"SCANNERS" (1981)

an original screenplay by Davia Cronenberg

• A large, modern building housing Continental Security Inc.

A man in a blazer; tie, and gray flannel pants is addressing a group of about twenty men and five women. Each member of the group has the look of someone used to making decisions and wielding power: an over-forty executive group.

The man addressing them - a Scanner - stands in the middle of the building's main lecture hall, ill-lit and smelling of. crumblincr brick. He is nervous. Behind him and also facing the audience are five other men, large men who shift uneasily from foot to foot - anticipating trouble_, perhaps wanting it. Their neat suits do not disguise their function as security men used to violence.

In the midst of these men stands an MD in .. a lab coat, DR. GATINEAU. In front of him is a small rolling tray jammed • with basic medical utensils, the kind you find in any GP's office. The MD quietly arranges and rearranges his stock of tongue depressors and Gravol as the demonstration proceeds: he, too, is nervous .

SCANNER 1

•

(NERVOUS) I would like to scan each one of you in this room, one at a time. I must remind you that the experience is usually a painful one, sometimes resulting in nosebleeds, earaches, nausea, stomach cramps ..• _somet.imes other symptoms of a similar nature. I·know you are all prepared for this, but I wanted to remind you all ~he same. We have a doctor standing by. No one will be allowed to leave the room until the demonstration is over. I would like a volunteer to sta:r-t us off.

There is a general shuffle of feet, and then several people put up their hands. They are too late, however: an .intense, wiry man of 35 is already up and halfway into the circle of light at the center of the lecture hall. We are to know him later as DARRYL REVOK •

•

1. CONT'C •

The Scanner gestures to the chair at the far end of the table which sits at the foot of the audience arena.

Revak sits in the indicated chair, while the Scanner takes the other one.

• Something that will not breach the

sesurity of your organization.

Revak shuts his eyes. ~•he Scanner focuses hLs gaze on Revak. Revak begins to sweat, as though the Scanner's gaze were a heat lamp. Revok's left nostril begins to drip blood. The Scanner abruptly shuts his own eyes and touches his fingertips to his own cheekbones.

Suddenly, the Scanner is in pain. He claws at his cheeks to get at the pressure building in the sinus cavities in his cheek- bones. A whirring, revolving scan tone accelerates its arcing through the Scanner's brain. The Scanner looks up at Revak,

( .....

•

1. CONT'D •

who opens his eyes to meet the Scanner's wide-eyed stare, his own eyes expressionless. There is fear in the Scanner's eyes. His head starts to shudder and vibrate.

The security men look at each other, uncertain whether or not to end the demonstration. The Scanner starts to rise from his seat.

Before he can fully rise from his seat, the Scanner's head explodes .

• The place erupts in panic. The five security men all pull guns from shoulder holsters and split up, two men on the door, two covering the audience, and one, Security One, pointing his gun at Revok's head. Security One yells out to the terrified, milling group of VIPs. The group backs away from the guns in disbelief. •

Security One jerks his head at his nearest colleagu~, who backs towards him still keeping his gun on the group.

Revak gets up hesitantly, still appari:mtly stunned. Security One's colleague takes out a tiny radio and starts talking into it quietly •

•

1. CONT'D •

Security One co•.:ks his automatic.

Revak moves. As Security One steers Revak out the door, he calls out to Dr. Gatineau.

•

Gatineau hesitat.es for a beat, then, confused and scared, follows the pair out the door. Two other security men resume their positions on either side of the door as it swings shut.

As the trio leave the lecture hall, two more security men with guns drawn start to approach them. Security One waves them away.

The guards nod and back off, taking up their former positions halfway down the hall. Security One muscles Revak into the stairwe11 and waves the doctor in after him.

The trio ascend the stairwell which is long, dark and eerie •

•

3. CONT'D •

Revok does as he,is told. Dr. Gatineau watches wide-eyed.

Gatineau fumbles around in his lab coat pocket and finally comes up with a small, disposable syringe. He holds it up. Revok reaches the other end of the room and turns around. Security One's gun is still levelled unwaveringly at him.

•

Revok lies face down on the cold floor.

The doctor approaches Revok warily. On the floor, Revok's eyes are focused insanely, glaringly, on nothing. The doctor kneels beside Revok, his back to Security One. As he slips the cap off the needle, his nose begins to bleed. He seems not to notice, and with an air of brisk professionalism, jabs the needle into•his own wrist. The doctor watches with de- tachment as the pale blue fluid is forced into his bloodstream by the syringe's plunger.

The doctor removes the needle and stands up to face Security One, sniffing the blood that has begun to run out of his nose back up as he does so.

•

•

A dark American sedan blasts down a deserted street.

In the back seat of the car, Security One keeps his gun pointed at the head of Darryl Revak, who lies on the back seat floor. Two other security men are in the front seat, Security Two driving, Security Three riding shotgun.

•

•

5. CONT'D •

Security Two glances to his right. A maroon American car, their escort, pulls up beside them. The driver motions that he wants to lead their car rather than follow.

SA. INT. NIGHT. SECURITY #1 CAR

:Cn the darkness of the back seat footwell that his face is jammed into, Revok is staring intently into space, his upper lip trembling, his face shiny with sweat.

6 • INT. NIGHT. ESCORT CAR

The driver of the escort car turns away from the Security One car and pulls ahead. His partner sitting beside him notices that the driver has gone very pale and is gagging slightly .

PARTNER

• Hey, you all right? Want me to

take over?

The driver doesn't say anything. Instead, he steps on the gas and shoots the escort car far ahead of the Security One car.

Security Two watches his escort blast away from him.

Security Two steps on the gas and attempts to catch the escort

•

7~ CONT'D •

car which is rapidly receding into the distance. As the car lurches ahead, Security One takes a harder look at Revak in the pulsing light of the overhead street lamps flashing_by. What if Revak can still scan?

In the escort car, the partner has drawn his automatic and is training it on his driver, whose eyes stare blankly ahead as he drives like a maniac, sweating and gasping for air.

Without hesitation, Rick hooks the steering wheel to the left • and drives the escort car straight into the concrete block wall of the nearest building. The car explodes in flame.

9 • INT. NIGHT. SECURITY ONE CAR

The three security men look on in horror as the escort car starts to burn chead of them. Security Two starts to slow down.

SECURITY TH:\IBE

N,,: We've gotta see if we can drag them outa there ..

•

•

Security Two pulls up at the curb near the flaming escort car. Security Two and Security Three jump out and run over to the wreck, leaving Security One alone with Revok. As his partners try vainly to get near the front of the escort car, Security One lifts his gun to Revok's face. He is going to shoot his prisoner4

The other two men can see that there's no possible way they can get near the escort car. The heat rolling away from it is too inr.ense.

