JumperZ
Sample script
Page One (three panels)
Panel 1. This frame is mostly that of empty, black space, illuminated by some neighboring but unseen star, blanking out any more of its distant cousins that otherwise might be seen. In the background, huge and round, is Excellegate L24-13, first of a series of gateways to the Vega system. In the foreground, kilometers away from the gate, floats an asteroid. On the side closest to the reader, a Pursuit Unit ship is anchored at the dark side of the asteroid. The ship, or Tracer, looks like it was designed for speed in any environment, deep space or atmosphere, and houses two officers in dual cockpits. While they cannot be seen in this frame, the two occupants of the Tracer are Lt. JASBRAK and Ensign KELLET.
KELLET (OP):
Jesus, it's cold.
Panel 2. A frame closer in on the cockpit of the ship, where JASBRAK and KELLET are floating next to the asteroid. Both wear Pursuit Unit uniforms, helmets with appropriate emblems, name tags on left breasts. Despite the fact they are not currently moving, both men are strapped into their seats. JASBRAK sits in the front, a control stick and banks of instruments with buttons in front of him. His visor is up, so the reader can see his dark hair poking out from the rim of helmet. JASBRAK's face has strong Hispanic qualities and shoulders are broad. KELLET sits in the back with even more instruments in front of him. KELLET has a keyboard at the center of his console, in place of a control stick. KELLET is smaller than JASBRAK, fairer skinned with brown hair.
JASBRAK:
The dark side of this rock is the best place to conceal the ship while we break from patrol.
Panel 3. KELLET places one of his gloved hands against the dome of his cockpit as he looks out at the light spilling over the edge of the asteroid.
KELLET:
Doesn't change the fact this Tracer turns into a cryo unit when the engines are in standby.
KELLET:
The only warmth out here is when the Excellegate activates.
Page Two (four panels)
Panel 1. KELLET has turned back to his monitor panel, idly looking over the instruments. JASBRAK looks out over the reaches of space that stretch out before the Tracer's cockpit.
KELLET:
And the backwash from the big freighters probably made us sterile by now.
JASBRAK:
Fourteen kilometers is regulation safe distance. We're fine. Don't get paranoid.
Panel 2. KELLET has leaned forward in his seat, as if doing so will somehow help JASBRAK hear what he is saying.
KELLET:
Not much else to do.
Panel 3. JASBRAK has placed his right elbow on the rim of his cockpit, resting his head against the fist of that arm.
JASBRAK:
You're the information officer Kellet; you've got access to the gate's communications array.
JASBRAK:
Access a porn feed or something.
Panel 4. The bank of monitors and instruments in front of KELLET has lit up, painting his helmet and inside of this cockpit with glowing reflections. His posture straightens as he becomes alert.
KELLET:
And what am I supp –
KELLET:
Wait…I've got something.
KELLET:
Someone's trying to hack into the Excellegate.
Page Three (three panels)
Panel 1. A shot of a different ship, flying through black space, leaving a nova dust trail behind it. The ship looks like a needle with dorsal fins and a multitude of wings. It has a double cockpit, low on the ship's profile.
KELLET (CAP):
We've got a Jumper.
Panel 2. Different cockpit in a different ship. This one is the Jumper. The setup is very similar to the Tracer, but the much of the equipment looks older and improvised. Open wires poke out of the back of a few instrument panels, while a number of instrument monitors are dead and cracked. Illegible graffiti is scrawled low on the cockpit canopy, near where it meets the ship's hull. In the front seat is ZERO; a Japanese man, small in stature. Past the information displaying itself on his transparent visor, it can be seen that, despite his clenched teeth, ZERO is on some level enjoying himself. He wears a colorful flight jacket that looks like it was stitched together from a dozen different garments. His helmet is painted with a Rising Sun motif. He has his control stick in a death grip.
In the back seat is AYIDA, the glow of her monitors lighting up her face. AYIDA is a comely black woman with a purple sash holding back a full head of hair. She is dressed in a simple black pseudo-leather jumpsuit. Her hands dance across the various keyboards and number pads that are wired into her instrument panels.
AYIDA:
I've got access to the next Excellegate.
AYIDA:
Go straight on through.
ZERO:
Vega system, here we come.
Panel 3. A rear view of the ship as it speeds its way to the gate. In the background the Excellegate begins to light up, bringing the massive energies online that are necessary to catapult ships through to their destinations. In the corner of this frame, the engines of the Tracer flare into life, burning away the shadow of the asteroid.
Page Four (five panels)
Panel 1. The Jumper hits the gate and the front half of it seems to stretch out, the ship's speed bending perception and time, blurring the lines of the ship.
Panel 2. A frame back inside the Jumper's cockpit. Both ZERO and AYIDA are undergoing the same trick of perception as the ship, stretching out as they adjust to the ship's new found acceleration.
Panel 3. Back on the entry side of the Excellegate, the Tracer is burning its way across the space between it and the gate.
Panel 4. A frame of inside the Tracer. JASBRAK now has his visor down. He is hunkered down, his head between his shoulders, prepared for the impact of gravity that the Excellegate will inflict on the ship. He is speaking to the air, his hands tightly gripping his control stick.
JASBRAK:
Command, this is Pursuit Unit 12 at Excellegate L24-13. We are in pursuit of a Jumper, I repeat we are –
Panel 5. A small frame, close in on JASBRAK. His mouth is open as if he were continuing to speak, but nothing is coming out.
