(The stage remains dark for three seconds. The heavy, resonant echo of the chime fades into absolute silence. The lights slowly come up. The room feels colder. The ticking has completely stopped. LYRA is staring at her blank smartwatch, tapping the screen frantically.)
LYRA
This is impossible. It has an isolated lithium battery. A physical lever cannot kill a digital circuit.
ALEX
(Calmly wiping his hands on an oil-stained rag)Electricity is just energy rushing to find its end. I didn't kill the battery, Lyra. I stopped the rush.
LYRA
Stop talking in metaphors. What did you do to the power?
ALEX
Look at the window.(LYRA turns to the storefront window. Outside, the blurry motion of city traffic and pedestrians has frozen. A yellow taxi is suspended mid-turn. A pigeon hangs motionless in the air, wings fully extended.)
(LYRA hesitates. She drops her laptop bag, walks to the front door, and grips the brass handle. She pulls. It doesn't budge. She throws her entire weight against it.)
LYRA
It’s locked. You locked me in.
ALEXThe air outside isn't moving, Lyra. Air that doesn't move cannot be displaced. You aren't locked in by wood and metal. You are blocked by the density of a paused second.
LYRA(Panting, turning to face him)Why? Why would you do this?
ALEX
Because outside this room, you are erasing me. You are packing my life into cardboard boxes. You want me to move into that assisted living condo where time is measured in medication schedules.
LYRA
You have dementia, Dad! The doctor said—ALEX
The doctor looks at my brain and sees failing gears! (He points to the massive grandfather clock) But I built a better mainspring. Inside this room, my memory doesn't degrade. Because the past isn't behind us anymore. It’s right here. Unmoving.(A sharp, metallic ticking sound begins. It is not coming from the walls, but from inside LYRA’s laptop bag. The sound is irregular, like a panicked heartbeat.)
LYRA
(Looking at her bag)What is that? I don't have any clocks.(The laptop bag begins to emit a faint, pulsing blue light.)(Fade to black.)Woul like to see what happens next?
LYRA(Backing away from the glass)
A projection. It’s a trick. A digital screen over the glass. You’ve turned the workshop into some twisted art installation.
ALEX
You always did look for the code behind the curtain. Go ahead. Touch the door. Open it.
ALEX(His expression changes from triumph to dread)That’s not my time. That’s yours. What did you bring in here?
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