Receptacle Infinity Part IV
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INT. GARY'S MIND - MOON
The figure, the flat light of the sun still bending around her, waits.
Gary clambers, the thousands of voices, the screams, taunts, hollers, dying down, falling away, leaving...
... silence.
From it rises the...
Inhale...
Exhale...
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
(somewhat sympathetic)
Why when there's nothing, Gary?
Inhale...
Exhale...
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
We've always said you were...
Inhale...
Exhale...
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
... sad. The...
Inhale...
Exhale...
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
... word... just as weak as the man, because...
Inhale...
Exhale...
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
... it's all you can manage.
Teeth grit, brushing the silent outstretched hands and fists away, Gary pushes harder, scaling the summit of the hill.
The archway darkens the closer he comes.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S)
... please...
The female figure is shrouded in thickening shadow as the crest of the hill rolls back, Gary mere feet away and closing in, the figure now hidden by a shadow screen.
He makes it to the top...
BAM
... slamming his fists against the black wall...
BAM-BAM-BAM
GARY
No!
He falls against the solid shadow...
GARY
No!
... then to his knees, the army behind him static, lifeless.
The wall in the archway glistens, an outline emerging:
The Deep Breather.
Chinks of orange light filter through the figure as it looks down on Gary.
DEEP BREATHER (V.O)
Why?
Gary stands, nose-to-nose with it, its features indistinguishable, skin textureless.
He exhales vehemence, balling his hand into a fist, pushing it against the Deep Breather's chest.
The orange glow dulls, chinks of light closing, the shadow liquifying...
Gary steps through the figure passing into...
INT. GARY'S MIND - ARCHWAY
BAM
... he's immediately forced to his knees, a hand clamping around his throat, the figure looming above.
Gary's fingers find a leg, hips, griping onto fabric...
INT. OLLY'S MIND - ZOO
Diluted blood drips from Olly's quivering hand. He limps for the blackened opening in the wall.
The waters lining the pit Olly has fallen into grow murky, swell, burbling, spilling, spluttering over shore, rippling over the watery footsteps, the droplets of blood, gushing around the soles of Olly's boots.
He splashes forward...
OLLY (O.S)
(distant)
Fucking squeeze her head off... destroy the cunt... hate... hate... just... hate...
Olly slows, recognising his own voice.
OLLY (O.S)
... want to go home... drive a knife into her face... watch the blood... fucking... simply don't like you... I... I... don't care enough to hate... no love... nothing... void... hate... nothing there to fix.
He stops, defeated.
Silence...
The water rises around Olly's ankles.
His eyes trace across the liquid murk toward the doorway into darkness.
A green face, twisted and beaten, pushes forward.
Water sloshes up Olly's shins, rising fast. He wades forward, stumbling.
The green figure approaches, gliding through the waters, the waves rippling toward Olly and, stronger than they look, push him backward - the current too strong to wade against.
Olly pushes harder, trying to stay on his feet, fighting to close the distance between himself and the now stationary green figure.
The water rises indifferently, Olly starting to float, trying to swim, but unable to move, unable to do anything more than splash.
The green figure stares, its voice resonating all around from nowhere:
FIGURE (V.O)
Where does the change of heart come from, Olly? You hate the woman. You think love is possession? You think that that's all right?
OLLY (O.S)
Fuck you! You--
The water's shoulder height, Olly treading water, violently kicking, throwing his arms in a futile attempt to move.
FIGURE (V.O)
I, what? It was me!? It was my fault!? Or am I the green eyed monster? Or maybe... just maybe... we've got our metaphors mixed.
The water level rises above the green figure's head, consuming it.
Olly yells, diving down, still wanting to attack.
Still, he fights to swim forward hopelessly. The green figure stands below him on the ground, calm.
FIGURE (V.O)
What are you trying to prove?
INT. EDDY'S MIND - ROOM
Tears streaming, eyes darting, Eddy tries to make a sound, tries to find some way to escape the creature, its glaring eye.
Indifferent, headphones still...
HEADPHONES
... can't live anymore...
... the Creature moves to the end of the metal slab. Eddy strains, looking down the length of his naked, exposed body to the Creature looming over him, assessing his crotch, meat cleaver in hand.
Eddy, squeezes his eyes shut, turning away, turning his gaze toward the glass window, past the meat hooks and slabs, into the pitch gloom.
