Episode 49 - Rescues

## Rescues

A white outline that resembles crinkled paper. A white box rises in the center with an open red eye in the middle.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Jedediah runs into the forest, Diggory stops at the ring of birds, and Riot gets bad news. The theme of tonight's episode is Rescues.

***Content Warnings:** Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Strangulation, Static (including sfx), Emotional Manipulation, and Body horror.*

## Intro - Welcome Home

Nikignik speaks to the dreamer of the Hallowoods, describing it as "*darker than [their] dreams, and creeping closer every year, there is a forest where life and death meet*." He addresses the Dreamers as "*Ladies, gentlemen, and indescribable beings*" telling them that it had been a while since their nightmares had been filled with dead things walking beneath unfriendly pines. He tells them that he'd enjoyed his time away, but he'd yearned for the expanse of black branches. The forest was as dark as ever, its survivors took shelter from a broken sky, and the sleepers beneath the lakes dreamt of the end of the world. He welcomes the Dreamers home.

Nikignik hovers above the Hallowoods, talking about how it rose form the corpse of a former wetland, and how it bordered on the strange, the terrible, and the holy, from which there was no true return. Beneath them [Nikignik] Jedediah Wicker ran right into the woodland, disappearing into the shadows.

## Story One - Beautiful Colors

Jedediah Wicker trips over on a root and scrapes his palms open on the forest flood, standing up to find them bloodied and almost cursing, but dared not in the case of his mother (see Mrs. Wicker) somehow being able to hear him. He looks around but is unable to see his sister (see Johannah Wicker) from between the trees. He hears a sound cut through the forest, a laugh or an animal screaming he couldn't tell and sprints deeper into the woods despite the setting sun, muttering to himself about how Johannah was always running off. then he hears the sound again, definitely a scream and definitely Johannah's scream, but joined by a strange chuckle that was not Johannah. He yells out to her, going in the direction of the noise, and finds her in a gully. Then he realised that she was hiding as he sees a creature with pale red fur and far too many legs momentarily cross in front of the moonlight. Jed pulls out a knife, which he acknowledges is too small for the task at hand, and wonders of there was a verse in the Bible about laying down one's life for their kid sister. He jumps into the gully stats telling Johannah to try and climb out with him, and hears the creature above, closer than he was comfortable, and he looks up into the darkness, holding his knife up and yelling at the creature he knew was above them to stay back.

And then he sees the creature, a large fox with eyeless sockets and a dozen paws that were reaching towards Jedediah and Johannah in much the same way as the legs of a hunting spider. Johana climbs up the wall, using his knife to get a hold of the roots grounding in the wall, and the fox starts chomping at their feet. Then The Diamond Rider (Dimes) and their Diamond Hound appears, standing between the Wicker siblings. Dimes tells them to get on The Diamond Hound, and the Fox begins to attack it, but the Hound grows brighter still, bright enough to blind, the light wrapping and seeming to crystalise around the fox and when it dims again the fox had simply disappeared as if it had been claimed by the rapture. Johannah drops from her climb, Dimes catching her in one of their arms. Jedediah asks Dimes if they were an angle, remaining weary of the Hound, and they simply tell him 'No'. Johannah asks if they were the Devil, and Dimes once again tells them 'No', introducing themself as Dimes and saying that they should be taking them home as this was a bad place to play. Johannah happily accepts this, and Dimes helps her up to join them on the back of the Hound. Jedediah finds himself telling Dimes that they were the most beautiful person he'd ever seen, and Dimes thanks him and asks him for his name. He tells them and they complement him, informing him that he had a nice name, and that he lived in a beautiful world that he would find was filled with beautiful people. Dimes takes them then to the gates of Fort Freedom, leaving before Jedediah has the chance to thank them. He instead turns to Johannah and tells her never to run off again, which she nods at him and aggress that she'd never do it again.

