Episode 03 Foreign Exchange Students
INT STUDENT APARTMENT - NIGHT
A click. Ambient sounds of suburban night and student life outside. RAQUEL (grad student, mid twenty’s) and HAI RONG (College student) are a little tipsy, its late, and Raquel is determined to get into Hai Rong’s pants.
RAQUEL
Ok. I’m recording.
HAI RONG
Yeah, yeah I can see that.
RAQUEL
So you know, whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
HAI RONG
This is a trial now?
RAQUEL
Yes! Exactly. So, you know, be careful you don’t implicate yourself.
HAI RONG
I’m a pretty cautious person, I think I can control myself.
RAQUEL
You can always plead the fifth.
HAI RONG
Can I ask you a question though?
RAQUEL
Sure.
HAI RONG
This Anterran Lit class. Seems like there’s a lot of... debate about it.
RAQUEL
Ha. Pretty generous to call it debate.
HAI RONG
You think so?
RAQUEL
(walking it back)
No no. Debate is actually pretty accurate. Different interpretations of the same set of facts.
HAI RONG
And what’s your take?
RAQUEL
That’s complicated.
HAI RONG
I can handle complexity.
RAQUEL
Yeah, I’m getting that sense.
Beat. Wine pours.
HAI RONG
Well?
RAQUEL
Its just, I knew the professor before he started teaching this class, and he’s, like, a legend in Archeo-Literature - which is what I’m doing my grad thesis in... so, there’s no one else here I’d rather be working with. But...
HAI RONG
But?
Wine gulp.
RAQUEL
But, I don’t know. He got seperated a couple of years ago, and it was fucking MESSY. Ugh, he was so fucked up. But, at the same time, he got tenure- and its part of the standard contract, right? Tenured professors can teach one class ‘of their choosing.’ That Spring he was a wreck- definitely drinking a lot and generally kind of phoning it in, but the next fall he came back, clear-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to get back to work. And that was the first year he offered the History of Anterran Lit class.
HAI RONG
So what happened? What changed?
RAQUEL
I have no idea.
HAI RONG
Didn’t you ask?
RAQUEL
Nope, no way. As far as I could tell, he was back, and I was on my way to getting my thesis done with an advisor who really means something.
HAI RONG
But, I mean...
RAQUEL
What?
HAI RONG
Well, all the students I’ve talked to think he’s totally crazy. Like certifiable.
RAQUEL
Have you seen those students? They’re idiots.
HAI RONG
Yeah, you’re right about that.
RAQUEL
So why did you take the class? I mean, if you think he’s nutballs.
HAI RONG
Because either way its pretty fucking intriguing, right? Either he’s right, in which case there’s been a world-changing discovery that no one else knows about, or he’s like some crazy outsider artist guy who’s made up an entire world history down to the most obsessively granular details...
RAQUEL
And which do you think it is?
HAI RONG
Honestly, I have no idea. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.
RAQUEL
I hope that wasn’t the only reason!
HAI RONG
No! No, but I mean, I definitely wanted the scoop.
RAQUEL
Well, I don’t think I can answer the mystery for you. The stuff he’s shown me, the language, the archeology- I just don’t think it’s possible for one dude to make it all up. There’s just too much! But then there’s nothing on the internet. ALmost.
HAI RONG
What do you mean?
RAQUEL
I mean I found some references to the Chinese Sub accident.
HAI RONG
You did? I couldn’t find anything.
RAQUEL
It was in an Argentinian newspaper, archived somewhere weird. I have it somewhere.
HAI RONG
Can I see it?
RAQUEL
Sure, BUT, first, let’s talk about my needs. The media arts project? Isn’t that why we’re here?
HAI RONG
Ok, ok. Hit me.
RAQUEL
Hold on, I’ve got to pee.
Footsteps, a door closes. THE LAPTOP that has been recording this gets pulled across a surface, and very fast furious typing commences. Something is pulled out of a bag and plugged into the laptop. More typing, and a confirmation beep. Something is removed from the laptop and its pushed across the surface again. A DOOR OPENS as Raquel returns from the bathroom.
HAI RONG
Ok, I’m ready.
RAQUEL
Great. Let’s talk about YOU.
Rustle of notebook pages. Gulp of wine.
RAQUEL
So question number one. Where are you from originally?
