Narrator - Pacific Ocean 8:58am, Sonny is about to land on the sea.
Sonny - Here we are. The GPS shows the location of the Mendocino zone. After such a significant earthquake, we can expect some serious activity down there.
Colin - You bet. We should reach record levels for smokers emission.
Sonny - That is what we are about to find out. Sonny - The impact must be major at a triple junction... Next time, maybe could we face a tidal wave along the California coast...
Colin - Why do you have to explore underwater?
Sonny - Not much is known about the submarine section, because the faults are easier to study on land using seismic profiles. Sonny - Stop the engines...
Colin - In how much time should I expect you?
Sonny - I think I am gonna take a long tour to look around carefully. Sonny - I'll be back in two hours or so...
Colin - Alright. Take care... Narrator - Sonny is getting out of the cockpit. Colin - Are you familiar with this type of mission?
Sonny - No, the Mendocino area is not a rift system like the East African region that I am used to. Sonny - At the junction, the Mendocino and San Andreas transverse faults come together with a subduction zone.
Colin - I suppose there is a lot of energy coming from this junction?
Sonny - Yes, since the friction heat from this subduction is released through volcanoes like Mount Hood and Mount St Helene... Sonny - ...the volcanic activity should increase a lot in a near future. Narrator - Sonny is going inside the submarine. Sonny - It's so dark in here...
Colin - Why don't you take your sunglasses off?
Sonny - Now that's better. Sonny - What was I saying?
Colin - You were talking about the subduction zone...
Sonny - Yes exactly. Sonny - What happens is that the California Plate slides north-west, while the Juan de Fuca Plate slides east, and in the process, is subducted by the North American Plate. Sonny - So I shall collect some samples of metals and minerals coming from the subduction trench, and do the heat measurements along the San Andreas fault later on.
Colin - I'll make sure your ultralight is ready.
Sonny - Thanks Colin.
Narrator - 20 minutes later in deep ocean...
Sonny - I am about to reach the oceanic floor... Sonny - There should be a great deal of smokers around here... Sonny - What the hell is that?! Sonny - This is insane! Narrator - Sonny cannot explain the presence of a gigantic underwater framework. Sonny - I've never seen something like that! Sonny - Incredible! Sonny - How come such a structure can ever get here?! Sonny - Amazing! Sonny - It doesn't even look like any known architecture... Sonny - Its technology is quite impressive... Sonny - I can't believe my eyes... Sonny - What is that? Narrator - Sonny saw a strange symbol of a human skull on top of a spider body. Narrator - Four hours later, He is on his way to the San Andreas Fault. Sonny - Hi Colin, I'm on my way to the pull-apart basin. Colin - Will you need me tomorrow? Sonny - Yes, we have to go back to the triple junction. I didn't bring any camera this morning. I can't imagine the impact of such a discovery... Sonny - That framework was so intriguing. It looked like coming from the future! Sonny - I am about to put down the instruments. I'll call you back. Colin - Good luck Sonny. Sonny - Thanks, see you later. Sonny - I won't need all the equipment. I want to take a look around first... Narrator - Sonny is walking towards the pull-apart basin. Sonny - The recent seismic activity must have released a lot of heat. Sonny - The measurements should tell us more about the strain along the fault faces. Narrator - DANGER. Fall protection required beyond this point. Sonny - Oh!, the ground is shaking! Sonny - AN EARTHQUAKE!! Sonny - AH! I'M TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE! Sonny - GOD DAMN IT!! Sonny - My sunglasses fooled me! I'm gonna die for sure!! Sonny - No! Narrator - Sonny is falling down in the basin. Narrator - Like in a dream, he sees two people lying on a bed, and the symbol of the spider again. David - Let us hope it's gonna work... Zira - It has to. We must succeed... David - We must... Zira - succeed... Narrator - The title of the story: OUT, the new world. Narrator - Sonny is waking up in a safety net. Sonny - What happened? Sonny - I survived thanks to this web. It doesn't make any sense. Sonny - What is this place? Sonny - There is a rope to climb down... Sonny - I was so sure to die, I had a vision... Sonny - A human skull on top of a spider body again... What does that mean? Sonny - And there I am alive, saved by a spider web... Sonny - I must be crazy... Sonny - It should be really hot at this depth, but the air is a little cold-ish instead... Sonny - Nothing makes sense.
Narrator - Someone heard the noise and saw Sonny. Ingis - A HUMAN!!
Sonny - What??
Ingis - It's the first time I see a human getting down here... Ingis - I'm afraid this could be a problem...
