This is the original pitch page for Inhabit. It was bundled with the minicomic.
The world of Inhabit is rich with the possibility of adventure. In addition to the sample script and page below, here are some of the myriad adventures awaiting the crew of the Spasa in the pages of Inhabit:
The Alien Deep is a sample four-page adventure story representative of the kind of single-episode adventures for which Inhabit was originally designed.
Click on the link or image following the script to see the full version of this story, with beautiful art by James Nguyen.
The Alien Deep
PAGE ONE
PANEL 1: This is the explanatory panel, and thus is largely text, possibly with small illustrations, illuminating to taste.
TEXT: Welcome to the future, where robot Drones do the jobs too dangerous for humans to undertake. Only kids have the psychic ability to control the Drones, seeing and feeling through each Drone as if it were their own body. Now follow the Pilots of the Anada Rescue and Exploration Corporation as they journey into danger every month.
PANEL 2: The Spasa floats over the ocean of methane, with no land in sight. A series of moons fills the sky behind it in a variety of tones, highlighting the alien nature of the world.
CAPTION: Today, the mission is...RESCUE!
CAPTION: On the odd world of Goola, a trading ship has lost its antigravity drive and plunged into the toxic depths of a methane ocean. Unless the ship is rescued, its crew is lost.
CAPTION: The rescue ship Spasa hangs overhead, its Pilots preparing for their dangerous task.
PANEL 3: Anada stands in front of a holographic display in the main operations room of the Spasa. The ops room is the biggest single personnel room on the ship, and it has a series of displays as well as things that look sort of like dentist's chairs (or those chairs from The Matrix). These are the kids' operating stations. The holodisplay is in the middle of the room. Nancy, Geoffrey and Becky stand by, watching the briefing. The holodisplay shows a schematic view of the situation, with the Spasa hovering above the surface of the methane ocean, and the trading vessel down on the ocean floor.
CAPTION: Captain Anada briefs the Pilots.
ANADA: The trading ship's antigravity engine isn't working, so we're going to stick an emergency antigravity drive on it. That should lift it right out of the ocean, then we can tow it off to be repaired.
ANADA: There shouldn't be any living things down there, but I want you kids to be CAREFUL anyway. It's STILL an ocean of methane.
PANEL 4: Geoffrey and Becky get onto their stations, while Nan stands by, obviously a little grumpy with Geoffrey, who is his usual carefree self. Becky's a little nervous, since she's still new at this kind of risky operation.
BECKY: I've never piloted a Drone in METHANE before...
GEOFFREY: Don't worry Becky, it'll be EASY.
NANCY: EASY? You better not LOSE another Drone, Geoffrey. You lost TWO on the last two missions.
PANEL 5: Geoffrey settles into his Pilot's chair, smiling mischievously.
GEOFFREY: I'm an expert pilot, Nancy. I'll bet you my next THREE desserts that I don't lose a SINGLE Drone this time.
PANEL 6: The Drones activate as the kids' consciousness fills them. Around them, the launch bay arms move, preparing the drop the Drones into the methane ocean. This time, Becky pilots a Spider, while Geoffrey has an Ox and a Worker. The Worker and Spider both hang onto the sides of the Ox, in a typical carrying pattern.
CAPTION: As the Pilots use their psychic powers, the Drones come to life!
F/X (LAUNCH BAY): Click...whir...chak chak chak...
GEOFFREY: My Ox and Worker Drone are both operational. How are you, Becky?
BECKY: My Spider's ready to go.
PANEL 7: The Ox, with passengers attached, drops out of the Spasa's open launch bays and zooms into the ocean. Pure methane probably splashes strangely, but we'll either ignore this, or I'll take some pics of hexane splashing in lab and we can use it as a reference.
PAGE TWOCAPTION: The Drones launch, diving straightaway into the alien ocean.
PANEL 1: From now on, we're under the methane seas until they surface on page four. The ocean floor is made of strange chemical mounds, organic constructs that look like piles of grease or shortening (imagine a seabed of Crisco). The Spider and Worker detach from the Ox, starting to move under their own power, creating strange eddies in the methane. Realistically, they should be lighting their way with their own lights, but if it's easier and visually nicer, we don't need to worry about that. They have abundant sensors, so we can explain them operating without visible light.
CAPTION: Minutes later, the Drones reach the barren ocean floor.
GEOFFREY: Spread out a little. The ship should be right by here.
PANEL 2: View of Becky's Spider as it perks up a little, reflecting the fact that she's just seen their target.
CAPTION: Becky's Spider catches sight of the sunken spacecraft.
BECKY: I SEE it! It's all DIRTY. Nasty.
PANEL 3: We see the fallen ship now. It hit the bottom at an angle, sliding in, so its nose has dug into the greasy ocean floor. What should be a silvered intersystem spacecraft is, instead, mostly covered with a mottling of black. We're too far away to see that it's actually a pack of alien sea critters, the Goola-rays.
GEOFFREY: Becky...I don't think that's DIRT. My sensors say that...
PANEL 4: The Goola-rays peel away from the downed ship en masse, swimming in a flurry of turbulent methane toward the Drones.
GEOFFREY: ...it's MOVING!
PANEL 5: The Goola-rays swarm around Becky's Spider, clamping onto it and yanking it in different directions as she thrashes madly, trying to fight them off. One of the Spider's legs is torn off by a grasping Goola-ray, spilling oil and showering sparks into the surrounding ocean.