### Interlude - Don't Get Lost

Nikignik tells the dreamers that if they found themself lost in the Hallowoods, to know that it was a fairly common occurrence and not at all a reflection on them, however finding their way out was an uncommon occurrence. All forest were alive, but the Hallowoods could hold a grudge; they whispered to each other to record the passage of traveller withing their rings and help no respect for fire or axe. And then of course the north most woods were evolving constantly, a labyrinth to conceal the black heart of the forest. He tells them that if they get lost, to stay still so that others could find them, and so that they'd be well rested if they never did.

## Story Two - Wrong Box

Diggory Graves and Percy Reed move through the Hallowoods silently together, stopping when they hear the sounds of the woods fall silent. Diggory sees that only a few feet in front of them was a line of dead of dead birds, stretching off into both side of the forest. The sight of this saddens Percy, who verbalises his condolences. Diggory pulls a walkie-talkie out of the pocket and radio's Riot Maidstone to tell her that they'd reached the ring of birds, and she tells them that she'd be there in a minute, speaking out to Olivier Song to ask where they were. They [Olivier] radio back to tell her that they were in position, and to be prepared for some bad weather (see Olivier Song). Olivier summons a hailstorm, and Diggory watches on as the Dreaming Box that they were about to attack (see Episode 48 - Revelations) goes into defence, emitting a red light. Diggory asks Riot if they should approach, but Riot tells them to wait until the right light faded, also telling Olivier to step up the hail in order to render the Dreaming Boxes motion sensors useless. The red glow dies away, and Riot tells everyone to commence with their plan.

Diggory steps over the line of birds and walks out of the tree line. They look up at Dreaming Box Polaris, which triggers a rush on memories for Diggory however they supress it acknowledging that this was a bad time. Percy speaks up, telling them that he'd only ever seen a Dreaming Box from really far away, and Riot calls out over the walkie-talkie to tell Olivier to not dare let the hail stop, Olivier informs Riot that they were good at what they did and were just waiting on Riot. Riot informs them all that she was heading into the Dreaming Box, and Diggory asks Percy if they were on the right side, to which Percy informs them that all the sides were the same and Diggory begins to sprint towards the box. Riot speaks up from the Walkie-talkie then, telling them that she'd just passed a sign that said "Box Polaris", Olivier quips back that that meant she was in the right place, But Riot informs them that Valerie Maidstone was in Box Andromedia, that they were at the wrong Box. Olivier stops the hail, and the Dreaming Box senses them.

### Marketing - Blissful Silence

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her marketing segment. She tells the Listener that the Prime Dream was in blissful silence after so many months of being subjected to the terror of the Stonemaids (see Episode 72 - Errors) there was peace again and they were all connected in love and Harmoney and the wonderful experience of living life within the Dreaming Boxes. Valerie Maidstone had joined the Prime Dream with 'Riot Maidstone' (see Also Riot), and Botco's mandatory phycological tests had proven effective in identifying Stonemaid activists. The survivors of Box Aries (see Episode 72 - Errors) were expected to return to the Prime Dream within a week, but the tragedy of what happened at Box Aries would never be forgotten, as it was essential that it be remembered to that they could be better prepared for the future.

### Story Two, Continued

Olivier scolds Riot, asking her what'd she mean 'Wrong Box' right before they are shot out of the sky by the Dreaming Box defence system. Diggory bolts towards where Olivier was going to fall to catch them, but they manage to redirect themself, causing their fall to still hut but not be fatal. Riot drives up next to them in the RV, telling them that their new plan was to "get the hell out of [there]", and Diggory picks up Olivier and they climb into the back of the RV, telling her to drive quickly. She speeds off and keeps driving until they were safely in the treeline again.

