Virtue's Ploy Part I
Welcome to book 2 of The DSU. If you want to download and own this in full as an ebook, please follow the links...
Before we start...
This is a story told in the rough form of a screenplay - a movie.
If you've never read a screenplay, you'll need to know the following:
EXT - Exterior. Found in scene headers to indicate we are outside.
INT - Interior. Also found in scene headers, but to indicate we are inside.
(O.S) - Off screen. Found next to character names.
(V.O) - Voice over. Also found next to character names.
(CONT'D) - Continued. Used to indicate continued speech next to character names.
SUPER: - Superimpose. To indicate text is seen over images.
The rest should be self-explanatory.
Enjoy...
FADE IN:
INT. BRIAN'S BATHROOM - MORNING
BRIAN (V.O)
Hey, I'm Brian.
Brian looks in the mirror, nods, then continues inspecting his face having just woken up.
BRIAN (V.O)
I'm an astronaut, not a particularly good one, but, what do you know? That means you think I can't say my life is boring or mundane.
Brian walks away from the mirror leaving us with the reflection of an empty bathroom.
BRIAN (V.O)
Well... you at least don't want to hear me complaining that when I wipe my ass the shit is brown. Every single time. Really, the whole astronaut business for me is a step inside of a bigger plan, but more on that later.
A roll of toilet paper sits on top of the toilet tank.
EXT. CORRIDOR
Brian walks through his house, down the stairs, to the kitchen.
The walls are bare save a biological science degree from Oxford University. The rest of the house is unremarkable, modern, seemingly expensive, nothing exciting.
BRIAN (V.O)
To be an astronaut, you used to have to have degrees from universities, thousands of hours of flight time, a blood pressure of one-hundred and forty over ninety and all that other shit anyone could find on the NASA astronaut requirements page. I guess it's still like that for the most part, but, times change.
INT. KITCHEN
Brian walks in, pours himself a cup of orange juice then sits down to drink it.
INT. EMPTY ROOM - WHITE BACKDROP - DAY
Brian stands, arms crossed, with 7 red plates spinning on 7 sticks about as tall as him.
BRIAN (V.O)
I do have a degree in biological science, but I also know how to spin plates. So what does that say?
INT. BRIAN'S KITCHEN - MORNING
Brian finishes his orange juice.
BRIAN
(to us)
Now, I don't work for NASA, at least not directly.
INT. COCKPIT OF A SMALL PLANE - DAY
Brian is wearing a red baseball cap and chewing gum.
BRIAN
I just fly planes...
INT. COCKPIT OF A FIGHTER JET - DAY
Wearing a flight helmet and speaking into a noise attenuation microphone.
BRIAN
... some jets...
INT. TRUCK CABIN - DAY
A blue worn out baseball cap.
BRIAN
... trucks, like the big eighteen wheelers, and other less impressive automobiles, you know, cars, bikes and so on.
INT. A TRAIN CAB - DAY
A YOUNGER BRIAN, sits excitedly in the front of a train.
YOUNGER BRIAN
I even drove a train one time when I was sixteen...
INT. COCKPIT OF A SPACE SHUTTLE - DAY
Brian sits in front of a massive control panel wearing casual clothes.
BRIAN
... but, what I'm really interested in is piloting spacecrafts.
Brian steps out of what is now clearly a model spacecraft cockpit in an empty museum. He walks past the plane and jet he was also sat in as he talks:
BRIAN
Despite being able to pilot any machine you throw at me, there's no place to drive one like space.
Brian stops, leans against a tank and smiles.
INT. BRIAN'S KITCHEN - MORNING
He takes his cup to the sink and starts washing up all the dishes.
BRIAN
To get into space is easy. I think the going rate for tickets to the orbit tour thing is only something like a couple of hundred. But, the only way you fly into space nowadays is to become an astronaut. For a while about thirty years ago, if you had the money, you could get your own space rocket, you know, a small one, and blast off. But, then some political bullshit lead to the united global government, U-G-G for future reference, saying no to that and locking down the skies so that only companies such as PNL, I don't know what that one stands for, could turn space into a tourist attraction. PNL also deals with a lot of satellite construction. Not the ones used for T.V and such, but structures like the hundreds of United Globe space stations. I'm a contracted pilot that works between NASA and PNL, basically for the government. What I do is fly workers and cargo between Earth and the space stations. Occasionally, I might get some real astronaut work.
EXT. FLIGHT DECK - DAY
Brian stands in front of a spacecraft on a busy flight deck of a colossal aircraft carrier.