The two men run back to their car. As they approach their car, Securicy One steps out of it and leans against the door with a bizarrely inappropriate casualness. •

Security One raises his automatic and fires at his partners, who stumble and· fall as they run, hardly having time to register surprise. Security One walks over to their fallen bodies and fires one more assurance bullet into each head. He ·:.hen calmly sticks the barrel of his gun to his temple and pulls the trigger.

Establishing shot of ConSec Central, the largest building in a suburban industrial complex in the middle of nowhere. The building has a fortress-like aspect, having very few windows and those being horizontal slits. A stainless steel logo declares the building for Continental Security Inc., and names it ConSec Central .

•

• 12 ..INT. DAY. CONSEC BOARDROOM

•

•

C:JN'T 1 D •

KELLER

•

Yes.

•

12. CONT*D •

KELLER

•

Of that number, how many are now working with us?

•

12 ~ CCN'::.:' 1 D •

There is general hubbub in the room at this statement.

More hubbub.

•

without going berserk.

TREVELLYAN

• Mr. Keller, please. What do you

suggest, Doctor?

•

• RUTH

Only because their unique gifts are not properly understood, Mr. Keller.

•

12. CONT'D •

A young man saunters into the cafeteiia section of the mall. It is CA.c'1ERON VALE, about 35, who seems little more than an unusually young down-and-outer, his basic good looks twisted into ugliness by his general condition - unshaven, foul-smelling, filthy old coat, torn pants, shaky from malnutrition, hands and face bruised and scabby from countless unremembered falls and brawls.

He walks between the tables picking up leftovers from the various trays. He sits down at one of the tables and begins to eat a cold hot dog .

We notice two attractive, middle-aged matrons chatting over • hot Danishes at an adjoining table. They see him and seem to make derogatory remarks about his appearance.

Vale, now focuses his attention on the more attractive woman. The sharpness of his gaze is strangely acute for such a wreck of a man, and it is not lost on the woman. She goes to great lengths to avoid eye-contact with Vale yet is strongly drawn to his gaze.

Vale is not only the only one whose gaze is :i.n tent: two large men in overcoats and hats are both watching him from across the cafeteria. They do nothing to disguise their interest in Vale, who is, nonetheless, oblivious to their presence.

Vale's head rolls back and forth lightly. His eyes narrow down to slits as he focuses some sort of energy on the woman opposite him. Vale's pupils dilate; his hea:ct starts to pound; his breathing becomes deep and regular.

Without warning, the woman's head suddenly snaps back. Her eyes close, her mouth opens as she slides to the floor.

One of the men watching Vale nudges the other, who stiffens slightly when he sees the woman going into her fit •

•

13~ CONT 1 D

•

The woman begins to writhe in a tortured frenzy as people begin to stare. A bespectacled man in his 20's, a medical student, jumps up and runs over to the woman as those closest to her get up a.nd move away. The medical student kneels beside her and begins to jam one of his leather gloves between her teeth.

Unnoticed in his corner, Vale himself goes through a more subdued and private version of the woman's agonized rapture, sweating, twitching, all the muscles in his face working ..

The medical student is having trouble holding the woman down . Be yells at the three people who have been curious enough to eC.ge closer. •

A girl gives her boyfriend a shove towards the medical student and he shrugs, t::-ien kneels beside the woman and tries to grab one of her thrasping legs.

Vale tenses, his body goes rigid for a moment, his head trembling from the tension in his neck muscles. The woman begins to do the same thing on the floor •

•

lJ_ CCNT 1 D •

Vale suddenly goes limp; his breath comes deep and fast. He has reached some sort of bizarre climax. At the same instant, the woman on the floor suddenly lapses into unconsciousness. The men who are holding her draw back slightly, then let go of her.

The two large men in overcoats now move towards Vale. Corning cut of his daze, he notices them for the first time, rises to his feet and staggers over to the stairs. The first large man pulls a short rifle from his coat and the two follow in hot pursuit. The rifle is a compressed-air dart gun, the kind that are used to tranquilize wild animals. Vale now begins to run up the stairs to a landing. As No. 1 races behind him, No. 2 dashes up the adjoining stairs to head him off. Vale, seeing he is trapped, jumps over the railing, hoping to make the escalato=. His aim is off and he manages barely to grab the escalator hand-rail. Hanging there desperately, he is pulled on 8oard by a man riding the escalator. As he catches • his breath, No. 1 takes aim and fires. We see a dart puncture

Vale s h~nd. Vale, staring at the dart incredulously, still tries to escape. As he tries to run, his energy drains out of him ar:_d he slumps to the ground.

Vale wakes up. He is lying on a bed in the middle of a vast, sunlit warehouse floor. The distant walls of the room have been whitewashed. The cavernous place is empty except for his bed, two tables, three wooden chairs near the be(i, and fifty metal folding chairs all set up in neat rows, as if for a performance. The light comes from skylights.

Vale tries to rise but finds that he is strapped into his bed by nylon-web str,,ps. There is a man sitting next to his bed - Dr. Paul Ruth. ~uth is wearing a suit and tie.

Ruth bends close to Vale when he sees that Vale is now more or less sentient. Vale has been cleaned up considerably. He has been shaved, washed, and dressed pants and a shirt. There are socks on his feet.

•

14. CONT'D

•

Vale tries to make sense out of his new surroundings, but soon gives up. His surroundings have not made sense to him for years - why impose on them now?

Ruth gets up and walks to the door. He opens it and speaks t.o someone. •

Ruth stands by the door as fifty people trail in and occupy the metal folding chairs. They have the demeanor of middle- class people waiting patiently at an airport for their flight to go. Some of them hqve brought magazines and books to read. Others knit or sew. The differences are that there are no children amongst them - everybody is over twenty-one - and there is no talking. Finally, they are like some strange, mute audience waiting for a non-existent curtain to go up.

Once everyone has settled, Ruth.smiles at Vale and leaves. Vale settles back on his pillow after he has had a good look around. What else can he do?

DISSOLVE TO

•

• 15. INT. NIGHT. VALE'S APARTMENT AT THE FACTORY

Vale is sweating. There are fifty muted voices grinding away incessantly in the back of Vale's mind. There are endless inane images flashing through Vale's head, layer upon layer, the lamination of imagery - faces, incidents, objects - is fifty translucent levels deep, all levels shifting through and over each other.

The minds of the fifty people in Vale's room are all alive directly in Vale's brain. Their presence increases until there is no room for any mind of Vale's own: he is a scrambled composite of everyone else in the room. Their faces super- impose over his face, faster and faster, until Vale has no face of his own.

Vale's beard has grown. So has the intensitv of all the voices and all the imagery. Vale is shaking, twitching, shuddering, pouring sweat. The voices and the images clamour for attention • in his skull. His brain is porridge.

