# BEAM CANNON · RE-LADDER SCRIPTS (KILLPAGES-E, 26 Oct) · 29 kills · scripts only, no code until approved
Source: `_tools/ladder_lists/E.md` (beam 29) and the current films (SUM / GORE). Same two fixes as the laser batch. First, the 16:10 ladder: six different pictures, where neighbouring levels differ by more than blood and width, each locked with `s.ladderEnd`. Second, the horror bar: XT is a beam-specific horror close with a REAL dead face, held and readable in 1 s at phone size.

**Rules applied to every kill below:**
- **The beam's own wounds:**
  - the flesh cooking off the bone;
  - bone glowing orange through the meat;
  - the melt;
  - skin boiled white, blistered, sloughing;
  - char and ash;
  - steam;
  - the kill's own material: wax, crystal, plastic, paper, gold, ice.
- **No new XT on a see-through hole.** The beam's tunnels stay at VH and below. The current XTs built on a lit tunnel (MILKY SEA, DEAD SEA, MORSE, PORTAL, PINHOLE, HALF A SECOND, HALO) all get a new XT.
- **Faces:**
  - XT and VH: the d58W dead face (d58Wn, or d58Wc where it is cooked, d58Wu under water);
  - H: d58D or dark;
  - M: X allowed;
  - L: alive, out cold, stars;
  - VL: alive, in its own picture, never an empty frame. The VERY LOW "puffs out" endings become alive endings.
- **Headgear:** face-covering headgear comes off in the kill at XT, VH and H: Fayiz's visor, Chotu's headband, Amjad's cap.
- **Framing:**
  - Faris is never the subject of a final, at most an edge.
  - "Close" means the body or face fills at least a third of the frame.
  - The VL finals are framed wide enough for a standing figure in the sixup crop.
- **Sameness rule:** no lone-head XT in this batch. Only two boot or feet framings: MOTHER LODE VH (the hand out of the ore at Faris's feet) and ERASED L (the pencil at the boot).

---

## 1 · beam.shadow · SHADOW (saloon · Hiba)
Shared action: she throws her arms up over her face; the flash burns her shadow into the wall.
- **XT:** The flash cooks her off her bones where she stands:
  - her skeleton stays up a beat in the shielding pose, the bone glowing orange, the last cooked flesh sliding off the forearms;
  - behind the bone arms her face is half cooked to the skull, one boiled white eye (d58Wc);
  - behind her, her black shadow is burned into the wall in the same pose.
  - Then she folds down into her own shoes. Close on the half-cooked face between the glowing forearms, the shadow behind.
- **VH:** She is burned to charcoal where she stands and topples stiff. She breaks in two on the boards, the charred dead face up, her shadow on the wall above. Close on the charcoal face.
- **H:** The flash takes only her raised arms: both forearms gone to ash, the stumps glowing. She drops on her back under a shadow that still has its arms. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The flash scorches the front of her black. She falls back, smoking, X eyes; a pale ghost of her shape is left on the wall. Medium.
- **L:** The flash blinds her. She staggers into the wall and slides down it, out cold, stars.
- **VL:** She ducks. The flash burns the shadow of two raised arms into the wall above her. She looks up at them, then at her own arms, alive.

## 2 · beam.overhead · OVERHEAD (saloon balcony · Chotu)
Shared action: Faris on the balcony fires down through the planks.
- **XT:** The line goes in at the crown and cooks the whole spine. He folds straight down into a heap under the shaft of light:
  - the vertebrae glow orange through the split skin of his back;
  - the scalp is cooked off in a ring round the entry, bone showing;
  - the face hangs slack in the light, eyes boiled white (d58Wc), the headband burnt off.
  - Close on the heap in the light shaft.
- **VH:** He looks up as it fires, so the line goes in at the forehead and out at the chin. The face is cooked down the middle and he sits down hard against a post under the hole, the dead face up into the light. Close.
- **H:** The line goes down through his shoulder. The arm drops off cooked and he folds onto his side under the hole. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The line misses by a hand and burns through the floor. The heat flash throws him on his back, hair smoking, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** He looks up into the glow coming through the planks. The flash dazzles him and he sits down out cold in the light, stars.
- **VL:** He sees the ring of glow burning through the plank above him and steps aside. The line burns a hole where he stood. He looks up through the plank hole and waves, alive.