Riot asks if Olivier was okay, checking their pulse only for Olivier to rip their hand away, sarcastically asking her if she though they were okay, but Riot tells them that if they were still able to talk, they were better than she'd expected, and they tell her that they'd manged to block the attack, but she hadn't told them that it was going to end up happening like that. Diggory asks Riot what she meant by 'Wrong Box', and she tells they that Danielle O'Hara had told her that her mother was being kept in Box Andromeda (see Episode 48 - Revelations), but she'd though it was the one just outside of the Hallowoods because it was the closest (see Episode 22 - Mountains). Olivier asked if that was the case, how many Dreaming Boxes were there, and Percy tells them that he didn't know, asking Riot were Box Andromeda was, to the answer of 'no idea'. Olivier tells Riot that they were sorry about her mum, Riot informs them that she wasn't giving up, and Diggory tells her to focus on the road.

### Interlude - The Void Visits

Nikignik asks the Dreamers if they'd enjoyed falling asleep for so long having only the usual dreams, or perhaps enjoyed the absence of his voice. He'd had a nice time of his so-called vacation and had found himself wondering if he should go back to the Hallwood's and continue his broadcast of its residence last moments across the universe. But he'd missed it, so here he was again, and he would continue to unfold the stories of the forest that lied at the end of their world, as to leave before the sun had set on their kind would be to leave the story half-finished. When he was everywhere at once nowhere was home, yet the Hallowoods had a place close to his heart.

## Story Three - Couldn't Be Any Farther

Riot Maidstone, having returned to the Scoutpost, asked Bern Keene the same question that Olivier had asked her, 'how many dreaming Boxes are there?', and gotten the answer of "Three hundred or so" to her disbelief. Bern spreads out a map of the USA with all of the Dreaming Boxes on it, though she warns Riot that it was probably out of date, as it'd been approximately 15 years since they'd acquired it. Violet Keene ask if she was sure it'd been Box Andromeda, and Riot confirms. Diggory asks why there were so many of them, and Violet tells them that alot of people lived in them, though she'd imagine it to be less now. Bern adds on the information that there could be up to a million people in a box, though some had more and others had less, they'd lost plenty to Box Polaris over the years. Violet goes to apologise for Riot losing her mum, but is cut off by Olivier pointing out Box Andromeda on the map, and Riot ask where they were on the map, and Bern points, revealing that they were almost at the opposite end of America. Violet continues her apology, saying that they'd all lost people to the Boxes, and the loss hurt less over time, but Riot tells her that she wasn't giving up on her mum. Violet and Bern look at each other, then back to Riot, telling her that she might not have a choice, Bern informs her that gas was going to be her biggest issue, and Olivier says that they [Olivier] could fly there, but they weren't great with passengers.

They begin to argue, and Diggory speaks up, saying that they were sure everyone was exhausted, and that they should continue the conversation in the morning, and Riot tells them that it was fine by her, and leaves the room, heading directly for her RV. She falls asleep after a long while of being unable to, rotating the thought of how she was going to get her mum back. She dreams of Clara Martin, a memory of when they'd still been traveling in the RV together, but is interrupted by Danielle, who is standing in the open door of the dream RV. Riot greets her, telling her that her timing was awkward, but Danielle reassures her that she'd seen worse. She asks how the rescue mission went, and Riot tells her that they'd gone to the wrong Box, and Danielle tells her that - yeah, Box Andromeda was near Yosemite national park in California, realising that Riot hadn't understood this in the time that they'd been meeting. Danielle assumes that Riot was still at the Scoutpost, and Riot confirms this, and tells her that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to go anymore, as the trip would take weeks and would be significantly more dangerous than what they'd just attempted to do. Danielle is disappointed by this, but tells her it was okay, that she'd find someone else to help. She goes to leave, but turns to tell Riot of the existence of Also Riot.

## Outro - Rescues

Nikignik waxes poetics about Rescues. About how grateful one was, while in the dark caverns of life to find an outstretched hand or a light beckoning them to the exit. He tells them that he wished he could be that for them, but the sun was too low on their horizon and the waters on their shores were rising too high, and soon their would be only frogs and deep lakes where they had once walked - malignant oceans and black pines. And yet, if he could not save them, be their beacon in the night, he could offer them a friend in the dark, a little comfort as the waters blotted out the stars. And if they were lucky, there might still be a cause for hope.