Monday, 2 January 2012

Predators and Prey: Part 6

Pg. 52

MacTavish, Hindman, et al.)
experts can do makes one damn bit of
difference.

Furlong and MacTavish have turned to look.

HINDMAN
(trying to soothe)
This isn't like you, Michael.

Omura takes a few breaths, seems to gather himself.

OMURA
You know something, Albert?  You're right. 
As usual.  It isn't like me to sit on my
ass and wait for help.

He limps away from Hindman, pushes between Furlong and MacTavish, and raps angrily with his cane on the 'Bulldog's' hatch.

OMURA
          Leader.  Hey!  LEADER!

IN THE 'BULLDOG'

The Subordinate turns.  He touches his forearm computer: the hatch begins to close.

ON OMURA

OMURA
Hey!  HEY!

He grabs the sliding door but can't stop it.  He whips around, grabs Furlong's notepad away from the scientist, and holds it horizontal in the diminishing space.  The door connects and begins to crush the computer, but is stalled.

FURLONG
Wha...?

Through the remaining space in the doorway we SEE the Subordinate stride forward and, with a fist, SMASH the obstruction to the floor.  The door CLANGS shut.  Omura slaps the door with his open palms, gives up, then takes a step back.  He tries another approach.

Pg. 53

OMURA
(calling out)
Leader!  LEADER!
                        (a beat)
The Hunt...the prey.. .killed...your...son.

He steps back, glancing at those around him.  Furlong, MacTavish, and all close enough to hear decide to back off a step or two also.

A BEAT.  ANOTHER.  The hatch slides open.  The Leader is there.

OMURA
(gathers himself. Speaks
                   slowly)
          Leader.  Let us..help you.  We can...
          fix your ship.  Anything.  But I...need
          help...for this.
(taps his legs)

LEADER
My son...dead.  Me...help you… your...
          daughter.

OMURA
(a beat)
Yes.

ON THE SUBORDINATE

behind the Leader.  He SNORTS alien derision.

SUBORDINATE
Help? 

He SLAPS a control on one of the disassembled panels.  The craft becomes alive with power: LIGHTS go on, NOISES BUZZ and SQUEAK: a DEEP THROBBING fills the air.

SUBORDINATE
No!  HA! HA! HA! HO!

ANOTHER ANGLE

The Leader holds a hand up.  The Subordinate is silenced.

LEADER
(in own language to
                   Subordinate, Pilot)

Pg. 54

(subtitled)
Leave us.

The two Predators lumber out, pushing past Omura.

LEADER
Major. 
(beckons Omura in)
Go in.

For just a second, Omura hesitates.  Then he steps through. The hatch slides SHUT.

INT.  'SITE UNSEEN' BRIEFING ROOM

The principals are again gathered.

DRU
(agitated, addresses Omura
                   and Schollander)
Sirs.  If I may speak plainly.  How much
longer do you expect me to keep a lid on
this thing?                              

SCHOLLANDER
As long as necessary, Colonel...if it was
yours to keep a lid on...which it is not.

Dru is taken aback, indignant, but says nothing.

Schollander twists and introduces an AGENT seated to his left.  We recognize GARBER from 'PREDATOR 2'.

SCHOLLANDER
May I introduce SPECIAL AGENT GARBER. 
Agent Garber has joined us to take care
of...P.R.
(smiles)
He's very good at P.R.
(to Garber)
What's the fallout?

GARBER
The local press ran the 'Fuel Dump
          Explosion' story.  A few 'Mother Earth'
do-gooders made a little noise.  No
problem.

SCHOLLANDER
And there were no radar contacts, I believe.

Pg. 55

(to Dru)
You have no worries, Colonel.

FORLONG
          No radar contacts.  Wow!

DRU
(to Schollander)
No worries?  With respect, Sir, but
aliens are fighting aliens over my
base, and you're telling me I have no
worries?  Doesn't anyone else find that
just a little... unnerving?  Sir.

OMURA
Your concerns are noted, Colonel, and
they are valid.  But now we can move on. 
That's why I called this meeting.

Omura has cleaned himself up: showered, shaved, and changed. He stands and walks to the end of the conference table.

OMURA
The Leader has a problem and he needs
help.  He's not one of the trophy hunters
we've seen before...oh, Dr. Lansing...
(to Lansing)
You're translation of that name was off. 
The Leader calls them 'The Hunter Elite',
and they are bound by strict codes.  To
become one in their society is a great
honour, but not everyone can.
(to all)
The Leader and his crew are Law Enforcers.                Their job is to track down renegades of
the Elite and bring them in.  They were              transporting about thirty renegades, they
call them The Lawless, when the Leader
picked up our transmission.  But when
the landing party came down, somehow there
was a break out...

INT.  THE PREDATOR SHIP, A FIGHTER BAY - FLASHBACK

We SEE the Pilot (who came to the rescue during the attack) tinkering with some component in the nose cone of his FIGHTER.  There are a dozen FIGHTERS in the bay.

Pg. 56

 
OMURA
(V.O.)
The pilot who came to our rescue brought
the story.                                                                                             
We HEAR a SHRIEKING ALARM.  The Pilot reacts by jumping to a wall mounted communicator and punching buttons.  We HEAR a distant EXPLOSION.

PILOT
(all dialogue in scene
                   in alien language:
                   subtitled)
Bridge.  BRIDGE!

There is no answer.  We SEE him looking for weapons, realizes he has none.

ANOTHER ANGLE

The BAY DOORS slide open.  Two BLACK CLAD helmetless Predators rush in.  We HEAR distant SCREAMING, SHOUTING, more EXPLOSIONS.  The doors slide shut.

