TRIUMVIRATE SE Chapter Twenty-Six
By The Host
EXT. CORPORATE TOWER - NIGHT
The great gothic tower stretches thirty thousand feet above
the level of the street, inspiring awe and terror in all
that see it.
INT. LOBBY - CONTINUOUS
Davies, Macy and Johnson enter the vast lobby of the
Corporate headquarters. It is an immense square room, the
upper levels of the walls carved with intricate motifs,
dominated by a cross. HUNDREDS OF WORKERS in suits pack the
room, going about their business.
JOHNSON
This place isn’t empty!
Macy sighs.
MACY
A lot of people are going to die.
DAVIES
This couldn’t have been Dawson’s
intention.
MACY
Let’s find a lift, get to the top.
He leads them through the lobby.
INT./EXT. CAB – MOVING - CONTINUOUS
NOW THE CAB PASSES between the buildings beyond the great
park. It zooms forward past several towers and hangs a sharp
right turn, trying to shake the vehicles following.
Suddenly, though, the cab is faced with eight police
vehicles hovering directly in front of it.
INSIDE THE CAB, the driver curses.
CABBIE
Hold on, guys, we’re gonna make an
exit!
The police open fire as the cab approaches head-on. At the
last moment, the vehicle swerves and smashes into a low,
glass-walled building below the cops.
INT. SHOPPING MALL - CONTINUOUS
A vast shopping complex, packed with holographic
advertisements and well-dressed SHOPPERS. The cab smashes
through a wall of glass at one end; shoppers scream as they
run, trying to get away from the vehicle, which spins across
the floor and comes to the rest at the edge of a balcony
looking over to the level below. The cabbie and Steve and
Willem bound out of the cab just as it teeters over the edge
and falls to the level below, landing at the base of a
fountain. The three look around at the slack-jawed crowd
standing in the luxurious consumer palace. The cabbie
smiles, holds up his hands.
CABBIE
It’s all right, folks. Everybody
got out okay. No need to worry
about us. Go on back to your
scheduled shopping routine.
No response from the crowd. Suddenly EIGHT UNIFORMED
SECURITY GUARDS push through to face Willem and Steve and
the cabbie.
FIRST GUARD
GET THEM!
CABBIE
RUN!
But he doesn’t have to tell Willem and Steve. They push
their way through the crowd, followed by the armed guards,
making their way for a doorway placed beside a store.
INT. GLASS BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
Willem and Steve and the cabbie run across a glassed-in
footbridge over a busy highway; at the far end the words
‘CORPORATE TOWER’ are inscribed above the door.
CABBIE
Follow me, I know my way ‘round
here!
Guards are now in the bridge behind them. The glass doors
ahead begin to close. Willem and Steve and the cabbie speed
up; they make it through the doors just as they close, just
as the guards’ first laser blasts are let loose, now
harmlessly blasting the door.
INT. CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS
Now they find themselves on an upper-level balcony
overlooking the expansive lobby below. They stop to catch
their breath.
WILLEM
Why are they still chasing us if
you left all of your loot back in
the cab? Don’t they have more
important things to do?
STEVE
(Indicating he and Willem)
I assume they’re chasing us.
CABBIE
Some hostages you are.
MACY (O.S.)
Hey!
Hearing Macy’s voice, Steve and Willem look over the
balcony; the Cabbie comes up behind them. Below they see
Macy, Davies, and Johnson staring up at them. Macy gives a
wave. Willem grins widely at Steve.
CABBIE
Who’s that?
STEVE
Our friends.
Steve waves back and motions that they will come downstairs
to meet Macy. Macy gives a thumbs-up and turns to Johnson
and Davies; at that instant, as Steve and the others turn
away from the balcony, laser blasts ring out behind them.
They swing around to see a half-dozen GUARDS emerge from the
glass hallway, blasters blazing. There is a chorus of
SCREAMS as the PEOPLE in the crowded lobby throw themselves
to the ground or try to get out of the lobby. Steve and
Willem immediately withdraw lasers from their pack and take
up defensive positions behind pillars, firing back. Steve
unclips a smaller laser pistol and tosses it to the cabbie,
who stares at it a moment before aiming and taking his first
cautious pot-shot.
DOWNSTAIRS, pandemonium reigns. Macy and the others withdraw
their blasters and turn around in a circle as the crowd
surges around them, looking for targets and threats.
MACY
Go now. I’ll be right behind you.
DAVIES
Go-?
A GUARD appears on the balcony, and then another, taking aim
and shooting at the three. Macy shoots back.
MACY
Run!
Davies turns and pushes through the crowd without looking
back.
JOHNSON
Take this!
He quickly shoulders off his pack and drops it at Macy’s
feet, then turns to catch up with Davies. They try to push
their way through, but the crowd is thick and panicked.
