The Feeling of Relativity
This story came out of a crumbling relationship. I felt alone and adrift in a new city with only one connection to ground me, as that connection began to drift I did too.
The Feeling of Relativity
By
Cash Colburn
2013
1 EXT. ROOF TOP - TWILIGHT
A woman bursts out of a door, panicked, running. She breathes heavily with exertion as her feet slap the pavement. Light glints off her shoulders as she rounds a corner. It will happen any moment now and she must not miss it.
A distant rumble grows into a roar.
The setting sun gently hangs on her heaving shoulders as she stands, transfixed, on the view in front of her. The rhythmic sound of a voice counting down to zero, echoing from a loudspeaker, merges with a deep rumble.
From the distance light dances and flickers from the base of a column of smoke and steam. The woman, shoulders heaving from exhaustion, watches as a brilliant eruption of light emits from a distant building complex, shattering the calm and drifting hues of a twilight sky. Suddenly, every decibel of this moment fades into a muffled tone.
WOMAN (O.S.)
You are traveling very far from here.
A rocket streaks out towards the nearest cloud bank, its blinding rays reaching out into the once peaceful evening.
It reaches beyond Earth. It reaches for the heavens.
WOMAN (O.S.)
The places you will go…
She breathes heavily as she wraps her arms around herself watching him leave. The rocket reaches out toward a bright asteroid, Apophis, clearly visible in the deeper shades of twilight.
2 INT. SPACE MUSEUM – DAY
A mannequin, wearing a beige jumpsuit, fixes a blank stare on a tin can floating just above its empty plastic hand. He sits, encased in Plexiglas and surrounded by instrument panels, inside a replica of a NASA space laboratory. A hand gently touches the edge of a plexiglass enclosure.
WOMAN (O.S. continued)
...the strange and distant things you will see along your way.
She gazes at him, lost in her thoughts. Her eyes slowly studying this sterile representation of what her companion now might live in every day. She is filled with the warmth of nostalgia.
LATER:
In another part of the museum she glances up at a massive cylinder structure wrapped in silvery, reflective Mylar. Antennas jut out along it’s metallic surface. A massive holographic projection displays the latest updates on a mission to study the asteroid Apophis.
3 VFX. SPACESHIP COCKPIT, LEAVING ATMOSPHERE – VFX
Cloud layers whip past a cockpit window, as a trail of smoke and debris sheds from the spacecraft. The sky outside shifts into an inky darkness.
WOMAN (O.S.)
I’m learning what it means not to have you here anymore.
A gloved hand punches a blinking button inside of a cockpit that continues to shake violently.
4 INT. BOTANICAL GARDENS – DAY
THE PAST:
Sunlight, diffused by the steel encased windows, holds a man and woman, sitting side by side on a bench, in warmth and beauty. Their bodies held to one another as the light holds them in silhouette. The safety and comfort that surrounds her is clearly visible upon her face as hands are clasped. She, in this moment, is in love.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Now, everything holds a different meaning.
A hand slowly reaches over and gently touches her face. She leans against him she smiles to herself.
5 EXT. CITY - MORNING
A train passes on a nearby rail bridge as she walks to work, dressed smartly in her warmer fall clothing.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Steps I now walk to the subway each morning: 248
ALT SHOT:
Her walking by signs that with advertisements, holographic projections, etc.
6 INT. CAFE – DAY
She sits, alone, in a crowded cafe toying with a plate of food in front of her. Her stare is blank and empty as she drinks from a cup of coffee.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Meals eaten alone: 196
She looks out the window.
7 EXT. EINSTEIN MEMORIAL – DAY
The viewfinder of a camera pans across a scene as the focus rolls across the subject: A large statue of Albert Einstein.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Photos taken: 14
She looks up from the viewfinder and walks away.
8 EXT. CITY – DAY
As she sits and reads a dog comes bounding into her, tail wagging. She smiles and laughs as she pets the dog.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Times I have laughed: 18
The dog rushes off to its owner. She smiles to herself.
9 INT. APARTMENT – MORNING
Animated news stories move along the surface of a newspaper she is reading. She drinks her morning coffee.
