The Borderlands Page #3

---

dragging us back to the dark ages.

Right, we're going to set up

a grid to cover the space.

You take the left transcept,

I'll take the right.

Hang on, what are we looking for?

Well, anything that doesn't fit.

You know, recent repairs,

wires in the wall. Just something

that doesn't look right.

You are thinking hidden speakers,

like in...

Yes.

That's better across there, like that.

- Alright? Sweet.

What's that?

- What, this?

It's for detecting magnetic fields. It can

pick up any hidden speakers in the walls

larger than like a pair of earbuds.

Earbuds?

- Yeah, headphones, Mark.

Are you two making that noise?

Are you scraping off paint?

- Eh?

Not me, dude.

I got you, Deacon, I got you!

No, Deacon's alright when you get to

know him. I mean, he seems on top of it

if you ask me. He's... Yeah,

alright, he likes a drink.

But I mean, he's just having a sip of

the communion wine, so it's all kosher.

Look, booze just relaxes him.

Well, I mean, priests are an uptight

bunch and he's got a lot on his mind.

That Crellick, he's a few

rosaries short of a crucifix.

Hello?

Hello?

F***ing dog bollocks.

There it is again.

Is that one of you two?

What?

- Shhh, listen!

Gray?

Here lies the body of

Samuel Shortage, aged 62.

Not a bad innings, I suppose.

It seems... to

be coming from over there.

"Wrapped up in linen. All wrapped

up in linen and cold as clay."

"So beat the drum slowly

and play the fife lowly."

What the f***...

That's f***ing weird.

What the f***...

Oh f***ing hell, f***ing hell...

What is that?

Gray!

That sodding dog!

- Where?

I dunno, I think he ran off.

Up you come.

I honestly thought some five year

old girl must have broken her leg.

I don't know what kind. It was a big one.

- What, like a dachshund?

It wasn't a dachshund. It was like the

hound of the f***ing Baskervillesl

Mark!

Mark! Don't move, Mark.

Open your eyes!

He's got blood in his ear.

- Right.

Gray, take him outside, sit him down

and stay with him. Stay with him!

- All I need is a little air.

You look peaky, Mark.

Mark!

- What?

Why don't you go and see a doctor?

It's just an in-ear thing. I

must have ruptured my

ear drum on the flight. It happens...

No, I heard it too. It was like this

weird rasping, scratchy noise,

a bit like that.

- Okay, okay, it was rats.

Hardly unusual in an old building.

Can I just go on the

record please and say

that Mark should go and see a doctor!

Right, I'm going to bed.

I need to write up my report.

Deacon - I mean what is he, a

Christian or a Christian scientist?

So Gray, how did you come to be

working for the congregation?

I saw it on a tech recruitment website.

Sounded cool, money was good.

They did ask me if I was a believer.

And I said:
"yeah".

You lied.

Well...

You know, I wasn't

brought up religious.

But you know,

I believe in... stuff.

I mean today, right,

in the church -

didn't you feel... something?

A presence?

- Well,

it is a church.

I'll get you a beer.

- Okay.

Deacon!

Yes?

- What happened in Belm?

No.

Dude, I'm gonna keep hassling

you if you don't tell me, okay?

I'm gonna badger you if you

don't tell me. Cough it!

Belm. Bethlehem in English.

- Right.

It's a town in Northern Brazil.

Well, there was a shrine there that was

getting a reputation as a new Lourdes.

Cardinal Prefect Renaldi himself

led the investigation.

When they arrived they were

amazed. There was a queue of sick

people outside the shrine

waiting to be healed.

And...

did they see anyone get healed?

Better.

They saw God.

Right.

Now we started getting really

confused reports from Renaldi...

which barely made any sense.

And then... Then they disappeared.

Renaldi?

Yeah, Renaldi. The Vatican, they went

crazy. It's like a high ranking cardinal

and his team had just vanished.

Their bodies turned up in the

jungle a few days later.

So what happened?

- The autopsy reports revealed

"atypical chemical traces".

- So what does that mean?

They what - they got poisoned?

- My guess:
Dimethyltryptamine, D.M.T..

Powerful hallucinogenic, plant-

derived. The shamans there

have been using it for millennia. Maybe

the priests had a bad reaction to it

and the locals panicked

and dumped the bodies.

Or... maybe... they actually saw God.

Hold up your beer bottle.

No, no, side on.

Let me show you. There,

hold it up like that.

That's it, put your hand

on top like that.

Alright?

- Perfect. Now are you watching?

Here we go.

Dude...

Yeah...

Don't believe everything you see, Gray.

Good night.

What the f***...

Father, give me the

strength to resist evil.

Please protect this house and

prevent evil from entering.

I need your strength, and the

strength of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Strengthen my faith and

sacrifice this holy place...

Please let me be strong...

Strengthen my power and

my faith for this ordeal...

"More cages. Sick to my core.

The dreams drew me here."

"Perhaps always him. I beseech

you reader, leave this place!"

"This village, a painted facade."

"He lies beneath

ever hungrier for souls."

And this bit:
"Now I see the

perfect hideous logic"

"of the orphanage."

"I may have a new master now."

And that's it. That's

the last thing he wrote.

Does any of that mean anything to you?

- No. No, but I'll tell you something:

I don't think it's an accident

that Mandeville's journal

ended up in the church records.

I think Crellick put it there.

I think he wanted us to find it because we

would read it and understand something.

Something that Crellick couldn't

or wouldn't tell us.

But what that is I've no idea.

Right, come on, Mark. Let's go!

Mark?

Mark?

Mark?

Deacon, look at his ear.

Mark.

Mark!

Listen, we'll just let him sleep it off.

The walk will do him good.

Please leave me.

It's open.

I heard the voices again last night.

Father Crellick!

Did you sleep here?

Were those voices coming from

over here, Father Crellick?

Looks like those kids have

played a wee trick on you.

You think I'm a fool, don't you?

We want this to be a miracle

just as much as you do, dude.

No, you don't.

I'm not like Mandeville.

If there is anything in this

church this will help us find it.

I mean, if a poltergeist farted in here

six months ago we will hear it.

This is ghost hunting equipment, is it?

- Well, okay. You know how you said

that when you heard the sound

it seemed to move?

- Yeah.

Well,

these are radio mics and they've

got an analogue receiver.

It's got dials, okay? That means you

can tune between frequencies.

And that's good?

It's where stuff hides.

Where did you hear the sound?

Huh?

- Where did you hear the sound?

Well, it was there and then

it moved over to there.

Okay. We put one mic here, in the pulpit.

We put one mic over here, let's

say in the middle of these books.

We put one mic somewhere

here, on the high altar.

And then you can tune in-

between the three of them?

We can then tune between all three,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes