The Ribcage of the Void
A deep-space scavenger, cutting into the hull of a derelict freighter, discovers that some things that die don't stay dead. The prize of a lifetime becomes a race for survival.
# The Ribcage of the Void
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A lone salvager, boarding a derelict freighter for a simple score, discovers that the ship's reactor has mutated into a living, biomechanical heart—and her intrusion is waking it from a centuries-long slumber.
## Themes
* **The Terrifying Allure of the Unknown:** The conflict between human curiosity and the instinct for self-preservation when faced with something impossibly alien.
* **Corruption of the Man-Made:** The unsettling fusion of cold, hard technology with grotesque, living biology, blurring the line between machine and organism.
* **Protocol vs. Instinct:** The tension between following established, safe procedures and the impulsive, often dangerous, decisions made under pressure and fascination.
## Stakes
Cassie's life is at stake as she risks awakening a dormant, biomechanical entity that could threaten more than just her salvage mission.
## Synopsis
CASSIE, a pragmatic deep-space salvager, breaches the hull of the *Star-Seeker*, a freighter derelict for two hundred years. Guided remotely by her cautious partner, BENJI, she enters the silent, zero-g cargo bay. Her mission: retrieve valuable fuel rods from the ship's obsolete reactor core.
Inside, the oppressive silence is broken only by Benji's voice over the comms. Cassie quickly discovers a strange, organic resin coating the ship's interior surfaces. Despite Benji's warnings to avoid contamination and stick to the mission, Cassie's curiosity is piqued. She pushes deeper, forcing her way into the engineering section.
There, she is confronted with a horrifying and mesmerizing sight. The ship's massive reactor is no longer a machine. It has been transformed into a colossal, pulsating biomechanical heart, with thick, veined tendrils fused into the very structure of the vessel. It thrums with a low, deep vibration she can feel in her bones.
Awestruck and ignoring Benji's frantic pleas to abort, Cassie uses her scanner on the organ. The act triggers a catastrophic response. The ship's dormant systems roar to life, klaxons blare, and the heart's rhythm accelerates into a frantic, angry beat. The organic tendrils animate, peeling away from the walls to ensnare her. What began as a routine salvage job becomes a desperate fight for survival against a ship that is impossibly, terrifyingly alive.
## Character Breakdown
* **CASSIE (30s):** The "muscle" of the two-person salvage team. She is highly skilled, physically capable, and confident to the point of recklessness. She trusts her gut and her tools over dusty manuals and remote warnings.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at Start:** A pragmatic, mission-focused salvager, slightly jaded and driven by the promise of a big payday. The derelict is just another wreck to be cracked open.
* **State at End:** Her professional confidence is completely shattered by an encounter with cosmic horror, replaced by primal terror and a desperate will to survive a reality-bending, living threat.
* **BENJI (30s, V.O.):** The "brains" and Cassie's only link to the outside. Heard only over the comms, he is cautious, methodical, and the voice of reason. He represents protocol, safety, and the known universe that Cassie is leaving behind.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE BREACH:** Cassie uses a plasma torch to cut a hole into the hull of the derelict *Star-Seeker*. Her comms chatter with Benji establishes their dynamic: she's the impatient muscle on-site, he's the cautious brains back on their ship.
2. **THE SILENT TOMB:** Cassie enters the ship. The interior is a zero-g time capsule—dark, silent, and coated in a fine dust. She notes the untouched cargo, reporting the scene to Benji.
3. **THE FIRST SIGN:** As she moves deeper, she discovers a strange, glistening organic residue coating consoles and bulkheads. Benji, alarmed, warns her not to touch it and to focus on the objective.
4. **THE HEARTBEAT:** Forcing her way into the engineering corridor, Cassie finds the resin is thicker, pulsing with a faint bioluminescence. She feels a low-frequency thrumming that Benji's sensors cannot detect, a vibration that resonates through her suit.
5. **THE REVELATION:** Cassie enters the vast engineering bay and freezes. The ship's reactor has been grotesquely transformed into a massive, living heart, its tendrils snaking through the chamber like veins. It pulses with a slow, powerful rhythm.
6. **THE AWAKENING:** Mesmerized, Cassie ignores Benji’s frantic orders to get out. She activates her scanner, pointing its beam at the organ. The beam acts as a catalyst. The heart's rhythm skyrockets, dormant emergency lights flash to life, and a piercing klaxon shatters the silence. The ship is waking up.
7. **THE PREY:** Panic finally grips Cassie. As she turns to flee, the organic tendrils animate, detaching from the walls and lunging for her. One wraps around her leg with immense strength, halting her escape and pulling her back towards the ship's terrifying, beating heart.
## Visual Style & Tone
The aesthetic is one of claustrophobic, industrial decay fused with Giger-esque biomechanical horror. The primary lighting will be highly practical and constrained: the harsh, narrow beam of Cassie’s suit lights cutting through oppressive darkness, the angry blue spit of her plasma torch, and the eerie, sickly bioluminescence of the alien growth. The camera should feel tight on Cassie, emphasizing her isolation.
The tone is one of escalating dread and cosmic horror, moving from the quiet tension of exploring a dead vessel to the frantic terror of being trapped inside a living predator. The sound design will be critical, contrasting absolute silence with the unnerving squelch of the organic material, the thrumming of the heart, and the final, cacophonous blare of the reawakened ship.
