4 characters:
FADE IN:
Two technicians Dana and Izzie sit at computer consoles. One shows a low orbit space station. The other shows a space truck sitting on an electromagnetic slingshot launch rail track. Dana says launch, and the truck jets into the sky. Dana turns and then Izzie turns to watch a holo-vid display. It plays a live feed from the Egyptian desert with the Spinx in the back ground.
A reporter talks in the background. On the intercom the voice tells the technicians that the next truck is readying for launch. Dana acknowledges. A console shows four prisoners in shackles shambling into the truck. She is distracted by Izzie stealing the remote control for the holo-vid. He keeps it away from her and flips the channel to another reporter standing close to the gangway where the four prisonsers (just seen from the technicians viewpoint) are walking. The reporter says that they will be launched within an hour and no reprieve from the president.
A central reporter talks to another reporter on location in front of a central government building. The president comes out to have a news conference. He is mobbed by reporters. The president says that ther will be no reprieve of permanent exile for the prisoners. They are all four guilty of treason, and they are no longer citizens of this country, this continent, or even this planet. A reporter asks if the sentence is too harsh for what may turn out to be unrelated incidents of anarchists bound together by government prosecutors as a flaky conspiracy theory. The President somberly asks if the reproter was a part of their plan. Another reporter shouts a question about an appeal. The priesident says the appeal has already been denied. Ther anarchist reporter asks the president about the children of the leader. The president soberly says that they are now wards of the Family Services. The president leaves.
The channel changes again because the lady technician has pressed the button on the remote while it is still in the guy technician's hand. He objects but does not change the channel. They are watching the sphinx again. They turn up the holo-vid sound.
The reporter talks to the grubby man with the sign. He says that the governments of the worlsd have conspired together to defile the last mystery of the world. He turns his sign and everyone can read that it declares that the end of the world is here, repent.
On the gangway into the space truck, Agent Tiller stands tall. His bright tourist flaps in the breeze. Vikena stops in front of him. She draws herself up to shake off her air of defeat. She is taller than Agent Tiller. She looks at his partner in a black suit and sunglasses. She comments that he must be off duty or headed for a vacation. Tiller smiles thinly and says that he dressed for the first day of the rest of her vacation. Vikena scowls. Tiller shrugs. He sasy that the deals still stands. Complete details about her other accomplices and who paid her to crash the nuclear plant and she could stay on Earth where her children could at least visit their imprisoned mother. She shakes her head. She does not know anything. He holds up three pictures. He asks her to point out her employer. She says she never met her employer because she never had an employer. Tiller chides her. She stabs at the middle picture suddenly. Tiller shakes his head. He says that all three are pictures of other agents. If she was about to tell the truth, she would have told him that none of them were the employer. Tiller says that they have narrowed the name down to two suspects. Vikena asks if he has thought that maybe she can not say because she had no employer, and there was no large conspiracy. The nuclear plant was only supposed to shut down, not have an incident.
Tiller suddenly grabs the barrier between them. He snarls that 40 square miles of the earth would never be useful again in the next portion of recorded history because of her. He backs away and tells her that his two children used to like to go visit their grandparents on weekends. His mother and father loved their grandkids right back. Did she realize that asks her if she knew that his parents had lived 6 miles away from the plant. Did she know that his children would never be able to go to visit their grandparents any more. Not only because his mother and father had been home when the so-called incident occrred, but guess who had been visiting their grandparents that very same day.
Vikena closes her eyes. and her head sags down. Agent Tiller shakes with fury. He says, Don't tell me that being separated from your kids is a cruel and unusual punishment. He says that he is glad that she won't tell him anything because she deserves worse than staying alive, but he hopes that her memory of her kids haunts her every day. Tiller turns away and then stops. He says over his shoulder that he maybe if she is lucky she will run into her husband out there. If he is still alive.
Izzie is watching a monitor showing Agent Tiller leave the walkway area. He waits until gate closes behind Tiller Izzie then speaks into the microphone and asks mission control if they could replay the President's interview for the prisoners in the truck. Mission control affirms. Dana shakes her head negative. Izzie flips a switch and the report of the grubby man plays. Izzie acccuses Dana of deliberately recording the wrong channel. Dana is sad. She shakes her head to deny his accusation. She says that any mother would be despairing at never seeing her children again. Izzie says that the bunch of them killed people and kids and deserved to die, not get exiled. Dana turns and says that is not her point. She leans forward to Izzie and tells Izzie that he obviously has never lost a child. Izzie says, Oh and you have. Dana is silent. He waits and slowly leans forward as astonishment slowly transforms his face. You have? Dana turns away but Izzie notices a tear fall onto her dusty keyboard.