## 3 · beam.grab · GRAB (Fida)
Shared action: he grabs the barrel inside the half second; the line runs up his arms.
- **XT:** The line cooks the flesh off both arms from the fingertips to the shoulders:
  - the bare arm bones stay locked round the barrel, glowing orange;
  - the end of the line has cooked his chest open, the ribs charred, the heart cooked dark;
  - he folds to his knees with the bone arms out in front of him and the dead face looking down at them (d58Wn).
  - Close on the face behind the glowing arm bones.
- **VH:** Both arms are gone to the shoulders in one line, the stumps glowing. He stands a moment looking at where his arms were, then topples face up. Close on the dead face, the stumps smoking.
- **H:** Only the front arm was in line: gone to the shoulder. He staggers back and sits against the bar. Close, dark face.
- **M:** He wrenches the barrel aside and the line burns along his sleeves. He falls back with blistered black forearms, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The barrel's heat burns his palms; he lets go, flaps his hands and faints, stars, palms smoking.
- **VL:** He lets go just before it fires and the line goes past him. He blows on his blistered palms and backs off, alive.

## 4 · beam.meltdown · MELTDOWN (rooftops · Mikku)
Shared action: the line across his shins; the heat melts him from the feet up while he talks.
- **XT:** Close on the puddle at the end. His face is the last thing above it:
  - half sunk in the glowing pink-orange pool;
  - the skin sliding off the cheekbone, the jaw melted open;
  - one dead eye looking up at us (d58Wn), rain hissing to steam on it;
  - the bones of the reaching hand surfacing beside it.
- **VH:** He melts to the waist and stops. His upper body slumps forward over the glowing pool of his own legs, the dead face in the rain. Close.
- **H:** Only the shins go. He drops on the glowing stumps into the puddle of his feet and topples. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The heat blisters his shins and he falls flat in the rain, steaming, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The heat makes him hop. He slips on the wet roof and knocks himself out, stars, steam rising off his shoes.
- **VL:** He hops over the line. His shoe soles melt and stick to the roof, so he steps out of them and stands there in his socks, alive.

## 5 · beam.votive · VOTIVE (Nitha)
Shared action: she prays; the heat sets her into wax and she burns down like a candle.
- **XT:** Burned down to the shoulders, a kneeling stub of wax:
  - her face slides as the flame passes, half melted into wax;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) are open in the dripping wax;
  - a molten rim runs round the cut, the wick flame on her crown;
  - Faris's breath (off frame) bends the flame.
  - Close on the melting face under the flame. This fixes the live face at XT.
- **VH:** Burned down to the chest after Faris blows her out. The praying hands are gone, the wax has pooled round her knees, and the dead face has set in drips under a curl of smoke. Close.
- **H:** Only her hands turn to wax. The fingers burn down like candles to the wrists and she falls forward. Close, dark face, the wax stumps smoking.
- **M:** The heat glazes her in wax. She topples over stiff, X eyes, drips on the floor. Medium.
- **L:** Her fingertips light like matches. She stares at them and faints, stars, five little flames going out.
- **VL:** She blows out her own burning fingertips like birthday candles and runs, alive.

