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CHANNEL AVATAR Part 4:  Within the Terrarium

CHANNEL AVATAR Issue 4:  Scene 2

[Inner lab.  NAYA is up on the table, where YONGHUI has been examining her.]   [GOLDA comes bursting in.] GOLDA: It was the spider people, wasn’t it?  [Realizing the sound of that, she repeats it melodramatically.]  The Revenge of the Spider People! GARRET: [From behind GOLDA, following her in, unamused.]  As yet there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think Nye was the target.  But it’s nothing to joke about either way. NAYA: What are you doing here? GARRET: A family emergency doesn’t concern me?  The consequences could have been—  [Collecting himself.]  Anyway . . .   [Indicates his uniform.]  Security, investigating reports of an accident.  [Goes back into the main lab stiffly.] NAYA: [To the room.]  I meant her. YONGHUI: Garret arranged it.  She’ll take you home. NAYA: I thought I was fine. YONGHUI: I sent a blood sample for analysis.  Until it comes back, we shouldn’t take any chances. GOLDA: [Helps NAYA down.]  You did get attacked by a poisonous frog. NAYA: I’d hardly say attacked. GOLDA: Frogs are slimy and squirmy and gross! YONGHUI: I didn’t know you had a problem with frogs. NAYA: [Leaning back against the table, still tired.]  Childhood trauma. GOLDA: What, now? NAYA: You don’t remember?  Garret once put a frog down your dress.  [Pauses to think, gathering her nearby lab coat.]  That was when he first came to the house, so I guess you would have been four or so . . . ?   [GOLDA and NAYA move through the door to the main lab.  GOLDA takes the opportunity to accost GARRET.] GOLDA: Hey, did you put a frog in my dress? GARRET: [Startled.]  I beg your pardon?   [GOLDA just giggles at him, so NAYA steps in.] NAYA: Don’t worry.  I’m sure the statute of limitations has passed on that one. GOLDA: [Hugs him.]  And I forgive you anyway. GARRET: [Looks at both of them closely, thawing only marginally.]  You wouldn’t be trying to put something over on the old and brain-injured, would you?  It’s hardly the time. NAYA: I’m afraid it is true.  You can ask Lachlan if you like, he probably remembers.  [Slowly hangs her lab coat and goes to her desk, preparing to leave, then looks around.]  What happened to it, anyway? GOLDA: What "it"? NAYA: The frog. GOLDA: Ew!   [NAYA spots the frog, still in its cylinder, on the student side of the lab and goes to retrieve it.  After some unheard discussion with a nearby student, she returns carefully, holding the cylinder in both hands.  Meanwhile, the student disappears into the inner lab.] GARRET: You’re not taking that back to the house.  It’s dangerous. YONGHUI: [Appearing in the doorway.]  Not to mention foolhardy.  I expect it’s been genetically modified. NAYA: I’m not proposing to keep it or release it, just rescue it from an unhappy fate.  I’m sure someone has a nice terrarium to put it in. YONGHUI: We might be able to backtrack the genetic modifications to see where it came from. NAYA: So we can take a tissue sample.  [Realizing she’s losing the argument, sits down heavily and leans on her desk.]  At least give the poor thing a chance. GARRET: All right, you’re going home.  And I’ll take custody of that.  It’s probably university property anyway.  [Considers NAYA.]  And possibly evidence, if necessary.   [NAYA reluctantly yields up the cylinder.  YONGHUI disconnects NAYA’s laptop and hands it to GOLDA.] YONGHUI: If you need to stay home for a while, there’s still work you can do from there. NAYA: Yeah, whatever. GOLDA: Come on, now.  [Helps her up.]  We’ll have the whole house to ourselves for a change.  It’ll be fun!