Inside the truck, the four prisoners stare. Chundra turns her head as the holo-vid zooms in on a particular man. He stares at the camera and turns his sign. The sign says "The END of the World is Here! Repent!" The lady reporter turns and thrusts her microphone into the man's face. He speaks coldly and curses the people who made this possible. He says that at last even hope escapes from Pandora's box. A tear rolls down his face. The reporter turns back to the camera and shakes her head . The camera zooms in past her onto the man's face.
In the truck, Claude asks Vikena if her father is always so optomistic. She denies he is her father. Claude says sure sure.
The launch sequence starts, and the space truck launches.
The two technicians watch the monitors then turn back to the holo-vid. The reporter points down the hole. Wind blows dust up from the hole. A panicked young man runs up out of the hole. A blue light shines. It grows brighter and then sudennly flares then nothing. Silence. The reporter talks menainglessly for a moment, and then a horse's head looks up out of the hole. The reporter tells the camera man to zoom in because no horse was supposed to have been in the hole. She is amazed. In behind her the horse looks around and walks up into view. The reporter is speechless. The horse is infact a unicorn. Behind it a griffin comes up into view. They look at each other and nod then fly up out of sight.
The technicians talk. The guy says that he knew he should have taken his vacation early. He had the money saved up. The lady tech does not believe him about the money.
On the holo-vid, the reporter is talking to one of the other camera crews, an arab crew. They are trying to confirm what they saw. Six armoured creatures slightly smaller than human, with greenish faces appear and take station like on point. They have swords and hold rods connected to their backpacks by three hoses. A stately robed humaniod comes up the ramp leading into the hole. The lady reporter runs up to him. She asks him if he is an alien. The creature asks her if she is a leader. She says no. He wlaks past her to the man with the sign. The creature asks the man what the sign says. He says, can't you read. The creature says not that language, not yet. The man tells the creature.
The creature asks the reporter what she is doing. She tells it broadcasting to the world. The creature asks what kind of power the camera uses. Puzzled the reporter answers, electric. Ah, says the creature. It turns to the sack-cloth man and says, you are right, you know. The creature pulls a leather and glass object from its pocket. It waves it in the direction of the camera. The holo-vid goes dead.
The two technicians sit and stare at the snow in the holo-vid. The guy asks the lady,was that real? The lady says, how am I supposed to know?
The space truck approaches the low orbit station. Inside the space vehicle, the four people sit in silence. Aron wishes for windows so he could see the stars and the station. Vikena asks why because he will soon be seeing enough stars that he will hate them. Aron asks what the likelyhood of escape is once they land at the station. Claude informs him that the term is docking, not landing. There is silence. Aron asks again, but Vikena sharply cuts him off when she tells him that the cabin on the vehicle is likely wired. Aron says oh. Vikena sarcasticly says it is no wonder he got caught.
Sounds of clicks and buzzes as the ship docks automatically. They wait. Claude says that the *** always make you wait. And they wait. They jump as the side door suddenly cracks open. A guard yells at them to hurry up. They are hustled along a corridor. The people they pass in the corridor all look worried. Only Vikena seems not to care. Chundra asks the guard what is going on. He grunts an answer that no one understands. They are locked in a room.
A projector from a top corner starts. A woman guard officer tells the four that they will be sent to their destination of the mine on the asteroid belt in four hours. She says that as a last taste of the world as they know it, they will be allowed to watch the HV. A newsaster is talking on the HV saying that the government will likely not allow any more cameras into the area of the sphinx due to the apparent terrorist attack on the scientific team that opened the vault. What has originally started out as a scientific broadcast has become a site of mostly likely regional terrorism. There is a shot of the green creature looking at the camera. When it opens its mouth, a dubbed in voice talks instead of what the creature originally said. The creature is shown to say that it wants money for the scientists being held in the excavation hole. The armed creatures stand behind the alien.
