The 7th Island - Season 1; Episode 1 titled Their Only One.
This is a transcript from The 7th Island - Season 1; Episode 1 titled Their Only One on The R-N-R Hour podcast.
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Intro Song
Introducing
Good morning, afternoon, and evening.
Welcome back to another episode of.
The R-N-R Hour podcast.
Your moment for Fictional storytelling that provides adventure.
Stimulation of your imagination.
And insight into the complexity of the human condition.
I am your host, Ray.
This recording was done in the great city of.
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Before we get started.
I want to set the tone.
And prepare us for a great time.
I usually like to start with a quick breathing exercise.
But I want to switch it up for episode 1
And maybe perform an alternative meditation strategy.
That means. For today, we are going to start this episode with a mantra.
Anyone who is not aware.
A mantra is a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
So everyone, let's get started and please repeat after me.
x3 I am asking the universe for peace, love, and clarity in every area of my life.
Okay, let us begin the show.
Episode one is titled “Their Only One”
This episode will begin our first story for season one called “The 7th Island”
As mentioned in our pilot episode.
I want to share the Tarot card that served as a source of inspiration for
this episode.
For anyone who does not know.
Tarot cards are a tool by spiritual practitioners to gain insight into the past, present or future.
To get right to it, the Tarot card for episode one is 2 of Swords.
You are more than welcome to type in the 2 of Swords in Google images for a better idea of this card. This card shows a blindfolded individual dressed in a white robe, holding two crossed swords. The blindfold covering their eyes tells us that they are confused about their plight and that they can see neither the problem nor the solution clearly. Also, I want you all to pay close attention to how the swords they hold are in perfect balance, suggesting that they are weighing their thoughts and addressing both sides of the situation to find the best resolution.
Nevertheless, we present to you.
Episode one of The 7th Island.
Act I
It was a dark, gloomy morning in the city of Baltimore. The clouds stood perfectly still while morning rush hour traffic grew as if the world was about to come to an end. This scenery was nothing new for James Jones as he got off the bus to get on the main sidewalk to his job’s building.
Robotically walking he quickly approached the building’s front door when he suddenly felt like the world around him started to come to a complete stop. Feeling uneasy James stopped in his tracks and simply stared at the building from left to right. A tear fell from his left eye, but he quickly wiped it away. James reluctantly put his head down to brace himself but felt the need to say.
“Let's get this over with. It's Friday.”
As he reached towards the door’s handle, James saw the door open for him and he heard a loud voice say.
“Come on now. Are you stuck on stupid? It's either you are in the building or out.”
James apologized to the security guard and quickly scurried into the building. He was on the six floor, so he had to maneuver through security and the cafeteria to get to the elevator. As he made his way to the elevator and a small group of people tried to greet him, James put his head down to ignore any possible interactions with them. All he could think of was questioning himself and how he got here in the first place.
“Why am I a failed scientist? Its only the first year of this research program. My experiments never work and I always experience near misses. Geesh…what a life.”
His mind was plagued with self doubt and his abysmal reality. So, he simply retold his life story in his mind on how he got to this point and specifically focused on the good.
“My journey began at the age of 12. As a daydreamer, I would occasionally fantasize about the possibilities for my future. Like any other kid, I was not really sure about my exact direction in life but, I knew that I wanted to do something beneficial for mankind. I become aware of my life path when I started watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. The experiments and explanations of every great scientific contribution to our society made me instantly fall in love with science’s applications and theories.”
He clenched his fist and told himself under his breath.
“Yeah…This is why I am here. My muse. Yeah, i’m inspired. I got this”
As he put his fist in the air, he found himself directly in front of the elevator. James with a bewildered look on his face mumbled.
“Wait…how did i get here so fast…man, whatever”
He looked left and right to check if the hallway was empty. Feeling good about his isolation James took the elevator directly to his floor. When he reached the 6th floor and the doors opened. James poked his head out to scan the area. When he did not see anyone in sight, James made a dash to his section of the labortory. He tried to avoid his office desk to shield himself from his coworkers and supervisor. As he made his way through the laboratory entrance, James refused to turn on the lights. He enjoyed the feeling of an empty room, but James did not bask in this moment. He had to immediately start his week-long experiment in order to have results ready for interpretation by next Friday.
The reagents were already prepared and laid out on his table. Without missing a beat, James arranged everything according to the procedure. By now. It was second nature to him, so he turned his brain off and spoke to himself to rebuild his confidence from last week.