HAI RONG
Well, I was born in Yantai, China. But I moved to Vancouver when I was ten.
RAQUEL
Was that hard?
HAI RONG
Not really. I mean, sure the language was tricky and I missed my friends, but I think I was just young enough to not care too much. Plus, its what my parents said we were doing, so... that’s what we were doing. It was really a debate.
RAQUEL
Oh man I would’ve been PISSED if my parents moved when I was ten!
HAI RONG
Yeah, that’s definitely a cultural thing. American kids especially feel like they have a vote in what they do and where they go. My parents didn’t really see it that way. Neither did I.
RAQUEL
Do you feel like those expectations your parents had- those um cultural differences - did they play out throughout your adolescence, too?
HAI RONG
Oh they’re still playing out, dude. Those never go away.
RAQUEL
Weird how that works.
HAI RONG
Do your parents put a lot of pressure on you, too?
RAQUEL
Not really. They’re pretty low key. They’re both academics, so as long as I’m safely ensconced in the Ivory Tower they’re fine.
HAI RONG
Must be nice.
RAQUEL
What do your parents do?
HAI RONG
They’re engineers. My dad is a chemical engineer, and my mom is also a chemical engineer, but dad is in the like fuel sector, and mom works for a pharma company.
RAQUEL
So: highly educated.
HAI RONG
Oh yeah. Grad school at the least. Mom has two degrees.
RAQUEL
(sarcastic)
Got it- so zero expectations, very low key parenting style.
HAI RONG
Exactly. Nailed it.
RAQUEL
Next question- brothers and sisters?
HAI RONG
One sister. Older.
RAQUEL
And what’s she up to?
HAI RONG
She’s married, living in Vancouver. She’s a dentist.
RAQUEL
Does that qualify as scientific enough for your parents?
HAI RONG
Oh they don’t care about science. Ha. No, its all about stability. And yeah, dentistry- very stabile. They love it. They send all their friends to her. Plus, she just had her first kid, so... yeah she’s the golden child.
RAQUEL
And you’re not?
HAI RONG
Well, by comparison. They don’t really understand how ‘classics’ is going to lead to a stabile job.
RAQUEL
Right? It is a little lofty, I guess.
HAI RONG
If it was strictly Chinese classics, they might get that, but even then... it doesn’t have the ring of “lawyer” or “venture capital,” right?
RAQUEL
Nope, definitely not.
HAI RONG
Exactly.
RAQUEL
More wine?
HAI RONG
I probably shouldn’t. We already had 3 at that bar! I shouldn’t...
RAQUEL
That’s not a ‘no.’
HAI RONG
Your expertise in linguistics is next level.
Raquel gets up to get more wine and pours in glasses.
RAQUEL
(from a distance)
I owe it all to that Logic class with Professor Laghari.
HAI RONG
Ugh, I hated that class.
RAQUEL
I know, but Professor Laghari- oh. She is so hot.
HAI RONG
So that’s your type?
RAQUEL
I don’t have a type! I’m post-type.
HAI RONG
Well, you took me out, got me tipsy, brought me back to your room under the lame pretext of making some podcast about foreign transfer students, and now you’re pouring MORE wine, so...
RAQUEL
(flirty)
So...?
HAI RONG
I think professor Laghari would agree that the next logical question is: am I your type?
RAQUEL
(quietly)
I’d have to do some research.
HAI RONG
Field work?
RAQUEL
Real world experience.
Kissing.
HAI RONG
(whispering)
You’re not really doing a podcast on foreign transfer students, are you?
RAQUEL
Nope.
HAI RONG
You’re not very good at subterfuge.
RAQUEL
Wanna know what I am good at?
Kissing. Breathing. Clothes. Hai Rong starts to moan then remembers-
HAI RONG
Oh fuck. Can you turn that off? Or are we making a different kind of podcast?
RAQUEL
Oops. Yeah that’s second date material---
Episode 02 Early Mythology
EPISODE 01
COURSE OVERVIEW
INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY
A recording device clicks on.
PROFESSOR
--Yeah its on. No, I see the light now. We’re good. Thanks Raquel. Everyone give it up for your very accomplished and technically savvy T.A. Raquel.
Weak applause.
