#iron lung transcript

There is a heavy rumbling that only appears in the movie, and it appears to be diegetic (aka, that Simon can hear it as well as us). This rumbling is present ever since the scene begins, when Ava is demanding David to pull Jack from medical and weld the SM-14. It almost sounds like metal ripping in slow motion, or perhaps a very low growl.

Furthermore, we either see Simon from a bird’s eye view, reflected on a surface such as the compass, or in the camera’s periphery.

The scene was preparing us for his dissociation. We can assume this from how we stop seeing his face and see him from behind, as if Simon’s own perception of himself becomes a watcher from above (a similar concept as the Eye watching him). Also in the way the film panned from Simon piloting to the picture lighting up “on its own” (something that had been foreshadowed since the Asleep at the Wheel scene). And finally, in the dilation or distortion of diegetic sounds such as the camera whirring. It sounds slowed and eerie the second time, and from the periphery of the frame we see his head snap towards the picture. The picture looks blurred—it casts a halo light on its borders, almost like astigmatism.

Now this is where the transcript comes in. Not only did it catch the whirring of the camera, but also gave the rumbling a name, and identified a screech. We do not know if the rumbling is non-diegetic ambience meant to symbolize his building dissociation and mental chaos, or if it is a diegetic, dilated, endless auditory flashback that led to the rest of the memories spilling from his mind. A flashback of the explosion of Filament Station. Similarly, there’s a screech—and i’m not sure if it’s the shriek of a person, or the screech of tearing, burning metal. It is meant to be ambiguous, but the terror it inspires is the same. Somehow, someway, the stimuli around him that seemed neutral before is making Simon flinch, and perceive something else. Something from the past.

He’d spent most of the film running away from the memories of Filament Station. But now, his mind is splintering from the weight of the trauma he’s endured in the SM-13. Now, the memories have come back to haunt him.

Immediately after, we see Simon from above for the third time, struggling to keep his balance, holding onto the wall as he adjusts his stance, and looking down where he steps. Almost as if dazed, or as if he’d forgotten the puddle of blood where the Eye once reflected back.

This may be the final trigger, because the instant after this frame, we finally see Simon’s face for the first time since his journey to the SM-8 began.

And it is blurred.

And when the camera whirs again, the frame cuts. Time skips. We see him lose time in a way we cannot miss, unlike the camera’s activation without seeing him. The camera has officially become a trigger, cueing his dissociation to a higher degree.

Now, right as we see his face and realize he’s dissociating, we hear one last factor that triggered this scene.

What was the last voice, the last connection to humanity before his new mission, where the rumbling and rattling and screeching intensifies in his isolation? Ava.

What was the first voice he heard in his flashback?

Ava.

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TRANSCRIPT: VOICE STORM

AVA (past): Eyes up, Convict. I've been assigned to carry out your penance. To be honest, any other Captain would've had you killed on sight, so, you should consider yourself lucky.

UNKNOWN MAN (past): It is gone.

(Knife slashing sounds, gruff voices yelling as if in battle. A sharp, wet stab sound, like a blade plunged into an eye.)

AVA (past): Well, you are lucky. 62 others didn't make it out of Filament Station and no, that doesn't include your compatriots.

UNKNOWN MAN (past): I see that question in your eyes, Simon.

FIRST GUY (past): He's down! / Get down! (?)

(More fighting sounds.)

SECOND GUY (past): Leave him! We're all dead anyway.

SIMON (present): I didn't want them to die.

SECOND GUY (present): Excuse me? What the fuck did you just say?

(Continuous, rapid banging, either gunfire or metal creaking and breaking.)

SECOND GUY (present): When did you grow a conscience, Simon?

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): We are but flesh.

SECOND GUY (present): You've got the highest body count out here, killer! Not one of us has more blood on their hands than you.

UNKNOWN MAN (past): —his purpose yet.

THIRD GUY, choking (past): Please— I c—

(A crunching, neck snapping sound lines up with Simon's bloodied, bandaged hand twisting a dial on the console.)

SECOND GUY (present): Simon the Butcher, lost his nerve.