CHANNEL AVATAR Issue 4:  Scene 3

[House kitchen.  LACHLAN is using a laptop at the table.  NAYA enters but then hesitates.] NAYA: Sorry, I thought everyone was gone. LACHLAN: No such luck, I’m afraid.  Should you be up?  Golda said you slept most of yesterday. NAYA: Yeah, I guess it hit me harder than I thought.  Sorry if you’ve been roped into this, too, though. LACHLAN: I don’t have class until six today anyway.  The others will be back by then.   [NAYA gets a can of soda from the refrigerator then sits at the table.] NAYA: It’s a good opportunity to say "I told you so," if you like.  I’ve already been getting grief from Garret all morning anyway, so you might as well join in, too. LACHLAN: Did I predict this somehow? NAYA: You always said someone would wind up hurt. LACHLAN: Well, doing what you do . . . . NAYA: What everyone does, apparently. LACHLAN: If you like.  It doesn’t really make it better.  How can you stand on the shoulders of giants if you’re all cutting each other off at the knees? NAYA: Well put, but it doesn’t change the reality on the ground, does it?  If this is what it takes to keep a research lab funded nowadays, what else can I do?  [Sighs.]  Though I certainly wouldn’t have worried so much about my science homework if I’d known this was the way of it. LACHLAN: [After a pause.]  I’m surprised Garret’s on your case, though.  He was pretty worried about you earlier. NAYA: Since I survived, it seems I’m now to blame for the whole thing.  How’d he put it?  "Picking up random wildlife". . . ? LACHLAN: Actual wildlife would probably have been safer. NAYA: And less depressing.  Poor frog.  I wonder if Garret actually found someone to take care of it, or just told me he did to shut me up. LACHLAN: What did he actually tell you? NAYA: That he found some budding herpetologist over in Mudd who works with poison dart frogs.  [LACHLAN starts a search on his laptop while NAYA rambles on tiredly to herself.]  Not that it was a poison dart frog.  It didn’t look anything like one.  I’m not a total idiot . . . . LACHLAN: According to this, they can vary widely in appearance.   [LACHLAN turns the laptop to show NAYA photos on the Mudd Hall web page.] NAYA: [Not really looking.]  Fine.  I am an idiot. LACHLAN: [Laughing.]  It also says that captive poison dart frogs aren’t dangerous to begin with, so don’t feel too bad.  They even keep them on display in tanks in the atrium.  If you like, I could always stop by there on my way to class to take a look. NAYA: Oh, don’t be silly.  Mudd’s nowhere near the law school.  And it’s not like I could do anything about it whether the frog’s there or not.  [Rises and takes her can, preparing to leave.]  Don’t mind me, I’m just having a bad day.  Or two.

CHANNEL AVATAR Issue 4:  Scene 4

[House living room.  NAYA comes down the stairs, but pauses on hearing voices.  GOLDA and SHI-YING are sitting in the living room chatting.] GOLDA: I still say a puppy’d be fun.  [Noticing NAYA.]  Don’t you think we ought to have a pet around here? NAYA: [Not actually paying much attention.]  Wouldn’t it be trouble with us all gone most of the day? GOLDA: It wouldn’t be trouble.  I could take it into work with me.  Lots of people in the office do that. SHI-YING: Do any of you ever actually do any work? GOLDA: [Grinning.]  Just enough to get paid.   [NAYA moves rather hesitantly toward the kitchen.] GOLDA: Don’t worry.  Garret’s not back yet.  I don’t know why he’s so bent out of shape this time, anyway. SHI-YING: Well, she did manage to get done in by a frog.  What’d’ya do, try to kiss it? NAYA: [With an attempt at a withering look.]  You’ve just been waiting to use that one, haven’t you. SHI-YING: [Disappointed that his shot missed.]  Anyway, if you’re going to do something that dumb, you can’t complain.   [NAYA enters the kitchen but continues the conversation, wanting to change the subject.] NAYA: So, a pet? GOLDA: Well, I’ve never had one.  Shi-Ying, either.  Did you? NAYA: No, I don’t think so.  Not a popular thing in foster care.  [Reenters with a snack.]  I wouldn’t mind, really, but I don’t think you can get a dog without permission of the homeowner.  Which is still technically Garret, for a couple more years, anyway. SHI-YING: Can’t hardly ask with the mood he’s in right now.   [Seeing the conversation returning to a discussion of her sins, NAYA retreats back up the stairs.]

