G.U.T.

:
The Grand Unified Theory

A one-act play with seven blackouts

by
S.A. Scoggin

©2009

sascoggin@gmail.com

1
 CHARACTERS

THOMAS GIBBS, associate professor of physics, is a fit man, mid-

thirties, with short unbehaved hair. He talks with his hands
while speaking as though continuously giving a logical proof.

ELLEN MARIST, assistant professor of physics, is younger than

Thomas. She dresses for comfort: no jewelry, no makeup, hair
tied back. We do not need any of those enhancements to know that
she is attractive.

SEBRENTHA OF SYROS is a dark beauty, painted to reinforce that,

gowned and jeweled to celebrate it.

The JANITOR is a thin black man of indeterminate age who sings

hymns as he works. He has a strong island accent.

The CHIEF is at the apex of authority. White haired and wise, he

speaks and moves as someone who will be heard.

Nurses and doctors are interchangeably white, young, energetic,

competent.

GOD appears. HE needs no introduction.

2
 SCENE

A large, spare hospital room. Stage-right is dominated by a

hospital bed around which are racks of electronic monitoring
devices which beep and whir and hiss throughout. Above the head
of the bed is suspended a flat rectangular panel, slanted down,
about two feet above where the patient’s head will lie. Standing
just beyond the foot of the bed is a large video monitor angled
so both the audience and the occupant of the bed can see it.
Center is a door which opens to a hallway. Stage-left there is a
high window, pretty big, which shows the sky and the tops of
trees.

3
 ONE

The lights come up.

In the window is brilliant blue sky. The sun is

shining, though it cannot be seen.

Text appears on the monitor, deliberately, one letter at a time.

MONITOR
the quick brown foss

The text disappears.

MONITOR
THE QUICK BROWN FOSS

The text disappears

MONITOR
foxfoxfoxfos

The text disappears.

MONITOR
fuchjkl

The Janitor bumps open the door with his cart, a lopwheeled
wooden vehicle piled high with columns of toilet paper, blocks
of tissues, and various spray bottles. Overstuffed plastic bags
hang heavy from the sides like ballast. He empties the trash
can, then takes out a rag and begins to wipe the video screen.

MONITOR
close the dorr

The Janitor does not see the words as he polishes them.

MONITOR
close door

The Janitor sings softly.

4
 MONITOR
HEY YOU!!

JANITOR
(to the screen)
Me?

MONITOR
yuo close the door

JANITOR
(closer to the screen)
Who dat?

MONITOR
bed

The Janitor turns to the bed.

JANITOR
Is that you making the words?

MONITOR
yes

JANITOR
Oh. Can’t make the talking no more?

MONITOR
no

JANITOR
That’s bad. I wouldn't like to be without my
talking parts, no man.

MONITOR
door?

JANITOR
The wife wouldn’t like that neither. I think
she don’t never want to be right without a
good argument about just how right she is.

MONITOR
hey

5
 JANITOR
The neighbors would like that, though. I
would get to listen to all their troubles,
then, you bet.

MONITOR
HEY!!!!!!!

The Janitor looks at the screen again.

MONITOR
close the door

JANITOR
No problem, mon.

He pulls his cart into the room and lets the door swing shut.

JANITOR
I don’t blame you at all. Lots of people in
this world want to know all about everybody
else’s business. That’s not for me, no sir.
I don’t bother nobody when I put things in
they place. Anything I can do for you, man?

MONITOR
no thank yu

The Janitor nods and picks up the hymn where he had left off. He
takes a spray can and begins to clean the window.

The door cracks open. Ellen peeks in, looking around the room
without seeming to notice the Janitor, then she comes in. She
carries a briefcase to the bed and sits in the chair. As she
looks down sadly at the patient, her hands go to her mouth, then
slowly to her ears, then absentmindedly to her hair, which she
pulls hard through her fingers.

MONITOR
ellen

Ellen jumps.

ELLEN
Sorry, I thought you were asleep.

6
 MONITOR
never sleep agin wast of tim

ELLEN
I have the latest cross-section data.

MONITOR
top quark?
ELLEN
Not yet. I called Grimm at CERN, but he was
underground all day.

MONITOR
eed quark numbers higs boson

ELLEN
Higg’s boson? What does Higg’s boson have to
do with quark cross-sections?

MONITOR
n dimensional

There is a commotion outside the door, like many eager feet

slapping tile.

MONITOR
shit

A phalanx of white-coated doctors burst in. They gather as a

body around the bed and then part in reverence for the Chief of
Neurology. He strides to the front and nods at one of the crowd.

CHIEF
Doctor?

DOCTOR
Yes, sir. The patient is a Thomas Gibbs, age
thirty-nine. White Caucasian male. Professor
of Physics at the University. Admitted to
the ER two weeks ago with head trauma
resulting from a traffic accident. Patient
was riding a bicycle which was struck by a
garbage truck. He was wearing a helmet.
Presented with double vision and a slight
headache. Ringing in the ears. CAT scan was
negative. MRI showed some edema. Patient was
7
 prescribed anonsteroidal antiinfammatories
and was discharged after twenty-four hours.

He was readmitted two days later complaining

of weakness in the extremities and loss of
coordination. Steadily diminished control of
voluntary responses. CAT scan and MRI are
normal. Edema was resolved. Blood work all
normal. No diagnoses is offered yet. Patient
now communicates with a visual response
keyboard.

CHIEF
Thank you. I’ll see anyone with special
cases in my office.

The doctors break ranks and file meekly out the door. The Chief
picks a clipboard hanging over the bed and makes a note on it.

ELLEN
Doctor?

CHIEF
Good day, Miss....

ELLEN
Dr. Marist.

CHIEF
Forgive me. How can I help you?

ELLEN
I need-

She stops, then walks slowly as far away from the bed as she
can. The Chief follows.

ELLEN
I need some hope, here, Doctor. Have you
seen any improvement?

CHIEF
Just the opposite, I’m afraid. With every
passing hour he has less control over his
voluntary muscles. The plain fact is,
there’s no reason for it. He should be
8
getting better. He had some bleeding after
the accident, but nothing major. We’ve
scanned his brain with radiowaves, with X-
rays,and positron-emitting radioactive
glucose. We’ve checked for viruses,
bacteria, and toxins. Frankly, he’s got us
scraping at the bottom of the diagnostic
barrel.

ELLEN
He can barely move his eyes today.

CHIEF
I see that. You want me to try acupuncture?
Aroma therapy? Cupping? I’ll do anything at
this point. I’ll bite the head off a chicken
and smear the blood on my naked butt if he’d
just get the hell up out of that bed.

ELLEN
You’ve got to do something. He’s right in
the middle of something very important.

CHIEF
Doctor Marist, I have a five year old up in
critical care with a subdermal haematoma the
size of your fist. From a fist, as a matter
of fact. Is that not important?

ELLEN
Yes, of course. I didn’t mean-

CHIEF
Never mind. What was he in the middle of?

ELLEN
Have you heard of the Grand Unified Theory?

CHIEF
Sure. The Theory of Everything.

ELLEN
That’s close. We call it the GUT. The GUT is
the theory – well, it is the hypothetical
theory - that reunites three of the
fundamental forces of Nature.
9
Electromagnetism, the weak force and the
strong force.

CHIEF
They’re not united already?