A commentator comes on and describes the weapons that are on the back of the aliens as primitive flame throwers. Chundra shakes her head and sits on the floor. She buries her head and cries. Claude asks her what is wrong. Vikena snarls for her to shut up. Chundra says that the HV clip was obviously edited by the government and that was breaking her heart. Aron says he is not surprised at the government actions. He was surprised that the government had allowed a live feed from the site given the demontrators. Vikena comments that overly virtuous zeaolots like her still do not clue into the fact that they can not make a difference anymore. Chundra says that the truth will prevail. Vikena says that throughout history, only the victors get to write the histories. She says that there is not such thing as truth anymore.
Aron disagrees. He sasy that truth is in science. Vikena calls him a freak geek mutation. Claude tells her to stop being nasty. There is silence for a few moments. Vikena wanders around and ends up standing in front of Claude. She says, well this is a nice mess you've dug yourself into Claude, no pun intended. Cluade turns to Chundra and explains that he used to be a mining engineer and he and Vikena were slightly known to each other.Vikena snorts derisively.
Chundra says if victors write the histories, the four of them might as well be illiterate. Vikena asks her how she knows that one of them is not.
A female sotto mechanical voice comes on the intercom. Their orders to the prison mine in asteroid belt omicrom 5 has not been repealed. Chundra suprisingly does not cry. Claude lets a tear slide down his cheek. He says he will never see his kids again. Vikena whirls and says that she has children too. Claude says he wishes he could comfort her.
Four glasses are slid in through a wall compartment. All drink except Vikena. Claude hands it to her. She smashes it on the wall. The female voice says resistance is futile. Another opening in the wall slides open and a dart gun fires at Vikena. She groans, her vision goes hazy and then black.
The door opens and two guards enter. the larger says to the smalller that he heard that aliens had entered into the world. the smaller scoffs at him. the larger says it was a trans-dimensional warp. the smaller asks if Elvis came through. The larger tells him to stuff it.
In a larger space truck, the four of them are strapped in to medical chambers. Vikena wakes up and very briefly struggles and then studies her surroundings. The other three wake up. Chundra says that they certainly drag the process out. Aron says that they want to make you suffer. A female voice says that they will now all be prepped for their sleep on the journey to the asteroids mine. Vikena asks Chundra just exactly will be her purpose on a mining asteroid. A person with no technical skills and just her looks and a lot of men. Chundra says you bitch. Vikena tells her that a part of the medical prep will be that she can have no more children. Chundra says that Vikena will not either. Vikena retorts that at least she has children. Aron says relax to both of them. Chundra asks what good are children if you can never see them again. Vikena screams NO! Blue fluid comes down the tubes and they all go to sleep.
The two gaurds come in again and check monitors for the four. they close the compartments that house the four. they go to set the time of hybernation. The smaller says 120 days to hell ... His hand is about to finish the timing sequence and his finger hovers over the button that is labelled days. Behind them there is a blue flash. They turn. The large guard meets a furry hand with his face. The smaller looks and stands in utter amazement. A wooden rod wrapped in copper wire strikes him. He convulses. His hand hits the digital display and punches the button for months instead of days. An alien speech is heard. There is the sound of a door closing. The timer begins ticking down 120 months which is 10 years.
The space station hangs in the permanent night of space. Some space trucks leave the station.
Dust accumulates on the medical hybernation chambers.
The earth rotates below the space station.
The interior of the space truck where the four are in hybernation is very still. The timer counts towards zero. Suddenly air hisses from one of the chambers. Vikena's arm pushes the lid up, then it actuates on its own. the other three work the same. Vikena rolls out and is so weak she can not stand. She crawls on the floor to the wall and asks for juice. Ther is no answer from anywhere. She hits her feet to make them move.
The others roll out of their pods also. They crawl around. Vikena gets some food from a package. She tosses some to the others when they get near her.
Aron asks where they are. Vikena curses him and answers that she does not know. They all just lay there then sleep. None of them notice the skeleton laying in the doorway.
Vikena stirs. She moves a bit easier. She is very stiff but she can move. She looks at the timer guage. She stares at the skeleton. She moves to a computer console. She types commands in and hits the keyboard in frustration. It has quit working. Claude asks her how long they have been hybernatiing. Vikena shakes her head, and then answers about ten years. She adds that it is a miracle that their hybernation pods kept working.
Aron adds quietly, yes it is.
Claude asks what are they going to do.
Chundra says that they never went anywhere did they.