## 6 · beam.chest-bump · CHEST BUMP (Fayiz + Amjad)
Shared action: the line through both chests at the bump welds them together.
- **XT:** Close on the weld:
  - their two chests fused into one cooked seam, the skin boiled and blistered;
  - the bone glows orange through the seam;
  - both dead faces cheek to cheek, eyes boiled white (d58Wc), the visor and the cap blown off.
  - Faris's boot (only its toe at the edge) rocks them like one piece of furniture.
- **VH:** Welded mid-air, they come down as one and lie in a rigid tangle with four legs, the seam smoking, both dead faces side by side. Close on the tangle.
- **H:** The line only catches their shoulders. Welded at the shoulder, they fall in a heap. Close, both faces dark.
- **M:** The beam passes between them as they part. The flash scorches both shirts and they fall apart flat, X eyes. Medium two-shot.
- **L:** They bump heads instead of chests and knock each other out, a heap with stars, as the line goes over.
- **VL:** The line passes between them. They freeze, look at the smoking gap between their chests and run off opposite ways, alive.

## 7 · beam.geode · GEODE (Amjad)
Shared action: the heat crystallises him; the tap cracks him open.
- **XT:** After the tap the statue cracks open. Close on the face across the crack:
  - one half of the face is faceted violet glass;
  - the other half is still flesh, with the dead eye (d58Wn) open in it;
  - blood beads along the seam;
  - below it the chest parts like a geode, crystal points round a purple heart of light.
  - The cap is shattered off. This fixes the live face at XT.
- **VH:** No tap. The crystals pierce out of his arms and chest with a ring of blood at each base, and he stands set mid-flex with the dead face caught mid-boast. Close.
- **H:** Only the flexed arm crystallises. It snaps off and shatters on the boards; he folds holding the stump. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A crust of crystal grows over his chest, he goes stiff and topples like a statue, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** Glitter rises off him. He flexes too hard and faints, stars.
- **VL:** The crystal only grows on his shirt. He flexes it off in shards, pockets one as a souvenir and grins, alive.

## 8 · beam.vacuum-packed · VACUUM PACKED (rooftops · Fida)
Shared action: the line passes over his poncho hood; the plastic shrinks onto him.
- **XT:** Close on the face under the film:
  - the plastic pulled into every fold, the hood sucked into the open mouth;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) bulging against the film, the last breath fogged on the inside;
  - the hot film has blistered the skin under it, red welts pressed flat;
  - rain beads on him.
- **VH:** The film shrinks only round his head and neck, a bag sucked tight. He claws at it and sinks to his knees, then onto his side, the dead face fogged under the plastic. Close.
- **H:** He tears the hood off too late: his face is blistered by the hot film. He collapses. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The poncho shrinks round his legs, he hops and falls flat, wrapped to the waist, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The shrinking poncho squeezes the air out of him. He faints, stars, wrapped like a parcel.
- **VL:** He tears the shrinking poncho off and flings it; it curls into a tiny ball on the roof. He stands laughing in the rain, alive.

## 9 · beam.mid-sing-along · SING-ALONG (Fida)
Shared action: he sings the cannon's whine note for note; the line takes him at the top note.
- **XT:** The line goes in through his open mouth on the top note. Close on the open mouth:
  - the back of the throat cooked out;
  - steam pouring from his mouth and nose, the tongue charred;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) still raised to the note.
  - He folds to his knees mouth open, smoke curling out, in silence.
- **VH:** The line through his chest. He folds mouth-open onto the floor, the dead face mid-note. Close.
- **H:** The line through his shoulder. He falls. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The line grazes his chest. He falls flat, X eyes, a puff of smoke from his mouth. Medium.
- **L:** He sings too high, runs out of breath and faints, stars.
- **VL:** The cannon's whine cuts out and his note goes on alone. He blushes, stops and runs, alive.

## 10 · beam.mid-tan-lines · TAN LINES (Nitha)
Shared action: the flash burns her everywhere except the handprint over her eyes.
- **XT:** The skin comes away in sheets. Close on the face:
  - raw red under the curling skin;
  - only the pale handprint over her eyes left whole;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) staring out of it.
  - She sits peeling, then slumps.
- **VH:** Blistered lobster-red everywhere but the handprint. She sits and slumps against a barrel, the dead face inside the pale print. Close.
- **H:** Only the raised arm burns. It blisters and peels to the elbow and she faints. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A deep burn all over, the pale handprint. She falls back, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** She's flash-tanned with a pale hand mask and faints from the heat, stars.
- **VL:** An instant tan with a pale handprint mask. She admires her arms and poses, alive.