RAQUEL
Thank you, thank you.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Let’s settle in. This is the fun part. Or one of them. Actually its all pretty fun to me, but that’s why I teach Anterran history, so, you know, caveat preemptor. Raquel- will you hit the lights.
RAQUEL
Yep.
Footsteps and a distant click. A projector clicks on, its fan whirring a bit. There’s a murmuring among the students.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Yeah its cool, right? Ok these carvings are found in a building that’s in the north west quarter of the city. Its hard to get a sense of the scale in this image- its pretty dark down there. But this is about 25 meters across, 12 meters high. 25 meters! I mean, its huge, is the uh technical term. And as you can see when we zoom in a bit...
Click. Next slide.
PROFESSOR
Here we can see the glyphs. And these are tiny- each character is about three quarters of an inch. So that wall is covered with carvings of 9000 individual characters. And that’s just ONE WALL. And there are lots more. Lots.
Coughing. Papers shuffle.
PROFESSOR
Ok, hit the lights Raquel? Thanks. So, we’re going to get into the writing and language subjects in a different week, so I’m going to move away from the glyphs for now and start to go into some of what we’ve uncovered so far by translating this wall. Starting with--
Squeak of a dry erase pen on a white board.
PROFESSOR
Teotia. The mother of the gods. This is just one example of how utterly different the Anterran culture is from any other civilization we know, and its just... its fucking wild! Now, in the translations we have- and more are coming in constantly- we have a lot of different creation myths and sagas. But Teotia is always the first, the prime mover, the Logos. And what’s utterly unbelievable about Teotia is that she was a human.
Pause.
PROFESSOR
This wall is in a building in the old city of Prima A, its shaped like a 3 sided pyramid with the top lopped off. Seems to be a religious building- there’s a hearth-like structure in the middle and some sort of altar. And the carvings on this wall that we’re looking at today, these are attributed to Rah
Kamali, who was active in the first empire, so yeah, about 73,000 BCE.
He continues.
PROFESSOR
Story goes like this: Teotia lived in darkness, and was sorrowful. Right? Same as the story from Mem Ehafi last wake. But in this one, she falls asleep, weeping. Then she wakes up woke up in a green field with strong soil. When she opened her eyes, the darkness was gone. And she wandered the earth, which was flat and brown, and decided it was boring. Ha- this is very punk rock. She was bored! So she made the plants and rivers and oceans and animals to make it more interesting. Well the word seems to translate as both ‘interesting,’ and ‘beautiful.’ Crazy right? I wish we thought interesting and beautiful were the same thing.
Giggles.
PROFESSOR
But Teotia didn’t stop there. Every night she’d go to sleep, and the world turn dark- the ‘light-beams would leave,’ is the phrase. And when she awoke, everything was flat and brown again. So she would make the plants and the rivers and the oceans and the animals. But it wasn’t sticking- it would never last. It wasn’t enough to keep the darkness away for good.
Beat.
PROFESSOR
So Teotia made other humans to be her children. It doesn’t explain HOW she did this, so we have a virgin birth situation here, and in this case, multiple virgins births, because she had a litter of 9 children. And that helped- now the light would stay as long as someone was awake- but if they all slept at the same time the light would go and everything would be wiped clean again. She did this for 9999 years.
Pause.
PROFESSOR
So finally Teotia decides they need a god. A god who would never sleep, and that way the light would stay on and the world wouldn’t reset all the time. So she tore the fourth finger from her left hand- this image comes back again and again- she tore the fourth finger from her left hand and sucked on it. And when all the blood was gone out of it, she buried it in the dirt, and this is how she made Ikopaa, the second birth. Ikopaa had eyes all over its body, so if some closed, others would still be open. And Ikopaa watched, as Teotia and her humans grew and multiplied and built their city. And she’s still watching us today. Which is why the world stays as it is. Cool right?
Pause.
PROFESSOR
So what do we see in this story that relates to our subject- Modes of Thought? Well, ok, first- there’s the human foremother situation- I keep bringing that up because its just so unusual. Second, this story is built around the concept of object permanence. This is the notion that we know, if we close our eyes, that the objects around us are STILL THERE. Babies don’t have that, yet, right? So when you play peek-a-boo with an infant, they literally think you disappear each time you hide your face... that’s why they think its so fun- you’re actually disappearing and reappearing right before their eyes! The world is a much more magical place when you’re a dumb little kid, huh?
