SCENE SUMMARY
Torm and her professor guardian are running Shadow Fever experiments in his home lab when their easy rapport leads to a warm conversation about her late parents — he shares that her sharp-witted mother always outmatched her impatient father, and that Torm herself is the most brilliant mind he's ever known. When Torm expresses guilt for enjoying the work while her sister suffers, he reassures her that her enthusiasm is a gift to the world. Just as they reach a potential breakthrough — sample 111, a sunlight butterfly compound that appears to eliminate the ghost cells — a village bell rings, one the Professor hasn't heard since Torm's parents died, and he sends her home at once while he re-runs the tests.
8. SHADOW HARBOR
A( professors house
B( rivers
Torm is working on Shadow Fever experiments with the man who looked after her and her sister when their parents died. A close friend of her parents and a professor at the local university, he acted as guardian until Torm was old enough to take over the job. He had set up a lab in his house so he could assist her in the experiments. He happily plays second fiddle to Torm since she is intellectually his superior and offers him the benefit of expanding his knowledge while aiding the recovery of her sister. Using different strands of chemicals on Shadow Fever plates, they run the lab like clockwork.
PROFESSOR
Your father hated noise and could be very impatient, not realizing how the words he chose to use would affect the people around him.
TORM
Was he ever like that with my mother?
PROFESSOR
Oh yes! But your mother's wit was unconquerable. One time when he was short with her, she told him: 'You're not very good at what you do, because everything you try ends up better than you imagined.
TORM
Haha, that is funny... wait... is that an insult, or a compliment?
PROFESSOR
Both! But they where also the most tender couple I've ever known. I miss them very much.
TORM
I remember my father always had a giant book with him.
PROFESSOR
Ah..I wish I knew where that book was... the things his mind saw. I could have learned so much from that book. Luckily, he was only the second most brilliant mind I've ever known.
TORM
The second most brilliant? Who was the first?"
The Professor looks at her with warm eyes.
PROFESSOR
Without a doubt, you, dear girl! You.
TORM
If I was brilliant, I would have cured my sister by now. She wouldn't be lying in bed in pain.
PROFESSOR
Look am me, Torm.
Torm looks at him.
PROFESSOR
No one has ever lasted more than three days. And how long has your sister survived? Two, three months?
TORM
Three months.
PROFESSOR
Shadow Fever has plagued us for thousands of years and in only three small months, a little girl from a small village has almost cured what all the universities' best doctors and scholars, after hundreds of years, couldn't even treat! You will cure the world of this plague, Torm.
TORM
And when another comes along?
PROFESSOR
Then you will cure that one. And then the next one and the next.
TORM
No pressure. Sure, I can save the world.
PROFESSOR
You really can. And you are!
The Professor catches Torm hiding a smile.
PROFESSOR
Ah, I saw that smile. It's okay to smile, you don't have to hide it."
TORM
I feel guilty.
PROFESSOR
Guilty?
TORM
Yes.
PROFESSOR
Because Shadow Fever is an intriguing problem to you."
TORM
I shouldn't enjoy working on the solutions as much as I do...
my sister's fever isn't a game, and yet at times, I admit I enjoy myself.
PROFESSOR
Your enthusiasm benefits the world. If only more people enjoyed working on solutions instead of creating problems, we'd live in a much better place.
TORM
Why is it taking so long to find what seems to be a simple solution: separate the bad cells from the good. My sister is missing out on so much and it...
Looking intensely into a microscope, the Professor interrupts Torm mid-speech.
PROFESSOR
Torm, what sample number was that?
Torm quickly fetches the number in the log book and sees the butterfly illustration.
TORM
111,SOLIS LUX Rhopalocera.
PROFESSOR
SOLIS LUX Rhopalocera. The sunlight butterfly, of course! And the ratio
TORM
One-part water mineral, 1/111th parts wing oil. What has happened?
PROFESSOR
Come look for yourself.
Torm moves to his position and looks at the plate under a machine.
TORM
I don't see any ghost cells.
PROFESSOR
Exactly!
TORM
Could it be?
PROFESSOR
Let's run it again.
They reset their plates when a large village bell rings.
TORM
What is that?
