[Eerie Music Fades In]

 

DEVLYN:  Men are both fearful and seduced by the unknown. We ostracize and cast out members of our own society. Yet those same individuals would have relations with these so-called undesirables. We are all hypocrites in our own right. Saying one thing and doing another, but there are always rare individuals who live and die by their own values. To some, they may seem crazy while others would call it…radical.

 

[Eerie Music Fades Out]

 

[MARTIAN VOICES chatter amongst one another]

 

CORTHYNIUS: My fellow council members. I bring before you Prisoner 3X17. Mathias Malthazar, you’ve been charged with treason. Committing acts against Martian kind and breaking the treaty with the new colonists from Earth. You have put your entire kind in jeopardy. What have you to say?

 

MATHIAS: Treason? Council members. I wish only to protect and preserve our great people. These colonists think they can claim our land as their own.

 

COUNCIL MARTIAN #1: The treaty has—

 

MATHIAS:  Only imputed their efforts of terraforming our planet. Rest assured, a piece of parchment will not hold them back. Little by little they will take more from us, you’ll see! They are deceivers in their own right. Look how they’ve ravaged their own planet. If they are not stopped, they will spread like a plague across our own planet and quite possibly, the galaxy. Before you know it, they will make slaves of us all.

 

CORTHYNIUS: Silence. Council, this radical is spreading lies throughout our people causing panic, unrest.

 

MATHIAS: They have a right to be. Not all of us were meant to be the Earthlings’ lap dog, Corthynius. I ask those loyal to the council to hear my warning. It won’t be long before they take advantage of your false sense of security. It won’t be long till you’re eating out of their hands like pets.

 

[Martian chatter]

 

COUNCIL MARTIAN #2: I will have quiet in the chamber. Mathias Malthazar. The council has found you guilty of treason and high crimes against your people. We hear by sentence you to banishment. Should you return, the punishment will be death.

 

[More Martian chatter]

 

MATHIAS: Fools! All of you! You’ll see. When they have you in chains you will wish you had listened to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAVEN: So you’re saying it was this Mathias who attacked the colony?

 

CORTHYNIUS: Precisely.

 

SARAH: And that asshole is still lurking around somewhere?

 

CORTHYNIUS: It appears he’s gone back into hiding, but if he attacked the colony from below, he must have gone underground.

 

DEVLYN: And took the children with him.

 

THEO: Where could he have gone?

 

CORTHYNIUS: It’s hard to say. If he’s trying to remain undetected by our kind, he must’ve found some place uncharted. Someplace…sacred.

 

DEVLYN: Sacred?

 

CORTHYNIUS:  There’s only one place known to Martian kind that could hide Mathias so well, but it is just a rumor.

 

THEO: There is truth to every rumor. Even if only a spec.

 

CORTHYNIUS: It is said that long ago, our great ancestors had created a great civilization on this planet. One surrounded by an endless sea. It was said that eventually, the kingdom’s king boasted that Martian’s creation trumped that of the gods. And so, the sun god caused a drought that turned the great sea into dust and the city was washed up, buried beneath the sand. Never to taunt the gods again.  Some have said that very city still resides deep below our very feet, but none have ever found the city and returned.

 

DEVLYN: Then we must find the city.

 

RAVEN: How?

 

CORTHYNIUS: There are no records. No histories of the great city’s location. Only rumors and wife’s tales.

 

DEVLYN: We have one.

 

THEO: The hole, back at the colony.

 

SARAH: Wait. You want us to go back into the colony? With those creatures still in there?

 

DEVLYN: The pit where Mathias crawled from will be the very thing that leads us to him.

 

CORTHYNIUS: We took the liberty of repairing the damage to your suits from the crash. They should be as good as new.

 

DEVLYN: Without your help, we would be lost. If there is any way we can repay you…

 

CORTHYNIUS: You are full of surprises, Ranger. Let us hope that you do us one more by surviving your encounter with Mathias.

 

DEVLYN: It’s not me that I’m worried about.

 

CORTHYNIUS: Your friends are lucky to have you.

 

DEVLYN: How’s Theo?

 

THEO: Ready and willing.

 

CORTHYNIUS: Doctor, I don’t think you should be making this journey. You’re still in—

 

THEO: I’m quite all right. Your doctors gave the all-clear. Now, Devlyn, we should get moving while it’s still daylight.

 

DEVLYN: She’s right. We don’t want those creatures resurfacing while we re-enter the colony. Raven. Sarah. Are you two good to go?

 

RAVEN: As ready as we’ll ever be.

 

SARAH: You don’t expect us to confront this guy unarmed, right? We’ll never survive.

 

CORTHYNIUS: We have weapons and transportation awaiting you outside.

 

SARAH: That’s more like it.

 

CORTHYNIUS: We have the latest in Martian technology for your use.

 

SARAH: Mama loves new toys.

 

[The CROAKING of Martian Creatures echoes]

 

SARAH:  What are these things? Like Martian Ostriches?

 

CORTHYNIUS: These are Thulbacks. Reliable creatures and can travel at great speeds for long distances.

 

SARAH:  Damn. Why couldn’t it be something cool? Like a hoverbike. He said the latest in technology. This isn’t what I was hoping for.

 

CORTHYNIUS: Hoverbikes and your rover cannot travel over our planet’s treacherous terrain like a Thulback. Even in a sandstorm, the Thulback is capable of navigating its way around. Avoiding any more pitfalls you may encounter.

 

SARAH:  He makes jokes now?

 

CORTHYNIUS:  I am known on my planet for my humor.

 

RAVEN: Maybe you just need a better sense of humor?

 

SARAH: Oh. Ha. Ha.

 

DEVLYN: Let’s saddle up. Theo, you’re with me.

 

[Theo struggles to get on her Thulback]

 

THEO: That’s all right. I’ve got this.

 

DEVLYN: Suit yourself. We can’t have you straggling behind. It’ll only slow us—

 

THEO: I said, I’ve got this.

 

DEVLYN: If you say so.  All right, ladies. Let’s get moving.  Yah!

 

[Devlyn slaps the reins of his Thulback]

 

[The THUNDER of Thulback hooves as they GALLOP towards…]

 

 

RAVEN:  Home sweet home.

 

DEVLYN: You all know what’s in there. Stay close and do your best to keep quiet.

 

[A HISS as the door to the colony opens]

 

DEVLYN: Stay close.

 

RAVEN: How deep do you think that hole goes?

 

DEVLYN: Only one way to find out. Either of you got a light?

 

SARAH: Here. Only got a few of these light sticks left.

 

[The CRACK of a lightstick. It’s flame burns]

 

DEVLYN: Geronimo.

 

RAVEN: Yikes.

 

THEO:  How the hell are we supposed to get all the way down there?

 

DEVLYN: I’ve got a few supplies left thanks to our Martian friends. This cabling should reach.  We go one at a time. Keep as quiet as possible. We don’t know what’s down there.

 

SARAH:  So, who goes first?

 

THEO: I will.

 

DEVLYN: You’re injured. I’ll go first. Sarah, you hold up the rear. Make sure everyone gets down.

 

DEVLYN:  Mind giving us a light?

 

[Sarah CRACKS another light stick]

 

RAVEN: Wow.

 

THEO: Incredible.

 

SARAH:  With all the dust on the surface, I expected it to all be stone.

 

DEVLYN: Plants can’t survive the surface climate, so they’ve grown beneath it.

 

THEO: This is why they placed the colony here. They weren’t after what was on the surface, but what was below it.

 

DEVLYN: Ladies, I give you the Eden of Mars.

 

[Eerie Music Fades In]

 

DEVLYN:  The Red Planet. She’s full of surprises. Its riches are hidden below the earth. But where beauty lies, death and destruction lie not far behind.

 

[Eerie Music Fades Out]

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[END OF EPISODE 6]

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