HEADPHONES
... living is without you...
The oily fingers wrap around Eddy's knees, sliding down his thighs, gripping, pulling them further apart and him down the metal slab.
HEADPHONES
... no, n-n-no, no, I can't...
Eddy can do nothing more than stare into the darkness...
INT. GARY'S MIND - ARCHWAY
A hand descends, fingers running through Gary's hair, caressing his ear.
He looks up.
From the vacuum of silence rises a...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
Gary's eyes skim over the fabric of a dress, over the curve of a hip, stomach, breast, chest, chin...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
The hand, pulls Gary's head into the dress, his face pressed against the female figures mid-section.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
The violent cacophony beyond the walls of the now enclosed archway swells...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
... the pounding ceaseless, rising, intensifying...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
Through grit teeth Gary cries, gripping onto the fabric in his hands tighter.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
The hands on his head tense, gripping his hair, veins stressed, knuckles whitening, arms pulling him in harder, trying to smother.
Gary's cries are muffled then drowned out by the constant pounding around...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
C-CRACK
Chips of solid black material burst away from the walls, the creatures outside breaking through.
The female figure pulls Gary's head into her stomach with growing malevolence, her body morphing, the dress dripping away, liquifying.
Gary's head breaks through the seal of the dress, of flesh, the female figure doubling over.
C-CRACK
The walls splinter, burst open, hands reach, tearing through...
INT. OLLY'S MIND - ZOO
With everything he has, Olly still fights to swim toward the green figure.
FIGURE (V.O)
It's all a lie. Olly, this is pathetic. It's useless.
Olly chokes, gagging for air, refusing to turn toward the surface.
FIGURE (V.O)
There's no fixing this.
The figures turns away, a current tearing out of the blackened hole in the wall, ripping into Olly, sending him careening toward the surface, toward the intensifying light that bites through the water.
INT. EDDY'S MIND - ROOM
Eddy bangs his head against the metal table top, suppressing useless cries.
The creature leans forward, between his open legs and grabs a hunk of flesh, meat cleaver coming over its head.
FIGURE (V.O)
There's no fixing this.
Eddy snaps his eyes open about to plead, but a flash of silver and...
BAM
INT. GARY'S MIND - ARCHWAY
Gary struggles, head consumed by the woman's torso.
B-B-B-B-BOOM
C-CRACK
Huge chunks of wall start to break away, whole arms reaching, slicing at air.
FIGURE (V.O)
There's no fixing this.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S)
Stop dreaming.
The dress in Gary's grip turns to goop...
C-CRACK
... falling away...
B-B-BOOM
... the woman gone.
He heaves on his knees.
BOOOOOM
The walls break down, the army of silhouettes surge...
INT. OLLY'S MIND - ZOO
Helplessly, Olly flails toward the surface, breaking, thrashing up top, trying to come his senses.
The roar of the gushing water, the piercing wind, deafens. The light of the star above, the haze of water vapour all around, blinds.
The water level still rises.
Olly's brought closer and closer to the curling, white hot flames of the miniscule sun, the water around him boiling as he screams in agony.
INT. EDDY'S MIND - ROOM
BAM
The bloodied blade comes down again...
THWAK
... crimson droplets splattering...
THWAK
... flesh ripping...
THWAK
... bone crunching.
SMACK
A hunk of meat is thrown against the wall, the creature going back to work on Eddy's crotch, slicing, stabbing, dragging slabs of gristle and flesh away.
THWAK
THWAK
THWAK
Eddy's features scream, no noise, lips stretched back over his gums, skin blared red, veins taught, protruding, folds around his eyes juddering, tears streaming.
THWAK
THWAK
SMACK
Eddy's legs are slapped closed, the creature going for one of the hooks hanging before the window.
Through tears, eyes red, stressed, Eddy looks out of the window toward the tiny light lost in the distance of the gloom beyond.
The creature pulls one of the hooks down.
The chain that attaches it to a rail system above clinks as the creature returns to Eddy.
He's flipped onto his front, hands slapped onto his back, pinching his flesh, the hook pressed against the pulled skin.
With one stern yank...
BAM
... the hook tears through Eddy's back.
Silent screams pour from Eddy's tortured features.
