Episode 1 (Dynamo)

**Setting** | Shadow State Five drift location in Dustlands Restoration Region 134\_A
Shade
Gage Mann's RV
Dustlands
Axle Rubix's rocketboat
 **Starring** | Scott Hampson as Axle Rubix
Ian Hubert as Gage Mann
Jenna Olafson as Ava
Josh Truax as Maxwell Sterling

***Episode 1***, stylized as **ep1,** is the first part of *Dynamo*. Episode 1 was released on January 12, 2012 on YouTube.com via the KarmaPirates channel. The original plot synopsis for the episode given by KarmaPirates says "In which the Amazingly Bearded Man (ABM) wards off the Flesh Bats, and Ava makes bad decisions."

## Plot synopsis

The first act of the episode tells the story of how the Amazingly Bearded Man wards struggles against a Flesh Bats on his rocket boat. The second act introduces the characters Gage Mann and Ava, who are out on a "date" in the Dustlands, stargazing. While driving home in the RV, they spot the bearded man and decide to give him a lift back to the city. The third and last act introduces special agent Maxwell Sterling, as he meets a group of detectives in the Dustlands investigating a crater, and acidentally relays intel to them which they are not on a level of clearance high enough to know. Subsquently he is forced to kill the detectives.

## Full plot summary

### Act 1, Axle Rubix

Act 1 opens with a television interview between a Shadow State Three correspondent, labelled "Uncle Amos", talking to a long-haired man labelled "Big Apple." Under Uncle Amos' is written "Exemplar State Non-Invertention" and under Big Apple "5 Term Will." Uncle Amos says to not use words like "Fault and fate" because there is only "Cause and effect." He then says that the only problem they have remaining is what to do about their "little problem". Big Apple laughs responds that he will tell Uncle Amos what they are going to do. The broadcast ends and we cut to Shadow State Five, 200 years later, where Axle Rubix's rocket boat is drifting through the wrecked environment of floating, broken rock, while he himself is lying asleep on the top deck, binoculars at his side and a revolver in his hand. He is however woken when his radio turns on and a voice, resembling his own, comes from it, warning him that flesh bats are coming. He gets up and with his binoculars spies a lone flesh bat flying towards him. He hurries to the cockpit to attempt to start the engine of rocket boat, but fails, so he gets out his revolver, shoots the floor of the cockpit, and the rocket boat fires off, waking all the flesh bats around and causing them to swarm after the rocket boat. Axle steers the rocket boat through the floating, broken rock and building ruins of Shadow State Five. One of the bats breaks through the windshield and gets into the cockpit, causing Axle to drop his gun, so he flies up and does a loop in front of the moon, so that he can catch the gun as it drops through the air, and shoots the bat with it. Axle pulls off his belt and ties it around the steering wheel of the rocket boat so that it will fly straight, then gets to the top deck and starts shooting at the flesh bats with his revolver. Too late Axle discovers the rocket boat is fast approaching the waiting mouth of a Demon Well, which swallows the boat up. Axle seems to emit a bright blue flash of light and we cut to act 2.

### Act 2, Gage Mann, Ava, Axle Rubix

In act 2 we are introduced to Gage Mann and Ava who are lying in the grass of the Dustlands, the area surrounding the city of Shade, stargazing in the night. Gage points to a star and explains to Ava that is is called Mizar, and then points to the star Alcar and asks Ava if she can see it, explaining that it was once a vision test for soldiers to get into the ancient Roman army. Ava is however not able to see it. They are suddenly interupted by a long, deep holwing sound, prompting Gage to say that it is probably their cue to leave. Ava calls out "Good night zombie" loudly and Gage shushes her. We cut to them driving back towards Shade in Gage's RV. We learn that Ava has told Gage's ex-girlfriend and her own friend Liz that Gage was taking her out to stargaze in the Dustlands, and Liz had warned her to look out, because Gage had taken her to the same place before he asked her out on their first date. Gage says that it is because it is a great place, and you are only able to see about three stars from Shade. Ava asks Gage if he really think it's fair to woo women with nature, prompting to Gage to ask her if she was wooed. She then tells him that if he wants to ask her something, he should do it. The tension is broken up when Ava spots a man on the road. While Gage think it may be a zombie, he agrees they should stop to see if he needs a lift. It turns out to be Axle Rubix, the man from act 1. Ava invite him to take a lift with them to Shade and offers him a Dr Lemur's beer which he drinks all at once. They proceed to drive to Shade. Axle is silent the whole time.

Once within the city and safely parked under some spotlights in a fenced off area, they go to bed. Gage has a strange dream in which he is inside a room, all lit with pink light, and prompted to move and rotate pink, floating 3-dimensional cubes.

### Act 3, Peter Jefferson, Maxwell Sterling

Still night-time, a lone police chopper through heavy rain towards Dustlands Restoration Region 134\_A. Meanwhile in Region 134\_A, local police officers, including detective Peter Jefferson is investigating what appears to be a crater. While a flying drone with a hat takes pictures of the area, Jefferson states that he believes it to be a meteor strike, noting the scorching, which according to him hint at a small impact, and the bent shrubbery, which he thinks is indicative of forces pushing out in all directions before the hit. He tells the drone to call Shade police and that there is nothing to worry about. He is suddenly visited by Superintelligence Agency special agent Maxwell Sterling who says that it might very well be a meteor strike, as those are common enough. He notes that it could also be a combusted zombie, something he has seen before, but he doesn't think that's what they are looking at. He points out from the radius everything expands outwards as expected from a normal explosion, however looking at the depression itself everything coalesces back towards the center, indicating an expansion and immediate, violent recompression. He then points out footprints leading away from the "crater," which the detectives hadn't noticed before. Sterling tells Jefferson that he believes that it is a drift from Shadow State Five. Jefferson is bewildered, prompting Sterling to ask him if he's at level 27 clearance, only to learn that he and his men are only at level 11, meaning they are not allowed to know of drifting. Due to the strict Agency rules, Sterlin's accidental relay of intel means he is forced to eliminate the local detectives. He tells Jefferson that he is truly sorry about everything, then presses black device and presses it, causing all the lights to turns off. Four glowing red eyes appear behind Sterling, then fly out as their owner, a strange, tall shadowy creature leaps around to kill every single one of the detectives. Sterling presses his device, turning the lights back on, and the creature is gone. Sterling pulls out a journal and proclaims that things are about to get interesting as he realizes that Axle Rubix has returned to Exemplar State, making it clear that the "drift" was the residue from Axle transporting himself from his rocket boat to Exemplar State. It is also clear that he has some kind of history with the State.

The episode ends with a shot of Gage Mann and Ava sleeping in Gage's RV while a dark figure is standing outside the window, lit by strange light resemlbing flickering flames.

## Cast

* Scott Hampson as Uncle Amos (voice)
* Soren Laulainen as Uncle Amos (body)
* Aaron Moore as Big Apple
* Scott Hampson and Ian Hubert as Mister Bones Radio (voice)
* Scott Hampson as Axle Rubix (called The Amazingly Beared Man here)
* Ian Hubert as Gage Mann
* Jenna Olafson as Ava
* Josh Truax as Maxwell Sterling
* Tyler Schexnayder as Peter Jefferson

## External links

* Watch *Episode 1* at YouTube.com
* *Episode 1* on IMDb.com
* Official website