Torm asks with a curious look on her face. The Professor has a serious look come over him.
PROFESSOR
I haven't heard that bell since your mother and father passed away. You better get home. I'll run the tests again.
Torm hands him the plate and gathers her things quickly. she moves to the door and puts on her cloak
TORM
I'll be back as soon as I can.
PROFESSOR
Be safe.
B( rivers
Torm is working on Shadow Fever experiments with the man who looked after her and her sister when their parents died. A close friend of her parents and a professor at the local university, he acted as guardian until Torm was old enough to take over the job. He had set up a lab in his house so he could assist her in the experiments. He happily plays second fiddle to Torm since she is intellectually his superior and offers him the benefit of expanding his knowledge while aiding the recovery of her sister. Using different strands of chemicals on Shadow Fever plates, they run the lab like clockwork.
PROFESSOR
Your father hated noise and could be very impatient, not realizing how the words he chose to use would affect the people around him.
TORM
Was he ever like that with my mother?
PROFESSOR
Oh yes! But your mother's wit was unconquerable. One time when he was short with her, she told him: 'You're not very good at what you do, because everything you try ends up better than you imagined.
TORM
Haha, that is funny... wait... is that an insult, or a compliment?
PROFESSOR
Both! But they where also the most tender couple I've ever known. I miss them very much.
TORM
I remember my father always had a giant book with him.
PROFESSOR
Ah..I wish I knew where that book was... the things his mind saw. I could have learned so much from that book. Luckily, he was only the second most brilliant mind I've ever known.
TORM
The second most brilliant? Who was the first?"
The Professor looks at her with warm eyes.
PROFESSOR
Without a doubt, you, dear girl! You.
TORM
If I was brilliant, I would have cured my sister by now. She wouldn't be lying in bed in pain.
PROFESSOR
Look am me, Torm.
Torm looks at him.
PROFESSOR
No one has ever lasted more than three days. And how long has your sister survived? Two, three months?
TORM
Three months.
PROFESSOR
Shadow Fever has plagued us for thousands of years and in only three small months, a little girl from a small village has almost cured what all the universities' best doctors and scholars, after hundreds of years, couldn't even treat! You will cure the world of this plague, Torm.
TORM
And when another comes along?
PROFESSOR
Then you will cure that one. And then the next one and the next.
TORM
No pressure. Sure, I can save the world.
PROFESSOR
You really can. And you are!
The Professor catches Torm hiding a smile.
PROFESSOR
Ah, I saw that smile. It's okay to smile, you don't have to hide it."
TORM
I feel guilty.
PROFESSOR
Guilty?
TORM
Yes.
PROFESSOR
Because Shadow Fever is an intriguing problem to you."
TORM
I shouldn't enjoy working on the solutions as much as I do...
my sister's fever isn't a game, and yet at times, I admit I enjoy myself.
PROFESSOR
Your enthusiasm benefits the world. If only more people enjoyed working on solutions instead of creating problems, we'd live in a much better place.
TORM
Why is it taking so long to find what seems to be a simple solution: separate the bad cells from the good. My sister is missing out on so much and it...
Looking intensely into a microscope, the Professor interrupts Torm mid-speech.
PROFESSOR
Torm, what sample number was that?
Torm quickly fetches the number in the log book and sees the butterfly illustration.
TORM
111,SOLIS LUX Rhopalocera.
PROFESSOR
SOLIS LUX Rhopalocera. The sunlight butterfly, of course! And the ratio
TORM
One-part water mineral, 1/111th parts wing oil. What has happened?
PROFESSOR
Come look for yourself.
Torm moves to his position and looks at the plate under a machine.
TORM
I don't see any ghost cells.
PROFESSOR
Exactly!
TORM
Could it be?
PROFESSOR
Let's run it again.
They reset their plates when a large village bell rings.
TORM
What is that?
Torm asks with a curious look on her face. The Professor has a serious look come over him.
PROFESSOR
I haven't heard that bell since your mother and father passed away. You better get home. I'll run the tests again.
Torm hands him the plate and gathers her things quickly. she moves to the door and puts on her cloak
TORM
I'll be back as soon as I can.
PROFESSOR
Be safe.