Quite a way above Brian's head is the name SCARLETT in red on the nose of what looks like a bulky cargo plane crossed with a military jet.
BRIAN
This is a P-X-six-nine-two, I call her Scarlett. She is mine. She has a wingspan of three-hundred metres and is about three-hundred and seventy-five metres long. That's five times bigger than your average Boeing triple seven--or seven, seven, seven, however you want to say it. Scarlett can travel three-hundred-thousand kilometres on one tank of fuel. That's almost to the moon. And can do so in an average of twelve hours. Oh, I love her. I don't need to say that though. For one reason, she already knows, and for another, she can't hear me from here.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT - DAY
Brian sits in the cockpit seat facing the massive windscreen of his spacecraft.
BRIAN
But, she can hear me now. Hey, Scarlett.
SCARLETT
Hello, Brian.
BRIAN
Her voice is just so sexy. If I haven't heard it in a while it'll give me the shivers. She reminds me of Samantha, that AI computer app thing in Her, except our technology isn't that advanced yet. But, I'm still waiting on that update, you know, fingers crossed.
INT. BRIAN'S HOUSE - MORNING
Brian dries his hands at the sink in the kitchen and walks back upstairs.
BRIAN
You might say my life is good and maybe I could agree. I've got a nice home, a good job and just the best girl. It's just too bad that Scarlett's so into her work. But anyways, I mentioned that this whole astronaut bit is just apart of a bigger plan. Don't worry I haven't forgotten that. Do you remember the part where I said I have a biology degree. I think I showed you it... anyway, biology is my mistress. Don't look at me like I'm a bad guy, Scarlett knows, she just doesn't want to hear about it. So, you know, keep it shtum.
Brian walks through a door with the word LAB written in red tape on it.
INT. BRIAN'S LAB - MORNING
Brian stands in front of a microscope and an array of multi coloured specimen tubes and Petri dishes. He wears red gastight chemical protective overalls.
BRIAN
I wanted to get some blue overalls, but I could only find them in red. It was that or yellow, so...
Brian picks up a specimen tube.
BRIAN
This is the reason I have to wear this ridiculous thing and had to pay nearly a quarter of a million to retrofit this room into a lab. This is malaria...
Brian puts down the specimen and picks up three more.
BRIAN
This is mad cow disease, this is smallpox and this is HIV. These are the reasons I went to university--or college, if that's your persuasion. First to study biology and secondly to study virology. I only managed the degree in biology though. My virology professors were not nice people. Long story short, some people got ill and I had to get out out of university only having achieved my biology degree. That's what pushed me into the astronauting business, well, that and my piloting abilities. Not to brag, but I'm pretty talented.
He puts down the specimens.
BRIAN
Nowadays, no kid wants to be an astronaut. We're like the truckers of space, those guys in Alien. All the commercialism that has polluted space travel has also polluted children's perspectives of trained pilots who go out into space. They all want to be superheroes and fight Godzilla. The scary thing is someday soon that might be possible. That's why little Timmy and Betty want to grow up to be scientists. So they can fuck around with the genes of what used to be chickens, they're all called something different now though, or to screw with gravitons and various forms of dark energy. I'm going off on a tangent, so to get back on track, this is N-S-V-I-three, the non-specific virus inhibitor, three.
Brian gestures over to a silver silo.
BRIAN
This has the capacity to store tens of thousands of different viruses by completely neutralizing them so they are like comatosed death balls floating around, waiting to get in your body and make you piss your intestines and shit blood. But, what is even scarier than that machine is this...
He steps to the side revealing a small grey box with a specimen tube loaded into it.
BRIAN
This has no formal name. It is simply known as The Box. This is my very own invention, it's like a giant cell as it serves as an environment that viruses can be born into. In short, it can actually control the process of viral reproduction. That's just one function. If I feed it the right proteins, there are nucleotides within the machine that will form into DNA with lethal gene sequences. Viruses are like people, well, people are like viruses. To assume that we have a genetic predisposition, we can manipulate genes to manipulate behaviour. If the machine pieces together the right DNA strand it can produce a virus that'll behave in any way I want it to. All I have to do is hook up The Box to my computer and upload a code. In no time I can produce FUX eight, a virus of my own design that will make you shit blood until you die. And you thought I was joking before. I haven't managed to code a virus that'll make you piss your intestines yet. I'm still working on that one.
INT. SCARLETT'S CARGO BAY - DAY
Standing next to an open container with a chrome plated silo in it, Brian gasps.