SECOND GUY (present): You're gonna have to kill your own brothers to stop this.

SIMON (present): You're not my brother.

SECOND GUY (present): Your words, not mine, Butcher. I wasn't even there. I'm just the guy that told you to cross the wires.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): The Consolidation can burrow in their secrets. We must bear these burdens, these hardships, this anger. This sorrow…

FOURTH GUY (past): Simon!

(Banging noises, then a muffled thud like an explosion going off.)

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): We must bear it.

WOMAN'S VOICE (past): They have a tree up there.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): We are the keepers of Eden!

WOMAN'S VOICE (past): It'll feel just like home.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): We must help them.

WOMAN'S VOICE, quickly (past): Simon, don't be like that.

AVA (past): I don't have it.

WOMAN'S VOICE (past): You'll love it there.

AVA (past): Council authority confiscates them, they're hoping to start a garden of their own someday.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): Our duty is not done.

SIMON (past): The Last Tree's dead.

AVA (past): What?

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): The Last Tree will live again!

SIMON (past): It's Eden's grave.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): When the last son of Eden joins the growth / grove (?), there will be a thousand trees!

(A shot of Simon's hands at the blood-covered console, sapling pendant hanging from his wrist.)

SIMON (past, more sinister): You may think that there's no soil, but we know.

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): We will die.

SIMON (past): We know that when we die—

UNKNOWN MAN, preaching (past): When we die—

SIMON, disturbingly serene (past): Our bodies will become the soil.

UNKNOWN MAN preaching, in sync (past): Our bodies will become the soil!

AVA (past, different time? recent): Simon… how about we just stay focused on the mission. Now, once you're down there you're gonna be on your own.

WOMAN'S VOICE, whispering (present): It's a trap.

AVA (recent past): You'll have to navigate the ocean floor carefully.

WOMAN'S VOICE, fearfully (present): It's right behind you.

AVA (recent past): –map is current, things might change, look different once you're down there.

WOMAN'S VOICE (present): It's still there.

AVA (recent past): Take as many pictures as possible, both for navigation and for us to (retrieve?)–

WOMAN'S VOICE, cutting AVA off (present): On your left. They're watching you.

———

NOTES:

We can assume that UNKNOWN MAN who seems to be preaching Eden's cult-like ideals is the Father. SECOND GUY sounds like the convict before Simon, a brother of Eden, or "The Guy That Told You To Cross The Wires". WOMAN'S VOICE sounds like she could be Simon's mother, though possibly the warnings about the eel are from another woman, like the researchers who died in the SM-8.

There are several conversations going on here at once, both memories and auditory hallucinations:

• Ava interrogating Simon after his capture?

• Ava debriefing Simon on his mission in the SM-13

• The Father preaching about The Last Tree

• The battle of Filament Station, with several voices heard yelling, including brothers of Eden and The Wires Guy

• The Wires Guy speaking to Simon in seemingly the present, as an echoing voice in the SM-13

• An unknown guy being choked out / having his neck snapped, potentially by Simon

• Simon's mother speaking to him in the past, presumably when he had to move from Mars to Eden

• Simon's mother / an unknown female voice warning him in the present as an echoing whisper in the SM-13

Something interesting in the audio of the Filament Station battle, that could be the reason Simon was abandoned and betrayed by his brothers, is the exchange between Wires Guy and one or two others, where it sounds like somebody (Simon?) has been injured and is down. Wires Guy says "Leave him! We're all dead anyway." Maybe this is part of why Simon gets left behind to take the blame.

Also, a lot of the lines it's not clear whether they're memories or voices speaking to Simon in the submarine. For the Wires Guy, im largely assuming his voice lines are in the present because they sound a little different. More echoey, and also he directly replies to Simon when Simon speaks aloud in the present. So it seemed less like a past exchange between them and more like a new one, perhaps repeating the same ideas from a past conversation they may or may not have had.

———

this is mostly for me— shoutout to the youtube clip that let me replay this scene over and over to try and catch each dialogue line. i can't wait to watch the movie with subtitles when it comes out!