In the midst of the chaos floats Dr. Ruth, closer and closer. Ruth smiles and gives Vale an injection of Ephemerol. Vale stiffens as the drug hits his bloodstream. With each heartbeat the voices and images recede further and further, until there is only a large room full of people who are very quiet and, mercifull:/, very distant. Vale is still shaking, but his own mind now has roon in his skull again.

Ruth bends close to Vale and mops Vale's brow with a cloth.

DISSOLVE TO

The fifty spectators dissolve away, le.1ving Vale - cleaned up • once again - and Ruth alone in the room. They both sit in

~7. CONT 1 D •

chairs. Vale sits with his legs crossed and his arms folded. He looks unnatural being comfortable, like an orang-utan pretending to be human.

•

VALE

• I feel very ... exposed.I can hear

myself.

l7~ CON? 1 D •

You called me.,. .. a Scanner,. What is that?

•

certain form of ESP. A derangement of the synapses which we call tele- pathy. A disease, possibly. Or the result of radiation. We don't know why.

•

,.___,,.,..r,rs_f1r,"\ - 1 ,~;,..' •

RUTH

•

To. do what?

•

•

• scan suppressant. It does nothing

to ordinary human beings. When given to a Scanner, it prevents the flow of telepathy. It stops the voices.

•

•

Vale finds himself in a vast room which is almost identical to his own, except that it sports quite a bit of electronic equipment which surrounds a large square formed by a series of tumbling mats in the center of the floor.

There are four technicians working this floor, all of them busy. Two of them are attaching electrodes to a man sitting cross-legged on the tumbling mats.

Ruth takes Vale over to the man on the mats. They are silently attended by one of the other technicians, a gaunt man named CORTNEY. Vale seems to be hanging on all right. Ruth casually introduces him to the mat man .

ROTH

•

Welcome to our little psychic gymnasium. Cameron Vale, please meet yoga master, Dieter Tautz.

Tautz smiles slightly and nods a courtly nod in Vale's direction. Vale manages a nod in return. Tautz is wearing a tweed suit and shoes. He is very Germanic and wears a well-controlled Van Dyke beard. A technician has attached electrodes to his chest, having opened Tautz's shirt and jacket only just slightly, and is in the process of securing the last of four more, two to each temple.

•

lB~ CON'I''D

•

A technician leads Vale around the wires attaching Tautz to two oscilloscopes and helps him settle in front of Tautz. Another technician brings Ruth one of the ubiquitous metal folding chairs, which Ruth organizes so that he can sit to one side and see both men in profile, like a net judge in a tennis match.

The technician who attached the electrodes turns on the oscilloscopes, which iw~ediately register two sets of normal sine waves. The upper screen is marked HEART, the lower ll_L?HA-WAVE .

RUTH

•

Cameron, I want you to slowly release your scan, slowly, and with focus. I want it to touch Dieter Tautz's heart, and not his brain. Do you understand? Telepathy is not mind-reading. It is the direct linking together of two nervous systems separated by space. r want you to link your brain to his heart, and I want your brain to make his heart beat faster. Do you under- stand?

Vale barely nods. He is staring at Tautz's chest. Tautz has closed his eyes and assumed a general posture of controlled serenity.

•

fast 1 , fast.

18. CON'T'D

• The heart monitor starts to register a slightly quickening pulse rate. Vale sweats and concentrates. Tautz's heart rate increases jerkily, like a puppet in the hands of an unskilled operator ..

Tautz's heart r2,.te levels off at a rate higher than normal, then suddenly accelerates madly. Tautz breaks into a sweat. He tries to bring his heart rate down. It sinks slightly, then accelerates upwards at an insane rate again. Tautz starts gasping open-mouthed and licking his lips. He opens his eyes. They are bulging with fear. He is losing the tug war. He looks at Vale. Vale's eyes are blank and hard with power ..

•

But Vale can not end his scan, or perhaps does not want to. Suddenly Tautz's Alpha-wave monitor starts to go berserk as well. Tautz jerks violently backwards on the mats clutching his chest, and then goes into a totally uncontrolled epileptic spasm, its grotesque rhythms registering on the monitors.

Ruth jumps from his chair, pulling a syringe from his pocket. A technician makes a move to grab Vale, while Ruth jabs the needle into Vale's arm.

Suddenly, almost casually, Vale releases Tautz from his scan. Tautz is left gasping on the floor as two technicians rush to his side, smashing his chest to get his heart working again and trying to force ooen Tautz's mouth so he won't bite off his tongue. Vale stands up and"smiles at the approaching Ruth, the scent of power still in his nostrils •

•

18. CON1''D •

'!ale and Ruth sit in Vale's apartment. Ruth operates a 16nrrn projector, which splashes its image on a small screen on a tripod. There is a fi:Lm leader countdown, then the titles: CRANE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE, REF: #32407, January 4, 1967. SUBJECT: Darryl Revok, Age 22.

After the titles, the face of Darryl Revok, 22, suddenly appears. The face is the same one we saw in the opening scenes - Revok, the Scanner infiltrator - only younger. The difference between ~he two faces is not as great as one would expect, however: at 22, Darryl Revak has already been through the wringer, and • his =ace shows it.

The camera shooting him is behind a one-way mirror in a small interrogation room. It zooms in and out at times, showing us details of hand positicns, eyes, and anything else the camera- man thought was significant. There are jump cuts in the film, but the camera 2_.ngle is always the same, though not necessarily the frame size.

The youn~, Darryl Revak has a haunted face. He is very hyper and distracted in his speech and mannerisms. On his forehead is stuck a rectangular piece of Elastoplast, upon which is drawn an eye complete with eyelashes. The off-camera voice of a woman psychiatrist tries to guide Revak through a certain amount of self-revelation. Her name is LILIANE.

LILIJ-._NE (OCJ

Tell us what you did, please, Darryl.

•

20. CONT'u •

•

•

20. CONT'D •

LILIANE (OC)

•

What's that you've put over the hole?

•

20. CONT'D •

Revak picks up a glass of water and pours the water out. He turns his back to the camera.

• Liliane gets up and runs out of the room just as Revak whirls around and shatters the one-way glass with the tumbler.

People run back and forth in the dark room on the camera side of the one-way glass. Two attendants come in and drag Revak away screaming.

Vale sits back, shaken by a sense of recognition both comforting and disturbing.

•

21. CONT!D

•

• extremely self-destructive. Now,

at the age of 35, he is simply ..• destructive. In many ways, Cameron, he's your enemy. And mine.

•

•

•

Ruth smiles ..

In the psychic gym, Ruth shows Vale photos and documents relating to his first lead into the Scanner underground - Benjamin Pie,rce.