Click. Gasps. Sounds in the hallway.
PROFESSOR
Its fine, its fine. The emergency lights kicked in. Must be a blackout or something. Let’s just be careful on the stairs, yeah? Ok. See you next week. Hey Raquel? Gotta sec?
Students shuffle out. The following conversation takes place quietly, away from the mic.
PROFESSOR
Hey, uh, what do you know about Qiang Tao? Is she a new transfer student or has she been, like, around?
RAQUEL
Huh. I don’t know. I hadn’t met her before this class.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Hmm.
RAQUEL
You think, what?
PROFESSOR
I don’t know. Its just good to be careful.
RAQUEL
I could take her out for a drink, if that would be helpful?
PROFESSOR
I think that’s a great idea, actually. You wouldn’t mind?
RAQUEL
Not at all. She’s, well...
PROFESSOR
Ah.
RAQUEL
Yeah.
PROFESSOR
Well, here, here’s a few bucks- no no let me- take her out, find out her story, ok? She hasn’t said a word in class, and I don’t want to go digging around in admissions, so, this is just easier, you know?
RAQUEL
Sure thing.
PROFESSOR
Just a friendly drink.
RAQUEL
My pleasure.
PROFESSOR
Easy tiger.
RAQUEL
Ha.
PROFESSOR
Ok thanks--
Episode 01 Overview
EPISODE 01
COURSE OVERVIEW
INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY
A recording device clicks on.
RAQUEL
Ok. Ok. I got it.
PROFESSOR
Yeah its not hard.
RAQUEL
Totally. No problem. And this button stop--
The recording cuts. And then starts again.
PROFESSOR
--And you see that- the levels? If you keep an eye on that red light, you’ll know its recording.
He claps to make noise.
RAQUEL
Got it, ok. And then post it?
PROFESSOR
Right, you post it to the class webpage. You got that one sheet with all the info? I don’t really understand--
RAQUEL
Yeah. Its pretty easy.
PROFESSOR
Ok Thanks for help--
The recording cuts. And then starts again.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Hi. Great, glad you’re all here let’s take our seats please. Thank you. Great.
Students shuffle into their seats.
PROFESSOR
Some quick housekeeping, yeah? This is Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature, second year Literature and Classics. The syllabus number is C667 and- because of the Literature thing- L630. C667 and L630. Your course list from the registrar should have one of those two numbers on it, or else, well, you fucked up. What’s that?
A unintelligible question from a student.
PROFESSOR
Just put C667. No they don’t include it in the Intellectual History major automatically, but if that’s your major, your advisor can fix that, its pretty routine, I’ve never seen anyone have a problem switching those credits around. Yeah? Cool?
The PROFESSOR takes a few steps and starts SQUEAKING on the white board.
PROFESSOR
Alrighty then.
(slowly, writing)
The Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature.
Cap on pen, pen in tray. A few footsteps.
PROFESSOR
I’m going to start off with a story. I’m reading from Mem Ehafi, here.
A phone dings.
RAQUEL
Professor?
She walks close and speaks quietly.
PROFESSOR
Yeah?
RAQUEL
I just got a text from Carol in the front office, she says there’s a phone call for you? She said its urgent.
PROFESSOR
Its nothing. Just ignore it.
Papers shuffle.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Mem Ehafi. Here we go. Quote: Teotia, first mother of the world, Divine human female, was sorrowful in the darkness, which went everywhere and was under everything. And she exclaimed ‘why should I be alone, and know that I am alone?’ And her tears filled the rivers and the oceans. In her anguish, she bent her hands and fingers until at last she removed the fourth finger from left hand and planted it in the darkness, nursing it with the milk of her breast, until Ikopaa was born, already a grown man, with full beard and broad shoulders and legs that straddled the mountains. And looking upon him, she knew she was not alone. And he said to her “you are the mother of the world. I will build a city from your milk.” But his voice, being the voice of a god, was too strong for her, and set the winds in motion, and made the clouds and rain. And her ears bled, and her head was crushed from the sound, and her body was crushed from the sound, and she became the stars. This is how Teotia became the mother of earth and heaven. End quote.
Papers.