He smacks his head against the table, breathing erratically, slowly giving up.
His eyelids bob, he starts to lose consciousness.
The creature leaves him to press a button on the side of the table. The chain attached to the hook clinks again as it tightens, lifting Eddy up, holding him dangled a few feet off the ground...
SQUELCH
... hung like butchered beef, blood cascades down his thighs, dripping off his toes, tabs, lumps, masses of fleshy material plastered all around his mid-section, nothing but a crimson mire between his legs.
The creatures waddles over, grabs his arm and swings.
Lifeless, Eddy glides toward across the rails, toward the window.
INT. GARY'S MIND - ARCHWAY
Gary turns on his back, scrambling backwards, up onto his feet, the mass of violent shadow merging into a sable efflux...
BAM
... it powers into Gary, driving him...
B-BOOOOOM
INT. GARY'S MIND - MOON
... through the back wall, propelling him miles away, towards the 2D image of the sun on the skin of space above.
The impure orange glow intensifies as Gary hurtles.
INT. OLLY'S MIND - ZOO
The waters still rise, Olly's flesh bright red, peeling, stripping away as he comes ever closer to the sharpening light.
INT. EDDY'S MIND - ROOM
The window gone, the darkness beyond stretches away as the pin-point of light erupts toward Eddy, blinding.
THE SCREEN SPLITS INTO THREE
LEFT: MIDDLE: RIGHT: The lights amalgamate, burning brilliant white, consuming...
WHITEWASH
The pure white sullies, grows grimy...
... a hand reaches. Eddy.
CUT TO:
From a purple mist...
... a hand. Gary.
CUT TO:
A blue skin ruptures...
... a hand. Olly.
CUT TO:
Darkness.
Silence...
FADE IN:
INT. BELL - KITCHEN
Eddy lies amongst the knives and forks.
INT. COCKPIT
Gary groans, coming to underneath the control panel.
INT. SHIP
Olly picks himself up, seeing Bell, his hand finding the cord on his belt again.
He starts forward.
INT. COCKPIT
Gary sits in his chair turned away from the control panel, his head in his hands.
Silence...
BANG
A green hand slaps against the cockpit window.
Gary spins around, fear plastered on his face.
Olly's face pops up on the windshield - he's pulled himself up using the cord.
His look fades from a half smile with a tinge of hope to abject despair when Gary's fear fails to wane.
There's a strange moment of realisation before Gary nods and turns back to the corridor.
INT. CORRIDOR
As he walks down, he checks the doors, they all open. He pushes Eddy's bedroom door open. Empty.
GARY
Eddy?
Still no reply.
Gary timidly approaches the kitchen, turns the corner.
INT. KITCHEN
Nothing.
He kneels to pick up the grey box amongst the cutlery, completely confused.
EDDY (O.S)
Gary?
GARY
Eddy, where the fuck are you?
Gary pokes his head out of the kitchen door to see Eddy coming toward him.
INT. CORRIDOR
EDDY
Where the fuck were you?
They stare at each other, neither wanting to question the absurd situation.
EDDY
Olly is -
GARY
I know, just go to the control panel. I'll call it out.
(sighs)
Eddy hesitantly turns to go back to the cockpit.
INT. SHIP
Olly stands under Bell, dumbstruck.
After a moment of silent thought, he checks his pocket finding the grey box.
INT. KITCHEN
Gary looks at the fork in his hand again then drops it.
GARY
Ready?
EDDY (O.S)
Ready.
GARY
Alright.. three, two, one and go.
Gary plugs in the grey box, the lights turn on, the hatches pop open...
CLUNK
CLUNK
CLUNK
... he looks down to see Olly standing ready with the grey box in hand.
GARY
Throw it.
Olly tosses the grey box up through the airlock for Gary to catch...
CLUNK
CLUNK
CLUNK
... just making it through before the hatches slam shut and the lights go out.
Gary unplugs the dead cell and plugs in the charged one. The lights turn on and the hatches open up again.
Gary looks back down it to see a ladder extend down for Olly to climb up.
GARY
You good?
OLLY
Yep.
Gary walks down the corridor into:
INT. COCKPIT
The atmosphere is hostile, tense.
Gary takes a seat and starts tapping his screen. Eddy gets to work.
