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NOS CREW HISTORY
Mini-Short Story
Created 01-03-2004 and completed 01-22-2004 by Jayman & Andromeda
Based on concepts by Larry & Andy Wachowski
Year 097 A.Z. - Three Years Ago
Visit to the Oracle - Andromeda
KITCHEN / ORACLE:
ORACLE bends down over the oven door and says to the wide-eyed little BOY beside her, "Watch out, it's very hot."
The BOY moves back.
ORACLE opens the oven door, and inhales, "Mmmm... smell those brownies. Good, huh?"
BOY:
The BOY inhales deeply. In his high-pitched little-boy voice, he says, "VERY good."
ANDROMEDA:
ANDROMEDA stands at the doorway, looking suspiciously at the woman and the boy.
This is the Oracle?
She doesn't know quite how to act, so she stands there, shifting her weight from leg to leg, waiting to be noticed.
ORACLE:
ORACLE hears something in the doorway, turns, looks up, and smiles.
She tells the BOY, "Look Taru, we have a visitor... Wait for me in your room, and soon you can have a brownie."
TARU:
TARU says, "Okay!"
He turns and looks at the slender teenaged girl in black leather. He says: "Hi!"
ANDROMEDA:
ANDROMEDA peers into the room with a bit of wonder. She didn't think the ORACLE would look like that.
She notices the little boy and smiles at him, "Hi."
TARU:
TARU says, "You're pretty."
And the six-year-old boy dashes out of the kitchen.
ORACLE:
ORACLE chuckles, closes the oven door, and straightens.
ORACLE takes a few steps closer, and smiles warmly at ANDY.
"I can tell Taru already likes you. That's a good sign."
ANDROMEDA:
ANDROMEDA's cheeks become somewhat red at the boy's words.
"Ummm," she mutters and shifts her weight between her legs.
She wasn't comfortable at all.
How I am supposed to act around this woman that everybody thought so highly of?
ORACLE:
ORACLE holds her smiling gaze at ANDY for another few moments. She notices the clear tension and worry
and unease that many first-timers exhibit on their visit.
ORACLE adds soothingly, "Don't worry, Andromeda... I like you too..."
ORACLE removes her oven mitts, places them on the small table, and like a passing thought, her smile fades.
"...But there are other signs... and some of them ain't so good. Care to sit?"
ANDROMEDA:
ANDROMEDA gets more and more uncomfortable by the second. She clears her throat, sneaks a quick embarrassed
smile at the ORACLE, and sits in the closest chair.
ORACLE:
As ANDY sits, ORACLE gently eases herself into the other chair.
ORACLE notes warmly, "You're a quiet one, aren't you?"
ORACLE reaches for the small half-filled glass of what looks like wine, takes a thoughtful sip, and
gently puts the glass back onto the table, her eyes twinkling in the direction of the seventeen-year-old girl.
"As a matter of fact, for a first-timer, you're quieter than most, and younger than most...
Although he'd probably never tell you, Kan-chiang must think you're something really special..."
Then ORACLE smiles, "... Of course, it's only natural you're more nervous than most... so I'll try to be as brief as I can..."
ORACLE pauses for another moment. Then like before, her smile fades as if a dark cloud had passed before her.
"Do you have any idea why Kan-chiang brought you here?"
ANDROMEDA:
ANDROMEDA swallows hard and tries to look less nervous than she really is, but she fails miserably.
Something about this woman makes it clear that charades will be of no use here.
Regarding the ORACLE's question, she gives the only answer she has...
"I don't know."
ORACLE:
ORACLE nods seriously.
"I'm not surprised at all, kid... Kan-chiang may have an honorable and compassionate soul,
but he can be very secretive... which is why I'm gonna tell you."
ORACLE leans back in her chair.
"Kan-chiang brought you here to help you..." (ORACLE gestures at ANDY) "...determine
your role on his ship, in the resistance, and in the future... But what he doesn't know is that three pages will
turn..." (ORACLE shakes her head slightly) "...dark pages... and each page will show you one... more... death..."
ORACLE sighs.
"I won't lie to you... The pain will get to you... The loneliness will get to you..."
ORACLE focusses deeply into ANDY's eyes.
"But remember this... Whatever you may feel, one other will suffer even greater pain...
even greater loneliness... and how you both deal with it will determine how the fourth page will turn..."
ORACLE softens her voice.
"Are you willing to open yourself up to another's pain?"
ORACLE asks this without expecting an answer.
ANDROMEDA:
ANDY shrugs and backs away into her chair.
"I... I..." she mutters.
Somebody is going to die? Kan-chiang? No, he can't die!
Thoughts run through ANDY's mind, thoughts she wants to block out, but can't.
She can't be right. She can't be.
But in her heart, ANDY feels that the ORACLE's words are everything but a lie.
"How you both deal with it," ANDY said. Deal with what?
ANDY raises her eyes to the ORACLE.
"Who are you talking about?"
ORACLE:
ORACLE meets ANDY's eyes with her own.
ORACLE raises her eyebrows and shakes her head, "Whomever you decide...
Only you can decide whose pain to accept... whose pain to share."
A piercing and profound slow-motion silence.
Suddenly - DING! - the sound of a cooking timer rings.
"Ah," ORACLE softens into her soothing motherly smile, and widens her eyes. "They're ready."
ORACLE gingerly rises, puts on her oven mitts, and steps over to the old-fashioned oven.
She pulls out the hot tray, sets it down next to another, and picks up the cooler tray of brownies.
"I'm sorry, I hate giving good kids such depressing news..." (ORACLE offers the tray)
"...Here, take a brownie... They're really good... and before you know it, you'll feel a little better."
ANDROMEDA:
ANDY stands up and reaches to take a brownie. She doesn't eat it, but only looks at it,
as if the brownie could explain something to her.
She tries to look at the ORACLE, but finds that it's more difficult than she thought.
"I don't believe in foretelling," ANDY suddenly says.
ORACLE:
ORACLE sets the tray onto the table.
"Foretelling?... This is gonna knock your socks off, but I don't believe in it either..."
ORACLE chuckles, "Now 'foreseeing'... Now that's a different story... What I see could be quite
different from what I tell, couldn't it?"
ORACLE pulls off her oven mitts.
"Tell Kan-chiang I said 'Hi'..."
ORACLE smiles widely at ANDY.
"...Taru is gonna miss you."
ANDROMEDA:
"Miss me? But he barely saw me," smiles ANDY.
ANDY finds that regardless of what she thought this would be like, she's feeling a lot better.
I don't believe in this stuff anyway.
"Well, I'm guessing this is it? Now I'm suppose to go back, right?"
ORACLE:
ORACLE replies, "That's right, kiddo."
Holding her mitts in one hand, ORACLE waves a single gentle wave with the other.
ANDROMEDA:
ANDY nods and heads out of the kitchen. In the doorway, she suddenly stops and turns her head back to look at the ORACLE.
"Thank you," ANDY says, almost whispers, but she knows that the woman hears her clearly.
Then ANDY walks back to the sitting room, her mind filled with the thoughts of what she was just told.
SITTING ROOM / KAN-CHIANG:
KAN-CHIANG rises from the sofa.
In his black raincoat and his slight accent, he accompanies ANDROMEDA to the front door.
"Meditate on what you have heard today," KAN-CHIANG says. "Her words are like huge stones in
the ground before you. There may be many or there may be few. But whether they are facts, truths, half-truths, or lies,
do not focus on the stones. Instead, pay attention to the path in which the stones direct you..."
KAN-CHIANG steps through the open doorway.
"Or you will never find your way."
END
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