Episode description
With the larger threat of Rigor rapidly approaching, The Chime have agreed to a truce with Ibex and his Righteous Vanguard. In exchange for this peace, they’ve taken on the most dangerous job they’ve ever had: Descend to September, locate the school’s missing founder, and figure out how to wound something they can barely comprehend.
This week on COUNTER/Weight: Another Facility Among Trees
Better get started…
Opening
“
It had been a nice visit. The school had blossomed even further than when he was last there and he felt like he had come to peace with his past with Maryland. But when it was time to go, he suddenly welled up with regret, and something else: fear. The things she was working on here would, well…
And so he chose a man, someone bright, someone who came from nothing, like he himself had, someone who had been with the September project from the start, from before it was even September, and Ibex anointed this man his proxy. Except the fear remained. What would happen if Twelfth couldn't reach him? What if OriCon discovered the institute’s true nature?
Their voices broke the mood wide open, their voices broke the mood wide open. "What you need," they told him, "are people so righteous that they'll be on their best behavior, even when their god isn't watching them. Let us do this for you. Let us build you a presence there, even when you are absent."
Ibex's eyes drew in. "For a Divine that doesn't have a Candidate, you sure are eager to delegate power."
Liberty and Discovery reached out one of their many limbs, resting it on his left shoulder. "No more Candidates." They whirred a solution into place, even as they spoke to him. "Only peers."”
Plot
The Kingdom Come has just landed in an emptied-out hangar modeled after ancient anti-Rigour resistance bases, which is running on a pre-Divine version of Liberty and Discovery. As Mako wanders around, the September AI welcomes him back as a student and gives him a bunch of old, useless messages. AuDy interacts with the hangar terminals and inadvertently causes the OS to update to the current version and wipe the database; they can now “feel the doors”. Aria finds a map of the building with two ways out: through a tunnel that leads into the city, or directly up to the landing pad in the forest. In an armory, she also finds the ID card of Declan M. from something called the Tzadik unit.
Cass starts planning, but their Rigalia neural interface breaks. AuDy looks through the cameras in the tunnel leading out and sees a fake, empty office building, with only a single receptionist present. Mako recalls what he knows of Maryland and the Institute’s security. Cass works out their plan: Mako will get them through security, then the Chime will split up. The groups will be Mako and AuDy (finding information on Rigour), Cass and Aria (finding Maryland) and Jacqui and Orth (doing recon).
AuDy finds a map of the city. As they watch Jacqui and Orth leave, it begins to rain, limiting communication. The rest of the Chime heads through the tunnel, and they hear the receptionist outside listening to music.
Cast
- Austin Walker
- Ali Acampora (Aria Joie)
- Keith J. Carberry (Mako Trig)
- Jack de Quidt (AuDy)
- Art Tebbel (Cassander Timaeus Berenice)
Other Characters
- Ibex (intro)
- Liberty and Discovery (intro)