The Saga of Seven Suns: Veiled Alliances (20 page)

PANEL 1

Viewpoint from high above, we are very close to the cloudy holo image of the Mage-Imperator’s benevolent face (very much in contrast to his real expression in Panel 5), looking down from a great height at the Mage-Imperator in his chrysalis chair. The three men are standing close to him.

6. MAGE-IMPERATOR

THE FUTURE MAY HOLD THREATS NOT REVEALED IN THE
SAGA OF SEVEN SUNS
.

PANEL 2

The Dobro Designate, troubled by his father’s reaction.

7. MAGE-IMPERATOR (OUT OF PANEL)

I COMMAND A FULL INVESTIGATION INTO THE GENETIC POTENTIAL OF HUMANS.

[LINK]

THIS NEW RACE IS FULL OF POSSIBILITIES.

PANEL 3

Adar Bali’nh gives his input.

8. ADAR BALI’NH

FOR THE TIME BEING, WE SHOULD KEEP THE DISCOVERY OF THE
BURTON
SECRET FROM THE HUMAN GOVERNMENT.

9. ADAR BALI’NH

WE MUST BE FREE TO DO AS WE WISH WITHOUT . . . COMPLICATIONS.

PANEL 4

Group shot; the Prime Designate stands close to the Mage-Imperator. Across from the chrysalis chair are Adar Bali’nh and the Dobro Designate.

5. DOBRO DESIGNATE

FATHER, I DO NOT KNOW IF I CAN ENSURE THE FULL COOPERATION OF THE HUMAN COLONISTS.

PANEL 5

Close-up of the Mage-Imperator, his expression forceful and determined (the antithesis of his kindly beatific expression in Panel 1).

5. MAGE-IMPERATOR

YOU WILL
FIND
A WAY TO MAKE THEM COOPERATE.

PAGE 44

Across the top, purple band with white letters: DAYM.

Three panels

PANEL 1

Big panel of impressive skymine on Daym, drifting through the wispy clouds. In the distance, we can see one of the other two skymines, near the horizon. For perspective, we show an Ildiran cargo ship approaching the nearest skymine. (This is the ship that departs with a full load of fuel canisters on p. 47.)

1. ILDIRAN SHIP (RADIO BALLOON)

ILDIRAN CARGO SHIP ON APPROACH . . . PREPARED TO TAKE A NEW LOAD OF EKTI.

2. SKYMINE (RADIO BALLOON)

COME AND GET IT. SORRY WE’RE A BIT

SLOW . . . THE OTHER TWO SKYMINES WERE READY DAYS AGO.

PANEL 2

Corey Kellum stands on the observation deck, with the skymine superstructure behind him, gazing out at us. He looks like the king of his domain.

3. COREY

. . . THIS FACILITY WAS IN MUCH WORSE SHAPE THAN THE OTHERS. STILL NEEDS A GOOD SHAKEDOWN.

4. COREY

. . . AND AN ALL-AROUND UPGRADE!

PANEL 3

Corey enters the busy control deck of the skymine.

5. COREY

ALL OPERATIONS RUNNING SMOOTHLY, I PRESUME?

6. CREWMAN

SAME AS USUAL, COREY.

7. COREY

COME ON, WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!

[LINK]

SOON WE’LL HAVE BETTER ENGINES, FASTER PROCESSING.

PAGE 45

Six panels

PANEL 1

Human workers carrying canisters of stardrive fuel, maybe loading them onto a hovering pallet. Corey is there, talking with the Ildiran cargo captain.

1. COREY

A FULL CARGO LOAD OF STARDRIVE FUEL, CAPTAIN.

2. COREY

WE’VE GOT MOST OF THE GLITCHES WORKED OUT FROM THE EKTI REACTORS, THOUGH THEY’RE STILL RUNNING AT ONLY A FRACTION OF THEIR REALISTIC CAPACITY.

PANEL 2

Corey looks very pleased, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction, as the Ildiran supply ship departs from the skymine.

3. COREY

WE’VE ALREADY INCREASED PRODUCTION, AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN INCORPORATED OUR MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS YET.

4. COREY

BEFORE LONG, WE’LL RUN CIRCLES AROUND THE OTHER ILDIRAN SKYMINES!

PANELS 3, 4, 5

Three panels of engineers working in the processing deck, tinkering with systems, looking at corroded components with disgust, hammering replacements into slots . . .

5. ENGINEER

THE ILDIRANS HELD THIS SKYMINE TOGETHER WITH DUCT TAPE AND CHEWING GUM!

6. ENGINEER

IT’S A WONDER THE THING IS STILL AFLOAT.

7. COREY

WE WEREN’T IN A POSITION TO BE CHOOSY. WOULD YOU RATHER BE ON IAWA, WATCHING OUR CROPS DIE?

PANEL 6

External shot of skymine cruising along in the clouds.

7. ENGINEER

NAH, IT’S NOT IN MY NATURE TO SETTLE DOWN AND BE PLANETBOUND.

PAGE 46

Nine panels

PANEL 1

Engineer at a new control panel, looking eager.