Davies bodily shoves people to the ground. Suddenly the way
is cleared as a laser blast connects with two people
directly in front of Davies; they crumple to the ground.
Jack stops and stares at the bodies for a moment; Johnson
grabs Jack by the arm and hops over them, pulling Davies
behind him just as another blast scorches the spot Davies
had just stood in.
ON THE BALCONY another GUARD takes careful aim at Jack and
Robert and is about to pull the trigger when he is hit with
the butt of a laser pistol and falls to the ground. The
cabbie spins around, all smiles, as Steve and Willem run up
to him breathless.
CABBIE
This bastard used to be my
supervisor.
WILLEM
Come on!
Willem and Steve continue past the cabbie as another series
of laser blasts rings out, following the fighters as they
bound along the balcony. The cabbie turns after them
CABBIE
(To himself)
I wonder if skinny white boy
replacement’s around here
somewhere. . .
INT. CORRIDOR – MOMENTS LATER
Jack and Johnson are indeed okay, though perhaps a little
breathless. They round a corner in an empty corridor and
come to a lift.
JOHNSON
Here’s a lift!
DAVIES
They must be all disabled by now.
JOHNSON
Yeah, well, not anymore.
Robert withdraws a tiny box-like object from his pocket and
presses it up against the lift control panel, set into the
wall. There is a small shower of sparks as the box gloms on,
and the lift doors open.
DAVIES
How’d you do that?
JOHNSON
(Entering the lift)
I was an engineer in another life.
INT. CEO’S OFFICE - NIGHT
The CEO holds a drink in his hand, still full. He watches
battle rage over the city outside his window. The sky is
beginning to lighten: dawn will soon come, shedding light
into his darkened office.
Just as the CEO take the drink to his lips there is a
beeping sound and the image of Admiral Copley appears behind
him. The CEO turns and places his drink down on his desk.
COPLEY
Driven to drink?
(Beat)
Good, good. The war with Al T’Har
is over here. We won. Of course.
THE CEO
Congratulations.
COPLEY
Yes, yes, thanks. Meanwhile, your
battle? I’ve been watching on the
holovision, of course, but I
wanted to hear it from yourself.
THE CEO
We’re awaiting your
reinforcements.
COPLEY
Yes, about that. You’re currently
out-numbered six to one, and
you’re taking more casualties than
Dawson. With my reinforcements
you’ll only be out-numbered three
to one.
There is a long, bitter pause. Then:
COPLEY (CONT’D)
It’s all broken, our Triumvirate,
our plan. Yours is a sinking ship,
and I’m keeping my head above
water. Good luck, good riddance,
good bye.
Copley disappears. The CEO falls heavily into his seat and
downs the alcohol.
INT. LOBBY – MOMENTS LATER
Most of the crowds have dispersed. Steve, Willem, and the
cabbie, still in the upper lobby, are backed up against a
wall. A door is closed behind them; they slowly back toward
it holding off guards with the threat of their weapons, but
they are outnumbered and slowly being surrounded. Steve
reaches back as he comes to the door to activate it and open
it, to no avail.
LEAD GUARD
It can only be opened from the
other side. Drop your weapons!
At that moment the door opens and Macy steps out. There is a
moment of surprise on all sides; Steve, looking back, does a
double-take and then scrambles for the door followed by the
others. Macy backs inside the door as the guards open fire.
INT. STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS
But it’s too late; all four are now inside a utilitarian
stairwell with the door shut behind them.
STEVE
Good timing.
MACY
Who’s he?
CABBIE
Just another pissed-off cabbie
named Leo.
WILLEM
Where’s Jack and Johnson?
MACY
Going up. Come on, we’ve gotta
find a monitor!
They follow him back down the stairs, guns at the ready, as
the guards on the other side of the door break through and
take positions in the stairwell, some shooting at and some
following our heroes and some doing both.
AUTOR'S COMMENTARY:
In the original version of Triumvirate, there was an
additional twelve- or thirteen-page sequence here where
Davies and Johnson were engaged in a shoot-out in the
elevator shaft; Macy screwed with the gravity system in the
shaft so that characters would fall up it and then down and
then float and so on, and then there was a shoot-out between
Macy and the guards in which he was saved by Leo and the
others. The bit with the lift I really liked; it was
basically a more sophisticated version of a scene that
appeared elsewhere in Gemini’s Redemption. It was one of my
favorite action sequences in this entire screenplay, indeed.
But upon reflection it added nothing to character or plot,
and served only to prolong the ending. I decided to cut to
the chase – or, more rightly, cut the chase out entirely. I
added the brief shoot-out in the lobby you just read and
otherwise had Davies and Johnson move directly to the CEO’s
office for the final showdown.
Oh, it’s off to the climax now! Read on, I dare you.
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4/11/2003 10:32:08 PM
(Updated: 4/11/2003 10:35:59 PM)
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:57:28 PM)
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