BRIAN
You remember this guy? Well, no you don't because you haven't seen him before. This is N-S-V-I-two. He does exactly what three does just at a lower capacity. Packed in here I've got a whole load of airborne viruses of my own design as well as some of the classics such as HIV, influenza and hepatitis. These have been modified to be airborne and much more dangerous. With N-S-V-I-two we are going to fuck some shit up.
Brian closes the doors of the container, puts his fingers to his lips and walks off.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT - DAY
Brian is back in his seat looking out onto an ocean that meets a perfectly blue sky miles away on the horizon.
BRIAN
To quote some guy some teacher told me about in some class: control is 'an intrinsic necessity of life itself'. I don't know much about the guy, but he was right there. Without control a person understands that they have nothing in this world, though it may be true nobody likes to know it. Whether you believe in free will, a God or even the law, you conform to this idea of ownership and non-objective causality. The world revolves around one thing and that is the self, at least to an individual. All substance in this world: what you like, what you dislike, what you love, what you detest is a product of your mind. Everything only means what you tell yourself it does. So, if we don't have a sense of control, the ability to affect, we mean nothing to our environment.
SCARLETT
Sorry to interrupt, Brian, but orders are in.
BRIAN
It's ok, warm up and when you're ready, let's get up in the air.
The whole cockpit begins to hum. Brian brings his seat forward and straps himself in.
BRIAN
Control is best when microcosmic. People like to run a household, but as a part of a community that will sell them food, collect their rubbish and so on. A community only exists because someone is running a town or city making sure the government of a country funds public transport, schools and hospitals. Countries were run by political parties or monarchies, countries are now run by U-G-G. People like to have control over controlled situations, so I figure, if the world became fully connected through wires, waves, roads and a certain degree of peace, which gave rise to the U-G-G... why shouldn't I have a go at controlling an already controlled situation? The U-G-G and in turn, the world.
SCARLETT
Ok, Brian, we're ready.
Brian turns to us and smiles.
BRIAN
Yes, we are.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT - LATER
On the way to the docking station Brian is bored, autopilot is on and he has nothing to do.
BRIAN
Scarlett, you know who you're named after?
SCARLETT
No.
BRIAN
I haven't told you before?
SCARLETT
No.
BRIAN
(to us)
Maybe she's just being polite.
(to her)
What do you know about movies?
SCARLETT
Nothing I'm afraid.
BRIAN
Well, there's this one called Gone With The Wind. You, my dear Scarlett, are named after the lead. Scarlett O'Hara.
SCARLETT
Oh?
BRIAN
Oh? Where'd you get off saying 'oh'?
(imitates)
Oh?
SCARLETT
What do you mean?
BRIAN
Nothing. Anyhow, you should know, Scarlett O'Hara is an anomaly, a paradox.
SCARLETT
Oh?
BRIAN
(shaking his head)
Yes. You see, in film, characters, especially the leads, must be likeable, or understandable. If they're not, then the film, it could be The Godfather, All About Eve or Fargo, will be absolute shit. For me at least. There's no point in watching if there's nobody to take us through the story.
SCARLETT
This is quite hard to follow.
BRIAN
Yes, that's because you don't know about film.
(looks to us and shakes his head)
SCARLETT
Tell me then, why is she a paradox?
BRIAN
Because, on paper, she's a cunt. Excuse my French.
SCARLETT
It's all right.
BRIAN
It's strange you know. Out and out, she's my favourite character in any film. For each second she is on screen, my eyes are just glued to her. But, it's almost as if she was written to be the antagonist.
SCARLETT
What is this film about?
BRIAN
In one sense, it's about the death of the old south, but in another, it's about... what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a lady.
SCARLETT
And she's not a lady?
BRIAN
What makes you say that?
SCARLETT
She's the antagonist.
BRIAN
And a lady is better than or less antagonistic than a woman?
SCARLETT
I have no opinion on the matter.
BRIAN
Why would you? She isn't a lady anyhow. By the standards of the old south at least.
SCARLETT
So, I was right.
BRIAN
In what? Asking a question?
SCARLETT
Well, I said--
BRIAN
Why a computer has such a sense of pride--
SCARLETT
Oh, now don't break the illusion.
BRIAN
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
(back to it:)
I don't know why it is. What on Earth makes her so likeable?
SCARLETT
I see no reason why you shouldn't like an antagonist.
BRIAN
It's not like I want HAL 9000--best not tell you about that.
SCARLETT
What?
BRIAN
Best not to break the illusion.
SCARLETT
What?
BRIAN
I was saying that I don't always root for the antagonist, the bad guys.