ELLEN
They interact, sure, and we have models that
explain each one by itself pretty well. But
they should be able to be fit into one big
long equation. In the Big Bang, there was
initially just one tiny point of pure
energy, and all the forces were crammed
together, indistinguishable. As it expanded,
matter formed. All the forces layered out.
Like salad dressing. You shake it and it’s
homogeneous. Let it sit and you see the oil
and the water.

CHIEF
And the Grand Unified Theory does what about
that?

ELLEN
It doesn’t do anything. It would just be an
equation, maybe a really simple equation.
Like e equaling mc squared. That little
mathematical relationship lets us predict
how much energy is contained in matter. It
guided the physicists who produced fission.
But the Grand Unifying Theory is only three-
quarters of the whole. There is a Theory of
Everything, the last truth, the link between
all forces everywhere, including gravity.
Think what we could do if we had gravity,
for example, under control the same way we
have uranium rods in nuclear plants.

CHIEF
I don’t know about this stuff. I only do
brain surgery.

ELLEN
Thomas - Dr. Gibbs - called me just before
the accident. He said that he’d had a
brainstorm. He had seen a way to build a
10
 workable framework. And not just the GUT,
but the Theory of Everything. He was
dreaming, a dream involving some regressive
dimensional topology, and the answer shaped
itself in the walls of his dream. He was
yelling at me on the phone. Something about
origami tigers and flaming circus hoops. He
hopped on his bike and rode off to his
office, but he never...

CHIEF
Dr. Marist, you seem to be the nearest thing
to family he has, so I’m going to be blunt.
We don’t know the mechanism of this type of
degeneration. We don’t have an equation for
it. Hell, we don’t even have a clue. And it
appears to be accelerating. So whatever you
need to do together, make it soon.

ELLEN
You have no hope to give me, then?

CHIEF
Does he have faith? Prayer may be all we
have left.

ELLEN
Thomas? He doesn’t believe in the existence
of a God.

CHIEF
(Glancing at his watch.)
Damn me. I’m very late. You’ll have to
excuse me, Doctor Marist. Don’t you worry.
Things are going to change - I can feel it.

He hurries out. Ellen approaches the bed.

ELLEN
Did you catch any of that?

MONITOR
all

ELLEN
Want to stop?
11
 MONITOR
no

ELLEN
Want to tell me?

MONITOR
befoer I fade away?

ELLEN
I didn’t mean it like that.

MONITOR
i do

ELLEN
You mean it?

MONITOR
ask

ELLEN
Okay. Okay. Uh...why is the muon cross
section so damn important?

MONITOR
n space

ELLEN
Oh Jesus oh shit. The cross section goes
into more than the two dimensions? Is it
time variant? Three dimensions? But you said
there are thirteen dimensional choices. Oh
yes.

MONITOR
thats adfg asffffff sleep ok

ELLEN
Yes. Of course. Get some sleep. I have to go
reread Bartle’s paper in J Phys. Bubble
theory in multidimensional universe
models...

She leaves, deep in thought.

12
 MONITOR
mmmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,

Ellen comes back in and picks up her briefcase. She notices the
monitor.

ELLEN
Thomas?

She touches his arm.

ELLEN
Thomas?

She shakes him, gently at first, then roughly.

ELLEN
Thomas! Don’t go! Not yet!

Ellen runs from the room. After a moment, the nurse walks
briskly in and begins to check the patient’s vitals. Two doctors
rush in. One shines a light into Thomas’ eyes; the other taps at
the monitors. Ellen returns. She shrinks away from the activity
at the bed, into the far corner where the Janitor, unnoticed, is
cleaning away. The Chief comes in and looks down at the patient.

CHIEF
Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that we
have lost voluntary response. Professor
Gibbs can no longer make his desires known
to us. Doctor? Path forward?

DOCTOR
Continue intravenous feeding. Monitor
vitals. Chart respiration for possible
prophylactic respirator therapy.

CHIEF
Good. What else?

The doctors ponder in silence.

CHIEF
Bedside manner?

13
The doctors are stumped.

CHIEF
Professor Gibbs is incommunicado, but do not
let that deceive you. He may very likely
still be able to hear what is going on in
the room. Let us not indulge in that morbid
patter I hear from you in the OR. You will
accord him every respect.

The Chief leads them out. Ellen lingers after, gripping the rail
of the bed with all her might, then she runs from the room. The
Janitor pauses in his sweeping to move over to the monitor and
unplug it.

Blackout.

TWO

The lights come up. The bed is in partial shadow.

Out the window, it is still a beautiful day.

Just to the left of center stage is a tall metal cage made of

thin bars which run vertically. The structure is rounded at the
top like an old fashioned birdcage. Inside stands Thomas Gibbs,
his back to the audience. He is wearing a flimsy hospital gown
which shows flashes of his butt as it parts. He spreads his arms
and turns slowly around.

THOMAS
I can move! I can talk! Hey!

The Janitor looks up from mopping.

JANITOR
You feeling better now then?

THOMAS
(He flexes his muscles.)
Great!
(He slaps the inside of the cage.)
Whatever this thing is, it worked!
14
 JANITOR
Praise the Lord.

THOMAS
What is this - where’s the nurse? Nurse! Hey
pal, will you push the call button for me?

JANITOR
She be on the way now.

The nurse comes in with an armful of linen. She goes directly to

the bed without looking around.

THOMAS
Get my doctor! Hey! I’m cured! It’s gone!

NURSE
(To the bed, too chipper.)
It’s that time again, honey. Fresh sheets in
the morning time.

She begins to change the linen. There is still a body in the

bed.

NURSE
Let’s straighten out this mat. We don’t want
any bedsores, dearie.

THOMAS
What the hell is this? You put somebody in
my room before I can even get dressed?

NURSE
Shall I tie up that gown a bit? I think so.
One big old bow. There we go.

THOMAS
And where are my clothes? And where’s the
door on this thing? Let me out of here. I
have work to do.

The nurse finishes and gathers up the laundry.

NURSE
Sponge bath at four. Don’t go away - the
15
 water is just fine today.

She heads for the door.

THOMAS
Sponge bath my ass! Get me the fuck-

But she has gone.

THOMAS
God damn her! What is her problem?

JANITOR
Feel like you’re talking to yourself
sometimes.

THOMAS
Yeah. Help me get out of this contraption,
will you? Looks like I’ll have to check
myself out of this place. I hope I had some
money in my wallet. Have to catch the bus
back to the University. Do you see a door on
this thing? Some kind of handle maybe?

JANITOR
No, man. I don’t mess with nothing like
that.

THOMAS
Oh, come on. Go get my doctor, then. And
don’t bring back that crazy nurse.

JANITOR
But I’m not done with my cleaning here.

THOMAS
I can’t waste all day in this...whatever it
is. Just pass that phone over here. See if
it’ll reach. I’ll page the guy.

Ellen comes in. She has been crying but has steeled herself for
her entrance. She goes to the bed.

ELLEN
Thomas? The doctor said I could talk to you.
That it would help if I kept talking.
16
 THOMAS
Ellen! Thank God. Over here! Look, I can
move!

ELLEN
Can you still hear me? Please, Thomas, still
hear me. I will bring you the data. I won’t
leave you alone.

THOMAS
I can hear you fine. Ellen?

Drying her eyes, she opens a manila envelope.

ELLEN
Anyway, Peng and Xiang faxed you the numbers
from their resonant ionization calculations.

THOMAS
What’s going on?

Ellen walks across the stage, past Thomas, past the Janitor
without acknowledging them. She looks out the window.