PROFESSOR
That’s one version of the creation myth of Anterra. There are a bunch of others, we’ll get into those. But there are two points in starting off with this. One- this is the only civilization we know of that has a human foremother. Usually they start off with gods, right? So that’s unusual. The other point- and this may seem subtle- is the line “why should I be alone, and know that I am alone?” This is the oldest known reference to knowledge as a dangerous thing, a lethal thing. It comes about 3000 years before the bible, before the story of the Garden of Eden. Pretty cool.
PROFESSOR
So, ok. What is the Anterran Civilization? Most of you know that six- no seven- years ago, there was an archeological discovery of enormous significance. A chinese submarine went down- it was a tragedy, all 133 sailors aboard the sub perished. But! But- when the chinese military sent down rescue drones, they got some very interesting pictures. It turns out the sub had fallen smack in front of what we now call Isoceles 3, in the northeastern quadrant of the main city. The Chinese cordoned off the site pretty quickly, and they’ve been pretty closed-lipped about the findings, but since it was, initially at least, an international rescue effort, we did get some data, and the scientific community continues to share research the best they can, considering the politics are just stupid. So, ok, here’s what we know so far:
Papers shuffle.
PROFESSOR
Way out, in the middle of the pacific ocean, about 1300 kilometers south west of Papeete Island, at a depth of about 4500 meters, in what they call the Abyssopelagic zone, the ruins of an ancient city was found. Shortly after, a road was discovered stretching out from the city towards the north east. In the direction of that highway, about 17 kilometers away, a second site was discovered two years after the initial find. They called the first city PRIME A, and the second city- wait for it... yup. PRIME B. Obviously we’ve come to know these by different names but we’ll get to that. The carbon dating on the site brings us to the date 82,500 BCE. So yeah, 84,000 years ago. Well before the oldest known culture- the Australian Aboriginals, though some scholars debate the 50,000 BCE date the Aboriginal culture usually gets, but either way... Without any doubt at all, this is the oldest known human civilization, and it predates anything even vagualy close by almost 60,000 years.
Cough.
PROFESSOR
So what do we have to build our understanding of the Anterran Culture? What’s the hard evidence? Let’s do the historiography thing. We have the Archeology- they’ve done some amazing work down there, considering the depth, just amazing. They’re using sonar, and also this really cool new technology called Lidar, we’ve gotten some great 3D maps. Lidar. LIDAR. Say it. Its fun to say. Anyway, yeah, the imagery- its all strictly topographical, so we don’t know what’s beneath the surface...
(Beat)
That’s a metaphor.
Barely audible quip.
CHRIS
Deep.
Everyone laughs.
PROFESSOR
Ha. That’s a good one. What’s your name?
Sounds.
PROFESSOR
Chris? Great- I just want to write down a gold star right here, ok got it.
Chuckles and such as the Prof pretends to make a note.
PROFESSOR
So, ok. Besides these maps, we have some photography of the sites- which is all low-light, underwater photography, so that adds to the Blair Witch-through-night-vision-goggles look. But, this along with samples they’ve been able to surface is the total hard evidence we’re dealing with. For samples, well there’s not a ton, but they have managed to bring a few fascinating things up, and we’ll get into that stuff pretty deeply, I can assure you. What?
Inaudible question.
PROFESSOR
Oh I wish! But no, most likely no we won’t get to see any of the objects in person-- they’re being studied at Beijing University. But they have a great department there- amazing facility. And I’m touch with them on the reg. Does anyone still say that? No? Cool, then I’m bringing it back. Good for me.
Some pen squeaks.
PROFESSOR
Again- I’m not going to go deep on this, but if you want more to look at, start off with Reed’s Anterran Historiography and also Arroyo and Oscar, The Place of Antera. That’s a good one too.
SQUEAKS of the pen.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Any questions on that stuff? Uh, sorry I don’t know your names yet... You. Go ahead.
CHRIS
(very distant and muffled)
I looked for Reed at the bookstore and they didn’t have it.
Some giggles.
PROFESSOR
Yeah, that’s not too surprising. Well, actually it is-- because that book is fascinating!-- but it goes out of print all the time. Which is why its NOT surprising. BUT, considering how fascinating the topic is, and how world-changing a discovery Anterra is, I’m just blown away that these materials are hard to find. Makes no sense.
PROFESSOR
So the evidence can broken into Art, Technology, and Writing. Yeah? Art Technology and Writing. And then if this were a surface based culture we’d look at DNA but so far, because of the conditions, we just have DNA from a whole lot of fish. So not much use there.