Page Five (four panels)
Panel 1. This is frame is dominated by the Excellegate as it winks its energy fields into the iris that pushes the ships through.
JASBRAK (CAP):
…and silence.
Panel 2. A frame of the Tracers cockpit again, but this time it is stretched out by the singularity of the Excellegate. Both JASBRAK and KELLET are pushed back into their seats by the massive gravitational forces acting on the ship, teeth gritting. KELLET grips the arms of his chair, while JASBRAK uses everything he's got to keep the control stick steady.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Once you hit the singularity, not even the contained environment in the ship is immune.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Until it adjusts to the new acceleration, nothing works.
JASBRAK (CAP):
No electronics, no radio. Kellet and I can't even talk to one another.
Panel 3. Another frame of the cockpit, but cropped so JASBRAK is the main focus of the frame.
JASBRAK (CAP):
The gravity well we leave behind us would rip the words right out of the ship.
JASBRAK (CAP):
In that moment there is perfect silence known only onto Jumpers, Tracers and God.
JASBRAK (CAP):
And even though I can never admit it to anyone…
Panel 4. An even closer frame in on JASBRAK. The reader can now see, despite the huge forces acting on his body, JASBRAK is grinning.
JASBRAK (CAP):
(because it would get me a psych discharge before you could say therapy)
JASBRAK (CAP):
…I really like it.
Page Six (four panels)
Panel 1. The stretching of the Tracer begins to collapse in reverse as the ship's occupants begin to adjust to the new velocity.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Of course, the psych discharge is a joke.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Everybody knows the only way to catch a Jumper…
Panel 2. A frame of the inside of the Jumper ship, which has become aglow as all of the instrument panels light up yellow, each one seemingly blaring out some kind of unique warning: DO NOT DEVIATE – PROXIMITY WARNING – HULL STRESS, etc. AYIDA scans all of her instruments with a fevered eye, hands dancing among different boards. ZERO has both hands on his control stick, his mouth wide in a manic grin, his tongue darting out of the corner of his mouth.
JASBRAK (CAP):
…is to be crazier than he is.
Panel 3. A mirror frame to that of Panel 2. JASBRAK, with his visor down, has most of his face obscured, but he still wears that grin which has turned decidedly wolfish. KELLET, eyes roaming over all his different monitors, has a look of barely contained panic on his face.
KELLET:
Adjustment complete, instruments are coming back online.
JASBRAK:
Tell me where they are.
Panel 4. A frame of the two ships in relation to one another. The Tracer is trailing behind the Jumper.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Jumper's have the advantage. They know where they're going, have a flight plan.
Page Seven (five panels)
Panel 1. The Jumper and the Tracer fly through space, seemingly bending it around them as they push into unknown speeds.
JASBRAK (CAP):
But the Tracers get to improvise.
Panel 2. The center consol of JASBRAK's instrument panel lights up, displaying a neon layout of space ahead. All the obstacles, from planets to asteroids, are displayed.
JASBRAK:
Give me the big rock information, Kellet.
JASBRAK (CAP):
'Course, Jumpers aren't just going to pull over if you ask nicely.
Panel 3. The two ships continue to maneuver with the hypervelocity tunnel that they have created around themselves.
JASBRAK (CAP):
So the name of the game, like so much in space, is gravity.
Panel 4. Similar to Panel 3, but this time the Tracer ship is moving in on the Jumper.
JASBRAK (CAP):
Pull up close to the Jumper and use the Tracer's gravity to affect the other ship's flight plan.
Panel 5. A close in view of the consol from Panel 2. In addition to the obstacles previously displayed, icons have appeared signifying the positions of the Jumper and the Tracer. JASBRAK uses a finger to triangulate the areas between his ship, the Jumper and an asteroid.
JASBRAK (OP):
Push him into a collision with some sort of celestial body.
JASBRAK (OP):
Doesn't matter how big; at these speeds anything larger than Sputnik is lethal.
Page Eight (panels)
Panel 1. Back inside the Jumper's cockpit, the warning lights have all turned red, painting the inside of the canopy with an infernal glow. The manic smile on ZERO has disappeared, replaced with a determined set in his jaw. AYIDA's eyes have gone wide, threatening panic, as she views all of the information pouring in from her consoles.
JASBRAK (CAP):
If he blinks, then he'll break course, forcing him to slow down.
Panel 2. Back in the hypervelocity tunnel, the Tracer ship has closed in on the Jumper, hanging above the left flank. Forward in the distance an asteroid belt can be seen, spiraling through the emptiness, looking like a mine field for anything moving as fast as the chase ships.
JASBRAK (CAP):
We can order one of the big frigates to come in and pick them up.
Panel 3. A frame of JASBRAK's face, as the glow of the consoles reflects on his visor. This should share some space with Panel 4 as he and ZERO are locked in a battle of wills.
Panel 4. In the Jumper's cockpit, AYIDA is leaning over her consol, wordlessly yelling at ZERO, hands gesturing in panic. ZERO completely ignores her, his face set, his eyes staring straight out into the void.
JASBRAK (CAP):
If he doesn't…
Panel 5. The Tracer peels off, skimming just above the highest threshold of the asteroid belt. The Jumper does not deviate in time and slams into one of the many asteroids that make up the belt, exploding into fireball, fracturing the rock it collides with.