INT. CORRIDOR
Olly climbs up through the airlock, throws his helmet off and closes the hatch by pressing a button on the control panel.
He mumbles under his breath as he comes down the corridor. Before coming into the cockpit he takes second to brighten up.
INT. COCKPIT
He takes his seat at the control panel and starts tapping.
OLLY
Could have cut my cord while I was out there.
Gary just nods.
He notices the tension and stops tapping.
OLLY
What's with the forks and knives back there?
No reply.
Olly nudges Eddy's shoulder, they make eye contact but Eddy has nothing to say.
OLLY
Someone's got to say something?
GARY
(sighs)
We just need to get out of this ship.
He goes back to his screen.
Out the window the particle crawlers light up.
Bell lifts off the ground.
EDDY
(under his breath)
Home free.
INT. SHIP
Bell approaches the portal slowly, she makes contact and starts disappearing...
The portal blinks.
EXT. SPACE - SAME
Bell's just coming through the flickering portal.
INT. BELL - SAME
BOOM
The ship's cut in half.
All the air is sucked out of the cockpit, Gary, Eddy, Olly torn out of their seats and hurtled toward the severed opening, the swirl of purple, black and flitting lights when...
BOOM
The emergency system kicks in, the remaining walls of the ship around the gaping hole explode into a liquid pulp, sealing the cockpit.
B-BANG
BANG
The three bodies slam against the wall.
THUNK
The lights go off leaving them floating unconscious.
EXT. SPACE
The molten sealant that has exploded over the back end spreads organically, hardening.
The front end of Bell silently spins through space with no apparent direction.
A perfectly circular grey disc is the singular entity in this pitch vacuum.
Everything else gone.
It hangs distant in the heart of the dark zone.
Bell careens toward it.
FADE TO:
INT. COCKPIT - LATER
What remains of the ship revolves gently.
Eddy jolts awake, suspended, weightless.
For a moment he has no idea where he is but soon comes to and focuses on the cracked windshield, the sealant still crawling its way over the web.
He floats for a moment before colliding with Gary.
EDDY
(shaking Gary)
Wake up.
He comes to.
Eddy leaves him to go wake up Olly.
GARY
What the fuck?
He taps the control panel, no function at all.
EDDY
(shaking Olly)
Wake up.
Olly wakes in fear, grabbing hold of Eddy.
Eddy pushes him off and floats toward the Gary to watch the screen slowly glaze over.
EDDY
There's got to be some way out of this.
GARY
There isn't. There's no power, I'm guessing no way to send a signal, no gun to shoot myself in the fucking head.
EDDY
We've got time though.
GARY
What time? To do what? There's nine weeks worth of low grade oxygen but we are going to starve to death unless you want to start eating each other.
They float in silence, nobody knowing what to say, what to think.
Eddy tries to swallow the lump in his throat, but his eyes steam up.
OLLY
I vote we eat Gary...
The joke in no way hits.
OLLY
(sighs)
... we'll probably die of thirst before that...
EDDY
Funny, just fucking funny.
They all turn away from one another, allowing torturous silence to take over.
Eddy's focus shifts from the void beyond the windshield to a deep crack in the very centre...
Silence...
BANG
... he whacks the screen.
OLLY
Hey! I don't want to die yet for fuck sake!
Eddy loses it and hits the screen again and again and again.
BANG
BANG
BANG
The crack spreads, the sealant bubbles, the screen bruises over, turning a putrid yellow.
BANG
BANG
OLLY
Fucking stop him!
Gary just watches the cracks spread.
BANG
BANG
Olly pushes off a wall and lunges toward Eddy.
BAM
He grabs hold of him, they knock into the window, the crack spreading even more.
The two struggle, suspended in mid-air, drifting around the ship, scrambling for some kind of hold on one another.
EDDY
Fuck you!
Olly gets Eddy by the neck, but Eddy pounds on his face.
BAM-BAM
They push away from each other, blood streaming out of Olly's nose.
Gary has been ignoring them the whole time. A droplet of blood floats toward his back as he looks out of the cracked window.
Through the splintered glass, the grey disc ominously approaches.
Gary turns to find Olly and Eddy gone.
CUT TO:
Olly holds his nose, shocked at the sight of blood.
He drops his bloody hand, met by nothing but the empty cockpit.