ELLEN
What a glorious shade of blue. Thank God for
Rayleigh scattering.

She returns to the bed and makes a minute adjustment to the

covers.

ELLEN
Take care, Thomas. I’ll be back tonight.

She leaves. Thomas’ legs seem to lose their resolve, and he

sinks to the floor.

THOMAS
I feel like I’m going to puke.

JANITOR
This just the place for that.

THOMAS
Why won’t they talk to me? Is that some
17
 looney therapy?

JANITOR
I’m no doctor, mon. Maybe you dreaming it
all?

THOMAS
This is no dream. This too tactile. And the
resolution is too good.

JANITOR
Maybe you crazy in the brain, then?

Thomas leaps to his feet.

THOMAS
That could be it. My brain swelled up. I’ve
never been delusional before. This must be
what it’s like.

JANITOR
Then there’s no problem.

THOMAS
I’ve got brain damage, and I’m psychotic. Of
course there’s a problem. What if I’m dying?
(He bangs his head against the
bars and flinches in pain.)
This is very real.

JANITOR
Maybe it’s all real, then. Seems pretty real
to me.

THOMAS
And who is that in my bed? They have some
mighty nerve to bring in somebody with me
still right here.

The Janitor moves slowly toward the bed.

THOMAS
You tell him that this is my room. My
private room. He can have it when I leave.
Which will be just as soon as I can get
somebody besides you to respond. And bring
18
 me my damn pants.

The Janitor is looking down at the body in the bed.

THOMAS
And call the nurse again. Maybe she’s
sobered up by now.

The Janitor is speaking quietly to the body in the bed.

THOMAS
Who is it?

The Janitor reaches out to the bed, not touching anything.

JANITOR
You know who it is.

THOMAS
Let me see him!

The Janitor lifts the cover just so the face is visible. Thomas
sees that it is his face, and he slumps against the bars. The
Janitor comes over to the cage.

JANITOR
Don’t be getting down. Still no problem.

THOMAS
Ellen couldn’t see me because I’m dead. I’m
a ghost. God damn it!

JANITOR
No, mon. You not a spook yet. I hear the
life still beeping in you.

They pause to listen to the soft electronic pulses from the

bedside equipment.

THOMAS
Wait a minute. You see me.

JANITOR
I see you loud and clear, boss. Better tie
that robe up tighter, everybody else be
seeing you too.
19
 THOMAS
How come you can see me? Who are you?

JANITOR
I’m just the one who cleans up around this
place. Like I told you. Keep things in
order.

THOMAS
You’re a ghost, too!

JANITOR
Now do I look like a ghost, mon? I the one
who bring things in when they need to come
in. I polish anything that gets all grimy. I
sweep up anything that gets spilled.
(He moves to the bed and examines
an instrument.)
And when it’s time for something to go out,
I come around and take it out.

He reaches out to the bed. Thomas slams his hands against the
bars.

THOMAS
Get away from him!

The Janitor steps back, startled.

THOMAS
I know who you are! You’re a demon. You’re
trying to kill me. Help! help! Somebody!

JANITOR
Mon, you like some people never throw
anything out. My wife, she got a box full of
old lipsticks all worn down to the nubs. But
will she let me take them out? No, sir.
Can’t get this color no more. Or this one
reminds her of that special night. Or this
one has such a pretty case. Got a reason to
keep every one.

20
 THOMAS
Stop it! You don’t have a wife! I’m not
going anywhere with you!

JANITOR
Sorry, mon. I don’t make the schedule.

THOMAS
Yeah? Come on in here and try to take me.
You think because I’m a physicist that I’m
some nerd you can push around? Come in here,
pal. I’ll make your schedule for you.

JANITOR
Don’t be in an uproar, mon. I’m not like
that. See that gum on the floor over there?
Most people see that old dry gum plastered
on the tile and they get out their tool and
they hack and they gouge off that gum. Maybe
they break the tile. Then you got big
trouble. But me, I have a secret. You want
to hear it?
(Pause.)
The secret to getting up that old gum
without making a fuss about it is right here
in this little packet.
(He takes something from his
pocket.)
Mayonnaise from the cafeteria. I squeeze it
out onto the gum when I start cleaning,
cover it over with a rag wrung out in hot
water. By the time I’m near the end, that
old gum is nice and soft. Come right up in
the rag.

THOMAS
You keep away from me with that.

JANITOR
That not going to persuade you, is it? Say,
you a smart man. How about you meet somebody
real smart?

THOMAS
What do you mean?

21
 JANITOR
How’d you like to meet the smartest person
in the whole world? Smartest person there
ever was, I think.

THOMAS
More ghosts?

JANITOR
Maybe.

THOMAS
Who? Who’s the smartest? Einstein?

JANITOR
No.

THOMAS
Newton?

JANITOR
No.

THOMAS
Feynmann?

JANITOR
Ha ha. That funny man? No, not him.

THOMAS
I give up. Freud? Plato? Da Vinci?

JANITOR
No way.

THOMAS
Okay, I give up. What’s the point? I’m dead.
Or if I’m not, I’m having a near-death
experience. Shouldn’t there be a tunnel of
darkness with light at the end? Aren’t I
supposed to see all my dead family calling
me into the light? Or is it stay away from
the light? Let me see. Was it stay away from
the light, Carol Anne, or go into the light,
Carol Anne? Oh my God! I can’t remember!

22
 JANITOR
I got no tunnel for you, mon. And no light
for you to mess around with.

Blackout.

THREE

The lights come up.

Out the window is a bright sun shining on

arid dunes. On the monitor, fronds like
palms are waving.

Thomas is dressed in a tunic bound about the waist by a wide

leather belt. His feet are in sandals; thin straps wind up his
calf.

Peering at him through the bars is Sebrentha, a beautiful black-

haired woman of roughly his own age. She is draped in a long
gown decorated with the device of an eye and inlaid with tiny
mirrors. Her hair is gathered into a bun held by golden combs.
Around her neck is a chain which holds a metallic oval engraved
with a few simple symbols.

SEBRENTHA
This is the one?

JANITOR
That’s him. Look out for yourself. He’s in a
bad mood.

SEBRENTHA
I shall be tender. Greetings, Thomas Gibbs.
I am Sebrentha, Oracle of the Temple of
Asmara.

THOMAS
Yeah. Whatever.

SEBRENTHA
You are in foul humor.
23
 THOMAS
Look, ma’am. I got hit by a fucking garbage
truck a couple of weeks ago and it fucked up
my brain, all right? Now I am hallucinating
this evil bastard over here and I’m trapped
in this tweety bird cage and I got you in my
face.

SEBRENTHA
(To the Janitor.)
Foul humor.

JANITOR
I knew it.

THOMAS
Stop that! What is she here for? You going
to gang up on me? And what the hell is this
dress?

JANITOR
You the one been yelling at me, you know. Do
that. Don’t do that. How am I supposed to
get my work done like that?

SEBRENTHA
Unacceptable.

JANITOR
You tell him.

THOMAS
Oh yeah. I Dream Of Jeannie?

SEBRENTHA
You are a stubborn man.

THOMAS
Back into your bottle.

JANITOR
(Picking up a rag, he walks to the
window and begins to clean it.)
Call me when you’re done.

24
 SEBRENTHA
I did not come to provide you entertainment,
Thomas Gibbs.

THOMAS
Okay. I’ll be the straight man, then. Why
did you come?

SEBRENTHA
To bring you with me.