CHANNEL AVATAR Issue 4:  Scene 5

[NAYA’s bedroom.  Fairly small and mostly cluttered with material related to scientific research.  She does, however, have other photo prints from her childhood, most notably a framed though obviously amateur family portrait of FLORENCE, GARRET, GOLDA, NAYA, LACHLAN, and PERRY.]   [NAYA is lying back in bed with one arm over her eyes in a manner almost defensive.  Her laptop is on the bed nearby.  The screen shows it is around 5:30, and there are two open windows, possibly among other things.  One window is an article regarding medical research on spider silk.  The other shows the conference presentation again.]   [Text on screen.] LACHLAN: Nye? NAYA: [Opening her eyes.]  Lachlan?  Is something wrong? LACHLAN: How would you describe the amphibian in question? NAYA: What?  [Sitting up.]  You didn’t really go in, did you? LACHLAN: It’s a public space.   [LACHLAN is revealed standing in the atrium of a building in front of a display of glass terrariums containing many brightly-colored frogs.  Signs posted nearby contain various information regarding Dendrobatidae, including the fact that they range widely in both coloration and toxicity.  The atrium has only a few other people passing by in the background as they exit the building.] LACHLAN: [Moving along the row of tanks and checking the occupants.]  I’m afraid I don’t see any likely candidates, though, since you said it didn’t look like a poison dart frog.  But of course I don’t know what it did look like.  [Pauses on reaching the end of the display.]  If you want to take a look for yourself . . . . NAYA: What, seriously?  You haven’t done any channeling since Dr. Wan died. LACHLAN: I’m not going to get involved in espionage, academic or otherwise.  But it doesn’t hurt anything to help you find your frog, right? NAYA: Well, if you’re sure you wouldn’t mind . . . .   [NAYA lays back on the bed while LACHLAN puts up a hand to lean against the wall next to the display.  After a moment, he returns back along the row of tanks, peering closely into each terrarium.  Shortly, a security guard arrives to clear the atrium preparatory to locking up the building.  LACHLAN exits, then sits on a bench along the sidewalk outside.  Back in her bedroom, NAYA opens her eyes again.] LACHLAN: Any luck? NAYA: Not as far as frogs go.  And I’m afraid you’ll be late to class now . . . . LACHLAN: [Checking the time.]  It’ll be close.  [Starts moving hurriedly away from the building.]  Sorry it didn’t work out. NAYA: [Without rising, turns to look at the family portrait, focusing on LACHLAN and FLORENCE.]  It’s OK, though.  Seriously.  You tried.

CHANNEL AVATAR Issue 4:  Scene 6

[House kitchen.]   [It’s breakfast and GOLDA and NAYA are serving themselves and helping PERRY as needed.  GARRET enters and surveys the scene while gathering some food for himself.] GARRET: Is Shi-Ying up? GOLDA: Don’t worry.  Lachlan’s rousting him. GARRET: [To NAYA, rather pointedly.]  And what would your plans be? NAYA: You can’t be serious.  It’s been four days.  I even stayed in all weekend. SHI-YING: [Entering.]  Like you ever go anywhere anyway.   [Too annoyed with GARRET to be distracted by SHI-YING, NAYA gets up and moves to the living room, passing LACHLAN en route.  GARRET follows her.] GARRET: We’re not dealing with a known toxin.  We have to make sure it’s safely cleared your system. NAYA: So, what, you’re grounding me?  I don’t know what’s with you these days, but I’m pretty sure you don’t get to do that. GARRET: Look, the Neurodevice Conference is the week after next, so you just need to stay home until then.  It’s not as though your research advisor is going to be difficult about accommodating you. NAYA: I rather thought Yonghui wanted me back. GARRET: Not to the extent of taking unnecessary risks, I’m sure.  I heard her say herself you can work from here.  [Seeing NAYA unconvinced, though less argumentative.]  Nye, the conference is important.  It’s not like the time will be wasted. NAYA: And the actual research I’m supposedly doing? GARRET: Yongui thinks the presentation could do a lot to promote the lab.  Maybe even a stepping stone to the Ivory Tower.  That’s where the real research happens anyway. NAYA: Yeah, for Yonghui.  Meanwhile the rest of us will still have to make a living. GARRET: There’s no reason it can’t be you, too. NAYA: Please.  The rate I’m going, I’ll be lucky to get my doctorate. GARRET: Stop selling yourself short.  Dr. Wan wouldn’t have trained you if you weren’t up to it.  You’ve just got to play the game right. NAYA: "The game" . . . . GARRET: Nye— NAYA: Fine.  If I agree to stay home, will it end this conversation? GARRET: [Deciding with some reluctance to take the win.]  For now, at any rate.  [Rising.]  I’ll tell Yonghui.   [GARRET exits to the kitchen.  NAYA sits back with a sigh, trying not to contemplate her position.  After a while, the others pass through on their way out.] GOLDA: [Waving as she goes by.]  Later, then! SHI-YING: [Pausing en route, unable to resist an opportunity to harass.]  You know— NAYA: [Without looking up.]  I can imagine. LACHLAN: [From behind SHI-YING, diplomatically.]  All right, let’s keep it moving.  [Returns after ushering the others out.]  There are worse things, right? NAYA: I’m glad you think so.  It looks like you’re stuck with me for the duration.

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