CAPTION: The alien sea creatures swarm around Becky's Spider, trying to destroy it!
BECKY: They're TEARING my Spider APART!
F/X: Crunch!
PANEL 6: Geoffrey flares his Worker's thrusters, whipping around and sending Goola-rays twisting away. More swim in, however, even as he does this.
GEOFFREY: Fight 'em off, Becky! Try your plasma torch!
F/X: Whooooosh!
PANEL 7: Becky lights up the plasma torch (which is built into one of the Spider's "hands"), flaring around a Goola-ray and sending the others fluttering away to the far side of the Drone, where their companions are still trying to tear parts off of it.
PAGE THREECAPTION: Becky fires up the Spider's plasma torch to a toasty thousand degrees.
F/X: Zorch!
PANEL 1: Amidst a swarm of Goola-rays, Geoffrey's worker pauses as he notices that the Ox, resting dead in the methane nearby, is not being attacked at all. Geoffrey smacks two Goola-rays together as he makes this observation.
GEOFFREY: Hey...they aren't attacking the Ox.
F/X: Whack!
PANEL 2: Becky's Spider struggles under a growing mass of Goola-rays. Her torch is still on, and the rays avoid it where it swipes out, but they've also removed another two arms from the Spider (leaving it with five) and one ray gnaws at the Spider's head.
BECKY: I'm torching them and they STILL won't leave me ALONE!
GEOFFREY: Becky. STOP MOVING. Trust me.
PANEL 3: The Spider becomes still, fluids leaking from its three limb stumps. Around it, the Goola-rays calm down, some looking around, trying to figure out what's happening. Even the ones on the Spider relax. After all, it isn't actually palatable.
CAPTION: The alien creatures stop their attack, blind to the motionless Drone.
GEOFFREY: SEE? They sense MOTION.
GEOFFREY: I'm going to try and draw them away with my Worker.
PANEL 4: Geoffrey's worker rockets off, a horde of Goola-rays shooting off after it, leaving the damaged Spider and the pristine Ox behind.
CAPTION: Sensing new prey, the aliens race off after Geoffrey's Worker.
GEOFFREY: COOL! Now let's rescue that spaceship.
PANEL 5: The Ox and Spider slowly power in toward the downed spaceship, which is now clear of critters.
CAPTION: Geoffrey and Becky move their remaining Drones in slowly, hoping the aliens won't notice.
PANEL 6: The Ox unlimbers the emergency RF drive from its undercarriage and slides it out toward the middle of the downed trading ship. Next to it, the Spider leaks fluids and generally looks abused. It also looks "over its shoulder" back in the direction of the Worker, which we can't currently see.
CAPTION: Geoffrey carefully maneuvers the emergency antigravity drive into place on the sunken spaceship.
PANEL 7: Close on the Spider as Becky makes the unsettling discovery that the critters are returning.
BECKY: They're coming BACK!
PAGE FOUR
PANEL 1: Goola-rays swarm over the Spider and Ox as Geoffrey pushes the emergency RF drive onto the ship's hull. Becky lights up her Spider's torch, swinging it around to ward Goola-rays off the back of the Ox (where the Spider is currently perched).
CAPTION: Drawn by the Ox's movement, the alien sea creatures return with a VENGEANCE!
F/X: Tunk!
PANEL 2: The RF drive locks into place on the ship's hull. The Spider is nearly coated in Goola-rays, and another arm is ripped out of its socket.
BECKY: HURRY UP! I'm running out of ARMS!
GEOFFREY: Got it! The antigravity drive is in place!
F/X: Klik-chik!
PANEL 3: The ship rockets upward, the Ox holding on for dear life, the Spider clutching the bigger Drone's back, the whole mass shedding Goola-rays as it goes. Note that the ship is still parallel with the ground, since the antigrav is doing the work of moving it upward.
CAPTION: The emergency antigravity drive activates, rocketing the ship skyward. Its crew will live to trade another day, saved from the depths of the Goola sea by the Pilots and Drones of AREC.
F/X: Whum whum whum whum...
PANEL 4: Geoffrey returns to himself and turns to Becky, who reorients as well. Nancy's nearby, looking cross. Behind her is a screen showing the trading spaceship floating above the methane ocean, the emergency drive still attached to its back (and, for that matter, the Ox and badly damaged Spider).
GEOFFREY: See? Easy. Now we just need to tow them to shore.
PANEL 5: Nancy stops Geoffrey as he stands, poking a finger into his chest. With her other hand she holds up three fingers, indicating his lost side of the bet.
NANCY: EASY? You lost a Drone. You owe me three desserts.
GEOFFREY: Who says I lost a Drone?
PANEL 6: Nancy points at the holodisplay, which shows the same schematic as before, with the Spasa and trading ship above the sea, and a little, blinking arrow pointing out the Worker, still at the bottom of the ocean.
NANCY: You left your Worker at the bottom of the ocean, you dummy.
PANEL 7: Geoffrey turns and winks at Becky as he puts his trick over on Nancy. Becky giggles, stifling it with her finger. Nancy, naturally, is cross.
GEOFFREY: Then I know RIGHT where it is, so it can't be LOST.
GEOFFREY: I win.
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| "The Alien Deep" minicomic | Inhabit issue one |
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Contents of all pages copyright Alexander Shearer and James Nguyen.