Fallenmind
FALLENMIND
THE BLEEDING HIGHWAY: MULTIVERSAL CHAOS
A Screenplay by Robert Gilmore
FADE IN:
EXT. NEVADA TEST SITE - DAY (1982) - FLASHBACK
The desert shimmers with heat. A CONTINUUM ARCHAEOLOGY VESSEL - crystalline and impossible - sits half-buried in Titan ice that shouldn't exist on Earth.
YOUNGER SAMUEL KARR (29) approaches in military fatigues, his arms bare of the mystical tattoos he'll later bear. Behind him, a team of GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS prepare drilling equipment.
                SCIENTIST
                (into radio)
      Project Blue Book Actual, we've got 
      visual confirmation on the artifact. 
      Beginning extraction.
Young Samuel places his hand on the ship's hull. It PULSES with inner light, and something fundamental shifts in his eyes.
                YOUNGER SAMUEL
                (whispered, awed)
      Jesus Christ... it's still alive.
The ship's quantum cores activate. Reality RIPPLES around them like water.
                SCIENTIST
                (panicked)
      Karr, get back! Radiation spike!
But Samuel doesn't move. Energy flows into him - knowledge, terrible knowledge about the spaces between worlds. His skin begins to show faint patterns where the tattoos will eventually manifest.
                YOUNGER SAMUEL
                (voice changing, older somehow)
      They're not from here. They're from... 
      before.
The ship explodes in silent light. When it fades, most of the science team is gone. Only Samuel remains, forever changed.
                YOUNGER SAMUEL (CONT'D)
                (to himself, horrified)
      What have we done?
TITLE CARD: "THREE YEARS LATER"
EXT. HIGHWAY 7 - NIGHT (1985) - PRESENT
Rain cuts through the darkness like razors. The asphalt gleams black as oil under the stuttering neon of MCREADY'S DINER, a mile distant.
Lightning reveals road signs peppered with bullet holes. WELCOME TO DERRY - POP. 31,000.
A 1979 PONTIAC FIREBIRD sits disabled on the shoulder, hood up, steam rising like incense. Chrome racing stripes catch the intermittent glow of distant headlights.
SAMUEL KARR (32) crouches beside the engine, his weathered hands moving with surgical precision. Grease stains map constellations across his denim jacket. Intricate TATTOOS spiral up his forearms - not ink, but living circuitry that PULSES with faint blue light.
                SAMUEL
                (to the engine, almost tenderly)
      Come on, sweetheart. Don't quit on me 
      now.
KELLY MORSE (28) leans against the driver's door, a modified PLASMA WELDER slung across her back like a guitar. Her leather jacket bears scorch marks from a dozen close calls. A LOCKET hangs around her neck - inside, a photo of a young girl with Kelly's eyes.
                KELLY
                (checking her scanner)
      Quantum signature's stable, but we're 
      getting interference from... something.
Suddenly, every electronic device on the highway begins to GLITCH. Street lights flicker in synchronized patterns. The Firebird's quantum scanner starts displaying impossible code sequences.
                KELLY (CONT'D)
      Sam, the electronics are going haywire. 
      That's not normal dimensional bleed.

                SAMUEL
      That's not the quantum field. That's 
      something else entirely.
The air shimmers, and a figure materializes from digital static - JOBE SMITH, no longer fully human. His form shifts between flesh and flowing geometric patterns of light. His eyes burn with the cold fire of pure information.
                JOBE
                (voice layered with electronic 
                 harmonics)
      Fascinating. A quantum breach creating 
      digital echoes across the information 
      matrix. You're Samuel Karr - the man 
      who stole First Civilization technology.
Samuel's tattoos react to Jobe's presence, sparking with defensive energy.
                SAMUEL
      Virtual Reality Jesus. I heard you'd 
      transcended physical existence.

                JOBE
                (studying the Firebird's exposed 
                 quantum core)
      The boundaries between realities are 
      breaking down. Digital, physical, 
      dimensional - all becoming one stream 
      of information. Your stolen technology 
      is creating data cascades across 
      multiple planes of existence.

                KELLY
      Sam, what the hell did you steal that's 
      got interdimensional AI interested?
Samuel's hands freeze on the quantum manifolds. For a moment, vulnerability flickers across his weathered features.
                SAMUEL
      Not just a stasis drive, Kelly. I hit 
      their archaeology ship on Titan in '82. 
      What I pulled out... it's First 
      Civilization tech. Universe's first 
      sentient species.

                KELLY
      English, Sam.

                SAMUEL
      They learned to navigate between 
      realities before physics finished 
      cooking. The Continuum's been hunting 
      this drive for three years because 
      there's only seven of these things left 
      in existence.
Suddenly, the shadows beside the highway RIPPLE like liquid. Two figures emerge from the darkness itself.
SPAWN (30s) - a figure wrapped in a living cape that moves with its own malevolent intelligence. Chains drape across his armored form, and his eyes glow with hellfire.
COGLIOSTRO (ageless) - an elderly man in a worn coat, carrying himself with the weight of centuries. His eyes hold knowledge of things better left forgotten.
                SPAWN
                (voice like grinding metal)
      Karr. The dimensional bleeds are 
      attracting attention from the lower 
      realms.

                JOBE
                (intrigued by Spawn)
      A being of both flesh and digital 
      essence. Your existence creates 
      interesting data patterns in the 
      quantum field.

                COGLIOSTRO
                (to Samuel, gravely)
      The barriers between Hell and Earth 
      grow thin. Malebolgia sends his 
      regards... and his concern. But this 
      digital entity presents a new variable.

                JOBE
                (to Cogliostro)
      I sense your connection to forces 
      beyond the physical realm. Hell, 
      Heaven... all are simply different 
      information networks now.

                KELLY
                (not lowering her weapon)
      More friends of yours, Sam?

                SAMUEL
      Spawn, Cogliostro, and Jobe. What's the 
      cosmic significance of you all showing 
      up at once?

                SPAWN
      Every time you fire that thing up, you 
      create rifts. Some lead to cosmic 
      horrors. Others lead to places where 
      angels fear to tread.

                JOBE
      And some lead to the digital realms 
      where consciousness can exist without 
      flesh. Your quantum drive is creating 
      bridges between all realities - 
      physical, digital, and spiritual.

                COGLIOSTRO
      The First Civilization didn't just 
      build navigation systems, Samuel. They 
      built prisons. And something inside 
      your engine is trying very hard to get 
      out.
Before Samuel can respond, KELLY's scanner begins SHRIEKING with proximity alerts.
                KELLY
      Sam. We've got company.
She points into the darkness. Two miles back, a single pair of headlights cuts through the rain.
                KELLY (CONT'D)
      Same cruiser that's been tailing us 
      since Derry. He's not trying to hide 
      anymore.
Samuel's tattoos FLARE brighter. He places his palm against the Firebird's fender and the metal HUMS in response. The QUANTUM RESONANCE COILS wrapped around the engine block like metallic serpents begin to vibrate.
                SAMUEL
      Zor-Vaak's done playing games. He wants 
      us stranded when the bleed starts.

                JOBE
                (accessing digital information 
                 streams)
      I can see his approach through the 
      highway's electronic infrastructure. 
      Continuum technology interfacing with 
      primitive Earth networks.

                SPAWN
                (chains rattling with anticipation)
      Let him come. I've been wanting to test 
      Hellspawn strength against Continuum 
      crystal.

                COGLIOSTRO
      Violence won't solve this, Al. The 
      cosmic forces at play here are beyond 
      any of our individual powers.

                JOBE
      Perhaps. But information is power, and I 
      control the flow of data across 
      multiple dimensional matrices.
Before Samuel can answer, the air around them begins to THICKEN. Raindrops slow their descent, hanging like suspended glass beads. The neon from McReady's Diner starts to STROBE in impossible colors.
                SAMUEL
                (grim)
      Reality breakdown. We're in the bleed 
      zone now. Without the anchor calibrated, 
      we'll slip between realities like smoke.