**Tonal Comparisons:** The atmospheric dread of *Alien*, the psychological and body horror of *Event Horizon*, and the contained, high-concept sci-fi tension found in episodes of *Love, Death & Robots*.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
A lone salvager, boarding a derelict freighter for a simple score, discovers that the ship's reactor has mutated into a living, biomechanical heart—and her intrusion is waking it from a centuries-long slumber.
## Themes
* **The Terrifying Allure of the Unknown:** The conflict between human curiosity and the instinct for self-preservation when faced with something impossibly alien.
* **Corruption of the Man-Made:** The unsettling fusion of cold, hard technology with grotesque, living biology, blurring the line between machine and organism.
* **Protocol vs. Instinct:** The tension between following established, safe procedures and the impulsive, often dangerous, decisions made under pressure and fascination.
## Stakes
Cassie's life is at stake as she risks awakening a dormant, biomechanical entity that could threaten more than just her salvage mission.
## Synopsis
CASSIE, a pragmatic deep-space salvager, breaches the hull of the *Star-Seeker*, a freighter derelict for two hundred years. Guided remotely by her cautious partner, BENJI, she enters the silent, zero-g cargo bay. Her mission: retrieve valuable fuel rods from the ship's obsolete reactor core.
Inside, the oppressive silence is broken only by Benji's voice over the comms. Cassie quickly discovers a strange, organic resin coating the ship's interior surfaces. Despite Benji's warnings to avoid contamination and stick to the mission, Cassie's curiosity is piqued. She pushes deeper, forcing her way into the engineering section.
There, she is confronted with a horrifying and mesmerizing sight. The ship's massive reactor is no longer a machine. It has been transformed into a colossal, pulsating biomechanical heart, with thick, veined tendrils fused into the very structure of the vessel. It thrums with a low, deep vibration she can feel in her bones.
Awestruck and ignoring Benji's frantic pleas to abort, Cassie uses her scanner on the organ. The act triggers a catastrophic response. The ship's dormant systems roar to life, klaxons blare, and the heart's rhythm accelerates into a frantic, angry beat. The organic tendrils animate, peeling away from the walls to ensnare her. What began as a routine salvage job becomes a desperate fight for survival against a ship that is impossibly, terrifyingly alive.
## Character Breakdown
* **CASSIE (30s):** The "muscle" of the two-person salvage team. She is highly skilled, physically capable, and confident to the point of recklessness. She trusts her gut and her tools over dusty manuals and remote warnings.
* **Psychological Arc:**
* **State at Start:** A pragmatic, mission-focused salvager, slightly jaded and driven by the promise of a big payday. The derelict is just another wreck to be cracked open.
* **State at End:** Her professional confidence is completely shattered by an encounter with cosmic horror, replaced by primal terror and a desperate will to survive a reality-bending, living threat.
* **BENJI (30s, V.O.):** The "brains" and Cassie's only link to the outside. Heard only over the comms, he is cautious, methodical, and the voice of reason. He represents protocol, safety, and the known universe that Cassie is leaving behind.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE BREACH:** Cassie uses a plasma torch to cut a hole into the hull of the derelict *Star-Seeker*. Her comms chatter with Benji establishes their dynamic: she's the impatient muscle on-site, he's the cautious brains back on their ship.
2. **THE SILENT TOMB:** Cassie enters the ship. The interior is a zero-g time capsule—dark, silent, and coated in a fine dust. She notes the untouched cargo, reporting the scene to Benji.
3. **THE FIRST SIGN:** As she moves deeper, she discovers a strange, glistening organic residue coating consoles and bulkheads. Benji, alarmed, warns her not to touch it and to focus on the objective.
4. **THE HEARTBEAT:** Forcing her way into the engineering corridor, Cassie finds the resin is thicker, pulsing with a faint bioluminescence. She feels a low-frequency thrumming that Benji's sensors cannot detect, a vibration that resonates through her suit.
5. **THE REVELATION:** Cassie enters the vast engineering bay and freezes. The ship's reactor has been grotesquely transformed into a massive, living heart, its tendrils snaking through the chamber like veins. It pulses with a slow, powerful rhythm.
6. **THE AWAKENING:** Mesmerized, Cassie ignores Benji’s frantic orders to get out. She activates her scanner, pointing its beam at the organ. The beam acts as a catalyst. The heart's rhythm skyrockets, dormant emergency lights flash to life, and a piercing klaxon shatters the silence. The ship is waking up.
7. **THE PREY:** Panic finally grips Cassie. As she turns to flee, the organic tendrils animate, detaching from the walls and lunging for her. One wraps around her leg with immense strength, halting her escape and pulling her back towards the ship's terrifying, beating heart.
## Visual Style & Tone
The aesthetic is one of claustrophobic, industrial decay fused with Giger-esque biomechanical horror. The primary lighting will be highly practical and constrained: the harsh, narrow beam of Cassie’s suit lights cutting through oppressive darkness, the angry blue spit of her plasma torch, and the eerie, sickly bioluminescence of the alien growth. The camera should feel tight on Cassie, emphasizing her isolation.
The tone is one of escalating dread and cosmic horror, moving from the quiet tension of exploring a dead vessel to the frantic terror of being trapped inside a living predator. The sound design will be critical, contrasting absolute silence with the unnerving squelch of the organic material, the thrumming of the heart, and the final, cacophonous blare of the reawakened ship.
**Tonal Comparisons:** The atmospheric dread of *Alien*, the psychological and body horror of *Event Horizon*, and the contained, high-concept sci-fi tension found in episodes of *Love, Death & Robots*.