(to us)
What? You think I watch Schindler's List and pull for the Germans.
(to himself, imitating Turkish from Snatch)
Ze Germans.
SCARLETT
Then that's why Scarlett O'Hara's a paradox.
BRIAN
No, not at all. Bad guys are quite often more likeable than anyone else. The Joker, Dark Knight. Anton, No Country For Old Men. Ferris in Ferris Bueller's Day Off... if you think about it.
SCARLETT
You're losing me again.
BRIAN
I know, I know. But, in the cases just mentioned, the characters have ideals that are relatable or, as in other cases, such as Alex's in A Clockwork Orange--that was a book too, you read don't you?
SCARLETT
I've not read that one.
BRIAN
Not available in binary?
SCARLETT
(scoffs)
That makes sense.
BRIAN
Ow, you hurt me.
SCARLETT
What can I say?
BRIAN
Stop pushing me off track. Uh... oh yeah, Alex had personality, personality can get you anywhere, no matter what you do. In the world of cinema.
SCARLETT
And Scarlett doesn't?
BRIAN
Duh, of course she does, it's just not a good one, in a certain sense.
Scarlett sighs.
BRIAN
I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why she is just so brilliant. She has unsavoury ideals. She acts like a child. And she never properly changes.
SCARLETT
She ever get naked?
BRIAN
No.
SCARLETT
She got big boobs?
BRIAN
No.
SCARLETT
Well, then she's beautiful.
BRIAN
I don't think I've ever heard you say boobs.
SCARLETT
What would you rather I say?
BRIAN
Boobs is just fine, I like the way you said it. Say it again.
SCARLETT
Boobs?
Brian smiles.
SCARLETT
You are such a child. This isn't going to be like the time you heard me say--
BRIAN
Oh, come on! There's just some things--
SCARLETT
Some things that you just can't help but fixate on, like a pretty face.
BRIAN
Well.. what can I say?
SCARLETT
How pretty of a face does one need to have to be one of your favourite characters?
BRIAN
Hold on, you can't put it all down to the fact that Vivien Leigh is...
(shudders at the thought of her)
There are no words worth saying, just... whew. What she does with simple facial expressions, the rise of an eyebrow... I dream of what put Scarlett in that good mood--but you have no idea of what I'm talking about.
(to us)
P.S. That good mood is in reference to the night Rhett almost crushes her head then carries her up the stairs, everything seeming pretty rapey. Cut to Scarlett the next morning, happy as can be, duly satisfied. Now, I'm not saying I like the idea of rape, or even that she was. The woman was satisfied. But, giving Scarlett O'Hara a good pounding? And with Clark Gable's dick? Who'd pass that up?
(to Scarlett)
To think, another actress, the film could have failed. Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind Paulette Goddard, the one from Modern Times--but, again, you have no idea what I'm talking about.
(to us)
Oh! Speaking of...
CUT TO:
ON SCREEN we see the part of Modern Times where Charlie and Paulette are sitting under the tree having just discussed their wanting to have a home together in the future.
BRIAN (V.O)
Watch. She says: 'shit, I'm hungry'.
Paulette turns to the camera and gestures that she's hungry, mouthing those apparent words.
BRIAN (V.O)
(laughs)
You see it? Here watch again.
We play the bit again, but this time as she gestures and mouths the words:
WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O)
Shit, I'm hungry.
BRIAN (V.O)
Fuck me, isn't that great! I love that woman. Anyhow...
CUT TO:
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
BRIAN
What did you say? I'm sorry, I got distracted.
SCARLETT
I said I don't have any idea what you are talking about.
BRIAN
Why don't you just Google the stuff?
SCARLETT
I couldn't possibly divide my attention.
BRIAN
(to us)
Yes, Google still exists. On the decline though.
(to Scarlett)
Thanks, but you're also flying the ship.
SCARLETT
And you're breathing.
BRIAN
I never said you had my full attention and that doesn't mean my concentration is divided.
SCARLETT
Well, that's surprising--
BRIAN
What are trying to say?
SCARLETT
A pretty face--a pretty voice, and it seems like even breathing becomes hard for you without thinking about it.
BRIAN
Are you trying to embarrass me?
(to us)
Is she trying to embarrass me?
SCARLETT
What can I say?
BRIAN
It's not that she's beautiful. I think it's something about what a woman means to... well, humanity.
SCARLETT
Humanity, as in what it means to be human?
BRIAN
I don't know much about that. No, um, just people. Hold on... I think it's coming to me...