These include photos of Pierce in prison, photos of him from high school, prison documents, clippings about his attempt at murder • f~om the newspaper.

• 24 .. INT. NIGHT. PSYCHIC GYM. FACTORY

Throughout this scene, Ruth helps fit Vale with several changes of expensive clothes in keeping with his new social respectability - including rings, keys, and credit cards.

•

• very good.

24. CONT'D •

Vale turns to face Ruth, faltering under the enormity of it all.

Establishing shot of the Arno Crostic Gallery, a private art • gallery housed in a renovated Victorian townhouse in a fashion- able section of downtown Toronto.

A sign in the bay window of the gallery says "Benjamin Pierce Recent Works", and beyond the window it is apparent that an opening night party is in progress. A crowd of people in extreme but calculated evening dress carry drinks, hors d'oeuvre, and catalogues as they mill about amongst the works of modern sculptor Benjamin Pierce.

In the midst of the opening night action stands Cameron Vale, transfixed by one of Pierce's sculptures. Vale has obviously been worked over by the people at the F'actory. His hair is very coiffed, his black velvet suit anc'. loose white shirt open at the throat fit him perfectly. At a glance you would definitely say he belongs at this pa.rty.

But at the moment Vale is oblivious EO the trendy swirl around nim. All he can see is the plaster cast sculpture in front of him which is basically a man in a glass room strapped to a chair, scre~~ing. The terrified face of the man in the chair is the face of Ben Pierce. •

26. CONT'D

• A man who has been working his way through the crowd, introducing himself to everyone but concentrating on wealthy-looking pctential buyers, approaches Vale. The man, ARNO CROSTIC, slight, effete, dressed very similarly to Vale, finally spots Vale and stands beside him, communing in front of Pierce's work. After an appropriately respectful beat of silence, Crostic turns to Vale.

• (EXTENDING HIS HI\ND)

I'm sure I know you.

•

26. CON 1r I D

•

• We rarely make private sales of Pierce's

works.

•

26. CONT'D

•

Vale smiles sympathetically. A small trickle of blood appears out of Crostic's left nostril and runs down his upper lip. Vale is scanning his right hemisphere and the pressure is hurting. Crostic feels the blood and lifts his hand to wipe it away. His hand is shaking. He smears the blood but does not manage to remove it. He looks sick.

• Excuse me, I ... I don't feel well,

suddenly. Excuse me.

Crostic turns away and starts to make his way through the crowd towards a wasi1room. Several people who turn to tallt; to him notice that he has blood on his face. They put their arms around him and help him across the room.

Vale turns back to the glass room. He has ttce name he needs. Vale takes one last look at the screaming ma11 with the exposed brain. Suddenly, Vale realized that his own nose is bleeding.

Vale whirls around. The people in the room seem as before, the group around Crostic almost out of sight now, the rest still socializing enthusiastically. Vale takes his napkin and wipes his nose. His hand is shaking. A woman we are to know as KIM ROTHBERG watches Vale.

Vale has dialed a number from his hotel room. He is inhaling deep snorts of Ephemeral, anxiously waiting for an answer. • Finally, someone answers the phone.

• 27A. INT. NIGHT. LOUNGE OF A POSH RAQUET CLUB

Dr. Ruth sits at a table with a drink in hand.

VALE

•

Good, but strange ..•. I know where to find Pierce now.

•

• Vale pulls up the driveway of Pierce's farmhouse and stops. He gets cut of his rented car and looks around.

The farmhouse is deserted, full of mice and birds' nests, its windows broken.

Across a rutted, scraggly field stands an immense barn of stone and board. Vale takes one last look around and starts off across the field towards the barn.

About half a mile from the farmhouse, a group of four men and one woman lounge around a black van. One of the men sits on the hood of the machine, watching Vale with binoculars as Vale heads towards the barn. Satisfied, the man puts away his binoculars and gets of£ the hood.

The five reach into the jeeps and take out oblong objects wrapped in blankets, one blanket per person .

•

Vale enters Pierce's large, high-ceilinged studio. Works in progress are everywhere. Vale walks through the place looking for signs of life. There is a half empty glass of wine and a bottle on a work table cluttered with sculpting tools. A short cigar is still burning in an unfired clay ashtray.

Vale notices an cpen door, leading to a den, and sees an immense fiber glass sculpture of a human head. He enters.

Vale hears a voice and sees a man sitting on a platform above and behind him.

It is PIERCE, 32, heavyset, dark-beardcd, work-booted and plaid- shirted. The plastic shapes around hirr, glistening like living organs, are vaguely spleen and kidney-like, and the lighting is blood red and dramatic: a strange womblike retreat for a strange and disturbed chnracter .

•

31. CONT'D

•

• The only one?

Vale climbs a ladder up onto the platform.

•

31A. CONT'D

•

Vale extends his hand for a shake and Pierce turns away going down another set of steps to the lower level.

•

They enter the head through the neck, and simulated veins, sinus cavities and brains are evident.

•

• 31A. CONT'D

•

cut their throats in my head. They do those things in your head too, don't they?

• like .thatto stop them.

31A. CONT'D

•

• PIERCE

Like yourself? But are you a zombie? Are you a killer?

•

31A. CONT'D

•

Pierce gets up and walks out into the studio. He is met by the shotoun fire of the five killers. Pierce tries to protect his sculptures from the blasts and goes down with them. When the killers discover Vale, they blow the giant fiber glass head apart. Vale, mustering his courage, stuns them all with his scan, then rushes to the dying Pierce. Pierce can't talk but Vale scans him for information about where to go next. Vale makes his way out through the carnage, gets into his car, and, still very shaky, drives off down the road. •

Vale enters his hotel and, shaky, checks for messages. There are none. He gets a parcel and goes up to his room,,

Vale takes a hot bath, and gives himself an injection of Ephemeral to shut out the voices around him in the hotel.

Vale watches tv mindlessly. He finally gets up and goes to the window. It is night. He goes out •

•

• Vale walks down a dark street and stops in front of a large old building. It is the place that he has learned about from Pierce just moments before Pierce died.

Vale tries the door. It is locked. He knocks. Someone peeks out from the end of a hallway, disappears, and then is replaced by another man - JACK. Jack comes down the hallway and unlocks the door ..

Jack pushes Vale against the wall~ •

Jack raises one·h.and and immediately begins to scan Vale. Vale does not resist, but thinks about Ben Pierce and his death. Jack suddenly breaks off his scan with a short sob.

49. OMIT

•

• 50. INT,, NIGHT~ HALFWAY HOUSE HALLWAY

Jack and Vale climb the stairs and walk along the second floor hallway until they come to the open door of the lounge. Jack tells Vale to wait and enters the lounge. From the hallway, Vale sees into the lounge.