## 11 · beam.mid-afterimage · AFTERIMAGE (rooftops · Chotu)
Shared action: the flash vaporises him and burns his shape into the camera.
- **XT:** For one frame the flash cooks him to a standing skeleton:
  - the bone glows;
  - the skull keeps half the cooked face, one boiled eye (d58Wc), the headband burnt away;
  - the negative afterimage is burned over it on the lens.
  - Then the bones fold into the ash. Close on the half-face skull in the ash, under the drifting afterimage.
- **VH:** He goes to a standing pillar of grey ash that keeps his face, eyes open, for a beat before it pours down. Close on the ash face.
- **H:** Half of him goes to ash; the other half falls. Close, dark face, the ash edge glowing.
- **M:** The flash scorches him black. He falls, X eyes, the afterimage drifting. Medium.
- **L:** The flash blinds him. He walks into the rail and falls, stars; the afterimage drifts.
- **VL:** The flash only burns his afterimage onto the camera. He waves at his own afterimage, alive.

## 12 · beam.mid-bleached · BLEACHED (Fayiz)
Shared action: the flash drains every colour out of him; he cracks and flakes.
- **XT:** He flakes away from the top down. Close on the face as it goes:
  - chalk-white skin cracking off in chips;
  - raw red in the cracks, the skull white through the flakes;
  - the bleached dead eyes (d58Wn) still in it;
  - the visor flaking away first.
- **VH:** Chalk-white, he cracks like old paint and topples, breaking in pieces on the grass, the bleached dead face whole on the largest piece. Close.
- **H:** Only his top half bleaches. It cracks and he falls. Close, dark face, flaking.
- **M:** Bleached, he topples over stiff, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** Bleached pale, dizzy, he faints, stars.
- **VL:** Bleached white, he looks at himself as his colours seep slowly back, and grins, alive.

## 13 · beam.mid-tinfoil · TINFOIL (Mikku)
Shared action: the tinfoil hat versus the line.
- **XT:** The line goes through under the brim. The foil melts onto his face. Close:
  - silver sealed over half the face;
  - the other half cooked, the dead eye (d58Wn) under the melted foil edge;
  - steam leaking from the seams.
- **VH:** The line through his chest. He lies with the crumpled, smoking foil hat over his eyes, the dead mouth open under it. Close.
- **H:** The line through his shoulder. The hat falls off. Close, dark face.
- **M:** The foil throws some of it back. He's knocked flat, X eyes, the hat smoking. Medium.
- **L:** The foil heats up; he tears it off and faints, stars.
- **VL:** The line hits the foil hat and bounces off into the sky. He taps the hat, smug, alive.

## 14 · beam.mid-kettle · KETTLE (Hiba)
Shared action: the line boils the water in her; the whistle climbs.
- **XT:** Close on the boiled face:
  - the skin blistered and sloughing;
  - the eyes clouded white (d58Wc);
  - pink steam pouring from her eyes, nose and mouth;
  - the party hat blown off on the jet.
- **VH:** Steam from her ears and mouth. She drops, the face flushed and blistered, the dead eyes clouded. Close, lying.
- **H:** One whistle and she drops. Close, dark face, a wisp from her ear.
- **M:** White steam, a red flush; she falls, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** She whistles and faints, little puffs from her ears, stars.
- **VL:** A cartoon whistle of steam from her ears. She fans herself cool with her hat, alive.

## 15 · beam.milky-sea · MILKY SEA (the Deep · Fayiz)
Shared action: the plankton give him away; one line; the sea lights up.
- **XT:** He sinks lit by glowing plankton. Close on the face:
  - the skin of the face cooked white and peeling in the water;
  - the eyes boiled white (d58Wu);
  - boiled blood clouding up from his chest past his face;
  - the visor drifting away.
- **VH:** The cooked tunnel through his chest, the plankton outlining him as he sinks, the dead face. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised hole; he sinks dark, the face just lit. Close.
- **M:** A seared black mark; he sinks, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** Out cold, outlined in specks, he drifts down snoring bubbles.
- **VL:** The light startles him and he swims off trailing glowing plankton, alive.