THOMAS
Ah ha! The ghost of Christmas past? This is
the airborne part of the dream, where you
sprinkle me with pixie dust and we fly out
the window?

SEBRENTHA
I am not that ghost. Nor am I a demon.

THOMAS
This is my dream. You’ll be what I want you
to be.

SEBRENTHA
I shall not. I am Sebrentha, Oracle of -

THOMAS
You have a pedigree! Not necessary! The
court will stipulate as to your expert
credentials. Get on with it or I’ll hold you
in contempt! One more outburst like that and
I’ll clear this courtroom.

SEBRENTHA
If you persist in making sport, my task will
be most difficult.

THOMAS
Here’s a simple solution: You’re
supernatural, make with the special effects.
Morph your face into snake heads and rotted
flesh. Scare the living shit out of me.

SEBRENTHA
The grander the demonstration, the more you
25
would resist it. You would reason away any
trickery.

THOMAS
You’re not a very good Jeannie.

SEBRENTHA
I am no sorceress. I am Sebrentha, Oracle
of-

THOMAS
When you go to the store do you have to
write Oracle on your check?

SEBRENTHA
Nonsense! I am Sebrentha, She who-

THOMAS
Do you even have a last name? Or is it a
Cher slash Madonna thing?

SEBRENTHA
Be still! I am Sebrentha, Bringer of-

JANITOR
She’s the smartest person in the world, mon.
That’s all you need to know about that.

THOMAS
I agree completely. The smartest person in
the world shouldn’t even need a title after
her name.

SEBRENTHA
As you please.

THOMAS
Wait. You’re not that woman in the Sunday
paper, are you?

SEBRENTHA
One of your Sundays? I think not. I have
lain in my grave for five thousand years.

THOMAS
So how can you be so smart? Five thousand
26
years ago there weren’t any - anything. No
phones, no lights, no motorcars. Not a
single luxury. Dadadada, primitive as can
be.

SEBRENTHA
We had none of your toys, true. Yet my
mother could weave her own garments. My
father could forge his own sword. I cannot
imagine you to have these skills.

THOMAS
That makes you smart? Hammering out knives?

JANITOR
Tell him about the chops.

SEBRENTHA
It does not spark or spin. He would mock it.

THOMAS
Chops?

JANITOR
He’ll listen to that. Then he’ll know you.

SEBRENTHA
One chance he shall have, then. Shall I tell
you a tale, Thomas Gibbs?

THOMAS
Knock yourself out. I’m just waiting here in
this nightmare until the neighbor’s dog
wakes me up around six-thirty.

SEBRENTHA
I am Sebrentha, daughter of Cuutenay, a
citizen of Syros. At my marrying year I was
betrothed to Cuthver, who kept the treasury
of King Uskudar. In that same year I was
unbound of Cuthver and pledged to the
goddess Asmara. Good Asmara, who sees
tomorrow.

THOMAS
Unbound? Left at the altar? Jilted?
27
 SEBRENTHA
Cuthver died of plague in my marrying year.
In our marrying year. As a promised virgin
in my year of service to Asmara, I was
therefore forever hers.

THOMAS
I’m lost already…. You get engaged; the guy
croaks; you get - what? - sacrificed to some
goat god?

SEBRENTHA
You understand nothing. Betrothed virgins
served Asmara from one harvest to the next,
then they might marry. Asmara saw in her
wisdom to take Cuthver during my time of
service. Thus she must have wanted me to
stay with her. I joined the others who lived
in the temple.

THOMAS
Like a prehistoric nunnery.

SEBRENTHA
Asmara’s temple was the heart of the
kingdom. All sought her wisdom. All came to
ask of tomorrow, to lie with Asmara, to
receive her vision.

THOMAS
Lie with her? People had sex with a goddess?

SEBRENTHA
Not with Asmara herself. With her servants.

THOMAS
So you were a hooker. A hooker in a church.

SEBRENTHA
So much inanity has become history and yet
the memory of good Asmara has been lost. I
was only betrothed to Asmara and not
privileged to serve in her bed. Those were
women who had taken husbands. Each married
woman of the kingdom would become Asmara for
28
five days each cycle of seasons. We who were
but betrothed to the goddess collected the
offerings and kept the Temple.

THOMAS
I got news for you, lady. That was a
whorehouse, not a temple.

SEBRENTHA
The men of Syros would take pity on you.

THOMAS
Me? Their wives are fucking strangers in the
church basement.

SEBRENTHA
Becoming Asmara was the greatest honor.

THOMAS
And what if you didn’t want to spread ‘em
for your goddess?

SEBRENTHA
There were those who could not serve. These
were allowed to send another in their stead.
There were no lack of volunteers. Many would
stay more than their time.

THOMAS
Why? Was the pay that good?

SEBRENTHA
Donning the mask of Asmara was not for
reward.

THOMAS
You’re freaking me out. They wore a freaking
mask while getting banged?

SEBRENTHA
It was thus: The supplicant would enter the
Temple of Asmara and place his offering upon
her altar. There he would abide and pray
until the Oracle appeared to hear his
request. He would be hooded and led to
Asmara’s chamber where he was bathed and
29
anointed with scented oils by the betrothed
of Asmara. Asmara would enter through the
blue smoke of incense wearing her robe of
gold and ruby red. She would open her robe,
and he would join her inside. There he would
have a vision. After, he would describe his
vision to the Oracle, who would show him
tomorrow.

THOMAS
Okay, that’s a high class whorehouse.

SEBRENTHA
By and by, I was chosen by Asmara to be her
Oracle. I kept the tally of offerings. From
moon to moon, their number must appear in
groups of five fives. No offering shall not
appear in a group which is not five fives,
for five is the holy number.

THOMAS
Why five?

SEBRENTHA
Why not five?
(She produces a flat, rectangular
clay tablet.)
Each offering is taken for the good of
Asmara. Food feeds her servants, beasts are
taken to her herds, gold and silver and
jewels are hidden in her secret place. Each
worthy offering is marked by a chop upon a
tablet. Thus the fives are kept.

The kingdom of Syros prospered upon the

wisdom of Asmara. Offerings came in
abundance and filled the fields and the
secret place. The chops filled tablets,
tablets littered the floor and pressed
against the doors so one could barely enter.
Yet we dare not misplace a group of five
fives, for that would offend Asmara.

One evening as I prayed to Asmara, I held my

hands out to the fire on her sacred altar.
She spoke to me through my spread of
30
 fingers.

I cried for a fresh tablet as the servants

of Asmara and the betrothed of Asmara
gathered around. I said that Asmara had
shown me a new way to keep the tally.

On the monitor is a close-up of a glistening, soft tablet. Hands

are wielding a short stick to make short lines upon it.

SEBRENTHA
The tablet would be divided thus. In this
part the chops are as before, one chop for
one offering. In the next part, each chop is
now made for each group of five and five. In
the next part, each chop is made for a group
measuring five and five on a side.

Upon such a tablet, three chops each in its

own home would mark a tally of one plus five
and five plus a square of five and five-

THOMAS
A hundred and eleven.

SEBRENTHA
You take it for granted.

THOMAS
You think you invented counting in base ten?

SEBRENTHA
Asmara showed me in the vision.

THOMAS
Oh, come on. History is full of advances
made in parallel by civilizations that
didn’t even know about each other. Okay, so
it was a big deal in your little cathouse
slash church. Smartest person ever? What
about a guy named Einstein. Huh? General
relativity ring a bell? That was a leap
forward. Newton’s calculus? Kepler’s orbital
mechanics? Better than marking up a hunk of
wet clay?

