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SC1. INT. - NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO STUDIO - DAY
LAKSHMI SINGH:
You're listening to NPR, National Public Radio. I'm Lakshmi Singh. Today on Dispatch from a Hidden War, we take you to the northern province of Lapland in Finland in May of 1997. Mikko Kolehmainen reports.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Here in Finland, we like to joke at our own expense that an entire interplanetary war came and went without ever reaching Finland, which wasn't important enough for any aliens to care about. This joke isn't quite true, as I know firsthand. In May 1997, a Bug fighter crashed in my backyard.
[A MUSICAL EFFECT PLAYS, REMINISCENT OF A CRASH.]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I say backyard, but at the time I lived with my boyfriend, Antero, on a large property in Lapland, just north of the Arctic Circle, not far from the Russian border. There were no neighbors around for kilometers in any direction.
SC2. INT. - MIKKO'S HOUSE - NIGHT
[THE SOUND SHIFTS TO THAT OF A TAPE RECORDING.]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( Voice hushed, but not a whisper, a little breathless ) It is 23:10, 50 minutes to midnight, in the municipality of Savukoski, Finland. I just heard a crash outside coming from the sky, an aircraft, perhaps.
[RUSTLING SOUND OF PUTTING ON A COAT.]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I'm going to find out what it is.
ANTERO:
( yelling from another room, in Finnish ) Come back to bed, you idiot!
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( yelling back to the other room ) There's news happening! Here ! Besides, there's no one else nearby to go check.
ANTERO:
( groaning in Finnish from the other room ) I'll check if you're dead in the morning.
[SOUND OF THE FRONT DOOR OPENING]
SC3. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
It was May in the far north, so the sun had not yet set. It was a few degrees above freezing, and the shadows were long in the golden light. My land had many tall silver birch trees, and through those trees, I saw it.
SC4. EXT. - THE CRASH SITE - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Smoke. Oh my God.
[HIS FEET CRUNCH IN THE FROSTED GRASS AS HE WALKS]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
It's coming from a wreck.
[THE GRASS CRUNCHES AS HE CONTINUES]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I've never seen anything like this before. A former Soviet craft, maybe? It has rockets, like a spaceship. It's the size of a city bus. And it looks like... one of those beetles where the males fight each other with their horns.
[METAL CREAKS AND GROANS]
[A BEAM FALLS]
[A SAURIAN GROAN, LIKE A PAINED DINOSAUR]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Oh, God. Something's alive in there. I have to go help.
[HIS FEET CRUNCH IN THE GRASS AS HE HURRIES FORWARD]
SC5. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I now know that what I saw when I stepped through the birch trees was a downed Bug fighter. It was an oddly beautiful scene. The midnight sun setting slowly over the wreck could have been a sort of meditation on the impermanence of life... if not for what I found inside it.
SC6. EXT. - THE CRASH SITE - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I only know a little Russian... oh, God... ( swears in Finnish, then speaks in halting Russian: ) Help? You... help? I help you!
[A VAST HISSING, LIKE A GIANT MADAGASCAR HISSING COCKROACH]
KERA HEEMASH:
( in a gravelly, rasping voice ) Ndekh utho̊ʻ doq, vlan̊g!
[MIKKO SCREAMS]
SC7. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I did not scream only because I saw an alien for the first time. Everyone on Earth has experienced that by now. It was also because they were catastrophically injured. I saw what I know to be a Taxxon strapped into the pilot seat with the cover of the navigation console impaled sideways through its middle, still trying to struggle its way free. The Hork-Bajir in the other pilot seat--the seat had fallen over and he was crushed beneath the collapsed ceiling of the ship. The other Hork-Bajir, who had been their passenger in the back, was not as hurt by the crash itself, but looked like she had been shot. There was a hole the size of my fist through her abdomen.
SC8. INT./EXT. - THE CRASH SITE / THE BUG FIGHTER - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( swears in Finnish ) Aliens... they're aliens... one of them is a giant worm... with too many legs and eyes...
SUB-VISSER EIGHTY-ONE:
Please... come... help me!
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Agh, of course the aliens speak English. Yes, yes, I will help!
KERA HEEMASH:
No! Stop! Not go near! Yeerk in head! Yeerk in her head. Want to go in you!
SUB-VISSER EIGHTY-ONE:
Please! Please help me!