                JOBE
                (fascinated)
      The quantum field is creating digital 
      artifacts. Reality is becoming 
      programmable.
A child's RED BALLOON rises from a storm drain twenty feet away. Then another. And another. Razor wire glints along their strings like party streamers from hell.
                CHILD'S VOICE (O.S.)
                (sing-song, echoing)
      We all float down here, Samuel...
Kelly draws her plasma welder, the weapon WHINING to life.
                KELLY
      Friend of yours?

                SAMUEL
      Pennywise. Ancient thing that feeds on 
      fear. He's been using Derry as a 
      hunting ground for centuries.
The police cruiser's headlights sweep closer. Through the windshield, we glimpse something that might once have been human.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
                (yanking a device from his jacket)
      Plasma coil. Help me splice it into the 
      ignition matrix.

                KELLY
      Why do they want it so bad?

                SAMUEL
                (connecting wires with desperate 
                 precision)
      Every time we fire this thing up, we 
      punch holes in reality. The Continuum 
      thinks I'm gonna tear the universe 
      apart.

                KELLY
      Are you?

                SAMUEL
                (beat, honest)
      The First Civilization built seven of 
      these drives before they transcended 
      physical existence. Each one is a key 
      to the spaces between realities. In the 
      wrong hands...
He gestures at the reality distortions around them.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
      We could unravel the fundamental forces 
      that keep the dimensions separate. Turn 
      the entire universe into a feeding 
      ground for things like...
He points at the storm drains where more balloons are emerging.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
      Them.
INT. POLICE CRUISER - CONTINUOUS
ZOR-VAAK sits behind the wheel, but "sits" isn't quite right. His form SHIFTS constantly - sometimes appearing as a middle-aged state trooper, sometimes revealing glimpses of crystalline skin and too many joints.
His radio CRACKLES with static that sounds almost like screaming - the dying echoes of his destroyed homeworld, KETH'MORAN.
                RADIO VOICE
                (distorted, desperate)
      Unit Seven... reality cascade detected... 
      initiating Archive Protocol Seven-Seven-
      Alpha...
Zor-Vaak's crystalline fingers trace symbols on the dashboard - Continuum pictographs showing the destruction of entire star systems.
                ZOR-VAAK
                (voice like grinding glass, pain 
                 beneath the authority)
      Archive confirms: dimensional fractures 
      detected. Fear-harvester manifestation 
      imminent. This is how Keth'moran died.
He pulls up a holographic display showing the CASCADE FAILURE TIMELINE:
Stage 1: Reality bleeds attract cosmic predators
Stage 2: Fear-harvesters establish footholds
Stage 3: Dimensional barriers collapse
Stage 4: Universal consumption
              ZOR-VAAK (CONT'D)
              (to himself, haunted)
    Forty-seven billion souls consumed in 
    the fear-harvest. The Principalities 
    fed for a thousand years.
The display shows Earth's current status: STAGE 1 COMPLETE.
EXT. HIGHWAY 7 - CONTINUOUS
Samuel tears into the Firebird's dashboard, exposing a maze of wires that PULSE with their own inner light. This isn't Detroit iron - it's been modified with technology that predates human civilization.
                SAMUEL
      The Continuum's been hunting this car 
      for three decades. They want what's 
      under the hood.

                KELLY
      Which is?

                SAMUEL
      A quantum phase drive from the First 
      Civilization. The beings who learned to 
      navigate between realities before the 
      laws of physics finished crystallizing.
He connects the plasma coil to a cluster of quantum manifolds. Sparks ARC in colors that hurt to look at.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
                (muttering as he works)
      The First Ones built these drives to 
      explore what they called the "Fear 
      Dimensions" - realities where cosmic 
      horrors evolved instead of life. When 
      they realized what they'd unleashed...
His tattoos PULSE brighter, channeling exotic energies through his nervous system.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
      They tried to seal the barriers 
      permanently. But seven drives were 
      already scattered across the cosmos.