31
 SEBRENTHA
The system of accounting the offerings to
Asmara was used to keep measure of the grain
in our storehouses and the beasts in our far
pastures. We traded these as we needed and
passed the tablets on to merchants as record
of the deed. The method pleased them, and
they began to use it. The kingdom honored
Asmara as never before. The goddess in her
wisdom then gave another gift to her people.

As the temple prospered and the kingdom

grew, it became harder to mark who had
served Asmara and who was yet to serve. This
time Asmara came to me unbidden, in a dream.
Coiled about her arm was a great hissing
serpent. The goddess spoke to me, and she
said: Sebrentha, this snake begins to speak
your name.

Then I awoke. Again I called the temple

about me and told them of my vision: That
Asmara had bid me choose a creature to speak
each sound in our tongue.

And she commanded, as the serpent speaks its

hiss, then its picture shall be so marked to
mind us of the sound that begins my name.

The monitor shows a crude S marked in the clay.

SEBRENTHA
And then the great oxen, which we call e-
moo.

A horned cow head is marked next to the S.

SEBRENTHA
Then the scarlet delta ibis, which makes the
cry of Bra! Bra! to greet the rising sun.

A long-legged bird is rendered.

SEBRENTHA
We did these for all the sounds in our
tongue until our words, which before that
32
 time had been heard only, might be seen as
well. And scribed onto a tablet which could
be sent away to summon a servant to Asmara.

We fashioned a medallion for each woman who

had served, as proof of her devotion to
Asmara. It bore her beast name.

THOMAS
Wait a minute. Your story has a continuity
problem. You have a necklace. I thought you
never did time on your back.

SEBRENTHA
This is the beast name of Cuthver. My one
love, my last love.

King Uskudar, seeing how any citizen’s name

might be marked, called the servants of
Asmara to count his kingdom by their names.
Merchants came to the Temple to be taught
the beast naming so they could keep
accounts. Children learned it so they might
tease each other by marking upon walls with
half-burnt sticks.

On the monitor is a rough fence on which is drawn in black a

heart. Inside the heart there is are two strings of symbols, one
above the other and separated by a plus sign.

THOMAS
All right, all right, all right. You win.
You were the brightest bulb in the fixture.
Or torch, or candle, or whatever you had.
You invented base ten and the written
language and gunpowder and toilet paper.
Fine. You can do whatever you want. But I’m
still not letting that son of a bitch over
there anywhere near me.

SEBRENTHA
If indeed you grant me all that, then you
shall listen to me and hear me. He is a
friend.

33
 THOMAS
Not of mine. Dream or no dream, he’s trying
to take my soul. Even if I don’t believe in
him, it’s still my goddamn dream.

SEBRENTHA
So your world is only as it seems to your
eye? You talk of particles being waves, of a
cat in a box being dead and alive at the
same time. How can you have faith in those?
You cannot see those things, yet you know
them to be true?

THOMAS
Those are subatomic phenomena. This isn’t.
Those are able to be substantiated by
experiment. This is just my mind racing.

Sebrentha moves to the bed.

SEBRENTHA
Fact only moves you. I understand.
(She puts her hands on the body.)
The palsy has reached that part which mutes
raw sensations. This is what the body now
feels.

Thomas screams in pain, doubles over, and collapses. Sebrentha

removes her hands and comes back to the cage.

SEBRENTHA
Have you not yet recognized your prison?

Thomas struggles to his feet and reexamines his cage.

THOMAS
Something about it-

A silver globe descends from above until it is inches away from

the top of the cage. There is a humming, then arcs of white
brilliance begin to spark between them with loud reports.

THOMAS
It’s a Faraday cage!

34
 SEBRENTHA
Not a prison?

THOMAS
Static electricity – it’s all the same
charge. It tries to get as far away from
itself as possible. It coats the outside of
the metal. There could be a million volts on
the outside, but you can touch the inside
and not feel a thing. That’s why you’re safe
in a car during a lightning storm. Just as
long as you don’t touch the outside of the
cage….

SEBRENTHA
Once you felt trapped, now the cage is your
haven. Might this gentle one not be the
enemy you feared?

THOMAS
I don’t know.

SEBRENTHA
You do know. It was proven to you when I let
you taste the torment of that flesh.

THOMAS
No! This is fantasy!

SEBRENTHA
He wishes only to release you from that
pain. He can remove these bars.

THOMAS
I can’t leave. You don’t understand. I can’t
leave!

SEBRENTHA
Do not presume to know what I can
understand.
(She hold up her tablet.)
I understand why the kingdom of Syros
flourished.

THOMAS
I’m not talking about little stuff. I’m
35
working on the unification. The whole damn
ball game. Not addition or the abc’s. The
unification of all explanations; each and
every thing in the whole universe explained,
lady. I can’t go with you now. I’m not done.

SEBRENTHA
The wealthy of Syros lived in larger homes
each year. The lowest laborer returned each
night to a fine hearth, a happy wife, fat,
healthy children. King Uskadar built two
wings onto the palace and had the Temple of
Asmara decorated with such riches that the
night sky envied it. The kingdom flowered
like a pomegranate tree in a warm wet
spring.

THOMAS
What makes you think I care?

SEBRENTHA
I saw tomorrow through Asmara, yet I did not
see that we were that tree, beautiful. Heavy
with fruit, and inviting to the hungry. The
end came so quickly that calls for Asmara’s
wisdom went unanswered. From the south and
from the east they came, a horde of
barbarians raising dust trails which dimmed
the sun. They swept over the kingdom of
Syros as locusts over the grain. They slew
the merchants and the laborers and the wives
of each. They quartered good King Uskudar
and hoisted the pieces upon poles at the
city gates. They melted down the golden
statues into crude bars to be carried away.
They cared nothing of counting or chops or
beast names or tomorrow.

When they came to the Temple of Asmara, they

entered without gifts. They raped Asmara’s
servants, and they seized the Oracle whose
prophecies had fame even in their barbarian
land. She they feared more than any of
Uskadar’s warriors.

36
 THOMAS
You?

SEBRENTHA
They dragged me behind a chariot for a time.
And when they stopped, they cut out my
tongue. Because they feared my words. They
sliced off my breasts because they hated my
sex. Then they burned me upon a pyre of
brush. I do not know why they did that.
Perhaps they were cold. It was thin brush,
and dry, and the flames did not kill me.

On the monitor: Sebrentha bloody and blackened, writhing on the

side of the road. The Janitor appears on the road leading a
donkey and dressed in a ragged robe. He stops and kneels beside
her.

SEBRENTHA
Strange. There was no pain. I thought that I
could reach the house of my father. His
servants would bind my wounds and salve my
burns. I did not know that my father lay in
his own blood, his house in ashes. Then this
one appeared. He did not speak. I could not
speak. I knew that he was come for me, that
he was merciful Asmara in the flesh there to
carry me in her chariot to the east, where
the sun waits, where it is already tomorrow.

Yet I did not want to go. I was the Oracle

of the Temple of Asmara. I was wise for her.
I was beautiful for her. My life, lived for
the Goddess, pleased me each hour of each
day.

Somehow I lifted my head. I turned my eyes

down into the city and saw the inferno where
the Temple of Asmara had once stood, in the
middle of the ruins where once the great
city had surrounded it. Then this one held a
glass so that I might see myself.