(thinks)
To be a woman is more than often to be this pressured, poked, prodded and idolised thing. But, they're defiant.
(to us)
They're all thinking 'things'. But, that's my point.
(to her)
The reason why woman means, woman, is because they are the centre of humanity. They're what it revolves around. The end all and be all of us all. Scarlett O'Hara is the perfect example of the fact that women are just people, whilst men can never be more then men. A woman is like a rock...
(to us, in self-derision)
A rock! What is he talking about?
(to her)
Women are to men as rocks are to unicorns. Women exist in reality whilst a man is merely an extension of a childish imagination. Whilst a woman has all these things projected onto her, namely, the concept of a woman, lady, she is, or should completely be, a person who simply gets what she wants.
(to us)
Men rule the world, but the world is just an idea, an idea of control, control we do not have. Anyhow, that was all perfectly explored in Enemy, in my opinion at least. Either way, I more than recommend it, an undeniable classic, a perfect film.
(to her)
Miss O'Hara is the best character on screen simply because she is remembered as Scarlett, not Butler, not Kennedy, not Hamilton, but O'Hara. Men are simply creatures at her feet that she's fond of. And ladies. Ladies?
(scoffs)
SCARLETT
What's that got to do with humanity?
BRIAN
People know their own bullshit and the bullshit of others around them, even if they don't say so, or know so consciously. Scarlett is so likeable and Gone With The Wind is one of the best films ever made because we get to experience a no bullshit woman who has her ideals and acts by them as a person true to herself. Shit, I can't imagine a Gone With The Wind where she had learnt to not stick to herself and who she is, but how to be a lady instead. Who'd want to see that character arc?
(to us)
P.S. The meaning of this movie was probably in the last few parts.
SCARLETT
And everyone loves Gone With The Wind, Scarlett O'Hara?
BRIAN
Well, shit...
(to us)
Nope, there's the meaning of the movie... probably.
SCARLETT
Brian?
BRIAN
(to us)
If you don't get it... well, it's down to you anyway.
(to Scarlett)
Yes.
SCARLETT
I don't have a last name.
BRIAN
Are you holding that against me?
SCARLETT
Why shouldn't I?
BRIAN
I don't have an opinion on the matter.
They fly in silence for a moment.
BRIAN
I'd hate to imagine the smile on your face if you had one. How much farther have we got?
SCARLETT
Not far.
INT. SPACE CRAFT HANGAR - LATER
Brian makes his way out of Scarlett's massive bay doors and down an extending access ramp.
BRIAN (O.S)
Whoa! That might have seemed like a good place to cut, but hold on...
CUT TO:
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
Back with Brian.
BRIAN
By my saying that women are better than men, well... that's not what I meant. You see, women don't exist. Now there's your quote. Women don't exist because first and foremost I am a man. Secondly, I am stuck in my own head. I'm an individual. Which means you don't exist either...
He just looks at us.
BRIAN
You can cut away now, I've said my piece. Figure it out if y--
CUT TO:
INT. SPACE CRAFT HANGAR - LATER
Brian makes his way out of Scarlett's massive bay doors and down an extending access ramp.
He's in a gigantic hangar full of hundreds of ships, some like Scarlett, some bigger, some smaller, but all sat within yellow parking zones.
There are thousands of people making their way in and around their spacecrafts, carrying luggage and following in lines behind container boxes all intended for a spacecraft.
Brian walks to the edge of his designated parking area where a short grey pillar protrudes out of the ground.
BRIAN
Crew of one, aboard P-X-six-nine-two, Scarlett. Reporting as FR and vacant. What am I taking with me?
The pillar spits out a small sheet of paper that Brian picks up and walks back toward Scarlett with.
BRIAN
FR is flight ready and what that pillar just spat out is a basic rundown of my job. Simply put...
(reading the sheet)
... I've got eleven passengers and two containers. Who's coming aboard and what's in the containers is probably being relayed to Scarlett right now. These bits of paper are just to make the pilot feel like he's needed. I mean, you heard what I said, crew of one. The Starship Enterprise had something like two thousand people and the Millennium Falcon at least had Solo and Chewy. The whole process is practically fully automated. I'm just a seat filler that ensures nothing goes wrong, or at least be there to be blamed when it does.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
Brian is sitting in his seat folding up the rundown sheet and putting it in his pocket.
BRIAN
See what I mean, there's no massive control panel, just a screen, joy stick thing and a few necessary buttons. But anyway, Scarlett?
SCARLETT
Yes.
BRIAN
Who and what have we got coming on board today?