Sonny - A problem?
Ingis - No outersider like you has ever discovered the undersider world. Ingis - Most people here will consider you as a dangerous witness.
Sonny - Well it depends. Sonny - Who would believe me if I cannot believe it myself?
Ingis - That is funny indeed. Ingis - Look, I trust you and I will let you go out.
Sonny - That is very kind of you. But what about the others?
Ingis - As long as nobody sees you, it's fine, but I need Noweh. Ingis - He has access to the outside. Ingis - Follow me.
Sonny - Noway? What a strange name. Ingis - Not "No way", it is "Noweh", with an accent. Ingis - He thinks it comes from "Noe" which means "Noah" in French...
Sonny - Noah the patriarch?
Ingis - Yes. Ingis - My name is Ingis, and yours?
Sonny - Sonny. I just can't realize I'm still alive. Sonny - What is the purpose of this spider web?
Ingis - It's more of a symbol we never expected to serve as a safety. Ingis - It's made of real spider silk. Ingis - The Spider is an ancient symbol of mystery, power and growth. Ingis - Just as the Spider weaves a web, so too must we weave our own lives. Ingis - But I've been told that it means something completely different in the context of the riddle.
Sonny - What riddle?
Ingis - How would you turn a spider into an eye?
Sonny - What? A spider into an eye? Sonny - It doesn't mean anything!
Ingis - Yes it does. Ingis - There is only one answer.
Sonny - You know the answer?
Ingis - No. Otherwise, I would know everything about the origin of our world. Sonny - You don't know anything about your own world??
Ingis - As far as its origin is concerned, we know nothing. Ingis - It's been like that for time immemorial.
Narrator - Ingis, followed by Sonny, is taking a stony path. Sonny - It gets dark in here. I would say your wrist light is, handy.
Ingis - My cape is not.
Sonny - Why do you shave your head?
Ingis - I never got hair.
Sonny - No? How is it possible?
Ingis - Nobody can tell. Ingis - We're gonna follow a different path to make sure we don't run across anybody. Ingis - That sound! No!
Sonny - You mean the metallic sound? Ingis - A cyborg is coming!
Sonny - Are we in danger?
Ingis - We must hide ourselves! Ingis - Quick! Narrator - a robot with a headlight is walking in their direction. Ingis - It has passed by... Ingis - Too late, we have been recorded! Ingis - God damn it!
Sonny - Why are you so upset?
Ingis - I don't see how you could ever go back to the surface...
Sonny - You can't be serious?
Ingis - Let us talk to Noweh first, but there is no hope.
Sonny - No hope at all? Ingis - The cyborg captured us with its head camera. Ingis - It will show us on all monitors. Ingis - And most people won't agree to let you go out.
Sonny - This is not convenient.
Sonny - That robot seems extremely complex. Sonny - How did you build it?
Ingis - We didn't.
Sonny - Where does it come from?
Ingis - Any cyborg can build another one. Ingis - And any cyborg has been built by another one. Ingis - But we don't know what happened to the original one.
Sonny - That makes it clear, really.
Ingis - It was only a cyborg, so it just doesn't exist anymore. Ingis - All we know is that they built this entire place.
Sonny - They must be intelligent... Sonny - ...to be able to set up such an amazing facility!
Narrator - Sonny is really impressed by a futuristic technology. Ingis - Well, obviously cyborgs are not intelligent at all, as only life is. Ingis - They are controlled mostly by human motion capture.
Sonny - I kinda guess how it works. Sonny - At this depth, you have access to a huge source of energy. Sonny - So you tap directly into the magma?? Sonny - But the heat should be toasting us as we speak!
Ingis - We use heat pumps to cool most areas. Ingis - A stream of warm air is coming out of the footbridge. Ingis - As far as I know, our technology is more advanced than yours. Sonny - I can see that already. Sonny - How come such a world can even exist?
Ingis - Your guess is mine. Ingis - Once it's begun, it works, but we've never found out how it started...
Sonny - I cannot figure it out either. It seems impossible.
Ingis - We don't have much of a clue, only a few riddles and symbols. Ingis - Everything else has been destroyed, we don't know why.
Narrator - Ingis and Sonny are about to reach the end of the footbridge. Sonny - So what remains is only speculation about your origin?
Ingis - Yes. Our history has been erased on purpose a long time ago.
Sonny - How long?
Ingis - About 9000 years! Ingis - Believe it or not, 9000 years ago, all our books and libraries have been destroyed, and all we know today is only one riddle. Ingis - A riddle which is just impossible to solve.
