RTTH: INTRO
By Bren Lynne
Author's
Note: This script could be adapted to a reduced text cawl, a narrative
background story, a still montage of comic-book or 3D art, or a cinematic using
pre-rendered 3D or in-game graphics.
BEGIN INTRO
CAPTION
1954
(new
caption)
TOKYO
HARBOR PORT
It is a dark and stormy night. Flashes
of lightning make the sea look jagged, and rain lashes the harbor. A great rusting freighter is in port, being
loaded with crates by a crane. It is
hurried, dangerous work -- the Captain is eager to get to sea. The loading seems finished and the holds are
being closed when a shipper arrives with a late bill of lading. There are several more crates that must go
on the ship -- a load of teddy bears for the US. An argument ensues between the shipper and the Captain -- the
ship is already at capacity and behind schedule. But the shipper doesn’t care, it's the only ship the freight
company has available for at least a week.
The crew is bullied into loaded the bears, the crane swinging
dangerously in the wind. Crate after
crate goes into the hold, while the Captain looks on, shrieking "It's too
many bears! TOO MANY
BEARS!!!" To no avail. The crane operator makes an error in his
rush and a crate breaks open, spilling a pile of teddy bears across the
deck. Lightning flashes, glinting in
their eyes, empty, yet eerily life-like…
The crew
clean up the mess, stuffing the bears back into the crate and nailing it shut. Finally the shipment is loaded and the ship
sets out to sea…
OCEAN
CAPTION
THE PACIFIC OCEAN
Some
time later, the overloaded ship runs into rough seas. Overloaded and under-maintained, a critical seam in the hull
bursts. A trickle of water into the
hold turns into a torrent. The ship
quickly begins to sink. On its way to
the bottom, the freighter splits, spilling its cargo. Pieces of debris and teddy bears drift to the surface, to bob
with the men in the waves. Before long,
the sharks come. The night is pierced
by the screams of the dying as the water around the bears turns red.
Silent
and serene, they float on…
CAPTION
MARCH 1
ISLAND
Day
finds them, beached on the shore of a small island.
CAPTION
SOMEWHERE NEAR THE MARSHALL ISLANDS
We hear
voices cut with static, through a radio.
ARMY VOICE 1
Command, the Shrimp is hot.
ARMY VOICE 2
Roger that.
We are go for Castle Bravo in 10, 9, 8…
Not far
away, a long causeway juts into the ocean from a small artificial island. At the end of the causeway, a small
building, a semi-circle of short towers…
CAPTION
0645 HOURS
ARMY
VOICE 2
… 7, 6, 5, 4…
The
bears, half-buried in the sand, stuffing leaking from torn seams, some missing
limbs, ears, eyes, blood in their fur…
(cont.)
… 3, 2, 1…
A
flash. For a moment, the day is dark in
comparison. A pause. A shockwave rolls across the island, sand
blowing over the bears, shielded for the most part by the rising beach. On the horizon, a mushroom cloud climbs into
the morning sky.
Waves of
radiation roll over the bears, singing their fur. The surf crashes in, tossing dead marine life onto the
beach. Burned and suffocating, the fish
jump and twitch on the sand. Suddenly,
one of the bears moves! A paw slams
down on a fish, lifts it to the bear's mouth, where a set of razor-sharp
shark-like teeth are growing. The bear
bites off the fish's head savagely, the body twitching in the bear's grip. There is a new gleam in the bear's soulless
eyes, a reddish-green light, a glow really, like radiation…
One by
one, all the bears scattered on the beach rise to their feet, silhouetted by
the unholy dawn on the horizon behind them.
END INTRO
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Castle
Bravo was a real nuclear test conducted by the US government in the Pacific Ocean. Material from the test reports are included
to serve as inspiration or game content.
Following
the nuclear test, a society of mutant teddy bears evolved on the radioactive
island. They build an evil empire,
planning and preparing for an attack on humankind. When their preparations are complete, they reveal themselves to
the world as a peaceful, cuddly civilization.
Naturally, the US President accepts their invitation to the island
without hesitation, delivering himself directly into their trap. The President's defensive escort is easily
destroyed by the bears' advanced weapons and the Prez is taken hostage.
Chronologically,
it seems likely (ahem) that the teddy bears would threaten humankind during the
50s and/60s. This is a rich era for
retro stylization, providing lots of creative springboards. The 50s saw the beginning of the cold war,
fear of invasion both terrestrial (communists) and alien ("Invasion of the
Body Snatchers" and pop film of the time), the invention of rock and roll,
the nuclear family, the subrurbs, etc.
The 60s: Vietnam, flower power, the CIA, the space program, etc.
Alternatively,
the bear society could stay secret as long as desired, allowing for a
contemporary or even future setting.
Map of
the Pacific Ocean
Ground Zero, Namu Island
The
Castle Bravo mushroom cloud
Radiation dispersion
(fallout) from Castle Bravo