“ Okay…where am I in my thoughts…yeah…that is right. You see. I set my aspirations to become a scientist at a premier research university. I would specifically daydream about doing cancer research and developing cures at University of Michigan. At the age of 14, I decided to manifest my dreams through extensive preparation. I would spend countless days inside my room: planning each step to eventually achieve my goal; learning more about biology, chemistry, and physics; and finding mentors in the field of research and development for possible internship and research opportunities.
For the most part, my investment paid off. I was able to breeze through high school and attend a rather good university…sigh. And…ugh… how does the rest go. In four years, I did work extremely hard to obtain my Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, and I was lucky enough to be offered an opportunity to work on several research projects.
James looked out the window to smirk and say out loud.
“If my story is so inspiring, then why am I in this rut?”
Commercial #1
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Act II
James threw his hands down and jokingly said.
“Forget about it…I have to work.”
He began the experiment by dressing himself in personal protective equipment and cleaning the fume hood with 70% iso-propanol. The experiment was an all day event, so he rushed to get the material and equipment in the fume hood.
When James assembled all of the necessary items, he then followed his regular protocol by preparing a cocktail of a 1:1 mixture of DMEM, Ham's F12 medium, and 10% supplemental fetal bovine serum.
Completing each step with no issues. He finished this procedure by grabbing a 10mL pipette to fully mix his cocktail.
Once the cocktail was clear without any clumps or small particles, James finally pipetted the cocktail into a flask coated with cell culture adhesion. He had to wait an hour for the Sy5y cells to fully thaw before he could inject them into the flask. So, James decided to get up from his chair and walk to the nearest window.
He did not care for the surroundings of Baltimore, so he started once again reminiscing about his years after college.
“Where did I stop at…I mean…why not entertain myself…It's not like I have the best life…plus it will give me a reason to not hate myself…oh yeah…when it was time for my graduation, I was offered a postbaccalaureate research position at a premier national research institution. Well…it’s really a company but they did say. They are here to support my growth. I could not emphasize how excited I was to obtain this position because this opportunity was a position that could assist me in obtaining entrance into a PhD program.”
James stopped and looked at his shirt. It was a University of MIchigan shirt he got from a visit to the graduate school of Neuroscience.
“One day…maybe one day…awe man…Its been an hour already ”
He remained quiet for the next part of the procedure, as he grabbed the fully thawed Sy5Y cells and went back into the fume hood. The next step was pretty simple. All he had to do was pipette 5 milliliters into the flask, and wait another 30 minutes to check the cells under a microscope. James felt a presence squeezing his head as he continued reminiscing.
“Here, in this lab, is where my career began. It was June 2011 and at this position I am spending countless hours in the laboratory. I am giving it my all but my hard work and determination brings no success.”
James puckered his lips as if he did not want to continue reminiscing and just speak on his true reality.
“I am having a difficult time with properly executing the standard operating procedures for my research project. I am not getting along with my manager, supervisor, and coworkers. I am not even confident I can do this anymore.”
As time progressed, James realized he was way over his 30 minute requirement.
“How did 2 hours pass? What was I doing?”
James grabbed the flask to see if the cells were properly attached to it.
The microscope was right behind him, so he slapped the flask on the microscope, turned it on, and put his eyes to the eyepiece. When he moved the lens to the left and right, the results were the same from his previous experiments. All he saw was cell death. He was familiar with this, so he decided to call his supervisor, Chris. There was a phone in the lab to call the supervisor or manager in these situations. James called Chris, but he could not get a hold of him on his first try.
“Dang…let me try again.”
James dialed Chris’ number a second time and was able to get Chris on the phone.
“What do you want, James?”
James got upset and simply responded with.
“Yeah…”
Chris hung up the phone and was in the lab after two minutes. Without greeting or asking for an explanation, Chris went immediately to the microscope to look at the cells.
“They're dead, but I’m not surprised. I guess you’ll start again next week.”
James was too upset with Chris to respond.
“I have to put out another fire, so I will come back later with further instructions.”
As Chris exited the room, James grabbed the flask and placed it in the cell harvester and pressed the on button.
As James harvested the dead cells, he could not help but shake his head.
“It's just another day in the shop…oh well. I will try again next week.”
As he came to the end with his experiment, James noticed that Chris never came back. Questioning what to do next. James decided to do a quick count of the dead cells, so he could have some data for his presentation next week. Wanting to be done with the day, James did a thorough clean of the fume hood and discarded the remaining reagents.
“Let me get to my desk to do some data analysis. I don’t have much, but it’s something.”
Commercial #2
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Act III
James was putting together the graphs from his latest experiment. He was more than ecstatic because he was successful in his effort to avoid his coworkers, supervisor, and manager. Whistling while he worked his final hours. James felt more than comfortable speaking out loud.