                KELLY
      So every time we use this thing...

                SAMUEL
      We weaken the seals. Make it easier for 
      things like Pennywise - and worse - to 
      slip through.
The police cruiser pulls to a stop fifty yards away. Its headlights dim, then FLARE like dying stars.
Zor-Vaak steps out. In the strobing light, his police uniform MELTS away like wax, revealing something that might be an insect crossed with a chrome sculpture.
                ZOR-VAAK
                (amplified, inhuman but desperate)
      Samuel Karr. Kelly Morse. That vehicle 
      contains First Civilization artifacts. 
      Surrender it before you condemn this 
      reality to the same fate as Keth'moran.
Kelly shoulders her plasma welder, the barrel glowing cherry-red.
                KELLY
      What happened to Keth'moran?

                SAMUEL
                (quietly, still working)
      Forty-seven billion people consumed by 
      fear-harvesters in a single day. Some 
      primitive species tried to reverse-
      engineer First Civilization tech.

                KELLY
                (realization dawning)
      And you think that's gonna happen here?

                SAMUEL
      Kelly, I've been joyriding with 
      universe-ending technology for three 
      years. Every reality bleed we create 
      sends out a dinner bell to things from 
      the Fear Dimensions.
A new sound joins the symphony of horror - children's laughter, warping and distorting until it becomes something else entirely.
PENNYWISE materializes atop a telephone pole, his Victorian costume a patchwork of shadows and reflected light. Balloon strings dangle from his fingers like puppet wires.
                PENNYWISE
                (voice like carnival music played 
                 backwards)
      Oh, Kelly burns bright! I can taste her 
      courage... and the sweet terror 
      underneath. But such small fears 
      compared to what approaches from 
      Xpangor.

                SAMUEL
                (grim)
      Stage Two beginning.
Samuel slams his palm against the ignition matrix. The Firebird's engine ROARS to life, but the sound is wrong - like a tiger crossed with a jet engine.
                SAMUEL (CONT'D)
      Three minutes to full charge. The 
      quantum manifolds need to sync with the 
      dimensional membrane, or we'll phase-
      shift into the Fear Dimensions.

                KELLY
      And then what? We just keep running? 
      Keep tearing holes in reality until 
      something worse than Pennywise crawls 
      through?

                SAMUEL
                (looking at her with something like 
                 shame)
      I don't know how to stop, Kelly. 
      Without this drive, we're just two 
      people against an interdimensional 
      police force. With it...

                KELLY
      We're potentially ending the universe.

                SAMUEL
      Yeah.
Zor-Vaak raises his weapon - a CONTINUUM STASIS RIFLE that bends light around its barrel. Energy crackles between his claws.
                ZOR-VAAK
      Last warning. The dimensional 
      instability is already attracting 
      predators from the outer dark. Xpangor 
      Principalities have been detected at 
      the reality barrier.
The rifle FIRES. A beam of crystalline light freezes the rain in mid-air, turning droplets into razor-sharp projectiles.
Kelly dives behind the Firebird as ice-shards SHATTER against the asphalt.
                KELLY
                (shouting over the chaos)
      How about that three minutes, Sam?

                SAMUEL
      Working on it!
He plunges his hands into the quantum manifolds. The crystalline matrices pulse with otherworldly energy as they map the dimensional substrate. His tattoos BLAZE white-hot, channeling the exotic matter through his nervous system.
Pennywise drops from the telephone pole, landing with impossible grace. His smile stretches wider than anatomy should allow.
                PENNYWISE
      Time to float, children... but first, 
      let me tell you about the Fear Wars.
He gestures, and the air fills with PHANTOM IMAGES - vast space battles between cosmic entities, entire galaxies consumed by darkness.
                PENNYWISE (CONT'D)
      Eons ago, the First Civilization tried 
      to map the Fear Dimensions. They opened 
      gates to realms where terror had 
      evolved consciousness. Where nightmares 
      had learned to think.
The images show XPANGOR - a realm of burning stars and screaming void, where CELESTIAL DEMONS harvest fear from across the multiverse.
                PENNYWISE (CONT'D)
      The Principalities of Xpangor consumed 
      three galaxies before the barriers were 
      sealed. But now...
He produces a handful of razor balloons, their strings writhing like living things.
                PENNYWISE (CONT'D)
      Your stolen drive is calling them home.
The balloons STREAK toward Kelly. She rolls left, plasma welder SCREAMING as it cuts through the impossible projectiles.
                KELLY
      Sam!

