The Essential Ellison Part 66

(seductive)You don't smoke, you don't work, don't you have any vices,Derek?

FLINT.

(picks up the cue)There was an Englishman named Bagehot (p.r.o.nounced Beh-joot)who once said, "It is good to be without vices, but it is notgood to be without temptations."

Calista laughs brightly as Flint takes her arm and they begin todescend the ornate stairway into the gardens as we QUICK CUT TO:.

8 EXT. GARDENS-ARRIFLEX SHOT.

TRAVELING THROUGH ONE OF THE Pa.s.sAGES of the minotaur's maze of highbushes that criss-cross the gardens. As we reach the juncture of twopa.s.sages, CAMERA HOLDS on a PAIR OF BLACKSUITED MEN who are movingbushes on rollers into new positions, blocking off one pa.s.sage,forcing movement down another corridor. The suits they wear areskintight, all black, and cover them from head to foot, with onlyeyeholes left open. Very sinister.

9 OVERHEAD SHOT.

Showing the maze, with Flint and Calista reaching the spot where theblacksuited men have set up the dummy bushes; we can see, in oneshot, Flint traveling the way he is intended to travel, deeper intothe maze with the girl, and far enough ahead of them so they cannotbe seen, the two sinister blacksuits rearranging more bushes,leading Flint deeper and deeper into the pa.s.sages.

10 BOOM SHOT.

HIGH ANGLE LOOKING DOWN on Flint and Calista as they come throughthe last of the " arranged " pa.s.sages, into the central clearing,quite large, of the maze. CAMERA BOOMS DOWN TO HOLD THEM as theyreach the edge of the central hub. CAMERA DOWN ALMOST TO GROUND asCalista abruptly drops to one shapely knee beside a bonsai tree.

CALISTAI seem to have picked up a pebble...

She begins to fumble with her shoe as Flint waits. She looks up andsmiles, as though about to say something more to Flint...but theexpression freezes on her face...she gives a short, high scream...

WHIP-PAN TO:.

11 AROUND THE CLEARING.

TO HOLD one of the blacksuited men, leveling a deadly crossbow. Hefires as we WHIP-PAN BACK TO:.

12 MED. CLOSE ON CALISTA.

as the short crossbow bolt thuds into the bole of the bonsai treeright beside her head.

13 FULL SHOT-WITH ACTION.

as Flint shoves Calista to the ground and launches himself in atiger leap across the clearing toward the blacksuited a.s.sa.s.sin, whoturns to run. Flint boils across the ground and suddenly it givesway beneath his feet as he steps on a section of false gra.s.scleverly camouflaged to seem solid.

14 SERIES OF SHOTSthru18 kaleidoscopic, whirling, one atop the other: Flint's face in CU as he loses footing. His body dropping throughthe hole in the ground. A body falling down a shaft, hitting walls.The bottom rus.h.i.+ng up to meet him. The body impacting on the bottom.

19 OMITTED.

20 INT. PIT-SHOOTING DOWN.

ON FLINT rolling over, shaking his head quickly to regain hissenses. He rises, slowly. Takes a deep breath. He a.s.says thesituation, runs his hands around the sides of the pit. He's abouttwenty feet down. Then he leans against one wall, braces hisshoulders, throws his legs up and gets purchase with his feetagainst the opposite wall, then very carefully extends his hands toeither side and, face up, begins to walk up the walls of the pit. Ashe climbs we HEAR VOICES OVER: 1st BLACKSUITHe's movin' in there.

2nd BLACKSUIT

He's comin' up, for crineoutloud!

1st BLACKSUITThat fall shoulda put him out for a week.

2nd BLACKSUITSome tiger trap you dug, dummyl I toldja we should of putspikes in the bottom of that hole!

1st BLACKSUITOh boy.

Flint is nearing the top now, moving up fast.

21 GROUND LEVEL SHOT-CLOSE ON PIT.

SHOOTING ACROSS THE MOUTH as Flint's head appears over the lip.CLOSE ON FLINT as he looks over his shoulder.

22 POV-WHAT FLINT SEES.

he finds himself staring directly into the nozzle of a hose. CAMERATILTS UP to follow the hose to a tank, being held by the gorgeousCalista, who is hunkered down exposing a length of leg and thigh.She is aiming the contrivance at his face. He holds, staring.