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I brought a first aid kit just in case. I don't know if any of it will work on... dinosaur aliens...
[THE TAXXON HISSES FRANTICALLY]
KERA HEEMASH:
Human! Leave here... forget... you tell, Yeerks will find you. Take you. Take human family.
SUB-VISSER EIGHTY-ONE:
No! Don't leave me here! Please!
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I can't just leave you here! You're the first aliens on Earth!
[CAREFUL FOOTSTEPS THROUGH DEBRIS]
KERA HEEMASH:
Not first. Not near first.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Here. Let me pack your wound--AAAHHHHH!
[SAURIAN GROWL]
[PUNCH HITTING FLESH]
[GRUNT OF EFFORT FROM MIKKO]
[MIKKO FUMBLES WITH HIS RIFLE]
[RIFLE SHOT GOES OFF]
[SAURIAN SCREAM]
[MIKKO PANTS HEAVILY]
[SOUND OF TUMBLING METAL AND ROCKS AS HE STUMBLES AWAY]
SC9. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Just as the other Hork-Bajir had tried to warn me, the Controller Hork-Bajir grabbed me as soon as I got close. She tried to drag my head up to hers so she could infest me. Fortunately, I'm from Lapland, and I am not foolish enough to go walking alone on my land without a rifle. There are bears out there. And that night, worse than bears.
SC10. INT./EXT. - THE CRASH SITE/THE BUG FIGHTER - NIGHT
KERA HEEMASH:
Look! Her ear.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Her--oh God. There's something coming out of its head! It's like a worm!
KERA HEEMASH:
Yeerk. Yeerk feel Tak die. Yeerk leave Tak now. Free or dead!
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
The Yeerk is the worm? In her skull?
[SAURIAN GROAN]
[DEEP, RAGGED BREATHING]
TAK SHIPA:
Kera...
KERA HEEMASH:
Tak! A yotho̊ʻ!
[THE TAXXON HISSES AGAIN]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I'm so sorry. She's gone. ( pause ) What do I do with the worm?
KERA HEEMASH:
Leave Yeerk. Yeerk dies.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. I will do as you say from now on.
KERA HEEMASH:
Leave. Forget. Be quiet. Be safe.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I can't leave you to die here!
KERA HEEMASH:
Human not know Hork-Bajir healing.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Well, no. But I could call a hospital. Emergency services. They could send a helicopter. They could figure it out!
KERA HEEMASH:
No. Yeerk... Yeerk can be in human too.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( breathes deeply ) You're saying that if I call the hospital, there could be a Yeerk in one of the people working there. And that Yeerk would hurt you, not help you.
KERA HEEMASH:
Yeerk hurt you . Hurt human family. Yeerk in your head!
[MIKKO CRIES]
SC11. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I didn't cry just because it was sad to see this magnificent alien die in pain. I cried because this stranger from another world preferred to die alone in the frost and the long twilight, rather than allow me and my loved ones to be hurt. I now understand that he saved me that day. But even then, I felt the scale of his sacrifice.
SC12. INT./EXT. - THE CRASH SITE/THE BUG FIGHTER - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( unsteady, crying ) I understand. I won't call anyone. But I won't leave you alone. I'll stay with you to the end.
KERA HEEMASH:
Name... Kera Heemash. Taxxon friend name...
[THE TAXXON HISSES]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
My name is Mikko Kolehmainen. ( pause ) Will you tell me what happened here? Why you crashed?
KERA HEEMASH:
Say... you not tell.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I understand. Anyone who I tell your story could have a Yeerk. If I know their secrets...
KERA HEEMASH:
Hurt you. Yes.
SC13. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
It was then that I realized I couldn't tell Antero the truth. I didn't know about the three day rule, didn't know there was no way a Yeerk could live in rural Finland without a portable Pool. Kera had no way of knowing how remote our location was, so he couldn't have explained, either. The secret began its relentless press on me.
SC14. INT./EXT. - THE BUG FIGHTER/THE CRASH SITE - NIGHT
KERA HEEMASH:
Before, Kera have Yeerk. Taxxon friend have Yeerk. Fly Yeerk ship. Then hruthin , Yeerk enemy, Hork-Bajir enemy, attack Yeerk food. Yeerks hungry. Yeerks die. Kera and Taxxon friend free! Kera and Taxxon friend free, have ship.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
But you had her on board as your passenger. You tried to escape with the ship, but she fought you.