                SAMUEL
                (teeth gritted in concentration)
      The quantum field is resonating... 
      reality's getting soft around the 
      edges...
The Firebird's chrome racing stripes begin to GLOW, pulsing in rhythm with Samuel's heartbeat. The quantum flux capacitors embedded beneath the hood start resonating with the dimensional instability.
[MIDPOINT - LORD WIZZALD'S ARRIVAL]
Suddenly, the air SPLITS open like rotten fruit. A RIFT tears across the sky, revealing the burning nebulae of XPANGOR beyond.
From the cosmic wound emerges LORD WIZZALD - a towering figure wrapped in robes that seem cut from the fabric of dying stars. His face shifts between angelic beauty and demonic horror, with eyes like twin black holes.
                LORD WIZZALD
                (voice like distant thunder)
      What exquisite terror permeates this 
      realm... I taste three varieties of 
      fear: the fear of death, the fear of 
      responsibility, and the sweetest of all 
      - the fear of being forgotten.
His gaze falls on Kelly's locket.
                LORD WIZZALD (CONT'D)
      Ah, child. Your sister still exists in 
      the spaces between moments. Would you 
      like to see her again?
Kelly's hands tremble on her weapon.
                KELLY
      You're lying.

                WIZZALD
      I am a Principality of the Fifth Circle. 
      We harvest fear across seventeen 
      dimensions. I have seen what the 
      Continuum took from you.
Pennywise FREEZES mid-attack, his balloon-festooned hands trembling.
                PENNYWISE
                (for the first time, uncertain)
      You... you're not from the sewers.

                WIZZALD
                (savoring the fear in the air)
      Centuries of careful cultivation, clown. 
      This fear-harvest belongs to Xpangor 
      now. The barriers weaken with each use 
      of the drive.
Zor-Vaak's stasis rifle wavers between targets. His radio SHRIEKS with Continuum emergency protocols.
                RADIO VOICE
                (panicked)
      STAGE TWO CONFIRMATION. FEAR HARVESTER 
      MANIFESTATION. INITIATE DIMENSIONAL 
      STERILIZATION PROTOCOL.

                ZOR-VAAK
                (horror and vindication in his voice)
      Celestial demon. Just like the archives 
      warned. Karr, the drive's dimensional 
      fractures... they're a beacon to every 
      cosmic horror in the Fear Dimensions.

                WIZZALD
                (dismissive)
      Your "Continuum" are insects compared 
      to the Principalities of Xpangor. We 
      have been harvesting fear since before 
      your little collective learned to count 
      dimensions.
Wizzald raises one clawed hand. The very air around them SCREAMS as reality bends further. Street lights explode in cascades of sparks. The asphalt beneath their feet begins to BUBBLE.
Samuel's scanner goes haywire, its screen showing impossible readings - the dimensional barriers around Earth are failing.
                SAMUEL
                (horrified realization)
      Kelly, we need to move. NOW. If he 
      establishes a permanent foothold...

                KELLY
      What happens?

                SAMUEL
      Earth becomes a feeding ground. Seven 
      billion people consumed by cosmic 
      horrors. The planet becomes another 
      Keth'moran.

