The Smugglers from Berg-27

On the bridge of a spaceship, engines humming, machines working, computers beeping,lots of alarm noises

Liz and Zac put on their suits, all three characters talk over mics, all other sounds are also distorted by the mics

Liz: Flix, you there?

Flix: Yes!

Liz: Zac?

Zac: Ready!

Liz: Let’s go!

Liz and Zac leave the room. The door opens and closes. They walk down the corridors quickly

Liz: Flix, close Bulkhead D.

Bulkhead closes

Liz: Entering the cargo hold now. Flix, open!

Door opens, atmosphere rushes loudly and alarms beep

Liz: Zac, over there! Put on the patch, now! Hold it! I’ll put on the foam.

Liz applies foam, the rushing sound changes to a higher pitch

Zac: That seems to have worked – next hole!

Both work with the patches and foam, the rushing sound gets increasingly higher till it finally stops completely

Zac: Done

Flix: Looking good, no loss of atmosphere, pressure is stabilizing.

Liz: Ok, good. We’ll secure the holes and be back at... Oh, shit!

Flix: What?

Liz: The cargo container is damaged.

Flix: How bad is it?

Liz: Don’t know, maybe it’s just the outside, but ...

Pause

Flix: What do we do?

Pause

Zac: We have to cut it open. If the bio-frost system of the container is corrupted, whatever is in it could be seriously harmed.

Flix: If we see what we’re smuggling, we’ll break our contract.

Zac: If what we’re smuggling is dead by the time we hand it over, we’ll be in even bigger trouble.

Pause

Liz: Right. Zac, get the laser cutter.

Zac walks quickly, rummages through technical equipment and comes back again

Zac: Got it.

Zac cuts open the container with the laser cutter until a big piece of the container falls off. He turns off the cutter

Liz: Ok…

Liz approaches the container

(in a serious tone): Zac, you need to take a look at this.

Pause

Zac (quietly): Holy fucking shit.

Flix: What?

Liz: Is the bio-frost system intact?

Pause

Zac: Yeah (swallows) yeah, it is.

Flix: What’s going on?

Pause

What’s in the container?

Pause

Zac: Well ... my god. It’s … it’s humans. Twelve, I think. Oh my god.

Flix: Humans? Why would anyone smuggle humans in bio-frost?

Pause

Zac: Well … um, you know the barcode you have on your arm, the one you got on Phobos? … They’ve all got one too.

SCENE 5

Long pause

Flix (trembling): Slaves? Those humans are slaves?

Zac: Yeah. (exhales). It seems like it.

Back on the bridge, everyone talks without mics again. Flix paces up and down

Flix: We have to free them. It’s the only thing to do. We’ll lose the deal, and the money, but – fuck it, we have to do it. Slave trade is illegal, for God’s sake! It’s wrong, and we could get in serious trouble. I mean serious trouble! This is not like the shit we usually take. For slave trade we could be locked up for … for years! It’s almost as bad as owning slaves.

Liz: We can’t free them, Flix.

Flix: What are you talking about? Those people down there are slaves! That’s not just a barcode they have, it’s connected to an implant that gives their owners control over their body! Do you know what it feels like when your body is not your own? Because I do! I fucking used to be one of them!

Liz: We can’t free them.

Flix: Why would you say that? Liz, of course we can! We can disable their implants and free them, just like you freed me.

Liz: No, we can’t.

Flix: Why not, for fuck’s sake?

Pause

Zac: Because we didn’t free you. We bought you.

Flix: Yes, but when you bought me, you disabled my implant and you freed me.

Pause

Liz: No, Flix.

Pause

Flix: Wha- what do you mean?

Pause

You didn’t disable my implant?

No one answers

Flix: I’m .. I’m still a slave? Your slave?

No one answers

Flix: No. You can’t be serious. No. NO!

Liz: Flix, listen, only the Interstellar Federation can disable implants. We couldn’t go to the Interstellar Federation, because we don’t have IDs, and you’re not allowed to travel, or work, or do anything without an ID. No one wishes more than me that our parents weren’t illegal workers, that we’d have been born with legit IDs, but that’s not how it is! They would have taken away my ship, and everything we own, and brought us back to Berg-27 to look for scraps for living till the day we died. Buying you alone was a huge risk.

Flix: Are you fucking kidding me? There are hundreds of people on the black market who can disable implants!

Zac: It’s just too expensive.

Flix: Bullshit! We’re making a fortune, this is only one small act! Tell me the truth! Why am I still your slave after four years?

Pause

Liz (very quietly): Because we’re smugglers. We couldn’t afford you being a risk.

Pause

Flix: You disgust me. I’m your brother. I thought I was your brother. What kind of people enslave their own brother?

Flix leaves, the door opens and closes