She turns to a story on the Apophis mission. 136 days after the launch. She smiles to herself, being lost in her thoughts, as she watches the footage of his face playback on the paper.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Days that have passed since your launch: 136
The moment is interrupted by a notification popping up on the wall next to her all future-like.
10 VFX. OUTER SPACE
A large spacecraft crosses an inky landscape, textured by shimmering distant planets and torrents of star fields that flicker and wink in the distance. The moon, dwarfed by the nearby Earth, is not alone in this vast landscape: The alien asteroid slowly streaks across the scene.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Miles you have traveled: 16,320,000
The spacecraft is on a course to intersect the asteroid.
11 INT. METRO CAR / STATION – DAY
She walks along as advertisements and Metro system updates dance in a holographic fashion throughout the station. She pays no attention.
LATER:
Bracing her body against a handhold as she reads from her book, she ignores the news and entertainment loop that illuminates the windows around her.
At first she doesn’t notice the footage from a news story about the space vessel bound for Apophis is playing on the projection, she looks up from her book. There he is.
The footage of his smiling face, slightly opaque on the glass surface of the subway car, causes her to catch her breath. She still hasn't gotten used to seeing him like this. And not seeing him.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Moments I have thought of you: too many.
The moving texture of subway tunnels dither and slide behind the holographic projection. She is surrounded by the video feed that plays back throughout the subway car. She looks on with intensity.
12 INT. BOTANICAL GARDENS (ALSO SCENE #4) – DAY
THE PAST:
They walk together, surrounded by the beauty and exotic foliage of an indoor garden, along a steel-mesh catwalk. She laughs at him as he pulls her into his arms.
LATER:
She rests her hand on a railing, standing next to him as they look out over the edge of the catwalk. After a brief moment he places his hand on top of hers.
13 INT. APARTMENT – NIGHT
A warm, wan light barely fills the room as she lies in bed. Her closed eyelids are a restful contrast to her trouble face.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Dreaming, now, is only an extension of this new and vague reality.
A man’s hand reaches in and caresses her face.
15 INT. BOTANICAL GARDENS (ALSO SCENE #4) – DAY
THE PAST:
The couple, walking in silhouette, suddenly stops. As the man steps past her, he turns to her just as she violently rushes towards him, nearly tackling him into a panicked hug. The stark silhouette of their bodies, grasping one another, shake to the sobbing, hugging, and kissing embrace.
WOMAN (O.S.)
You’ll never miss home more, out there, than after you’ve been home, here, with me.
This is the last time they will hold each other on earth for years to come. Maybe even forever.
16 INT. BOTANICAL GARDENS (NOT SCENE #4) – DAY
ONE YEAR LATER:
She stands alone on the catwalk, looking out over the gardens.
WOMAN (O.S.)
The rhythm slows.
17 INT. SPACE MUSEUM (ALSO SCENE #2) – DAY
She stares at the mannequin. She smiles before walking away from the replica space station laboratory.
WOMAN (O.S.)
The distance mounting.
The mannequin remains frozen in response to her fingers gently gliding along the plexiglass surface as she continues walking away.
18 EXT. ROOF TOP (ALSO SCENE #1) – TWILIGHT
She stands transfixed, looking up into the night sky that is filled with the remaining smoke trail and debris from the launch.
WOMAN (O.S.)
The meaning slowly changes.
She walks away.
19 INT. SCIENCE LAB – DAY
Her hand stretches a complex set of mathematical calculations across a wall-mounted computer interface. She stands, transfixed in concentration, on the equations.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Relativity still holds true.
The calculations continue to scroll across a depiction of the flight path the ship and asteroid are currently on. These are the very equations being used to bring his spacecraft back to earth. Back to her.
20 VFX. SPACE CRAFT - APPROACHING ASTEROID
The spacecraft’s ion engine slowly pulses a bright blue flare with a steady rhythm.
WOMAN (O.S.)
Adventurer of mine: Return home.
A near-infinity beyond is the flaring light of an asteroid’s tail, smearing the distant and beautiful nebula that colors the background of this chase across our solar system.
FADE OUT