## 16 · beam.dead-sea · DEAD SEA (the Deep · Chotu)
Shared action: the brine lake at the bottom of the sea; one line down through him; nothing sinks.
- **XT:** The brine draws him dry. Close on the two of them side by side on the lake:
  - his skin shrunk onto the bones, the face mummified beside the sailor's (d58Xu, one clouded eye);
  - his guts floating coiled on the brine;
  - the slick spreading dark.
- **VH:** He floats on the brine beside the sailor, the slick spreading, the dead face up. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised hole, a thin slick. He floats; close, dark face.
- **M:** A seared stripe; he floats, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** He floats out cold on the lake, snoring bubbles, stars.
- **VL:** He scrambles off the lake onto the mussel shore and sits there gasping, his headband floating on the brine, alive.

## 17 · beam.lantern-sky · THE LANTERN SKY (realm · Mikku)
Shared action: his skin goes to rice paper, he lifts as a lantern, burns through, settles back as a husk.
- **XT:** Close on the husk's face, lit from inside:
  - the paper skin over his face;
  - the cooked dead face pressed to it from within (d58Wc), the ribs glowing behind;
  - embers lifting off the burnt-through crown;
  - boiled blood bubbling at the seams.
  - The beanie is burnt away.
- **VH:** The lantern ride without the burn-through. He settles on the grass as a glowing paper husk, the dead face dim through it. Close.
- **H:** The glow, the swell, the burn-through. A dark husk; close on the dark face.
- **M:** A dull glow and a dark husk, X eyes painted on the paper. Medium.
- **L:** Knocked out, he glows like a party lantern, bobs up a little and settles back snoring, stars.
- **VL:** He glows, floats up a little, burps a puff of smoke and drops back onto the grass grinning, alive.

## 18 · beam.morse · MORSE (hangar roof · Amjad)
Shared action: S.O.S. answered with N.O.; the last dash into his eye.
- **XT:** Close on the signal mirror lying by his face on the ground:
  - in it, his dead face (d58Wn) with the cooked eye socket smoking;
  - the moon in the mirror turning red as the pool reaches it.
- **VH:** A charred socket weeping blood, a small pool. Close on the face, cap gone.
- **H:** A smoking cauterised socket. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A black scorch over the eye; he falls back on the roof, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The last dash only dazzles him. He falls back on the roof out cold, the mirror landing on his chest, stars.
- **VL:** He flashes the moon back into Faris's eyes with the mirror, slides down the drainpipe and waves from the bottom, alive.

## 19 · beam.portal · PORTAL (Nitha)
Shared action: the line in at the blue portal, out of the orange behind her.
- **XT:** Folded over the crate, the back broken. Close on her face hanging upside down off the crate edge:
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn);
  - the chest cooked open above;
  - the blood running down the crate side into a pool;
  - the headphones swinging off one ear.
- **VH:** The knockback throws her into the closing orange portal. It shuts on her waist: the top half lies on the roof, the cut cooked shut and glowing. Close on the top half's dead face.
- **H:** A cauterised exit; she falls into the stairwell flat. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A scorch through the back; she folds over the crate clean, X eyes.
- **L:** The line passes over her head; startled, she tumbles onto the crate and hangs there out cold, stars.
- **VL:** She portals away again just in time, pops out behind Faris and sticks her tongue out, alive.