On the monitor: Sebrentha’s face in a round mirror is burnt

beyond recognition. Two white terrified eyes stare from a black
mask.
37
 JANITOR
Such a waste.

SEBRENTHA
I knew this one cared for me by his own
choice, for I had no words to sway him, no
lovely face to entice him. I was an ember,
bleeding in the dust and ashes of Syros.

JANITOR
And she didn’t give me any trouble then,
just let me do my job.

THOMAS
But I’m so close. Just let me stay for a
little longer.

JANITOR
I told you. I don’t make the schedule.

SEBRENTHA
Perhaps you would rather return.
(She points to the bed.)

THOMAS
If that’s what it takes.

SEBRENTHA
What whips you so? It cannot be love, nor
money. Not power. Fame and glory? Would your
theory be so grand that your name might live
forever?

THOMAS
Are you joking? The guy who gets Theory of
It All? It’s the Triple Crown, the Super
Bowl, the heavyweight championship of the
world.

SEBRENTHA
At least you have a simple motive.

THOMAS
It’s not like that. Nobody ever became a
physicist to get famous. That stuff is just
38
byproduct: the cover of Time and all that
crap. A thousand nightly news Ken and
Barbies asking the same question over and
over, none of them having a clue. Ninety-
nine and nine tenths of the population knows
angular momentum from the skidmarks in their
shorts, but they still want to buy your book
to toss on the top of the pile on the coffee
table.

And what the fuck is wrong with that,

anyway? You can hit two fifty in the
National League and make a million dollars,
but be the best theoretical quantum
physicist in the world and have to tutor
algebra one to make the payments on a one
bedroom condo.

SEBRENTHA
Then it is riches you desire.

THOMAS
No! I just want to know. You take all the
rest, you and the custodian here. Take it
all. Put me in a white room with black
curtains, a chair and a table. I just want
to know the damn connection between gravity
and electromagnetism and the nuclear forces.
Is that so much to ask? Just to know? I
don’t see the problem with that.

SEBRENTHA
I have no quarrel with you, Thomas Gibbs.
For those of us who wish nothing more,
knowing is pure. It is invisible, yet it can
give you much strength and joy. The trouble
begins only when your knowing is made
manifest.

THOMAS
You think you’re responsible for what those
bastards did to your town?

SEBRENTHA
Syros without chops, without beast names,
would have been as happy a place. Barbarians
39
do not travel far to fill their sacks with
happiness.

THOMAS
Bullshit. People are always killing each
other over something. Reading, writing,
arithmetic, gold, water, land, women.
Sommetimes you’re just in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Syros would have gone under
for one reason or another anyway.

SEBRENTHA
But I was that one reason, and I cannot
console myself with eventualities. I saw the
reality of my home and friends butchered. I
knew that it was not the bloodthirsty hordes
to blame, but my greed. My vanity. I was a
fool; I wanted to create a new way. To know
that I had knowledge inside myself and to
cast it out among the people and watch them
embrace it.

THOMAS
Well, believe me, the people are not going
to embrace the Grand Unifying Theory anytime
soon.

SEBRENTHA
It is so trivial? Is it of no use?

THOMAS
No use? Once we know the connection between
everything, we can get down to figuring out
how to do anything. The Theory will be like
The Joy of Cooking. Up to now, all we know
was that butter and flour and milk are
discrete entities.

SEBRENTHA
So there is no danger, just some baking.

THOMAS
Nothing’s one hundred percent safe. What do
you mean by safe, anyway? The Theory is a
symbolic representation of an abstract.
Could it be used for evil? Sure. So can
40
 sticks, so do we chop down the trees? I got
got a little scar right here from getting
hit in the forehead by a rock when I was in
fifth grade. Can’t we go around and glue all
the rocks to the ground? You see tomorrow.
You tell me. Tell me that the Theory itself
is evil and I’ll give it up. I’ll go
peacefully down that tunnel.

SEBRENTHA
In truth, I cannot.

THOMAS
Then get out of my face. I think you’re the
one who needs help.

SEBRENTHA
I did not come here to help myself.

Ellen enters, several papers and a FEDEX envelope in her hand.

THOMAS
Ellen!

SEBRENTHA
And what of her?

THOMAS
Leave her out of it.

ELLEN
Delaney sent these by email...

SEBRENTHA
Is she betrothed to another?

THOMAS
Quiet!

ELLEN
Here’s some interesting data from CERN, the
... detector....

SEBRENTHA
Is she your Oracle?

41
 THOMAS
Stop it. What was that last value?

ELLEN
Goldenstein’s team finally got powered up.
He sent some raw numbers from the muon cross
section scattering experiment. They haven’t
even crunched them yet, but I knew you’d
want to see the trends...

SEBRENTHA
I came here to help you, Thomas Gibbs.

THOMAS
(He listens only to the numbers
read by Ellen.)
That value makes no sense...

SEBRENTHA
I may grant you some favor.

THOMAS
Okay, okay. Squared is...

SEBRENTHA
(She produces a thin clay tablet.)
Take this tablet to your breast.

THOMAS
Detector glitch there...

SEBRENTHA
It carries the beast name which allows one
indulgence.

THOMAS
Fifth root...

SEBRENTHA
It will carry you back into your broken
body.

THOMAS
There’s a pattern...

42
 SEBRENTHA
It will mend you.

THOMAS
Seven?

SEBRENTHA
You would know nothing of this Theory.

THOMAS
That’s got to be dimensionless...

SEBRENTHA
You would be husband to this woman.

THOMAS
That’s the matrix divisor...

SEBRENTHA
Happiness, Thomas Gibbs. Here is the tablet.

THOMAS
Exchange values...

SEBRENTHA
Choose carefully.

THOMAS
Stack...

SEBRENTHA
Choose well.

THOMAS
Muon mass is...

SEBRENTHA
Take the tablet!

THOMAS
It’s linear!

SEBRENTHA
No one has ever been given such a gift!

43
 THOMAS
Integrate over n space...

SEBRENTHA
Theory cannot love you!

THOMAS
Slope is-

SEBRENTHA
She loves you!

THOMAS
Intercept is-

SEBRENTHA
Time to choose!

THOMAS
I’ve got it!

Sebrentha turns away, defeated. She drops the tablet; it

shatters to bits.

SEBRENTHA
I can do no more.

Black out.

FOUR

In the window is a pastel rendering of a

city skylight at night, too stylized to be
mistaken for real. Music begins: a jumping
electronic theme. A light shines on the
Janitor - in black tie and tails and holding
a microphone. He delivers now in a
stentorian bass like a ringmaster, with no
trace of accent.

JANITOR
Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome to your
reality the lovely and talented Sebrentha of
44
 Syros!

Sebrentha enters through the door, waving acknowledgment. She is

in a skintight white gown; her hair hangs down her back.

JANITOR
And now: the one who makes it all happen;
the reason we are here today; the designer;
the builder; the owner/operator of all those
dimensions; the one you call many names and
we call Boss; the one, the only: Supreme
Being!

An APPLAUSE sign flashes above the stage. Colored lights run and
flash. On the monitor are electronic fireworks.

God trots onstage. He is the Chief in a white suit: white shoes,

white tie, white shirt. He waves to the audience, bows, blows
some kisses.

GOD
Hello everyone. Glad you could make it
today. Sebrentha, you look marvelous. And
announcer guy, I see you’re still
moonlighting at the piano bar.

JANITOR
Just something off the rack.

GOD
Tell us about our winner.