Sonny - "How can you turn a spider into an eye?"
Ingis - Yes. As I told you, there is an answer, but can you figure it out? Nobody did so far.
Sonny - But suppose you know the answer to the riddle, would you finally find your origin?
Ingis - It goes the other way around: once one knows our origin, THEN one gets to the answer.
Sonny - I don't see the point of a riddle that nobody can solve.
Ingis - You talk like Noweh! Ingis - He shall tell you more than I could. Ingis - But as I told you, don't expect him to help you much. The riddle really is too smart for anybody. Narrator - Ingis and Sonny are getting into another dark passageway. Ingis - Anybody, except Sparx of course...
Sonny - Who is he? Sonny - Does he know about the riddle?
Ingis - Of course he does. He's the Old Master who knows everything!
Sonny - So he knows how to turn a spider into an eye?
Ingis - Yes! but he doesn't want to tell us!
Sonny - No? Why?
Ingis - He says it is not up to him! Ingis - As I told you, there is no point to know the answer. It won't help you at all.
Sonny - But it is still intriguing...
Ingis - It sure is. But Sparx told me that curiosity is not a good enough reason. Ingis - One has to figure out what everything is about first. Ingis - Here we are. Noweh is almost always around here... Ingis - Noweh? Ingis - I'm glad you're here... Ingis - You won't believe it!
Narrator - Noweh is very surprised to see Sonny. Nowe - INGIS! Nowe - Who is this man?? Nowe - An outersider!! Nowe - How is it possible?
Ingis - His name is Sonny. He felt into the Holy Hole and saved by the spider web!
Sonny - I was about to install measuring instruments, and then... Sonny - I was... Oh!.. That symbol again!! Sonny - Now THAT would explain everything...
Nowe - Explain what?
Sonny - How your world has begun! Nowe - Are you serious?
Sonny - Yes. I saw that very same symbol on a framework I found while exploring along the Mendocino submarine fracture... Sonny - It cannot be a coincidence!
Nowe - The Mendocino area is quite far from here... Nowe - But you know what? It could make sense. Nowe - I've never thought of that!
Sonny - The framework looked like wrecked for so long on the ocean bottom that in time it could have been translated to the subduction zone...
Ingis - Are you saying that our world has started by people digging into the coast from the ocean floor?
Nowe - Isn't it easier than digging directly from the surface?
Sonny - Maybe could there be natural entries such as the basin I felt into...
Nowe - That was the prevailing theory... Nowe - We always imagined that people at some point decided to climb down through such holes. Nowe - But if the goal was to extract the energy from the magma, shouldn't we see various pipelines going out to the surface?
Ingis - On the contrary, everything looks like people wanted to live down here in the first place.
Sonny - Maybe people had to run away from some kind of a danger...
Nowe - ... lasting for 9000 years? Sonny - You are right. Nothing makes much sense.
Nowe - Come on, follow me. Nowe - I'm gonna show you one more thing... Nowe - I really doubt it, but maybe would it ring a bell...
Ingis - The totem! I forgot to talk about it.
Nowe - Once again, don't expect much of it, but we never know...
Sonny - What is it?
Nowe - The totem shows two key locations on Earth. Nowe - One of them points along the California coast... Nowe - And the other one is situated in the middle of southern France...
Sonny - What do you make of it?
Nowe - Not much to be honest... Narrator - Noweh, Sonny, and Ingis are walking in the direction of the totem. Ingis - Of course, we think the first location refers to our own undersider world.
Sonny - And the other one?
Nowe - We've never heard about any other world in France. Nowe - So not much progress so far...
Sonny - I see... but you're aware that another world must exist...
Nowe - It has to. Unfortunately, we know very little about it... Nowe - It's useless to explore around just in case, you would find nothing for sure... Nowe - You have to know what you're looking for first...
Sonny - It was impossible for the outersiders, as you call us, to discover this mysterious world of yours... Sonny - It required unbelievable luck! There had to be an earthquake while I was too close to the edge. Sonny - And then there had to be a safety net!
Nowe - Is this what happened? Very unlikely indeed. Nowe - Don't expect that the other world will be easier to find.
Sonny - Can you be more specific about the site in France? Sonny - What would be the search area?
Ingis - The entire volcanic region I'm afraid...
Sonny - The entire Massif Central? Sonny - But such an area is like exploring half of the California state!
Nowe - Maybe can we narrow it down... Nowe - ... but we don't even know what to look for. Narrator - The totem scene will give some clues about the rest of the story.