EXT. UNDERGROUND CITY - LATER

Spotlights spread their fingers through the night, searching
the sky above the underground city.

INT. LEENO’S TAVERN

The Black Aces – Steve, Jack, Willem, Macy, and Robert – are
gathered around a table in the raucous bar playing cards,
drinking and laughing.

                           JOHNSON
          And so he looks at him and says,
          ‘I don’t know how you got here,
          Ian, but usually it takes two!’

The others laugh hysterically at Johnson’s punchline, except
for Jack, who has heard this before. He takes another drink,
gulps it down, and sits with a slight smile.

                           WILLEM
          Looks like you’ve got a contender
          for squadron jester here, Steve.

                            STEVE
               (Mock seriousness)
          Never!

                           JOHNSON
          Oh, I’ve gotta tell you about this
          one time, we were drunk at One One
          Four, and Jack says to me, ‘Follow
          me,’ right? So I go with him and
          he—

Macy, who has had his attention elsewhere, suddenly turns to
the group.

                            MACY
          Guys, what’s this?

Everybody turns with him to peer at a holovision in the
corner. Macy leans forward as the general din throughout the
bar begins to quiet down. The President is addressing his
nation on the holovision.

INT. DAWSON’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Dawson is speaking with Exler Joggins in his small,
unassuming office as the President appears on a small
display at Dawson’s hand.

                           DAWSON
          We have to be sure the cure is
          being manufactured nowhere else—

                           JOGGINS
               (Indicating display)
          Sir.

Davies turns his head to the President, swiftly presses a
button, and the Presdident’s visage grows suddenly larger
and his voice becomes audible.

                        THE PRESIDENT
          --And so the war is over, by order
          of the duly elected Senate.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE – CONTINUOUS

The President looks forward unblinking as he speaks.

                   THE PRESIDENT (CONT’D)
          I am bound by virtue of my
          position to carry out this demand
          of the Senate. I am bound by my
          own will to defy it. And therefore
          I would like to announce my
          resignation as President of the
          United Star Systems effective
          immediately. I shall join Dawson
          and other admirals true to the
          Union and I shall fight.

EXT. MAGNAPOLIS – CONTINUOUS

Vehicles speed by in lanes through the air over the wide
greenspace that divides Presidential and Corporate towers.
Night has fallen and stars slowly begin to twinkle. The
Presidential Tower, bathed in light, looms before and above
us, a great spike searing the night sky.

                THE PRESIDENT (CONT’D) (V.O.)
          Night has fallen on Magnapolis for
          the first time in ninety-six
          years; in a week the sun shall
          rise again. I fear that, before
          the dawn, this city might become a
          war zone. In my final act as
          President, I have drawn up orders
          for evacuation. Transports will be
          arriving soon to carry civilians
          to safety. I urge you all not to
          panic but to leave your homes
          immediately in as orderly a
          fashion as possible.


INT. PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE – CONTINUOUS

The President pauses, looks down at his desk, collects
himself, and looks forward once again.

                   THE PRESIDENT (CONT’D)
          May God be with you and bless us
          all.

And, with that, an EXPLOSION rips across the screen.

EXT. MAGNAPOLIS – CONTINUOUS

Three simultaneous explosions tear through the base, the
middle, and the peak of the Presidential Tower. Among the
balls of orange flame slowly, surreally, the Tower begins to
crumble and fall.

AT THE TOWER’S BASE CITIZENS run and vehicles swerve as a
massive cloud of dust and debris spreads out from the
tumbling building. A series of SMALLER EXPLOSIONS rock the
city.

INT. SHOPPING CENTRE – CONTINUOUS

Hundreds of SHOPPERS in a futuristic shopping gallery look
up in horror through the glass ceiling as the Tower, which
stands immediately above, begins to come down on them;
suddenly the dust cloud obscures all sight through the
window, and then another EXPLOSION brings the ceiling down,
shattering glass falling upon the people below, skewering
many and leaving others to die as the suffocating dust cloud
rolls in.

EXT. MAGNAPOLIS– CONTINUOUS

FROM ABOVE, the tower disappears into the ever-expanding
dust cloud as it comes down. The lights of the city shimmer
on.

INT. DAWSON’S OFFICE – CONTINUOUS

The image of the tower flickers out; the holodisplay is
momentarily empty, then replaced with rotating words:
‘PLEASE STAND BY’. Dawson presses a button and the words
disappear. He looks up at Joggins, who is shocked
speechless.

                           JOGGINS
          Was this part of your—

Dawson’s jaw is set.

                           DAWSON
          It’s time.

He strides out of the room, leaving Joggins alone in his
astonishment.

INT. LEENO’S TAVERN - CONTINUOUS

Pandemonium reigns as SOLDIERS try to make their way out of
the crowded bar en masse and CIVILIANS talk and cry and
comfort and run. The Black Aces seems still to be in a
collective state of shock. Hawk Macy, drink still in hand,
stands and kicks over a small table beside him, snapping the
others to attention.

                            MACY
          Fuck!

4/11/2003 10:23:21 PM
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:45:55 PM)
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:46:54 PM)

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