51 • INT. NIGHT. HALFWAY HOUSE. LOUNGE

In the lounge, are KIM and JIM. Jim is going through some kind of painful withdrawal on the couch, and is being helped through it by Kim.

KIM

• Yes, you can. You can. We've

all done it. You can do it too ..•

Jack walks over ·:o Kim and whispers in her ear, obviously telling her about Pierce's death. She turns around and looks at Vale, reeling from the news. After a pause, she ge~s up and approaches Vale, leaving Jack to take her place at Jim's side:

Kim comes over to Vale, fighting back ~ears. The look she gives Vale is very hard.

VALE

• I wanted to find Tony Gaudi. I need

help.

52. CONT'D •

Vale finds himself sitting around a living room table with Kim and TONY GAUDI. Gaudi is dark and intense, with a bitter edge to everything he says.

•

•

52A. CONT'D •

•

•

52A. CONT'D •

There is a long pause.

•

•

•

• Thatts when we left.

I{IM

We wanted Pierce to stay with us, but he wouldn't,, He couidn't stand living with anyone. He denied he was a Scanner. He rejec~ed both Revak and Tony .

•

52.A~ COUTtD •

•

•

52A. CONT'D •

Gaudi and Kim look at each other. If they get Vale to participate in a group scan, they can share what's left of Pierce.

In the attic of the halfway house, Vale takes part in a group scan with Gaudi, Kim, Meryl, Craig, and two other Scanners. They sit in a circle on pillows. A scan tone begins to revolve around the room from one to the other.

The black van we saw at Pierce's farm pulls up to the curb and drops orr Braid and Patch, two of the four killers who murdered Pierce. The two men carry guitar cases into the halfway house as the van pulls away .

• INT. NIGHT. HALFWAY HOUSE ENTRANCE

Braid and Patch 90 up the stairs to the second floor.

The scan tone accelerates around the room from person to person, mind to mind, spine to spine, gathering momentum as :\.t goes_.

Random images begin to flash, contributions from each mind pre- sent. The scan tone revolves faster and faster, skewering the images and collecting them like beads on a string. Vale's head starts to loll as his mind begins to dissolve into the bubbling cauldron which is melting everyone else's mind as well. Hearts are pumping, chests are heaving as all the voices and all the images coalesce into one clear voice, one clear succession of images. The minds and nervous systems of six Scanners have combined to form one common mind, one nervous system.

Vale rolls his head back and forth against the wall behind him, his eyes bright though unseeing, a smile of insane ecstasy on his face. He is at peace. He belongs .

•

•

Braid and Patch stop in the hallway of the second floor to open their guitar cases. Inside each case is a shotgun. They remove the guns and start up the stairway leading to the attic. Jack suddenly walks out of a room and almost bumps into them. Before he can scan them, they smash him across the face with the barrels of their guns and throw him over the bannister. Jack crashes onto the stairs, unconscious. Braid and Patch run up the attic stairs.

58. INT~ NIGHT~ HALFWAY HOUSE. ATTIC TEST CENTER

The imagery of Vale's recent past is starting to bleed into the pool of the group mind when the door smashes open and Braid and Patch burst into the room.

Before anyone has a chance to react, Braid blows Meryl away with a blast of his shotgun. Patch tries to catch Gaudi but misses and blows cut the attic window instead. The remaining Scanners automatically turn on the intruders, hands still linked, and focus their single group scan on the intruders. Vale has no choice but to focus himself along with the others: he can't • ~ell which part of it is him and which is the others in any case.

Braid swings his shotgun around as a screaming, whirling scan oegins to hit him. His movements slow down, his brain processes congealing until he can barely function.

Patch too seems to be caught in some invisible tar pit, his muscles strainirg to re-direct his weapon. Suddenly, Braid screams. Flames shoot out of his mouth and torch the wall- paper, the rugs·, the pamphlets and mounds of old newspapers. The walls burst into flame, engulfing the paralysed Patch.

Gaudi releases Vale and grabs Flavia hustling her out the door before the flames have blocked it. Craig and Jim try to drag Meryl out the door after them, but Gaudi screams at them to leave her.

Gaudi then grabs the stunned Vale and shoves him out the door too, leaving Patch and Braid to disappear in the flame-filled attic room.

Kim, Vale, Craig and Jim stumble madly down the stairs as smoke • pours down after them~ The place is in a panic, devotees scat- tering everrdhere.

• 60. EXT. NIGHT. HALFWAY HOUSE

Gaudi leads the others out a side entrance and into the back lot of the Institute, where an old school bus van is parked. Craig and Jim jump into the two front seats, while Vale," Gaudi, and Kirn get into the back. The van screeches away from the Institute, lit by the flames which are pouring out of the attic window and licking up onto the roof.

•

•

61~ CONT'D •

The black van pulls alongside.

GAu1JI

Everybody down! Get down!

The van cruises along a crowded city street. An unmarked and immaculately glistening black van suddenly jerks out of traffic behind it and squeals its tires as it pulls up alongside.

• A row of metal panels along the side of the black van slide back to reveal a line of six shotgun muzzles. Without hesitation, the shotguns begin a wi::hering random fire at the Materiology van, like one pirate ship opening fire broadside on another.

Both tires blow immedia':ely on the Materiology van and its side starts to be dismantled like a sardine can. The surrounding traffic goes crazy.

The two men in the front seats are taken out by the withering shotgun fire. The trio in the back se,cit hit the floor as metal and thick pile carpeting shreds shower over their heads. The van swerves violently.

The van leaps the curb and smashes into the immense plate glass window of a record store, taking out a fire hydrant as it goes. The van blasts right through the window frame and into the depths • of the store. The black van screeches off into the night.

The van plows down the length of the record store - fortunately closed for the night - smashing endless counters and racks of records to smithereens. The van finally comes to a stop after it clips the bottom out of a support pillar and slides up against a wall on its side.

The fire hydrant sprays water in a huge, gushing fountain as cars screech to a halt and passersby gawk in amazement at the carnage. A few brave souls peek through the gaping hole left by the van in the store front. The broken window has set off a theft alarm which is now ringing madly. A man with a moustache e.merges from the shadows to watch.

Vale crawls in a bloodied daze through the front window of the van. He stumbles over to the side door of the van, which is now horizontal, and pulls furiously on it until it opens. • Flames lick out of the van's interior and crackle skyward. When the flames hit the store's sprinkler system triggers, the sprinklers jet on all over the store.

Vale drags himself up the side of the van and peers jown inside the box, shieldi.:ig his face from the flames with his hand.

Inside the box Vale sees Kim cradling Gaudi's head with her hands. Gaudi is dead.

Kim has tears in her eyes. She concentrates until her head begins to shake.

V.l\LE

• He's dead.

