Space-Themed Sci-fi Monologues Vol. 3
Sci-fi space settings stretch a voice actor's craft in unique ways. The vacuum demands intimacy, the stakes demand restraint, and the strangeness demands grounding. These ten monologues each run 1-2 minutes, built for practice in finding humanity inside the impossible.
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Distress Beacon - Navigator Halsey - frayed isolated survivor
"This is Halsey. Civilian transport Marigold. If anyone's receiving, I'm transmitting on the old freight band because everything else is jammed. (shaky breath) It's day forty-seven. I think. The clock on the bridge stopped, and I've been counting meals, but I skipped some, so. (small laugh) So forty-seven, give or take. (beat) The other six are in the freezer. Don't, don't think anything weird about that, I put them there because the medbay was full and I couldn't, I couldn't just leave them in their bunks. They deserved better than that. (quiet) I talk to them sometimes. I know how that sounds. I do it anyway. (beat) If you find this beacon and you don't find me, that's fine. That's actually fine. Just please. Tell my daughter I made it past the asteroid field. She bet me a hundred credits I wouldn't."
Court-Martial of the Decade - Admiral Soryn - hardened naval commander
"Sit down, Lieutenant. (beat) I said sit. (pause) You think I dragged you out of that holding cell because I'm sentimental. I'm not. I read your file twice on the shuttle ride here, and there is nothing sentimental about what's in it. You disobeyed a direct order. You took a destroyer past the demarcation line. You opened fire on a vessel that, by every scrap of intel we had, was a civilian freighter. (leans in) Now. The investigators want your stripes. The press wants your head. The Admiralty wants this whole thing buried under a polite ceremony and a quiet discharge. (beat) I want the truth. (pause) Because I read your file twice, Lieutenant, and I know you. And you don't fire on freighters. So tell me what was actually on that ship. And tell me slowly. We have all night."
The Botanist's Garden - Doctor Ileyna - gentle obsessive scientist
"Careful with that one. Careful! (softer) She's a hybrid. Very young. The petals bruise if you breathe on them wrong. (beat) You're looking at me like I'm strange. That's fine. Everyone on this station looks at me like I'm strange. The botanist, they say. The woman who talks to her plants. (small laugh) Let me tell you something. We are seventeen light years from the nearest world that ever produced a single living cell on its own. Seventeen. Everything green you see in this dome, every leaf, every stem, every bloom, exists because I carried the seeds in a thermos against my chest for the entire crossing. (quiet) So yes. I talk to them. I sing to them. I name them. (beat) When you've kept something alive across that much darkness, Captain, you'll understand. Until then. Don't touch my orchids."
The Mercenary's Last Job - Kovacs - cynical battle-scarred gunslinger
"You want me to do what now? (laughs) Say it again. Slower. I want to make sure I heard you right because the number you just quoted me is either an insult or a death sentence and I can't tell which. (beat) Look. I've been in this business for thirty years. I've worked for governments, corporations, three different religions, and one guy who I'm pretty sure was a sentient mushroom. So when I tell you a job smells, I know what I'm talking about. And this one? (sniffs) This one stinks like a vented airlock on a hot day. (pause) But you knew that. That's why you came to me. Nobody else would touch it. (sighs) Triple the rate. Half upfront. And if I die, you tell my ex-wife it was an accident. She'll laugh. That's important to me."
The Diplomat's Dilemma - Ambassador Wen - polished political envoy
"Madam Premier. (polite smile) Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I'm aware your schedule is demanding. I'll come to the point. (beat) The treaty as written cannot be ratified. Not by my government. Not in this decade, not in this century, not while I am drawing breath in this office. And I say that, please understand, with the deepest possible respect for the work your people have done. (pause) Article nine is the problem. You know it. I know it. The drafters knew it. They put it in anyway because they thought we wouldn't read that far. (small laugh) We read that far. (serious) Now. I am authorized to offer three concessions. They are generous. They will not be on the table tomorrow. So please, Madam Premier. Sit. Pour us both something strong. And let's save the alliance before lunch."