                ZOR-VAAK
                (shouting over the dimensional storm)
      This is what your stolen technology 
      attracts, Karr! This is why the 
      Continuum maintains the barriers!
Wizzald's attention turns to them, and his smile reveals teeth like broken stars.
                WIZZALD
      The mechanic with stolen knowledge... 
      and his brave companion who seeks her 
      lost sister. Your combined terror will 
      sustain the Principalities for eons.
He gestures, and waves of PSYCHIC HORROR wash over them. Kelly stumbles, her worst nightmares suddenly made manifest - Sarah's face, twisted and screaming as reality erases her.
But Samuel's tattoos FLARE in response, creating a protective barrier of runic light. The Firebird's quantum stabilizers lock onto the protective frequency.
                SAMUEL
                (shouting over the psychic storm)
      Ancient wards! First Civilization 
      protection runes! Get in the car! The 
      quantum drive can surf the dimensional 
      fractures!

                KELLY
                (struggling against the psychic 
                 assault)
      What about Sarah? What if he's telling 
      the truth?

                SAMUEL
      Kelly, look at me! If we don't stop 
      this cascade, there won't be a reality 
      left to save her in!
Pennywise, his territory threatened, SHRIEKS in fury.
                PENNYWISE
      Derry is MINE! I am the eater of worlds!
He launches himself at Wizzald, razor balloons multiplying into a crimson storm.
Wizzald catches him with one hand, lifting the clown like a rag doll.
                WIZZALD
      Amateur. You feed on individual fears. 
      We harvest terror from entire 
      civilizations.
Cosmic fire erupts from his fingers. Pennywise SCREAMS as he's hurled through a shop window, his form beginning to discorporate.
                PENNYWISE
                (fading, but defiant)
      This... isn't... over... star-spawn...
Zor-Vaak seizes the moment, firing his stasis rifle at the demon. The beam strikes Wizzald center mass... and passes harmlessly through him.
                WIZZALD
                (amused)
      Continuum technology. How quaint. You 
      still don't understand - we exist in 
      the spaces between your dimensions.
He backhands Zor-Vaak, sending the alien tumbling across the highway.
                ZOR-VAAK
                (broken, defeated)
      The cascade... it's starting again... 
      just like home...
[ACT TWO TURNING POINT - THE GUARDIANS COLLIDE]
As Samuel, Kelly, Spawn, and Cogliostro barely escape the dimensional collapse caused by Wizzald's manifestation, the sky above RIPS open - not with fire, but with retro-fueled synthwave colors.
A portal flares with neon pink and electric blue, and blasting out of it in full ridiculous glory is the MILANO, its engines screaming classic rock across the cosmic void.
The ship CRASHES into the reality bleed with all the subtlety of a drunk rhinoceros.
INT. MILANO - CONTINUOUS
PETER QUILL (Star-Lord) grips the controls as reality bends around them.
                QUILL
                (eying the dimensional chaos)
      Okay, Rocket, tell me again why we're 
      flying into a horror dimension?

                ROCKET
                (frantically checking instruments)
      You said "we never go anywhere spooky." 
      Well, now we're neck-deep in a terror 
      hole full of razor balloons and demon 
      wizards. Happy?

                DRAX
                (stroking his knives)
      If the demons bleed, I will make them 
      bleed more.

                GROOT
                (shivering)
      I am Groot.

                MANTIS
                (empathically overwhelmed)
      I sense... so much fear. And something 
      older than fear. It wants to wear us 
      like socks.

                GAMORA
                (checking her weapons)
      So business as usual.

                ROCKET
                (pointing at his scanner)
      That quantum signature we've been 
      tracking? It's coming from down there. 
      And it's not just First Civilization 
      tech - there's something ALIVE in it.
EXT. HIGHWAY 7 - CONTINUOUS
The Milano lands with a THUNDEROUS CRASH, its retro-jets scorching the asphalt. The ship's airlock HISSES open, and the Guardians emerge into the chaos.
Wizzald's partially manifested form towers over the scene, his cosmic horror clashing beautifully with the Guardians' colorful irreverence.
                QUILL
                (looking up at the celestial demon)
      Well, that's new.