## 20 · beam.pinhole · PINHOLE (the camera-obscura shed · Chotu)
Shared action: the knot hole projects the yard onto the back wall; the line comes down the daylight.
- **XT:** He slides down the back wall into his pool. Close on his face:
  - the upside-down picture of Faris walking away plays across it;
  - the dead face (d58Wn), headband burnt off;
  - the chest wound cooked to a charred crater, the rib ends glowing;
  - his blood boiling where the light lands.
- **VH:** The smear down the wall and a small pool, the dead face in the projected light. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised hole. He sits slumped in the dark. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A burn on his shirt; slumped in the dark, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** He ducks, the flash dazzles him and he faints in the picture, stars.
- **VL:** He plugs the knot hole with his thumb. The line singes it; he sucks the thumb and the picture goes dark, alive.

## 21 · beam.heist · HEIST (courtyard grid · Fayiz)
Shared action: he threads the security grid; Faris adds one line through the gap.
- **XT:** He falls back into the grid and every line sears into him at once. Close on the face scored by the grid:
  - a lattice of cooked lines across his face and body;
  - the skin splitting along each;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) between the bars, the visor in two halves on the ground.
- **VH:** The seared stripe across his chest opens as he falls, the ribs in the cut, blood boiling across the dead lines. Close on the dead face.
- **H:** The seared stripe; he falls. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A black scorch stripe; he falls, X eyes, the alarm going. Medium.
- **L:** He bows too low and the line passes over him; startled, he trips into the grid, out cold, stars, alarm.
- **VL:** He bows, the line passes over his back, and he backflips out of the courtyard with his sack, alive.

## 22 · beam.sheets · SHEETS (desert washing line · Hiba)
Shared action: her shadow on a sheet; the line through the cloth.
- **XT (kept):** The line goes through her face. The burnt hole in the sheet frames:
  - the cauterised channel through one cheek, the teeth cooked bare;
  - one dead eye (d58Wn);
  - the sheet soaking red from the head down.
  - Close.
- **VH:** The sheet wraps her and she hangs pegged in it. Her dead face is pressed through the cloth, a face shape in the red-soaked sheet. Close.
- **H:** The hole and the dark face; she slumps in the sheet.
- **M:** The sheet scorched; she falls with it, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The glow frightens her and she faints; the sheet falls over her and a sheet ghost lies snoring, stars.
- **VL:** She ducks. The line burns a hole where her head was; she peeks through it at Faris and runs, alive.

## 23 · beam.half-a-second · HALF A SECOND (Mikku)
Shared action: his life flashes by in the charge; the line through his heart.
- **XT:** Close on his face in the haze:
  - the five little candle flames hang there and go out one by one;
  - blood boiling out of his mouth;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) reflecting the last flame;
  - the chest burst outward below, the ribs splayed by the steam.
- **VH:** No splayed ribs. He skids on his back leaving a long smear, the dead face up. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised tunnel; close, dark face.
- **M:** A scorch; he falls, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The life review alone drops him in a faint, stars.
- **VL:** The memories play. He blows out the five candles himself and walks away, alive.

## 24 · beam.skin-classic · SIESTA (Chotu)
Shared action: the knife over the sleeping Faris; the line over Faris's shoulder.
- **XT:** The line cooks him from the belly up:
  - the flesh cooks off his upper body, his ribs and skull glowing standing over the barrel;
  - half the face is left on the skull, one boiled eye (d58Wc);
  - then it slumps onto the sleeping Faris.
  - Close on the half-face skull resting on Faris's shoulder, ash snowing, Faris snoring.
- **VH:** The legs below the line topple; the top half falls across the barrel, the cooked belly cut glowing, the dead face. Close.
- **H:** He goes to ash, but his blackened face drops onto the boards as a charcoal mask. Close.
- **M:** Scorched black, he falls over the barrel, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The glow frightens him; he faints across Faris's legs and both snore, stars.
- **VL:** He drops the knife and tiptoes away. The knife lands in Faris's hat; Faris snores on. Chotu peeks back from the doorway, alive.

