Blackout at Cue Forty

[SFX: Theater audience. Service bell; Curtain open]

NARRATOR: On the final preview of The Dagger of Saint Orra, actor Julian Cross died exactly as the script required. At cue forty, the theatre blacked out. At cue forty-one, lights returned on a blade in his chest. The prop dagger was still retracted and clean.

IRIS KENT: Hold the curtain. Nobody leaves backstage.

ADRIAN FOX: The audience thinks this is part of the performance.

MABEL ROOK: Then for once they are less confused than the director.

[SFX: Relay switch activated. Theater audience murmur]

NARRATOR: Julian had stood alone inside a circle of light. No actor approached during the eight-second blackout. Cameras lost power with the stage. Beneath his body, white chalk marked a position two feet from his assigned spike.

SANA VALE: He missed his mark.

IRIS KENT: Julian never missed light.

JON BELL: The blackout was not in my console. Someone cut the dimmer feed manually.

NARRATOR: From the empty balcony, the ghost light switched on by itself. A recorded voice whispered the line Julian had refused to speak in rehearsal: The fire began below the stage.