your briefing packs.
Dave?
DAVE walks from the back of the ROOM. He wears full Crimson Guard Regalia. The SOLDIERS and CIVILIANS jump to their feet.
MURRAY
For those who haven’t met our Arcadian military advisor, may I introduce
DAVE
Please sit down.
The NEW RECRUITS sit.
DAVE
If I was someone else I might apologise for appearing in full armour and startling as I just have.
I am not someone else.
My armour and the weapons that come with it are all I took with me when I left Arcadia.
For many of you, this mission comes with some trepidation, a certain amount of fear of the unknown. You are stepping into a place none of you can imagine.
I share your fear. The place we are going to is my homeland. The place I was born. It shaped me as the sea breaking onto rocks, changing over time.
For my entire life I knew everything about Arcadia and its people.
We were all connected. And I loved it all.
That was until two years ago at a time roughly corresponding with the appearance of the first crossover rift incursion, here on Earth.
At that time, something happened to Arcadia which is still unexplained.
We have very little intel into what occurred. No-one truly knows what happened, not even I, who stood in the capital on the day everything changed.
Anyone mind if I smoke?
MURRAY
Would it make a slightest scintilla of difference if we did.
DAVE
No.
MURRAY
Didn’t think so.
Just get this over with.
DAVE lights a CIGARETTE. The CAMERA focuses on a NO SMOKING SIGN behind his head.
As DAVE speaks, the CAMERA passes between the HEADS of the NEW RECRUITS and zooms into the SCREEN behind DAVE’S head. We see film of what he describes. SEEMINGLY HALF MEMORY, HALF VISUAL RECORD.
DAVE
Thanks.
My people are almost certainly descended from different groups of humans who found their way through naturally occurring incursions over time. Therefore our culture was an amalgam of different earth cultures.
However due to their separation from the rest of human society, they never experienced the loss of culture and knowledge that occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Dark Ages never occurred in my dimension. We first harnessed electricity before the Norman Conquest. When you people still lived in castles and mud huts, we had developed basic nuclear fusion, we had mastered flight, genetic manipulation, we had been to our moons and returned intact to our surface. We had mapped our entire globe but a desire for enlightenment still drove us. We strived for self understanding. For greater self knowledge. For there is more that is undiscovered within humanity’s heart and spirit than in all the planets in the universe.
We craved spiritual enlightenment. To be all we could be.
Meditation became required on one level or other for all members of our society. At differing levels depending on our social class or position. The idea was to rid ourselves of all negative emotions. To achieve what you might call Nirvana or perhaps heaven on earth.
To soar on the upper reaches of our heart and spirit.
FEMALE RECRUIT
Sounds idyllic.
A FEMALE RECRUIT on the FRONT ROW has said something interrupting his REVERIE.
DAVE
I’m sorry, what?
FEMALE RECRUIT
It sounds idyllic.
DAVE
You would think so.
It had its difficulties but then what society doesn’t?
Scientists came up with more ways of trying to rid the negative thoughts from peoples lives.
The peak of this technology was the Liberation chamber technology. Designed to rid us of all our issues, our negative feelings, lusts, insecurities. Anything that might hold us back.
The day my world changed was the day the first Liberation chamber went online. Within an hour of it becoming operational, the capital was in ruins. Buildings that had stood for a millennia now fell like chaff. I barely escaped with my life.
Some weeks later I met up with the original Bifrost Expeditionary Team. And when the incursion collapsed due to… shall we say events beyond our control. I was left trapped on this side of the incursion.
The world you will go into, the world I return to is highly likely to be chaos objectified.
Now in terms of tactical forces, all Arcadian military units utilise technology many times more advanced than anything you will be used to. However as our society existed along feudal lines prior to the Liberation chambers, that technology still appears to be medieval weaponry. Be warned. It isn’t. Swords made of an alloy harder than diamond. Handheld positioning and scanning technology that can see through two miles of solid rock with no need for satellites or transmissions towers. And military units equipped with telekinetic warfare specialists.
CASPAR
Telekinetic warfare specialists?
DAVE
Does he have to be here.
MURRAY
Unfortunately.
CASPAR
Is there anything you’re going to describe here that doesn’t sound like a bad mmporg. I can’t believe we’re listening to this guy.
MURRAY
Right I think that’s about it. Exact definitions of Arcadian tactical units are available in your briefing packs. Launchtime is provisionally set for 06:00 hours tomorrow. Before you go can someone remind Caspar of the location of my office. I’ll expect to see him there in five minutes.
Arturus Castus Sven Agricola. He will make you aware of what you will find tactically when we finally make landfall on the other side of the incursion.
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