TRIUMVIRATE SE Chapter Eight
By The Host
INT. STARBASE ONE ONE FOUR - CORRIDOR - BRIGHT
The narrow twisting corridor is filled with SOLDIERS running
to their hangars. KLAXONS sound. Davies and Dawson jog with
them, followed by five of DAWSON’S MEN. Davies carries a
sort of backpack which is bursting at the seams.
DAWSON
I’m glad that you found me when
you did, Mr. Davies. It seems
you’ll be missing this little
scrimmage. I’m afraid we’ll have
to depart immediately – I don’t
want a single one of my ships
engaged in unrighteous slaughter.
DAVIES
Admiral Copley’s not gonna like
your fleet leaving him the instant
his base is attacked by Al T’Har.
DAWSON
I’m afraid it’s more serious than
that. I am bound to remain here
and, what’s more, Copley knows I
have my eye on you. Our departure
will effectively be an act of open
rebellion. I expect we’ll be fired
upon. Here we are!
Dawson presses his palm to a doorframe and the door slides
open; he, Davies, and their escorts steal past and the door
shuts behind them.
INT. HANGAR - BRIGHT - CONTINUOUS
A small hangar dominated by a small shuttle, perhaps ten
feet high and twenty-five long, of sleek design. The group
runs over to the shuttle where the PILOT is waiting for
them.
PILOT
Come on, let’s go!
The pilot grabs a heavy bag Dawson has been awkwardly
carrying and throws it bodily into the shuttle before Dawson
climbs the low ramp. At that instant a UNIFORMED WORKER
bursts into the room.
WORKER
Hey, where do you think you’re
going? You haven’t got clearance
to launch!
Dawson steals a glance back and then rushes on board. The
worker strikes a panel beside a nearby computer monitor and
shouts into it.
WORKER (CONT’D)
Security, here, now!
The last of Dawson’s men get onto the shuttle. The ramp
pulls up behind them.
INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT - BRIGHT - CONTINUOUS
The pilot swings into his seat beside the COPILOT in the
cramped cockpit, surrounded by lights and levers and
displays. Dawson is immediately at his shoulder.
DAWSON
Can you get us out of here?
PILOT
We’ve hacked the security system.
Should be able to break through.
DAWSON
Then do it.
The pilot looks to his copilot, who nods. She immediately
begins punching something into her computer. Dawson retires
to the cabin.
INT. SHUTTLE - CABIN - BRIGHT - CONTINUOUS
Dawson enters the sparse cabin, which has several seats
along each wall and a couple of small tables next on each
side with computer displays resting upon them. Dawson takes
a seat next to Davies, who is already seated with the other
men.
DAWSON
You’d better hold on tight. This
might get a little exciting.
INT. HANGAR - CONTINUOUS
The hangar doors open and the shuttle moves slowly through
into the tunnel beyond.
INT./EXT. COCKPIT/TUNNEL - MOVING
The vessel picks up speed as it moves through the tunnel,
which is mostly dark save for four rows of glowing lights
leading the way ahead. The pilots maneuver the ship around a
sharp bend, beyond which several tunnels come together to
form a wider one. The shuttle moves faster now down this
straight tube and, after a time, comes to its end. The
vessel pitches straight down into another tunnel and, after
only a few seconds, enters a wide room with several tunnels
running from it in various directions and dozens of fighters
flying through it in one direction. The shuttle, moving
quickly now, almost crashes headlong into one of the
fighters. The pilots frantically pull down so as to avoid
the nearest fighter, and they do so, but they overcorrect
and find themselves speeding toward the floor of this room.
They pull up just in time and miss the floor by mere inches.
The shuttle falls in with the fighters, which are heading to
a short, wide tunnel at the near end of this massive room.
At the tunnel’s end lies open space.
The shuttle’s pilots pull out of the throng and move forward
just above the fighters. They pick up speed and suddenly
burst out of the station.
EXT. ONE ONE FOUR - CONTINUOUS
The instant the vessel leaves the station it is fired upon.
The pilots engage evasive maneuvers, ever flying away from
the massive station. A great battle is going on all around
them: Al T’Haran raiders engage in bombing runs against the
space station, One One Four’s defenders scramble to protect
the base, and Dawson’s fleet scrambles to leave – drawing
fire from both other factions.
INT. SHUTTLE CABIN - CONTINUOUS
Davies is tense but, for the moment, he’s not thinking about
himself. Dawson watches the young pilot with gentle concern.
INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS
The pilots look forward. Their HUD triangulates upon an
object not far in the distance: a gigantic flat square
floating in space or, more accurately, the outline of one.
The object is intricately detailed yet elegant in design,
like an insane picture frame in space. Its interior is
yawning blackness. The image flashes green now in the Heads
Up Display, labeled: GATE 0187622341 DIST 0.483 CP.
PILOT
We’ll make for that Gate as
quickly as we can.
EXT. STARBASE ONE ONE FOUR - CONTINUOUS
The shuttle zooms through space. It has now picked up four
or five pursuers, but the shuttle pilots do their best to
maneuver out of the way of fire. Dawson’s fleet draws slowly
nearer. The gate looms before them.
The pilots can’t keep their shuttle safe forever, though.
One of the fighters’ laser blasts finally connects,
scorching the surface of the shuttle, but the damage isn’t
serious. However, the shuttle now spins out of control.
INT. SHUTTLE CABIN - CONTINUOUS
Davies grips his seat handles with white knuckles. Even
Dawson now seems on edge, craning his neck to see through to
the cockpit. Davies doesn’t dare.
INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS
What Dawson sees is the gate spinning away from the ship –
or is it the other way around? The pilots frantically try to
regain control.
EXT. STARBASE ONE ONE FOUR
Finally the shuttle zooms back up toward the gate, but at a
weird angle. Its pursuers, however, seeing that they have
lost their catch, loop around and head back towards the
station. And the shuttle passes into the hollow darkness of
the gate and suddenly. . .
SPACE TURNS INSIDE OUT. There is no other way to describe
it. Everything is sucked into the gate backwards and twirled
around and turned inside out and then it reconstitutes
itself and springs back out and the shuttle is zooming out
of the gate...
EXT. GAULEIUS - CONTINUOUS
...Only this is a different gate, with no starbase in sight.
Instead, the pock-marked surface of a grey planet stretches
out below. The shuttle zooms toward the planet’s surface.
INT. SHUTTLE CABIN – CONTINUOUS
Dawson speaks to Davies, who is still a little pale after
that encounter.
DAWSON
Well, here we are. Home sweet
home.
(Beat)
That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?
Davies looks like he might vomit. Dawson chuckles to himself
and looks out the window.
EXT. GAULEIUS – NIGHT
The shuttle flies over the dark planet now, a scarred planet
of twisted mountain and broken rock. The shuttle makes for a
gaping cavern.
INT. CAVERN – CONTINUOUS
As the shuttle lights its way through the dark and
unbelievably wide cavern, a pair of heavy steel doors close
slowly behind it.
EXT. UNDERGROUND CITY - MOMENTS LATER
The shuttle emerges from the tunnel into a massive
underground city. The metropolis exists within a vaulting
cavern, its buildings set against the wall or climbing up
from the floor or hanging down from the ceiling. The city is
well-lit by huge spotlights searching through the nightshade
of the cave. The shuttle zooms through, zigzagging between
buildings.
INT. SHUTTLE CABIN - CONTINUOUS
Davies looks outside in awe.
DAWSON
It’s not much, Mr. Davies, but
it’s home. For the foreseeable
future, it’s your home. Welcome to
Gauleius.
Davies smiles.
EXT. UNDERGROUND CITY - CONTINUOUS
The shuttle makes for a large hangar built into the ceiling
of the massive cavern.
AUTOR'S COMMENTARY:
So ends act one, and not a moment too soon. In all previous
versions of the screenplay there was no action sequence
here. I was keeping a close eye on pacing in this iteration,
however, and not just in the opening scene. I understood
that the next major battle scene wouldn’t be coming for at
least another thirty or forty minutes, and decided that
audiences would probably have to be woken up at this point.
I felt the film, after the first fifteen minutes, kind of
wallowed in itself for half an hour or so, bogged down in
dialogue and development. From this point on tension would
slowly and steadily build. I decided to start that process
off with a bang, and so inserted a rather random, brief
action scene at this point, telling myself that if it
disrupted the flow of events too much I could remove it
later. There was no need. It’s fairly short, and not too
imaginative, but I was looking for neither length nor
imagination here. It’s just a little shot in the arm; a
pinch to keep the readers on their toes. I’m pretty
indifferent about it. Though I like the approach to Gauleius
– it’s a scene that I can vividly picture in my mind and, I
tell you, it’s breathtaking!
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4/11/2003 10:06:41 PM
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:40:31 PM)
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:51:31 PM)
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