Vikena bangs on the computer console in frustration. She yells that there is no data.
Claude stands up. he says lets look around.
The three move to the door and look cautiosly around the corner. Chundra looks back at Vikena who is working at repairing the console. Chundra asks what is she doing? Vikena stops and replies without looking at her. Vikena says she is flossing her teeth. Vikena reaches and wiggles connections and flicks swithches.
Claude moves out into the hallway. There is a hatch at the end of the curving hall. He tries to rotate the wheel on the door. Nothing. Aron points to the red slot that shows the hatch is locked. Claude pounds on the hatch. There is a sound behind them and they jump. Vikena is there. She is holding some tools. They work on the door.
The camera turns to a small window looking out to the stars.
A hand rests on the window sill. Chundra looks out at the stars. She asks puzzled if anyone thinks that the stars are the same. Claude answers that they will always be the same. Aron and Vikena have a panel off beside the door. She is trying to cross wires, but she can not get sparks out of any of them. She says over her shoulder that Chundra should get some more food if she can not do anything else useful.
Chundra scowls and Claude smiles and pats her hand. He nods down the hall back to the space truck cabin. Chundra goes.
Aron tries beating on the hatch with a wrench. Aron stops and says that he has no strength left. Vikena stops and says, geneticist enhance thyself. Aron shakes his head and says that Vikena is mean spirited. Claude offers to take a turn, but Aron starts beating on the hatch again. Vikena asks why he is doing that. Aron says to get help. Vikena pauses and comments, like the corpse back there. Aron thinks a moment and walks away to sit by Claude.
Claude looks around the hallway. He asks if anyone noticed an air vent or something. Aron nods. He says the air is fresh. Claude licks a finger and tests for air movement. He stands and follows an air current to a vent 60cm by 15cm. Aron is disappointed. Vikena curses and says she needs power. Aron points out that the lights are still on. Vikena looks at a particular conduit. She looks at the screw driver in her hand. She says that she has no tools for that.
Chundra comes back and says that she figures they have enough food for three days. Vikena stands at the hatch and fingers the scrawled sigils on the rim of the hatch. She asks if anyone knows what language the symbols are. Aron says they are foreign. Chundra says that they are not in any language she knows of. Aron says they are Nordic runes or Old Arabic.
Claude says open sesame and the hatch opens. Vikena says she does not believe what she is seeing. Chundra says oh my god. Claude says don't blaspheme. Aron flaps his mouth. Vikena says lets get out now. They exit fast.
They enter into the hall. No one is in sight.
Vikena says we have to get back home. Aron says you are a criminal, you have no home. Vikena says she was a political prisoner. Chundra says me too. Vikena says Chundra was a willing participant in the machine so she got what was coming to her. Chundra does not reply.
They continue down the hall. Claude says he had no home. Vikena rolls her eyes impatiently.
There is another skeleton in NASA/UN uniform slumped against a wall. The ribs are caved in from a massive blow. A blue glow around a corner ahead becomes visible. They turn a corner and the blue glow is similar to a web that connects eight clay pots with crude pieces of metal extruding from them. There is a ocassional crackle of static electricity from the web.
Aron asks if anyone thinks it is deadly. Claude says yes. Vikena tries a computer panel of buttons. She gets a light and and access denied sign. She says that there must be a computer up and running somewhere on the station.
Claude pulls a wrench out of his pocket and tosses it into the web. It snaps and sizzles then dies. Aron looks at him and says Luddite. Aron walks ahead.
Claude asks Chundra what a Luddite is. She says later. Vikena says she would have got the code eventually.
As they walk through another hatch, there is a scuffling up ahead. The four freeze. Around the corner come two aliens. They look like goblins. They are about four feet high, greenish grey skin. They carry five foot long sticks that are crudely wound at each end with flat copper wire. Both parties are startled, but the goblins aim the sticks at the four. Vikena says calmly that those would be weapons. Chundra asks how anyone would know if they are loaded. The taller says in accented english that they are loaded. Aron says oh. Claude asks with what. The smaller aims its stick at Claude's feet and says a quiet word. Blue energy forks crackle out and hit Claude's knees. He yelps and hits the floor. Chundra drops to her knees beside him to care for him. Chundra says she was a volunteer emergency worker. The small one motions them against the wall so she can slide past them. The tall one turns and motions them to follow. The small one points her stick from behind them. They follow.