"Well, that's a bad example. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective."
(Cloud travels to the very top of Cosmo Canyon. He enters the shack there. Red XIII and Bugenhagen are waiting.)
Red XIII
"Cloud, this is my
grandfather, Bugen."
"He is incredible.
He knows everything."
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. I hear
that you looked after Nanaki a bit."
"Nanaki is still a
child you see."
Red XIII
"Please stop, grandfather.
I'm 48."
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. Nanaki's
tribe has incredible longevity."
"So you see his 48
years would only be equivalent to say that of a 15 or 16 year old in human
reckoning."
Cloud
"15 or 16!?"
Bugenhagen
"He's quiet and very
deep. You thought he was an adult?"
(Red XIII looks down)
Red XIII
".......grandfather.
I want to be an adult."
"I want to grow up
to be able to protect you and the village."
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. No Nanaki.
You can't stand on your own yet."
(He shakes his head)
Bugenhagen
"To do that now would
destroy you in the long run."
(He looks up)
Bugenhagen
"Reaching up into
the heavens, threatening to snatch the very stars from the great city of
Midgar. You're seen it, haven't you?"
(He looks forward again)
Bugenhagen
"Well, that's a bad
example. Looking up too much makes you lose perspective."
(He jumps up on the table)
Bugenhagen
"When it's time for
this planet to die, you'll understand that you know absolutely nothing."
Cloud
".....When the planet
dies?"
(The music fades)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. It may
be tomorrow, or 100 years from now... But it's not long off."
Cloud
"How do you know this?"
(Bugenhagen looks down for a moment)
Bugenhagen
"I hear the cries
of the Planet."
(There is a loud sound, resembling a whale song, very guttural, and natural. The camera pans up to the top of the house, showing the observatory there.)
Cloud
"What's that?"
Bugenhagen
"Tha sounds of the
stars in the heavens. While this goes on, planets are born, and die."
(There is a much louder sound, mixing with the others, much like the others, but.. mournful, painful.)
Cloud
"What was that?"
(The camera pans back down to Bugenhagen, Cloud, and Red XIII.)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. That
was a scream from this planet."
"Didn't you hear it?
As if to say... I hurt, I suffer....."
(The louder sound stops.)
Red XIII
"They have come here
on a journey to save the planet."
"Why don't you show
them your apparatus?"
(Bugenhagen jumps off the table. The music fades back in.)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. To save
the planet? Ho Ho Hoooo!"
(He turns to Cloud)
Bugenhagen
"But, then again,
I guess it wouldn't hurt to show him."
"Bugenhagen!"
(The camera pans over to show a young boy enter the shack.)
"Several odd looking people have come."
Bugenhagen
"The whole place has
gotten busy all of a sudden."
Red XIII
"He brought friends
too. I'll go get them."
(Red XIII leaves the shack)
Red XIII
"Cloud, please call
one of them."
"Only three people
can fit in grandfather's machine."
Bugenhagen
"Don't worry. My machine
won't run away. You go and invite your friends."
(Cloud goes and retrieves two companions, scattered around Cosmo Canyon.)
phoenixgenesis@game-developer.com
Continue to Part 8 Scene 67