SCARLETT
We have seven engineers, two doctors and four professors. I assume you don't want any names. And in the containers is a deck loader and some parts for various sections inside space station seventeen. This will all be picked up in bay two at twenty-three hundred.
BRIAN
Ok, thanks.
SCARLETT
No problem. And the order is in for a pick up of three containers, like you asked.
BRIAN
All right. Oh, wait, have you got an ETA on the passengers and cargo?
SCARLETT
The cargo is being loaded now so you need to go sign for it and the passengers will be strapped in momentarily.
BRIAN
I'll be off then.
INT. SCARLETT CARGO BAY - LATER
Brian takes a clipboard off a holder in the door of a container and scribbles a signature onto it, he then walks over to the next and does the same.
BRIAN
Another stupid formality. Completely needless.
INT. CORRIDOR - LATER
He walks past the passenger cabin. On passing he checks all are seated, but doesn't linger long.
INT. SCARLETT'S COCKPIT
In he comes, taking his seat.
BRIAN
Are we ok for takeoff?
SCARLETT
Sure, why not.
BRIAN
What does that mean?
SCARLETT
You're not strapped in.
Brian puts his seatbelt on.
SCARLETT
Ready for take off.
Brian looks at us as the ship starts to hum and raises his eyebrows.
INT. SPACE CRAFT HANGAR
Scarlett rises up and slowly backs out of the hangar before turning around and shooting off into darkness.
INT. SPACE STATION 17 - DOCKING BAY 2 - LATER
Scarlett pulls into a bay much like the hangar back on Earth, but emptier. After she lands three small deck loaders enter the bay doors.
They soon re-emerge with the three containers from Scarlett's cargo bay tailed by the eleven passengers.
Brian walks out of the bay doors a few seconds later and goes over to a small pillar in the corner of the parking segment.
INT. SPACE STATION 17 - CARGO BAY
Brian opens the doors to his container that holds N-S-V-I-two, walks in, closing the door behind him.
INT. CONTAINER
Brian pulls a small flashlight from his pocket, dislodging some other things that fall on the floor.
BRIAN
Shit.
He turns the flashlight on, finds the light hung on the N-S-V-I-two and switches it on.
He picks up the screwdriver and pocket knife he dropped.
BRIAN
We'll need these later.
Brian pushes a button on the N-S-V-I-two so its screen turns on.
As he works:
BRIAN
The security around here is awful by the way. It is everywhere nowadays. There will be cameras running, but nobody checks them any more. Crime rates are practically negligible in almost every country in the world. I guess the fourth world war really took it out of everyone. Nonetheless, I've gotten Scarlett to take over the space station's security systems so that those cameras will all be under her control and no one knows what I'm doing.
He reaches around the machine to pick up two small remotes then walks out of the container, turning the lights off.
INT. CORRIDOR - LATER
BRIAN
Now, the plan is to infiltrate the main bridge on the station. You remember that whole bit don't you?
Brian pushes a door open with the words janitor's storeroom on it.
INT. JANITOR'S STOREROOM
He puts his hand into some blue overalls, picks out a card attached to a lanyard and backs out.
INT. CORRIDOR
BRIAN
This is a janitor's security card, it accesses all parts of the space station. Can you believe that the cards are considered part of the uniform and they just keep them in the storerooms? That's why their doors are unlocked. It's crazy.
Brian starts walking through corridors past people who don't even seem to notice him.
He reaches an elevator and pushes the button to call it down.
INT. ELEVATOR
Empty.
PING
The doors open. Brian steps in.
BRIAN
Don't think this will be hard to do, the main bridge is just a click away.
He pushes a button labeled MB, then holds the security card up to a scanner below the button panel.
INT. MAIN BRIDGE
Brian walks into a circular terminal with about ten people only manning ten of the thirty computers.
He walks over to a computer, presses a yellow button on the keyboard and steps away.
The pilot comes out of his compartment in the centre of the terminal and goes over to the computer.
INT. PILOT'S COMPARTMENT
Brian sneaks in the closing door, pushes it shut and turns his attention to the panel next to the door.
BRIAN
Pilot will be distracted for about three minutes. Here's where we use the screwdriver.
He pulls out a screwdriver from his pocket and takes off the panel, revealing a lot of wires. He puts the screwdriver and panel down then takes out the pocket knife.
BRIAN
A card, pocket knife and screwdriver and that's it.
Using the knife he cuts all the wires, this causes the light above the door to switch off and the door to fall slightly ajar.
BRIAN
Really, all it took was a bit of courage. As with most things...