CUT TO:
Eddy is curled up coughing, holding his neck.
EDDY
Asshole.
No reply.
Silence...
He turns to the realisation that he is alone.
The approaching grey disc catches his attention.
THE SCREEN SPLITS INTO THREE
LEFT: Gary.
MIDDLE: Olly.
RIGHT: Eddy.
They float next to each other staring out of cracked windshield, through the shrinking webbed 'O' in the centre of the screen at the grey disc they're getting ever closer to.
C-C-CRACK
Clear spots form in the yellowing haze.
All three float in wait of the inevitable, looking to their sides, alone, sure to die.
KSHHHHHHH
SMASH
The screen gives.
Everyone's sucked through the windshield.
EXT. SPACE
POV:
We spin toward the disc, no control.
All is silent.
SPLIT SCREEN
Three bodies are consumed by the disc - a grey hole.
INT. GREY HOLE
Darkness.
A miniscule spark of colour approaches from what seems like light years away.
The spark flits closer, mushrooming into a swell of pure light.
Contact.
BOOOOOOM
A rainbow, smashed into infinite microscopic pieces, scattered in space, screams past.
Particulates individually change tone and shade constantly, all of it blinding, too many lights, too much movement, a blur of cacophonous colour.
A distant grey point unfurls.
The manic colours tear away as the point develops, all the other tones soon lost leaving dull serenity.
The two dimensional disc gains depth as it envelops, trapping us in a liquid sphere.
A white hot spot materialises in the very centre of the globe.
A figure develops.
CUT TO:
Eddy, suspended in motion, looks down at himself and then around.
He spins, his eyes quickly finding the white spot, but as bright as it is, he isn't blinded.
This is the INFINITLESS PARTICLE.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Hello.
EDDY
Who's there?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Nobody.
CUT TO:
An eerie atmosphere descends as Olly questions himself.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
But, where are the voices coming from? Am I right?
CUT TO:
Gary doesn't know what to say.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
The answer is: yes. Well, no more suspense. I suppose you need to know that this voice belongs to you, but you belong to me--in a certain sense at the least. Me... maybe I am someone, maybe we should assume I am. To say so, I am the infinitless particle, well, 'the' of this universe, an 'an' amongst infinity, the multiverse - if you wanted to belittle me.
GARY
I, I, I... I d-d... I -
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
You don't understand.
CUT TO:
EDDY
Bu--
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
In all honesty you need not. Understand that is. But, here we go.
CUT TO:
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
This is a grey hole -
OLLY
What?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
You've found your voice. A grey hole, two words that describe mundane essence and a trap. My home, the centre and beginning of the universe.
CUT TO:
EDDY
The universe has no centre.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Maybe not in a geometric, observable way, but forgive my pretentious sense of grandeur.
CUT TO:
OLLY
So... you're like God?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
You could call me that, then again, you could call me Bob. Do as you will. In short, I am the womb from which this universe was born, though, I've got my cord around your neck. I control, in a certain sense, everything through a shared consciousness. That's how we're talking.
CUT TO:
Gary takes a moment, trying to comprehend...
GARY
If you're God, why are there wars? Why is there hunger, pain, suffering? Why are there babies born with cancer in their bones?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
(chuckle)
First of all, well done, you're very brave. Not very clever. But brave, I'll give you that. I'm sure there aren't many people who could say they told off 'God'. But, second of all, yeah... I'm not who you think I am, man. I'm not, God, God. I don't want your love. I don't pay much attention to you and your plights. I'd much rather watch you weirdos try and figure out how the universe you works. It's kind of funny sometimes...
CUT TO:
OLLY
Such a pretentious...
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
That's off point though. I don't control every detail of what happens in this universe. Even if I did, what makes you think I'd care if a few thousand humans are at war? Why would I care if one baby in a million is born with cancer?
CUT TO:
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
I know the universe, literally. You aren't the only things in it. You think I don't know worse? You think you're special? Humble yourself. Just a little. Not for my sake, but you're own. Because... bone cancer? Yeah... you guys are getting off lightly.
GARY
I...
That shut him up.
CUT TO:
EDDY
But... not everything is conscious. Where does the--
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Control? Here's me asking for forgiveness on behalf of my false sense of grandeur. Consciousness is of course only a word, but it best describes what can be understood as life, will, direction, being. You are as much alive as a stone. You just can't see it.