A light illuminates Thomas, who is now wearing a brown suit.

JANITOR
Well, Your Omnipotence, his name is Thomas
Gibbs. He is a Professor of Physics, thirty-
five years old and single. A Taurus, his
hobbies include tennis, origami, and
unfortunately, bicycling.

GOD
Hello, Thomas Gibbs. Congratulations.

THOMAS
What the hell is this? What kind of fucking
45
left turn....

GOD
Oh my. You don’t believe it.
(To the others.)
He does not believe it.

JANITOR
He fell on his head.

GOD
Ah.

God raises his hand and a brilliant shaft of

white light shines on Thomas. There is a
brief chord which is part heavenly chorus,
part demonic shrieks, part childrens’
laughter. The light snaps off; Thomas
staggers. The APPLAUSE sign flashes.

THOMAS
What? What did I do to you?

GOD
To me? You misunderstand, Thomas. You won.
This whole reality can be proud of itself
for producing you.

THOMAS
This is some kind of a game to you?

GOD
Questions, yes, ask away! All the unanswered
and unanswerable questions this space-time
line has accumulated. Is there free will?
How many angels can dance on the head of a
pin? What happened to Amelia Earhart? Can I
create a rock so heavy that I can’t move it?
Who shot Nixon?

JANITOR
Kennedy.

GOD
Right. Who shot Kennedy. Answers to all
these. Just one of the many glorious prizes
46
you have won for your reality.

THOMAS
What is this thing about my reality? There
are other realities?

GOD
You couldn’t have thought this was it? One
linear time line? Not since the beginning.
But by now, oh so many.

THOMAS
(Mostly to himself.)
Every time a particle chooses between two
quantum states, the universe, the time line
is split.

GOD
Exactly! Strings, too, as you call them.

THOMAS
Then there are twenty-six dimensions.

GOD
Yes, well, more or less. Here, anyway.

THOMAS
And every particle and every string since
the beginning of the universe generated two
parallel realities every time it chose
between two quantum states?

GOD
Didn’t I just say that?

THOMAS
That’s an unimaginable number of parallel
universes.

GOD
Don’t I know it. What a logistical
nightmare.

THOMAS
So much for the sparrow.

47
 GOD
Oh, the alleged sparrow etcetera. Sure, I
keep track of all, small birds included.
Universes pretty much run on their own,
though. At least they do since I introduced
momentum. I don’t actually reach in and
adjust things much.

THOMAS
Then you haven’t been here all along.

GOD
Yes and no. But now I am here: large in the
flesh and occupying every dimension in this
reality, including the ones that are all
rolled up. And all because of you. You made
the connection. You found the hidden
blueprint.

THOMAS
The unifying theory? I sprang your trap with
a wild hypothesis based on flimsy, unrefined
data and - this?

GOD
Bingo.

THOMAS
What now?

GOD
You go forth into the world and cry it to
the multitudes. The hypothesis will be
confirmed; the theory proven. It shall be
fact. It will be faith spread to everyone
everywhere. Not your whims of belief, but
irrefutable demonstrable faith the likes of
which your reality has not seen. All will
know that the prize has been won, and the
race has reached its end.

THOMAS
The prize? The race? You son of a bitch, you
know the suffering that’s been going on
here. Wars and starvation and sickness and
you could have put a stop to it anytime, but
48
you waited like a kid watching an ant farm -

GOD
That’s another question to add to the list.
Do I have a mother and/or father, i.e.,
where did I come from?

THOMAS
What about my question?

GOD
Oh, the pain thing. Pain is proof that you
are aware.

THOMAS
Oh! That is so lame! I expected a lot more
depth from God.

GOD
Don’t you think this floor here would like
to be able to feel pain? This chair? I
promise you that the grandest mountain would
gladly trade places with the most wretched
human you could ever find.

THOMAS
And now all pain ends? By this freak? By a
dream and a garbage truck? You should have a
more coherent plan, because I am not some
kind of prophet. I don’t see tomorrow like
some people. I don’t sit alone in the dark
waiting for it to hit me. I got two dozen
experimental groups sharing data. There are
hundreds of highly trained theoreticians
backed up by thousands of technicians,
tradespeople, support staff, millions of
dollars. Pounds, francs, marks, rubles even.
This is cream, this kind of research. Above
survival, above comfort, above luxury. Pure
speculation funded by a civilization flush
for the first time. Suppose we took an
asteroid, or some disease cut us apart.
We’re not so strong that we couldn’t go Dark
Ages in a hurry. We’re not so strong that we
couldn’t be hanging witches again in ten
years. You left us to chance? One little
49
 stumble and we might never find our way back
to this level.

GOD
You got it easy. Ten thousand years of warm
weather just right for crops. Stable brain
capacity. Opposable thumbs and stereoscopic
vision. You should see how many realities
there are out there where organic matter
hasn’t begun to replicate. Some universes
are still amorphous. Matter hasn’t clumped
up. You should complain? Your friends will
not quibble over such minutia when they see
the grandeur which awaits.

THOMAS
Then this is Judgement Day.

GOD
Only in the good way. It shall be paradise
on Earth, the Heavenly Gardens incarnate,
that whole scenario.

SEBRENTHA
Boss.

She points to the bed.

GOD
Oh. Damn. You can’t spread the word.

THOMAS
Sure I can. Heal me. Put me back. I’ll tell
everybody.

GOD
It would be a miracle.

THOMAS
Yes.

GOD
I hate miracles. You people think one comes
along every three minutes. Really, I haven’t
made one here since that pass from Flutie to
Phelan. Coming out of a little coma isn’t
50
 going to beat that.

THOMAS
But I can’t tell.

GOD
Sorry. I’m afraid our judges have ruled. It
doesn’t count.

The music swells. The applause sign flashes. God waves to the
audience and bounds across the stage.

THOMAS
Wait! You can’t just leave me here!

GOD
Don’t worry. These things have a way of
working themselves out. Goodnight,
everybody.

He exits. The music grinds to a halt. The flashing lights die

off. Sebrentha comes to Thomas.

SEBRENTHA
I’m sorry.

THOMAS
I never even believed in the guy. I quit
asking him for anything when I was eleven
and he wouldn’t get me on the Little League
team I wanted. If this is life, I’m probably
the only living person ever to get to talk
to him. And he won’t give me one little
favor? Walks out on me? I am the unluckiest
bastard there ever was.

Ellen comes in and sits by the bed. She takes the patient’s hand
and presses it to her lips.

SEBRENTHA
Perhaps.

Sebrentha walks close behind Ellen.

SEBRENTHA
This one grieves for you.
51
 THOMAS
She’s a good friend.

SEBRENTHA
She loses more than a friend.

THOMAS
I know what you’re getting at. It’s not a
good idea to date your coworkers. I know
people do it anyway, but it usually ends up
badly, and then you’ve got to go in in the
morning and avoid the person all day.

SEBRENTHA
She is not betrothed. Not to be here like
this.

THOMAS
I like Ellen. I like her a lot, actually.

SEBRENTHA
You never spoke to her of your heart.

THOMAS
You can’t just say whatever the hell you
want. Maybe they did in your time, but not
now.

SEBRENTHA
How timid man has grown.

THOMAS
What am I supposed to do? Toss her on the
ground?

SEBRENTHA
Would you?