CAPTION

A WEEK LATER…

1. ENGINEER

READY FOR THE FULL-POWER TEST?

2. ENGINEER

MY TEAM DID MORE THAN GIVE THIS OLD SKYMINE A FACE-LIFT—IT’S GOT A WHOLE NEW HEART!

PANEL 2

Hand throws a switch to activate the new systems.

3. ENGINEER (OUT OF PANEL)

HERE WE GO!

PANEL 3

Corey and engineer, faces close up, both of them grinning with expectation.

PANEL 4

Nearly identical to Panel 3, but this time their expressions have fallen into dread. Uh-oh.

PANEL 5

Explosion. Outside the skymine, one of the big tanks or engine banks ruptures. Smoke and fire. SFX if absolutely necessary, though I’d prefer to do it without a big silly “BOOM!”

PANEL 6

Corey rushing into action yells, while beside him the engineer tries to figure out what just happened.

4. ENGINEER

DAMN! THE REACTOR THROUGHPUT WAS TOO MUCH!

5. COREY

THOSE WERE THE LEVITATION ENGINES! SOUND THE ALARMS!

PANEL 7

Small panel, red lights flashing, alarms blaring.

PANEL 8

A group of kids playing on the deck suddenly look up in alarm.

PANEL 9

The control room in utter chaos.

6. CREWMAN

MAJOR INSTABILITIES! CAN’T WE LOCK IT DOWN?

7. CREWMAN 2

LOSING ALTITUDE!

8. CREWMAN 3

STUPID ILDIRAN TECHNOLOGY! CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO BRING IT UNDER CONTROL!

PAGE 47

Eight panels

PANEL 1

Big panel, disaster has struck the skymine, like the
Titanic
. Tilted at an awful angle, the huge facility begins to plunge downward, trailing smoke and wreckage. Balloons from several people talking at once.

1. SKYMINE

WE’RE HEADING INTO UNCHARTED LAYERS! ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY INCREASING BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE!

2. SKYMINE

STILL FALLING!

3. SKYMINE

YEAH, GRAVITY WILL DO THAT.

PANEL 2

Corey yells for everyone to evacuate.

4. COREY

TIME TO GET EVERYBODY OFF THIS WRECK! I SURE HOPE WE’VE GOT ENOUGH SHIPS TO CARRY EVERYBODY.

PANEL 3

Outside on the deck, Corey grabs a kid who is playing with a ball, yanking him away and thrusting him toward his mother who is frantically running toward the kid.

5. COREY

GO WITH YOUR MOM!

PANEL 4

Panels 4–8 are a fast sequence of small, simple panels like machine-gun bullets:

Close-up, the ball bounces.

PANEL 5

The distraught kid, now held by his mom, stretches out his arms, desperate for his precious ball.

PANEL 6

The ball bounces again, this time clearly heading over the edge of the skymine.

PANEL 7

Extreme close-up of the kid’s horrified expression. The ball is going to go over the edge, and at this moment it’s the most important thing in the world to him.

PANEL 8

The edge of the skymine deck. The ball is gone (maybe just vanishing out of view).

PAGE 48

Six panels

PANEL 1

All the new people are frantically rushing toward the evacuation ships, looking like ants on the deck (too small to identify anyone in particular).

1. MAN

NOT ENOUGH ROOM ONBOARD!

2. WOMAN

THEN WE’LL HAVE TO SIT ON SOMEBODY’S LAP.

PANEL 2

Corey in the command center, wildly issuing orders.

3. COREY

ALL OF YOU, GET OUT OF HERE!

4. CREWMAN

I’VE CONTACTED THE OTHER TWO SKYMINES, COREY. THEY’RE SENDING SHIPS TO PICK UP OUR LIFEBOATS. . . .

5. CREWMAN 2

BUT FIRST WE’VE GOT TO REACH THE TOP OF THE CLOUD LAYERS!

PANEL 3

Continued chaos on the deck, people running around, dropping possessions, calling for each other.

PANELS 4, 5, 6

In the engine room, the engineers work like crazy to salvage the situation. Yelling to each other, close-ups of grimy, sweating, terrified men and women.

I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO — GET THOSE LEVITATION ENGINES RUNNING AGAIN!

TOO MUCH DAMAGE.

DOESN’T ANYTHING WORK AROUND HERE?

NOT ANYMORE.

PAGE 49

Five panels

PANEL 1

The sinking, doomed skymine, still trailing smoke, tilted even farther off kilter. The last ships take off like dandelion fluff, heading upward at extreme vertical angles. Around the skymine, the atmosphere is clearly thicker, like soup.

1. SKYMINE

THIS SKYMINE IS GOING DOWN AND THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

PANEL 2

The only person remaining in the control deck, Corey looks at the readouts, astonished at their depth.

2. COREY

AT LEAST WE’VE GOT A THOUSAND MILES OR SO BEFORE WE HIT BOTTOM.

PANEL 3

In the smoke-filled engine room, the chief engineer shouts his report into a wall speaker.