68~ CONT 1 D •

Kim accelerates her scan until she's sucking a torrent of sounds and images from his mind into hers. A buzz saw is cutting through Gaudi's brain; he goes into an epileptic fit; but still Kim slices her scan through his brain, picking up every vestige of what memories and experiences made up Tony Gaudi. Suddenly, Gaudi stops shaking, then a spasm or two and he is gone.

Kim bursts into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Vale leaps into the box and lifts her out as police sirens begin to wail.

• Vale drags Kim c,ut of the van box and hustles her down towards the back of b"le store as a platoon of firemen come in the front.

As Vale and Kim•pull open a door into the record store's base- ment, two cops who have come in with the firemen see them. They immediately start to sprint after them.

Kim is in a daze. Vale shoves her dm,•n the basement stairs and slams the door behind them.

Vale and Kim stumble down the stairs and slip among the aisle of records in boxes until they find a corner to hide~ Sirens and crowd sounds filter in from outside.' They don't realise that Flick [one of Revok's agents) is following them down and stalking them with a shotgun throughout their dialogue.

•

70~ CON?'D •

•

•

70~ CONT'D •

(SEEING VALE'S PEACTION)

..... I'm sorry ..... but I feel so alone. So hopeless .....

Vale hugs her. Flick fires his shotgun and misses. Vale's scan instantly brings Flick to his knees. Flick begins to cry Vale has somehow routed Kim's despair through Flick's nervous systeru..

Vale goes over to Flick, lifts his head, starts to scan him, to search his brain for information. Kirn comes over to Vale~

• SCENE 70 PICK UP

Flick has dropped his shotgun and fallen to his knees under the power of Vale's scan. Vale and Kim stand over him. Flick takes out a bottle and holds it up to them. It is a bottle of Ephemeral, and it bears a symbol we haven't seen before.

•

70. CONT'D •

•

•

to stop Darryl Revok.

BIOCAPBON-AMALGAMATE LABORATORY - SEQUENCE SCENE SUl~'1ARIES •

Establishing shot of the B-A Lab building, which is big, poured concrete, ultra-modern efficient.

Vale takes Flick's place working in this space-ship-like lab. Everybody wears space suits to protect them from inhaling the dust of the drug they are producing. Vale soon realizes that the drug is Ephemeral. He lets Flick's neurons guide him like an automaton through the many areas of the lab. All through these scenes there is a very dense drug smog in the air. Suddenly, Vale sees Darryl Revak through the glass of the control room high above the lab floor. Vale climbs a ladder and tries to reach him but by the time he gets there Revok is gone. Alone in the control room Vale reads a computer monitor. He learns that the production of Ephemeral is ;ontrolled by something called the RIPE program and that it is run by ConSec .

• 7 3. EXT. NIGHT. DOWNTOWN GREASY SPOON RESTAURANT

Vale makes a call from a phone booth. Kim sits, ne:r:vously watching the odd car that cruises by.

74. INT" RACQl'ET CLUB

Vale listens to the phone ringing at the other end of the line. Ruth finally answers, in the oak-panelled trophy room of the Racquet Club.

•

•

•

Ruth hangs up. Vale hangs up and steps out of the ~ooth.

•

7 5. PRIVATE HELICOPTER •

Vale and Kim sit behind the pilot.

The helicopter is making its first approach over the ConSec grounds.

Vale and Kim anxiously look out their windows. There is a tense circle of 100 men awaiting them on the grass below. The men all wear overcoats and carry automatic rifles.

7 6. EXT. MORNING. CONSEC H.Q.

The helicopter lands and a guard runs up to help Vale and Kim down ..

A man in a white lab coat walks over to Vale and hands him a walkie-talkie. Vale hears Ruth's voice squawk out of the device's speaker. As he listens, he looks around the field for Ruth.

• to have to ask both you and your

companion to allow our man to inject you with Ephemeral. ConSec insists on it for security reasons. I'm sure you can understand that.

Vale hands the walkie-talkie back •

•

• Ruth and Keller stand in a corridor looking out a window at Vale and Kim stepping out of their helicopter far below.

Ruth holds a walkie-talkie. A uniformed ConSec guard stands nearby.

•

Thank you. See you soon.

Ruth hands the W-T back to the guard, who leaves. Ruth and Keller turn and walk together down the corridor.

•

753 - 80 CONT'D •

Keller stops at a door marked NO ADMITTANCE. He puts a plastic ca=d i~to a slotted panel beside L~e door and pushes some n~rnbered buttons on the same panel.

• a letter about it~ Ifill sure they'd

love to hear from you.

Keller opens the door, steps inside the room beyond, and shuts it, leaving Ruth alone in the corridor.

80, 82, 84, 86,· 88. INT. DAY. CONSEC INTERROGATION ROOM il

Vale is ushered into Interrogation Room lil by two uniformed ConSec guards. Ruth is waiting for him. The guards leave~

• be here,.

so, s 2, a4 , so , os ~ co NT, D •

• RUTH

Itwas meant as a gesture of trust to your friend. I have my own methods of interrogation. And I have nothing to hide.

RUTH

•

Of course. I founded it in 1942.

8 0 , 8 2 , 8 4 , 8 6 , 8 8 . CONT' D

-

• is computerized. It's being manufactured

and sent out in huge tankers,

80, 82, 84, 86, 88. CONT'D •

•

Dr. Ruth hustles Vale out the door and past a pair of confused ConSec guards.

Bl, 83, 85, 87, 89. INT. DAY. INTERROGATION ROOM i2

Kim sits waiting. Keller enters and closes the door behind him.

• KELLER

Hello.

81 , 8 3 , 8 5 , 8 7 8 9 ., CONT I D

•

• KIM

Kim Obrist. Your name?

•

81, 8 3, 8 5 1 8 7, 8 9.. CONT'D •

Keller goes to a panel in the wall, unlocks it, and turns off the video monitors~

KELLER

• (RETURNING TO KIM) Because I know

you're not what you say you are.

Keller slaps Kim. She slams back int~ her chair. Keller takes out his automat~~c ..

Keller cocks his gun and points it at her .

•

81, 8 3, 8 5, 8 7, 8 9. CONT'D •

Keller is about to pull the trigger when Kim hits him with a sharp scan. Keller is knocked off his feet. A trickle of blood runs from his nose. Kim runs out of the room. Keller gets to his feet, goes to che panel in the wall and presses the alarm button.

Keller comes out, calls the guards.

Ruth and Vale walk down the hallway towards the computer room. • They are startled when a loud alarm goes off.

Dr. Ruth walks back after Vale.

Ruth walks down the corridor towards the interrogation room.

•

• 92. INT. DltY. INTERROGATION ROOM

Balfway through his confused monologue, Keller enters behind nim, raises his gun to Ruth 1 s head, and fires .