EDDY
Stones... do nothing.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Well, with that logic, neither do the stars, but, from them you came. Besides, to do is to be, and what does a stone do all day?
CUT TO:
OLLY
It just sits there -
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Occupying space time. There's something, no? You see, attribution is one of the best human attributes, it allows you to perceive what can be the closest to truth you will ever experience. All that is, is made of matter, including you, as I'm sure you know and appreciate. But, it's matter that you must consider to be alive. It's that which I control. It's the atom and all the other smaller parts you have no conclusive knowledge of that I, in an around about way, control. P.S, it's not strings or loops... per se at least.
CUT TO:
EDDY
I don't understand. You're the infinite particle?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Infinit-less.
CUT TO:
GARY
And you're God and all matter is alive... w-w-w-w--but what has this got to do with me?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
More than you could imagine.
GARY
But, I'm supposed to understand what exactly?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
That you are an incredibly rare artifact.
CUT TO:
OLLY
Bullshit, what is this... what the fuck is going on...
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Look down at yourself a moment.
Olly looks down at his suspended body. It disappears.
Darkness consumes everything.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Check, check, check. Is this on? Check, check -
CUT TO:
Eddy yells.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Oh, stop that noise, I can hear you. Now, listen up. Currently, you are raw consciousness in space, no time. Despite your screaming you have no voice, despite your thinking, you have no brain. All you are is a mind, i.e me. This is the fundamental state of nature: space and a mind. Once you get thinking we get something special.
A new darkness encloses them in a sphere that lights up with a myriad of colors and textures that keep evolving.
EDDY
Are you not thinking?
CUT TO:
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Of course I am. But, I've made my something special, now it's your turn.
OLLY
I'm an infinitless particle?
CUT TO:
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Don't be stupid, you're a human, a clump of atoms. Well, right now you're just a mind. But, you will be an infinitless particle.
GARY
That's what you meant by rare artifact.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Quite rare, there's only three of you. I think you know the others.
GARY
Why us? Why not three rocks or stars or atoms?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Because there are different degrees of consciousness.
CUT TO:
EDDY
Where's Gary, O--
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Nowhere, just as we are. But, they are in a nowhere of their own, in a shade of their own universe--ish. We're having almost identical conversations actually.
CUT TO:
GARY
Why has this all happened?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
That's what I'm trying to get to.
CUT TO:
OLLY
No, I mean, my life.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
(sighs)
So dramatic. Look, even I can't answer that. I have a life too, I was... I don't know... created I suppose.
CUT TO:
GARY
By what?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Another infinitless particle.
GARY
You were human once?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
No, but something like that. Becoming an infinitless particle gives you more questions than answers. There's no book on the meaning of life or a paper explaining where it all came from.
CUT TO:
EDDY
Then what about what has been happening back on the ship?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
You were being brought to the grey hole.
EDDY
By alien creature things with giant eyes in their stomachs!?
CUT TO:
OLLY
Couldn't you have just put a monolith near Jupiter!?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
(sighs)
No. The alien things were physical projections of your mind. They were free agents, bodies that had to be moulded by you. I could not create them, as I said, I've done my work. Those were essentially your first creations. There were too many variables for me to conclusively create something that'd have to deal with you.
CUT TO:
GARY
Don't you have complete control over the universe?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
So many questions. I had control over the idea that something would get you here within a loose time constraint. You being brought here was also apart of a process that split you, Olly and Eddy from each other, preparing you for what is.
GARY
Then don't you decide what I think?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Who says I don't?
CUT TO:
Eddy's overwhelmed for a moment.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
I'm joking. Well... it's complicated, but, yes, kind of, nearly, no--I don't know.
EDDY
Then what the fuck? Why aliens?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Ever heard of Freud?
CUT TO:
OLLY
Freud would have a hard time explaining this nonsense. Minds suspended in space without time?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
(sighs)
I think we should get down to it. I said you weren't dead, but, you are going to die.
CUT TO:
EDDY
(shaken)
... what...
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
(exhales a laugh)
Well, your consciousness is going to be passed on.
CUT TO:
GARY
I'm being... reincarnated?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Not exactly. You're mind is going to be split apart and reborn, materialised as an infinitless particle. Us particles need to create life because with our own life, comes death. One day my conscious must be passed on before I physically decay.
