The Story develops

ROOM 1

We join a guided tour. An Engineer is showing a group of children around the pumping house. They ask questions, he tells of the bore hole, the treatment of the water, the science. One child asks if he could have a glass of water - perhaps he’s having a bit of a coughing fit and really needs it. The Engineer is unsympathetic, the child will have to wait, there’s a tap they will come to later on.

The tour group move on, leaving us and the child and his sister, alone in the big room.

The children look around. The sound of the room seems to respond to them. One sound is heard when they go near the bore hole, then when they retreat they can hear another sound emerging from a hatch. They open the hatch. There’s a string, which turns into a rope, which turns into a net which is flown upwards followed by The River Woman/Creature who climbs up it.

She tells them that pure water can be found if one of them is brave enough to go below to fetch it. The sister volunteers and descends. A diver with a camera, and microphone, follows so we can follow her journey. She crawls along the tunnel, she finds the spring, she collects water, the spring starts to gush, the water level rises, the screen goes blank.

The boy asks the woman to do something - she cannot - this is nature, these are the tides, the water will abate, perhaps the girl will survive. But the boy insists something must be done. He sets off to find the Engineer.