• 9 3. I)JT~ DAY. CONSEC HALLWAY

Vale comes down a corridor near the computer room and senses chat Ruth is dead - He stops during tl1e perception, then exits frame right.

Kim comes running down the corridor. She meets Vale who was looking for her. They stop~

•

94,, CONTtD •

They both exi~ ..

Kim and Vale walk quickly down another hallway. At the end of Lhe hallway, a barricade is being set up by three guards, one of them carrying a rifle with telescopic sights. Their strategy • is apparent: use the long, straight hallways to shoot the Scanners before they can get within scanning range. But they haven't accounted for the increased scan field that two Scanners werging their sc:ans together can generatew

As Kim and Vale approach the t}iree guards who have huddled down behind an overterned couch, the man with the rifle takes air;i through his telescopic sight.

When the rifleman sights through his scope, he is confused to see - not the two Scanners, but a sixtyish white-haired old lady walking a large dog in the crosshairs. The woman is smiling warmly at the rifleman, looking him right in the eye. She says something - the rifleman's name although he has to lipread over the wail of the alert siren .

•

• 97. INT. DAY. HALLWAY BARRICADE

The third and fourth guards watch their companion's finger tighten on the ::rigger, then relax. ·vale and Kim keep coming, hand in hand ..

The second guard tries again.

9 8. INT. DAY. POV THROUGH SCOPE

This time the old lady is blowing kisses and waving. The dog is frisking around excitedly .

• The secor.d guard looks away from the scope, trembling and sweating.

The fourth guard grabs the gun and sights down the scope, determin,ad to f

•

99a CONT 1 D •

The second guard throws himself on the floor, sobbing.

When the fourth guard looks through the scope, he sees the planet Earth as seen from outer space through a telescope .

lOl~ INT~ DAY. lL¾LWAY BAR.~ICADE • The fourth guard looks up from the scope. Vale and Kim are still coming. He licks his lips and looks back through the scope. The fourth guard pulls the trigge •

The planet Earth explodes in the crosshairs. But it seems to be a very organic planet because it explodes in a shower of blood and guts, all of it heading straight for the scope. The scope jiggles with the impact of the planet-flesh hitting its front lens ..

The fourth guard recoils away from the scope, horrified. When he looks down the hallway, he is further stunned to see that it is dripping with blood and churning with smoke and lava: he has just destroyed the world.

•

There is confusion in the hallways. Guards are running every- where, trying to raise barricade parties on their walkie-talkies without success. One guard is helping another one along the hallway. It is the Fourth Guard who is being helped. He walks in a daze, shaking his head, tears running down his face.

• ~aller appears around a corner.

The ConSec limo pulls up to the pumps at a gas station in the wasteland, of a suburban industrial strip. The driver, a ConSec guard we have not seen before, gets ;out and cpens the rear door. Because the windows are smoked, we car,not see who it is until Vale and Kim step out. The driver ha~ a stoned, blissed-out expression on his face~

•

105 ~ CO~\JT t D •

A gas-station attendant appears at the station door. He is impressed by the car. The driver turns and approaches the attendant. Vale walks over to Kirn. He flicks a glance at the phone booth at the edge of the lot.

KIM

•

Alright. ~r you start to get lost - I'm coming in after you.

Vale gets into the phone booth and picks up the receiver. There is a dial tone. Vale closes his eyes and rests his head against the glass of the booth. He concentrates. A scan tone begins to rise and revolve, then breaks up into intricate patterns of tones. The telephone circuits respond to the tones. The dial tone is replaced with another tone, then another as Vale's scan tone plays like some bizarre instrument through the telephone system .

•

•

A series of shots showing telephone circuits responding to Vale's scan tones.

In the elaborate ConSec computer room, Keller is anxiously overseeing three computer programmers as they work their terminals.

• Keller looks at the printout now travelling across the terminal monitor's screen. It reads: RIPE PROGRAM INACCESSIBLE.

•

108. CONT'D •

The pro gr anuner types REQUEST: PROGRAM ACCESS. The computer answers NAME OF PROGRAM? Programmer types RIPE PRCGRAME. Computer answers RIPE PROGRAM INACCESSIBLE.

PROGRAMMER l

We're plugged into the telephone system. Anybody who knows the proper series of access codes could get in here long distance.

•

Programmer 2 lo<;:>ks up from his terminal acroE,s the room.

PROGRl'u'il'I--ER l

wny? What is it?

PROGRl\.HMER 2

Somebody's inside this thing right now,

• getting the RIPE program.

108~ CONT 1 D •

Programmer 1 punches up REQUEST: INTERNAL.MONITOR. The computer replies IM CODE PLEASE? Programmer 1 answers IM 863. The computer responds by displaying a scrolling list of names and addresses. The names are arranged in three columns. The first column consists of names of doctors. The second names of female patients, one per doctor. The third is the name of a small town in North America, one per doctor.

• and now he's inside.

I want to hurt him. How can we hurt him before he gets out?

PROGfu~R l

Hurt him? I don't understand.

•

108. CONT'D •

Keller draws his automatic and jams it against the head of Prograrr~er 1. The other two programmers half-rise in their seats~

The o,;::ner two programmers sit down .. •

PROGRJl._J1MER 1

('/ERY NERVOUS JYes, sir,., I'm doing i"': now.

Programmer 1 starts typing furiously at his key board. Red lights start tc flash at various terminals and consoles around the room.

109. EXT~ DAY .. SUBURBAN PHONE BOOTH

Vale is receiving a flood of information in the phone booth. It is not just the list of names and figures that compose the RIPE program, but subsidiary information as well: electrical synapses opening and closing, neurons firing in the computer •

109. CONT 1 D •

and by sympathy in his brain as well. Vale's face contorts in pain as he mind rushes at imp~ssible speeds through the circuits of the computer, like a train travelling along through an immense switchyard at the speed of light, with the feeling that an incredible collision is imminent~

Vale reaches out a hand to Ki::n. He can't separate the printout information from the computer process information. Kim grabs his hand and starts to wind her scan tone into the pbone system. The speed of the circuit travel immediatelv slows down. The printout inforn:a· ,.on starts to separate cl;,arly out of all the other purely mechanical-electrical information ..

am,~er 1 unlocks a panel in the computer console and flips a swicch under Keller's alert but cold eye.

• Are you sure ....

Programmer 1 no;,.,. punches in his last request to the computer: REQUEST: MAX SE,:URITY SELF-DESTRUCT IMMEDIATELY. The computer replies ~ith a countdown: MAX SECURITY SELF-JESTRUCT IN 10, 9, 8, 7 .•.

•

110~ CONT 1 D •

Keller backs away from the console to the farthest corner of the room ..

The coraputer screen reads ... 3, 2, 1, SELF-DESTRUCT.