CALISTA(to Blacksuits)Spikes aren't necessary.

(smiles)Dreams are better.

She smiles sweetly at Flint as he tries to struggle up the last fewinches to enable him to arch his body out.

23 FULL SHOT-CALISTA Be FLINT

CALISTACla.s.s, Derek, you do have cla.s.s. But as a fortune teller yousimply don't know when the veils are closing on you.

And she sprays him with a pink fog of gas that envelops Flint'shead. Flint tries to hold his breath as CAMERA MOVES IN. Calistapulls down a breather mask over her face. Flint coughs, his eyesroll up and...he falls back into the pit. There is a CRASH frombelow.

24 DOWN-ANGLE SHOT PAST CALISTA.

as she stands on the lip of the pit, pulling up the breather mask,handing the tank and hose to a blacksuit who moves up behind her,SHOOTING DOWN PAST HER TO FLINT crumpled in the bottom of the pit.She pats her hair back into place and says, very sweetly: CALISTASay night-night to the nice Flint.

She moves back from the pit as the CAMERA SUDDENLY DROPS AT ADIZZYING PACE down into the pit, BLURS OUT OF FOCUS and we FADE TO BLACKandFADE OUT.

END TEASER.

ACT ONE.

FADE IN:.

25 LIMBO-BLACK FRAME-MED. LONG SHOT.

SHOOTING INTO THE DARKNESS we see Flint wandering toward the CAMERA.He's stripped down to only his pants. No s.h.i.+rt, no tie, no tuxjacket, no shoes, no socks, he's down to the pants and that's it.All around him: limbo. Nothingness. Total black. Out of time ands.p.a.ce. No orientation...until millions of tiny scintillas of multi-colored light begin flickering and flas.h.i.+ng in the blackness allaround him. Are those lights stars? Are they electrical storms? Noway of telling. Not even a way of knowing if they're close to him ormillions of miles away. He is in purgatory, truly. As he wanders,somnambulant, he looks this way and that, trying to find out wherehe is; looks over his shoulder; stops and turns and turns, b.u.t.there's nothing. And as he wanders toward us we HEAR VOICES INFILTER OVER (but for G.o.d's sake, make the filtering clear, so we canunderstand what's being said! ).They are the VOICES of Calista andOTHERS who will be designated, talking about him and what they wantfrom him.

CALISTA O.S.

(FILTER)Pay attention. Derek Flint is the key. And the important wordto remember is laser-trigger. Got that?

1st V.P.'S VOICE O.S.(FILTER)Laser-trigger.

(beat)

Laser, ell-ay-ess-ee-arr, from the acronym of Light

Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

CALISTA O.S.

(FILTER)Terrific. How did you ever get to be a 1st Vice President ofthe Gunsmiths? Do you still suck your thumb?

1st V.P. O.S.(FILTER) (milquetoast)Stop ridiculing me. I was elected to this position, I wascertified by the Chairman, I do my job, and I'll tear out yourheart if you don't stop ridiculing me.

The next voice heard is a FLAT METALLIC VOICE, one that is clearlybeing disguised through electronic means so we cannot tell if it ismale or female. It is the voice of the mysterious CHAIRMAN OF THEGUNSMITHS.

CHAIRMAN O.S.Stop this bickering. We're running a business operation here,not a kindergarten. You have Mr. Flint, get on with it.

Yes sir.

CALISTA O.S.(FILTER)(cowed) (beat)

This briefing is to prepare you for the Flint interrogation.

(beat)Now, I'll call on Dr. Barmeier.

DR. BARMEIER O.S.(FILTER)(n.a.z.i accent) As Oberstmekanik for the Gunsmiths, I

(FILTER)want to make this all perfectly clear! You will pay attention!

(beat)A method has been discovered for launching rockets into s.p.a.cethrough the use of laser beams.

(beat)Initial thrust is effected by liquid fuel propellants followedby a high-intensity beam of dense light fired by computerizedcoordination up the "propagation path " to the underside ofthe rocket, thus- 1st V.P. 0.S.