3. ENGINEER

PRESSURE’S INCREASING OUTSIDE, AND THE HULL IS STARTING TO BUCKLE. . . .

[LINK]

I GUESS WE SHOULD’VE USED MORE DUCT TAPE, COREY!

PANEL 4

Corey holds onto a railing as the skymine lurches, going even deeper.

4. COREY

NOBODY’S EVER GONE THIS FAR DOWN INTO A GAS GIANT.

PANEL 5

Big panel, as scary as you can imagine. Corey stares in astonishment out the big window of the control deck, as he sees swimming shadowy shapes in the cloudy murk outside. A monstrous alien sea-serpent shape slams close to the window, suddenly in focus—these are cloud creatures, VERY exotic . . . think of some of the weirdest, nastiest critters ever discovered by deep-sea cameras in the black depths of the Marianas Trench.

5. COREY

BY THE GUIDING STAR! HOW CAN ANYTHING LIVE DOWN IN THESE HELLISH DEPTHS?

6. COREY

ENGINEERS, GET US OUT OF HERE!

PAGE 50

Across the top, red band with white letters: LLARO.

Five panels

PANEL 1

The Robinsons’ camp in the middle of the strange Klikiss ruins on Llaro. Tents, maybe a solar-power station, a water pump, etc.

1. CAPTION

“THIS IS MADELEINE ROBINSON, DOCUMENTING EXPLORATIONS IN THE KLIKISS RUINS . . . ”

2. CAPTION

“OUR SEVEN WEEKS ARE NEARLY UP. THE ILDIRAN SHIP WILL RETURN FOR US SOON . . . ”

3. CAPTION

“GOOD THING, SINCE WE DON’T HAVE MANY SUPPLIES LEFT AFTER FLYING AROUND THE LANDSCAPE, EXPLORING AND MAPPING.”

PANEL 2

Sitting in her tent, Madeleine Robinson is dictating or transcribing notes of her explorations and discoveries while the compy TZ bustles about the tent, straightening things.

4. CAPTION

“PLENTY OF AMAZING THINGS ON LLARO.”

5. MADELEINE

“IT’S NOT THE GARDEN SPOT OF THE SPIRAL ARM, BUT THE PLACE ISN’T TOO BAD. . . .”

PANEL 3

Outside, the two boys Derek and Jacob, looking somewhat bored, are playing games, throwing stones at a weird critter (like a little alien lizard).

6. CAPTION

“I JUST HOPE THE HANSA WILL PAY WELL ENOUGH FOR OUR SURVEY. . . . ”

PANEL 4

Madeleine heads off to their small Ildiran shuttle ready to do the day’s survey activities. TZ in the foreground, will stay to take care of the camp. Madeleine calls to her boys.

7. MADELEINE

I’M GOING OUT FOR THE DAY’S SURVEY, BOYS. BE CAREFUL!

PANEL 5

Derek and Jacob, looking confident and innocent, wave to their mother.

8. DEREK

WE WILL!

9. JACOB

YOU WORRY TOO MUCH, MOM!

PAGE 51

Six panels

PANEL 1

Left alone for only a few minutes, the boys are already getting into trouble. With sly looks at each other, they are climbing into some crumbling old Llaro ruins.

1. DEREK

COME ON, WE’VE NEVER LOOKED INSIDE THIS SECTION BEFORE.

PANEL 2

They find a half-collapsed opening, dark and cramped, but both boys seem eager.

PANEL 3

Walking toward us, exploring the dark tunnels, the boys shine the futuristic equivalent of a flashlight into corners.

2. JACOB

LIKE A HAUNTED HOUSE IN HERE . . .

PANEL 4

Jacob, the younger kid, discovers something intriguing; it looks like a mechanical claw halfway extended through a crack in the wall, but in the shadows it’s hard to tell . . .

3. JACOB

DEREK, I SEE SOMETHING OVER HERE.

PANEL 5

Jacob starts digging on the rubble of the wall, calling for his brother’s help.

4. JACOB

HELP ME WITH THIS . . .

PANEL 6

Big startling panel as the wall covering collapses to reveal an ominous, insectlike black Klikiss robot!!!

PAGE 52

Five panels

PANEL 1

Small panel, extreme close-up of robot’s head as scarlet optical sensors light up.

PANEL 2

Small panel, extreme close-up as robot’s mechanical claw begins to twitch.

PANEL 3

Small panel, close-up of both boys’ very worried faces, suddenly realizing how much trouble they might be in.

1. DEREK

LOOK OUT!

PANEL 4

Big panel, startling and scary, as the humongous and intimidating beetle-like robot comes alive and busts its way out of the wall. But the robot ignores the kids.

2. DEREK

AT LEAST IT’S NOT TRYING TO KILL US . . .

PANEL 5

The robot turns back to the wall and starts digging.

3. JACOB (OUT OF PANEL)

YET
!

PAGE 53

Six panels

PANEL 1

While Derek and Jacob watch (in the extreme lower left corner of the panel), the reactivated Klikiss robot rips part of the wall down, exposing two (or more) other Klikiss robots, also buried in the ruins.