TRIUMVIRATE SE Chapter Six
By The Host
INT. STARBASE ONE ONE FOUR – HANGAR FOURTEEN-Z – BRIGHT
Far below, on the floor of the cavernous hangar, a battalion
of SOLDIERS practice drill with incredible precision, their
COMMANDER’S voice echoing throughout the space.
PULL BACK to reveal Jack Davies perched on a balcony one
hundred feet above them, looking down. He is visibly
nervous. When he hears the voice behind him he spins around.
DAWSON (O.S.)
Jack Davies?
DAVIES
Yes.
A MAN steps out of the shadows, tall and grim; the voice has
found a body. He is wearing the full uniform of an Admiral
of the United Fleet. Davies is more than a little surprised:
he immediately clicks his heels at attention and salutes.
The tall man’s stolid face breaks into a slight smile and he
salutes back.
DAWSON
I’m sorry to have to meet you under such clandestine
circumstances, so quickly improvised, but you must
understand that it is difficult for me to escape the
clutches of my entourage and the insufferable Admiral
Copley.
DAVIES
Admiral Dawson?
DAWSON
Yes?
DAVIES
Oh, I ... I just wasn’t sure that
was you. I’ve never seen you
before, sir.
DAWSON
I’ve never seen you, Mr. Davies.
It’s a pleasure to make your
acquaintance.
Dawson extends a hand. Davies shyly takes it.
DAWSON (CONT'D)
Now, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to
be brief. If I’m not found they’ll
be looking for me.
(Beat)
I’ve called you here, Mr. Davies,
because . . . Because I know what
you’ve got in your left breast
pocket.
Davies is stunned.
DAWSON (CONT'D)
Oh, don’t seem so surprised. Not
many Petty Officers meet with two
Admirals in two days unless they
hold something important indeed.
DAVIES
Sir, I beg your pardon, but I
don’t know what you’re talking
about.
DAWSON
Of course you don’t. But Copley
does; there's the rub. For you
see, Mr. Davies, Admiral Copley
greatly desires that vial you
hold. He’s been given orders by
the highest authorities to obtain
it from you any way he can.
DAVIES
Will he kill me?
DAWSON
Then you admit that you have it?
A momentary pause as Davies thinks over his response. Then,
simply:
DAVIES
Yes.
DAWSON
Then, to answer your question, no,
he won’t kill you. Not yet at any
rate. He has to determine first
what you know, and who you’ve
told, and who might actually
believe you. The last thing he
wants to do is make you into a
martyr.
DAVIES
Why- What am I supposed to do?
DAWSON
Jack, the USS has engaged in an
unprovoked attack on a medical
research laboratory. You know
that. The USS is developing a
biological weapon, a deadly
disease, for which the people of
Al T’Har – the people on that
medical station – have just found
a cure. That much I’m sure you’ve
guessed. What I want . . . What I
want, Jack, is for you to come
with me. To Gauleius Base. My
people there pay their highest
allegiance to me, not to the
United Star Systems, and not to
The Corporation. We’ve been
planning something for some time,
and you now may hold the key to it
all. Not just the cure to a
horrible disease, but the one
piece of evidence that will
finally reveal the USS for what it
is.
Davies considers this.
DAVIES
Why should I trust you?
DAWSON
Tell me, Jack, who else do you
have to trust?
Jack stares keenly at the Admiral.
DAWSON (CONT'D)
I leave tomorrow. The offer
stands.
With that Admiral Dawson recedes into shadow, leaving Davies
alone with his thoughts.
AUTOR'S COMMENTARY:
A long scene, again relatively unchanged from earlier
versions. This is probably the most important scene in the
establishment of the plot; it effectively acts as the first
major plot point in the film, in which Davies is faced with
his first great choice. Here we meet Dawson, enigmatic,
eloquent, intelligent, and principled. Davies doesn’t like
the man so much as develop an overwhelming respect for him
in these moments. Hopefully the audience feels the same way.
Dawson’s also a bit pretentious. I realized this upon
rereading older versions of the screenplay: I was a bit
pretentious in writing, and tried to sound sophisticated in
the scenes in which I wrote Dawson’s dialogue back in the
day. Upon reading my meager attempts at poetic prose several
years later I realized that I kind of sounded like a phony.
Well, I tightened up the dialogue a bit for this version,
but consciously decided to make Dawson still a bit
pretentious. I know a fellow like him in that way: really
charming, eloquent, intelligent. When he speaks to you you
feel like the whole world centers on you and you alone, but
when he walks away you feel like you’ve been hustled, or
that he’s just tried to secure your favour for his own
political advantage. I tried to convey that with Dawson.
Here’s a man who has allies, not friends.
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4/11/2003 10:03:36 PM
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:39:18 PM)
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:52:16 PM)
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