ON THE PILOT

who looks out from behind his fighter, then jumps back under cover.

PILOT
Lawless!

ON THE LAWLESS

who have broken open a storage compartment and taken two helmets.

LAWLESS 1
(shouting)
The others will take the engine room. 
We will destroy the Leader and return.

They leap to the two closest fighters, but a new EXPLOSION,
closer, rocks the bay.  The wailing alarm CHANGES.  A COMPUTER VOICE BOOMS over it.

COMPUTER VOICE
Engineering Code One.  Code One.  Lethal
levels in two minutes.  Shelter now. 
Shelter now.

Pg. 57

LAWLESS 2
Code One!  NO!

Lawless 1 POUNDS the wall in a sudden FRENZY.  THROWS THINGS around, BREAKS THINGS.  He gathers himself.

LAWLESS 1
The ship is lost.  We destroy the Leader
and this planet is ours.

They clasp arms for a second, then jump into the cockpits of the fighters.

ON THE PILOT

who SLAPS his own helmet on and frantically COMPLETES his repair work.  As he does so the EXTERNAL BAY DOORS OPEN.  He scrambles up into his own cockpit just in time.

WIDER ANGLE

The two Lawless fighters lift off and shoot from the bay through the just-opened hatch. 

We SEE the Pilot's fighter come alive, lights etc, and lift off.  Just as it does so, a great EXPLOSION blows the internal doors in.  A FIREBALL erupts, BLOOMING into the bay, helping to blow the Pilot’s now damaged fighter out into space.

RESUME SCENE: “SITE UNSEEN”

There is silence around the conference table.

OMURA
From that account, the most hopeful
situation is that the Lawless are all
dead and the crew is restricted to
radiation shelters.  Depending on the
damage to their systems, they may or
may not be able to scrub the
contamination from those locations.       

DRU
Well, the Leader's got the 'Bulldog'
operational again.  Let him get the
hell out of here and go clean up his
own mess.                                

There is a general MURMUR of agreement.

Pg.58

                                                           
OMURA
(shakes his head)
Can't do it.  He can't contact the ship. 
He doesn't know the real situation.  If
the contamination is still a problem it will
affect them in a matter of fifteen or twenty minutes, but he's told me that it won't
affect our human physiology.  He needs
someone to go with them.

SCHOLLANDER
(smiles)
And of course, you're going...in return
          for a favour.

OMURA
(ignores Schollander)
If I go, the Leader has promised a serum
for Madeleine.

Hindman is on his feet.

HINDMAN
Michael, you can't be serious.  Your legs. 
          If you should encounter any difficulties...

SCHOLLANDER
(with derision)
Doctor.  Please.

INT.  THE MAIN HANGAR - NIGHT

The 'Bulldog' has been brought to the surface: the three Predators are already on board.  Schollander, Garber, Dru, Hindman, and MacTavish along with a contingent of SOLDIERS and several TECHS. are gathered to see a very heavily armed Omura off.  The Leader appears in the open hatch.                                                                       
SCHOLLANDER
(to Omura)
We have cold suits in our mobile command
          centre, Major. I considered giving you
          one, but I'm sure that that old
          technology is now known to our new friends,
          here.  Current thinking is that they would
          have learned from the L.A. encounter.
                   (to the Leader)
Would I be correct in that assumption,
Leader?

Pg. 59 

The Leader remains stoic.

HINDMAN
(shakes Omura's hand)
Good luck, my boy.

MacTAVISH
(hero worshipping again)
I wish I was going with you, Mitch. 
'Course, I'd need a substantially
bigger pair of balls.  Just come back
and tell me all about it.

OMURA
(smiling)
Don't worry, Lachlan.  I'll be back
before you...

LEADER
Major.  Now!  GO!

MacTAVISH
Well, anyway.  Good luck.

CLOSE SHOT of their clasped hands, and we HEAR (O.S.) the 'Bulldog's' engine FIRE UP.

MOMENTS LATER

All present stand back as the 'Bulldog' lifts from the ground, hovers, then SHOOTS OUT of the hangar and away.  The onlookers DRIFT AWAY: Schollander and Garber remain.

GARBER
Sir.  May I ask why you have brought me
in on this?                               

SCHOLLANDER
(gazing out at the night
                   sky)
Why, Mr. Garber.  I would have thought you’d
relish another opportunity to finish what
you started with Agent Keyes.

GARBER
The Company still wants a live specimen? 
But the last mess...

SCHOLLANDER
Oh, I agree.  The two solitudes of opinion 



Pg. 60

were most definitely at each others'
throats.  Should we or shouldn't we.  But
I've now offered the 'Nays' so much more.

GARBER
Meaning?

SCHOLLANDER
(turns to Garber)
If our friend Dr. Gockel is correct - and
I find myself usually giving Nobel Prize
winners the benefit of the doubt - then
any serum which will reverse the damage
done to young Madeleine Schaefer's motor
functions will have a very interesting side               effect.  It will boost the immune system of
any healthy adult to such a level that no            existing biological weapon would harm him.

GARBER
Super soldiers?

SCHOLLANDER
If you like.  We'd have armies marching
through clouds of Anthrax and not catching
so much as a head cold.  And now, because
of a lovely turn of events, instead of
having to painstakingly develop it ourselves,        we're going to get it straight from the           manufacturer.

GARBER
And the alien?

SCHOLLANDER
Oh, yes.  We still want a live specimen. 
The good doctor insists that 'viable
          living tissue' would be essential to any
          future experimentation.  We want them
          both, Mr. Garber.  The serum and the
          alien.  We want them both.

GARBER
Omura knows about this?

Schollander is silent.                             

GARBER
But he also receives reports from Gockel.




        

No comments:

Post a Comment