The Last Human on the Colony - Tessa Marrow - quietly unraveling colonist
"There used to be three hundred and twelve of us. (beat) That's not me being dramatic. That's the actual census number from the founding manifest. Three hundred and twelve colonists, twelve administrators, four medical, two chaplains. I memorized it because my mother wrote it on the inside of my locket. (touches neck) I lost the locket years ago. (pause) The fever took most of them in the first winter. The ones who didn't get sick took the shuttles and went back to the relay station. My father stayed. So I stayed. (small smile) He's been gone four years now. Or five. Time gets a little. Slippery. (beat) You're the first voice I've heard since the rescue beacon went out. I don't know if you're real. I'm going to assume you are. (soft) Please don't be a hallucination. I made tea."
The Engineer Speaks to Her Ship - Mei Lin - tender devoted technician
"Easy, girl. Easy. (pats console) I know. I know that hurt. The new pilot doesn't fly you the way the old one did, and I'm sorry about that, but he'll learn. They all learn eventually. (beat) You've got a hairline fracture in the starboard manifold. I saw it on the scan this morning. Don't worry. I'm not gonna tell the captain. Not yet. (soft laugh) He'd want to ground you for repairs and you'd hate that. You always hate that. (beat) I'll patch it tonight. I'll bring the good sealant, the one from the Antares run, not the cheap stuff they keep ordering. (pause, gentle) You and I have been together for nineteen years. Three captains. Two wars. One bad divorce, mine, not yours. (quiet) You keep flying. I'll keep fixing. That's the deal. Always has been."
The Prophet of the Dark Between - Sister Vella - ecstatic visionary acolyte
"Don't look away. (intense) No, no, look at me. Look at my eyes. Tell me what you see. (beat) Not enough. You don't see enough yet. But you will. (soft) The Order found me when I was eleven. I had wandered off the colony perimeter, into the crystal flats, and I sat down because I was tired, and the dark between the stars spoke to me. It used my mother's voice at first. Then it stopped pretending. (pause) You think I'm mad. Half the brothers in the chapter think I'm mad. The other half are afraid I'm not. (leans close) Listen. The thing in the dark is not a god. It is older than gods. It is patient. And it has been waiting for someone to translate. (whispers) That's me. That's what I am. And tonight, you're going to help me."
The Defector at the Border - Captain Yusra - principled defecting officer
"Open the gate. (beat) I am Captain Yusra Halim. Service number nine, three, four, dash, eleven. I am alone. I am unarmed. I am requesting asylum. (pause) I know what this looks like. I know what your sensors are telling you. A decorated officer of the opposing fleet walks up to your border station with a data drive in her pocket and says open the gate. You think I'm a Trojan horse. You think the drive is rigged. You think the moment your captain says yes, your station goes up. (small laugh) I would think the same thing. (serious) But I have a daughter on the other side of that wall, and she is sick, and your medics can save her, and mine cannot. So I am giving you everything. Every code. Every fleet position. Every name. (quiet) Just open the gate. Please."
The Captain's Final Order - Commander Reza - dignified dying leader
"All hands, this is the Commander. (deep breath) I'll keep this short. The bridge is venting. Engineering is gone. Whatever hit us came in clean and went out clean and I won't pretend I saw it coming, because I didn't. (beat) The lifeboats are intact. I'm authorizing full evacuation, effective immediately. Do not wait for confirmation. Do not return to your bunks. Whatever's in your locker is not worth your life. (pause) To my officers. You have served with distinction. To my crew. You have served with heart. To whoever finds this recording. We were the freighter Constance, out of Ceres, and we were doing our jobs. (small smile) I'm going to stay on the bridge. Someone has to make sure the autopilot doesn't take us into the colony. (quiet, firm) Reza out. Go home. That's an order. Go home."
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