THOMAS
Touch her? I couldn’t - even - . We were in
Chang’s lab the Friday before my little bump
on the noggin. Looking at a detector frozen
down in liquid nitrogen. She had on this
thin blouse and no bra, and when we were
leaning over the cooling bath, her nipples
52
popped out like iron rivets. I was staring
at them. And she saw me staring at them. I
saw her see me staring at them. She
smiled....

SEBRENTHA
And?

THOMAS
We were alone in the lab.

SEBRENTHA
You spoke?

THOMAS
I said I was freezing. And I walked out.

SEBRENTHA
Would you like to know what she wanted you
to say?

THOMAS
I thought you did futures.

SEBRENTHA
I need no vision for this.

THOMAS
What, I should have gotten on my knees? I
should have told her I loved her madly
because seeing her erect nipples made my
blood flow around differently?

SEBRENTHA
Did you love her?

THOMAS
I think I did. Do. I fucked it up royally,
didn’t I?

SEBRENTHA
All you must say in that moment is some
token of kindness. Your gown is most
pleasing, or your hair is shining, or your
eyes are so beautifully brown or blue or
green or hazel, or will you do me the honor
53
 of breaking bread with me.

THOMAS
I was freezing.

SEBRENTHA
You are not the only man to ever make the
least of an opportunity.

THOMAS
Yeah, believe me, if I ever get another
chance-

SEBRENTHA
You shall not. Listen. The breath is
labored. The heart makes an uneven rhythm.
The end is near.

JANITOR
Don’t look at me. I told you I don’t make
the schedule, but that don’t mean you don’t
have to keep to it.

THOMAS
Ellen! Ellen!

SEBRENTHA
You chose.

THOMAS
Over here!

SEBRENTHA
There is nothing to be done.

THOMAS
I’ll show you nothing to be done, God damn
you all.

He beats the inside of his cage, kicking it with a fury,

pounding his head against it.

THOMAS
Wisdom and power of the Goddamn ages
omnipotent and can’t give me one little
Goddamn thing-
54
Sparks are flying from the silver globe to the cage, crackling,
growing more intense. Thomas continues to attack the inside of
the bars.

SEBRENTHA
You rage to know tomorrow? Men crushed the
temple. Men murdered the Oracle.

THOMAS
I had nothing to do with that!

SEBRENTHA
You could have rebuilt it. You could have
sought a new Oracle.

THOMAS
That was thousands of years ago!

SEBRENTHA
You have a theory, words and chops. Can it
take you into its robe and show you a
vision?

THOMAS
Ellen!

He grabs for the outside of the cage. Sparks fly. There is a

thunderclap and a flash of light.

Black out.

FIVE

The lights come up. The cage is empty. Sebrentha and the Janitor
have not moved. Ellen lifts her head, then leans in close to the
bed.

ELLEN
What?

She listens again, then grabs the call button.

55
 ELLEN
He’s awake!

Alarms ring and shriek. The nurse runs in as all the monitors
flatline. She moves Ellen roughly out of the way and rips the
leads off of the patient’s chest.

ELLEN
He was here-

Two doctors bolt in with a cart and set to work: ventilator,

paddles, hypos. The Chief comes in waving his hands.

CHIEF
He’s a DNR, people.

The crash team stops in midaction and quickly goes through the
same motions in reverse, packing up their gear.

CHIEF
I’m sorry, Doctor Marist.

Ellen reaches out and closes Thomas’ eyes.

ELLEN
Can I stay with him?

CHIEF
Yes. Of course. I’m terribly sorry.

He leaves. Ellen sits back down and takes Thomas’ hand again.

Blackout.

SIX

Lights up. The cage is gone. Thomas gasps for breath on the
floor where the cage once stood. Sebrentha rushes to help him
sit up.

SEBRENTHA
You are free.

56
 THOMAS
I couldn’t breathe!

SEBRENTHA
The body will trouble you no longer.

THOMAS
But I didn’t care. He was right about pain.
I didn’t care, as long as I was alive....
Where did they take me?

SEBRENTHA
You are here. The rest is shed skin.

THOMAS
But I miss it! Don’t you miss the skin?

SEBRENTHA
Not so much that I would have the boldness
to do what you have done. I let a tiny piece
of the agony touch you so that you knew its
face and yet you flew wholly back to it. I
have never seen such bravery. But the source
of it escapes me. Was the need to pass your
secret so great? Does she now have the seed
of your knowledge, that she might possess
this great theory which means all to you?

THOMAS
No.

SEBRENTHA
Then what? What is more to you than that?

THOMAS
For all that it’s worth now. I told her I
loved her. Like I should have before.... Oh,
hell. I’ve pissed it all away - love, life,
the Theory - the whole fucking world.

SEBRENTHA
Yes, I agree that many of your choices were
made unwisely.

THOMAS
What now? Heaven or hell?
57
 SEBRENTHA
Your mythology is all pleasure or pain.

THOMAS
My mythology? You’re the ghost. Or is it
demon now?

SEBRENTHA
Neither. I am an Oracle.

THOMAS
Okay, do you oracle in heaven or hell?

SEBRENTHA
Wherever I am needed. As here.

THOMAS
Well, you’re all done here.

SEBRENTHA
No. I am not.

She points to the monitor. It turns on. The picture is a sunny

field: green turf, blue sky. Into the frame walks Ellen. She is
wearing a long summer dress, and her hair is down. A child, a
girl of six or so, runs up to her.

CHILD
Where’s Daddy?

ELLEN
I don’t know. Let’s call him.

CHILD
Daddy!

ELLEN
Tom!

THOMAS
What is this? What are you doing this for?

SEBRENTHA
Your family is calling.

58
 THOMAS
I don’t have a- I don’t have this family.

SEBRENTHA
No. Not here.

THOMAS
Oh. You....

SEBRENTHA
The Oracle has many privileges. I offer you
one last choice. You may stay here, a shade,
and discover all the things a shade may be.
Or you may put off that day and assume flesh
once more, with this family, and live as you
may. Until we meet again.

THOMAS
Oh yeah? What’s the catch? I have to give up
the Theory? I remember nothing? I have to be
a carpenter and never again tinker with the
fabric of cosmology?

SEBRENTHA
This gift is freely given. Be what you will
and do what you will. Take from this life
what you wish. In either place you will live
with your choices.

CHILD
Daddy? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

THOMAS
If you are a true Oracle, then you know.

SEBRENTHA
Yes. I do know.

Blackout.

SEVEN

The lights come up.

59
Thomas stands in the monitor now, back to the camera. He turns
slowly around.

THOMAS
Thank you.

The child runs up to him and takes his hand. She swings on it
like a vine.

CHILD
Daddy, who are you talking to?

THOMAS
An old friend, Punkin.

CHILD
Up!

Thomas swings her up onto his shoulders. Ellen comes up and hugs
them both.

ELLEN
We thought you were lost.

THOMAS
I was. I was lost and gone forever.

CHILD
But I found him!

They walk together down hill, out of the picture. Sebrentha

makes a sweeping motion and the monitor goes black. The janitor
pushes his cart over to the door.

SEBRENTHA
What? You do not approve?

JANITOR
Oh, no. You know me. I love a happy ending.
I knew you’d make everything all right.

SEBRENTHA
Yes, I know you. You were about to say?

60
 JANITOR
I’m all done. This place is all clean now.
Everybody happy. What’s that? You crying?

SEBRENTHA
I? You are mistaken. Tears are for those who
can be caught unawares. Do not forget: I am
Sebrentha, Oracle of Asmara, and I see
tomorrow.

Blackout.
THE END

61