TRIUMVIRATE SE Chapter Three
By The Host
INT. STATION - COMMANDER’S OFFICE - DARK
The room is draped in utter darkness. A door slides open, a
stream of light spills in. Jack Davies and his guards enter.
NEW ANGLE revealing the STATION COMMANDER MUHOMMAD
silhouetted against a broad window. Behind him the battle
rages on. The light filtering through the blood red clouds
casts an eerie glow over that side of the room.
Davies is escorted to a seat facing the Commander at his
desk; there the guards leave him. After a moment Commander
Muhommad speaks, quietly.
MUHOMMAD
We’re on emergency power, so I
can’t see your face.
Another moment passes. Then:
MUHOMMAD (CONT'D)
Why are you attacking us?
A pause. Davies stammers.
DAVIES
Because . . . We’re at war.
MUHOMMAD
Can you tell me why?
DAVIES
(Beat)
I don’t know.
Another moment of silence.
MUHOMMAD
Why are you attacking us?
DAVIES
I said, sir—
Muhommad stands, cutting Davies off.
MUHOMMAD
We are a civilian station Mr –
what’s your name?
DAVIES
Jack Davies, sir. You’re—
MUHOMMAD
This is a hospital you are
attacking Mr Davies, did you know
that?
Davies turns as Muhommad circles him.
DAVIES
No, it’s not. You make weapons
here.
MUHOMMAD
We don’t make weapons, Mr Davies;
we heal their targets. I’ll show
you.
DAVIES
You’re well-defended for a
hospital, aren’t you?
MUHOMMAD
We were attacked, weren’t we?
INT. HOSPITAL WARD - MOMENTS LATER - BRIGHT
A long, narrow room. Everything is slick and clean and
bright white. Dozens of sleek chambers like glass coffins
line either wall; in each rests a man or woman, horribly
disfigured; on each is a cornucopia of monitors and
displays. NURSES AND DOCTORS hurriedly attend to one
sleeping patient after another. Davies and Muhommad walk
slowly through the middle of the room; Davies tries not to
look at the bodies, the faces. Guards behind them keep their
distance. Faint BOOMS echo through the space.
MUHOMMAD
Actually, this is a medical
research center. Our people have
been under fear of the plague for
three decades now. Millions have
died. But hope lived, and we had
been conducting some very secret,
very important research here.
Until four weeks ago.
Prompted by silence Davies tentatively speaks.
DAVIES
Four weeks ago?
MUHOMMAD
Four weeks ago we discovered a
cure. A cure, Mr Davies, to end
the suffering of the people of Al
T’Har. The first transport
shipment to our home planet was
destroyed – space pirates, they
told us. Then there was war and
now there is siege and still the
people of Al T’Har suffer, and our
cure remains locked here in
impotence. It could be lost, if we
lose this battle.
DAVIES
You will.
Muhommad halts and turns to Davies.
MUHOMMAD
I know. That’s why we need you.
INT. STARSHIP – LOUNGE - DIM
Robert Johnson gazes at the space station, on the other side
of the gap in the clouds, which is now under heavy attack.
Most resistance has been whittled down; the space station,
charred and smoking, is teetering on collapse. While he
watches the destruction, a TALKATIVE ATTENDANT drapes a
blanket over his shoulders. There are a few other UNIFORMED
MEN in the dark room, most of them lying down or sitting and
talking quietly. None are watching the battle so keenly as
Johnson.
ATTENDANT
And I tell you it’s lucky we found
you when we did, and so close to
the station in your escape pod,
you know, you could have been
captured any time. Maybe that’s
what happened to your wingman,
maybe they captured him, and he
could be in there now and who
knows what? Better in here than
there I guess, you were pretty
lucky all right. Anyway, sorry but
I’ve gotta go and see to some
other men we’ve brought in. Do you
want a drink because if so there’s
a fountain just outside the door,
and you can go there or to the
john but otherwise I’ll ask you to
confine yourself to here, okay?