GARY
So I'm going to become a conscious particle?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Not exactly, you're kind of consciousness is very hard to produce. Within it is a seed... a... physical...
(gives up)
CUT TO:
EDDY
What?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Never mind. What matters is that I die when you are fully materialised. But, in this universe that is millions of millennia away. So, to preserve my consciousness you cannot be fully extracted otherwise this whole structure may collapse.
CUT TO:
OLLY
What does that mean?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
I am sending your consciousness back to a body, in part, for now anyway.
CUT TO:
EDDY
When? Where? Will I remember this?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Yes, you will remember. Where and when you go is your decision. This is a chance to put your consciousness into a new entity, a new you.
CUT TO:
OLLY
An entity, like a rock?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
No rocks, what is with you? Your body, but in what I understand to be an alternate timeline. This is your goodbye in preparation for a long wait.
CUT TO:
EDDY
Huh?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Well, here we go.
CUT TO:
GARY
Wait, I have so many questions.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
I haven't all the answers.
GARY
Why the three of us?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Because three is the magic number.
CUT TO:
EDDY
This can't... I need to -
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
Listen, with your transition you will be given answers. If there's anything you learn as a infinitless particle it's that time is what binds everything together, it seems to be the one in control. One day when your body is old and your mind is ready, you will see.
CUT TO:
GARY
See what?
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
See billions of millennia pass, space shrink to nothing, substance reduce itself to a product of your mind. Space means nothing, it's the intangible things we experience that hold substance: the mind, time. Time has all that ever was in its grips, but, one day, you'll see...
Gary's left awestruck.
CUT TO:
Olly dumbfounded.
CUT TO:
Eddy flabbergasted.
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
I think that's it... here we go.
EDDY
Wait!
CUT TO:
OLLY
Wait!
CUT TO:
GARY
Wait!
INFINITLESS PARTICLE
For what?
THE SCREEN SPLITS INTO THREE
LEFT: Gary.
MIDDLE: Olly.
RIGHT: Eddy.
They all float in front of the infinitless particle.
The white light grows until it consumes all...
WHITEWASH
FADE IN:
EXT. OUTSIDE GARY'S HOME - DAY
The white light waxes, gains colour, forming a house in a suburban street.
Gary looks down to see that he's standing on concrete pavement. He then looks at his hands, feels the air.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S)
Gary?
Gary instantly recognises the voice coming from the house in front of him.
He approaches it, walking through a gate and up the pathway to the bright purple door.
INT. GARY'S HOME
The door is pushed open and in walks Gary.
This is the same house he was in on the ship only brighter, cleaner and more homely.
There's a shelf on the wall, placed on it is The Hobbit. Gary takes it down and slowly flips through it, hardly breathing.
GARY
... fuck you.
He rips the book in half.
Also on the shelf is the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
He knocks it away and pushes open the door to his right.
INT. LIVING ROOM
Gary opens the door and instantly falls to his knees, bursting into tears.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S)
Honey!?
A woman runs to him.
She holds him in her arms as he sobs, her hand running through his hair, muttering okays.
INT. OLLY'S HOME
The light dulls, gaining texture, forming a living room.
Olly looks down at his hands, they shrink, become younger.
He then looks down at the toy cars on the carpet around him.
He looks around astounded.
There's a clunk from another room, Olly stands.
OLLY
Mum?
OLLY'S MOTHER
Yes, dear.
He can't believe his ears.
OLLY
Mum?
OLLY'S MOTHER
Yes.
OLLY
(breaking into tears)
Mum... mum...
She appears in the doorway, concerned.
OLLY'S MOTHER
What is it, hun?
The young Olly breaks into sobs and runs to his mother, hugging her tight.
She laughs, completely shocked, squeezing his shoulders, rubbing her cheek against his head.
INT. BELL
An older Eddy sits at the control panel, both seats beside him empty.
He looks out into the vast space.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
Eddy turns around to the cockpit door.
It opens and in walks a little girl with a massive smile across her face.
She skips over to him and jumps on to his lap, gazing out into the starlit abyss.
Eddy looks down at her, tears welling in his eyes.
EXT. SPACE
A dark speck slides across a glowering yellow dwarf.
>FADE OUT
END