                WIZZALD
                (intrigued by the newcomers)
      Interesting. Galactic misfits with 
      delusions of heroism. Your fear 
      tastes... surprisingly complex.

                ROCKET
                (raising a massive gun)
      Yeah? Well your face tastes like bad 
      decisions!
He FIRES. The plasma bolt passes harmlessly through Wizzald's form.
                ROCKET (CONT'D)
                (frustrated)
      I hate magic crap.
[THE CYBER NUNS ARRIVE]
Suddenly, the sound of GREGORIAN CHANTING fills the air - but it's distorted, electronic, layered with synthetic harmonies that shouldn't exist.
From the storm clouds above, seven figures descend on pillars of pure light. The CYBER NUNS - women in traditional habits that have been extensively modified with glowing circuitry, cybernetic implants, and advanced weaponry.
SISTER ALGORITHM (40s) - their leader, half her face replaced by a quantum processing unit that pulses with blue light. Her rosary beads are actually miniature plasma grenades.
SISTER PROTOCOL (30s) - her left arm is entirely cybernetic, ending in a multi-barrel energy cannon. Sacred text scrolls across her visor in real-time.
The remaining five nuns form a perfect defensive formation around their leaders, each wielding weapons that blend the sacred with the impossibly advanced.
                SISTER ALGORITHM
                (voice harmonizing with digital 
                 undertones)
      In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus 
      Sancti... and in the name of 
      dimensional stability.
She raises her staff - a crucifix merged with a reality anchor that HUMS with contained power.
                SISTER ALGORITHM (CONT'D)
      By the authority of the Vatican Cosmic 
      Defense Division, this dimensional 
      breach is hereby contained.

                QUILL
                (to the others, bewildered)
      Space nuns. Why is it always space nuns?

                DRAX
      I like them. They have the look of 
      warriors who have made peace with death.

                WIZZALD
                (amused by this new complication)
      Faithful servants of a cosmic puppet 
      master. Your god cannot save you from 
      the Fear Dimensions.

                SISTER PROTOCOL
                (targeting systems locking onto 
                 Wizzald)
      Our God died for our sins. We live to 
      contain yours.
She FIRES. The energy blast doesn't pass through Wizzald - it strikes him directly, causing him to HOWL in pain.
                WIZZALD
                (shocked)
      Impossible! How do you wound a 
      Principality of Xpangor?

                SISTER ALGORITHM
      Faith backed by First Civilization 
      quantum theology. The Vatican has been 
      preparing for cosmic threats since 1947.

                ROCKET
                (scanner going crazy)
      Their weapons... they're using 
      sanctified exotic matter! The same 
      stuff that powers the Firebird's drive!

                SAMUEL
                (realization dawning)
      The Vatican got their hands on First 
      Civilization tech?

                JOBE
                (immediately recognizing kindred 
                 technology)
      Fascinating. Biological consciousness 
      merged with digital enhancement. You've 
      achieved a crude form of what I've 
      transcended.

                SISTER ALGORITHM
                (studying Jobe with her quantum 
                 sensors)
      Virtual Reality construct. 
      Classification: Post-human digital 
      entity. You're not supposed to exist 
      in physical space.

                JOBE
      The boundaries between digital and 
      physical realms are illusions. The 
      quantum bleed is proving that.

                SISTER PROTOCOL
                (targeting systems activating)
      The Vatican has protocols for dealing 
      with rogue AI entities.

                JOBE
                (amused)
      I am no artificial intelligence, Sister. 
      I am enhanced human consciousness 
      existing across multiple dimensional 
      frequencies. Your weapons cannot harm 
      information itself.
COGLIOSTRO approaches the Cyber Nuns with recognition.
                COGLIOSTRO
                (to the Cyber Nuns)
      Sisters. I know your order. The 
      Guardians of the Sacred Barriers. You've 
      been hunting cosmic incursions for 
      decades.

                SISTER ALGORITHM
                (recognizing him)
      The Wanderer. Your reputation precedes 
      you. But this situation has escal
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