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TRIUMVIRATE -- THE END!
By The Host
Here's the grand finale! [Twelve pages -- two hours fifty-four minutes total.]
INT. CORRIDOR
Macy and Steve and Willem and Leo make their way to a lift.
STEVE
Where now?
LEO
I can take you to the Chief’s office, all right. We can be there in two minutes. Just follow me, I know the ways.
INT. LIFT SHAFT
Johnson alights upon a ledge at the top of the shaft. He grabs a small device from his utility belt, places it to the wall beside the doors, and with a spark and a swish they open.
INT. OUTER OFFICE
He moves forward, his rocket pack off, Davies now on the ground and detaching himself. They look around them: a large, empty room lined with windows. There are several desks and monitors throughout the deserted room, and several sets of doors. One large set looms ahead: emblazoned above it, the words, “OFFICE OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE CORPORATION” and, below that, a small white cross. Johnson taps his ear.
JOHNSON
Macy?
INT. CORRIDOR
Macy stops; the others halt a second later.
MACY
Robert? How are you? How’s Jack?
JOHNSON (V.O.)
We’re fine.
INT. OUTER OFFICE
Johnson speaks.
JOHNSON
We’re here now, going into the CEO’s office.
INT. CORRIDOR
Steve and Willem now listen intently.
JOHNSON (V.O.)
Steve, get yourself to a computer station, hack in, screw with their methane levels and whatever you have to do. Jack and I will have the securities turned off in a minute.
Steve nods.
STEVE
I’m on it.
INT. GEMINI –- STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM
Dawson frowns. He speaks to Davies again.
DAWSON
Jack, don’t fail me now.
INT. CEO’S OFFICE
The door opens. The lights are now on. The CEO stands at the window still; he turns to face the two intruders.
THE CEO
You’ve come to kill me, I suppose.
DAVIES
We’ve come to kill your project. Dawson wants you alive, though I can’t fathom why.
The CEO moves toward them.
THE CEO
Can I have my say?
JOHNSON
Yes.
DAVIES
No. Turn the safeties off.
THE CEO
The safeties . . . ? Oh. You’re taking the building down, are you? You know there are still people in here?
DAVIES
I know.
THE CEO
You can’t exactly evacuate a quarter of a million people very quickly.
Johnson is dumbstruck.
JOHNSON
Is that how many are in this building? A quarter of a million?
THE CEO
About that.
He reaches a monitor near Johnson and Davies; he places his palms to it, presses a few buttons. Davies watches on. After a second, Johnson speaks again.
JOHNSON
How many are going to die if we do this?
THE CEO
I expect a million, maybe. Maybe less. Maybe more.
DAWSON (V.O.)
Don’t listen to him, Jack.
DAVIES
Don’t listen to him, Robert.
The CEO spins. He looks directly at Davies.
THE CEO
You don’t know Dawson. I do.
Davies eyes him suspiciously, raises his rifle.
DAVIES
Safeties off?
THE CEO
I touch my hand to this screen, and they’re gone.
DAVIES
Do it.
JOHNSON
Wait.
INT. GEMINI – STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM
Dawson is sweating, nervous. He speaks soothingly but firmly.
DAWSON
Don’t let him do this, Jack. You can’t let him do this.
INT. CEO’S OFFICE
Jack hears the voice in his head, hesitates.
DAVIES
(Motioning the CEO toward the
screen)
Do it. NOW!
JOHNSON
Jack, no. I want to hear him.
Jack says nothing.
DAWSON (V.O.)
Don’t let him.
Jack says nothing. The CEO speaks.
THE CEO
There is a great threat to humanity. We developed the disease, Dawson, Copley, and I, to combat it.
DAVIES
To combat what?
THE CEO
Aliens.
DAVIES
That’s a lie. They don’t exist.
THE CEO
They do exist, Mr. Davies. The hypergates – where do you think they came from? Certainly humans didn’t construct them. We haven’t suffered a major scientific advance in eight hundred years.
DAVIES
Ludicrous!
INT. GEMINI –-STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM
Dawson remains edgy.
DAWSON
That’s right, Jack. It’s ludicrous.
INT. CEO’S OFFICE
The CEO continues. Johnson listens carefully.
THE CEO
We haven’t the resources to combat them. They’re building an army now. We don’t know how long it will be before they attack. We’ve been developing the disease for half a century.
DAWSON (V.O.)
What about Al T’Har?