Chuckles.
Beat.
PROFESSOR
Ok. Art. You’ll get a better grip on this after you’ve done the reading for next week, but meanwhile- let’s jump in. In the Anterran tradition we have sculpture and carving, and architecture. You’ll see how the styles refine and evolve over the various periods- which we call Empires- in an extraordinary way. We’ll start with carvings and architecture from the old city of Prime A. For technology, seems like Anterra was a bronze age culture, with equivalent simple machines that we see in early Egypt, or more apropos Mayan or Incan culture. But using these simple machines, they were able to accomplish incredibly complex goals. Really incredible. And lastly, writing.
Another phone ding.
RAQUEL
Professor, its Carol again. She’s texted like 4 times...
PROFESSOR
Just ignore it, ok? I’ll talk to them later. Its fine. Thanks.
CHRIS
You owe someone money?
HAI RONG
(annoyed with Chris’ joke)
Oh come on.
PROFESSOR
Yeah, I gotta stop betting on pro wrestling- I think those fights might be fixed.
He gets back into it.
PROFESSOR
Ok: writing. Inside the buildings around the sites- both sites, Prime A and Prime B, there are walls covered in thousands of characters. THOUSANDS. This writing covers four main subjects: religion, history, trade, and philosophy. That’s where we’re going to put our focus in this class.
Beat.
PROFESSOR
Last thing I’ll add, before we call it. And that’s a story the Anterran philosopher Rah Sammanah wrote during the Second Empire, at roughly 68,000 BCE. A man was at a banquet, when he overheard a secret plot had been hatched to assassinate the King. The man figured the King will want to know, and will reward him with jewels and titles, right, for saving his life? So in this moment, Rah Sammanah explains, the man ai standing in the light of knowing. The Light of Knowing. And the King is- get this - in the cave of Ignorance. That’s Plato’s cave! Only is about 65,000 BEFORE Plato!
Pause.
PROFESSOR
So the man goes and tells the King about the plot. And the King doesn’t believe him. The King says- no way, everyone loves me! Its unthinkable! Why would anyone want to kill me? So the man realizes he was wrong- the King did not want to know about the plot. And Rah Sammanah tells us that the man went from a Cave of Not Knowing into a darker Cave of Not Knowing. So ok, what does that mean? Let’s look at Plato’s cave. Plato’s cave of course is the allegory of ignorance versus enlightenment- right? Step out of the cave into the light of knowing. Her point is that the first man thought he had stepped out of his cave into the light of know, but in fact he had just stepped into a deeper, darker cave.
Beat.
PROFESSOR
That’s our journey together, folks. We’re going to learn things that our ancestors struggled with over 7000 years ago, that are still relevant today. And even knowing these things, we are only going into deeper, darker caves.
A HIGH PITCHED WHINE fades in.
PROFESSOR
Ouch! OWW!
A grumble of dull pain from the students, who were standing up but now hold their heads and moan for a second until the sound subsides.
PROFESSOR
Do you guys hear that? That’s not just me, right?
RAQUEL
(distant)
I heard it, for sure.
PROFESSOR
Must be the recording equipment or something. Weird.
He shakes it off.
PROFESSOR
Ok, my friends. That’s it for our introduction. Raquel has the reading lists printed out- they’re on the class webpage too, but if you’re an analog kind of person -- which I am, if you can’t tell -- then come grab one... Next week-- we’re doing more Creation Myths, its a good idea to read the first 2 chapters in the book... Yeah, you’re probably not going to do that. But you should! Ok thanks.
Beat as students shuffle out and quiet returns to the classroom as the Professor packs up his satchel.
Suddenly EVERYTHING RINGS - his cell phone, his laptop, the class laptop, and the old hard-wired phone on the wall. He answers the wall phone.
PROFESSOR
Hello?
STATIC jumps out and settles into a distant, ambient conversation from far away. A voice BARKS in Chinese.
WOMAN
(distant)
You can’t keep me here! I want to leave! You hear me? I want to leave right fucking now!!
WOMAN
I’m not translating a goddamn word until you let me make a phone call. You hear me? Not a single goddamn word.
An unintelligible answer in Chinese.
PROFESSOR
June? June is that you!??
The line goes dead.