“where can I put this trendline? I’m not seeing a correlation in this data set. Oh well, I told the supervisor about the cell death, so its his fault if you ask me…alright…let me get something ready for next week's presentation.
It was about 6pm, and all of the research staff were gone. James knew it was time to go home when he saw the office area become a tad darker. Feeling the satisfaction from a hard day of work James was getting ready to pack his bags when he saw his coworker Jenny waving at him to get his attention. James sighed and shouted at her.
“This can’t wait until next week?”
Jenny sped up her walk towards James and viciously shook her head.
“Brandon wants to speak with you for a couple of minutes.”
James knew what was coming next as Jenny giggled when she saw James get up from his chair. As James stood at full attention, Jenny told him.
“Don’t waste another second. Time waits for no one. Go see Brandon”
Rolling his eye’s James responded.
“The cells are dead and Chris never returned, so what can I do.”
Jenny grabbed his arm and looked directly into Jame’s eyes.
“Its time…”
James felt his tongue hit the back of his throat. Jenny has always maintained minimal interaction with James so this moment was odd to him. He did not waste anymore time with Jenny since the research advisor office was on the 9th floor. Rushing towards the stairwell James panted up the 3 flights of stairs. When he finally reached the 9th floor, he saw Brandon’s door shut with the light off. Breathing a sigh of relief.
“I will deal with his crap next week.”
He was about to turn around and make his way back down the stairs when he heard a door crack open. James froze in place with a look of shock on his face. He did not move until he heard Chris growling at him.
“You thought you were going to get off scot free…hugh?”
Not wanting to say another word to James. Chris barrowled his way past James to leave for the weekend.
“Enjoy your weekend, Brandon.”
James stood in disgust as Brandon looked at him and shrugged his shoulders and said to a bewildered James.
“Good evening, James. I bet you didn’t think I would still be here at this time.”
James remained quiet as Brandon continued his monolog.
“We don’t need to be in my office for this. I will be quick for this. You know James I really want the best for you even if it's not in this laboratory. Sometimes…you have to be able to see the forest and not get stuck in between the trees. Also, no man is an island to himself. So, let's look at your current circumstances in this laboratory under a microscope.”
Brandon paused and simply looked into James' eyes as they got as wide as a deer about to be hit with a car.
“You know what. We are going to change direction here, so enough with the allegories and metaphors. I am just going to inform you. Next week on Monday. I need you to come to a decision on renewing your contract for another year for less pay. The lab does not have enough money to maintain your current salary. You also don’t produce quality results on a consistent basis, so I don't feel the need to fight to keep your current salary.”
James had difficulty in formulating a response, so Brandon continued.
“Lastly. If you don't like this contract, you can just leave the company immediately. Alright…I am done. Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to your answer this upcoming Monday. Take care.”
Without wasting another second, Brandon picked up his belongings and made his way down the stairs. James in utter shock went back to the 6th floor to collect his items. As he approached his desk, James decided to not bring his laptop home.
“Forget the data analysis. I need my peace.”
James grabbed his bag and rushed to exit the building. He was anxious from his interaction with Brandon.
“This is the end. My career in science is done. Forget graduate school anyways. I am not good at this stuff. Oh well…let me make my way home to chill and enjoy this weekend.”
As James exited the building, he felt a load fall off his shoulders. The sun was shining and the clouds were a powdery white. A security guard waved at James and told him.
“I know you’re on the right path, so keep your head up! Do what’s best for you.”
James was shocked because he was not used to the security staff speaking to him. He was walking to his bus stop when he heard his phone release a loud bing.
“Oh…I got a notification.”
As James went to grab his cellphone, the clouds cleared and the sun shined directly over him. He enjoyed this moment because it was the first time in Baltimore. He saw the rays from the sun glimmering off the buildings in the downtown area.
Trying not to get lost in the moment James unlocked his phone and immediately saw an email. Curious about this notification.
James read the subject line: Welcome to The 7th Island, a Game Show for the Century. Feeling his curiosity peak, James then clicked on the email to read the message.
Conclusion
I hope you all enjoyed episode one.
And we look forward to seeing you all again for Episode 2 titled The Worst Decision Since…
That episode should be available on February 28th, 2022.
But before you go.
I want to encourage you all to subscribe to our website. www.ther-n-rhour.com
for access to our blog and immediate notification when a new episode becomes available!
And last but not least.
If you have any questions.
Please feel free to email us at thernrhour@gmail.com.
Take care, everyone.
Outro Song