Keller flinches. All that happens is that every ccnsole light and every monicor screen in the room goes off.

...l..-: .....l ...l..1 • EXT. DAY.SUBURBAN PHONE BOOTE

Vale and Kim are dying together in the phone booth .. Their eyes ~oll back in their heads, their breathing is ragged and shallow, their pulse slows. But they fight back. Their scan tonesr which have dwindled to almost nothing within the computer's dying circui~s, start LO pulse and energize. The Scanner pair • start to pump their own life back into the computer.

Suddenly the computer's circuits are filled with blazing strings of .light, pure energy overloading its chips and circuit boards, rushing back fr,:,m the brains of Vale and Kim and flowing like a tidal wave back through the phone lines to ConSec Central.

Keller straightens up and smiles. He puts his gun away.

Without warning, the computer terminals explode, blowing the three program~ers off their feet and into oblivion. Keller is smashed back against the computer room door and blown right through it. He dies as the whole room goes up in a series of furious fireballs~

•

• 113. EXT. DAY. SUBURBAN PHONE BOOTH

Vale and Kim are flowing thei:::- energy back madly through the phone system, their eyes wide and burning, their faces sleek with sweat. The phone receiver starts to melt in Vale's hand. The receiver cable starts to smoke and burn and smoke dribbles out of the coin slots.

Vale drops the receiver. The spell is broken. Vale and Kim are left panting with the effort they have just expended. Transistors start to explode inside the phone box. Vale grabs Kim who is deep in her trance still, and pulls her away from the phone booth.

When Vale and Kim are fifty feet away, and watched with some anxiety by the gas station attendant, the }='hone booth explodes, the rolling flames billowing out towards the gas pumps.

The gas station attendant runs for his life. He manages to get halfway ~o the next lot when the pumps explode, blowing him to the ground~ The limo and its driver, still smiling, disa?pear in ~lame.

Vale a::.d Kim make their way across the street as the gas pump ~anks scart to catch and blow as well.

•

114. OMIT

115. OMIT

A rented car pulls up outside a small. town doctor's office which is also his house. The house is a well-kept white Victorian three-storey brick building with a turret and a curved verandah. A sign on the front lawn which lights up at night proclaims that the off ice belongs to Dr. L. F.rane, General Practitioner; Use Side Entrance Please.

Vale and Kim get out of the car and walk up the side entrance to the office part of the house .

•

117. IiiT. MORNING. DR. FRANE'S OFFICE • Vale and Kim enter Dr. Frane's waiting room where several people are seated.

•

•

CON':' 1 D •

Kim is suddenly and painfully scanned.

Vale runs in as the doctor is examining a patient.

I have to talk to you now, Dr .

Will you please get out of here?

•

Vale and Dr~ Frane step into the doctor's private office~

FRlu'lE

(CHECKING OU'r BOTTLE) Where did you get this? Who are you?

•

ll7B~ CONT'D •

• company. I have letters from them

assuring me that this drug has cleared the FDA and asking me to participate in a product comparison test they re con- ducting ......

• patients and I keep a record of the~r

names and how they react to the drug.

•

That's what it's for. A tranquilizer specifically designed to be safe during pregnancy .... Are you telling me you don't know what , . ~ .. ?

•

Vale finds Kim w~th tears in her eyes. A thi11 line of blood is running from one nostril.

•

118. CONT'D •

Glass breaks as a dart comes through the window. Vale pulls the dart out of Kim but she's losing consciousness. He helps the staggering Kim outside trying to get as far away as possible but Kim collapses on the lawn. Vale tries to awaken her but Darryl Revak is standing nearby and shoots another dart at Vale.

Vale wakes up on a couch in the corner of Revok's posh office at B-A. Revak is pouring himself a drink of Scotch when he nc~ices Vale stirring.

rt..EVOK

Sleeping Beauty awakes.

•

• was very impressive~

119. CONT'D •

•

•

kid brother,,

119. CONT'D •

•

•

•

VALE

• (Si-L:VZING HIS HE.AD IN DISBELIEF)

Oh, no ..... no . ~ .. c 'mon ......

Revak picks up an old LIFE magazine and opens it to a well-thumbed page. He drops it on Vale's lap. Vale looks at it. The date : .. at the top of the page is June, 1947. The page is a full-page ad featuring an innocuous bottle of gelatin capsules labelled Ephemeral. Behind the bottle, sail~ng in some ad man's version of a tropical sea, is a sailboat with huge, full, pregnant sails. The catch line at the top of the page reads, SMOOTH SAILING WITH EPHEMEROL. In a little blurry-edged circle of light at the bottom right of the page, is a woman holding her child up to, presumably, the sun. ~other and child are both smiling dazzling smiles~

The copy in the lower left corner reads, "When you're a mother-to-be, the sea of life is often stormy~ You can smooth that sea with

- safe, effective, soothinq. EPHEMEROL - for anyone,

any time that stonn clouds threaten~"

•

•

•

While Vale reads the copy, Revak continues talking.

• REVOK

Yes. The man who invented Ephemerol wasn't too disappointed by the failure o:: his tranquilizer. He was much more excited about the weird mutation caused by his drug ... and so was ConSec. They offered to finance his experiments, and so· he sold them his com:?any and himself.

•

119. CONT'D •

• VALE

Then what did you need Keller for?

REVOK_

So negati?e, so defeatist, Cam. You sound like they did. There's a who le generation of Sc2nner soldiers just a few months away from being born. You and I will find them, Cam. We' 11 train

•

119. CON'I' 1 D

•

• though he's been reincarnated in you.

Vale tries to hit Revak with something hard, but only manages a glancing blow. Revak smashes Vale back with a quick scan.

Con t you think?

Revok sticks his mind into Vale's like an ice-pick. He begins to suck sounds and images out of Valets mind.

Vale goes into a frightening epileptic fit. His heart races, sweat pours off his face, he gasps for breath. Smoke begins to pour out of Vale's mouth, ears, nose. Revok is in a shuddering trance with the effort of draining Vale. Vale's body suddenly bursts into flame. As it burns, Revak starts to scream.

DISSOLVE TO

'If'

Kim regains consciousness painfully. MoEning light streams into ~he warehouse office from the warehouse skylights. Kim feels the dried blood on her nose and mouth, makes a feeble attempt to wipe it away. It doesn't come off.

Kim stands up, shaky. Suddenly, she gasps. Revak is sitting en the floor in the corner, staring off into space. In front of :-Jim lies a charred hu.Inan-sized shape, almost nothing but 2shes that have been so hot that they've charred the wood of the =ioor under them.

Kim falls on her knees beside the ashes. She reaches out to touch them ..

Revak looks at her, dreamy-eyed. He smiles a very enigmatic smile. When he speaks, his voice is Vale's voice.

•