## 25 · beam.skin-taped · NO TELL (Amjad)
Shared action: no glow through the tape; the line takes him in his crouch.
- **XT:** He splits open as he topples. Close on the crouched body:
  - opened from the shoulder to the hip;
  - the halves parting on the cooked seam, the ribs and gut in it;
  - the dead face (d58Wn) still watching the muzzle, cap off.
- **VH:** The channel without the split. He topples still coiled, the dead face up. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised channel. Close, dark face.
- **M:** A scorch from the shoulder to the hip; he topples, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** The line misses as he flinches, but the shock of the unseen shot drops him in a faint, stars.
- **VL:** He dodges the unseen line on pure luck, looks at the smoking floor behind him and bounces on his toes, alive.

## 26 · beam.skin-cartoon · ERASED (Mikku)
Shared action: the cartoon line erases.
- **XT:** The second line erases him from the middle out, but the eraser stops at his chest. Close on his top half lying on the blank paper:
  - the erased edge raw and dripping red ink;
  - the dead face (d58Wn) with red ink running from the eyes.
- **VH:** The sketched middle is erased again and he falls in two, the cut edges bleeding red scribble. Close on the top half's dead face.
- **H:** The first line only. His top half stays up over the gap until he pokes it and falls. Close, dark face.
- **M:** Grey graphite smudges round the gap; he falls, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** Only his hat and the top of his head are erased. He feels the bald stripe and faints; the pencil rolls to the boot, stars.
- **VL:** He sketches himself a shield and the line erases only the shield. He sticks his tongue out, alive.

## 27 · beam.skin-ice · DEATH SPIRAL (rink · Hiba)
Shared action: frozen through, swung into the death spiral, the arm snaps.
- **XT:** Close on her face on the ice:
  - ground raw down one side from the spiral;
  - the frozen dead eyes open (d58Wn, frost on the lashes);
  - the red spiral running round the rink behind her;
  - the stump thawing red.
- **VH:** The arm snaps with the frozen bone out of a red core. She slides away and stops, the dead face frosted. Close.
- **H:** A clean frozen break. She lies on the ice; close, dark face.
- **M:** The arm comes off frosted white; she slides, X eyes. Medium.
- **L:** Dizzy, she lets go and slides into the snow ridge, out cold, stars.
- **VL:** She lets go at the top of the spiral, skates a wobbly circle on her own and curtsies, alive.

## 28 · beam.skin-neon · HALO (Fayiz)
Shared action: the neon halo follows him; he grabs it; the line.
- **XT:** The halo sinks onto his head and burns in like a crown of pink neon. Close on the face under it:
  - a ring seared into his scalp, the skin cooking round the tube;
  - the dead face lit pink from above (d58Wn), the visor gone;
  - blood boiling from his mouth;
  - the hum steady.
- **VH:** The line through his chest. The halo steadies over him and lights the dead face pink. Close.
- **H:** A cauterised tunnel; the halo flickers over the dark face. Close.
- **M:** A scorch on his shirt; he falls, X eyes, the halo buzzing. Medium.
- **L:** The line misses again; he faints and the halo flickers over a sleeping man, stars.
- **VL:** He smashes the halo on a barrel and walks off with the plug in his hand, alive.

## 29 · beam.skin-gold · THE MOTHER LODE (gold mine · Nitha)
Shared action: down the shaft into the mine; the dead miners dig her into the vein.
- **XT:** Close on her face set in the gold vein:
  - the only part left uncovered;
  - the dead eyes (d58Wn) full of gold dust;
  - the ore closing over the raw pick wounds, blood running on the gold;
  - the lamps turning back to the rock.
- **VH:** The return. The cart tips the ore out at Faris's feet with her hand out of it, torn, the fingers broken, blood on the gold. Close on the hand (one of the two boot framings).
- **H:** Buried alive with no picks. Her dark face sinks into the ore. Close.
- **M:** Buried, no blood, X eyes in the ore. Medium.
- **L:** No realm: the shaft is shallow. She drops in to the waist and sticks, out cold, stars.
- **VL:** No realm. She jumps the shaft and lands on the far side, clutching a nugget she grabbed on the way over, alive.