DAVIES
What about Al T’Har?
THE CEO
I don’t know; honestly I don’t. Somehow the disease spread there.
DAVIES
And you attacked them because they developed a cure.
THE CEO
The weapon is useless if there’s a cure.
DAVIES
Then the disease has existed since . . . Well, at least since it spread to Al T’Har. Why not unleash it then?
THE CEO
Some wanted to. Dawson wanted to. But we’ve been developing our own cure.
DAVIES
I thought you said—
THE CEO
We’re not that reckless. But we can’t have just anybody handling or developing a cure. We must maintain control.
INT. GEMINI -– STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM
Dawson speaks, Davies hears.
DAWSON
Control. That’s what it’s all about. Unleash the disease, control the only cure, and you control the world.
INT. CEO’S OFFICE
The CEO continues.
THE CEO
Now Dawson wants the cure, he wants the disease, so that he can vault himself to power.
DAVIES
That’s not true!
THE CEO
Less than an hour ago a fleet of transports departed this planet for every corner of the United Star Systems bearing the disease. They were not ordered to do so by me. They were ordered by Dawson.
Johnson is wide-eyed.
INT. GEMINI –- STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM
Dawson is upset by this.
DAWSON
He lies! You know me, Jack!
INT. CEO’S OFFICE
Davies sputters.
DAVIES
That’s not true. He wouldn’t do it. You did.
THE CEO
You destroy this facility and you destroy the cure. That’s what Dawson wants.
DAVIES
I destroy the disease. It’s manufactured here.
THE CEO
I’ve told you it’s too late for that. And the cure is manufactured here as well.
Davies raises his rifle.
DAVIES
Do it. Now. Or I’ll shoot you dead and press your hand to it myself.
Johnson suddenly springs up, stands between Jack and the CEO. Jack grows increasingly distressed.
JOHNSON
Jack, no. Don’t do it.
DAVIES
Get out of the Goddamned way, Robert.
JOHNSON
For Christ’s sake, think, Jack. Bring him back to Dawson, do whatever. Just don’t destroy the cure now. What if he’s right? What if he’s telling the truth?
DAVIES
He’s not. And I’m not destroying the cure.
JOHNSON
You still have it?
DAVIES
Dawson has it.
JOHNSON
Don’t you see? That’s what he wants!
DAVIES
You don’t know him. Now get out of the goddamned way.
JOHNSON
I won’t, Jack. You’ll have to shoot me.
Davies halts, distraught.
DAWSON (V.O.)
We all have to make choices, Jack. . .
DAVIES
(Near tears)
Don’t make me choose.
Johnson is incredulous.
JOHNSON
Choose? What choice, Jack? What choice is there?
DAWSON (V.O.)
I’m sorry, Jack. I can’t tell you what to do.
A tear slowly crawls down the left side of Jack Davies’s face, leaving a snail trail of moisture.
JOHNSON
Jack, no.
Johnson’s voice seems to fade. The room seems to fade, leaving only Jack Davies and the tinny voice in his ear.
DAWSON (V.O.)
I can only guide you. But I think you know what the correct choice is. You trust me, Jack. I trust you. That’s why I gave you so important a task. Don’t fail me now, Jack. Jack, please, don’t fail me now. I won’t abandon you the way Robert did. The way your father did. Jack, son, please.
Everything suddenly comes into clear focus. Jack dries away his tears and wipes his nose with a quick motion; Johnson starts to ease up; and Jack Davies brings his gun down and shoots Robert Johnson in the abdomen. Johnson is shocked. He stumbles back, mouth open, terrified. Blood comes out of his mouth. He falls down dead. The CEO can’t believe his eyes. He looks from Robert to Jack, crying still.
THE CEO
You fucking killed him!
Jack shoots the CEO, strides over, picks his dead hand off the floor, and places it on the monitor screen. There is a click and a beep and warning lights and a voice says ‘SAFETIES OFF’ and then ‘WARNING’ but Jack doesn’t listen, Jack doesn’t care. He screams, he throws his rifle away, he plods in a daze away from the bodies, out of the room.