Brian pulls out the remote and pushes a button.
BOOOOM
The whole room shakes, a few people screaming outside.
Brian puts his shoulder to the cockpit door, listening for footsteps that approach.
He braces himself...
BEEP
Brian jumps away from the door.
B-B-BANG
Security shutters slam down all around the room leaving Brian in complete darkness.
BRIAN
They didn't even make it to the door. And listen to the silence. Soundproofed so we don't hear them banging.
BEEP
BRIAN
Now... four, three, two, one.
VOICE
Emergency reroute. You will not be able to leave this room. Stay calm. Help is available.
BRIAN
Two part emergency system. You break the door then you set off an explosion and they think they're under siege. Which they are.
The light turns back on and a screen on top of the control panel comes to life. It's blank for a second but then a woman's face pops up.
SECURITY CONTROL WOMAN
What's your emergency, seventeen?
BRIAN
Well, their emergency seems to be me. What you might call a terrorist.
The screen quickly goes blank again.
FLASH
A scan is thrown out from the panel.
BRIAN
That's an information check. Probably to assess me. But, it'll take them a while to find the files I got buried.
Brian takes a seat in front of the control panel and sits patiently with his hands in his lap.
BRIAN
Negotiations. Forgive me if I ignore you for a little bit here. I'll try to avoid the politics as much as I can.
The screen turns back on with a man in place of the woman.
BRIAN
Hello.
CHIEF OF SECURITY
I'm the chief of security of this control centre. What is it that you want?
Brian turns and smiles at us.
BRIAN
Is there anything else I can call you? Andy, Steve, Joe, Isabelle? Come on, help me out.
JOE
Joe.
BRIAN
Well, would you have guessed it? Listen, Joe, I'm Brian and I have killed everyone on this ship. Most of them may not be dead yet, but they soon will be, so let's just call it as it will be.
JOE
Listen here you twisted fuck--
BRIAN
I don't think that's the right way to go about this. This is how it's going to go--
JOE
No, this is how it's going to go--
BRIAN
No! This is how it's going to go! You interrupt me one more time, everybody dies, you piss me off, everybody dies, you fuck around, everyone dies. So... it seems you've got a lot of weight on shoulders right now. Gravitas, boy. Gravitas, mucho. But, let me clarify who everyone is. Everyone is each and every person on Earth right now. Their lives are in my hands, they have been for quite a long time. But, now I'm letting you know. Joe, you aren't going to be a hero after this, you won't take me down, you will not win. You are here to facilitate a smooth progression of events. So, this is what I want you to do first. I want you to call the head of security, not of your quadrant, the head of the whole shithole. I then want you to get him to get hold of the head of the U-G-G. If there's any faster way to do that, then do it, use your incentive, just don't say another word. Turn the screen off and get back to me when you're done, well, not you. This is where we say goodbye.
After a moment of blank faces, the screen turns off. Brian sits back in his chair, putting his hands back in his lap.
BRIAN
He didn't say goodbye.
The screen quickly turns back on with a woman's face now in view.
BRIAN
Who the fuck are you?
HEAD OF QUADRANT 4
Hello, I'm the head of quadrant 4.
BRIAN
(sighs)
At least you said hello. Hello, head of quadrant four, I'm Brian. Have you got anything else I can call you, Sally, Joan, Wendy--
ELIZA
Eliza.
BRIAN
Fine. Hello, Eliza.
ELIZA
Brian, I don't know if you're doing this because you're depressed or because nobody does this crazy ass shit any more--
BRIAN
The second one.
ELIZA
But, we're not going to help you. If you actually have killed everyone on board the space station then you are going to jail. And guess what, it won't even be on the news, it'll be covered up as an accident.
BRIAN
You haven't even let me tell you my master plan.
ELIZA
Are you going to start monologuing because you're not actually going to bomb downtown Chicago, or because you really like the sound of your own voice and think we won't be able to stop you?
BRIAN
I am going to give you a monologue because I really like the sound of my own voice and I know that I have a pretty good chance of getting what I want from this.
ELIZA
Go on then.
BRIAN
The world is a pretty peaceful place, I'd like to be in charge.
There's a few seconds of silence as they look at each other.
ELIZA
Is that it? Monologues are supposed to be long.
BRIAN
Well, then it wasn't a monologue.
ELIZA
What the fuck? I truly am dealing with a psycho--for what reason would we put you in charge of the world?
BRIAN
Who the fuck are you? You're just the head of sector seven--
ELIZA
Quadrant four.