Johnson takes a moment to respond; finally he shakes his
head ‘yes.’
ATTENDANT
Okay. . .
The attendant walks over to a few other men leaning against
the wall near a doorway. Johnson, his face reflected in the
glass, stares into space as the station is finally ripped
apart in a jarring explosion.
FADE OUT. . .
FADE IN:
INT. STARSHIP - RECOVERY ROOM - DIM
A utilitarian room, with half a dozen beds, mostly empty.
Robert Johnson stands over one bed as Jack Davies slowly
awakens upon it. There is an ugly gash on Jack’s forehead.
His eyes flutter open and Johnson speaks.
JOHNSON
Welcome back.
Davies’s eyes suddenly dart around, a look of anxiety
briefly contorting his face, and his right hand flies up to
his left breast pocket. He relaxes, then tries to sit up,
grunts, and eases himself back down.
DAVIES
What happened?
JOHNSON
(Sitting beside Davies)
I don’t know. They found you in
your escape pod just before the
station exploded. You were pretty
messed up. Something must have
gone wrong in your ejection
sequence I guess.
DAVIES
So we won?
JOHNSON
(Smiling)
Of course. Al T’Har is one weapons
facility less than it was an hour
ago.
DAVIES
An hour?
JOHNSON
Yeah. We’re on our way back now.
DAVIES
Oh.
(He raises himself up a few
inches)
We’ve gotta talk when we get back.
JOHNSON
Of course. I’ll fill you in on
what happened. But you’re right,
we'll talk when we get back. You
should rest now. They’re saying we
should be back at One-One-Four in
an hour, which means an hour-and-a-
half, but y’know. Oh, here’s
something, though: rumor ‘round
here says we’re getting
reinforcements.
DAVIES
Reinforcements?
JOHNSON
Admiral Dawson is coming tomorrow
and bringing his entire fleet.
Command wants this war over and
done with as soon as possible. No
mess. So they say.
DAVIES
We’ll wipe them out.
Johnson grins devilishly.
JOHNSON
Yeah, we will. You bet your ass.
Davies smiles weakly. Johnson stands, still smiling.
JOHNSON (CONT'D)
Sleep. I’m going to the mess. I’ll
see you in an hour or so.
Davies nods. Johnson leaves him and Davies stares at the
ceiling in deep thought.
AUTOR'S COMMENTARY:
The first scenes in this chapter, on the station, are sort
of similar to (much longer) scenes in my original screenplay
for Gemini’s Redemption. In more recent versions of the
story I had changed the method in which Davies discovered
the USS’s evil plans: a mysterious source delivered a number
of incriminating documents detailing the USS’s plans to
attack Al T’Har. In that version of the story, Johnson was
the mole. He was secretly an alien (how silly!) and covertly
manipulating Jack to launch a rebellion that would weaken
the human race. Eventually I realized that simplicity is
best; I dropped the Johnson-alien thing, and went back to my
original notion that Davies would be captured by the Al
T’Harans to act as their mouthpiece.
The scene itself, beyond being shorter and taking place on a
small space station, is fundamentally different in this
version. It is darker and sparser. I love the dialogue in
it: Muhommad is a man of few words, and rather poetic. I was
aiming for the sort of thing Robert Bolt would write; think
Lawrence of Arabia. Clearly I felt short of such majesty.
Still, I thought it added a nice mysterious tone. I also
really liked the short scene with the attendant. That’s a
small character, but so vivid, so distracting – I’m unable
to strike upon moments like these often, but I think it’s
great when I do. The final bit, on the other hand, is just
plot-advancing patter. I tightened it up a bit since I wrote
it the first time round, back in August, but I still fear
it’s a bit draggy. At this point I just want to get Davies
and Johnson back to base.
NEXT CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
SCENE ACCESS
MAIN MENU
4/11/2003 9:57:28 PM
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:36:58 PM)
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:53:30 PM)
Comment on this fan fiction!
|