INT. OUTER OFFICE -- CONTINUOUS
Macy and Steve and Willem and Leo emerge quickly from a side door as Davies, head down, comes out of the CEO’s office. They run to him, they talk to him; he utters single syllables and only shakes his head. Willem and Steve take him to a nearby lift while Macy looks into the CEO’s office. He returns, a look of barely-controlled disgust on his face. Leo quietly watches all of this in the middle of the room.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CORPORATE TOWER -– LANDING PAD -- MOMENTS LATER
The five of them emerge from the building onto a broad platform high above the city. The battle, for the most part, seems to have died away. A small shuttle waits for them at the edge of the platform. A PILOT emerges and helps them all onboard.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SHUTTLE -– MOMENTS LATER
Davies plops silently into his seat; Willem, smiling and laughing, sits beside him. They jerk as the shuttle takes off.
EXT. CORPORATE TOWER -– LANDING PAD -- CONTINUOUS
The shuttle moves away from the platform into the lightening sky over the city.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SHUTTLE –- CONTINUOUS
Davies continues to sit silently in thought as Steve and Willem and Leo excitedly talk. There comes a sudden hush as they all look out the small windows lining the shuttle, all save Davies.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. MAGNAPOLIS -- CONTINUOUS
The shuttle zooms away from the massive Corporate Tower as it is suddenly engulfed in explosion and flame. Dozens of small explosions become hundreds, all over that section of the city. Vehicles swerve and jostle and crash, trying to get away from the maelstrom of destruction. The Corporate Tower begins to fall. Beyond all, the sun suddenly breaks majestically over the horizon, casting the city in beautiful shades of rose.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. UNITED CENTER -- DAY
Admiral Dawson sits upon a regal seat at the front of the great room. He wears flowing white robes. HUNDREDS OF SENATORS in red robes fill the seats. OFFICIALS IN MILITARY UNIFORM stand at attention along the main entrance and around the stage. Dawson is flanked by Exler Joggins, to one side, and Admiral Copley to the other. A TALL SENATOR walks to Dawson, who stands. The Senator ritually hands Dawson a rolled up piece of parchment and places a longsword at his feet. The Senator stand aside and the entire room stands to its feet in applause. Dawson beams.
INT. UNITED CENTER -– LOBBY –- DAY
The grand entrance to the United Center is empty now – or at least almost empty. Among the cold marble pillars strolls Jack Davies dressed in a rich suit. Hawk Macy enters through the main doors, guards to either side standing at attention. He’s wearing the uniform of an officer. Davies turns to him. They maintain distance, spatially and more so.
DAVIES
Hawk. I’ve heard they promoted you Major. I must congratulate you.
MACY
Don’t. I’m quitting. I won’t fight for Dawson.
A long silence.
DAVIES
He’s made me his chief of staff.
MACY
He’s made himself emperor.
DAVIES
He was duly elected President by unanimous vote of the Senate.
MACY
With emergency powers lasting indefinitely. If they hadn’t, one hundred billion people would have been dead by now. He held the nation for ransom with that disease of his.
Another long pause.
MACY (CONT’D)
There have been reports of unknown ships, highly advanced, beyond anything we’ve got, storming the frontier. There are rumors aliens exist.
DAVIES
You know that’s a fairy tale told to scare children.
MACY
What happened in that office?
Another long pause.
DAVIES
I lost a friend.
MACY
And won an emperor.
(Beat)
Good bye, Jack. Good luck. I know you’ll go far.
DAVIES
Say hello to Steve and Willem for me. I suppose I won’t be speaking to them again.
Macy nods and exits. Davies stands alone considering for a moment and then slowly turns and walks through a set of doors opposite those Macy exited through.
INT. UNITED CENTER -- CONTINUOUS
Davies walks along the corridor leading into the Senate’s chamber and stands at the back of the room. On stage, Dawson steps forth to the podium the President inhabited long ago.
DAWSON
My people, I thank you. I thank you and I say to you with greatest confidence: this tormented chapter in the history of the United Star Systems has now come to its end.
The audience cheers.
FADE TO BLACK.
T H E
E N D
There. Phew! That's it! Just think of how long it took me to write that -- surely a comment doesn't seem too gratuitous a recompense? What did you love? What did you hate? I'd ask that you reserve comments to just this section -- you can post comments about the story as a whole in the 'Table of Contents' which I'm about to post. Thanks! It's been fun!!
-The Host
N.B.: THIS WORK IS COPYRIGHT (C) 2002 D. MATTHEW BOUDREAU. IT IS PROTECTED. YOU PLAGAIRISE THIS AND MY TEAM OF WELL-DRESSED LAWYERS WILL SUE YOUR ASS. Thank you.
12/29/2002 7:50:12 PM
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