BRIAN
You aren't part of a 'we' that could put me in charge, so why would I have to convince you of anything other than the fact that I've already killed thousands of people within the last ten minutes. Ish.
ELIZA
How?
BRIAN
You're the head of quadrant four, how the fuck do you not know this yet?
Eliza stares at Brian for a moment.
BRIAN
Either you're stalling for time, or you need to fire some people, well, some more people, that's before you and everyone else in the security department is sacked. You have no idea how easy this was to do. Anyhow, down to the murdering. I, as you should already have assumed, am quite the mastermind. I've managed to create a machine that can synthesise any virus I want. I took many of those viruses and stored them in a container that just blew up releasing them into the space station. These obviously aren't your everyday viruses, they're all airborne and fast spreading. By now a quarter of the ship will be dead in pools of there own pus, shit and bile. In about thirty minutes anyone in infected air should be dead, that's everybody apart from me and like a dozen other people sucking on--
The whole room goes dark. All electric has been turned off.
Brian sighs and sits back in his chair.
The air vents in the ceiling slowly wind down, no longer humming.
INT. THE PILOT'S COMPARTMENT - LATER
Brian still sits in the dark twiddling his thumbs.
The control panel before him has been opened, a few wires exposed.
BRIAN
I've opened this up so when they check for visual confirmation that I'm dead and the doors automatically lift, I can cut their signal before they're shut--
BEEP
BRIAN
I'll see if I can fit the rest in the dialogue.
He sit forward, holding the pocket knife to the exposed wires.
The lights turn back on, the security doors rise, Brian cuts the wire, the security door comes to a clunky stop.
Eliza pops up on the screen, seeing the open doors, but before she can react:
BRIAN
Eliza, you asshole, you leave me sitting in the dark for an hour listening to people scream and moan as their digestive tracts eat themselves. You sadistic bitch. I'm immune to the viruses carried in the infected air, dumbass. I'm insulted you'd think me so stupid. But, you know what, Eliza? I like you, so... I'll forgive you. Who knows maybe I'll make you my secretary a month or two down the line. I'd be glad to have you if you'd take the job.
Eliza just shakes her head.
BRIAN
I get it, you're pretty bummed that I'm not dead and this isn't over, but you mustn't have thought your job could stay so easy.
ELIZA
This is Ed.
Eliza stands up out of shot letting ED take her place.
ED
I'm the governmental liaison working between quadrants one through nine and U-G-G.
BRIAN
No, you're Ed. What is with you people and titles?
ED
You will not be able to talk with any member of the U-G-G other than me. I am here to negotiate your surrender.
BRIAN
And what's going to make me surrender?
ED
Missiles, guns, explosives...
BRIAN
Well, Ed, let me tell you this, the lives of everyone on Earth are in my hands. I've said this before, but just know I'm not kidding.
ED
And how's that?
BRIAN
I assume that you are aware of the fact that everyone on this space station apart from me is dead. I did this by infecting them all with viruses I manufactured in my home. In said home is a silo holding a lot more of those deadly diseases, an awful lot more. I am threatening you with the idea that I will release all these diseases that will, in approximately three days, have spread all around the world, killing more or less everybody. There is no way to stop the viruses, no quarantine zone, no nothing. Big boom, everyone dies. That is, if I alone am not made the head of U-G-G, the king of the world, ruler of earth, you get it.
ED
Brian, I'm sure you have friends and family that wouldn't--
BRIAN
Nope, that one won't work.
ED
Then let me ask you this: what will you do when only seven percent of all the human race remain, in space?
BRIAN
Good rhyme. Threaten to kill them all with my viruses and go colonise Mars.
ED
Funny.
BRIAN
Seriously though, right now it's all or nothing. You allow me to run U-G-G or the world and everyone else gets it. Oh, and by the way, you've probably sent people to my home to disable what you assume to be a bomb. It's not, it's simply a container. If it's opened up in any way or even lifted from the floor it's bolted to it will release all the viruses. The only reason it hasn't is because my brain is still alive and I haven't pushed this button.
Brian lifts up a remote.
FLASH
Another scan. Brian groans.
BRIAN
There is a receiver in the silo containing the viruses that is constantly receiving a signal from this remote. When my brain dies or I push this button, the signal stops being sent. Simple. Well, I mean, it hurt quite a bit sticking chunks of metal in my skull, but whatever.
ED
I have no idea what to say.
BRIAN
Well, you wouldn't, you're part of a company that for almost a century hasn't dealt with anything more than people not returning library books on time. You don't know what chaos is, and for some reason neither does the rest of the world.