KERA HEEMASH:
( voice getting fainter, more strained ) Fail... Kera fail...
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
( choked up ) You didn't fail, Kera. You are free. Your friend is free. Here and now, you are a free Hork-Bajir.
KERA HEEMASH:
Free...
[LABORED BREATH]
[CHOKING GASPS]
[THE TAXXON HISSES]
SC15. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I put some painkillers in his mouth, thinking it couldn't make matters any worse. I was too scared of the Taxxon's toothy maw to do the same for it. Despite its best intentions, it would have bitten my hand off, so it's just as well. The painkillers didn't help Kera Heemash, so I just stayed with him and held his hand until his breath stopped.
SC16. INT./EXT. - THE BUG FIGHTER/THE CRASH SITE - NIGHT
[DEEP, RAGGED BREATHS FROM KERA]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
The sun has finally set. The sky gets so blue in the twilight. It's a totally different shade from the day. It will stay like this until dawn. Do you like it?
[DEEP, SHAKY EXHALE FROM KERA]
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
I think it's very pretty. I hope you enjoy it too.
SC17. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Once Kera was gone, I waited with the Taxxon, because even if we could not communicate with each other, it was still a slave who had sacrificed everything for freedom.
SC18. EXT. - THE CRASH SITE - NIGHT
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
It is 1:23 in the morning. The ground is just soft enough to dig. I have to bury the bodies before my boyfriend wakes up.
[SOUND OF A SHOVEL STRIKING DIRT]
SC19. INT. - RADIO STUDIO - DAY
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
In the morning, I told Antero that a strange craft had crashed on the property with nobody inside. Perhaps they parachuted out, I said. He insisted there was something very strange about the wreck. I insisted it was some old Soviet technology. I did it to protect him. I did it in fear of him--or what he might have inside him. I kept the secret from everyone until after the end of the war. Then I worked my journalistic contacts and got some answers to the questions that had burned inside me for years.
MAYA OSPINA:
May 1997 was when the Animorphs attacked the ground-based Kandrona generator in Santa Barbara, which provided life-giving Kandrona to all the Pools that didn't have their own generator, which was most of them. The Yeerks held it together for a couple of weeks by shuttling VIPs to the Pool ship in orbit, and rotating everyone else through the small portable Pools with their own generators.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
This is Maya Ospina, who was enslaved by Visser Eighty-Two at the time.
MAYA OSPINA:
But after two weeks, the smaller Kandrona generators started to buckle under the strain. And the cracks started to show.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
The best I can figure, based on what I know now, is that Kera Heemash and his Taxxon friend were forced by their Yeerks to shuttle high-ranking Yeerks to the Pool ship and back. But their slavers were not high-ranking, so they were slowly starving. And one day, while transporting Sub-Visser Eighty-One, their Yeerks died. And they saw their chance at freedom. ( pause ) The tragedy of it is that if they had survived the crash, I could have kept them safe. I lived in rural Finland, in the most remote area of the country. I could have sheltered two aliens for years without anyone knowing. They found a safe haven. They just didn't live to see it. ( pause ) I didn't get to offer them shelter. But there was one thing I could do for them.
SC20. EXT. - OUTSIDE THE FINNISH PARLIAMENT - DAY
GET HEFSA:
Kera Heemash ghaḵh luthæp wov bàà ehyu...
[GET'S VOICE FADES OUT]
TRANSLATOR:
Kera Heemash was born in space. He never got to see his home. We are grateful to you for burying him in the forest, but we think it is best for his bones to return to the home of his ancestors.
MIKKO KOLEHMAINEN:
Get Hefsa, I am so pleased that we could arrange for a ship to come into Finnish airspace and pick up Kera's remains.
GET HEFSA:
Ndi̊g dnemi và mbààgh yærfe...
[GET'S VOICE FADES OUT]
TRANSLATOR:
Most of the bodies of our fallen, we can't find. It is a blessing to find even one to bring back home.
SC21. INT. - NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO STUDIO - DAY
LAKSHMI SINGH:
Thank you to Mikko Kolehmainen for that story. Next time, on Dispatch From a Hidden War, we'll hear an interview with Brittany Chen. She's the daughter of Lore David Altman, the former host of Edriss 562, the Yeerk who founded the notorious cult called the Sharing. It's 5 o'clock. Here's the interplanetary news.